Oh no, not for Ziage... anyone but Ziage... The first thoughts that surfaced on my mind as I managed to pull myself out of a drug-induced stupor... hooray. I must have been out of it for a long time. My mouth tasted like garbage, my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls and razor wire. And here, that brat, the little golden brown babble-brains, Ziage, couldn't stop yakking his head off. This was just great. I managed a groan, but didn't raise my head, or even try to open my eyes. To be truthful, I was afraid of what I'd see. Not that I'd ever admit that to anyone, of course.

(( Mineath! You're alive! I was afraid you couldn't handle that shot when they got you. C'mon, speak up, are you alright? ))

(( Just... bugger off. My head feels like it's gonna explode. ))

I cracked one eye open, saw a world of metal and faintly glowing lights, and things that I couldn't put a name to, and instantly closed it again. There's times when having bug-eyes just... sucks. Like just then. Ziage, of course, had been looming over me, a hazy blur in my still drugged condition. (( Sorry, pal, I didn't realize you'd be feelin' that bad. But I'm here to stay it through with you until you're feeling better! I'm-- ))

I just had to cut him off. The little prattler doesn't shut up, so you ought to direct his attention towards something useful. (( Where the hell are we? Last thing I knew, we were in the forest. )) This place was the farthest thing from our home that I could possibly imagine. No constant wind, no dry scent of grass and open plains... instead of noise composed of millions of small creatures, I could hear a muffled blaring, roaring noise, like a thousand Wyld packs warring together just under my slumped, rainbow-copper body. It all felt so alien, I thought that maybe I'd be sick. Maybe I had been sick already. Anyays, as soon as I'd closed my trap, Ziage predictably opened his.

(( Oh, that's an easy one, yeah, I was talking to Frank Lambara, he's this bird thing, see? And he told me we could come with him back to his home, or else that big scary orange thing-- ))

(( That dragon? )) Leave it to a runt like this kid to explain things clearly...

There was a pause, and then he continued, (( Yeah, dragon, you're right. Sorry, I forget sometimes. He--Frank, not the dragon--said he'd take us home, or else that big scary orange dragon would have us for supper. He--the dragon, not Frank--kept glaring at us funny, so I agreed to go with him--Frank, not-- ))

(( The dragon. Yeah, I get it. )) Time for another eye-peek. Things felt a little less hazy, now. Ziage's ugly face plastered most of my vision, as he had his shiny muzzle stuck right by my eye. It was all I could do not to leap back in disgust. 'Back ye foul beast!' would have been good to say. But I'm a nice guy, I don't, you know, do that kind of thing. Scanning the room we were in, it had the same metal-light-something composition I'd gotten earlier, only now I could see... more things. Was this the 'furniture' that one of our pack-members always babbled on about? Whatever, I was propped up on this big, flat surface, and there were more of these everywhere else. A quick rake through Ziage's mind and the word 'infirmary' appeared. Great, so they thought I was infirm? They being this Frank fellah, whoever he was. Another look around, swivelling on my long neck: other dragons slept or quietly rested around us, only they were giants, compared to Ziage and I. Nothing unusual, there: we were always the runts, though of course I've always been a good foot taller then the annoying rat. And then I caught sight of a hairy brown thing, sitting on another piece of 'furniture', holding up something--'a magazine', its mind supplied, and oggling a 'fold-out'. Then it noticed me.

"Good, yer up," it said, it's voice tainted with some accent, despite my profound (hah) ability to translate new languages. "Thought I wuz gonna have'ta ree-suss-itayt yuh myself or somethin'. I'm Frank."

He did look a lot like 'a bird thing.' Ugly as hell, worse then Ziage, even. (( So you're our shining saviour, are you? )) I asked, my voice dripping with well aimed sarcasm.

The bird-thing cringed, folded up his little magazine, and stood up. He paced over to me, his head bobbing as he drew near. I noted that I could probably take his arm off at the shoulder if I wanted to, and with a quick flash of teeth, he noted it, too. "Hey now, I don't want no funny bizness, I'm just the pickup man. This guy calls you Mineath, is that your name?"

(( Could be. Where are we? )) I asked of it--well, it was a him, I might as well afford him that little respect. Hopefully he'd explain stuff a little better then the brat.

