FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

---

The boy, older now, surrounded by others in a playground. Shouting, angry faces. "You embarrassed me on purpose!" A flying fist, the boy knocked to the ground.

Anger, hurt in the voice. "I didn't know what was going on! I was reading a book; I didn't know you hadn't been able to answer the teacher's question!"

A kick from another boy, right in the side... then a shout. "Get away from him!"

The crowd vanished, the beaten boy alone on the ground with his scrapes and bruises. An older man glaring after the fleeing crowd, but stopping beside the boy instead. "Bullies. You okay?" An outstretched hand, a forceful tug, and the boy was back on his feet.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, I don't think so. Come with me, I'll get you to the nurse."

---

Zip opened an eye to look around. Had there been a noise?

A lazy scan of the room didn't show any changes, but he wasn't too familiar with it. He wasn't in the glass cell anymore - the day after he had met Joy, Doctor Moreau had declared him fit enough to leave and had led him through several hallways and into a large van. A few hours had passed with nothing to see but the dark walls of the van, and when the door opened up again he was rushed into a large wooden building. The doctor had led him through the building and mentioned different things about the several strangely shaped doors they had passed, but Zip hadn't paid much attention until they had gotten to the room he was in now - his new home.

It was much larger than the glass cell, but other than that it was mostly the same - a raised stone platform on one side, a simple but sturdy table, a few bowls on top of the table, a few cabinets near the top part of the wall. Despite the outside of the building being made of wood, the walls were clearly some sort of stone material, and even when Zip had tried deliberately scratching it with his claws out of curiosity it had only left a faint mark. It was cooler than the glass cell, too, but the best part was the privacy - there was a door at the front, and an archway in the back with a sliding partition, and for the most part they were closed. Zip hadn't even bothered to check what was behind the partition, and the front door only opened during the seven hours he had to answer questions or when somebody brought him food.

The big door at the front was still shut, though, so nobody had come in. That meant it was fine to just close his eyes again and go back to his nap...

He shifted in place on the stone 'bed' and had begun to drift back off into peaceful rest when he felt a sharp pain in his tail. His eyes flew open and he lifted his neck to see what was going on...

Zip jumped to his paws and shot to the other side of the room. The partition at the back of the door was wide open - which must have been how the dark red dragon had gotten inside Zip's room. The strange dragon was wearing a smirk and staring at Zip with a creepy look in its eyes. It began to slowly stalk forward towards Zip and spread out its wings, blocking any path past it.

Zip gave a warning growl and slashed at the air between them. "Sway bach!"

The red dragon's eyes narrowed a little at the words, but it didn't stop creeping slowly forward. Zip edged to the side, trying to get to the opening in the back of the room - if the red dragon had come through it, then there must be a way out beyond it - but the red dragon just spread its wings wider to block him again. Zip backed up another step, feeling increasingly uncomfortable... but he felt his tail bump into the wall. He was out of room.

The other dragon kept advancing, and Zip wasn't sure what exactly it planned to do, but he was sure he didn't want to find out. "Stahp!" Zip stepped forward and spun around, swinging his tail in a wide arc and adding the force of his body to it, angling it so the spikes at the end would strike the intruder and hopefully warn him away...

...a sharp pain shot through Zip's tail. He tugged on it, trying to get away from the pain, but it wouldn't move. He looked over his shoulder... and felt a chill go through him. The intruder had caught Zip's tail in his mouth and was biting down on it. The cruel mouth had clamped over him, creating a vicious contrast between his soft purple scales and the harsh white teeth.

The red dragon's eyes traveled up Zip's body to meet his own eyes, a victoriously predatory expression plainly visible in them... and then it surged forward, tackling Zip and knocking him onto his side. His tail was yanked forward with the motion, sending another jolt of pain through him, and he flailed his legs weakly through the pain and surprise. The red dragon rose a paw in the air and slashed at Zip's arm, slamming it into the floor and pinning it down. A low hiss of pleasure reached Zip's ears, and he struggled to free his arm... but the other dragon only pressed down harder, then jumped onto Zip.

