LEGOBRICK13: *mumbling incoherently*
Riley: Calm down dude. Everything will be okay.
LEGOBRICK13: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!
Riley: I honestly don't. I was just saying that to try to make you feel better.
Lyla: *facepalms* You aren't supposed to tell him that, Riley.
LEGOBRICK13: But what if I make a mistake? This is uncharted territory for me!
Riley: Dude. You literally have your own phrase regarding mistakes. Just remember, you learn more from your mistakes-
LEGOBRICK13: -and you can't learn from your mistakes if you don't make them. I think I would know my own damn phrase!
Lyla: Didn't you literally forget how it was worded just a few hours ago?
LEGOBRICK13: ...no comment.
[Yeah, I was originally super nervous when I posted this chapter back on the other website. These bits are pretty much just a representation of me arguing with the voices my mind has inadvertently created...don't look at me like that. Crazy is a relative term anyway.]
Anyway, thanks as usual for your support as always shirkahn. I'll be honest, this chapter is the first chapter I'd say to have such heavy differences and original content, so I'm admittedly a bit nervous on how it turned out. Sure, I've done some semi-original bits so far, but nothing to this degree. I hope you all enjoy this entry! So, with that out of the way, let's get into it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or Kung Fu Panda. Any OC's however, are mine unless stated otherwise.
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Chapter 8: Training...for real this time
Shifu sits under the peach tree with Oogway's staff, deep in thought. He has probably been siting there all night.
"Yah! Heyah!" can be heard faintly in the distance.
Shifu stirs, his ears prick as he hears kung fu noises in the distance. He goes to investigate, going to the Training Hall...only to find the area empty. The noises continue from out behind the palace. Going out back, Shifu sees the Riolu as he hits one of the Ironwood trees repeatedly.
The jackal continues grunting, the fur on his knuckles matted with a violet hue as he keeps striking the tree.
"Shifu has the audacity!" Riley growls out.
Punch.
"Tigress has the nerve!"
Punch.
"At least. The others. Gave me. A chance!"
Punch. Punch. Punch. Punch. The rate increases.
"Silver. Trip. Paul!"
Punch. Punch. Crack.
A dent is seen being made in the spot he keeps punching.
"Not even my own damn father!" Riley howls in rage.
Crack!
Fragments of bark break from the tree.
"I'm. Not. WEAK!"
Crack. Crack.
He pulls his arm back in a manner that Shifu recognizes. For a moment, he sees an outline of Tai Lung overlap him.
CRACK!
His right arm shoots straight through the tree with a dark blue glow around his fist.
He retracts his fist from the tree, panting as he looks through the newly formed hole that was caused by the strength of the blow.
Riley drops to the ground, curling up with head between his knees.
"Why...why does everyone think so little of me?" Riley questions with a broken voice.
Blinking away the image of Tai Lung, Shifu now saw a younger Tigress in the Riolu's place. He sat in the same position she was in when he first met the girl, and while the two had different reasons for it...
Both just wanted to fit in.
Shifu lowers his head at this, he understood it now. The Riolu's power, his insecurity; he questions his place in the world around him, one that continued to cast him aside. Shifu thought at first that he was a slacker when they first met, someone who didn't have to will to devote themselves, given what he knew about Riley's people.
Over time, he began to see the boy's will, but too much of Tai Lung within the boy; great potential and power, but none of the patience required. Now though? Now he knew the truth...
'What a fool I've been.' Shifu thought, as he looked on to the sobbing young man before him.
This wasn't Riley being impatient...he was desperate.
The older-than-most Riolu had simply been through so much that his patience had been all but decimated. So few of the people of his homeland thought the same he once did and so it forced him to resort to self-imposed exile in an effort to get away from it all, to find people who might finally believe he could amount to something because they didn't know about his status back home.
Shifu was ashamed of himself for not seeing it sooner, for not seeing the signs. The determination to keep going even when he was beyond his limit, the rage he held at Tigress in their scuffle last night, the desperate hope in his eyes in their own interaction last night...had he really been so blinded by his doubts at Oogway's decision to even give the Rio- to give Riley a chance?
Shifu walks forward to Riley, the jackal-like man still unaware of his presence. As he came close Shifu hesitantly outstretched his arm towards Riley's left shoulder.
After a few times of pulling back and forth, he rests his hand on the shoulder.
In the blink of an eye and almost too fast for him to react, Shifu sees Riley's body flinch as he feels him tense, before Riley's body twists with his right fist flying towards Shifu's face. Shifu saw the attack coming a moment before and easily could've dodged or deflected the instinctual attack...
