THE DRAKEN CHRONICLES

Book IV: The Two Tales

Part One: Return

Amber slowly opened her eyes, seeing mainly the back part of her body and the start of her tail. She lifted her head up and looked around. The room she was in was a fairly large one, and all the walls and the floor were made of smooth black stone. There were a few windows, and sunlight was pouring in through them. Her friends were all lying in different spots on the floor, asleep. All except Dash, she thought, remembering what had happened last night. Poor guy. Just a few hours ago, they had all been in an intense fight, facing Terrokath, the "Dark One". When the human tried to blast Ragnarok into a portal of darkness, Dash had knocked Ragnarok out of the way. He had used his ice powers to destroy Terrokath's source of strength, but he had been knocked into the darkness instead of Ragnarok. A tear ran down Amber's cheek. All those times he saved us.... Every day we live is thanks to you, Dash.

She stretched and yawned, then looked at Ragnarok. He still looks pretty tired, she thought. After Dash had saved him, Ragnarok had used all his strength to call forth a powerful burst of fire to destroy the Dark One, but it had taken a lot out of him. After he had passed out, the others had watched over him until they fell asleep too. And it looks like I'm the first one up. Amber shook her head sadly and walked over to the twins. "Keera, Terra," she said quietly, nudging them with her nose, "it's time to get up,"

"Mgh, already?" Keera mumbled. "We're tired," Terra added as each one covered her head with a wing.

Amber smiled despite herself. "Fine, if that's the way you want it..." she said. She slowly ran the tip of her tail across the edge of Terra's tummy.

The edge of Terra's mouth twitched up, then she burst into giggles. "All right! We're up! I give!" Terra spluttered around her unwilling laughter. The twins stood up, and Keera eyed Amber. "You tickled her? That's playing dirty," she said.

Amber laughed. "Well, it got you up, didn't it?" she responded. Keera glowered at her. Amber moved to Sabre. "Hey Sabre, time to get up."

"I'm already awake," he muttered, popping open one red eyelid. "It's not easy to sleep through all that."

"You can say that again," Ragnarok agreed, standing up and stretching. "Ungh. Good morning everyone."

"Good morning, Ragnarok!" Amber replied, surprised to see him awake. "Are you all right?"

Ragnarok stretched out his wings, then lay back down. "Much better than last night," he said.

"Last night," Keera muttered softly, the twins hanging their heads. Poor things, Amber thought. They were really attached to Dash, and now he's.... Amber shook her head sadly.

Ragnarok walked over to them. "C'mon girls, cheer up. Would Dash want you sitting here and feeling gloomy," he asked, smiling reassuringly.

Keera sniffed. "I guess not," she said, looking up.

Sabre walked over too, grinning for their sake. "Remember, we've still got a big trip ahead of up, and we'll need your help to make it quicker," he pointed out.

Terra's look brightened a little. "Yeah, our wind powers will sure come in handy!" she said, a small smile coming to her face.

Amber smiled and nodded, then turned to Ragnarok. "Can you figure out a way back to the village without the map?" she asked. It had been in the backpack, which Dash....

Ragnarok nodded. "Yup, I can still remember it perfectly," he said. He lay down and started scratching lines into the floor. "Just give me a minute or two to figure out which way we should go."

Keera and Terra watched him over his shoulders. "Yeah, we'll need a different path-" "since we can just fly straight there this time," they agreed.

"Hmm... we probably ought to land before we get there, since making all that wind in the middle of the village would really make a big mess," Amber pointed out.

"Okay, so if this way is that way, then we go this way..." Ragnarok muttered to himself.

"So when we get back, do we just tell them what we did and leave?" Terra asked.

"Maybe we should take something to show them," Amber suggested.

Sabre's head perked up. "I've got an idea," he said. "Be right back." He pushed open a door and ran back into the room where they had fought the dark one. A minute later, he walked back in with a piece of clear black rock in his mouth.

"Oh, his 'kristull!'" Keera exclaimed. "Good idea!"

"Tathe phummy," he muttered around the crystal, and set it down. He shrugged off the pouch that Dr. Emmilius had given him and slipped the shard into it.

"Okay, I think I've got it," Ragnarok announced. "Let's get back outside." Sabre slipped the pouch back onto his neck, and the group walked back through the dark room to the bit of floor that stuck out from the side of the building. "Considering how long it took us to walk here, I'd guess that we'll have to do about a full day of flying, but we'll be able to walk the rest of the way the next day." Thus announced, he dove into the sky and started flapping his wings. The rest of the drakens followed suit.

* * *

They flew all day, except for a few breaks for food and rest. Fortunately, the heat rising from the canopy, as well as a bit of tailwind supplied by the twins, made it easy to glide a lot of the way. Still, it was a lot of flying to do in one day, and the group was glad when the sun set and they could finally land.

"Agh, my wing hurts," Keera moaned. "Mine too," her sister added.

"Well, make a hole so we can land then," Sabre suggested.

Keera and Terra closed their eyes, still flapping their wings. A stream of green sparkles flowed to their wings, collecting with a bright green glow that showed brilliantly in the darkness. The twins' eyes snapped open and they powered their wings forward, sending the green energy spiraling into the treetops below. The energy swirled and swirled, turning into a small but vicious whirlwind, tearing leaves and branches off the trees and making a hole big enough for the drakens to fly though. Keera and Terra dove through, gratefully touching down on the ground, the rest quickly following. "Ahhh, that's better," they both murmured, laying down and folding their wings.

"Phew, that was quite a trip," Ragnarok quipped as he landed.

"I agree with the twins," Sabre remarked, "my wings sure ache."

"Oog, yeah," Amber remarked. "A full-day flight isn't something I want to try again."

"Well, it got us here, didn't it?" Ragnarok remarked. He spread his wings out on the ground to help rest them. "Let's get some sleep."

* * *

The next morning, they all woke up bright and early. Well, early at least, since all those trees were cutting down on the bright.

"Good morning everyone," Ragnarok commented as he woke up, then blinked. "It is morning, right?"

Amber nodded. "It sure is dark today, huh? It must be really cloudy," she figured.

"Well, dark or not, we need to get going," Terra remarked.

"Might as well," Sabre replied, and the drakens set off.

About an hour later, they arrived at the human village. Coincidentally enough, Toby was the first one to spot them as they walked into the village. "You have returned!" the boy exclaimed. "We feared that the strange darkness meant awful things." He ran to the elders' hut, the drakens following him. "Elders! They have returned!"

The elders emerged from the large hut. "It is good to see you return," one said. "Have you...?"

Ragnarok nodded. "We defeated the dark one," he said.

Sabre set down the pouch, revealing the shard that he'd picked up. "This is part of the 'crystal' he got his powers from," he announced.

The villagers that had gathered around them threw up a cheer. One ran up and hugged Ragnarok around the neck. "That you!" she said.

"Um, you're welcome," Ragnarok replied, hesitantly patting her on the back with his wing.

"Thank you all," an elder said. "Without your help, we all would have perished. We owe you all our lives."

"Oh, it's nothing," Amber said. Her expression darkened a little as she added, "We were glad to get rid of the evil creep."

Toby glanced around. "Where is the white one?" he asked.

"He was... k...killed in the fight," Keera said, tears coming to her eyes. "But it was thanks to him that we managed to win."

"Oh..." Toby said. "I...I'm sorry. We will mourn his loss greatly."

Keera wasn't entirely sure what all that meant, but she understood the intent and smiled a bit. "Thanks," she replied, nuzzling him a little.

"Please, stay for the celebrations!" a villager said.

Sabre shook his head. "I wish we could stay, but we've got to get back to our home," he said.

"Well then, we shall not hinder you," Elder Oma said. "Is there anything we could do to help you?"

Ragnarok shook his head. "No, but thank you for the offer."

The elders nodded. "Then may good luck be with you all on your quests." As the drakens turned to leave, the villagers threw up another cheer.

* * *

"Well, what now?" Amber wondered. "It's just one big, hot forest here." They had been walking for an hour, and this day seemed to be a lot hotter than the rest had been.

"I suppose we could just wander around aimlessly," Sabre remarked dryly.

"In this heat?" Keera said, fanning herself with her wing. "I'd rather just lay down for the rest of the day." "Just be thankful that we don't have fur or feathers," Terra pointed out.

All of a sudden, a familiar low noise washed through the area. "Another portal!" Ragnarok exclaimed.

"I saw the flash!" Amber said. "This way!" The drakens ran between the trees, and stopped near the familiar blue pond.

"Boy, it's handy this thing came when it did, huh? Let's see where it goes!" Ragnarok said, jumping into the rift. The twins hopped in after him, followed by Amber and Sabre.

