Growing Tensions

The next two days were uneventful. Po didn't tell anyone about his run-in with Momoda that night. There was no need to really. Po grumbled to himself. Were Shifu and the others right? Was he just blinded by this tiger's beauty and forward attitude? As he walked towards the Training Hall, he thought about the best option. "She's just trying to be free, but that shouldn't come at the cost of the village," He muttered.

What cost?

The bandits were jailed, people were free to walk the streets at night, the Furious Five were changing for the better, what exactly was she doing wrong?

Po sighed. She wasn't following protocol. "Everything has a rule, I guess." It made sense what Crane said. Someone has to be responsible. Every freedom has with it an obligation, a responsibility. The panda sighed. He couldn't forget that. He opened the Training Hall doors. There he saw Tigress lifting mega tons of weight on her body, lifting them up in deep squats. Her body grunted and jerked at the weights. "Tigress!"

I... can... do this...RAAAHH!" Tigress growled and threw the load off. It plopped to the sand as she panted for air and breath. "There, I... I finally did it." Po rushed into the sandpit and laid an arm around her shoulders. "Po, I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Come with me."

"Po I-"

"Now," Po said assertively. Tigress's eyes widened but she nodded. She followed him to the sidelines where a basin of water stood. Po took the water and gave some to Tigress. "Drink." Tigress slowly did so. "Now, I want you to go do some relaxing training."

Tigress crossed her arms with an unimpressed gaze. Her lips curled down at one end as her eyebrow rose. "Po, there's no such thing," She said.

"Meditation, stretching, light running, you want me to go on?" Po said firmly.

"I'm fine."

"I don't care. You're pushing yourself waaay too much and for what?"

"Momoda," She said, clenching her fist.

Po rested his hand on her fist. "Let me worry about her, okay?" Tigress slightly huffed and turned her head away. "You're training for something else other than Momoda, aren't you? I mean, this is a bit much, even for you."

"Master Shifu-"

"I'm pretty sure this goes beyond Master Shifu's normal 'go for overtraining' thing."

"I'm not overtraining."

"When was the last time you had good sleep, good food, and a good time with the others or me?"

"That's not the point, Po."

The panda glared hard, though it was admittedly hard for him to have a stern face with a panda's cuteness. It caused Tigress to smile a bit. "I don't want you to break yourself so much that you can't fight Momoda. Just please pace yourself."

"I... I'll try," Tigress sighed. "I'll... meditate." She walked out of the Training Hall, leaving Po a little more confused than he came in.

"This doesn't make any sense," Po muttered as his feet carried him away to the Hall of Heroes. "Why is she training so much? She's already going toe-to-toe with Momoda. Why train more?" The panda couldn't say. What was certain was the Kung Fu tiger wasn't budging from her stance.

Po turned the corner and went to Shifu's room where the red panda stood in front of his map on the wall. "Master Shifu?" Po looked at the map. "I thought you gave up on finding Momoda."

"I never gave up, Po. I just decided to focus on... different approaches," Shifu murmured. "Call the Furious Five into the Training Hall. There's something I need to talk about."

"O-Okay," Po bowed, "By the way, do you know WHY Tigress has been training non-stop lately?"

"I don't," Shifu grimaced, "Which has me worried. She's not harming herself, but..." He shook his head. "Have the others meet me in the Training Hall."

Soon the others were gathered together. Po could see that one of the taller warriors was still a little tired. Her body swayed from side to side. Po rested a hand on her shoulder, smiling with comfort on his lips. Tigress nodded and stood up straighter.

Just then, Master Shifu came in. He paced back and forth in front of the team for a while, clutching his master's staff tightly. He stroked his beard again and again until he stopped. "I think you all know why I've called you here. It is about Momoda. Although her actions have been a great help to the majority of you, I would like to reaffirm this. She is still a criminal, and she is still causing disorder."

"That's not always a bad thing," Po spoke out. "I messed up the Jade Palace several times and things worked out better because of that." Shifu groaned, shaking his head.

"He... has a point, Master Shifu," Tigress said. Everyone looked at her. Crane's mouth dropped and Viper's and Monkey's wide eyes were the sizes of oranges. Shifu's eye twitched while Po could only blink in response. "What?"

"You... you're agreeing... with me?"

Tigress rolled her eyes. "It's not that rare."

"Yes, it is," Everyone said.

Tigress grumbled in annoyance before continuing. "Ever since Po came here, he's shaken the very foundation of what we thought was a stable house of Kung Fu. Since discovering that, we've gotten better in our relationships with each other and our martial arts. Maybe... this Momoda is trying to do the same thing."

"There are other ways to 'shake up' the foundation than fighting in bars and taking her frustrations out on others," Shifu remarked. "Regardless of the outcome of her actions, they're still out of control. And you know what happens when a person's strength isn't properly controlled, Master Tigress."

Tigress's head dipped, "Yes Master Shifu."

"Are you saying that because she slammed you into a crater?" Monkey asked. Shifu glared. "W-Whwat I'm trying to say is uhhh..."

"Maybe," Po said, coming to the rescue, "That's how she copes."

"By inflicting harm on me?" Shifu asked.

"Might be better than hurting the ones close to you. Right Master Shifu?" Po glared, crossing his arms. The red panda turned his head, avoiding the panda's condemning stare. "Besides, the villagers love her."

Tigress's head rose a bit, looking at Po, "Are you saying this because it's true or because you actually like her?"

