This one's the other reason this thing is T-rated, folks.

GUEST05: Thanks for the review! Yeah, can't say that LEGO took the best way out. Maybe they thought trying to develop Cole in some other way would take too much time from the action, or wouldn't convince enough people? I dunno.

Nah, I knew what you meant (and thanks!), I was just joking. ^_^'' I kind of cheerfully resigned myself to being OOC the minute I started writing this story anyway, since I was neither able nor willing to write Season-4 Cole. :P

Oh wow, cool! You're really good, I would never have guessed. :)

We're bound to wait all night.

This is bound to run amuck.

Invested enough in it, anyhow—

But to each his own.

-Broken Bells, "The High Road"

That night was the most peaceful sleep they'd all had in a long time. After only a few hours it was shattered by a deafening, piercing scream, each echo seeming more laden with agony than the last. Everyone bolted awake, eyes wide, breaths shallow. By the time the second scream rang out, they were already tearing to the cave where the Ultra Dragon slept.

Kai was first to scrabble down through the entrance, pebbles spurting from under his bare feet. From the back the others heard him gasp; when they followed him in they could only freeze in mute horror.

The Ultra Dragon lay sprawled on the floor, lathered in sweat and blood. Gashes were torn all along its body, huge swathes of scales missing from all four heads and necks. The crest on Shard's head was bleeding profusely.

Even as the crowd of people recovered from the initial paralysis of shock and began to move closer, the massive scaly body suddenly twitched and began to thrash. Without warning Wisp's head gave a screech, reared from the floor, and twisted to sink its teeth into Rocky's neck, scales and bones crunching under the pressure. Rocky bellowed in fury and pain as the lightning dragon's head rocked from side to side, tugging, twisting, digging jaws deeper. The whole Ultra Dragon's body writhed over onto its back, Shard and Flame's heads hissing and snarling and snatching at the other two, at random body parts, at anything. The fight grew more and more violent, claws and wings flailing, but there was no enemy—the four heads attacked each other and the one body they all shared. The massive tail whipped through the air and crashed down mere meters from where the humans were standing, knocking them from their feet. Jay was shouting something, but most of it was lost through the howls and strangled gurgles of the slowly throttling Rocky. Only one line got through:

"He's tearing himself apart!"

Cole was already scrabbling to his feet, unaware of the bleeding knees and elbows where his pajamas had torn against the floor. Already he was heading for the heaving mass of scaly flesh, evading the hand that tried to snatch him back.

"Stop that! Let him GO!" Seizing a rock, he hurled it with all his might at Wisp's head; without warning the other ninja were at his side, snatching rocks of their own. Wisp yelped under the onslaught and loosened his grip on Rocky's throat, leaving the earth dragon's head choking on each rattling but unobstructed breath.

"Stop it right NOW!" Cole's vocal cords stung as he shouted at all four heads simultaneously. "NOW, you hear me?"

All four heads angled towards him, still snarling, panting, dripping. Cole glared them down, fists clenched at his sides. Slowly the growls mixed in with each breath the dragon drew died away; slowly the glowing eyes softened, the murderous stance loosened. With a trembling sigh, the Ultra Dragon finally lay down, all four heads dropping to the stone floor. Cole let out a shuddering breath of his own, and heard it echoed by the others just behind him.

"Good boy," he said softly. "Good boy."

The Ultra Dragon twitched, all eight eyes rolling in the humans' direction. The creature's heavy breathing did not slow. As it lay there and the ninja began to approach with soothing words, it only breathed more and more raggedly, its ribs heaving with each inhalation. Its wings began to spasm, the rest of its body began to shudder, its breaths grew more and more labored till they were little more than gasps. The realization seemed to hit everyone at once.

The Ultra Dragon was in agony. Not just from its injuries; from within.

Without warning something seemed to snap, and the giant beast threw itself onto its hind legs, its four heads writhing and screaming before tearing into each other once more. The ninjas hurled themselves out of range of the twisting body, knowing the dragon could kill them with one mad blow of a tail or foot. Only Cole stood rooted where he was, staring numbly up at the suffering creature. He couldn't think to move.

A quarter-ton wing cracked against his head. He went sprawling, the world darkening around him. As the dragon's thrashing grew ever wilder, Zane plunged into the maelstrom of scales and dragged away Cole's limp form, shaking him and shouting in his ear. Cole lurched halfway into consciousness and stumbled along as Zane half-held him up, pulling him after the others, towards the exit of the cave. Everything seemed to swim in and out of focus; the one thing he saw clearly for a second was the head that had once been Rocky, staring after him with one eye missing.

"Look out!" screamed Nya as the Ultra Dragon hurled itself against the wall, sending rocks plunging down from the ceiling. "The roof's going to come down!"

None of them even knew what they were doing anymore. They just dragged each other out through the shaking tunnel, burst out into the damp, cold night air, and flew down the hillside, crashing to a halt at the bottom.

The screams continued, echoing up the tunnel behind them. Slowly they all caught their breaths, checked subconsciously if everyone was still there. Cole's head reeled.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," whispered Jay. He sounded like it.

They lay still where they had thrown themselves, waiting. The howling went on and on; the high-pitched screeches of Wisp, the rumbling bellows of Rocky, Shard's hisses and Flame's roars. Cole tried to take it, tried to be strong for the others, but the whole world seemed to be made up of the screams of the Ultra Dragon and the pounding in his head. At last he gave up and clasped his hands over his ears, wishing desperately he could just make everything stop by drowning it out.

After an eternity, the howls tapered off, became groans. Then silence fell. Still no one moved. It wasn't over. They waited.

Then the silence suddenly seemed to become deeper, the air suddenly became colder. A soundless breeze seemed to rush around them, and they knew it was over for good now.

Slowly they got to their feet. Nobody said a word. There were hours left in the night, as if time mocked them for feeling like they'd just lived an eternity. Zane helped Cole up, and somewhere in the blurry murk of his head Cole remembered to squeeze his arm in silent gratitude for saving his life. Still without a word, they went home. Went back to bed. What else was there to do?

Nobody slept. They just lay there, dazed, flashes of blood and ripping scales painted against the backs of their eyelids. About every fifteen seconds there was the sound of a sharp breath being drawn through the darkness; only that. Someone was doing a very good job of muffling his sobs into a pillow. Cole was too dizzy and dead to figure out who.