Po wound up being sick for a few days after the children's kung fu classes, but he was soon feeling better and back on his feet. Master Shifu had him take it easy for the next few days just to make sure that he was 100 percent fully recovered, but soon Po was back to his normal self and all the fun activities could resume as normal.

"Thanks for the get well cards, guys," he said to everyone at breakfast. "I wouldn't have minded a quick chat though. Really."

"I didn't want to risk getting anyone else sick," Shifu explained. "A sick kung fu master is always bad news, and if our guests got sick, that'd mean your activities would have to wait longer."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Po admitted sheepishly.

"I'm just glad you're feeling better," Jai-Rong told him with an apologetic look on her face. "I didn't meant to get you sick, really."

"Don't worry about it," Po promised. "That kind of stuff happens sometimes."

As he drank some tea (mostly to clear the food he had just eaten out of his mouth), he asked everyone what they had done while he had been out of commission.

"Training," Tigress immediately answered.

"Well, I figured as much," Po told her. "I meant aside from that."

"We played some mahjong, Lam cooked, nothing much else really," Crane said. "The girls went down to the village a few times, but we don't know what they did."

"Sight seeing mostly," Song replied.

"I had to go down too," Viper added. "I ran out of maté tea drops and I needed some more."

The masters looked at her in surprise. "Really?" Crane asked with a look of confusion. "But you're always so careful with keeping them in stock."

"Yeah, I know. That was the weird part. I guess with all the commotion I must have forgotten to refill it."

"I think it's been an off week for everybody," Mantis assured her.

"Not for me," Lu-Shi mentioned excitedly. "I've had so much fun and I didn't even lose one ounce of sleep! We got to visit all the souvenir shops, watch you guys spar, Zhou made lunch which was phenomenal!!! We hung out with Mr. Ping for a bit-!"

Po immediately jerked his head up with a look of alarm on his face. "Wait, what?!" he cried. "He didn't share any embarrassing stories about me did he?"

"That all depends. Define embarrassing," Leopard questioned.

Po groaned and flopped his head down on the table. He took that to mean yes.

"You know, I noticed that people get embarrassed by entirely different things," Madame Zhou piped up from her side of the table. "My granddaughter loves sharing old pictures of herself while my daughter absolutely hates it!"

Destiny and a few of the other girls cast her a weird look. "How old are you?" Destiny asked.

Madame Zhou gave her a tsk tsk before adding, "Don't you know, dear, that it's impolite to ask a woman her age?"

"I thought that was an old wives' tale," Tigress admitted, with some of the girls nodding in agreement.

"She means for older women," Viper explained quickly. "It's an appearance thing."

"Oh. I see."

"I was going to say!" Destiny said, still having a weird look on her face. "I have no problem with telling people my age! Except when they say I'm too young to do anything, but nobody likes teenagers anyway."

"How old are you?!" Mantis asked

"19."

"Yeah, she's the baby of the group," Song piped up with a little smile. "Some of us were talking about it the other day when we were all at Mr. Ping's, and we were trying to figure out who was the youngest. Obviously Madame Zhou is the oldest."

"What about Master Leopard?" Destiny questioned.

Leopard laughed curtly, but then quickly coughed to cover it up and said, "I'm only 47, sweetheart."

Destiny looked very confused by this.

"How old are you, Po?" Xiao-Niao asked. "I don't think we ever asked you."

"25," the panda replied immediately.

"Yeah, he's my age," Lu-Shi added casually, gobbling down the rest of her breakfast.

"That only makes you a year older than me!" Ordai gushed. "That's so cool!"

"And a year younger than me," Song added.

"Is anybody not in their twenties?" Mantis asked. "Most of us at the Jade Palace haven't been twenty in a while."

"Really?" Jai-Rong asked in surprise. "You all look so young I could have sworn you were all around the same age."

Viper smiled. "I mean, thanks for the compliment, but I'm 30."

Jai-Rong's mouth dropped in shock. "Get out of the grasslands!"

"Yeah, only Tigress and Po are in their twenties," Monkey contributed with a laugh at the expression. "I haven't been twenty in 12 years."

"I'm 37," Mantis added.

"35," Crane finished.

"I'm 34, if that's of any consolation," Lam offered.

Madame Zhou chuckled. "They're all very sprightly," she admitted, taking a sip of tea. "Especially Lu-Shi. But we'll see how they get when they're my age. I can still crack a mean whip, and I'm very proud of that."

