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The dragon warrior asked too many questions. Though perhaps they were biased because the furious five never asked questions. Not during training.If they were doing something wrong, Master Shifu would tell them. No doubt about that. It was never uncommon for the red panda to stop you mid exercise and pull apart everything you were doing wrong.So as you could probably guess… It was a little confusing.“Master Shifu?”All eyes discreetly shot to the newest member of their group. He didn’t seem to be doing very well where he was on top of his pole.“I know this is supposed to be a balancing exercise and meditation, but I’m focusing so much on not falling over that I can’t even try to do that with my eyes open .” As if demonstrating his instability, he teetered forwards rather dangerously. Crane, who was on the pole in front of him, squawked in fear of being fallen on but the panda managed to right himself before doing so. “Am I doing this wrong?”And they supposed this was where the question was necessary because, as Shifu would quickly deduce from a short observation of his stance, his form was identical to the rest of the Furious Five’s. Slightly bent knee, relaxed shoulders, leg at a perfect 90 degree angle, and arms low and gently clasped together over his front. Shifu hummed. Then he shot up the poles, bounding off of them to gain height and shaking his other students (though they remained steady) and while in the air, he quickly adjusted Po’s stance. Foot slightly more tilted, hips slightly less tilted, center of gravity shifted slightly back.A relieved and satisfied smile spread across Po’s face.“Ah, there we go. Thank you, Master Shifu.”The panda then wiggled his shoulders a bit and sunk into the position a little further before closing his eyes. That little wiggle was Po’s… unique way of saying “meditation time” without interrupting anyone else’s meditation. Though it was a bit too late for that. Everyone, besides maybe Tigress, would say they were thoroughly interrupted after that.Shifu gave a non comitial hum in response from where he stood on Crane’s hat.“An unstable stance is a warrior’s undoing,” Shifu stated. “But if that is all it takes to defeat you…”Shifu zipped around at lightning speed, bounding against the other poles again. Then he kicked Po’s pole. If the short master had so desired he could have snapped it in half with that kick. But instead he struck it just hard enough so that it took violently. Po’s stance did not move one bit. When the shaking stopped and he had neglected to even slightly falter, a victorious grin spread across the panda’s face. The same (though much more subdued) smile invaded Shifu’s expression as well before he flipped away and landed on his staff once more to resume the meditation.…“What do you mean, he smiled??” Monkey asked.“I mean, he smiled !” Viper repeated. “Shifu smiled…” Crane repeated, disbelievingly. “ After Po broke a rule to ask a question? If I’d done that he would have kicked me off my pole!”Viper’s tongue flicked out, slightly perturbed by that statement. “You really think Shifu would have punished you like that for wanting to be better?”“Not for wanting to be better but…” he puffed a hesitant breath as he searched for the correct way to word his next sentence. “Shifu… knows when we’re doing something wrong. And he’s not shy about telling us.” There was a murmur of agreement from Mantis, almost like a scoff. “So if you’re still having trouble when you’re doing everything right, then that just means you have to practice more… right?”“Shifu didn’t seem to think so,” Monkey reminded them. “Afterall, he adjusted his stance, didn’t he?”“Yeah, that’s the other weird thing,” Mantis stated. “He was doing it right. Why did Shifu change his stance like that?”“Maybe we could make like Po and… ask him?” Monkey offered.There was a short beat of silence before a bit of laughter. But it was subdued and thoughtful. The panda’s antics usually had that effect on them.This wasn’t a new occurrence. The first time it happened was on the very first day of training after he defeated Tai Lung. “Master Shifu, the Tumbling Floor of Death (which was not its name) creaked REALLY LOUDLY when I stepped on it just now. Is that normal? Or am I gonna break it?” Instead of snapping at him or making a witty remark or even simply ignoring the question, Shifu instead had the panda show him and deduced that the training equipment should be reinforced, just in case.It didn’t stop there. It wasn’t constant, it wasn’t everyday, but it was consistent.
“Are you sure getting my leg up that high is possible for me?”

“Where am I supposed to put my other arm again?”

“How do I build power in that strike? It feels a little lackluster.”

“*Wheeze* Is it supposed to feel like my organs are being strung on a needle and pulled out through my throat? Yes? Good to know.”

