Po woke up the next morning to the sound of Tigress pacing the floor in her room. A bit curious, he got up from his bed and did his best to quietly walk across the hallway to see what was going on. Tigress didn't seem to hear him as she continued to absentmindedly pace the floor, her hands folded tightly behind her back and her eyes trained stiffly on the ceiling. Po watched her for a moment before clearing his throat to get her attention. Startled, Tigress jumped and turned towards the door where she spotted her friend watching her.
"Sorry," Po apologized. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"Why are you spying on me?" Tigress demanded quietly.
"I'm not, I swear!" Po promised. "I heard you pacing and I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine," Tigress promised. "I'm just...not sure how well I'll do talking to Dai. I'm not exactly the greatest in terms of comforting people."
Po smiled at her. "You'll be fine," he promised. "Just be yourself and...be nice to him."
Tigress rolled her eyes. "Thanks," she said, moving back into her pacing mode.
Po eyed her. "Is something else bothering you?" he asked. "You're still pacing and now you look like you're about ready to slap me in the face again."
The master rolled her eyes again. "I'm not going to slap you, I promise," she said. "And it's nothing. Just nerves. I..."
The master was interrupted with a sharp look from Po that meant, you're lying to me. She sighed. "Alright, fine," she grumbled. She gave up pacing and leaned against the wall. "It isn't just about talking to Dai. It's...it's just the idea of going back to Bao Gu. Again. I mean...I know it was okay when we went there yesterday, but I didn't plan on going back again and again just because I feel sorry for a kid who reminds me of myself."
Po gave her a sympathetic look and walked over to her. "If you did good yesterday, you'll be alright going again today," he assured her.
"I'm just not sure if I want to keep dealing with Mr. Ren, that's all."
Po gently squeezed her shoulder. "You'll be alright," he promised. "Mr. Ren may not be the nicest guy, but Mrs. Ire will be there, and you have someone else that you can talk to. Though if Mr. Ren starts making you feel bad, he'll have to answer to me."
Tigress looked at him, a slight smile creeping across her face. "That's...very sweet, Po," she said.
"Hey, no one should be making fun of anyone. Especially you."
Tigress felt a blush form on her face and she opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a series of shushes and snickers from outside of her room. The two masters groaned audibly, and Po called out, "Monkey!"
Monkey snickered again, this time a bit louder, and Mantis' chuckling could be heard as well. They weren't visible, so it was more than likely that they were hiding behind the door frame.
"You know, Master Shifu isn't the only one who can beat you two over the head with a staff," Tigress threatened, getting up from her bed and walking over to the door.
The footsteps from the two masters could then be heard scampering down the hallway, allowing Tigress to stop. "Well, they're gone now," she said, letting out a sigh.
"Should we tell Shifu?" Po asked, getting up as well.
"No. That should be warning enough," Tigress promised him.
Po walked over to her. "Well, since we're up," he said, a grin forming. "Why don't we go make breakfast?"
Tigress cast him a look. "We?" she repeated.
"I will teach you how to cook," Po promised.
"You've already taught me basic cooking," Tigress protested. "What else is there to teach?"
"Just because you know some basic cooking lessons doesn't mean I'm going to stop teaching you," Po told her firmly. "Think of it like kung fu. Do you stop training just because you know how to kick somebody?"
Tigress sighed. "I see your point," she said.
"Hey, you're getting better though. Now you can cook noodles without making them too salty."
Tigress rolled her eyes, trying to stop a smile from forming at his eagerness. "Whatever you say, Po," she said.
Po walked into the hallway, gesturing for Tigress to follow suit. "Come on," he said. "Lets make some food before Shifu and Mei-Ling wake us up."
Tigress chuckled in amusement before following him down the hallway and out of the barracks.
The masters still felt a bit weird having Mei-Ling in the Jade Palace (especially since they weren't used to having her appear for breakfast), but they tried to resume a normal conversation during their meal, which consisted of bean buns and noodles. (Monkey had commented that he was surprised that their food wasn't burnt, resulting with a warning glare from Tigress and some condemnation from Po). Afterwards, the masters went to the training hall to begin their lesson, beginning with a warm-up that didn't really please anyone.
