I own nothing but the ocs. Happy reading!
September 28th, Jade Palace Shaolin Training Hall.
"Monkey, watch your back!"
Monkey swung around and had barely enough time to deflect Mantis flying through the air at him, ready to attack.
Monkey swerved to the side and rolled on the sandy floor, recovering fast and getting ready to get in another fight with Mantis, who apparently was mad at him for throwing out his almond cookies he had made with Crane a few days ago.
"Okay, I'm sorry for throwing out your almond cookies!" Monkey exclaimed, throwing up his arms in surrender, but ready to fight the angry Mantis if necessary. "Just stop fighting me!"
"Are you sorry?" Mantis exclaimed. "You KNOW how long Crane and I worked on them to get a perfect batch!"
"I'm sorry!" Monkey exclaimed, throwing an annoyed look at his friends who watched him from the ledge above the sparring grounds in the Training Hall. "Can you guys get Mantis to calm down?"
"CALM DOWN?" Mantis roared, and Monkey was unable to hear his friends' response, if they had sent any. "NEVER!"
Crane rolled his eyes in annoyance while Tigress folded her arms as she usually did when she was crossed.
"This is stupid." Crane muttered to Tigress, Viper, and Po, who watched the ongoing fight, watching for amusement and to make sure Mantis didn't do something dumb. They trusted Monkey's judgment, but angry Mantis was something to fear-except if you're Master Shifu, then you'll be able to deflect any of the student's annoying words.
"I know, but how do we stop Mantis?" Tigress asked, turning to Crane and placing her amber gaze on her friend.
Po and Viper shared glances, but they themselves turned to the conversation between the two friends.
"Why not just tell him to stop?" Po suggested, but Crane shook his head.
"Give me a moment." Crane spread his wings and glided down into the sparring arena where Monkey was trying to wildly escape Mantis's anger.
Although Mantis wouldn't necessarily hurt his friend, he still was mad and tried to make a point of it to him. He was half-annoyed-half-mad-half-amused of all of this, to be honest.
"Mantis, STOP!" Crane yelled, placing himself between his two friends and fellow students. "This is stupid, I don't know what you're trying to prove, but STOP."
Mantis shook his head. "Yeah, but he needs to be taught a lesson." Mantis slightly smirked, as not really meaning the fierceness of his words, although he clearly saw Monkey's shocked gaze as he clung to the wall.
"Mantis, STOP. We all know you're the eldest student and all but rather it's quite annoying."
Monkey shot Crane a grateful look as Mantis let out a sigh. Monkey escaped his grip on the wall and stood next to Crane, who placed his wing around him and gave a frown to Mantis. Apparently, Crane can end things pretty fast. That's something new!
Mantis folded his pointers and frowned in return. "Yeah, well, whatever."
Tigress and Po leaped down from the ledge and ran over to Crane, Monkey, and Mantis and approached them. Po wore a calm gaze as he usually did while Tigress still crossed her arms and shot a sharp gaze at Mantis.
"Why did you really have to do that?" Tigress sharply spoke down to Mantis, who jumped at Tigress' sharp accusation. Viper, who came to go by Po's side again to listen in on what was happening with the whole Mantis ordeal and not wanting to be on the ledge alone, spoke with a soft voice to Tigress as she usually did.
"It's okay, we're all fine."
Tigress glanced back at Viper but then continued to stare an accusing glance at Mantis.
"He's your friend, for China's sake!"
Monkey then stepped forward and intercepted the two of them before Mantis could respond.
"I-it's fine, don't worry." Monkey glanced at Mantis and dipped his head. "Can we just let it go?"
Tigress grunted, but Po placed a hand on her shoulder so she wouldn't fume to Mantis some more. EVERYONE there knew how mad Tigress and Mantis could get with each other, and EVERYONE knew how bad it could get.
Mantis let out a sigh after a period of silence. "Yeah, let's do that." Monkey blinked as Mantis turned to him. "Sorry, Monkey. That was….way wrong of me."
Monkey shook his head and smiled. "It's okay."
Crane let out a sigh of relief as Tigress backed away from the two forgiving friends. Po shook his head in obvious relief as the students each shared glances at each other, staring around the training hall as they stared at each other in complete silence. Mantis fell silent, so did Monkey, who glanced down at his arm worryingly.
"So…" Po broke the silence with one unnerved word, glancing down at the ground then meeting the rest of his friend's gazes. "What now?"
"I don't know, go sulk some more?" Tigress shot a VERY annoyed glance at Mantis, who shot one glance back, hopefully both remembering the moments before where Mantis had sulked around all through training. They were lucky Master Shifu didn't challenge Mantis about it, for Monkey had guessed that Master Shifu had probably figured something was up by the way he kept shooting glances over at him and kept watching him more-than-usual.
Mantis let out a laugh as he turned around to his friends, who were waiting for his reaction. Unfortunately, Mantis just glanced at the ground and didn't speak up, for he was hoping someone else would catch on to the idea and speak up either with another plan or just say something else.
Monkey's gaze suddenly brightened, and he stepped forward with a quick idea, which caught the attention of his fellow students and classmates.
"How about we go make some almond cookies?"
After a few moments of making up the batch of almond cookies and putting them in the oven until they were completed, the six students sat down at the dinner table and ate the almond cookies. Mantis seemed satisfied, for the time, and it seemed as if Monkey and Mantis's little outburst and fight…thing was forgotten.
As the students finished up eating their dessert of almond cookies (with a side of forgiveness!) They headed to their class with Master Shifu, acting like anything hardly ever happened.
"Good evening, Master Shifu." Viper spoke in a soft voice, slithering into the scroll room. Students were supposed to always address their master with respect, and, with Shifu's hearing stilled due to the calmness of the scroll room's quiet, Shifu had told them to speak softly upon entering, as this palace was a very peaceful and serene place and the whole thing about "you are respectful and disciplined students; appear as such" type of deal.
The students, however, were lacking on their disrespect to their master and most of the time and pretty much always did as he asked….save for when they were by themselves or in certain instances, where either Shifu would allow them or if they just were a little bit too loud as children and as friends (like earlier, during the fight.)
As much as he wanted his disciplined students to stay like that even when they were together-alone, without their master around-Shifu himself even knew that sometimes it just wouldn't happen, and for that, he would allow them.
"Good evening, students." Shifu responded from the other side of the massive desk, greeting his students who bowed to him upon entry.
As they lined up before him, kneeling down to the massive desk and glancing up at their master's gaze, Shifu gave a slight flick of his ear in acknowledgement and continued laying out the scrolls for their class.
It truly was training at its finest, wasn't it?
After the classes were over and the students went into their chambers for the final time this evening, they all said their "good night's" to each other and went into their selective rooms. Unfortunately, some particular topic kept one particular student up all night.
Po, for one, shook his head in annoyance as a thought kept nagging on his brain…..
Tomorrow's the day before my master's birthday, and I don't even have anything planned! Po sighed. What kind of a student am I?
Po tossed and turned in the bed, eventually getting up and taking down a calendar from the wall and staring at it, thinking.
What should I do?
But, of course, Po thought the better of himself to ask his fellow friends in the morning, to see what their thoughts were and what they should do. They HAD to do something…it's their master's 80th birthday, and I mean-that's a pretty big deal. Po sighed, put away the calendar, and tried to rest back on his bed.
What would Master Shifu want? I mean, he's not one to usually say..
Po closed his eyes.
On the other hand, I suppose I have to get better at listening.
As time started to unravel itself to Po, he suddenly fell into a rather smooth sleep, but when he awoke it felt as if all the thoughts from the night had just blasted him in the head.
There was too much to do, and too little time….
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