He chose not to.
Shifu readies himself and skids back a foot from the blow after it makes contact with him, his guard dropping slightly. He was surprised by the power behind the punch. He looked down after his eyes refocused to see how far he was knocked back and was impressed; Riley was able to do that even after he planted himself, and that was just from a resting position. How far might he have gone if Riley had proper time to build momentum?
Breaking himself from his contemplation, Shifu looks to Riley's face go on a rollercoaster (whatever that even is) of emotions. It went from alarm to shock, before ending in horrific realization as he seemed to realize who he attacked.
"OhmygoshImsosorry!" Riley waved his hands as frantically as his apology. Shifu wouldn't deny that it was somewhat entertaining how quickly Riley's emotions could change at a moment's notice whenever he was distressed.
Shifu stretched his face a bit to soften the sting of the blow, "No, no. It was my fault. I...deserved that." Shifu admitted.
Riley frantically shook his head, "Even so, that didn't mean I should've-"
"For everything." Shifu cut him off, leaving the Riolu so confused that he could see the question mark floating above his head.
"W-what?" Riley asks, unsure he heard him correctly.
"I chose not to block it. I deserved that for everything. I was so appalled by Master Oogway's decision at first that I didn't see it, then I was...afraid. When I saw you, I began to see much of what I saw in Tai Lung within you...but how wrong I was. Even after everything you endured, you still stayed and continued to try, no matter what we did you just kept getting back up." Shifu admits but sees Riley's disbelieving expression.
"You have a strong will, one that I wish to properly train not for my own sake, but for the people of the Valley of Peace. I know that, with proper training, you have the power to stop Tai Lung and his rampage. I may have doubted my master before, but now I understand what he saw in you." Shifu continued.
"Don't..." Riley says softly, a melancholy expression on his face.
Shifu becomes confused. "Pardon?"
"Don't...don't give me hope." Riley pleads, tears streaming from his eyes.
Shifu is taken aback by this, internally questioning Riley's depressing statement.
"Every time I get drawn in by the optimism...the hope...all it ever does is let me down!" He clutches his head with his eyes holding a manic, lifeless look in them. "No matter what it is, where I go, or who believes in me, it never matters! All it does is drag me down even further than I was before!" Riley looks back to Shifu and meets his eyes with his own bloodshot ones. "So please...to whatever deity is actually out there...don't give me hope!" Riley begs him.
Seeing the state Riley was in, all it did was make Shifu feel even worse than he did before. He had tried to bring him to his limit so he would quit, and unfortunately, it looked like he succeeded. How much pain and suffering had he been going through all this time? Shifu would never understand, he just couldn't, but he had to do something to make sure the lad wouldn't inflict even a fraction of this pain onto his family should he let the despair overtake him and do something...drastic.
Seeing an image of a younger Tigress appear over him once more, Shifu got an idea. He really hoped this would work, but he's not sure what he could do otherwise. May Tigress forgive him for telling without her permission.
"You know...Tigress went through something similar when I first met her." Shifu started. Riley's sobs lessened a bit with his ears perking up a bit.
'I might have a chance yet.' Shifu internally cheered. He had gotten Riley's attention.
"Tigress? Really? I don't believe you." Riley states with blunt disbelief through his sorrow.
"It's true. Though, her situation was almost inversed compared to yours." Shifu told.
Riley looked confused. He didn't know what Shifu could mean by that.
"H-how so?"
"Rather than others looking down at her for being weak, she was isolated due to being too strong, and was feared extensively. She had nearly given up hope as well, and believed she was a monster due to the strength she could not control when she was a cub." Shifu explained.
-
Riley's irises flared with an azure glow. In his mind, he saw flashes of a building- an orphanage! He saw a dark room in shambles, he heard the pleads of one of the caretakers to another shadowed figure, the caretaker calling someone a monster, but somehow, he knew they were referring to...him? Why was he seeing this? It all felt so real, he could see and hear and feel it so vividly, like a memory, but this wasn't his memory.
In the vision, he looked down at his hands, but he didn't see the black and blue he was accustomed to. They looked like...Tigress'?! Why?! Why and how was he seeing this? Why was he experiencing this memory like it were his own?
"The orphanage that I met her at needed help, and so I arrived." Shifu's voice could be heard, but Riley's vision had long since trapped him within this memory.
Memory Tigress/Riley was curled up and looking at the wall, not bothering to acknowledge the door opening behind.
