Seventh chapter is now up! Enjoy the read.
Shifu was studying Al carefully. He was thinking on how to ask him about the light and strange sound from the other day. He guessed he should wander around the bush a little before going straight to the point.
"How are you feeling? My students informed me that you had sustained an injury." Shifu began.
Al was sort of confused as to why he had asked about his welfare, but didn't give it much thought and promptly answered.
"I'm feeling better, thank you."
Shifu then threw another question.
"How did you manage to heal so quickly?"
This time instead of Al answering the question, Crane stepped forward to give the reply.
"You see, since Al is new here, he doesn't really know the Valley. He had bought a healing potion from the same place Po got the enchanted Kung Fu Shoes. He didn't know that it was a black market." Crane explained.
"Ah, I see." Shifu said as he stroked his beard -a habit that was getting more common. "Yes, that is a place you have to be weary of. And the rest of the potion?" He asked.
"I got rid of it." Po spoke up. Shifu turned to look at Al. Al nodded that it was true.
"Have you experienced any weird effects since the time you used it?" Shifu questioned Al.
"Not that I'm aware of." He shook his head as he answered.
"Well then, I guess you don't have anything to worry about." Shifu said. "Good thing you only used it once. Perhaps repeated use would have caused ill effects. Just remember to stay away from that place." Shifu instructed.
That was the second time today he had been warned about it. Al then noticed the red panda that they called Shifu begin to look him straight in the eye.
"So, young man, what brought you to the Valley of Peace?"
Al didn't hesitate to reply to Shifu's question since he already had his cover story.
"You see, I am a traveller who visits different places to learn the history and culture of those places. I do this because where I come from there is a great interest in learning and I took interest to learn about different lands." Al recited. He hoped that he sounded convincing and that his story was believable.
"And...where do you come from?" Shifu asked. Al knew that question was bound to come up.
"I come from a land that is far away from here, to the west. It is called North America." That was all he would give them.
Shifu nodded in understanding. Although he wasn't familiar with said place, Shifu was trying to detect any signs of hesitation, nervousness or stuttering that would indicate that he was lying. So far, he hadn't found any fault. Either he was telling the truth or he's really good at hiding it.
"When did you arrive?" Shifu continued his questioning.
"I arrived the day before yesterday in the night." Al replied. 'No use lying, since the Tiger already saw me.' He thought.
Having heard it from his mouth, Shifu now decided to start asking questions related to the events of that day.
"So you arrived in the night. When you were at the outskirts of the village, did you happen to witness any strange things." He inquired. Al slightly tilted his head in confusion.
"No, I haven't." Al answered honestly. He only remembered opening his eyes and finding himself in this strange place. The only weird thing he's witnessed until now were anthropomorphic animals but he was pretty sure Shifu wasn't referring to that. "What kind of strange things are you referring to?"
Shifu narrowed his eyes a bit. "A strange white light." He said simply. Al shook his head.
"Nope, I mustn't have been in the area at the time of the happening." Al stated.
"My student, Tigress saw you close to the area ten minutes after I informed them. Such a phenomenon was clearly visible all the way from here. You must have seen it from where you were." Shifu began to get more suspicious of Al.
As for Al, he began to get more nervous. He really didn't see anything of that discription. 'He said it was some sort of phenomenon...oh no.' Al's mind started working. 'It must've been the portal that opened when I arrived.' That seemed to be the only plausible reasoning. If that was the case he had to divert the conversation away from the subject. He came up with a small excuse.
"Well, I have to admit, its hard to be aware of your surroundings when one is asleep." Al stated. "I do remember...meeting...your student." Al turned his head and gave a sideways glance to Tigress. "But I do believe, ten minutes prior to that encounter I was resting from my journey. A strong rogue wind did wake me up though." Al added. He remembered seeing the trees rustling when he opened his eyes so he decided to throw that little bit of info in just to make his argument more believable.
"So you felt it too." Shifu stayed pondering. 'I'm beginning to wonder...' He held that thought when Al began to speak again.
