Po accepted. He accepted that the dragon wanted to fight. He accepted the fact that it was most likely Longwei's upbringing that had caused this dragon to become the way that it was today—a bloodthirsty monster that had been trained to fight to the death all its life. A monster that he most likely would have no chance against; this was a real dragon after all with far more experience than him regarding dragon ways and fighting techniques.

But he didn't want to fight. The dragon blinked in shock when he transformed into a wingless version of itself, his body longer and more serpent-like than the sturdier and more stocky build that it had. Though Chao had the same body type as his father, it was obvious that the reptile certainly hadn't been expecting a panda to change into a great beast like itself, but Po had to wonder if it remembered Chao's first transformation at all.

I don't want to fight.

The first thing that he'd said to his son when they had found him in the forest. The first thing that he was trying to communicate now to the massive dragon in front of him. It was a light-gray winged beast with dark eyes and scars that littered its body just like Chao's, though none of the lines looked as fresh.

It only screeched again and snarled, standing in place and waiting for the Dragon Warrior to make a move.

Po didn't. He held still long enough for the dragon to begin pacing in circles around him, Tigress and the sleeping Chao. She held onto their son with a strong grip, holding his head in her lap.

Po concentrated. He knew that he couldn't communicate through his mind to anyone else's like he could with Tigress or possibly Chao and Lotus, but he had to try.

Please. We need your help.

If he could get the dragon to listen and maybe even cooperate, then they could get Chao to safety and rescue the Five...and possibly as a bonus, all of them would get to go back home—home to Lotus who was surely missing both of her parents and brother.

It was a fool's wish as the wind was knocked out of him when a gray blur forcefully shoved itself into his side, sending him sprawling onto the unfriendly rocks. Luckily, he had his potent scales to protect him from the sharp surface.

Groaning, Po struggled back onto all fours. Though Tigress had shared her own Chi with him, he was still weak from Chao's healing. It had taken a lot out of him before Tigress had arrived—yet another reason that he most likely wouldn't be able to win against the massive beast that was so much bigger than him.

It was preparing to make another move, and Po wondered whether he actually should try to fight back. He couldn't allow himself to be pounded to the ground like this! He was the Dragon Warrior, certainly he had some extent of control over true dragons—maybe not like the kind of control that Longwei had, but he had to figure something out that would make the dragon understand and hopefully stand down.

He didn't have much more time to think of what he could do next as the dragon shoved him again back down to the sharp rocks. He could see Tigress out of the corner of his eye, gently resting Chao's head back to the ground. She stood as the dragon advanced towards the fallen warrior.

Tigress, no! Stay back! Po begged as she made her way to them. She didn't listen, continuing to creep forward while the second dragon held Po down by his belly, its feet strong enough to keep him from struggling away.

Po realized that this was it for him. It was the end; the dragon had pinned him down and was going to take his life by coming down on his throat with razor-sharp teeth. He finally went limp much to the dragon's pleasure, keeping his eyes on Tigress.

Stay back! he shouted again through his mind. She shook her head, unsheathing her claws. Po knew he couldn't struggle again; the dragon would certainly end his life quicker. It was very capable of such a thing, just inches away from his neck. He thought of transforming. Would it work? Would he be able to get away by making himself smaller? Maybe he would simply just be crushed by the gigantic dragon on top of him. He didn't want to find out.

It rumbled and Po slammed his eyes shut at last, praying that it would be quick and he would awaken peacefully in the Spirit Realm.

But what he didn't expect next was for the weight to be lifted off of his stomach. Had the dragon decided that killing him wasn't worth it? Had he finally gotten through? A screech sounded and Po shot his eyes open to find—

Chao?!

His son was awake, and he'd raced past Tigress and had knocked the dragon right off of his father. But he'd just gotten healed from a terrible leg wound! He couldn't fight a dragon that was three times bigger than him!

But like father like son, Chao didn't do anything, either. He only stood stiff as a board in between the two dragons, eyeing the more vicious with the same hard stare that he'd given his father when they had first met in the forest. He growled at the second dragon, warning him to stay away from the half-dragon behind him.

Po could only watch in utter shock as the odd scene unfolded before him. Chao was still making an assortment of different sounds that ranged from light growling to full-on snarling, and the other dragon seemed to be listening.

Were they...communicating in dragon language, something that Po could only hope to decipher? Tigress watched on with a confused but fascinated expression that matched his own. If he had been in panda form, he would have shrugged.

I have no idea what's going on, he whispered into her mind, afraid that the dragons would somehow hear his thoughts and he would ruin whatever Chao was trying to accomplish. Tigress remained silent herself, equally afraid of possibly ruining the moment for her son. Whatever Chao was saying to the gray dragon, it appeared to be working.

To Po's surprise, the large reptile stood down—it wasn't entirely submitting to their son's 'orders,' but Chao was stepping aside away from the Dragon Warrior.

Po stiffened as the other edged closer and closer to him, wondering if he should close his eyes in respect like he had done for Chao. In the end, he decided that he should definitely keep them open in case things went awry.

It sniffed and blew in his face, snorting...then it bent down and took off into the cloudless setting sky, leaving Po and Tigress alone with their newly-healed son.

What the heck just happened?

Tigress shrugged so subtly that he almost didn't catch it. Chao was still with them, so Po supposed that was a good thing. He wasn't trying to take off along with the other dragon since the panda had transformed into a creature like him. The thing that baffled Po the most was the fact that his son had saved his life for a second time by stopping a fight from ending badly.

Chao snorted softly and made eye contact with Tigress. She stared back in surprise as he inched closer and closer towards her as he had done with her husband—the only difference was that Chao was taking the initiative to move forward and not back. His mother stayed in place, chills running over her body as he closed the space between them.

Po could sense that Chao somehow remembered—knew instinctively that Tigress was his mom. She stared into eyes that mirrored her own, and they glistened brightly as he placed his head into her arms and she hugged his snout tightly as she could in return, fully allowing tears to free fall.

The only thing the Dragon Warrior knew was that all three of them were finally together. They could finally bring their son home—but they knew that they had to rest and regain their strength; they were all tired from the day's events.

They would find a place to rest for the night—a place where Chao would be safe—and then the following day a rescue would ensue.

Po could only wish that the feeling everything was going to go wrong would leave him alone.