* * *

Ragnarok dropped from the portal, and his claws clicked on the ground as he landed. As the other drakens landed around him, he looked around their new location. The ground was some sort of grey rock that had cracks in it that made big square patterns. They were standing between two really big square-shaped rocks that went really high up into the sky. "This seems very familiar," Ragnarok muttered.

"Whoa..." the twins remarked.

"This place sure has a lot of rocks," Sabre commented.

"Yeah," Amber agreed. "I don't think I've ever seen anywhere like it."

"I think I have," Ragnarok said. "I don't think we're in the past anymore."

The twins looked around. "Then are we..." "...in a city?" they asked.

Ragnarok nodded. "I think so," he said. He walked down the narrow path they were on toward the end that looked like it led toward open space.

Emerging from between what had now been identified as buildings, they blinked in the sudden sunlight, even though the sun was setting. More of the grey stone extended off to their left and right, as did a wide stretch of black stone that Ragnarok called a "rode." Big metal objects, "karrs," were going back and forth across it very quickly. The twins looked around in wonder. "Whoaaaa," they murmured.

A human walked past them, then noticed them and turned around. "Hi there," she said. She looked the group over, and stopped on the twins. "Well, I don't think I've ever seen any drakens like you before," she remarked, then refocused her attention on the whole group. "You guys look a little lost. Are you from out of town?" The drakens didn't say anything, acting like normal animals, and the human grinned. "What's the matter, cat got your tongues?"

Ragnarok blinked at her. "You know we can talk?" he asked in surprise.

The human laughed. "Of course I do! All drakens can talk." She looked closely at them. "Now that I think about it, you seem familiar, like someone else I know.... I know someone's told me about you," she remarked, touching Ragnarok's birthmark.

Ragnarok flinched as her hand came near his eye. "Um..." he said uneasily.

The human seemed to snap out of it, and noticed where her hand was. "Oh! I'm sorry; I sorta lost myself in my thoughts." She stuck out a hand. "My name's Meryl."

Ragnarok stared blankly at her hand, and then he remembered something he'd seen Pike do with other humans. He put his wing in her hand, and she moved it up and down. "I'm Ragnarok," he said.

"I'm Amber," Amber greeted, offering her wing. "It's nice to meet you, Meryl."

"I'm Sabre," the black draken said from the back of the group.

The twins bounded up to Meryl. "I'm Keera-" "-and I'm Terra!" the respective twins said.

Meryl shook their wings with some amusement. "You all seem familiar, like I've heard of you before," she said, then shrugged. "Ah well. So, you guys new here?"

"You could say that," Sabre remarked. "Where are we?"

"Well, you're on Turner Street, in New Halipont," she said.

Ragnarok's head perked up. "New Halipont? That's where Pike was from!" he said to the other drakens.

Meryl overheard this. "Oh, are you guys on some sort of pilgrimage to learn about your origins?" she asked.

The drakens stared blankly, understanding everything except the important parts of the question. "Um, maybe?" Keera hazarded.

Meryl stared at them with a curious expression, then snapped her fingers. "Now I know who you guys remind me of!" she exclaimed. "He was pretty confused when he first got here too."

"What? Who?" Ragnarok asked, thoroughly lost.

Meryl ginned mischievously and pointed down the street. "Go that way until you reach the park. You'll find someone certain there. Believe me, you'll know when you've found him. About this time, he likes to sit on the hill near the fountain."

"Who is 'he'?" Sabre asked.

The human shrugged. "I misremember his name. Run, Sprint, something like that." She looked at a black thing wrapped around her wrist. "Whoa, look at the time! I gotta go. See you later!" With that, Meryl jogged off.

"Well, she's an odd one," Sabre remarked.

"Yup," Ragnarok said with a grin, "but we might as well do what she said." The drakens set off toward the park.

On the way, they passed humans (who greeted them warmly), a surprising number of drakens (who were very friendly), and creatures that seemed like the beasts from the past! They looked like animals, but walked on two legs and were shaped like humans, like the beasts had been. The drakens had steeled themselves for a fight, but the animal-human merely greeted them and went on his or her way, leaving the drakens rather confused. They saved it for later, though, and went on to meet the mysterious 'he' in the park.

Eventually, there was a break in the buildings, and they came upon an area full of trees and grass, with humans, drakens, and the new kind of being all playing there. "This is it," Ragnarok announced. "Now we just need to find a hill...."

They walked into the grassy area, and soon found the gentle uphill slope. A figure was sitting at the top, facing away from them, absentmindedly flicking a finned tail. The twins saw it first. "No way...." "Can it be...?" They broke into a run.

Upon hearing their voices, the figure started and turned around, eyes wide in surprise. "Kee-oomph!!" he said as the twins tackled him.

"Dash!" "You're all right!" "We thought you were dead!" the twins babbled, nuzzling him frantically, as if he might vanish suddenly.

The rest of the group ran over, as shocked as Dash was. "Dash? But..." Ragnarok noted.

Dash nodded. "Believe me, I feel the same way," he remarked as he lifted the twins off him and sat up. "I'm sitting here thinking about how much I miss you guys, I think I hear the twins, and wham, you guys are back!"

"Yeah," Sabre agreed. "So what's going on here? Humans, drakens, and all those animal-people?"

Dash laughed. "I've got a lot to catch you guys up on. C'mon, let's go to my place. I'll explain it to you there."

* * *

Part Two: Dash's Story

Dash led his friends out of the park. "So, what happened after I got knocked out of that battle?" he asked.

"Well, your attack destroyed the 'crystal,'" "and Ragnarok thought you were dead," "and completely roasted the bad guy!" the twins related enthusiastically. Keera rubbed her head on Dash's side. "I'm glad to have you back," she said.

Dash smiled and rubbed her head. "And it's really great to see you guys again," he responded. "C'mon, it's not much further."

They walked across a few streets, then stopped in front of a tall building. Dash looked around the group. "I think we might be a bit too much for the elevator," he remarked, "but I've got a draken-friendly apartment. C'mon!" He leapt into the air and started flying upward. The others did likewise. They rose quite a distance, until Dash stopped in front of a really big window. "Here we are." He tapped a claw on the glass, and it moved aside, letting them into the building.

A voice called out quietly from another room. "Dash, is that you? The cubs are asleep," the voice said. The drakens all landed on the soft floor, and the window closed behind them.

A strange animal walked into the room they were in. It was about as big as they were, and it had four legs and a long tail like theirs, but it didn't have wings. It had paws like a lot of four-legged animals did, long ears on its head that stuck out to the sides and back a little instead of going up, and it was covered in short golden-brown fur, except for along its back. Instead of fur, there were a lot of grey plates that were pointed along its head and rounded on its back. "Oh? Hello! Who are you all?" it asked them kindly.

Dash grinned. "These are my friends that I told you about!" he told her. "Guys, this is my friend, Teyaka."

Teyaka looked surprised, but smiled. "Really? You're the ones that saved him in the past?" she asked?

The twins nodded. "Yep, but he's saved us," "more than a few times too!" they chirped.

Ragnarok was looking at her with his head cocked, then recognition dawned. "Hey, are you an...ar-ma-dill-o?" he asked Teyaka.

She looked at him curiously, then laughed. "No, I'm not," she said with a bright smile. "You're Ragnarok, right?" Ragnarok nodded. "So you're Amber, and Sabre, and you two must be Keera and Terra," she said. They all nodded.

"All right Dash, so what happened to you after you got hit into that ball of darkness?" Sabre asked.

Dash laughed. "I figured you'd ask that," he replied. "It's a long story, but here we go...."

* * *

In a dark alleyway, a sudden flash of light made a stray cat bolt for cover. A white figure was hurled out of the light, crashing into a wall and falling to the ground, and the light disappeared. Wisps of smoke rose from the figure's torn clothes. "That...hurt..." the figure mumbled, lying limply against the wall.

A humanoid wolf heard the noise and ran into the alleyway, trying to see what was going on. He glanced around, then noticed the battered figure slumped against the wall and ran over to it. "Oh, geez!" he exclaimed, recoiling as he saw the condition the figure was in. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, hurrying over.

The figure groaned and tried to stand up. "Gotta... help Ragnarok..." it said, sounding partly dazed and mostly unconscious.

The wolf took a closer look, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Wings, big tail, crest...this was a draken! But there were no morphic drakens...? He shook his head to clear it. The draken had a horn, so it must be male, and he looked really beat up. He had bad burns all over, a few bad cuts, and his clothes were in bad shape. "You're not in any condition to do much of anything," he told the draken. He slipped a hand in his pocket, but came up empty. "Dang, I left my phone on the charger," he remarked to himself. "Guess you're coming with me then. He helped the injured man up, slipping his arm around the draken to help support him. "My place is right over there. C'mon," he said.

