Tigress and Viper headed over to the kitchen so that Viper could show her friend how to bake. When they entered the kitchen, Viper turned to Tigress and said, "So, the first step in baking cookies is knowing what ingredients you need for the recipe. So, you're making almond and chocolate chip cookies, which means you need two separate recipes."

"Two recipes?" Tigress repeated.

"You can't make two different types of cookies in the same batch," Viper told her.

Tigress groaned. "This is going to be impossible," she muttered to herself.

"No it won't. It'll just take a little more time than you thought."

The master sighed. "Alright," she said. "What am I supposed to do then?"

"Well, lets go over the first thing: what do we need to make cookies."

"The last time I had to make anything," Tigress reminded her. "Shifu just wrote down the things I needed to put into the pot."

"You know, in hindsight, it was probably a good thing you blew the kitchen up," Viper said. "I mean, when I walked in to see if you needed help, you were putting the vegetables in the pot without cutting them up, you had the entire pot full of icey water, and I don't think you even washed the vegetables."

"Thanks," Tigress said with an eye roll. "So what do I need in order to make this stuff?"

"Well that depends on which batch of cookies you want to make first."

"I told him almond cookies first, so I guess those are the ones I'm making right now."

"Okay, so for almond cookies, you'll need flour, almonds, butter, an egg, salt, baking soda, and sugar."

Tigress eyed her but then slowly walked over to collect the ingredients that Viper had directed her to get out. She placed everything on the counter and said, "Okay, what now?"

"Now we have to mix them in a bowl, minus the almonds," Viper said.

Tigress got out a small bowl from the dishware pantry and set it down on the counter. Viper laughed. "It needs to be a little bigger than that," she said.

"Like the soup pot?"

"No, we have mixing bowls on the shelf over there; they're a little bit bigger than regular food bowls."

Tigress glanced over at the shelf, spotting bigger bowls. "Oh," she said. She walked over and grabbed one of the bigger bowls, setting it down on the counter and putting the other one back. "So, I just put everything in here?" she asked.

"In certain amounts, yes," Viper said. "You need measuring cups so that you can measure everything out."

Tigress sighed and opened up a few drawers before she found the one with the measuring utensils and took them out.

"Okay, good so far," Viper said.

"The egg doesn't need to be measured, does it?" Tigress asked.

"No, you just put it in."

Tigress shrugged and put the egg gently inside of the bowl. Viper stifled a laugh. "Tigress," she said. "You have to crack it open and put the yolk in the bowl, not the whole egg."

"The yolk?"

"Yes, that's the yellow part inside of the egg. That's the part we eat, not the outside."

Tigress took the egg out and looked at it.

"Okay, now I want you to-"

Viper was interrupted when the master then slammed the egg into the bowl where it smashed into pieces with eggyolk and egg shell mixed into the bowl. "So, do I have to take the white shells out then?" she asked, her paw stiff from the unnatural goo that hung on it.

"You know, there's an easier way to do that," Viper said. "I was going to say that you need to gently tap it on the side of the bowl until it cracks enough for you to just open it."

Tigress looked down at the eggy mess that was all over the bowl. "Right," she muttered to herself. She took the bowl and dumped it into the sink and then put it back onto the counter. Viper took out another egg and gave it to her. "Now this time," she said. "Tap it gently against the bowl."

Tigress frowned. "Gentle isn't exactly my strong suit," she noted.

"Really? You're gentle around kids."

"Not exactly."

"Sure you are. You fed that one kid at the winter festival that one time, remember?"

Tigress sighed and went back to the task of cracking the egg. She tapped it really gently against the bowl, not really getting it to crack.

"You can tap it a little harder," Viper assured her.

Tigress tapped the egg hard against the bowl where it cracked and caused the yolk to go running down the side of the bowl. Viper sighed. This is going to take a while, she thought to herself.

While Tigress struggled with trying to bake a simple batch of cookies, the boys decided to entertain themselves at Mr. Ping's noodle shop, ordering soup and bean buns and chilling around. They were still amazed, Po included, that Po had listened to Tigress over Shifu back when he was under the mind-control stone.

"I'm not surprised," Mr. Ping interjected after listening to them rant about how miraculous it was for the girls. "After all, the power of love can overcome anything."

Po turned bright red as his friends started snickering. "We're not dating, dad!" he exclaimed. "How many times to I have to explain that?!"

"I know, I know," Mr. Ping said, serving a few customers who were seated at the table next to them. "But you're the one who's had a crush on her since goodness knows when."

