Hungry for More

Po stood in his stance against his opponent. Tigress was ready as well for the strike. Then Po looked at the door as if something was there. When Tigress was distracted, Po rushed her and forced her back. Tigress recovered quickly as Po continued punching and kicking her blocks. She jumped over Po and simply swipe his legs. Po rolled back up to his feet glaring at the tiger. "Cheap shot!"

"Oh, and the distraction you gave me wasn't?" Tigress smirked.

"That's called tactic," Po pointed out, extending his leg to kick Tigress. The two went on in their hand-to-hand combat fight until Tigress decided to mix things up a bit. It was night time, and they had the lamps lit so they could see.

"Why don't we make this more interesting?" Tigress smirked, backflipping to the weaponry. She threw stars at the lamps to put them out. Now Po couldn't see, but Tigress could.

"Oh come on, Tigress. This is cheating!" Po complained.

"You have that special vision of yours. Use it!" Tigress roared as she took a running slash at Po. Po stumbled back. The panda breathed in and closed his eyes. His tannish vision looked around to see Tigress about to strike from the left catwalk. Po simply ducked as Tigress flew over him, yet landing on her feet. Po had to use his special vision to block her strikes as they came left and right. As Po tried to punch back, Tigress grabbed his hand and threw him over her.

"Ow!" Po whined as he got back up. "You know, it's hard to do this when your eyes are closed."

"You have a vision that can see perfectly at night. Stop complaining," Tigress remarked, attacking him from above as Po simply stepped out of the way. Tigress lunged at him, but Po wasn't fast enough and land on his back with Tigress pinning him to the floor. "Got you," Po smirked as he grabbed her tail and flipped them around, with her on the bottom. "That's cheating, you know."

"Sure, and turning out the lights isn't," Po laughed as he opened his eyes. "Whoa."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Po said, about to get up.

"What is it, Po?" Tigress asked, rolling the panda over and pinning him down to the ground.

"Well, it's just... your eyes are very...different at night," Po replied.

"Different how?" Tigress smirked.

"Um... it's kind of embarrassing to say," Po nervously chuckled.

"I won't laugh," Tigress promised.

"Your eyes look almost hypnotic at night. They're... very attractive," Po said, blushing a bit. Tigress stuttered a bit to say something.

"... thank you," She finally said. Suddenly, the lamps came on. The two looked to see Dead Shot with his wings crossed and a smirk on his face. Tigress and Po scrambled off each other.

"Well, it's nice to know you two are 'training'," Dead Shot smugly suggested.

"Knock it off, Dead Shot," Po muttered.

"I have to talk to you, Po. Tigress, do you mind?"

"Actually, Master Dead Shot. Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Dead Shot replied.

"Can I please train with you?" Dead Shot sighed.

"Tigress, Tigress, Tigress."

"I've practically completed all of Master Shifu's training and Po refuses to teach me," Tigress held.

"We've been through this before, haven't we?"

"I don't want to be stagnant, master."

"When you've gotten past the critical point, you can learn to fly like me," Dead Shot offered, leading Po to the door. "But as for now, you must do the training I've taught you." Tigress couldn't say anything about it. "I'm afraid I must insist." With that, Po and Dead Shot left her alone.

"GRRRRRR!" Tigress growled in frustration. She sulked to the barracks where she saw the light of Crane's room still lit. "Crane? What are you doing up so late?" Tigress asked, knocking on the door. Crane opened it and let the tiger walk in.

"I'm writing a letter to the academy I went to. I haven't heard from my good friend Mei-Ling in a while," Crane replied.

"Does she still go there?" Tigress asked.

"I doubt it, but the academy should be able to tell me where she went," Crane explained. Tigress nodded as she looked down at the floor. With some exceptions, Crane could only use his feet to write. "Hey, what's wrong with you? I heard you grumbling in the Training Hall." Tigress looked away annoyed.

"It's nothing," Tigress replied sternly.

"Dead Shot refused to train you again?" Crane asked. Tigress's head shot up. "We noticed that you weren't around him as much. We simply asked him and he told us."

"Oh," Tigress simply said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Crane questioned.

"Not really," Tigress murmured, about to leave.

"Okay, do you want to talk to Po about it?" Tigress head swirled around.

"Why does it matter to Po?"

"Because you're more willing to talk to him," Crane smiled, "Don't think that we haven't noticed your closeness with Po." Tigress glared at the bird.

"There's nothing-"

"We're not saying there is. I'm just telling you that you're more receptive to Po than anyone else in the Jade Palace, including Shifu," replied the bird. Tigress sighed.

"Fine. I do wish Master Dead Shot would train me more."

"Because you've surpassed Shifu's training?"

"No, well, I guess. Po seems to always be excelling and it feels like I'm still on primary Kung Fu moves ." Crane thought in silence for a moment.

"I think you're starting to be more ambitious with your Dead Shot training. You never noticed that there was more until Po started redoing his own training. Maybe it bothers you that you and Po used to be equals when it came to sparring, but he was still excelling in mastering Kung Fu. While it only showed up when he was in near death situations, with this new training you're seeing him master Kung Fu more and more. That and you do have to admit we never had the EXACT same training as Po did. Shifu had to train him differently." Tigress never thought of it like that.

"Hmmm what do I do then?" Tigress asked, not admitting that Crane was right or wrong. "Dead Shot won't train me until I get past... whatever it is that's holding me back."

"Well, maybe you need a new teacher."

"Po won't teach me."

"I didn't say, Po," Crane replied. "I think that Dead Shot is trying to let you learn a life lesson. What? I don't know, but it's something you'll have to be patient about." The bird finished the letter, rolled it up, and put a tie on it. "I'll send this in the morning."

"Crane, are you compliant with the level you're at?" Tigress asked. Crane thought about it.

"Quite honestly, yes. And before you go off wondering, I think the same is true for the rest of us."

"So I'm the only one that feels this way," Tigress lamented. Crane placed his wing on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll find a way to overcome this. You always do," Crane smiled assuredly.

"You're kidding! He would never agree to something like this," Po grumbled. It was still night and the two were talking in the closed shop of Mr. Ping.

"I know it seems unlikely, but the Council is very unsure. They need to make sure that we, mainly Teach, haven't done anything to manipulate the innocent into this war. Two wrongs don't make a right."

"But a... a criminal? And a slave when he gets here. That's what he agreed to be?!" Po raged.

"Calm down, tiger. Platon made a valid point. Given the abilities we have, we could manipulate the mass amount of people to our side without any just cause," Dead Shot replied.

"I know, you know, Platon knows, they know, and I'm not even sure who they are, but everyone knows that we don't do that. Even though in some cases we should," Po remarked.

"Look, this is not really just a trial. It's more of a final acknowledgment," Dead said ominously.

"What?"

"If Wolf were to do this successfully, it would be undeniable proof to the Council that Platon is public enemy number one. We've already gotten permission from the High Council to declare Platon an enemy of, what's left of, the empire."

"So you're saying we need this to finish the final dish and there are no second chances," Po replied. Dead Shot shook his head. "Fine, I'll keep my mouth shut for the most part."

"And don't. Say anything. To Tigress," Dead Shot emphasized. Po sighed.

"Cross my stripes," Po muttered.

To Be Continued...