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Bizarre Ending
"… Lea… -four-five, you are leav… ace. Contact tow… one-zero-three decimal two…" a voice said.
"Switching, thanks." A familiar voice said.
What were those noises, he thought. He slowly woke up and realized he was not in the palace. The noise he heard was from the headset that was worn on his head. He looked around. Tons of buttons around with window panes in his fron to which the outside seemed foggy. He wore a seatbelt at the right chair. He looked to the left and saw the grand tortoise on the left chair.
"Twenty-five hundred." An unnatural voice said.
"Oh great, I'm dreaming again."
"Oh great, you're up. I wanted to show you something Mantis."
"I don't know but I get the feeling that you're just trying to impress every so often." The mantis looked around. "What is this place?"
"Why, this is a plane. I just got it after our last session."
"Learjet one-four-five, turn left heading one-niner-five. Maintain five thousand feet. VOR runway two-zero left. Contact approach on one-zero-three decimal two-five-zero. Altimeter two-niner-seven-six."
The mantis only looked down with a sad expression on his face.
"Learjet one-four-five, understood." The tortoise saw the mantis' sad expression.
"Why the lone face child?"
"Master, the others are gone. I'm the only one left."
"You still have me, don't you?"
"Yeah…" He chuckled. "… in my dreams."
The tortoise gave a hearty laugh. "So true."
"But what do I do, master?"
"Use your strengths mantis and his weaknesses. Master Shifu taught you well. Even if he is not there, make him proud."
The mantis smiled a little.
"Learjet one-four-five, clear to land runway two-zero left."
An alarm suddenly sounded. "One-thousand."
"Oh, we're almost there." The tortoise said. He disengages the autopilot and holds the yoke firm. He then pulled a lever which put the gear down, adjusted the throttle and slowly and set the radios to the VOR frequency. "Mantis, can you pull that lever?"
The mantis obeyed. He pulled the lever down which slowly added full flaps. "So, where are we headed?"
The tortoise did not answer but the facial expression the tortoise made made the mantis realized that he would rather not know.
"Five-hundred."
It must have meant that they were really close. The mantis looked through the window but it was so foggy, he could not see anything beyond.
"Wind shear. Wind shear. Wind shear."
"Three-hundred."
The clouds slowly died down. What the mantis saw shook him in horror. In front of him was the Jade Palace. It seemed that they were landing there… or crash landing. Either way, the Jade Palace was the only place he would rather not be.
"Master Oogway, please. I wish not to come back."
"Two-hundred."
"We all have to face our fears, Mantis. Just remember everything I've told you." The tortoise said calmly.
"I… I…"
"One-hundred."
"You can do it Mantis. I trust in your abilities."
"I… Watch over me, master."
"I will. Now get ready, you don't have much time." He said calmly.
"Fifty… Forty… Thirty…"
"Thank you master. For everything."
"Retard. Retard. Retard."
The tortoise just smiled.
"… Twenty… Ten…"
The mantis woke up in sudden shock. He tried to move but realized his hands were tied. He noticed that he was in the basement of the palace. He looked further and saw jars which shook him in fear. Inside the jars looked like bean-shaped objects with varying sizes. He notices one of which was the bloodiest and it soon became apparent that that was the giant panda's brain to which it seemed that it was removed recently.
"You're a hard man to break Mantis."
He looked to the voice to where it originated. Poppin had been sitting in a stool looking at the little insect with a creepy smile. Along with him were the others, also looking at him with a smile in their own creepy way.
"I'll take it from here." Poppin said. His minions followed and soon left the room.
"How long have you been sitting there?" The mantis asked.
The little man did not answer the question. "Well it seems that you will be spared the fate. You're head is too small to fit noodles in. I'll have to think of something else."
"How could you? After all we've done for you? What have you done to them?"
"What… this? I just turned them into noodle minions that's all. And besides, did you see the way they were smiling? I think they like being noodified."
