The next morning, Tigress was woken out of a sound sleep when Po let out a loud shriek. She snapped her head up, her ribcage piercing her skin and causing her to lay back down again. The floorboards creaked and Tigress heard the Five go into Po's room to make sure he was okay.
"Sorry," Po apologized. I had a dream about Shen again."
"Was he firing his cannon at you?" Crane asked.
"Yes," Po admitted.
Tigress wanted to get up just to make sure that he was okay, but she wasn't able to since her chest was in so much pain. She listened for a few minutes as Po got up and promised to make breakfast as an apology for waking everyone up. Hearing that he was alright, she made an effort to roll over and go back to sleep.
"I'm going to check on Tigress," Viper said, and the master heard her door creak open. She remained still and quiet as Viper slithered over and said, "Tigress?"
Just act asleep and she'll go away, Tigress thought to herself. I'm going to show Po that I'm not desperate for company like he thinks I am!
After a few seconds, Viper slithered back out of the room to inform the masters that Tigress was still asleep.
"Well, I'll make something for her and leave it in her room for her whenever she wakes up," Po told her, and with that, the masters walked out of the barracks. Tigress slowly started to fall back to sleep, the pain in her chest subsiding for a moment before she did so. She wasn't sure how long she was out for, but she knew that it had been for at least another two or three hours as the room was much brighter than it was when she had gotten up earlier that morning. The master slowly sat up and then took the tray that was next to her bed, eating the stir-fried tofu with a smile. Either I eat this stuff too much or he took a lucky guess, she thought to herself as she ate her favorite food. She then drank her tea and layed back on the bed in boredom. A week and a half until I can get out of this bed! she thought to herself. A week and a half!
"Tigress?" came Viper's voice.
The master turned to see her friend slither into the room. "Hey," she said. "Come to collect my tray?"
"Yep," Viper answered. "How's your chest?"
"In the process of healing," Tigress answered. "However, I figured out what to do with myself while I'm cooped up in here so that I'm not so bored."
"Besides ringing the bell constantly?" Viper asked hopefully.
"Yes. I was thinking about making a cube out of paper and then stack them in a pyramid."
"Oh," Viper said. "Well, I'd better get you paper then."
Tigress was then handed a stack of paper. "Thanks," the master said. "That's all until lunch and dinner."
"Lunch and dinner?" Viper asked in surprise. "No kung fu sparring? No pillow fluffing? No guarding the boarders secretly so that we're not surprised by villain attacks while relaxing?"
"Nope," Tigress assured her. "I'm trying to not risk my bell privileges."
"Oh, alright," Viper said. She eyed the master and asked, "This isn't because of what you told Po yesterday, is it?"
Tigress turned her head in surprise. "What are you talking about?!" she demanded. "What did Po say to you?"
"He said you told him you were lonely from being cooped up in your room all day."
"That's ridicules!" Tigress snapped. "I've only been in here for four days! And I did not say I was lonely; I said I hated sitting around not doing anything."
Viper looked at her funny.
"He over-exaggerates situations, remember?"
"I thought you normally did that."
"I'm fine, okay?! Just enjoy your day off duty before I change my mind!"
Viper quickly darted out of the room as Tigress whacked a paw to her head. Po, she thought. I'm going to kill you!
While Tigress was trying out her self-solitary confinement, the other five decided to go visit Po in the noodle shop as Tigress had told them to leave her alone unless they were bringing her food. The Dragon Warrior was serving the customers while Mr. Ping cooked the food. As Po started heading towards the kitchen, he caught a glimpse of his friends and did a double take.
"Guys!" he exclaimed. "This is a surprise."
"We've been released from our captor for today," Mantis told him, causing Viper to hiss at him warningly.
"Captor?" Po repeated. Then it clicked. "Oh, Tigress? How is she a captor?"
"The bell!" Mantis exlaimed. "She has the bell still!"
"Oh, right."
