Po stared at the top of the staff which was now broken. The tip had snapped clean off and now lay on the floor just under the spiral beams.

"Master Shifu is going to kill me and frame me on the walls in the Sacred Hall of Warriors...." Po said nervously.

"Not if I tell him what happened," Song promised, picking up the pieces of the staff. "I should have been more careful."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault the beam got all wonky. I shouldn't have let you guys use these...."

Po glanced over at the door in thought. Frowned. Then looked a little hopeful. "Wait, I wonder if Master Leopard knows how to fix it," he wondered out loud. He helped Song to her feet and walked with her out of the training hall where the girls turned to look in their direction. Ordai was sitting on the steps while Master Leopard practiced some of her stances with Tai Lin. Destiny and Lu-Shi were nowhere to be found, but this was because, as Po found out, they had gone off to bed.

"Why are you out here?" Ordai asked once the pleasantries were all out of the way. "You still have about three minutes."

"We wanted to ask Leopard if she knew anything about fixing broken weapons," Po explained sheepishly.

Master Leopard stopped in surprise. "What happened?" she asked quickly. "What broke?"

Song held up the staff and its tip, to which Leopard simply responded by sharply intaking a breath.

"Oh boy," she commented. "That'll take me a moment...."

"Is it that bad?" Song asked.

"The fire staff takes a little time to fix. It's not like it's never been broken before, but getting it back in working order will take me at least a half hour or so...."

She walked over to Song and carefully took the broken staff from her. After examining it and making sure no pieces were missing, she said, "I'll be back in a little bit." and then left the training grounds.

"I hope she can fix it," Song said a little nervously. "The last thing I want is your friends on my back about it."

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell Shifu I let you guys train with it if he gets mad. Plus, if it is fixable, it won't be much of an issue. Promise."

The master gently patted Song's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. Song turned her head to look at him and smile. "You're sweet," she said. She squeezed his paw with her own and added, "Well, while we still have time, what should we do?"

"Actually you only have a minute of time left," Ordai told them from the training hall steps. "You spent most of it asking Leopard for help fixing the fire staff."

"Oh? Well, I guess maybe I should call it a night. I'll stay here and see how the staff turns out before heading off to sleep."

She then walked over to sit next to Ordai as Tai Lin came up to Po. "I guess it's my turn then," she commented.

Po led her into the training hall, apologizing to Song for having to cut their time short, and then turning his attention to Tai Lin.

"I'm a blank canvas!" Tai Lin told him with a determined expression. "Teach me something."

"Sure," Po told her, jumping down to the training hall's pit. "I guess since the staff is out of commission, we can always practice some stances with the fan."

Po remembered dropping the fan to help Song and neither of them had gone back to pick it up or even move it. So he was thoroughly confused when he couldn't find the fan anywhere. And then after a minute of looking around, he was starting to panic.

"What's wrong?" Tai Lin asked, watching him carefully.

"The fan is gone!" Po cried. "I left it right here by the Jade Tortoise, and it's vanished! Gone! Where did I put it?!"

He looked around for another second, pushing the Jade Tortoise bowl to see if maybe it had somehow rolled onto the fan. Nothing.

"Why don't you search for it later with Master Leopard?" Tai Lin suggested, hopping down to grab Po's attention. "That way you have more time and don't waste any."

Po glanced around in one more fruitless attempt to find the fan, but then sighed and consented to Tai Lin's suggestion. "I just hope I can find it before I go to bed," he said more to himself.

"You will. You and Leopard I noticed both have pretty good eyes."

"Really? Thanks."

The master cleared his throat and decided to start off by just teaching Tai Lin some basic kung fu stances. He helped her place her feet in the correct spot, helped her to stand right, helped to angle her arms so that she wasn't too stiff nor too wobbly, and then taught her some basic kicks and punches. He was very pleased to find out just how quickly she got the hang of it.

"So, am I going to get the chance to hit you at all?" Tai Lin asked jokingly, getting into a stance and poising to attack.

