"That's good! Keep it up, Alex!"
Another Thursday rolled around, meaning another Kung Fu class for Master Viper at the Jade Palace. As usual, the courtyard was filled with students, both guests and characters, all of which followed their teacher's instructions to hone their Kung Fu skills. Of all her students, the Master of Snake Style was paying the most attention to Alex, making sure he understood all the lessons. As usual, she started class by having him practice his breathing exercises before making him repeat the same Tai Chi moves she had shown him during his very first lesson.
"Pat the horse's mane, white crane retreat, brush knee push!" the Koopa exclaimed as he repeated the moves over and over again.
Viper watched him in action with a smile on her lips. He moved with a lot more confidence and fluidity than before, indicating that he kept practicing his moves outside of her class. He grew a little more every day, and she couldn't be prouder that one of her students adopted such an attitude.
Eventually, noon rolled around, meaning it was time for a lunch break. While the students all stopped and either went to eat with their friends or go chat with other students, Alex panted and wiped some sweat from his forehead, turning toward his teacher. "Did I do it right, Master?"
"You sure did, Alex," the snake confirmed with a nod. "I'm really proud of you for keeping your practice even outside here, Alex. You still have a long way to go, but you're making excellent progress. In fact, you know what? I think you're now ready to learn the next of the 24 Tai Chi moves."
"Really?!" Alex's tail started wagging left and right.
"Yes. I'll show you after lunch. For now, go grab something to drink and rest a bit."
The students all ate and chatted with each other, whilst Alex went to do so with Cappy, the two watching some funny videos on Alex's cellphone while eating. Throughout the break, Alex couldn't stop thinking about what Master Viper intended to teach him. As such, he actually went back to her sooner than the others, even if the lunch break wasn't over. "So? What are the moves, Master?" he asked, already in his Tai Chi stance.
"The first one is called 'play the Lute'. It's a bit difficult for me to show it because... Well, I don't have any limbs. So I'll try to explain it as well as I can: keep your right leg straight and push your left one forward, like you're trying to touch something with your feet, keeping it merely above the ground. Then, hold your hands forward like you're holding a lute."
Alex did his best to follow the snake's instructions. As with his basic Tai Chi stance, she had to slither on his body to make sure every part was correctly positioned (and he once again blushed). The first Tai Chi position had been difficult for him to get the hang of, but at least, he never lost his balance and fell on his rear end.
"What the shell?!" he exclaimed after falling for the third time and got back up. "This stance is hard to get right; I'm not used to keeping my balance on only one foot."
"You're gonna have to make progress in that regard; it's important to have a good balance, regardless of the martial art you're practicing," Master Viper informed him. "You'll need to be able to stay grounded on any of your feet if you stand on an unstable surface, like the Jade Tortoise, for example. Come on, keep trying - and be patient; it's not a race."
Trying to keep his impatience under control, Alex tried again and again to get the hang of the 'play the lute' stance, every time without success. Then, after about an hour, he actually managed to keep his position without falling - sure, he was still shaking a bit, but that was a start.
"Good. From this position, you'll be able to perform the next movement," Master Viper said upon noticing her student. "This one is called 'repulse the monkey'."
"'Repulse the monkey'? Is it the move girls use when Master Monkey asks them out?" Alex asked with a chuckle.
The Master of Snake Style actually giggled at this, covering her mouth with her tail. "Good one." However, she quickly re-assumed her composure. "Moving on. To perform the 'repulse the monkey' move, simply step back on your other foot while pushing your back palm forward as if you were pushing against a wall. After this, you'll once again be in the 'play the lute' stance, but with your feet and arms exchanged. Make sure to keep your palms at shoulder level, your waist low, and perform it with fluidity."
Staying in the 'play the lute' stance was already difficult, but having to perform another move on top of it resulted in Alex falling on his rear end even more times than when he simply tried to get the hold of the starting point. After about fifty failed attempts, the Koopa's impatience reached its climatic point. "Aaaargh! That's not fair; I can't do it!"
"It's not a matter of fairness, Alex; it's about practice," Master Viper told her student. "It's perfectly normal that you don't get the hang of it right off the bat; it takes a lot of time and dedication to master Tai Chi." Despite these encouraging words, Alex did not seem calmed for more. She sighed and placed the tip of her tail on his shoulder. "Look, I think you've learned enough for today. Why don't you practice your breathing for the rest of the class? After that, we'll go eat something at Mr. Ping's."
