A/N: And finally, an update! And with this chapter, I bring you closer to the finals of the Rising Phoenix Tournament! I hope you're all still enjoying the story, even with my lack of updates lately. ^^; Enjoy the chapter, guys! :D

Po woke up early the next day. It was quite unusual for him, but it was a special day of course – the day of the finals! Because of this, the panda had woken up with lots of motivation and a ton of energy, ready to win!

He firstly made his way outside, seeing that the sun had just barely risen above Beijing. Stretching his arms above his head, the panda yawned. Po couldn't help but wonder how he had been able to wake up as the first and why the others hadn't.

"Ahem." Po turned around from and was faced with Master Shifu – at least he was up!

"Oh, good morning, Master!" Po said excitedly.

"Good morning, Po," Master Shifu said, a faint smile on his face. "Are you ready for today?"

"I'm so ready!" Po said doing a few punches in the air to express his enthusiasm.

"Good to hear," Shifu said, still smiling. Suddenly his face changed a bit. "I need to talk to you about something."

Shifu started to walk slowly across the palace courtyard and Po followed, keeping close to his Master's side. At first Shifu didn't say anything, as he was seemingly trying to find the words. This worried Po a little.

"Po, I'm worried," Shifu said. "For several reasons; the first is Tigress."

"What about her?" Po asked. "Is she ill?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it… ill," Shifu said. "I just fear that she won't be doing her best at the tournament."

"Why wouldn't she?" Po asked. "She's Tigress!"

Shifu didn't answer at first. He probably didn't know what to. Eventually he said, "It just seems that there are some things that keep her from doing her best. Po, I would like you to keep an eye on her."

"But…"

"Po, it is important for the honor of the Jade Palace that we win," Shifu said determinedly.

"And that is all that matters?" Po asked, somewhat daringly.

"That is all," Shifu said and turned around and walked towards the barracks again. Po just sighed to himself. He couldn't help but wonder whatever Shifu was talking about.

Wait, Po had seen Tigress and Jinshu hold hands… maybe it hadn't been his imagination! Maybe this was what Shifu was referring to! That would also explain why Tigress was so quiet and seemed so content when she was around the silver fox!

But what was Po to do about this? Talk her out of being near Jinshu?

"My, my, Dragon Warrior; you're already up?" a surprised voice spoke from behind Po. He turned around and was faced with Junjie. The red fox wore his usual attire and Po's trust immediately went on 'defensive-mode' – you could never know with Junjie!

"Yeah, guess so," Po said shortly. "Couldn't sleep."

"Seems you're excited for the finals," Junjie said, walking up next to Po. "Good luck."

"Thanks, you too… I guess," Po added in a mutter. Po didn't know whatever Junjie was trying, but he only knew that he couldn't trust him. But he had wished Po good luck… Maybe Junjie knew about Tigress and Jinshu and had decided to open up towards Shifu and his students?

No, it was impossible – Shifu and Junjie's rivalry went far too deep for a thing between their students to fix it.

"Po, my friend!" Po was almost pushed to the ground when Monkey suddenly landed on his shoulder. "Are you ready to kick some Selections?!"

"Selections… good one!" Mantis said with a snicker as he landed on Monkey's shoulder.

"Super-ready!" Po said excitedly. "Oh, and would you guys mind jumping off?"

"When have you gotten up?" Crane asked once Monkey had jumped off of Po's shoulder.

"Just a few minutes ago," Po replied.

"Seems like you've looked forwards to this," Viper remarked with a chuckle. "You're usually the last one up!"

"Hey!" Po and his friends all turned around and saw Gorilla and the rest of his teammates make their way towards them.

"Who's excited for the tournament; who's excited for the tournament?" Stag chanted happily and flew around the heads of the others while doing so, clapping his antlers together too. Soon Lynx also started chanting with Stag, causing Eagle to roll her eyes in annoyance.

"I guess they are," Monkey said with a chuckle, still watching the beetle fly around.

Suddenly Po noticed something; someone was missing. Hoping that no one noticed, Po carefully made his way towards the barracks again. But unfortunately he was.

"Hey, Dragon Warrior, where are you going?" Lynx asked, shortly stopping his chanting.

"I just have to check on something," Po replied. It wasn't actually a lie. Po soon made his way into the barracks. Carefully he walked through the hallway and soon found who he was looking for: Tigress!

But she wasn't alone. She stood with her left side facing Po. And in front of her was Jinshu. Po was very surprised to find that Tigress had her arms on Jinshu's shoulders and that Jinshu had his on her waist.

The two had their noses pressed together and were just staring into each other's eyes. It actually looked somewhat strange due to the remarkable size-difference; Tigress was at least one head taller than Jinshu.

Po had found what he was looking for and this also confirmed his belief. As the Dragon Warrior was about to leave, he took a step backwards, but unfortunately this made a loud creaking noise emit from the floor planks.

Tigress and Jinshu immediately looked up. Tigress' eyes widened once she saw that it was Po and she instinctively let go of Jinshu and both moved about one foot in each direction, trying to make it look like it had never happened.

"Po, what are you doing here?" Tigress asked, blushing madly. "I thought you had already gotten up."