The draken stumbled, but managed to stay upright. "O...kay," he mumbled groggily. The wolf led him into the building he had been next to, up an elevator, and into one of the rooms, where the draken collapsed.

* * *

Dash's mind swam out of the darkness again. His head hurt, his chest hurt, his legs hurt, his wings hurt, and everything else hurt too. Even his tail fin was hurting. Ugh, this keeps happening to me, he muttered inwardly. Why am I the one who always gets knocked out? He opened his eyes. He was in a room that didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. The walls were white, with little flat squares on them, and the floor was covered in some sort of grey fur. He was lying on a mat, only it was a few feet off the floor. As he glanced over at the door, it opened, and in walked... a beast! Dash leapt out of the bed to fight it, but his legs immediately buckled and he fell to his hands and knees, which barely supported him as well, and he hissed as his body was flooded with pain.

"Whoa!" the beast exclaimed. It ran over to him. He couldn't fight back! Dash knew right there that he was finished.... "Calm down, man. You're safe here," the beast said, pulling him back up onto the edge of the bed.

Dash stared at the beast. It...talked? He looked at it a little closer. It was pretty small for a beast, and it wore human clothes. "Huh- who... are you?" he managed to ask. He felt so weak!

The beast smiled. "My name's Cory," it said. It was obvious now that he wasn't a beast. What had that man called them? Wolves, that was it!

"A-are you a... wolf?" he asked. Cory nodded, and Dash asked, "What happened?"

The wolf shrugged. "I found you laying in that alley over there. You were barely conscious. I brought you up here, and you conked out." He cast a discerning eye over Dash. "How are you feeling?"

Dash laughed weakly. "Terrible," he replied. "I feel so weak, and I hurt all over."

Cory looked at him again. "What happened to you? Does it have anything to do with you being like that?"

Dash lifted his head to look at the wolf. "Like that?" he echoed; it felt like his mind was going in slow motion.

"Well, you've got two legs and two arms, don't you? And all drakens have four," Cory said, pointing to his own legs. "You're a morph, like me."

Dash pondered this. "Oh, 'morph' means you're shaped like a human?"

Cory nodded. "Pretty much. It's really a shortening of something else, but that's not important. What's really puzzling is that there aren't any morphic drakens," he said.

Dash laughed weakly again. "I'm a special case," he informed the wolf. He flicked his tail, then winced. "Ouch," he remarked.

"You going to be okay?" Cory asked.

Dash waved him off, wincing again at the pain of the sudden movement. "I'll be fine," he said. "Anyway, what happened to me is a really long story. The short version is that I got hit with some dark power and got knocked through some kind of portal to where you found me. It's probably because of the attack and the trip that I'm in as bad a shape as I am."

"Dark power...?" Cory commented dubiously.

Dash grinned. "Like I said - ow - it's a long story. It's a little strange, but I'm from the past, but during a battle to save the world, I got knocked into a gateway to now."

"From the past?" Cory echoed skeptically. "Are you sure that you didn't just fall from the sky and hit your head?"

"I probably did hit my head," Dash admitted, "but the story's true." He closed his eyes and pulled in energy from the air around him. It gathered in a shimmering glow around his right hand. He opened his eyes and locked his glowing gaze on the wolf. He used the energy to create a small icicle that rose up from the floor, much to Cory's surprise. "Does this throw my story into a new light?" he asked with a grin, then winced again.

Cory rubbed his eyes and stared as the icicle slowly melted. "How... did you do that?" he asked in amazement.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Dash replied, "but it sure comes in handy."

Cory shook his head to clear it. "From the past, you said? Then you don't have anywhere to live now, do you?" he remarked.

Dash thought about it. "Um, I guess not," he said. "I could probably just go find some woods or something...."

Cory shook his head. "Not in your condition; you can't even stand up!" he pointed out.

"Well, I can't argue too well with that," the draken remarked.

The door into the apartment opened. "Hi honey," another wolf called, walking in. This one was a little shorter than Cory, and was a lot curvier. Dash didn't know too much about non-drakens, but he supposed that the new wolf was female. "Oh? Who is this?" she remarked upon seeing the draken on the bed.

Cory looked between the two. "Dash, this is my wife, Calli. Calli, this is Dash. I found him lying in a nearby alleyway. He got messed up by some sort of dark magic," he told her.

Calli raised a furry eyebrow. "Dark magic?" she asked, then shrugged as she looked back at Dash. "Well, you sure look like it."

Dash looked at himself. His skin had lots of dark burn marks on it and a bunch of cuts that were bleeding slowly, and his clothes weren't in much better shape. "Yeah, I guess I do," he remarked. Calli gingerly touched one of the burns, and Dash flinched, barely holding in a yelp of pain.

Cory examined the dark spots on the draken's snow-white skin. "Yeah, you've been burned pretty badly by whatever hit you," he said. "I think we might have some sort of salve or something...."

Dash cocked his head as he felt something, that "right" feeling he'd had once before. "Well, the twins could do it, so maybe I can..." he remarked to himself.

Calli looked down at him confusedly. "Twins? What twins?" she asked.

Dash slowly closed his eyes, his body relaxing. The wolves moved to him, thinking the worst, but then they noticed a glowing breeze go past that seemed to move to the draken's clawed hand. Calli's eyes widened. Dash grinned at her reaction and pressed his hand carefully against his chest. The glow surrounding his hand spread across his body, and wherever the glow touched, burns healed, cuts closed, bruises vanished, and drained muscles regained their former strength. The glow faded, and Dash opened his eyes. "Wow, I feel like a whole new draken," he said, grinning again.

"Okay, that was just cool," Cory admitted. "What was it?"

"I used my powers to heal myself," Dash explained. "A couple of my friends from the past saved themselves from a wound that might have killed them by using their powers to heal themselves." He stood up, noticing that he was almost as tall as Cory, and a few inches taller than Calli.

Calli smiled. "Well, you may be all healed up, but you're still a mess, and your clothes are in tatters."

Cory's eyes lit up. "Hey, why don't you go have a shower and clean up, and while you're doing that, Calli might be able to get some of my clothes to fit you!"

Calli's eyes lit up too. "Great idea!" she said. "You two look about the same size, so it should work. I'll just need to make holes for your wings, and widen the tail hole...."

"Um, shower?" Dash remarked quietly as the two conversed.

"Here, just let me see how big your wings and tail are," she said to him, grabbing a long bit of yellow cloth with lots of lines on it and pressing it against the base of his wings and around his tail, then hurrying off into another room.

"Um...?" Dash said. "Thanks?

Cory laughed. "She just hasn't had much to do lately, been bored stiff," he said confidentially. "She likes playing around with the sewing machine, and you'll definitely be a challenge." He winked. "Anyway, the shower's in the bathroom over there."

As Dash started off, Calli walked back in and said, "Oh, could I borrow your old clothes? For a reference of where to put things."

"Sure," Dash replied. He pulled off his clothes and tossed them to the wolf. "Just... make sure I get them back, okay? We've been through a lot together." He nodded and walked into the bathroom.

Cory looked at him, then grinned at his wife. "Well, he sure isn't shy," he quipped.

* * *

The inside of the "bath room" was rather strange. It had a lot of things in it that he had absolutely no idea what to do with. Near the door, there was a sort of table with a bowl built into it. Above the bowl were a curved metal thing and a black rectangle with red and blue lights on it. The lights were two small triangles that came together to make another rectangle. He touched the red-and-blue rectangle, and a white triangle appeared just above it, pointing to where he had just touched. As it did that, water also started coming out of the curved metal bit. He poked at the rectangle a little more, and the white triangle always went to where he touched. He also noticed that the water changed too; when the triangle was close to the blue end, the water became colder, like the streams he normally bathed in, but when it was at the red end, it felt like the hot spring from the old village, and steam started to billow from the bowl. He poked a small circle that had appeared off to the side of the rectangle, and the white triangle disappeared, the water flow ceasing as well.

On the wall above the table was a window. Looking into the window, he saw another room, with another draken in it, who was looking back at him. The draken was white, male, and had only one crest spike, which curved down. He looks familiar, Dash mused. He reached up to scratch a sudden itch, and the draken in the window did the same. Realization dawned. Ohhh, the draken in the window is me! He grinned, and his reflection did the same.

Next to the table was some big, weird white thing that looked like a chair. He wasn't feeling that tired any more, though, so he decided to leave it alone for now. A little way away from that was a sort of really big rectangle-shaped bowl that had cloth hung around it. Dash stepped inside the cloth, and noticed another black rectangle with the red-and-blue shape inside. This bowl had two of the curved metal things in it too, one just above his feet and the other above his head. He tapped the colored shape near the middle, and warm water poured out onto his feet. When he'd tapped the rectangle, the white triangle and the circle from last time had appeared again, along with another triangle that was next to the circle. This triangle was pointing down, and Dash curiously poked at it. The triangle flipped upward, and water blasted out of the top metal thing into his face. "Blmth!!" he exclaimed in surprise. He almost fell over, but caught himself with his tail. He backed out of the flow, spluttering. "Guess this is the shower," he muttered soggily.