The air was driven from Zip's lungs as he was shoved harder into the floor. He was reminded of Joy standing over him, poking him to get him to talk... but this was different. Joy had been bothering him to share something, to give him something she thought he would like. He was certain that whatever this dragon wanted, it would not be something he would like - and that strange dragon cared about that one bit. He brought his free paw up and slashed back at the stranger. His pointed claws started to glance off the hard scales... then they caught on an edge, and Zip felt his attacker's flesh tear beneath his paw.

The red dragon's eyes flared in anger, and the pressure on Zip's arm redoubled. He felt himself suddenly pulled upwards as the other dragon jerked him upwards... then his back exploded in agony as he was slammed back down onto the floor.

Zip went limp from the shock and the pain, too hurt to fight back anymore. The paws continued pressing down on Zip... but the red dragon's claws felt strange. They didn't dig into his scales or cause the pinpricks of pressure he had expected; all Zip could feel was the pressure from the paw itself. Was something wrong with the other dragon's claws?

Zip forgot all about the odd paw as his attention was suddenly drawn away. The pain in Zip's tail eased as the other dragon released it, and for a moment Zip had a flicker of hope that maybe the other dragon was done and would leave now...

That hope was dashed as he felt the sharp prick of teeth even through the thick scales of his neck. His eyes went wide in fear and a chill of terror ran through him. His body tensed in response and he froze, not daring to even breath.

The intruder hissed happily at that, the sound causing the pointed teeth to vibrate slightly against Zip's scales. The red dragon shifted again, legs moving to either side of the base of Zip's tail, and the purple dragon was aware of something hot and fleshy sliding over the softer scales just above his tail, gliding forward as if in search of something...

A sudden sound like a sharp bang split the silence. "Good morning, Zip; been meaning to ask yo..." The door at the front of the room had been flung open, and the young teen - Jeremy? - was standing in the doorway with a tray full of meat, but he had broken off as he saw what was happening in the room.

There was a tense half-second where nothing happened... then the room exploded with chaos.

"HALP!" Zip was still too scared of the teeth on his neck to move, but he managed to shout anyways. Jeremy didn't need any prodding though - even before the sound had left Zip's mouth, the human had flung the tray at the red dragon. It wasn't a serious threat - the tray was just a piece of hard plastic that didn't weigh very much - but it made for a good distraction, especially with the food flying everywhere. The red dragon released Zip's neck and sprang away, pushing Zip even further into the floor.

The tray ended up smacking Zip right in the head instead, covering his head and horns with various bits of turkey slices.

The red dragon whirled to face Jeremy with an angry roar, a crazed fury burning in its eyes. Its bloodred wings shot out to their full length, curling towards the human like a pair of curved swords waiting for the chance to strike. Teeth gleamed and spittle flew as the dragon continued screaming its anger.

Jeremy didn't even flinch.

The human balled up one of his hands into a fist and grinned, meeting the angry dragon's gaze with one of barely contained excitement. "Give it up, Mister - go back to your cage where you belong, and leave Zip alone."

The red dragon's expression contorted into the rage of a tantrum. It hissed again, pulled its wings back to its sides and sprang into the air, arms stretching towards Jeremy...

The human's grin grew wider when the dragon sprang forward, and Jeremy took a quick half step back and to the side. His free hand rose to the wall, slapping at something out of Zip's sight... and the hand balled into a fist swung up to slam right into the side of the dragon's face as it flew by.

A horrible screeching noise suddenly filled the air, coming from everywhere, and a bright white light began strobing in through the open door. Zip flinched, still trying to get back to his feet and seriously annoyed by the blaring sound, but the other dragon ignored it. It landed a bit past Jeremy, claws scraping on the floor of the hallway outside... but rather than turn its body to face the human again, it just tilted its head to look back. The expression of fury was still there, only stronger after being struck with the fist... but it morphed into a feral grin as he stared at Jeremy.

Jeremy looked uncertain for a second, but it vanished beneath an expressionless mask as he brought his other hand up in a fist. "What's wrong, Emdee; still can't deal with somebody who can fight back? Bring it on, pervert!"

The red dragon's eyes narrowed... and his tail swung, slamming into the human and sending him flying down the hall and out of Zip's sight. The red dragon glanced after the human, eyes gleaming with satisfaction... and then it turned its head to look back at Zip, that same hungry expression from earlier returning to its face. It turned its body back towards Zip's room, swinging its tail lazily as it did, showing off the spikes on the end that now gleamed with a bloodred color that came from more than just the dragon's own coloration. The red dragon advanced with a lazy arrogance, and its mouth curled up in another grin as it fixed its gaze back on Zip.

