Prologue

Last time, Cryo woke up from his previous encounter with a group trying to kidnap him. He was stuck by a dart containing a special poison designed to paralyze anything unlucky enough to get hit by it. With him still feeling the aftereffects, he had to take a “Sick day,” and stay in bed with his best friend, Cameron, watching him. After watching a movie, Cryo needed to take a long nap.

But his dream found him in some sort of massive prison complex, with him being one of the residents… The dragons from a dream he had has a hatchling appeared again and tried to take Cryo from his cell, but he was seemingly saved by strangely, a movie character. But soon his head felt fuzzy and then he woke up

He helped his friend fix up his portable console and then got curious on what happened to the human homeworld, so he asked Cameron. After hearing the tale of how humanity shot for the stars to abandon their fading planet, Cryo would eat his dinner for the night and fall again into a deep slumber…

But his next dream would begin to start creating questions in Cryo’s mind. He woke up somewhere unfamiliar, in an alleyway in the middle of a strange city, which combined nature with technology. As he began to try to move, he realized that he had been injured pretty badly, with a large indention in a wall and a crater right where Cryo had woken up. Even worse, his back right leg was broken. In pain, he picked himself up and tried to head out of the alleyway. But to his surprise, he would find himself surrounded by strange creatures in futuristic armorsuits, and a large ship in the sky in the shape of a beetle! With his injuries, he could not possibly fight them off, so he surrendered to them and was taken aboard their ship to be taken somewhere unknown…

But things would change on the ride, when one of the soldiers would come over to talk to the frightened dragon. He took off his helmet, and began to speak with Cryo. He was a Spider named Zeke and it gave Cryo someone to turn to in his bad situation. Curious as to where the little dragon came from, he began to tell him of his life on the new human world, something they took heavy interest in… Some of the other bug soldiers came over to hear the young dragons story, and they realized that he was no threat to them. The ship would soon land and Cryo was moved from a prison cell to a medical bed, clearly earning the trust of the bugs. But Cryo’s mind began to get fuzzy, but not before having one last scene, where he seemed to be transported somewhere else and would meet a shiny black dragon named Servent, who seemed to know Cryo somehow… After hearing a short monologue from him, he soon woke up.

Mourning came and Cryo finally could move properly again. With him being bed ridden all day yesterday, he knew he needed a bath. As he cleaned himself, he began to make some connections between his dreams and strangely, Earth… With his thoughts in his head, he quickly continued through his day and night soon came upon the world again, and Cryo went to sleep.

His next dream would see Cryo lead by a small light, to frozen block of ice. But when he appeared inside, he found his mother frozen in it. With a hint from a voice, he found a way to break it and release his mother. But as the scenery changed, he saw the figures of old enemies that have haunted his dreams, the armored dragons… With the voice guiding him, Cryo was able to fight off these nightmares and emerge victorious. It wasn’t long before he woke up again.

When he woke up this time however, he would be greeted by the research heads and friends, Ty, Gerald, and Cameron. Before he left however, he felt it was a little chilly that day, so he decided to wear a silver zip up jacket. They took him to the medical facility at the base, where he was taken to a high security sector and find a surprise waiting inside, his mother, Tide, was finally awake and eager to meet her son.

The researchers gave them some alone time, to catch up on the times they lost. Tide, despite being asleep, she had been aware of what has been happening since she fell ill. But as they talked, to their surprise, they would be attacked by the same assailants who tried to take Cryo before! Cryo was able to fight them back, but unfortunately, they had a backup plan. They planted explosives around the supports of the building and planned to bury them AND the rest of the people inside under the building if they didn’t cooperate. With little options, Cryo willingly surrendered and he and his mother was strapped down tightly to a psychiatric restraint beds and taken out. The assailants used the threat of explosives on Cryo’s bed to force the guard detail to stand down and allow them to escape on a hospital carrier craft…

Ch 1

Flying Fools

The ship flew through the air at high speed, as the crew made their escape. The supposed leader approached the two and lowered the blanket covers over their heads. He then strapped down the beds to the floor so they wouldn’t tip over from the flight. He took the explosives off Cryo’s bed and immediately disarmed them and placed the explosives back in the corner. He strapped something around Cryo’s neck first. Then Tide’s. “This collar will block the transmissions from the GPS chip they planted in the both of you. This ships tracking chip has been taken care of as well. No one will be coming for you this time,” the masked man said. He stepped to a nearby seat in the compartment and sat down. “I suppose the both of you are wondering why we took you?” Cryo and Tide looked and their captors with a clear frustration in their eyes. 

