Chapter 406 - My CO Stash #6 - Oogway's Little Owl by NullenVoid (WormXKungFuPanda)

-Whatever this author has been smoking, I want some of that potent shit haha/

Synopsis: While meditating, Master Oogway saves Taylor from the locker and decides to take her on as a student

Rated: T

Words: 92K

Posted on: forums.spacebattles.com/threads/oogways-little-owl-worm-kung-fu-panda.857691/ (NullenVoid)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics/originals mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1-3 (exceptiona)

Oogway had lived a long time. It wasn't quite the thousand years rumors claimed, but it was close. In that time he had been a warrior, a brother, a monk, a wanderer, a master… He'd been a lot of things. Seen a lot of things. Done a lot of things. His time was coming, looming over the horizon like a distant storm, but he had time. Time to do a few more things. Right now, he was meditating.

The peach tree was his favorite spot for it. He'd planted the tree when he first settled in the Valley of Peace, and it had grown as the Jade Palace was built around it. He planted it, tended to it, had poured his soul into it, metaphorically and literally. His staff had been carved from one of its branches. It was as much a part of him as his shell. When his time came, he hoped he spent his final moments beneath it. He didn't fear his end, because as long as the Tree still stood, he would never truly leave the Valley. What more could he ask for?

Oogway thought about a lot of things, meditating. His victories. His failures. Students, past, present and future. Shifu.

"Heh." Shifu. Shifu still believed that meditation meant emptying your mind. You could, sure, but it could also be a time of self-reflection. Or a simple moment of peace and silence away from a stressful life. Oogway had once taken a sloth as a student, and his peers had thought him disrespectful when he interpreted meditation as "take a nap." Not everyone can empty their mind. Shifu certainly had difficulty with it.

Oogway used meditation as an excuse to cast his mind every which way. He spent all his waking hours as the wise mentor, or the senile elder, or the all-knowing master. All were true, and all were false. They were him, when he was them, but when he was meditating, that was when he was Oogway as Oogway saw him. He did not have to focus on the moment, or put on a face for those around him.

Although he did enjoy being frustratingly vague with his students.

No, right here, right now, alone, he was him.

"Hm." His mind brushed against something. A presence. Impossibly distant, but he could feel it still. Curious, he widened his mind away from his aimless wandering, opening himself up to the greater universe. Yet, it was still so very far away. He reached out further, reaching out beyond where he'd ever felt before. Just as he began to wonder if he'd ever find it, and he was starting to feel a strain he'd never encountered before, he touched the distant mind again.

Anguish. Physical, mental, emotional. A person on the edge. A… a young girl.

Oogway grimaced. He felt… betrayal. Dismay. Despair. Rage, under it all, but that was drowned out by fear.

Oogway had seen most of the world in his time. He'd met countless people. He had met people as troubled as this girl, but not often or recently. Someone so young, even less.

How can I help? he thought. He opened one eye in the real world and inspected his claws, watching a spark of gold chi briefly light them up. He supposed… he'd used chi to do all manner of things. He'd never learned the skill himself, but he'd once seen one of his teachers, all those years ago, pull a sprig of bamboo to her paw from across the room. It'd clearly been an afterthought, so presumably it could pull from much further. Another teacher had shown him a way to store things in the spirit realm, though Oogway hadn't used it in a few years. It was possible… that both could be used together to pull someone through the Spirit Realm. He'd never even heard of anything like that, but there was no reason to think it wouldn't work--

He suddenly felt the girl's condition start to worsen, rapidly. Full-blown panic was starting to set in and--! He felt what he could only imagine was some kind of demon approaching her. He couldn't feel it except through his link with the girl, but what he sensed horrified him. He 'saw' it reach out with a tendril and a sense of cold detachment.

[DESTI--]

"No." He pulled.

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When Taylor came to, everything felt wrong. Her clothes felt like they were the wrong shape, hanging off her strangely. It felt like they were pulling at her hair too, but all over her body? She tried to push herself up, but her arms were longer and weaker than she expected, and she fell flat on her face. She tried to roll over and sit up next, but her legs bent the wrong way. Oh god, her legs bent the wrong way.

