A/N: Per request, I'm gonna do this chapter in Crocness's point of view.

Okay, here we go...

Startled by my voice, Thorne turned towards me. I saw a faint look of panic in his gray eyes as he stared at my face, but he stayed silent.

"Thorne, what happened to you?" I asked, hardly believing what I was seeing.

Thorne shook his head. He could hardly believe it, as well. And I think I could even detect a hint of shame. He didn't look at me straight in the eye, and his head drooped slightly.

I quickly scanned my friend's appearance. Thorne's face seemed mostly human, except for the two fangs that stuck out over his bottom lip. His mohawk seemed stiffer and a bit of a blue color. His neck was longer than normal, and the very back of it was blue and scaly. I couldn't see his back, since he somehow had his chainmail shirt on(and pants and boots). But, judging by his neck, I bet his back was covered in blue scales. His forearms were massive and a dark blue color. His paws were now more like hands, but they had silver claws poking out from the top of his fingertips. Thorne's dragon-like calfs and feet had burst through his boots, exposing even more sharp claws.

I took it that he didn't like me staring at his new form, since he backed up a bit. I began to walk over to him, who, in return, backed up even more.

"Stay away from me!" he ordered.

I kept walking towards him. "Thorne-"

Thorne lashed his hand out at me. "I SAID STAY AWAY!"

He spoke with such ferocity that I took a step back, this time. I stared at the fierce alchemist, who had started breathing quickly again. My eyes were glued onto his angered face. Suddenly, I noticed that his fangs had gotten a little longer. Moving my gaze to his extended hand, I also saw that his claws had become longer, and his fingertips a little pointier.

Thorne noticed, too. He quickly averted his gaze from my face to his hand. When he moved his eyes down his arm, I did the same. It was then that I noticed a long slash across the front of his forearm. After staring at it for a long moment, he retracted his arm back to his side. He let out a deep breath, then allowed himself to sink to the ground. He quietly groaned and layed his head in his large, blue hands.

I decided to stay still for a minute longer before I tried approaching him again. This time, he didn't shout at me to stay away, so I got as close to him as I thought necessary. I arrested my feet about half a yard away from him.

"How long have you been like this?" I inquired, kneeling down.

Thorne sighed, then lifted his head. "I only changed tonight."

I narrowed one of my eyes. "Do you know why you changed?"

My blue comrade was silent for a moment. "...No." He exhaled sharply. "But I have an idea."

Thorne proceeded to tell me all about Ballista's "uncle," and how he had been asking him about the kingdom and if we had ever fought against any dragons. He believed that Moray was somehow connected to his transformation. He just wasn't sure how.

When Thorne ceased speaking, he sat back against the tree and crossed his dragon-like arms. I moved my gaze from his face to the long scratch across his arm. I pointed at it.

"What about that?" I asked.

Thorne looked at me. "What?"

"Your cut. Where'd you get it from?"

The blue-streaked alchemist looked down at his arm. He inspected the cut thoughtfully for a moment. I watched his face carefully as he did so. His expression brightened ever so slightly, as if he suddenly realized a new fact.

"I got it from the other dragon," he stated slowly. "It cut me with its claws. And they were coated in some type of chemical substance."

My eyes brightened. "Moray must have some connection with that dragon, then. If he's an alchemist, then he must have somehow gotten the chemical onto the dragon's claws."

Thorne nodded, but didn't reply otherwise. He kept his arms crossed and seethed silently. I looked over at the dirt ground for a moment, wondering what I should say or do next. I then looked at Albert perched on my shoulder to see if he had any ideas. He did.

"Do you know what causes you to turn into a dragon?" I asked, turning back to Thorne and raising an eyebrow.

Thorne looked at me like I was an idiot. "The chemical agent. I thought we've just established that."

I gave him an icy look. "I meant, under what conditions do you turn into a dragon?" I glanced at the sky. "Moonlight, nightfall...?"

Thorne dipped his head towards the ground to think. He stayed still that way for about half a minute.

"I think...I think whatever causes me to change feeds on my anger," he finally stated.

I glanced at Albert. Speaking of anger... "You were pretty angry this morning."