"Daaaad," Po warned in embarrassment as Monkey and Mantis tried not to laugh. "I don't have a crush on Tigress!"

"Oh, so you're saying that during that raid a few months before you became Dragon Warrior, the reason you wouldn't stop leaning against the wall and advertise my shop wasn't because, and may I quote, she looked cuter up close and while fighting hordes of bandits?"

Monkey and Mantis burst out laughing as Po's blush grew fire red. "Uh..." he stuttered, not quite sure how to counteract that statement.

As Mr. Ping went into the kitchen to prepare some soup for the customers at the counter, Monkey said, "Alright! More bets to cast!"

"What are you two casting bets over?" Crane asked curiously, taking a bite of soup.

"Well," Mantis answered with a grin. "We were doing bets to see when in the world you and Viper were getting together, but now we can do Po and Tigress while we're at it."

"You're doing bets on Viper and Crane?" Po asked. "Since when?"

"Since Mantis caught them hanging out near one of the markets ribbon shopping last year," Monkey said.

"I help her pick out ribbons for a dress one time and you guys are convinced we should be dating?" Crane exclaimed.

"You looked like you were enjoying her company."

"That's because we got a break that day and I was happy to be able to relax."

"Five yuan," Mantis told Monkey. Monkey grumbled and paid up.

"I hope Shifu doesn't know about your bets," Po said.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he did," Mantis said. "He knows almost everything that goes on in the Jade Palace."

The boys continued to eat their food, Monkey and Mantis whispering quietly amongst themselves. After a few minutes, Monkey turned to Po and asked, "So, how long have you liked Tigress?"

"What makes you think I still like her?"

"Po...."

Po groaned, knowing there was no way to take back what his dad had just blabbed. "Alright, alright," he groaned. "Just please don't tell Tigress! I don't want her to try and use me as a punching bag if she gets mad at me for it."

"Why would she get mad at you?" Mantis asked. "You guys are practically besties. Well, I don't know if besties is the right word, but you know what I mean."

"Well, she didn't exactly like me when I first got here and after three years of finally getting used to me, I don't want her to get upset with me or anything because I like her. I mean, we're kind of new with this strong friendship thing, so I don't want to, you know, get my hopes up."

"Oh, I get it," Monkey said. "Too early."

"Yeah, you could say that."

As Po went to take another bite of soup, Mantis said, "So, back to our original question: how long have you liked Tigress?"

Po's cheeks turned red in slight embarrassment. "Uh..." he stuttered. "Well, um....I don't know....uh..."

"We're assuming before you were nineteen?" Monkey asked.

"Yeah," Po stammered, trying to not trip over his words. "Um...well actually, I might have liked her since...erm...since I was...lvn."

"Since you were what?" Crane asked.

"Lrvn."

"Still can't hear you, man," Mantis said.

"Eleven, okay?!" Po exclaimed, but quietly enough so that no one next to them could overhear. "I've liked her since I was eleven!"

Monkey did a silent fit-pump. "Pay the tip," he told Mantis.

The bug sighed irritably and put 35 yuan on the table. "There goes that sword I was saving for," he grumbled.

"Ah, you'll probably get the money back in another bet. If I get too careless that is, and I probably won't."

"Twenty yuan says you will."

Thirty says I won't!"

"Your on!"

Shifu walked back from the Sacred Hall of Warriors so as to grab a nice cup of tea. The smell of something burning from the direction of the kitchen caught his attention however and he immediately dashed inside to see what was wrong. As he flung open the kitchen doors and exclaimed, "What's on fire?", he spotted Tigress quickly dump a tray of burning cookies into the sink where she turned on the sink water and let them put the fire out.

"Sorry, Master Shifu," Viper said. "I was just trying to teach Tigress how to bake."

"Considering the fact that the kitchen is still intact, I'll just say that your skills in this area have improved a lot from eighteen years ago."

"Not by much," Tigress assured him. She sighed and turned the water off, the steam from the burning cookies still rising above the tray. Shifu walked over to peer at them, seeing that had been burnt so badly that they looked like small black stones.

"We're working on it," Viper told him.

"Which batch is this?" Shifu asked. "Second? Third?"

"First. We've been working on it for about two hours."

Shifu did a double-take, but then said, "Well, continue working it, I suppose. Just as long as the kitchen doesn't get blown-up in the process."

Tigress turned slightly red but turned back towards the counter where Viper sighed and said, "Okay. Lets try this again...."

