A long Kung Fu Panda Fanfic
written after the release of the first film and Secrets of the Furious Five.
Some time after Po had defeated Tai Lung and has been largely fully accepted as the Dragon Warrior, Master Shifu gets a letter and has to leave on a personal matter for two weeks, and tells Po and the Five not to set foot in his personal quarters.
Naturally, their curiosity gets the better of them, although Tigress is of course the most resistant, and they intrude to find their master's room is a mess and he has been writing his personal memoirs. After cleaning it up to justify their intrusion, the gang can't resist reading about their teacher's early life.
What they read is a story about how the precocious youngest son of a rural family of Red Panda rice farmers is picked by Master Oogway to become his student. Eventually, a group of fellow students arrive and they become an earlier generation version of the Furious Five who save China from a Mongol invasion. On a more personal level, this Five includes Master Yeying (formerly known as "Song"), a beautiful and ferocious feline Action Girl who becomes a love interest of Shifu.
Memoirs of a Master provides examples of:
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Shifu's parents come off as bit of a downplayed example, in that they don't really embarrass him much but they are shown to be rather smothering and overly gleeful most of the time.
- Anachronism Stew: Chapter 2 has the characters use dynamite, something that wasn't even invented until 1866. The author herself admitted that she was perfectly aware of this.
- Anyone Can Die: Who wasn't in the original movie. And many do.
- Arranged Marriage: Yeying was expected to marry a creditor who, as chapter 14 revealed, was a fat, unhygienic cat of extremely gonk-ish proportions under her father's demand. Shifu, not wanting to have her suffer the same fate many other women must deal with, decides to marry her instead.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Zigsa, though he gets better by the time he's made a master and renamed Shan. And then gets worse again.
- Arson Murder And Life Saving: Master Oogway first scolds Shifu for disobeying his orders not to challenge the Huns, stealing sacred weapons from the palace, and almost getting himself killed in the process. However, he immediately praises Shifu for doing so since he knew Shifu only did it out of the goodness of his heart to protect his friends and family.
- Artistic License – History: Ancient China is shown to be incredibly homophobic, which is why Li had such a difficult time coming out. In reality, however, Ancient China was actually more receptive of homosexuality than what is commonly thought (they even had a deity for gay couples). It wasn't until much later in history, between either the 14th century or 20th century, that homophobia actually became widespread in China.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: When Oogway dubs the truant Five their Master names after an adventure protecting Shifu's village from the Huns against his orders, knowing full-well they would likely be expelled for it.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Rong Lang, who usurped the Imperial throne, learns that you never, ever threaten Master Oogway, the supreme master of Kung Fu.
- Blind Kung Fu Warrior: Zigsa, AKA Shan.
- Big Damn Kiss: Shifu received one from Li in chapter 4, as a way of telling him he was gay. Shifu later then gave one to Yeying in chapter 5 to "confirm" his heterosexuality when he stated to Li earlier that he wasn't into guys.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Red Claw. While he does come off as abrasive and brutish when we first meet him, he was still shown to be on the side of the good guys. That is, until it's revealed that it was him who started the war between China and Mongolia as a means to purposely kill off all the Huns.
- Coming-Out Story: It's mostly present in early parts of the story, but one of the story's subplots involve Li struggling to come out to his friends, considering how homophobic Ancient China is. However, while Shifu is a bit uncomfortable to be considered attractive to the Fox, all of his True Companions turned out to already know and are cool with it, including Ren's dying father and of course Master Oogway, although he never went out and said it.
- Darker and Edgier: And how! The treachery related to the Mongol horde is nothing compared to the coup and its aftermath. The author certainly knew her history when it came to bloodbaths. Understandably, many readers were horrified and almost Rage Quit over this.
The author herself expressed shock over how strongly people were affected by what she had written. It's that dark and cruel. - Decadent Court: Li and Ren accept posts at the Imperial Court and reveal the court knows about their gay relationship, but with all the perversities going on behind palace walls, it's considered rather mundane and no one gives them any trouble about it.
- It is this which is also at least partly responsible for Shan's fall from grace.
- Death by Childbirth: Ochir reveals to Shifu that his mother died giving birth to him. Any insults made towards her (especially ones made by his father) have become a Berserk Button for him as a result.
- Death Equals Redemption: Shan.
- Death Seeker: Shifu, after losing everything following the coup, eventually becomes suicidal and is only stopped from taking his own life when he comes across the abandoned baby Tai Lung.
- Defiled Forever: Master Yeying fears that Shifu would never take her back after her years of imprisonment being tortured and raped and in paranoid hiding, only to find Shifu only cares that he is reunited with his beloved long lost wife after so long and doesn't even let her express this fear completely before saying so.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Women were shown to have have been treated very poorly by the people of Ancient China, which reflects the otherwise sexist views of that time period.