"You know, back home where I come from, a group of scholars have been studying different phenomena that involved many variations of happenings that seem to appear randomly. They can't seem to come to a solid conclusion as to why these things happen but they do believe it is natural." Al just made that up to try to get them off the subject.
Shifu held his hand to his chin, deep in thought. Po, and the others were also trying to process the information they just heard.
"What do you have to say about the sound that I...and you...both heard that night." Tigress asked. Everyone then turned to Al, waiting for the answer.
Al shrugged. "I'm as lost as you guys. I'm only a traveller." He responded.
Shifu was still curious about him. He decided to keep a close eye on him until he returned to where he came from. 'Speaking of which...'
"How long do you plan to remain here?" He asked Al.
That, Al wasn't expecting. "Um...I...usually stay in a place long enough to learn their most common practices. Or until I've found something interesting to write about it. I like to document specific things that distinguish one place from all other lands. " Al was surprised at how he made that up right on the spot. For him it seemed that Shifu had believed it because he nodded his head.
Shifu was formulating a plan in his mind. He still had his suspicions on Al and he would try to keep a close eye on him. 'And how easier it will be to watch him when he's on the mountain at all times.' Shifu smiled a little. "Young Al," he began. "I would like to extend a personal welcome to the Valley of Peace that's in this vast country of China. You mentioned that you travel and document different practices, so I am inviting you to learn of one of our most common practices. Kung Fu."
"What!?" Al exclaimed. He never thought that he would be invited to learn anything here. 'I guess my cover story worked better than I expected.' He said in his mind. Now, what was he supposed to do? He couldn't refuse because that would be contradicting to what he just said. His only option was to accept and then leave immediately when the portal home appeared. "Uh... Okay?" Al replied slowly. He didn't really know the formal way to accept an invitation so he just said what came to his mind.
"Very well. You have agreed to be a student of the masters and therefore must address them and I as 'Master' during your learning. You will be assigned a room in the barracks and also are expected to wake up on time." Shifu instructed.
"Wait. I have to sleep here?" Al asked.
"Yes. As a student of the Jade Palace you must reside in the student barracks until your training is complete and you have learned of our practices. Once you have learned you may take your leave, just as you have said."
'Ugh, what did I get myself into?' Al asked himself. He imagined what Haivas was going to tell him later. Shifu continued giving his instructions
"Furthermore you are to maintain an exemplary conduct. Any wrong or improper actions have their consequences." Shifu paused for a second. "We won't have any problems there...will we?" He said with an intimidating tone.
Al shook his head quickly. This guy may be small, but he's a Kung Fu master and Al didn't want any trouble, or pain.
"Good." Shifu walked forward and stopped right in front of Al. "Head on over to the kitchen and have some lunch, then I want you, along with the other Masters to come to the training hall. I will be waiting for you there."
"Yes Master!" Al said a second later.
"I see you learn fast." Shifu nodded at Al. "You are dismissed. Wait outside please."
Al followed the order that was given and after giving a small bow he began walking out of the Hall of Warriors. Po along with Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane remained. Shifu waited to make sure that Al had exited before he started talking.
"The fact that I've allowed him to learn Kung Fu does not mean I completely trust him. He's peculiar yet seems familiar in some way. I want all of you to keep him in sight frequently. At least until he has departed."
"Yes Master." They bowed and headed out.
Al was sitting down on the steps that were in front of the Jade Palace.
"Student..." Al pondered on the concept, then he chuckled. "Well, at least I'll have something to do until it's time to go home."
The six masters stepped out and saw Al sitting there. "You coming?" Po asked in his natural friendly voice.
Al whirled his head around and stood up abruptly. "Yeah...I mean...yes Master." He corrected.
Po chuckled. "It's just Po when we're not around Shifu, okay?"
"Sure."
Po and the Five with Al in tow headed up the path to the barracks. When they reached to the kitchen the Five took a seat and waited patiently for their lunch. Al stood by the kitchen entrance and leaned on the wall with his hands in his pockets. Everyone except Po looked at Al. When he noticed their stares he quickly got off the wall and stood straight with his hands behind him, like how a soldier would do.
