Po shot awake, gasping frantically in and out. It took a moment for his surroundings to become clear, but once his vision settled, he could see that he was no longer inside of a burning hot volcano. His fur was charred, but he was back outside in fresh—though mildly warm—air. It was still a bit hot, though Po figured that was because they were still close by the volcano on a rocky kind of ground that connected to the fiery mountain.

Chao...the volcano...he'd almost suffocated! Po sat up straight in a panic, glancing every which way. There was no one in sight at all; not even the Five.

The Five...the dragons! They'd been attacked by Longwei's dragons! Where were they?! Po struggled onto two feet, looking up at the sky for any signs of the two large creatures...there was none, and no signs of the others either. He instantly regretted leaving them behind to fight the two monsters. What if something happened to them?

A rumble suddenly caught his attention and he glanced back in the other direction. He gaped once the image of another certain dragon—his son—came into view. Chao was standing a bit away from him with that same hard stare like he wanted to fight, but there was something different in his expression...curiosity?

"Chao...you saved me..." Po breathed. Who else could it have been that had lifted him to the top of the volcano? Besides saving his life, Chao was out now, too. After six years, he was finally free and standing right next to his father who had been searching for him for so long. He'd managed to escape Longwei's clutches...a second time? It still confused Po why Chao had been out in the first forest where they had found him, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that his son was close, yet so far away...

He didn't have him back yet.

Po took a slow step forward. He had to force himself not to shout in happiness that he was with his son once more, or to cry at what had happened to his little boy over the past six years and just wrap him up into a hug no matter how big he was. Po knew he had to be quiet and calm, or else Chao would be spooked and he would fly away again back into the "sanctuary" of the volcano.

The dragon backed away. He studied Po with a natural but hesitant curiosity, like he somehow did remember that the furry panda in front of him was his father. Po guessed that since he had unintentionally transformed inside the volcano, a memory had sparked in Chao of a time where he himself had not been a dragon—but a scared little cub who had been kidnapped from his home and parents. He was too young then to remember, of course—but something had caused him to go against Longwei and save his father.

Was the dog...gone now? Po doubted it. Longwei was the only one he'd seen inside the mountain, but Po remembered hearing lots of yelling when Chao had—for Longwei, at least—unexpectedly decided to fight back after being released from his cage.

Po wanted to be sick. A cage was where his son had been all the time that he couldn't find him—a cage inside of a burning hot volcano, and Longwei had forced him to fight against other dragons to the death, the answer to the scars that riddled Chao's sensitive body every which way. No wonder Longwei was called the Dragon Slayer, but he wasn't a true Dragon Slayer—he used dragons to kill other dragons, creatures so rare that they hadn't been seen for thousands of years just as Shifu had said, and Po knew why now.

Even if Longwei was gone, they still had to worry about the other dogs that Po was sure were still in there and the two dragons that had attacked upon reaching their destination.

Chao had backed away even further during all of his thinking. He'd gotten lost in thought, and he'd almost lost Chao again because of it. He shook his head lightly, freeing himself from his own mind and pulling himself back to the situation at hand. He had to get Chao to trust him somehow and maybe then, they could go home...

Po took another step forward, and Chao took another step back on the warm and rocky ground. It probably wasn't a good idea to try and transform to see if he could get through via telepathy, so he remained a panda. He was still too weak from the incident in the volcano anyway, and Chao would surely run again. The black and white dragon seemed to understand spoken words better than mental words thanks to Longwei.

"Chao," Po said. The dragon tilted his head to the side in confusion. Of course he had no idea that Chao was his name, but Po was going to use it; he wanted whatever Longwei had been calling him to gradually fade away into the background.

The Dragon Slayer had been able to get his attention, and it seemed that Chao had been able to understand what he was saying. Maybe he could only understand certain words...

"Kill him and I will never put that cuff around your neck or leave you in the dark ever again."

"Cuff," Po tried.

Chao glanced down at the cuff around his neck.

Po didn't want to use the next word, but he had to see what Chao could and couldn't understand.

"Dark."

Chao's eyes narrowed into fearful slits, and he backed up.

"Kill."

Chao bared his teeth, ready to attack on command.

Po had to choke back a sob. So there were only a few words that his son could understand...and they were all bad things.

"Cuff," Po said again. This time he added an extra word, one that he hoped Chao would understand and like. "Off."

Chao glanced back at the painful collar, then back to the panda before him. His yellow eyes were no longer fearful. They were still dim with shadows of the past, but just by one simple word...they were already beginning to brighten.

Po nodded, all the while trying not to allow his tears to escape.

"Let me take it off."

To his surprise, Chao bent downwards. He bent downwards as if in slow motion and Po crept ever closer, his steps slow and steady. Chao growled slightly when the panda was just two inches away from his face, his yellow eyes wary.

"It's okay," Po comforted. "I'm not going to hurt you. You saved my life...just let me take it off..."

Chao remained still as Po reached up with both arms and put them around the collar's lock.

"Hold still," Po told him gently. He knew that he had to be straightforward, or else it was going to be a very painful experience. "If you move, it's going to hurt."

Chao stood still as he could on command, all the while keeping his eyes trained on Po as the panda worked the lock. He called forth a quick burst of Chi and the collar finally gave in, releasing and clattering to the ground.

Chao's neck was absolutely awful with scarring all around. The collar must have been on his neck for some time, and no matter how hard Chao must have tried not to move, it appeared that he hadn't been very successful.

Po reached an arm out until it was directly in front of Chao's nose. He didn't reach it out any further, allowing his son to make the decision whether or not he wanted to completely trust his father.

Out of respect, Po closed his eyes when Chao continued standing frozen in place, unsure of what to do. The only thing he could see were the backs of his eyelids, and the only thing he could feel was Chao pressing his nose up against his outstretched paw.

Po's breath caught. "You can come home now," he said warmly with a relieved sigh, opening his eyes at last. Chao still had his nose pushed up against his paw, and his own eyes were shut; it looked like he wasn't about to let go anytime soon, so Po simply clung onto his son in return.

But his worries weren't over when Chao suddenly rumbled as if he were still in pain. But the collar was off, wasn't it?

Po looked behind Chao, his breath nearly getting knocked out of him as a horrible sight met his gaze. No...how had he not noticed?! There was an ugly slash on Chao's left thigh, presumably from a sharp claw or object that Longwei must have used to try and prevent him from escaping.

Red dripped from the wound much to Po's horror and Chao rumbled again not from relief, but from stinging pain that for once wasn't coming from his neck.

Then the dragon's legs wobbled and he dropped to the ground just like the collar.

"Chao! Chao, wake up!" Po cried, horror filling him when his son didn't respond. Po could still feel a pulse. He could still see Chao's chest rising up and down, but it was a weak effort.

He was losing his son all over again.

He had a downed dragon on his hands, and there was only so much Chi he could use before passing out. He needed the Five, and he had a bad feeling that Longwei and the other dragons had something to do with their disappearance.