3 chapters to go...
The burning red light of dawn stung Shifu's eyes. He hasn't a slept a wink the entire night. How could he?
With Oogway now gone, Tai Lung's reign on the rise, Tigress and the Furious Five running off last minute, and the red panda's only hope being thrusted onto a total nobody?
He needed a lot of meditating that night.
His ears twitched as he heard the sounds of the training hall being activated in the distance. He perked them up and was shocked with himself. He didn't expect his students to be up this early to start training. The looming threat of Tai Lung must have shaken them.
He got up from his sat position, a little drowsy from no sleep and staying in the same position for several hours, before balancing himself on Oogway's staff to move down the hill from the peach tree of Heavenly Wisdom.
He walks quite a distance to head to the Training Hall to greet his students, only to see no one training in sight.
Well... not exactly no one.
He still heard noise in the Training Hall, making him enter the hall and look from the sidelines, surprised with himself to see a certain panda bear dodging and hitting the wooden warriors that surrounded him.
Shifu's eyes widened. Was this the same panda that two days ago was fumbling and getting whacked around by the same wooden warriors?
Although the ursine was still getting some hits swung to his face, he took it like a champ and swung back, showing to actually have great persistence in attacks and stable defense.
Shifu darted his eyes to the side for a moment. He may have messed the boy up intentionally before but he didn't think he messed him up that much... was he really too harsh on him?
After looking back at lotus, he cleared his throat and finally spoke up, "Panda."
Lotus stopped one of the limbs from swinging at him, but didn't turn his head to look at the red panda behind him.
Seeing Lotus not move from his place stunned the red panda, but regardless, he plopped into the pit and approached the young man.
"How long have you been in here?"
Lotus shrugged. "Not sure. Entered the hall last night."
Shifu's eyes widened and his ears lifted in shock. 'Has he been here all night?' He thought to himself.
Thankfully the panda didn't see how perplexed the master truly was. "Your... attacks are quite sloppy and inconsistent but you're... actually quite competent in your kung fu... for a panda."
Lotus scoffed. He would have actually taken the compliment if it wasn't for the back-handed remark for his species being added.
"Something funny?" Shifu firmly asked, noticing the bitter chuckle Lotus produced.
"Yeah. It's funny how you make fun of me for being a panda when you're a red panda yourself," Lotus finally looked back with a smirk, though it wasn't as cocky so much as it was angry, "Aren't you?"
The red panda was visibly taken aback by this, "Not... many creatures are able to guess that."
"I studied a lot back at my village, which included species types," He crossed his arms and leaned his back against one of the wooden warriors. His face was scuffed, still slightly bruised from the days before, and his eyes were sunken in with heavy eyebags. It was clear he hadn't slept a wink either. "But something tells me you didn't expect 'someone like me' to actually know things, or practice 'competent kung fu'."
Shifu's eyebrows curled and he bit his tongue. Oogway wanted Shifu to play nice and 'believe', and so he is going to honour his mentor's wishes. He took a deep breath and put on the fakest, most malicious smile known to animal kind, "I believe you and I got off on the wrong foot, panda.. but now we must put these past two days behind us and... look forward. You see, Tai Lung is on the rise and—"
"Yeah, Tigress told me about that. Not cool to keep that from everyone, by the way."
His smile instantly fell at the smart panda's reply. He clenched his hand and started to glare. "I don't like these judgmental comments coming from you, panda."
Lotus scoffed again, "You wanna talk about being judgmental!? You took one look at me and already assumed and decided that I didn't know anything about kung fu!"
"It doesn't matter what I assumed by the end of it all! If Oogway chose you as our savior and Dragon Warrior, then you shall be the Dragon Warrior!"
"Oh, so now you want to actually take me seriously!? Last I checked, from the moment I got to the Jade Palace, you said that I wasn't and will never be the Dragon Warrior! That I was going to wish Oogway hadn't chose me! Well you got what you want, Master Shifu. I'm not the Dragon Warrior!"
"My patience has reached it's end with you, panda!" Shifu stomped down Oogway's staff, "I've already faced enough lectures from my students recently, I don't need another from some... some...!" He hesitated.
"'Some' what, Shifu? Some 'big, fat, nobody panda'? Some 'commoner'? You know what your problem is?" Lotus pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Oh please, enlighten me, panda." The master rolled his eyes.
"Stop! Just... just stop... calling me panda. I'm Lotus Shan. My name is Lotus! And see, right there? That's your problem! You treat your students like... replacements for whatever empty hole you have filled in there, and that's all you see us as. Heck, you don't even bother calling us by our actual names! I highly doubt that Masters Monkey and Crane were their actual names before they came to the Jade Palace." Lotus pointed out.