Po invited them to sit down as some of the customers got excited from seeing the Fuious Five eating in their proximity. Mr. Ping was especially excited as he knew them to be high tippers. Po sat them by the kitchen window so that they could converse while he worked.
"So Tigress doesn't want us waiting on her today?" Po asked.
"Nope," Monkey answered. "Just whenever lunch and dinner are ready."
The Dragon Warrior handed everyone their food, adding,"I hope that doesn't have anything to do with what I told her yesterday."
"I'm guessing yes," Viper told him. "She's a very independent person, so the fact that she would try and prove that she doesn't need our help to stay entertained doesn't surprise me."
"I guess you have a point," Po noted. He headed back into the kitchen to get more orders to serve and continued to talk to his friends, the five of them having a good time. (Especially since they didn't have to go running around all day answering to the call of a bell).
Meanwhile, Tigress was starting to get bored trying to make 3-D cubes with her paper. She had already attempted forty-eight of them and all of them, to her, looked terrible. I'm the worst person at crafts, she thought to herself. That was partly her own fault as she had dedicated herself entirely to kung fu and hadn't developed any other skills besides her ability to play dominoes and checkers. She let out a sigh and took another piece of paper from the pile. She then began to fold it sloppily, trying with no success to make the cube. A little frustrated, she kept folding it and squishing it together so as to make it look alright, but it kept coming out wrong. Tigress groaned in irritation, throwing the cube onto the floor when she was finally able to make it stay together. She went to reach for more paper only to discover that she had used up the last of it.
Great.
Tigress reached over to ring her bell but then remembered that no one was inside the Jade Palace. She had to find something else to do by herself. Lets see, she thought to herself. The other five are hanging out, Po's with his dad, Master Shifu's meditating in the Wu Dang Mountains....However, she couldn't think of anything else to do. And I can't get out of bed or else I'll get another lecture about moving.
She thought about having a conversation with one of the five or Po when they returned, but the memory of implying that she was lonely kept creeping back into her mind. I don't want Po to get any ideas, she thought to herself. Not in a million years! She then glanced around her room, racking her brain for any idea on what to do with herself. The master figured that the least she could do at the moment was try and get some sleep. As she started to lay down, her door creaked open and she turned her head to see Viper standing there.
"Hey, Tigress," Viper said, slithering in with a lunch tray. "How are you-"
She stopped short when she saw a bunch of lopsided paper cubes laying sprawled across the floor. After watching her expression for a second, Tigress said, "Yes, I suck at arts and crafts. You can stop staring."
Viper quickly headed over to her to hand her lunch. "Run out of paper?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Want me to get you some more?"
"I'm good, thank you."
"Do you need anything?"
Tigress thought for a second. "If you could sneak the dominoes out of Shifu's room, I wouldn't mind," she said.
Viper nodded and ducked out of the room for a second, returning a few minutes later with the dominoes for Tigress.
"Thank you," Tigress said.
"You're welcome."
Viper was then dismissed, leaving Tigress alone to eat her meal. The tiger master tried to eat her food as slow as she could so as to pass the time, but she was only able to stall for about twenty minutes. Afterwards, she played with the dominoes, making various shapes with them until about mid-afternoon when she grrew bored of the tedious activity. She decided to meditate since it was something relating to kung fu, even though it didn't involve fighting anyone. She sat there for a few hours, breathing in and out and concentrating on what she was going to do once she was finally able to get up and around. When she had pondered everything that she could possibly think of, she leaned back in her bed with a sigh and glanced around. The Jade Palace was as silent of a tomb which made her a bit uncomfortable.
"Hello?" she called out.
No answer.
Tigress glanced out her window, seeing the sun start to dip down. The masters would return soon with dinner which would giver her something else to do. The tiger master groaned and slumped against the wall. She hated to admit it and get reproof from Po, but she was feeling a bit lonely. Since she was normally around her friends or only in self-solitude for a short amount of time, she didn't realize how much she enjoyed spending time with them until she was forced to spend everyday isolated in her room with almost no company. She didn't want to admit it to anyone, but if she didn't then the isolation would get worse until she was freee to roam around again.