- A Dog Named "Dog": One of the characters in the story is a snow leopard named Zigsa, which is Tibetan for... snow leopard.
- Doomed by Canon: Played with. Since none of Shifu's classmates appeared in the movie, it is left to the reader to wonder
if they all died or are simply elsewhere in China. The story begins with Shifu getting a letter from Dong Li, but no other clues are given as to who might have survived to the present day. In the end it turns out everyone lived, even the one who was believed dead, they all got to have a last moment with Shan, and they all reunite with Shifu and the Five at the end. - Dramatic Irony: The thing which was supposed to make Tai Lung feel accepted and honored, being given a family name by the Emperor, ended up leading to his rampage and downfall when it was predicated upon Tai Lung receiving the Dragon Scroll. Also, the thing that was supposed to protect Shifu and Tai Lung from losing each other, the panda distancing himself and no longer calling the snow leopard his son, was the very thing that made Tai Lung think he needed the scroll (and a family name) in the first place. And of course, Tai Lung initially began learning kung fu so as to protect his father. Tai Lung's history is full of these.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Terbish is at first portrayed this way, particularly in regards to how he treats his son, but he turns out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- The Dutiful Son: Shifu's eldest brother is initially deeply resentful at how his youngest brother has become a mighty and famous kung fu master, but he later gets over it when he sees Shifu and company save the villagers from Red Claw's army.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After the very, very brutal events both Shifu and the reader are put through, the story finally ends with everyone reunited and happy. Shan gets to die in peace, Yeying is alive and returns to her husband, Shifu and Tigress become a true father and daughter, Po will likely marry Tigress, and it's even strongly implied Tai Lung will redeem himself. Very much an emotional roller coaster.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Happens twice.
- The betrayal of Red Claw, who turns out to harness a deep, xenophobic hatred towards the Huns and was willing to let his own soldiers die just so he could see every Hun in existence drop dead, regardless over whether or not they were innocent.
- The betrayal of Shan, helping to lead the coup that murders the emperor and his family, nearly fighting Shifu to the death, and eventually helping to slay the entire snow leopard clan of Mount Tai Shan. At the same time, Shan himself views Shifu's refusal to join him and instead fighting him as an equally awful betrayal. Many readers felt the same stomach-turning horror at learning of this as Shifu did. Vachir later feels the same way about Tai Lung after his rampage, since they had initially been war buddies.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: The ultimate result of the coup. The entire royal family? Dead except for one last heir. All of the warriors Shifu has to leave behind to Rong Lang, including Jian Qiang and Terbish? Dead except for Yeying who was left to Cold-Blooded Torture. All of Shifu's family and old village? Dead. All of the snow leopards of Mount Tai Shan, whom Shan blamed for the loss of the woman he loved and whom Lang hated after Shan turned on him? Dead except for Tai Lung. Is it any wonder Shifu wanted to die?
- Everybody Knew Already: Li and Ren are legitimately shocked when everybody else (sans Shifu of course) reveal that they knew the both of them were gay for years now.
- Everyone Can See It: Overlapping with Transparent Closet; Ren and especially Li were not that good at hiding the fact that they were gay.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Justified, since Oogway was the premier Kung Fu instructor in the empire.
- Evil Is Petty: An arguable case; Shan was manipulated by Rong Lang into betraying the emperor by stating that he was the one responsible for the plague that wiped out his clan, but his true motivation stemmed from Min Lung, his one true love, rejecting him in favor of Tai Lee.
- Expy: In-story; Shifu and Tigress initially feared Tai Lung was this of Shan since, due to the many similarities, they believed Shan was Tai Lung's father. Although they were wrong about the blood tie, it turned out Shifu was right about Tai Lung's future, albeit for completely different reasons.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: While the reader isn't directly shown what happens (other than the death of the emperor's wife), the bloodiness of the coup is literally testified to by Shan's wrist ties, which were once white and are now completely red. To say nothing of the slaughter of Qiang, Terbish, and their men, Shifu's village and family, and the snow leopard clan. Despite happening off-screen, the revelation of these deaths is played with such drama and tragedy to feel as if they were witnessed.
- Family Versus Career: In the end, Master Yeying is withered and partially broken by all her terrible years since being separated from Shifu, but she's happy at not only having her husband back who loves her just as much as before, but also having children at long last after a fashion with the Furious Five gladly volunteering in that role. This especially goes for Tigress, a beloved daughter she insists on addressing by her old name and is delighted to have her planning to marry the very lovable Po the Dragon Warrior. Whether she will resume teaching or practicing kung fu is never made clear, but her condition may make the point moot.
