//------------------------------// // 20. Emotional windy egress. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Jade Palace, gateway courtyard arena, Pom- I took a deep sip of tea and then exhaled. Shifu, the little red panda, was going to have the Furious Five spar with Po. At least Shifu was having them go against him one at a time instead of all at once, so he wasn’t a complete sadist. “What are you girls doing today?” I asked of my friends as Po pensively looked to Shifu who asked him to go up against Tigress first. “I’m learning about the local culture. The last world we were in had some, but it was…” Ocellus just waved her hoof about in the air and went back to reading. “I want to say primitive, but I really don’t want to be mean.” “I’m going to train with Viper in how to wield a battle ribbon.” Smolder stated while waving around a black ribbon with a golden colored ornate dragon pattern on it in. “I be wanting to spend the day with you learning stuff!” Shanty stated exuberantly. “I also be wanting to help with that Tai Lung guy.” The news Zeng delivered traveled fast and there were now whispers around the Jade Palace. In case things didn’t go well when Tai Lung arrived, they were going to evacuate the people from the valley. “I’d rather you didn’t get involved with that person or the situation going on around here Shanty.” I said calmly, or at the very least as calm as I could keep my tone. “I don’t want you to pick a fight with him or get hurt. I am still going to help you train of course, but I really don’t want you going anywhere near the guy.” “I be wanting to help though!” Giving Shanty an upset look, I started to think of what to say. “Mind your caretaker young one.” Stated Tigress sternly, her spar with Po went blindingly fast and he was picking himself off the ground and pointed to Tigress while talking about her in amazement. “She has your best interest at heart even if you don’t always understand his… er… her reasoning. If Tai Lung were to take you as a serious threat, he could seriously injure you from what Shifu has told us of him.” Tigress had looked off to side at Shifu for a few seconds before backtracking her words when talking about ‘best interests’. The guy had been rather cold to her and I really didn’t like Shifu much for a number of reasons. Even then, Tigress definitely had a soft spot for children and she already seemed fond of Shanty even if she had never talked with her, there was some tension from Tigress around her. “I not be scared of the likes of him!” Shanty stated bravely with her head held high. “Even if I not be knowing what he even looks like yet.” “Well I am, so please don’t do anything rash! Which reminds me, I really should be asking you about where you got all of those bruises from when I looked you over last night.” My comment was met with a wince, I just pulled Shanty into a hug and there was a wistful look in Tigress’s eyes as I did. “Shanty, I want you to know that I truly care about you and want you to stay healthy enough to live a long fruitful life. We’ll be getting in some training today, are you going to be okay by yourselves Smolder, Ocellus?” “You go on ahead Pom, I’ll be around here with Ocellus if either of you need anything.” Smolder continued to smile and play with her ribbon cheerfully, behind her Viper was smiling brightly at the dragoness enjoying her gift. “Also I want to be supportive of Po… and to watch him keep getting back up from having his butt handed to him.” “Po really is not much of a Dragon Warrior.” Tigress stated while crossing her arms and looking over to our noodle making friend that was now being slammed around by Mantis. Despite the size disparity between them and Mantis being the size of his namesake, along with Po being a particularly heavy panda, it was a testament to Mantis’s skill that he was capable of doing what he currently was. Flipping Po onto his back wasn’t very easy for someone so small. “Give Po some time and encouragement, maybe he’ll surprise you like your friends did with you when you fought that Boar guy. It was neat how you all came together to save the day from all walks of life.” I honestly didn’t know how to treat Tigress; so I decided to treat her like she treated us, which was as neutrally as possible. She almost took off my head, but she did apologize for that afterwards and thankfully hadn’t aimed her swing and thrust downwards. “Oogway didn’t build this place in a day without having first laying down the foundations for it, said foundations led to something greater later on.” Tigress regarded me with a soft scrutinizing gaze and then looked at Po now being thrown about by Viper juggling him about in the air with rapid tail or head strikes. “I have no idea why you would ever put your confidence in a buffoon like him.” Stated Tigress as she turned her gaze back to me and raised an eye, she shook her head and started to walk back over to the Furious Five members watching Po getting juggled around by Viper. “It would help if he was actually as talented as you think he could be.” “I can understand that you’re jealous, but do you really want to fall into the same trap that I heard Tai Lung did?” What I said froze Tigress and she looked back to me, my eyes didn’t waver from hers. “Ask yourself