CHAPTER 13: Words of Wisdom

We arrived in the dining room where the others were already seated. I decided to finally take off my hair band (yes I have long hair, I am a metalhead afterall) since I had it on all day. I then went to get a glass of ice cold water deciding to have a look out the window.

"Hey John, you want anything to eat? There's plenty for everyone." Viper offered.

"Thanks but I'm not hungry." I said.

"Is he ok, he looks rather down." Monkey whispered.

"Well I mean he did almost get his face burned off earlier." Mantis said which resulted in him getting slapped again by Viper.

"That wasn't very nice Mantis." Viper scolded him

"Nah, it's all good Viper. Besides, that's not what's bothering me."

"Oh, do you want to talk about it?" She asked me.

"Well, as of a couple hours ago, I'm officially jobless and homeless. All because of a title I didn't even compete for." I teared up a bit.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok John. If anything we should be thankful you got picked." Viper said.

"And why would that be?" Tigress annoyingly asked.

I couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by that remark, but I simply ignored it.

"You may not see this as a good thing Tigress, but Oogway instead of choosing John could have chosen someone who has no kung fu experience whatsoever. Whereas John here has over 13 years of kung fu experience. And to top it all off, being a Samoan-American, he learned Limalama his entire life."

"What is that?" Monkey asked

"Samoan martial arts, it's pretty similar to kung fu if I'm being honest with you." I answered

"So you see, he has more than enough capability of training with us." Viper continued

"Does being your friend count as a bonus?" I asked

"Oh hush you." She hissed.

"Thanks for the encouragement, Viper. However, I still feel pretty bad about all this. So I wanna sincerely apologize for ruining this whole day."

"Now you know this wasn't your fault. You simply did the right thing out there. Oogway saw something inside you that he didn't see in us." Crane added.

"Thanks Master Crane. However I have a couple things I would like to say though. I wanna mention this real quick. You will all see over the course of my time here that I'm no quitter. As I told Shifu earlier, no matter how challenging it will be, I will do the job until I can't physically continue. Secondly, if anyone has any issues with me, whether it's something I say/do, don't hesitate to come talk to me. That way I can listen to you voice your issues so we can workout a solution."

"Fully noted Captain." Mantis said.

"No problem." Monkey added.

"I doubt I should have any issues with you John, but fully noted." Crane said.

As for Tigress, she stays quiet. I had a feeling she was taking this whole shit storm very personally.

"Well...I'm gonna go for a walk, I still have some things on my mind." I left the dining room.

Later

I was sitting at this peach tree quietly whilst looking over the Valley.

'Man, what the hell have I gotten myself into?' I thought to myself. My thoughts were cut by someone talking to me.

"Ah I see you found the Peace Tree of Heavenly Wisdom."

I turn to see the man who brought me into this mess.

"Master Oogway." I said.

"What are you doing here all alone, Dragon Warrior? He asked.

'Damn, gonna have to get used to that.'

"I was just thinking..."

"Go on." He said.

I sighed before spilling the beans.

"Well, for one I lost my job and my home because of this. Second, I'm not sure if the others seem very fond of me stealing their spot. Although I can't quit cause I got nowhere to go at this point. I guess now I have to wing it. But I would like to know Master Oogway, why me? You were about to point at Tigress."

He simply smiled and looked at me.

"Yes I was, but the way I see things is very different then what you might think. You see Captain, the one thing that stands out in you apart from the other five, especially Tigress, is quite simple. It's YOU."

I gave a look of confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Your inner self is what drives you along the road to success. You have a lot of passion and determination in you Dragon Warrior. More than you think."

"Ok, but what about the villagers? What do they think of this? I'm pretty certain that-"

"Captain, you are too concerned about the bigger picture. What you need to do is focus on now, rather than being focused on what happened today or what will happen from this point on. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it a present."

Oogway tapped his staff of the tree, which then a peach landed in my hand.

"Now get some sleep. You will need all the energy for your first day tomorrow." He said before leaving.

I thought about the things he said before simply sighing in defeat.

'I guess he's right. Maybe I am thinking too much about this.'

I then walked back towards the barracks for some much needed rest and sleep.