"Un...I mean if you want to," Po said uncertainly. "I just...you know, I don't want to hurt you or anything...."

"Oh, come on! What's the fun in learning kung fu if I can't get some of the hits?" Tai Lin asked. "Think of it like riding a unicycle."

"I can't ride a unicycle."

"I can."

Po's eyes widened in surprise. "You can?!" he exclaimed. "How?!"

"My mom taught me," Tai Lin started confidently, though her face was quick to change and she continued a little more reservedly. "She learned to ride and then she taught it to me. So...I'm the only person in my family who can do it."

"Oh, I see. That's pretty cool." Noticing the expression on her face, Po asked, "Did something happen to her?"

Tai Lin was quiet for a moment. Then she spoke up again, "There was an attack. But it was a long time ago. I don't bother dwelling on it because there's no point in staying sad over what you can't change." She immediately gave Po a big smile. He could tell it was forced, but he chose to not mention it. "Besides, everything's fine now. So let's focus on letting me have a fun time fighting you than talking about depressing stuff."

Po didn't have much time to react as Tai Lin immediately delivered a fast kick in his direction. He just barely had time to block it before catching the second kick and yanking the clouded leopard to the floor.

"Good first effort," he told her with a hint of a laugh. "Maybe I should teach you how to block too."

"I'll learn on the go," Tai Lin said, immediately getting up and coming back for round two.

Po decided to take it easy on her and let her get in a few hits and swings before catching her and knocking her to the floor again. He told her that she definitely needed to work on her strength in order to make her stances more potent, but in the meantime she could learn a few things that required more speed than strength, something she seemed to be better at. Tai Lin got up once more and this time Po showed her a special block-attack she could use if she found herself caught by an opponent. It involved twisting her wrist down to twist her opponent's arm into a painful position and then wrapping it around their back and pinning them to the floor. Tai Lin also learned which spots to best kick her opponent so they would be more willing to release her, using her full weight to slow and opponent down, and even how to catch an opponent mid block with her paws. Tai Lin very quickly got the hang of these moves, all in between coming at Po with the basic kicks and punches she had learned. Fifteen minutes soon flew by though as the door was soon to open and Ordai announced the time.

"Thanks!" Po called out to her.

Seeing him distracted, Tai Lin smirked and quickly but quietly lunged at Po's back, using her full weight to bring him down with a loud THUMP!! to the floor.

"Aaahhoowwww!!" Po cried.

"Got you at last!" Tai Lin announced triumphantly.

From the floor, Po gave her a thumbs up and a "Nice job!" before Tai Lin got off of him and helped him to his feet.

"I never thought I'd say this," she admitted. "But that was a lot of fun! I always thought kung fu was just some ultra serious no-speaking-unless-you're-spoken-to kind of thing, but I feel great!"

"That depends on the teacher, but yeah, if you're super into it, it can be pretty awesome!" Po assured her.

"We'll have to do this again sometime," Tai Lin told him with a big genuine grin. "I loved this!"

"Sure! We can make a schedule for that if you want. Just let me know when."

Tai Lin promised she would and then left the training hall. A moment later the doors reopened and Jai-Rong slithered into the building.

"I heard laughing and people yelling, so I'm assuming it was a good practice session?" she questioned.

"Yeah, it went pretty smoothly actually. Although, I think I misplaced the fan, so we had to skip on that. But I'll find it later after everyone's done."

Jai-Rong stopped mid-slither and backtracked over to the weapons rack. She peered carefully through the talk staffs and then began to carefully dig through them.

"Whatcha' doing?" Po asked.

Jai-Rong pulled and tugged for a moment, rearranged the staffs, and then pulled again, yanking out a gradient dark blue fan with gray and white flecks and silver metal.

It was the Fan of the Yin Yang Hearts.

"How the heck did that wind up over there?!" Po exclaimed. "I swear I dropped it over here by the Jade Tortoise!"

Jai-Rong frowned. "Considering how squished it was in there," she suggested. "I think someone put it there."