this, how different are you from this Tai Lung guy really? I’ve never met him personally, but what I do know is that he sounds like you in so many ways. Tai Lung was an orphan, he was trained by Shifu, he wanted desperately to be the Dragon Warrior and somewhere along the way he lost his heart. The only difference I can see is that you help out at the local orphanage and have something to fall back on if you were ever to become incapable of fighting for some reason. He built his entire life around that one thing to the exclusion of all else, if he ever lost his ability to fight… then he wouldn’t know how to live. If he breaks, would you help him pick up all the pieces as his little sister and build something new or would you shun him like he shuns everything outside of his sole interest? Would you help him even knowing that he might never do the same for you? You’d be the better person for it at the very least if you do. I think Shifu still loves him… and you for that matter, I think he just has problems with showing it.” Tigress didn’t answer, she looked at the ground and was clearly conflicted about something. “If this your idea of showing promise, then I wonder what you actually trying looks like.” Shifu stated coldly to Po. Po was currently doing pretty well at staying standing against Monkey; sure he wasn’t fighting back, but he was still standing and was barely managing to keep his balance under a storm of constant attacks. Tigress considered Po again and turned her gaze to us for a moment before she rejoined her four friends. “Come on Shanty, let’s go.” I said solemnly and Shanty followed me with a slightly upset look on her face as we passed by Tigress. “Is Po going to be okay?” At least you were only worried about the smaller things Shanty. “That all be looking rather painful.” “Po will be fine Shanty; sure he’s taken a lot of hits, but he's not going to quit.” As for how I will start training this day, it was rather obvious. “First exercise, we walk down all these stairs. I’ll show you how to do some stretches at the bottom and I’ll be teaching you a few new things today.” -Approximately thirty minutes later- I stretched out my back and Shanty followed my movements to complete our stretches, she had told me on the way down the steps why she had ended up so badly bruised. I wasn’t ever going to leave her alone anywhere near that death trap of a training hall. “Okay, now that that’s out of the way, do you have any concerns with your training before we begin?” It was easy for me to get Shanty thinking and making her actually think helped her learn things much more quickly. “You not be teaching me how to attack, you be teaching to dodge and block.” Making Shanty more observant was my goal, I wanted her to pick up on these things for herself. “Can I be asking why?” “Yes, you need to know how to maneuver around with or without your unique ability. You will have an advantage near just about any wall or vertical surface. In a wide open space you really won’t have the ability to climb on anything and if something can move faster than you, then you won’t be able to escape it.” Seeing that my point was clearly understood by a nodding Shanty, I moved on. “As you well know, I’m quite timid Shanty. As such my personal fighting style is bound to reflect my nature, as yours will for you.” “Except when you be wanting to protect or help someone else.” Yeah, Shanty had me pegged there. “That’s very much to my own detriment I’ll have you know! Look, Shanty, you need to work on making your own style, I’m doing my best to give you a base to work off of.” Shaking my head, I continued much more softly. “So with that out of the way, I’m going to teach you to properly do a Wild Windmill and how to do some attacks of your own today.” “Yes!” Shanty shouted throwing her hooves up in the air with a bright smile on her face. “Come along, I know of a place we can practice and it’s got good training aids.” I really didn’t want her getting hurt again trying to mimic a Fleet Cunning Doe technique I’ve practice with Tianhuo for hours. “Just so you know, I’m going to have problems with pushing you to your limits so you’ll have to help me do that.” “Aye, I think I be understanding why.” Shanty followed after me as we started walking through the Jade District. “You not be liking fighting, or violence, very much.” As we passed by Mr. Ping’s I stopped in to see how he was doing with the whole Dragon Warrior thing and his son not being at the restaurant with him. “Hey Mr. Ping, how are you feeling?” He looked up at us from his work and smiled weakly. “I am doing alright Pom.” The lie was so apparent coming from Mr. Ping’s beak that Shanty scoffed loudly at how poorly it was told. “You be missing Po! He be missing you too, but he be following his dream.” That was the simplest explanation of a moderately complicated situation Shanty. “Is it wrong for me to not want things to work out for my son?” Mr. Ping looked a bit depressed about saying that. “A bit, you should try to be supportive of Po’s choice to try and pursue this avenue. How often has he actually asked for anything?” Waving a wing at me, Mr. Ping just seemed to continue on with his job. “He makes very good noodles, even made your special recipe for what are quickly becoming