Morning came at last and I noticed that Viper had moved during the night onto the floor. I smiled, glad that I didn't have to wait for her to wake up this time. Though there wouldn't have been much difference anyway as she seemed to open her eyes a few seconds after I raised my own head, almost as though she sensed my presence. She seemed a little drowsy at first but managed to regain her senses and raised her head up to my level before softly rubbing her head against mine. I was just glad to see that she was feeling much better after last night.

"Morning Vipes". I greeted as the green snake pulled away from my head.

"Morning Mike". She smiled back.

So it seemed that it was back to training for us both. Only this time, I accepted Vipers offer on teaching me more about being more snake-like. After she had put on her lotus flowers, she left the training hall only to return shortly with the wolf shaped dummy again. As she set it up, I raised my tail onto her back.

"Vipes, are you sure you're okay with this"? I asked remembering what happened last time I was supposed to practice on this thing.

"Don't worry. It's fine, I promise". She gleamed back at me. I smiled and she dragged me back a little away from the dummy while she explained exactly what I needed to do.

"Depending on how far you sink your fangs past the skin, you should be able to inject enough venom to disable your opponent for a short period of time". She explain, making me ask.

"How will I be able to tell whether I've bitten far enough into the figure"? I pointed out, staring at the dummy as it stared back with googily looking eyes.

"If you feel your gums making contact with the skin then you'll have bitten in too far. Give it a try and I'll tell you what you can work on. Remember, attack only when I give the signal".

I nodded and focused onto the dummy. I waited until said signal. And waited... waiting...

"Now"!

At once, I lunged straight at the dummy's feet and slithered up it as quickly as I could, coiling round it's fake arms so that it couldn't retaliate in any way. Once up to the neck, I bit down hard. My fangs sunk right in. I couldn't feel my gums touching the dummy so that was a good start. After a while, I relaxed and slithered off of the dummy and back over to Viper as she went over what went well and what didn't.

"Not bad for a first try. You moved at a good and steady speed and you coiled round the dummy well enough. However, you need to be careful not to do any damage to your opponent when tightening your grip around him. The venom will take care of most of the work for you. But overall, I'd say you did well enough to beat your opponent, just next time, make sure you don't bite him for too long. Maybe a couple of seconds worth would do".

I nodded and bowed. A small fake cough from behind caught my attention and I turned round to see Master Shifu standing right there a few meters away. He had a smug grin on his face.

"It seems you are taking your lessons quite seriously python. I am glad to see that". He spoke and I raised a smile of my own before bowing.

"Thank you master Shifu". I responded.

"Nevertheless, I expect the both of you to be on full alert. Carry on".

Shifu left, probably to greet the others and left me and Viper alone once more.

"So what now"? I asked.

"Well, we have some time before the others show up. Let's see if we can improve on your bite". She offered, pointing back to the dummy. I nodded and got lined up for my next attack.

Only ten minutes had passed and I had gone at the dummy six more times, improving slowly with each attack. By the end of the lesson, my teeth slightly ached, probably not used to biting through reinforced straw. Still, I felt a small bit of pride at my effort as I had now earned a small five minute break.

I decided to get a glass of water, though I rushed myself to do so. Viper was a good teacher but she was strict about her teaching methods. She made sure that I understood that if I was even a second late, she'd train me for twice as long as intended. So in total, I had two minutes to get to the barracks, one minute to drink a glass of water and then spend the last two minutes rushing back. The whole process took up a total of four minutes and forty two seconds according to Viper. Therefore, I was safe from punishment.

Throughout the morning and half the afternoon, she kept training me over the same skills again and again until she saw my efforts as "acceptable" and decided that enough was enough for now, letting me go. By the time I got to a sundial, I found that it was two o clock. Seemed that I had been training for so long I missed lunch. The growl from my stomach helped clear it up for me.

I, once again, entered the barracks. But instead of heading straight into the barracks, I noticed Mantis over just outside of Pos room, holding in his laughter. Curious, I slithered over to see what was going on.

"Hey Mantis. What's going on"?

Instead of getting a proper response straight away, the bug shushed me and gestured for me to look inside of Po's room. I did as he ordered and saw Monkey setting up some sort of prank. I instantly forgot my hunger and watched as Monkey put a peeled banana skin to the side of Po's bed, of which the panda was sleeping on. Had he been asleep all morning? I didn't bother asking as I watched the prankster at work. He put a bowl filled with brown pudding about falling distance of where the banana skin was. I had a feeling that this was going to be fun to watch. I watched as the primate gave me and Mantis a thumbs up and put his prank into action. He took a big silent breath and suddenly yelled.