Her eyes shot open, and her panic was momentarily halted by the fact that she was on a mountaintop next to a tree covered in pink flowers. There was a turtle laying nearby. It was a beautiful view, especially in the light of the sunset, but she was certain that she wasn't supposed to be here. The last thing she remembered… t-the last thing she r-remembered…

There was a groan, and she turned her head (too far!) to see the turtle slowly stand up on it hind legs. It--he?--picked up a stick and leaned heavily on it.

"Hoo~... that was exactly as hard as I expected it would be." He smacked his lips, then perked slightly and turned to her. A warm smile split his face. "And as worth it. Hello, little owl. Are you alright?"

Taylor felt herself breathing harder. "Y-you can t-talk?! What's going on?!" She looked around, stumbling to her feet (shaped wrong, too spread out) and looking everywhere. There was a path away from the tree to a large complex with Asian architecture. In the distance she could see a small village far below. Very far. Her glasses were missing, how could she--

She felt her face. She saw her hands, which she didn't have anymore. Feathers. She looked down. Talons. What--

The turtle tapped her lightly between the eyes and a wave of calm washed through her.

"Apologies, little one. I know you must be frightened, but don't be afraid. You are safe now."

She had no reason to believe him. She'd only met him, and he was a talking turtle holy crap. But the sheer warmth in his voice, the kindness in his eyes…

Taylor gave in and cried. Oogway smiled, sad and patient, and pulled her into a gentle hug.

Chapter 2

"Thank you, sir," Taylor said. They were walking down the path to the Palace now. Taylor was having trouble walking, and so the turtle had been kind enough to lend her his walking stick. Taylor had quickly found that her… wings, still functioned perfectly well as arms, though she had to grip harder than she was used to for her feather-fingers to hold anything. The legs were harder. They bent the other way now, and she was half-worried that if she tried to walk like normal she'd end up going backwards.

The turtle was watching her attempt at walking, slightly amused. "There is no need to thank me, young one. You were in trouble and I helped you. Simple as that." He looked up to meet her eyes. "But you are welcome, regardless."

They reached the gate, and Taylor took a moment to appreciate the garden that lay just inside the walls. The Palace itself was quite beautiful as well, though it seemed to have an overabundance of stairs. The turtle motioned for her to follow.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked her. A goose passed them as they walked and stopped to bow deeply to him. He gave her a strange look but continued on his way.

Taylor stared at him for a second in turn. "I'm… not sure. I think I'll be okay." She hobbled forward to walk alongside him. "How did I get here?"

"Hm." He paused, standing by the door to one of the buildings. "What is your name, young one?"

"Uh. Taylor."

"Well met, Taylor. I am Oogway. How did you get here? Well, I brought you here, of course. I thought you knew that."

"Well, yeah, I figured. But how? And why am I…?"

"An owl?"

"...yeah."

"So you weren't one before, then. Interesting." He pushed the door open and walked in. Taylor followed. "It explains your current difficulties, certainly."

"About that, why--"

"I felt your pain, and I realized I could stop it. That is how you are here."

Taylor frowned. "And I'm grateful, but--"

"As for why you are now something you were not, I don't know. What were you before?"

They passed an open door, and Taylor glanced inside to see a small dining room. A rabbit was washing dishes and waved to her as they passed. She slowly waved back.

"I was a human. Is there any way to turn back?"

Oogway hummed. "Human. Well, I can't say I've ever heard of them before. How unusual." The next door they arrived at, Oogway entered, bringing them into a small study, lined with bookshelves. "May I see my staff again?"

Taylor pulled her weight off the stick. After a moment, she decided just standing shouldn't be an issue, so she passed it over.

"Thank you. Now, what do these humans of yours look like."

"Uh. Do you have apes?" Oogway nodded and started reaching for a scroll, used the crook at the end of his staff to pull one down. "Okay. Um, we look kind of like… Chimpanzees, but hairless and fully upright."

Oogway stopped and stared at her. "Goodness. How…" He trailed off. "Unique. Are you sure you want to turn back? I've seen Monkey n.a.k.e.d, I can only imagine him bald." He shuddered.

Taylor huffed, crossing her arms. Wings.

"I kid, I kid." He perused the scroll for a while. "Hm. I'm not sure what to tell you, young Taylor."

