Cole strode along the sleek hallway, deep in thought. He didn't even notice when he walked straight past the place he was going. After rolling his eyes and backtracking a few paces, he stopped outside Jay's door. He heard yelling, so he yanked the door open and burst into the room. 

"IT'S. A. LIGHTNING BUG," Jay was protesting loudly. 

"NO," Kai crossed his arms. "IT'S A FIREFLY." 

"No way! Everybody knows that it's called a lightning bug!"

"Everybody EXCEPT YOU knows that it's called a firefly!"

"No, you've got it all wrong!"

"No I haven't!"

"Yes you have!"

"NO I HAVEN'T!"

"YES YOU HAVE!"

"NO I HAV—"

Cole coughed loudly, and they both turned to look at him. 

Jay grinned at him sheepishly, and Kai looked slightly guilty. Cole broke into a smile. The scene was rather humorous to him. 

"What on earth are you two arguing about?" Cole asked, choking back a laugh. 

"Um..." Kai gulped. "Well..." 

Jay gave his red-clothed friend a mischievous smirk. Kai glared back. Cole rolled his eyes again and walked over to Garmadon, who was sitting in a corner of the room. 

Garmadon sighed. "They're arguing whether a bug is called a lightning bug or a firefly. I'm not sure why this is important." 

"They don't have anything else to do," Cole gave a weak shrug. "If they were being nice to each other, I would be worried."

The sensei chuckled and changed the subject. "Were you going to give Jay some exercise? He needs it after being cooped up in here for a week."

The black-haired ninja rubbed his arm for a moment before replying. "Well, I guess we could take a walk or something."

"That would be fine," Sensei Garmadon nodded. "Just keep it easy." 

He lowered his voice. "Do not forget that Jay has still got plenty of poison running through his system. His arm looks suspiciously pale..."

Cole wrinkled his brow and tried to look around nonchalantly. Jay and Kai were arguing again ("Are you sure you've been educated correctly?" Jay snickered). The young ninja saw that Jay's arm was turning quite pale, and he had no doubt that it would soon become similar to his blackened hand. 

The master of earth flinched and turned back to Garmadon. "Do... do you think there's... ANY chance....?"

"Cole, I don't know. The only antidote I know for this is extremely difficult to locate—"

"So there IS an antidote?!" Cole exclaimed, causing the arguing ninja to look around in surprise before returning to their tussle. 

The old man sighed once more. "I can't promise anything. There might as well not be an antidote since it is so hard to find. Now go on and take Jay for a walk!"

Cole turned around reluctantly and walked back over to Kai and Jay. 

"For your information, you're both right, so will you stop fighting over nothing?" he raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. 

Kai snorted. "Are you telling me that people really call them LIGHTNING BUGS? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Ha," Jay raised an eyebrow as well. "You're just jealous 'cause you were wrong!"

"Oh, and you WEREN'T wrong, I presume?" Kai shot back. 

"Er...." 

Cole let out a sigh of exasperation. "Jay, you ain't staying in bed all day, are you? Let's go for a walk." 

"You mean I can get up?!" Jay exclaimed, practically falling out of bed already. His gaped at Cole, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. 

Cole burst out laughing, which felt pretty good considering the past few days. Kai soon joined in, and pretty soon all three ninja were having fits of giggles. 

Once they quit laughing, Cole managed to convince Jay that he could indeed get out of bed and stretch his legs. Garmadon and Kai went to Kai's room for some research on why the Dark Side kept coming back. The red ninja did not look too well, and both Jay and Cole could see that he would not forgive himself for hurting Jay for a long time. 

Jay swept his blankets and sheets off his body and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He looked up at Cole with question in his eyes. He was scared that he wouldn't be able to stand up. 

Cole held out an arm, and Jay grasped it gratefully. The blue ninja struggled to his feet, but got frustrated after a moment and flopped back down. Cole frowned and sat next to him.

"Come on, what's the matter?" he asked, discouraged that Jay was giving up already. 

Jay averted his eyes and swiped his auburn hair out of his eyes. He didn't answer. The ninja of earth scooted closer. 

"Jay... You made me promise not to give up... And you need to make that same promise for me. You..." Cole broke off, remembering that Jay didn't even know what was going to happen to him. Garmadon had decided to let Cole tell the injured ninja. 

"I-I haven't told you this yet, Jay. Your hand turning black... It... Garmadon said..." He broke off. The young teen had no idea how to say this, and Jay still wouldn't even look at him. 

Suddenly, Cole was overwhelmed with anger. If Jay was going to give up, he was finished. He couldn't let that happen. He finally spilled the beans, telling Jay everything they knew about his condition in a flurry of words. When he finally finished, Jay was staring at him in shock. 

"Y-you mean.... I'm going to... die?" Jay whispered, pulling slightly away from his friend. 

"No, no! I'm not going to let that happen! But it won't help if you give up. Now GET UP!" Cole growled, getting to his feet and holding out his arms again. 

Jay seemed surprised by Cole's behavior, but he obliged. After struggling for several minutes, he finally succeeded in standing on his own. The blue ninja let out a sign of relief and gave his friend a tiny smile. 

"I'm sorry, Cole," Jay murmured. "It's just... I'm..."

Cole looked at him curiously. What could possibly be wrong with the joke-cracking teen? Jay averted his eyes again. 

"I'm scared." 

Whatever Jay could have said, Cole had not been expecting that. Sure, he had all rights to be scared. But the young ninja hadn't shown any sign of weakness so far. In fact, he had been helping him and Kai get their spirits up. Apparently it was now time for Cole to return the favor. 

"Jay..." Cole pulled the auburn-haired teen into a hug. 

"We will get through this," he said with an air of finality.