The boys hung out around the town after lunch, chilling with the villagers, watching a passing dance festival, and even went over to some of the local shops to see what was out. Mantis eyed the rare sword he had been dying to get, counting his money and then glaring briefly at Monkey before going back to window shopping. As the boys passed by some of the clothing stores, Crane asked Po, "What happened to that yellow shirt you got Tigress two years ago?"

"She said it was too small," Po said. "I offered to take it back for a bigger size, but she said she'd do it when she had time. I guess she hasn't really had the time, otherwise I'd of seen her wear it between then and now."

"Too bad," Crane said. "It looked really nice. Probably would have looked nice on her."

"Yeah. no kidding."

Po glanced over at Monkey and Mantis who had taken interest in a weapons shop. "Just out of curiosity," he asked Crane. "Besides Yijiro and the Stranger guy she liked, has she ever been on a date or liked anyone else?"

"Shifu," Crane answered immediately. "But she was fifteen and it was only for about two months."

"Shifu I knew about actually; Monkey told me that."

"Oh. Well, um...the only person that she's liked besides that was...um...me, actually."

Po looked shocked. "You two used to date?!" he exclaimed.

"Briefly," Crane said. "I was 31, she was 23. It was about seven years before you came over."

"How long did you guys date?"

"A year. But it wasn't really serious or anything. I mean, we would hang out and stuff, but we never kissed or hugged or anything. That's why we broke up."

"If she wasn't that into you, why did you date?" Po asked curiously.

"I don't know. I thought she was lonely and would like a friend, I guess, and she...actually, I don't know why she wanted to date me. She seemed like she liked me, but she just wasn't dedicated to romance, I guess."

"Oh," Po said. "Does she ever bring it up?"

"Nah, I think it's just one of those relationships that she wants to put behind her. Like the Yijiro incident."

"Right," Po said. "Makes sense."

The four continued to hang out in the village until the evening gong rang. The boys began to head back to the kitchen in order to get a taste of Po's soup, only to walk into the kitchen and be greeted by a mixed smell of cookies and burnt wood.

"COOKIES!" Po exclaimed, seeing two nicely baked batches on the table marked, For Po for winning the bet.

"Yep," Viper said. "Finally. We just finished them ten minutes ago."

As Po began to stuff his face with a handful of almond cookies, Monkey asked, "Why'd you start them late?"

"We didn't," Tigress said. "We've been working on them since after the training exercise this morning."

"It took you over six hours to make two little batches of cookies?!" Po exclaimed with his mouth full. "You're really new to the whole cooking thing, aren't you?"

"Afraid so," Tigress answered.

"She burned about three of the batches and used up almost the whole container of eggs," Viper told the boys.

"I caught the first one on fire, actually," Tigress corrected. "Then the other two were just badly burned."

"Fire?!" Po exclaimed.

"Hey, save some cookies for us," Crane said as Po stuffed three more into his mouth before heading over to the stove to get the soup ready.

"They're Po's cookies," Tigress reminded him. "And if he doesn't want to share, he doesn't have to."

"Are they good?" Viper asked Po. "I thought they were okay."

"They're delicious!" Po exclaimed. "I mean, I think there's a bit too much flour in the one cookie I ate, but they're still yummy!"

"Sorry," Tigress apologized.

"No it's okay. It's your first cookie batch and they're pretty good, so that's not bad."

Tigress smiled. "Thanks," she said.

"It was a nightmare trying to bake those though," Viper said. "I mean, you should have seen her when she first started trying to make the cookies."

"Not one word about my poor skills," Tigress said. "They're not that bad."

"Not that bad? I asked you to mix the egg into the bowl and you put it into the bowl with the intent of mixing it in whole!"

The boys laughed in amusement at that.

"Yeah, yeah," Tigress said with an eye roll.

The five continued to talk while Po made the soup and served it to them. A lot of the talk was the struggle of getting Tigress to be able to actually get the cookie recipe right, including how she actually left the cookies in the oven to go train for ten minutes, resulting with the cookies catching on fire.

"This is how I know I'm not cut out for domestic things," Tigress noted.

"What are you talking about?" Po asked. "You're good at sweeping the training hall and you're good with kids."

"Sweeping the training hall, yes," Tigress agreed. "Kids, different story. I'm not exactly the gentlest person."

"Sure you are. You took good care of Zan when we were away and I've seen you be nice to kids in the village before."

Tigress shrugged. "Well, I'm not around them constantly like the rest of you are, so I can't really judge by that."

Po shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said.

Everyone went back to eating soup, the room falling into a bit of silence.

"So, what did you boys do while we were doing baking lessons?" Viper asked.

"Hung out in the village," Crane answered. "Went through the markets...nothing much."

