More than a Dragon Warrior

[Tai Lung's POV]

The Bears were permanent residents of Mielin City due to the easy access the place had to their favourite food which was honey. 

The bears had always been one of the strongest animals, blessed with unparalleled ferocity and strength from birth. Even without Kung Fu, they were formidable 

But the Grizzly clan in particular were known to be great masters of Kung fu. They possess the Berserker Style kung fu which had been passed on from generation to generation.

To this day, they remained as the protector of Mielin City. Just like how the Kung Fu council protects Gongmen City.

"It's good to finally meet you again, Tai Lung." The bear clad in heavy armour said to me, as I raised an eyebrow.

I went through my memories and tried to think back to my last visit to Mielin City. It was back when I travelled throughout China to defeat different Kung Fu masters and learn their techniques.

I took a good look at the face of the bear and the face of another powerful bear warrior appeared in my mind.

"Lishou?" I called out. 

But that can't be right. Lishou should be older and he had scars on his face. Although there was familiarity, the warrior in front of me was too young.

"No. That was my father." He said. That made sense.

I tried to remember if Lishou, the leader of the Grizzly clan had any son and indeed, I recalled his son cheering for him when we had our duel. I also remembered the horror on his son's face when I beat him.

"My name is Wubao. I am the current head of the clan, a successor of my father, Master Lishou." He said, "I will be honest, I have waited a long time to finally meet you and get revenge in my father's name."

What? Revenge? What did I even do this time? 

I remember I was still in my good-boy phase when I met the warrior known for his unstoppable strength, Lishou of Mielin City.

So what could I have possibly done that would have made his son seek revenge against me?

Wubao answered my question, "My father had never been the same after his defeat against you. He lost the respect he had and everyone in the city ridiculed him for losing against a young master."

"The other masters also talked down to him and my father couldn't live with the shame. So he took his own life when I was 11 years old." He finished his story and glared at me.

I gave him a deadpan expression. How was that even my fault?

"It sounds more like your father's ego was too fragile that he took his own life after a single loss." I said to him.

"Perhaps. But the bears are known for their immense pride. And you broke that pride when you used your nerve attacks and made him lose in the most humiliating way possible." He said.

Okay, that jogged my memories a bit. I may or may not have boasted about beating the mighty unstoppable force Lishou with but a single finger.

Which was really the only way to beat him since his hide and muscles were too thick to damage. A nerve attack was the only way to truly beat him and it was during this fight that I perfected the nerve attacks as well.

Also, I may or may not have played with him and hit his facial nerves to embarrass him infront of his whole city.

Did you know, that if you hit the nerves in the pelvis, you can make your enemies pee themselves? It was an interesting discovery I made during the fight as well. Although this was accidental.

Hmm, thinking back on it, I may be responsible for the death.

A little bit.

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Okay, maybe not a little bit. Just, I am half the reason. Yeah, let's do that.

"I have bear this grudge and hate towards you for a long time." He said and came close to me. Nice pun though.

"So in order to reclaim my father's honour, I want to challenge you to a fight to the death." He said, his mighty stature towering over me. He was even bigger than his father.

"To the death?" I questioned in surprise.

"Yes, to the death. Only your life would be able to reclaim the honour of my father. A life for a life." He said and bowed a little.

"And if I fight to take a life, I am ready for the same fate to happen to me." He said and finished.

What a respectful and honourable bear he turned out to be. I was surprised and I couldn't help but return the same gesture.

"Your father raised you well at least. I accept your challenge." I said and the next moment, I ducked under the powerful swing of his hammer.

"Good. Now, let us fight!!" He declared and he finally released all his wrath and the hatred he had towards me.

He stood his ground and let out a deafening roar that created a shockwave so strong it managed to make my fur stand.

*RWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRR!!!!!!!!*

He charged at me and the very foundation of the restaurant shook under his weight. He was extremely slow but that also made him able to change direction instantly as I moved away from him.

To my sense, it felt like a mountain was chasing after me. My instinct told me of the unimaginable strength his body contained.

He charged at me, it was slow but he was unstoppable. 

Finally, my back hit a table and I stopped. Wubao swung his hammer down and I barely leaned sideways to dodge.

The hammer hit the ground and it cracked like glass under his power. His weapon was planted on the ground so I took that time to kick his hand, making him loose his hold on his weapon.

Then with lightning speed movements, I used the same technique I used to defeat his father.

Nerve attack.

My finger met the right target in a scary display of accuracy. But instead of flesh, my finger and claw hit an armour.

I paused.

"Oh." He was not kidding when he said he had been preparing his entire life to fight me. When I looked at it, his armour protected almost all the nerve points in his body.

"RAAAWRH!!!!." He raored and swung his arm at me. We were too close so I did not have time to move away.

I put my arms up to block and I felt my bones creak under his earth-shattering strength. My body flew away due to the sheer force of his swing.

