Chapter XIII: Family Reunion
25th Cycle, Water-Type Month, 1191 AAD
Chi Shan, Gongsun Prefecture
The snow blanket riding the crest of her mountain twinkled a jade white. The stony surface of the mountain itself soaked in the pale oranges of the sunrise sky, becoming a wall of bronze. Near the crest, a black temple sat. Inside was the High Priestess, as well as Kuang, the Guide to Kunlun. From the temple descended a flowing tapestry of zig-zagging steps, each odd-numbered step bearing a line of classical poetry. Falling just as freely down the mountain were the graveler. A noise of smacking, cracking boulders boomed as chunks fell off the rock-ground types, and a similar noise emanating from the many larvitars' jaws as they chewed up the holy rocks.
Sunrays warmed up PW's furry neck. Strolling winds played with his whiskers and his sense of balance. No matter. The mienfoo stood at the entrance to the staircase, where a duo of stone absol stood firm at either side of a shinto gate. At the stone absols' feet were basins of snow taken directly from the mountain top. The sun warmed up these metal containers, melting the snow, and allowing PW to wash his body before marching towards the holy temple. If at any point he struggled on the climb up, a simple sign hanging from the gate gave modest suggestions on what to do. Tall, sturdy railings escorted the staircase. He should not fall. Modest gazebos allowed him to rest every so often. He should not tire. If these two things were not enough, then the sign reminded him that not all clouds above this mountain were made of vapor. Some had beaks and brains. If he shouted, an altaria would chauffeur him, though they would not allow this kindness to be abused.
PW looked at the clouds. The climb was about two thousand meters. The gongs of his temple rung strongly in his head. If it took one thousand or ten thousand steps to reach the mienshao, he would walk them proudly. To ignore the last bastion of his people was unacceptable.
...
The boy fumbled up the last step. Standing on shaky feet, he slammed his hand onto the mountainside to his left. Chi Shan's steps were brutal, but he had made it. Her front door stood twelve arm lengths ahead. Stumbling forth, he knocked thrice on the door, preemptively lowering his head in respect.
"High Priestess, the Sweeper of Renqu visits. This unworthy fellow wants to talk!"
His own echoes mocked him for a time. His mind wandered to his mother, Penny. He wondered what she might think if she found him here, seeking another mienshao, and speaking in a strange manner. Suddenly, his ears picked up a scraping of metal against wood, then a jiggling of a door handle. A grandmaster from his temple's scroll paintings came to life.
Chi Wu lived a perfect life for her specie. Though she became old enough that her aged whiskers dangled just above the ground, not a dull hair laid on her pelt. Her mind ignored the trifles of age, remaining calm and sharp. The talismans stitched into her deep red robes warded off spirits. She wore thick gold cloths around her wrists and ankles, around which were tied ruby robes holding her sooth bells. The ropes and braces bore the immense forces her dances put her joints through, protecting her from long term pains. The bells were cast from solid gold, as gold was the best conductor of soul power. Altogether, her lively body and deathly clothing worked in perfect complement, smoothly transitioning the newly dead between the mortal realm and the afterlife.
"Good morning! He...I...PW cannot express how glad he is to finally reach you!" He dramatically tilted his body so he could look around her. The temple was empty. "Where is your helper?"
Chi Wu rubbed the crust out her eyes, her bells uttering a low hum as she did. "My residency rests its eyes," her voice dragging from exhaustion as well. "Do recall what he had been told earlier: every of my waking moments are on a schedule." Her eyes locked onto a particular spot in space, widening. "I've been outsmarted! Tell me, Mister 'Shao Pin Wei', what are they putting your intelligence to?"
He tip-tapped on his toes and smiled. "Ama?" She shook her head. He moped. "Then who named me?"
"The Empress. She published it in the papers." She tapped her fingers together, a habit of hers when thinking. "You are Chinese, right?"
"Taiwanese."
"Why'd you need Chinese name?"