“Can I go over there to throw up real quick…? Thanks.”
Where? Can I? Why? How? When? In which way? No matter the nature of Po’s questions, they were always answered and he would always adjust accordingly. He never asked the same one twice. Once he got his answer he took it and made it work. Even if the answer was just “practice more”, which they were shocked to find was not said to him very often.They stayed silent about this in front of Po and their master but discussed it greatly in private… However, Tigress didn’t say anything at all. She didn’t engage in the little gossip her teammates buzzed with. Instead she pondered it on her own.She wondered what it could mean, that Master Shifu had bestowed this right upon his newest pupil. Perhaps he was simply trying to get Po up to the Five’s level as soon as possible and was thus a bit lenient with his disciplining. Perhaps the Dragon Warrior had found himself as Shifu’s new favorite. Or perhaps the opposite and Shifu could see that he needed the extra help so much more.Her comrades had laughed at the idea of doing what was necessary to get a definitive answer. To ask. It was true that this was an unwise option. They were already reeling on how Po got away with questioning their master, they were not about to try it themselves… but maybe… maybe she could ask Po instead? He may not know what was going through Shifu’s mind but the panda could at least provide insight into why he wasn’t afraid to ask.…“Whew!” Po whistled as he slumped out of the training hall alongside his classmates.As per usual, the five were utterly unbothered by the strenuous activity they’d just been through but Po was heaving for breath and sweating. They didn’t fault him for it. Afterall, he still managed to keep up with them, even if it took him more effort. And the big grin on his face despite his exhaustion was admirable.He hadn’t asked any questions this time. Afterall, they were simply repeating a skill set that he’d already asked a question on. Therefore, there was no easy way to segway into asking him about this. Tigress wondered if she should wait. Wait until he asked something again and then wait until after practice to ask him. But it was never set in stone when his next question would be. Occasionally he went over a week without asking anything. And why not just bring it up now? He’d asked a question only yesterday, it wouldn’t be too unusual. But she had to bring him away to ask in privet-“Hey, Po?” “Wassup, Monkey?” The panda replied.“How do you survive questioning Shifu like that?” Monkey asked.Tigress’s surprise did not present on her face in the slightest. In fact, on the outside, her momentary glance at them was the only indication that she was even remotely interested.Po was surprised and interested too… but also a little confused.“Uh… when do I question Shifu?” He asked.The Furious Five all either gaped at him or merely raised an eyebrow.“All the time!” Mantis exclaimed. “Just yesterday you interrupted meditation for it!”Po now seemed to grasp what they were talking about.“Well sure I asked a question but I wasn’t questioning Shifu…” he offered. “Well, I guess I was questioning him cuz I wanted an answer but I wasn’t saying that he made a mistake. I was just asking him to correct mine. I mean, how am I supposed to do better if I don’t know how?”“Po, buddy, you shouldn’t have to ask,” Crane stated. “When we make mistakes, Shifu knows and he corrects us right away.”“Yeah, he does that for me too,” Po stated.They all, slowly, realized that this was true. Shifu corrected his stance or strike or balance unprompted as normal way more than Po asked questions. They also realized he only ever asked after Shifu was no longer nitpicking him.“So, what?” Viper asked. “Are you saying he… ignores some things?… Misses some things?”“Well… yeah.”Okay, this was actual insanity. Now he was admitting out loud that Shifu made mistakes and he was still alive? What the heck?“But, I mean, it’s not his fault,” Po pushed. “He’s just never trained someone like me.”By this time they had left the palace all together. They all had plans on where to go prior to the conversation but now they were all just following Po… Tigress included.“Someone… like… you…?” Viper echoed.She didn’t seem to like that wording. Po was oblivious.“Yeah, you know…” his nonchalance washed away in an instant, despite his expression never changing from an easy smile. There was now a small tension in the way he held himself and his next words felt forced. “I’m… chunky. I’m built differently… from you.”“We’re all built differently,” Monkey tried to argue.“Yeah, we’re all different animals here,” Crane added.Po smiled but they were fighting back grimaces. Who were they to say that kind of thing? To reassure him like that when they themselves had mocked him for being “built differently”? (None of them were aware that Po had heard it either).“True,” Po granted them. “But are any of you thrown off balance by your own gut?”Eyes involuntarily snapped to the panda’s… ample front but they quickly moved away as soon as they did so.“Or feet that are disproportionately smaller than the rest of you?” Po continued. “Or shorter legs compared to your arms? Or reduced mobility due to there being too much of… you?”The furious five lit up in realization…. Of course. Sure they were all different animals but those differences were obvious and had obvious consequences. Viper had no arms so she basically had to make up every movement that was built for a legged creature. But besides that, she was encouraged to improvise. Crane couldn’t punch with his wings so he deflected instead. Monkey’s differences only had advantages as his balance and feet were an extra edge to everything. And Mantis… well Mantis was small but he could also hold up an entire bridge with five other, much bigger, animals on it. Tigress was just built for kung fu, though. She didn’t even have anything to overcome. At least not physically…But Po? He wasn’t just built differently, it was almost like he wasn’t built for kung fu. Everything about his body from his stamina to his breath control fought against him… yet he was still really good at it.“Shifu and I quickly figured out that his usual teaching style kinda just doesn’t work on me,” Po continued to explain. “We did a lot of stuff really differently when we were on our training field trip. But now we’re back here with you guys so I kinda just gotta deal. It’s easier now that I have the basics down but the fact still remains that a lot of stuff you do just does not work for me. So if I find something that isn’t working… I ask questions.”It was so simple wasn't it? In many ways, Some of their prior theories had been correct. He did need extra help, Shifu was trying to get him up to speed… and the panda was a bit closer to their master than they were. Afterall, the red panda had made his once rigid teaching form flexible to accommodate Po. And it seemed…Po lightly roundhouse kicked the peach tree of heavenly wisdom, much to their shock. Then to their further shock, exactly six peaches fell from the tree and he caught all of them, even balancing one that was about to hit the ground on his foot before throwing it in the air again and catching it in his mouth. He made a garbling noise that sounded like the phrase “want one?” As he presented them with the peaches.It was working.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The first rule of domestic life in the Jade Palace was that you did not speak of what food was like before Po moved in. In fact, I’m not even going to describe it to you. I absolutely refuse. Let’s just say it was bad. And let's just say that Po was many of the Fives’ favorite roommates because of the simple fact that he cooked. And, as far as any of them were concerned, he was REALLY good at it.That first bowl of noodle soup he made them was cemented in their minds as the turning point in their opinion of Po. They had all been gradually warming up to him as the initial feelings of shock and bitterness seasoned with a hint of territorial standoffishness gave way to critical thought and empathy. But those noodles? That was the moment everyone unanimously agreed that Po was the best.To their surprise, his culinary skills didn’t stop at just noodles, either. He was also really good at making dumplings, bean buns, bread, rice, stir-fry vegetables, and a lot more. Even so, the noodles were his specialty. And a day you were cursed to go on without them was definitely a sour one.So to summarize, Po’s cooking was held in high regard and was generally treasured at the Jade Palace. None of the five wanted to experience even a lick of what they put up with to eat before Po.“What do you mean he’s not here!?” Monkey cried.The simian fell to his knees and threw his head back as he cried out dramatically. Mantis would have laughed at his antics if he wasn’t currently doing the same.“Where did he go?” Crane asked. His concern was much more dignified and he was paying no mind to his melancholy teammates as they began rolling around on the floor.Zheng, who was stirring a pot (much to their horror), gladly responded.“Oh, Po decided to spend the rest of the day in town,” the duck told them. “What?” Mantis said, getting up abruptly. “He went to the village? WHY? He does know that when he goes down those stairs, he has to climb back up ‘em, right?”“We’re doomed!” Monkey cried. “If he’s already in the valley, he won't be able to climb back up until past dinner!”“Monkey!” Viper chided, smacking at him with her tail.“Don’t worry about it, I have lunch covered today,” Zheng told them before gleefully turning back to his stirring. “Man this rice is sticky…” he muttered as he tried to scrape rice that was no doubt already burnt off the bottom of the pot.Crane, Viper, Mantis, and Monkey all grimaced in unison. They slowly backed out of the kitchen as the duck continued to hum to himself.“Let’s make like Po and have lunch in town,” Viper whispered.“Agreed,” her boys responded.That was how four out of the Furious Five decided to scour the town for another noodle shop to drown their woes. Both at being noodle-less… and that Tigress, once again, refused to join them. Tigress was the only one that Po’s cooking had not warmed the heart of… probably because she never tried it. Every meal, she (in their opinion) stubbornly stuck to tofu in favor of anything Po prepared. It didn’t seem malicious, at least not to Viper who tended to be the only one who could really get a read on her, but they still found it frustrating because Po always clearly took it as some kind of dig at him. The panda tried not to show it but they could tell he was always disappointed when she turned down his offerings. Like she was saying his food (or he) wasn’t good enough.The slightly less Furious Four were pretty sure something else was going on though. Tigress didn’t just keep her distance with him. More recently she kept her distance with all of them. Tigress had never exactly been cuddly but despite all her rough edges one thing rang true. She was their friend. First and foremost, she was always their friend. She always allowed Monkey to try and get her to smile, she always joined Crane in meditation when he asked, she always watched and commented on Viper’s dancing (though her feedback wasn’t always very helpful), and she always listened to Mantis yammering on about something or other or begrudgingly allowed him to practice acupuncture on her, even gifting him a pressure point chart based off her dimensions. So this pulling away felt less like hostility and more like… shame.Which sucked because they could already tell that Po forgave them. Forgave all of them. (Sometimes they wondered if they deserved it.)The Furious Five didn’t wander around too long. Between Monkey’s complaining about being hungry and the many gape mouthed stares they were getting from the villagers (guess this is what they got for not being down there very often) they decided to just dip into the first restaurant they stumbled upon. Which just so happened to be a noodle shop so yay for them.“It’s more crowded than I thought it would be,” Crane stated. “I mean, this place seems small enough. Wonder what the crowd is about.”“You mean besides us?” Mantis grinned cockily as he glanced at some bunnies that were excitedly whispering while staring at them.“Sure,” Viper giggled. “But they were here before we came so I don’t think we can take all the credit.”“Then who can?” Monkey asked, rhetorically.Unfortunately for him, the universe was not one for subtlety.“S’cuse me! There ya go.”The master’s all gaped in unison at the sound of that voice. They all spun around. No way.Walking expertly between the tables with about ten bowls of soup balanced on his arms and head, was the Dragon Warrior. And he was wearing an apron. With a picture of noodles on it. The Furious Five minus one stared slack jawed at their friend as he distributed the noodles with more grace than they were used to seeing from the panda in training. The customers being served by him seemed to appreciate this as well if the way they were clapping and cheering was any indication. Po merely smiled kindly and turned to deliver the rest- and he almost spilled them all over the floor. Po’s face went slack in shock. His friends spoke up before he had the chance to.“Po?!” They all cried.“Uh…” Po looked away briefly to slide down the rest of the bowls before wiping his hands on his front, sheepishly. “Hey guys… What’ll it be?”The masters did not answer and instead opted to stare at him in bewilderment.“Okay, you have five seconds to explain why you’re spending your day off to be a waiter in some restaurant before I mercilessly ridicule you for it for the rest of your life,” Mantis stated.“It’s my dad’s restaurant and this was my job before I became the dragon warrior,” Po answered. “So do you guys have your menus? Do you need a second to figure out your orders?”“Po…” Monkey stressed. “You are not getting out of this. You are wearing an apron .”The panda seemed genuinely offended by that and put a hand on his hip.“I will have you know that my dad got this custom made for me for my 18th birthday and it is the only article of clothing I own that isn’t patched and cobbled together. There will be no dissing my apron.”Monkey put his hands up in surrender. “Alright. Respect.”Finally, Po dropped the two acts he was putting up. One of them being his customer service persona and the other being his nonchalance at being caught in his childhood job by his friends and idols. His shoulders slumped and a shy surrendering smile curled the corners of his mouth.“Okay, questions can totally be answered but I’m kinda swamped right now,” Po told them, gesturing to how packed the dinning yard was. “My break is in thirty minutes though, so if you wanna order and have your food in the meantime…”Viper smiled back.“Alright, Po,” she chuckled, lifting her menu again.“Turns out we won't be going without Po’s noodles afterall,” Mantis grinned triumphantly. “Get me a secret ingredient soup, big guy!”Po’s slight bashfulness at the situation faded into a proud smirk.“Actually, you’re getting my dad’s secret ingredient soup which is objectively better.” “We will be the judge of that, Po,” Viper told him. “I’d like one as well, please.”“Yeah, me too,” Crane said.“Me three!” Monkey added.“Four secret ingredient soups coming up!”Po then proceeded to venture back through the tables like water running over stone. Somehow. Monkey tilted his head in confusion as he watched Po, who should not physically be able to fit between the tables like that with all his bulk, do so flawlessly.“Well…” Crane chuckled. “That was something else.”“It always is with Po,” Viper smiled. She watched Po slip back into the kitchen like one would watch their little brother when he showed them a picture he drew. Just… proudly. “I think it’s sweet.”“It sure is special,” Monkey agreed. “Most newly anointed masters go a little crazy with the whole master thing. They feel like they got to prove how mysterious and cool they are.”“Po, on the other hand, has high fived at least six bunnies, eighteen geese, and twelve pigs in the past week… and it’s Tuesday,” Mantis chuckled. Po re-emerged from the kitchens with a fresh batch of bowls. They watched him catch a customer’s bowl mid trip at the same time he was setting another one down. He expertly caught all the flying broth back in the bowl and leaned down to the piglet's level to hand it back to them. He said a few words that they couldn’t hear. Then he raised his paw and the pig enthusiastically smacked it.“Thirteen,” Monkey counted.“And do I need to bring up the apron again?”“Hey…” Crane chastised, smiling gentilly. “There will be no dissing the apron.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I am FED UP!” The serpent's announcement boomed through the once silent room, shattering any and all of Tigress’s hopes of a quiet or uneventful night.

“Evening, Viper,” Tigress addressed, not yet having moved from her lotus pose where she had been calmly meditating. She was ashamed to say she didn’t mind too much, though. As much as Tigress would have liked to maintain her hardened warrior persona to everyone she came across, the Furious Five were immune to her facade. They had met her when she was a significantly more bright eyed individual that fancifully called them amazing during their first meeting. They knew who she was. She couldn’t fool them. And that led them to feeling like they could get away with things like this. “Care to clarify?”

“Where would you like me to start?” Viper asked, far too sweetly in contrast to her previous outburst. “We could start with the fact that you haven’t said anything in public for nearly a whole week. Or we could talk about how you keep turning down our invitations to spend time with us. Or how Crane’s Mahjong set is gathering dust because you won’t play with him. Or how you haven’t felt the excruciatingly wonderful sensation of being stabbed with a needle by Mantis in ages—”

“Viper,” Tigress tried to cut her off with a sigh. “I apologize if—”

“

OR

,” Viper succeeded in cutting off her cut off. “—And this is what annoys me the most— you don’t eat Po’s food, you don’t respond to him when he talks to you, and you keep referring to him as

Dragon Warrior

when you

do

talk.”

There were several things Viper had listed where Tigress could begin to defend (or at least explain) herself, but she decided to start with the one she wasn’t quite clear on. At least on why it was a problem.

“That’s his title,” Tigress argued, very calmly. “What is the issue with calling him that? He is the Dragon Warrior.”

“I mean, yeah obviously,” Viper admitted. “But he’s also— and more importantly— Po. Seriously, the fact that you still refer to him by his title rather than his name when even

Shifu

calls him Po is ridiculous. Monkey and Mantis would be backing me up on this if they weren’t such

COWARDS

.”

Viper snapped her head in the direction of one of the paper walls. Tigress followed her gaze and was blessed with the sight of a Monkey shaped shadow scurrying away and the high pitched sound Mantis made whenever he moved. Tigress bit back the small smile that threatened to invade her deceptively apathetic expression.

“Why is Crane excluded from this title?” The feline asked.

“Cane’s playing mahjong with Po to ensure he doesn’t walk in on us while I yell at you, so he’s off the hook.”

“Ah.”

“Anywho, let’s get on with that,” she said this is a sinking sweet little tone before scrunching her scaly little face into a frown again. “I miss you and I want answers!”

Despite the exaggerated drama of this, Tigress still felt a twinge of guilt… or at least a different one to how she felt all the time. But it was always… hard to express that. And it was hard to express her remorse. If that weren’t the case, maybe she wouldn't be dealing with this issue.

“I didn’t know that referring to the Dragon Warrior by his title was an issue,” Tigress expressed again. “He refers to me by mine.”

That was entirely true. While Po was just as friendly and goofy with her as he was with everybody else, he exclusively referred to her as

Master Tigress

instead of just Tigress as everyone else called her. Tigress wasn’t sure which one had started it first. But either way, the other quickly got the message that keeping their interactions formal was just how things were going to be for a while.

“Oh, I hate that too,” Viper stated. “And I fully intend to yell at him about it when Crane finishes kicking his butt.”

Tigress couldn’t help it. The small smile emerged, accompanied by a small exhale through her nose that Viper recognized as the closest thing they ever got to her laughing.

“Daw, there she is,” Viper stated. The snake tilted her head with a genuinely relieved smile on her face. “It’s my friend, Tigress! You know, she’s been gone for a while. I think she’s hiding from my new friend, Po.”

Just like that, the smile melted away. So she

did

know. Viper knew why she’d been so distant. And she seemed to be on a mission to literally drag her out of her metaphorical shell. Normally Tigress would have been prepared to fight back but… Viper usually won these types of battles.

“Look, we all feel guilty about how we treated Po,” Viper said. “And we should. Because it really wasn’t okay. But it’s not up to you to decide how and how long you need to be punished for it. Po decided that he just wants us to be his friends. So you should stop hiding from him and join us in being his friend!”

