When Po awoke the following morning, he was startled to hear a voice right next to him. A voice which turned out to belong to Tai Lin, the girl who hadn't shown up. 

"Po! Hey, hi! You're awake!" she was saying rapidly. "I am so so sorry! I didn't mean to stand you up, honest! I got nervous, so I decided to get some tea from the cabinet to calm down, but I wasn't sure which leaves to use, so I sort of just grabbed some nice smelling ones and I sat there for a few minutes drinking it and then I accidentally fell asleep at the table! I woke up this morning to your friends walking into the kitchen!" 

Po smiled and laughed a little. "Hey, that's okay," he assured her. "We can always try again later today if you want since you missed your hour."

"No no that's fine. I don't need an hour to figure out if I really like a guy or not, trust me. We can just talk on the way back to the kitchen and that'll be enough time for me. Besides, I know we were on a schedule yesterday and I don't want to extend it further than necessary." 

Po yawned. "Okay, if that's fine with you," he said getting up and taking the timer off the steps. "A quick walk to the kitchen it is. Do you want to start, or-"

"Sure. Have you had a serious girlfriend before?"

Po was a bit startled by the suddenness of the question, but he had also just woken up so he didn't think anything of it. "Um...serious?" he repeated. "Define serious?"

"You met a nice girl, you decided to start dating, and you had a strong relationship for at least a few months? It was a mutual attraction?"

"Oh. Um...no. I've had brief dates, but I'm not really the guy most girls want to go after for a date." 

"Oh. Sorry to hear that. Is it just you and your dad in the immediate family or do you have other relatives?"

Yeah, it's just me and dad. I have an uncle who was adopted and my cousin and his kids, but that's it. What about-"

"What's your favorite childhood memory?

Po frowned and yawned before trying to think. "Um...I think...." he considered as they rounded a a part of the grounds towards the kitchen. "The winter festivals with my dad. I always have fun with him around that time of year. It's always a family tradition to host the winter festival at the restaurant. Who's in yo-"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Favorite- Magenta. How about-" 

"How long do you think the appropriate period for dating someone is before asking them to marry you?"

Po blinked. "Um...I don't know...." he admitted. "I think it would depend on the girl and the circumstances. That's not something I can really predict. What...does your family have a-"

"How many people live in the Tsung Village?" Tai Lin interrupted. "Is it big?"

"Not as big as the Valley of Peace. There are only a few streets hidden away from potential intruders, and if anyone happens to find us, everyone gets evacuated to the masters' temple. There's a wading pool or so close by, but that's about it." 

Tai Lin frowned. "That's it?" she asked. "I would have thought a place protected by kung fu masters would have been bigger. I mean, everything here is very spaced out over the water. That gives everyone a nice advantage in the event of an emergency."

"The Tsung Village used to be bigger," Po admitted as they got closer to the kitchen. "But there was a really bad war that nearly destroyed the Tsung Village masters and the people they protected. The people living in the Tsung village now are either descendants of the original people or are new people who happened to show up. And only one of the original masters are left now....." 

Tai Lin stopped walking and looked at Po in shock. "Oh!" she said with a look of horror. "That's horrible....when was the war?"

"Over a hundred years ago. But that's how bad it was. Only a few masters survived and they've been struggling for years to try and find more people to try and protect the villagers who are still there."

"Couldn't they move somewhere else?"

Po just sighed and shook his head. "The Tsung village masters keep special protection over ancient artifacts and special medicines and poisons," he explained as they started back towards the kitchen. "If the masters were to pack up and move, they risk losing all those secrets and whatever special knowledge that could be used in the event of an emergency. We learn some of the basics of that stuff as kung fu masters in general, but the Tsung Village keeps special teas and medicines that would be dangerous in the wrong hands." 

"Like what?" Tai Lin asked curiously. 

"Well I can't really tell you," Po reminded her. "It's top secret."

"Oh."

"Plus I just started studying them, so I'm still getting the hang of trying to remember what to look for when I come across certain flowers and stuff. Or if someone is sick." 