Zip backed up, scrambling towards the partition in the back of the room... but pain shot through his arm when he put weight on it, and he fell back to the ground. He flung his head towards the intruder in desperation, sending a few pieces of sliced turkey through the air... but the other dragon simply snatched a piece out of the air. The other dragon chewed cruely, stepping closer...

A loud bang rang out, drowning out the piercing shriek and leaving a ringing in Zip's ears. The red dragon jerked to the side and looked at something out of sight in the hallway... then it wobbled unsteadily and slumped to the ground.

Zip tried to get up again, not sure what was going on but desperately wanting to get away from the red dragon. He moved a little more cautiously this time, keeping most of his weight off his injured arm, and started to hobble forward.

He hadn't gotten very far before another figure appeared in the doorway, this one a human dressed in dark clothing and wearing a helmet that obscured its face. The helmet turned to glance towards Zip... then one of its hands rose, and another bang resounded through Zip's room.

A sharp pain radiated through Zip's side, making his fear and desperation grow... but a sudden tranquility followed the pain. Everything suddenly felt fuzzy, like he was covered in soft fluffy blankets, and he was suddenly aware he had been trying to sleep when all this happened. There was nothing wrong with trying to finish that nap, was there?...

Zip felt a distant pain in his arm as he slumped heavily to the ground... but it didn't matter. He was already drifting off into dreams.

---

Zip became gradually aware of a dull headache and distant sounds. It took a moment... but then the sounds cleared into voices, then words.

"...while I am primarily a doctor for humans, and appreciate the chance to work on one instead of following up on creatures a veterinarian would be better suited for, this is not the kind of thing I want to deal with when I come to do checkups. A few temperature checks, some weighing and measuring, maybe even a blood sample or three - that's what I expect and prepare for when I'm driving all the way out here. If I want to treat somebody for stab wounds, I remind you that my real job is actually as a doctor in a hospital, and I can do that without having to drive all the way out here."

"Sorry, Doctor Moreau; I didn't have any choice." It took Zip a second, but he eventually recognized the voice - Jeremy. His voice sounded strained, as if he was gritting his teeth.

"No choice? You see two dragons fighting - creatures with natural armor covering nearly every inch of their body, protecting them from injury in ways you aren't protected - and you have no choice but to jump in and join in the brawl?" A pause, followed by a sharp gasp. "You couldn't set the alarm off and run? Wait for the guards to show up and take care of it, like they had to do anyways?"

Another pause, then a grunt of pain. "If I had done that then Zip would have been hurt."

"Zip would have been hurt? If anyone was going to get hurt it would have been Emdee; all the other dragons handle him just fine, and unlike them, Zip's claws aren't clipped. Look at them - those things are sharp enough to get through scales and make Emdee regret it if he really wanted to."

"Not from what I saw; Emdee had pinned Zip when I got there."

"Still, what was he going to do? Emdee can't get through those scales enough to do any real damage. You didn't save Zip from anything other than a headache, worst case."

The room was silent... then Jeremy spoke quietly. "No, Doctor Moreau. I've read the summaries of the dragons, and I know what I saw. I am completely certain that if I hadn't acted, you would be doing an autopsy of Zip's body right now, with letters carved into what was left of him."

There was a metallic clattering, then some mumbling. "This is why I hate working with kids. Not even out of high school, and thinks he knows everything." Some more shuffling sounds, then the voice was louder. "You're being overly dramatic. Even if Emdee somehow did remember enough of his life to try that, security would have stopped him. You did something stupid, and you got hurt as a result. I've called your parents; they're on the way to get you. You should be fine for now - go wait for them in the other room. And don't mess with that bandage; I don't want to work on you again."

"Of course, Doctor Moreau." Jeremy's voice was dripping with sarcasm. There was some more shuffling, then the sound of a door opening and shutting.

The room was quiet for a moment... then Zip felt something come to rest on his arm. He was instantly aware of an aching soreness there. "I know you're awake; you might as well open your eyes, Zip."

