Turning Red: Secrets of the Panda is a fanfiction written by RedstonePrime, based on Pixar's 2022 film Turning Red. The story follows Mei who, after losing her panda to unknown circumstances, must do whatever she can to get it back while being hunted by a government organisation. In 2024, a sequel was released titled Turning Red: The Panda Conspiracy.
The story can be read here
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Turning Red: Secrets of the Panda contains examples of:
- Auction of Evil: Jason Vaugn is revealed to be selling Mei's relatives for profit at an auction in Ottawa.
- Badass Normal:
- Jason Vaugn: while he does have the ability to control corrupted red panda spirits, this isn't all that useful in combat. However, he still manages to fight Xia Lee in her red panda form while on top of a moving train and live.
- Howard Mitchell also qualifies, as he fights Xia, and later Mei, on top of a moving train with nothing but the weapons he has on hand.
- The PCA, in general, are able to take down giant red pandas like Mei with only their weapons and military training.
- Badass Teacher: Catherine Moore aka Xia Lee is the zoology teacher at Mei's school, and is shown to be a competent fighter, able to go toe-to-toe with Jason's men. She even fights Jason on top of a moving train, while in her red panda form.
- Big Bad: Jason Vaugn, the leader of the PCA, is the one responsible for hunting down the giant red pandas.
- Black Magic: Jason Vaugn has the ability to control corrupted red panda spirits.
- Brought Down to Normal: Mei loses her red panda transformation part way through the story. she regains it a few chapters later, however.
- Call-Back: The fic makes several references to the events of the film, most notably the attack on the SkyDome.
- Co-Dragons: The two corrupted red panda spirits and Howard serve as this to Jason.
- Cool Car: Jason and the rest of the PCA members drive heavily modified black sedans that have been heavily tuned for higher performance, useful for chasing after the giant shapeshifting red pandas.
- Cool Teacher: Catherine Moore is quickly revealed to be the school's science teacher. She also teaches the students about red pandas, an animal she has a keen interest in, and also stops the lesson early when she realises something is wrong with Mei.
- Classy Cane: Catherine Moore has an ornate cane with red panda carvings, as well as a gem at the top. It also contains her red panda spirit.
- Dark Is Evil: the PCA, a group dedicated to hunting down the giant red pandas, are dressed entirely in black and all have black sedans.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Catherine Moore, despite wearing black, is actually a heroic character who tries to help the protagonists.
- Deal with the Devil: Jason's ancestors are revealed to have made a deal with a demon in order to take down Sun Yee.
- Easily Forgiven: Mei is quick to forgive Xia for taking her panda away, as she realises the latter was doing so with good intentions.
- Even Evil Has Standards: while the PCA agents may have beein willing to kill people and animals they thought were a threat to the city, they did not agree to traffic people for money. This leads to them turning against Jason after Mei and Xia both get him to expose himself to everyone at the auction. They are also horrified when Jason's panda spirits start attacking everyone at the auction.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Miriam when she realises that Mei can't turn into a panda, anymore. This realisation causes Mei to completely break down.Miriam: Your hair, Mei. It’s turned black, like it was before you gained the panda. But, if you didn’t get rid of the panda, why would.. Oh, no!
Mei: I can’t turn into a panda, anymore, can I? - Faking the Dead: Xia Lee pretends to be dead to protect herself and her family, going undercover as Catherine Moore.
- Faux Affably Evil: Jason Vaugn, the head of the PCA, acts friendly when Mei's friends first meet him, but he quickly reveals his true personality after they tell him they don't know where she is.
- Handicapped Badass: Catherine Moore walks with a slight limp, but she's also a member of the Lee family, meaning she can transform into a giant red panda.
- Friend to All Living Things: Catherine is a devoted animal lover, and has a particular passion for red pandas not unlike one of her ancestors, and is also trying to protect Mei and her family from the PCA.
- Heel–Face Turn: The PCA pull one at the end, after the find that the people they were tasked with taking down are innocent.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Mei falls into a massive one in the second chapter after she finds out she lost her panda spirit during science class, becoming unable to respond to anything going on around her. Her reaction is so bad, in fact, that Xia actually ends the class early to give Mei time to recover.
- After being told by Howard that her experiments are completely unethical, Xia completely breaks down over the realisation that her experiments have caused people to suffer. She has another one later on after she tells Mei that her (Xia’s) mother has been killed, and learns that Mei’s panda form made her (Mei) happy. This makes her realise just how much her own actions have affected Mei.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: Even though Xióngmāo shāshǒu is responsible for the story's main events, Mei and Xia's rivalry is firmly against one of his followers, Jason Vaugn, who has started a crusade to eliminate their family solely out of racist prejudice and paranoia.