"I think as long as your health is good and you keep up the effort, you can still be pretty spry," Po commented.

Wanting to keep up the previous conversation, Destiny quickly said that Kay was 20, upon which Kay, who was sitting next to her, slid down under the table in embarrassment. Xiao-Niao, who was sitting next to them, said she was just a year older.

"And I know Ella is 22 because she wouldn't stop singing about it," Destiny added. "I guess the day before we got to the Jade Palace was her birthdate, so she was excited about officially being a year older. I guess where she's from, that's how old you have to be in order to find a beau."

"Really?" Po asked in surprise.

"Yep," Tai Lin concurred. "Honestly, I think that was the only time the whole way there she didn't complain or act like a spoiled little princess. She seemed like a genuinely happy person."

"I wonder how old Ming is," Xiao-Niao wondered. "We never found out about her."

"24," Monkey said immediately. "I asked her the last time she was here and she was almost 20 then."

Po grimaced. "Let's not talk about that," he said.

Destiny snickered erratically, remembering the story Po told her, but didn't say anything.

"How old are you, Master Tigress?" Tai Lin asked before eating more of her meal.

Tigress seemed to debate over whether or not she really wanted to answer the question, but soon relented and replied, "27 and three quarters."

Po looked up in surprise, but didn't have time to think it over as Tai Lin said that she had just turned 27, making her younger than Tigress.

"I turned 28 two months ago," Jai-Rong added.

"How about you, Master Shifu?" Lam directed across the table to the grandmaster.

"That's none of your business," Shifu retorted immediately. "And any person who attempts to guess it will have a special one on one sparring session with the Dragon Warrior on Firetop Hill."

"Sparring with Po doesn't seem so bad," Ordai commented with a slight look of confusion.

"He was talking about Tigress!!!" everybody yelled in unison, all sharing, more or less, the same aggravated and exasperated tone of voice.

Ordai threw her paws up in defense. "Okay, easy!" she protested. "There's no need to make a mob about it!"

"Keep it up, Ordai. I am more than happy to take you on in a few rounds of combat," Tigress threatened.

"I don't even know kung fu. There's no way you'd even get me into the arena," Ordai replied flatly with a frown forming on her face.

"Are you sure about that? You don't seem smart enough to guess Shifu's age let alone stay out of a round of sparring with me."

"Oh, what like guessing Shifu would be difficult? With all the stuff I heard about the Jade Palace, I think it's pretty clear he has to be about early 70's or something. Just because I'm a silk maker doesn't make me stupid, Master Tigress."

Tigress started to smirk as the whole table fell into a dead silence. Ordai's eyes widened in terror as she realized what she had just said. "Hey! That's no fair!" she cried. "You tricked me!"

"I guess you and I will be having a sparring session on Firetop Hill," Tigress commented, getting up from the table with an evil looking grin on her face. "See you in 20 minutes."

As she walked over to the sink to rinse her bowl out, Ordai turned to Po in an attempt to plead her case. "Po! Do something! That's no fair!" she cried again. "I don't even know kung fu! She'll murder me!"

"Ordai," Shifu interjected before Po could say anything. "A sparring session with Tigress is not going to kill you. Make you run for your money, more likely."

"But Ordai doesn't know kung fu," Po reminded his old master.

"Then she'll learn as you did," Tigress said simply. "On the fly."

"When I say something, I mean it, Master Po," Shifu added as support for Tigress' new sparring partner. "Besides, I think it'll be a good experience for her, in more ways than one."

He got up from the table as well to clean his dishes, with the other masters soon following suit. The girls quickly finished their breakfast, everyone eager to see Ordai take on Tigress. (Everybody that is except for Kay, but she figured she'd better watch anyway out of politeness). As the large group walked out of the room and followed Shifu to Firetop Hill, Destiny caught Leopard on the way out and asked, "Don't you think it's weird that a really old lady wanted to try out for this competition?"

Leopard shrugged. "A little," she admitted. "But mature love doesn't really have an age limit. And yes, I do mean over 18. Let children be children, as I like to say."

Destiny smiled but then frowned again. "When you left the Furious Five," she said. "Weren't you in your twenties?"

"Yes, I was 25."

"And it's been 46 years since then."

"Yes, it has been."

"And so wouldn't that make you over 70?"

"Logically speaking, yes."

"But you're only 47?

