When practice finished for the day, the masted retired to the kitchen where Po proceeded to cook dinner. The masters had spent a long afternoon battling each other in order to take out each partner pair and Mantis had zero trouble with relating his joy at beating at least one team during the sparring.

"I still can't believe that we beat you two!" Monkey exclaimed, looking over at Crane who was getting some acupuncture from Mantis to help his sore muscles. "I mean, you guys were the least battered out of all of us!"

"You two weren't bad yourselves," Crane told him. "We were pretty evened out until you pulled off that clever pressure-point attack."

"Even though it wasn't exactly my favorite one," Viper added, watching Mantis stick another needle into Crane's wing.

"It wasn't that bad," Mantis told her. "And in case you were looking to yell at me, that wasn't my fault. Crane moved at the last second and I hit the wrong nerve point."

"I wish I could call you a liar," Crane grumbled. "But unfortunately, I can't."

"Next time we'll get them to hug on their own," Monkey whispered over to Po as he began to finish up dinner.

"Don't count on it," Po told him sternly.

He finished the dumplings as Mantis finished doing acupuncture on Crane and quietly put the needles away.

"Order up!" Po called out, sliding the bowls over to each of his friends.

"Thank you, Po," Tigress said, taking her chopsticks and eating her dinner.

"How are your wounds, Tigress?" Viper asked.

"They're alright," the master told her. "It hurt holding up the Spiked Bamboo Staff, but I'm perfectly fine."

Master Shifu introduced three different weapons to the masters earlier during their sparring. The first one, the one that Crane and Viper used, was the Iron Nunchucks. They were impossible to break, hurt anyone they hit, and were extremely fast and heavy, making them difficult to use. (Crane actually hit himself a few times while trying to use them). The second weapon which was used by Mantis and Monkey, was called the Death Shield. It looked like a normal shield except it had a mechanism that fired arrows from the front and projected spikes from the sides for extra oomph. Po and Tigress used the Spiked Bamboo Staff which was sturdy bamboo staff that had nasty spikes all over it except for a small part for the bearer to wield it. As Monkey and Mantis already had the shield, Po and Tigress had to use the staff but injured themselves a few times while trying to use it. However, they managed to pull themselves together in order to evade the chi attacks from Mantis and the shield lunges from Monkey. (Tigress managed to grab the shield and the two worked together in order to take over the sparring match).

"We almost had you too!" Mantis exclaimed, eating some of his dumplings. "If Po hadn't sat on me, I probably could have kicked both of your butts."

"Since when have you ever kicked my butt?" Tigress asked him.

"Well, at least Po's butt."

Po sat down to eat, glancing around the table so as to look at who was there. "Where's Shifu?" he asked.

"Probably meditating," Viper answered.

"Are you sure?" the Dragon Warrior asked suspiciously. "Because he normally comes to the kitchen to eat after achieving the inner peace thing he's been working on. But lately, he's been skipping meals and I don't know where he is."

"Running errands?" Mantis suggested.

"For almost a whole week in a row?"

"Hmm...got a point there."

The masters pondered over this question for a moment, Tigress finally saying, "He is modifying the training hall...."

"Oh, that's right!" Po exclaimed. "Maybe that's why."

"Seems to be the most likely explanation," Crane piped up.

The masters continued to eat their dinner, making some small talk about their sparring and about anything that they planned to do in the future. Monkey and Mantis cast some small bets around the table, much to the chagrin of Po and Crane, and got some reproof from Viper. Tigress decided to try and ignore them and ate her food silently.

"I'm visiting my family next week," Viper announced. "So I probably won't be back for a week or so."

"That sounds fun," Crane noted. "I'd visit mom, but she lives a week away from the Jade Palace so I'd have to take a month off if I wanted to see her."

"Your mom was nice," Po said. "She should come here more often."

"Yeah, uh, I'll pass on that," Crane told him, trying not to remember the embarrassing stories his mom told the last time she visited.