“You two are quite a discovery. I mean, Dragons. A creature of myth, legend, actually exist… That discovery alone is huge! And look at the achievements the whelpling has done.” Cryo gave an snort at his captors arrogance. “Imagine what history books would say about this. But, I digress, we’re not here to use you just for a small bit of fame from a discovery alone. That would be a waste of what the two of you would REALLY be capable of.”

Cryo’s eyes started to show concern, as he looked back towards his mother, then back to his captors. Tide did the same. “I find it hard to believe that portal technology could exist anywhere. It took us thousands of years to get to this planet. It only took the both of you several minutes…” Tide’s eyes shot up! “And you, little dragon. Creating a TV with hovering features and a command structure, a radio with similar features, and upgrades to technology all across your room, all from just a bunch of spare parts and metals.” Cryo began to realize what they wanted, and his angry scowl turned to fear. “You two would be extremely valuable to create technology that would revolutionize this world. We have big plans for the both of you. You’ll learn to work with us soon enough. For both your sakes, you better.” Cryo gave a gulp and began to sweat a little bit.

“Now. I suggest you both get some sleep. It may be just be 7:00 P.M., but your going to need all the rest you can get. We’ll arrive at your “new home,” by dawn tomorrow. You’ll both be put to work immediately. I’ll be back to check on the two of you later. You better not get into trouble, or we might just have to enforce some “punishment,” on the both of you.” He took out a shock striker and turned it on. He gave a small whack of it against the wall , which sent out a small spark. Cryo began to get really nervous. “Good night you 2…” He left the room from the door on the right and closed the door behind him.

Cryo began to try to struggle desperately to break free of his restraint bed, moving awkwardly as much as he could to try to break the straps pinning him down! “Come on! Come on! Break!” thought Cryo. His mother looked on to Cryo’s struggle and gave out a sigh. She wondered herself what they could do to get out of this mess. “What are they going to make us build?” thought Tide. “Does he want us to build a portal? Maybe to sell in bulk. Or to break into places to steal or worse?” Tide looked back at Cryo, who was still struggling to break free. “My baby… What will happen to him? Will they separate us? Force us to both work on different projects far away from each other with the threat that if we don’t work with them, they’ll “severely punish,” the other?” Tide looked at Cryo, who had stopped struggling, and was panting a little bit. “What else do they want us to build? Worst case, they’ll have us build weapons, like…” Cryo looked back towards his mother, and could see her concern. “This world will follow the same path ours did. War with no end. Enslavement. All because of us…” She looked back towards the ceiling and let out another sigh. Cryo now could see that she felt hopeless. “Whether they plan to sell the our technology they force us to create or use them to take over, the result will be the same. I came here to escape this… But it seems I’m right back where I started.” She began to close her eyes. “I’m sorry, Cryo. I came to this world to allow you to avoid this, but… perhaps this is what its like everywhere in the universe…”

Ch 2

Fight or Flight

“Mom…” thought Cryo. “She’s giving up. But… We can’t give up. Not now. I need to cheer her up somehow. Maybe…” Cryo lifted his paw from under the covers with the strap wrapped around it.. Though restricted he could at least maneuver it towards his mother. His mother noticed, and Cryo then gave a small smile. “Cryo…” thought Tide. Tide did the same and offered her paw and reached it out towards him. The two paws joined and the warmth between the two pulsed through the two of them. She gave a smile back, and realized there must still be something they could do.

With his mothers hope restored, Cryo began to try and think of what they could do. “Hmm… Now how can I get us out of this mess.” He looked around the area, but saw nothing but a couple of seats and windows in the jumpship. “For starters, I need to get out of this bed. But… I can’t see the straps with this blanket on me. And I can’t struggle out of them. Hmmm…” Cryo began to feel around the under the covers at the straps, with his left paw. He felt what he thought was a hole on the metallic part on the strap connected to his left arm. “This… I remember seeing locks on the bed where the reinforced leather strap meets the metal. This must be the key hole. But…” Cryo looked around himself. “But I’ve never picked a lock before, nor is there anything nearby for me to pick it with.” Cryo then remembered something he heard in a movie once. “Ice expands. Metal doesn’t…” “I wonder?…” thought Cryo. Cryo began to concentrate his cold energy into one of his left talons, and could feel it becoming encased in ice. “I won’t be able to break the straps with ice, but maybe with the belt…” Cryo positioned his claw over the lock, and carefully stuck a talon into the opening. “Come on. Come on…” A bit of ice started to form inside the lock, and a crackling noise could be heard from it! “Come on! Come on!” Soon the locking mechanism securing the strap broke, allowing Cryo to untie his paw! “Yes! Now for the others!” Cryo exclaimed in his head! Tide heard several pops as Cryo broke each of the locks pinning him down to the bed one by one, realizing that he was onto something. Soon, all the locks were broken, and Cryo could untie each part wrapped around his body and move freely again! “Yes! I’m free! Now…”