"We're home, is where we are," Frank replied, slipping a stick of something that smelled awful in his beak. "Your new home, too. 'Star City, station of the free'," he added, his voice miming some chant or slogan I was (obviously) unfamiliar with. "Think of it as one helluva big cage."

(( I feel somehow comforted, )) was all that I could say, as I tried to lift myself into a less demeaning position. Thankfully, I was able to pull off sitting without collapsing again. Frank had snorted, now he was fishing for something in a bag that was slung over one shoulder. (( So what do we do, now? You going to give us a tour or something? )) That roar hadn't left, if anything, it was louder. I despised the noise... but I knew it probably wasn't going to go away any time soon.

Frank paused and stared at me, his golden eyes frozen in a perpetual glare. "Who me? Hell no, you heard a word I said, minidayglo? I'm pickup, You wan' Johdan S'allay, and he'll be down here in a snitch's soon's I can call'm up. Now shaddap a minute."

So, so tempting to prattle on, just for that 'direct order'. But no, I'm not the kind of dragon who'd lower himself to Ziage's level. Speaking of, the little runt was staring adoringly at our 'saviour', like he was some kind of hero. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate stupid dragons?

The bird-thing pulled something out of his bag, made noises into it, and then shoved it back into those cloth depths. "Johdan'll be here in a couple'a mins. You two stay put, he'll explain everything. Me, I gotta git outta here, I got appointments to keep, money to spend, you know."

(( No, I don't, )) I replied, glaring at him. But he was already bob-walking away from us, and then around a corner. He was gone.

(( He sure is pretty cool, huh, Mineath? I wish I had an accent like that. He's so tough sounding. )) Ziage started up again.

I just... I don't know, I couldn't handle it any more. Getting the rest of the way to my feet, I dropped down off of the platter they'd had me lay out on, and stretched until I could feel all of my bones pop. Whatever they'd hit me with back in my real home, it felt like every muscle was tarred and feathered. Not good, to put it short. (( Ziage, shut up, would you? )) I asked, ever so politely. He kept going. Like usual. I'm not the kind of dragon who just sits and waits around for anyone. Not even our 'leader' back home... hell no. Whoever this 'Johdan' was, I didn't feel like putting up with the wait, nor could I even stand the thought of waiting it out with little blabber brains, here. So what did I do?

Followed the bird-thing, of course. Seemed as good an idea as anything, anyways.

Hell, was I wrong.

I took one step around the corner, and these two panels WHOOSHED open, and suddenly it was like I was sucked into a world of absolute chaos. Noises, lights, smells, things... everywhere. I admit I was scared. I stood at this entranceway, and just cowered with my tail between my legs. I would have wet myself, if I weren't dry as a bone.

(( Oh yeah, it's kind of a cool place, huh? Lookit all those people everywhere! So many different looking things! But we're supposed to wait inside, Jordan's meeting us in there. )) He'd followed me. At that moment, I was just about happy to have him with me. That stupid, bubbly voice... it was something familiar in this world of strange. I let him talk for a while longer.

Then, once I'd regained some of my heavily shattered composure, I told him, (( We're not waiting for him. )) And I walked out into the crowd, a lot like someone'd walk into a pit of snakes. Ziage followed me, faithful rat.

(( How come? Oh! Are we going to go and meet him somewhere else? That could be cool. I'd like that. We could go track him down, you know, like old times, hunting and stuff! Give him chase! ))

(( No, )) I corrected. He couldn't see much of any plan clearly, as dimwitted as he was. Perhaps it was a good thing he'd followed me. He'd probably have died on his own. (( We're not meeting him at all. We're figuring out a way get back home. )) I ducked under a huge, scaly dragon, then dodged a trio of Frank-like creatures. Ziage trailed, taking only a moment to figure it all out.

(( But, )) he finally objected, (( The orange thingie-- ))

(( Dragon. ))

(( Dragon! He'll eat us! )) Ziage pulled up beside me, nearly pouting.

(( We can avoid one dragon, runt. I'm not wasting the rest of my life in a 'cage' like that 'bird-thing' said. We're finding a way home, and we'll get around that dragon if we have to. )) But first... we'd have to figure out how things worked here. Preferrably quickly, preferrably without being guided on a leash by some Johdan character. And so we set out to looking.