his new friends and you can honestly say you’re one of the Jade Palace’s favorite restaurants to visit. He’s never going to forget everything you did for him just like that Mr. Ping, he still cares about you greatly. I know you only want what’s best for him, but do you also want what makes him the most happy as well? You’ll always be his father no matter what happens.” “Thank you for reminding me of that fact.” The smile on Mr. Ping’s beak was brighter. -Minutes later, field outside of Jade District, Shanty- I be watching Pom soar through the air looking like the blades of a spinning windmill, she kicked her hind legs in opposition of her rotation and slowed down into an immediate landing on her front right hoof followed by the rest of her legs. “So as you can see depending on which rear leg you slam together, you can either speed up or slow down the rotation while in the air. You can even keep the rotation the same as it started.” She be showing me the technique several times in a row, how is she not being dizzy? “Do you have any question so far?” “How are you not dizzy?” That be the thing I needed to know the most at the moment. “Several reasons, foremost is that I’ve built up a tolerance for doing it.” Pom said with a warm smile directed at me as she patted me on the back. “The other reason is not focusing on how the world is spinning too hard and it helps to pay a little more attention to your own body while doing it.” “So you be showing me the attacks now?” This be the moment I be waiting for. “Of course, I’ll be practicing on one of the nearby tree stumps to show you how it’s done. Now the biggest problem with this move is aiming it correctly and judging the distance between yourself and the target.” As Pom said this she looked at the stump, took on step back with a hoof and then went onto her forelegs and sprung towards the stump. She brought both her forelegs together and swung them downwards. She be missing the stump entirely with both her hooves, but she still managed to land behind it upright. “The other problem is landing after a missing an attack or what to do after actually hitting with one. Now I’m going to move back to my position and I’m going to do it again and attack early this time. I’ll do another overhead slam, only this time I will hit with it.” Pom flew into the air and then came down hitting the stump this time and it cracked with the force of her combined hooves baring down on it, she also kicked off it into a backflip to land standing on her hooves. “To use this move effectively requires good timing on your part, so it can strike how you want it to. I’ll show you by repeating my actions, but my rear end will end up facing the stump this time.” She took a few steps back until she was at the same starting position as last time, I could tell because she was standing in her own hoof prints. Pom performed another Wild Windmill, this time she snapped her legs together to speed up so that her rear half was facing the stump and she brought down her left leg down on it. The stump cracked even worse from the force of the blow, then she snapped her right leg downwards and the stump split completely in two. “That was a scissor snap, the first blow stuns and the second does the real damage. If it doesn’t stun, then it is a good idea to kick off immediately.” Pom then motioned to me to watch her as she performed a one legged kick off using another stump. “You won’t be learning that or this next one for a bit, because I’m going to start teaching you how to tumble out of the Wild Windmill safely.” Pom looked at the battered stump, nodded to herself and went back to her starting position. She launched herself once again, but snapped her legs in the opposite direction. Instead of slowing her spin, she reversed it entirely and landed on her front hooves to deliver a devastating buck that destroyed the two halves of the stump. “That was a reverse spin into a buck, reverse spins are hard to do and it will make you drop faster than just slowing the spin.” That be looking really hard Pom. “I’ve landed on my face enough times to tell you to not try that until you can do a Wild Windmill while having a good grasp on changing your forward rotation speed. So are you ready to learn how to tumble like a pirate?” “Aye, aye, Pom!” I shouted with glee. -A short distance away, five minutes later, Tigress- I watched as Pom, the so called guard from a place called Huoshan, instructed the child. She was soft and not exactly the most aggressive being in the world, but the way she treated Shanty was how I wanted to be treated sometimes. The love and affection I receive mostly comes from the children in the orphanage, that is what is keeping me grounded unlike what happened to Tai Lung. If I didn’t have that, would I be exactly just like him in father’s eyes? It is little wonder that he doesn’t show much affection at all, especially when his girlfriend was a notorious problem maker and his life has been quite tough. Compared to his sorrows, mine are nothing. I watched as Pom taught Shanty how to roll after flinging herself into the air, I nodded in approval as she was teaching Shanty how to land safely in case she misjudged her spinning first before teaching her anything else. That technique looked dangerous