Update:
I went back and edited this chapter to make the story's flow more organic and refined.
Fuses
Shen gracefully strode through the town, barely making a sound. His much noisier wolf guards followed his tail. The bustle of Gongmen didn't affect them much. They soon reached the city square without any delay or fuss. The people there stopped when they saw their prince addressing them.
"Citizens of Gongmen City! It is my great honour to present to you the weapon of the future. It gives me great pride to have found another way of utilizing my parents' fireworks. I call it The Cannon!"
People came close to inspect his wooden model and his blueprints. Some were impressed.
Some people weren't.
"What kind of mind do you have to have to make something as lethally silly as this?" a passing pig remarked. Shen bristled at this. "Sir, I will let you know that I have quite the perspicacious mind to have thought of something like this," he forced himself to reply politely. The pig was unfazed however, and continued with his jibes, "Only a lunatic would think of spending that much resources and time into making a weapon seen only in his insipid dreams."
"I think you'd better leave now sir," Lieutenant Quan spoke up, placing a firm paw on the elderly pig's shoulder. The wolf could see sparks flying from the eyes of his prince. "Are you threatening me, impertinent juvenile?" the old pig glowered. "Call it a polite suggestion," the wolf boss shot back smoothly, giving the pig a suggestive shove.
"Oh now we see the violence inherent in the system!"
"Just be quiet!" snapped Shen, his ears burning now.
"Madness, I tell you all! This is madness!" the old pig huffed as he stomped away. Though the crowds didn't disperse.
"Slum dweller," muttered Shen, just loud enough for the retreating pig to hear.
"Oh you heard what the prince just called me?!" the fading yells could be heard still.
"Just ignore Old John," another citizen, a goose this time, spoke up.
"But he does raise a pretty good question," a male sheep strode forward, "Why do we need a weapon such as this? Isn't Kung Fu enough?"
"Kung Fu is for barbarians and savages!" Shen snapped, recalling a memory.
1 year ago…
"Look at the little birdy! Isn't he quaint?" a young snow leopard jeered.
A prone Shen spat out some blood on the temple's training floor.
"Ah, leave him alone. Let his feathers blossom like flowers, then he'll be able to down us by giving a dazzling display to gawk at," a young bear piped up.
Shen gave a half-snarl and launched a kick at the bear's muzzle. It connected and the bear boy toppled. The young peacock then placed all his focus on the snow leopard. The fowl whipped his tail about and thrashed his wings at multiple angles. He managed to land a few glancing hits on the cat boy, but the young leopard was more annoyed than hurt.
The feline's yellow eyes glinted dangerously before he launched a butterfly kick at the bird. Shen managed to twist away from it and sweep the cat from below, but before he could deliver a KO blow, he found the bear cub's arms in a crushing grip around his waist.
"Tai Lung! Now!"
Tai Lung recovered and delivered a hammer fist to Shen's face. The peacock was sent spinning and sprawling to the floor. The bear delivered a kick to Shen's stomach. "What kind of world do you live in where you think a peacock can be a great warrior?"
Shen couldn't muster up the energy for a reply. He didn't have to.
"Bear! That is enough!" Master Ox bellowed from the doorway where he had just entered.
"Tai Lung! You too!" Master Croc said sharply, following Ox in, "What would your Master Shifu say if we reported that his prized student was misbehaving during his apprenticeship?"
"Get to your quarters. We will discuss this affront later," Ox ordered sternly. The bear cub and leopard cup slunk out of the room, heads hung. But Shen could feel that they weren't sorry.
"I hate them. I hate this."
"Prince Shen, are you badly hurt?"
"No, Master Croc. Not physically. But emotionally? Yes. Can you hold them while I hit them as punishment?"
"We will let Shifu decide his student's punishment. And I will make sure that Bear doesn't get off free for this," Ox replied firmly. Shen felt the muscles around his beak twist his lower face into a scowl. "What's the point of learning Kung Fu if you can't use it to ensure justice?"
"The point of learning Kung Fu is to enlighten your life with balance and knowledge, giving you wisdom and insight of about how to tackle your problems in life, aside from providing self-defence. Kung Fu is not just some tool to assert who's right or who's wrong," Ox warned, feeling Shen's negativity reverberating through his horns.
The two masters and the young prince made their way to the healers' room. "I still do not see your point of just letting your enemies go if they've wronged you. One should be able to extract vengeance as he pleases."