"WHAT?!" Po spluttered. The others sniggered. "For the last time, I don't like her like that! She just..." He sighed, looking at Tigress's slightly bemused smile. "She just reminds me of someone else. Besides, you and her would get along nicely if you stopped long enough to talk. Maybe you could teach her about controlling her... you know... wacky craziness."

"How so?"

"Well, you're the model of how to not freak out, and you take your frustrations out in a good healthy way," Po said.

Silence echoed in the Training Hall.

Then the Furious Five burst into laughter. Confused, Po and Shifu looked at each other. "What's so funny?" Po asked.

"Haha," Monkey laughed, "We were just remembering all the times that Tigress couldn't take out her frustration in a healthy way. When we first met, we kept our distance with her."

"Why?"

"Because any kind of frustration and anger she had she immediately took it out on the bandits, villains, and us! Shifu had to stop her before she'd kill us in sparring matches," Monkey laughed.

"It was years before she got enough self-control to not harm US!" Mantis chuckled.

Though a bit comical, Tigress wasn't laughing. "Hey guys, just because she had a hard time back then doesn't mean you should be teasing her now. She was the way she was but that's no reason to make fun of it," Po said. The laughing died down. The others looked away ashamed. "Just let her be."

"Thank you... Po," Tigress smiled.

Shifu cleared his throat. "Needless to say, we must catch Momoda. For her own sake and the sake of the village." He looked at the giant panda. "Remember, it doesn't take much to turn the opinion of the village."

"Hmmm, okay," Po muttered as he and the others bowed to their master. Shifu nodded and left the hall.

Then Po felt a hand on his shoulder. "Po, thank you for... standing up for me. You didn't need to. It's nothing I haven't gotten used to," Tigress said slowly.

"Hey, they should've known better than to tease you about it," Po smiled.

"And we're sorry about that," Said Monkey. "Po's right. We shouldn't bring up the past just because we didn't understand you."

Tigress nodded. Her face had no smile or frown. Did she forgive them? Po couldn't tell. "I'm going to go train."

"Tigress," Po said warningly.

"I mean... meditate," the tiger recovered. Po shook his head with a sigh and walked out of the Training Hall.

A little while later, Po walked down to the village to see his dad. Li Shan was still in the panda village during all of this. Po could only imagine that the workload was hard for Mr. Ping without the panda for help. "That and he gets lonely," Po mumbled. "I know he doesn't admit it, but he does get lonely."

He turned the corner, waved to everyone on the street, and headed into his dad's shop.

He was expecting to see Mr. Ping and a bunch of customers.

He was NOT expecting to see Mr. Ping, a bunch of customers, and Momoda... in broad daylight. "What the! WHAAT!"

"Po!" Mr. Ping called from the kitchen where Momoda sat at. "Come here!" The panda, still shocked enough to make his wide eyes sore, sat down next to Momoda. She glared hard into her noodle soup in front. She was upset. That much was easy to decipher. "Why didn't you tell me that you had a girlfriend."

"What?!" Now Po was doubly confused. "Who said I had a girlfriend?" The goose pointed his wooden spoon to the tiger. "URRGHHH! She's not my girlfriend, Dad."

"Yeah, after the lies you told me," Momoda growled, "Of course, I'm not." She slammed her money on the counter and stormed out of the shop.

"Nice doing business with you!" Mr. Ping called out.

"Momoda, wait!" Po quickly ran after her. She didn't go far, just to a back alley where no one could see them. High walls on either side, with one opening to the Main Street. "Momoda, what's wrong?"

"You should know what's wrong!" Momoda growled. "Those dainty little lies about being enough and not having others' expectations? They don't work!"

Po sighed, "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Momoda glared and marched right up to the gulping panda. "What's wrong is that I can't simply drop everyone's expectations of me like you. I'm a prisoner of them!" She turned away. "I can't believe I believed you."

"Okay, so you can't give them up. Why not just... carry them differently?"

"What?" Momoda narrowed her red eyes. She turned back to Po. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not saying that you drop the burden, but maybe you should try lightening it."

"Ughh!" She plopped to her butt, sitting much like Po would when he got frustrated. "I don't know how! Everyone expects me to be the best and..." She buried her head into her legs, groaning while she rocked back and forth. Po gently reached for her head and guided it out of its depressing hole. Grabbing her hands, he helped her up to her feet and smiled.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Sure, you'll make a lot of mistakes, but hey, when you learn from them, nothing can stop you. You learn more from life being a failure than being a success."

Momoda's eyes lit up. Her smile widened, not in its usual hungry or wild way. It was glad. Hopeful.

"Thank you... Po." Then she smirked. "Are you gonna hold my hands all the time or-"

"Oh Oh! Sorry," Po nervously chuckled, releasing her. Momoda just smiled.

Suddenly, a small furry ball jumped over the high back wall and tackled Momoda to the ground. "Argh! What the-"

"Master Shifu?! What are you-"

"I've got you now," Shifu said. But then, Momoda did something that neither Po nor Shifu had seen before. She curled her tail around him like a snake and threw him into the back wall.

"What the-"

"Sorry old plushie," Momoda grinned. "I think we'll meet again. My treat." She took something from her pocket and threw it to the ground. Smoke billowed out and within a few minutes, she was gone.

Shifu dusted himself from the wreckage. "I've never seen a tiger use their tail like that." He looked at Po, expecting an answer. The panda only glared at his master. "Po?"

"We need to talk," Po grunted. "Jade Palace. Now." He quietly walked towards their destination, where Shifu could only sense the growing tension from the Dragon Warrior.

Continued...