- Fantastic Racism: Aside from the way Red Claw feels about the Huns (Truth in Television for many in the empire at that time), there is the way snow leopards are viewed as terrifying avatars of death due to being so distant, aloof, and living high in the cold mountains where so many travelers lose their lives—or else hated due to the ongoing enmity between the Mandarins and the Tibetans. This is later exploited by Rong Lang when he claims the Emperor was behind the plague that slew Shan's clan, and was oppressing the snow leopards, to get him to aid in the coup.
- A Father to His Men: Jian Qiang and, it turns out, Terbish. Ochir follows in his father's tradition.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Tai Lung and Vachir were this when they first met in battle, which makes the Rhino's later hate for the Leopard after his murderous rampage all the more heartbreaking.
- Foregone Conclusion: If you've seen the original movie, of course you should know that Tai Lung will not earn the Dragon Scroll.
- From Bad to Worse: Shifu's attempt to compensate for the loss of his wife by raising and training Tai Lung, which makes his betrayal even more bitter.
- Gayngst: Li initially was not at all comfortable with wanting to come out of the closet, due to Ancient China apparently holding hostile views towards homosexuals. He gets better thanks to support from his friends and even his family.
- Good All Along: Zigzagged with the Huns; while they are shown to have committed terrible crimes in the past, it turns out they weren't trying to invade China after all, with Red Claw being the one who started the war due to his hatred towards the Huns.
- Go Through Me: Oogway bluntly tells Yeying's mother that there is no way he is going to let her daughter leave her kung fu training to submit to the torturous foot binding and if her father has a problem with that, he's welcome to fight Master Oogway, the supreme grandmaster of kung fu, to settle the issue.
- Handicapped Badass: Zigsa is blind, but uses his senses to detect when he's about to be hit.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Red Claw wants revenge for what the Huns had done to the people of China in the past, but him wanting to kill all the Huns, even women and children, makes Red Claw come off as no better.
- Hidden Elf Village: The snow leopard clan of Mount Tai Shan.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Shifu and his male friends were shown to be somewhat perverted when they became teenagers, much to the annoyance of Yeying who was the only female among them.
- Ironic Name: One of Shifu's former tournament opponents in chapter 6 was a five foot, 800 pound gorilla named Tiny.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Ochir is aggressive, somewhat apathetic, and has no problems with making fun of Shifu over his small height. But as time goes on, it's clear he has a good heart, especially when he starts warming up to Shifu.
- Yeying to a lesser extent. She's mostly portrayed as being good-hearted but she can still have her moments of aggressiveness and apatheticness as well. This lessened a bit when she got older, with there being much more emphasis on her good-hearted nature.
- Karma Houdini: Some might see Miao Li as this, since it was her suggestion that Shifu stop calling Tai Lung his son to protect him from Rong Lang that led to Tai Lung thinking he needed the Dragon Scroll to earn his father's love (and a family name), which in turn was why he snapped and rampaged when denied it. While she did lose Yeying, this happened before making that suggestion, and she died without ever seeing the horrible consequences of her advice.
- Kudzu Plot: Shifu apparently went through a lot throughout his life, such as his years training with Master Oogway, his relationships with his friends, his views on women, discovering that two of his best friends were gay, a deadly war between the Chinese and Mongols that was actually staged by a treacherous general, Shifu's eventual marriage, the betrayal of another one of his friends who murdered the emperor and later his family, and, of course, Shifu's relationship with his adoptive son Tai Lung.
- Mama Bear: Master Yeying may be older and withered at the end of the story, but the second she learns how Shifu treated Tigress, she roars that her husband speak to his adopted daughter that very night and tell her that he truly loves her like the daughter she deserves to be.
- Mature Animal Story: While it's based on a family film, this story plays to its adult fandom with sexual tension, bloody violence, rough language and wrenching emotional drama.
- No Periods, Period:
- Averted; Mantis recalls in chapter 4 when the Furious Five were battling an army of foxes at Dragon Mountain... only for said foxes to just simply run away upon witnessing Tigress, who happened to have been on one of her "lady days" at the time. Cue to everybody else laughing while Tigress herself just scowls in embarrassment.
- It's also mentioned that Yeying started having her... "lady days" when she began puberty. Oogway explained it to the boys when they questioned what was wrong with her, but it's clear it was something they didn't want to know about.
- One Degree of Separation: The Wu Sisters turn out to be Shan's daughters.
- Politically Correct History: All the heroes, especially Master Oogway, are revolted by the traditional Chinese treatment of females, especially the traditional footbinding.note However, it was justified concerning Shifu, having grown up in a traditional rural family, getting his tail kicked by Yeying when they were children when he sneered at the idea of a girl learning Kung Fu. That said, he gets much better and is later the first to want to defend Yeying who is feeling pressured to return home and submit to such treatment.
