Po woke up absolutely sore and exhausted the following morning, though since he had been sparring with Tigress with a heavy staff and trying every which way to lift it, it wasn't much of a surprise. He also discovered that he had slept in considerably late since by the time he got up and made his way to the barracks, everybody had long been up and eaten breakfast and Lam was cleaning up the dishes while everyone decided to go around the village and hang out.

"Good morning!" Lam greeted to Po. She pulled out a pot which had been simmering on the stove on low heat and poured its contents into a bowl. "We saved your breakfast so it didn't get cold."

"Thanks Lam," Po said gratefully, taking the bowl and heading back to the table. "Sorry I got up so late. I was up for a while."

"We heard," Lam told him. She took the simmering pot and dumped it in the sink and ran some cold water over it. "Tigress was in a very good mood this morning. She said she was practicing the Yin Yang Hearts with you in the training hall and she got in a few good swings."

"Yeah, we had a tough match," Po admitted. He took a long slurp of soup before adding, "I'm awful with that staff and she was kind of struggling with the fan for a while, so between the two of us, we sort of wound up just beating ourselves up."

Lam laughed and started scrubbing the pot. "I wish I could have seen that," she admitted. "I always imagine kung fu masters as being these beacons of perfection and absolute composure and seriousness, but I've never seen them in their early training stages when they're still tripping over their own two feet."

"Yeah, that's the goal at the end of the day," Po admitted. He slurped up more soup. "But it takes a while to get there. And if we do slip up, we try to cover it up so the bad guys don't notice and take advantage of it. Actually, if you want to see early stage kung fu, kids and first timers are a great place to look. The kids in the Tsung village are naturals, but they have a bunch of troubles too, so most of training is spent correcting their forms so they can deliver the technique correctly."

"That sounds about right," Lam said. "Cooking is sort of the same way when you think about it. You make so many slip ups when you're trying to get the hang of it, but once you get better, you wonder how on earth you made so many mistakes in the first place. But that early stage is rough. Especially if you have a disability."

Po groaned. "Sounds like school," he grumbled. "If you're not good at rote learning, they flunk you and tell you you suck and you're a failure."

"Oh I know. You would have thought schools would have adapted to that by now, but nooooooo. They have to make everything difficult for the young ones nowadays. Honestly, I'm glad you're a kung fu teacher. You seem very flexible and nice. I'm sure the kids love you."

"Well, I was one of those kung fu students who needed different teaching methods," Po told her sheepishly. "So I've sort of learned from personal experience that everybody is different."

"I hear that. You know, I had a friend who was really smart and talented, reminds me a lot of you in a way, but oh boy did she struggle with simple directions and school norms. The teachers were not nice to her and she'd get in trouble all the time and then wonder why because she thought she was following the directions. We tried making a kite one time and she could not figure out what direction the paper was supposed to be folded and the teacher thought she was doing it just to be obstinate. Sweet kid, but she was sort of strange. I wonder whatever happened to her...."

"Sounds like Asperger's," Po noted. "I had a classmate in high school with that condition. Same problems, but the teacher was nicer about it."

"Well that's good to hear. Teachers are very hit and miss in my opinion and a bad teacher can really sour your taste in something or make you so discouraged you never want to touch that subject again."

Po slurped up the last of his food and told the mantis that he was glad his dad taught him how to cook and not some random school teacher since he had a feeling he would have gotten all kinds of bad and discouraging comments on that one. Knowing how previous teachers and students had treated him before.

"Did you have any friends in school?" Lam asked, grabbing a towel to dry the dishes.

"Sure, I had a few, and I had a few nice teachers too, but most of my grades weren't kind to me."

"Oh, I see."

Lam finished drying the dishes as Po finished his brunch and headed over to the sink to wash and dry his bowl as well.

"What are your plans for the day?" Lam asked.

"No idea," Po admitted. "I guess I could just hang out today. Normally I'd play with my action figures, but I still can't find them anywhere. I'm just glad I got my dad's ring back. I was so worried when that got stolen."

"When did you last see them?" Lam asked.

"I put them in my travel bag to bring them back into the Jade Palace before this whole contest thing started," Po explained, putting his bowl away and sitting back down at the table. "I was staying with my dad for a little bit after I first came here. But I left them in my travel bag since there was a lot of commotion and preparing for everyone's arrival and I never got the chance to unpack all my stuff. So they should have been in there."

"But they're not?"

"Nope. And I'm pretty sure I've checked everywhere but the moon at this point."

Lam frowned in thought. "Hmmm...." she said. Kept thinking. Thought some more. "You don't suppose somebody stole them do you?"

"That's actually the last thing I'm trying to think about."

"It could be possible."

"Maybe, but why? They went missing sometime before you guys helped Tigress with the kids, so it couldn't have been that thief guy."

"Maybe if you have rare action figures..."

"Yeah, but then there'd still be a few left I'd imagine. Who'd want to take common collectibles?"

"Hm. True. Well, if I think of another idea, I'll let you know."

She sat down next to Po with a little sigh and stretched out her arms to rest them. "I didn't see anymore of that cake Tigress made," she observed. "So I'm assuming it was so good everybody devoured it."

