An Outstanding Episode of TAoSP:

Do You Believe In Love? (parallel plot to the other one.)

He put the finishing touches to his blueprint and memorised it. Looked through the binoculars, through the balcony. Located the white rectangle that was the trailer, and leapt into the darkness.

There he lay, bleeding, on the ground. Dying, in fact. The Pengs walked away. They all had taught themselves to have no emotional attachments to anyone but their own. 

Well, all but one, apparently.

Sect. peng couldn't resist looking back. She'd always been soft hearted, but now more than ever before... She couldn't resist looking back. Though Sunglasses Peng noticed, he preferred not to create tension by mentioning it. He adjusted the hilt of his sword uncomfortably.

 

She couldn't resist it. Ran back to the injured victim, and knelt down. For a moment, she didn't know what to do. Though the hate burned still in his heart, it was suddenly quelled, for no reason, as he noticed her soft features and snowy white-to-ebony black feathers shaping her elegant face. It was  like a painting. And such a refined painting, he'd put it in the museum of his house. If only he wasn't dying. But wait, what was he doing? Fancying the ENEMY?!

Oh, what would his father think of him?

 He reached his flipper up and tenderly stroked her cheek. And for once, Sect. Peng didn't push it away. She knelt closer, their eyes meeting. It was like a dream...

She noticed the weary determination in his eyes, the way a feather fell across his eye, brushing against his cheek, reaching the ground. Inconspicuously picked it up and held it to her heart, but he saw. 

But the reverie was rudely interrupted by a voice.

Or rather, a whole lot of them, stuffed in her face like a bouquet of rafflesias. 

"Sect! What are you doing!"

"Come on!"

"Is something wrong?"

"You're not...."

"Please, we need to..."

She looked up at the Pengs around her and interrupted the last voice, from CEO peng.

"We need to give him medical attention. Right away."

The other Pengs looked at each other and decided that it would be better not to ask questions, and loaded him onto the trailer. At a loss as to where to put him, they decided on the bathtub, to clean him up first. They were sceptical, but trusted Sect. 

"Should we bathe him or something?" Sunglasses asked the provoking question. Dazed, Sect. Peng answered "I'll do it." They stared at her.

"Clothes on" Christmas Peng decreed. This, to the other pengs, meant We'll talk about this when she's gone. Except Flying Peng, who let out a giggle, inappropriate for the serious moment, but ah. Flying peng was Flying Peng. What more could one expect? After all, the atmosphere needed some serious lightening.

___

As the water ran from the toilet, the Pengs gathered around on their bunks. Specs Peng broke the ice.

"Should we trust him?"

"Well, Sect. does." was all Armour Peng could offer.

"Lets see what he has to say after the bath, then decide?" Pi Peng spoke from under the sheets.

"He might lie!" Emo Peng pointed out.

"True, but we should judge for ourselves."

"And then?"

"If he makes the grade we'll send him to recuperate with Pi." Specs decided.

"If he doesn't, we'll leave him here." Christmas Peng finished. "And if he survives, I doubt he'll dare to take us on again."

The question everyone wanted to ask but no one dared to voice:

"What about Sect, then?"

Emo Peng decided to answer it, reading their minds.

"We'll let her choose. I just hope she won't become our enemy."

And they decided it was the best they could do for her.

"Wait." Samurai Peng spoke for the first time."If you're going to the village medics... I'll have to leave you. I have a mission to complete, you know. And the faster the better. My father's power grows all the time."

The Pengs nodded in understanding, for a second. Then Flying Peng sat up.

"Wait! Your father? Sir Jiang?"

CEO Peng started.

"He's... alive?!"

"He is." A voice said. Everyone swivelled their head to the door. They'd been so shocked that they had forgotten to check if Sect. and her new friend were done. It was the injured Peng.

_____________the story of the Peng...______________

The injured peng waddled to one of the bunks, supported by Sect, unsurprisingly. They sat down together, flipper in flipper. 