- Preserve Your Gays: Li and Ren, a gay fox and wolf who are dear friends of Shifu and have had a long and happy secret marriage.
- Pun: Miao Li, the Tonkinese cat. Sound out her family name, Miao...
- Remember the New Guy?: Justified with Shifu's old friends; he has never mentioned them before to his students, but considering the heartbreak he had to endure when Shan betrayed them and pretty much lost everything thanks to him, he probably didn't want to mention them again.
- Replacement Goldfish: The big issue Tigress has with Master Shifu adopting her as essentially a replacement for Tai Lung.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Oogway refuses to let Shifu go off to fight against the Huns since he knows how dangerous of a mission it will be. Shifu instead chooses to ignore his orders since he knows his family will be in danger.
- Second Place Is for Losers: While Oogway turned down Tai Lung as the Dragon Warrior, he was planning to dub him Master of the Thousand Scrolls for his unprecedented feat mastering them. However, whether Tai Lung would have been satisfied by this would never be known as he was starting his spiteful rampage at that moment.
- She Is All Grown Up: By the time Shifu and his friends have reached adulthood, they've shown some very noticeable development appearance-wise:
- Li is described as being a "handsome devil" (with emphasis on "devil").
- Yeying is slightly taller than she was before, developed curves, and her eyes are more noticeably beautiful.
- Ochir is now a massive fighting rhino bull, with a look so daring that nobody would bother even going up to him.
- Shifu, in Ren's own words, has a "cute ass" and "a body that could stop a stampede of rampaging oxen at fifty paces".
- Shout-Out: In chapter 7, upon hearing some yelling outside the Jade Palace, Zigsa exclaims, "What in the seven hells is that?"
- Shown Their Work: While there is some Artistic License here and there, it's clear that the author did a lot of research on how Ancient China worked.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Jian Qiang and Miao Li.
- Stay in the Kitchen:
- Women were viewed as being inferior to men, as in they should be preparing themselves for marriage and family raising instead of learning kung fu. Of course, this was Truth in Television at the time.
- Shifu actually held such beliefs when he was younger, and the more time he got to spend with Yeying, the more he realized just how much a woman was capable of doing. In fact, he later confessed that when Yeying insisted on helping Zigza get villagers to safety from the upcoming battle, he was secretly relieved considering he didn't want to worry about her being carried off by a Mongol during the fighting. Of course, he would never admit to her since he knew how insulted she would be.
- Straight Gay: Li and Ren are both gay, but don't display any stereotypes associated with homosexuals.
- Team Mom: Master Yeying, especially after her return decades later.
- Thou Shall Not Kill:
- Shifu and Li both lived under the impression that Kung Fu was all about protecting others, not killing them. Oogway and Zigsa showed the both of them that that isn't always the case, especially when your enemies are people that deserve it.
- Oogway also decides not to kill Rong Lang, stating that doing so won't bring back Emperor Yi.
- Time Skip: The first couple memoirs that the Furious Five read started off when Shifu was around four-years-old, then progress by several years as they go on.
- Unwanted False Faith: Master Oogway is honored in China, but in Mongolia, he is considered a god. Of course, he wants none of that from any Mongol.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Shifu was shown to have been very perky and outgoing when he was a kid, in stark contrast to the harsh taskmaster that the current Furious Five know him as.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ochir. And he does get to finally learn (albeit indirectly, and when it is too late) that his father is So Proud of You.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist:
- Rong Lang claims that he wanted to live in a world where everybody was equal. Unfortunately, his methods for doing so involved convincing Shan to betray his friends, which in turn, led to the murder of the emperor and the massacre of an entire village.
- Shifu, after being given some rather bad advice from Miao Li, starts becoming harsh and somewhat bitter towards Tai Lung in order to help make him strong enough to take down Rong Lang. Shifu does the same with Tigress later on, but more to stop her from ending up like how Tai Lung did.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Shifu calls out Master Oogway for not letting him go out and fight the Huns. While Oogway's reasons were very much justified, Shifu still gets angry with him since he's well-aware that his family and village were in danger and needed his help.
- Who's on First?: Referenced in the villager, Hu, who first appears when Shifu is young, only to have Li presciently claim the joke about his name would "last for centuries" and is later encountered by a young Tai Lung when he visits the village, leading to a very familiar exchange. Hu is later killed in Tai Lung's rampage.
- Why Can't I Hate You?: Tigress can't bring herself to hate Tai Lung anymore once she finds out he's the reason Shifu is still alive after he had previously attempted suicide.
- Younger Than They Look: Zigsa's bulky exterior makes him look much older than he really is.
- You Need to Get Laid: In chapter 14, Yeying straight up tells Shifu that Li needs to get himself laid.