"Actually there was a small piece leftover, but Tigress and I split it last night after we came back from training. She promised she'd make more so you guys could try some another time."

"Ooh. Well in that case I look forward to it! It looks really complicated to bake I have to say."

"It is. That's why she usually doesn't even attempt it unless she knows she has a couple of hours to kill if not the whole entire day."

"Well that's understandable. You know, your dad tried to help me make tofu cake and I quite frankly don't get how bakers find it fun. You have to have everything exactly right or else you get pudding or a big kaboom in the kitchen!"

"Uh...I hope that doesn't mean you've kaboomed a cake."

"Once. We don't speak of it. It took forever to scrap the dough out of the oven-"

The two were suddenly interrupted by loud crying which passed by the kitchen and faded away in the distance. They looked at each other and then back towards the door, but before they could even get up, Tai Lin slammed the door open. She paused and looked at the startled faces of Po and Lam before composing herself. "Oh, hi there," she said with a short wave. "You're awake finally. Don't mind me. I'll be making cookies."

"What happened?" Lam asked. "We just heard a bunch of commotion run by."

"Xiao Niao's upset because somebody spread a real nasty rumor about her. We don't know who did it, but it's all over the valley. Mr. Ping's been nice about it at least and a few scarce people here and there, but it's bad."

Tai Lin reached into the pantry to grab some baking items and immediately started throwing them into a bowl and rapidly mixing. Po asked what the rumor was about, but Tai Lin told him curtly it didn't bear repeating.

"And how exactly are we supposed to help the poor thing counter them?" Lam asked with a disgruntled frown.

"The more we harp on the negative, the worse it'll get. There's no point in spreading the gossip. Especially since not everyone may have heard it, and if it's one less person, the better."

The doors at the very front of the kitchen opened, and some creaking came towards the main dining area until Ming eventually revealed herself.

"Oh, good morning, Po!" Ming called over with a sickly sweet smile. "I just came in for a snack, but I'm so glad you're awake now! I heard Tigress hogged you last night in a torturous kung fu match."

"It wasn't torturous," Po told her with an annoyed frown. "We were just practicing with the yin-yang hearts."

"It sounds exhausting," Ming countered, walking into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. She asked Tai Lin to put a pot of tea on the stove and make her some longjing green tea, but Tai Lin retorted that she was busy and told Ming to make her own.

"What's the matter with you?" Ming asked. "Mad someone called you out on your triple-timer behavior?"

Tai Lin whipped her head around with a furious expression. "Was that you who spread all those awful remarks on Xiao-Niao?!" she demanded.

"Me?!" Ming replied, looking offended. "I am a lady! How dare you think that about me! I'm only repeating what I heard. Besides, it's true, isn't it?"

"Wait, how many rumors are going around?!" Po asked. "I thought it was just Xiao-Niao!"

"I can handle a few rumors," Tai Lin replied shortly. "It's not my first merry-go-round, though it's still incensing that people are that jerky."

"Well there's no need to get huffy over the fact that people have standards," Ming told her. "Besides, we'd want Po to know the kind of person you are, going around breaking hearts and bank accounts and plotting with the most dangerous criminals in China."

"That is literally the stupidest thing I ever heard, and if you keep on repeating that-" Lam threatened, but Ming interrupted her with a loud, "I'm speaking, you idiot!!! My family has nothing but respect for Master Po and Grandmaster Shifu, and I will not let gold diggers and thieves run about rampantly."

"Thieves?" Po repeated with a raised eyebrow. "They're not really bringing Xiao-Niao's dad into this, are they?! That was literally cleared in a court of law!"

"Hasn't your stuff been going missing?" Ming questioned slyly. "And it wasn't the Ladies of the Shade. They were in the north mountains. So who else could it be? Like father like daughter after all."

"Xiao-Niao is not a thief," Lam countered.

"And Shengqi wasn't even accused of stealing!" Po added.

"Oh, and how would you know that?! Looks can be deceiving after all. You could have a whole army underneath your noses and you wouldn't even know it."

"You are literally spewing garbage talk and you're not helping," Lam spat out.

"I'm spewing garbage talk?! You have such a bad temper I could burn down the entire bamboo forest with it! Why Po hasn't kicked you out of this contest I don't even know!"

"Hey!" Po yelled.

"Listen here, you two-faced snotty egotistical spoiled little brat!" Lam hissed. "If I catch you making any more snarky remarks or rude comments or some other kind of slander, I am going to throw this bowl at your face and break your pretty little nose!"

"Lam, that's not going to help," Tai Lin told her quickly, taking a breath and turning around. "Everyone knows Ming just likes drama. They won't take her seriously."

"Excuse me?!" Ming snapped. "I am the daughter of the most influential man in all of China! I could have you executed in milliseconds!"

"Really? Then why don't you bring daddy in here and plead your case to the emperor? I'm sure he'd love to arrest a defenseless civilian because she said nobody likes a gossip and execute her on the crime of baking chocolate chip cookies."