Zip scrunched his wings a little in annoyance as he quickly opened both eyes. He was in a decent-sized room with white walls, and was stretched out on a rather solid looking table. Three other tables were in the room, along with cabinets, tablets, and other items Zip could only think of as 'medical'. Doctor Moreau was standing beside the table and was poking at Zip's arm, so the dragon focused on him and drew his arm a little closer in. "Haow?"

The doctor waved towards the far wall, specifically at a screen there. "We monitor brain activity any time a dragon is in here; it's taught us a lot. I saw your readings spike when I was treating Jeremy; I probably knew you were awake before you did. Did you have a nice nap?"

Zip narrowed his eyes a little as he glared at the doctor. "Nao! Got attabbd durin it."

The doctor just rolled his eyes and reached towards Zip's head. He felt a slight tug at his head... then the doctor pulled his hand away, now holding a white strip of fabric with a wire running to it. "Yeah, yeah, you met Emdee. We've locked off the door leading to the exercise room for now; you shouldn't have to worry about him or anybody else sneaking up on you like that again. You'll just have to wait for somebody to come by and open it for you if you feel like stretching or doing anything else in the exercise room."

"Exorsize womb?" Zip tilted his head, even as he brought a paw up to make sure nothing else was stuck. His scales felt smooth though.

"Yeah - where you can go and run if you want? It's not big enough to fly in, but it's got a track that runs all along the walls of the barn. I told you about it when I brought you here. Remember?" Zip tried not to meet the doctor's eyes at that question... which caused the doctor to sigh. "Well, we've locked the door so it doesn't matter now anyways."

Zip slipped down from the table, wincing as he felt some soreness in his rear legs. He grumbled and nudged past the doctor to walk up to the door. "Wish wai tew mai woom?"

The doctor glanced down from his tablet. "Your room? What makes you think you'll be going back there?"

The dragon glared back at the doctor. "Yew fixed the door, and it is mai woom. Want tew finishh mai nap."

Doctor Moreau gave a short chuckle. "You slept all day, in your room and out here. Time to get up and do some work."

Zip blinked, not liking the sound of that one bit. "Wark?!"

The doctor nodded and tapped a few more times on his tablet, then set it down on the counter. "That's right. We've got some work for you, and your handler is going to help you take care of it." The doctor stepped past Zip and through the door, looking down the hallway. "Mark! The patient's awake and ready to go for a spin."

The dragon followed the doctor's gaze down the hall, spotting a tall man in a vaguely familiar uniform of brown pants and a blue shirt. The man was holding a plastic jar and looking bored, though he glanced lazily back towards them at the sound of his name. He glanced back at Zip and Doctor Moreau, looking the purple dragon over in particular, and started walking towards them. "Afternoon, doctor. This is him? The new talker that doesn't talk?"

Doctor Moreau nodded and reached down to tap Zip on the head. "Yep. Zip, meet Mark; Mark, meet Zip. Mark takes care of three of the dragons here, and you make number four; he'll be taking care of you and working with you. There you go - he's all yours now. You two have fun, I'm going back to the hospital before even more rumors spread about what I do here."

"Have a good day, Doctor Moreau." Mark gave a half-wave as the doctor walked off down the hallway, then looked down at Zip. "So. Your name is 'Zip', huh?"

Zip nodded, but just looked back without saying anything else. He was still trying to get an impression of this new person - and half-hoping for a nap that wouldn't be interrupted.

Mark shrugged and toward back towards the other end of the hallway. "Well. Come on, then; I've got to send in a report on you today, and we're already behind from your doctor's visit."

Zip grumbled to himself and lowered his opinion of this new person. So much for a nap...

Mark led Zip through the long hallway, and through a couple turns and branches. Finally they came to a large set of doors held closed by a long wooden bar. Mark pushed up on the bar, slowly lowering it to the ground, then pushed open the door.

Bright afternoon sunlight streamed through the opening and caused Zip to squint and blink his eyes. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the harsher light, during which Mark turned to look back at him impatiently. "Are you just going to stand there? I need to close the door; the other dragons aren't allowed outside. At least not without putting binders over their wings, and it'd be much faster to just close the door than bind all the other dragons so you can stand in the doorway all day."