Cryo began to untie the wire on his mandible and went over to make sure his mom was ok. “Mom. You ok?” Tide nodded. “Freeze your talons and insert your claws into the lock. Then spread the ice inside the lock.” Tide shook head. “You need help breaking it Mom?” She nodded her head again. But her eyes lit up for a second. She gestured her head toward the window. Cryo walked over and took a peak outside and saw he was flying very high over a mountainous forest near the coast. “Right… It’s never easy… You’re still recovering from being asleep for 5 years. No way you can fly right now. Or at least not for very long. It’s too dangerous to try from this high up. And these collars…”

Cryo headed for a small compartment connected toward the front of the room on the left side. Tide watched Cryo as he went around. He opened the door and found a mirror in a bathroom on this part of the ship, and looked closely at it. He saw the thick, very dark cyan collar around his neck, which he could see a small, round keyhole on the front. It looked to be pretty technologically advanced.

“This collar is made specifically not to be removed or broken like standard shock collars. He said that it blocks gps signals, so the people back at the base can’t track us with this on. It looks like it’s made of Cyantrinian (Sigh-an-tre-ni-an) metal. Very resistant to ice and water. They must have planned ahead with our ice abilities. If I tried to pick it like with the straps, it probably will sound an alarm… and give me a major shock. I don’t think it’s possible for me to take this off of us without the key, and I have no idea where they placed it at. Sigh… I guess it’ll just have to stay on for now. It’s uncomfortable and a little heavy, but there’s nothing we can really do about it right now.” Cryo shook his head and began to head back towards the room to think. “I guess I should think of something else to get out of this mess. Hmm…”

Cryo then remembered looking at the blueprint for the medical ships once when researching hover technology for his custom tv. He remembered where the fuel tank was located. Right under where Tide’s bed was… An idea began to take shape. “If I were to force an emergency landing…” Cryo looked toward the door. “I don’t know how much time I have. I have to do this quick. I shouldn’t have to worry about collateral damage since we’re flying over a large mountainous forest close to the coast. And I don’t think they’ll realize I ruptured it with it being located under Mom’s bed, especially with the blanket around the bed hiding it. Alright then.”

Cryo began to walk over to Tide. “Alright Mom. Hang on tight.” He quickly began to maneuver himself under Tide’s bed, leaving her confused as to what he was planning “All right. Get prepared Mom. It’s going to be a very rough landing.” Tide gave a nod and Cryo began to cover his talon again in layer of ice with an incredibly sharp and thin tip. He lifted his arm up and quickly thrusted down into the metal floor. The talon pierced through the thick metal and he heard a popping sound. “There.”

Cryo emerged from under her bed quickly to look at Tide. Tide gestured her head towards Cryo’s restraint bed. “Right mom.” Cryo could feel the ship starting to stutter a bit. He quickly flew to his bed and lifted each of the broken restraints back onto the bed and covered himself and the broken straps with the blanket. “Mmmph. MMMPH!” Cryo’s mom tried to speak, trying to tell Cryo something! “Oh! That’s right! The muzzle!” Cryo quickly looked around the bed and found the wire used to muzzle him before on the floor. He quickly maneuvered himself over the bed and picked up the wire. Getting back into position, he quickly tied it around his snout and then laid himself down on his back and closed his eyes. He felt a big jump as the ship hit the ground!

As the jumpship powered down and turned on backup power, with a red light beaming above, he heard the door to the room open. He heard one of the guys step in looking towards them. “It couldn’t have been the two of them. They’re both still strapped down.” He went towards the beds and saw the both of them with their eyes closed and slowly breathing. He snapped his fingers over both of them. “Both of them are asleep. Or knocked unconscious from the landing.” He headed towards the door to the room. “They’re both asleep Mick. I don’t think they’re responsible.” “Sigh… What ruptured the fuel tank!” Cryo recognized this voice from the one talking to them before. “So. The leader here is Mick, maybe?” Cryo thought. He continued to listen to their conversation. “I don’t know Mick. There must be something faulty with the ship. They continued to discuss while Cryo gave a small smirk. “Gah stupid thing. Alright. We’re going to have to wait for ground transport now. We’re going to have to stay here until it arrives. Call it in.” “Alright,” They both left the room and closed the door while Cryo looked upon them. “Now then…” Cryo crept away from the bed and unwrapped his muzzle again and placed it on the bed. He went towards the door, leaning his head against the door to listen in on his captors further down the next room…