Before Taylor could respond, the door to the study opened and a small, older creature walked through, looking like a red-and-white raccoon. He was studying a red scroll.

"Master Oogway, there you are. The Five and I are back from our training trip and I was hoping to get your advice on some of these--" He looked up and startled at seeing Taylor.

"Ah, Shifu. I'm glad to see you again. How are your students? Is Monkey still having trouble with the bo staff?"

"No, that was the focus of my training with him--Master, who is this?"

Oogway placed a friendly hand on Taylor's shoulder. "This is Taylor, Shifu. I met her on my morning walk earlier today." Oogway winked at her. "She'll be staying here in the Palace for a while."

"I will?"

"She will?! But--"

"I was just about to send for someone to arrange a room for her, but since you're here…"

"Wait just a--!"

Oogway ignored the stammering Shifu and turned to face her. "Unless, of course, you have something you'd rather do instead?"

Taylor's first instinct was to say no, but on second thought… where else would she go? She was clearly nowhere in her own world, and had no way to get back. Would she even want to? What did she have going for her back in Brockton? Back at Winslow?

...How long would it take for Dad to even notice she was gone? It'd been nearly two weeks since they so much as made eye contact.

"No. No, I think I'd like that."

Oogway beamed. "Excellent. We can get you set up in the guest quarter, for now at least. Shifu, call Zeng and have him help her get settled while we look over your report."

Shifu gaped at them a moment longer before sighing. "Of course, Master. I'll return shortly." He squinted at Taylor for a moment before leaving, muttering under his breath.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Do not worry about Shifu. He simply has trouble dealing with the unexpected. He will adapt. It may be a good lesson. Now, what else can you tell me about your world?"

"Well…"

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Some time later, a goose named Zeng was showing her to a sparsely-decorated but comfortable room near the back of the palace. Taylor was pleased to note that she managed to stumble only twice during the trip.

"So this is where you'll be staying for now. Breakfast is at sunup, lunch at noon, and I or someone else will summon you for dinner. Otherwise, Master Oogway says you are free to wander the Jade Palace at your leisure. However, Master Shifu would like you to stay on the grounds unless you have an escort. Any questions?"

"Yes. Um. Is there any way I could get some clothes? These are all I have, and they don't exactly… fit, anymore." She lifted up the hem of her shirt to demonstrate, and it fell off her shoulder on one side.

Zeng flushed slightly and looked away. "Y-yes, I'll see what I can do. Please put your shirt down, miss."

"Oh! Right, s-sorry!"

"Enjoy your stay," he muttered, hurrying away.

Taylor collapsed on bed. "Great job, Taylor, better get started alienating everyone here too," she groaned to herself, sweeping a wing across her face. Hm. Speaking of…

There was a full mirror in the room, and Taylor took the opportunity to finally take a look at herself. She was… surprisingly cute, all things considered. Those too-wide eyes looked much more at home on an owl's face, and the beak completely did away with that frog-like mouth she'd always hated. She had a pair of tufts over her eyes, so she was probably a great horned owl. Looking again, she saw that her glasses weren't completely gone; they'd become a pattern in her feathers, surrounding her newly-golden eyes. And from the top of her head down to her tail feathers, she was the same dark brown as her hair had been, so she had kept that, in a way.

It wasn't what she would have chosen; for all its faults, she still would have preferred to stay human. But all in all, she was perfectly satisfied with how she looked. Maybe she'd get used to it.

There was a knock on her door, startling her out of her introspection.

"Oh! Um, come in?"

The door opened to reveal a tall, lanky bird in a straw hat.

"Hi there. You Taylor?"

"Yes?"

"Name's Crane. Oogway asked me to come check up on you."

"He did?" Wait. "You're a crane and you're named Crane? Really?"

"Yeah, my parents weren't very creative. It's my family name, too."

"Oh. Sorry, I er--"

He smirked. "It's a joke. Me and the other Masters forsook our birth names when we chose our fighting styles. I'm called Master Crane because I'm the undisputed Master of the Crane Style. Same with Viper, Monkey, Tigress and Mantis."

"Oh."

There was a slightly awkward silence. Crane coughed.

"Y-you said you were here to check on me?"

