Three years.

It seemed like forever, but it was only three years.

Things had gone back to the way they had before, except there was an empty hole that couldn't be filled.

There were still attacks on the valley that had to be taken care of. There were still warm welcomes to Mr. Ping's noodle shop during lunch. There was still an endless amount of training to do all day every day for three long years. But there were no jokes. No being knocked down the stairs every other week when a fluffy blob knocked them over like a bowling ball. No amusing catchphrases right before a battle. No delicious soups being served for dinner. No accidental injuries in the training hall.

Three years.....

The sun was beginning to peek behind the clouds that afternoon as Tigress dutifully kicked over several obstacles in the courtyard. She grabbed a pair of nunchucks from the weapons rack and whipped it around, slicing off the top of the wooden baddies that were set up. She then dealt a final blow to the Adversary which had been taken out of the training hall for her to pummel for her training exercise. It was vital that she kept her strength up, both mentally and physically, if she was to protect the valley. Her responsibilities had been added onto since Po's departure from the valley to be a teacher and she wanted to do her utmost to hold up to her duty. The former Dragon Warrior hadn't remained estrange from his friends and family which she appreciated; he wrote everyone letters to let them know how he was doing, how his students were doing, what it was like to live in a new place, and anything new he was up to. He couldn't really stop to visit since he was so busy with his pupils, but Mr. Ping often traveled out to visit him and would come back with tales to tell.

The master took a minute to collect herself before she began to silently clean up the training arena. Being Dragon Warrior was not quite as nice as she had expected it to be. Of course, she wasn't supposed to be the Dragon Warrior anyway; that was Po's job. While Tigress did feel honored at being bestowed the title while Po started down a new path, she also felt angry that he would flat-out give up the title just to teach children in another village far away. She couldn't even imagine giving up a title and all responsibilities bestowed honorably onto her. That would be as bad as rebelling against the valley in her eyes.

Tigress finished cleaning up and glanced back at the Adversary which had a large rip in it. Sand spilled onto the ground, informing the Dragon Warrior that she was going to have to fix it. Again.

"Um...I hope that's not a sign that you're really mad at me," came a familiar voice.

Startled, Tigress spun around and saw Po standing right in front of her. He looked pretty much the exact same except  he now wore a straw hat and he carried a large knap-sack on his back.

"PO!" she cried happily, lunging at him and engulfing him in a tight hug.

Po smiled and hugged her back, only to be released and hit hard in the arm.

"OWW!" he cried. "What was that for?!"

"That's for leaving the Jade Palace and for never visiting!" the master snarled viciously.

"Sorry, sorry! But I couldn't just leave the kids for long chunks at a time. That'd be kind of defeating the purpose of teaching kung fu," Po protested. "Plus, I wanted to teach a new generation to be awesome! I kind of thought that was my calling."

"Your calling was supposed to be protecting the valley, Dra-pa...Po! I...."      Tigress groaned. "Sorry," she apologized. "But you have to understand that it isn't easy for me to just suddenly take over your responsibilities and your title and be the bigger person around here. You understand certain things better than I can."

"I thought you wouldn't mind being the Dragon Warrior," Po told her in slight surprise. "I mean, I told you guys that I thought about it carefully. You're making it sound like I just left on the whim."

"I know you didn't, Po," Tigress promised, finally regaining composure and sighing. "But it did feel a bit sudden."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry if I made you that upset...."

Tigress rolled her eyes, subtly placing a paw on her hip. "I'm not upset," she promised. "I mean, I am a little, but not really. I just didn't really get a chance to talk to you about it before you left."

"I'm assuming you would have beaten me up then too?"

"Probably...."

The gates to the arena were heard squeaking open and then a happy, "PO!!!!" came squealing at lighting speed towards the panda. Po let out a cry of alarm as he was knocked over by Viper. "You didn't tell us you were coming!" she cried happily.

"I wanted to surprise you guys," Po told her with a wince. "Though after Tigress' reaction, I'm assuming I'm going to get a mixed response."

Viper laughed as she got up and allowed Po to stand. "Did you slap him like you promised?" she asked Tigress.

"Actually, I hit him," the Dragon Warrior corrected. "But it's close enough."

Viper tugged on Po's arm, crying, "You have to come into the kitchen and say hi! I bet Monkey's going to flip out!"

Po laughed. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he promised.

