//------------------------------// // 24. Pom’s sad story. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -????, Pom- I snuggled against the warm hooves and sighed happily, Tianhuo was wrapped around me and making me feel all safe and well snuggled. Lambkin had a habit of setting themselves on fire, with Tianhuo being around I didn’t worry much about catching fire because she’d make all the danger go away and wouldn’t set me on fire. The only thing of me that she would light on fire is my heart, I’m so glad our adventure was over with. “Pom, are you feeling okay?” Tianhuo asked as she snuggled me. “I’m perfectly fine right where I am Tianhuo… safely in your hooves.” Why did my words seemed to make her sad? “You do not need my hooves to be safe, you are strong on your own merits.” Tianhuo pressed her face against my neck. “Do you truly think so little of yourself?” “I try not to think much of myself… mostly because I’m a lambkin Tianhuo. It’s kind of in our nature to be ridiculously paranoid, even about our own abilities.” The only thing I wasn’t paranoid about was Tianhuo’s love for me. She didn’t mind my beasties and I knew she loved me with an unshakeable certainty. “I’m not strong and you know it. Tai Lung might have spent several days in almost nonstop motion barely stopping for food or water after escaping prison, even fought multiple martial arts masters and entire prison full of rhinos, but I still couldn’t beat him despite how tired he must have been. Therefore I’m weak.” “There is nothing wrong with being weak Pom, though admittedly I really want you to be strong right now.” Knowing what Tianhuo was saying was honest, I sat up and looked at my hooves gripping at the sheets. “You are stronger than you think you are, you’ll prove that eventually when you finally open up your eyes to your surroundings.” “I seriously doubt I could have fought Lung under normal circumstances, much less the kind of odd circumstances I fought him under.” If I hadn’t did exactly what I had done, then the fight might have ended sooner in Lung’s favor when he started striking me with pinpoint hits that were likely his nerve attacks. My wool could have stopped those attack, ‘could’ being the key word as I couldn’t constantly do my fluffmancer armor technique for longer than fifteen seconds. “Yet fight you did, you used a Fiery Flurry even when your strength was rapidly flagging… that is not a move you have ever practiced or even used before. You need to work on your breathing more too, balanced you are not and that would have killed you had you not been as resilient as you are.” Tianhuo hugged me with one leg and started petting me. “Also your injuries, the severe ones being mostly self-inflicted, are hopefully not permanently crippling.” “You heard the doctor Tianhuo. You’ll have to take good care of me for the rest of your life, but I really don’t want to be a burden on you.” I was upset at being bed ridden, but with Tianhuo here everything was perfectly fine and safe. “Pom… you will never be a burden to me, you do far too much for me that I can take you for granted whether or not you will ever truly acknowledge it. Also, do you not think it is time you woke up from this dream? You’ve been stuck in it for quite a while.” Tianhuo sat up and looked towards the ceiling while sighing loudly. “Your friends are worried about you, especially Shanty. I’ll be waiting for you to come home Pom, you know my heart will not waver for any other and our beasties miss you. Just as you know in your heart that I will never betray your trust, why else would you continue to seek comfort in an imagined version of me. The real me would be here if she could, but your mind has been stuck here for far too long while your body recuperates.” “Dream? What are you talking about?” I was right here in my wife’s safe and protective hooves, happily surrounded by my beasties. “I’m awake and things are perfectly fine.” Arizona and Velvet were beating the snot out of each other in the next room over. Also Paprika was somehow made of snow and on fire at the same time with little red demon horns sticking out of her head while walking around on the ceiling. Even the letter L continues to whisper the truth about carrots as it sat on our nearby nightstand, so everything seemed perfectly normal to me. “I’ve tried to tell you this several times already Pom, but you won’t listen to me when I try and say that you are strong enough to hold onto life with an impossibly impressive grip.” Tianhuo took up my hooves in her, while looking me in the eyes. “You’ve seriously injured yourself and you have been unconscious for quite a while, but you are dreaming of me near constantly and have been through this cycle several times trying to tell yourself what you already know to be true. I’m a hallucination Pom, a dream of what makes you the happiest lambkin in the world. I am telling you to fight for your life, to wake up and face the world again… those three still need you. I… I need you, I want you to get up and try to live for me and them, please? You cannot lay here much longer.” “I…” I looked at the penguin with a dogs face and that seemed normal. I looked to Tianhuo’s pleading and worried face. She should never have that look on her face, it should be a small smile or a stoic look. “I really am dreaming…” “I thank you