Hey to all my readers!

Alright I'm experimenting with something a little weird with this chapter so I hope it goes well.

R&R

Making the Cut
Chapter 11
The Visitor

As the buildings of the town dwindled the terrain turned back to the rolling countryside. I wasn't very far from the village. The lights from the city were still easily recognizable in the distance. After I had packed the gazette in my bag I had found a small restaurant in town called "The House of Teal Petals" where I helped myself to variety of food I'd been distant from the past few days. Afterward I stopped at a small general store and picked up a few essentials as well as replenishing my food supply. It was after that, that I had left the village. Staying in the village at night, might have turned disastrous. I was sure the authorities were on the look-out for "the perpetrator." But as long as the weather never got nasty, I assumed it was safer making myself comfortable around a fire in the outskirts of the town. Said fire was now fully ablaze as I stood enjoying it next to a tree. I don't know why but there was something that felt solid about making camp near a tree. It was a small tree though, nothing like the giant oak from the first night. Although tonight the solidness did not carry over to me. It was obvious now that tension went hand-in-hand with nightfall.

Even though I had a new lead, the journey was still beset with dubiousness.

Looking at the map, Pearljing appeared to be a half way mark between The Valley of Peace and the Black Mountains. If it took a day and half to get to Pearljing it would take that long to reach the Mountains. But that had been with part of those days traveling on the coach which meant even if I did start tomorrow morning, I wouldn't make it to the mountains before June 14.

Every day I spent trying to reach the masters added more uncertainty and desperation.

I sat down on a stump with my forehead resting on my hands for support, before saying aloud "God, what am I doing?"

"From the looks of it…. taking on probably the biggest task of your life." Said a too familiar voice from behind.

I turned around on the spot and saw Po standing right before me.

I stood up immediately. "Po!"

He shook his head smiling. "No."

I looked at him oddly. No? What was that supposed to mean?
Whatever was standing before me was unmistakably Po. It was Po's height, patched shorts, green eyes, prick of hair in between his ears, black and white gut. How could this not possibly be Po?

Another thought struck me.

"Are you a ghost?" This thought held me in fear for a moment. It was impossible to be a ghost without being dead. If he was dead then my entire journey mine as well have been for not.

Once again he shook his head. "No."

I had brief relief before I returned to my state of confusion. I stroked my temples sitting down on the stump again. "I must be going crazy."

He chuckled the way Po always chuckled when he thought I was making a big deal over something minor. "You've always been a little crazy J.C. But I'm a little too so it's ok. Besides, you already decided that you were crazy before you left the Palace."

I looked up startled. "How did you know I thought that?"

"I know whatever you know." He said plainly.

That saying didn't clear any confusion. If anything, it made more. He called me "J.C." Again, it was too characteristic of him to be otherwise. "So if you're not really Po and you're not a ghost then what are you?" I asked.

Still smiling he shrugged. "I'm what ever you want me to be."

I looked at him strangely in question. He answered "Think about it for a second."

I didn't see much point in thinking about it, but I was set on figuring out what this was all about.
He knows whatever I know
He's what ever I want him to be

It wasn't much to go on. None of this seemed to draw to the same conclusion. Then an even stranger thought hit me.

"You're part of my mind?" I asked.

He clapped his hands together. "You got it!"

I got it?
I stared at him skeptically. "If you're really part of my mind then what's my middle name?"

"Dakota, but your birth middle name was Thearr."
Anyone could know that.

"What city was I born in?"

"You don't even know that."

"When I'm daydreaming during training what do I do."

"You see how long you can try and balance a throwing star on its point on the tip of your finger."
He folded his arms. "You believe me now?"

Yes

"This doesn't make any sense." I said more confused than ever.

He shrugged again. "What does these days?"

"Well, no offense but you got my hopes up for a second… What should I call you?"

"Just call me Po." he said.

"But I thought you weren't Po?"

"I'm not, but what else would you call me?" He kept his tone remarkably conversational.

I was starting to get annoyed. "Well, Po, you got my hopes up for a second. I thought you were the real Po."

"What would you want if I was really Po?" he asked. He had Po's genuine look of care which began to thaw my annoyance.

I sighed. "I don't know. Something to give me the will to keep going. The kind he gets from Master Oogway or Shifu. What ever it was, he always knew what to say at the right time."

He thought for a moment before saying. "If I was really Po, then that would mean the masters were free and you wouldn't need any advice."

Was I really being outsmarted by something that was my own mind?

"I thought you were gonna help me." I said exasperated.