He narrowed his eyes. The tall mienshao, concerned, knelt down. She read his aura by touching his head. "What's the matter?"
He ducked his chin. "I don't know."
"Lying." Her tone was not aggressive but certainly not pleased either. PW clenched his fist. His aura followed suit and hardened into a wall. In return, the priestess dug her thumb into the soft flesh under his jaw, as well as tugging his lower lip down with her index finger. "You must have such pretty pearlies in here," referring to his mouth. "Please, will you give me your name?"
"I am unworthy of it."
"What the hell is your name?!" She shouted.
"PW!"
Her fingers crawled into his mouth and grabbed his tongue. They had a bitter taste of wood and keratin. "Please, my child, keep your tongue and the pretty fangs in your mouth. Tell me your name."
PW looked long into his heart. To him, the name Shao did not just describe himself or his evolution, it encompassed hundreds of years of art, achievement, and culture. It described his family for dozens of generations backward, as well as being the surname of his best friend. The boy went silent. The High Priestess flicked his saliva away and shrieked.
- Battle! PW vs The High Priestess –
PW at once rolled backwards to gain distance between him and his unfortunate opponent. The mienshao heard him and lashed out her whip like a long sweeping chain. Recalling his battles with Augustine, PW hopped over it. He threw himself into kowtow. "Wise one! I surrender!"
The nature of kowtowing offered one's neck to a person of superior strength and power. She jerked him up by his scruff and made her way towards the mountain's edge. PW screamed. "Spare me, I wasn't thinking! Forgive my inferiority! Chi Wu! Please, please let me go!"
Struggling out of her grasp was impossible. PW watched her feet roam across the crumbling rocks as Chi Wu cautiously neared the edge. When there was no longer ground beneath her toenails, Chi Wu held him out like the arm of a crane. PW's entire body dangled above a slide of sharp, jagged rocks. Her voice violently propelled from her diaphragm as if to chastise God himself. "First lesson! "Do not ever allow anyone to break you! Do you hear me!?"
"Yes ma'am!" Ironically, PW utterly failed to hold himself together. He leaked tears and urine down the lethal drop.
"Young man, you have strong muscles and sharp fangs, but you are so spiritually poisoned, you'll let a blind old woman murder you! Tell me your name!"
"Shao Pin Wei!"
"Scream the first part!"
"Shao!"
"Are you Shaolin!?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Who is your master?" She demanded.
"Sun Chenjiu, D-Dancing Weasel Temple!"
"It is not Mauvelyn!"
"Please stop!"
"Repeat what I said!"
"Mauvelyn isn't my master!"
"What are you?!"
"Shaolin!"
"Then quit being a coward!"
She dropped him onto the ground. Pin Wei curled into the fetal position and shook. She paced in a circle around him, her bells jangling, her hands behind her back. "Until you leave, I am your master! My name is Shao Chi Wu! We are the same blood. Hell, I'd say we might be related if I weren't so disgusted by the thought! You are a coward! Again, you are a coward! I will help you! Is that understood?"
He bowed completely. "Yes, sifu!"
Chi Wu retrieved something from her temple. She then chewed a chesto berry and fed him one of his own. Ordering him to wipe his tears and face her, she smirked, pulling at a whisker. "Everyone visits me when their aura is askew. What bothers you?"
"You don't happen to have a boat that won't sink in the ocean, would you?" He asked. She shook her head. He sighed. " I want to know what is wrong with me—"
"How could you?"
He reeled back. "No! Not again!"
She lifted her paw in a way to tell him to be at ease. Her hands then performed the dance of delicate flower petals in the wind. "Your aura," shutting her eyes tightly, and her tone lingering towards concern, "explain how you see it."
Pin Wei stumbled with his mouth. Nothing he could ever say would be worthy of her ears. At best, his poor explanation would drag her closer to death because of how frustratingly incomplete it would be. Yet, the mienshao stood idly, imploring him to try with her soft almost-gaze and soothing bells.