"That's impossible," Po told her. "I would have seen someone do it. I've been in here the whole time."

"Not quite. You did leave with Song for a few minutes when something went haywire."

"Even still, Master Leopard would have seen someone come in. Or we would have heard the door open. I don't think anybody besides maybe Leopard could scale the walls, and she was obviously outside with us."

Jai-Rong glanced up at the top of the open roofed training hall. "Let me check," she said, putting the fan down and slithering up the various poles and beams to get to the roof. She then disappeared from sight while Po picked the fan up and thought about what he did with it and how long he was outside. Who was outside with him? Did he hear weird noises at all? He didn't remember hearing anything. After a moment, Jai-Rong reappeared from the roof and slithered back down to the floor with a simple, "Hm. Okay, I guess that would be a bit of a climb...." She shrugged. "I'm not sure what else to say about that."

They were both quiet for a moment before Po cleared his throat and asked if she wanted to started practicing kung fu stances. Jai-Rong agreed and the conversation was soon dropped in favor of the practice session. Po demonstrated some more basic stances and helped Jai-Rong adjust according to what he had seen Viper do in training. Then Po gave her a turn with the fan, allowing her to feel it's weight and twirl it around a bit.

"It's too bad we don't have that fire staff," she commented, looking at the fan closely to see how it worked.

"We could always use the other staffs to spar with?" Po suggested. "I mean, they're not as epic, but it's something to practice with."

"I was more interested in the mechanism, but sure, if you want to. Let me just figure this thing out for a minute and then I can hit you with it."

Po gave her a moment and walked over to fetch one of the staffs (he chose a sturdy one to try and match the fire staff). When she was ready, they both got into fighting stances and prepared for the other's attack.

"Do you want to start off easy, or do you want me to use all my brute-" Po began, but he was interrupted when Jai-Rong began swinging the fan violently at him, forcing him to quickly block and dodge all her attacks. Once he had recovered from the surprise, Po was quick to reengage the snake, avoiding her hits and pinning her in triumph. But Jai-Rong was quick at learning Po's combat techniques however as in the next round she easily snagged his arm and pulled him out of his block to keep hitting him. After getting continually whipped for a bit, Po was able to readjust his stances to once again pin Jai-Rong. Round three began and Po got tripped, whipped, and knocked into the Jade Tortoise before catching the snake once more and this time tying her into a loose knot and pinning her to the floor. Jai-Rong struggled for a second before craning her head around to bite the paw Po had on her back.

"OWW!!!" Po yelped, jumping back and rubbing his paw. "Hey, come on! It's just a sparring session!"

"Oh relax, I'm not poisonous," Jai-Rong responded with an eye roll as she untangled herself. "I know babies who didn't scream as much as you just did." 

"How am I supposed to know that?" Po asked. "Most snakes I know have venom in their bite." 

"Oh, I have venom, but mine isn't as potent as other snakes. You'll just have a little bump on your paw for a day or two." 

Po frowned and glanced at the puncture wound he had. 

"Doesn't your friend bite people for defense?" Jai-Rong asked. "The snake master? Viper?"

"Viper doesn't have fangs," Po pointed out. "So no." 

Jai-Rong looked confused. "Wait, what?!" she exclaimed. "How is that possible?!"

"She was just born without them. That doesn't mean she can't do kung fu. She just doesn't have any venom to kill intruders. Like she would do that anyway. She's really sweet."

"I noticed." 

Jai-Rong sat back and thought about that for a moment, clearly still in surprise about hearing about that. However, the doors soon opened and Ordai announced that time was up. 

"Thanks for the session, Po," Jai-Rong told him, slithering out. "See you tomorrow." 

Ordai watched her leave and turned to look back at Po, stopping when she saw him nursing his paw. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine!" Po promised, hiding his injury behind his back. "It's just a sparring wound. She's a quick learner."

"Oh, let me look at it," Ordai said. She was about to move into the training hall, but Master Leopard, who had come over to take her turn, grabbed her shoulder firmly and gently pulled her back.