"I have no problem with vengeance," Croc spoke to the young bird, "But you seek to show your dominance over others through force rather than letting them see and respect you for who you are."
"What I am is a weakling."
"If you train, study and focus more rather than sulk and fruitlessly quest for frivolous riches, then you'd be strong in heart and muscle."
"I already am strong in heart and head! All I want now is the physical prowess that you promised me but can't seem to deliver on!"
"Enough for now!" Ox snorted with thinning patience, "Healers, get this boy patched up. Your Highness, rest and recover well, but please also consider why you are studying Kung Fu."
With that, Masters Ox and Croc left young Shen to be tended to by the nurses of the temple.
Shen had considered Master Ox's words. He considered why he signed up to learn Kung Fu, and he came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. When he returned to Gongmen after his apprenticeship, he told his parents that he would drop Kung Fu to devote more time to his royal duties here in Gongmen. His parents, though bewildered and a little saddened for him, accepted their son's decision without question.
But being reminded of his inferiority at this topic made Shen snap at the gathered animals.
"I do not want another mention of Kung Fu while I am around you for the rest of my time here! Am I understood?!"
"Yes, my lord," the assembly replied messily, though Shen did not care for coherence at that point.
However, one bold sheep spoke up. "You were always a rotten egg! I feel sorry for the rest of these people if you were to become ruler for us in a few years' time!"
Shen saw red. He launched himself at the impertinent animal. Shen grabbed him with the claws of his foot and spun, decking the sheep.
"See?! Witness the violence that this poor excuse of a prince displays!" shouted Old John, who had returned to piss off Shen some more. The senile old fool found himself flying through the air towards some barrels a moment later, courtesy of an uppercut from Shen's wing. The young peacock made a move to advance…
But the sounds of his parents' disappointment stopped him cold.
"Get back to the palace! We will discuss your behaviour later," Kepa spoke calmly, though his glowering gaze settled upon his son. Shen stood for several moments, before deciding not to defy his father's order and silently motioned for his wolf soldiers to follow. His parents turned to the citizens. "We apologize for our son's actions, but we will also refuse to condone disparagements towards our family. Good day."
They turned and left. The remaining crowds dispersed in disturbed murmurs and mumbles.
"We never taught you to attack without mercy!" Zhang snapped at her son, "Why would you do that?"
"I will not be undermined by some ingrate slackers!" Shen huffed back. His mother strutted closer, "These are your people who you will rule over in future, son! I suggest that you learn to lead them wisely!"
"Once I get the power to put them in their place, then I will!"
"You caused property damage! And Old John has now been confined to a healers' home for the next few weeks!"
Flames silently spewed in Shen's eyes. "That's the first good news I've heard all day!"
"Enough!" his mother thundered, her soprano dropping an octave with fury, "I want you to write out a letter of apology, which your father and I will read out to the citizens. Punishment is acceptable for their wrongdoings. Threat to maim isn't."
"I will NOT lower myself to their unacceptable standards!" clucked Shen in unfettered defiance.
"Then you will spend the rest of the week confined to the palace grounds, buried deep in your studies so that you won't even have time to work on your stupid, useless cannons!"
Shen's lower beak dropped. He could only give a weak gasp and stare in horrified shock as his mother turned on her heel and stormed out of his room. How dare she!
"I think you were too hard on him."
Kepa's voice brokered little room for argument. Unfortunately, the king forgot about his wife's temper after spending the last hour or so sternly lecturing his wolf forces on their recent misbehaviours in public. There had been a few grumbles and one or two protests, but the king applied the gracious principles of subsidiarity and left the renegades to the mercy of their commanders.
"He has to learn to live like a proper prince. Firm discipline molds a chick into a bird. He will never be able to show wise judgement if he only continues his hollow pursuits with his ill-conceived dreams."
"He only wishes to follow in our footsteps, my love. I think we are more at fault than he is," her husband said sagely. Zhang sighed deeply and considered this angle. It stabbed at her heart to think that she was causing her son's own pain with her blind misguidance. "Maybe we are in the wrong," she spoke softly, "I think we should consult our Soothsayer."
"Aye," said her husband, "We'll do it tomorrow."
The next day passed by with burning tensions simmering in the air. Shen refused to leave his room and snapped at the servants who brought him his food, drinks and books. His parents could only find themselves with enough energy to give him stern warnings and reprimands from outside his locked doors.