Thorne looked at me. "I'm always in a bad mood, Crocness," he stated, as if I should have already known that.

"You were more angry than usual," I replied, with just as much an edge in my tone as his. "What was that all about?"

My half-human, half-dragon friend paused to think. "...It was probably the chemical agent...it might have been messing with my emotions..."

Thorne tapped his chin with his index claw. I wondered how he didn't pierce himself; those things looked pretty sharp. Not even my brother had such deadly claws.

After a moment of deep thinking, Thorne spoke again. "I don't know. I'll have to do some tests; figure out what exactly it's doing to me."

I nodded, then looked at Albert. The look on his face told me we were both thinking the same thing. Crikey, if Thorne turns into a dragon every time he gets angry, we're in big trouble.

The thought brought more questions to my mind. If this chemical agent feeds off of anger, then why didn't he turn into a dragon this morning? Like we had discussed earlier, he was pretty angry then. Maybe it's a time thing. And what caused him to change back from a dragon? Yeah, he's not completely human again, but he's not a full dragon, either. But why did he change? He was fuming the whole time we were fighting him.

Oh, that reminds me...

"We better warn the others," I stated, turning back to Thorne.

He locked his eyes with mine. "Warn them about what?"

I gave him a dead serious look. "You."

Thorne snorted and looked at the ground. "No, we don't."

I placed one of my hands on my hip. "Why not?"

Thorne turned his face towards me again. "Oy, didn't you just see what I did to Kook and my sister?"

Ah, I get it. He didn't want to admit that their injuries was his fault. But I found that a little strange. He never had a problem with hurting people.

Although, he never smacked his sister in the face or crushed Kook's arm.

"They still should know," I replied firmly. "Not only would they be in more danger than they should be if they didn't know, but they might kill you the next time they fight you as a dragon."

Thorne kept silent. I think that was his way of agreeing with me, though he didn't want to.

"What do we do the next time you change?" I wondered aloud after a brief pause.

Thorne took a quick minute to ponder the thought. "Get as far away from the castle as possible."

I nodded. Good idea. He can't destroy the castle or the people in it if he's far away from it all, right? "We should meet back here tomorrow night."

Thorne looked at me. There was a slight, surprised look in his eyes. "We?"

I nodded again. "Albert and I will join you."

The alchemist barely narrowed one eye. "Why?"

"Someone needs to keep an eye on you, and make sure you're okay. And I could probably help you cope with your new...dragon-like attributes."

Thorne glanced at his claws.

"Besides," I continued, "Albert and I both love the night. It's cool, dark, and mysterious."

Thorne quietly stared at me for a moment. And, to my surprise, a change seemed to come across him. He appeared to become more relaxed and calm. Before I could figure out why, he pushed himself up from the ground.

"Okay. We'll meet back here tomorrow night at...eight?"

I nodded, then stood up, myself. "That's fine with me."

"Okay. And...I'll just stay out here tonight. If I turn back into a dragon, I don't need to destroy the castle from the inside-out...again."

I cocked my head. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

I nodded. "Okay. So, I'll see you in the morning?"

Thorne nodded back. "Yeah."

"Alright. I'll see you then."

Without another word, Thorne turned around and started walking towards the pile of dead branches. I assumed that he was going to make some type of shelter for himself there. I turned around to leave, but then looked back at Thorne. To be honest, I actually liked his new "dragon look"; I thought it was cool.

Now, what I decided to say next wasn't an attempt to "hit on him" or anything. I only wanted to poke fun at him; see how he reacts.

"You know..."

Thorne paused, then looked back at me. "What?"

I crossed my arms and smirked at him teasingly. "You're kinda cute as a half-dragon."

(A/N: I'm just gonna quickly revert it back to third person for the last part. Hope you don't mind.)

Thorne stared wide-eyed at the half-human, half-reptile. Needless to say, he wasn't expecting that. He glanced around uncomfortably, making the reptile woman's smirk widen. He coughed.

"...'Kay," he returned flatly, turning back to the pile of branches.

Crocness laughed to herself, then left. Once he couldn't sense her presence any more, Thorne glanced back in her direction, then began to observe his burly, dragon-like forearms. He felt a feeling of smug satisfaction swell in his chest.