Mantis sniggered. "Al. Master Shifu sent you over here to have lunch, not be a statue. Pull up a chair and sit down."
Al looked around the room and saw three chairs lined up to the wall. He walked over and took one and sat down at the table having chosen between where Po and Viper sat. Everything was silent. Only the occasional sounds of Po's cooking was heard.
"Oh, the silence is killing me! Someone say something!" Mantis shouted.
"So, Al. You ready to learning about the art of Kung Fu?" Viper attempted to begin a conversation.
"Yeah, I'm sorta nervous though." He admitted.
"What's there to be nervous of? Kung Fu is relaxing, fun, exciting, AWESOME, need I continue?" Po said while cutting up a few veggies and throwing them in the cooking pot.
Al laughed. "Believe me, that's not what I'm nervous about."
"Oh, I know. Your afraid of Master Shifu." Monkey caught on.
"Well..."
"Pfft. There's no need to be scared of him. As long as you're not an enemy, a bandit or an evil person who's seeking to rule the whole of China by force, you should be good." Po reassured him. The other Masters nodded.
"Po's right. Although he may come off at first as a grouch or incredibly stern person, he's nice once you get to know him." Crane backed up the argument. Al began to ease up a little. He still had to go to the Training Hall that the red panda had mentioned.
"Do you know why he's asking me to go to the training hall?" Al inquired, hoping that they knew the reason.
"Master Shifu does that whenever a student comes to learn. It let's him and us know the level of knowledge in Kung Fu that the student possesses so that we may work from there up." Viper explained to Al.
"Oh, I get it." Al said more to himself. He truly didn't know any Kung Fu, or any other sort of martial arts for that matter. He only knew how to brawl and throw punches and kicks wildly. Al began wondering what sort of 'level' they would put him at. "Can I start from the beginning? I don't know any Kung Fu at all. I think I should begin from zero."
Everyone in the room started laughing abruptly, which sort of startled Al. He didn't know what he had said to make them laugh. He was just being honest.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
"It's just that...hehe...that's what I had said when I was chosen as Dragon Warrior. Eh, that's a long story. Right now, let's eat." Po said as he gave each one their portion then took his and sat down. Everyone started eating their share.
"Taste great...Po." Al complimented. Po bowed his head in thanks. "You gotta teach me how to learn how to cook like this so I can carry this culinary knowledge back home."
Po shook his head no. "Sorry, no can do buddy. Family secret."
"Ah, don't apologize it's very understandable. My mom can make a mean meatloaf..." Al trailed off and paused to ponder on something. He noticed in the meal there was no meat. The animals here did not eat each other. There were no meat markets. 'I should have known...' He scolded himself. He just hoped they didn't hear him.
"What was that?" Viper asked not having clearly understood.
"Uh, I said, um, beet, yeah beet loaf." Al stuttered.
"Huh, I wonder how that tastes." Mantis mused.
Al finished his bowl and so did the other masters. Po recollected the bowls and set on cleaning them. When he finished, the seven of them walked out the barracks and this time headed towards the Training Hall. As they arrived at the entrance, Al wondered how it would be like. He soon received his answer when Po opened the double doors and they all walked in.
Al's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. He looked on, horrified, at the obstacles that were before him. Clubs that hanged on chains and had spikes on one side. Wooden rings that equally hanged on chains but had seven sharp spikes on the outer surface. A field of wooden...things that had spikes and seemed to spin. And at the farthest part of the training hall, a field of metallic tubes that had scorch marks on them only meaning one thing...
'This isn't a training hall, this is an effing Suicide Hall!' His mind screamed. Al looked back at the others that were behind him. They saw his horrified expression.
"Calm down, you won't be running those...yet." Tigress stated flatly. Al didn't know if this tiger was trying to comfort him, or was just messing with his him. He was starting to believe it was the latter, cause he sure as hell didn't feel comforted right now.
Shifu was standing at the left side of the training hall. "Good. You've arrived. Now, I will test your current fighting skills, which I am sure you have since you managed to stop two bandits from robbing Mr. Ping."
Al imagined that Po had told him about it. "Actually, I only stopped one. I just made the first one knock the other one out."