After a little over and hour and a half had passed by, Po came into her room with a tray.
"No bell ringing?" he asked.
"I'd rather not lose my torture privileges," Tigress joked.
"Right," Po said, handing the master her dinner. "Well, if that's all, then I'll just head out."
"How's the activity down in the valley?" Tigress asked. "No attacks while we're still vulnerable?"
"Vulnerable?" Po exclaimed. "The Dragon Warrior is always prepared for battle! There is no vulnerability in this valley!"
"So no?"
"Surprisingly"
Po started out the door when Tigress asked, "Did you all eat or am I last again?"
"Last again. I'm afraid," Po told her with a smile. "No big deal though. You'll be kicking our butts later once you're all better."
"I should think so," Tigress told him.
Po started to shut the door and leave when Tigress called out,"Wait! Wait a minute!"
Po popped his head back in curiously. "Yes?" he asked.
"Do you think you could..." Tigress started, swallowing her pride before saying next,"...keep me company."
Po grinned. "Keep you company?" he repeated.
"I'm bored."
Po walked in with a smirk. "You missed us!" he told her as he walked over to her bed.
"No, I just ran out of-ow!"
Po had gone over and given her a hug, accidentally squeezing her a bit too tight. He quickly released her though in order to not break another rib.
"Sorry," he apologized. "Just trying to make you feel better."
"I'm not-" Tigress protested, but then she thought better of it and told him never mind.
Po glanced at the many cubes that were laying scattered all over the floor. "Not so good with the arts and crafts thing, huh?" he said.
"Yeah, I find that I'm not good at anything besides kung fu, checkers, and dominoes," Tigress noted.
"Maybe when you're well enough to get up, I can teach you cooking or lantern making," Po offered.
"I'll think about it."
The two sat in Tigress' room and talked for a while. Po told her about how his day had gone and how he and the five had talked when they came into the restaurant to eat lunch.
"Captor, huh?" Tigress said, referring to what Po said Mantis had called her earlier when the other five had come down. "I'll have to get him for that once my ribs have healed."
"Should I forewarn him?" Po asked.
"Nah, let it be a surprise," Tigress answered. "Otherwise he'd have time to prepare."
"True."
"Po," came Monkey's voice. "What's taking so long?"
The primate opened the door, spotting the two masters sitting near each other and talking. "Am I missing something?" he asked.
"I'm just keeping her com-oof!" Po answered, getting hit with a spoon Tigress had. He finished with. "Entertained."
"You were lonely up here by yourself!" Monkey exclaimed as the other five popped in behind him.
"Now I'll have to get you later," Tigress said, casting a look at Po who squirmed over towards the door to avoid the gaze. To Monkey, she said, "I'm fine."
"Hey, it's okay to want to hang out with us," Crane called over from behind the group. "There's nothing wrong with it."
Tigress sighed. "Well, I've had my fill of company for the day, so you can all go if you want."
"Actually," Viper suggested. "I was thinking about us all playing Mahjong. We'd have to play it in here since you can't get out of bed, but it'll give us something to do to pass the time."
Tigress smiled. "I could use some competition," she said. "Atleast it's something where I can beat you."
"Beat us?!" Po exclaimed. "I sense a challenge afoot. Bring forth the tiles!"
The masters then set up the mahjong game in Tigress' room where they played until the late hours of night. Tigress, who had only played mahjong once before, won only three rounds. Po and Monkey were tied with six while Mantis one two rounds, Viper won seven, and Crane won only one time. When eveyone was mahjonged out, they decided to put the game away and call it a night.
"Goodnight, Tigress," Po called over, being the last one to leave the room.
"Goodnight, Dragon Warrior," Tigress replied. As she settled into bed, she added, "Thanks for keeping me company."
Po smiled at her. "No problem," he answered. And with that, he closed the door and let her get some sleep.