"We talked with Mr. Ping for a little bit," Mantis added.

"Yep," Monkey said with a smirk. "And you won't believe what we found out about Po!"

"Ahem!" Po said. "I thought we agreed to keep that conversation private?!"

"Aw, come on, Po! You don't want us to tell Ti-mrmph!"

Mantis laughed as Po leaped over the table to cover Monkey's mouth and keep him from saying anything else. "We did promise to keep it quiet, Monkey."

Monkey groaned and mumbled something from underneath Po's paw as if to say I know, I know. Po got off of his friend and cast him a warning look before heading back to the table to eat his food.

"What's so secretive?" Viper asked.

"Nothing," Po assured her. "My dad just enjoys telling embarrassing stories about me, that's all."

Viper smiled at the memory of Mr. Ping telling various tales about Po, covering it up through means of eating her soup. After finishing their dinner, Po took everyone's bowls and went to clean up dinner.

"Need any help?" Monkey asked. "Like clearing away these many cookies?"

"I think I'll put the cookies away myself, thank you," Po said, casting his friend a warning look.

Monkey snickered but left the kitchen, Po assuring his friends that he would be fine cleaning up the kitchen himself.

"I'll get the table," Tigress offered. "I made most of the mess in here what with the baking and what not. No protests, Po."

Po, who had opened his mouth to protest, thought better of it and shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, turning towards the sink to wash the dishes.

The others left the kitchen, leaving Tigress to clean up the table.

"I'll stick the cookies in a jar and leave them in your room so that Monkey knows to keep his hands off," she told the panda.

"Thanks," Po said. "He probably would have tried to take some for all of the times I've eaten his out of the cookie jar."

"Understandable," Tigress told him.

She put the cookies inside of a large jar and placed them in the middle of the table. She then took a rag and wiped the table down, moping up any spills from the soup bowls.

"So what kind of embarrassing secrets did your dad expose this time?" Tigress asked. "Did you slip on a puddle of soup that someone spilled?"

"Fortunately no," Po answered. "When it comes to food spills, I'm actually pretty good with avoiding them."

"Well that's good to hear," Tigress said. She glanced over at Po with a smirk. "So what did your dad say?" she asked. "I promise I won't laugh."

Po turned red and kept his face turned towards the dishes so that Tigress didn't see. "Uh, you do realize that the reason I don't want my dad to tell embarrassing stories about me is because they're embarrassing, right?"he asked.

"And the reason they're usually embarrassing is because you're afraid people will laugh at it, right?"

"No, they're embarrassing because they're personal and...embarrassing."

"Why? What did your dad say that was so embarrassing?"

"Nothing in particular," Po assured her, frantically washing the dishes and placing them on the counter.

Tigress eyed him with a smile and walked over to him. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I thought friends were supposed to confide things in each other."

"They do," Po answered. "But there are also some things that friends don't tell each other, like embarrassing childhood stories that can be used for blackmail."

"Like those pictures your father has of you running naked down the hallway of the noodle shop?"

Po turned a dark shade of red, unaware his dad had shown anyone those pictures. "Uh, w-when was that?" he asked.

"A few months before we had to deal with Shen. Remember? It was a few months before I went off to Japan and we came back from your dad's noodle shop smirking while you and Shifu were training in the Wu Dang Mountains?"

Po remembered after a second. Yijiro had sent word to the Jade Palace so as to be able to give Tigress a tour of Japan, and he had been coming in a few months to bring her there. Po was admittedly jealous over the two dating, but he was trying in any way he could to let it go since he knew that Tigress didn't share the same feelings for him. Shifu could tell he wasn't okay though as he was trying to eat a lot more than usual, (like he normally did when he was upset), he didn't go down to visit his dad like he normally did, and after he was done eating, he would train extra hard in the training hall. The grandmaster wasn't quite sure what the problem was, but he had taken Po up to the Wu Dang mountains in an effort to help him calm down from whatever had been troubling him. Po had noticed his friends, later on after they had all joined up for dinner, smirking and trying to not snicker, although he hadn't understood what was so funny at the time.

"Yeah," he said. "Remind me to remind him to not show any more of those pictures."

Tigress chuckled. "I'll be sure to do that," she promised. She eyed the pile of dishes that Po had stacked on the side after washing and said, "Need a hand?"

"If you feel like drying," Po said. "You don't have to if you don't want to though."

Tigress smiled at him and grabbed a towel so as to begin drying. "So you won't tell me then?" she asked.

"Um..." Po stuttered. "Not now, but maybe someday, like a hundred years from now."