Amused, Tigress opted to stay behind and continue to clean up the arena. She still had to fix the Adversary or else Shifu would have a fit.....

The masters were in the kitchen eating some dumplings that Viper had made for lunch. Master Shifu was presently absent since he was meditating in the Dragon Grotto. They sat quietly eating their lunch, noticing that Tigress was late again. Since being granted the title of Dragon Warrior, she had taken to either skipping a meal or getting to one late, though that was mostly because she trained so often in the day just to get to Po's skill level. Crane looked around the table in slight boredom, his eyes settling onto Monkey.

"How is Mrs. Gin doing, Monkey?" he asked curiously, knowing it was the master's day to visit the lonely widow.

"She's doing alright," Monkey assured him. "She had her daughter over today too, so she at least had someone she cared about to keep her company."

Mantis left the table for a brief moment to grab some extra spices for his dumplings. Upon arriving at the table, he promptly poured half of the container into his food.

"You're not going to beat Po's record of spiciest dumplings eaten," Monkey told him. "You might as well just give it up."

"I don't back down from a challenge!" Mantis said sharply, putting the container on the table. He then mixed the dumplings up and proceeded to stick one into his mouth, chewing them ferociously. After a second though, the spices began to burn his tongue and the insect let out yelps of pain, gulping down tea to make it go away. "OOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!" he screamed.

"On the bright side," Crane pointed out. "You lasted longer than three seconds."

Mantis gave him a dirty look and flung the spices into his dish before running off to grab something else to soothe the burn.

"What did I do?!" Crane protested.

Mantis dashed over to the sink and turned on the water, gulping down as much of it as he possibly could. When the burn finally went away after a few minutes or so, he let out an exhausted sigh and sunk to the floor.

"Next time, I'm going to suck it up and take it like a man!" he groaned.

The kitchen doors opened up and Tigress and Viper walked inside ready to eat lunch.

"Hey, guys," Monkey called over.

"How did training go, Tigress?" Crane added.

"I built up some more speed, but I need to work a little harder," the master said, going over to the stove.

"Well don't work too hard," Monkey warned. "We just got used to you being a little fun rather than full-blown serious."

Tigress rolled her eyes and got herself and Viper some dumplings. "I hope this enough leftovers," she commented aloud as she sat down at the table.

Mantis, having finally caught his breath from the spicy dumplings, made his way back to the table and said, "There's plenty for Master Shifu. Like he eats a lot."

"I wasn't referring to Shifu...."

Before the masters could ask her what she meant, Po came into the kitchen, asking, "So, what's for lunch?"

"PO!!!!!!!!!!!" the masters exclaimed, gleefully bounding over to engulf their friend in a hug.

Po happily squeezed them in a group hug, eyeing Mantis who looked a bit tired. "Did you try to beat my spiciest dumpling record again?" he asked him.

"I'm going to beat you eventually," Mantis promised with a weak grin. "Just wait and see."

Footsteps echoed in the hallway behind the masters and they heard, Po!"

Po spun around, his friends still holding onto him in a hug. "Master Shifu!" he exclaimed happily.

"Why didn't you inform me you were arriving?" the red panda asked with a smile. "We would have prepared something for you."

"Yeah, like extra almond cookies so that you don't eat all of mine," Monkey noted.

As Shifu snuck by Po in order to eat some lunch before the panda got to any of it, Po quickly scooped him up in a tight hug. "You're not getting out of the group hug that easily, Shifu," Po tld him with a smirk.

Shifu scowled, though a faint smile did appear on his face. "Very well," he conceded. "But only this one time. I don't relish being squeezed to death."

Viper, who had been pre-occupied with watching everyone hug, quickly got up and dashed over to contribute her own hug. "You too, Tigress!" she ordered.

"I hugged him already," Tigress informed her.

"Aw come on, Ti," Po pleaded. "Just this once? You almost never group hug!"

Tigress ate one of the dumplings in her bowl before shrugging. "Fine," she said. "Since it's been three years...."

She walked over and did her best to hug Po who was engulfed by the rest of the hugging masters. After a minute, Po was finally freed and led over to the stove where Shifu made sure he got his share of lunch first.

"Man," Po said excitedly, grabbing his food. "I can't wait to tell you everything that's been going on! There's so much awesome stuff happening! Plus, I'm sure you guys have awesome stories too!"

"Well hurry up and sit down so that we can talk!" Monkey exclaimed. "It's been way too long!"