"Is it that complicated to look over?"

"Yeah, and there's a lot of them. The studying part is a bit difficult, but I'm starting to get the hang of it." 

The two finally got to the kitchen doors and headed down the hallway where they could smell delicious aromas coming from just ahead. 

"What about you?" Po asked quickly. "Where are you from?"

Tai Lin immediately clammed up and rapidly walked into the kitchen where she loudly said hello to everyone and asked about breakfast. Po was very confused by this, but he didn't have much time to really reflect on it as he was soon seated at the table and served some honey-glazed breakfast rice balls. 

"Morning Po!" Song said with a wave. 

"Morning," Po answered with a quick wave. He started on his food while his friends continued on with their conversation, which turned out to just be a quick recap of their training and any other things they had done in their free time. Po once again was glad that he did not have to suffer at the hands of Shifu's merciless training exercises when he heard about what they had to do. Of course, his relief didn't last too long. 

"So since Po doesn't train here anymore, is he a lot weaker than you guys now?" Song asked jokingly. 

"Hey!" Po exclaimed in slight offense. 

"Nah, he's still pretty good," Mantis promised. "But Tigress definitely is giving him a run for his money now." 

"I'm pretty sure she's always done that," Po admitted, glancing over at the Dragon Warrior. "She hates being bested in training." 

"He's not wrong," Tigress agreed simply from her seat. 

"Po's really good at kung fu," Lu-Shi told the other girls excitedly. "And he's really good at coming up with new ones. Of course, so are the Furious Five. They're cool too." 

"I know," Ordai agreed. "He saved my village from total destruction once. When the contest opened up, I knew I had to jump at it immediately! It was like it was fate!" 

Po noticed Master Leopard holding in a laugh from across the table and made eye contact with her for a brief moment. Seeing the confused look, Leopard subtly held up a finger, silently telling him, I'll tell you later..... 

The masters and the girls continued to eat breakfast and continue on with the conversation about amazing kung fu battles when Jai-Rong suddenly piped up, "Oh! I have an idea! What if we watched Po train with you guys? That way we can all spend time with him today! And then we can also see who's the best at kung fu." 

Destiny's face formed a smile so big that it looked like it would fall off at any second while Lu-Shi shrieked so loudly in excitement that half the table had to cover their ears. 

"We can place bets," Madame Zhou added slyly. "I bet 100 yuan Po wins."

"No bets!" Po warned quickly. "Kung fu isn't a betting pool. It's an honorable fighting tradition formed for the protection of others!" 

Madame Zhou scoffed. "Ah, you're no fun," she scolded. 

"Jai-Rong does have a good idea though," Shifu said, doing his best to hush the excited noise that had risen in the room. "It would be a good way to help sharpen Po's kung fu while he's here and also provide a perfect display of proper kung fu etiquette for the less experienced in the room." 

"It sounds like a nice morning to me," Master Leopard agreed. She stretched her arms out and cracked her paws before adding, "I'd join in, but I fear my kung fu's a bit rusty."

Po swallowed nervously. "Well, if I'm gonna' be going against Tigress again, I'm going to leave early and go stretch."

"Don't even think about it," Tigress told him before he could even get up. "You're going to fight me on the same playing field: same amount of warm-up time, same amount of mental preparation before a fight. You didn't get a freebie on the first day and you're not getting one now." 

Po groaned. "Fiiiiiiiiiine," he grumbled. "I'll start mentally preparing now then." 

Destiny snorted loudly from her seat before bursting into loud laughing that startled Kay who happened to be sitting next to her. Destiny then quickly got up and excused herself from the kitchen, apologizing in between laughs until she was out of earshot. 

"Okay, that was weird," Monkey noted. 

