The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Down in the Noodle Bowl

The next morning Po was woken up by the gong and groggily rubbed his eyes. He laid in bed for a few minutes going over the conversation he had with Mrs. Jun and Tigress before sighing and forcing himself to get out of bed. He could do this. He could help Zhen see. And if not then...well...maybe the two were right. While Po understood what Tigress told him, he also didn't just want to give up on Zhen. He knew what it was like to be on the receiving end, to be the lowest on the rung. It was hard. It felt like he always had to measure up. He struggled. He struggled for eight days while trying to train to be the Dragon Warrior before nearly giving up. If it hadn't been for Shifu's observation, he might not have figured out how to learn even the basics.

Po pondered over this for a moment as he slowly made his way to the kitchen. Maybe he should consult Shifu on what to do. He had been grandmaster and teacher for a very long time and had trained seven students with only one failure. Surely he would have some idea on how to manage a difficult student. He had no problem with voicing how much grief Po had caused him after all.

The Dragon Teacher eventually made his way to the kitchen and immediately began to start on breakfast. If there was one thing that would put him in a good mood, it was a nice hearty breakfast. When he had first come to the Jade Palace, he found out that the palace servants were usually the ones who made all the meals. It wasn't bad. Just... very simple and plain. After a few days he couldn't take it and took it upon himself to make all the food. And of course the Furious Five had no complaints about that. Po's breakfast of choice this morning was a rice porridge with a savory sauce and steamed vegetable buns on the side with some tea. The smell perked him up considerably and by the time the Furious Five came into the kitchen, he was in a very cheery mood.

"You seem happier this morning," Viper observed as Po set the table for everyone. "You slept well, then?"

"Well, not great," Po admitted. "But every day's a new day, right? We're gonna' have a nice hearty breakfast and then have a nice day of training! And then I get to help train more classes in the village, so that'll be nice."

"Sounds like a plan," Monkey told him, starting to guzzle down his rice. "I'll be hanging around the village today, so I'll wave to you."

"What are you up to?" Mantis asked.

"I'm hanging out with some of the kids. We're going to play some games and then get a treat."

"I hope those games don't involve more pranks on Mr. Unne," Tigress warned. "We got death threats the last time you pulled a prank on him."

"How was I supposed to know he had no sense of humor?"

"He literally sits in a chair on his front porch and throws old fruit at children."

"And I decided he needed to have some fresh fruit in his shoes to give him a spring in his step," Monkey laughed.

As the masters started eating breakfast and switched to a different topic of conversation, the kitchen doors opened back up and Zhen walked into the room stretching her arms and taking a few deep breaths for air.

"Oh, good morning!" Po greeted cheerily. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," Zhen told him. She folded her arms and leaned against the wall. "Are we doing anything today or are all of ya' just gonna' sit there and sip yer tea?"

"Uh, we literally just started breakfast," Crane told her flatly. "Maybe you should come eat instead of being impatient."

"I ate already."

The table just stared at her, Tigress more suspiciously, while Po tried to steer the conversation to better things by telling Zhen to just wait in the training hall for them and warm up. The fox rolled her eyes but did as told and the masters went back to eating breakfast. After a few minutes, Tigress said, "You know she's going to set up an elaborate prank on you, right?"