"Tigress?" She/He heard from the door, glancing over the shoulder to see a slightly younger Shifu there.
Memory Shifu continued. "I am Shifu. I am-"
"Afraid?" Riley heard the younger voice growl out.
Memory Shifu closed the metal door behind him, stating simply, "No."
"Well, you should be! I am Tigress! Tigress the monster!" The young Tigress said aggressively, before turning back to the wall as her tone became somber, "A monster no one wants."
"You are not a monster. You're just a little girl." Memory Shifu denied, surprising her.
Memory Shifu had set out some dominoes, pulling one out of the arc.
"Let us play?" He offered, holding out the domino towards her.
Tigress reached out to take the domino from his hand, before it swiftly broke in her own; Memory Shifu catching one of the fragments that flew near him as her offered the piece to her.
"You must learn to control your strength." He stated.
"And so, I trained her. The weeks became months...until one day..." The present Shifu recounted.
Riley no longer saw things through Tigress' eyes as he watched numerous moments during Tigress' training with Shifu. All culminating to one day, where she positioned a number of dominoes, knocking them over to reveal the image of the Yin and Yang. The crowd cheered, the other children and the caretakers congratulated her...but she still wasn't adopted like before.
The caretaker did their best to reassure her, telling her there was always next time...but she knew the truth.
She placed one of the dominoes on the table before her as she moped.
The adults were still afraid of her...
*Clack*
Another domino was suddenly placed beside her own.
"...all but one." Present Shifu stated.
Looking up, Tigress' frown turned upside down as she realized who it was.
"Shifu!" she said with excitement.
"Come. Let us go home." Memory Shifu said as he turned, walking towards the door as the young feline quickly caught up to him with a radiant smile on her face, while Riley's surroundings faded around him.
-
"And so, I took her in." Present Shifu finished.
The azure glow in Riley's eyes fades when his vision returns, as he is met with the sight of the current Shifu with a fond look on his face.
'I had no idea.' Riley thought, his perception of Tigress changing in an instant. He couldn't help but relate to her in their experiences.
"W-why...why are you telling me this?" Riley asked softly.
Shifu's reminiscent look turned downcast. "Because I was wrong about you."
This left Riley confused.
Seeing his confusion, Shifu continued. "When I first met you, I was blinded by my doubts. Over the time you've been here, watching how you reacted to the 'training', all I began to see was Tai Lung. I thought that if I actually trained you, that you might turn out just like him...how wrong I was." He stated with self-disappointment.
"And what about now?" Riley hesitantly asked.
"Now? Now I see the same thing I saw within Tigress..." Shifu held out his hand. "A person in need of saving from themself."
Riley looks to the outstretched hand for what felt like an eternity. Tigress had apparently been like him once before, and Shifu helped her...could he really help him?
Eventually, Riley made a decision. He took ahold of the outstretched hand and Shifu helped him to his feet.
Using his other arm to wipe away the remaining tears, Riley's face became resolute. "So...now what?"
Shifu simply smiled. "You have great power like Tigress did, but you have yet to use it on command. Like your conflict with Tigress last night and with the ironwood tree you so lovingly gave a hole..." He begins, pointing his staff at the aforementioned hole.
Riley is surprised, he didn't think he could do such a thing.
"...you need to learn how to not only bring forth this power, but also keep it in check. From what I've learned about Riolu and Lucario in my research, your kind are natural-born fighters, and have a distinct connection to Chi-"
"Aura." Riley interrupts.
Shifu looks puzzled.
Riley elaborates. "You were saying we have a connection to Chi, which is false. Our innate connection is to what we call Aura, and while similar, is very much different."
"And was the blue glow in your eyes as I told Tigress' story from this 'Aura'?" Shifu asked.
Riley blinks at this. "I...guess so. When you told the story...it felt like I had been the one experiencing it myself."
Shifu pulls out a scroll from his pocket begins reading through it. "Interesting. This scroll was written by one of Master Oogway's students before I was born; one who trained alongside a Lucario."
Riley perks up at this. "Master Oogway taught a Lucario?" he asked curiously.
"Apparently so. There is a record regarding what you just went through. They said it was called 'Chi Link', though I suppose 'Aura Link' is the more accurate term. The pupil tells how they and the Lucario had accidentally formed one of these temporarily, the two were able to see each other's memories and were able to learn more about each other." Shifu read.
"Did they say the Lucario's name?" Riley asked.
"It says they went by the name 'Aaron'."
