Hey, everyone! Wow, I got this up sooner than expected xD Yes, I'm back with a threequel to Eternal Flame and The Fire Within! I strongly recommend reading them first if you are new so things make sense. I don't have much else to say except that I hope you enjoy this one just as much as the other two. On we go! :)

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"Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend...he was first a panda, but then transformed into a dragon. He gave up everything in order to protect the universe and all of time..."

Two cubs panted heavily on their way up the mountain. No one had been to the Dragon Grotto in decades, and they wanted to be the first to make it to the cave now that a thousand years had passed just like in the story that they had heard over and over.

Of course, they knew that it was just a story. It wasn't real. It had been passed down from generation to generation, and everyone who had actually believed—those who had claimed that they were actually there—were gone by now, with no proof to back it up. But they were determined to find out if a dragon had been truly resting in the cave for a thousand years like the legend said.

"Are you coming or not, Chao?" a small, black and white panda cub asked his orange and white tiger friend who had fallen very behind.

Chao gasped for breath, shaking his head wildly. "Maybe I should just wait down here, Lotus..."

"Aw, you're just a big scaredy-cat," Lotus teased. "You don't really believe in that stuff, do you? The end of the world? Dragons? They don't exist! It was probably just a story that some crazy person made up."

"A thousand years have passed, and that's when he's supposed to wake up!" Chao objected, bending over to try and get his breath back. "My great-great-great-great-something grandma was a part of the Furious Five and was friends with him! This toy actually used to be his!" The tiger pulled out a torn and dirty panda toy from the pack around his waist.

Lotus scoffed, waving a hand at his friend. "That old thing? It's a panda, not a dragon. You can't just change from a panda into a dragon. You also can't live to be a thousand years old and I don't see any weird red clouds, either." In fact, the weather was nice today. Maybe a few clouds here and there, but it didn't look anything like the end of the world. The world just couldn't end. That was impossible!

"But that's what the story said," Chao protested. "My mom tells it to me all the time."

"Ah, you'll believe anything anyone tells you," Lotus laughed. Chao frowned as he finally caught up. They had finally reached the cave!

Slowly, trying their best not to make any sounds, they entered the Dragon Grotto cave. Well, only one entered. Chao stayed behind, refusing to go any further.

"But we're not supposed to go in there!" he cried in a quiet whisper for fear that whatever might be inside would hear them. If there was anything inside.

Lotus let out a frustrated sigh. "Don't you want to find out if it really is true?" he prodded. "We can't tell if anything's inside from out here!"

Chao nodded nervously. Of course he did. But this was trespassing and they could get into serious trouble!

"Then come on!" Lotus pushed, beginning to enter the cave. Chao squeaked at the thought of being left alone outside, rushing to catch up to his panda friend.

They walked silently through the cave, Chao holding his panda toy tightly to his chest for comfort. Who knew what they would find in here? It was one of the oldest caves in the Valley of Peace!

But as they entered deeper with nothing but a lantern to light the way that Lotus had brought along, what they didn't expect to find was a massive dragon sleeping in the center. The two cubs stood stock-still, hardly believing their eyes that the story had actually been true.

It was actually real!

"So it was true," the black and white cub whispered in shock, staring in awe at the huge creature that was resting before them. Its sides fell up and down in a slow kind of manner, its eyes closed. There was an old, worn basket sitting next to it filled with a number of different items, and pictures that had been hung up on the cave walls over the years. He noticed a weird stick-like object in between the dragon's front feet that looked shiny and almost new compared to the other items that scattered the cave.

"Lotus...what are you doing?!" Chao whispered frantically as the panda reached for the staff.

The dragon flinched and Lotus jumped, fearing the worst, but it remained asleep. The little cub grinned and pulled the staff away.

"Cool," he said in excitement, running his paws over the staff. He waved it in the air, pretending that it was a sword.