Breakfast ended about fifteen minutes later, and Po soon found himself once again in the training hall with his friends Except this time he had a whole entourage sitting on the sidelines eagerly watching him to see what he would do. He was extremely nervous for a number of reasons: 1, he didn't want to do badly and look like an idiot in front of everyone. 2, he was nervous about Tigress bringing worse than her 'A' game because he knew she hated getting beaten in front of anybody. 3, he had only gone through one intense training exercise with Shifu and he still wasn't used to it. 4, he was scared that Shifu was going to make the exercise difficult on purpose. 5, though he could do rigorous kung fu, he wasn't as familiar with the weapons and particular courses Shifu was doing and they could be outright dangerous for someone being just introduced to them. And he was new to these new exercises. 6, Master Leopard was standing right behind him and he wasn't sure if she was someone who liked to poke fun at people's stances or just let them do their thing. 7, some of the girls had gotten off on a bad foot with Tigress and his friends because of their past and he was afraid someone was going to make a scene. 

"For today's warm up," Master Shifu was saying, not even paying attention to the girls off to the sides. "I have decided to test everyone's endurance." He gestured his staff upwards where the masters finally noticed that there were very thin planks hanging precariously from the open ceiling of the training hall. "Obviously with Po here, I had to add an extra one, but I thought I'd start with a simple challenge: everyone will climb onto a plank and lay stomach down on each one of them. You will then push yourself until your body from your knees up are off the plank and then hold onto the plank with your ankles or feet." 

Po's face slowly had begun to turn pale as he started realizing what Shifu wanted him to do, but Mantis and Viper shared the same expression so he didn't feel as bad. Especially when Shifu finished by saying that they all had to use their upper body strength to hold themselves up in a straight line and keep their arms crossed to prevent anyone from cheating. 

"If your upper body drop lower than the plank, you're out," Shifu told them. "The last person to remain upright will have an advantage going into the main exercise." 

He then gestured for the masters to start climbing up and getting into position. As they did so, Master Leopard laughed from the sidelines. "I remember when we used to do those," she reminisced. "Elephant and Rooster hated them." 

"I remember," Shifu agreed with an amused smile. "They used to get angry when the other one beat them." 

"Master Elephant did these?!" Po exclaimed in surprise as he managed to get onto his plank. "Wait...actually hold on...Oogway did these exercises?!" 

"Of course he did. How else would I know how to have you safely work on your endurance, Master Po? I don't just wing kung fu." 

Po opened his mouth to make a comment on that, but decided against it and just laid down on the board. The ground loomed beneath him and he simply took a deep breath and slowly pushed himself out, minding his weight on the plank so that he didn't tip forward and fall off. Shifu waited until everyone was in position (which took a moment) before beginning the challenge. Po could feel his abdomen start to strain and he took some small breaths, hoping that maybe they'd relieve and delay any possible pain coming up. Don't be the first person out, he thought to himself. Don't be the first person out. Don't be the first person out. 

"Come on Dragon- I mean Po!" Ordai called excitedly from the sidelines. "You got this!"

Po winced when she said that. He was tempted to glance back at Tigress, but he thought better of it and just continued holding his position. The only person he could really see was Mantis who was on the plank directly in front of him. The rest of his friends were either directly behind him or just out of his line of sight. Which was annoying because it meant he couldn't see how well he was doing or if someone else had fallen. 

"Just as a forewarning, ladies," Shifu warned the group on the side. "If any of the Five or Po fall, don't say a word. I want to test their psychological endurance as well."

Oh great. 

"Am I allowed to comment on how well he's doing?" Song asked. "He looks like a board. Of course, he's always been good at acting."

"Not a word," Shifu instructed. 

"Aw, but he looks so cute from this angle!" Destiny protested. "Wait, does he get to keep the board as a souvenir? I totally would." 

Po grimaced and tried to ignore the chatting that had begun down below. They were a bit of a distraction to his concentration and some of them were also making him blush in modest embarrassment. He stared ahead at the wall trying to think of the possible reward he'd get for the training. He already figured that his abdomen was going to be on fire once the exercise was over and he wanted as much of an advantage as possible. Especially since he didn't know what Shifu had in mind and he didn't want to get beaten to a pulp by his friends. Well, mostly Tigress. That was who he was most concerned about. 