"Whatever the case, I want you to hit the Adversary in whichever way you see fit." Shifu instructed.
"Uh, who's the Adversary?" Al asked as he looked around. Shifu pointed the staff in the direction of the training dummy. "Ah, that." Al walked over and stood in front of it. He gave it a light cuff on the dummy's face area and stood there.
Shifu, Po, and the Five all face palmed. "Great, we have another Po in here."
"Hey!" Po exclaimed. He was not amused by Monkey's comment.
"I'm getting too old for this." Shifu quietly mumbled as he ran a paw over his face. "Please hit it with all your strength in whichever way you see fit." He rephrased the instructions. Al nodded, took off his backpack and set it aside. "Whenever your ready." Shifu said and left Al to do whatever he was going to do.
Al thought for a second on what he would do and then took action. He threw a jab straight at the dummy, the force of the punch making it bend back and almost touch the floor. When the momentum made it rock forward, Al quickly stepped aside and threw a left hook at the side of the dummy's head, making it wobble uncontrollably in different directions. As it came around in a counterclockwise spin Al elbowed it with his left elbow and it slowed down the spin to a gentle rocking motion. He again punched it but this time with his right fist. When it rocked forward again he punched it again. Al then used his forearms to block it from rocking into him. Since he had his left foot to the back, he brought it forward in a low kick to the side of the dummy, making it move a little to the right. He then came out of his fighting stance and turned to look at Shifu.
"Not too bad, but not so good either. There were many holes in your defensive and offensive stances. Your posture was not straight and your feet were not firmly planted. An enemy with greater skill could have easily defeated you in less than five moves." Shifu calmly pointed out his flaws. Al only could nod at the criticism. He knew he would have to work a lot in order to be able to pull of moves that Po and the others had used when they were fighting the bandits earlier that day. "I will have you start learning to better your stance and balance. Then, once you've learned that, you can begin the training of defensive and offensive moves."
"Yes Master."
"Master Crane," Shifu called out. Crane stepped forward. "You may begin teaching Al here on his balance and stance." Crane nodded and gestured for Al to follow him. Shifu left shortly after leaving Al in Crane's charge. Tigress decided to begin training while the others stood to the side and were spectating.
"Alright, you first have to learn how to get in a proper stance before we can begin balancing." Crane began. "Okay, show me how you stand when you're going to fight." Al did as asked and moved his feet slightly apart from each other. The left foot to the back and the right one to the front. His two arms were raised with his paws closed into fists and he was slightly hunched.
Crane studied his stance for a moment. "See, here's the first flaw Shifu mentioned. Your stance has no center of weight." Crane unexpectedly kicked out Al's feet from under him, making him fall to the ground. "Therefore, it's easier for someone to floor you." Crane extended his wing to help Al up. Al accepted the help and stood up. "Now, let's get you in a better defensive stance." Crane said as he gave Al a friendly cuff with his wing.
"Alright." Al agreed.
"Okay. Stand straight." Crane commanded. Al did so. "Now, I want you to put your right foot forward and your left foot diagonally to the right one." Al placed his feet as told. "See how your torso is now pointing in a diagonal direction instead of pointing straight?" Al looked at his chest and nodded. "Good, now bend you knees to the point that you can feel a noticeable weight increase in your legs." Al slowly bent his knees until he felt the weight in his legs, then he stopped. "Perfect. Now that you have the right feet placement, let's move to the arms. Lift both arms up and place them parallel to each other." Al held his arms out at equal length from each other then looked at Crane. "Nice. Now, keep your dominant hand outstretched and bring back the other one to the are between your chest and your stomach." Al kept his right arm extended while his left he brought back and held it in front of his chest. "Close your fists and there you have your basic stance. Take a moment to get familiar with it."
Al looked at the exact placements of his feet and arms. 'This isn't that hard.' Al though.
"Are you acquainted with it?" Crane asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." Al answered while giving one more glance at his feet.
"Alright then, stand straight. When I tell you to, you'll immediately get into the stance I've just taught you." Crane instructed. "Stance!" He exclaimed a second after.