“Yes… Fuel tank rupture. 180 miles from operations near the coastline in High Peak’s forest. 44 N 110 W. Yes… Alright… Good… Excellent. Alright. Goodbye.” said a voice outside. “Hmm. The coordinates for home are about 300 miles south from here…” said Cryo. He continued to listen in. “Alright. They can make it here in about 4 hours,” said the voice again. “We’ll be way off schedule by then. We’ll just have to double those dragon’s work load to make up for it.” “Alright. We got some time. With those two asleep, we shouldn’t have any trouble from them for the next few hours.” “Oh you don’t know the half of it, you crooks,” thought Cryo, as he gave another smirk. “It’s getting dark out. I suggest we play some poker while we wait for them. It’ll be midnight by the time they’re here, assuming they don’t run into difficulties. We’ll need to be prepared to unload our cargo then.” Cryo heard footsteps as the group began to disband further down the room…

Ch 3

Stealth Snatch

“Now what?” thought Cryo. He looked at a clock, reading above them in the room, which now read 8:00 P.M.. Cryo headed for the door to the room then opened the door a bit, and thought about it for a second. “Hmm… They gave the coordinates of where we are. If I could get to it…” Cryo look towards his Mom, who was watching him now. “Mom, wait here. I’m going to try to call in the cavalry.” She nodded, and Cryo slowly opened the door to the small corridor in the jumpship and closed it slowly behind him. It was dark as he continued to creep forward. His eyes darted in every direction down the short, narrow corridor, looking for any sign of the others.

After a very short walk forward, the room began to widen up, with a set of large cabinets lining the left of the room, spreading out from near the entrance outward toward the opposite wall. The room was lit up a bit more, compared to the short corridor. Cryo quickly, yet silently ducked behind the the large cabinets, a peaked his head out a bit behind to get a better look. He saw that there was a lamp to the right side near where the cabinets ended, which was the source of most of the light in the room. Ahead of him, further down the room, he saw his captors sitting at a round table, playing cards. At the furthest end of the room, was a small tv, with a gravity ball game turned on in the background as they played. He saw the small radio down the corridor a bit on a small stand toward the right next to a door.

“If they see me we’re going to get in REAL trouble. Hmm.” Cryo thought for a moment, and then had an idea. Seeing a lamp lit in the room on backup power from the ship, he crept toward the lamp. Taking a quick look towards his captors, he quickly unplugged the cable to the lamp, causing the room to go dark. “Hey what happened to the lamp!” Cryo quickly crept over to the radio in the cover of darkness and snatched it and silently darted back to cover. He placed it on the floor with him behind the large row of cabinets. Cryo’s heart beat fast as the lamp turned back on as sweat dripped down from his head across his scales. “Lamp got unplugged somehow.” “Cord was probably loose. Come back over.” Cryo continued to hide in the back with the radio behind the cabinets until he sat back down. “Alright, now to set the frequency.” Cryo tuned the frequency to the radio to fit the radio back at command at the base. “Alright. I hope this goes through. They shouldn’t hear me with the gravity ball game on the tv.” Cryo activated the radio and made his plea for help.

“Cryo the dragon to command. Cryo the dragon to command. Requesting communication.” No response. “Please. I need assistance. Plane carrying us went down at coordinates 44 N 110 W. Captors still here watching us. Please respond.” No response still. “Hey. Where did the radio go?” Cryo’s eyes shot up!“ Captors plan to move us at midnight, please respond!” No answer still. Cryo heard the footsteps of one of the brutes coming closer, and the door back to where they were being kept was in his view. He knew there was no time left. He began to switch the radio frequency back “Cryyyy,” said the radio as he re tuned the frequency. He then placed the radio silently on the ground and then he opened a pair of cabinet doors and moved himself inside of it and then shut the door. He heard the heathen right outside the cabinet. Cryo peered through the tiny opening in the cabinet with sweat running down his scales.