Riley's eyes widened as he looked at the locket he wore around his neck. "My grandfather's name was Aaron! He would always tell me stories about his journey to China. He talked about learning under a wise tortoise and learning kung fu under him. I'd actually hoped I might find the place he trained...to think I had been here this whole time; I was so caught off guard by all the 'Dragon Warrior' stuff that it hadn't even crossed my mind that Master Oogway might've been his teacher."
Shifu strokes his chin in thought, "That would explain why he seemed to know so much about your species."
Shifu snaps out of his thoughts and taps the staff to the ground. "In any case, it is time that you finally learn kung fu. With Tai Lung on his way, we have no time to lose."
Riley face hardens.
"You will train extensively through day and night. By the time Tai Lung gets here, you must be ready to take the Dragon Scroll."
Riley nods. "Right." he says, taking out a Sitrus Berry and consuming it in three bites. After swallowing, he looks as though he has been instantly re-energized, bouncing on his feet as he throws a few mock punches as a warmup. He then punches his right fist into his open left palm. "Let's get started then." He says with a determined look.
-
Shifu and Riley entered the Training Hall. Throughout the first day, Shifu had him train on the obstacle course as he threw wooden discs at him as he balanced on the turtle shell and Riley caught the last of the 10 he threw...only to immediately slip in his moment of joy and fall into the bowl. Shifu winces as he hears the gong-like sound of Riley falling in.
Riley could now be seen in the middle of the spiked dummies, as he strikes at the one before him. Using the moves he was able to pick up from watching Tigress from his first day there, he struck the arms of the dummy. He was successful in fending off one of them, but then Shifu struck another one nearby. As Riley went to defend from the new target, the first one swung back around and sent him flying into another, causing him to pinball between them for a few moments. After a while, he finally falls face first onto the ground, groaning as he lies there in pain. Seeing this, Shifu sighs.
The last activity shown was Riley repeatedly hopping on the twisting tightrope, struggling to stay up as he attempted to juggle some of the same wooden discs from earlier. He was doing well at first until Shifu started throwing more discs for him to dodge. The Riolu wavered and tripped as the three discs he was juggling were sent high into the air. Riley stiffens after he lands on the tightrope with an extremely pained expression as he lets out a high-pitched whine, the tightrope having struck him in a rather...uncomfortable spot as the turning stopped. Shifu winces once more with a sharp inhale, looking away in sympathy. "Are you alright?" he hesitantly asks.
To add insult to injury, the three discs Riley had been juggling dropped one at a time onto the student's head.
"No." Riley squeaked out in a high pitch, before tilting over the side and falling to the ground beneath with a thump.
-
That evening, Shifu and Riley can be seen eating. Riley was now sporting bandages around his wrists and feet, as well as patches over various areas of his blue fur, the area around them sporting a slightly singed look. The less said about how he was singed, the better.
"I'll be honest, I'm not sure how to train you. The record I found told how all of these activities were ones your grandfather was trained using, but something's missing." Shifu contemplated.
Riley gave him a deadpanned look. "I would've never guessed." he said with prevalent sarcasm.
Shifu rolls his eyes before returning his gaze to the scroll before him. "I've read through this a dozen times, but there's nothing else. I know that no two people fight the same, but it's said that conditions like these are common for your kind."
"Maybe they're tailored to a Lucario specifically and not a Riolu." Riley thought aloud.
"Hmm. Perhaps. But it shouldn't make such a drastic difference. There's clearly something that we're missing." Shifu stated as he cupped his chin. "Is there anything you can think of him telling you about when he trained under Oogway?"
Riley thinks for a moment before he says, "It's been years since I last saw him. He talked a lot about meditation, and he would often be meditating whenever I would visit him before..." Riley hesitates for a moment as he gains a somber look, something that Shifu notices.
"Before...what?" Shifu asked.
Riley shook his head, "It's irrelevant. He talked about it a lot, but I think there's something more to it than just that. Could I maybe look at that scroll myself?"
Shifu hands the scroll to him. He opens it up, reading the text and inspecting the artistical depictions as well.
Riley's brow furrowed. 'I didn't know there were drawings as well.'
As he inspected the drawings, something caught his eye. On the one depicting his grandfather atop the turtle shell, he noticed that he looked to be wearing something around his head. It was hard to tell at first glance, but looking at it closer revealed a simple headband, but Riley realized it was too low on his face to be that, not to mention the fact that his grandfather reverently despised having anything worn across his face. With its position, it looked more akin to...
'...is that a blindfold?' Riley wondered.