 "I'll look at it," she stated. "It's my turn, and I'm more familiar with training hall injuries than you. You go back to the barracks and get some sleep." 

Ordai looked like she wanted to protest, but she was soon convinced to leave the training grounds and Master Leopard walked in with the now fixed staff. 

"Is it bad?" she asked, leaning the weapon against the wall of the training hall. 

"No, I don't think so," Po promised. "I just...she said it'd just be a little swollen or something."

"She bit you?"

"Yeah......" 

Master Leopard walked over and took Po's arm from behind his back to look at the injury more closely. "Considering that she had no issues with biting you, I take it her venom isn't potent," she observed. "And looking at the puncture wound, it doesn't look like she got much of a bite in anyway. You should be fine." 

"I figured," Po told her. "But it did sting really bad!" 

Master Leopard gave him a smirk. "You'll live, Master Po," she promised. Changing the subject, she looked over at the Hearts of Yin and Yang and asked, "Have you started getting the hang of the weapons?'

"Sort of," Po admitted. "I didn't really get to practice with them too much since most of the other girls were trying more to get the hang of kung fu." 

"Well, there's no time like the present."

Master Leopard reached over and grabbed the staff while Po picked the fan off the floor where he had dropped it during the fight with Jai-Rong. 

"How'd you fix it?" Po asked curiously as the former master got into a stance. 

"Master Oogway always kept tools to fix up broken weapons in the Sacred Hall of Warriors," Leopard explained simply. "And it seems Shifu hasn't really moved anything around. It was easy to find." 

"Did you have to explain to him what happened?" Po asked nervously. 

Leopard shook her head. "He wasn't in there," she assured him. "So I didn't need to." 

"Oh! Well, I guess that's a good thing." 

Master Leopard laughed. "So I figured," she told him. She lit the fire staff, showing that it was truly back in working order, and began to circle Po in preparation of the sparring. Po simply twirled the fan about, waiting for an opportunity to knock her out. He wasn't sure just how well Leopard was with kung fu since she had been out of commission for quite some time, so he wanted to test the waters with her on the sparring. Suddenly his eyes were hit with a blinding light that caused him to wince and stumble back. Then his legs were knocked out from under him and he went crashing to the floor with a cry of surprise. He had barely just enough time to somersault backwards before Leopard had struck the staff in his direction. Unfortunately, in the process, Po had accidentally dropped the fan and Leopard more than happily scooped it up with the staff, instantly magnetizing them. 

She laughed. "I miss this," she admitted. She took the iron rod from the side and ran up the side of the pillars to start putting them together while Po quickly tried to devise a plan to not get clobbered. 

He glanced around the training hall looking for something to use as an act of defense before settling on the nunchucks by the weapons rack. He quickly ran over and grabbed them just as Leopard finished putting the iron rod back in the fire staff, adjusted to the weight, and then leaped at him from the top of the beams. Po ducked out of the way and ran into the center of the training hall as Leopard used the Hearts to grab hold of the support beam and swing herself around to chase after Po. 

"Have you been practicing?" Po asked. "Because you seem pretty good at attacking me with that thing!" 

Leopard grinned. "I did some warm-ups while you were inside," she admitted. "If you indeed wind up taking me down, I'd like to go down with some dignity." 

"Fair enoug-aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Po yelled as the sparring immediately continued. Leopard ran at him so fast that Po swore that she had flew. He hadn't even had time to duck or run for it. He was knocked into the wall of the training hall and fell to the floor with a loud CRASH!!!! The master groaned and lifted up his head to see where she was coming from and quickly rolled out of the way before getting hit again. He was quick to get to his feet and as Leopard was about to strike again, Po quickly whipped out the nunchucks and used them to grab hold of the staff-fan. He pulled hard and was able to swing Master Leopard abd the staff-fan away from him and over towards the other side of the training hall, but this hardly deterred her. The master wondered if she did kung fu at home on a regular basis because she seemed to be in great form for somebody who had resigned over 20 years ago. As he grabbed the nunchuck to try and fight her off, he was once again blinded by a sudden light, though this time he shielded his face and rolled out of the way before he got hit. As he got up to recover, he noticed tiny mirrors decorating the fire staff which suddenly closed as Leopard turned towards him.