"That's it! We're going to die!" Po cried.
"Po, you say this every time," Shifu grumbled, his ear twitching. "And have you died?"
"You never know!"
"The point of these exercises is to ensure that, if you are ever in these situations, you'll manage perfectly fine."
"I don't mean any disrespect, Master Shifu, but when in life are we going to be chained back to back to one of our teammates and trying to avoid dying at the hands of the Swinging Blades of Death?"
"When you least expect it," Shifu told him flatly. "And since you seem so eager to complain, you can start off the warm-up."
Po frowned, a look of terror crossing his face. Mantis snickered in response.
"With Mantis," Shifu added.
Mantis stopped snickering and looked at Shifu in disbelief. "Uh..." he started, but Shifu interrupted him by asking him to come over with Po so that the two could be chained up.
"Wouldn't it be-oof! Wouldn't it be better for me to get chained to Viper?" Mantis asked as Shifu chained him and Po together. "Or maybe even Monkey?"
"You'll work with whoever you get stuck with," Shifu told him. "This will vary from day to day."
"Wait!" Po cried. "We're doing this every day?!"
"Until you've all escaped the Slicing Blades of Fear with every single one of your teammates," Shifu corrected. "Now, you two take your place in the middle of the blades and wait for further instructions."
Po held back a sigh and did as he was told, Mantis gulping and anxiously trying to look back and spot any potential danger. Shifu waited for them to take their positions before walking over and standing by the controls to activate the equipment.
"If I am forced to stop the machine to prevent your deaths, there will be punishments to follow," Shifu announced. "So I suggest you do your best to get out of there."
Mantis gulped again.
"And panicking will not help. Work together."
"How am I supposed to help if I can't even-"
"Begin!" Shifu announced, pulling the lever to activate the machine.
Po let out a cry of alarm and ducked in order to avoid getting sliced in half, Mantis starting to yell as he heard each blade barely miss them.
"Po!" Mantis yelled. "Duck!"
Po ducked down, close to the floor, narrowly avoiding getting his shoulder sliced in two. "Anything else?!" he called out.
"As long as you don't move!" Mantis told him.
"Think I can roll out?" Po asked him.
Mantis winced. "Well, I've been in worse predicaments," he said reluctantly. "Go for it. Just don't leave me on the bottom for long."
Po agreed and quickly began to roll away from the incoming danger, eliciting 'oofs' and 'ows' from Mantis on the way out. When the two were out of harm's way, Po hopped to his feet and walked over to Master Shifu with a triumphant smile on his face. Mantis, tired from being squashed, just let out a sigh of relief.
"Done!" Po exclaimed.
Master Shifu eyed him, folding his arms in thought. "Hmm..." he commented. "That seemed too easy."
Po's face fell. "Too easy?" he repeated.
"Yes...I'll have to lower some of the blades to make it as challenging as I had intended. Wait here while I adjust this and then you'll do it again."
"But Master Shifu-!"
"Unless you'd prefer to spend the rest of the day being my sparring partner."
Po gulped. "A second round sounds fine," he squeaked out quickly. "I love the smell of death in the morning."
Monkey started to snicker, but quickly covered his mouth to avoid Shifu hearing him and forcing him to go next.
Tigress walked silently to Bao Gu, unsure of what exactly to do. Well, she knew what she was going for, but she wasn't sure how long she planned to stay there. When she had left for the orphanage that afternoon, Shifu gave her the dominoes he had used to teach her so many years ago to help in controlling Dai's temper. (Po had also offered to lend her some fans to make him mad, but Tigress didn't want to provoke him any more than he was already getting provoked). Plus, with Mr. Ren roaming about trying to insult her at every turn, she wasn't sure if she wanted to stick around for too long anyway.
The master quietly walked up the hill to the orphanage, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door. She waited for a tense moment before the door finally opened up and Mrs. Ire appeared with a happy look on her face.
"Tigress!" she exclaimed happily. "Here to see Dai?"
