Tigress woke up the next morning to the sound of Po's gently snores. She quietly sat up and stretched her arms out, getting ready to embrace another day of training. She normally got up before the gong, so this wasn't an unusual habit for her. And today, that would prove to be most helpful. Seeing the sun slowly peeking through the window, the master figured it was almost time for the gong to go off which meant Po had to quickly leave her room. Tigress quietly walked over to Po who was curled up under her blanket, snuggling it against his chest. She could hear him murmur a little bit to herself, but she couldn't quiet hear what he was saying.

Not important right now, she told herself. He needs to wake up before Monkey and Mantis do.

The master kneeled down beside him and gently poked his arm. "Po," she said quietly, trying not to wake the others. "Po, get up."

The Dragon Warrior stirred, but didn't wake up. Tigress poked him again. "Po," she said a little louder. "Po, you need to get up. Otherwise Mantis and Monkey will be on our back all day."

Po yawned, tugging Tigress' blanket closer to his face, muttering something she couldn't hear.

"Po! Po, get u-ahhh!"

The Dragon Warrior rolled over, grabbing the arm Tigress was poking him with and dragging her down next to him. The master landed hard on her back, trying not to groan in pain. She went to stand up only for Po to reach over and scoop her into his chest with a tight squeeze. Tigress was taken aback for a moment, but then quickly worked to try and free herself. "Po," she said, trying to pry the panda's arms off of her. "Po, get up!"

Po yawned and hugged her even tighter. She heard him mutter about dumplings and dancing, but she didn't hear enough to know what he was dreaming about. The master then suddenly heard the front door of the barracks open, sending a chill down her spine.

The gong! It'll go off any minute!!!!!

"Po!" she said quickly, trying to pry herself free. "Monkey's stealing your cookies."

Po's eyes snapped open. "What?!" he exclaimed, sitting up in a kung fu stance.

Tigress felt herself fall onto the floor, gladly standing up and grabbing her baby blanket. Po glanced over at her, a small embarrassed blush creeping onto his face. "Um..." he stammered. "Sorry...."

"That's fine, Po," Tigress assured him quickly. "But you really need to head back to your room before the gong-"

A muffled and low ring ran throughout the valley, causing the two to freeze in panic.

"Now what?!" Po cried in a half whisper. "If Monkey and Mantis find out you let me bunk in your room, I'll never hear the end of it." He let out an exasperated sigh. "I should have woken Crane up or something."

Tigress grabbed him and pulled over to the trunk in her room. "Actually, he get really grouchy if you wake him up," she told him. "We had to wake him up once for a midnight ambush and he did nothing but grumble and complain."

Po winced. "Good thi-"

"Good morning master," came a muffled unison of voices.

Tigress quickly opened her chest where her stuff was neatly folded inside. "Get in," she whispered quickly.

"Get in?!" Po exclaimed in surprise. "I can't fit in there!!!"

Tigress didn't give him much time to protest as she picked Po up and tossed him into the bin. The Dragon Warrior was just barely able to fit, squeezing his body together to sink neatly into the tight bin. "We need to have another talk with them and my dad," he grumbled. "I hate that we can't just chill without them up our butts."

"With you on that one," Tigress answered, quickly closing the chest on top of him. She then headed to the door to greet Shifu, but the grandmaster opened her door for her, taking her by surprise.

"Master Shifu!" she cried in surprise.

"You're up rather late," Shifu noted. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," the master lied. "I just...didn't hear the gong go off."

Shifu looked at her funny, but then said, "Very well. I suppose there must be a first for everything."

He walked down the hallway to the end of the hallyway, Mantis saying, "Hey, where's Po?"

"He might be in the kitchen," Viper suggested.

"This early in the morning?"

"Mr. Ping did sleep here," Tigress reminded him. "They probably wanted to spend time together."

The bug shrugged. "Guess you've got a point."

Shifu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "We need to get to our training," he told everyone. "So I'd like you all to eat quickly and head over to the training hall. Am I clear?"

"Yes, master," everyone answered. They then proceeded to file out of the barracks, Shifu stopping Tigress just before she could walk out. When the rest of the students had left the barracks and were out of earshot, Shifu glanced at his adopted daughter and said sternly, "Where's Po?"

"What do you mean?" Tigress asked him.

"You're not one to be late for anything," the grandmaster told her factually. "The fact that you're late because you didn't hear the gong tells me you're hiding something."

Tigress sighed and headed back to her room. "I was waiting for you to leave," she admitted reluctantly. Shifu followed her inside where he saw her open the trunk.