Zip grumbled and took a few half-blind steps past the door, stumbling a little when his foot hit a rock. The door squeaked as Mark swung it shut behind Zip, closing with a soft thump.

Zip's eyes finished adjusting as Mark stepped past him, and the dragon hurried to move after him. He glanced around as he followed Mark, getting his first real glimpse of what was 'outside'. A large dome of glass could be seen high above them, and it seemed to stretch down to meet the horizon, so Zip wasn't sure it was accurate to say he was outside. The sky was mostly clear above the dome, and plenty of light shown through the glass, resulting in occasional rainbow patterns dancing along the ground. Plants were all over the place - some neatly arranged in obviously roped off fields, others growing wild and scattered, and still others obviously placed for decoration - but a gravel path cut through the greenery. Mark led him silently down that path, and after coming to the conclusion that the surrounding shrubs, stalks and trees were too low and sparse to hide Joy or Emdee, Zip turned his attention back to the dome above him.

The structure was fascinating to the dragon. It had to be enormously heavy. If it was anything lightweight then it would have fallen apart from weather; hail would tear holes into it, and rain would pool on it in places and weigh those parts down, causing dips in it. And there would be heavier winds at those heights; with no other windbreaks around the glass would constantly be pounded by the fast...

Zip stopped in place and frowned. How did he know these things? What even was hail - had somebody used that word around him before? He had a vague thought of something cold and... violent? And rain... there was a feeling with that word, of being cold and shivering and wet, but... he couldn't remember where those sensations came from, and they were vague impressions anyways. Maybe... maybe he had heard somebody talking about rain, and they had been cold and wet at the time? That didn't seem quite right, but what else could it be? This was the first time he had been outside, at least that he could remember, so how could he have seen rain before?

Before he could wonder why he thought rain couldn't be encountered inside, Mark caught his attention. "Hey - what are you doing? We don't have all day for you to just stand around gawking at the sky; there are other people who need to use this equipment too. Get a move on."

"Sawwie." Zip shook his head and jumped forward, hurrying to make up the distance between him and the human. He caught up easily enough, but his mind wandered back to the glass dome again. The mystery of how he knew those things didn't seem that interesting, at least not compared to the mystery offered by the dome far overhead. He drifted back to wondering how anyone could make such a thing and what problems they would have to overcome, and he tuned the rest of the world out as he built a glass dome in his head.

He was drawn out of his daydream again with a sharp slap to his side. "Hey! Are you awake in there? We're here; stop walking and listen up." Zip flinched and looked towards the voice, finding Mark staring at him angrily. Mark's hand was held up, and was turning a little red; the handler must have slapped Zip to pull him out of his reverie. The dragon stopped walking and sat up instead, looking back at the handler with an annoyed stare.

Mark didn't seem to notice, or didn't care. He turned around and held his hand out, arm extended above his head and one finger held out. Zip shifted his glance from Mark's face to look at the hand instead. Was Mark going to do something? Hit him again, or maybe touch him - he could remember a person touching Joy on her head when she had finally left him alone, and she had seemed to like that; maybe Mark was going to do that?

Instead of doing anything with his hand, Mark just started talking. "So here's the deal. Skyline has a lot of repairs and upgrades they've been putting off, and Joy hasn't been able to handle everything on her own. A lot of other people have gotten ideas of things dragons can help them with on top of that, so you're in a good bit of demand. We're spending today practicing for it, and it's real simple. All you have to do is just go up there and pull that down to the ground."

Zip blinked and tilted his head. That was it? People wanted help with something like that - and help from him, when he was shorter than they were? It didn't make much sense, and for a moment he wondered if he was misunderstanding something.

Mark's face took on an expression of annoyed impatience. "What are you waiting for? Go get it."

Zip gave a shrug of his wings, shifting to get a better posture... and jumped forward.

Mark fell over as the dragon pounced on him, landing on the ground with a shout of surprise. His arms flailed about in all directions, but Zip easily grabbed the hand and pinned it to the ground with his paw. He was even careful and made sure not to scratch Mark with his claws while he was at it. "Dere."

Mark shouted and kicked up at the dragon. "What are you doing!? Get off me right now!"

Zip winced at the kick, though it surprised him more than it actually hurt him. He jumped to the side and crouched beside the angry human. What was the problem? He had done exactly what Mark had asked; he had gone up and pulled the hand down to the ground. What had Mark expected to happen?