"How dare you!?" Shifu bit back, "How dare you assume any kind of relationship I have with my students when you don't know anything about us!?Who in the Mortal Realm do you think you are!?"
"I know I'm not an idiot to see that there's no relationship to even assume! And you know how I know more than you think? I see it on your daughter's face every time I look at you two—"
"ENOUGH!"
Lotus was flung back onto the ground by the swing of Oogway's staff.
"YOU THINK YOU KNOW SO MUCH!? YOU THINK I'M SUCH A BAD TEACHER?A BAD FATHER!?THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU QUIT!? YOU KNEW I WAS TRYING TO GET RID OF YOU, YET YOU STAYED."
"Yeah, I stayed..." The panda panted, "For Tigress."
Shifu's expression eased as the bear slowly got up to his feet. "I knew exactly how Tigress felt. Feeling trapped in my own home, everything I do just not being enough for my father... feeling like a shell of my true self thanks to the projection of my own father's pain. But... Tigress was the first person that came to understand me. To believe in me. She looked out for me, and stood for my honour, even when my own blood and kind couldn't."
Shifu started to look to the ground, letting his words sink in as Lotus continued. "So every time you threw a brick at my head, or said I smelled... it hurt. A lot. You attacked my entire being and you didn't even know me. But I just knew... that I was only getting a portion of the kind of hurt Tigress would get, every. Single. Day. Throughout her entire life. Hell, when I met her, she didn't even know what a hug was! She had every right to turn out just as Tai Lung did... or worse."
The tiny master whipped his head up, the look of horror painting his face. He finally struck a chord.
"But she didn't. And how admirable is that? That through that tough exterior and hardcore attitude, she still holds compassion, care... gentleness," Lotus smiled softly at this, a look Shifu obviously noticed. "How selfless is that...? How long she probably wanted to be understood, believed in, looked out for... and yet she still gave me that. She still smiles at me even though I mess up like, all the time..." He chuckled sadly, running his paws through his face.
"So honestly, at this point, I don't care what you or any of your students think of me! The only reason I'm still here is to stand by her. Dragon Warrior or not."
With all that needed to be said leaving his chest, Lotus took a deep breath and looked down at the red panda before finally leaving the training hall.
Shifu's grip on the tortoise' old staff shook as he tried to desperately hold himself together. Even in the silence of his own isolation, he wouldn't let himself ever cry. Not since...
He pinched the corner of his eyes and sighed, frustrated with himself. He can't keep going on like this just because of his mistakes in the past.
"I really need to fix things."
The once silent noodle restaurant the panda was accustomed to was now buzzling with life. Families, couples and friends of all kinds of animals in the valley sat together to simultaneously enjoy the same meals prepared by the notorious goose himself.
Lotus smiled to himself at the sight. It kind of reminded him of the daily dinners at the village square back home. It definitely helped comfort him.
He tilted his head curiously at the racing Mr. Ping running around the shop making sure to attend to everyone. He did so with such professionalism but Lotus couldn't help but wonder what kind of burdens the poor bird was carrying.
Silently, he walked between the tables (that are now strangely more spaced out for him to fit through without issue) and almost bumped into Mr. Ping with how fast the goose was moving.
Holding a tray, Mr. Ping jumped back after seeing the towering figure with a quack, quickly adjusting his hat in the process, "Oh Lotus, my boy! Come for another taste of my Secret Ingredient Soup? I have a bit of a full house but I'm sure I can squeeze you in—"
"Actually," Lotus piped in, "I was hoping I could... provide another service to you, Mr. Ping."
"P-p-pardon?" The avian asked, obviously perplexed and confused.
"Give me an apron," Lotus smirked in determination, "And I'll help you wait the tables."
"What!?" Mr. Ping quacked, "My dear boy, I simply can't ask that of you!"
"Well it's a good thing you're not asking." The panda beamed, "Think of it as me repaying you for repaying me. Besides... you seem to have your wings full. Now I don't have much restaurant experience but I do know a thing or two about feeding a lot of animals, at least enough to carry some weight off your plate." He took the tray away from the stunned bird.
Once Mr. Ping had come to his senses, his eyes teared up and his beak managed to pull a sincere smile through his blubbering. No one, in his twenty-five years of running a restaurant by himself, has ever offered to help him before. He jumped on the panda's belly, making it jiggle as he wrapped his wings the best he could around him in a brief hug. This gesture obviously surprised Lotus, darting his eyes to the side, unsure of how to react.
Before he could say anything, the bird jumped right back off his belly before rushing into the kitchen, "Oh, happy day!"