“The radio fell onto the floor,” the person said. “How’d it get over there?” Cryo began to get very nervous. “It probably was knocked down and kicked over there when the lamp went dark.” Cryo’s gave out a small breath of relief. “The wind has picked up a bit and its dark out now. Just bring it over here. We’ll tune it to listen to some music while we hear the gravity ball game on the tv.” “Alright. Do you think these ships carry any snacks to eat?” “Probably in the cabinet’s somewhere.” Cryo’s eyes shot up and his heart began to beat like a base drum. “Alright. I’ll check.” The figure opened the cabinet beside the exit to the room. “Nothing in this one.” He then opened the cabinet next to the table. “Nothing in here either.” He then turned to the set of 4 cabinets, with Cryo hid inside the far left one…

“If he finds me…” thought Cryo. He opened the farthest right one first. “Nothing.” he said. He then opened the mid right one. “Nope.” Cryo was really nervous now. He slowly closed his eyes. “Please find something… Please find something…. PLEASE FIND SOMETHING!” thought Cryo. The figure opened the pair of cabinets next to Cryo, and took something out. “Hey. Got something guys.” The figure headed back to the table. Cryo waited until the figure was out of the vicinity, and his heart rate slowed. “That was… a really close one… Ugh…”

Cryo slowly opened the cabinet and crept himself out of it. “They took the radio over to them. There’s no way I can get it now… Did… Did my message reach them?” Cryo snuck back slowly to the back room of the airship and slowly shut the door. He gave out a sigh. Tide picked up her head and turned it towards Cryo. “Mom. You ok.” Tide nodded. Cryo approached Tide’s bed. “Here. Let’s get that wire off of you.” Cryo untied Tide’s muzzle and looked at her mother with concerned eyes. “Did you call for help?” she asked. “I… tried. But I didn’t get an answer. I’m not sure if they received it. I don’t know what else I can do. It’s only 3 hours now until their support arrives.”

Tide looked towards her son. “I’m still weak. I don’t think I will be able to run far.” “I know mom.” Cryo looked back towards the door. “But… I think we’ll have to. I can probably… get the back door to the airship open. Maybe I can cart you away from them instead of making you try to fly or run. “Cryo… It might be best if you… leave me behind.” “What! No! “You realize what they’ll do to you if you stay here, especially if they realize I’m gone. They’ll more then likely try to use you to get me back.” Tide gave out a sigh, realizing he was right. “The collars we’re wearing will block transmissions to our tracking chips. I don’t think we’ll be able to take these off with the tools we have here.” Tide gave out a sigh, and then a nod. “Come on. Let’s break those restraints before they realize what’s going on.” Cryo lifted the blanket off of tide and began to individually break the belts strapping her down. “The forest outside will probably be dense. I can… ugh… pick myself up,” said Tide as she sluggishly lifted herself off the bed. “Alright. Now let’s see if we can get the hanger door open.” He began to observe it. “It was a pretty rough landing. With the main power out…” Cryo turned his head towards the hinges of the hanger door. “I’ll have to freeze the hinges to open it.” “Cryo, they’ll hear us. There must be another way.”

“I don’t think there is. They’ll find out either way that we’re out. The only other entrance is near the front. And they’ll DEFINANTY see us if we try to go through there. This is our only option. This at least gives us the element of surprise…” Tide gave out a sigh and nodded. “Alright mom. Once that door falls off, we’ll have to run faster then the winds of the North.” Tide nodded. “Alright.” said Cryo. Cryo took in a deep breath and blew a stream of ice at the hanger bay door hinges, freezing them. “On the count of three, I’ll shatter the ice. Ready? 3… 2… 1… GO!” Cryo quickly swiped his tail on the door hinges on both sides of the hanger bay door. The door dropped quickly onto the ground, with a big, loud, BANG! “Run for it!” Cryo exclaimed.

Ch 4

Forest Frenzy

The two jumped from the broken back hanger door and onto the forest ground, then quickly headed through the trees of the forest. It didn’t take the others long to figure out what happened. “How did they get loose!?” “Doesn’t matter. Get the guns. Let’s get after them!” They soon began their pursuit of Cryo and Tide. Cryo and Tide continued through the forest for about an 15 minutes, trying as hard as they could to get away. But it didn’t take long for Tide to get tired. Eventually, she began to breath heavily, and slow down. “Come on Mom! We have to keep moving or they’ll catch us!” “I’m… trying. But… so tired.” “This isn’t good, they’ll make it to us in no time if this keeps up! What to do!?” Cryo quickly darted his head around, thinking of some way to maybe hide or get away. They were then stopped as they made it to an edge of a cliff, as more forest loomed below them along with a large pond connected to a long river. They could hear a waterfall as they looked down. “Mom! We have to fly!” Tide looked over the edge towards the drop, and gave a single nod. “There they are! Quick, get them!” “NOW OR NEVER MOM.”

