They tried making Lotus as comfortable as they possibly could, lying her down on Po's bed. It was the best that they could do, given the circumstances. She was still breathing much to their relief, but she was shivering in her sleep as if she had the chills from a cold.

"I wasn't expecting this to happen," Li murmured quietly as they kept watch on the little dragon throughout the night.

"Why didn't they tell us?" Mr. Ping wanted an answer, but he didn't have one. Lotus had turned into a dragon just like Po could, and neither his son or his wife had told either of them about the possibility that their children had dragon powers, too.

"They were probably waiting for the right time," Li said dully in response. He was just as confused and wanted answers just as much as Ping.

"What if she doesn't wake up?"'

"She will!" Li shot back.

"Sorry," Mr. Ping mumbled. "I didn't mean—"

"I know you didn't mean it," Li said gently, reaching an arm to bring a blanket over the rest of Lotus' shivering body. "I think that's why Longwei took Chao in the first place...he knew that the Dragon Warrior could transform, so he must have figured that Chao could transform, too."

"And Lotus...what do we do when she wakes up?" Mr. Ping questioned, horrified at the thought that Chao had been in the hands of a Dragon Slayer all the time that he'd been missing. Was Chao a dragon, too? What if Longwei had done something awful to him? Could he still change back? Only Po and Tigress knew the answers so far, and they hadn't returned with their hopefully-found son yet.

"If she's still a dragon when she wakes up, the best thing we can do is just be there for her," Li responded. He wished he had more of an answer.

They had no idea how to help a half panda-tiger-dragon child, but they were certainly going to try until her parents and brother were back safe and sound.

xxxx

It was hot again, but Po quickly realized that it wasn't as hot as before when he'd first entered the volcano. He felt something tight wrapped around his body and when he turned his weary gaze down, he could just make out a black shape...a vest? He noticed that it wasn't as difficult to breathe, either.

He was inside the volcano, and he was wearing a black fireproof vest like Longwei's—the only difference was that it was simply pure black; there was no golden dragon emblem in the center. It wasn't that comfortable either, hardly the perfect size for him, but it would have to do. He would rather be uncomfortable than burn into a crisp. Looking up, he could see bars that he was trapped inside of. They were glowing a bright orange, and Po knew instantly that it most likely wasn't a good idea to try and break free unless he wanted to burn his paws.

Not yet, at least. His cage was huge—big enough for a dragon. Longwei must have figured that he would transform again to get out, and he was mostly right. Though Po had been unconscious for who knew how long, he was still tired. He quietly cursed himself for trying to go after the Five while he, Tigress and Chao had needed a well-deserved rest. But his son had been so distraught over something, and Po still had the nagging feeling that whatever it was had something to do with this volcano.

They couldn't stay inside for long; they had to get out, and soon.

Tigress was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't in the cage with him, which he was somewhat grateful for. Longwei must have taken her to another part of the volcano, and he hoped that she was with the Five now.

"What do you think?"

Po spun around to the entrance of the cage, only to see the one who had put him there in the first place.

It was the Dragon Slayer, and there was something different about him. He was wearing black gloves along with his vest, and Po could only guess that the gloves were for opening cages that reached unimaginable heated temperatures.

"Where are they?" he ground out, resisting the urge to change right then and there. He had to stop himself from grabbing the cage bars. Somewhere in the volcano, Tigress was locked away. The Five were locked away somewhere with her. Somewhere in the volcano, Longwei had locked Chao in the dark again. It was still cruel, but Po hoped against all hope that the Dragon Slayer had only put him back in the dark, and that he hadn't given his son severe punishment for not following the dog's orders.

"Your friends? Your wife? Your son?" Longwei questioned innocently. He said the word 'son' like it was a lie.

"Let them go. Let him go," Po demanded, putting emphasis on the 'him' for Chao.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because he's not yours. He never was," Po returned, "you stole him from us!"

"I'll tell you where they are. In fact, I'll show you," Longwei said with a grin, blowing the fact aside.

Po stopped. Well, I wasn't expecting that, he thought warily.

"What's the catch?" the panda questioned, eyes narrowing. He couldn't trust this guy!

"No catch," Longwei said with that ever-growing grin that made Po want to kick him in the stomach. "Just follow me and don't try anything. What do you say?"

It wasn't like there was any other way for him to escape. If he just played it safe and faked cooperation for Longwei, he could figure something out on the way to wherever the Dragon Slayer was going to take him!

Po sighed. He nodded so slowly that he wondered if Longwei had seen it, but the dog's eyes brightened and he nodded to two other canines wearing black vests and gloves. They reached over and the orange-flaring gate creaked as it slid open. Po—with some hesitation—stepped outside, fully expecting Longwei and the other dogs to attack him.

