A human in a different world

My life has been pretty good for the 18 years I have been alive and living in the United States. Never did I suspect that my life would change by trying to go to the store to get a movie and the newest video game. Oh my, how stupid of me to forget to introduce myself. I am Nate Lawson and I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.

My day started off normal enough as a normal American teenager. I got out of bed and got dressed before I went to the living room to open my lap top and started to play some games. The games are quite varied from war games to strategy. About an hour later my dad got up with my step-mother who started to make the usual breakfast of miantiao. My bad I forget some people don't speak Chinese mandarin and well that word means noodles in English. After breakfast I got into my usual camo jeans, camo shirt, and camo hoody before getting in my Jeep Cherokee and heading out. It was a usual drive like always with bad traffic and people who can't drive worth shit. Since I live in the worst state ever of a place called Indiana.

Finally I got to Walmart after some near misses and had to fight for a parking spot even though it was near winter and usually people are not out but it was a Saturday so ya. Well I got inside went past the greeter and went to the only place a teen like me goes, to the electronics section since that is where all the games and newest movies are that could interest a teen. Well everything was pretty good because I was able to get the Kung-fu panda movie I was hoping to get for like $10 since it had been out for a couple of years and also the newest Halo out to date which is Halo 4. The drive home wasn't so bad and all either and heck I got home to find that no one was home. So I decided to play some of the new Halo for like an hour or so and thought it was good but finally decided that it was time to try watching the Kung-fu panda I had heard so much about since I had no cable and the movie theater's charged more money than I could pay.

The movie started out pretty simple with the panda named Po sleeping and waking up to help his father who was surprisingly a goose before his father then decided to send him to send him to the temple to serve food. While that is going on Master Shifu talks with Master Oogway about how the dragon warrior was to be found. This goes on for a bit as I watch with a smile seeing how Po struggles with life. I start to get up as I see Po try to get inside using rockets. I had to admit that the furious five were quite awesome at Kung-fu. It even showed how the one called Tai Lung was in prison and how he got a feather from the goose messenger.

As I stand up a feel dizzy as I hear Master Oogway say, "I feel the presence of the Dragon Warrior."

My strength seems to leave me as I fall onto the carpet under me and I look up in time to see the dvd collection my dad had collected so much of start to tip and fall over right towards me. To put it lightly there was about 5000 dvds for 4 shelves and two were falling on me so very very heavy.

The world goes black as it lands on me and everything goes cold.

I feel the presence of someone near me as the voice of that old turtle asks, "Would you like to join this adventure and possibly help?"

Having possibly just died and having this as possibly heaven or something like it I speak or I want to speak but it barely comes out as I whimper, "Yes. I want to feel something new."

Warmth surrounds me as I feel myself floating on a soft surface as light seems to surround my vision. I feel something like fur under me as a bright light seems to warm my face and chest and a light breeze of summer goes past me…wait summer breeze?

Opening my eyes I see a mantis, monkey, snake, crane, tiger, and turtle in front of me all looking at me strangely or maybe under me. Feeling quite out of it I don't understand what is happening as I seem to roll off something fluffy and land on a cold stone floor. Hitting the ground hard after what probably was death bring with it a groan as my eyes close again and I black out yet again.

Waking I find myself in a strange room with a wooden ceiling. Leaning over I reach for my glasses where my usual stand would be and find nothing which should have been my first clue that I really wasn't home. Sitting up, I look around feeling quite blind at looking around a very blurred room as I seem to be missing my glasses which wasn't unusual since my eyes were as blind as a bats. Looking down at myself I find that my pale skin seems to not be damaged and that I don't have anything on which should have been my second clue that this was bad. With a deep blush I cover myself with the sheet on the bed and ask out loud hoping someone was nearby like possibly a friend, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

I hear the old turtle's voice say, "I see you have joined us young child. I have been waiting for you to wake so as to welcome you to the Jade Palace."

I hear another voice probably from Master Shifu ask, "Master Oogway what is this being? I have never seen another like it."

I at this point am quite unable to see anything and have no clue what is going on so I ask the one thing that I need the most, "Umm…can I have my glasses? I can't see anything and have no clue who I am talking to or where I am."

