ENTER THE DRAGON

One day, a small boy walks out of a run down house, stretching and yawning. His stomach then starts to growl, and he looks for some food. He then looks over and sees a tree full of pairs. The boy licks his lips, then climbs up the tree. When he makes it to the top, he grabs a pair and starts eating. As he is enjoying the pair, he looks down and sees three people doing martial arts. One of them then shoots a yellow fireball, as another person catches it, turns it into a red fire ball and absorbs it.

"Wow." The boy says with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Impressive, aren't they?" A voice says.

The boy turns around and sees an old man standing in the tree next to him. It's silent between the two for a moment, with the boy still eating the pair.

"Hi." The boy says.

"Hello." The old man replies with a smile.

The boy then offers the pair to the man.

"You want some?" He asks.

The old man chuckles.

"No, I'm fine."

The boy shrugs and takes another bite of the pair, continuing to watch the three below training. The old man is taken back by the boy, finding him very interesting. He then notices that the branch is about to break and steps over to the another branch.

"You might want to move." The old man tells him.

"Huh?" The boy asks, before the branch breaks and he falls to the ground. He slowly sits up, rubbing the back of his head in pain. He then looks up and sees the three, A woman, a chubby man, and a very serious looking man, who were training earlier staring at him.

"Oh, uh- hi. Sorry for interrupting your training- You guys were amazing, by the way." The boy says, chuckling.

The woman approaches the boy and looks at his head.

"You hit your head pretty hard. Are you ok?" She asks.

The boy smiles.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I've fell out of bigger trees, even off of a roof once." He tells her.

The chubby man chuckles.

"And what were you doing in the tree?" He asks.

"Oh, I was hungry so I climb it to get a pair."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" The serious one asks.

The boy is confused by this.

"Why would I lie?" He asks.

The serious one ignites his hand with a red flame and points it at the boy.

"You tell me." He says.

He is then surprised when the boy doesn't show a hint of fear. The chubby one lowers his hand.

"Marco, chill out, he's just a kid." He says.

"I apologize for my brother, he's just- paranoid. I'm Malia, the big guy is my other brother, Jacobe, and you've already met Marco." The woman says.

"Yo." Jacobe says with a smirk.

Marco scoffs, folding his arms and looking away.

"And what is your name?"

"I'm Ryu, it's nice to meet you all. So who's the old guy?"

The three of them looks on in confusion.

"Old guy?" Malia asks.

Jacobe chuckles.

"I think he's talking about Sifu." he says.

At that moment, the old man jumps down from the tree effortlessly.

"Unfortunately for my self-esteem, he is." Sifu says.

The three students bow out of respect. Ryu notices this and bows as well.

"Do your parents know where you are, kid?" Jacobe asks.

"Oh, I don't have any parents. I've been on my own all my life." Ryu replies with a smile.

Everyone looks at the boy with sad expressions on their faces. Sifu then walks towards the garden.

"Marco, Malia, Jacobe, show him to his room."

Everyone is shocked. Sifu then turns around and smiles.

"We'll start your training tomorrow."

Ryu is overwhelmed with emotion, never being taken in by anyone before. He then bows out of gratitude.

"Thank you, sir."

"It's Sifu now." He replies, continuing to walk away.

Marco then stops him.

"Sifu, I can understand offering this kid a place to stay, but training? I mean we don't even know if he has the spirit of the dragon."

Ryu is confused when he hears about the spirit of the dragon. Sifu stops in place for a moment. He then quickly turns around and shoots a red fire ball at the boy. Ryu quickly puts his hands up, trying to somehow shield himself from it. Everyone is then shocked as the fire not only stops, but turns blue.

"Woah." Jacobe and Malia say as Marco is stunned. Ryu slowly realizes what he's doing and smiles.

"Wow, this is awesome!" He yells.

The ball of fire then explodes, sending Ryu flying. Sifu smiles and puts his hand on Marcos shoulder.

"It seems that we have a new member of this family." He says before he walks away.

