Beyond the End: Chapter 3

Sighing, Shang led his horse into the training camp. As he looked around, he saw the new recruits everywhere – the usual lounging in groups, arm wrestling, insult and punch throwing. He sighed even harder and rolled his eyes. “Home Sweet Home,” Shang muttered under his breath. “Now all I need is Chi Fu going about trying to tell me how pathetically incompetent I am.”

“Ge-ne-ral!”

Recognizing the voice, Shang groaned. “Speak of the devil…..”

“General Li, I believe we have some things we must discuss……”

Shang braced himself. What a lousy start to a new day.

*****

“Hey, Yao! How have ya been?” Ling greeted his old friend with a solid whack on the shoulders.

“Yeah, just fine. Is Chien Po here also?”

“Yes, I am present, my friends.” Chien Po joined his buddies.

“Hey, guys,” said Ling, “I know this sounds ridiculous but do you know if Mulan’s coming?”

“Probably not. Remember Mr. Tough Guy’s part of the family now so it’s not as if they’re lacking someone to send here.” Yao pointed out.

“That’s true.” Conceded Ling. “Even so, you’d think she might come. But really, what I’m afraid of is that other girls will take it into their heads to do the same and then we’ll never be safe bathing!”

“Don’t remind me!” growled Yao, shaking his fist at Ling. “But speaking of girls that fight, I could point out a few people here that look like they could be girls in disguise. Like that one over there.” Yao pointed to a random recruit. Unfortunately, the recruit seemed to have very good hearing because he narrow his eyes and began walking towards Yao deliberately, pounding his fist into his hand while he walked.

The young man had a taller companion, following along. When they had reached the gang of three, his companion rasped in a quiet and dry voice, “You talkin’ about me??”

“No,” Ling said. “Yao was talking about you’re friend here. What’s wrong with your voice?”

“I’ve been sick.” The angry man’s friend replied. “And yes, I know Shorty here’s talking to my friend, I’m translating for him. He’s mute.”

Then, the silent young man made a throttling motion with his hands. His friend translated to Yao, “Prepare to die.” He then turned aside to Ling, “Actually, that means I’m gonna wring your scrawny neck but it’s close enough.”

Yao sneered at the young man who was glaring at him. “Go ahead and try,” taunted Yao. He smirked knowing the martial arts he learned would give him an advantage. He stood calm while the youth drew back a fist. However, it was not a fist that tried to reach Yao. Something heavy suddenly pressed on his foot.

“Yaahhhh!” hollered Yao. The man had stomped on his foot instead. And in catching him off guard, the youth then proceeded to whack Yao head.

“Why you!!!!!” Yao jumped up and began throwing punches in a heated rage. Unfortunately for him, it seemed that the young man knew very well how to block his punches.

Ling watching the spectacle turned to the “translator.” “You’re friend’s pretty good,” he conceded. “What’s his name?”

The friend absently answered, “Pa-Tria.”

Ling’s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the companion. “Hey, wait…..isn’t that a girl’s name?” he asked suspiciously.

“Huh?” the translator blinked. “Uh….uh….oops! I’m sorry….I wasn’t thinking….that’s his…um…sister’s name!! His is Shuen-Shio. And I’m Shio-Hway.”

“Really?” jeered Ling. “Well, his name sound okay, but yours sounds a bit like a girl’s!”

“ExCUSE ME???” rasped Shio. “What did you say??”

“Um, my friend,” Chien Po pointed out quietly to Ling, “I don’t think that was a good thing to say to him. You might want to apologize before someone gets hurt.”

“No way!” Ling then turned back to Shio. “Yeah, you heard me. You gonna do something about it?” Ling was pretty confident about his fighting skills and was watching to make sure his feet weren’t stomped upon. However, Shio simply knocked Ling over and sat on him, impeding any kind of movement Ling could possibly make.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” complained Ling, flailing his arms about, trying to hit Shio in some fashion. “Chien Po, help!!! Chien Po? Where the heck are you?” Ling turned his head to see Chien Po busy chasing a panda away from the rice pot. He looked over at Yao but didn’t think he’d get help from him. Yao was occupied trying to prevent Shuen in whacking him again. As it always is with brawls, a crowd gathered to watch while others, feeling that they were missing out on the fun, began their own separate little brawls. It wasn’t before long everybody was trying to hit everybody else.

*****

Inside of the main tent, Shang was having problems of his own. “I’m telling you,” he pointed out to Chi Fu, “There are a lot more recruits here than last time and I need people to help me. Yao, Ling, and Chien Po have already been through the training process so there is no reason why they can’t.”

“But, but, but….”spluttered Chi Fu. “Those three have constantly acted up! You can’t be serious in making them captains!!!!”

“I’m sure they’ve improved from last year.”

“Chien Po may be qualified but Ling is a troublemaker! Also, the short one, Yao! He’s always starting fights!!!” Chi Fu desperately tried to change Shang’s mind.

Shang shook his head and smiled. “I’m sorry. You may be the emperor’s consul, but I am his general.” He stepped out of the tent, but when he looked around he stopped smiling. The first thing he noticed was the general fist-throwing but on closer observation he noticed five particular individuals. One of the new recruits, which Shang thought looked vaguely familiar somehow was sitting on Ling’s back who was unsuccesfully trying to break free. Yao was attempting to hit another recruit, who seemed even more familiar, but the youth dodged his punches. Chien Po was trying to get the two to stop.

“Most impressive.”

Rolling his eyes, Shang ignored Chi Fu’s sarcastic comment and approached the fighting. “Soldiers!” he boomed.

Immediately everybody stopped, got up and pointed at the five figures in the center. “They started it!!!”

Glaring at the gang of three, Shang gestured for them to stand aside. “You three, I will talk to you later – at length.” They winced. He then turned to the other two. “What’s the meaning of this??”

The shorter one spread his palms up, gesturing innocence while the other rasped, “We were just minding our own business when those three over there started insulting us. It’s not as if we really had any choice in the matter.”

Shang groaned. “You know, as much as my captains need to be knocked over and hit on the head occasionally….”

“Captain???” inturrupted Ling. “We’re captains??” The gang of three began whooping and giving each other high fives.

Shang raised a hand and they shut up. “That may change,” he emphasized. “But as much as they do need to be sat upon every once in a while….”

“We know.” Inturrupted Shio, grinning widely. “You don’t need anyone causing trouble in your camp. That’s why we’re getting it out of our systems today.”

Suspiciously, Shang narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “What are your names? And why won’t your friend talk?”

“Oh, uh, Shuen’s mute. He can’t talk. I’m Shio.”

Doubt slowly left him. “Okay then. But why is Shuen doing that?” Shang looked pointedly at the mute who was staring wide-eyed at Shang making muffled noises at the back of his throat.

“Uh….uh….he’s just saying how he’s very sorry for beating up one of your captains and promises not to do it again.” Shio spoke rapidly. “Stop that!!” he hissed at Shuen and whacked him on the head. Shuen immediately stopped his whimpering but glared at Shio and punched him in the arm.

“Really.” Shang gave the mute another funny look and then announced to the crowd, “Well, since it seems that all of you enjoy making a mess, you will spend tonight cleaning it all up!” Shang gestured to the knocked over pots, collapsed tents, and muddied uniforms. A collective groan rose from the crowd.

“Yeah!” Ling jeered at them, specifically at Shio and Shuen. “And it gets worse tomorrow!”

Shuen bit his thumb at Ling.

“Wait a minute! What’s that supposed to mean?”

Shio punched his friend’s arm. “Language, Shuen, language!” he scolded while Shuen smirked at Ling.

“Hey!”

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