"I will! And when the emperor hears about how you've been cozying up with Tai Lung, I'm sure he'll see things my way!"

"Tai Lung is dead!!!" Po exclaimed in exasperation. "We literally just went over this a few days ago!"

"And who's been teaching Tai Lin chi tricks then, hmm?"

"That was six years ago," Tai Lin reminded her flatly.

"Unlikely. Even Ella agrees on that and we don't agree on anything. Though considering how pompous and arrogant and assuming she is-"

"That's it!" Lam shouted. "That's it! I've had it! I'm done! I am done listening to you! I'm out! I will not be wishing you a good day because you are literally the worst person I have ever met and Po and Tai Lin I sincerely pity you! Good bye!"

And with that, the mantis had hopped off of the table and ran as fast out the door as she possibly could. Ming huffed in offense.

"I'm getting my daddy!" she snapped, and made her way out of the barracks equally fast. Po, out of fear she'd try to trample Lam, told Tai Lin he'd be back and quickly ran after the two. However, he was thankful to see Ming run past Lam and in the direction of her dad, and after following them quietly for several meters, he saw Lam make her way out of the Jade Palace and down to the valley, which made him blow a sigh of relief. Of course, this relief did not last long, as he heard Ming loudly yell to her dad off in the far distance, and judging by the echo, she had made her way to the training hall. Po sighed and ran to catch up to her, in case he needed to dispute something, only to run into the Furious Five who all had exasperated looks on their faces.

"I'm afraid to ask," Po admitted.

"I'm assuming you've heard the commotion," Tigress said flatly, glancing subtly back up the slope towards the training hall. "So I don't think we need to elaborate."

Po sighed. "How did she get over here so fast?!" he huffed. "I was trying to talk sense into her..."

"Considering the fact that she was actually threatened, I don't think that would have worked," Mantis noted.

Po opened his mouth to protest, but just groaned. "Lam's cool, but she has serious issues with Ming, and...well, the conversation they had didn't help."

"What happened?" Viper asked.

"Someone's spreading rumors about Xiao-Niao and Tai Lin, but nobody knows who," Po explained. "Ming heard it this morning too, I guess, and came in making really nasty comments on Xiao-Niao and Tai Lin and....you know...."

"Ah. I see," Tigress replied, her face darkening ever-so-slightly. "So................there's another side to it than Lam just waking up and being in a bad mood."

"Yeah. I think it definitely could have been handled better, but Lam did leave and go to the village to try and calm down, though I don't know specifically where she went."

"Well as long as it's one less person, that's good," Monkey said. He sighed. "And I wanted to date her...."

Po laughed shortly at the memory. "Monk, you have strange tastes in girls, I have to say."

"Where's Xiao-Niao and Tai Lin?" Viper asked.

"I don't know where Xiao-Niao is, but Tai Lin's baking cookies in the kitchen and she wasn't in the greatest mood. Actually, maybe I should go check up on them. Lam and I heard crying, but we didn't have time to process what happened because Tai Lin came in, then Ming showed up, and then everyone started fighting and challenging each other, and...well, I thought maybe I could calm things down before they escalated...."

"Did Tai Lin really threaten Ming's status?" Tigress asked knowingly with a raised eyebrow. "Or was that another exaggeration?"

"Yes and no. Ming threatened to tattle to the emperor because Tai Lin said she gossips too much so no one would take her comments seriously, and then Tai Lin told her to do it since the emperor was definitely going to arrest a civilian for having a dispute over pointless gossip, and that's about when Ming got really mad and left."

"And Lam threatening to break her nose?" Crane added.

"Uh...actually she did say that....Tai Lin tried to calm her down, but that's when she made the comment about Ming being a gossip and-"

"Gotcha," Tigress interrupted. "Okay, so what basically happened was a case of Ming being her nasty old spoiled self, Lam getting enraged and losing her temper, and Tai Lin trying to calm the situation and accidentally offending her not-royal pain in the butt."

Po blinked but nodded to confirm.

"Right. I'll tell Shifu once he's done having it out with Superintendent Wu. Lam's not the only one who's had one too many buttons pushed by them today."

Po winced.

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty," Monkey told him. "He barged in right in the middle of training and caught us off guard. I almost became a roasted kabob! Thanks for not hitting me Crane."

"That was thanks to Tigress yanking me out of the way," Crane admitted, looking over at the master with a grateful smile. Tigress patted his back.

"So are you guys taking a break then?" Po asked.

"Yeah, Shifu told us to give them a moment so they could discuss," Viper explained with a tired sigh. "But we hadn't been out of the training hall for more than a few milliseconds before the "discussion" erupted into a full-blown fight, so who knows when they'll-"

"If you so much as lay one paw on my daughter....!!!!!" came the angry bellow of Shifu from across the grounds, startling everyone standing nearby.

Tigress glanced over with a look of surprise and confusion before announcing that she was going to meditate on Firetop Hill to get away from the noise. Po opted to head over to the barracks and check on Xiao-Niao while the rest of the Furious Five decided to walk over to the kitchen and hang out with Tai Lin for a bit. They knew it was going to be a long morning.....