//------------------------------// // 25. Going, going, Gongmen. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Approximately one week later, on the way to Gongmen City, Po- I think things took a strange turn for me when Pom and her friends came into my life. The four of them were all so interesting and awesome like the current Furious Five I idolized and had a paw in forming, they needed money and didn’t look to be carrying much on them when we first met. At least Pom specifically needed jobs for her and Shanty to do training, apparently life lessons can teach you some skills that you can apply in combat. Makes me wonder how somebody first learned how to do nerve attacks or acupuncture in the first place, learned that being a bit big in the belly isn’t all that bad for blocking those type of attacks. It was surprising to hear that Pom was a guard of a mythical place called Huoshan, she puts herself down more than I do myself and claims she’s weakest guard of that place. Can’t she see that she’s absolutely amazing?! Pom is taking care of three kids, does a lot of work to earn money for a path home for them all, trains Shanty to protect herself and was basically running herself into the ground while under a bit of stress. Despite all that, she’s probably the sweetest person I’ve ever met and it would take a lot to make her angry. Like nearly killing one of her kids, but even then she’d still be more scared for the kid than angry at the attacker. After seeing Tai Lung and the end results of Pom going toe to toe with him? I think Pom did more damage to Tai Lung than what anyone else did, but only while under some life threatening side effects of a mystical medical technique meant to revive someone whose heart has been stopped. A technique with a severe backlash that I hope Pom doesn’t use again, because the state it left her in after using it was fairly painful to look at. It was nice to be able to help Pom recover from that and her injuries, somewhat, she hadn’t fully healed before they headed out for Gongmen City to look for something. That Pom can even walk again is a miracle and says something about her resilience when it came to a technique that, if used twice in quick succession, would instantly kill her. Kung Fu masters could temporarily push past the limits of their bodies temporarily, that Pom lost her limits entirely wrecked her pretty badly within short amount of time she fought Tai Lung. Pom is far tougher than she seems to think she is, about as tough as Mantis is for his size. Mantis didn’t get much chance to actually fight Tai Lung from what I heard about the way things at the ‘Thread of Hope’ played out. Speaking of that haughty snow leopard, Pom had worried me a bit when she told me to break Tai Lung and to not kill him. I took me a minute to figure that out while I was in the middle of a furious battle with Tai Lung after he got angry that he couldn’t understand what the scroll meant. Throughout our fight, all I was hoping for was that Pom was still alive where I left her. It wasn’t a pretty or clean victory, but I still won. Pom knew what the Dragon Warrior scroll had meant and wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Even if her advice is sometimes odd, like the whole break Tai Lung thing, she is still very much a timid and caring lady I know her to be. Tai Lung was fairly inflexible at life and was rather rigid in how he fights. It made me realize how strict and bad Shifu can be as a teacher, I think Oogway was trying to help him with that through me. It certainly worked from my perspective at the very least, especially when Shifu realized he needed to train me in a differently from how he trained the already naturally talented Furious Five. That little red panda was still an amazing fighter otherwise. The Wuxi Finger Hold was an interesting to trick for me to keep in mind, but it is notably impossible to use on anything that doesn’t have a requisite digit to latch onto. Shifu said it was some made up technique to scare bad students straight, but I know what it does and that it’s far more real than just some made up technique. I really shouldn’t use it on anyone unless I absolutely needed to, makes me wonder what would happen if I used it on myself? I shivered at that last thought. At least the Wuxi Finger Hold really freaked out Tai Lung, he said Shifu never taught anyone that and I just told him I figured it out. It isn’t exactly a hard technique to do, it was also vaguely lethal. I was sad to see Pom, Smolder, Ocellus and Shanty set off for Gongmen. I didn’t exactly have many friends before I met them. Being big, clumsy and having a minor problem with stress eating tends to not be a good combination. Big fat panda is something I’ve heard a lot while working with my father who pulled me from a shipment of consumed radishes when I was a baby. At least Ocellus and Smolder coached me in how to make friends and Shanty was a real laugh in how playful and full of energy she was. They were all a very positive, if all too brief, influence in my life and were very supportive of me becoming the Dragon Warrior. Even I wasn’t sure I could be the Dragon Warrior for a bit there, but I figured things out and I now knew how to do kung fu and it was all so totally awesome. I don’t remember where I came from, but I’m exactly where