for finally realizing it, I am sorry that you are not with me Pom… even if I am a figment of your imagination and subconscious desires. I know the real Tianhuo would want you to get up from this and keep moving forward.” Tianhuo let go of my hooves as I got up from the bed and started to walk towards the door. I looked back at her. “Keep going Pom, it might be the only way back for all of you. Also, don’t die and continue to be true.” “I will Tianhuo.” I made my way over to the door to the room and slowly pulled it open with my left hoof and walked through it into the light. -Jade Palace- I blinked blearily as I exited the door to the room with Tianhuo, the only thing I could remember about the odd dream. Her warm comforting touch, that gentle coercion and her always supporting me when I wouldn’t support myself, I could feel it all… I could also feel the excruciating amounts of pain that my body was currently in, I started hissing through my teeth. I wasn’t even going to try and get up, especially if I knew what was good for me. I turned my blurry vision to the left and right, I was laying on my back and heavily bandaged. Probably had scarring on my face, my ability to walk might be shot for a short while and at least I kept my voice quiet throughout most of the fight. I could probably talk safely, doing the bark blast at the start of the fight was probably the best idea I had. Looking to my right where I felt something poking into my side, I saw Shanty with eyes closed and her face pressed gently against my side. Kind of wish I could move my legs… they itched a bit. “Oh my goodness, Pom, you’re actually awake?!” Smolder came walking and saw me, I just blinked. “Uh… so how are you feeling?” “Hurts.” My voice was raspy and dry. “Even after a week and three days? Darn, what did Tai Lung do to you? They countered his nerve strikes on you so that you wouldn’t wake up paralyzed, not that that changes much with how bad off you were when we started to patch you up. Po said you were still standing and fighting by the time he arrived.” After asking that Smolder smacked herself in the face. “No, not important, what’s important is that I get you some water right?” I tried to nod, but moving my head hurts. “Right, I’ll be right back. Ocellus, Pom’s awake!” Smolder yelled as she ran off and despite that, Shanty’s sleeping form wasn’t disturbed at all. She just continued to snooze away next to me. “We don’t need the funnel anymore!” “Oh thank goodness!” Ocellus could be heard shouting back. I turned my eyes to the ceiling, I could maybe recover enough to move in the next two days or so. I tried to move each of my legs, the only leg that was still good was my back left leg, it figures as I didn’t put too much stress on it. Smolder eventually started helping me drink some water when she returned a few minutes later, staying awake wasn’t a problem seeing as I’ve been asleep for quite a while. “Shanty is going to be a while, she refused to leave your side and was worried you were going to… well, it’s good to see you awake at least.” Smolder moved over to Shanty and rubbed at her back softly. “First time she’s getting some real sleep in a while. At least we managed to get her to eat and do her business, but she was insistent on someone always being with you.” I frowned in thought of Shanty not taking her own health into account, but what could I do in my current state? “Hey Pom, I heard you were awake. This past week since Tai Lung’s defeat has been a bit wild, never knew that being the Dragon Warrior could be so complicated.” Po came into the room and looked me over, he seemed skittish and nervous. “So, do you think you’ll recover? I’ve never actually seen someone hurt as badly as you are, well at least not someone I really cared about anyway.” “I’ll…” I started coughing a bit and Smolder offered some more water for my throat. I was fairly parched. “I’ll be fine Po, Tai Lung isn’t really responsible for my current state. The fault lays with mostly me when it comes to my injuries.” “How so?” Ocellus said coming into the room. “Also we’ll have some soup for you soon Pom and I’ll be feeding you.” “You might want to gather anyone who cares to hear the story, because I don’t want to tell it twice.” This was my life now, not being at home with my beasties and one of the most beautiful longma I ever knew. “Also, can I wait until after I’ve eaten something and Shanty has woken up?” -A few hours later- “Thank you Ocellus, you’re a good friend.” I knew we had our issues, most of them on Ocellus’s side of things. Changelings really disliked Lambkin for various reasons, but I would like to think we’re friends and was even stating as such. “I don’t feel like a good friend for disliking you.” It’s your actions that speak louder Ocellus, you cared enough to help me eat something in this state. “So did you know the secret of the scroll?” “Yeah, Oogway showed it to me and asked me about it, I said it was understandable.” The Furious Five all quirked their heads at me. “You think that was understandable?” Tigress muttered loudly. “Well yeah, there’s nothing on the scroll except in the right light all you will see is your reflection. It has two separate meanings, there is no secret.” Given that Po defeated Tai Lung, I wasn’t going to ask what happened, I knew that he absolutely proved