Using the water, he washed himself off. Even though he had cured the burns, there was still soot from the marks on him. He scrubbed off some grime on the bottom of his tail and fin, which he supposed had come from when Cory lugged him here. Wiping off his wings proved a little more difficult, and he eventually decided to just thoroughly rinse them in the spray, in the hopes that it'd clean them enough.

After a while, he deemed himself clean. He tapped the white circle, shutting off the water, and stepped back into the main area of the bathroom. He crouched down, put his hands on the floor, and gave himself a good shake, drying himself quickly. After smiling again at the image of himself on the wall, he opened the door and walked back into the room he came from.

Calli looked up as he came in. "Wow, you look good when you're clean," she commented. Cory rolled his eyes. "Anyway," she continued, "you've got great timing. I just finished these." She handed him two pieces of clothing. One was white and looked like a shirt without sleeves, and the other was a pair of pants made out of some tough blue material.

He slipped them on, marveling at the fit. "Wow, it goes tight around my wings and tail," he remarked, moving his wings and tail around.

Calli nodded. "I made it for a perfect fit. I also reinforced the edges for the wings and tail, so they won't tear like your old ones were starting to do," she informed him.

Dash grinned at her. "Thank you so much!" he said, hugging her.

Calli looked surprised, then hugged him back. "It's no problem," she replied.

"Yeah, a friend in need is a friend indeed," Cory said, patting the draken on the shoulder. "Well, c'mon, let's see if we can do anything about getting you a place to live."

"Oh, really," Dash said, "you don't need to take up so much of your time for me. I'll be fine, I'll just find a forest clearing or something...."

Calli shook her head with a smile. "No, we'll help you," she said firmly. "Since you're from the past, you probably don't have any money, do you?"

Dash looked at her. "Um, maybe," he replied. "What's 'munney'?"

Cory sighed. "Well, that answers that question," he remarked. The wolves headed out of the room, and Dash followed them into the elevator and down to the first floor. The doors opened, and they all stepped out and walked toward the main lobby.

Just before they turned the corner, they all heard something, a rough voice saying, "Everyone on the ground!" Cory pulled Dash up short behind the wall, while Calli took a peek around it. Dash looked with her.

A very big animal-man was standing in the room. He had short brown fur, a short-ish muzzle, and small, round ears on top of his head. He was wearing clothes that looked a bit like Dash's new set. He was waving some sort of metal L around the room and saying things that didn't sound very nice. "Oh man, and he's a bear too," Calli muttered as she hid back behind the wall. A lot of people, drakens, and the human-like animals were laying on the ground.

"Are bears bad?" Dash asked quietly.

"Generally, no," Cory said, "but this one is, and bears are really strong.

"Okay, you, get up!" the bear ordered, motioning to a round-looking human. The human stood up, and the bear pointed the L at him. "Now get me all the money you have in this dump!" he said, jabbing the man with the L.

Dash shook his head, a war going on inside him. He didn't know much about this new place he was in, but he could tell that this bear was doing something wrong. His conscience said he should go, but he had something else to worry about: his Beast. Even now he could feel those urges, pushing him to rush out and start attacking. He didn't want to go out, when he could wind up hurting someone.... He stood there, fighting this inner battle, then his face set as one side won. "This isn't right," he muttered to himself, his sense of justice pushing him on as he bolted around the corner. "Hey, leave him alone!" he called to the criminal. "That money isn't yours to take!"

The bear whirled around and stared at the draken. "Oh?" he said, walking over to Dash, towering over him by about a foot. "And are you gonna stop me, shrimp?" The bear swung a fist at him.

Dash dropped low and spun in a quick circle, sweeping the bear's feet out with his tail. Before his opponent hit the floor, Dash kicked straight out, catching the bear in the chest and flinging him back several yards.

The bear grunted and got to his feet. "Oh, so you think you can fight, huh?" he growled, walking back over. He suddenly lunged at the draken, using the element of surprise to try and knock him to the ground.

Without slowing his attacker's charge, Dash grabbed him by his shirt, rolled onto his back, and used both feet and all his power to kick the bear halfway through a wall. Dash continued the roll and flipped back onto his feet, but the bear didn't look like he'd try to fight again. The crowd stood back up, and cheered for the draken who had just single-handedly stopped an armed robbery, crowding around him. Calli and Cory pushed through the crowd to him. "That was amazing!" Cory exclaimed.

The round human walked over to them, grasped Dash's hand, and shook it heartily. "Thank you, sir! You just saved my life, and possibly more of us as well!"

Dash smiled. "You're welcome. I saw him bullying you around, and it just didn't sit right with me. I'm glad to have helped you," he said modestly.

The man released Dash's hand. "I owe you more than I can say. If there's anything I can do to repay you, just name it."

Dash looked at his new wolf friends. "Well, do you happen to have a place I could live?" he asked.

The human smiled. "Of course! I own this building, after all!" he told the draken. "Hmmm...." He glanced at the wolf pair. "Actually, there's an open room right next to theirs. It's made to be draken-friendly as well, and I think that may suit you." The owner walked over to a wall and tossed a plastic card to him. "The room is yours, no charge."

Cory stared, then broke into a grin. "Awesome! You get to live next to us!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Hey hero, what's your name?"

The draken grinned broadly as he turned to them. "Call me Dash."

* * *

###

Part Three: Teyaka's Story

The rest of the drakens were lying around Dash as he finished his story, the stars shining gently through the window. "Wow," Amber remarked. "So that's how you got to live here?"

Dash nodded, and Ragnarok asked, "So you live next to a couple of wolves that are...'morphs'? What's the story behind that?"

"That one's a lot shorter," Dash said. "A while ago, humans figured out ways to mess with what makes creatures what they are. One thing they managed to figure out was how to sorta combine animals with humans, they did it with all sorts of animals. They did try to do it to drakens, but it didn't work for them for some reason, so it looks like I'm the only one," he said with a smile.

"Ah, all right," Ragnarok replied. He gave a nod, then looked over as the twins looked toward Teyaka.

"So, you've got fur?" Terra said. Teyaka nodded, and Keera said, "I've got to admit, I'm still getting a bit of an urge to pounce on you," with a grin. She stretched out her wing and used the long part to pet Teyaka's fur. "Ooh, you're soft...."

Teyaka giggled. "Thank you," she said as the twins rubbed her side with their tail.

Dash laughed. "She's probably one of the first things with fur that you haven't tried to eat, huh?" he remarked with a grin.

Amber looked from Dash to Teyaka, then back again. "Teyaka said she had kids, right? Are you their father?"

Dash and Teyaka both stared at her, then at each other, then practically fell down laughing. When they could breathe again, Dash said, "I...don't think it'd work that way, Amber."

"Oh," Amber said. "Well then, who is the father?"

Dash and Teyaka looked at each other again. Teyaka said, "Um, technically... there isn't one."

Ragnarok blinked "I may be wrong, but I think a father's pretty necessary for that sort of thing," he remarked.

"Normally it would be, but... Teyaka's sort of a special case," Dash said. As he said that, a sleepy-looking smaller version of Teyaka walked out of a doorway. She was about two and a half feet long, and wore a blue collar and a light blue blanket that was draped over her.

"Hi Mamma," she said, yawning, then noticed the new visitors. She walked over to them. "Hello there! My name's Kaya!" she said.

"Hello Kaya. I'm Ragnarok," Ragnarok said.

"Ragn-na-rok?" Kaya repeated, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! Are you guys Uncle Dash's old friends?" she asked.

"Yup!" "We sure are!" the twins said.

Kaya smiled at them. "You're kinda funny," she said, not unkindly, then turned to Teyaka. "Mamma, could I stay out here for a little bit?" she asked.

Teyaka rolled her black eyes with a smile. "Fine, for a little bit," she allowed.

"Yay!" Kaya said. She ran over to the twins. "Could I sit with you?" she asked politely.

"Sure!" the twins said in unison, smiling warmly.

Kaya stretched and yawned, then curled up next to the twins. Something occurred to her. "Oh, would you like to share my blanket?" she offered. "You don't have fur, and you might get cold."

The twins smiled again. "No, but thank you," Keera replied. "I don't think we'd fit under there very well," Terra added.

"Okay," Kaya said. She rubbed one of her big ears, and snuggled into the twins' tummy.

Sabre smiled. "Now that's just cute," he remarked with a grin.

