Po stared, eyes wide. He'd managed to avoid getting singed by the small burst, but Tigress hadn't been so lucky—her ear had caught fire like a candle.

"Um...I'll just...get that for you."

She blocked his paw before he could put out the flame.

Well, he certainly hadn't been expecting that. Maybe a normal sneeze, but definitely not a fireball sneeze. How was it even possible?

"I'm not the only one who saw that, right?" he asked, temporarily forgetting that Tigress's ear had caught on fire as he stared down at Lotus in the crib.

"Po, she caught my ear on fire. Of course I saw it," Tigress said as she stared at their daughter with just as much intensity.

"She just sneezed fire! You don't think...she can change like me, do you?" Po asked, desperate for answers and shocked and excited all at once. If Lotus could breathe fire, then there was a good chance that she also had the ability to transform into a dragon...which would be super awesome!

Lotus squealed and laughed, obviously feeling a lot better as she picked up the panda toy that Po had fixed for the other Lotus in the year 2016; he'd found that upon arriving to his original time, it had apparently gotten sent back along with him.

"We won't know for sure until she's older...I think," Tigress said slowly. She was in just as much shock as he was, and Po didn't blame her. It was something that neither of them had been expecting.

"But it can't be...I thought it was just a Dragon Warrior thing," Po said quietly as they watched their daughter play.

"A spiritual thing...I thought the same," Tigress agreed.

But they were wrong.

"I used my Chi to help her fever go down...do you think that could be the reason?" He'd merged his Chi with hers, which might not have been the best idea. But they had no other choice and his Chi had saved her life!

Tigress thought hard, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. "Po, if she can breathe fire and has the ability to change into a dragon like you, then that might have been the reason why her fever was so high. Your Chi helped to bring it down, and then she took care of the rest as we saw."

It all made sense!

It had never been a spiritual thing or a Dragon Warrior thing, and they knew that now—Po had passed down his dragon powers naturally.

"What about Chao?" Po questioned as he tried the best that he could to contain his excitement, unfortunately failing. Tigress could tell just how excited he was at the fact that their children were possibly able to transform into dragons by how jittery he was; he was practically jumping three feet in the air already.

"It's too soon to tell," Tigress answered. "My guess is that they are slowly just beginning to develop these powers, and your Chi caused Lotus' to activate earlier."

She herself didn't know what to think. She was confused and shocked all in one, hardly expecting something like this to happen today. But as Po reached in to take Lotus out of the crib and give her a cuddle and a look that had love and pride written all over it, she knew that she loved her children all the same, just as she loved and accepted Po for who he was no matter if it was a dragon or a panda.

All that mattered was that their daughter was going to make it. She was going to live, and she needed both her mom and dad.

"She's going to be okay," Tigress laughed softly in relief, placing her chin on Po's shoulder and smiling down at her happy and healthy daughter.

xxxx

"You seem nervous, Dragon Warrior."

"Me? Nervous? Why would I be nervous?" Because the Dragon Grotto was where he'd had to fall asleep for a thousand years. Just standing in the cave was making him nervous, and apparently it was very noticeable. Shifu had called him here for important news, and so he couldn't have really refused.

"A new enemy has threatened to invade the Valley," Shifu stated. "He calls himself the Dragon Slayer."

Po had to do a double take. "Dragon Slay—as in...he kills dragons? There are others like me?"

"Pure dragons, perhaps, though they have not been seen for thousands of years."

Po took a deep breath—there was the word thousand again; it was doomed to haunt him for the rest of his life. But the news that real dragons existed had piqued his interest.

"I do not know of any other creature who is able to change back and forth at will like you can, Dragon Warrior."

Except maybe my kids.

Shifu continued. "This 'Dragon Slayer' has threatened to come and slay a certain golden dragon that protects the Valley of Peace."

Po gaped. This couldn't be happening...what had he done to get on this guy's bad side? "Why would he want to kill me when I'm protecting the Valley?"

"There are some who view dragons as beings who bring peace, and others who view them as evil and a threat. He is apparently the latter, and wants to bring honor to his people by killing the famous Dragon Warrior."

Po gulped. This was worse than he'd thought...

"Does he know that I'm actually a panda?"

"He may not know that you possess two forms—one a panda, the other a dragon, and that you have the ability to switch between them both at will. I am unsure what he sees you as."

"What should I do, Master?"

"Be careful and on the lookout. You cannot just scare your enemies off with a simple transformation, anymore. Until things die down, you need to lay low and stick to the usual kung fu."

The usual kung fu—meaning that he could no longer change into an insanely awesome fire-breathing dragon. Darn.

xxxx

From what they knew so far, Lotus had the ability to change into a dragon like he could, and only time would tell if Chao had any of the same powers. He hadn't passed down his dragon powers through his Chi like they had originally thought, but naturally. Po knew that whenever he transformed, he turned into a real dragon, not a dragon made of Chi like in the Spirit Realm.

"We'll get through this together," Tigress told him gently as they watched Chao and Lotus wrestle on the floor atop a soft blanket that they had put out.

Po let out a quiet laugh as Lotus bit on his ear and Chao pushed her away. She stumbled backwards right into his lap, and he managed to catch her just before she was able to fall over. They would soon be old enough to start walking, and Po couldn't wait to watch them take their first steps towards him...or Tigress. Since Chao had said his name first, Po figured that he would go easy on their mom for the walking round.

Chao and Lotus had the privilege of sleeping with them that night, snuggled comfortably in between mom and dad. In that moment with images of a Dragon Slayer running through his mind, Po made a vow that he would protect his family with all he had...even if it meant using his dragon side.