Two people rushed up with bulky objects pointed right at Zip. They stopped out of his reach and spread out; one of them kept staring at Zip while the other looked down at Mark. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Mark slowly rose back to his feet and brushed himself off. He looked for any bleeding or injuries on his hand, then once he was satisfied he glanced back at Zip. "That's a good question! Just what was that about, dragon?"

Zip bristled a little and spread his wings in annoyance, which caused the two newcomers to step back and adjust the strange devices they had pointed at him. He ignored them and kept staring at Mark instead. "Did whut ewe acked! Got hand, took it to the gown."

Mark scrunched his face up as he watched the dragon. "Gown?"

"Growned! Dirt thing, step on id. Walk awond on it."

"What are you talking... the ground? I didn't say to bring my hand to the ground, I was talking about that!" Mark turned around and put his hand in the air again, one finger extended.

Zip looked back up at the outstretched hand. This was the same thing Mark had just done; what was he talking about? Was he just supposed to bring the finger back down, instead of the whole hand? That didn't seem right, but it was the only other thing that made much sense. Maybe he could bite the finger?

One of the new arrivals cleared his throat. "Mark, he's just staring at your hand."

"My han... no, you stupid beast, not my hand! That, up there in the sky, where my finger is pointing at!" Mark looked down from his hand to glare back at the purple dragon.

Zip blinked, then tilted his head back and refocused. There was something up in the sky; a strange blob floating beneath the glass dome. When he squinted he could even make a thin line trailing down from it to the ground. He glanced back at Mark's hand, then back to the floating object. It didn't line up right to him, but he guessed he could see how somebody taller than him might think Mark was pointing at it. The strange blob seemed to bob up and down a little while he watched it, then went back to resting steadily against the backdrop of the glass dome.

Whatever that thing was, it was way up there.

Zip lowered his head to look back at Mark. "I can't jomf dat high!"

Mark brought his hand down to slap his own face with it, holding it there over his eyes. "You have wings! You don't jump, you fly! Fly up there, grab it, and then bring it back down here so we can work on it!"

The dragon craned his neck back to look at the purple wings. Fly? He could do that with those?

He spread his wings out and held them straight. Somewhere in his mind he had the sense that wings were meant for flying, but he couldn't quite remember how. Like the ideas of wind and the weight of glass, the idea of wings helping him fly seemed to be only half there. There was a strange sense that he was supposed to do something with them, that spreading them like this needed to be followed by... what? What was it?

The instinct danced just out of his reach, and he let his wings fall back down in frustration. His wings thumped against the ground beneath him... and that brought a different image to mind. The memory of a small creature covered in feathers - had he seen that animal somewhere before? The animal flapping its wings up and down, fast, and using that motion to ascend from the ground up to the branches of a tree.

Maybe that was what he needed to do.

He lifted his wings again, then let them fall back down, then lifted them up again. The motion felt right somehow, as if his muscles wanted to do that. He repeated the motion, putting more force into it, and he felt a bit of a 'push' back when he brought his wings downwards, like something was lifting him upwards a little. Zip grinned in excitement - it was working! He did it one more time, and as he brought his wings down he tensed his legs and jumped...

...and fell back down to the ground, crashing heavily back into the grass.

Mark just narrowly managed to slip out of the way of getting knocked over again. The human shook his head and sighed. "Really? You can't even get into the air?" He shook his head and looked back towards the building off in the distance. "Right. Because I couldn't get to work with a dragon who knew what he was doing; I drew the short straw, driving the short bus." Mark reached into his pocket and slid out a thin device; he pushed a button on it and began tapping at it angrily.

Zip tilted his head up to try and get a better look at the device. "Wat's dat?"

"It's a 'tablet'. Tab-let. Part of my job is to keep notes on anything unusual about you, which, go figure, I'll probably need three tablets to hold that much data." Zip bristled at that, getting back to his feet, but Mark just focused harder on his tapping. "Joy is doing back flips and cartwheels and flying sideways. Jonathan works with Brutus, who's been kept on the ground all his life, but the first chance he gets that dragon gets airborne and outflies Joy. But me... I get stuck with the smart dragon who doesn't talk and can't fly."