"So, Teyaka's a special case?" Ragnarok asked the room in general, getting the conversation back on the course it had been on.

"Yup," Dash said, scritching the side of Teyaka's neck, below the edge of her armor. "It's another long story, and I think Teyaka ought to tell this one."

"Ooh, a story about Mamma?" Kaya said, her ears perking up a little.

Teyaka nodded. "All right, I'll tell you my story." She sat up higher and smiled. "It all started in a dark room...."

* * *

In a dark room, a light on a small screen flashed. The screen was located in the middle of the room, hooked by several cables to a large pod. This pod was made of dark metal and thick glass. Inside the class could be seen the body of an animal, suspended in a thick greenish fluid and occasionally twitching sluggishly. The door into the room opened, flooding it with light before being quickly shut by the two men that entered through it. Both were dressed casually, though they also wore lab coats as well. One man walked over to the monitor, examining its readouts and tapping at a few buttons.

"How is she doing?" the second man asked.

"It looks like everything's ready," the first replied. "Should we go get the others?"

"No," the second replied. "If she's ready, deactivate the pod."

The first man nodded and pressed the screen, where the light was still flashing. The liquid slowly drained out of the pod, the form inside settling on the bottom. A line appeared in the previously seamless glass, and it slid open. The animal fell out, but the men caught her and laid her carefully on the floor. As she took her first breath, the men grabbed nearby towels. One dried off the light golden-brown fur on her body, long ears, and longer tail, while the other cleaned off the dark gray natural armor that covered her back, starting in spikes that began between her eyes, smoothed down at the back of her head, and went in smooth ridges down her back to the tip of her tail.

In response to their tender ministrations, she took a deep breath and slowly opened her deep black eyes. She lifted up her head and looked at the man in front of her, and he held out his hand to her. She sniffed at it, then licked it and smiled nicely at him. She twisted her neck around and looked back at her body. Using the armor covering the tip of her tail, she felt the spiked plates on the top of her head.

"Here, let's help her up," the man behind her said. They put their hands under her body. She looked at them curiously, but then seemed to realize what they were doing and stood up shakily. "Oomph! She's heavier than she looks!"

The first man laughed and replied, "Yeah," then surveyed the creature standing before them. "She sure looks a lot bigger out here too," he remarked.

"Yeah, almost as big as a draken," the second man agreed. The animal stood a bit less than hip height at the shoulder, around thirty-two inches, and was eight feet long, about half of which was her long, muscular tail. She looked at the two and made a happy barking noise. "Y'know, we probably ought to name her. Something nicer than 'the subject.'"

The first man crouched down next to her and scratched her behind one ear, which she seemed to enjoy. He glanced over at the screen that was connected to the now-empty pod. "Experiment T-3y...." He noticed a designation blinking on the screen: 4k4. "How about... 'Teyaka'?" he suggested.

"It fits," the second man replied. He crouched down in front of her and held her chin gently in his hand. "Teyaka."

Teyaka cocked her head at him, then opened her mouth. "Teyaka!" she repeated with a smile. Both men started in surprise, not having expected any words out of her. The sudden movement startled her, and she scurried back a few steps, a worried expression on her face.

The men recovered their wits quickly. "It's okay," one said soothingly. "We didn't mean to scare you."

She warily walked toward them a step. "Teyaka?" she said hesitantly.

The other man smiled and pointed at her. "Your name is Teyaka. My name is Frank," he said.

"And my name is Carl," the first man added.

She walked a bit closer. "My... name is... Teyaka?" she said questioningly. They smiled warmly at her and nodded, so she said, "My name is Teyaka," again with more confidence, as well as another nice smile.

"Very good!" Carl praised. "Now, we need you to stay here for a bit, okay?"

"Stay!" Teyaka agreed. She curled up on the floor, looking at them curiously. The two men walked a few yards away, and she quickly lost interest, looking brightly around the room.

"Wow, she's pretty quick," Frank remarked. Carl nodded, and they glanced back at Teyaka. She rubbed one of her big ears with a forepaw, obviously paying them no heed.

Carl glanced around. "Say, why is it so dark in here anyway?" he asked.

"That pod was taking a lot of power to run," Frank replied. "The lights would've blown a fuse. But now that the pod's offline...." He reached over and flicked the light switch on the wall, and the lights flashed on. Teyaka jumped up, startled by the sudden change. However, seeing that the two humans weren't worried, she quickly calmed down and curled up on the floor again, studying the lights.

Carl laughed at the show. "I suppose we should show her to the rest of the team," he remarked. "They'll want to see how all our work has finally paid off."

Frank nodded and called, "Hey, Teyaka!" Hearing her name, Teyaka's ears perked up, and she looked around to him. "You can get back up now. Come over here."

She stood up and walked over. "Here?" she asked.

"Yep," Carl replied. "Now, we need you to follow us, all right?"

Teyaka smiled. "All right!" she chirped. The men laughed, opened the door, and walked through, Teyaka close behind them.

* * *

Frank and Carl walked through an open door, entering a well-upholstered conference room. The room was centered around a large table, with several chairs spaced around it. Several of these chairs were occupied by various scientists, and one draken sat on the floor. A corporate logo was projected onto a screen at the head of the room, saying "Archetype Scientifics". As the two men entered the room, the others broke off, looking over at them.

"Frank, Carl, you're back!" one of the scientists, a lightly-colored feline, remarked. "What happened over there?"

The two men stepped aside, and Teyaka walked into the room. "Is that...?" another scientist gasped.

"Yes, she's our subject," Frank replied. "She was ready, so we let her out of the pod."

"She's progressing very fast," Carl added. "Our experimental use of brain proteins for data storage seems to have worked like a charm. She just needs to be reminded of something to unlock the stored knowledge."

"My name is Teyaka!" the subject of the discussion piped in, sounding very proud of it.

"You see?" Frank said. "She knows how to use words, she just needs to hear them first."

"Back to our current topic, Archetype Scientifics," one of the others said. As the subject shifted, Teyaka curled up on the floor, glancing around the room curiously. "As we know, they've been trying to muscle in on our work for-" He paused as he was interrupted by a large yawn for Teyaka.

"Uh oh," Frank said, "it looks like it's time for you to go to sleep. You've had a big first day, after all." Teyaka nodded nodded, her eyes half closed, suddenly feeling very tired. She climbed to her feet, and Frank patted her cheek. "You guys continue," he said to the others. "I'll take her to her room and be right back." The speaker nodded and continued where he left off as Frank led Teyaka out of the room and into the hallway.

Teyaka looked around curiously as she entered a new room. It was smaller than the last one, though it had a comfortable look to it. In one corner was a pair of dishes, and in another was a pile of pillows for bedding. "This is your room, Teyaka," Frank said. "This is where you'll eat and sleep. Right now, I think it's time for sleeping." Teyaka nodded, rearranging a few of the cushions before curling up on top of them. Frank walked to the door. "Good night," he said.

"Good night!" Teyaka murmured. Frank turned off the lights and left, and she quickly fell fast asleep.

* * *

Over the next month, Teyaka and the scientists grew closer. They were all very fond of her, and let her have free reign to wander around the lab, aside from one or two rooms that were always closed. If she walked into a room, the people inside would often drop what they were doing to talk to her, and explain what they were working on. She enjoyed reading the books they brought to her own room as well, especially the ones with bright pictures that went with the words. They treated her kindly, more like a daughter than a pet.

One day, she was wandering around the lab as usual, and wound up standing in front of one of the few closed doors as one of the humans came out. "Hello Teyaka!" he said, reaching down to ruffle her ears.

"Hello!" she replied, dodging playfully. The human laughed and walked off. Teyaka was about to leave too, but then she noticed something unusual, a little sliver of light coming out of the door. She walked over and gently pushed at it with her nose. It swung open a little! She looked around the hallway, but didn't see anyone, so she walked into the room.

The room didn't have very much space for her to move around in. It was filled with tables and desks, each piled high with glass bottles filled with all sorts of colored liquids. She reared back a bit and put her paws on a table to get a better look at something, but, in doing so, shook the table, causing something balanced high up on some stands to topple over and hit her on the head. The container cracked, bounced off, and broke open on the ground, but the armor on her head kept her from getting hurt. "Ow," she muttered, shaking her head before looking at the remains of what had hit her. The container had held some sort of blue liquid. She sniffed at the puddle on the floor. It smelled all right, so she dipped the tip of her tongue into it. It tasted good, and she started lapping it up, being careful to avoid the glass shards. As she drank, she noticed an odd tingling sensation behind her tummy, but in front of her hind legs. She disregarded it and kept drinking the nice tasting stuff.

Suddenly, two of the men ran into the room. "Teyaka, no!" One grabbed her around the neck and pulled her back from the puddle. "How did you get in here?" he demanded.