"Oh right. Yeah, Master Oogway told me you'd had an injury of some kind and need to be retaught a bunch of things any bird should know."

���He did?" That was rather clever of him. Not sure how she felt about him lying to cover for her, but if it meant avoiding having to re-explain herself all the time, she guessed it was fine.

"There's no need to be embarrassed. I broke my wing once, and it was torture staying groundbound waiting for it to heal. Don't worry kid, we'll get you back in the air in no time."

Taylor's eyes widened. "In the air? You mean you'll teach me to fly?!"

"Sure will! It might take some time, but you'll be soaring with the best of them in no time, I promise!"

She was going to fly. Taylor felt a grin split across her beak. She was going to fly! This would be so awesome!

Chapter 3

This was so not awesome.

Crane turned out to a real slave driver. She hadn't expected to be thrown in the air right away, that would be ridiculous. Her feet had never been more than a foot off the ground before, of course she wasn't going straight to flying. But she'd been expecting, like, stretches. Practicing wing motions. Maybe flapping util she could feel her feet leaving the ground, so she knew what to expect.

No, instead she was doing push-ups. It wasn't going well. Feathers weren't as well-equipped for gripping as fingers, and that extended to finding traction on the ground. She was getting better already, but even when she could find grip, her wings were shaky and weak.

Crane stalked over. "Wow, they really did a number on your wings, huh? What even happened? Oogway didn't say."

Taylor flinched hard enough to fall down again. "I'd rather not talk about it. Why am I doing push-ups again?"

Crane scoffed. "Well, you need to be able to hold up your own weight. If you can't do it here on the ground, what makes you think you'll be able to do it up in the sky surrounded by buffeting winds?" He spread his wings to demonstrate. "Look." He lazily flapped a wing in her direction, sending a gust of wind that she really appreciated.

"See? See me pushing the air around? That's what keeps you up in the air. Like the air itself is a pair of platforms, and your wings are each laid out on one with you suspended between. You need to have strong arms to keep your wings spread out to stay airborn. Understand?"

Taylor grimaced. "Yeah, I understand. Doesn't mean I like it."

"That's fair," he said, amused.

As Taylor fell again, she heard a surprised sound. She turned her head over her shoulder (still not used to that) and saw a tiger and a snake entering the courtyard, watching her.

"So this is where you went off to, Crane?" the snake said, which only surprised Taylor for a moment. Turtles, birds and rabbits are all people, why wouldn't snakes be too?

"Yup. Oogway's orders."

The tiger looked her up and down. "Hmph." Taylor hated her instantly. That single syllable conjured memories of Sophia, and the disdain in the cat's eyes made it even worse. "You must be our new… guest."

The snake slithered over and beamed at her. ���Well it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Viper, and this is Tigress." Tigress grunted. "I hope you enjoy your stay at the Jade Palace!"

She offered the end of her tail, and after a second Taylor realized she was supposed to shake it. "I'm Taylor."

Tigress stared at her a moment longer before dismissing her. She turned and walked towards another clear area marked with chalk. Taylor felt her eye twitch in annoyance.

Viper frowned after her a moment before addressing Taylor. "We'll have to talk more later. Maybe I can show you around the village!"

"Maybe."

Crane tapped his foot sharply. "Alright, Taylor, back at it. We're doing a hundred push-ups this morning, and you've only done twelve."

Taylor groaned and flopped to her stomach. Still, with her anger over Tigress' behavior motivating her, she managed another six in quick succession before the pain forced her to slow.

Crane tsked. "Hey now. Go at your own pace. If you hurt yourself, you'll only--"

A massive crashing sound cut him off, and Taylor glanced towards the other girls again to see a massive dust cloud where they had been standing. For a moment she thought a bomb had gone off, but it hadn't sounded right.

How sad is that? You know you're a Brockton native when…

Looking closer she could see a pair of silhouettes swiping at each other in the dust. The big one, Tigress, looked to be pulling her arm back for a punch--

THOOM

The cloud of dust parted from the sheer force of her palm thrust, and Taylor swore she could feel the force of it from here. Viper dodged it easily and coiled around Tigress's arm and over her head, snapping her tail down like a whip over her face as she passed it. Tigress blinked on reflex while Viper hit the ground behind her. She moved to surround Tigress' legs, but just as she tightened her coils, Tigress jumped, eyes still closed, into a flawless forward flip into a kick at Viper's head, knocking her back and into a tree.