"I am." he said.

"How are you helping me?"

"I got your mind off the hopeless state you're in. Didn't I?"

"...Okay fine maybe you did that. So you agree this is a hopeless state?"

"I have to agree with you. I'm your thoughts."

"Is that ALL your help is?"

"No. I've got some of Po's words for you, Jo."

At hearing this, I tried to regain my composure so he didn't lose his patience with me. Was it possible to lose your patience with yourself? It must be if I was losing my patience with him. "What are they?" I asked.

"I don't know." he said.

"But you just said you had-"

"I said Po had-"

"But you are…" I took another deep breath. "Can you make this a little easier on me?"

"I happen to know your birthday was 5 days ago." he said.

"You should if you're part of my mind." Where is he going with this?

"Well that night, Po left you a message in that folder you keep your poems in."

For the first time I wasn't preoccupied with the senselessness of this conversation. "He what?"

I looked at my backpack right beside me. I pulled out my leather folder and quickly shuffled through the papers. Then, attached to the poem I wrote on my birthday was a clumsily folded piece of paper.

Still looking at it I asked "Hey, how did you know this was here if I didn't know?"

I didn't hear a reply.

I looked back and he was gone.

I stared around in bewilderment for a second. Did what I think happened really happen?

Crazy

I looked down at the folded paper still in my paws. It seemed to be the only verification that something had occurred. I opened the paper and scrawled on it was a note in what was unmistakably Po's handwriting.

You know, it means alot to hear those things and know that you value friendship like that. That's what being a friend is about. When you need someone to have your back or to just pray for you I'll be there. Always remember, I am your friend because of the differences that make you who you are, Jo Dakota Crevan, Kung Fu master of tomorrow. Don't ever forget who you are, and believe in the awesome name you will be. I can't wait for it.

Happy Birthday, man.

I was misty-eyed before I'd even finished. I had no idea what to think except that this had been the perfect thing to read at the right time I needed it. Was it in any way possible that Po could have known when he wrote this that when I'd read it I'd be going on a harrowing journey to find him and the rest being held captive by a mysterious wolf? If this wasn't a modivation to find them then nothing was.

I'll write him back

I pulled out a blank sheet of paper.

My Dear Friend

My dear friend, you've held by me for so long
You gave me strength and the will to go on
It was that will and that helped me to stay strong
But now I can't see how I can now that you're gone.
And as I stand alone beneath the glowing moon
Through early morning to the late afternoon
I still feel you here throughout this trying month of June
My dear Po, my dear friend, I'll see you soon

Jo Dakota Crevan
X. T. G.

I stared at the poem pleased with it wondering if in any way Po could sense what I had just written like I had sensed him.

I was sticking the paper and the note back in the folder when I heard a voice. "Excuse me."

Even though the voice was clearly different I looked up expecting to see Po again. But it wasn't.

Standing close to the tree I saw a coyote of my own age. His blue shorts, which at some point had been pants, now had the bottom ripped off just below the knee. On his torso he wore and open forest green vest. I recognized his face. Remarkably. He was one of the many students I had taken on at Keen Lee Academy.

I stood planting one foot behind me readying myself in a fighting stance.

He quickly held up his hands palms out with a look of half fear half respect. "We're not here to fight."

"We?"

For the first time I noticed standing in the shadow of the tree was another being. She walked forward standing next to him. She was a coyote as well, and judging by the similarities I thought they could have been fraternal twins.

She wore a stylish romper the color of butter with similar movement in its silk design. As she stood akimbo her large bells sleeves fell to almost the bottom hem of her shorts which rose to mid thigh.

If she wasn't currently giving such a sour demeaning look at me, I probably would have thought she was fairly pretty.

I couldn't recall her from the battle.

"If you're not here to fight then what do you want?" I asked

"If you'd believe us," he said. "we want to help."

I stared at them both searching there faces for any faint sign fraud. The boy looked serious and the girl looked uninterested. If this wasn't real, they were both hell of good actors. "What are yall trying to pull here?"

The girls turned her head toward the boy. "Let's go. It's obvious he doesn't-"

He disregarded her and said "We know your looking for Master Shifu and his students."

I looked at him intensely with disbelief. "I'm listening."

I wrote My Dear Friend to fit the tune of Danny Boy. which it was also partly inspired by.

Although i'd like to take credit for Po's message, what you read was actually a text message sent to me by one of my best friends around Christmas time (obviously he didn't call me Jo or a kung fu master). It seemed appropriate to the story so I used it.

Thanks Caleb

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