Chi Mage Po Chapter 1

Chi Mage Po

Oogway sees a darkness in Tai Lung, a darkness Shifu refuses to see. He lacks patience and is pushing Tai Lung towards a future he may not be ready for. Oogway speaks to the universe and gets an answer. Noodles! There they find a young panda, which should be impossible, but this change helps alter the course for Tai Lung as Oogway begins to teach Po about Chi and how to use it, making him a Chi Mage.

Chapter 1 He’s A Panda

Master Shifu had found Tai Lung as a cub, adopted him and raised him in the Jade Palace. Even the name held a meaning of Great Dragon. Shifu hoped Tai Lung would become the legendary Dragon Warrior.

Tai Lung had a talent for Kung Fu, one Shifu decided to hone his skills, pushing him further and further. The Snow Leopard was a prodigy drinking in what Shifu taught him. As the days passed Shifu believed more and more that Tai Lung would be the Dragon Warrior, so he continued to lovingly push him, guide him, making him believe it was his destiny to be THE Dragon Warrior.

He mastered Leopard Style Kung fu and even studied all one thousand scrolls of Kung Fu. Yet it didn’t seem to be enough. Tai Lung was 16 in the prime of his youth. Oogway could see, that the snow leopard’s pride had been fanned by Shifu, with promises of some grand destiny. That he had to keep getting stronger for it. For him the future wasn’t a mystery, he was certain of his future, and he used each day as a means of preparing for it and nothing else.

He spent most of his days in the palace training and fighting, often only leaving to deal with some problem or threat, usually bandits.

The turtle sought answers from the universe, and he received a notion. “Noodles!”

“What was that master?” Shifu asked.

“I’m hungry, I’d like to take a walk and get some noodles. Tai Lung, would you assist me?”

Tai Lung was surprised. “I um...I have training today, don’t we fa...master!” He stopped himself. They were in the training hall, here he was to call Shifu Master. It’d been a long time since he called him father.

“Tai Lung, you should guide Master Oogway to town and back. This is an honor!” Shifu said. He often tried to understand Oogway’s actions, but the old turtle tended to befuddle him with his choices and pearls of wisdom. ‘If Oogway wishes to take Tai Lung to town, this could be a test.’

Tai Lung quickly bowed. “Yes Master!”

As they were leaving Shifu was instructing Tai Lung to be on his best behavior in front of Master Oogway. “See that he gets what he needs, but remember not to eat anything unnecessary. Your body is a temple you must keep it pure!”

“Yes master!” He was on a strict diet. Legends say the Dragon Warrior could survive on dew and the energy of the universe. So Shifu had him on a diet to keep his body strong.

The two made their way, though it was taking some time Oogway was an old turtle and there were A LOT of stairs. Tai Lung took action and lifted the man quickly bringing him down the way. “I see you are as impatient as your father. I was hoping we could talk on the way down, spend some time together.”

“Oh…” He didn’t know what to say. “I can take you back up...or…”

Oogway chuckled. “Now now, let’s get some noodles.”

They asked around and found the best Noodle shop in town, run by a goose and…

“Order Up!” A small panda was bringing bowls to tables.

“A panda...he’s a panda...but that’s not possible...all the pandas are…” Oogway stopped him from saying anything more.

“Hi!” The Panda called Po greeted them. His eyes sparkling as he began to gush about the legendary warriors before him.

“Hello little one!” Oogway smiled and patted his head. “Truly the universe works in mysterious ways.”

Mr. Ping was surprised to see Oogway of all people here. He’s been raising Po all this time, teaching him to cook and to run the shop. “He’s like a sponge he learns so quickly.”

“Excellent, would it be alright if I taught him in the Jade Palace?”

“What?” Tai Lung gasped. “You’re gonna teach this Panda kung fu?”

“Yes please!” Po squeed.

“Not quite, maybe, but not quite, I’d like to teach your son about Chi. I think he could be a mage and a benefit to the land.”

Mr. Ping agreed not wanting to deny Po any opportunities, but he’d have to visit. He was still Po’s father.

Shifu was stunned, both at the Panda and the fact he’d be training/staying with them at the Jade Palace. With his pride he couldn’t help but see Po as a threat and a distraction for Tai Lung. “Master...could he be…”

“You don’t need to worry about the Panda, Master Oogway is just training a chi mage. It’s your destiny to become the Dragon Warrior, don’t lose focus.” Tai Lung nodded.