They both quickly leaped off the cliff and began to glide back towards the ground below, as their enemies watched from the back. But it wasn’t long before Tide’s wings began to become jittery. “Mom. Hang on! Just a little further!” “I… I can’t. So… exhausted.” Her eyes shut, and she began to plummet towards the ground. “MOM!” Cryo began to dive her way at high speed. Soon, Tide landed head first into the water, with Cryo hitting the water in turn at high speed. The people overlooking the cliff looked on at the scene. They saw nothing come up.

“Are they..?” “No way to tell. They may still be alive. Once our reinforcements get here, we’ll have teams go in a sweep this area. Call it in on the radio that we’ll need climbing equipment, and possibly scuba gear.” “Right, Mick.” The group headed back towards the plane.

As they headed off, a small head poked itself just a tiny bit out of the water, looking up towards the cliff. “They’re gone…” Cryo quickly dipped back down in the water and lifted his mothers head above the surface with his paw over his mothers mouth and nostrils “Mom. Mom! Come on!” No response. Cryo started to drag her towards the shore. “Ugh… She’s really heavy…” he thought. He soon made it to the surface and quickly dragged Tide towards the grass out of the pond. He put his head on her chest, to see if she was still breathing. “She’s alive. But… unconscious.” Cryo looked around the area, thinking of his next move. “That group may find some way to get down here, or take another route. I have to do something. And with her unconscious…” Cryo looked towards a group of bushes to the towards river ahead. “Hmm… Maybe I can…”

Cryo began to head towards the bushes and began to try to dig with his talons as fast as he could. “Come on. Come on. Need to make a hole big enough for the both of us.” After quite some time, he made a large divot in the ground around the bushes. “Alright. That should be enough. Now…” Cryo quickly grabbed his mother and dragged her through the bushes and into the divot and then Cryo went to a group of trees huddled together. He then froze the base’s of each of the trees. “Alright. Need to hit this just right…” Cryo then struck his tail against the tree’s one at a time, shattering the ice and caused the tree’s to fall down right over the divot Cryo made. “That should be good cover.” He began to see what appeared to be a light shining from further up the cliff. “That must be their reinforcements! Gotta be quick!”

Cryo quickly wedged himself in the divot shelter he made for the both of them and looked up, hearing the sound of falling pebbles and ringing metal. “Sounds like they’re coming… Gulp… I hope this works.” Cryo kept looking above him, as he continued to hear the sound of clanging metal and falling stones. Suddenly it stopped. Cryo’s lifted his head up a bit, and saw a flashlight beam overhead from his shelter. “Ugh… don’t come this way. Don’t come this way…” “Those two can’t be far. Find them. Sweep over this area.” Cryo could hear creeping footsteps all around him as leaves rustled and twigs snapped. His heart raced as he looked overhead through the broken canopy of the fell trees, watching the movements of the lights overhead. He then heard something approaching. His heart was in full speed now, sweat running down his scales. “If they find us… If they find us…” The sound moved ever closer, each step bringing a droplet from Cryo’s scales. He heard it come really close now. Suddenly, it stopped. Cryo held his breath and put his paw over his mother’s mandible, keeping it silent.

“What is it, Mick?” said a nearby voice. “These trees were the ones we heard go down. Cryo’s heart sank, as he thought they may be discovered. “Did those two do it?” “Probably. These tree’s had fruit in them. Must have knocked the tree over and ran with as much as they could carry.” Let’s keep moving ahead. They can’t be far.” Cryo heard the sound of footsteps moving into the distance, and the lights shining above disappear. Cryo gave out a sigh of relief, as he looked at his mom. “That… was too close.” Cryo picked his head up a bit and gave a yawn. “It’s probably really late now. Past midnight probably. I really need some sleep. In the morning, I can figure out what to do next.” Cryo gave out another yawn, slowly closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.”

Ch 5

Survival Savvy

Cryo awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and a dim light poking above his makeshift shelter. He heard something calling him. “Cryo. Cryo. You ok? Wake up!” said Tide. “Huh. Oh mom. Ugh… Good morning.” “Finally, son. What happened? How did we end up here?” “Huh? Oh I did this.” “You did?” “Yeah. I… dragged you from the water and I made a makeshift shelter to hide in from those mercenaries.” Tide gave a curious look at her son and laid her head against the ground. “Ugh… what now?” Tide asked. “I… don’t know, Mom. They’re probably still looking for us.” They both looked at each other and gave a sigh. “I guess for now we’re… stuck out here,” said Cryo.