All that happened over the course of two seconds. Taylor was shocked she was able to follow it all.

Crane chuckled. "Haha, yeah. The first time's always great, isn't it?" He reached a feather over to manually close her beak, which had fallen open at some point without her noticing. She realized she was still pushing herself up, and abruptly collapsed.

Tigress went to check on Viper, appearing to apologize, but the snake cheerfully waved her off.

"It's alright, Tigress. That's what practice is for!" Taylor heard her respond.

"That was… amazing!" Taylor breathed.

Crane nodded. "They're very good. I like to think I'm not too bad, myself."

Taylor suddenly devoted her complete attention. "You can do that too?"

He suddenly seemed fl.u.s.tered under her stare. "Well, not exactly like that. I use a different style than either of them. Crane style's more defensive in nature than either of theirs." Before Taylor could ask her next question, Crane cleared his throat. "Anyway, you're not done. Back to work."

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Watching the sparring while she worked out made it much easier, which Crane found funny for some reason, judging by the way he chuckled every now and then. Before she knew it (after five more spars, three of which Tigress won), she was done, and Crane led her through some stretches to ease the pain out of her wings.

"We'll be doing another set of a hundred tonight before dinner, then another twenty after before bed."

"Uh-huh."

"You'll wanna collapse pretty soon after that, trust me, so it'll probably be an early night for you, since you're an owl and all."

"Yeah."

"I'll get you up first thing in the morning for more push-ups, and maybe some yoga. A little more flexibility never hurt anyone."

"Right."

"..And we'll do this again every day for at least two weeks."

Taylor turned and gawked at him. "What?!"

"Ha! Thought that one would get ya! No, you get every fourth day off. Work you too hard and you'll break."

"Oh. That's… better, I suppose." She looked back at the two. Viper had just managed to eke out a third win when Crane tapped her shoulder.

"It's about that time, so if you want you should go get lunch. You know where to go, right?"

Taylor nodded, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. She blushed when her stomach growled, harder when Crane showed he heard it by smiling slyly at her.

"Well go on then. I'll meet you later. I've got to do my own exercise now. Hey guys! Let me have a go!" He walked off towards his friends. Taylor walked away herself. Slowly. Glancing over her shoulder nearly every step of the way.

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"So Crane!" Viper began, weaving between punches, "Tell us about the new girl! What's she like?"

Crane blew them both off their feet with a mighty flap. "She's nice. A little shy, but--" He blocked a swipe from Tigress and forced her to back off with a jab from his beak. "--but she's got spirit."

Tigress leapt, knocking his hat over his eyes and kicking him in the chest, sending him into a spiral before he recovered. "She's weak. She can barely do push-ups? What's she doing here? She's just wasting our time."

Viper answered with a kick to her ribs, and kept pressing the advantage. "We were all weak, once. Everyone has to--" she jumped as Crane dove over them, wrapping around his legs and tying them together. "--start somewhere, Tigress."

"When we were children, yes, but she's the same age as me!" Crane untangled his limbs and flung Viper in her direction, but Tigress deflected her. Or tried to, as Viper latched onto her arms and started squeezing, so instead Tigress forced her off by trying to slam her into the ground. "What kind of pampered life must she have lived that she, an owl, has never set foot off the ground?"

"Pampered?" Crane alighted and cricked his neck. "You didn't hear then? Whatever else she is, she wasn't pampered." He looked around and then gestured them closer. "Master Oogway didn't tell me what happened, but it wasn't good. She was injured. Pretty badly. Oogway found and healed her, but something unexpected happened, he says. Now she has to relearn how to use her body."

Tigress blinked. "...Really?"

"Well, that's what Oogway said, and what I've seen supports it. Even if he healed her wounds, you can see she was hurt if you know how to look. She's… jumpy. She's trying to hide it, even from herself, but she's scared."

"Poor dear."

Tigress looked towards the dining hall. "Well. We'll see if she's strong enough to rise above it."

"You're all heart, Tigress."

"Shut up." She leapt at him, and the fight resumed.