As a Panda, Po had a natural talent for chi, and with just a couple days they boy began to show progress learning chi magic.

Because he was curious and Po liked martial arts so he came by to watch Tai Lung training. The Snow Leopard was pushing himself harder and harder. ‘It’s not enough...have to get stronger, have to be better, the best!’ He trained until his paws bled and he didn’t stop!

“You’re bleeding!” Po gasped.

Tai stopped. “Oh it’s you.” He panted, finally looking down at his paws. “It’s fine…”

Po waddled in. “No it’s not fine, why are you pushing yourself so hard, you’re already amazing, so strong and cool, you’re awesome!”

“You wouldn’t understand, it’s not enough.” He looked ready to go back to training bloody paws and all. Po took his hand making the leopard flinch.

“Let me heal you.”

“You can heal?” Tai was surprised.

“Well I know the basics.” Po rubbed his paws together. “Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao!” He chanted gathering his chi before using it to heal Tai Lung’s hands.

Healing was pretty impressive but Tai Lung could tell the panda had more to learn. “You know, I think you’re pretty great.”

Tai rubbed his healed paw. “Oh yeah, why’s that?”

“You might not remember it, but I do. Some bandits came to the village and was causing all kinds of trouble. You showed up and beat the bandits.”

Tai Lung did remember that, it was one of the many missions Shifu gave him to handle on his own, a test. “They were unworthy opponents.” He barely broke a sweat dealing with them.

“But you saved the village!” Po said happily. “I remember dad was so happy. Those bandits were gonna take our stuff, hurt people, and you stopped that from happening. There was trouble and you brought peace.”

Tai Lung hadn’t thought of that. He hadn’t even really looked at the people he helped or saved. Always keeping his eye on the future and his ultimate goal. “I know a lot of people got to live with peace of mind knowing you were here. So I think you’re pretty great.” Po gave him a hug.

The young man was stunned, feeling his heart race, quickly collecting himself. “Yeah well, you need to get better at healing, a true chi mage can heal and even take the pain away.” He rubbed his sore knuckles.

“Oh I know a spell that’ll fix that.” Tai Lung raised a brow. He was sure the healing spell in it’s perfected form healed the wound and removed the pain, it truly repaired the body completely.

Po waved his hands over Tai’s paw. “Pain Pain Go Away!” He said before kissing the leopard’s paw. Tai Lung blushed, feeling his heart skip a beat.

“What kind of spell was that?!” He snapped.

“Did it not work, that’s the spell my dad used on me whenever I got hurt.”

‘Damn it, that’s too cute!’ Tai Lung gripped his chest, right over his heart. “IT’s fine!” He took some calming breaths.

His guard was down and then his stomach growled. ‘What is wrong with me?’

“You’re hungry? I can cook!” His dad taught him.

Tai Lung wanted to object but his stomach growled again. “Fine…”

Po got to work making soup and noodles, talking about how his dad taught him everything he knew except the secret ingredient to the special noodles. They were noodle folk, soup was in their blood so he’d say. So before Po knew how to speak he knew how to dice food. He could tell when the soup was just right by the aroma. “I think my first word was noodles.” Po said with a chuckle.

He fixed Tai a bowl and set it for him. Tai was gonna reject it but it smelled so good. Making his stomach growl for more. ‘My body is a temple, my body is a temple, my body is…’ Growl! ‘Damn it!’

One bite couldn’t hurt.

Bite...slurp! “Mmmm~!”

Tai hadn’t tasted something so good. It was both delicious and nutritious. He dug in savoring every bite.

“So do you like it?” Po asked, the answer was obvious.

“Yeah sure...it’s okay…” He played it cool.

“Seconds?” Tai Lung gulped.

“Yes please!” This was the start of something more! Po would be a light in Tai Lung’s life that would help illuminate the darkness in his heart.

Days turned to Weeks and Weeks became Months. Shifu made sure Tai Lung was training hard, pushing his limits. Busting knuckles, breaking bones. Po didn’t like it, but he helped heal Tai, because as he saw it they were friends.

The feeling was mutual Tai Lung enjoyed Po’s company. The Panda made him laugh and feel things, it was nice.

Shifu didn’t like that they were spending more time together, he thought Po was a bad influence.

To be continued...Bad Influence?

Shifu did not like Po, he was distracting Tai Lung from his training, playing games, breaking diet, wasting his time. Tai was even showing Po some martial arts. Shifu didn’t like it, didn’t like it one bit. Oogway believes the opposite.