Here's the next chapter, injoy.
Chapter 4: A Heroes dream.
It was a glorious sunrise stretching far over a barren landscape. The only thing disturbing the blanket of orange covering the ground was the Warrior, his identity hidden by a long, flowing robe and a wide brimmed hat. His only weapon? A plain staff and his own bodacious skills. As the Warrior took deep strides across the pier to the local tavern, a voice echoed through the air.
"Legend tells of a legendary warrior, whose Kung Fu skills were the stuff of legend." Said Po's voice as he started to narrate. "He travelled the land in search of worthy foes."
The Warrior peered towards the tavern; his eyes still obscured by the brim of his hat. He entered the hovel, only to be met with a thousand evil stares belonging to all manner of robbers, thieves and bandits. He sat at an open table, ordered some dumplings and began to eat silently.
The Warrior was suddenly accosted from all angles by bandits both large and small. A particularly foolhardy ox stepped forward.
"I see you like to chew. Perhaps you should chew on my FIST!" He exclaimed, as he slammed his clenched hoof onto the table.
"The Warrior said nothing for his mouth was full. Then he swallowed, and then he spoke." Says Po as he continued to narrate.
"Enough talk. Let's fight." The Warrior announced, "SHASHABOOEY!" Within the blink of an eye and in the blinding flash of golden light, the bandits were sent flying back by a single blow. Even more encroached from the left, but they too were no match for the Warrior's pure skill, as they were sent crashing through the tavern walls.
"He was so deadly in fact, that his enemies would go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness." Po says in a dramatic way.
The bandits fell to the floor, before they began to flail about blindly, their pupils had completely whitened over from the Warrior's prodigious display.
"MY EYES!" Yelled a ninja cat. "HE'S TOO AWESOME!" Shouted a alligator bandit.
The bystanders revealed themselves from their hiding places, their expressions of pure awe contrasting the terror experienced by the bandits.
"And attractive." A particularly smitten bunny added with the bat of her eyelids.
"How can we ever repay you?" Added another grateful bunny with a small bow.
The Warrior whipped round the face the onlookers, his cape billowing spectacularly, giving him an almost ethereal appearance. "There is no charge for awesomeness, or attractiveness."
His ears prickled, sensing the arrival of more interlopers. "KABLOOEY!" Without warning, the roof exploded outwards into a plume of bandits, which ballooned outwards to more than triple the size of the tavern. In the centre of the cloud of dark fur and silver blades.
The Warrior jumped between each foe and dispatched each of them with absurd ease. Every foe that he faced lead to another, using each bandit as an impromptu steppingstone to the next.
"It mattered not how many foes he faced. They were no match for his bodacity." The Warrior's attacks increased in both speed and intensity until he was nothing more than a white and black blur.
From the mountain range to the left, the feared wolf army leapt in unison towards the Warrior, whilst from the peaks on the right the terrifying cat legion pounced as one, their collective numbers blotted out the sun.
The two collective hordes merged together to form a giant effigy of their respective beasts; four arms of absurd size reached outwards towards the lone panda who simply hung in the air. Quicker than even the eye of a trained master could perceive, the warrior lashed out a lone paw, which burst into a fountain of light.
The wolf army was immediately deleted, and the Warrior landed back on the dock leading up to the tavern. He outstretched his arm to catch his falling staff, as his many enemies began to fall into the river around him, like droplets of rain.
"Never before had a panda been so feared… and so loved." Said Po as he continue to narrate.
The Warrior peered upwards towards the grand sight of the Jade Palace, a beacon of security for the citizens of the Valley of Peace, it sat imposingly atop the highest mountain in the region. In front of it's opulent gates stop five figures of differing species and sizes, though all were surrounded by a fiery aura.
"Even the most heroic heroes in all of China, the Furious Five, bowed in respect to the great master." Said Po narrating.
The Five plummeted from their elevated perch towards the land below, their speed so great that they cracked the sound barrier, right before the ground splintered upon their impact. They bowed in front of the Warrior, who in turn provided a curt nod of approval. They immediately closed ranks before striking a pose.
"We should hang out." Monkey suggested, their brooding expression not faltering despite the poor timing of his question.
"Agreed." The Warrior acknowledged before they turned in unison towards their next enemy. An army of bandits numbering in the thousands, no…tens of thousands.
"But hanging out would have to wait. Cause when you're facing the ten thousand demons of Demon Mountain." Narrated Po.
The newly formed team prepared themselves, as the warrior produced a glowing green sword from the sleeve of his robe, before sending out a mighty slash that cleaved through the heads of the enemy spears, allowing the kung fu masters to finally leap at the enemy.
"There's only one thing that matters. And that's-." Said Po before he was interrupted by his dad's voice.
"Po! Wake up!" Said Monkey with Mr. Ping's voice.
"You'll be late for work." Said Tigress with Mr. Ping's voice.
The Warrior froze in mid-air and quickly fell into a black pit. Po then awoke on the floor of his bedroom, his blanket strewn about and barely able to cover his significant size. It had all been a dream.
"Po! Are you there?" Came the unmistakeable voice of his father from downstairs.
Po just sighed in profound dissatisfaction as he took in the room around him. Plastered along nearly every inch of his walls were pieces of kung fu memorabilia, souvenirs and, of course, posters of celebrated masters both living and dead.