"Does Shifu know you're going, Viper?" Tigress asked her friend.

"Yeah, I told him yesterday right before lunch."

"Cool," Po said. "Anyone else going anywhere?"

"I doubt Shifu would let too many of us leave the Jade Palace unless it was important," Tigress answered.

"True, but I'm just curious."

"I'm heading out this week with Quan-Ying," Mantis piped up. "But we're only going to be gone for the day."

"Quan-Ying?!" Monkey exclaimed in surprise. "I thought you two broke up! Again! Like three months ago!"

"Well, we got back together," Mantis said simply, stuffing another dumpling into his mouth.

"How long are you two going to do this breaking-up and getting back together thing?" Viper asked. "It seems a bit unhealthy."

"We just get into silly fights," Mantis explained calmly. "It's no big deal. We're on good terms now."

"What got you two back together?" Monkey asked.

"I apologized for thinking that she was trying to make fun of me and she apologized for thinking I was only interested in her for her wings."

"Her wings?" Tigress asked.

"Yeah, they're gorgeous! They're blue, pink, and green and the shimmer if she steps into the sun." The bug cleared his throat and added, "Well, I'd better go. I'm bringing her a poem and I still need to figure out what to write."

He grabbed his food and hopped off of the table, walking towards the door with the enormous bowl tottering around above him. As he left the kitchen, Crane said, "How long do you think this'll last?"

"I don't know," Monkey admitted. "The longest they've been together is three and a half months."

"What's the shortest?" Po asked.

"Four days. But they don't break up for long. The longest they've been apart is a week."

No one else said anything in response to the situation. They just finished their food and then sat in an awkward silence.

"I'd better go pack," Viper finally said, breaking the silence. "I want to make sure I have everything."

"You're not leaving for a week!" Monkey told her.

"She always gets ready early," Tigress and Crane answered at around the same time.

Viper slithered out of the kitchen as Monkey glanced over at Crane and smirked. He then took his food bowl over to the sink and said, "I'd better get to bed. I want to rest from the battle with our new friend: the happy spikes of death."

Po laughed lightly. "Yeah, I think most of us have a score to settle with old spikey over there," he replied.

As Monkey left, Crane got up and said that he was going to make sure that Monkey did have his drawing, washed his bowl, and left the kitchen. Tigress and Po were left by themselves in the kitchen where they both tried to avoid eye contact.

"So..." Po said slowly. "I wash, you dry?"

"Sounds good to me," Tigress answered flatly, getting up to put her bowl in the sink.

Tigress felt herself go flying backwards, a searing pain crossing her chest where she had just gotten hit with the cannonball. She felt her heart race as she tried to catch her breath and breathe, but she felt almost incapable at the task. She couldn't recall feeling so weak and helpless, minus the time Tai Lung froze her chi and she felt powerless to stop him from continuing ahead. The master wondered if she was going to drown since she was right beside the harbor, but fortunately, she landed on a board which caused her to whack her head hard and get a migraine. Time seemed to stop and the empty silence that followed rung in her ears as she could still hear the blast from the cannon being fired. She kept trying to breathe, feeling herself sliding off of the board.

No! she thought to herself. I can't die! My friends still need me! China still needs me!

She felt her paws shake ever-so-slightly as she tried with little success to hold onto the board she was floating on. A red light overshadowed the harbor as Shen's boats slid silently into the open water. Tigress heard the water around her move a bit more than a gentle sway and she suddenly felt a shadow cross over her.

"Tigress...." came Po's voice.