If she wanted to instantly cheer her student up, it worked. Alex immediately jumped back to his feet with a smile and did as he was told without complaining a single time. How long had he been dreaming of actually getting to eat at Mr. Ping's restaurant! Not really clear how Master Viper could get them a place at the busy restaurant, but being a good friend of Mr. Ping, maybe she had secret means.
Before long, the class came to a conclusion. The students all packed their things and began heading home, while Alex and Cappy followed Master Viper down the hundred steps. "I really don't know how you guys can just go up and down those steps all the time without complaining. Well, must be easy for Crane, since he can fly, but not for the rest of your group."
"You get used to it with time," the snake replied. "Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Mantis and I had a hard time dealing with these when we started, but it quickly became part of our routine. Though, if I am to be frank, Po is still having trouble with them, even after all those years training with us. I guess that's why he moved to Panda Village for a time."
"I haven't seen Paws of Destiny or The Dragon Knight, so I can't really share my opinion. However, I'm glad Po is back here, in the Valley of Peace." Alex then realized an important detail. "Say, Master, is it true that Po has given up his Dragon Warrior title and will try to find a successor soon?"
"I'm afraid it is the case," Viper confirmed with a nod. "As Master Oogway's successor, Po no longer has the time to fulfill his duties as the Dragon Warrior, so he's gonna have to find someone to replace him. I heard rumors it might be a young fox girl named Zhen." She took on a somewhat sad expression. "Unfortunately, it's not everything. The Five and I are also starting to get a bit old for our role as defenders of the Valley of Peace. As such, we may need to look for people to take our place in the near future, too."
Alex stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widened to their limit. "What?! But you guys can't leave! You're Po and the Furious Five! It'd be like Shrek without Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and everybody else!" he exclaimed, not wanting to see his childhood heroes go away.
"I understand, but things change. It's still not confirmed, though," Viper assured, trying to appease her student. "Speaking of which, how many days of vacation do you have left in the Epic Universe?"
"Only six. This is my last time training with you, I'm afraid," Alex replied, looking even sadder than when his teacher announced her potential retirement alongside her friends.
"Oh, that's too bad. I'll miss teaching you," Viper said. She placed the tip of her tail on his arm and gave him a little smile. "In that case, let's make this last day as special as possible. You can command anything you want at Mr. Ping's; I'll pay for it. And I'll also come to see you on the day of your departure, okay?"
"Thanks, Master!" Alex beamed, recovering a little joy.
They made it to the bottom of the steps and headed to Mr. Ping's noodle shop. For some reason, a crowd was gathered at the entrance, cries of distress coming from the inside. Exchanging a glance, Alex, Cappy and Master Viper rushed in the restaurant to see every table flipped around and Mr. Ping in a state of panic.
"Mr. Ping, what's wrong? What happened here?" Viper asked.
"Oh, Master Viper, am I glad to see you!" the goose exclaimed in relief. "It's horrible! Fung and his band came out of nowhere, flipped the furniture around and stole my economies and half my ingredients! It was nice to see Gahri again, but I'm ruined! You've gotta help me!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Ping, we got this!" Viper assured. "Where did they go?"
"They left in the direction of the bamboo forest, not so long ago! If you leave now, you may be able to catch up to them!" Mr. Ping replied.
With a nod, the Master of Snake Style turned toward her companions. "Alex, Cappy, for our last day together, we'll get to accomplish a mission! Let's go after Fung's gang and save Mr. Ping's shop!"
"YEAH!" Alex and Cappy beamed in unison. But the floating hat then realized something: "Wait, who's Fung?"
The group of heroes left the village and ran straight to the bamboo forest just outside. They followed the main road through the dense forest until their target finally came into view. A group of crocodiles straight ahead, six of them, all carrying spears - safe for the leader, who had a helmet and a battle axe - alongside bags probably containing Mr. Ping's belongings.
"Fung! Stay where you are right now!" Master Viper yelled.
The crocs all froze and turned toward their followers. "What the...?! What are you guys doing here?! I thought the Five were all absent from the Valley today!" the leader exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah, I may have forgotten that Master Viper is giving open lessons on Thursdays," one of the croc goons nervously admitted.
"Darn it, Gahri!" the leader exclaimed, throwing his helmet on the ground.
"Drop everything you've stolen and leave the village, Fung!" Maser Viper ordered.
"No way, little snake! So much free money and food is too good to pass on! We'll just kick your butt and take our leave after!" Fung declared, putting his helmet back on and raising his axe. "Get them, boys!"
