Rest in the Arms of a Warrior

II. Cracks in the Armor

The next day, Tigress woke up feeling well rested. Figuring it was time to start her day, she rose up and yawned, stretching in the moment. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her legs, eager to start her day with some training. But that had to wait as her small ears perked up, noticing something wasn't like it used to. No snoring. She opened her door and walked across the floor to the panda's door. She opened it with a slight gap, allowing her to see the foot of his bed. She opened it further, and to her surprise, no panda was to be spotted.

Tigress got confused, thinking he had maybe walked into the kitchen, but upon walking in there, he was nowhere to be seen either. So either he's just taking a walk or he's gone to speak with Master Shifu.

But it turned out to be none of them as she started hearing muffled sounds of aggressive beating emanating from the training hall. 

Curious, she walked down the rocky path from the barracks to the courtyard. She quietly opened the gates to the courtyard and quietly closed it behind her. Being the stealthy warrior she is, she simply walked down the rough gravel and up a set of stairs to the doors of the training hall. And very well, upon opening the door she found Po, beating every single obstacle in that hall to a pulp. She quietly sat down at the edge of the training area and focused on the panda's fighting. 

He hit each wooden gauntlet, each wooden warrior, maneuvered along the fiery pipes and jade bowl with ease, all the way up until he tripped on his own foot, causing him to crash onto the floor with his jaw taking the impact.

The panda winced and groaned, he pushed himself up and checked for a dislocation, but to his favor, there wasn't. So he continued fighting through the obstacles, he ran up on the wooden spirals and ducked under the gauntlets, after letting it pass over his head he quickly rose up and hit it with his raw strength, shattering the gauntlet into pieces. Po took a leap for another gauntlet, but missed.. miserably. He ended up falling onto the floor just outside the rotating spirals.

Tigress had enough, so she rose up and cleared her throat, letting her presence be known.

That of course startled the panda, he looked behind himself to see the female tiger stand at the edge of the pit, paws on hips whilst glaring at the panda. 

"O- oh, eh.. hi Tigress." Po said, shrugging the situation off by laughing. But Tigress kept her face neutral. 

Po, seemingly not getting on her side this morning, let his laugh fade into nothing, as he rose up properly and went for another strike at the wooden warrior next to him.

"Po, stop." She said as she performed a somersault above his head, landing next to him. The tiger ended up catching his paw, making Po confused.

"Tigress, why?" Po asked.

"Po it's early and you might not be on your peak this time of the day, why don't you go and make breakfast instead?" Tigress asked the dragon warrior, trying to take his mind on other thoughts.

"Oh uhh, yeah, I will. After I finish taking down this wooden warr-" *smack*

"Ow, Tigress what was that for?" Po asked, rubbing his chin after having gotten a slap from the feline.

"Make breakfast, the others are starving." Tigress said as she quickly analyzed what the panda had done to the hall.

"Oh, uhm, okay. I guess I will get going then."

Tigress nodded as the panda walked by her and out of the hall. She remained in there, walking around the ruined wooden gauntlets and warriors. She examined each and every obstacle, each reminding her of the iron wood trees she used to hit back when she didn't know any better.