"But why?"
"The world is a harsh place Mantis and you know it. I simply want to make the world a better place where everyone is always happy."
"By turning them into mindless zombies. It's not right."
"Zombies?" Poppin reasoned almost sounding crazy. "Think of them as happy souls. Simple beings without a care in a world."
The mantis then had an idea. He would try to break free from the ropes that bounded him, but he would have to stall Poppin. "I've had bad experiences to Poppin. That wolf that didn't want to give you the picture because you don't look normal, so what. Not all people are like that, the way we treated you, we treated you like any guest should be treated. No matter how different you looked, you are still a guess. We trusted you. We gave you shelter in this town. Not all people are like that."
"But you are so… wrong!" Poppin smile deteriorated. "No matter how much you treated me as a guest, you people still felt suspicious of my appearance. You people are no different than the rest. The way those people look at me and talk about my appearance, the way kids whispering to their friends about this weird man." Poppin slowed down a bit. The mantis had realized he was not only talking about his friends, he was talking about the Valley of Peace in general. "I thought this village would be different. It's the Valley of Peace. I thought I would find my inner peace here… but no. Your village is just like the other villages." Poppin had slowly returned his smile. "Don't worry Mantis. By tomorrow morning, I will be through of your village just like the other villages."
"You've… 'noodified' villages?" The mantis asked in shocked as he hurriedly tried to break free.
"Yes Mantis. Countless villages have found their happiness with my help. My contribution to society."
The mantis was finally able to break free from the ropes. "You monster!" He then threw out a punch to Poppin's face to which he falls to the ground. The mantis was about to leave but soon remembered his dream.
"His weakness." He said and looked at Poppin.
It had been a while. Poppin had awoken after being knocked out. He then felt something different to which he realized that he no longer felt his scarf.
"I'm glad I've got your attention Poppin."
The mantis was still there. Poppin looked at him to which he saw a burning candle and his scarf to which it held the painting. The noodified minions soon came to the see the commotion and prepared to hit the mantis.
"No wait!" Poppin said to his minions to which they obey. "What do you want?"
"Set them friends free Poppin. Spare this village."
"I can't do that Mantis."
"Why not!"
"They're already gone Mantis. The moment I changed them… it's irreversible."
"Liar!"
"I'm… not… lying."
"No… No…" He slowly tried to reach the exit of the basement to which the minions move aside. "Well then I'm not giving you back the painting." The mantis soon rushed off as fast as he could.
"After him."
His minions soon go outside only to find him not there. For a small insect, the mantis was quick on his feet. Poppin soon followed.
"He's gone master." The red panda said in a mindless tone.
"Let him go."
Morning finally came. The bunny children at the local school were excited to go to the Jade Palace.
"Quiet kids. Please be organized. We wouldn't want Master Shifu to get angry now, would we?"
The teacher then opens the door and was surprised to see the red panda, the giant panda and the other four.
"Dragon warrior… Master Shifu… uh… What brings you here?"
They did not answer… only smiled.
There's a man/ going around/ taking names
The now noodified bunnies leave the school and head to their parents
And he decides/ who to free/ and who to blame
The parents wonder why they were dismissed early
Everybody/ won't be treated/ all the same
Panic spreads around the streets of the Valley of Peace
There will be a golden ladder/ reaching down
The people go to the Jade Palace for help
When the man/ comes around
Only to find out that they too have been noodified
The hairs/ on your arm/ will stand up
Poppin leaves the Valley of Peace, and soon spreads terror on other villages
At the terror/ in each sip/ and in each sup
Soon, villages fall under his influence… one… by… one
Will you partake of that last/ offered cup
The emperor of China ordered a military defense to protect the capital
Or disappear/ into the potter's ground
They put up a fight
When the Man/ comes around
But they failed
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
With the fall of the capital, terror soon spread to other major cities
One hundred million angels singing
The people fled farther away from the destruction
Multitudes are marching/ to the big kettledrum
Refugees leaving away from their home
Voices calling, voices crying
They try to escape this horrible evil
Some are born and some are dying
But all efforts were in vain
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
Soon, the empire ceased to exist
The mantis was now in the Gobi desert. He had been walking to nowhere. Carrying the painting with him, he thought it best to leave the empire and head North. There was no China to look forward to. His pace steadily slowed. He had not eaten for days. It was over. He fell to the ground… hungry… thirsty… tired. Was it the end?