Cryo remembered a minute about something the mercenaries said last night. He poked his head a little bit above the broken trees to peek out to see if the coast was clear. After checking the area, he began to rummage through the broken branches. He found 2 fruits and huddled himself back into the shelter. “Here mom. Breakfast.” Cryo gave his mom one of the fruits and sat down next to her. Taking a bite, Tide seemed to like the sweet taste. “What is this.” “I think these are Cannerie fruit, commonly found in forests.” She took another bite.” “It’s Cyan and tear shaped. Seems strange.” “It’s apparently a evolution of something called a pear, combined with the soil on this world.” Cryo took a bite. “We’re going to need water…” “I can hear the sound of moving water, honey. We’re still by that pond, right?” “It’s not as simple as that, Mom. Different aquatic wildlife swim in there. Drinking unfiltered water can get you very sick. Despite being water based ourselves, in our currant predicament, I don’t think it’s wise to try and directly drink from it.” “Is there a way to get it “clean?”” “Hmm… Just give me a moment to think about this…” Cryo got up and poked his head out of his shelter again. Taking a quick look around, he saw the coast was clear. “Just stay here, Mom.”

Cryo moved the branches of the fallen trees and dragged himself out of it, moving the branches back in place to hide his shelter again. “I need items here to make something that can filter water… Let’s look around,” thought Cryo. He started to search around the tree’s around the area, trying thinking of ways to create something to filter the water from the pond. He then saw what appeared to be an old bike, sitting next to a tree, near where the pond met the river. “Hmm, a bike… How did it get here? Was there originally a path here that rode through the forest? Hmm… The rubber tires…” Cryo coated his talon with ice and carefully cut the top of the rubber tire on the front wheel of the bike. He then separated the rubber wheel from the bike. He took some vines nearby and tied one of the ends of the tires tightly.

“Now. I need something to fill this with.” Cryo looked around, towards the shore of the pond. He saw that there was pebbles on the shore of it. “Perfect. Now…” Cryo began to fill the rubber tire with as many pebbles and sediment as he could find there. Soon enough, it was filled to the top.

“Perfect. Now I have a filter for water. Now I just need something to carry water in. Hmmm.” Cryo looked back at the bike again, and saw it had a cup holder with a small water bottle in it. “Convenient, I suppose. I hope this is good enough.” Cryo took the water bottle from the bike and then took a large leaf from a fallen tree. He headed towards the water of the pond and folded the leaf in half like a taco. Inserting the leaf in the pond water, he took it out and poured the water in the leaf into the tube. The water flowed through it and came out of the bottom, where Cryo had the water bottle waiting. “Excellent. This should do it. Let’s fill it up to the top quickly. Cryo began to continually dip the leaf into the water and pour it into the tube, getting more filtered water each time. Soon the water bottle was filled. “Excellent. I better keep all of these with me while I’m out here. Now. Let’s get back to mom.

Cryo placed his “water filter,” into the pockets of his silver jacket, along with his other collected items. He then took his water bottle and wrapped the nozzle around a tie on the side of his jacket. Cryo was about to head back to his shelter when he heard something. “That sounds like footsteps! It could be them again! Gotta head back fast!” Cryo galloped quickly to his shelter and and rummaged through the branches and quickly got in and put the branches back into place. “Cryo. Your back. Did you…” “SHH mom. Listen,” Tide picked up her head a bit to hear. She heard the sound of rummaging leaves. Then she heard a voice.

“Still no sign of them.” “How on earth did they get away like that?” “I don’t know. Maybe the mother wasn’t as tired as we thought.” “We didn’t find either of them in the water earlier, so we know they climbed out of it. Could have flown away to who knows where by now.” “Are we going to call off the search?” “We’re going to search by air and land now. An airship with radar should track them in air if we sweep around the place.” “Flying is defiantly not an option now…” thought Cryo. “You think it’ll be enough. Maybe they really are still on foot somewhere. “We’ve checked everywhere around the section of the forest since midnight. If they are on foot, they would have been found by now.” “Where could they have gone then?” “I don’t know. Mick wants them both found. They are too valuable to let go now. And the people from the military research institution Echo, may know he’s involved.” “Mick? Who’s that?” whispered Tide. “We’ll have several small aircraft survey both land and air across the entire forest. They’re here somewhere. Just need to find out where they ended up. Now come on.” The sound of footsteps were heard going lower as they exited the scene. 

Cryo waited for a few minutes, and poked his head out to see if they were still there. There was no sign of them. “Ugh… Airships. That… doesn’t sound good. I won’t be surprised they arm them with nasty weapons to take us again.” “Should we stay here? Radar will not pick up our movement if we’re not going too fast.” “That is true, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they also arm themselves with thermal vision goggles. They’ll know we’re here eventually.” Tide gave out a sigh and looked at her son. “What can we do?”

