Kung fu panda: The soldier

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The scars we leave

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(With John)

John stumbled forward as he was sheer exhausted from running for hours on end. He had no idea where he was, and the night was nearly gone as the first rays of sunlight came over the horizon.

Breathing heavily, he rested against a tree, as he took deep breaths and tried to control his shaking from being so exhausted. Looking up he saw a small stream through the trees, and without even thinking, he stumbled forward towards the stream as though he were drugged.

Reaching the flowing water, he allowed himself to fall to his hands and knees at the bank and began drinking the water with his hands. Feeling the cool sensation of the water, he took his hands and splashed water on his face before releasing a deep sign.

John looked back down at his reflection and saw all the cuts and scratches that were visible behind the dirt and blood. Turning to look at his hands he saw that they too were covered in blood and dirt. Putting his hands back into the water he started rubbing furiously and watched as the blood and dirt disappeared into the water.

'All that blood and dirt, washed away in an unknown world, not from the one it was born in. How ironic.' John thought.

Looking up he started to just take in his surroundings, he waited till he hears something, anything, but he heard nothing, no bombs, no gunshots, no screams, no pain. Only mother nature. For the last few years of the war against the bastard Kaon that he's been fighting all his life, always the fear of losing his squad, and him dying, or when his last battle against Kaon will be. But now, even with the thought of being hunted by the people of this place he only felt... He doesn't know what the feeling is but he'll figure it out later.

Taking a few more deep breaths he pushed himself back to his feet and tried to move to the other side of the river but collapsed half way through. Feeling totally exhausted John forced himself back to his feet, before stumbling to the far bank of the river all the while shaking from exhaustion. Once there he allowed himself to fall to his knees before crawling to a tree a few feet away from him to rest under.

Too exhausted to move anymore he merely watched the water flow down the stream, as he felt his eyelids become heavier and heavier. Realizing he was going to fall asleep at any moment he pulled his bag off his back to allow himself to sit more comfortably as he placed the bag beside him.

Feeling his eyelids closing he took one last deep breath before he finally allowed himself to fall asleep.

(Jade Palace)

"WHAT!?" shouted everyone as Shifu told them that they were not to pursue the human any more.

"Master that thing is very dangerous and you want us to just let it run about freely in the valley?" question Tigress as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was as if she heard Oogway say that Po was to be the dragon warrior all over again.

"Yes Tigress... because I believe it doesn't want to harm anyone but will only when threatened." Shifu stated as he turned to face her.

"Master... Why do you believe this human won't hurt anyone?" Asked Viper as she didn't understand what Shifu was thinking.

"With the events you and the others described on the skill of this human, it was able to hold its own against the guards and nearly defeat all of you. Why hasn't it killed anyone with its weapons?" he questioned which got most of his students thinking.

"Maybe it has lousy aim." Purposed Monkey jokingly.

"When it was almost able to defeat us... not likely" rebutted Viper as she started to see where Shifu was going with this.