His improvised shuriken range had been gathering dust ever since his newfound malaise had begun to set in. Po allowed one final sigh before he attempted to flip himself to his feet. Attempted being the operative word as he flopped back down on his backside. He attempted again.
Then again. Then one final time, but alas, his belly was far too worthy a foe.
"Po, what are you doing up there?" Mr. Ping asking from down stairs as po's attempts must have caused more noise than he thought.
"Uh, nothing." Po responded sheepishly before swiftly hopping on to his feet and heading over to his windowsill to face his pride and joy. His limited edition Furious Five action figures that he made by hand.
"Hi-ya! Monkey! Mantis! Crane! Viper! Tigress!" Po called each one out and posed in sequence before growling at the figures, as if he were tigress and that the figures would somehow come to life.
Unfortunately in his stupor Po had completely missed the presence of the elderly, neighbouring pig watering her flowers. She stared at Po as if he had just committed murder, that or a war crime and was completely dumbfounded . Po laughed awkwardly.
He then ducked out of sight. "Po let's go, you're late for work!"Mr. Ping's voice sounded a final time now there was no room for argument in its tone.
"Coming!" Po yelled in response before picking a shuriken of the floor and throwing it at a target painted on his wall. It bounced off and he tried to get it to stick a few more times before eventually relenting and rushing downstairs.
In his haste, Po missed a step and was sent tumbling down the stairs before his face was harshly planted on the kitchen floor. Before he had a moment to gather himself, a panda shaped shadow loomed over him.
"Sorry Dad." Po mumbled into the floor of the kitchen.
"Sorry doesn't make the noodles." Said Mr. Ping as he poked his head out from behind a bear shaped mass of pots and pans.
Po immediately got to work in the kitchen, beginning to wash some vegetables, as his head made vicious contact with the support beam connected to the ceiling, that did not seem to accommodate someone of his stature.
"What were you doing up there making all that noise?" Mr. Ping asked placing the large stack of pans into the corner of the shop.
"Oh nothing just had a, crazy dream." Po responded."About what?" Asked Mr. Ping.
"Huh?"
"What were you dreaming about?" Mr. Ping asked again as he began to chop at some spring onions with practiced grace.
"What was I..uh, I was dreaming about…" Po stumbled for the correct words as he saw the expectant goose's expression. He couldn't bring himself to tell the truth and, impulsively, he looked at the bowl he was preparing to serve one of the customers, "Uh, noodles."
Mr. Ping stopped half-chop, before his small eyes began to widen in sudden surprise. "Noodles? You were really dreaming about noodles?"
"Uh, yeah, what else would I be dreaming about?" Po caught himself and ran with the lie, as he absentmindedly handed one of the patrons a bowl, a bowl that he just now realized, at the last minute, had his shuriken sitting inside. "Careful, that soup is, sharp!"
Mr Ping on the other hand couldn't seem to care less about the potential harm to his customers as he began to happily prance around the kitchen before rummaging through one of the lower draws and producing an apron and a noodle hat. "My son, finally having the noodle dream!" He tied the apron around Po's waist before handing him the hat. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this moment. This is a sign Po!"
"Uh, a sign of what?" Po asked sounding confused.
"That you're finally ready to learn the secret recipe of my secret noodle soup. And then you will fulfill your destiny and take over the restaurant." Said Mr. Ping with a happy smile.
Po just chuckled nervously. "Dad, it was just a dream."
"No, it was the dream. We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins." As Mr. Ping was talking to his son, he started to hand out orders to the customers without even looking at the recipients.
At that time he remembered what Izuku told him.
(Flash Back).
"If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you never give up on your dreams." He says with a smile.
(Flash Back Ends)
Po took a deep breath and spoke. "But Dad, didn't you ever want to do, I dunno, something else? Something besides noodles?" Po asked in an attempt to steer his father into a more amenable position.
"Well actually, when I was young and crazy, I once thought about running away from home and learning how to make tofu." Mr Ping reminisced as he began to chop through more vegetables.
"So why didn't you?" Po pressed, perhaps a little harder than he initially intended.
"Oh, because it was a stupid dream." Po cringed at the finality of the statement. "Can you imagine me making tofu?" The elderly noodle show owner chuckled at the thought before harshly throwing his knife into the chopping board. "NO!"
"We all have a place in this world. Mine is here. Yours is-."
"I know here." Po finished a wave of expectance rolling over him.
"No. It's at tables two, five, seven and twelve." Ping corrected him as he began to throw numerous filled soup bowls at his son, who moved quickly to intercept, precariously balancing them on his arms. He then walked up to his son an rearranged his pudgy face into an over-exaggerated grin. "Service with a smile!"
Po's forced expression lasted for only a second after his dad turned away. He allowed a sigh to escape him. He wished that he could tell his father the truth and follow Izuku's advice, but he didn't have the guts to tell him. He then heard a gong sounded over the valley. He turned upwards to face it's source: the Jade Palace, standing as an omnipresent beacon of security for the citizens. As he wonders what might be happening up there right now.
(Somewhere at the Jade Palace).
We see Oogway meditating underneath the peach tree of heavenly wisdom as his eyes then slowly open as a smiled.
"At last, the time has come." The old Turtle said as he gets up slowly and walks towards the Jade Palace.
(To Be Continued).