Meanwhile, down below, the girls had moved their chatting from discussing the current exercise to talking about Po in general. The girls who had never met him before were very eager to hear some stories about his earlier days. Lu-Shi and Song did most of the talking, with someone else interjecting every so often about Po's kung fu skills. Lu-Shi talked about the wedding her and Po almost had and how they had matching outfits for the ceremony and lotus petals and how Po had managed to save her brother and herself from getting killed and how they had called off the wedding and decided to just keep writing to each other afterwards. Song had no problem talking about how her and Po's date went initially and how bad he was at being traditionally romantic. 

"He's more of an innocent cutesy romantic kind of guy," she explained. "Which is pretty refreshing if you ask me."

"Really?" Lam asked.

"Yeah. He drew me a picture of his butt in the shape of a heart to remember him by."

From above, Po felt a hot flush rise to his face as those words reached his ears. It wouldn't have been so bad (since he had thought it was creative at the time) but then he heard Destiny comment afterwards, "Oh yeah, his butt does look like a heart!" which sent uncomfortable knots through his stomach and started making him shake and wobble on the plank. He felt like getting down at that moment. 

Suddenly from behind him he heard a sharp, "The next girl down there who opens her big fat mouth will have a turn with me in the training arena! Shifu said to hush!!!"

The room fell into an immediate silence, with the exception of Shifu laughing at everyone's reaction to Tigress' threat. Afterwards Po was just left with his thoughts and doing his best to fight through the pain in his abdomen. What felt like an eternity passed by with Po staring a head, feeling himself dip a little, and then trying to keep himself up in the air and straight. But soon he started having trouble breathing and the pain became too much to fight and he flopped under the board with a giant heave for air. He wasn't sure if he had won or not, but he assumed from Shifu's silence that the answer was no. After a minute, he asked Shifu if he could get down, but the grandmaster told him to wait a moment longer. So Po did, hoping that his legs wouldn't give out on him while he was at it. Finally, at last, Shifu told everyone that the challenge was over and to line up in front of him so he could give the verdict. 

"You all did pretty well, though there's still plenty of room for improvement," the grandmaster told them matter-of-factly. "Mantis was out first with only four minutes above the plank, Crane was out second at nine minutes, and Viper was out at the 14 minute mark."

"Oh wow!" Po exclaimed. "Wait, I lasted more than ten minutes?!" 

"You lasted 24 minutes, Master Po. Surprisingly. Monkey dropped after a half hour and Tigress stayed up for 48 minutes." 

"Show off," Monkey laughed jokingly. "You could have just dropped right after me." 

"Well I for one am impressed," Master Leopard admitted from the sidelines. "I think that's a new record. The longest anyone on our team held up for was 34 minutes." 

"Who set that record?" Lu-Shi asked. 

"Shifu." 

Go figure, Po thought to himself. 

"Now for today's exercise," Master Shifu continued to the group of masters. "You've all been doing well with the new weapons that I have introduced to you, and now it's time to learn about the extensions. 

The masters looked surprised at this news (Po being more in disbelief than his friends) while Master Leopard laughed in amusement on the sidelines. "Are we working on the Hearts of Yin and Yang?" she questioned from the sidelines. 

"The what?" Po asked in confusion. 

"The new weapons we've been working with, Dra-Master Po," Tigress told him, grimacing at her mistake. "You weren't here when Shifu introduced them." 

"They're not quite the hearts of yin and yang yet," Shifu explained. "In order to become an expert in both halves, it is vital to practice with a specific piece of the weapon one at a time, introducing you to a new aspect of this type of fighting: highlighting your strengths and trying to work together with your weaknesses. Since you have all covered the bases, it's time to introduce each new extension."

"How many extensions are there?" Mantis asked.

"Six. Destiny, stop writing down everything I say!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Destiny protested, quickly hiding the paper behind her back with an embarrassed flush. 