and quite unpredictable, but it was also seemed to be a lot of fun for shanty. Would I actually try to help Tai Lung even if he wouldn’t do the same for me? The question has been bouncing around in my head ever since Pom asked it. -Pom- “Good job Shanty, that’s how you do it!” I was proud of how quickly she learned to do a forward roll out of the aerial spin, now I had to show her how to do it in different directions. “Now watch this.” I surged forward, launched myself spinning into the air and went into a tumble that had me rolling sideways as I landed instead of forward in the direction of my rotation. “How you be doing that?!” That’s what you were going to learn soon enough Shanty. “It’s not called Wild Windmill for nothing, there’s a lot of variance in how you can do it.” I showed her the one where I come out of the spin in a hoof stand on a target, I swung my rear legs down into the stump I landed on to kick off into another Wild Windmill spin. “Which is what I’m going to eventually teach you. Tired of spinning through the air yet? I’ll teach you about facing left or right while spinning towards an opponent later.” “Admittedly, I am a bit.” Shanty had a lot of energy when she wasn’t climbing walls or launching off of them. “It is being very tricky and I am being quite dizzy.” “Okay let’s move on to a quick spar to show you some of the other techniques we learned from working at Mr. Pings.” I stood up and thrust my right hoof forward. “Do this, I’ll show you ‘washing dishes deflection’. You already have a good grasp on ‘carrying dodgy dishes’ and ‘washing dishes feint and pivot’.” Shanty went up on to her hind legs and reared back her right hoof as she charged for me, she slung it forward and I thrust out my left hoof into her attack and swirled it outwards in a quick circle. Shanty’s attack was diverted off to the side from me and she blinked, the epiphany entering her bar shaped eyes as she learned something new was never going to get old. At least until I had nothing left to teach her, because she certainly excelled at learning new things. “Okay, now try to throw a hook at me and I’ll show you how to deflect that.” I showed Shanty how I wanted her to swing her hoof by curving my left one through the air. She nodded and waited for me to be ready for her. With a nod, she came at me and I deflected the hook upwards and inwards earlier than it was supposed to and also used the circular motion to grapple her leg with my own to flip her gently on to her back. “I’ll be teaching you hoof based grappling techniques later too. Now again, but with your other hoof.” She came at me with her right hoof and I deflecting it downwards wrapped my right hoof around her and pulled backwards. I fall onto my back while flipping her onto to hers. She grunted with a whimper. “Sorry about that Shanty.” “It be okay, I be learning a very important lesson about how not to be approaching someone.” Shanty shook off some mud and was smiling brightly at me. “I be having fun today, but it be getting late.” “Come on, let’s get a meal at Mr. Pings and then we can go back up to the Jade Palace to see how Po is doing.” Knowing what I did about how much Shanty eats, our money going forward would be a bit tight. -One meal later- “Thanks again for helping me feed Shanty’s bottomless stomach Mr. Ping.” I picked up a lazy and tired looking Shanty who looked worked up quite a sweat today. She also learned a lot, mostly about when and when not to use the Wild Windmill as much as learning how to judge the distances she can leap. “Come on, Shanty, last exercise of the day is climbing back up all those steps to the Jade Palace.” Shanty groaned, but she still followed me to the stairs leading towards the Jade Palace. -Near the top of the steps- I picked up Shanty as she fell asleep before reaching the top and draped her over my back, she’s had a tiring day. I made my way up the rest of the steps to see the Furious Five, excluding Tigress, discussing something. “Po isn’t going to be ready, we have to give him more time. We can all intercept Tai Lung at The Thread of Hope if we hurry.” Viper stopped slithering forward and talking to her friends when she noticed me carrying a sleeping Shanty. “Good luck out there.” Was the only thing I could say, they nodded to me and then set off into the night. “Where did they…” Tigress said as she came running up to me at the top of the stairs. “They said a place called ‘The Thread of Hope’, they are going to try and intercept Tai Lung to give Po more time to learn.” I stated and watched as she growled. “Not without me they won’t!” Tigress immediately leapt off the mountain and wasn’t even going down the steps, I was a bit concerned until I saw she was still moving down there after landing. I continued on my way to the palace and stopped when I noticed something going on at the cherry blossom tree on the nearby hill, I saw Oogway dissolving into a flying pile of cherry blossoms while leaving his staff to Shifu. “Pretty.” A barely awake Shanty stated before falling back to sleep nuzzling into me. She was too sleepy to really understand what she just saw. “Huh… so that’s how he dies…” I said in clear shock that Oogway was now with us in spirit. I really don’t know how comfortable I was with that knowledge.