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The next day found a worn out tigress sighing as she left her room. She didn’t get any sleep last night. She only wanted to get away; but walking into Po’s proximity just made things feel worse for her. Wait a minute. Tigress told herself. Just act like nothing happened. You can do that. Tigress brought herself to smile and sat down with her friends at the breakfast table, trying to not make eye contact with anyone in particular.
“Morning Tigress,” Monkey said as he sat beside her.
“Goodmorning Monkey.” Tigress said, feeling a little rushed at keeping a cheery mood, but it was better than trying to work up to one, which would never happen.
Mantis bid his Goodmorning, Crane and Viper nodded to Tigress, who replied courtly.
Po was the only one looking a little uneasy as he handed out the soup to the Five. Tigress stole a glance at him and smirked. Po’s look didn’t change. Tigress’ face slid down.
Breakfast went on pretty much silent, since Po and Tigress were usually the biggest talkers now. Monkey decided to speak up this time.
“So I heard Shifu say something about a new training thing he’ll use today.”
“Mmm, what’s that Monkey?” Viper asked, putting down her soup spoon.
Monkey shrugged. “He didn’t say, just said something about it being a stretch for most of us.”
Tigress looked at Po as Monkey spoke, trying to get a signal to him facially. Po looked away slightly right as Monkey finished.
“Huh, that should be even more so for Po here, huh?” Mantis said, prodding Po playfully with an arm.
Tigress smiled at the general conversation, but tried to get Po’s attention. She got it, and Po looked a bit determined to not have them talk at the table based on his response. Tigress glared slightly, wanting the opposite to happen.
“I didn’t see anything new outside this morning,” Crane pointed out. Tigress hit the table lightly with the palm of her hand to get Po to look at her.
“Did Master Shifu say if it’d be inside or out?” Mantis asked.
“No,” Monkey said, Po glared at Tigress, who curled her lips back to show her full fangs.
“He just said it’d work all of us evenly. I don’t know how we could change styles to work with whatever Shifu’s done,”
Po softened some, but still looked angry. Tigress dropped her guard and looked repetitive, apologetic. Po looked away.
“That seems odd,” Crane said, Mantis nodding in agreement, “I can’t go fighting like Tigress,”
Tigress whipped her head towards the four, her eyes wide with surprise, but noticed they weren’t talking TO her and brought her attention back to Po. She looked sad, and reached towards Po.
The other four were still in their huddle of discussion, Po looking a bit receptive to Tigress’ gesture. Tigress smiled warmly, hoping to settle things with Po. Perhaps things could be brought back to how they were.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Monkey said, shaking his head, then looked over to Tigress and Po. “Hey Po, what do you-?” Monkey paused, looking at the two, soon followed by the other three. Upon noticing the two, looking contentedly at each other, Tigress’ hand on Po’s, the four looked back to their group and continued talking.
Tigress and Po continued what they were doing without interruption. “Po, I know things can’t ever be exactly the same, but I just hope you won’t be angry at me.”
“Tigress, I’m not angry at you,” Po said, looking a little worried at the same time, “but I gotta’ figure this out. I never had this happen before,” Tigress looked sad at the prospect of only time healing what she had said last night. Po got up, “excuse me,” he said, then turned and left.
Mantis stole a glance at Po retreating, and Tigress’ sad figure, then busied himself with acting like he was focused on what the other four were discussing.

“Alright, students.” Master Shifu said, decked out in a regal green robe, “today, I will teach you something much different than anything you’ve ever learned. It will challenge you all equally.”
Quickly he readied himself in his typical martial art pose, then smirked. “You will learn….to dance!”
Shifu leapt gracefully towards the front gates of the Jade Palace, then kicked open the doors, revealing an orchestra. Upon the doors opening, the orchestra played a spunky Asian-themed song, heavy on the stringed instruments. Shifu leapt and landed in front of the Five and Po again, then began to dance. It appeared Shifu was acting as a frail tree swaying in the wind, all of his body complying to the liquid-like flow. Illusively, looking as though he himself were being pushed around by the said imaginary wind, Shifu slid around: left, right, giving a quick turn, changing direction, all of his movements working together.
