The Tempest Archives: Project Exokuro (Mangascript)

Chapter 17: The Choice

Before nightfall, Auddle joins Yin Wei where they agreed to meet up. Wei is sitting down and turns towards him.

Yin Wei: "Ah, my student. Are you ready to begin training with your favorite dragon?"

AJ: "You happen to be the only dragon i know Shifu"

Yin Wei: "While that may be true, in this new day and age you can meet anything. I started seeing the transformations around last year or so. Humans with animalistic features or animals that were able to speak and act as if they were human. While it did make me feel less strange, when I found out why this was occurring, it only made my heart ache."

AJ continues to listen to Wei speak as he sits down with him.

Yin Wei: While i must admit its quite dangerous, you and your friends are doing something beneficial. Ending the suffering of the thousands affected.

AJ: "Holon, did you just say thousands?"

Yin Wei: "Yes. I fear this thing is not only happening in the UA, but in the other countries of the world as well. As a matter of fact, the SIC have contacts all over the continent"

AJ: "That's...."

Wei interrupts him before he can continue speaking

Yin Wei: "All of my students have gone off on their own now. Some are alive and well, settled down with a nice spouse and had a few children. In the same way, some are no longer with us."

AJ: "My condolences"

Yin Wei: "Appreciated but unnecessary. The last time I trained a student, she went rogue. She had a power conquest and only desired to get stronger. One day, she dropped the sword entirely and turned to martial arts. She's quite carefree, but my aim is to make you surpass even her. And also to give her a message from her old teacher if you..i don't know..ever happen to run into her"

AJ: "Don't gotta tell me twice"

Yin Wei: "That is unlikely, my instincts led me to she probably left Zhongua and headed to the Star Federation...this was quite recently which led me to question if i am a good teacher. But after remembering the others' achievements, I realized one thing.."

AJ: "What could it be?"

Yin Wei: "Simply, i'm approaching the golden age of panlongs. I'm also starting to get rusty. There are 2 people I'll train before i retire as a shifu. You and my son"

AJ: "Your son?"

Yin Wei: "Why yes, my son. Hes merely a child as of now. When he gets older, I will teach him everything i know so that my arts will not only live through my students, but through my bloodline"

AJ: "What would you do after retiring?"

Yin Wei: "Well id continue taking care of my investments and my family. Believe it or not, there are several secluded villages of panlongs in Zhonghua. Its tradition to give a daughter to a responsible son of one of the other villages. When i turned about 90, a beautiful dragon from the nearby village was given to me as arranged. Since we have a long lifespan, we have only had 2 children. My oldest child is my daughter Mei whom we had when I was 120. Now I have my son Kaido whom we had when I was 185."

AJ: "Well Shifu, seems youre a family man"

Yin Wei: "Indeed so. But enough about me for now. There'll be many more stories during our time as Shifu and Pupil."

Yin grabs what appears to be a rug rolled up. When he rolls it out, there are 4 weapons. A Katana, a Dagger, a Dandao and a Greatsword.

Yin Wei: "Tonight we will not be doing physical training, but now you will chose which art you want to learn. Take your time and choose wisely as it will be difficult to switch in between. Only the katana and the dandao are similar."

AJ leans forward and begins examining the weapons. He picks up each weapon, inspecting them and taking stances. He continues evaluating until arriving to the greatsword. He holds it in his hands. Due to his panda strength, there's little dexterity and its easy to pickup. He remembers since he will eventually unlock his panda form, he'd need a weapon to suit it too. He grins at the greatsword before looking towards Yin.

Yin Wei: "Well i can already tell you've chose"

AJ: "I did, i want dis same one in my hand"

*Muddo, this ga look sick*

Yin Wei: "Then I will keep it in the store room and put away the rest. The greatsword..I haven't taught it in so long."

AJ hands the weapon to Yin

Yin Wei: "Anyway, you may return to the room now. Be back here in the morning after breakfast and we shall begin"

AJ: "Understood Shifu"

AJ bows and begins to walk away before getting back to the room.

Night

When he returns, everyone is either watching TV or asleep.

Dired: "How was it"

AJ: "It was alright you know. I gone learn somethin solid"

Bronx: "Hopefully that dragon guy ain't no bitch for the SIC"

AJ: "I heavily doubt it. He was telling me about his life and accomplishments"

Dired: "Plus he gave us free accommodations"

Bronx: "Yeah but imma still keep my guard up. I'm not tryna go out like my dead opps. Speaking of that, i need get my hands on some green"

Dired: "We do need money"

Bronx: "While money is green and also something i need, I'm referring to a different kind of green"

AJ and Dired realizes what he meant

Bronx: "I'm tryna roll up"

AJ: "First off, not in the room. I'm not tryna catch secondhand. Second, your a parrot, shouldn't it have a more dangerous effect on you?"

Bronx: "I ain't really noticed or cared. It helps me relax at the end of the day"

Dired and AJ stop questioning

Dired: "Well, anyway, we might as well catch some sleep considering we have a busy morning."

Bronx: "You right. I gotta go for some guns and little something else too. As if id need it, I'm a literal black belt"

AJ: "Well yeah, goodnight then"

The 3 say goodnight before turning off the TV and going to sleep