“You don’t understand,” Tigress tried to insist.

“I do!” Viper instead right back. “We all heard what you said to him, Tigress. Yes it was awful, yes you shouldn’t have told him that, but he

forgives you

!”

He shouldn’t,

Tigress thought.

They heard what she said. What she said that night when Po awkwardly tried to sneak his way into bed. Telling him, to his face, that he was a disgrace to kung fu simply because he wasn’t good at it yet. Telling him that he and his efforts would never be enough. The paper walls weren’t thick. They heard what she said…

… But they didn’t hear what he said.

Yeah, I stayed,

Po’s voice echoed.

I stayed because…

Because he couldn’t take it anymore. Because he would rather be subjected to violence and ridicule, have cruel words and literal stones thrown at him, rather than continue to keep existing the way he was. Because everything they had said about him behind his back and to his face… he agreed with. He believed them wholeheartedly.

Tigress was no stranger to making mistakes. She had made many of them in her lifetime. Many more than she’d like to admit. And one thing she learned from all these mistakes was that you had an obligation to take responsibility for them. Specifically, if you harmed someone, you had to be willing to face the fact that that person may want nothing to do with you after the fact. Even if it was an accident (and in her case… it most certainly had not been)(she knew it would hurt him)(she wanted to hurt him).

Viper had said that it was up to Po to decide how and for how long she should be punished. But what was she to do when Po refused to punish her? Even after she hurt him so deeply? She would do it

for

him. She would keep her distance and not demand his friendship. And since he had found himself friends with her friends… she supposed it was only fair to let him keep them.
 
Only Po wouldn’t even let her do that, it seemed.

“You’re leaving again?” Crane asked.

Tigress paused outside of the kitchen.

“I’m not

leaving

, I’m just taking another shift at my dad’s noodle shop,” Po told them. “It’s good money. Plus I miss him.”

“You don’t need extra money,” Mantis reminded him, desperately trying to convince him not to leave them to fend for themselves at dinner. “The Jade palace provides you with everything you need.”

“Chill, Mantis, I made some soup for you guys beforehand.”

“Oh sweet! See ya, Po.”

“Mantis!” Viper scolded as Monkey hollered with laughter.

“This is the third time you’ve waited tables for your dad

this week

,” Crane stated.

And Tigress was pretty sure she knew why. Because him being out of the palace meant that Monkey, Mantis, Crane and Viper would no longer have to split their time between Tigress and himself. He was giving her space. He was doing the opposite of punishing her. He was trying to help her.

“Are you sure everything’s okay?” The bird asked.

“I’m fine. It’s just weird not spending every day around my dad. Besides, waiting tables is thankless work. Keeps me humble.”

“I’d say we do that plenty fine on our own,” Monkey snickered.

“Aaand, that is my cue to leave before the walls explode with pudding again,” Po stated.

Tigress vaguely heard a chair creaking over the boisterous laughter of her friends. Laughter that included Po’s as he stepped out of the kitchen… at least until he caught sight of her and the laughter died in his throat.

Tigress regarded him in a still unmoving manner as he stared back at her, trying to maintain a friendly smile to cover his shock.

“Master Tigress,” He greeted her with a polite bow.

“Dragon Warrior,” Tigress responded with a slight nod of her head.

Po’s smile tightened a touch as he turned and walked away. Tigress entered the kitchen to the disappointed expressions of her friends.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Something that Po was less than thrilled to discover during his training was that just because you managed something once did not mean you mastered it. For some of these things, like performing kicks, flips, or new kung fu moves, he didn’t mind too much when he would think he had it down but still made a mistake the next time he tried it. It was frustrating but it made sense. Skills take time. They take practice. And you can’t just practice them once and expect to have them perfected.But he had really hoped this would be the exception.Po laid uncomfortably in bed. It… it really had not been a good day. Po had been in fights before. There was a pesky group of croc bandits that kept them pretty busy in the valley. They were good for an easy fight. A safe way for Po to get better at using kung fu without very high stakes. But it was different this time…It was the first mission Po was sent on with the five. His first time leaving the Valley of Peace. Their task was simple. Retrieve a stolen sword and return it to the Hall of Heroes. Unfortunately, through many happenings and desperate attempts at trying to protect innocents along the way, Po ended up on the end of that sword. He was okay! Really. He was fine. The gash looked deep, but it really only nicked him. And maybe he panicked a little when it happened but he never got cut like that before and— The five insisted on retreating. After Po had accidently chucked the sword off a cliff.Po groaned slightly as his middle twinged again. The tight bandages around his midriff really didn’t help, the pressure causing his wound to pulse uncomfortably. It was all his fault. He should have been faster. Should have paid more attention. Should of been less of a useless clumsy—… He wanted to eat. He was upset… and he wanted to eat way too much in hopes of drowning out the bad feelings with the waves of comfort he got from food. And he absolutely hated himself for it.He hadn’t been lying to Shifu when he said he wasn’t hungry on that fateful day. He had managed to overcome it then. He managed to chase away the feelings in a better, more productive way. Yet here he was, wallowing in defeat and moments away from giving in to the awful habit that he was foolish enough to think he overcame.Po didn’t know how long he fought this inner battle with himself before he pushed to his feet, hoping (for his pride’s sake) that everyone was in a deep enough sleep to not hear the very loud creaking of his footsteps. Tigress heard. But honestly… that was because she was already awake. The dragon warrior was not the only one beating himself up about that day’s events. 
Her paws struck against the horse. She weaved in and out of his attacks. She was mostly toying with him. Distracting and drawing his fire while Po and the others brought the villagers to safety. Crane flew overhead, swooping back and forth to keep the horse on its toes.

(“Horses don’t have toes.”)

(“Not really the issue, Big Guy.”)

(“I’m just sayin’!”)

Mantis had gotten everyone back over the bridge. Now she could finally focus on getting the weapon out of the thief's hooves. But now that the horse had no defenseless villagers to redirect their attention to… he turned to them instead.
 Tigress remembered the burning in her chest when she saw the horse grab Crane by the wing. Her palms itched for the same motion that she had carried directly into that horse’s ugly snout. And she was happy to provide them with it. If she had been stronger and taken that thieving scoundrel out on the first hit, none of this would have happened. There was an obvious solution. More training. More dedication. More more more. She had to be more. She had to be able to better protect them. She hadn’t punched the iron wood trees in quite a while. Not since Po arived. Well… since he officially became a staple in their lives. Her priorities had been elsewhere. Distracted. No wonder she was dwindling. No wonder she had become so weak.Tigress fully intended to expertly sneak out of the barracks and spend the next few hours pounding her frustration into the near unbreakable wood. There was a particular tree she had been working away at for about seven years. She wondered if the rage and shame within her was enough to finally push her to snap it in half.She would never find out though. Because mere seconds before she was about to slide open her door, another’s did first. Tigress’s sensitive ears already knew who it was the moment the sliding sound reached her. But the creaking and small grunts of pain that followed it confirmed her suspicions. The dragon warrior was apparently out for a midnight stroll a mere five hours after being slashed across his front by a bladed weapon… Now that just wouldn’t do. Oh course someone heard him. Po had only taken five steps into the dining room after sliding the door closed before he heard it slide back open. The panda sighed. He had been expecting Viper or Crane. Crane was a fairly light sleeper if his complaints about Po’s (totally not loud at all and very awesome) snoring was any indication and Viper seemed to have a sixth sense that alerted her to any of her friend’s troubles. Po was honored that this applied to him but also irritated because how was he supposed to wallow in his misery when she appeared out of the aether whenever he so much as gave a discontented sigh? Either way, he definitely had not been expecting this.“Master Tigress!” Po whisper-yelled. Perhaps a bit more yell than whisper if the way her ears twitched were telling him anything. And they way his wound throbbed in protest at the use of his lungs. Po suddenly felt a surge of panic well up in his throat. What if she had been sneakier about following him? What if his childhood hero and the only member of the five that he had not managed to win over followed him into the kitchen and watched him lay waste to it the way Shifu had? Something told him she would be much less cool about that then his surprisingly lenient master was. “Uh… so sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”“What are you doing here?” She demanded.They both realized the eery and uncomfortable familiarity of this. Of course it wasn’t an exact parallel but it was similar enough to make this already tense exchange ten times more so. Afterall, had they even talked to each other directly or alone since then? They were both inclined to say no.“Dragon Warrior?” Tigress prompted.“Right!” Po finally answered. “What am I… doing… up… uh. I was… y‘ know, just… getting a midnight snack…”He had decided that a lie of omission was his safest bet. He really didn’t know a lot about Tigress and how good she was at reading people but dang if those literally glowing eyes didn’t look like they were reading his soul.“Sit,” Tigress told him, walking into the room and pulling out a chair at the table when she passed it.Po jumped a bit, very confused by this action. “Uh…”“ Sit .”Po swiftly lowered himself into the chair. Then tried not to wince as cutting pain pierced his abdomen. After a quick shimy to try and find a less uncomfortable position (mostly in vain) he glanced over at Tigress… who was leaving the room. Po wondered, as he watched her orange fur disappear beyond the wall, if she was just… leaving him there. Though he wasn’t sure what telling him to sit would have accomplished in that regard.  Thankfully, she reemerged not long later… holding a small bowl of bean buns. Po’s eyes turned to big disks of shock as she set the bowl down in front of him.“They’re cold… and from yesterday, but…”“That’s cool…” Po croaked. He very shakily reached forwards and popped one in his mouth. He chewed in a slow cautious way as he wondered to himself if this was really happening. Did master Tigress really just get him food? Did she really just get him bean buns? She never ate these. If she was going to get him anything related to a foodstuff, he would have expected her to present him with tofu. This… this was the nicest thing she had done for him since he got here… and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.Tigress must have sensed (or perceived) his befuddlement because she swiftly turned away and began pulling out tea leaves and a pot from the cabinets. Po politely nibbled on his much-smaller-than-intended midnight snack as Tigress quietly brewed herself some tea.This was a milestone. An accomplishment. They were alone in a room together and treating each other slightly more friendly than one would a business acquaintance…. Only they were failing pretty badly at it. Neither of them had uttered a word for five whole minutes before Tigress realized she would have to continue the conversation.“You really shouldn’t be up and about,” she told him. Her back was still turned. So he didn’t see the concerned frown overtake her face. 
It had been a reckless attack. She saw Crane’s wing in the thief's grasp and she only had one thing on her mind.

Let. Him. GO.

She attacked vigorously and without remorse. Or critical thought. She didn’t know how she didn’t see the sword being swung at her. She also didn’t know how she didn’t see a black and white bear rushing towards her until after he had pushed her out of the way. He stopped the sword and clutched the hilt. Crane swooped in and struck the horse right in the jaw, sending him flying. Po’s grip remained on the hilt only long enough to make sure it was wrenched out of the thief's hooves.