"I don't know," he sighed, shoulders stiff. "I...I feel like wax paper covers my face and my ears. I try to pay lots of attention but it blocks my senses so I miss lots of things. Everyone else has no paper on their face. They expect me to be perfect like them."
He looked at her face, soon stumbling backward. A steady blue light leaked from her shut eyelids. "Come sit with me."
Her temple held just two rooms: one for each level. The first level housed a combination prayer and parlour room. Generally shaped like an 'L' facing the other direction, the floor plan did not allow for much. Dusty, creaky planks of wood made up the floor. Crooked prayer mats laid strewn about. Misaligned statues and tacky hanging scrolls decorated the walls. Various jars, cans, and pots of food laid stowed away in fire boxes. Along the rightmost wall were a series of circular windows; the sunlight warmed the room. The second level was the bedroom.
The mienshao beckoned him to a prayer mat laid beside a short dresser. They sat, legs under them, touching knees. "My apologies if things are out of place. Guide Kuang waits until the new moon to clean. Now, about your soul. Two people dance where one should."
"Yeah its why I'm broken."
"Not necessarily."
"You dangled me off a cliff, so I think-"
"If you are just going to listen to yourself then don't waste my time! You're soul is too 'wide'," she motioned. "Every sight, sound, and thought-they have too much room to play. This is why you are twitchy! This is why you worry too much! Though it is not as if a houndoom bit you! Quit making a banquet out of yourself before a ghost shows!"
Pin Wei bowed out of habit, not respect. There were some words he had for her, and she probably sensed them, but he kept them to himself. "How do we fix me?"
The mienshao giggled. Pin Wei threw his hands up to his face and groaned. She snapped up his wrists and forced them back into his lap. "Quit it," clearing her throat. "There is no 'fixing' to do."
"Tell that to my mother all the times she yelled at me!" He shouted.
She grabbed his shoulder. "Why do you show your anger to me? I didn't call you worthless."
His head shot up, pupils quivering. The clever priestess opened a drawer near her and pulled an item from it. Chi held small tarot-style cards: one of a solrock and one of a lunatone. "Do you understand the idea of The Two Spirits, The Two Stars, and The Forbidden Meteor?"
"Somewhat...," still cautious. A part of him felt suspicious of her aims. He did not understand why. "The people here believe some are born like the sun and some are like the moon. Sometimes they call me a 'sun'."
She nodded. "The Two Stars?"
"The Yellow Star and the Black Star...You do all know the moon is not a star, right?"
"Do you think you're smarter than me?"
"No ma'am."
"The suns are vibrant people. The moons are reserved. Now what about the Forbidden Meteor?"
"Apparently DuxDux demon is a deoxys possessed by a ghost."
"No pokemon from outer space, except His Most Exhausted, Shenlong, may ever enter this country! This includes the pokemon on my cards."
He titled his head. "What is your point?"
The mienshao snatched his nose and refused to let go. As she explained, Pin Wei's pain increased. "They believe The Two Spirits must align like The Two Stars! When they do, it unlocks our hidden power. It is expressed at favorable times, such as at death, when those with it turn to ghosts! Alignment, really, is prayer, training, and study all dedicated to unlocking this power. Tell me, Pin Wei, as a student of the Dancing Weasels, did you not pray and train and study?!"
"I did! I did!" He cried. Chi finally let him go. He soothed his pained nose by mushing it with his palm.
Chi rose her voice, speaking with complete authority. "This impudent and rude child before me is eager to dismiss his own kind's best advice! He thought I filled his ears with straw, " meaning to talk uselessly, "but now he sees the 'point'! The path to Shenlong is ingrained into our aura! If you follow God's way, then you are His child! It enrages me how you act. He breathed his soul into you, He gave you a healthy mind and body, and all I hear is a feverish attempt to defile yourself!"
"You don't make sense."