"I had… I just… I guess I just forgot something," Po lied, scratching the back of his head. The awkward silence was killing him slowly – he had to do something. "Eh… I guess I'll just go join the others…"

Po quickly left and as soon as he was out of the barracks he started running. The others were nowhere to be found, but he just had to get away. But suddenly something landed in front of him.

"Po, you can't tell the others about this," Tigress pleaded. Po was truly surprised; this was the first time he had ever heard this tone from her – the tone of someone desperate. "It'll ruin everything; the tournament, everything."

At first Po didn't answer. He thought about it all for a moment. He had never had in mind to tell anyone, but he had mainly run in order to avoid the awkwardness.

"Tigress, I wouldn't have told anyone no matter what," Po said, smiling reassuring at his friend. Tigress also smiled at him and eventually gave him a quick hug.

"Do you think he'll tell the others?" Jinshu asked Tigress and walked up beside her as soon as the panda had run off again.

"No, I trust that he won't," Tigress replied, smiling. She then sighed. "I'm just afraid of what Master Shifu might do."

"Hmm… what are you talking about?" Jinshu asked with his one eyebrow raised.

"He knows," Tigress replied shortly.

"He knows?! How does he know?!"

"I told him."

"Why?!"

"Because…" Tigress stopped for a moment. "I don't want to hide anything from my Master."

Jinshu sighed. "If I told grandpa, I'd be dead, I'm pretty sure."

"You don't know until you try."

Jinshu said nothing, but he sent Tigress a very skeptical look. Tigress just sighed. Jinshu was probably right somehow.

"Wait, I have an idea!" Jinshu suddenly said.

"What?" Tigress asked, but her lover didn't reply; he simply headed for the dining hall to join the others for breakfast.

Little did they know, a shady character was watching.

As he ate breakfast, Po couldn't help but look over at Tigress and Jinshu, his gaze alternating between the two. The two didn't look at each other, let along talk – even though they were sitting right next to each other.

Even despite the silence between the two, everyone else was talking with each other. Looking over at the table, at which the Masters and the Council Members. Most of them seemed somewhat confused by how well all the twelve warriors got along – especially Shifu.

Shifu was mostly surprised by how they all seemed to have a good time… But nonetheless, he was also impressed… But he was also afraid that now his students wouldn't fight at their full potential. After all, it was somewhat difficult to trust them after the incident the previous day.

But maybe there wasn't that much to worry about – only time would show.

Suddenly Master Chao got to his feet. Everyone immediately fell quiet and the Master started speaking.

"Honored Warriors, today is the day of the finals," Master Chao said calmly. "It has been a wonderful few days and a pleasure to see everything you have been taught. However, no matter the results today, keep in mind: there is no such thing as actual winners; the important thing is that you have all done your best."

"And you will no longer have to worry about Yuan," Master Zihao said and got up as well. "He won't be able to interfere this time – we have aerial guards on."

Master Chao and Master Zihao both bowed and Master Chao said, "That is all."

"I'm pretty sure he's going to show up anyway," Eagle said confidently, crossing her wings. "We were just lucky to get away yesterday, remember?"

"True, but maybe we could just hope for the best," Lynx said, using a chopstick to launch a piece of tofu at Eagle, hitting her beak. She sent him a death threat through her eyes, but the little feline just chuckled to himself.

"Either way, we just have to be prepared in case something happens," Jinshu said.

"Where have you even been lately?" Eagle asked annoyed, looking away. There was a killing silence for a few minutes; no one dared even speak. Jinshu thought about what to say for a moment, but when he eventually got himself together, it wasn't quite what Eagle had hoped to hear.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jinshu simply said.

"Come on, your own grandfather chose you to be our so-called leader," Eagle said. "Yet we've all done fine without you on several occasions."

"Actually it was just one," Gorilla pointed out.

"Still… Still, it's like you've let us all down," Eagle said. "I've said it before and I say it again; I won't fight for you – I fight for Junjie…"

"Eagle, would you just shut up?!" Everyone in the entire dining hall was surprised by Jinshu's sudden outrage. Tigress just stared at Jinshu for a moment. This surprised her as well.

The one who seemed the most surprised was probably Eagle though. Up until this point, Jinshu had seemed to be the calmest and most reserved member of the Selected Six, but now he had just proven otherwise.

"Alright, then," Jinshu said. The silver fox got to his feet and walked a little away from the table. Then, loudly, he said, "Everyone! From this day on, Eagle is the leader of the Selected Six!"

All of the council members looked over at Junjie, confused by his student's strange behavior. "I am sorry about this. I can reassure you all he's just having a bad-…"

"Are you serious?" Eagle asked, an eyebrow raised.

"No," Jinshu said shortly, getting Eagle to get a very dull and disappointed facial expression. In a lower and calmer tone, Jinshu continued, "However I do admit that I haven't been much of a leader to you."

"Actually there haven't been a lot of situations where it was necessary," Lynx said, scratching the back of his head. "We have always just been our own leaders, I guess."

"Today is the finals," Jinshu said seriously. He sat down and unnoticed, Tigress took his one hand in hers, giving it a soft squeeze. "And… I believe we should work together in order to win."