The Countdown: In Between the Lines

Whispers in the dark

Po didn't return to dinner for a while, much to everyone's surprise. At first, the masters thought that maybe Tigress had beat him to a pulp in a sparring session, but Tigress assured them that Po was perfectly fine. She didn't seem like she was in much of a mood to speak, so everyone just left her to her own devices. They then continued to eat, keeping an eye out for Po. The Dragon Warrior didn't show up for a good ten minutes, much to everyone's surprise, and when he did, he just looked deep in thought.

"Hey, Po, are you okay?" Monkey asked as he watched his friend sit down.

Po didn't answer him.

"Po?"

No answer.

"Po!"

Po blinked and looked over at his friend. "I didn't eat your cookies this time if that's what you're asking," he said, lazily moving his chopsticks around and striking a dumpling.

"No, Po, I was asking if you were okay."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just thinking."

"About...?" Mantis prompted.

Po glanced down at his food and swirled it around the bowl. He shrugged his shoulders. "Weird stuff," was the answer he gave.

"Po, don't play with your food, please," Shifu groaned. "We're not two."

From across the table, Tigress let out a barely audible groan and slid her paw onto her head in annoyance. Shifu pricked his ears up at the sound, but he didn't turn his head around. He was as annoyed as the master was about this.

"So..." Monkey said, trying to find something to say that would snap Po out of his thoughts. "Mantis and I were thinking about heading over to that lake after training tomorrow since Shifu has plans with the emperor."

"We were?" Mantis asked in surprise.

Monkey glanced at him and then over at Po, then back to Mantis. Understanding, Mantis quickly corrected himself with, "Oh, that's right! I forgot about that."

"It better be to clear your head with the water," Tigress told them, giving the two a look.

"Why are you being so grumpy?" Monkey asked her.

"I'm perfectly fine thank you!"

Shifu cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "I hate to cancel your swimming plans," he said. "But you won't have any time tomorrow for it."

"We won't?" Monkey and Mantis asked in surprise.

"Nope. Right before I leave, I'm giving you an extreme training exercise that will hopefully test your ability to work as a team and work with the skills and limitations you have."

"Is Mei-Ling going to be in charge of training?" Tigress asked the grandmaster.

"Nope," Shifu replied, finishing his food. "Po is."

Everyone, sans Mei Ling, looked at Shifu in shock. "Po?!" they exclaimed.

"What about me?" Po asked, finally snapping out of his thoughts.

"You're in charge of a special training exercise tomorrow afternoon," Shifu repeated. "Please pay more attention; you'll need to tomorrow."

Po blinked, still digesting the information. "Me? he said slowly. "Me?! In charge of training?"

"You're starting to reach the stage in your training where you need to start taking on more responsibilities of the Dragon Warrior," Shifu explained. "That means learning to teach others and being a true master at Kung Fu."