She only realized after the fact that it hadn’t been Po’s hands that stopped the sword.
 She wouldn’t look at him again. If she did she would have to see the bandages wound around his middle.In Tigress’s defense, Po didn’t want to look at them either. He had always been very… malleable. And this meant that the pressure on his wounds caused the bandages to dig into his body and made him puff out from where they squeezed him. Now he didn’t just look like an injured loser. Now he looked like an overstuffed fig tied up with string. “Master Shifu specifically ordered that you not participate in training tomorrow. What made you think it would be acceptable to exert yourself like this?”“The kitchen is like… ten steps away,” Po stated. “I’m not sure I’d call that exertion.” Think of those words in the context of stairs and say that again. Tigress thought to herself. Then guilt stabbed through her brain. Why did she still do that? “You could have asked someone to retrieve your snack for you—”“And wake them up after the day they just had?” Po asked, incredulously. “No way.”Tigress finished assembling the pot and lit the heat before turning back to Po. He was nearly done with his bean buns. She strode over to the table and sat across from him, forcing his eyes to meet hers unless he wanted to make it very obvious that he was avoiding her gaze.“… At the Jade Palace, your brothers and sisters in arms hold your well being over anything else,” she told him. “You are a part of this team and, as of now, injured and that makes you a priority. From one warrior that doesn't enjoy being coddled to another… just accept it. They know when you’re hurting and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop them from helping you. So you might as well just make it easier for them.”“Hm,” Po hummed, through another mouthful of bean bun. “Solid advice. Do you follow it by any chance?”Po’s slight smirk dropped the moment those words left his lips. Ohhh too far. Too casual. He couldn’t just do that with her.Tigress regarded him in what looked less like surprise and more like she was mildly impressed.“… Irrelevant,” she told him.The smile came back and the laugh slipped out before Po could stop it.“Anyways…” Po coughed a little. “I’m only half convinced that’s actually why Shifu took me off duty.”Tigress’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”Po looked at her like she was pulling his leg. Like it was obvious.“Because I made us fail the mission?”Tigress blinked.  Po collapsed to the ground from the force of the great big yank. Tigress took the faintest of moments to admire his tenacity. He was getting the sword out of that horse’s clutches. There was absolutely nothing that could have stopped him. But she still hadn’t expected him to fall over from it. She also hadn’t expected the sword to fly out of his hands and skid to the edge of the cliff. As the blade teetered, Po and Tigress’s eyes widened in unison. But as they went to chase after it…
“AHHH!”