I wanted to be with using kung fu to help people. The awesomeness of the adventures I was bound to have were going to be remembered for quite a long time, or at least I would hope the Furious Five and I would be remembered fondly. Now the problem currently plaguing me is that something familiar about the bandit wolves that recently invaded the valley to steal metal from the people. Said raid was being readily beaten back by the Furious Five and me, then something I saw made me lose focus of the situation long enough for them wolf pack to get away with their stolen goods. We were all now on our way for Gongmen City, a sprawling coastal metropolis that was once in the wings of the peacocks. Thundering Rhino, Storming Ox and Croc were the kung fu masters that were left in charge of the city when there was no viable heir to take the throne, we would have to seek them out to get a better idea of the situation in the city. I looked around at my friends while thinking about the fuzzy memory of what might have been my mother, it left me feeling a bit confused and more than a bit worried about Pom’s group that came here before us. Crane was looking out for us as we sailed towards the disturbingly quiet city, Monkey and Mantis were hanging out, Tigress was getting in some practice and Viper was lazing about in the sun. The city was known for its fireworks factory, I think it’s where those faulty fireworks the day I became the Dragon Warrior came from. It was also known for the Tower of the Sacred Flame, which used to belong to the ruling peacocks before it was turned over to the kung fu masters upon their deaths. We didn’t know what was going on in the city, once we get there we’ll certainly find out. Hopefully Pom, Ocellus, Smolder and Shanty didn’t get caught up in whatever was going on here. “Something wrong Po?” Viper looked up at me worriedly as she turned and slithered over to me, she’s a really good friend to have in or out of a fight. She was the first to approach me alone for some bonding over a few snacks and tea where we got to know one another. She was kind and approachable, mostly because she didn’t have fangs to scare people off like the rest of her family. “Yeah, you remember how Pom looked before her and the others left for Gongmen right?” Tapping my index fingers together as I sat down, I looked off to the side at the water as Viper slithered up to me frowning she reached up with her tail to pat me on the shoulder. “I’m worried that they might be in trouble.” “Well if they are still in Gongmen and it’s as dangerous in the streets as the rumors are making things out to be, then we’ll just have to find them and keep them safe.” There was a cheerful confidence about Viper that I liked. After a moment she admitted something that made me tense up slightly. “Now that you mentioned it, I’m feeling a bit worried about them too.” “Yeah, we’re not leaving those four high and dry if they’ve run into problems.” Mantis came over to us looking just as worried. “Though Pom isn’t likely going to be capable of putting up a fight if something did happen, her body was really messed up after fighting Tai Lung and frankly I don’t what made her wake up or want to keep going. By all rights she shouldn’t even be alive, it’s almost a miracle if her friends didn’t know how to help her. That thing they did with the funnel was really interesting and it might become a healer approved method.” Mantis was just bringing an honest opinion to the mix like usual and was just telling it like it is. “Way to bring down the mood Mantis. Look Po, I’m sure they are fine.” Monkey tried to reassure us with a smile, he put his bo staff across his back and giggled a bit as he rested his arms on it. “Ocellus is smart and has magic, Shanty can fight pretty well with what Pom has taught her and Smolder is a dragon with some decent combat ribbon skills she learned from our very own Viper here. Even if Pom still can’t fight, I seriously doubt that anyone would want to cause them trouble without a very good reason for it.” “I don’t know about that.” Crane said making his way over to us. “I think an entire army would be a little above what they are…” A loud explosion sounded off in the distance and we could see fire on the far side of the city we were approaching. “…capable of dealing with.” Finished Crane lamely as he tipped his straw hat up with his left wing. “Should I go take a look at what’s going on?” Crane carried the rest of the Furious Five back by himself after their Battle with Tai Lung, never met a more loyal guy to be friends with. “I’d rather you didn’t, but I’m not making the call.” Tigress said as she approached us with her arms crossed looking fairly cool and collected as usual, she helped me out a lot last night with a few personal issues. At least I can understand her better, she was generous with her thoughts and was both fierce and beautiful. While she wouldn’t admit to it, she’s basically the leader and heart of the Furious Five. “It’s on you Crane, we don’t know what the situation is like in the city. If we’re dealing with the Wolf Boss and that wolf pack, then its best that you try to avoid being spotted if you go. At the very least they won’t have any eyes on us coming in so we can enter the city quietly with whatever is distracting them. Hopefully Shanty and the others