The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Something in the air

Zhen and Po talked for a long time and eventually took to gazing up at the stars. Po hadn't done it in a while since he became Dragon Warrior and started training, but this was mostly because Shifu discouraged free time. Po and Mr. Ping used to go camping quite often and they would end the night with some peach pastry kebabs and looking up at the night sky. (Except for one time when it rained so hard that they had to skip camping and hide out at a local inn for the week). The two wound up falling asleep at the Wu Dan mountains and woke up later in the morning with the sun brightly shining in their face and reflecting blindingly off of the water. Realizing how late it was, Po was quick to head to the kitchen with Zhen in tow. When they got there, they found the five quietly chatting with some breakfast Crane had made.

"Hey! Good morning!" Monkey called over. "We were wondering when you guys were getting up."

"Training?" Crane guessed.

"We had a talk, actually," Po corrected. "Lots of it."

"I've been kind of a jerk, and I know it," Zhen told everyone, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry I was awful to everyone when I got here."

"We understand," Viper promised. "As long as you promise to work on it, I think we can all get along just fine."

Po sat down at the table and started to eat. As he did so, he felt Viper gently touch the side of his cheek. "What happened?!" she asked in alarm.

"Uh...sparring." Po lied.

Zhen rolled her eyes. "And by sparring he means getting into a fight with Tigress," she corrected.

"Oh, is that why she opted out of breakfast this morning?" Monkey guessed.

Po looked at him. "She said that?" he asked sadly.

"More or less."

"Is she in the training hall?"

"Nope," Mantis corrected. "She actually went on a walk. Probably a cover to hit iron trees."

Zhen winced. "She must have paws made of solid jade or somethin' because I kicked one of those trees once and I swear I almost died!"

Po chuckled, though sadly. "Yeah, that's Tigress for you," he said.

Monkey patted his arm. "Don't worry Po," he promised. "She'll come around."

"I'm honestly surprised she clawed you," Crane admitted. "She hasn't done that since Mantis got into a fight with her and that was almost fifteen years ago."

"To be fair, I had that coming," Mantis agreed.

"I was just trying to get a grasp on the fact that you guys were actually leaving and I talked about it with Mrs. Jun, and apparently that made her mad. I said a lot of bad stuff too, so I owe her a big apology."

"Well, you guys can talk that out when she gets back," Mantis said. "I'm sure she'll be calmer once she gets in some warm ups."

Tigress, however, was not punching ironwood trees or warming up in anyway. She had tried to do so, but since she was still furiously angry, she decided to walk it out and pay Shifu a visit. The air was sweet and fresh and there was a small breeze that rustled through her fur as she made her way through the woods. She took in several deep breaths on the way over and soon reached her old master. Shifu wasn't outdoors today, so Tigress wound up knocking on the door calling for him.

When the old master opened the door, he was surprised to see the look on Tigress' face, but knew exactly what it meant and invited her inside.

"I just put a lot of tea on, so you stopped by at just the right time," he told her.