Later, Marco and the others shows Ryu his room.

"This is where you'll be sleeping." Malia says.

Ryu smiles.

"It's perfect, never had one before." He says.

"What? A room?" Jacobe asks.

"A bed." Ryu answers.

The three of them are all shocked, even Marco.

"Get some sleep. You have a- long day tomorrow." Marco says, as he quickly leaves.

Jacobe and Malia both look at each other, then walks away too. Ryu puts his hand on the bed, then slowly sits on it, smiling at the fact that for the first time in his life, he has somewhere to call home.

10 years later.

Malia sets the table for everyone to eat breakfast.

"Alright everyone, breakfast is ready! Come and get it!" She yells.

Sifu, Marco, and Jacobe come down, sit at the table, and start eating. Malia sees everyone eating, especially Jacobe who is eating faster than anyone, and smiles.

"Wow, you guys must really like my cooking." Malia says, blushing.

"Actually, the food isn't all that great, but beggars can't be choosers." Marco says, shocking Malia.

"Yeah, it kinda smells weird, but I'm so hungry I'll eat anything." Jacobe says, angering Malia.

She then punches them both in the head.

"Why do I even bother cooking for ungrateful jerks like you?!" She yells.

She then looks over at Sifu with puppy dog eyes.

"Sifu, you like my cooking, right?"

Sifu looks over at her and smiles nervously.

"Yes, well- uh- you've shown a lot of improvement, Malia." He tells her.

"See? Sifu doesn't like it either." Marco says.

Malia gets angry and in his face.

"Hey, why don't you shut up, curly brow!"

Marco gets angry as well.

"I told you to stop calling me that, you hag!"

Malia then notices something.

"Hey, where's Ryu?" She asks.

Jacobe looks up from eating, food all over his face and clothes.

"I don't know, he wasn't in his room this morning." Jacobe says, as he continues eating.

Malia thinks for a moment.

"Where could he be?" She asks.

Marco chuckles.

"Probably smelled the food and ran off." He says.

Malia then hits him in the head again. Sifu closes his eyes for a moment, then smiles. When he reopens them, he gets up and walks away. Marco and Malia look at each other for a moment, then follow, while Jacobe is still eating. Marco reaches over and drags him with them.

They all soon make it to the waterfall of the temple and smile when they see Ryu meditating there. Ryu takes a deep breath, then breaths out a small blue flame.

"Of course he'd be here, it is his favorite place here." Jacobe says with a smirk.

"Hey Ryu! Come down for breakfast already!" Malia yells, waving him down.

When Ryu opens his eyes, he sees the people that have been his family for all these years and smiles. He then jumps down gracefully infront of them.

"Let's go, I'm starving." Ryu says with a goofy grin.

A few minutes later, Ryu eating almost as fast as Jacobe was earlier. Ryu then looks at Malia with a smile.

"This is really good, Malia. Even better than yesterday." He says.

Malia's eyes sparkle out of accomplishment. Marco smirks.

"You don't have to lie to spare her feelings, Ryu."

"You know Ryu doesn't lie, he actually appreciate my cooking unlike you and Jacobe." Malia says.

"He's probably the only one on the planet that finds that crap you cook edible." Marco says.

Malia gets even more infuriated by her brother.

"Do you have a problem with?!" Malia yells.

"I have a problem with your cooking!" Marco yells back at her.

"Yeah? Well I have a problem with your eyebrows!"

Marco gets infuriated as well.

"What did you say?!"

Jacobe tries to step in.

"Guys, can't we just calm down and-"

"Stay out of this Jacobe!" Marco and Malia yell at him.

"Ok, ok, I'll be over there."

Ryu and Sifu laugh as they watch them argue.

Meanwhile, a man in a black suit stares out of the window of a big city. Someone then enters the room.

"Sir, we found him. He's in a small town, training four people with the spirit of the dragon in a monastery."

The man smirks.

"So he's followed in the footsteps of our Sifu, huh? Ready the men. We go after him and his students."

"Yes Sir." The foot soldier says.