Chapter 2
It didn't take long for Quan to find a travelling cart to hitch a ride on to begin his travels back to his homeland, the Valley of Peace. Many days passed where Quan would arrive at various villages and he would actually take a chance to stop and indulge himself in all of the activities that the city has to offer. His most favorite thing to do is to tell his extravagant adventures around the world since he left the Jade Palace so many years ago. The story he enjoyed telling the most was the "Tale of the Dancing Fighter".
"So one time, my travels took me to a land in the South West," He would usually start. "A land part of this great mass that the Europeans call the Americas. In the Southern part of this continent, there are these unique kinds of villages that I hear the Westerners call "Tribes". And it is where one of these tribes are located, I was able to meet the Dancing Fighter. I will say, upon arrival at this village, I wasn't exactly met with the most respectful of greetings. These tribes don't seem to take too kindly to outsiders, even those who live on the same continent as them. The tribes are more, um…how shall I say…more territorial with those who are not a part of their village. Once realizing the kind of skills that I was able to perform, the tribal king, that's sort of like this tribe's Emperor, bestowed upon me a challenge. If I won it, I would be accepted among the tribe as one of their own. If I had lose…" Quan would proceed to make a slicing motion at his throat, usually getting a rise out of his audience. "The challenge was simple. I was to fight against the tribe's most deadly combatant. Admittedly, I was scared, but at the same time, the fighter inside of me was burning up for the urge of such a foreign challenge and wanted to know how these people fought. I was not disappointed. I was taken to where this warrior was training only to look upon something truly marvelous. This man was juggling. Haha, now I know some of you may tell to get down from the box now, but it was how and what this warrior was juggling that made me astonished. The warrior was a Black Panther who was spinning around on the ground through the use of his upper body while his legs and feet were spinning about in the air, kicking up, wait for it, over a dozen set of stone rocks, and not those small pebbles that a little child could skip across a lake, I mean rocks that are bigger than the palm of my hand. A dozen of them, just being kept in the air by his feet as he was spinning around on the ground! I almost couldn't hold back my fighting urge that I wanted the match to start immediately, but, ever since my adventures in Thailand, a story for some other time, I learned to be a little more patient. Waiting for this Panther's training to end, he finished up by pushing off the ground by one hand with his feet still spinning around like a mill, delivering one last kick to each of the stones, shattering them into dust before landing on his feet, his forest-green eyes glaring right at me as his head lifted. With that, our fight began. This one's style was unlike anything I have ever seen. From research the locals called this fighting style, Capoeira, the loose translation meaning "One of the Jungle". He would dance around me and deliver unpredictable kicks and flips at me, forcing me off balance many times in the fight. Our battle lasted for many days and nights, even rain had subserviated over our battleground many times getting the both of us wet and dirty from our even-stated encounter. However, the exhaustion of fighting in unknown weather and territory finally took its toll on me as I was finally bested by the Panther, quickly being surrounded by the other, male tribesmen. Fearing the worst, I was shocked to hear the Panther call out to his tribesman and forced them back. He expressed to me, as best he could in the English tongue, "You, great warrior. No one ever last long with me. You deserve life." Because of his words, the tribe king allowed me to live, but curious in the Panther's form, I asked if he could help me learn his style. Much to my joy, he agreed. Now, I am one step closer to completing my dream of the Universal Martial Art."
One time when Quan was telling his story all the way back in England, one of the males from the tavern he was in, a bulky Bull-Dog, called him out, "That's a bunch of hob-gobbling if you ask me."
"Oh, you Englishmen always leave me stunned with your weird phrasings." Quan smirked, leaning against one of the tavern's support beams.
"If this so called "Capoeiramaana" thing exists, then maybe you wouldn't mind getting its existence disclosed by my fists, ya little abydocomist." The Bull-Dog proceeded to raise his fists up in a boxing stance.
"Oh please, if we must, I'd much rather not cause the lovely owner of this tavern a fortune in property damage." Quan winked and blew a kiss to the flustered, Poodle, Tavern Lady before walking on off outside followed by the Bull-Dog and the rest of the tavern's clients, circling around the two, yipping and hollering. "I hope you're ready for the beating of your life you little fopdoodle." The Bull-Dog smirked while cracking his knuckles.
"I swear are you guys speaking words or trying to come up with the most weirdest pet names." Quan immediately had to throw his head back to dodge a hook from this burly canine, forcing Quan to flip back and away. "Ooooh, nice form there, buddy. You could work on the aiming a bit."
"If you would just stand still then there wouldn't be a problem." The Bull-Dog kept throwing punches at Quan who just measly side-stepped the barrages before delivering his own attack, a swift high kick right underneath the mutt's jaw, sending him backwards onto the ground, out cold. Quan let out a sigh alongside a smirk he wore, "So uncivilized…"
There were many other times that Quan had to prove himself during his story telling, but he was eventually rattled awake by a little bump from the road, encouraging him to look on where he was currently. His usual smile would come right back to his face as a large village could be seen coming in view with a large mountain standing behind the village. Right at the top of the mountain itself sat the Jade Palace, or as Quan likes to call it, "Home…"