With the enemies coming, Master Viper slithered amongst them, using her skinny body to dodge their attacks and land strikes of her own. She wrapped her body around Fung's arms, using him as a puppet to fight off the other crocs. Alex and Cappy, meanwhile, were caught with the bandit named Gahri. The Koopa took a deep breath and then assumed his Tai Chi stance. "This is the perfect time to use what Master Viper has taught me so far," he mumbled.
Gahri attempted to injure Alex with his spear, to which the young man responded by taking steps back and deviating the weapon with his 'pat the horse's mane' move. At one point, he deviated the spear far enough to counter with a 'brush knee push' straight to the croc's chest...but he didn't move.
"... I didn't feel that, little guy," Ghari pointed out.
"Yeah, sorry about that; it's my first time using Tai Chi in combat," Alex apologized.
"Oh? You're not a super strong Kung Fu master like Po? Okay, I'll try to be gentle with you, then. Not too much, though, I'm still a bandit."
Alex rolled back to avoid a punch from the croc and grabbed Cappy in his hand. "Alright, Cappy, it's your time to shine! Ready?"
"Born ready!" the talking hat confirmed with a nod. When Gahri came up too close, Alex launched his friend for a circular, boomerang-like throw that made him trip and fall flat on his face. He waited for Cappy to return to his hand before throwing him ahead once more and using him as a platform to jump high into the air.
"Watch out, here comes the shell!" Alex yelled before retreating into his shell and letting gravity do its job; he crashed on Ghari at full force, knocking him unconscious. "Hooray! We defeated a bandit by ourselves!" the young Koopa beamed, exchanging a high-five with Cappy.
"And right on time," this last one added, pointing at Master Viper, who had just finished defeating the crocs, choking Fung until he passed out.
"That was the last of them," the Master of Snake Style nodded before turning to her student. "And you took care of Ghari. Good job, Alex."
"Hey, I helped, too, y'know," Cappy pointed out with a glare.
"Now, all we have to do is bring all of this back to Mr. Ping," she added, looking at the bags of money and ingredients. "Problem is that we're running a bit low on hands."
"Good thing I've brought this, then." Alex pulled a Super Mushroom out of his backpack and consumed it to gain in size and force. He picked many of the bags, ready to carry them, and left the rest to his two friends. "Let's go!"
After bringing him his belongings back, Mr. Ping could not stop thanking the group of heroes. He insisted on giving them a good meal before opening his restaurant to the public again - Alex, Cappy and Viper helped the elder goose putting everything back in order, of course.
"Alright, the moment of truth has finally come," Alex mumbled, watching the noodle bowl before him. "All my life, I have wondered what the Secret Ingredient noodle Soup tastes like. Time to find out if it's as good as I dreamed it to be..." He closed his eyes, pulled the food in his mouth...only to widen them to their absolute limit. "This...is...THE BEST SOUP I'VE EVER EATEN!" he cheered and began slurping on his soup with his usual enthusiasm.
"Looks like you got yourself a new fan, Mr. Ping," Master Viper mumbled to the goose, the two of them sharing an amused chuckle.
"It's pretty great, alright," Cappy agreed, munching on his own noodles. "I don't know what secret ingredient you've put into his, Mr. Ping, but it's working wonders!"
"Sorry if I didn't serve you as quickly as usual; my age is starting to catch up to me," Mr. Ping said, cracking his back. "To be honest, it's getting harder by the days to run the shop on my own all the time. Would be good if someone could take Po's place and help me around."
As the elder goose returned to the kitchen, Master Viper raised her cup of tea. "A toast to our last day together. It was fun having you as my student, Alex, for as short a time as it was."
"Yeah, a toast to that," Alex agreed, also raising his cup. "Even if our time together was short, I enjoyed every second of it! And I promise to keep up my Tai Chi training when I'm back to the Real World. But for now...LET'S ENJOY THIS AWESOME FOOD!" He began devouring his soup again, making his two friends laugh once more.
Author's note: What's that? Another chapter so soon after the previous one? Well, that would be because my cegep had the kindness of granting us a week of vacation! Well, vacation is a big word; I still have homework to do. But that still gives me enough free time to focus on this story!
Alex is slowly but surely making progress with his Tai Chi/Kung Fu training. Impatience is still his biggest enemy here. It's in this chapter that he got to put his training to use, since all of his former fights saw him either throwing his backpack or use Super Mario power ups. Fung and his crocodile bandit gang are from the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness TV show. I thought they would make for an excellent first martial arts battle for Alex. That being said, I feel like it's gonna take him a while to learn all 24 Tai Chi moves. If you guys have any knowledge when it comes to Tai Chi, feel free to share it with me.
Next time: A little trip gone wrong to Skull Island...
