Cole is fighting Sensei Yang in the Temple of Airjitsu. He glances around the room checking they are alone, but Yang's students are nowhere to be seen. They circle around each other, pacing, waiting to see who will strike first. Yang is perfectly mirroring his every move, if Cole takes a step with his left foot, Yang does the same. Cole is tired of waiting, so he lunges towards Yang, but Yang lunges towards him at the same time. Cole ducks out of the way of Yang's fist which causes him to miss his punch as well. Cole growls in frustration as he gets back up and faces towards Yang once more.
"You really don't like me do you?" asks Yang, piercing eyes locked with Cole's own.
Cole scoffs. "No Shit? How'd you figure that out?" Yang had lured him here, attacked him, of course he would be angry, of course he would want to fight back. Fight for his freedom. Cole moves in closer again, aiming a kick this time. Yang again mirrors the move, their legs simultaneously striking the other's side. Cole moves back once more and watches as Yang does the same. Yang is smiling, a suppressed chuckle low in his throat. "What's so funny?" asks Cole, a heavy scowl resting on his own face.
"You! You think you're winning." Cole feels rage bubbling through him as he strikes at Yang again. Yang continues to mirror him so for every hit he lands, he himself receives an equal blow. Yang continues to cackle, getting louder on every strike. "When are you going to realise, you can't hurt me without hurting yourself!"
"We'll see about that!" Cole feels the orange power lines coiling through his arm as he aims it for Yang's head…
Less than an hour after the movie started, Cole starts fidgeting in his sleep, a pained expression on his face, scar glowing angrily. Kai frowns, unsure if he should wake Cole or not. While he is still trying to decide Cole's eyes shoot open as he gives a strained gasp.
"Hey, you ok?" asks Kai as softly as he can after pausing the movie.
Cole glances around the room, pushing himself up off Kai and then clutching at his face. "It was just a dream…" he mutters.
"It's ok. You're on the bounty, safe and sound. How's your head?"
"Bad. How long was I asleep?" Cole's words are sluggish, squinting through clenched hands.
Kai passes him his sunglasses. "Too soon for more meds."
Cole lets out a groan at that. "I need to see Wu." He tries to stand but almost topples over.
Kai jumps up to steady him. "Sure, let's go find him."
Kai helps Cole to Wu's cabin, but Cole asks him to wait outside.
"Master…" Cole's voice is thin and pained. Wu looks on with concern as Cole practically falls into a crouched position on the floor. "Do you have any more of that tea?"
Wu gets up and walks over to him. "You are in pain." It was a statement, no question required given Cole's state. "Where does it hurt?"
"My head." rasps Cole, clutching at it. "The meds do nothing… it's getting worse…"
Wu gently lifts Cole's hand to examine the scar, which is glowing brightly, and pulsing. "The tea was to assist with the physical pain of the transformation, it is not safe for long term use."
Cole groans. "What's wrong with me? It should be getting better right?"
Wu nods. "The other students are all improving. You should be too."
"The other students don't have this!" Cole gestures to his head, tears in his eyes. "Please, there's gotta be something you can give me? I don feel good…" Cole's words slur slightly, and the room feels like it's spinning.
"Cole, Cole? What doesn't feel good?"
Cole's eyes unfocus, and his head starts to droop to one side.
Wu grabs onto his shoulders. "Cole?" He asks with a little more volume.
The rest of Cole's weight slumps forward starting to shake and Wu gently lowers him to the ground. Wu grabs a pillow and protects Cole's head until the shaking stops. Thankfully the seizure doesn't last long.
"Kai?" Wu says loudly enough to be heard in the hall.
Kai nervously opens the door, startling when he sees Cole's unconscious form on the floor. "What happened?"
"Please fetch Lloyd."
"Is he ok?"
"Fetch Lloyd, so I can tell you both."
Kai hesitates before leaving the room, heavy footsteps racing along the corridor.
Cole starts to stir on the ground. "What? Huh?" He looks around groggily, squinting at the light.
"Cole? How are you feeling?"
"I um, head hurts, tired… fuzzy… what, what happened?"
"You had a seizure."
"What?" He tries to push himself up, but the world spins and his head pounds, so he lies back down. It's so hard to focus, Wu sounds like he is a mile away.
"You had a seizure, just rest for now. It's ok to go to sleep."
Two sets of thumping footsteps make their way down the hall before Lloyd and Kai burst into the room.
"Shhh!" Wu hisses angrily with a finger up to his lips as his students come to crouch near Cole.
"Oh, hey guys, what's the rush?" says Cole groggily, from his spot on the floor.
Kai and Lloyd exchange confused glances.
"You said he was unconscious?" says Lloyd.
"I was? Why am I on the floor?" Cole tries to push himself up, but this has the same effect as the last time, and he lies back down again. "Right, that's why…"
Wu presses gently on his chest trying to prevent him from trying yet again. "Cole, you had a seizure." explains Wu calmly.
"What?" says Kai with concerned surprise.
"Shhhh, I'm trying to sleep here…" Cole's eyes flicker shut.
"Should we be letting him sleep?" whispers Lloyd. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"That's concussions." says Kai.
"It's ok Cole, you can sleep." reassures Wu.
"Mmmm." says Cole, still with his eyes shut.
"Is he going to be alright?" asks Kai nervously.
"Confusion and fatigue are common side effects after a seizure." says Wu. "Lloyd, pass me that blanket." Wu points to the other side of the room. Lloyd fetches the blanket from Wu's futon and brings it over where they lay it on top of Cole who wriggles slightly, eyelids fluttering.