Al wasn't expecting the call so soon, so he hurriedly got in his stance. Crane walked over to inspect Al's form.
"Feet further apart and back straight." Crane pointed out. "Keep practicing and you'll get it. Now, thirty push-ups."
"Wait what!?" Al asked flabbergasted. Just now he was learning how to stand properly then all of a sudden he has to do exercise?
"Exercise is a key principle if learning Kung Fu. It not only helps you build muscle, but it also helps you to become agile enough to pull off certain Kung Fu moves. If you don't believe me just ask Po." Crane said. Al turned to look at Po.
Po nodded. "Never thought I would be saying this, but it's true! There was a time where I couldn't do a single push-up. Now, I'm pulling off some awesome moves." Po stated.
"See?" Crane smiled. "Besides. You need to exercise before we continue on further into the training."
Al let out a noise that was a half sigh and half groan. "Fine." He got down on the floor and started doing his push-ups as Crane was helping him keep count. When he was around the fifteenth push-up, Al began to feel his muscles burning. "Argh." He grunted.
"Does it burn?" asked Crane. Al simply nodded a 'yes' as he completed his twentieth push-up. "Good. That means your actually working out your muscles." Crane continued counting. "At the thirtieth hold your weight for thirty seconds."
As Al reached thirty he remained in a half push-up position. His arms felt like lead and he was perspiring profusely. 'Come on, come on.' He mentally told himself not to give out.
"Time." Crane announced. Al collapsed as soon as he heard the first two letters of that word.
"Good job!" Po cheered. Al slowly got up and wiped some sweat off his face. Crane gave him a pat on the back.
"Well done! But we're not finished yet. Now, give me fifteen, no, make that twenty laps around the Training Hall."
Al glared at the avian before he started running around in the Hall. 'I swear, these guys are trying to kill me.' He said to himself.
"So, Monkey. Thirty almond cookies that he doesn't complete the training." Mantis betted.
"I'll take you up on that bet. This guy looks like he's got spirit." Monkey said.
"You say that now, but wait until it's personal training time with Shifu." Mantis argued.
"We'll see." Monkey retorted.
Viper who was listening in on their conversation spoke up. "I'm not betting or anything, but I agree with Monkey."
"See?" Monkey grew a smug grin.
Al was in his last lap and he was panting hard. He slowed down as he neared Crane and when he stopped he tried to sit but was stopped by Crane.
"Ah Ah. Follow me." Crane motioned with his wing for Al to follow. Al reluctantly did as he was told. The both of them stepped outside and walked over to the nearest tree. "Pull-ups." He said as he pointed to a low hanging branch.
"How many?" Al asked flatly.
"Twenty five, for now." Crane replied.
"Right." Al jumped up, caught the branch and started doing the required amount of pull-ups. Al exercised for a few more hours, non-stop. They allowed him a little break though once he'd ran a total of five miles all around the Palace grounds, had done forty sit-ups, and had carried two buckets of water up and down the stairs fifteen times. They were back in the Training Hall. Al was sitting off to the side as he watched a spar between Po and Crane. He followed the movements of the attacks and defenses with his eyes, trying to capture any specific moves that appeared simple. After a little while the spar came to an end, with Po being the victor. Crane called Al over to the center of the training pit where the Jade Tortoise was.
"This is probably a good enough time to begin to work on your balance. Get on." He said.
Al jumped up and stood on the rim on the opposite edge from where Crane was. He wobbled incessantly for a few minutes until he managed to regain his balance and maintain it. Al stood still, facing Crane.
"You ready?" Crane questioned Al.
"Ready for what?"
Crane grinned and turned to Po. "Give us a little spin." Po nodded and walked to the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, placed his paws on it, then, gently spun it in a clockwise direction. Al almost fell off at the sudden motion but quickly, with some effort, reentered the stance he was taught to use. "Remember Al, keep your knees bent and your back straight." Crane reminded.
When Al appeared to be getting used to the spinning movement, Crane gave a discreet nod to Po.