himself. “The other is the only thing you need to be good at Kung Fu, is to believe in yourself.” “Yeah, I figured that out and the Wuxi Finger Hold.” Po said while rubbing the back of his head. “Also I wouldn’t have been half as good as I am now if you guys hadn’t started helping me.” “Didn’t fa… er… Shifu tell you that there was no such thing as the Wuxi Finger Hold Po?” Tigress seemed a little less grumpy, she was acting friendlier towards Po at least. The orange and black furred warrior ruffled her clothing a bit. “It’s only something that is used as a threat to get misbehaving students to…” “Oh it’s absolutely real, didn’t believe it until I figured it out personally.” Po stated with a bit of joviality as he moved to start prodding Shanty. “Anyway, now that we’re here, we can wake up Shanty and get this thing on the road.” “Po, when you do, make sure she doesn’t jump on me.” I was in enough pain as it was already, I didn’t need Shanty making it worse. “Hey Shanty… wake up… hm…” Po’s poking only made Shanty wiggle a bit, but she stayed sleeping. The panda gained a smile on his face as he raised one of Shanty’s ears. “Free food.” Despite the previous times this worked, Shanty didn’t wake up. “Pom’s awake?” Tested Po carefully and Shanty’s tired eyes snapped open and she was suddenly alert and looking about. They snapped towards me and the bar shaped pupils shrunk. I gave Shanty a weak smile. “POM!” Shanty leapt with her hooves wide out and didn’t come close to landing on me. “Shanty, she’s still hurting.” Po said in a deadpan tone as his hands quickly caught her in the air. “Sorry… I am being so very sorry Pom.” She started sniffling and held out her hooves towards me. “It’s okay.” I stated after a moment. “I’ve got a story to tell now, it’s not very happy one.” “What story?” Shanty asked as she looked around at everyone. “It’s why I’ve been in a coma for more than a week and the story will give everyone some information about why my injuries are as bad as they are.” I said slowly while hissing in pain. “I basically tore my own body apart fighting Tai Lung and my wounds are mostly self-inflicted. Ocellus, Smolder, do you remember what I did before I hit him that first time?” “Yeah, you did that Shock-ram thing.” Smolder said while giving me a look. “Didn’t you say it would hurt a lot?” Ocellus asked with a bit of worry. “Well it’s certainly hurting me now.” I mumbled. “So what’s the story about it?” Viper finally decided to ask, she was basically the most outgoing member of the Furious Five next to Monkey. “Well it’s about where the lambkin technique ‘Shock-ram’ comes from, it’s not a technique that any of you could do unless you have the talent for it. I’m going to tell you all right now… it is definitely not a technique that is ever meant to be used in combat.” I took a deep breath and my lungs burned slightly. “Here’s why, a long time ago there was a ram lambkin named Barbatos, he was quite intelligent and he was married to a lovely ewe, Hortensia. Barbatos was a fluffmancer…” “What’s a fluffmancer?” Asked monkey. “Sounds cuddly.” “A warrior that can control the fluff on their body in mystical ways, for instance I’m a minimal talent fluffmancer and my wool can absorb impacts that I personally can’t. Now back to my story, one day… Barbatos was out with his wife Hortensia having a picnic when Hortensia had a heart problem. Hortensia heart had suddenly stopped and Barbatos went into a panic, Barbatos was smart in many things and started to build up energy akin to lightning using his talent as a fluffmancer in an effort to revive his lover’s heart with a powerful jolt.” I shuddered at what I was about to tell them next. “This was a technique made to revive those dying from heart failure, like Shanty nearly did and it is only meant to do that. Barbatos managed to successfully revive his wife and was worried about her health. The downsides of reviving his wife didn’t show themselves until Barbatos and Hortensia met a monster on their way home, Barbatos bade his wife to run while he distracted and fought off the monster with an incredible ferocity and strength beyond what was normal for him. He wasn’t a very big ram, but he defeated the monster, only to die when his heart exploded inside his uninjured chest. The downsides of the technique had finally showed themselves and it took a few other lambkin a while to figure out what caused his death after Hortensia described the technique to them.” “Is… is that being a real story?” Shanty asked shivering while looking me over. “Sadly, yes. The initial pain from using the Shock-ram technique is excruciating, it is the first downside that I would gladly pay to see you live Shanty. The second downside, or at least the somewhat positive one in the case of my fight with Tai Lung, it turns off one’s ability to feel pain and the nervous system is partially disabled in so much as the user is still able to move and do stuff. The third downside is that due to the previous downside, the safety limiters that a body normally has to keep it from destroying itself are also down.” I stopped to let them take that bit of news in, the Furious Five were looking at me with absolute horror. “When Barbatos fought the monster, he couldn’t feel pain, he was using strength beyond what he should have been and if he had paid attention to his bodies