"I...um..." she stammered, her ears drooping.

"I...must've left the door open when I went to talk with Kendrick," the other man said.

"How could you have been so careless?" the first man scolded. "This is delicate stuff in here, not to mention that it's bad for her!" He continued scolding, not noticing Teyaka's reaction to all this. Her body was all bunched up, tears starting to form in her eyes, obviously upset by their reactions. "The rule to keep the door closed was created for a reason! Now, not only is your experiment ruined-" Teyaka suddenly bolted out the door, tears streaming out of her eyes. She ran until she found a nice dark corner and curled up into a tight ball, quietly crying onto her tail.

* * *

Eventually, she stopped crying and she unwound herself. She wiped off her cheeks with a forepaw and looked down the halls. Nobody had come to look for her, so she stood up and started to look around. The area she was in was fairly dark, since no humans were around to turn on the lights. She suddenly blinked as she felt something funny in her body again, that tingling feeling behind her stomach. She poked her belly gently with a paw, then shook her head and unwound herself, standing up.

She looked around the area again, and this time noticed that a nearby door was open a crack, with bright light coming through it. Sticking the armored tip of her tail into the gap, she levered the door open, watching the light pool on the ground. She stuck her head curiously out the door. "Wow, I've never seen this room before!" she exclaimed.

The room was really big, so big that she couldn't see the walls. The ceiling was painted blue and white, and was really high up. It only had one light, which the last person must've left on, but it was so bright that it lit the whole room. The floor was covered with a tall green carpet, and had flowers and trees in it. She walked into the room, eyes wide in wonder, then paused as something occurred to her. Not wanting anyone to get in trouble this time, she grabbed the handle in her mouth and pulled the door shut.

* * *

"What's going on?" the head of the lab asked Carl.

"Um, apparently Swanson left the door to his lab open, and they found Teyaka inside drinking his project. Marc yelled at him for being careless, but that must've upset Teyaka, since she ran off, and we haven't seen her since. We figured we'd let her calm down a bit and then go look for her," Carl explained.

"Swanson's project?" the man repeated. "This is bad."

"Why? What was he working on?"

"The liquid was an experimental combination of new chemicals. One makes egg cells in a female absorb nearby DNA and become viable embryos. Another chemical in the mix drastically speeds up gestation."

Carl looked at him with a stunned expression. "We've got to go find her."

* * *

Teyaka had been wandering the room in wonder for a while, and it all still seemed so new and fresh. Her exploration was interrupted, though, by a sudden rumbling in her belly. She glanced around, looking for the way back to her room, then looked back to the land before her with a smile. "Well, maybe someone in this room has some food," she mused to herself. She wandered off a few steps, then noticed a tree full of round red things. She looked at it curiously, then remembered one of her picture books; those were apples! She bounded over to the tree with a smile; the book had said that apples were tasty and good for you!

She put her paws on the trunk, looking up at the bright fruits. She first tried to climb the trunk, then to jump for them, but both tries had ended with her hitting the ground with a thump! Feeling frustrated, she thumped on the tree with her tail, unintentionally shaking it hard enough to knock loose one of the apples, which bounced to a stop in front of her. She happily ate it, then grinned slyly at the tree.

* * *

A little while later, Teyaka was laying on her back, relaxing against the tree with apple cores littering the ground around her. She sighed happily and poked at her belly, which was pudging out a little from her gorging. She blinked as she noticed a small beetle crawling across her fur, and smiled at it. "Well hello there!" she remarked cheerfully. "Would you like to come with me? I'm exploring this great big room!" She watched the bug for a bit, then coaxed it onto her paw and rolled over, transferring it onto her back. "You'll be more comfortable there, buggy. Come on, let's go!" She smiled again at her new friend, then stood up and started walking again.

* * *

Later, after she'd been walking for a long time, she noticed that the one light had moved way down onto one wall, and had turned red. Teyaka looked up, breathing out a delighted sigh at the pretty colors the wall had become, then blinked as a drop of water suddenly hit her on the nose. She noticed a few drips, but kept walking along; maybe the ceiling had a leak somewhere.

The drip quickly became a downpour, though, as the light moved further down, and it became darker and colder out. Teyaka lay down on the ground, feeling very confused. "Dark means it's bedtime..." she said, half to her insect companion and half to herself, "but why is it so wet?" True to her form, though, she set her head on her tail and closed her eyes.

* * *

She woke up again when the light had come back up on the wall, feeling much worse than she ever had. Her fur was completely soaked, and she felt horribly cold. She slowly stood up, having to pull herself up out of the mud. "I want a warm bath," she moaned, trying to clean some of the muck out of her fur, noticing with some surprise that her tummy seemed a little bigger than it had been last night. How had that happened? She hadn't eaten anything since then. Before she could do anything, though, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden sneeze. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the water and mud, but she wasn't too successful. The beetle flew up out of her fur as she shook, then landed on her again, attracting her attention. She frowned to her new friend, then started walking again, feeling much less cheerful than she had yesterday. "I hope we find someone to help us soon," she told him.

Suddenly, she paused in mid-step, and her eyes widened in realization. She looked back at her beetle friend. "Oh no.... What if this isn't a room in the lab? What if we're...." She glanced back in the direction she'd come from, a look of fear on her face. "We're not in the lab at all!" she exclaimed. She shook her head, tears of coming to her eyes. "We're lost.... I don't know how to get back, buggy."

After a few deep breaths, she sighed and opened her eyes, looking around again. "I guess... I guess we should just keep going, and hope someone finds us. Maybe we can find someone too." She started walking again, looking much less confident than she had before, and much more worried.

* * *

Later that day, when the light, which she had now identified as the sun, was sinking in the sky again, she paused at a small pond, looking much wearier. She sighed in relief at seeing the water and leaned down to take a drink. "Ahh, that's bett-" she started, then stumbled to a halt in shock; she'd spoken normally, but her voice had sounded weird, all scratchy and low. She coughed lightly, then tried to speak again. "W-what's going on...?" she stammered, eyes widening in fear as she heard her voice sounding even rougher and quieter. She coughed again, harder than last time. She tried to say something, call for help, but she couldn't get a word past her lips, and fell into a rough coughing fit.

At the sudden noise and jerking movement, the beetle flew off of her back and off into the grasses. She watched him go, trying to call him back, but just coughed again. A wave of despair like she'd never felt before crashed over her, and she dropped into a tight ball, crying herself to sleep next to the pond.

* * *

Teyaka awoke despondently and looked about, seeing that the new day was another overcast and dreary one, especially to the distraught creature. She rolled onto her back to look herself over, and poked gently at her even larger belly, wondering distantly why it kept getting bigger. She shook her head sadly and pushed herself to her feet, plodding dejectedly onward.

As time passed, the fog and gloom in front of her started to thin out, and she saw the silhouette of something in the distance, something big. She squinted at it, trying to make out any details, then blinked as she recognized the shapes as something she'd seen in another one of her books: it was a city! Cities had people in them! Teyaka's face lit up with this new hope, and she took off at a dead run toward it.

* * *

Teyaka staggered onto a sidewalk, finally having reached the city. She'd been running all day, and her legs felt like they would hardly hold her for another minute. She sat down heavily, flumping onto her side in exhaustion. She set her head on her paws, then lifted it again as she heard someone coming.

A man dressed in a dark suit strode toward her. She stared pitifully up at him, trying to ask for help, but only wound up coughing. The man looked down, then walked past her, pulling something out of his pocket and opening it as he went. She laid her head down again, quickly starting to lose hope.

* * *

The man quickly stepped around a corner, dialing a number on his cell phone. A voice quickly answered his call after hardly a ring. "Archetype Scientifics," the phone chirped. "How may I help you today?"

"Get me Acquisitions," the man said curtly. "I've got something here they might be interested in."

* * *

Teyaka closed her eyes, sighing dejectedly as someone else walked past. She heard another set of footsteps clicking toward her, but she didn't even bother opening her eyes. After all, this person wouldn't help her either, would they? She sighed again, her optimism drained and expecting more disappointment. However, these footsteps came up in front of her and then stopped. After a second, she opened her eyes again, seeing not shoes but a pair of white, clawed feet. She looked up at the person and blinked in surprise at the person she saw.

"Hmm. Don't think I've seen one of you before," he remarked, smiling warmly down at her. She couldn't tell what he was; he obviously wasn't a human, even though he wore human clothes: a dark t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He had white skin, three-fingered hands with sharp claws, big wings that didn't have any feathers on his back, a tail with a funny fin on the end, and a face shaped more like hers than a human's. He must be a morph, though she couldn't place the species until she remembered the draken at the lab. She looked pleadingly at him, then coughed hard.

