Bao and Lei Lei were nice, but she didn't want to play. Mommy had left to go find daddy, so she wasn't in the mood to play. They had gone to bring back her stolen brother and while she was excited that he was coming back home after such a long time, she was sad and scared, especially after what had happened at school between her and Cheng. She couldn't make the scream that he had made go away—his scream when she'd slashed a sharp claw across his face.

She felt awful. She felt weird too, like something was happening to her. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like she had to do something. Do what, she didn't know, but it wasn't leaving her alone and she didn't know what to say to her grandfathers who were babysitting (though she wasn't a baby!)

Mr. Ping had made her a nice bowl of soup. She loved soup, especially her grandfather's. He'd told her that there was a secret ingredient in the soup that made it taste so good, and that it would help her feel better.

The weird feeling still didn't go away, and she hardly got the chance to take another sip of her soup when there was suddenly a bright green flash.

"Uhh...we may have a slight problem..." Mr. Ping heard Li from Po's room where they had been watching Lotus and getting her ready for bed. She hadn't been feeling well, so they had decided to let her have Po's old room at the noodle shop after taking her home from the Jade Palace. They could still keep a close watch on her; Bao and Lei Lei had returned to their own rooms, and Tigress had gone off to help Po.

Mr. Ping sighed, his irritation getting the better of him. He'd been serving customers all day, and at the same time he'd had to keep a close eye on Lotus; his son's daughter. Some days, he still couldn't believe that he was a grandpa!

While he loved the kids, he had been fretting about his own who had gone off to some volcano to get his son back, and it had been more than a day. He didn't need Li to bring in yet another problem as he tried closing up the shop for the night!

"And what could be more of a problem than my son going off to fight yet another crazy villain, and one who kidnapped his son while we have to just sit here and—"

The spoon grasped in his wing clattered to the floor when he caught sight of Li in the doorway—holding a small, black and white little dragon with orange spots in his arms.

xxxx

Their plans to rest for the night had to be put on hold—especially with the way Chao was acting. He wouldn't—or couldn't—stay still for more than a few seconds, either pacing back and forth or continuing to paw at the ground.

"It's okay, Chao," Po whispered in the most calming tone that he could muster, though the attempt was futile; something was poking at his gut and telling him that they needed to get the Five and get out of here now, and Chao knew something, too.

The dragon snorted, pawing at the ground one last time. His gaze was still fixed on the mountain, and Po couldn't get him to move from his position where he'd been standing frozen in place ever since his pacing had stopped.

"We have to get them now," Po told Tigress, keeping a gentle paw on his frantic son. Chao's breathing never slowed, his chest heaving up and down in a panic.

"What is it, Po?" Tigress questioned, feeling slightly panicked herself after the ground had trembled underneath them. Was the end of the world happening again? Po's dragon half wasn't taking him over, was it? He was still a panda...

The moment his gaze had rested on the volcano, Po knew that he and Tigress had to perform their rescue mission now; something was up, and it was something big. Something that he had a feeling they wouldn't be able to control, and it had something to do with that volcano.

"You need to get Chao somewhere safe," he told Tigress, kicking at the mini fire until it went dim.

"What about you?"

"I'm going inside the volcano again," he said, determination building. "I'm positive that's where they are." Longwei's dragons had to have taken the Five there, and Longwei or the other dogs had to have given them extra fireproof vests.

Chao blanched at the idea, remembering what had happened the first time that his father had gone inside. He'd transformed by accident back into a panda because of him, and he hadn't been able to breathe!

"I'll be fine, Chao. We're not going to let Longwei get you again," Po promised softly.

"Are you sure about that?" A new, rough voice made itself known. A familiar and hated voice, much to Tigress and Po's dismay.

Longwei and what looked like an entire army of dogs peeked out from the greenery around them.

Tigress circled—checking for an opening—but they were stuck. They were absolutely stuck and there was no way around the pack of dogs!

"Come," Longwei ordered Chao.

Chao growled lowly, remaining in place next to Po.

"Now," Longwei demanded. "Or I'm going to put this back on." He lifted a cuff. A brand new cuff that looked to be a perfect fit for Chao.

He whimpered and to Po's horror, he began to creep forward—back to his kidnapper.

"Chao, no, don't go to him!" the panda pleaded. But no matter how hard he tried convincing him not to go, Chao continued inching forward until he was standing right next to Longwei himself.

"They always come back," the dog chuckled.

The only thing Po could do was watch his son struggle against the cuff that was slammed around Chao's neck without warning by Longwei's second dragon who had made a dramatic entrance—the one who had carried his master to safety six years earlier. The one who Longwei had passed the cuff to without another glance so fast that Po had to blink and make sure the collar hadn't simply just disappeared from Longwei's paw.

Before Tigress could jump forward, three dogs from behind grabbed her arms. She threw them with all the strength she had, knocking them backwards again.

Po struggled himself against two others that forcefully slammed another cuff around his paws.

He could hardly see the green that flashed as he transformed as a last resort, thundering with a roar. Binds were thrown at him from all different sides until he fell, his feet kicking blindly in the air—he couldn't break free no matter how hard he struggled, the ropes only squeezing tighter and tighter until he could barely breathe.

The other dragon had pinned down Chao to keep him from moving too much—to stop him from hurting himself further until the smaller submitted at last, falling limp underneath the gigantic weight above him. It rumbled a warning and then stepped off of the younger dragon who could only lay in shock.

Po couldn't keep himself in dragon form for much longer, still too weak from the previous day's events, especially since neither he or Tigress had gotten any real rest. But he kept pushing forward anyway against the ropes that held him captive, shoving with all his might to get to his son.

Darkness was beginning to creep in as the last of his energy was sapped.

He felt himself morph and he was a panda once more.

No...Chao...

The last thing he saw was his son obediently following Longwei and the second dragon.