So here it is. The series is finally complete at last! I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, faved, followed or simply read this story! It's been quite a ride, and is definitely the longest thing I've ever written if you combine these four stories together (with "The Legend Begins" being the longest in the series.)

I couldn't have done it without you and I'm really going to miss working on this—yes, this is truly the end; I think this is a good place to really end it. I may or may not have future KFP stories in the works that are not linked to this series...we'll see ;)

xxxx

"He's only six years old!" Tigress had to stop herself from growling. "We just got him back...the Valley of Peace is his home!"

"He was taken from his home!" Po shouted over her cries. Tigress had reacted just as Po had expected her to: she was angry. Angry at Longwei. Angry at the dragons for wanting to take her son away from her yet again, the only difference being that this time, they were willing to let Chao choose what he wanted.

Just like she and Po had to let him choose what he wanted no matter how angry they were and no matter how much they wanted him to stay.

Her anger dissolved into pure worry. Chao was still outside with the dragons. Lotus had fallen asleep in her bed, even though she had tried her hardest to stay awake. Flame and Guiren were waiting for him to make a choice, just as they had to make the choice to force him to stay or to let him go.

Force. Po didn't like that word. He knew that force was what it would be if he and Tigress made Chao stay if he wanted to go.

"And six years old is an adult in dragon form...I think," Po thought aloud more to himself than to his wife. It explained why Chao had been so big in his dragon form. It was either that or the fact that he had been a dragon for most of his life, which had caused him to grow abnormally large for his age. While Lotus was in her own dragon form, she was smaller than her brother, so Po wasn't exactly sure.

Tigress sighed. She wasn't going to be easily swayed, so he continued.

"He was taken from us and put in another home. It might not have really been a home, but it was still his home. The volcano and the dragons are all he's ever known, Tigress. It was sad we lost him that day and what happened to him...but he grew up with a different family, and we can't just keep him from them."

Longwei had taken Chao from them. Who were they to take Chao away from the dragons? They were not like Longwei. Not at all.

You couldn't just trade your family.

"The dragons need a new leader," Po said softly, wrapping his arms around her waist. She stiffened at the contact, frozen by his words. "They need their own Dragon Warrior."

Tigress gripped him tighter, burying her face into his neck to unsuccessfully stop the oncoming tears.

"I know it's hard for you. It's hard for me, too. But we have to let him go..."

xxxx

The night was cool and crisp, though Chao was warm and cozy against Guiren's chest. The two dragons were lying on the ground side by side, on the verge of falling asleep.

Their heads perked up at the sound of Chao's parents approaching.

"...Chao?" Po asked quietly. The bundle in Guiren's arms moved, and the dragon inched closer to them so that Chao could crawl over to his mom and dad. Po had thought that he'd been asleep, but the cub was wide awake, his bright yellow eyes illuminating the darkness; it seemed that he'd been deep in thought.

Po took Chao into his arms since Tigress was holding their sleeping daughter. She wasn't able to look up from behind the protection of Lotus' fur, consumed with trying to stop her tears.

"...Do you want to go with them?" Po questioned, trying his best to stop his own tears from falling uncontrollably down his furry cheeks.

"I..." Chao faltered. He looked back to Guiren and Flame, the two watching the scene unfold before them. Po understood that Chao was conflicted just as much as his parents. After all this time, they had finally found him and brought him home...and now he was leaving? They had tried so hard to make him feel welcome and comfortable, but they knew deep in their hearts just as much as him that it wasn't working.

He belonged with another family in another form.

Tigress moved closer to her son, hanging onto Lotus as if her life depended on it. She pressed her forehead gently against his, squeezing her eyes shut.

She remembered everything. Po falling asleep for a thousand years. Her previous life without him and her family. The volcano exploding. She even remembered meeting Po again in the Spirit Realm, and how conflicted he was at that moment whether or not he should tamper with the flow of time to return to his home. She had sensed his true desire, and now she sensed her son's.

"You're free now," she whispered into his ear, bringing a paw up to push it gently against his chest, feeling as if a sword was piercing her own as she held Lotus in her other arm. "Is this what you want?"

Her heart plummeted as she felt the tiny shape of her son grow in size until he was no longer able to fit in her arms. Gold filled her vision, and a voice swept into her mind before she could open her eyes once more.

No matter where I go or what form I take, you will always be my mother.

The large dragon form of Chao turned to face his father.

I knew you were my father the minute you transformed the first time in the volcano.

Po took a deep breath, chills running down his spine at just how mature his baby boy sounded. He'd grown up too fast.

The same thing happened to me in the first year that I resided in the volcano.

Po's eyes widened.

That was how I knew you needed help. Guiren saved me, so I saved you.

The dragons had gotten up, restless once again at the sight of Chao in his black and white dragon form. His eye patches were back to white, and his stripes and spots had disappeared.

Mommy, daddy...I'll be okay. They'll keep me safe. We'll look out for each other. We need to go. We need to find out if there are others—others like us who need our help. We can't be the only dragons left.

Their breaths hitched as their son turned away.

Flame and Guiren bowed to their new leader: The Dragon Warrior.

Then they bent down and took to the sky—directly towards a full moon.

An ear-shattering roar was released from one of the three dragons, and Po and Tigress instantly knew that it had come from their son.

Their heavy hearts lifted and their eyes brightened.

Lotus woke in her mother's arms at the sudden noise.

"Where's Chao going?" she asked quietly. "Is he going to come back?"

Tigress hugged her closer and Po walked up to the two, his legs shaky.

"I know he will," the panda assured her. There was no reason he couldn't come back to visit, right?

Tigress smiled the best that she could through her tears.

xxxx

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Po asked Lotus, reluctant to leave his daughter. He knew deep down that she would be okay with all the kids and teachers around, but he was still nervous.

Lotus nodded frantically, eager to catch up to her classmates that she had missed while she was away as they filed into the school. "I'll be fine, daddy!"

"Can't we just walk her inside?" Po nearly whined. "What if she doesn't get along with that one kid again?"

Tigress shook her head. "Let her go to the kids on her own. She'll figure things out."

Po couldn't bring himself to leave his daughter; he just had to stay and see if she was okay, so he watched in stealth mode from behind the wall around the school when it was breaktime.

Lotus approached the one student that he had been worried about: the fox named Cheng who she'd gotten into a little fight with.

"I'm sorry I scratched you," she apologized as sincerely as she could. The fox stood alone before her, wearing a bandage across his cheek.

"I'm sorry I called you a mixed breed...and a freak..." Cheng mumbled. Lotus smiled.

"It actually looks kinda cool...wanna see?" Cheng asked. Before Lotus could say no, he tore the bandage off his slash.

"Woah," she said in awe at the cut. What was she thinking? She should be feeling sorry, but it really did look cool!

"Wanna touch it?" Without warning and before she could object, Cheng grabbed her paw and placed it against his slashed cheek.

"Woah," she said again in just as much awe, blushing at the fact that her hand was currently on a boy's cheek.

"Wanna see something else cool?" Lotus asked him. Cheng nodded, wondering what it was that she could possibly have that was cool since she didn't have any scars and wasn't holding anything.

Green flashed and he fell over backwards at the sight of a huge black and white dragon with orange spots standing right in front of him. He must not have seen Flame and Guiren flying around, or the fact that there was a panda who could change into a dragon at will—who had passed the ability down to his son and daughter.

"But—but dragons are only fairy tales!"

Po laughed to himself, recalling what he'd said to the guard in the Forbidden Zone.

"There's a difference between legends and fairy tales."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Legends are real."

A splitting roar burst in the far off distance and Po grinned.

The legend was only just beginning.