Zip glared up at the human as he crawled out of his crashed position. "I doughnt see yu flai ing!"

"Doesn't talk and can't talk. Don't! Don't is a word, 'doughnt' is what happens when you sneeze in the middle of saying 'don't'. Did they drop you on your head when they were bringing you here, or something?"

Zip growled, then tried again, speaking slowly. "Go get it yourselv!"

"I'm not the one who can fly! Though it looks like none of us are the one who can fly!"

"Shut the fulowww!" Zip broke off mid-word and winced, bringing his paws to his mouth.

Mark's expression shifted from annoyed frustration to one of frustration and mild concern. "What? Are you okay?"

Zip pouted and dropped his wings. "Bit mai tunge."

"Of course you did." Mark sighed and tapped some more on his tablet. "Just my luck."

---

Zip took the final few steps into his room and collapsed on the floor. He didn't even look back as he heard the door shut behind him, though he could hear Mark mumbling from the other side of the wall. He spread his wings out and just lay that way for a minute.

He had spent the rest of the day trying to get into the air, but without any success. Several times he had gotten high enough to hurt when he inevitably crashed back down, but he had never managed to stay in flight. He could feel some force pushing back at him when he flapped, and he could feel himself being 'lifted' upwards, but it just wasn't enough. Maybe if he could flap faster, or if he could start off higher from the ground... though more likely that would just cause it to hurt more when he crashed.

Zip groaned and tucked his wings in, then rolled slowly over onto his back. That felt better... now his sore belly and legs weren't supporting his weight. It was relaxing, even if not very comfortable, and he felt like he could fall asleep this way.

Though...

The sudden reminder of how he had been awoken in the morning caused him to flinch and look towards the other entrance to his room. The partition was gone now, and a solid looking door was in its place. Unlike the door at the front of the room, this one had a long metal bar in the center, running through several 'rings' protruding from the door and the wall beside it. Zip assumed the bar kept the door from being opened while it was in place, and that he could slide the bar back when he wanted to leave...

But the memory of that other dragon still bothered him. Maybe it would stop it from getting in, but Zip did not want to be caught sleeping if it did manage to make it back into his room.

The purple dragon took another look around his room, wondering what could be done. There was the raised section that was meant to be his bed, and the depressions in the floor meant for food and water. Those wouldn't be any help, unless he wanted to put food in front of the door as a way to distract an intruder.

Somehow Zip didn't think the red dragon he had met earlier would be satisfied with that.

Zip continued looking around... then glanced back at one corner of the room. He had dismissed it as meaningless at first, but there was something else in his room. One part of the wall had a few cabinets near the top, with doors that slid to one side. They hadn't seemed important - they were too high for him, so were obviously meant for the humans instead - but maybe they had something he could use...

Zip had to stretch upwards and lean against the wall to get high enough to search the cabinets, but eventually he found a few things he could use. A strong blanket that was surprisingly soft was the biggest find, but Zip also dug out a few pieces of heavy objects he could only assume had some medical purpose. The dragon stretched the blanket across the room, putting one end on the raised surface of his bed. He put one of the medical devices on a corner of the blanket to hold it in place, then began stacking the remaining equipment on the short table. It took some trial and error, but Zip actually became more excited as he worked to stack the oddly shaped items into a pair of makeshift weights. He alternated back and forth, stretching the blanket between the table and adding more and more weights and shifting the equipment around.

The dragon grinned to himself as he looked at his invention. He could lay on this, and if anybody tried to get on top of him they would knock down the 'bed'. Plus it would keep his sore muscles off the hard floor.

As he stared at it he began to remember a word. Ham... hamburger?... Ham and cheese?... No. Hammock! That's what the name of this was.

Zip frowned as he wondered once again how he knew that. He had a memory to go with the word - a net-like blanket, with holes all through it but made of sturdy rope, usually hung between trees in tropical areas. Stretching out on one and enjoying the sunlight...

Zip shook his head and carefully crawled into his hammock, testing it to make sure it held. The heavy medical devices slid a little, but ultimately they held the blanket in place. He shifted a little to get comfortable on his backside, then settled down. He didn't care how he knew those things - he was much too tired and sore. Sleep for now, and maybe he could worry about it in the morning.