Looking forward, he inspected the other drawings. Like the first one, his grandfather was not only wearing the item in all the depictions, but it also covered his eyes in each drawing like a blindfold.
Suddenly, Riley had an epiphany.
'Of course! It's so obvious! Why didn't I think of it sooner?!' Riley thought, facepalming as he realized what they needed to do.
"Did you think of something?" Shifu asked him.
"We've been going about this all wrong! It was staring us in the face the whole time! These drawings show that he was blindfolded the entire time! A Riolu and Lucario's senses are stronger than others, but there is something we're even better with! Aura!" Riley responded.
Shifu's eyes widened. "If that is the case, and if your grandfather was truly so keen on meditation..."
"This isn't any ordinary training, it's Aura training! I've heard tales of some Lucario that use something called 'Aura Vision' to sense the world around them! Why didn't I think about it before?!" Riley ruffles his head in frustration.
The younger of the two quickly downed the rest of his meal before rushing back over to the Training Hall, as Shifu follows him.
-
It is now dark outside; the two arrive as Riley grabs a nearby blindfold, wrapping it around his head.
"If the way this 'Aura' you talk about works anything like Chi, don't focus on your hearing or the vibrations around you. Focus on the energy within yourself, then look for that same energy in everything else. Me, the floor, the leaves falling from the trees outside, and everything else. Don't just look for it, feel the energy as it flows around you." Shifu instructs him, using his knowledge of Chi.
With his eyes covered, Riley does as Shifu says, stuffing earplugs into his ears and focuses on the world around him. He thinks back to the moments he unconsciously drew out his Aura since arriving in the valley. His second day as he was defeated repeatedly by the Five and Shifu, his climb back up the stairs even as his body screamed at him and as he rushed Shifu, the anger he felt at Tigress when he headbutted her, and the empathy he felt as he watched Tigress' pain through her early years.
He looked through his memories to find some other instance he may have drawn this same energy out, and remembered something that happened long ago, the worst day of his life...and the sorrow that came with it. A forest burned and people were running in terror as they were mowed down. The cries of his younger self rang in his mind as he tried to reach out to someone desperately, only for them to hand him to someone else as they turned back to the onslaught.
Riley drew on all of it. Determination, anger, empathy...and sorrow. He focused on that feeling as the world that was hidden to him suddenly exploded in an azure glow, outlining the world around him and forming a picture of it in his mind. He saw the Training Hall's obstacle course to his right, the trees out back to his left, the odd form of multiple creatures that seemed to resemble that Cortex individual he met at the peach tree (strangely enough their Auras were all the same), and the environment behind him. It felt...natural to him, and it reminded him of his observational awareness. To think that his paranoia would help him in such a way.
"I...think I've got it. Throw something at me" Riley informed Shifu.
Shifu held out one of the wooden discs, throwing it at Riley's head. The master was surprised however when Riley seemed to know it was coming, leaning back as it flew just barely over his head. [Matrix dodge!]
Shaking himself from the surprise, Shifu threw more discs at him and like before, Riley dodged them as they came near, swiveling on his feet to catch the last one as it flew from behind him, holding it between his fingers. As he removed the coverings.
Riley had an awestruck and giddy look on his face as he looked around to see the discs exactly where they were in his mind, knowing that he had succeeded.
Shifu watched as Riley talked too fast for him to understand. Seeing the Riolu's excitement and joy brought a small smile to his own face, seeing his pupil finally obtain some genuine confidence in himself after being put down so extensively.
-
"Now that you've been able to draw on your Aura to see, next is to do the same for your strength." Shifu said. The two could now be seen outside beside the tree Riley had punched through during the next morning.
"Seeing what you did to the ironwood tree outside, I believe it would be best to take it down. Your task will be to cut it down using only your strength, and then remove the stump as well. Afterwards, you will carry the tree down to the valley and to the carpenters to use for construction." Shifu instructed.
"Down all of those stairs?! And then to the other side of town too?!" Riley exclaimed. The tree in question towered at 4 stories tall, and was about 1.5 meters in diameter. 'I think the tree could still stand for another century before it becomes a problem. It's not like the hole I made through it is very wide anyways.'
"Yes. It will do well to build up your strength and endurance both naturally and when using your Aura. Now, begin!" Shifu directed.
Riley cracked his knuckles and neck and rolled his shoulders as he prepared for the task at hand.
-
Author's note: No outtakes this time unfortunately. I hope you enjoyed it! This was my first real case of trying to write an original sequence for the story, especially since Riley is a much different character compared to Jack Black's spirit animal.