As Carley walked along, her mind constantly drifted. Her thoughts remained on so many unanswered questions. What would she do? Where would she go? What will happen to her? The young girl shook her head and walked on. It had been five days since that fire that took her parents away. As if that was not bad enough, the very first day of her journey, she ran out of food.
This was a very bad thing as she could eat a whole meal and be hungry again, five minutes later. The only thing keeping her from going insane was her music. She would listen to her favorite songs over and over again as she hiked along. The one song that she listened to more than the others was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. The lyrics of the inspiring band kept her motivated to keep going on.
Particularly, the lyrics "Don't stop believing! Hold on to that feeling!" led to believe. They always kept her going, no matter what.
Pretty soon, the young girl arrived into a dark, dense forest on the outskirts of the town she lived in. She was very, VERY hungry. She had to find something to eat or she'll starve to death. The problem was that, even though she had cereal bars on her, she hadn't eaten at all since the day of the fire. So she started her journey very hungrily.
She walked onward through the dark forest, looking for some type of food - she would eat anything! Soon, she arrived by a gentle river. Tired from the long walking she did since this morning, she decided to lay down beside it and rest for a while.
Sitting down on her knees, she plunged her hands into the cool water and ran them across her face. She smiled. She loved water so much. She always loved to dive under it and look up at the surface. She loved to see water all around her. It felt...amazing to her.
Carley happily sighed. For the first time in five days, she was finally at peace. However, her vision suddenly got blurry and she felt very faint. Out of nowhere, she drifted into unconsciousness.
Carley wasn't sure for how long she was out, but when she woke up, she felt...different. She wasn't sure how exactly but she just felt different. Her senses were different and her body felt warmer than usual.
She slowly sat up and looked around. Her backpack was sitting beside her, but she was no longer by the river. She was in a grassy field. "How did I get here?" Carley thought as she slung her backpack on her shoulders.
She then walked toward the forest just ahead of her, stopping when her stomach let out a loud growl. Maybe she could find some wild berries to help her? As she slowly walked toward a bush to pick up a berry, she realized a bothering detail. Her hand wasn't a hand.
It was a wing.
"What the...?!" She looked at her wing under all angles in confusion. She then quickly turned around and returned on her steps until she managed to find a little pond. Only once she leaned over it did she get the biggest surprise of her life. She didn't saw a young human girl in the reflection, but a female cockatiel with white feathers, a yellow underbelly, head feathers, beak, feet, and wingtips. She had three long head feathers on top of her head and little red circles on her cheeks. Her clothes were still the same, but she definitely became a bird!
"...WHAT THE HECK?!"
Not too far from there, Po and Shi Xin were taking a little walk through the forest. "Your father is really cool to let me stay with you guys, y'know," the wolf said while walking beside his panda friend.
"No probs, buddy," the panda replied with a smile. "That's the least I can do for my new and first official mate. By the way, when do you think we'll arrive at the village you mentioned?"
"In a few hours. It's not exactly the village next door, y'know," the wolf replied. "I heard some of the strongest masters had been formed there. If you wanna learn Kung Fu, it's the best place to check for."
"WHAT THE HECK?!"
The two friends froze as they heard a scream. "What was that?" Po asked.
"I don't know; let's check it out!" Shi Xin replied and then ran off on all four of his limbs toward the source of the scream. They arrived over at a little pond where a female cockatiel was kneeling down and looking at her own reflexion, rubbing her wings all over her body as if it was the first time she ever saw herself.
"Hum, is something wrong?" Po asked as he approached the avian.
This last one turned around toward them and gasped. She felt on her rear and started backing up. "Please, don't hurt me! I'm just trying to find some place to eat and rest! I'm lost."
"Calm down; we won't cause you any trouble," Shi Xin explained. "Look, who are you and where do you come from?"
"Hum, my name is Carley. I lived in a house with my parents...until it burned down...taking them with it..." Carley looked down, tears falling down on her face.
Po and Shi Xin exchanged a look of pity for the avian. "How old are you?" Shi Xin asked with a suspicious look.
"I'm seventeen."
"Hmm, aren't you a bit too old to be staying with your parents?"
"Well, no. Where I'm from, we can stay with our parents until we're ready to leave." Carley then looked down. "I tried to save my parents, but they told me to get out and to not look back." More tears started coming out.
Before Shi Xin could go on with his interrogation, Po suddenly grabbed Carley in his big arms for a hug. She was taken aback by this but nonetheless returned the hug, wrapping her wings around the panda's round tummy. She cried into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Po softly said. As they broke from the hug, Carley wiped her tears away.
"What are you gonna do now, Carley?" Shi Xin asked.
"I don't know," she said with looking down. Po suddenly smiled and pulled a paw on her shoulder.
"I know; why don't you come with us, Carley? My friend and I are going to the Lee Da Academy, but I'm sure my father will have no trouble welcoming another friend at my home. What do you say?"
Carley widened her eyes when she heard that. "Lee Da Academy? That sounds very Chinese."
"Well duh, it's because we are in China," Shi Xin said matter of factly.
"C-China?!" Carley said with her eyes wide open. "Like in China with rice hats and Kung Fu?"
"Of course, have you been living under a rock or what?" Shi Xin asked with a shrug. "We live in China. If you're not from around here, where are you from?"
"I'm from the United States of America," Carley responded.
"United States of what now?" Po and Shi Xin asked simultaneously.
"Oh boy, how did I end up here?" Carley rubbed her forehead, a thousand questions going through her mind.
Po and Shi Xin have met with Carley and she's now a cockatiel! Let's see what's in store for her as they head toward the Lee Da Academy.