My body crashed into the wall of the restaurant and easily broke through it. I was sent flying outside the street as I flipped in the air and landed on the cobbled road.

I continued sliding back until I let out my claws and with yellow sparks caused by the friction of the stone and my claw, I came to a stop.

Slowly but surely I stood up to my full height. I cracked my bones and a grin slowly formed on my face.

A deep growl instinctively rolled off my throat as I looked towards the restaurant.

Wubao destroyed the wall of the restaurant as his eyes locked with mine.  

Then, he took a step towards me. At first, it was slow but soon it gained momentum and he was full-on charging at me again with a Warhammer and a war axe in his hand.

*RWOOOOOOOOOR!!!!* He let out an earthshaking roar.

As I looked upon the unstoppable force charging at me, I felt no fear. There was a sense of excitement as my blood began boiling.

Oh, how I missed this feeling.

Until now, my opponents have been weaklings in large numbers. I never even got to have a real fight.

Now, here was the perfect opponent. Wubao, who had far surpassed his father in wits and strength.

Finally, a decent challenge.

The world shall finally witness my Kung fu again after 20 years.

I flexed my muscles and the ground cracked as I shot towards my opponent like a canon ball.

He used his heavy weight to gather momentum. The ground shook with every step he took.

On the other hand, I used my speed to gather kinetic energy as I blitzed towards him. My speed only increased the more distance I covered.

It was going to be like a crash between a truck and a race car.

We met in the middle, covering the same distance since he started first.

I ducked under the horizontal swing of his axe. It had so much power that it split the house beside us into two.

I ducked and spun while focusing all of the force behind my speed on one of my feet. I kicked him right on his abdomen.

There was a rupture in the air as our collision sent a shockwave that destroyed all of the lamps hanging above our head.

The ground cried under our weight and it caved in. But even with all of that power, my opponent did not take a single step back.

I let out a smile full of disbelief. 

*RWOOOOR!!* He let out a roar and swung his Warhammer down on me.

I catched his hammer with my two hands and although I stopped it, his swing was so heavy that it buried my feet in the ground.

My eyes glowed yellow and serious as I let out a roar.

I pushed the hammer away and stepped on it to plant it on the ground. Then with a leap, I punched him right at his jaw.

Maybe I was wrong. 

Maybe I have lost some of my strenth during my imprisonment. Because it was impossible for anyone to look down while I punched their jaw. 

He resisted my punch and gazed down at me, his eyes were red and rageful.

Damn, the new generations are scary. Bears in general are scary.

"What are you looking at?" I said and grabbed his face before smashing it with my knee.

He tried to grab me but I flipped and landed behind him. I hit him right behind his knee, causing him to kneel down on one leg.

When his height was finally lowered and I could perfectly hit his head, I spun to gather force and deliver a hook right at the side of his face.

It's impressive he can shrug off my attacks. 

But what will he do with a hundred of them?

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[Image of Wubao]

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Important Author explanation : A lot of critisism and misunderstanding has been going on with Tai Lung's character so let's clear those up.

The first thing you should take note is that the world was based in ancient China and it is literally occupied by intelligent animals. That means, what this world consider evil and what modern world consider evil is very different. Their moral is different.

For example, a warrior killing another warrior is not considered evil. When a person chosen to purse kung fu or become a warrior, they resign their life and accepted the chance of death. As shown in this chapter,' if I am willing to kill then I am willing to die'. So the killing of warriors is not deemed too evil as you would killing a civilian. Master Rhino, slayer of ten thousand serpents. Furious Five, famous for killing an army when outnumbered one to thousand. The people here wear these titles earned from killing enemies like a badge of honor. But imagine it if it was today, a Russian soldier boasting about killing a hundred Ukraine soldiers or vice versa. The reaction will be vastley different.

So different morals as you can see. And even different species entirely. So try to look things from the story perspective and not yours.

And Tai Lung had not killed a civillain so far.

This world is ruled by stregth and Kung Fu. It's the law of the jungle where kung fu masters are admired by everyone. So Tai Lung, is very proud to be at the pinnacle. Right now, no one can defeat him one on one. So naturally he has a very big ego, deservingly so. That was why he reacted the way he did to the restaurant that denied him entry. He merely wanted to eat, and for them to disrespect him when he has money and came in peace because of his unjustified (In his mind) reputation, it made him angry and frustrated.

Tai Lung is not a good person, and not a bad person either. But there is darkness in him as Oogways said. If I have to say, he is a bad guy trying to be good. It is why he try and justify his actions and claim he is not a villain even when he acts like it. Looking like a hypocrite. But give him time, he has the heart to be better.

And as you might have seen form the hints the human part of his soul is dominated by og Tai Lung. So it's almost like Tai Lung getting only the memory. That makes sense since it is his body and he is 40 and even has chi. Although his human traits and the effect will be shown as the story progress.

I hope this help clear any confusions. The book is still in its first week since published, don't be too hasty and give it time. Hopefully it'll grow to be something wonderful.