The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Yin vs Yang

Po got back to the Jade Palace around midafternoon, where Mrs. Jun was waiting for him. Apparently Po had forgotten about his chi class and she had been all over the place looking for him.

"Master Crane wound up taking over while I tried to find you, but I couldn't think of where you might have possibly gone," she said sheepishly.

Po just sighed. "Sorry about that," he told her. "I was having a talk with an old master of mine to get some advice."

"Did it prove helpful?"

"Well...I mean...it's Shifu. It takes a while to actually understand what he's saying sometimes."

Mrs. Jun chuckled and patted Po's arm. "Well, don't worry about it," she told him. "Remember, if you ever need to talk, I'll be right upstairs. You'll sort things out soon. I promise."

Po sighed. "You sound so confident," he grumbled.

"I am," Mrs. Jun remarked. She then told Po she'd see him later and walked up the stairs. As Po watched her go, he heard, "What was all that about?"

The dragon teacher turned to see Tigress giving him a quizzical look, though it was mixed with a slightly irritated expression.

"Nothing," he told her. "We were just talking about you guys potentially leaving."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tigress said sharply. "I didn't realize we were going to use Mrs. Jun as a mediator for our personal decisions."

"I didn't say she was a mediator! We just got to talking about it. She is my new advisor, you know!"

"Well I hope she advised you to get used to change. Shifu and Oogway rotated through students too you know." 

"Shifu rotated through one student," Po corrected. "You guys have been since as long as I can remember. I just don't understand why all of a sudden everyone wants to leave!"

"Because we're needed somewhere else."

"Well what about here? I need you! I can't take on bad guys alone! And training Zhen is kinda' hard when she won't even speak to me! If you guys just leave me, I'll be the only one defending the valley from threats! I can't do that!" 

"Since when? Po, you literally can take down bandits with your pinky. I think your problem is that you just don't want us to leave." 

"No! Well...kind of...I just.... This is your home! The place you guys swore to protect!"

"Home?!" Tigress interrupted. "This isn't home! It's a kung fu temple! None  of us were born and raised here! We stay as long as we're needed and Shifu needed us. Now that this place is safe, it's time to find someone else who needs us." 

Po just looked at her. "You've literally lived here since you were six!" he snapped. "What do you mean this isn't home?!" 

"Don't change the subject! You just don't want to confront the reality which is that we don't need to be here!" 

"Yes you do!" Po yelled. "Gaaahhh! You're as bad as Shifu!" 

Tigress narrowed her eyes at him. "You told SHIFU?!" she yelled. 

"Why are you yelling? What, it's a crime now to tell your old master, Hey, all your old students might be up and leaving on the whim. What's your opinion?" 

"Opinion?! You went to him hoping to hear that this was a bad idea and to keep us here as long as possible!" 

"No! I didn't know how to feel so I asked for some advice! His advice was go meditate and train new people besides Zhen. Which is a bad idea, but hey? What do I know? I'm just Po. Not the literal walking Dragon Teacher who stands between all evil and the defenseless populace." 

Tigress growled, but took a deep breath and brushed past him with an irritated, "You're being ridiculous." 

"I'm not being ridiculous!" Po begged, turning to look at her retreating figure. "I need you!"

"You're the Dragon Teacher. Why don't you go teach some new students?"

"Oh, like who? Zhen? Tigress, she won't even talk to me! I've tried everything and I'm at my wits end! I need help getting through to her." 

"Get through to her yourself!" 

"You're terrible at ending conversations! If you're going to ignore me than just walk away and ignore me instead of yelling all the way across the grounds where I can barely hear you!!!!" 

Tigress stopped. Took another breath. She then turned around and marched right back up to Po. "You know what your problem is?" she hissed. "You're using us as a crutch. You've adjusted to change before and you can do it again. We had to get used to you stomping around the Jade Palace and we'll get used to not listening to you stomp around the Jade Palace when we're helping people who really need us." 

"Hey!" Po yelled. 

"If you're trying to convince me to stay, then you're doing a very poor job. If anything, I'm going to have great fun leaving and watching you realize I was right." 

"Hey! I wasn't trying to convince you of anything!" Po snapped, jabbing her in the shoulder with his finger, only to get caught in a vice-like grip. "Owowowowowowowowowowow!!!!!"

"Really? Could have fooled me." 

Po kicked her in the leg and managed to twist his hand away, standing back a foot or two in case she tried to injure him any further. 

"What about all that stuff you said last week about us all being together for each other when bad stuff happens?" he asked, fighting the terrifying vision that came back to his mind after being summoned by words.  "Working as a team whenever this big evil thing hits? Whatever happened to that?"

Tigress' glared at him in offense. "I'm not abandoning you Po!" she snapped. "How dare you imply that!" 

"Oh yeah. Just like there was no implication that you guys were going to accept the offer and go leave to train with new masters when I really need you! Especially you!" 

"And we'll be there! But there's no great evil going on! There are other people who need us right now!" 

"I need you!"

"Don't scream at me! I'm not going to be ordered around by an insecure childish master with more heart than brain!"

"AND I'M NOT GOING TO BE INTIMIDATED BY A HARDHEARTED AGGRESSIVE MASTER WITH MORE BITE THAN BARK AND MORE INSECURITIES THAN THE INSECURE CHILDISH MASTER TEACHER!!!!"

Tigress' eyes flared furiously and she reached over and whipped a paw across Po's face with lightning speed, scratching him across the face before he could even react. Po stared at her in shock. Tigress' face morphed from anger, to surprise, to horror, and then back to fury. "Look what you made me do!" she snapped. And she immediately took off in the direction of the training hall before Po could say anything else.