- The Mole: Howard Mitchell is revealed to be this to Jason Vaugn, acting as his top agent.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Xia Breaks down into tears after she realises her experiments have been causing more harm than good. She is also remorseful when she learns that not only did she take away the only way Mei had to defend herself, but she also took away the one thing that allowed her to enjoy herself.
- Despite not showing it, it’s clear Howard feels horrible over betraying Xia. He’s also horrified over the realisation that he’d been killing innocent people simply because of a lie Jason told him. This leads to him calling Jason out on his lies.
- The PCA agents are all horrified after they learn they were all involved in human trafficking and almost wiping out an innocent family.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By taking away Mei's panda spirit, Xia not only takes away the very thing that allowed her to protect herself from harm, but she also took away the one thing that allowed her to enjoy herself. Mei and her friends both call her out on it at different points in the story.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: during his fight with Xia, Howard accidently breaks the ring which contained Mei's panda spirit, releasing the spirit and allowing it to re-enter Mei's body, instantly changing her to her panda form.
- Off Hand Back Hand: Mei, in red panda form, defeats Howard by accidentally hitting him with the back of her hand, knocking him off the front of the train they're fighting on top of.
- Oh, Crap!: Several throughout the story:
- Both Mei and Ming are visibly shocked when Catherine tells them they are being hunted by the PCA
- Mei completely panics when she realises she no longer has her red panda spirit, resulting in a Heroic BSoD.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Mei gives one to Jason, calling him out for killing members of her family.
- Jason, the PCA agents, and Xia all give one to each other during the panda auction
Jason: Xia Lee, what a surprise to see you here. And Meilin, too. Please, feel free to stay, I’m sure you’ll eventually make a good prize for one of these guys.
Xia: Prize, Jason, is that what you think of us, is it? We aren’t prizes, Jason, and what you’re doing is illegal, selling innocent people for money! It’s clear, now, that you truly don’t care about anyone but yourself!
Jason: Says the one who performed horrific experiments on people, and claimed to be helping them! You claim to protect people, yet you take away something that apparently exists to do just that, Xia. You’re just as responsible as I am! And you, Meilin Lee, you were given the same ability to defend yourself, and instead you use it to entertain others and raise money. And you still decided to keep it even after you attacked your friend Tyler, after you knew how dangerous it is? Yeah, you exploit the pandas just as much as I do!
Xia: Don’t you guys all see, you were all deceived! This man wanted you to believe you were keeping the city safe, but he just wanted an excuse to traffic people for his own greed! He doesn’t care about anyone, he only cares about his own wallet!
PCA agent: I always had a bad feeling about you, Mr. Vaugn! I agreed to help you eliminate dangerous people and animals to defend the city, I did not sign up for human trafficking, none of us did! No, the Lee family aren’t the dangerous ones, here, Jason, you are!
Jason: You know what? You are all traitors, every single one of you in this room, and you shall all share the same fate! I’ve spent enough time trying to expose these freaks for what they are, yet you’re now accusing ME of being the dangerous one even though these pandas are literally walking weapons of mass destruction? Perhaps now it is time for me to finish my ancestors’ work!'' - Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Xia, despite being informed by Howard that she and her family have become wanted fugitives thanks to Jason's new laws, still continues to protect and help her family.
- Shown Their Work: All the information Catherine gives regarding red pandas is accurate to real life red pandas.
- Sword Cane: Xia's cane is revealed to be one.
- Took a Level in Badass: Mei goes from the rebelious teenager she was in the film to fighting a corrupt government agent on top of a moving train.
- Train Escape: while being chased by Howard Mitchell, Xia Lee jumps onto a moving freight train, leading to them fighting on to of the train, which is taking members of Mei’s family to be sold at auction. Both Mei and Jason also join in, leading to a two-on-two fight between Howard and Jason, and Mei and Xia.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Prior to the events of the story, Jason used his skills as a manipulator to fool the government into thinking Mike Smith (who is a Well-Intentioned Extremist) had committed treason, just so he could take command of the PCA).
- Unstoppable Rage: Xia generally remains quite calm, even when around members of the PCA or when she knows they’re involved in something. However, after she sees the horrible things Jason has done, and witnesses Jason shooting Mei in the gut, she completely snaps. This leads to her beating the ever-living hell out of Jason, while in her red panda form.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Xia experiments on people to try and see whether she can join the red panda spirits with them, but she is only doing so to help others be able to defend themselves. She also removes Mei's panda spirit, as she thought Mei wanted to be rid of it. However, she soon realises that she was only making things worse.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Mei completely snaps at Xia Lee, after she realises that she was the one who took away her panda spirit.Mei: Wait a minute, did you say you remove pandas from people? Which means it was you who took my panda away, not Jason. That panda was part of me, and now you stole it!
- Xia later gets another one from Howard, who calls her out for her horrific experiments on people. This actually gets her to break down over the realisation of her cruel her experiments were.
- Mei completely snaps at Xia Lee, after she realises that she was the one who took away her panda spirit.