Out of the blue, someone had stepped in front of him. He slowly raised his head to get a good look at him, but the sun flare only created a silhouette. Despite this, the mantis was able to recognized the figure.
"Tai… Lung?"
"Need… help?"
"How… did you… find me?"
An additional figure soon got up of the snow leopard's shoulder. "He had help." When the mantis got a better picture of him, he had realized that it was Poppin and that the snow leopard was wearing a hat… and smiling.
"Found you." Poppin simply said.
The mantis slowly stepped back. "Stay away from me."
He whispered to the snow leopard's ear. "Get him."
The snow leopard carefully approached the mantis.
"No…!"
And so, with that, Tai Lung approached me and pretty much noodified me eventually. Poppin was now the emperor of Noodified China. He was right. The empire was now without prejudice. There was no discrimination, no evil. Everyone was happy with their brains gone. Perhaps having a mind was the problem after all. Sometimes, we'd rather not think of our problems and just throw it all away. And that's the story of how China was changed because of one man… one ginger bread man. The end.
Po, Viper, Tigress, Monkey, Crane and Shifu just looked at Mantis. They were all in the kitchen.
"Well… how'd you like my story?"
Viper initiated. "Well… Mantis, I knew you loved Po's noodles, but this…"
"I don't get. Why am I the first to be noodified?" Crane asked.
"Yeah. And what's a hot rod?" Master Shifu asked.
"Yeah. And I doubt that Tigress will smile even if she was noodified." Monkey added to which they all laugh except for Tigress.
"Very funny Monkey." Tigress commented.
"One thing though." Po added. "How did you know I had those weird dreams about Master Oogway?"
"Well let's just say I had a hunch." Mantis grinned. The thunder roared and lightning flashed to which a figure stood at the door behind Mantis.
The others were horrified and started to shake as it looked like the small man. It was Poppin.
"Okay guys, thanks for me letting stay in your home. Here's for all the trouble." He carried with him a bowl of delicious noodles. "I made everyone's favorite… noodle soup." Poppin said.
Everyone, except for Mantis, left the room, fearing that they would lose their brains.
The small man slowly approached the dining table. "Mantis, why did everybody leave? It's like they've seen a ghost or something."
"Oh you know, I just told them about your story Poppin."
They exchanged looks. "You told them the noodle story, didn't you? So that you have you can have the noodles for yourself."
Mantis grabbed a bowl of delicious noodle soup. "Yep."
THE END
A bird was silently chirping in the bright morning sky. Out of the blue, a plane passed by and the bird got sucked into one of its engines which resulted the engine to surge several times. From the cockpit, Master Oogway tried to looked at the back through the window.
"Oh dear, looks like I've hit something." He then radios the regional flight center. "Tower, I've just got a bird strike."
A/N: Well, what do you know, it's a story within a story. Did you guys know? I left some clues in every chapter in how the story was told so don't be surprised why it ended this way. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this. Sadly, this is the last chapter, but I plan to create a bonus feature for the story. The bonus feature will be separated from this fic and will be about Poppin being interviewed for his influential role in the fic.
Disclaimer: Poppin Bury is based on the dough boy of Pillsbury, Poppin Fresh. I don't own him, but I would definitely love to eat him.
Songs used (In order of appearance):
The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash
Light of the Deadvine by People in Planes
Sleep Now in the Fire by Race Against the Machine