"That's a nasty cough," he said, reaching down and petting the side of her neck. "And no collar too.... I guess you aren't anyone's pet then. Here, I'll take you home. Maybe there's something I can do to help you." Hope, almost given up, shone in her eyes once again, and she tried to stand up on her worn-out legs, but the person stopped her, seeing how they would hardly support her weight. "Yikes, you're worse off than I though! You just relax, let me handle this." He rolled her onto her side and curled her into a tight ball, being careful of her tummy, and, to Teyaka's astonishment, picked her up in his arms. He takes a short step to avert a stumble as her weight became apparent, and Teyaka just stared in blank astonishment that one person could lift her. "Whoa, you're pretty heavy," he remarked. She stared at him, but then set her head down on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

* * *

She slowly woke up, luxuriating at the comfort she'd been unaccustomed to. It felt like she was on her cushion bed back home, instead of the hard ground she had been sleeping on lately. Had it all just been a bad dream? She sighed contentedly, and slowly opened her eyes. She was curled up sideways on a human's bed, sideways because her tummy had gotten big enough that she couldn't lay straight up. She looked around the room, the happiness draining out of her face as she saw a strange room, one she'd never seen before. She bunched up, starting to panic and looking frantically for some pointer to something familiar. A door opened, and the person who had helped her calmly walked in, his stride a comfortable walk. He noticed her hectic posture, though, and ran over to her to try and calm her down. "Don't worry," he said soothingly, stroking her fur, "everything's okay. I'm a friend. Calm down girl, calm down." His methods were effective, and Teyaka slowly relaxed her tensed-up body. As she relaxed, the weariness returned to her body and she sat down heavily, her hind legs practically giving out underneath her. "There, that's better. You don't need to worry about anything. You're in my home. I took you here earlier, remember?"

She looked at him and tried to say something, but her scratchy throat wouldn't cooperate, and she started coughing again. After the fit subsided, she sighed again, starting to resign herself to staying silent forever. "I think step one should be to take care of that for you," the person remarked. He closed his eyes, and Teyaka watched him curiously. He held up one hand in front of his face, and a rush of cold wind seemed to blow past her, even though the doors were closed. It blew to his hand, and seemed to glow slightly. Teyaka once again was staring in blank amazement at him. The draken-man grinned and opened his eyes, which were glowing as brilliantly as the air around his hand.

He pressed the palm of his hand to her throat. A cold rush blew across the insides of her body, radiating from where his hand was. It flowed through her neck, and her throat stopped feeling scratchy. When it reached her legs, they stopped feeling sore and achy, and stopped shaking beneath her. She stared at him, then lifted up her forelegs and examined them one by one before looking back up at him incredulously. He laughed and said, "Well, that ought to take care of that." He rubbed at a dirty spot on her armor. "Now, how about we get you a bath?"

A bath? A bath! Her look of astonishment turned into one of elation. She jumped down off the bed and ran a circle around his legs, smiling brightly. "Okay, okay!" he laughed. "C'mon, it's this way." He led her through the door that he had just come out of. It was a bathroom, and had all the things that normally accompanied a bathroom, but her new friend led her to a big bathtub. She grinned eagerly and hopped in. Her friend laughed again. He tapped at the screens, and water flowed out of the tap. Warm water! She could finally be clean! She waited expectantly as the water level rose. When he finally stopped the water, it was most of the way up her chest.

Happy to finally be in a nice warm bath, she splashed around playfully, getting some water on her friend, who laughed and splashed her back. She giggled and prepared to return fire, and then froze in mid-motion as she realized what she had just done. She worked her mouth a little. "I... I c-can... I can talk again!" she exclaimed. Her friend seemed surprised that she could talk at all. She jumped out of the tub and started nuzzling him thankfully. "It must've been when you made my throat feel better! Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"H-hey! C'mon, you're all wet!" he exclaimed with a laugh. He dropped a hand on her head and smiled down at her. "So, you can talk?"

"Yes, and it feels so wonderful to be able to do it again!" she cried jubilantly.

"Well, let's get you back in the tub, and you can explain while I get all that muck off you," he suggested.

"By the way, my name is Teyaka!" she happily replied, hopping back into the bathtub.

"My name is Dash!" he replied with a laugh. "It's nice to meet you!"

* * *

A little bit later, Dash and Teyaka walked out of the bathroom, Teyaka's fur still slightly damp but finally clean of all the mud and muck that had been covering it for so long. Dash helped her up onto the bed, and she lay down gratefully. "It feels so nice to be clean again..." she breathed happily.

"I bet it does," Dash agreed, sitting down next to her. He reached out and gently rubbed the side of her rounded belly. "So, when did this happen?"

"When did what happen?" she replied, confused.

Dash gave her a look that shared her puzzlement. "Well, you're pregnant, aren't you?" Dash responded, confused at her confusion.

"Pregnant?" She cocked her head, not understanding, but her eyes widened as the association hit. "Pregnant?!" she exclaimed. "I'm...pregnant? But...." She looked at her belly.

"What? You didn't know about it?" Dash asked incredulously, more confused than ever. "How...?"

"I don't know.... Dash, I'm only a month old! How can I be pregnant?" She looked up at him, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I'm scared...."

Dash suddenly pulled her upright, hugging her tightly and wrapping his wings tightly around her. Teyaka paused in surprise, then closed her eyes with a soft smile, setting her head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," he said. "I can help you through this, and I'll make sure nothing bad will happen to you, or your kids." He let go with his wings and pulled back, holding her shoulders loosely. "After all, we're friends, right?"

She looked into his eyes, her demeanor growing less fearful; his happy-go-lucky charm was helping to banish her fears. "Right!" she said, her voice gaining confidence.

Dash let her go, and she dropped to all fours. He gently scratched her left ear and said, "So now that we've got that settled, what do you want to do next?"

Teyaka's stomach suddenly growled, and she smiled sheepishly. "Some food sounds like it'd be a good idea," she replied with a wink.

* * *

Teyaka lay on the couch in Dash's living room, gently petting her belly with a maternal smile; she was starting to get used to the idea of being about to bring a new life into this world. She glanced up at the large window the room had on one wall, admiring the beautiful sunset. Her eyes moved to the door as she heard the handle rattle, and she saw Dash enter, carrying a full bag. She started to stand up, but Dash waved her down with a grin, walking over to her instead.

"So, you hungry?" he asked. Teyaka nodded emphatically, and Dash chuckled, pulling something out of the bag. "Here, try this then." He unwrapped what looked like a small, round sandwich and offered it to her.

Teyaka sniffed at it, then took a hesitant bite. "Mmm!" she exclaimed, quickly taking another bite before swallowing both. "That was good! What was it?"

Dash laughed again, patting her flank. "It's a cheeseburger," he told her. "Pretty good, huh?"

He offered her the rest, and she took another bite. The two of them were interrupted, however, by a sudden knocking. Teyaka looked up at the door, then swallowed. She and Dash looked at each other, and he stood up to open the door.

Behind the opened door was a man. He looked rather stiff, and was dressed in very fancy clothing, much more formal than what Dash wore. He smiled tightly as he looked in, and his gaze locked on Teyaka. "Ah, there you are!" he said.

Dash looked between the man and his newest friend. "Um... you know Teyaka?" he asked.

The man nodded. "Indeed I do. I work at the lab that created her!" he stated. Teyaka looked up at him, an expression of confusion on her face, as he continued. "Teyaka, we've been looking for you everywhere! Everyone's been so worried. We need you to come back to us."

Teyaka shifted on the couch, still looking confused and starting to look a little worried as well. She climbed down off the couch and asked, "All right... but could I say something to Dash first?"

The man nodded. "Of course."

Teyaka grabbed Dash's hand in her mouth and pulled him away to the other end of the room. "What is it?" he asked, crouching down to her height.

Teyaka moved her head closer to his, and whispered, "I don't recognize him."

"Are you sure...?"

"I lived there for a month, and I knew every person there. I've never seen him before in my life."

Dash looked at the man, then nodded to Teyaka. He stood up and turned to the man. "Sorry, but she's not going with you," he said.

The man's smile became more edged as Dash spoke. "I'm sorry you feel that way, but she is indeed coming with us," he said. He stepped aside and two big, muscular people walked into the room behind him, both of them wearing jackets that had an "Archetype Scientifics" logo on their chests.

Teyaka fell back a step, looking very worried. Dash stepped next to her. "Teyaka, I need you to trust me," he muttered to her.

The two thugs advanced on them. Teyaka looked worriedly at them, frozen for a second, then looked up at Dash and nodded.

At her nod, Dash suddenly scooped her up in his arms, turned on his heel, and slapped a button next to the window. The glass zipped aside, and Dash dove out into the night sky.

Teyaka cried out as they plummeted through the air, but it died off into a strangled squeak, her eyes wide open as she stared in terror at the rapidly-approaching ground.