The Panda slumped back to the ground, clutching at his front. His paw was not black when he looked at it. The sword tipped over the edge. Tigress didn’t even notice.
 In fact she had almost completely forgotten…She wondered why she did forget. Under normal circumstances, Tigress would have been beating herself up for losing the sword as well. She wondered…“… Our mission was to stop the thief from causing more damage with Jade Palace property,” Tigress told him.“ And to get said property back ,” Po added. “Which I then threw off a cliff.”“You did not throw it off a cliff. It fell off the cliff when you happened to lose your grip on it after getting stabbed.”“Same difference!” Po then jolted and clutched at his front, wincing in pain.“Dragon Warrior,” Tigress said, sternly. “You jumped in front of that blade and used every ounce of your strength to get it away from the man that was using it to terrorize a defenseless village. Was it smart? No. Was it reckless? Absolutely. But losing the sword is not why any of us would punish you. It’s the fact that you seem to take your own injuries so lightly.”“I’m not taking them lightly!” Po insisted. “They’re just not that bad, honest!” He slumped back in his seat and looked down at his bandaged torso. “… It would have been a lot worse… if it was anyone else.”Tigress couldn’t help but eye his bandages as well. As she analyzed his body, taking in his mass and the distance between his already padded ribcage and the crest of his girth… The blade had cut a gash diagonally across his abdomen, and it wasn’t exactly shallow. It was at least three inches deep but… it was mostly flesh. It barely even reached the muscle and his internal organs were completely protected. He was right. If it had been any of them or, Oogway forbid, one of the villagers, they would be in much worse shape. Tigress noticed that Po had quite a few hidden strengths, even (and especially) ones linked to his flabby physique. She supposed this was one of them.“Who am I kiddin’? If it was any of you, you wouldn't have gotten hit,” Po scoffed.“You’re being unnecessarily hard on yourself,” Tigress told him. This entire time, everything she said had been very matter-of-fact. She hoped her lack of bubbly language or encouraging tones would convince him to believe her. Apparently not. “It was your first mission.”“So? Your first mission didn’t end with you bandaged up and having to be carried home on a Monkey-Tigress stretcher.”She was about to challenge that before he carried on.“Quite the opposite in fact! You beat that boar to a pulp!”Tigress blinked, now thoroughly confused.“… How did you know that?”“Don’t know how many times I have to tell you what a big fan I am,” Po told her. “Plus I was there.”“ What ?”“I was foraging mushrooms for my dad,” The panda explained. “The patch I found had a very epic view of you guys sending that jerk halfway across the field. Did I mention that it was epic?”Tigress… had to take a moment to process what a monumental coincidence that was. That, somehow, the panda that would eventually join their team was present during their first battle as said team. Tigress wasn’t sure if that was poetic or extremely irritating. The universe could really do her a solid by refraining from such dramatics. “Well if you were there, did you also see that boar beat me within an inch of my life?”Po’s wide and nostalgic smile dropped instantly to make way for surprise.“It’s true,” Tigress admitted, arduously. “If it weren’t for the other five, I would not have won that fight. I would have failed.”Po didn’t seem like he could process that concept. Tigress… losing? Tigress had no idea how or why this warrior held her in such high esteem. He seemed to see her as invincible. Infallible. Some prefect kung fu godsend.“… Okay…” Po said, like it wasn’t as bad as she believed. “But you were, like, 14—”“My age makes no difference,” Tigress pushed. “ And I had 11 more years of training than you.”“Okay okay,” Po conceded.“The sword had significance,” Tigress admitted to him. “But nothing has more significance than someone’s life.”Very slowly, the tension in Po’s shoulders relaxed. How she was the one that was able to convince him of this still eluded her. She didn’t understand why her words meant so much to him. Especially since…“I should have been more careful anyways,” she told him. “I shouldn’t have let you get hurt…”“ Let me ?” Po echoed. His face was twisted in over exaggerated confusion. Both eyes were squinting but one more than the other. One brow was lifted very high but also furrowed and his mouth was shoved to one side of his face. Clearly, he did not know what she meant.“I was… not aware enough of my surroundings,” Tigress explained. She didn’t move a muscle but her eyes drifted to the table. “If I had been more alert, you wouldn’t have felt the need to defend me the way you did. I will strive to do better—”“Woah woah, how’d you twist that around to be your fault?” Po asked, incredulously. “If anyone was unaware it was me! You think I wouldn’t have driven my fist into that guy’s face either if I was close enough when he grabbed Crane?”“I… I don’t regret defending Crane but the fact still stands—”“Master Tigress, you carried that fight,” Po told her. “You were the only reason we were able to get all those villagers to safety. You were responsible and played it safe until the innocents were out of harm's way and, when one of your teammates was threatened, you made absolutely sure that the scumbag wouldn’t hurt him. You wanna know why I jumped in front of you? It’s because I knew that if you went down we were gonna lose .”… Po’s bean buns were finished. Tigress’s tea was ready. There was an awkward pause as the two of them realized that they overstayed their welcome in each other's presence. But before they could make their awkward escapes…“What are you two doing up?”They turned to the door to see a groggy bird lightly glaring at them through squinting eyes.“Po! Are you insane?! If Viper finds you out of bed she will kill you,” Crane expressed to him.Po pushed to his feet with a hiss of pain.“Midnight snack?” He croaked, sheepishly.Crane gave a concerned sigh at Po’s clear discomfort. “C’mon, buddy.” The avian master walked over and wrapped a wing around Po’s back. He gently began leading the panda back to bed. “Don’t stay up too late,” he threw over his shoulder to Tigress.The tiger made a noncommittal grunt in response as she poured her tea. As Po laid back down in bed, he realized he wasn’t going to clear out the kitchen tonight. As Tigress sipped her tea, she realized she wasn’t going to punish her nerve damaged hands to ensure they never regained even a touch of sensation tonight. Neither of them had known of the other's plans. Neither of them knew what they were about to do to themselves. And yet… they had kept each other accountable.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Master Shifu had a problem with Po’s laziness. This problem being that the Dragon Warrior was not lazy. Not in the slightest. Many people assumed he was and that infuriated Shifu in a few ways. One being that the panda had long since proven himself and he couldn’t stand to see others wrongfully criticizing any of his students. But the most prominent one was that, before beginning to train him properly, Shifu, time and time again, waged a war against Po for his lack of laziness.At first it was because assigning the trait of laziness to the panda made Shifu feel less guilty about being so hard on him. He had tried that with many traits. He tried to convince himself that Po was cocky, selfish, stupid. All things that the panda also readily disproved. But the laziness was by far the most enraging one to be proven so blatantly wrong. The panda would get up to train early . He would scarcely ask for breaks, going through the motions again and again and again. And no matter how badly he failed the day before, he would always be ready for more the next day.There had been a brief moment during their one on one training when Shifu actually admired how positively unlazy Po was. His motivation and determination caused him to be the fastest learning student he ever had the pleasure of teaching… This feeling faded quickly when he was struck with an epiphany, however.“Good morning, master!” His students chorused as they slipped out of their rooms. All of them…“Po,” Shifu addressed his newest student. “I will only order you to return to your quarters once.”The Furious Five all shared their master’s discontentment with Po standing beside them. The panda was still tightly bandaged from the injury he sustained on their mission to retrieve the Sword of Master Hau. “Oh come on!” The Dragon Warrior whined. “I’ve done nothing but sit in bed and carve for the past three days! Lemme do some training, I’m fine!”“You literally just admitted that you got stabbed three days ago,” a certain long beaked master stated.“Crane, please, I have this under control,” Shifu said, raising a paw to his student. He turned back to Po. “No.”“Pleeeeaaaase! I have to do something ! I’m becoming one with the cot!”Shifu could feel a migraine coming on. Never had he ever needed to argue with one of his students about not letting them train when they were injured. There was one student who was never too happy about being put on bed rest… but at least she didn’t whine about it like an overgrown toddler.“And you think the solution to this is to exacerbate your injuries and prolong your recovery time?” Shifu asked.“It’s just a scratch ,” Po insisted.“Really? So if one of your teammates were to accidentally strike you…”Shifu moved so fast he was practically a blurr. His intention had been to stop just short of kicking Po in the stomach and then palm strike his face back into bed. To his surprise (and slight irritation) though… Po hammerfist blocked his master’s kick and then struck a punch right into the red panda’s chest. Shifu backflipped to his feet, not injured in the slightest, but vaguely impressed by the panda’s improving reflexes and precision.“Good thing I’m also a kung fu master and can stop that from happening,” Po smirked.Shifu’s eyes narrowed. This display really didn’t make much difference. If Shifu wanted to strike Po’s wound he could and would. But he also really wanted this argument to be over.“… Fine .”“Woo!” Po graciously bowed to his master… and took a little while to straighten back up. When he did, the panda’s triumphant smile was slightly strained and squinting.“That hurt, didn’t it?”“Noooo…”Shifu sighed. Po was not completely off the hook. While the five went over complex moves and formations over the dangerous training equipment, Po was banished to the side of the Training Hall to practice his balance and refine smaller skills that required less movement. The Five could feel his slight irritation at being babied in this way but he didn’t complain“Man, that guy is persistent,” Monkey stated, his eyes glancing at Po as he swung around the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom. His distraction allowed Viper to strike him precisely on the nose, sending him flying back and just barely managing to grab the edge of the bowl to swing back around.“Why so surprised?” Viper asked. She dived in for another attack, contorting in swift and smooth motions, then sharp and powerful strikes. “I thought that was obvious after his second day here.” She struck Monkey again who blocked, then grabbed her tail and rolled over her back, coiling her up in an off balance way. “Yeah, but he wasn’t injured then,” Monkey argued as she spun around midair and threw them both into the bowl. “The fact that he got injured is kinda freaking me out.”“Yeah?” Viper asked, in a tone much too concerned and soft for the way she slamming his head into solid jade. She then used him as a stepping stone to launch herself back onto the edge.“I’ll be honest…” Monkey admitted with a grunt as he slammed his weight down on the opposite edge of the bowl, causing it to teeter in hopes of throwing her off balance. “I thought he was kinda invulnerable after he came out of his fight with Tai Lung with not so much as a scratch.” He kicked her away as she moved in again. “No one’s invulnerable,” Viper said. “… Except for probably Tigress. Crane keeps saying he’s pretty sure she’s fireproof.”Monkey laughed. “… I guess I just forgot how new he is.”“OH COME ON!”They all looked towards the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors to see Crane lifting Po off the floor by his talons. “No equipment, ya dummy!” Crane insisted.They all watched the significantly smaller animal effortlessly fly the 260 pound panda back over to the safe side of the training hall while said giant panda pouted like a cub. Somewhere in the room, Shifu could be heard giving an exasperated groan. Unfortunately, trying (and failing) to train when he was in no condition to do so wasn’t even the pinnacle of Po’s utter refusal to be anything short of an unstoppable force of productivity after only a few days of being stagnant.“Po is gone.”Viper froze. Slowly, she slithered around to look at Mantis. “What do you mean… he’s gone?” She asked, sternly.The only reason Mantis didn’t quiver under her gaze was because her wrath was not directed at him.“I mean he’s not here,” the insect clarified. “He isn’t anywhere in the Jade Palace.”“WHY?”“You know why.”Viper placed her tail against the bridge of her snout. “I’m gonna kill him.” She would have to find him first but that wouldn’t be too difficult. Po had cautiously made his way down the Thousand Steps into the village quite a while ago and was having a nice stroll around town. Did he account for how he was going to get back up all those stairs when doing so was already agonizing without his middle twinging every time he lifted his legs any higher than an inch? No. But that was a problem for future Po.He also didn’t have any way to cover up his bandages at all so they were kind of on full display. And that attracted a lot of eyes from the various villagers.“Hi, Dragon Warrior!”Po looked down with a smile at the piglet who spoke to him. She was the same piglet who had nearly dropped her soup a few weeks earlier.“Hi, Ai,” he said to her.The little pig beamed at the fact that he remembered her name. But her smile faltered a little.“Did you get a big boo boo?” She asked.Po nervously fiddled with his bandages. “Yeah…” he admitted. “I’m okay though.”“But you’re the dragon warrior,” she stated in surprise. “Warriors don’t get boo boos!”“Warriors get boo boos all the time,” Po told her. “Just like you.”“Just like me?” She echoed. Her eyes sparkled at that concept.“Yup,” Po smiled. “Warriors are just like you, Ai. We’re just more grown up and practice more.”“Wow…” Ai whispered. “Does that mean I could be like you some day?!”“Absolutely.”Po leaned down to pat her head, despite the stabbing pain it caused. Ai giggled and grabbed his large hand in her two little hooves.“My mommy said I could get soup from the soup shop. Can you come with me?” She asked.“It would be an honor, little warrior.”Ai giggled some more and happily led the way to Ping’s Noodle Hut. He’d been meaning to visit his dad anyways so this worked out great. “What do you think you’re doing here!?” Ping hissed the moment he closed the kitchen door.Okay, Po spoke (thought?) too soon. He forgot that his dad was among the people pestering him to take it easy. The goose had been informed of the incident immediately upon Po’s return to the Jade Palace and proceeded to cook in the kitchens and fuss over his injuries for the next 24 hours before Po finally convinced him to go home (which he did mostly because he could tell that the Five and Shifu were a bit freaked out by the goose’s presence). He should have known his dad wouldn’t be too happy to see him up and about.“Dad, relax,” Po tried to persuade him. “You know how much padding I’ve got, it’s basically just a big paper cut—”“You will speak when you are spoken to, young man, now sit down!”Po winced and slipped into a seat.“Now stay while I make you some soup!”“I already ate. And I don’t have any money—”“Shush! Family never pays and you know that!”“But it’s the middle of the lunch ru—”“SHUSH!”The goose furiously went back to cooking. The sound of more-violent-than-usual chopping was heard from the counter.“Why is Mr. Ping mad at you?” Ai asked, sitting on the chair next to him.“He’s not MAD he’s just… Man, the dumplings smell really good today!” “Mommy says that’s called deflecting.”“And Po says that good little piggies need to stop psychoanalyzing the dragon warrior and eat their dumplings.”While Ai was pretty smart for her age in being able to remember and properly pronounce that word, she did not know what psychoanalyzing meant so she opted to simply follow Po’s instructions.  It wasn’t too long after that Po was slurping back some noodles while Mr. Ping took a break to talk to him. After, of course, he sent little Ai on her way with a coupon. “You…” Po’s dad addressed him with a pointed wing. “Should not be walking up and down the Thousand Steps in your condition.”“I know but if I didn’t leave the Jade Palace they were gonna force me to stay in bed all day again!” Po whined. Some whined about doing chores. Some whined about doing their jobs. Po apparently whined about not being aloud to do kung fu when he was injured.“Alright, mister, what is going on with you?!”Po flinched back a bit as his dad hopped up on his knee to look him in the eye.“What do ya mean what’s up with me? There’s nothin’ up with me— why would there be somethin’ upwitme…” he trailed off into a mumbling mess.“Unless the truth is gonna start to come out of it, you can shut your noodle hole!” Mr. Ping ordered. “I know my little panda’s always been a little antsy, I know you’ve always had a lot of energy and a lot you wanted to do, but you always used to listen to reason when you knew you needed to rest. I don’t care that it’s superficial damage, it’s still damage and you need to heal before you get back out there!”“Hey, no one said anything about out there ,” Po argued. He smiled but it was tight and his eyes avoided the goose’s in front of him. “I’m just on a walk. It’s not like I’m fighting—““HELP!” A voice cut through the air. “HE’S GOT MY WIFE!”Po and Mr. Ping stared, wide eyed, in the direction the shout had come from. Their eyes met again.“Don’t you dare— PO!” The Furious Five were already racing down the stairs in search of Po. It was an attempted assault / possible kidnapping by a much larger animal than the goose lady who was snatched off the ground. They would have been a few minutes late to the party but they could have had it handled. They were lucky like that I suppose. Unfortunately, everyone involved was very unlucky to find that the situation had already been resolved. By Po.As the injured panda finally pinned the water buffalo to the floor under his weight, he breathed in exhaustion and clutched at his front. Still, despite the pain and the fact that he was pretty sure he was leaking a little, he smiled as the goose woman happily embraced her husband, safe and sound.“PO!” He heard someone shout, and winced as he turned to see the Five all stomping towards him with angry looks on their faces (Viper especially). Man… he was having his name shouted angrily at him by his loved ones a lot today. Could that be a him problem…? Nah.“Okay, in my defense, it was happening right outside my dad’s noodle shop,” Po stated, pointing at said shop where stood a goose in a noodle hat glaring viciously at his son. “I mean, what was I supposed to do, just sit there!? Why would I do that when I can sit here instead?” He nervously smiled as he gestured to the criminal he was seated on.Monkey’s face did not move but he began ominously quivering.“Viper, please continue berating him, I am trying very hard not to laugh at that joke,” the simian master whispered. Monkey promptly received Crane’s wing to the face. Now Mantis was struggling to keep from laughing.“Tigress, would you be so kind as to help the Dragon Warrior up and restrain the criminal while I absolutely wreck Po?”Tigress did not respond to that. She simply walked over to Po and held out her paw to him. Po was very hesitant and slightly freaked out by how casually she did this but allowed her to grasp his paw and pull him up. He tried not to grunt loudly at the pain this inflicted on him but that only succeeded in turning said grunt into a high pitched squeak. The moment the panda’s weight was off the buffalo, Tigress’s foot was pressed against his neck. And as soon as Po was on his feet, Viper was yelling at him.“Of all the thick headed, stubborn, and downright STUPID things a member of this team had the GALL to do while they were injured, THIS EVEN TOPS TIGRESS! Oh don’t you even look at me, sister! Trying to train on a broken leg?! That ringing any bells?!”Tigress still said nothing. She threw the now unconscious buffalo into the air and Crane caught him in his talons, taking off to deliver the jerk to Chorgom. “I’m very proud of you for ensuring the safety of the villagers but you’re still an oaf!” Viper continued.“I’m sorry…” Po squeaked again.“You are sorry! Now get on the Monkey-Tigress stretcher, we’re going back to the palace!” The reptile spun around and began slithering away.“What?! No way, I can walk!” Po insisted, beginning to chase after her.“Really? You don’t want any help up the stairs?” Mantis asked.Po’s eyes widened and he gazed up at the tall tall mountain before him. “… No,” he insisted. “Woah!” He yelped as Monkey somehow appeared under him and lifted his legs off the ground, causing him to flop backwards onto Tigress who supported his upper torso. “Ugh, this is stupid and unnecessary!” Po complained, blushing fiercely as they began walking him towards the Jade Palace.“Your face is stupid and unnecessary, now shush!” Monkey shot at him.Po pouted. Tigress’s mouth totally didn’t twitch at the corners into a (not) smile. No way.  “Congratulations, you’ve won yourself another week of monitored recovery time,” Shifu said.“I knew you weren’t just here to hang out…” Po mumbled as he pushed his dumplings around in his bowl.The red panda paid no mind to his student’s childish sulking. He simply opted to politely chew and swallow his dumpling and regard the panda laying in bed as he did so.“A wound takes four to six weeks to heal,” Shifu stated.“I know,” Po groaned.“Repeat that.”Po startled a little and looked at his master, confused. “… What?”“You see, I was most certain that you couldn’t possibly be aware of this fact,” he continued. “Afterall, the Dragon Warrior himself couldn’t possibly be so stupid as to completely deny his body the necessary time it needed to recover if he knew full well that no one would be able to recover so quickly. I certainly would never teach someone to be so reckless, so foolish, so ill-conceived—”“Okay okay, I get it!” Po said. Shifu didn’t react to being interrupted in this way. He watched as Po sat up straighter in bed and glared at his dumplings. “I get it. I know . I just don’t care ! Four weeks at least ? I only started training with the five a month ago and you expect me to be cool with spending another month with no training at all!? I can’t do that— What if I lose it!?”“Lose what?”“Kung fu!” Po’s grip on the bowl tightened. “I can’t. What if I take my time with healing and when I go back to training, I’ve lost all my progress? What if I lose everything I worked for? My strength, my balance, my flexibility, my stamina?” Po slumped back against his bed. When the wound on his belly twinged, he glared down at it. “It’s a freakin’ miracle that I’m any good at kung fu to begin with. I can’t lose that, man…”“You will not lose that.”Shifu’s low and steady voice quieted the room. Before those words, Shifu’s presence in had been awkward and tense at best. Now it was nothing but comforting.“No one loses your amount of skill and prowess in a matter of weeks,” his master told him. “Yeah, no one defeats Tai Lung either,” Po stated, bitterly. “I’m full of surprises.”Shifu had never heard a master speak about one of their accomplishments in that way. To use it as an example of why you might fail. To bring it up like it… was a flook.“You’re right.”Po flinched, but didn’t otherwise move.“You’re right,” Shifu repeated. “You are full of surprises. So let’s pretend you’re right. Let’s pretend that not practicing for a month will completely erase all of your hard earned progress. It won’t take you very long to earn that talent back. If my memory serves, you learned the basics and intermediates of kung fu in a little over a single week. You are the fastest learner and most competent student I have ever taught. So if you do find that after this week long bed rest you have lost some of your skill… trust that it will likely take you a single day to gain it back.”Master Shifu placed the last dumpling in his mouth and stood up from the stool he was on, proceeding to knock it to the side of the room with a single flick of his staff. “Have a good day, Po.”“Bye Master Shifu…” the panda mumbled, still dejectedly… though less in absolute dread.Po was about the furthest from lazy you could get. Sometimes this was admirable but most often it was the bane of everyone in the Jade Palace’s existence. Still… that was Po. Always had been.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Crane narrowed his eyes. “Okay, out with it.”