“The water spirit.” Shifu said simply, then stopped, snapping a finger. Upon hearing the snap, the band changed to a more bassy tune, with the bass-stringed instruments and bigger horns pulsating. Shifu appeared to be frozen, moving in jerky, spasmodic motions. “The machine.” Shifu explained, then paused again, snapping. The tune changed to a punchier tune, and Shifu kicked his legs wildly. But, not like he was battling off invisible foes, but more like a controlled, hop-skip dance, one that ranged in kicks and motions. After a few moments of this, however, Shifu stopped, panting. “Perhaps I will not be practicing this one….That was the jump. And,” snap “finally, we have….” Shifu bounced in place while throwing his arms rhythmically. Once he finished, he said simply, “the flag waver.”
The five and Po looked quite awed. This certainly was different. “Practice whichever move you want, I have,” Shifu produced scrolls “guidelines on how to perform them.” Shifu laid them at his student’s feet and said “perhaps, if we practice well enough, we could perform for the next village festival.” Shifu turned and walked back into the Jade Palace, the band retreating down the steps, leaving Po and Tigress to look at each other excitedly. This was what they needed!
Po and Tigress paired off, when Tigress said, “Po, I’m sorry about this morning.” Po looked a little embarrassed, then said “let’s just focus on working on this, at least we have a common goal now.” Tigress felt her heart get torn from her with those words. It was true…. But it hurt so much.
“Yes,” she said solemnly, nodding. Tigress looked at one of the diagrams, then practiced the moves before her. She paused for a moment; many of the moves naturally flowed together. With a little practice, Tigress began to realize how natural these movements felt. The ‘water spirit’ dance seemed to work quite well. It reminded her of her days of domino training with Shifu.
Dominos meant stress, stress meant last night….
Tigress slammed her eyes shut. Could she never keep Po from her mind, always connecting him somehow to everything?
Tigress didn’t know what she was doing, but she did it. Throwing her arms about in rigid, geometrical arcs, she brought her anger into a dance format. Throwing her arms out, pausing for a moment, then throwing them another way, she utilized her emotions to give a more ‘expressive’ tone to her dance format. It seemed to flow well, and by using her motions to create a sort of flowing dance, even though the movements and energy was harsh.
With a few moments of this, Tigress began to really enjoy it, envisioning enemies packing in about her, and instead of simply attacking, using the dance to be even smoother. It required less energy as well, because the flow of the whole thing made up for it. It calmed her too. After about five minutes, she slowed and stopped, sighing contentedly. There was a polite cough and Tigress looked down to see Master Shifu smile up at her. “Very good, Master Tigress. You’ve already have seemed to find your own style.” Tigress smiled, panting some.
“Thank you Master. I didn’t know it could be so beneficial.” Shifu smiled and walked about, watching the other masters. Apparently he only left to stow away the band, then return to watch his students. Monkey seemed to enjoy ‘the jump’ best, which showed on his face as he excitedly leapt about. Viper was more liquid, obviously, but seemed to utilize robotics as well. Crane seemed to enjoy the water spirit as well, being a bit more calm than Tigress, and Po….
Tigress noticed Po jumping about crazily, having completely disregarded any directions. Tigress chuckled to herself. Typical Po. “Students, I’d say your all-” Master Shifu, who had finished watching from the sidelines, was about to congratulate his student’s progress, until he saw Po.
Shifu stopped dead, then shook his head. Po would again have to be taught differently. “You may go inside, students,” Shifu said, addressing the Furious Five as he walked over to Po. Tigress watched for a moment, then turned to follow the other Five inside. As Tigress entered, she could hear behind her Shifu saying “If you can dance with more precision, and FASTER, than I,” Shifu said, “than I will send a special order to the village to have brought to you some chocolate.” Tigress paused. That would be a special treat indeed, very rare to the village, even China.
Tigress turned, noting Po’s obvious reaction. She chuckled as Po worked his limbs to obey, moving with grace and stamina, but keeping himself of the correct technique. Tigress chuckled. Typical Po. Tigress turned and a tear fell from her eye as she entered the Palace. The Po that she still loved…..