Down in the dark, damp dungeon, Thorne was staring down at his boots, listening to himself breath in and out. Thorne was still fighting, albeit not that hard, to stay human. But he was on the verge of giving up.

Thorne wanted to stay human, but he felt so tired, so heavy, so defeated. Besides, there was nothing he could do to save himself. As far as he knew of, he had no way of getting a cure. Why keep fighting if the effort was in vain?

With a heavy sigh, Thorne admitted defeat and fell into unconsciousness, ready to embrace his permanent dragon nature.

Then he heard her scream.

Thorne's eyes snapped open with alarm. He lifted his head.

"Crocness?"

Thorne listened carefully. Suddenly, he could detect the walls shaking. They had been shaking for the past half-hour, but this was the first time he noticed it.

Thorne shifted, making his chains clink together. "Crocness?"

The echoes of a powerful roar rang throughout the dungeon, and Thorne immediately realized what was happening outside.

"Crocness!"

Thorne frantically looked around him, trying to figure out how to free himself. He managed to wrap his strong hands around the chains constricting his forearms, then pulled.

Thorne groaned when he realized that wasn't working. He swung himself a little and pulled even harder. Drops of frustrated sweat began to run down the side of his head. He yelled, then pulled even harder.

Thorne clenched his teeth when the results hadn't changed. He momentarily stopped to catch his breath, then pulled with as much strength as he could muster. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he did so.

Finally, Thorne loosened his grip, then hung his head in defeat. He took a deep breath as he realized there was no way he could free himself. Tinkor wasn't bluffing when he said that his chains were dragon-proof.

The alchemist was terrified. How was Crocness doing? Would she overpower the infernal beast? Would the other Defenders save her? Would the dragon...kill her?

Thorne felt his throat tighten at the thought. He swallowed.

Crocness, please be okay...

Suddenly, the half-human, half-dragon noticed that he was not alone. He looked up in front of him to see his younger sister watching him. There was an awkward pause as the two stared at each other for a long moment.

Thorne lowered his head and sighed. "Shaiden, I'm sorry. I was wrong about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry."

Shaiden stared at her brother for a moment. Then, she limped past him to the wall behind him. Thorne turned his head and watched as she pulled a silver key from one of her black pouches. She carefully observed the stone panels on the wall. Underneath the first few silver links of Thorne's chains, there was a small hole.

"Don't worry about it, dragon boy," she replied, inserting the key into the keyhole.

Once the key was in, she turned. Immediately, the chains snapped from the panel, then began to unravel off of Thorne's left arm. Shaiden did the same with the second panel, and the next thing Thorne knew, he was on the floor.

Shaiden then limped over to her brother, who was staring at the silver cuffs wrapped around his wrists. The chains were still attached to the cuffs, so it'd be almost impossible for Thorne to walk around smoothly with them.

"I've got it," the ninja stated, taking her brother's dragon-like hands.

The ninja quickly located keyholes on each cuff. She took the key and inserted it into the first hole, and the silver band immediately snapped open. After doing the same with the second one, Shaiden put the key away and pulled the silver cuffs apart from Thorne's blue wrists. When they were finally off, she tossed them to the ground.

Thorne rubbed his cold wrists, then looked at his sister. A shadow of a grateful smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks, Shaiden," he said, a hint of warmness in his tone.

Shaiden smiled. "No problem." She tossed her head towards the door. "Now go destroy that thing."

***

Meanwhile, the dragon and Crocness were on the very top of the castle. The other Defenders couldn't see what was going on, but they knew that what was happening was anything but good.

The dragon had Crocness pinned on her back. It was holding one of its razor sharp claws near her throat, intending to kill her. Crocness was pushing its paw back as best she could, but she knew she couldn't hold it back forever.

Crocness stared angrily into Moray's wicked eyes. With a growl, she asked, "Why him?"

Moray cocked his head. "Hmm?"

"Why Thorne? Why did you choose to turn him into a dragon?"

"Because he has anger issues," the dragon replied, forcing his claw closer to Crocness's throat. "You see, little crocodile, it's quite easy to turn one with anger issues into a dragon."