“I shouldn’t have skadooshed Tai Lung!”

Once narrowed eyes were now extraordinarily wide and Crane was out of his element in only five words. Why? Why was he the one who had to babysit the guy while he was recovering at this exact moment?

“… Huh…” he hummed.

Po made a high pitched squeaking sound of pain as he let his head flop backwards, the mahjong game between them completely forgotten.

“I… was he really irredeemable?” He asked. “He couldn’t have been! He must have at least loved Shifu at some point and maybe if I tried harder or…” he squeezed his eyes shut and winced deeply, “or didn’t

wipe his soul off the face of this realm

after

one try

to get him to see the light.” He made some gestures with his paws before letting them flop against the cot. “Maybe it would have taken a while and maybe it would have been hard but…” His claws began idly picking at a loose part of the weave. “I shouldn’t have taken the easy way out. If I’m such a hero, aren’t I supposed to save people?”

Crane knew he couldn’t pause to collect his thoughts for too long. Otherwise, Po would just continue to spiral and he knew from experience that spiraling was never fun. He could do this. All of this took him off guard but…

“Po… disregarding the debate of whether or not Tai Lung was even redeemable… we didn’t and still don’t have a way to safely contain him. That’s what Chorh Gom was for and it only delayed the inevitable. We tried that and it

didn’t work

.”

“Yeah… but—”

“He hurt…

a lot

of people, you know…” Crane continued. “People alive today are still permanently scarred from his rampage. And those were people that did nothing to him.”

Po didn’t say anything.

“Look… the fact that you feel bad about this proves that you’re a better warrior then he was.”

The panda flinched at that statement.

“He would have killed you if you let him,” Crane said. And the certainty in which he said that hit Po like a ton of bricks.

Because he knew he was right.

“I can’t speak for Tai Lung,” Crane added. “Maybe you're right. Maybe he did care about more, maybe he did love Shifu at some point… but to me it looked like he just cared about power. Afterall, he was willing to give up and destroy everything else just to get it.”

“I did it so suddenly, though…” Po said. The panda looked down at his hand. “I… I fiddled with the Wushi Finger Hold just cuz I realized I

could

figure it out. And I knew that even with Tai Lung weakened, I wasn’t gonna win in a fair fight so…” He raised his green eyes again. “What if he

was

redeemable and we’ll never know because… because I made a snap decision that…

killed

him?” Po curled his fist and shoved it into his lap. “Who am I to make that kind of decision on a

whim

?”

“All warriors make split second decisions, man.” Crane’s wing brushed over his shoulder. “And it just so happens that yours saved everyone in the valley.”

Crane’s other wing proceeded to move his last piece and win the game.

“Oh come on!” Po whined, his voice overlapping with Crane’s light chuckling. The panda gentily shoved his avian friend while the bird laughed at his mahjong misfortune.

“Anything else you’re freaking out about?” Crane asked him.

“Do you think that’s part of why Tigress hates me?” The panda asked. “Because I killed… basically her older brother?”

Crane pulled a disappointed face. “First of all, Tigress doesn’t hate you,” he told him, firmly. “And no. I think there was a window where Tigress was living in the Jade Palace at the same time he did but it wasn’t for long. She doesn’t talk about it much but I don’t think she thought much of him at the time. Now though… she mostly just obsesses over proving she isn’t like him.”

“That’s stupid,” Po frowned. “Why would anyone think she’d be like Tai Lung? Is it a cat thing? That kinda sucks.”

Crane raised an eyebrow at the panda’s ability to recognize everyone’s stupidity but his own.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Po had, thankfully, not attempted to leave the palace with his injury after the first time. In all honesty, Tigress wasn’t really sure what was going on with him these days. She did not take any of the quote on quote “babysitting shifts” that the other five engaged in to keep Po company (no one pushed on the subject as they could tell it wouldn’t be fun for either of them) so she only really got notes on how he was doing when her friends would offhandedly mention it.

That didn’t explain what the heck Viper was doing though. Or where she was going.

“Mr. Ping’s Noodle shop,” Viper answered when asked.

Tigress was somehow more confused.

“We just had lunch,” she reminded her.

“Not to eat,” Viper stated. “I’m covering Po’s shift.”

Okay if this got any more confusion she was going to scream.

“Po has… Why?????”

“Mr. Ping is his dad,” Viper said. “Remember that sweet but very loud goose that showed up to take care of Po when we got back?”

“Yes,” Tigress said. That had been one of the most stressful days of her life. Having some random man sprint about the palace making soup and yelling about where the bandages were because he needed to change Po’s wrappings. She wasn’t even used to goofy and informal Po being around but at least he had a deep and respectful understanding of the greatness of their home and position. Ping on the other hand… he paid it absolutely no mind. He also paid her status absolutely no mind to the point where he would try to pry at her for the story or the way she liked her noodles (she was terrified at the thought of telling him that she usually didn’t like noodles). So yeah, that rang a bell.

“Anyways, Saturday lunch rushes are usually a little intense and since Po is on bed rest we agreed to take turns helping his dad out.”

Tigress had a great many things to say in response to that— mostly questions about why Mr. Ping didn’t just hire more staff instead of calling in favors from skilled warriors that certainly had much better things to do— but she chose not to voice them.

“I see… I’ll see you later, then.”

“Bye, Tigress,” Viper responded, waving her tail with a smile. She slithered a few paces… and then turned back around. “Do you wanna come with?”

Tigress froze, her face stony and slack.

“…

What

?????”

“Well, think about it!” Viper said in a cheery voice that desperately conveyed the message of:

please please PLEASE hear me out

. “Helping out his dad would be a great way to tell him you’re sorry without doing that crazy thing called

talking

.”

“No— that would be even more insulting,” Tigress insisted. “That would be like trying to bribe him. I helped your father and now you owe me your forgiveness— no.”

“That’s not what would—” Viper groaned and violently rolled her eyes. “Tigress, what you’re doing

now

is what’s giving him the wrong idea. He still thinks you hate him.”

Tigress did not flinch. She was above such things in the face of something so silly. But that thought still distressed her greatly.

“Why would he think—?”

“Because you won’t eat his food, you’re overly formal with him, you avoid him— we’ve been over this, sister,” the snake stated. “What’s your plan here? To make both of you walk on eggshells in your own home for the rest of your lives?”

Tigress did not verbally respond. Viper gave another sigh and spun back around.

“Come on. I think you’ll actually like this… As long as you stay out of the kitchen. Seriously, he’s very territorial about the kitchen. At least when he’s actively cooking.”

Tigress obediently followed her, not entirely sure why she was doing so.
 
So far, Tigress had no inklings on why in the world she would enjoy this. Granted they hadn’t even reached the noodle shop yet but that just meant that she was strolling through town in broad daylight, being gawked at by the citizens of The Valley of Peace. Beaks creaked open, small objects were dropped.

Even Viper seemed a bit put off by all this. People were well used to them being down here now and sure there was a bit of staring when they first started doing so, but the reaction had never been this intense. It occurred to Viper that Tigress might be… a bit more prestigious than she and her other friends were. Of course she knew that— Tigress was the best of them. If anything, that ceremony when picking the Dragon Warrior had just been a show of good faith towards her and the other Five. But she didn’t think Tigress being out and about would garner this level of shock.

Tigress was thoroughly uncomfortable.

“Master Viper!” A little voice called out.

Tigress turned in confusion as the snake turned in delight. They both witnessed a happy little piglet racing towards them on her tiny little legs. She jumped once she was close enough and Viper carefully caught her with her tail, doing a little bounce and toss as the piglet squealed in delight.

“You’re back!” She cheered. “Is Po here!?”

Viper’s smile dimmed a touch. “No, Ai. Po is still resting.”

The smile on Ai’s face completely vanished.

“Aw… well can you give him a big hug for me?” She asked.

Viper’s tail brought her close and coiled around the little piggy as she wrapped her arms around her neck and squeezed. “Absolutely.”

“Yay! Oh, wait!”

Viper let Ai down as she started wriggling. The pig then ran up to…

Tigress.

She was already very confused. A small child addressing and

running up

to her? What was going on here? She steadied herself for screams of terror.

“You’ve got big arms…” the child said. Her voice had this dreamy tone to it, like she was amazed. “You must give the best hugs!”

Tigress’s eyes widened as two little arms squeezed around her hips.

“You give him a hug too, okay?” Ai pleaded.

Tigress was very careful to keep her jaw set and her expresion friendly but neutral. The question was lost to her. She was focusing too much on the fact that a little child’s only comment on her appearance was that she must be good at hugs. And that she was

hugging

her.

“Ai!” A woman yelped, running over to them.

The mother pig gently pried her piglet off of Tigress, scooping her into her arms.

“My deepest apologies, Master Tigress.” The woman gave a slight bow. “She’s very… friendly.”

Viper immediately began to state that it was no trouble at all. And Tigress… couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s all right,” Tigress told her. She turned to the piggy in the woman’s arms, still smiling at her widely. “It was lovely meeting you, Ai.”