But they never did. They didn't even try to put cuffs on him again. Nothing happened; Longwei simply began to walk forward in the other direction, motioning for the Dragon Warrior to follow.

Po obliged, the two extra dogs close behind. He paid attention to their surroundings, searching for any pathways that could possibly lead to the outside, but there were none. It was completely dark besides light that was coming from a bright firepit below them.

They came upon a ring set on top of said firepit. It wasn't just a ring; Po realized that it was a stadium, and there were seats that circled an arena that they'd stepped into.

A large crowd of dogs were sitting in the stands barking and conversing, even handing each other currency—they were making bets!

Feeling faint, Po soon realized that the dogs were making bets on which dragon was going to win.

This was a fighting arena, custom-made so that it could withstand the heat of the volcano.

Heart leaping, he could see the Five in the stands and he immediately wanted to rush to them, but he was halted by the guards. Upon second glance, Po could see that they were all wearing fireproof vests, as well—it even appeared that Viper had a custom vest to fit her snake-shaped body.

"Po," he heard a voice call that he knew all too well, a voice that had been ingrained into his very being the day that they'd been married.

"Tigress!" he nearly shouted as she raced up to him. She was unharmed, wearing a black vest herself; there didn't seem to be much variety going on there.

Longwei and the guards allowed them to reunite, Tigress hugging her panda and almost squeezing the life out of him.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Po asked frantically. She nodded at his first question and surprisingly shook her head at the last.

"I don't see Chao anywhere," she said mournfully. "They took him somewhere else, Po."

"You said there wasn't a catch!" Po growled, but it wasn't like he had been expecting the dog to tell the truth.

"And all of you—including your dear little boy—will be released in due time," Longwei comforted to no avail. "All you have to do is fight your way through a few rounds, Dragon Warrior."

"You don't even kill the dragons yourself," Po seethed, though it wasn't something he should actually be angry about; innocent creatures were losing their lives! "You force other dragons to kill them for you. You're no Dragon Slayer."

"Give these people a good show and you'll be free to leave," Longwei said with sparkling and greedy brown eyes, brushing his insult aside.

Po gazed up at the crowd in the stands. Besides the Five, they were all dogs, and they were all waiting loudly and impatiently. Waiting to watch the famous and peace-bringing Dragon Warrior fight other dragons to the death just as Longwei had made Chao do. He had no idea where they had all come from, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that they were itching to see something exciting and 'entertaining,' and it made Po sick.

"Like I said before...you're no Dragon Warrior," Longwei quipped. "You're not a real dragon; you can't even get real dragons to listen to you."

Not a real dragon. Listen. Po blinked. The faintest of an idea flickered through his mind, and he took hold of it before it could fade away.

"Po, you can't," Tigress said, gripping his paws tighter than she ever had before. This could be the last time that she was going to see him if he followed through.

Of course he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't just go into a fighting ring against dragons that were much bigger and stronger than him. Who knew how many Longwei had, or even where he had gotten them from? It was against his very nature to kill unless it was absolutely necessary, like when he'd sent Tai Lung to the Spirit Realm through the Wuxi Finger Hold.

But this was the only way if they wanted to escape before time ran out. He had to do it.

"Maybe I can't...but I know another dragon who can," he whispered so Longwei and the other dogs couldn't hear, giving Tigress a slight grin and hoping that she would get the message.

Her eyes grew big and round.

In a blink, there was an instant flash of green and he transformed as a sign of acceptance to Longwei. The Dragon Slayer smiled wide and nodded to the two other gloved dogs who opened the fighting ring gate with unbridled excitement.

Tigress was led by a guard up to the stands along with the others.

Po slinked into the center of the ring and the crowd cheered, going wild. His vest had disappeared after transforming; he figured that it would come back if he changed into a panda again by accident—at least, he hoped it would. His pants always did, thank goodness! He had no idea how that worked...

Getting back to the situation at hand, he slowed his breathing. He took a breath in and let it out slowly, allowing his body to completely relax. He thought of everyone he loved—Tigress, the Five, his fathers and his little girl and boy who he was determined to save just as Chao had saved him twice in such a short span of time. Then he reached deep into the center of his consciousness, calling...

He didn't know if it was actually going to work. The end of the world was never going to happen again; the universe was immortal and 'it' would have no reason to emerge once again. But to the Dragon Warrior's surprise, he began to feel fuzzy, his thoughts becoming incoherent and hard to follow until everything around him faded away into nothing.

Tigress and the Five were the only ones watching from the stands to notice a subtle change in the Dragon Warrior as his bright jade eyes turned a dark black.