"You tease, Dragon Warrior. Not even a little hint?"

"You just like hearing embarrassing stories about me."

"Well it's not everyday the dad of the mighty Dragon Warrior spills secrets from their childhood."

"So?"

Tigress dried the dishes off and put them away as Po began to scrub out the pot. "Maybe I might make extra almond cookies if you drop a small hint," she said slyly.

"Oh no you don't," Po said grinning at her. "That trick isn't going to work on me again. While I do enjoy cookies, I'm not spilling anything for that particular story."

"This isn't just any ordinary embarrassing story, is it?" Tigress asked.

"That's my business."

Tigress glanced over at the jar of cookies she had on the counter and smirked. She wasn't quite sure what was coming over her, but for some reason, the idea of Po keeping a special embarrassing story seemed to intrigue her for some reason. "What if I gave you the cookies after you told me?" she asked coyly.

"What are you talking about? You already gave them to me."

"Not necessarily," Tigress corrected. " I said I would make them. Meaning I don't actually have to give them to you."

Po put the pot on the counter, allowing Tigress to dry it. "But I already ate a few of them," he retaliated with a smirk as Tigress went to go put the pot away.

"That doesn't mean I'll let you have the rest of them," Tigress answered.

The two warriors eyed the cookie jar at the same time and leaped for it, Tigress grabbing Po by the ankle and knocking him down. Po knocked his head into the table which caused the cookies to go sailing through the air, but Tigress managed to catch them before they hit something and smashed. Po got up to face he, Tigress holding the jar protectively with a smirk.

"One hint," she promised. "And you can have it back."

"Sorry, Master Tigress," Po said, trying not to smile at the playful way she was acting. "But no one stands between a panda and his cookies."

"Then come and get me then, Dragon Warrior!"

Po leaped at her so as to grab the jar, but Tigress jumped onto his back and launched herself across the room and onto the table where Po had just been near. Po stood up with a mischievous smile. "Alright," he said, getting into a battle stance. "No more Mister Nice Panda."

He ran over to the table so as to be able to grab the cookie jar, but Tigress quickly ran over towards the wall, causing him to follow her around. Tigress leaped onto one of the shelves out of Po's reach and dangled the cookie jar teasingly in front of him.

"Aw, come on, Tigress," Po protested. "Those are my cookies."

"One little hint," Tigress reminded him. "And I'll give them back."

"No way!"

He jumped up to grab the jar, but Tigress launched herself off of the shelf and landed on the ground by the door. Po practically flew over to grab the jar, knocking the master over in the process. She managed to kick him off, but Po rebounded in a second and managed to pin her to the wall before she could start running again.

"Alright," Po said with a small grin. "Now hand over the jar."

"Give me a hint," Tigress responded with a smirk.

Po tried to snatch the jar out of her paws, but the master held on firmly.

"Please, Po?" she asked. "Just one little hint?"

Po gritted through his teeth as he struggled to get the jar free, but he finally said, "Alright, alright. The story that dad was telling everyone, it started when I was eleven."

Tigress smiled at him and released the pot, accidentally sending the panda flying backwards into the table. "Oh, sorry, Po," she said.

"No, no, it's okay," Po assured her, standing up with a slight moan of pain. "The jar's okay."

Tigress let out a soft chuckle. "Glad to hear it," she told him.

Po went to put the cookie jar back on the table as Tigress cleared her throat and went back to a serious face.

"Well," Tigress said. "I suppose this is goodnight then."

She went to leave the kitchen when Po said, "What? You're just going to go to bed? But we were having fun!"

"We were?"

"Sure you were! I heard you laughing and smiling your head off. Don't deny it!"

Tigress rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Alright, I had a little fun," she admitted. "But don't get used to it. I'd like to avoid all aspects of mind games."

"How is playing 'keep-away' with a jar of cookies an aspect of a mind game?" Po asked.

"It's just..." Tigress said. "It isn't...me."

Po smiled at her. "Maybe not the you I met when I first came into the Jade Palace," he told her. "But you've kind of, and please don't punch me for saying this, but you've kind of softened a lot since I've met you, so having a little bit of fun for once actually kind of seems like something you may do."

Tigress eyed him for a second before shrugging her shoulders with a smile. "I suppose," she answered.

"And besides," Po added slyly. "Shifu and I did 'keep-away' during one of my earlier training exercises, so it could always be disguised as training."

"You did something similar to what we did as part of a training exercise?" Tigress asked in surprise.

"Sure."

Tigress thought about that for a second and then smirked at him. "I wouldn't mind that," she told him.