I feel like something is crawling on me, which usually freaks me out but at this point I am fairly sure that I should try to stay calm, as I soon find something small and green in my face with my glasses on it's back. I slowly reach down and grab my glasses from whatever it is, Mantis, and put them on to see to my surprise all of the Furious Five along with Master Shifu and Oogway in front of me as if I was in the movie itself. By this point alarm bells should have been ringing onto reality and yet I seem to damn slow right now as I do something stupid. Turning redder I pull the sheets up higher over my bare body and ask in a shocked voice, "Where are you people? I only see some animals in this room with clothing on."

The turtle speaks saying, "Child, we are the ones who have been speaking to you. Do you not recognize us?"

To shocked to speak, since if this was real then I just became part of the movie which fucks with my life greatly, I shake my head as I look at them all and feel quite scared at such a thing being possible, since now I am going to have to fight very bad people now or stay here forever, as the movie I was watching ever being real until now.

Tigress looks at Shifu and asks in a very scary and quite usual voice, "Master Shifu would you like me to get rid of it?"

Shifu looks over at Oogway who shakes his head and says, "This child is lost. I believe he may need guidance to find his way to the light."

Viper slithers closer making me feel a little more scared as her tail comes out and pats my head and she says, "It is quite alright to be frightened but please don't be scared of us. We are not going to hurt you. Well, maybe Tigress but only if you cause problems."

I nod slowly letting my long shoulder length black hair fall over my eyes to hide behind as Oogway says, "Shifu please go see if the Dragon Warrior is okay. I must speak with the child alone."

Shifu ushers the furious five out of the room as Oogway steps closer and puts his soft hand on my arm saying, "You have made a tough choice coming here child but one none the less. If you wish to exist here then learn Kung-fu so as to be able to not only help yourself but others. If you do then maybe we will meet again when the time comes for you to return home."

Oogway heads towards the door slowly leaving me with a very dumbstruck expression as I blink my blue eyes a few times as I try to think of how this all came to happen. Shaking my head I then look about I find myself in what seems to be a spare room with my clothes laying folded near the end of the bed. I get up slowly and stretch my muscles out from what felt like days of staying still which was very unlikely. Putting my clothes on I find that my clothes seem freshly cleaned or maybe even just covered in scents to smell good. Looking about I find the room bare except the bed and a mat in a corner. Going to where they slid a panel I find it to be the door as I slowly open it and walk out trying to get my bearings in such a strange place. Opening a sliding door next to mine I see what looks to be another room already owned and very organized.

I decide to head out and I do so by following the hallway to explore. Walking about I find this place so quiet and peaceful that it feels almost alien to me since I lived in the city all my life. The place was huge and seemed to have everything from a dining room all the way to a koi Pond with live fish in it. I walk for about an hour inside this huge place and find no one in sight yet I soon hear some sounds coming from an area far to South near the walls and open the doors to find something crazy going on.

I see Crane fighting on a tortoise shell against Tigress while balancing on the edge like it wasn't hard. Mantis was in a field of razor sharp spiked dummies easily fighting through them without being hit. I see Viper above thousands of pipes that are shooting fire out as she easily dodges them without problems. Monkey seems to be jumping from sharp ring to sharp ring with his tail and arms as if finding the smallest gaps was easy. Seeing this I feel my face turning white and my body going cold before I hear the door open behind me and see the Panda called Po from the movie and Master Shifu coming in. Getting out of the way I decide that I don't want to be seen much as I climb up one of the pillars of cloth near the side, which is quite easy since it has hand holds and I climb a lot of trees at home, and find a spot sitting in the rafters above to watch all that happens below.

PO walks in just in time to see the Furious Five while they train only to get hit by a big piece of wood from a training item destroyed by Tigress.

Master Shifu says, "Okay, Let's Begin."

Po looking clearly scared says, "Wait, Wait, Wait. What? Now?"

Master Shifu looks at him with clear sarcasm and says, "Yes, now. Unless the great Oogway was wrong and you are not the Dragon Warrior."

Po trying to act cool and so not scared says as he points to the dangerous obstacle course, "oh, ok, Well…I don't know if I can do all of those moves."

Master Shifu chuckles a little as he walks towards a dummy in the corner as he says, "Well, if we don't try, we'll never know, will we?"

Po stumbles along behind looking concerned as he says, "Yeah, it's just, maybe we can find something more suited to my level."