Shifu sighed and headed over to the side of the training hall and pulled out the fire staff and the metal fan that Po had practiced with the first day of arrival. Or he should really say, the fire staff he avoided with his whole life and the fan that he had accidentally damaged during training. 

"I've fixed the fan as you can see," Shifu presented. "And now for the first extension."

He proceeded to pull out a small dark blue rope and attached it neatly to the bottom of the fan. He then pulled out an iron rod, covered in gold, and split the fire staff in half, placing the rod in the middle, and then doing some quick maneuvers and closing it.

"As mentioned before, each element of these weapons represents one element on one half of the yin and yang. You must learn to work with these elements and not fight them, learning how they work and how to use them in combat with both your strengths and weaknesses. I'll let you take turns adjusting to the extensions being added in and then we'll take turns training with them until you've gotten a handle on both halves. 

Po eyed the weapons nervously as his friends went up to examine them. He had never actually wielded the fire staff before, so he had absolutely no idea how it worked. But he supposed, like the fan, he'd just have to figure it out as he went. Not exactly his favorite training technique, but in all fairness, it wasn't like he had been here for that. 

Man, I must have missed a lot of cool stuff while I was gone! Not that learning ancient tea stuff is boring, but...I mean, everyone loves a fancy new weapon!

Po was startled out of his thoughts when Tigress came up to him with the Fire Staff in her paws. "You should probably get the hang of this first since you've never used it," the Dragon Warrior suggested. She pulled the staff apart, stumbling a bit with the extra weight in the middle. Po laughed a little. "Yeah, I don't know anything about using that staff," he admitted. "And I'd like to avoid getting more third degree burns." 

Tigress got a grip on the staff and glanced at Po. A mischievous look crossed her face. "Naturally," she said. She held the staff out in front of her and added, "Here you are, Master Po." 

"Um...shouldn't I try without the extension-" Po asked, reaching for it, only for Tigress to suddenly drop it onto his paws. The unexpected weight caused Po to topple onto the floor and crash at the Dragon Warrior's feet. Both the Five and the girls started cracking up at the sight. 

"Tigress, do not drop the staff!" Shifu scolded from the sidelines. "It is not a toy!"

"Just testing his logic," Tigress replied with a smirk.

Po grimaced and managed to get to his feet with the heavy fire staff. "I got it I got it," he said, trying his best to maneuver the weapon. 

"Careful, Po!" Viper called over, looking a little nervous. 

Po lifted the weapon up a little more and tried to move it around, only to accidentally open the staff, revealing the iron middle. "Ah!" he yelled. "I mean...yeah, I totally did that on purpose!" 

Tigress rolled her eyes in amusement and held out her paw to Po, indicating to him to give her the staff back. Po obliged her, with some effort, and the Dragon Warrior soon had the heavy middle removed. 

"Why don't you try practicing with the base for now?" she suggested, handing it back. "Then you can try again when you have a better grip on it?"

Po smiled in relief and did his best to try and fight with the Fire Staff, getting some pointers from Tigress and the Five about the right stances and how to activate the fire and avoid burning your paws. They then took turns with the fan while Po got better acquainted with the Fire Staff and soon the middle bar that Tigress added back in. When he had finished his turn, Tigress took the staff and tried to practice with the heavy middle. Po then turned his attention back to the fan while the Furious Five waited to get at turn with the Fire Staff. 

The girls had remained somewhat quiet on the sidelines, but upon watching Po practice with each weapon, (and be significantly better with the fan than with the staff), began to ask Leopard and Shifu more questions about them. 

"So...does the fan shoot out icicles?" Destiny asked excitedly. "Since the staff shoots out fire?"

"No," Master Shifu corrected. "The idea of the Yin and Yang Hearts is that they are opposite and complimentary. They do not have to be exact opposites of each other. They simply represent opposing forces that balance the other out."

"So, for example," Master Leopard elaborated from her position closest to the edge of the platform. "The staff is designed to take on the idea of active, brute force and logical reasoning while the fan has more passive and graceful intuitive kung fu stances connected to it." 