Tigress nodded. "I did promise to come see him," she replied.
"Come on in then! You came at a good time; he just had a nap, so he's a bit calmer."
Tigress walked inside and watched the caregiver shut the doors behind them. Mrs. Ire then guided her past the play area and down the various hallways until they reached the isolate room. The doors still had a massive hole in it, to Tigress' slight surprise, but she simply followed Mrs. Ire into the room where Dai was seen laying on his bed, kicking his feet into the wall.
"Dai," Mrs. Ire warned him gently. "Lets not make another hole, okay?"
Dai frowned but did as he was told and sat up with an, "Okay...." When he spotted Tigress, however, his face lit up in excitement. "You came back!" he exclaimed happily.
"I always keep a promise," Tigress assured him, sitting down on his bed. "How are you doing today?"
"Okay, I guess. Mr. Ren is still a big meanie! He tried to lock me in my room when I got mad!"
"It didn't really help that Dai bit him," Mrs. Ire added with a wince. "I gave him a talking to, of course, but Ren was beyond furious."
"He hit me!" Dai complained.
"Yes, but Dai, you can't bite people when you get mad," Mrs. Ire reminded him. "People don't like that."
"My parents didn't like me and I never bit them!" Dai argued.
Mrs. Ire coughed a little bit, unsure of what to say to that. Eventually, after some time of Dai staring at her, she turned to Tigress and said, "I...think I'll leave him with you. Maybe you'll have more luck than I do with reasoning with him."
Dai folded his arms in a frump and watched Mrs. Ire walked away, leaving the door slightly cracked open. he then turned to Tigress and asked, "Don't you hit people though?"
"That's kung fu," Tigress explained. "That's a completely different thing."
"What's the difference?"
"We hit bad people who are trying to take over China."
"What about bad people who like to make fun of you and call you names?"
"For now, Dai," Tigress told him. "Those kind of people you have to just ignore. Unless there's an actual emergency, but for now you need to learn to control yourself."
"I'm trying," Dai grumbled.
"Well no one said it's easy," Tigress assured him. "I still have trouble with that from time to time. I've learned to walk away and calm down if I get too mad."
Dai nodded. "Okay," he said sullenly. He then glanced over at the master, spying the box she had with her. "What's that?" he asked.
"Something that helped me when I was little," Tigress answered him. She took the box from next to her and moved to the floor, opening the contents and taking out a handful of dominoes. She then expertly slid them into a standing position and picked one out from the middle as Shifu had done with her so many years ago.
Dai, amazed, slid off of his bed and onto the floor where Tigress handed him the domino she had picked up.
"Want to play?" she asked.
"What is it?" Dai asked.
"Dominoes," Tigress told him. "They take a lot of patience to set up and a lot of control to keep them standing, so they're perfect for helping you control your anger."
Dai looked at her funny. "Are you sure this'll help?" he asked her.
Tigress nodded and slipped the remaining dominoes back into the box. "Try standing one up," she told Dai.
Dai looked at the domino he had in his hand and placed it onto the floor. He then went to pull his hand away, only for the tip of his claw to his the domino, knocking it onto the floor.
"Hey!" the crocodile yelled, moving to pick the domino up again. He tried again to sit it upright, but the domino tipped over and again crashed onto the floor. He tried one more time, carefully making sure that the piece was upright. However, just as he moved his hand away, he knocked the domino over again. Dai then got really frustrated, screaming, "Stupid wood!" before smashing it to pieces with a hard bang!
Tigress winced. She wondered how many domino sets Shifu had to go through in order to help her. Dai looked up at her and then drew his legs into his chest to rock himself back and forth. "I don't like this game," he muttered.
"That's why we're playing it," Tigress told him, reaching over and rubbing his back. "The more you practice, the better you'll get."
"It doesn't feel like it."
"It doesn't feel like it now, but you'll get the hang of it in no time."
Dai looked up at her again. "Really?" he asked.
"I promise," Tigress assured him. She then swept the remaining domino shards into the box and then pulled out another one. "Now, why don't we try that again, okay?"