"Kai. You were with him last. What were you doing before you came here?"
"Um, we were watching a movie. He fell asleep. It looked like he was having some sort of nightmare, he woke up. His head was hurting again."
"Did it ever stop hurting?" interjects Lloyd.
"Well, hurting more? When I said he couldn't have more pain meds he asked to see you. Stumbled the whole way here."
Wu frowns. "Hmmmm." he says, thinking through the words.
"We should take him to a hospital." says Lloyd. He was a master in training, Wu must be testing his decision making skills.
"No." says Wu decisively.
"No?" asks Lloyd.
Wu strokes his beard. "As far as I see it, the hospital can only help him if the seizures are related to a sudden onset of epilepsy, which seems quite unlikely. No. There are two much more probable scenarios." The two students stare at him, waiting for him to continue. "One. His brain readjusting to his regular body caused an overload in electrical activity. Meaning this is a temporary problem linked to his sensory overload."
"Or?" asks Lloyd nervously. That one didn't sound too bad, which meant the other one must be worse.
Wu gestures to the scar. "Would you say this is brighter than before?" asks Wu.
They both nod. It's the brightest they've seen it. "Two. Something is going on inside his head linking his glowing scar, the headaches and the seizure. In this case, Yang's temple could offer more answers than a hospital."
The students nod, looking at Cole with worry, his scar is pulsing, brow furrowed slightly while he sleeps.
"Someone is to stay with him at all times." says Wu sternly.
"We were already doing that." says Kai.
Lloyd stands. "I'll see if Zane can pick up the pace." he says. Wu nods, so Lloyd heads out of the room.
"I was sleeping you know! This better be important!"
Cole wakes to the sound of Jay's high pitched complaint echoing through the bounty which was followed by the familiar thump of footsteps travelling down the hallway. What time is it?
He looks up and sees two big brown eyes staring down at him, long bangs framing her face. "Hey." says Nya softly.
Cole blinks, he wasn't in the med bay, the angle was weird, Nya sitting on the floor beside him. Why am I on the floor? "Where am I?" he croaks.
"Wu's cabin. Do you remember what happened?"
Cole scrunches up his face trying to remember. I was watching a movie with Kai. I woke up, my head was hurting bad, I came to see Wu… "I had a seizure?"
She nods, tenderly wiping some hair out of his face. "How are you feeling?"
Cole pushes himself up into a seated position, surprising himself when his head doesn't complain at all. "Huh. Um, a lot better actually." He looks around the room, and runs a hand through his hair, his headache has faded into a dull throb, no longer a constant jackhammer. His body had some minor aches, but was still markedly improved.
Nya glances at her phone, checking the time. "You can have some more pain meds if you need them?" she offers.
Cole shakes his head. "Maybe in a bit."
"Wow, you really must be feeling better." says Nya with surprise.
Cole starts to stand up.
Nya panics mildly, "Should you be getting up so quickly?"
"Let's find out." says Cole. He pauses once up on his feet, but the room doesn't spin. He shifts his weight between his two feet, feeling steady, feeling like himself for the first time since returning. He lets out a small relieved sigh.
There is the sound of muffled voices drifting down the hall. "Do you know what that's about?" asks Cole.
"We just arrived at Yang's temple." says Nya.
Cole nods before heading to the doorway, following the sound of Jay's voice. Nya trails nervously behind him.
"I'm just saying," whines Jay, "surely checking out the haunted temple can wait until morning?"
"I believe Lloyd's haste is fueled by Cole's current state." says Zane.
"We might find something that could help him." says Lloyd, an air of frustration tugging on the edge of his voice.
"I'm with Jay on this one." says Cole as he nonchalantly struts into the room, taking a position leaning on the wall between Zane and Kai. "It can wait until morning."
"See!" says Jay excitedly, gesturing to Cole. "Cole agrees with me."
The room pauses, processing what was wrong with the last exchange.
"Cole!" everyone says, turning towards Cole.
Cole flinches at the volume, but it wasn't as bad as he was expecting.
"You're up!" states Kai with surprise, reaching out to clasp his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better…" starts Cole before being interrupted by Lloyd.
"How's the head?"
"Yeah, fine, best it's been so far."
"He didn't even want any pain meds." adds Nya, slinking into the room to stand beside Jay.
"Would you look at that…" mutters Lloyd, staring at Cole's forehead.
"What, is it glowing again?" Cole grimaces, trying to gauge Lloyd's response.
"No, no. It's barely glowing at all. It, um, was glowing pretty brightly when you had your seizure."
Jay's head whips around to look at Lloyd, "When he had his WHAT?"
"Jay, loud!" reminds Cole, lifting hands to his ears.
"Sorry!" Jay rubs nervously at his arm.
Kai turns to Jay. "Almost two hours after you left him with me his pain got worse and he had a seizure."
"Yeah, so I had a seizure! Whatever. It's probably just part of the adjustment process right? I'm feeling so much better." Cole tries to look confident, tries to convince himself that it was fine, but he was still pretty freaked out that his body had betrayed him like that. He was scared that it could happen again, and what Lloyd had said about the glowing wasn't helping those fears. He remembered the feeling beforehand, and it was horrible. But everyone worrying wasn't going to make anything better.
Lloyd lets out a frustrated sigh. "Fine! We'll go in the morning."
Cole's stomach rumbles. "Even my stomach is feeling better!" says Cole with a grin.
"I better prepare some dinner." says Zane.