"Oh! Cool." 

"But it does have knives in it at some stage in the training if that's of any consolation to your icicle theory." 

"Leopard!" Shifu snapped. "We haven't gotten that far in training yet!" 

"Really?!" Po exclaimed excitedly, pausing in his use of the fan. 

Shifu told him to just continue on and ignore them. However, the girls were still interested in continuing the conversation. 

"So does that mean that someone is always better at using one weapon better than the other?" Song asked curiously. "Since they're very different from the other?"

"At first yes," Master Leopard explained to her. "But the idea of training with them is that, at the end, you come to work with both weapons and use them as the ultimate force to be reckoned with. For me, the fan was the easiest to use at first." 

"As I remember," Shifu piped up from the sidelines. "Vividly."

Leopard laughed shortly. "Don't sound so defenseless, Shifu," she said. "You've always been one to enjoy hitting people over the head with a staff...."

"I most certainly have not. Okay, maybe occasionally when Po did something stupid...."

 Master Leopard laughed. "You're a fiend with a weapon, just admit it," she joked. 

Madame Zhou glanced over at the two and smirked. "Two halves of the yin yang and former teammates?" she cooed. "How romantic. Should I bring champagne for your first date?"

Master Shifu snapped his around and glared at her. "Madame Zhou!" he yelled. 

The middle-aged gazelle laughed in response and simply looked back at the masters currently practicing with the new additions to their weapons. The Furious Five were slowly taking turns with the staff while Po and Tigress took turns figuring out how to use the ribbon on the bottom of the fan. After a little over an hour has passed, Shifu announced that they would now take turns sparring with the weapons. 

"We'll start off training with the sides you feel most comfortable with," he told the masters. "Those who prefer the staff, please stand by the Field of Fiery Death. Those who prefer the fan, please stand by the Jade Tortoise of Heavenly Wisdom." 

The masters obediently followed directions, with Po, Viper, and Crane going over to the Jade Tortoise and Tigress, Mantis, and Monkey walking farther over to the Field of Fiery Death. Master Leopard was quick to gawk at the exact even split and offered commendation for why the team did so well together. (With Shifu reminding her that the current Furious Five also had the advantage of having Po as an additional, what with being the Dragon Warrior, and thus gave them an even number rather than an odd one). Afterwards, Shifu decided to split the group up in order to have them practice with their opposite: 

Tigress would first practice with Crane while Mantis sparred with Po and Monkey with Viper, then they would switch partners, having Tigress spar with Viper, Mantis spar with crane, and Monkey spar with Po, and then switch again just to make sure that everyone had an even match with their opposite force. Po, who was relieved that he wasn't going to have to go head-to-head with Tigress first, sat quietly on the sidelines and watched as his friends sparred with the staff and the fan. Crane was naturally very good at using the fan, as he combined it with his kung fu technique to create giant gusts of wind that knocked several of the girls and his friends off their feet, twirl the spinning clubs until they got tied together, and cleared the entire floor of the alligator heads that were nearby. The fire staff that Tigress had flickered for a little bit, but she was able to maintain her ground and avoid sliding around too much. Though they had gotten the hang of using the weapons on their own, actually utilizing them in combat was a whole other matter. When Crane wasn't attacking Tigress, he was too busy trying to defend himself from the master's aggressive swings. (Which thankfully were a tad bit slower than usual because of the iron middle). And when Crane managed to get an attack move in, Tigress struggled just to keep herself from flying through the doors. However, the Dragon Warrior was quick to figure out a way through the issue by using the now heavy staff as a weight against the wind, giving her enough traction to get close enough to attack Crane. Crane tried to fight her, but couldn't figure out how to use the ribbons as an effective weapon in combat and wound up getting pummeled once Tigress got the hang of lifting up the Fire Staff again. When Shifu gave her the victory, Tigress couldn't help but smirk in triumph at getting the first victory. As the next round of masters went to fight with their opposites, Lu-SHi and Xiao Niao excitedly went up to Tigress to tell her what an awesome job she did until Shifu told them to wait until training had finished. Destiny quickly jotted some more stuff down on her ink board before hiding it behind her back and resuming watching the fight. 