Tigress gave a small bow of her own and the pair began to walk away.

“Bye Master Viper! Bye bye Master Tigress!” Ai called.

“Sweet kid, right?” Viper said, grinning widely at her much taller friend.

Tigress responded with nothing more than a small nod. Viper could see the small hint of a smile still on her stony face.
 
Tigress tried not to make unnecessary assumptions (something she had failed at recently and was trying very hard to correct). That being said, it meant that Ping Dynasty Noodles exceeded all of her non-existent expectations.

Life in the Jade Palace was grand but not lavish. So, by Tigress’s standards, the restaurant was not quaint so much as… cozy? She didn’t use that word often but it seemed to fit. Though perhaps that just had to do with the fact that she was the biggest person in the room. While heads turned towards her, Tigress titled her own head at the small building and even smaller gaps between the tables. How on earth did the Dragon Warrior work and live here comfortably?

“Oh good!” The voice emerged from behind the desk. Tigress turned to see the goose that haunted her feelings of awkwardness chopping vegetables at supernatural speeds. “Help is here— two of you this time! My my. And just in time too!”

Tigress simply blinked and suddenly Viper was stacked head to tail with soup bowls. She snapped to attention and quickly caught the bowls thrown her way as well.

“Tables 5, 12 and 13 have the mushroom, 7, 3 and 2 get miso, 6 want the thin noodles, 4 want the thick noodles, 8, 9 and 10 get both and 11 wants no noodles; Weirdo,” Ping muttered under his breath. “Hop to it!”

Tigress did indeed. She was well used to receiving instructions this way. The task took her 15 seconds but only because she had to locate which tables were which and decipher what was in each bowl. She threw, flipped and artfully deposited each soup to its rightful table. The moment she was back, another two bowls were thrusted upon her.

“Oh wonderful,” the goose laughed, joyfully, “You’re a natural!”

Tigress paused. She wasn’t sure why she paused. But suddenly the man in front of her did not inspire discomfort anymore. Her torso felt similar to the way it did when Po would exclaim his admiration of a technique she performed. She thought it was her subconscious enjoying his obvious hero worship so she squashed it down. This felt different though. Not entirely so but… different.

“Keep ‘em coming, Mr. Ping!” Viper shot by, catching three bowls of her own on her back.

Tigress shaped out of her daze as well and went back to serving.
 
Apparently, due to the speed of their work, the only reason they weren’t done in under an hour was because, while Ping cooked faster than Tigress ever thought was possible, he was still the only one cooking.

“Usually Po would be in the kitchen half the time,” Viper told her when the two masters were granted a short break. “I’d offer to help but, like I said, he’s a bit territorial of the kitchen. Which is fair. I’m definitely not as good a cook as he is. Pretty sure the only one in the world who’s at the same level is Po.”

Tigress, having not tasted Po or Ping

or

Viper’s cooking, had no frame of reference for this and therefore could not comment. Though she had been working in an environment where the only tangible smell was the one coming off of the food so… Tigress was inclined to believe this might be true.

“Order up!”

They promptly zipped back into action.
 
Anyone else who didn’t go through rigorous training everyday would be gasping for breath by the end of this. But Tigress and Viper sat down feeling pleasantly warmed up. The lunch rush had passed and the shop was now empty. Despite the whole ordeal not being relatively difficult, Tigress still felt a strange sense of accomplishment.

… Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with the work itself. Maybe it was because of the people.

“Thank you, Master Tigress.”

“Lovely to see you, Master Tigress.”

“Goodbye, Master Tigress. Thank you for your protection.”

When did the people become so much less…

… Afraid of her?

That’s what it was, wasn’t it? She hated to think about it that way. It reminded her of things she would rather forget, memories she’d prefer not to recall. But the word fit. They weren’t afraid that she would abuse her power against them (not actively) but they feared said power and they feared her prestige. They were overly formal with every interaction. At least they used to be.

“Wait wait wait, I didn’t give Master Viper a high tail!” A small child cried, running back into the shop.

Viper smiled wildly and gladly smacked the kid’s hand with her tail. Then he turned to Tigress. She didn’t hesitate. Her paw smacked gentily against his wing. He pumped his fist triumphantly and then ran back out of the store.

“It’s better than it was before, isn’t it?” Viper said to her.

“… Yes.” Tigress admitted, “I can see the benefit of mingling with the townsfolk more often. They’re more at ease.”

“I meant more in general,” Viper chuckled. “Since Po came.”

Tigress did not respond immediately. And this meant that she wasn’t quick enough to do so before Mr. Ping called from the kitchen.

“Coin or cuisine!?” The goose shouted.

Tigress furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“He’s asking if we wanna be paid for our work or receive a free meal,” Viper explained. “Cuisine!” The reptile called.

“And you, Master Tigress?”

“Oh, um… coin I suppose.”

“What?” The goose’s head popped out from behind the wall. Tigress felt a hint of unease stir in her at the sight of the man’s frankly offended expression. “First you don’t come by with the rest of your friends, then you don’t come by to help me like they do, and now that you’re here you refuse my food?”

Tigress showed more surprise than she had in quite a while.

“I… I mean no disrespect—”

“Darn right you don’t,” Ping continued, putting a wing on his hip. “The rest of you fearsome warrior types love my soup, what makes you so special? You're telling me that you had Po’s and decided you

didn’t

want more made from the master?”

Tigress didn’t respond, trying to find a way to worm her way out of this without stating that she’d never tried his son’s food.

The goose saw her hesitation and the hostility in his face lessened.

“Does Po not cook for you?”

“Nevermind, sir, I would love a bowl,” Tigress stated, quickly.

Mr Ping narrowed his eyes… and slowly sunk back into the kitchen.

Tigress mentally breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Viper… who had a grin on her face like she’d witnessed the funniest thing ever.

“Shut up,” Tigress told her, firmly but without raising her voice.

Viper put her tail to her mouth to smother her giggling.

The bowls were brought to them and, to Tigress’s very slight horror, Ping sat down with them.

“How’s Po doing?” He asked.

“He’s doing great,” Viper responded. “Shifu says he should be off of bed rest by the end of the week. He’s even letting him cook again,

thank Oogway

.”

Mr. Ping laughed as Viper happily slurped a bite of her noodles.

“Thank you for coming by, Viper,” the goose said. “I miss my boy so much but I’m glad you’re taking such good care of him… I’m glad he finally has friends like you.”

Tigress buried her guilt by digging into the soup in front of her. Her eyes widened.

“And thank you as well, Tigress. It’s good to finally meet you.”

“Hm?” Tigress hummed, her mouth full of noodles. She blushed subtly and swallowed. “It was a pleasure, Mr. Ping.” Noodles were back in her mouth as soon as those words left it.

Ping smiled triumphantly at this.

As Tigress ate and listened to Viper and the goose’s conversation, she finally looked around the shop. She looked at the tables and the kitchen and the small view of the staircase she could get a glimpse of that showed bent and even a few previously broken and mended stairs. She saw the size of the roofs and thought about how Po would talk about cooking with his dad. Like it was this magical, wonderful thing. She thought about what it must have been like, being the only obviously adopted child in a world much too small for him. And unlike her he didn’t have the benefit of being hidden at the top of a mountain from the other children. Children who could often be cruel. She looked at those short ceilings. She wondered if he even noticed it until he came to the Jade Palace.

… She wondered if he even cared.

Maybe it hadn’t been a lie. Maybe cooking with his father was magical. Maybe no amount of bumping his head on the ceiling could change that.
 
Po winced slightly as his arm moved in just the wrong way and his torso twinged. The dragon warrior shook it off and continued to dole out the soup.

“Need a hand, Po?” Monkey asked.

“No no, I got it.” Po demonstrated this by expertly sliding the bowls onto his arms and then passing them out to the table.

The furious five happily dug into their noodles as Po rolled his shoulders, happily. It was so good to get up and

do things

again. After being confined to a bed with only small walks as an exception for six days, he had just about carved every master that ever was, dead or alive. Twice. His room was absolutely

full

of wood shavings. And he loved carving but every now and then he needed some variety, y’know? So yeah, being allowed back in the kitchen was a much appreciated gift. Only training could top it.

“… Would you mind if I had some as well?”

…Or that worked too.

Po dropped his shoulders and turned his head in surprise towards… Master Tigress. She sat properly at the table with her arms folded politely. Her tone had been steady and casual. But her eyes looked at him… with just the hint of shyness. Not that Po noticed of course.

“… Yeah!” Po coughed. “Yeah, absolutely.”

He made quick but fumbling work of fixing her up the last bowl (which he always brought out in case she ever changed her mind about trying his food). He then slid it across the table and tried to sit nonchalantly in his own seat. But everyone could tell that his attention was on her. Tigress was also aware of this but said nothing about it as she raised her chopsticks to her mouth.

It was not a large show. She ate in silence with the rest of them, as if this were nothing new at all. At least until the third bite.

“Yours is better,” she stated.

“Huh?” Po muffled with his mouth full.

“Your father’s has slightly less flavor and texture.” Tigress stated. “But yours… It's imperfect in a charming way.”

Po stared at her, a noodle hanging limply out of his mouth before Mantis brought attention to it by snorting. Po slurped it up.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice cracking very loudly and comedically.

There was snickering from Monkey and Mantis that was quickly silenced by a wing and a tail.

There was a short beat of silence that washed over the table.

“Don’t tell him you/I said that,” chimed everyone in the room in unison.