Night fell with the moon faintly outlined. The winter air had built up over the last few days, and first snow was released from the skies. White flakes gingerly made contact with the ground, and a wind howled lightly through the city. The city wasn't active much at all tonight, and an uneasy, foreboding atmosphere descended upon Gongmen.
While the fire in his heart still had embers remaining, Shen had managed to quench it down over the past couple of hours. He decided that he would try to be a better son to his parents, and that the first step to that would be cleaning up his mess from today and writing that letter… after he got back from delivering his used dishes to the kitchen. But as he made his way downstairs, he didn't know that he was only descending into a raging forest fire. It was a blaze that had started small, forcibly hidden by the tranquility of the life in the canopies, but it had eventually blasted its way out, and started ruthlessly wreaking havoc on those unfortunate enough to stand in its path.
"So your son's future is what you wish to see?" the Soothsayer asked. Shen's parents looked at their son's tutor. They had hired her for a reason – to keep careful, compassionate watch and to give loving guidance to their son when they weren't available, held up by their royal duties across, and sometimes out of, the city.
"Yes. And let's make this quick. This meeting is to be of the utmost confidentiality," King Kepa rumbled elegantly, baritone clogged with concern.
"Very well," replied Soothsayer. She turned to her potions and powders, and selecting one she poured it into her dish. The dish already had a dry substance within it, and as the magical liquid was poured into it the mixture caught alight. Flames leapt up, and a pillar of smoke billowed heavily for several moments before revealing an image.
White light gave birth to a peacock, rising proud, tall and strong. But the Soothsayer's following words contrasted against the parents' initial musings and instead brought burning fear to their hearts.
"If your son continues down this dark path," the Soothsayer foretold gloomily, "A Warrior of Black and White will rise up and destroy him."
The image of the brilliant white peacock was now consumed by black smoke, and transformed into the Yin Yang Symbol. The symbol represented balance, unity, and harmony. Though the king and queen didn't feel very harmonious after this presentation. Amongst the darkness, they failed to notice young and uncalloused bird feet flitting away in hurried motion.
"We can't allow that to happen! I won't let that happen!" said the Queen with shaky resolve. Her legs felt like failing her, and she had to intake a few sharp breaths to keep her wits and strength. "We will do what we must to protect our son."
"You cannot do anything to help him. The choice has to be his alone," the Soothsayer replied softly. "But we are his parents, it is our responsibility," remarked the King, consternation building within his throat, "We should have brought him with us tonight. We should tell him straight away."
"Hasty decision, but it's one of the few ones I concur with," Soothsayer said, her eyes glowing dimly within the firelight.
The two parents made their way to the top levels, where their son's quarters were.
But they were already too late. Far too late.
After Shen had dumped his dishes in the kitchen, he was making his way back to his bedroom when he heard a mild blaze coming from the bottom floor. His feet glided silently down the stairs, and when he reached the bottom he was relieved to see nothing was out of the ordinary. Except for his parents standing in front of – was that his goat nanny? – a Soothsayer in the middle of delivering a prophecy.
"We worry greatly for him," his mother spoke to the goat, "He is too volatile and instable for his own good."
Those words stung Shen's ears.
"He spends too much time wondering how he can turn something beautiful into something deadly, and has no problem disregarding the wellbeing of himself and others to accomplish his tasks."
Mother?! How could you?!
The young prince started trembling in grief and shame. This was a devastating and unprecedented blow in his relationship with his parents. It was like he was a sower, and his parents had burned up the finest silk he had produced. He was like a harvester, and his parents scorned him for his crop. They had created his heart and encouraged his mind, only to shun both of his best attributes in the final accounting. This was just about too much for the young prince to bear. What hurt him even more then were his father's next words.
"We cannot allow him to pursue this nightmare any longer. It is wholly detrimental to everyone's wishes."
Everyone's wishes but my own. Why does no one value me?
"So your son's future is what you wish to see?" the Soothsayer then asked, and Shen's full attention returned to the moment.
"Yes. And let's make this quick. This meeting is to be of the utmost confidentiality," the king said. Shen's soul cracked at this.
My parents are even willing to hide their horrible truths from me. Why?!
Shen crept behind the nearest pillar. His Soothsayer-Nanny-Tutor-Goat (he didn't care much at this point what the elderly animal was) displayed her predictions in an enchanted display of magical, flaming concoctions. Shen bore witness to a peacock rising tall, before chills crept up his spine as the image was shredded by smoke to become a Yin Yang symbol. Despite the symbol's benevolent annotations, Shen felt more ominously threatened than pleased. The words that followed were spoken loud enough to hear, though he wished his ears could've blocked it.