Po let out a gasp of air, exclaiming, "Thank goodness! I thought you forgot about me!"

"Of course not," Tigress assured him, helping him out with some difficulty. "I was just waiting for everyone to get out of the barracks."

The Dragon Warrior collapsed on the floor, clutching his ribcage in slight pain. "Remind me next time to leap through the wall into Crane's room," he wheezed.

"I'm a little surprised you were able to fit in there, Po," Shifu told him as he managed to get to his feet.

"Same," Po told him with a weak smile. "It's a painful squeeze, but I fit. Kind of."

"I hope you don't mind my prying, but may I ask why you were in here?"

"My dad's kept waking me up and interrupting my sleep, so Tigress let me bunk on the floor for the night."

"Ah," the grandmaster said. "Understandable, I suppose."

Po's stomach growled. "I'm kind of hungry," he announced. "I call grabbing breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan," Tigress told him with a smile.

The three walked out of the room, Shifu informing them that he would meet them in the training hall for their next lesson before walking away. Tigress and Po went to walk out of the barracks when they heard, "Lei-Feng?"

"I'll catch up," Po told her, walking back to his room. Li was emerging from the room with a tired yawn, but perked up when he spotted Po.

"Son!" he exclaimed happily. He stopped to yawn again, quickly adding, "Do you really have to get up this early in the morning?"

"Everyday," Po told him.

Li yawned again. "Well, I suppose that leaves us more time to talk," he said happily.

Po gave him a sad look. "Actually, dad," he replied slowly. "I have training today."

Li looked at him in surprise. "Again?!" he exclaimed. "You just had training yesterday!"

"We have training everyday. That's how we keep up on our kung fu skills."

Li frowned. "Oh," he said sadly. "I was hoping to talk to you. I had important stuff to say."

"We can talk during breakfast," Po offered with a smile. "Although we'd have to be quick about it since Shifu wants to get right to training."

"Absolutely."

The two walked over to the kitchen, Li continuing to ask Po what it was like to grow up in the Valley of Peace and if he had ever suspected that he was adopted. Eventually, they reached the kitchen where they saw the other masters waiting for them.

"Oh, there you are," Monkey called out. "We thought you were in the kitchen making breakfast."

"We've been talking," Li assured him, going to sit down. "Although we could talk more if this training thing you all do could be postponed until tomorrow...."

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Shan," Shifu told him firmly. "It's imperative that we train everyday, especially now that our threats are becoming greater."

Li looked slightly surprised and amused as Mr. Ping began to serve everyone their breakfast. "Funny how this village is named 'The Valley of Peace' then," he said with a slight chuckle.

"The valley is safe," Shifu replied, trying to not look offended. "In fact it's one of the more safer areas around here. That doesn't make it immune to attacks."

"Yeah, haven't you ever gotten attacked?" Po asked Li. "I mean...outside of Shen's attack...."

Li smiled. "Fortunately no," he told his son. "We picked a very secluded spot to hide and we haven't been touched in almost 35 years."

"Where do you guys live?" Mantis asked, trying to think of how that's possible. "Underground?"

"Very far away in a cozy little spot," Li answered vaguely. "Which actually brings me to what I wanted to ask you Le-Po."

Po looked at him. "Ask me what?" he asked curiously.

"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come back with me and re-meet our people."

Hey guys! I am SO sorry that I didn't post on Friday! I've been focusing a lot of my energy on planning out a new series I'm thinking about doing next year, "The Subway Surfers" (yeah, I know it sounds weird and kind of dumb, but that's what happens when you give me a really good game), so I've just been sitting on the couch writing in my notebook. My computer energy tends to come at the beginning or the end of the day lately and lately my sister's been occupying my computer because she insists upon playing Agario and no one in the house trusts her with the computer because she tends to get frustrated and slam it on something. But that's not the point. I'm really trying to post these on time so I apologize if ever I don't post on Wednesday or Friday.

Also, to those of you guys who read "Haven High" or "The Hollywood Kids", (especially doitforthebrine) I also wanted to apologize for having not updated either episodes lately. I just haven't had the time for them. I'm really trying to get to them, but between balancing these stories and job hunting and doing other daily activities, I've just had little to zero time. Once this story finishes on January 29, I'll be organizing these stories a little bit differently. I'm not quite sure what will be done when exactly, so I'll let you guys know come January, but in the meantime, thanks for being patient with me. I really appreciate that.

Have a good Sunday! (Or whatever day it is wherever you guys are).

:)