"That doesn't tell me anything," the reptile woman snapped. "We all have anger issues."

"He's the one with the most anger issues." In a tone as cold as ice, he added, "And all he can feel is anger."

Crocness's eyes flashed as she snarled. "You're dead wrong! He can feel so much more than that!"

"Not for long. Not without this," Moray sneered, revealing the light blue, spiked bracelet.

Crocness growled in reply. The red dragon roughly jerked her arms back. She cringed when she felt something pop. Moray placed the blunt end of his hooked claw to her throat.

"Now this'll hurt a little bit," he stated calmly, smirking.

Crocness snarled, but wasn't able to resist in any way. Her eyes sparkled bravely and fiercely as she waited for the fatal strike.

Suddenly, the red dragon was ferociously knocked off of the reptilian woman. He rolled across the roof, then felt something grab his arms. He looked behind him into the face of the blue half-human, half-dragon.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY CROCNESS!" he roared.

Moray growled, then slapped Thorne with his tail, knocking him off. Thorne roared, then ran towards the red dragon. Once the two met, they were locked in a deadly brawl.

One she recovered from her surprise, the croc-woman stood up. She watched as the two dragons took turns clawing and rolling on top of each other.

By the time it started to rain, Thorne had the upper hand. He was only half-dragon, but he was still the strongest of the two. Moray was losing miserably.

That's why he decided to cheat.

When he saw his chance, Moray brought out the light blue bracelet. He subtly slipped the light blue device over Thorne's left arm. Though he didn't notice, the reptilian woman did.

"Thorne, watch out!" she cried.

Moray suddenly pushed down hard on the bracelet's silver spikes, sending them deep into Thorne's arm. He cried out in pain, then felt a brutal slap against his cheek. Thorne fell backwards, then pushed himself up. He glanced at his stinging, bleeding arm, then saw that his silver claws were starting to dissolve.

Crocness was infuriated. "You coward!"

Moray grabbed Thorne, and another brawl began. The dragon made sure Thorne suffered severely. It scratched, smacked, and whipped him every few seconds. Because Thorne was completely human again and weaponless, it was now hard for him to fight back.

During their fight, the dragon dug its claws deep into Thorne's shoulder, making him cry out in pain. The dragon then roared and threw Thorne to a corner of the roof. The alchemist landed on his stomach in a rain puddle. He groaned when a stinging pain shot through his body. When he opened his eyes, he was alarmed at how red in color the puddle was.

Thorne felt rain pelt his throbbing shoulder, which made it sting even more. He clenched his shoulder and flinched.

"Thorne!"

Thorne responded to Crocness's cry by looking at her. The sight of her face illuminated by the moonlight made him feel stronger. The reptilian woman ran over to him, which caught the red dragon's attention.

"Crocness, no!" the English Defender shouted, holding his good arm out to her.

The dragon roared and slapped Crocness with its tail. After she stumbled back, it clawed her face, then knocked her down. It raised its powerful arm to strike another blow.

Thorne snarled visciously, forgetting all about his pain. He leapt up from the ground and ran for the dragon. With a mighty yell, he attacked the beast with all his might, and another fight began.

Every time he needed a dose of strength, Thorne would look at Crocness's scratched face. The sight of her injured made him furious and want to keep fighting for her, even though he was bleeding horribly.

And what happened? Well, in the end, Thorne was able to push the dragon off the roof and into the Stockade.

Crocness, who had been watching in amazement, picked herself up from the ground and ran to Thorne's side. Thorne was drenched in rainwater and sweat, and was breathing heavily. When he sensed Crocness's presence next to him, he looked at her.

The two stared a each other for a moment, each unable to speak right away. Skabb's loud yelling made them turn their attention the Stockade. The other Defenders were already there, surrounding the dragon. Crocness smiled evilly, wondering what kind of torture her friends had in store for Moray.

"Crocness..."

The reptilian woman turned. Thorne was clenching his bleeding shoulder and cringing. Crocness's eyes widened at his gaping wound.

"Help..."

No sooner had he said that, Thorne fell unconscious and collapsed into Crocness's strong arms.