"It's for the plot device. Otherwise we'd have to go back to the beginning and replace me with some new random girl and the audience would be confused by the interchange of characters."

"Ohhhhh! Gotcha. Didn't anyone notice that though?"

"My age got miscalculated, so we're sticking with 47."

"Fair enough."

Firetop Hill, as it turned out, was behind the Jade Palace way atop the mountain that the grounds were built into. There were multiple paths to get up there, though most of these were not really used by those who lived there aside to just explore a few caves around the sides of the mountain. Firetop hill was a bit more elevated above the mountains, a sturdy rock formation with some rather steep paths which led to a wide rocky surface with some boulders forming a rock wall. (For safety, as Shifu mentioned). It was here that the masters and the girls were brought to watch the match between Tigress and Ordai, who was less than happy with the situation.

"At least take it easy on me!" she was pleading to Tigress as a last minute effort to try and get out of the match. "How am I supposed to fight you without getting pummeled?!"

"Well, I believe the answer was to keep your mouth shut," Tigress reminded her with a smirk. "But you can't help yourself, so now you get to tango with me."

"I wish it was tangoing," Ordai muttered. "That I can do."

"And I can't dance, so good luck trying to get me into some kind of group number."

"Just for that, I'm going to trick you into it!" Ordai blurted out.

The Dragon Warrior just scoffed and walked into the center of the large stone area, Ordai reluctantly getting into the center and into position.

"Not bad," Tigress admitted. "It looks like you actually learned something from Po the other day."

"Remember: not too loose and not too stiff!" Po called out as a final reminder as everyone sat down against the boulders to watch the match.

Shifu hopped up on a little perch at another end of the arena, reminding the girls to stick closer to the center so that they don't fall off.

"And if you do, I'll have to have Crane go after you and you automatically lose."

"Seriously?!" Ordai cried.

"Begin."

Everybody expected Tigress to immediately start tossing Ordai off the edge of the cliff, as Tigress always struck first in sparring, but to everyone's surprise she simply folded her arms and stood still. Just watching. Grinning. Ordai didn't even want to go near her and thought, desperately, that perhaps Tigress had bowed out of the match. But when she went to go sit down, Tigress immediately ran over to the boulders and ran along the edge to block her. So clearly this was not what she was planning.

"What's the matter?" she goaded. "Afraid to hit me?"

"Why, is this another one of your tricks?" Ordai asked suspiciously.

"Look, it's nothing personal," Tigress promised. "You seem nice. But you're annoying and disrespectful and everybody here except you apparently knows what I do with people who irritate the life out of me."

"Yep," Po concurred, thinking about all the times Tigress had pummeled him for asking one too many annoying questions. "The hard way."

"Was it the Dragon Warrior thing?" Ordai guessed. "I was just being truthful! I know everybody thinks that."

Tigress frowned. Her eyes narrowed, but she said and did absolutely nothing. She just paced around Ordai, perhaps looking for some opportunity to strike. Or perhaps she was just biding her time. Po was a little on edge since this was not normal for Tigress' fighting style. Ordai looked at the master hoping to find an opening, but she was honestly too scared to go anywhere near her.

"Precious time is being wasted!" Shifu called out irritably from the sidelines. "Let's get a move on!"

Ordai groaned and reluctantly made her way over to Tigress, figuring that the master probably wanted her to strike first. She got closer to Tigress and tried to get into position, figured she was too far away, got closer, got a little closer, got a little closer....Tigress simply stood there with her arms folded, watching Ordai intently. Nobody was really sure what exactly she was doing, not even Shifu who Po could tell looked a bit dumbstruck as to what on earth was going on. Finally, Ordai gently tap-punched Tigress in the arm, though since Tigress was naturally intimidating this wasn't a surprise.

"That's it?" Tigress asked. She laughed curtly. "Come on, you little fool. You can do better than that."

Ordai took great insult to this and in a flying fury released a vicious punch towards the master with an angry cry, but tigress quickly caught her wrist, held her for a second as she released a second punch, and then pushed her violently to the ground where Ordai fell flat on her back.

"Not bad," the master admitted. "You have a good ounce of strength in those delicate arms of yours."

"And yours are rough and worn," Ordai countered. "What kind of kung fu do you do that makes your arms look like that?"

"I can show one move if you come a little closer..."