"PO! YOU'RE LATE FOR TRAINING AGAIN"!

Both the shout and the sentence made Po spring to life at once and without thinking, stepped out of his bed. One foot landing on the banana skin causing him to fall forwards face first into the pudding.

Myself and Mantis howled with laughter as a cackling Monkey zipped past us being persued by the now angry black and white (and partly brown) panda. It took a good minute before the both of us calmed down at last after the two had exited the barracks. Afterwards, Mantis jumped onto my head and I headed into the kitchen.

"Well that certainly made my day". I chuckled.

"No kidding! Gotta love it when Monkey pulls one of his pranks on Po, right"?

I laughed in agreement and got a bowl of dumplings for the two of us to share. I started off a different topic.

"So, is Po still banished from the team or whatever"? I asked as I chewed on a dumpling.

"Actually no. Shifu informed us this morning and he's back kicking butt with the rest of us".

"Already? Damn, that was quick. How did that come about"?

"No idea. I thought it would take a bazillion years until the big guy managed to master his harmony".

"I guess that's why he's the dragon warrior then if he can master something like that so fast, right"?

"True. So anyway, about Yinshen"-

I had to quickly cut him off, knowing full well what he was going to ask. Especially with the sly look that crossed his face.

"Mantis, if the first five times ended with you getting your miniature ass beaten and thrown around, what makes you think that what you're about to say won't result in it happening again"?

"Come on man! Chicks dig the persistent ones, right"?

"I wouldn't know seeing how I'm a guy".

"Whatever. Just wait until I get her on my side and then we'll see who's laughing".

"That depends on whether she decides to crush you under her foot or not first". I spoke with a small grin.

"Haha. Funny". Mantis mocked as I finished the last dumpling.

"Well, I've got to go get ready for round two of intense training. See you around buddy". I waved and left him on his own.

I slithered along the stone pavement, taking in a breath of fresh air and headed back to the training hall after another five minutes to see how the remaining warriors were holding up. As I made it to the courtyard, I found Yinshen training on her lonesome with a bamboo staff. I looked a little closer to see the golden string of her locket hanging around her neck and disappearing into her black robes. I left her to train and made my way inside the training hall where Tigress, Crane and Viper did what they could to improve on their skills.

It felt hotter within the training hall than it did in the morning. It was almost as though my skin would just melt off at once. Though this didn't bother anybody else in the slightest. I tried to ignore it and did my own training for a bit. Attacking the wooden warriors while remaining untouched by their rapidly spinning arms and tails. Setting one off at once, I blocked and dodged every limb the object threw at me. It was fun and all, but I felt like challenging myself this time round and decided on making my way through to the other side in one piece. I made it halfway through in fifteen seconds, taking my time but having to rapidly defend myself from all directions, blocking, jumping, ducking and so forth until one of the limbs managed to get a lucky hit and struck me on the back of the neck just as I had made it three quarters of the way. A much better performance compared to the first time I tackled the obstacle.

An hour passed until I gave myself a break. Everybody seemed to have the same idea and did the same thing. I strolled into the scroll room for a bit, just to see if there was anything I could learn that may help increase my combat skills, instead my interest quickly drew to a blank scroll and a paint brush. I slithered over to the items, wondering why they had been left out in the first place. Even so, I decided to doodle around for a bit. It had been too long since I tried my creative skills in art. After all, that was what my original plan were supposed to be.

I found some ink and began to draw the first thing that came to mind. The peach tree. I stroked the brush over the paper sometimes gently, and sometimes with force. I just did what seemed right, letting myself get caught up in the moment and spent maybe a little under half an hour until I had done what I could.

The scroll showed the peach tree in good detail, at least from my memories of it. I made sure to add detail to the bark, the leaves and even a few peaches popping out from the branches. A shadow grew from the base of the tree, covering part of the ground with a black blob. I took a good long look at it, satisfied with my efforts and took it with me, deciding that it would be best to keep it in my room for the time being.

"Maybe I should consider keeping up this talent while I can". I thought to myself, thinking that it would be a shame for my artistic side to be laid to rest. I then walked out of the room, taking my mind off of it for the moment and thought it would be best to see whether Po and Monkey were still out after each others throats.

...

I'm starting to pile up on chapters again. I might release another one in the morning if I have time. Until then, Cheerio!