Master shifu asks with a turn of his head, "What level is that?"

Po sounds unsure as he answers, "Well…I'm not a master but…let's just start at zero. Level Zero."

Master Shifu shakes his head as he says with a chuckle. "No. There is no such thing as level zero."

Po seems to know as much as I do about Kung-fu which is nothing as he tries to hit a kids dummy only to accidentally go into the obstacle course which looks very painful as not only is he hit and slapped and burned but other things that make me feel sick seeing.

Watching this I notice both Viper and Tigress looking up at me after Po slowly crawls out the door. Feeling scared of them still I back up into the shadows and stay still hoping they leave. Hearing the door close I sigh happily and climb down which turns out to be a bad idea as I come face to face with Tigress which makes me yelp in fear and fall over. She looks down at me with an angry look making me feel like I am about to die when Viper comes to my rescue which causes me to thank god in my head.

Viper gets on top of me and coils up on my chest as she looks at Tigress and says, "Tigress, stop scaring the poor boy. He looks like he was about to die just by you looking at him."

I whimper as viper turns back around and looks at me as I say in a small voice, "please don't eat me."

Viper puts her tail under my chin and makes me look into her face as she says, "Child calm down. No one is going to eat you. We are all kind people here even if we sometimes get a little out of hand. That being said I think you owe him an apology Tigress."

Tigress seems madder now as she takes a step closer and looks down at me with those large eyes. She then says, "Either go away or learn to be strong. This is no place for someone like you freak."

Hearing those words from this animal in front of me feels like a dagger to my heart. Those words I had heard so many times before by my mother when she still was around. The memories of the drunk beating from her and the abuse still fresh in my mind hurt so much. The pain brought tears to my eyes at hearing these words I thought I would never hear again as I get up. Getting up causes Viper to yelp and fall off me as I run out the door with tear filled eyes as I run not caring where to. Running past a very sad looking Panda I dash to a tree that had peaches on it and sit down amongst its roots and start to cry. Many say that men shouldn't cry but a girl I once knew told me that tears help clean the soul. Crying as softly as I could I feel the pain start to lessen in time for me to hear someone stepping towards the tree and see Po with Oogway almost behind him

Oogway say to Po who is stuffing his face with peaches, "I see you have found the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom."

Po being Po has a lot of peaches in his arms and his face stuffed where upon he drops them all and says in a muffled voice, "Is that what this is? Sorry I thought it was a regular peach tree."

Oogway walks closer to the upset panda and says, "I understand. You eat when you are upset."

PO tries to hide this fact by tossing a couple of peaches that drop out of his mouth and says, "Upset? I'm not upset. What makes you think I'm upset."

Oogway knows better and asks Po, "So why are you upset?"

Po sighs in defeat and tells Oogway, "I probably sucked more today than anyone in the history of kung fu. In the history of China. In the history of sucking!"

Oogway replies, "Probably."

Po keeps spilling the beans, "And the five! You should have seen them! They totally hate me."

Oogway replies simply, "Totally."

Po looks at Oogway again and asks, "How is Shifu going to turn me into the Dragon Warrior? I mean, I'm not like the five. I've got no claws, no wings, no venom. Even Mantis has those…thingies."

Po sighs and continues, "Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles."

Oogway smiles as he replies, "Quit, don't quit. Noodles, don't noodles. You are to concerned with what was and what will be. There's a saying, Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

Oogway finishes before turning to look at me and saying, "As for you I have only to say that life may be hard at first but learning and finding something that makes you happy earns many a new beginning to live and to look forward to. It does not matter on what you look like but on how you treat others."

I feel myself smile a little at this as I say, "thank you. I never did learn anyones name except the tiger lady."

"I am Master Oogway. I must say it is nice meeting you Nate." He states with his toothless smile at me on his old turtle face.

I smile at him before feeling shock as I ask, "How did you know my name? I never said it before"

He simply smiles and says, "I know many things and will many more. After I pass on here I will move on but you will need someone to help you. Trust in Viper and she will help you in tough times to come for you."

I nod as I wave a goodbye to him and head to my room and upon arriving there I find a small uniform that surprisingly is my size exactly. I lay down in bed and fall asleep knowing tomorrow will be different from today.