The master felt him grab her paw, pulling her slightly onto the board. Tigress tightened her grip on him the best that she could, barely managing to look up at him. His face was plastered with concern for her and he was close very close to her, as if to offer a form of protection. Tigress managed to smile as him so as to show him that she was okay, (minus a painful feeling in her ribs), but was forced to lay her head back down due to lack of energy. She felt Po put a hand on her back and remembered their brief hug in Gongmen Jail. While she did it to show him that she understood what he was going through, she admitted to herself that she did enjoy it. She rarely hugged people and was rarely hugged as a child due to her self-isolation and Shifu's lack of affection while she grew up, but she enjoyed one every once in a while. At the moment, she wouldn't have minded being cradled in a hug, but danger was still lurking and she knew in her gut that the moment wouldn't last too long. Sure enough, Po took his paw off of her back, leaving her back in the cold open air, and pushed her back while he swam to an overturned boat in the middle of the harbor. Tigress tried to reach out for him, not wanting him to die at the hands of Lord Shen, but with no energy to shout or even swim, she accepted defeat and put her paw back down on the boat.

Don't go, Po, she thought to herself as she put her head back down on the board. Don't leave us.
She barely managed to look over at him standing on the boat, her vision blurring, and thought, Don't leave me.

Tigress went to put her head back down on the board only to get a face-full of water. The master looked up and found herself sinking into the harbor, blasts of red sparks flying above the surface. Tigress tried to swim up but felt so weak that it was pointless. She sunk lower and lower into the water, losing more air and frantically trying to get up. In the blink of an eye, Tigress saw blood trickling into the water, dispersing throughout the harbor. Po?! she thought in alarm. Where are you?! Tigress tried to look around in order to make sure that Po as well as her friends were alright, but the blood was now thick in the water and she couldn't see anything. Tigress tried to call out to him, but her lungs filled up with water, causing her to lose the rest of the oxygen she had to breathe. Tigress tried to swim up once more, but felt her vision flicker and everything began to turn black.....

Tigress sat up in her bed and took in a gasp of air, trying to keep herself calm from her nightmare. She shook all over from the fear of losing one of her closest friends and from her own near demise. I'm alright, she kept telling herself. My friends are alright. Shifu's alright. Po's alright.

She felt a lump rise in her throat and she wrapped her arms around her knees so as to have something to grip to help her bat the feelings away. The master felt tears stream onto her face, the nightmare vividly peeking back through her mind and she tried to frantically make it go away. Tigress breathed heavily, trying to keep her tears at bay and make the sobs rising in her chest go away. When they didn't, she decided to go and meditate by the peach tree in the hopes that the relaxing scent of the blossoms would help her. The master quietly stood up and walked over to her door, sneaking out of the barracks in order to not wake anyone up. She slipped into the night time air, the cool breeze grazing her fur and chilling the tears leaking out of her eyes. Tigress tried to keep herself together as she walked over to the peach tree, folding her arms across her chest as a way to try and console herself. Everything's okay, she told herself over and over again. Everything is alright.

She reached the peach tree and slumped down against it, another vivid image from her nightmare flashing across her mind. Tigress tried to think of something else, but the only thing she could conjure up was the blood that she saw in the water, the water choking her on the way down, and the helpless feeling she felt when she saw Po walk to what seemed to be his untimely end. The master couldn't help but feel scared even though she knew how the battle had really gone down. Po had triumphed, her friends were alright, and she was never in any danger of drowning. But the thought that it could have happened was still enough to frighten her and the nightmare had felt so real that Tigress couldn't get it out of her head. She tried to meditate, but the images continued to steadily flow through her mind, making the lump in her throat harder to swallow away. After a while, she finally gave up and slumped against the tree and did her best to not think. We're alright, she kept thinking. No one's dead. Po's okay. The nightmarish images continued to taunt her however, and the master wrapped her arms across her chest so as to pull herself closer to the tree. Tears began to flow steadily out of her eyes and she felt herself begin to shake a bit more. What is wrong with me?! she scolded herself. Stop it! Everything's fine! Tigress sniffled and tried to wipe her tears away, but they continued to come steadily down her cheek.

"Tigress?"

Startled, Tigress jumped slightly but ducked her head out of the way so that they couldn't see her tears.

"What are you doing up, Po?" she asked shakily.

"I heard you tossing and turning and mumbling in your sleep," Po answered, sitting down beside her. "So I got up to make sure you were okay and I saw you sneak out of the barracks. You looked really upset."