rampant shaking despite not being too injured… he might have lived longer. One of the side effects to know when your body is being pushed too far is that it starts violently shaking. Barbatos had moved too much when it came to fighting the monster and pushed his body far too hard and paid the price he couldn’t recover from.” “Whoa, that sounds like some of the more dangerous backfire techniques of kung fu that I’ve only heard of in legend.” Po seemed to be looking at me in worry. “That you can do something like that is… well awesome for sure, but still very scary that I almost lost a friend to what is supposed to be a medical technique.” “The saddest thing about the whole story is that Barbatos’s widowed and pregnant wife Hortensia had to raise their children by herself. Thankfully the community pulled together for a hero who died fighting the monster that has been causing many problems locally, Barbatos gave his life in turn for his wife and the two children she was carrying at the time to posthumously become a hero. His family line still exists to this day, I have no relations to them whatsoever though.” I winced as I tried to sit up, it was hard when my entire body felt like lead. “Good news, if you can feel pain like I currently can, then my limiters and your nerves are all back to working condition. Any fluffmancer no matter how old, young or talented can do this technique and recover from it, provided they don’t push themselves too far. Permanent damage has… always been of the lethal variety.” “That’s why you were only walking when you left us to fight Tai Lung.” Smolder said softly. “Exactly, running to meet Tai Lung would have killed me after that first initial attack, I was trying to keep myself under control and my movements slow or deliberate. Each good hit I got in was my muscles weakening to the point that they were going to do less damage with the next hit, I don’t want to even know if my bones became brittle from the stress of it all.” Also the deep breathing technique of the longma really helped fight off some of the worst of the damage I was doing to myself. “I’m lucky to be alive after using that technique and then getting into a fight… I was scared out of my mind.” “Can confirm.” Airily stated Ocellus while nodding her head. “I think I’ll be good enough to walk again, but I’m going to need the next few days to rest.” We had after all needed to move on from here and I didn’t want to freeload off of the Jade Palace. “When I’m good enough to walk and check on a few things, then we might be heading of girls.” “Are you going to be being alright Pom?” It wasn’t just Shanty that was worried, it was everyone in the room now looking at me. “Shock-ram is known as the circle technique, it is meant to give life and could mean death for the user. It is not meant to be used as an attack at all and if it is used as one, it’ll only be a one use deal that will leave you quickly dying if you have to fight afterwards.” The story of Barbatos was a cautionary tale that I just needed to tell my friends about so they can understand what I put myself through for them. “I’ve recovered from it and, provided that you don’t ask me to use it twice in a row which immediately leads to the user dying, then I’ll eventually make a full recovery. I shredded the muscles in my front legs with one of my last attacks before Po found me, but if my bones are only cracked then I’ll be up for moving around a few days from now.” “I be wishing to hug you, but I do not be wanting you to die from it.” Shanty said seriously as Po finally put her down. “It’s okay, I’ll get better soon Shanty… promise.” I winced audibly at trying to shifty my hip and one of my legs. “Just give me a few days.” -Five days later- Everyone was treating me like I was made of glass haphazardly glued back together after somebody had already broken me, not far from the truth actually. I eventually got the information I needed and we might have a way out of this world. “Well I hope you and the girls have a good time in Gongmen City Pom!” Po said as I waved back to him and the Furious Five. We were riding with merchants in a caravan so I didn’t have to walk all the way to the city on the southern coast, the Furious Five helped assist us with getting a ride out of The Valley of Peace. My injuries were still pretty bad, but I was capable of standing up and moving. “You girls take good care of yourself!” “We hear you loud and clear Po, the rest of you be watching out for him too!” Shanty shouted back while waving. “Please help Po be the best Dragon Warrior that he can be!” “See you later Viper and thanks for the battle ribbon lessons! So what are we looking for in Gongmen again?” Smolder asked as she twirled her ribbon around in the air, Ocellus was busy looking over a map and reading up on our destination. “A mystical artifact that might be the key to getting us home.” I said as I leaned back to rest, this was going to be a long journey. “I’m reading up on it right now Smolder, it’s called ‘The Yen of Yunshu’." It wasn’t hard to see that Ocellus was enjoying the culture, she was wearing a pink robe with a yellow butterfly pattern on it and a flower behind her ear. Smolder also had a blue robe with a rainbow colored dragon on the back. "It's a special coin that has the power to transport people to other places.”