Po having understood what the nod was for, immediately spun the tortoise bowl twice as fast. Al who was not prepared for the increased spin, lost his balance once again, but this time he fell off and landed on his back.
"Agh!" He stayed on his back as he waited until the pain passed. "Ow."
"You okay, or do we need to call the healers?" Crane asked.
"No, I'm good. Let's try it again." Al replied as he got up on his feet and remounted the Tortoise.
"That's the spirit." Po gave a thumbs up then began spinning the giant bowl at the same speed as before.
Al was being more alert this time. When the bowl leaned one way, Al would lean his body the opposite direction. Crane nodded to Po once again and this time Al noticed. He tensed his muscles anticipating an increase in speed, but he was surprised when the Tortoise came to a rapid halt and he was thrown off of it a second time.
"Oomph." Al landed sideways on his left arm. "Damn it." He silently cursed.
"You still good?" Crane checked. Al nodded as he stood up while clutching his left arm. Crane noticed and chose to end the training for today. "Come on. We've trained enough today. It's almost time for dinner and you should wash up in the bathhouse first. Po show him where it is."
Po nodded and motioned for Al to follow. Al walked behind Po as the both of them headed to exit the Training Hall
"We'll continue training tomorrow. You did a good job today. Keep it up." Crane commended.
Al turned around and bowed towards Crane. "Thank you Master Crane." He then went out.
Po led him back to the barracks. On the way to the bathhouse, Po showed Al the room that they had prepared for him to stay in. They then continued on and Po showed him a wider room. "This is it." He pointed out. Al opened the doors that were made out of wood and saw a pool of water with a little steam coming off of it and a wooden rack to place the towels and clothes. "There is a set of clean clothes in your room. I'm gonna go make dinner. See you there." Po said and left.
Al placed the latch on the door and took off his sweaty hoodie off and set it to the side. When he was ready he stepped into the water and right away felt all his muscles relax and unwind from the workout he did that day.
"So what do you have to say?" Al asked none other than Haivas. Haivas' voice appeared but not her hologram, because she respected Al's privacy.
"I say that it's good you're getting exercise. Back home you hardly got out of the house. In fact, you hardly got out of the basement!" She said.
"That's not exercise, that's torture. Did you even see how their 'Training Hall' is inside? The only thing that's not hazardous in there is the dummy I was punching. Even the bowl I was balancing on can make you brake a bone." Al said humorously.
"Well you've got nobody else to blame but yourself and your cover story." She replied.
"Hey it's not my fault I don't have the skill to make up stories." Al retorted.
"You've never been a good liar anyway." She paused for a second. "I still haven't detected the portal." She informed.
Al sighed and lowered his body more into the water. "Just alert me when it does appear."
After he cleaned his fur he got out, shook the water off him, then took the clean towel that was on the rack and finished drying himself off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and headed out with his dirty clothes in hand. Fortunately he had remembered the way to his assigned room and he was glad that nobody was around to see him in a towel.
Al entered the room and closed the door behind him. He noticed the neatly folded shirt and pant that was set on top of the sleeping mat that was on the floor.
"I guess this is what students of Kung Fu wear?" He said as he held up the brown vest and black pants. Both were without extravagant pattern and designs. He shrugged and started putting on the clean attire. Al placed his dirty clothes in a corner and reminded himself to wash it tomorrow. If he had anytime or wasn't exhausted from training.
"Aw man, I forgot my pack in the Training Hall." Al fretted. He hoped that nobody would snoop inside of it. He would have to retrieve it when he went there tomorrow. Al stepped out into the hallway and tried to remember where the kitchen was. He decided to let his instincts and his great sense of smell guide him. Al lifted his snout and began to smell the air. "Great. I'm starting to act like a dog." He mumbled after realizing what he was doing. It helped him though, because in no time he was at the kitchen entrance. Po was stirring and frying something like a pro chef would.
"Smells good. What are you making?" Al asked as he sat down at the empty table. Apparently the others had not arrived yet.
Po looked back and noticed Al. "Oh hey Al. I'm making tofu stir fry with dumplings, noodles and bean buns."
"Whoa," Al chuckled. "You guys have an appetite. I guess that's normal after training hard for hours without stopping. So where are the others?"