Ordai seemed distrustful of this idea, but the compliment had given her the confidence needed to try and go for a second round of fighting. However, when she went to punch Tigress, the master ducked and spun around to catch her arm, tossing Ordai over her shoulder and kicking her straight back over the edge of the boulder barrier. Ordai screamed in terror, but Tigress quickly flipped backwards and landed on the edge with her arms, catching the falling Ordai with her legs just before she fell too far.

"LET ME UP PLEASE! LET ME UP LET ME UP!!!!!!" Ordai screamed in terror.

Tigress said nothing but slowly and surely, eventually, moved her body back and flung Ordai to the safety of the arena. Ordai breathed heavily in terror while Tigress wiped some of the gravel off her arm.

"You're a lot heavier than you look," the Dragon Warrior observed. "From the way you walk and skip about, I thought you'd be pretty light."

Ordai didn't reply to this and instead focused on catching her breath. Once she had done that, she came flying back at Tigress in an instant, no longer in the mood to hold back any punches. The masters had to give credit where credit was due, she could hold her own. Po was particularly surprised because she seemed to have a lot of trouble with her stances the day before, yet she seemed perfectly fine now.

It could be that real life scenarios make you learn quicker, he thought. Shifu did that to me a few times come to think of it.

Ordai's strength and speed, unbeknownst to the masters, came from the heavy silks she had to constantly carry and paint and fold and wash and care for and deliver. With years of practice, she had some strength and some quick reflexes in the event something suddenly went wrong. But Ordai was just that: a silk maker. And though she had potential, she was certainly no match for Tigress' years upon years upon years of intense battle-hardened training. And knowing this, Tigress simply let her have her few punches thrown in before grabbing the woman by the arm and yanking them behind her (that's Ordai's) back, pinning her to the ground in a half split before spinning her back to her feet, maneuvering her over Tigress' shoulders and waist and back, and then grabbing her two arms in a violent spin before heaving her up into the air. Tigress held on firm, getting yanked up a bit off her feet before dragging Ordai back down to the ground. She repeated this a few times, each time getting higher and higher, until she finally went several feet off the rock and spun down together with her opponent before slamming her into the ground face-first at the last minute.

"Okay I surrender you win..." Ordai mumbled in exhaustion.

Po's mouth looked ready to drop on the floor, followed by several of the other girls.

"What kung fu move was that?!" Po exclaimed excitedly. "That was so awesome!!!"

"Fire dance," Tigress answered with a triumphant smile. She glanced back at Ordai and added with a hint of mocking tease, "You're a terrible dance partner, by the way."

Ordai grumbled something nobody could really hear, though since her face was still smushed into the ground, this wasn't much of a surprise. Since the Furious Five looked both confused and impressed, Shifu took it upon himself to explain that, as Tigress was an advanced kung fu master and also the dragon warrior, he figured it would be good to teach her additional difficult moves. Fire Dance was so difficult that it took years of practice to get the hang of, though the reward was very sweet.

"It's a difficult move to block," Tigress explained. "Which means I'm more or less invincible when I use it."

"There's no counter attack?" Leopard asked in surprise. "I've never even heard of this move."

"Oogway taught it to me since I was to be grandmaster next," Shifu told her. "And it took me over a decade to get the hang of." He smiled proudly. "But Tigress surprised me. In a good way. She learned it within less than two years, which I wholeheartedly commend her for."

Tigress smiled widely and bowed before walking triumphantly off to the side of the arena.

"Please tell me you'll teach me that," Po begged in a whisper as she joined the group.

"Sorry Master Po, but that move is definitely more of a fierce hard-hitting style," Tigress told him matter-of-factly. "It'd be way out of your comfort range."

Po frowned in disappointment. Shifu, in the meantime, had hopped off of his perch and gone to stand in front of the group.

"Tigress," he said. "That was an excellent demonstration. Thank you again. For the rest of my students, I want you to warm up in the training hall. We still can't use the swinging clubs, but I trust it'll be completely fixed soon. Master Po, you and the girls have a good day."

And with that the masters took off back down the slope. Po and the girls followed behind them with Ordai limping a bit and being accompanied by Kay who told her that she did a good job. When the group reached the bottom, Po splintered off saying that he wanted to visit his dad.

"I haven't seen him for a while, so I want him to know I'm feeling better," he said before heading towards the main gates.

"We'll see you later," Leopard answered as the girls waved goodbye.

"Have fun!" Xiao-Niao called out.

"Tell him hi for me!" Lu-Shi yelled.