"...I gave him my Chi," Po finally answered.
"What?!" Mr. Ping nearly shouted. Li simply stared at his son in shock, trying to make sense of things. Po willingly give up his Chi?
"Po...why?" Tigress asked, seeming to have read Li's mind. She just couldn't understand it any more than the giant panda did. Po had finally mastered Chi! But now it had completely faded away from him and based on what Kai had said, he was...he was...
Don't think like that, a stern inner voice told her. They still didn't know all of the details. But now she knew why Kai had known that there was something wrong with Po: he had the power of the Dragon Warrior.
"He wanted my Chi really bad," Po continued in a whisper, feeling as though he was slipping away as the words left his mouth. "So I gave it to him. He couldn't handle all that power, though. On the bright side, I did shoot a super awesome dragon at him." He grinned at the memory of flying through the Spirit Realm while he controlled a projection of his own Chi...his soul. He cringed at the thought that Kai now possessed such a power. Would he be able to make the dragon appear, too? Po certainly hoped not.
Tigress tilted her head to the side, wondering just what Po meant by a 'dragon.' Maybe it had something to do with being the Dragon Warrior himself. He hadn't really gotten the chance to explain what had gone on in the Spirit Realm after Kai was defeated; she would give him a chance to explain after this was all over.
Lei Lei sat next to Tigress, Po's figurine of her in hand. She babbled as she played with the toy, giggling about something that only she knew to be funny. Tigress almost wished that she could trade places with the cub and be oblivious to life's troubles.
"So that's how you defeated him," Tigress finished. Such a genius idea, yet so stupid! What had he been thinking?
Po nodded, glancing at her with a mixture of sadness, regret and pain all in one. "It wasn't the best idea, and I see that now."
He'd thought that Kai was finally destroyed after such a big Chi-overload, but it turned out that instead of defeating the spirit warrior, he had only managed to make him stronger. That definitely wasn't good. Now his friends and family were being held prisoner in their own home by a power-hungry maniac.
"Can't we...give Chi?" Mr. Ping asked as he processed what Po had told them, trying to come up with a solution for his son.
A spark of hope fluttered in Tigress's chest as the idea went through her mind, trying to think of something that they could do. Just like Po didn't want to stand by while the Jade Palace was in danger, she would stay true to what she had said back in Gongmen City and wouldn't just watch her friend be killed.
Li seemed to like the idea instantly, willing at once to lend some of his Chi.
But Po's eyes widened in a panic, gesturing for his dad to stop before he could come any closer. "No, no. You guys can't sacrifice any of your Chi for me. We still don't know how it works...you could get hurt."
"We don't know exactly how our Chi works yet," Tigress remembered Master Shifu saying in the Hall of Heroes. "It's a brand new ability for all of us..." Was it even possible to give Chi, like when Oogway had been healed by the pandas? But this situation was entirely different: Po's Chi was gone, his life-force torn away. He wasn't going to let them find out.
They couldn't go out of the noodle shop to get help, and they couldn't go outside the Valley of Peace risking more lives. Tigress wasn't even sure if outside medical help would be of any use in Po's situation. While Kai no longer had any of his Jombies on hand, who knew what other kind of abilities he possessed along with Po's power? She was grateful to have even gotten to Mr. Ping's in one piece without being seen, especially with Lei Lei. Po wasn't about to risk his dads. They were all forced to stay inside and hope for the best, as much as Tigress hated to admit it.
They were stuck; Kai was keeping everyone away. Tigress wondered if Chi was able to work long-distance like it had for Po in the Spirit Realm, and them in the Mortal Realm as they did their best to save him from the spirit warrior's clutches. But she had a feeling that since Po was in the Mortal Realm now, their Chi wouldn't be as effective and with Kai keeping a close eye on them, those at the palace wouldn't even be able to attempt such a thing.
Continuing to babble, Lei Lei waddled to Po's side and lifted up the Tigress figurine so that he could take hold of it. Po managed a weak smile and took the figure in his hand, amazed that she was even willing to give it up, if only for awhile.
Tigress could tell that his smile was forced. He was in pain, and she knew it. He was barely able to keep himself up, resting against her hold that kept him from falling back to the ground in a heap.
He was doing his best to stay strong for them.
But without his Chi, his life-force...
He was dying.
And there was nothing they could do to stop it.