Po, who was still a little unfamiliar with how to properly use the fan, struggled for a bit on how to dodge Mantis. However, he had been careful to watch Crane's movements when opening and closing the fan, so it didn't take him very long to figure out how open it quickly. (It was a lot heavier than a normal fan, so it took a little effort to open, let alone wield). Both warriors wound up being at a total loss for using the weapons, and the match wound up being called in a draw. And so it went on. Each master sparring against the other, each one getting the chance to use either the Fire Staff or the fan. Every round that ended had one of the girls cheering for someone and congratulating the winner. Eventually it came to be Tigress and Po's turn, which immediately swayed the girls into biased voting for Po. (With the exception of Master Leopard and Lu-Shi who both admitted that Tigress seemed to have a stronger advantage).

"He's the Dragon Warrior! " Ordai protested firmly. "He can handle anyone!"

Tigress gritted her teeth in fury, clearly biting back some very harsh words she wanted to spew out. 

"I'll sort that out later," Po promised quickly, feeling a little awkward and annoyed that Ordai didn't seem to be listening. 

"Oh, come on! Even Master Tigress acknowledges you as the Dragon Warrior," Ordai stated matter-of-factly as Master Shifu and some of the girls gave her a warning look. 

"It was a slip of the tongue!" Tigress snapped. 

"Yeah, kung fu titles aren't just an acknowledgement of someone's accomplishment," Mantis piped up, hoping to ease the tension. "The title is given to those who are deemed worthy, capable, and willing to shoulder the responsibility of protecting China at the drop of a jiao. And Po chose to step away from the responsibility and take up a new one. Which means that the responsibility of protecting China, and bearing the title of Dragon Warrior, is now Tigress'." 

"I understand what that means," Ordai replied curtly. "But even former emperors are still treated with the highest level of respect, as are those who were once in a high position, so I believe Po deserves that same level of respect." 

Tigress started twirling the staff threateningly, looking like she was about to whack Ordai through the wall. However, she managed to compose herself and get back into position. Po swallowed nervously and mentally braced himself. With Ordai's little comment, Tigress was definitely now someone he didn't feel comfortable sparring with at the moment. As he knew from personal experience. 

"Begin," Shifu announced. 

The Dragon Warrior wasted no time delivering a mighty swing in Po's direction, causing the master to yelp in terror and run in the opposite direction, hoping to, if possible, run Tigress' anger down just a little bit. Of course though, Tigress was a lot faster than Po as she always had been, so it didn't take her too long to catch up to him and reengage in a series of vicious swings and kicks. Po, having had a little more practice with the fan, found himself in a slightly better position to outmaneuver all her moves, but even this still was just barely enough to avoid Tigress' wrath. The flames from the fire staff nearly singed his fur and at one point Po just narrowly dodged out of the way when Tigress opened the middle of the staff and attempted to swing the hard center right at his head. Shifu, having noticed Tigress' slightly more aggressive kung fu, called out to the battlefield, "Focus, Dragon Warrior!" 

Tigress paused for a brief moment, allowing Po to make a quick getaway over to the Jade Tortoise. He figured Tigress was taking a second to calm down, so he needed to figure out a quick way to beat her without getting himself singed on the fire staff. Tigress was slower with the extra weight, but she was a quick learner and he could tell. He still couldn't get close to her. And using the fan in close combat wasn't getting him anywhere. His paws hurt really bad from the metal being in constant contact with the flames. He supposed he could use it to make wind, but he knew Tigress had already figured out a way around that trick. He eyed the staff, fanning himself with it for a minute and watching Tigress spun it around before looking back at him with a determined expression. She was coming for him. And from the way she wielded the staff, he knew it wasn't going to be merciful. Actually, it reminded him a lot of how Shifu used to-