No one quite knew how to start questioning the Peng. Finally, Flying Peng piped up:" Who are you?" 

Straight and direct. No strings attached.

"Well..." Suddenly, Samurai Peng noticed the gem of Jiang royalty, attatched to the sheath of his sword. It was unmistakable; he'd had one too, before. Which meant... 

His heartbeat quickened. He wouldn't say anything just yet; maybe this would be a test of the Peng's honesty.

And so they listened.

"My name is Master Peng Alvin..."

Sect. Peng sighed. What a name! 

"And I'm from the court of Sir Jiang, my father."

Samurai found this time appropriate to strike.

"So am I. Greetings, brother, though I have seldom seen you in my life gone by..."

The shock on Peng Alvin's face became recognition.

"You...? Young Master Shyukiro?"

Samurai Peng grimaced, almost. "No more, senior. I am Samurai Peng."

The other pengs stared in disbelief.

"Well,to continue my story, I loved my father." The Pengs stifled laughs, disgusted looks, etc.

"I took in everything he gave me. He is a great Peng. Great leader, everything. He was the greatest dad I could ever had. Then one day I failed my swordplay class. Green Toast was really angry. He told my dad, because everyone else passed very, very, well. And my father, unable to forgive me for not working hard enough to LIVE the LEGACY, banished me.

Till now, I work to show him that i can do a better job of governing Jiang County than he can.

If anyone brings my fathers' reign down, it will be me.

And he will be proud of me."

This guy has warped thinking, man. Sunglasses Peng shot a look at the rest.

Sect. Peng looked worried, and asked gently

"But your father killed lots of people! Isn't that mean?"

"Population control." was the automatic answer he gave. "People ask me that a lot."

Propaganda, more like. I wonder if he actually buys this. Flying Peng shook her head.

Sect. Peng stared at him. "Really? Even if it's for no reason? Like the JCU reporter?"

PengAlvin thought for a long, long, long, long time.

Finally he said

"Maybe you're right."

"Join us, comrade!" Specs Peng took the lead. "Realise that your father has been fooling you with propaganda."

"Do you know why I stuck with him?" Peng Alvin propped himself against the bed post. "Because of the Oakvale Pengs."

The Oakvale Pengs... The tribe of Pengs that had taken the lead and won the battle over the reign of Jiang, who showed the rest of the Pengs that good things don't last, but neither do bad things. The Pengs all respected them.

"But they're..." Christmas Peng started

"Not as great as you think!" He was interrupted. "You think I'm the only one stuffing my face with propaganda? Maybe you were too. Maybe they weren't as great as you think. Maybe you just hated my father so much you refused to believe anyone on his side anymore. Well, I'm giving you the truth. And I saw it, myself.

"The Oakvale Pengs didn't spare a thought for the people who'd been enslaved by my fathers' military commanders. My father himself only had the most loyal guards and servants, he never had slaves. But the Oakvale Pengs slaughtered everyone in the castle, even if they weren't willingly working for us or were willing to surrender.

"Why? To increase the 'Enemy Kill Count' which they sent to the other Pengs, to boost morale.Killing people to boost morale is at least comparable to killing people who insult you indirectly, right? Like that JCU reporter. Bold and disrespectful."

He was a little subjective, but yes, they could see truth in his words. there was silence.

"That's not all. The Oakvale Pengs didn't stop at killing, they looted the whole area, claiming that everything was 'rightfully theirs.' Maybe this is a normal thing to do in a war; after all, the inhabitants have been killed; but did you ever see anything distributed to the soldiers who risked their lives to fight for freedom? Not if they weren't Oakvalers, no.

"And now the prisoners of war. Well, actually I'd rather not say what happened to them. But I think there is evidence enough to tell you they aren't as perfect as you think."

"And your decision?" Emo Peng asked. "Them, or us?"

Another long pause.

"Well, you aren't exactly Oakvalers,so I'll pick you." 

"Welcome." Specs Peng gave him a macho guy hug thing.

Whew. That was long.