Ch. 10 - Anxiety
[You know I didn't expect to reach this far. And as I promised, I would publish a bonus chapter on Monday and since we reached 1200 power stones, I wanted to make it 3 chapters on Monday however, I would lose my stockpile chapter so I'll give the other bonus chapter on Tuesday. So, expect two chapters on both Monday and Tuesday.]
[And by next week, I would issue another challenge for bonus chapters. It might be another goal of reaching a specified power stones or maybe reaching at least rank 5 in the power rankings. It depends if I manage to stockpile another set of chapters.]
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"But you could just defeat him! Like you used to back then!" Master Shifu spoke with vigor and excitement.
"It is not my destiny to defeat Tai Lung. Instead, it is his..." Master Oogway responded before pointing at Jin, or at least where he was before because he disappeared.
"...The Dragon Warrior." Closing his eyes, Master Oogway corrected himself and continued.
"But master! How!? I need your help, Master!"
"No, I could see that you believe Jin is capable of being the Dragon Warrior, now you just need that belief to grow. Jin is destined for greatness. You don't need my help, you just need to believe. Promise me, Shifu. Promise me that you will believe." As he spoke, the old turtle tried to stand straight as he slowly turned to face the night sky.
"I will, master." Master Shifu looked down on the ground in contemplation. He also believes that Jin is indeed the best candidate for the Dragon Warrior but he doesn't believe that Jin could defeat Tai Lung and that is the reason why Master Shifu still wanted to rely on Master Oogway.
"You must continue your journey without me, Shifu." The old turtle smiled and said before carefully handing his cane to Master Shifu, who looked bewildered when he heard Master Oogway's words. His words could only mean one thing!
"No, you can't leave me, master! Please, don't leave me!" Master Shifu teared up and begged and as if not hearing his shouts of pleading, Master Oogway was slowly lifted off the ground as the leaves of the cherry blossom slowly covered him.
Master Shifu could do nothing except watch as Master Oogway slowly disappears from his vision.
***
(Jin's PoV)
'I need to get out of here! How could that old turtle know about my past life?! It's impossible, I clearly showed no signs of it!' Jin thought to himself while running in a rocky terrain, trying his best to leave the place.
It's not that he's a coward or something but he feels like he's naked in front of Master Oogway, he could read him like an open book.
You know just before all this, Jin was just a normal human living a normal life before suddenly plunged into this world without any guide on what to do.
He was only given a mission and some tools to help him along the way.
*Bam!*
"You will not be leaving the Jade Palace! You will stay here and train before defeating Tai Lung!" Master Shifu aggressively landed in front of him while assuming a Kung-Fu stance.
"I'm leaving not because of Tai Lung but because the Dragon Warrior is supposed to be someone else, not me!" Jin was still sticking to the fact that Po was supposed to be the Dragon Warrior and bear all the responsibilities that this world has to throw at him.
"And who do you think is worthy of the Dragon Warrior?" Master Shifu asked while squinting his eyes.
"..." Jin stopped speaking as he realized that he's about to slip up and mention Po's name which would make his situation more troublesome. It's already enough to have one guy to know about his past life but two or more people knowing that he has a past life would be a major problem.
"Who do you think is more worthy, huh? Tell me! TELL ME!" Master Shifu yelled causing Jin to yell back.
"I don't know!" At this moment, Jin was having a type of anxiety called 'Environmental Anxiety'. It is a specific type of anxiety that arises from being in an unfamiliar or unknown location where you may feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or uncertain about what to expect.
At this time, Jin feels unsafe at being in this world, he wishes in his mind, hoping that he could go back to his world and that none of this ever happened.
[A/N: Don't worry, this is just a small character development for him, since I always felt weird that some reincarnator protagonists in other fanfics would just randomly adapt to the world they were thrown into and didn't delve deeper into understanding a human's supposed reaction if he's thrown into a random world. I'm just putting more realism into his development, don't worry, this is just a phase where it would be gone in a few paragraphs.]
Just when Master Shifu was about to reply, the world suddenly came into halt. The birds in the sky were still in the air without moving an inch and the same goes to the others.
Confused by this, Jin just blinked for a moment before he found himself back in the white space, where he spent an unknown amount of time to acquire his gifts.
