The Way Back
Chapter 5- The Most Important Time Is Now
The Future - The Kowloon Mountains
The trio had been traveling for nearly three days now, Po recognized this place from when he and his five had traveled to Gongmen for the first time, this was where he had slipped and rolled down the mountain in a giant snowball, Tigress had helped him out of it when she reached the bottom.
He was a bit more cautious this time around and managed to get to the bottom of the mountain still in the shape of a food loving panda bear.
"Okay, if I'm right then by the end of today we should be able to get another fishing boat from a fisherman who just happens to be around...I'm surprised we managed to get one the first time, on reflection this plan does rely on luck a bit" thought Po.
"PO! SNAP OUT OF IT! yelled Mantis, Po shook his head and noticed he had nearly walked off of a cliff in his daydreaming state, he looked over the edge...he couldn't see a bottom.
"What is wrong with you Po? God! You could of just walked off of the edge because you weren't paying attention" scolded Viper.
Po smirked awkwardly and bashfully shrugged "Uhhh Sorry".
Neither of them could stay angry at Po so they just carried on.
By nightfall they had reached a fishing village, it looked pretty much the same as the one from Po's world. It didn't take them long to find a fisherman willing to rent them a boat, Viper and Mantis were the ones who actually had to make the trade as they were afraid that he might recognize Po and refuse to barter with them out of fear.
Unlike his earlier trip to Gongmen Po was relatively undisturbed by unpleasant thoughts, he even managed to not have a nightmare for once which he put down to the sereneness of the area.
When they arrived in Gongmen he felt refreshed and better then he had felt in weeks, they docked and gathered to discuss a plan.
"Ok, what I think we should do is split up, if we find her we bring her back here and wait for the remaining two to come back, we'll search for an hour then come back here to compare notes" said Po confidently.
Viper and Mantis were shocked at how naturally leadership seemed to come to Po, they nodded and both took off quickly into separate directions.
Po yawned, stretched and made his way into Gongmen to search for the Soothsayer
The streets were bustling and crowded, this was the first time Po had seen it like this although he reflected the last time he had been here everyone was under the proverbial thumb of Lord Shen.
He was also surprised that nobody seemed to recognize him, he put it down to the fact that because everyone was so busy nobody was truly looking at Po and besides he did look a lot younger then the Dragon Warrior.
"You don't belong here, do you?"
Po whirled around at the sound of that oh so familiar voice, sitting on a mat nearby was none other then the Soothsayer, she had her eyes closed and her head down, in front of her were various materials, feathers, fur and such.
He bounded over to her desperate to see if she could help him.
"You know I thought it would have been harder to find you".
She looked up at him with an amused expression on her face, "Don't you think that I might of predicted your arrival and sat here to make it easier for you to find me?".
Po shrugged "I don't really know", his expression became serious "How do you know that I don't belong here?".
The Soothsayer put a feather and a fine powder into the pure white bowl in front of her before answering him.
"It's simple really, you don't look like you belong, you also look at everything with weary eyes like you have seen it all before, you also have a far away about you like you are thinking about someone".
Po gasped at her observational skills.
"T-that's amazing you could tell all of that just by glancing at me?"
She nodded and smirked "Being a Soothsayer doesn't hurt either".
She stood up "Now let us talk more privately , I know why you are here and the knowledge that you have come here seeking".
She walked briskly off and Po followed her, he was surprised at how swiftly she could move he almost lost her once or twice in the crowd and struggled to keep up with her sometimes.
Finally to Po's relief they stopped at a empty looking house, she looked back to see a heavily panting Po and went inside.
Po followed her in and was surprised at the level of clutter inside the house, books were stacked impossibly high, there were bowls of feather and rocks in random places and there was a thin layer of dust coating everything in the room.
"Whoops sorry", Po chuckled nervously and raised his foot to reveal that he had just smashed a particularly nice looking bowl.
Without looking back she said "It doesn't matter I already bought a replacement", she sat down on a nearby mat and gestured Po over to her.
Shaking his head in bemusement Po joined her.
"I thought you could only see into the future?" said Po.
"I can also see into the present" she said, the Soothsayer began to put a seemingly random assortment of objects into a dish.
Po looked at her with a raised eyebrow "But I can do that too".
She looked up from her task to reply , "Yes everyone can but some people don't realize how important a skill that truly is".
Po was starting to get irritated "Look" he said while clutching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index claw.
Before he knew what was happening he started to raise his voice a bit "Can you stop jerking me around, someone I care about could be in trouble, so can you just tell me if you can really glance into different dimensions!" Po had stood up in his anger and he was glaring at the Soothsayer.
"Of course I can" she replied sharply while glaring back "It's just that until now I've never had the chance to try, nobody I know is stupid enough to try and cross dimensions"
"I didn't choose to be here" he hissed in outrage.
"Of course you did, everyone has a choice, you knew that the only way to keep your body and mind was to come here so you did, subconsciously as some would say".
Po took a deep breath to calm himself down "What?".
"You must of known that Kung Fu to Kung Fu you couldn't possibly have beaten your counterpart he's just too powerful, you knew deep down that the only way to win was to come here".
Po sighed "But by coming here I've lost so much, and the people I love are suffering".
The Soothsayer smiled warmly at him "But you're alive Po, and you will get back to Tigress, your father and the rest of your family".
Po smiled back "So what do I have to do to get back? and how do I do it?".
The Soothsayer grabbed a nearby mortar and pestle and started to mix something together, when she had finished she tipped the contents of the bowl in with the other ingredients she had been tampering with during their conversation.
As soon as the mixture made contact it began to burn a bright purple, it was almost blinding and it reminded Po of the light that had come off of the Sacred Blood Stone before he had been sent here.
When it had died down Po looked towards the Soothsayer who was grinning at him knowingly, "Like that" she said simply.
xxxxxx
Mantis was making his way back to the dock, he had found nothing (He wasn't to know that he was never going to find the Soothsayer) and was afraid of disappointing Po.
He spotted Viper sitting on a barrel near where they had arrived, he made his way over.
"So did you find anything?" He asked hopefully.
She shook her head "No, I asked around but the Soothsayer apparently hasn't been seen in some time".
Mantis sighed "That's a shame I was hoping we might have found a lead for Po here".
Viper put her tail on Mantis's "shoulder" to comfort him "We shouldn't give up just yet, Po may have found something".
Mantis nodded "Yeah I guess".
An uncomfortable silence descended upon them.
Mantis glanced at Viper who staring into the distance, "Ok, I can't hate her for the rest of my life, she and Monkey at least deserve that".
He cleared his throat to get her attention, it worked and she looked at him.
"Look Viper" he started nervously, he couldn't make eye contact with her, "How is it that this is hers and Monkey's fault yet I'm the one apologizing and feeling guilty?".
She noticed his nervousness and smiled to calm him.
"I know that what you and Monkey did was wrong and because of your enabling many people died".
Viper smile died down and she opened her mouth to protest, Mantis held his "thingy" up to silence her.
"But what I'm trying to say is that I forgive you, I know things will never truly go back to what they were, but I want our friendship to at least be on the way there".
Viper beamed at him and they met in a hug...well the best kind of hug that a praying mantis and a tree viper could possibly do.
"Thank you Mantis, I won't waste this second chance" Viper pulled out of the hug and resumed waiting for Po.
"You're lucky Viper, I only forgive really pretty girls" he joked.
Viper blushed and hissed "Shut up Mantis".