The Countdown

Lost in a Fog

"That's because I'm a horrible dancer," Tigress told him.

"You're pretty good once you get into a rhythm," Po answered.

"Thanks, but I'm still really bad."

Po grinned at her as they reached the kitchen, a pleasant aroma from the breakfast dumplings greeting them on the way in.

"There you are," Crane said to Tigress. "Trying to train again?"

"I'm assuming Viper told you that?" Tigress replied, sitting down at her spot at the table.

"She told everyone that, yes," Crane corrected, seeing the look on Mantis and Monkey's faces.

"What took you two lovebirds so long to get over here?" Mantis asked with a smirk, causing Tigress to nearly choke on her food and Po to turn red and duck away so that Tigress didn't see his face.

"What did you say?" Tigress demanded of the bug.

"Well, you two did take forever to get over here!"

"We were only a few seconds behind Viper," Tigress told him sharply. "That's the end of it!"

The masters at their breakfast in a somewhat awkward silence until finally, Monkey said, "So, how did you two enjoy the slow dance?"

Po's eyes grew wide as Mantis snickered.

"What?!" Crane exclaimed.

"Slow dance?!" Viper seconded. "Tigress, you didn't mention a slow dance!"

"You didn't ask," Tigress answered flatly.

"It wasn't on purpose!" Po stammered. "I beat her in a bet to dance and it just so happened that the slow dance was next!"

"Who told you that?!" Tigress demanded, glaring at Monkey.

"Mr. Ping," Monkey answered. "Mantis and I came in to get something to drink and he told us that he saw you two slow-dancing outside the noodle shop."

"Yep," Mantis added. "And he kept mentioning how cute he thought you two looked together."

The masters snickered in amusement as Po slammed his head against his paws with a groan. "We just talked about this!" he grumbled to himself.

Mantis went to say something else, but Viper and Tigress cast him a death look which kept his mouth shut. After a minute of eating in silence, Tigress said, "It was fine."

The silence was then broken and the masters fell back into talking vibrantly about how much they also enjoyed the festival the night before. After breakfast was finished and the dishes cleaned and put away, Monkey suggested going down to the village to hang out, but Po had another idea.

"There's a trail through one of the backwoods that goes by a lake," Po told his friends. "And I thought that we could go hiking around there this morning."

"A hike around a lake?" Viper said with a smile. "That sounds lovely!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Monkey exclaimed. "Lets go!"

The masters headed outside where they walked over towards the Jade Palace gates, walked down the Thousand Steps, and then followed Po through a small path in the woods nearby so as to head over to the lake. Viper took in the sights of the many flowers that lined the path and the trees alongside it, relaxing along with the rest of the masters. After they had been walking through the trail or about twenty minutes, Crane said, "This is really nice."

"I know!" Monkey added. "This is really relaxing!"

The six warriors finally reached the lake, standing besides it in order to catch their breath. It was slightly hot outside which wore them out even more, especially Po who was slighty heaving due to both the walk and the heat combined. The lake stood still in front of them, the calm water seeming to invite them inside.