Eventually Master Croc and Sheep, having gotten everything sorted out and having gotten the chance to talk to Tigress, left to inform the other visiting masters of the final decision. Tigress opted to go and meditate in the training hall since it was a short time before dinner. Monkey had gone down to the village with Zhen and Viper while Crane did some reading in the Sacred Hall of Warriors and Mantis decided to hang out with Po in the kitchen. Mantis helped Po with dressing his face wound again so that it kept healing properly and then sat down with Po to chat. Po had an apple while they sat there until finally his stomach told him it was time to make dinner, and he got up to make some soup. Mantis asked how he was holding up with the idea of them leaving, and Po admitted that he felt a little better about the idea, but that it would still be a massive adjustment for him.
"At least Zhen and I are finally getting on good footing," he said with a relieved look on his face. "I feel better about that."
"Glad to hear it," Mantis told him.
They kept chatting as Po got the soup ready, and soon his friends had come into the kitchen to get some.
"We could smell that all the way from the stairs," Monkey admitted as he and Zhen sat down next to each other. Viper sat next to Mantis and Crane walked over to the counter to get bowls out for Po. "Makes me glad it was you and not Tigress who got picked to be Dragon Warrior."
Zhen did a double take. "Tigress was almost Dragon Warrior?" she asked in surprise. "I mean...not that I would blame your master. She seems like a more likely candidate than Po."
"I may be fluffy, but I'm not deaf," Po reminded her sternly.
"When Master Oogway was announcing the Dragon Warrior," Mantis explained. "Right before he said it was Po, he was walking in Tigress' direction. And then BAM! This giant guy who looked like he caught himself on fire lands right in the middle of the arena. He woke up and started babbling about just wanting to see who was going to be picked and...well, that's how Po wound up training here for six years. "
Zhen whistled. "That's crazy," she admitted. "But kinda' cool. Who knew you'd get a free kung fu chef?"
Po laughed. "Hey, I'll take the compliment," he said.
He served everyone their food, before noticing that Tigress wasn't at the table.
"That's odd," he admitted. "I know she still does rigid training, but she's been getting better with not overdoing it."
"Well, maybe with the meetings she decided to get in some extra practice," Viper suggested.
"True. Well, if she doesn't show up later, I'll go look for her."
This wound up being the case since Tigress made zero appearance at dinner, and thus Po opted to go look for her after cleaning his bowl and putting it away. He made his way to the training hall, but to his surprise, found no trace of Tigress anywhere. Confused, he decided to try the peach tree, but still there was no Tigress. Finally, Po decided to sneak around to the barracks and see if she was in there. Still no Tigress. Puzzled, Po made his way to the Sacred Hall of Warriors, hoping to catch her on the way over. If she wasn't there, then maybe he'd look for her in the morning.
As he reached the Hall stairs, he spotted Mrs. Jun making her way down the stairs with a small yawn. When she spotted him, she waved him hello and asked him how his day was.
"Good," Po said. "How was your lunch?"
"Wonderful! Sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed in retirement since it's so nice to just be able to sit and relax for hours with a good friend. But then we parted ways and I got instantly bored, so that idea immediately went out of my head. Plus, what would you do without me?"
"Miss important meetings apparently," Po joked with a sheepish laugh. He stopped and added, "Hey, have you seen Tigress at all?"
"No, I haven't, dear. Why?"
"Well, she didn't come in for dinner and she's nowhere around the Jade Palace. I can't think of where else she would go."
Mrs. Jun thought for a moment. "Perhaps she's in the village doing those ironwood tree practice sessions your friends have mentioned," she suggested. "That does seem to be her forte."
"Oh! Yeah, that would make sense. Well, I guess I'll see her tomorrow morning for training. Goodnight, Mrs. Jun."
"Good night, dear."
Mrs. Jun then left the Jade Palace and Po headed upstairs to get to sleep. Morning soon came and Po woke up and made his way down to the kitchen, though he stopped when he saw a note on the table. Picking it up, Po read:
Po,
I hope this doesn't interrupt your training today, but I noticed something odd while walking around on patrol yesterday. I'll be investigating it further this morning to make sure nothing is amiss. Forgive me.
-Tigress.
Po frowned and put the note down on the table. He then stared at the kitchen and then immediately went to work making a fresh batch of sweet and spicy rice and some green onion potato crepes. When the masters arrived in the kitchen, they immediately knew something was up.
"What happened?" Crane asked, sitting down at the table and taking the bowl Po handed him. (Crane didn't handle spice very well, so Po had made his sweet and sour instead). The Dragon Warrior finished setting the table and then sat down, pushing the note to Viper.