And then there was laughter. Everyone at the table laughed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“WOOOOOOOOOO!”The cheer itself practically shook the walls. And the sound and pressure of thundering footsteps definitely did.“What is going on?” Crane asked, flapping off the floor a touch from the freight.“YEEEEAAAAHAHAHA!” Po’s voice echoed again.“I believe Po was just released from bed rest,” Viper said, calmly sipping tea despite the fact that Po’s rapid running around the palace was making the beverage dance.“Oh…” Monkey said, smiling a touch. Then he chuckled, nervously. “Uh oh.”“That’s right, uh oh !”The five all turned in slight concern as their panda friend slid into the dojo. Po stood in the training room for the first time in over a week without any bandages and instead a large smile across his face.“I’m back, baby!” He cheered, pumping his fist into the air.“May I remind you—” Shifu stated, calmly walking into the room after him, “—that this is a trial basis and I expect you to take things slowly.”“Yes, Master Shifu,” Po said, bowing deeply with a smile never leaving his face. “… That being said— Monkey, fight me!”Po ran at the simian. Monkey, for one, did not hesitate to meet Po halfway with a kick that he blocked with his arm and then proceeded to attack him with punches. The two hooted and hollered happily at finally being able to indulge in these silly, low stress, battles again. Shifu sighed as the panda jumped onto the tumbling floor of death with his primate friend. “Tigress.”Said master folded her arms and turned to her teacher. “Master,” she responded.“Today I have another lesson for you in restraint,” he informed her. “Po is weakened and out of practice but still a formidable opponent and in need of a challenge. Later today you two will spar and I want you to adapt to his needs. Analyze his progress and weak points and keep the fight going for five minutes before subduing him without injury.”“Ow!” Po hissed.“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean— OOF!”Po had taken Monkey's hesitation and panic and proceeded to grapple and take him to the floor, trapping him under his weight. He smiled triumphantly.Shifu and Tigress cracked small smiles and proceeded to cover them up in unison.“And don’t fall for that .”“Yes, Master.”The two shared a bow and Tigress walked back to her training with a warmth in her chest. Shifu had offered her this task because he believed she possessed the restraint and skill to do this. Because he trusted she had the control necessary to handle an injured comrade. He believed in her.“Ugh! Liar!” Monkey whined.“Hey, I wasn’t lying!” Po insisted, scratching his neck as Monkey continued to struggle underneath his bulk. “It did hurt. I just didn’t stop like you did.”“You. Are,” Monkey grunted. “A.”Po yelped as Monkey shifted his weight and his body began to raise off the floor. Suddenly his arms and legs were under him.“Jerk!”Po screamed as the master launched him across the room. Po landed on his back with a thud.“Nice,” the dragon warrior wheezed. Not once did the smile ever leave his face.Training continued in this way for quite a while. Of course there were a few bumps in the road (at least as far as Po was concerned). “Mantis, cut it out,” Po complained as the bug crawled over him. “We’re supposed to be fighting!”“Let me see the scar and we can get back to that,” he shot back.“What? No! It’s fine!” Po tried to swat at him while simultaneously wrapping his arm around his side.“Well there we go, now we are fighting,” Mantis stated. “Just instead of doing it the cool way, you’re acting like a big baby.”“And you’re acting like my dad!”“Yup.”“I hate you,” Po groaned. But he finally lifted his paw and allowed the bug to take a look.“Huh… you healed up fast,” Mantis stated.“Don’t know if I’d call a week fast.”“You sound like me when I was a rookie,” Mantis chuckled, hopping off of him.“And that’s… bad?” Po questioned. He knew what Mantis was like as a rookie. He was the fastest warrior in the village. So the panda had an inkling that that wasn’t exactly what he meant. “Learn some patience, big guy.” The bug told him.“I’m super patient.”“Going on a stroll through the village… days after getting stabbed .”“Shh!” Po hissed with a wince. “I just got Viper to stop yelling at me for that!”Mantis chuckled, assuming a fighting stance that Po mirrored.“Anyways. Doesn’t look like it’s even gonna leave a visible scar,” Mantis stated.“Sweet. Definitely do not need to be reminded of that ordeal.” Po then struck, Mantis swiftly skittering to the side.Tigress and Crane watched their fight from the rings where they were testing their core strength by keeping themselves suspended. Crane, who was also listening to their conversation, tilted his head in confusion.“Huh… I would have expected him to be the kinda guy that thought scars were awesome,” the bird pondered.“I suspect usually he would be,” Tigress said. “But he considers that battle a failure.”Crane craned (ha) his neck to look at her with a single feathered eyebrow raised to the ceiling.“He got injured heroically defending two of his idols and he considers that a failure?” He clarified.“His words, not mine,” Tigress stated.Crane was clearly utterly baffled by this. Then he shook his head.“Everytime I feel like I have that guy figured out, it’s always something else,” he muttered.They went back to watching the largest and smallest of their group go at it for a while. Sparing with Mantis was always difficult. He was the weakest hitter but he made up for it with precision and speed. Po was getting better but he was still the slowest of the group which he made up for by being the most durable. This combination of attributes meant their battles tended to drag on with no clear winner, as Po rarely made any hits on Mantis and Mantis could hit Po all he wanted but the panda neglected to sustain any real damage from it.Eventually though, Po seized the victory in this battle, pinning Mantis to the ground. But Tigress could see why. The master let him win.Tigress swung down and landed in front of Po on the wooden boards. He realized she was approaching him and rose to his full height again, letting Mantis go. He seemed less on edge than he usually was when they were in close proximity. Though she didn’t have a fair experience to base this off of as she had never approached him before. At least not in the same context. His expression was surprised but not fearful. He seemed more curious than anything else.“May I battle the winner?” She asked.A huge grin split across his face.“Aw sweet! Someone who won’t go easy on me!” Po rubbed his hands together as if this was something to look forward to. “You bet, let me have it! It has been so long since I had my butt kicked!”“Hey!” Monkey called from across the room. Viper took this opening to strike him in the face and send him flying into the Field of Fiery death.Po laughed loudly at this as did Crane and Mantis who decided to engage in battle themselves. Tigress would be remiss if she didn’t crack a smile.“So!” Po clapped his paws together, an eager grin still present on his face. “Where’s our battlefield?”“The courtyard,” Tigress stated. “Let’s keep it simple for now.”“Aw. Okay.”The panda bear obediently followed her towards the doors and out onto the even ground. Eyes followed them as they did so, mainly Shifu’s but the other members of the Five also found their attention wandering in that direction. Tigress and Po either paid them no mind or simply didn’t notice.The two faced each other at either end of the field and each gave a polite bow. They then shifted into fighting stances.Besides the obvious tension, Po and Tigress were excited to see how this would pan out as… they were pretty sure this was the first time they ever sparred. Yes, not even when Shifu was trying to bully Po into quitting had he unleashed Tigress herself on the black and white bear. Curious. But neither thought too deeply about it for the moment.At first, neither made a move. Po rarely struck first as his style lead more to defensive moves. Tigress knew this and she commended him for playing to his strengths. Still, he’d have to step out of that comfort zone if he wanted to be a master. She would humor him though. Just this once.Tigress lunged and Po’s reaction was quick. He caught her kick and delivered a punch to her torso which she blocked with ease. She jumped up and over him to which Po turned and kicked at the same time she did, their legs clashing against one another. They both slid back a touch and the previous stalemate resumed. Tigress began tentatively walking in a circle and Po, of course, followed.“… This is new,” Po stated. For, though he hadn’t fought her personally, he watched her fights with others religiously. Analyzing, admiring, learning. Indeed, she never usually gave her opponent time to breathe like this.“Don’t speak,” she told him. “Focus on what you’re doing.”“Sorry.”Po’s expression set a touch into something rather unusual to be seen on his face. Tigress gathered that he may be slightly annoyed with her. Afterall, he was expecting to be defeated easily but now it seemed he caught on to the fact that she was going soft on him as well. While that was certainly part of it, Tigress had another reason for doing this. That being that while she was confident she could easily take him down… she was intrigued. She had never fought someone like him before. His style was very… unique.Tigress lunged again and Po responded by lurching forwards and bouncing her off his belly. To her surprise, she was actually thrown backwards and had to flip to right herself in the air. She landed on all floors and skidded across the ground. She lunged again, this time aiming for a less bouncy part of him. She had the feeling that, if she wanted to, she could definitely overpower his shock absorption and send him flying regardless, but that one: seemed less effective than other methods and two: would definitely injure him as that’s where his healing scar was. So she instead ran forward on all fours and then slid across the ground, sweeping at his legs. It was surprisingly difficult to do so. Po was not only heavy but also very sturdy. It took a lot of effort to remove his feet from the floor. She still managed it and Po responded by catching himself on his hands and then trying to kick her in the head. She blocked and when he tried to flip onto his feet, she kicked him in mid air and sent him tumbling across the courtyard. He rolled with a yelp before managing to push back onto his feet. Just in time to block another one of Tigress’s strikes as well. By this time, the other members of the five were no longer training themselves and instead joined Shifu to watch the fight. While Po had stumbled a bit at first, he now seemed to be easing into those quick fluid motions to dodge and evade and absorb each of Tigress’s attacks. He even seemed to be getting more creative, using her own momentum to roll onto his back and send her flying across the field, right into some training equipment of which she crashed not too elegantly into. Po thumped back onto his feet with a grin as Tigress freed herself from the tangle of wooden spears. And she… she was smiling too. The master wasn’t used to her opponents being able (or having the gall) to throw her around like this. And while it was definitely not going to stop her, she found it… strangely enjoyable.Tigress ran forwards again and when he moved to block her oncoming attack, she dodged instead. The cat expertly sidestepped around him and delivered a kick to the back of his head. Instead of clutching said head in pain and stumbling, Po leaned forwards and back kicked her in response. Tigress then grabbed his leg… and flipped. Po yelped in a dizzy kind of way as he spun uncontrollably in the air. Tigress then flew over him and kicked him into the ground. The panda hit the dirt hard. And by the time he had the wits about him to try to get up, Tigress’s foot was against his face.Po wheezed for air, his chest heaving as he smiled in defeat… Though that didn’t stop him from trying one last thing. The panda grappled her leg and tried to roll over and use his superior weight to pull her to the floor. Instead, she twisted out of his hold mid turn and flipped so that she was standing on him, one foot on his back and one of his head.“Ow!” Po said, his voice muffled by the ground. “Okay, I think you win.”Tigress turned her head in the direction of her master. Shifu and the rest of her team watched this battle grinning to various degrees of brightness. Shifu watched with a calm, proud, smile. Tigress couldn’t help but wonder which one of them that pride was aimed at. He nodded at her and Tigress stepped off of the giant panda, offering him her hand. Po took it to hoist himself up and he was grinning wider and brighter than anyone else.“Awesome,” he said; Mainly, it seemed, to himself. “So awesome.”Tigress put her hands together. Po mirrored her and they shared a bow.“Excellent,” Shifu said, approaching the two of them. “Now tell me everything you did wrong.” He directed this mainly at Po.“Isn’t that your job?” Po asked with a smirk. He promptly received Shifu’s staff to his nose. “Well first of all, I was fighting a much more seasoned master so my defenses should have been about 10% more up. I was really slow. I need to put more power behind my strikes. Also the moment I was on the floor, the battle was lost.”“Yes. Also, you need to turn your foot more with your kicks and your objective when on the ground earlier in your fight should have been to get on your feet as soon as possible. If this means using your opponent as a stepping stone then so be it but never land a strike on the floor that you don’t intend to use to get up.”“Yes Master,” Po said, bowing low.“Tigress,” the red panda stated. “What did you do wrong?”“Well for starters she went easy on me,” Po stated.“I instructed her to.”“Aw, what?”“Silence. Go ahead, Tigress.”“I was far too reckless with my attacks,” the tiger answered. “I dove in just to see what he would do in response. I should never underestimate my opponent in that way.”
Especially because he won a battle that I lost even with my friends helping me.
Tigress tried not to show her frown outright. But now she was very confused. How was that possible? How was it that she could beat Po with relative ease when he defeated the undefeatable? Was it because she was fighting him injured? Was he going easy on her as well? Tigress glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. There he stood, smiley, goofy and seemingly carefree. No one could guess what this warrior was capable of. And, honestly, she was part of that demographic. It threatened her, in a way, to think that he was toying with them all. But somehow she doubted that. He didn’t strike her as that kind of mastermind. He was just oddly gifted; Very oddly.Though she did wonder. What would happen if the Dragon Warrior was ever unleashed?