Po stopped in thought and glanced down at the fan, though he was quick to run out of the way when Tigress lunged at him, noticing the distracted look. Po looked at the ribbons attached to the fan as he did his best to avoid the blows from the flaming staff, his mind thinking, Alike but not the same. Alike but not the same. Alike but not the same. From what he understood from the talk on the sidelines, both weapons were designed to work as one unit, balancing the other out with their differences. The staff Tigress had was heavy, too heavy to casually twirl. So she could only just spin it about at a certain angle. The fan, however, was much lighter. And if one used the ribbons on the bottom, they could spin the fan very easily above their head or anywhere else. Perhaps even using it as a slingshot....... Plus, the staff was clearly designed for close combat, to hit someone or knock them out with a strong strike. What if the fan was designed for more evasive moves? Perhaps for long-range combat?

A million ideas of how to use the fan began to go through Po's head. The first thought he decided to use was the first one he even had. He began to rapidly swing the fan around his head using the ribbons attached to the bottom just as Tigress began to rapidly approach him with her staff. She lit the flames and prepared to hit him, only for Po to release the fan and shoot it in her direction. Startled, Tigress blocked the incoming weapon with the staff, hitting it off to the side where it skidded across the floor and landed over by the seven swinging clubs of oblivion. Po quickly ran over and grabbed the fan just as Tigress recovered and came back for round two. Po twirled the fan again, but decided to not launch it again. All it had done was startle Tigress. It didn't do any collateral damage. So he kept twirling it and twirling it, watching Tigress carefully and being prepared to get away from any more fiery swings. Tigress soon came charging at him again, the two becoming reengaged in combat, and after much ducking and jumping and getting hit in the face and falling to the floor complaining about how he wouldn't be able to smell anything for a week, Po quickly swung the fan at Tigress in an effort to block her and keep her from getting to close to him. Much to the surprise of both warriors however, the fan clung to the top of the staff, getting both warriors stuck together. They attempted to pull apart, both wrestling to get a hold of the other's weapon, but the force caused both weapons to fall out of their paws and land together on the floor, the fan pointing down the straight end of the staff and the ribbons sitting underneath the curved top. Po and Tigress both fell backwards to the floor from the force

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat in the woooooooooorld?!" Destiny shrieked. 

Shifu gave her a look while Master Leopard laughed. "Did I forget to mention they're magnetized?" she asked. 

"That was for the final lesson, Leopard, thank you very much," Shifu grumbled at her, his ears twitching. 

"Wait, they can get stuck together?!" Po exclaimed in surprise while Tigress got up, having recovered from the shock, and ran to grab both weapons. Po was quick to follow suit which resulted with more wrestling for the weapons. 

"The weapons are polar opposite in design and usage," Shifu explained. "But as one they are the most powerful weapon to wield. When you have controlled your strength and conquered your weakness, only then can you finally take control of these weapons as a whole unit. That is the point of this lesson." 

Po and Tigress indicated that they understood, though they fought over the weapons for another minute or so before Po stopped the fighting and encouraged Tigress to focus on getting the weapons detached. Tigress agreed and suggested it could work like the Chinese finger trap: gentle and easy rather than forceful and aggressive. Thankfully this turned out to be the case, and on the first go the weapons easily broke free of one another. (After a bit of maneuvering that was). They then got back to sparring with Po trying to find new ways to utilize the weapon and Tigress getting better at finding creative ways to send Po running with her staff. But just like several of the other sparring groups, theirs was called to a draw. 

"We'll try again another time," Shifu promised. "For now, you all have done well. Master Po, Dragon Warrior, please put the weapons back on the rack so that we can break for lunch."

"I'll get a head start!" Lam offered, quickly leaving the training hall. 

"Make it quick, because we have a lot more training to get to!" Shifu told her. 

The others girls followed her out, though a few of them waited by the front of the gates for Po to return. The masters were quick to leave the group alone and head to the kitchen, allowing the excited girls to congratulate Po on his sparring and keep on talking all the way over to the kitchen.