He stared. Chi Wu snarled silently. Her fist was in a shivering claw, but she did not use it. PW's stubbornness was too tough to tenderize with beatings. A sudden 'thunk' echoed in the silent room as Chi Wu shoved the cards away in the drawer. The priestess straightened her long spine and waited patiently for Pin Wei to think. He swayed gently back to forth, respectfully lacing his fingers. Years of criticism made him cautious of praise. When praise came, punishment followed. Of course no single sentence could undo his spiritual damage. Chi Wu knew this. But like a door, his mind needed to open to positive virtues. As Pin Wei reflected on what she had told her, he felt remorse for his impatience. He had been a recluse with bitter memories for roommates. Now though, the blinds in his windows opened to other opinions.
"Elder?"
"What?"
"Up north, where I live, there aren't nice priestesses like you."
She thought aloud, sighing. "Every of us holy workers used to write volumes about our learnings. Now our art is forgotten too... For the new generation's sake, your sake, listen, and learn why that may be. By your being here, you must know that our ancestors sailed right where these lands lay around a thousand years ago,"
"Eleven-thousand, one-hundred ninety-one years ago?"
"Our calendar is one of the few things they did not molest."
"I know what happened twenty years ago, too," becoming forlorn. "I'm looking at the last Shaolin priestess there will ever be."
She smiled warmly. "The Fire Pot is populated by us Shaolin-we fought up a truce on that land, but unfortunately the terms were our species' complete extermination. As the name suggests, it is home to pokemon very separate from here. The samurai will take you there soon. You might see an old...acquaintance…with a book very close to me. If you happen by that book, have her read as much of it as you can!"
"I'll do one better and give it back, sifu!"
"If she never gave it to me, she will never give it to you."
Pin Wei clapped his hands lightly. His mind raced once again. "What is the book called? Who are they!?"
She hushed him. "Pin Wei, yuanfen has brought you here. It will lead you to that book!"
"Could you get me a kitchen, Chi Wu?"
Her tail flicked. "Forgive me, but what is the relevance?!"
"I'll honour you with my world-famous mooncakes!"
Chi snickered. "Why not a restaurant?"
"Would you really get one for me!?"
Chi's brow lifted. She intended to suggest that Pin Wei just purchase food rather than waste his time on her. "I'll humour you, strange boy. If you ever come back, a restaurant will be waiting. In exchange, you will become familiar with my student. She stands on a tall pedestal," meaning of high standing. "Her name is Kuang. Come back five cycles from now."
"Elder? Do you mean five days? Like the first of next month?" She nodded to both. "It is called March where I am from. You want to meet on the first of March?"
"If your March and my Rock-Type Month are the same, then yes, at midday! Understood?"
"Yes, elder!"
"Good, now wash that piss smell off!" The High Priestess scooted backwards. She leaned forward and pressed her hands on the rug. "You are dismissed."
Pin Wei reached for her paw, clasping and shaking it. "Thank you! May your starts shine, Chi Wu!" Shortly after Pin Wei left, Kuang came downstairs. She greeted Chi by rubbing against her side. The mienshao returned the favour by petting her ear.
"I saw what you did!" Kuang whispered hurriedly. "I thought you were murdering him-his screams made by blood freeze!"
"Those fools in his temple raised him soft! The Fire Pot will either correct or consume him."
"You need to work on your people skills!"
Chi Wu rolled her eyes. "Didn't I tell you to keep my pillow cold?"
"A message came. The Supreme Commander is reminding you about your meeting.'" She said.
"Where was it?"
"You were summoned to the Hall of Infinite Harmonious Pursuit…"
"Unyielding Ascent to Harmony."
"That was a shift ago."
"Why?"
"To put it kindly, the Supreme Commander needs to know more about the Underground."
She grumbled. "Thank you, student. And by the way, if you think someone innocent is being murdered, do you not think you should intervene?"
"We should really get going!"
"Coward."