"Come sit." Turning to look at the source of the voice, Jin saw God was still sitting in his usual spot with a cup of tea in his hand.
"A-." Just when Jin was about to speak, God beat him into it.
"You are afraid correct? You are afraid that you will lose yourself as time goes on." Without even trying, God already knew what he was feeling inside.
Master Oogway's words have reminded him that he doesn't live in that world nor was he born naturally in that world.
Suddenly being brought to a new world with a new identity and sense of uneasiness, Jin was scared at first but as time went by, he was slowly adapting to the world until Master Oogway reminded him of his past life.
Because of this, it caused Jin to overthink and some wild thoughts kept popping inside his head.
What if this is just a dream and he would wake up in his bed?
What happened to his previous body?
How about his friends? Did they know that he has left that world? Perhaps, in his previous world, Sam is already dead.
Or thoughts like, is this really his body? What if he just possessed a random man's body?
"I understand your concerns, I truly do. Which is why I'm giving you a choice to give up and go back to your own world. I could just choose another one for this mission." God's words gave him light and hope and just when he was about to take it, God spoke first.
"However, this will be the last time we'll ever see each other, since I would have to remove your memories of mine and everything that you've experienced." As his words fell on Jin's ears, he stopped for a bit and hesitation popped in on his mind.
Meanwhile, his memories of Po's excitement when he accepted him as his disciple, Mr. Ping's kindness when he gave him a temporary home and a job, the Furious Five's acceptance of him, Master Shifu's dedication to train him and turn him into a Dragon Warrior and lastly, Master Oogway's wisdom of words that touched his heart all came flooding in his mind as he realized that during these days that he stayed in the world, he has already formed precious memories with them. All of these memories flashed in his mind.
'I...I can't back out now. They're relying on me, the Dragon Warrior.' Jin said to himself as God knowingly smiled.
[A/N: Yes, it's cringe but bear with me, this would only last in this chapter.]
'Even if I tell them that Po is the true Dragon Warrior, nothing would have happened anyway. The moment I stepped foot in the Jade Palace, my destiny as the Dragon Warrior has been sealed shut. There's no turning back now!' With resolution in his mind, Jin confidently turned his face to God.
"That's the spirit." With a smile, God then touched Jin's forehead and said.
"I'll give you a small gift." As soon as he said that, Jin found himself back in the real world.
Meanwhile, God said to himself with an unknown smile plastered on his face.
"That's the Angel I know."
***
After a few seconds, time resumed and Master Shifu continued what he was shouting.
"See! Yo-."
"I'll stay." Suddenly, Jin's personality suddenly took a sharp 180° turn. From arguing to acceptance.
"W-wait, what?" Even Matter Shifu was flabbergasted and the words that he's about to speak out for are trapped inside his throat. Perhaps he has mastered the way of the dao and become similar to Master Oogway?
Has he become a wise person like his master?
"Let's go back. We can't waste anymore time." Jin said before turning around and started walking back to the Jade Palace.
Master Shifu just dumbly stared at Jin's retreating back.
That's it? He thought he would have to bring in the big guns just to convince Jin to stay. Looks like he has indeed become a wise person like his master. His words alone is enough to influence him.
***
As Jin was walking back to his dorm room, he came across the dining table where the Furious Five were trying their best to cook while Monkey was doing nothing except from munching on some cookies and complaining.
"Ughh, I'm hungry. Why do we have to cook when we could just buy some food outside the Jade Palace?" Monkey complained as his cookies were starting to taste bland as he's always eating the same cookie for every single day.
"If only one of you took the time to learn how to cook then we won't have to face this problem every day." Tigress said with her eyes closed.
"Well at least we have some small crickets to eat." Mantis said while munching on some insects.
"Ugh, keep it to yourself, Mantis." Viper made a disgusted face before commenting.
*Bam!*
Suddenly, the sliding door was opened by none other than Jin, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Uhh, what's with the smile?" Monkey pointed out.
"I heard you guys are hungry. Would you mind me inviting someone to cook for us? I assure you, he's a good cook."
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[I know that the whole ordeal was cringe af but it's just me practicing character development since I'm planning on writing my own novel by next year or something.]
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