After a few seconds of rummaging and loud, concerning crashes, the bird ran back out into the open and presented a make-shift apron for the panda. "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment!"
"Uh—" Lotus murmured before Mr. Ping whisked around his body and wrapped the apron over his green robe, his voice scattering as he did, "The plates on your tray are for tables two, five, seven and twelve."
"Two, five, seven, ten—gah, tweleven! Wait—" The panda stuttered before the bird whisked around him again to face him.
"Now remember, service with a smile!" He pointed his feathers to the corner of his beak to show off his charming smile before his head darted back into the kitchen, "Oh dear! My dumplings!"
Lotus loved Mr. Ping's energy but he would be lying if he didn't say it wasn't intimidating.
"Hey, over here!" One of the customers called, snapping the ursine into focus. "C-coming!" He called back and got to work.
Shifu walked amongst the streets of the city to find his supposed Dragon Warrior and student. He was already left clueless as to where his other students have run off to, he didn't want to lose his only hope. His eyes traced the streets, but what was once a mission to find his student turned to intense observation between all of the villagers.
Specifically the parents and how they interact with their children.
On one bench, he could see a large family of pigs sitting there, the younger piglets running amuck as the eldest child and the father kept them in check. The mother was out like a light, obviously exhausted from taking care of her seven children as well as the baby in her arms. The father pat the head of the eldest piglet and smiled in appreciation at him.
Shifu looked off to the other side of the street and saw a goose dad and a little goose girl playing a simple game of kickball. But whenever the father would kick the ball towards his daughter, she would miss the ball completely and fall on her back. She sniffled, threatened to cry in humiliation before the father quickly tended to her. The red panda tilted his head, observing how the father gently wiped the tears from the little girl's eyes before demonstrating a foot technique meant to successfully kick the ball. Once she tried it, she managed to kick the ball quite the distance, making her squeal in happiness as her father raised her up and twirled her around in pride.
His ears faltered at this, before looking forward and quickly ducking out of the way once he saw a bunny mom and dad swinging their son and daughter about as they walked, making them giggle in happiness.
His brows furrowed upwards in sadness, his head meeting the ground in guilt. Just then, his ears perked at the sound of cheering in an open restaurant just up ahead. He quickly recognised the place and limped towards it.
He poked his head into the entrance, his face sparking in awe as he watched an unforeseen sight unfold before him.
The fumbling panda whom he thought he knew, was prancing about and waiting tables. It should have been hilarious. It should have been ridiculous.
But it wasn't.
And that's what made Shifu so incredulous about the whole thing.
Lotus bounced and flipped off tables, flicking the plates around with ease as everyone cheered for him. Soon enough, more people gathered in the restaurant, making them stand on the sidelines as they were simply not enough tables for all of them.
The panda brought in an audience.
And he made sure to deliver too. The moment Mr. Ping would call for a new order served, Lotus would already be on top of delivering them by bouncing off walls and kicking them with care to the awaiting customers.
"That's our Dragon Warrior!? WOW! This guy's amazing!" A spotted-eye pig with bronze attire called out, seemingly to no one. But Shifu heard it well.
He looked back at the panda, who didn't seem as focused on the crowd as he was on having fun with the food, stood upside down on a table, balancing himself with one hand and balancing the tray of food on his food. He quickly spun on the table, making the bowls fly off the tray and land somehow perfectly in the laps of the customers associated with the orders. His finishing move. They all laughed, cheered and clapped in amazement.
He giggled as he flipped upright and bowed to everyone. He may have looked like a fool but he didn't care. He gave joy to others just by having fun. By being himself. He was in his element. And he couldn't ask for anything else.
Well... other than to have a certain tiger here to see him...
After standing upright and using his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his brow, he glanced to the entrance and caught the sight of the red panda standing right at the entrance.
Lotus' shoulders jerked up, his fear and embarrassment making him feel small again. He slowly got off the table and greeted the master with a respectful bow.
".. Welcome to Mr. Ping's Noodle Restaurant. We're—"
"I didn't know you could perform like that." Master Shifu cut in.
Lotus took a deep breath, mentally preparing for another insult or back-handed comment. "Yeah, I know, tell me how much I looked like a moron already."
"I wasn't going to say that."
The panda looked into the master's face, surprised to see true sincerity within it.
"...In fact, I—"
"Excuse me!" Mr. Ping suddenly cut in between Lotus and Shifu, interrupting what he was going to say, "Now unless you're going to order something from our menu, I suggest you lay off and not distract my favorite waiter!"
"Uh, I'm your only waiter, Mr. Ping." Lotus smiled.
