Po didn't return to dinner for a while, much to everyone's surprise. At first, the masters thought that maybe Tigress had beat him to a pulp in a sparring session, but Tigress assured them that Po was perfectly fine. She didn't seem like she was in much of a mood to speak, so everyone just left her to her own devices. They then continued to eat, keeping an eye out for Po. The Dragon Warrior didn't show up for a good ten minutes, much to everyone's surprise, and when he did, he just looked deep in thought.

"Hey, Po, are you okay?" Monkey asked as he watched his friend sit down.

Po didn't answer him.

"Po?"

No answer.

"Po!"

Po blinked and looked over at his friend. "I didn't eat your cookies this time if that's what you're asking," he said, lazily moving his chopsticks around and striking a dumpling.

"No, Po, I was asking if you were okay."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just thinking."

"About...?" Mantis prompted.

Po glanced down at his food and swirled it around the bowl. He shrugged his shoulders. "Weird stuff," was the answer he gave.

"Po, don't play with your food, please," Shifu groaned. "We're not two."

From across the table, Tigress let out a barely audible groan and slid her paw onto her head in annoyance. Shifu pricked his ears up at the sound, but he didn't turn his head around. He was as annoyed as the master was about this.

"So..." Monkey said, trying to find something to say that would snap Po out of his thoughts. "Mantis and I were thinking about heading over to that lake after training tomorrow since Shifu has plans with the emperor."

"We were?" Mantis asked in surprise.

Monkey glanced at him and then over at Po, then back to Mantis. Understanding, Mantis quickly corrected himself with, "Oh, that's right! I forgot about that."

"It better be to clear your head with the water," Tigress told them, giving the two a look.

"Why are you being so grumpy?" Monkey asked her.

"I'm perfectly fine thank you!"

Shifu cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "I hate to cancel your swimming plans," he said. "But you won't have any time tomorrow for it."

"We won't?" Monkey and Mantis asked in surprise.

"Nope. Right before I leave, I'm giving you an extreme training exercise that will hopefully test your ability to work as a team and work with the skills and limitations you have."

"Is Mei-Ling going to be in charge of training?" Tigress asked the grandmaster.

"Nope," Shifu replied, finishing his food. "Po is."

Everyone, sans Mei Ling, looked at Shifu in shock. "Po?!" they exclaimed.

"What about me?" Po asked, finally snapping out of his thoughts.

"You're in charge of a special training exercise tomorrow afternoon," Shifu repeated. "Please pay more attention; you'll need to tomorrow."

Po blinked, still digesting the information. "Me? he said slowly. "Me?! In charge of training?"

"You're starting to reach the stage in your training where you need to start taking on more responsibilities of the Dragon Warrior," Shifu explained. "That means learning to teach others and being a true master at Kung Fu."

"You're not sick, are you?" Po inquired.

"I'm perfectly fine, Po," Shifu told him firmly. "But one day I won't be able to teach, and when that day comes, far ahead as it may be, I need to be sure that you'll be ready to take on that responsibility."

"You'd better let us sleep in whenever we get to that point, buddy," Monkey joked.

Po let out a short, nervous chuckle and finally took a bit of the dumplings in his bowl. He then looked back over at Shifu and asked, "What...what training are we going to do?"

"You'll find out tomorrow," Shifu promised. "In the meantime, I would highly recommend getting to bed early to get enough sleep for tomorrow."

"What's Mei-Ling going to do?" Crane asked out of curiosity.

"Supervise Po," Mei-Ling answered immediately. "So that Shifu can get an unbiased report."

Po didn't say anything. He simply smiled nervously and continued to eat his dinner.

"You'll be fine, Po," Viper promised him. "And even if not, it's only the first day."

"Yeah, remember how horrible you were when you first got here?" Monkey reminded the Dragon Warrior. "And now you can beat us all in a sparring match within seconds!"

"Provided he stays focused," Tigress commented. She continued to eat as Po looked over at her and then proceeded to follow suit.

"We'll see how things go," Master Shifu interrupted. "I trust that Po won't get everyone killed during the session."

The masters looked at each other uncomfortably, but then resumed eating their dinner and chatting about more pleasant things. 

After everyone finished eating, they headed immediately to the barracks in order to get enough sleep for the hardships coming up the next day. Po, still a bit lost in thought, simply walked to his room and laid down on his bed. His brief conversation with Tigress was still ringing heavily in his mind and he wasn't sure what exactly to make of it. 

Things are out of control? Po thought to himself. Out of control how? Everything seems pretty normal to me. Well, almost. There's nothing horrible going on as far as I'm concerned. 

He frowned in thought.

Unless.........

Po glanced over at his door. Conversations with Tigress in her room about being lonely, by the tree about her nightmares and their separation plan, and fights to try and get her to speak her mind very quickly began to come back to him. She had definitely gotten much better with telling him things, but she was still a very reserved person. And no amount of time and trust was going to change that aspect of her anytime soon.

Something must have happened when we got back, he thought to himself. Or maybe a lot of things happened. Kind of hard to tell with her though....

Po sat there for a moment before getting up and walking over to the door. He honestly wasn't really sure what he was going to say or do. Tigress wasn't even up to fighting, a challenge that she would almost always accept. He considered maybe forcing her to fight, but if things were really that bad, he wasn't sure if that was such a good idea either. He walked out into the hallway and stood awkwardly in front of his door. Creaking from the door in front of him indicated that Tigress was once again pacing back and forth. The Dragon Warrior frowned in thought, considering how exactly he was going to talk to her. He cautiously walked up to the master's door and went to push it open. 

Creak. Creak creak creak creak. 

Creak. Creak creak creak creak. 

Silence. Then more creaking. 

Po's hand hovered over the door as the creaking stopped. Started. Stopped. Started. Stopped. Started. 

Maybe it's not such a good idea, he thought to himself. She really wasn't in the mood to fight today, so...maybe it would be better to talk to her tomorrow. She might feel a bit more calm.... I hope. 

Po hesitated for another second. 

Though maybe she could use someone to talk to now....

He hesitated again. After holding his paw over the door for what felt for eternity, he finally put it down and slowly walked back into his room. Tomorrow. He'd try tomorrow. 

After what felt like hours of pacing, Tigress finally sat back down on her bed in defeat. She placed her head in her paws and groaned in irritation. She couldn't concentrate. She couldn't get her mind in order. Nothing she did was working. She let out a sigh and glanced over at the door to her room. Slowly, she got up and walked over to it and quietly stepped out into the hallway. Her eyes settled on Po's door. There wasn't any noise from it, so she assumed that Po was probably asleep. 

Maybe I should talk to him, she considered. He's helped me with stuff before. 

She thought for a moment before curtly exhaling and walking down the hallway. She didn't want to disturb Po's sleep. Besides, she could handle tough situations. It wasn't as if she'd never handled trifle problems before. What was so different now? The master walked out of the barracks and headed over to the training hall. A little more hardcore training would help put her mind back where it needed to be. Then she could get some sleep.