didn’t get caught up in this.” While Tigress was a bit stiff and had problems showing it, she really cared about her friends, father and the orphans of the Jade District in The Valley of Peace. She apparently liked Shanty, but had problems with trying to interact with the rambunctious goat that Pom showered with affection, if anything I’d think she was a little jealous of the bond they shared. I know I would be jealous after Shifu raised Tai Lung lovingly and then took a chance with taking Tigress in after Tai Lung turned on him and Oogway. It’s why Shifu treats Tigress distantly and I think he was afraid of being hurt again, he saw Tigress’s incredible strength and still helped her learn to control it at the very least. Tigress was bad at emotions, but she still had them and so did Shifu despite all the talk of needing discipline. “I’m going to go check things out, I’ll be careful.” Stated Crane as he spread his wings and took off for the air towards the city, it was going to take some time for us to get there and there was a lot of nervous tension going on between the five of us. “So… two gorilla’s walk into a bar… the third one ducks.” Monkey suddenly stated while giggling with infectious, we all began snickering. “The third one didn’t want to quack his head on the bar.” “Monkey…” Tigress growled out a second later, after she stopped snickering of course. “What, I’m just trying to lighten the mood Tigress.” Monkey stated plainly while spreading his arms out. “So what does one body of water say to another? Nothing, they just waved.” We could use a little laughter when facing the unknown. -Gongmen City, Crane- I was a master of the sky, now if only Po would stop insisting that I say ‘caw-caw’ a lot. I’m not a raven and I don’t like the insinuation that I act like one. Po can be a bit childish and insensitive, but he’s at least friendly and is getting better at fighting. I liked him well enough and the others did too, even Tigress when Po proved that he could take Tai Lung. Well he could only take Tai Lung after whatever everyone and eventually Pom did to him while tearing herself apart. As injured as she was, it’s surprising that Pom came back from it. It almost feels like she has the spirit of a rabid wolf that will fight doggedly for life. My first visit to Gongmen and it’s under the circumstances of a fire starting in the city. I stayed a bit high in the air, hardly anyone looks up unless they know someone like me is around. Surprise attacks from above aren’t uncommon when it comes to fighting. The closer I got to the fire I saw several ships burning and sinking into the river leading towards the bay, there were wolf pack mercenaries running everywhere. “There she is, after her!” That attracted my attention to the situation brewing, I saw a familiar goat running on all fours from several thug and narrowed my eyes at them. “You not be catching me today!” She turned into an alleyway while being followed by them, however the wolf at the back of the four suddenly was attacked by something wrapping around his left ankle causing him to trip and fall on his face. What followed that attack, was Smolder flying up from behind a barrel and then dive bombing into the back of his head with her right shoulder. The blow knocked the wolf out immediately. I turned my gaze to the three wolves cornering Shanty in the dead end, I watched carefully and waited to strike if she needed my help. “It’s about time you answered for your crimes against the Wolf Boss and Lord Shen!” The leading wolf stated, the third wolf at the back looked behind herself at Smolder and I thought she’d raise an alarm. Smolder signaled something to the brown furred female wolf as she gathered up her combat ribbon and the wolf nodded with a smile and raised her club up. The wolf then brought it down on the second wolfs head, much to their surprised and now unconscious form. “What the…!” The first wolf turned to see the second wolf going down to the third and the fourth being pushed into a barrel by Smolder. “Betrayal!” “I can’t betray someone I never had any loyalty to.” That was Ocellus’s voice. “By the way, you might want to avoid that flying buck to the head.” “Wha...” The wolf took two rear hooves to the face from Shanty and staggered. The wolf was too dazed to notice what happened next. With a quick buildup of oddly colored fire, Ocellus stepped forward revealing herself to have been the female wolf and fired some magic from her horn at the remaining wolfs head knocking him out. “On a roof Shanty, we need to go before we’re swarmed!” Ocellus shouted as she flew up towards the roofs, while Smolder forcibly shoved the other wolves into barrels that smelled like spirits. “Good going Ocellus, this will really set them back quite a bit.” Smolder said proudly as she finished stuffing the third thug away. The large and still very strange bug blushed, is that what her people’s blushing looks like? Weird. Smolder soon joined Ocellus and they waited while Shanty climbed up the wall to the roof. “Why do we be needing me on the roof again?” Shanty asked as she pulled herself onto the roof, she looked in the direction of the burning ships for a moment before returning her gaze to the two flyers above her. I hovered above the three wondering where Pom was. “It’s a lot harder to get you off the ground, up