"Only because you know how to do your job, son!" Mr. Ping beamed back.
Master Shifu watched the interaction between them with a small smile pulling at his lips. The banter reminded him of how he and Tai Lung used to act together when Tai Lung was still a cub but was able to handle complex conversation. It melted a part of him he thought would forever be frozen over.
He bowed in greetings to Mr. Ping, "Of course, Mr. Ping. I would like a bowl of vegetable soup as I talk with your finest waiter."
Lotus' eyes bulged at this comment. Did... Master Shifu just... compliment him!? It couldn't be.
Finally, the goose relented, huffing before going back to the kitchen to tend to Shifu's order, giving the silent 'go ahead'. Lotus smiled uneasily before he and the old master stood against the walls in the farthest corner.
Before he knew it, Shifu's order was done, making Lotus collect it from the kitchen counter and pass it over to the red panda.
He sipped the soup and hummed in satisfaction, "Mr. Ping's eatery is quite addicting."
"So I've heard..." Lotus mumbled, feeling awkward in their encounter and still feeling awkward from before.
A moment of torturous silence reigned between them. Shifu observed his surroundings to find anything to talk about.
"You seem to attract crowds a lot..." He pointed out, gesturing to the many people filling the restaurant.
Lotus snorted to himself. "For better or for worse."
Shifu hummed again before taking another sip. He then took a moment and looked down in his soup. "I did mean what I said, by the way. About you being the finest waiter. You have... impressive skill."
"Even... for a panda?" Lotus quirked up an eyebrow at the master, making him sigh in vain.
"... I see why you could have taken that as an insult." He admitted with a mutter.
The bear took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "I've never... been insulted like that before, you know. I mean... I've been ridiculed for a lot of other things but... never my appearance or species. I'veneverbeen ashamed of that. My home may have it's fair share of problems but I'm... I'mproudknowing what my kind has been through. And no one can take that away from me."
Shifu nodded. "I can understand that... it was..." He hesitated, "It was wrong of me to try exactly that."
Lotus smiled, but it quickly disappeared once he looked down at his belly.
No one can take away his pride for his species, but dammit they can come pretty close to doing it. He gripped his fat and felt his ears pinned down subconsciously.
"Master Shifu, answer me one thing honestly."
Shifu turned towards the panda. "I think I owe you that. What is it?"
Lotus opened his mouth, but stopped himself from speaking before he could find the proper words for his query.
"Even if... Tai Lung takes, say... a hundred years to get here... how are you going to turn me into the Dragon Warrior?"
Shifu frowned, looking into his rippling reflection through the soup. "I don't know."
Lotus sighed in defeat and slumped his head against the wall.
After a moment of thought, Shifu asked a question of his own. "How did... Tigress come to actually train you? You seemed to learn a lot from her." Lotus had to grin to himself at that comment.
"Oh, she hit a chord by training me with the motivation of food. It's pretty silly but I guess panda instincts just helped a lot with developing my skills. And of course we expanded on there. We also did some Thai Chi and meditation. The goal was essentially to connect me physically, mentally and spiritually as much as possible so that I could access my chi."
Shifu's face lit up, "chi?" He asked.
"Oh... yeah," The panda started to grow more meek after this sudden question, "Um... the pandas used to be known as chi masters. My mom, who was also... Oogway's student at one point, um... was the last user of chi in my village. She was actually the village hero because of this. I uh.. wanted to follow in her steps I guess? but also be who I am at the same time? It's a bit of a paradox, I guess. Probably why I haven't accessed my chi yet."
Slowly, Shifu turned back to his rippling, liquid reflection. He pointed down at it and tapped his finger on top of the soup, ceasing the rippling and showing his clear reflection.
The answer was clear.
Finally, he chugged down the soup and stood off the wall. "We must get started immediately."
Surprised at Shifu's sudden determination, he rises up in a panic. "Wait, what!? B-but, I gotta help Mr. Ping with his shop!"
"Mr. Ping!" Shifu exclaimed.
"Hmm?" The bird popped up from below the kitchen counter, before catching a small pouch with yuan that was shot across the room. Mr. Ping looked at the pouch and back at the grinning red panda.
"As much as I admire your finest waiter's work ethic, he also has a responsibility as the future Dragon Warrior. And I must prepare him for that immediately!"
The avian pouted, "Aww, and business just started booming, too." He mumbled before smiling at the nervous panda and dismissing them both with a wave of his wing.
Lotus grinned back as he took off his apron and Shifu started to move out, "Don't worry, Mr. Ping! I'll help out here as much as I can!"