"They'll be around soon." Po answered. As if on cue, Mantis and Monkey entered first. Then a few minutes later Crane and Viper entered and sat down in their usual places. Tigress entered while the others were chatting with Al and Po. Lastly, Shifu entered by the time Po was serving the dinner.
"So how did our new student do with his training today?" Shifu inquired.
Crane whom was in charge of that answered. "Al is learning quickly and shows promise. He has passed all the basic exercise drills."
'WHAT!' Al screamed in his mind. 'Basic? That wasn't basic. That felt like what heavyweight champions did before going in the ring! If that was basic, I don't want to know how the advanced exercise is.' Al though remained silent, showing respect.
"Good." Shifu turned his gaze on Al. "How are you finding our practices so far?" He questioned Al.
Al didn't really know what to say, he was stuck. "Um...it's...Educational?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth he mentally face palmed. 'Educational? Really? That's the best you could come up with, brain?'
"What do you mean? Can you please elaborate?" Shifu waited patiently for Al's reply.
"Well..." Al started. "Through today's training I have come to learn that, to achieve a certain goal, which in my case is to learn Kung Fu, one must dedicate one's self to reach that goal. Even if it involves pushing your body to the limit. There are no shortcuts or easier ways to achieve it. As a saying from where I come goes; 'No pain, No gain'." He hoped that counted as an acceptable answer.
"I see..." Shifu looked Al straight in the eye. Al wondered why Shifu kept doing that. It was creepy. "...very well. I sugguest all of you get enough rest tonight." Shifu took his bowl and headed out of the kitchen.
"Okay? Did I do or say something wrong?" Al asked the others that were at the table.
"Nah. He's just like that naturally." Mantis replied. The remainder of the meal was spent talking about Al's progress and his next lessons and training. When they were full, everyone stood and gathered their plates. Po cleaned them and Tigress offered to help dry them. Al was feeling tired and sleepy so he headed off to his room after bidding the others a good night.
Al reached his room, stepped inside and made sure the latch was on. The only thing he didn't like about the rooms were that the were only divided by thin rice paper walls. Anybody could easily eavesdrop on you or see your shadow if you had a light on in your room.
"Haivas," Al whispered. "Keep your volume down for now. We don't want them hearing you. And don't turn on your hologram either."
"Understood." She replied in a same whisper.
Al sat down on the mat that was in the middle of the room. "Okay. I'm going to log today's events." Al waited for the confirmation that he could begin.
"Go ahead." Haivas said when the recording had started.
"Ancient China. Day two."
Al cleared his throat.
"Ok. This is the second day that I have been stuck in this universe. No portal, no way home...yet. I think I have befriended a few of the 'locals' though. A panda and a crane. Hard to believe isn't it? Both of them are part of a group that are called Kung Fu Masters. I am currently being 'trained' to learned Kung Fu by the crane and I am staying with them in the barracks as a 'student'. I am skeptical about the red panda they call 'Shifu' and the tiger they call 'Tigress', and I am sure they don't trust me either. Well, I guess I'll just have to remain vigilant. Meanwhile, I'll get to know more about this place and perhaps even bring back a souvenir."
He chuckled a little bit.
"Right. I have to go to sleep. They'll probably put me to run up and down the stairs with the panda on my back for my so called 'training', so I need to regain as much energy as I can. Al logging off."
Haivas stopped the recording and saved the video clip. Al stretched out a little bit before he lied down on the mat, face up. His hands were behind his head as thoughts passed through his mind. As minutes passed by, Al's eye lids started droop until the point where he fell asleep.
Someone's shadow could be seen outside Al's room, tall and round.
'Who was he talking to?' Po asked himself. He made a note to ask him the next chance he got.
I know some of you might be thinking 'when will the action begin'. My response is: soon. I just want you all to get the feel of the story before I start the 'action' or else it might be confusing. If you've ever rode on a roller-coaster, you will know that it has to slowly get to the top before the actual fun begins. Same principle with this story.
Thank you for reading. Please leave a quick review to let me know how you liked it.
