Po couldn't help it. He had to look behind him and see the monster that was the volcano, the monster that was mercilessly going to destroy everything around him.
Looking back, Po sucked in a deep breath of fresh air that was soon going to be blowing ash straight to them...
But he didn't see anything.
There wasn't any smoke in the distance, which he thought was odd. If the volcano had erupted, wouldn't there be dark smoke everywhere, especially shooting towards the Jade Palace?
He made a landing on the palace steps, happy to see one of his dads rushing out of the entrance towards them.
Li's eyes widened at the sight of Guiren, instantly taking a few steps back.
"It's okay...he's with us now," Tigress assured the panda as calmly as she could from atop Po's shoulders, though it was hard to remain calm with the knowledge that she carried.
"What happened? Is he okay?" Li asked when he took in the frail and tiny shape of Chao. "You found him!"
"We did," Tigress confirmed. She knew she should be happy. They had found Chao and had gotten him out of the volcano, gotten him away from the one who had taken him from them—but she just couldn't be happy with the knowledge that a raging mountain was going to destroy everything she loved. "Longwei forced him to change into a dragon. Po helped him change back and he hasn't woken up yet."
"Speaking of changing into a dragon," Li started, "there's something I need to tell you about Lotus—"
It was obviously apparent that Po wasn't paying attention. The golden dragon had his head turned to the side, and he was looking towards the direction that they had come.
"Po, we have to get to Lotus and get everyone out," Tigress told her husband. She was still in her position atop his back, so she couldn't exactly go anywhere unless Po bent down.
The volcano...he said to her through their mental link.
"What?" she questioned, craning her neck so she could try and see his expression. He was too big and she couldn't strain her body any further to get a good look at his face.
The volcano...it hasn't erupted yet!
"What do you mean? We heard the boom!"
That boom we heard wasn't the volcano...I think it was caused by the tremors that we kept feeling.
"That just means we have all the more time to send out a warning! We need to go!"
"I'm with her," Mantis agreed. "I have no idea what Po just said, but I'm not going to sit and wait around anymore. Guys, we have to go and warn the Valley."
Crane nodded, preparing to launch himself off of Guiren's back so he could help send out a warning message to the entire Valley.
I'm not waiting, either. Tigress...I love you.
He hated to do this to her as she had done to him, but he had to. The volcano still hadn't erupted, so that meant there was still a fighting chance. Still a chance that everything and everyone could be saved. Fate had been changed already by releasing the dragons from Longwei's volcanic prison and if he could change the fate of the dragons—then he could change the Valley's fate.
He moved his tail upwards as his idea continued to form, curling it gently around his wife's body. She gripped Chao tighter so he wouldn't fall out of her arms.
"What are you doing?!" she shouted when it registered that Po had set her back to the ground.
Always keep them safe.
"Wait!" she screamed. He didn't listen, bending down to take off from the Jade Palace steps—
A roar suddenly sounded and a black shape blurred his vision. Po reeled backwards in shock, nearly careening into the group behind him.
Tigress, get everyone out of here! Po shouted in his mind. She hesitated but complied, leading Li away. Guiren took to the sky in another direction, the Five still safely perched atop his back.
Po shot up to face his competitor.
It was Longwei's dragon who had blocked him from going any further, and who was flapping its wings to keep itself steady in the air over the thousand step drop, snarling at its enemy.
Po was about to pounce and take it down to the ground when a shape moved out of the corner of his eye. Growling, he could see the dragon's master himself—and he was attempting to enter the Jade Palace! He was going to try and take Chao back, not to mention Lotus—and Po wasn't about to let that happen. He made brief eye contact and the dog grinned, creeping inside.
The black dragon screeched in anger when his opponent turned away to try and reach its master. It raised its wings, shoving them downwards so he could propel himself upward.
Po blanched when the dragon landed directly in front of him, blocking his way into the palace entrance and from getting to Longwei. He let out a threatening rumble, preparing to launch forward in attack.
Before he could make a leap, a red blur flew out of nowhere, tackling the black dragon to the side. Shocked, Po blinked to make sense of the fact that the red dragon had come to his rescue. He'd known that the huge reptile had been floating behind them on the way to the palace, but in all their hurry to return, it had slipped his mind. The two dragons reeled and tumbled, clawing and biting. A faint thought crossed Po's mind that after everything was all over, the palace was going to need yet another renovation.
Then he took his chance. He surged ahead into the open hallway straight for the Dragon Slayer, extending his claws the second the dog came into his view again. Po tightened his grip and activated his flight, leaping off of the Jade Palace steps like he had originally planned to do.
"Put me down!" Longwei growled in a shout, struggling with all his might to release himself from the Dragon Warrior's hold. Unsuccessful, all he could do was dangle from the claws that held him captive. He clearly hadn't expected two of his dragons to switch sides, and for another to take him for a ride high in the air.
No way, Po responded mentally to himself with a grin. There was no need to try and communicate fully to the Dragon Slayer that his end was approaching; the dog already knew, and he was putting up quite a fight. But without his dragons and his sword, there wasn't much that he could do.
Po held fast, speeding back towards the volcano that—at one point in the distance—was now getting closer. The mountain was still expanding; expanding past its breaking point, and trees were destroyed in the rubble as the mud and dirt plowed them down.
"What are you going to do? Throw me in the volcano?"
He was. He knew that it would be going against what he had told his son: that violence wasn't the answer. It was against his very nature to kill, but Po knew that this time was absolutely necessary, and that he couldn't just let Longwei go or keep him in prison. If there was a risk that he would break out like Tai Lung and hurt his son or daughter again, Po wasn't going to spare his life.
He had to put an end to the Dragon Slayer, just as the Dragon Slayer had put an end to so many innocent lives himself.
Po held him up over the top of the volcano, hesitating as conflict kept him from going through with the action. He could see the magma down below and it was bubbling, making its way towards the exit.
The Dragon Warrior closed his eyes and nose-dived inside, Longwei still screaming in his grip. He thought of the six years that his son was missing; all of the searching, worrying, not knowing and pain both physical and mental that Longwei had put them through. He thought of Chao alone in the dark and in a cage, forced to be something that he should have had the chance to choose between. He thought of the sword that Longwei had plunged deep into his son's chest, and it was then he knew that he had made the right decision.
I'm sorry. I can't let you hurt my family ever again.
Like Oogway had done to Kai, his former brother in arms—he was going to banish Longwei to the Spirit Realm, and hopefully the volcano along with the Dragon Slayer.
Po was face to face with the scorching hot lava when he concentrated on his panda form.
Green filled his vision behind closed eyelids as he let himself fall, no longer in control of his own flight. He positioned Longwei in the perfect spot so he could grab the dog's paw, flexing a finger outwards. All the while, he hoped and prayed that his plan would work whether or not he had the Dragon Slayer in his grip—that he could change fate for the better.
"Skadoosh."