here it’ll be easier to catch some air and we’ll be less tired in getting you further away from here. Also you weigh quite a bit for your size Shanty.” Bluntly stated Smolder with her arms crossed as she hovered next to Ocellus. “Now come on, let’s get out of here! I don’t want to be around when they trip that rotten egg trap.” “I be weighing more in muscle than fat, but I agree that we be causing enough damage today.” Today? How long has Shanty and these two been at… whatever this is. They knew more about what was going around here than I did and if I was going to find out what that was, then I needed to help them. “Hey, need some help in giving her a lift?” I asked carefully as I flew lower, watching as Smolder and Ocellus were about to grab Shanty and start flying with her and away from the streets swarming with wolf pack mercenaries. “I can take her much more easily.” “Crane? Well if you be offering a free ride, I wouldn’t be saying no to not having to run the rest of the distance.” Shanty lowered herself so I could carefully grapple her barrel with my feet and I lifted her off the roof. “Ocellus and Smolder can be leading us to somewhere safe we can lay low for a bit.” “Yeah, follow us.” Ocellus said pleasantly and flew ahead, she didn’t seem to be a very fast flyer. I sighed and followed after the two as we left the scene that had several wolves gagging and clutching at their noses. “Rotten eggs so they couldn’t track you?” I asked as we flew higher over the city. “Pom’s idea, she really knows a lot about wolves and how to deal with them. They can’t track our scents if they can’t find them in all the cluttered smells we left lying around before we destroyed some of those ships.” Smolder giggled into her claws. “So if you’re here, does that mean Po and the rest of the Furious Five are to?” “Yeah, the wolves invaded The Valley of Peace and stole a lot of metal.” The look I saw pass between Smolder, Shanty and Ocellus told me a lot. “So that’s where they were got all those extra resources from.” Ocellus mumbled as she rubbed her chin, looking to be thinking about something. “Where’s Pom exactly and how is she?” We were flying across the city and passing over a few panicked patrols of mercenary wolves and their slapdash armor with the same symbol that apparently cause Po discomfort. “She’s still not doing too hot, but she’s slowly getting better. We can’t go to her at the moment as she’s trying to lay low and we need to be careful about drawing any patrols or attention to her as she’s doing something really important. We really need to get some supplies to her tomorrow though and the people around here are helping as much as they are feasibly able with the wolves sniffing around them for any trouble.” Smolder looked about at the ground as we flew and Ocellus was leading us forward. “She’s been helping out the citizens where she can, I certainly wouldn’t ask her to fight in that condition. I’m thankful that no one’s spotted us yet this time, last time we went out they nearly shot Ocellus out of the air.” “That was a fun one!” Why did that feel like a story and why was Shanty the one that said it with an evil grin on her face as she looked up at me. Her expression changed after a moment. “Do you be thinking Po can convince the other kung fu masters to actually get off their rears and help us?” “What happened, what’s going on in this city?” I wonder what happened to the kung fu masters that were supposed to be protecting all of Gongmen City? Ocellus started to fly down and we came to an empty alley leading towards a small garden and a doorway, she looked around and saw that there were no wolves about. She motioned to us to follow her as she pushed her way through a tarp over the doorway and led us into a large room that was obviously a meeting spot. “Welcome to Walu’s Dim Sum honored customers, we’re the sum of all our parts and may the sun never dim on my establishment.” The male pika stated in his friendly tone while looking around at all the patrons that were looking towards us. “How did it go girls?” “We were successful Mr. Walu, we are also getting some help.” As she said this Ocellus hugged the pika while motioning to me and then moved over to a table while shying away from the cheers from the surrounding patrons. The table was out of the way and sight of the entrance with a tea set already prepared and some dumplings. “To answer your question Crane, there is a lot going on around here and I really don't like it.” “Look, we’ll talk about what Pom is doing later, it might not be as important now if Po is around. Some peacock guy named Shen formed an army of mercenary wolves’ years ago and tried to wipe out the pandas because of some soothsayers prophecy about him being defeated by a warrior of black and white, we’re all pretty certain that it’s Po who is going to fulfill this prophecy.” Of course it was Smolder, I thought dryly while shaking my head in exasperation. “In any case he was banished by his parents after trying to commit genocide against the pandas, they died leaving kung fu masters in charge. Now he’s back now and he’s creating dangerous weapons that took down Thundering Rhino and forcefully reclaimed his throne. The other local Kung Fu masters are idle, Shen has an iron wing on everything and the mercenaries have free reign of Gongmen.”