Dash snapped his wings out wide, pushing hard against the rushing air to slow their fall. Teyaka pushed back against his chest, eyes still locked on the ground. As it came closer and closer, she curled into a tight ball, whimpering in his arms.

Despite pumping his wings with all his might, Dash still landed hard enough to crack the concrete of the sidewalk, but at least they didn't die on impact. He stumbled at the hard landing, but quickly recovered and sprinted off into the park, still carrying Teyaka.

* * *

Dash bolted into a small grove of trees, mostly hidden from outside view. He stopped and looked around, gasping for breath, then set Teyaka down.

Feeling the ground beneath herself again, Teyaka opened her eyes, and uncurled a little. She looked around, though she was obviously still terrified. "A-are we still safe?" she asked.

Dash glanced around the copse, peering through the trees. "I think so..." he gasped. "For now, at least." He looked back at Teyaka, worry in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Teyaka gulped, and then nodded. "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." She paused, then looked down at her feet. "Thank you for saving me.... I was so scared, I couldn't move...."

Dash smiled and rubbed the side of her neck. "Don't worry, girl. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." Teyaka offered him a weak smile in return. Dash patted her cheek, then looked out through the trees again. "Come on, I think it's safe to go." He pushed off through the trees, and Teyaka shakily pushed herself up and followed him.

As they snuck through the park, it was eerily quiet. They had reached the edge of the park, almost to a street, when they heard a voice call out. "There they are!" They whipped around, and saw their three pursuers advancing toward them. "The game is up, you two!" the well-dressed man called. "She comes with us!"

Dash stepped protectively in front of Teyaka. "She's not going anywhere," he said.

The man turned to one of his two thugs. "Get rid of him." The thug pulled a weapon, and both moved toward Dash. He moved to punch one, but the other shot him with some sort of weird gun; with a crackle, Dash collapsed to the ground.

Teyaka stared at her new friend. "No..." she said quietly. She looked up at the two men, standing over him, and her expression changed from fear to determination. "No!" she shouted, jumping between Dash and the men, knocking them back a few steps. "I don't care who you are, or why you want me. I do know that you're trying to hurt one of the only friends I've got, and I'll fight all three of you before I let you get near him!" She bared her teeth in a growl, her fur standing on end. Despite her bravery, though, she could still feel her legs shaking.

Not expecting such a response, the two thugs looked back at their boss, who just grinned sharply. "I don't know what you intend to do there, girl," he said. "Spirited though you may be, your friend won't be able to whisk you away this time. Who else could you possibly expect to save you?"

"Us!" Two shots suddenly rang out, dropping the brawny men to the ground. The man and Teyaka both looked toward the voice in surprise, to see a small squad of police, guns drawn, and one casually dressed man. Teyaka's assailant tried to run, abandoning his lackeys, but a quick-footed officer took him down in a tackle. Another officer moved to Dash, checking him out.

Teyaka just stared at the odd man out for a second, then rushed up and tackled him, knocking him off his feet. "Carl!" she exclaimed jubilantly.

Carl laughed and hugged her tight around the neck. "Boy am I glad we found you in time!" he said. He let her go and sat back, smiling at her. "We got a tip-off from a source at Archetype that they had spotted you in the city.... I'm sorry it took us so long to find you."

Teyaka just nuzzled him happily, then turned her head as she heard a groan. Her smile grew even brighter as she saw Dash climbing shakily to his feet. "Oh man, what hit me?" Dash mumbled. He shook his head, then noticed Teyaka and walked over, though somewhat unsteadily.

Teyaka flashed her smile at him, pulling him closer with her tail. "Dash! This is Carl, one of the real people from my lab!" she told him.

Dash smiled, and stuck out a hand. Carl shook it, and smiled back. "Thank you for looking out for Teyaka," the scientist said.

Teyaka frowned as she remembered something, and dropped her gaze guiltily. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wander off like that..." she said.

Carl just laughed, hugging her again. "It's all right. What's important is that we've found you again! Now we can take you back home and get you checked out."

Teyaka hesitated, then glanced at Dash. "Actually..." she trailed off, then looked back at Carl. "I... I want to stay with Dash." Carl blinked in surprise, and she continued in a rush. "When I was alone and dirty and sick, he took me in and helped me when nobody else would. He made me well again. And when those men came to take me, he saved me from them...."

Dash smiled down and Teyaka and gently rubbed one of her long ears. Carl looked between the two of them, then sighed with a resigned smile. "Well, I can't see anything wrong with that," he said, "but on one condition." Teyaka looked at him, a little worry in her eyes. She opened her mouth to argue, but Carl held up a hand. "Promise to come back for regular check-ups, okay?" Teyaka blinked, then nodded emphatically, beaming. "Oh, and make sure..." He smiled warmly and reached down to gently pat her flank. "...to bring your cubs too."

* * *

Dash and Teyaka sat together, side-by-side on his living room floor, looking out the big window at the sun rising over the city skyline. Teyaka gently rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm so glad I get to live with you...."

"Me too," Dash said. "I like having you around."

Teyaka nodded, her tail swishing behind her. "I can still hardly believe everything that's happened...."

Dash nodded this time. "Yeah, it's been a pretty wild ride," he agreed.

Neither of them said anything for a bit, just gazing out at the sunrise. After a few seconds, Teyaka put a paw to her cub-filled belly. "Y'know, I've never been a mother before."

Dash grinned, dropping a hand onto her belly too. "Well, there's a first time for everything."

* * *

Part Four: A New Day Awaits

"Great story," Sabre remarked. "So all that really happened?"

Teyaka nodded. "Yup, that's where my cubs and I came from," she said. "That was about a year ago."

Kaya yawned hugely. "That was a nice story, Mamma..." she said sleepily, her eyes closing. A few moments later, she was fast asleep.

The twins draped a wing over her. "Only a year?" Terra said. "So you're just one year old?" Keera asked.

"Um, in a way," Teyaka responded. "I've only been awake for about a year, but I think I was in that pod for a lot longer," she explained.

Ragnarok eyed her. "You know, I think we've gone through pretty similar things," he said.

Everyone looked at him. "Huh?" Dash commented.

"Well, when she first came out of the pod, she was a little like a draken that had just been Awakened," he elaborated. "Three of us have been through that, and I wanted you to know that we know what it feels like," he said to Teyaka.

"Aw, you're sweet," Teyaka said, flashing him an appreciative smile. "I don't think it'd be any trouble if they stayed here with us," she said to Dash.

Dash grinned. "Nope, no trouble at all. So, what do you guys think?" he asked his friends. "You wanna live here for a while?"

The group looked at each other and grinned. "Sure, we'd love to," Sabre replied for them.

Dash looked around. "Well then, we need to figure out who gets to sleep where for now," he said.

The twins tickled Kaya's tummy with their tail, making her giggle a little in her sleep. "We'll sleep here," "with Kaya!" they said.

Sabre stretched and curled up on a nearby rug. "I'll be fine right here," he said.

"Looks like this room's full," Dash said to Ragnarok and Amber. "We've got a spare rooms over here, c'mon." He led them to another room, which was apparently made for drakens. "Make yourselves at home," he said. "Goodnight!" With that, he left, presumably for his own room.

Amber walked to the middle of the room. "It sure is nice to know that Dash is okay," she said to Ragnarok.

"Yeah," Ragnarok agreed. "It really hurt to think he was gone...." Amber sniffed suddenly. "Amber?" he asked.

Amber looked downcast, and she fixed a teary gaze on him. The décor of the room, sky blue and dark grass green, had struck a deep chord in her. "It's great that we're all okay, and that Dash has such a wonderful place to live, but...." She curled up on the floor, hiding her head under her wing and tail; the draken body language combined with her tears, evoking an image of wracking sobs. "I miss our home, back on the Plains, with Pike and Seren, and all the other drakens. I just want to be back," she moaned.

Ragnarok lay down next to her, draping his wing over her and curling himself around her shaking body. "There, there," he said, like Pike would have done if he had been there. "I know how you feel, Amber. I miss them all too. Even with friends like Dash and Teyaka here, it can still feel a little lonely, right?"

Amber looked out from under her tail and nodded. "This place just isn't the Plains," she said lamented. "I've lived there my whole life, and...."

Ragnarok smiled at her under her tail. "Well, just remember, no matter how bad it may get, I'll always be here for you, okay?" He hugged her tight with his wing and curled his body tighter around her. "A little bit of home wherever you go."

Amber unwound herself a little, her friend's protective embrace helping her to feel a little better. She snuggled into his side under his wing. "Ragnarok, don't ever leave me," she said, her tears drying up.

Ragnarok smiled. "Don't worry," he told her, "I won't."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...