"Put it back!" Chao screamed in a whisper, his eyes widening when the dragon began to stir. He hugged the old panda toy closer to his striped chest.

"You worry too much," Lotus protested, oblivious to the fact that a giant dragon was starting to wake. "It's sound asleep."

He finally froze, staff still in hand, when bright green eyes snapped open, and the tiger and panda cubs found themselves staring back at the very same dragon from the legend—the dragon that had finally woken after a thousand years.

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"W—what do we do?" Chao stammered in the quietest whisper he could muster as they continued to stare back at the giant, golden reptile. It hadn't budged and was just staring right back at them, hardly processing the fact that there were two helpless and defenseless cubs standing right in front of it.

Lotus gripped the staff tighter that he had taken from the beast while it had still been asleep, eyes as big as the dragon itself.

"You...pet it...and I'll..."

The creature blinked in confusion, finally beginning to fully wake. It snorted, harshly blowing their fur as though a strong wind had swept through the cave.

"RUN!"

"Lotus, wait!" Chao screamed after his friend as the young panda shot in the other direction away from danger. Chao soon found himself all alone next to the huge dragon—a dragon that was starting to move.

It lifted itself up and Chao backed away against the cave wall, hardly believing that Lotus had gone and left him with such a huge animal...a dragon! Lotus had said that dragons didn't exist, that they were made up. But there was a dragon standing right in front of him now—and it certainly didn't look fake or made up!

It did look very disoriented and groggy, like it had just woken up from a long nap. What had the legend said? Chao was in too much of a shock to think straight. Heart pounding so loud that he was afraid the dragon would hear it, he crept slowly and quietly as he could through the cave towards the exit. He heard a growl that had come from none other than the dragon itself, and his heart rate sped up at least five times quicker.

He finally made a break for it when the dragon decided to distract itself by glancing at one of the pictures that had been hung up on the cave walls. The little tiger kept running and didn't look back, only stopping when he had no other choice but to catch his breath.

It took him a moment to realize that there was no thundering sound from behind him, and that there was nothing to take advantage of the fact that he'd stopped to get his breath back.

"It's not following us..." Chao murmured.

Slowly but surely, he made his way back towards the cave's center, confused and curious to find out why. His heart rate returned to normal and his chest fell up and down in a more steady motion when he found that the dragon was struggling to stay standing as it stared at the picture, like its muscles were much too sore to be moved. It was blinking rapidly to get rid of guck that had built up around its emerald colored eyes, and panic was making its way across its bleary expression.

...Was it crying?

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Master Oogway...please help...help me...I thought I was ready; I'm not. I'm not ready, master, I'm not ready! I'm not strong enough, I can't do this alone...give me a sign...anything. Please...

There was nothing but complete silence.

Po closed his eyes, tears threatening to break free. He didn't want to; his eyes had already been closed for a thousand years. He wanted them to stay open for as long as possible, to stay permanently glued to the picture ahead. He couldn't recall anyone bringing drawings upon first beginning to fall asleep, but there were pictures now that someone must have brought later on. Pictures that contained the Furious Five, Shifu and his dads.

His dads, Li and Mr. Ping. They were gone. Everyone was gone and it was all his fault. Time had gone by so fast. One moment, he had been saying his farewells. The next, he had woken up in a completely different timeline in the blink of an eye—he knew it without even needing to step outside—he didn't even want to know what the outside looked like.

This was too much. He should have thought things through more clearly! A pained wail escaped as the horrid realization that everyone he had known...everything he had known was gone tore through him like an arrow being shot through his chest for a second time.

What had he been thinking?

It wasn't until he heard a snap and a small and panicked gasp did he realize that there was someone else in the cave with him, and that he wasn't alone as he had thought. Had Master Oogway answered at last?

Turning his head in the direction of the noise, he spotted a small cub in the cave with him. A cub that looked just as terrified as he felt, and a cub that looked almost exactly like...

Tigress? he thought hopefully.