"Where did you get THOSE?!" he exclaimed.

"They're part of the extension," Leopard explained casually with an evil-looking grin on her face. "Both weapons have blinders. This is the staff's."

"Great. Anything else you put on there that I should be aware of?"

"Well now that you mention it...."

Master Leopard ignited the flames on the staff and suddenly metal knives came flying out from the fan attached to the top of the staff. Po screamed in terror and ran diagonal from the knives, hiding behind the Jade Tortoise in a desperate effort to catch his breath. He could hear them sizzling from the heat as they hit the ground just a few feet away. 

Okay....he thought quickly. So she has both weapons. And both of these combined are super strong and super scary! If mirrors are blinders for the staff, I wonder what blinders for the fan are? Actually, that sizzling makes me want some noodles right now-focus Po focus! She probably added all the extensions to that weapon, so how can I avoid surprise attacks so I can hit he-

Po was interrupted out of his thoughts when Master Leopard hit the Jade Tortoise, sending it (and Po) flying into the side of the training hall. He could hear her coming towards him and quickly flipped the tortoise upside down on the main floor and hid under it, listening to Master Leopard whacking it with the staff-fan before retreating. Po listened for a second before sighing to himself.

Sometimes I wish I had Shifu's hearing, he thought to himself. How he can hear every single footstep is beyond me! I mean, Tigress can pick up on that kind of stuff, but I think she practiced it. That's never really been a me thing.

Unfortunately, from what Po guessed at that moment, sight was not going to be an efficient weapon against Leopard and the Hearts of Yin and Yang. The blinders meant that he'd have a difficult time with seeing where Leopard was attacking, and since he wasn't as proficient in using the weapons, his approach would need to be more evasive. At least for the time being. Po didn't have time to further ponder the matter though as the Jade Tortoise suddenly overturned and was kicked out of the way so Leopard could get a clear shot of Po. It didn't travel too far, which signaled to the master that Leopard was still a bit out of practice, but it was only a little bit and Po guessed she was smart enough to plan around those weak points. So he quickly jumped out of her way to put space between themselves.

"You're pretty fast," Leopard noted, looking rather impressed. "I wouldn't have guessed."

"Thanks," Po said, quickly moving over towards the weapons rack and tying a staff to the nunchucks he had. None of the weapons Shifu had out were really swingy, so he had to improvise. Leopard watched him with peaked curiosity. 

"What are you planning?" she asked, lighting the fire staff. 

"Something I hope works, because you're scary fast," Po admitted. 

Leopard leaped high into the air and came crashing back down to the floor, lifting the mirrors along the edge of the staff to once again flash Po with blinding light. Po closed his eyes and rolled backwards out of the way, keeping the staff and nunchucks close to his body. He could feel the wind from the Hearts whiz right by him, just a fraction of a centimeter from hitting him, and Po got into a kneeling position and listened carefully for what was behind him. 

Just think of it like the kids at the Tsung Village when they try to steal the cookies in the kitchen withou- Po was thinking to himself, but he could suddenly feel a rush of air coming towards him and he heard the faint WHOOF of the weapons Master Leopard held. At the last minute, Po whipped his staff behind him, swinging the nunchucks at Leopard and getting both sets of weapons stuck together. Leopard lit the staff again, but Po kept his eyes closed to block out the light, tugged a bit on the weapon to get a feel of where he was, and quickly pulled and air kicked Leopard in the knee. The former master let out of cry of pain and buckled, though only slightly. Still, it was just enough to close the mirrors and give Po time to slide the fan off and retreat towards the side of the training hall to regroup. He was expecting another lightning round, but to his surprise, Master Leopard laughed and simply bowed to him. "You're really something," she commented. "You surprise me." 

