The Countdown

Clashed

The next morning, Tigress woke up in a somewhat better mood due to having finally accepted the fact that she needed to take it easy until she was able to perform at her normal kung fu level. That didn't mean that she would take it easy on herself, but she was going to keep her training at an even pace until she was completely back on her feet.

"Good morning, master," the students greeted in unison with a bow.

"Good morning, everyone," Master Shifu said. "Eat quickly so that we can get to our sparring today."

The students bowed and began to head towards the kitchen. Tigress walked over towards Monkey and subtly pulled him aside, saying, "You still have to bake those cookies."

"Why? You're the one who made the bet with Po. Why can't you bake him anything?"

"Because, as you well know, I don't have the ability to cook."

"You blew up the stove one time. Big deal. Next time follow the directions and put the soup on the stove."

"Exactly my point. How am I supposed to make anything if I don't know how to cook?"

"Ask for help," Monkey answered with a shrug. "Po can make really good cookies."

"The point of the bet was for him to earn them, not to bake them."

"You told him you would bake them."

"I never said that."

The two slowly followed behind the others as the barracks came into view. "Well, unless you let me win sparring today," Monkey said with a smirk. "I'm not baking."

"A true warrior does their best at all costs," Tigress told him firmly. "And you know very well I refuse to let you or anyone else beat me at kung fu."

"Exactly."

Tigress groaned in irritation. It was clear that Monkey wasn't going to help her out in any way, so she was going to have to ask someone else for help. The two entered the kitchen behind the other warriors where they found Po cooking some dumplings on the stove.Tigress sat down in her usual spot and listened to everyone talking and laughing at the table. Within a few minutes, their food was served.

"Thank you, Po," Tigress said simply, taking her food and eating it.

"Well you seem to be in a better mood this morning," Viper said from across the table.

"What do you mean?" Tigress asked, eyeing her.

"You were acting kind of weird yesterday," Crane told her.

"I was not."

Crane tried to point out how they knew she was acting weird only for Tigress to shoot him a warning look and get him to keep his mouth shut. The masters continued to eat their food and make some small talk, quickly finishing their food and then heading over to the training hall so as to begin sparring. Tigress tried to walk a little bit ahead of her friends so that they didn't see the gash or the scratches that were lingering on her arms. Unfortunately, this wouldn't work out later since her injured arm didn't go unnoticed by Shifu who couldn't help but notice her wincing when she went to spar with Crane during training.

"Tigress, what's wrong with your arm?" the grandmaster asked after she managed to kick the avian into the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors.

"I just scratched it," Tigress told him. "Nothing too serious."

"Are you sure?" Shifu asked suspiciously. "You're wincing a lot for someone who only scratched their arm.

"I'm perfectly fine," Tigress assured him. She got into a fighting stance again and begin to re-spar with Crane who had just gotten to his feet and was now flying at her. Tigress painfully blocked him until she was able to knock him to the ground and keep him pinned.