"Tigress left this here this morning," he said flatly, immediately stuffing the rice into his mouth.
Viper read the note, paused, read it again, and then frowned and handed it to Mantis. "That's weird," she agreed.
"Thank you."
"What does it say?" Crane asked.
"It says she's on patrol for the morning because she observed something weird yesterday."
"And she didn't go last night, or stay until the end of the day to handle it?"
"Not to mention that she signed it wrong," Po added, pointing to the signature.
Monkey glanced at the note. "What's wrong with the handwriting?" he asked. "It looks like hers."
"Tigress never signs her name like everyone else. She always signs it on on the edge of the paper to make sure no one forges her handwriting. Protocol and all. Makes the paper look more smudgy, but it's done in a very precise way."
Mantis raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that?" he questioned. "This is the first time I'm hearing of it."
"She told me."
The doors opened again and Zhen walked into the kitchen, looking a smidge perplexed. Seeing the look, Po asked her if something was wrong. Zhen just shrugged. "Tigress was being weird this morning," she admitted. "I saw her leave the Jade Palace and tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't even look at me and scampered away. I hope I didn't offend her or anything.
Monkey patted her arm. "Don't worry," he promised. It's not you. Something is definitely off."
Po reached over and handed Zhen Tigress' note and explained its peculiarity. "I don't think that was Tigress," he added.
Zhen studied the note for a second, her eyes widening and her face turning pale. She slowly glanced at the door and added, "You don't think...it's a shapeshifter do you?" she asked weakly.
"You mean like the shift stone?" Po asked.
Zhen blinked. "Oh. Yeah. That too," she said.
"What were you thinking of?" Viper asked her gently.
Zhen shook her head and passed the note to Po. "Nothing," she said. Just forget I said anything. I'm not really awake this morning I guess."
"What do we do about this?" Crane asked. "Shift stone or shapeshifter, we can't have a fake team member in the Jade Palace."
"I'll figure something out," Po promised. "Until then, let's just act normal today. When "Tigress" comes back, I'll get her to talk."
"How?" Mantis asked.
"I have my ways."
Po then dismissed everyone to training where he helped them to brush up on their skills and some new chi move techniques, all that peaked Zhen's interest greatly, though Po told her he'd show her that once she got a hold on the inner peace meditation stuff. The group waited for "Tigress" to come back to the Jade Palace, but she didn't return until closer to dinner time, and by then it was just Po doing some meditating training by the arena at the front of the stairs.
"Training late?" Tigress asked in surprise.
"Oh Tigress! There you are!" Po asked, sounding completely unaffected and oblivious to the obvious problem. "I wanted to ask you this morning what you did with the Jade Orb of Infinite Wisdom, but you weren't at breakfast, so I had to wait, and-"
"I don't have it," Tigress interrupted with a confused look. "Have you looked for it?"
"Yeah, I looked in your room...sorry about that by the way; I swear I kept it clean! But it's not under the bed in the Iron Chest and then I realized you might have moved it somewhere else for safekeeping, but I don't know where! And I know it's not in the Sacred Hall of Warriors because Shifu specifically told us not to hide it there."
"Oh, I gave it to Shifu for safekeeping," Tigress explained. "That's why I was gone most of yesterday. Among other reasons."
"Ah! Gotcha! Thanks, Ti!"
"No problem."
The master walked away as Po moved to shut the front gates behind her that she had left open. "I actually have one more question, if that's okay," he called over.
"Surer. Fire away," Tigress told him, turning around to look at him.
Po closed the gates and then turned back to look at her, his face morphing into a serious and very focused expression. "I want to know who you are and what you've done with my friend."
Tigress blinked. "What?" she asked, clearly confused.
"That orb hasn't been in the Jade Palace for almost five years. We moved it secretly so that no bad guys could track it. Not to mention the fact that your handwriting is a pale imitation of the real Tigress."
"Tigress" frowned. Then grinned. "Not bad, Dragon Teacher," she complimented. "I was hoping for a long run, but I suppose a little earlier might just do it."
"Where's Tigress?" Po demanded.
"She's fine. For now," the fake Tigress told him. "But I'd worry a little more about yourselves right now."
"What are you up to?!" Po demanded angrily.
The fake Tigress grabbed something from her pocket and immediately threw it onto the ground, creating a large explosion of dust. Po tried to go after her, but she had vanished from sight.
Then there was a loud BOOM!!! and a horrifyingly familiar rumble and screams from down below.