Po eyed her. "That's it?" he aske suspiciously. 

"I bow out honorably, master's honor," Leopard assured him. "You put up a good fight. I think teaching those kids gave you those sharp instincts." 

"Really? You think so?" 

"Sure. I don't know what it is about children, but they make you a lot sharper, give you eyes in the back of your head. And they think they know everything, so they're always trying to be sneaky." 

"Oh, I know!" Po exclaimed. "Some of the kids in our kwoon try to get around the rules all the time. Rei's the biggest offender, but she's a sweetheart."

"What did she do?" 

"She tried to sneak snacks into the training hall and eat them on the roof." 

Leopard laughed. "My middle daughter tried something similar," she said. "I told them no food upstairs, and especially no sweets. Well, Chyou decided she would take this big piece of cake we had made and eat it in her bed after I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and punished her and she couldn't figure out how I knew even though she had frosting all over her teeth." 

Po laughed too. "Kids," he said. "They're  a fun handful." 

"And also an annoying handful from time to time," Leopard added with a knowing chuckle. "But I'm just speaking from parental experience."

"Makes sense. I don't have to watch them all the time; they go back home at the end of training." 

Leopard eyed him. "They don't stay over?" she asked. 

"No, they all live in the village, and the village isn't very big what with all the damage from the war  that happened years ago, so they can just walk home with their parents. I used to do that when I lived here. Sometimes I'd sleep at dad's if I knew I didn't have to get up early the next morning." 

"Oh! Well, I guess that makes sense. I think I vaguely remember that from one of Oogway's lessons when we were going over legendary battles. It was something about Master Snigdei and the Temple...of something, I can't remember now...and their position was precarious because what they were protecting couldn't be physically moved." 

"Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Tsung Village. They did cover up the entrance to the Temple of Healing, but that's only as a decoy. There's a new way to get there and the village just moved to that side. Which is still pretty dangerous, especially with only two masters left, so-"

"So that puts you in a very precarious situation," Leopard finished. "Which explains why Master Snigdei was always said to be wearing disguises or doing surprise visits." 

"Yeah. I mean, I could write a letter to my friends once I got here and say I was coming, but that's a pretty bad idea. Rai and I...that's the other master I work with...have to write in code just in case the letters get accidentally intercepted, so letting everyone know I was on my way would be risky." 

"I understand. Did you say there's only two masters left?"

"Yeah, Master Sable and Mistress Kuan. Master Snigdei died shortly after I moved there and the other masters who were left followed after him." Po sighed. "And Master Sable and Mistress Kuan aren't doing so great." 

Master Leopard, who by this point had put the fire staff against the rack and started taking off the extra extensions she had added, turned to Po and gently squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said sympathetically. "I'm glad you got the chance to get to know them though."

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. I just hope that Rai and I can handle all the responsibility. It's just going to be us teaching and taking care of all these things and probably learning by ourselves. And that's not going to be easy."

"Probably not. But you have a good head on your shoulders and you have a very determined spirit, from what I can tell. Those are good qualities to have in order to take in such a huge assignment. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time."

Po smiled with some relief. "Thanks," he said. "That means a lot to hear. I don't always feel up to the challenge sometimes."

"I'm sure you'll manage, both you and Rai. It sounds like you two have established some pretty good teamwork."

"Yeah, we've got a good routine down. She's pretty cool. And she had a fiancé moving to town and he's really good with medical stuff, so that'll be nice."

"That is nice."

Po put his weapons away as well as Master Leopard wished him goodnight. "And thanks for the sparring session," she said, taking the extensions to put them back where she had found them. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

Po watched her leave for a second before sitting down with a yawn to ponder over the night's events. He didn't really have much to think about minus the fact that his paw still hurt from fighting Jai-Rong and that he was surprise by the amount of energy she and Tai Lin had. (And Leopard too, though it wasn't too much of a surprise considering her background). The panda yawned and decided he better head off to sleep, taking the lantern he had in the training hall and heading back to the barracks to crash in bed.