"Oh I'll make sure of it. You're not getting rid of me that easily, my dear boy!" The goose smirked as Shifu and Lotus exist the restaurant.
Shifu paid close attention to how Lotus interacted with the curious villagers. He gave them all shy smiles and nice waves before seeing a ball roll against his feet.
The two pandas looked onward and it was then that Shifu realised it was the same little birdie from before, hiding behind her father's leg shyly.
He studied Lotus' face to spot any reactions, before the bear just genuinely smiled and gently kicked the ball towards them. "You kick good, kid." He called out to her.
She smiled behind her father before he gestured his head towards Lotus. She grabbed the ball as it rolled to her and smiled back, "T-thank you, sir!"
Lotus looked on longingly as the little girl grabbed her father and ran off to play again, making the father chuckle and wave to him. The bear giggled lightly and waved back before continuing to walk on with the red panda.
Shifu sighed with a weary smile on his face as a thought plagued his mind.
'Gods I hope you're right here, Oogway.'
The panda groaned and panted as they were taken not just up the thousand stairs, but even farther up into the mountains behind the Jade Palace.
It felt like they were moving for a million years, yet it only became sunset where they were currently at.
"Gah, ugh, I-I know you're trying to be all... mystical and kung fu-ey... but could you at least tell me where we're going? Gods, does this place not have a single constructed elevator?" He muttered the last part to himself as Shifu chuckled ahead of him.
By the time the two got to the top, Shifu was already meditating in front of a lake while Lotus limped and collapsed on the ground, feeling faint and weak already.
"Oh, finally! Water!" He crawled to the lake and scooped some in his paws, "I am so thirsty!"
Bemused, Shifu piped up. "Panda... we do not consume the waters of the Pool of Sacred Tears."
Shocked at the familiar place name, Lotus instantly spat out the water in horror.
Shifu finally opened his eyes and plopped down from the rock where he was meditating, "We don't spit it either."
"Y-you mean...?"
"Yes, this is where Oogway unraveled the mysteries of harmony and focus." Shifu plopped down from his rock and gestured around, "This.. is the birth place... of kung fu."
Lotus suddenly felt weak in the knees, and it wasn't because of the intense walk up here. He felt like he was on heavenly grounds. Hell, he probably was. He didn't know what to do or what to think, he didn't even feel worthy to stand. He clasped his chest and took in all the sights around him. The peaceful water that reflected yin and yang, the trees blowing gently in the breeze in the distance, the prideful mountains, the steady grass at his feet.
It all felt so surreal to him. He somehow felt... everything. He somehow felt...'Holy shit.'He thought, emphasising on the holy part.
Suddenly, his attention was brought to the tiny master as he joined his paws together before flowing them out in a circular motion. He brought his now open paws down to a closed up flower, focusing all his concentration on the flower. Finally, with some strain and struggle, his palms started to glow, sending his energy to the roots of the plant before it rose to it's closed petals. It finally blossomed to life, the flecks of gold still radiating off of it.
Lotus watched, awestruck by the beauty and power in front of him.
"That's..?"
Shifu nodded. "That's chi. That's your bloodline."
Lotus peered up at him with large, albeit a little frightened eyes.
"I was wrong to assume there wasn't much to your kind, forgetting one of the most important teachings I got from Master Oogway was descended from your species. You see, chi is energy that flows through all forms of life. It is life itself, therefore, we can all achieve in projecting it. But chi masters, pandas, are masters because chi is them. If chi was projected into a living animal, it would be a panda. Your kind is powerful, but humble. Your kind was created to be all that was good in the world. You learn to give your chi in a way that would help others. Heal them, protect them, guide them. And that needs to be retaught within you."
The panda gulped, looking down at another closed up flower. He took a deep breath and cupped his paws together the same way Shifu did. He finally flowed out his arms and twisted them in the same circular motion that he saw before opening his palms out towards the flower.
He tried so hard to concentrate on the flower. Tried so hard to be gentle. But he only felt hope in himself start to deuterate by the minute. Suddenly, he noticed a dimmed golden glow emerge in his paw pads before it quickly faded away. He frowned and looked at his new mentor, expecting disappointment, but instead was met with Shifu stroking his beard and thinking confidently with himself.
"Well, at least we're off to a good start."
"But... my palm barely glowed..?" Lotus pointed out.
"But it still glowed. Most people have trouble even accomplishing that the first time, believe it or not. I didn't even accomplish that the first time. Your chi is so strong it almost already had a break through. You're just not at whole with yourself yet... we'll work on that."
For the first time ever since knowing the red panda, he smiled in sincere pride at the panda. "Thankfully, we won't be starting from nothing. So let's get started."