"I'm fine," Tigress lied. "I just wasn't sleeping well."

"You sounded you were having a nightmare."

Tigress didn't answer him. She kept herself turned away and tried her best to not start crying in front of him.

"Did you have another bad dream about Gongmen City?" Po asked gently.

Tigress let out a small sigh and nodded.

"Do you...wanna' talk about it?"

"No," Tigress answered. "I'll..." She took a shuddering breath and finished with, "I'll be fine."

"You don't sound fine," Po told her with a stern look. He put a paw on her shoulder and said, "You'll feel better if you talk about it."

"I don't need the same lecture all over again," Tigress said in a barely audible whisper.

"No one's going to lecture you for having a nightmare," Po assured her, gently stroking her shoulder. "We've all had bad dreams at one point."

"Not the same one over and over again," Tigress snapped shakily, turning her head to look at him.

Po could see tears running down her face which took him a bit by surprise as most of Tigress nightmares never usually upset her this much. When Tigress didn't answer him and went to look away, he said, "True, but keeping it to yourself won't help you overcome it."

Tigress was silent for a moment, but she finally complied and turned back around, leaning against the tree and looked out past the horizon. "We were in the harbor," she told Po. "It was right after Shen blasted us with his cannon. I was laying on one of the boards, like I was when we all got hit, and you came over to check on me, like you did then, and then you went over to fight Shen."

"Okay," Po said, listening carefully.

"I could barely move," Tigress told him, her voice shaking even more than it was a few seconds ago. "And I felt helpless watching you facing the cannons alone. But then I went to put my head down on the board...and the next thing I knew was that there was water all around me. I-I-I-I tried to swim up to the surface but I couldn't.... A-a-and then there was blood...leaking into the water...."

Tigress' voice started cracking as she tried to recount the dream without crying, but she could feel the sobs come up and her tears ran down heavier than before. "A-a-a-and then it j-just...s-s-spread everywhere...b-b-but I didn't...I didn't know...who it was...a-a-and I just started drowning...."

Unable to continue, Tigress turned her head away in order to hide her tears from Po, but the panda merely scooped her up and gave her a strong hug. Tigress broke down in tears and hugged him back, resting her head in the crook of his neck. Po was startled by this for a second, but was quick to go back to comforting his friend. "It's alright," he promised her. "We're all still here. I'm right here."

"I...I know," Tigress sobbed. "But...it felt so real....I thought y-you were all g-g-gone! A-and what happens if it is real?!"

"We're all going to be fine," Po promised. "But if you ever get scared and think it's real, you can tell by trying to pinch yourself. That's what dad tells me."

"I can't control my dreams!"

"Of course you can! It takes some convincing, but if you're really dreaming, you can defy your brain and pinch yourself awake. Most of the time."

"M-most of the time?"

"Well, sometimes I have trouble convincing myself it's just a dream. But I can usually snap myself awake if I have a nightmare."

Tigress sniffled and buried herself deeper into Po's shoulder, trying to block out the nightmare. Po held her closer and stroked her back, promising that everything was okay. The two sat quietly by the peach tree, Po continuing to comfort Tigress and help her through the nasty dream. Tigress felt her cheeks turn a dark shade of red as she felt Po's head rest on top of hers and the world seemed to stop, but she found that she enjoyed it at the moment as Po's warm arms were comforting her and keeping the images out of her head. Po, on the other hand, felt butterflies flutter rapidly in his stomach and a small blush was settling over his cheeks as Tigress continued to snuggle against him for comfort. He was a little worried that Tigress would get mad at him for hugging her and doing the whole touching thing she generally didn't like, but she didn't seem to mind so he didn't think about it too much. The two sat there for a long time, long after Tigress had stopped crying and had taken to snuggling into Po's arms for warmth against the cool night breeze.

"Po?" Tigress said wearily with a sniffle, still holding onto him tightly.

"Yeah?" Po asked as he stroked her upper-back.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."