"If your son continues down this dark path, a Warrior of Black and White will rise up and destroy him."
"But there are no black and white warriors in China that I've ever heard of," thought Shen to himself, before terrified realization dawned on him, "The Giant Pandas. They must be planning to overthrow me and my parents and bring chaos upon Gongmen. And quite possibly beyond as well…"
So, even with a heart burdened and desolated by betrayal and shame, Shen steeled himself for what he decided would his next move. It would be a move made from the machinations of bold courage and fearlessness. It would be a move made to protect his family, and make them proud. It would decide his fate as ruler of this city, and ensure his people's undying respect.
Shen silently ran up the flights of stairs to his room. He was going to need to make a stealthy, but dramatic, exit.
"Quan! Tell General Enlai to get the whole wolf force underway!" Shen ordered in a resolute tone as he glided into the wolves' courtyard. Quan stumbled out of his bed and lurched his way outside the bunker on all fours. "What troubles you, my lord?"
"The Giant Pandas do. They wish to overthrow my family and bring down their hammer of terror across China!" the prince replied with curt urgency, "We must act quickly to preserve the peace and the citizens of Gongmen and the land!"
"Yes my lord!"
Within ten minutes, all the wolves had been rallied, and General Enlai had assembled them before the young prince, who was about to address them before moving out.
"My soldiers, it has become apparent that we have been blinded by the peace that this wonderful civilization has brought upon us. It is thanks to my parents' endeavours that Gongmen City stands as a crown jewel and a sagacious example of an utopian society. But now we must not delay. We have to act and extinguish this threat without hesitation. Peace is like a chain. If constructed well, it holds for eons. But even the most constructed chains snap after too long a time and too little action taken to maintain it. And so we are the workers who will fix this chain of tranquility. We will march upon the Panda Village and exterminate the threat. They are all to be considered as threats. Do not leave one alive. Afterwards, we will continue our purging of all the black and white scourges that menace the population of China. If we prove successful, this is a story that will go down in our country's history to be exalted and acclaimed by the generations of the future! Now onwards!"
The wolves rallied and howled. They bounded through the empty streets, zipped down unused lantern lines, and leaped like silent serial killers from rooftop to rooftop. Shen followed with more physical elegance. He ran across cobblestone floors and vaulted up posts and gazebos. The almost empty moon meant that he was camouflaged within the darkness. The prince belonged entirely to the night as he glided from building to building, and raced through blackened alleys.
If you were Lieutenant Quan right now, this is what you'd be thinking.
This hunt provides the perfect opportunity to achieve getting the respect you and your species deserve.
The young prince's parents took pity upon your battered family, who were just struggling to stay alive after a fierce battle that left your parents and their generation exhausted and thinned to breaking point. Wolves always participated in wars and epic battles. It is your species' tradition.
Unfortunately, not many other animals share your species' point of view, and they look down upon you and your brethren and call you prejudiced slights such as "savages", "blood-drinkers", and "howlbags".
Even while your generation was born in the peaceful boundaries of Gongmen, you and you littermates are still given gazes of fear, reluctance, and glares of distrust and discomfort. You can live in Gongmen as a citizen, but you know that you aren't welcome. Your warrior ways are viewed as disturbing anomalies, and you are ignored and sidelined by other species daily.
But taking out the threat of the Pandas can change that.
Win or lose. Fail or succeed. You and your species will go down as heroes in history. As the ones who either definitely put down the Panda Uprising, or gave their lives in service valiantly trying to stop it.
And so, you do not hesitate as you clear the outskirts of the city and make your way through greens and brushlands.
This is what you were born to do.
This is what you live to do.
You are going to enjoy this mission.
I spent an hour yesterday afternoon doing the calculations for my interpretation of the characters' ages.
For your information, Shen is 15 years old in the present time. Quan (eventually known as Boss Wolf) is 20.
The flashback takes place 1 year ago, so Shen would've been 14 then. Tai Lung (future villain) would've been 10. And Bear (future master) would've been 15.
Ox and Croc in the flashback would've been 32 and 30, respectively.
And so only two chapters remain for the prologue. The Massacre and its Aftermath.
Please feel free to review! Critiques and compliments are much appreciated!
Transformers 0 over the moon and out!