Cryo thought for a moment. “I guess… we’ll have to find our way back home ourselves.” “How?” Cryo thought for a moment. He poked his head out and looked toward a group of rocks near the rocky cliff. He rustled himself out and then he looked over to a set of black rocks. “Magnetite. Maybe…”He looked back towards Tide. “Hang on for a second, Mom.” Cryo lifted himself out of his shelter and then walked over toward the rocky outcrop. Cryo took a magnetite rock and a couple of other stones and placed them in his coat pocket. Cryo then headed towards the old bike again. He looked at his talon and looked around, checking to see if it was safe. He used his talon to slowly unscrew a single nail off of the bike and then went back to where his shelter was.

“Cryo. What are you doing?” “Hang on mom.” Cryo took the leaf from earlier and then he poured some water on top of it. He took the stone and covered his talon with a very thin covering of ice with a very long and thin tip. He poked his talon into the stone and created a small hole through it. He then began to take the magnetite and carefully scrape the magnetite against the nail. After several minutes of scraping, he then placed the nail on top of the smooth stone. The nail began to rotate a bit by itself until it pointed in a direction.

“Bingo.” said Cryo. “I… don’t understand what your doing, honey.” “It’s simple mom. I made a compass.” “You made a compass?” “Yes. See where the nail is pointing?” Tide looked at the nail. “So it’s pointing North?” “Yes. We need to go south to get back home. The river is pointing towards the south. So we go in that direction. Tide was surprised at how Cryo would know how to do this. “Cryo. Where did you learn to do all of that?” “I got to do the thing with the nail in my science class at school.” Tide thought for a moment. “Do they teach all kids how to do this on this world?” She then saw the water bottle that Cryo had, attached to his coat.

“Is that a water bottle Cryo?” “Yeah mom. There was a old bike nearby. I found the water bottle in a small cup holder on it. I also got the nail from it.” “Is the water in the bottle, well… clean?” “Yeah mom. I made a water filter out of the tire on the bike.” “Wait… You made a water filter out of a tire?” “Yea. Look at this mom.” Cryo dug into his pocket and took out the water filter made from the tire.” “I… don’t understand how this makes the water clean, Cryo.” “Well you see mom, I filled the tire with a bunch small pebbles and gravel from the lake and then tied the bottom so it doesn’t fall out. When the water flows through the top of the tire, the pebbles filling it will cause the dirt and grime and such in the water to get caught on it and as it moves through the tire. The small indention on the bottom is where the water comes out, cleaned and fresh and safe to drink.” Tide was very impressed by this clever use of a this simple trick with the tire.

“Wow. Humans must really try to teach survival skills in science at school. I wouldn’t have thought to do this to make clean water. Nor the trick with the nail to make a compass,” said Tide “Actually, I didn’t learn how to make a filter like this in school.” “Then where did you learn it?” “I watched a show that taught survival skills out in the wild on my television back home. Good thing I did too. Cameron never really liked it. But its a good thing I did, huh?”

Cryo put the items he’s collected back into his coat pocket, and got up. “Can you move, Mom. We’re going to need to make our way out of here as fast as possible. It won’t take them long to start sweeping the forest.” “Yeah… Ughh… I’ll manage. Tide slowly picked herself up and the both of them climbed out. “We may be stuck out here for some time.” Cryo began to gather as many of the Cannerie fruit as he could to put in his coat pocket. “We’ll just have to continue going south until we can get home, or until we find help.” “Alright. What about the airships?” “We may get lucky. They think that we’ve been going forward this entire time. They may not realize we are now going the direction of home. If we stay under the trees, we may be able to at least avoid their detection from the air. Though once they decide to use thermal, well, we’ll have to think of something else…”

The two started out east through the forest. It was only about 30 minutes, before they heard the sound of low fire jet boosters over the forest canopy. They quickly ducked under a tree and waited for the sounds to fade away. “Was that them?” asked Tide. “Most likely. That was the sound of a V12 Militant light aircraft. Considering what we’ve already dealt with, they probably have a few light attack craft.” replied Cryo “Do you think there will be more?” “I think so. We better keep moving.” They continued through, walking for about 2 more hours. Tide started to get tired and they both decided to rest under a large tree a bit. They started to eat some of their collected fruit and drank some water. Cryo then heard the sound of another ship combing over the forest. “Looks like their increasing the patrol ships combing over the forest.” he said “Do you think they’ve spotted us yet?” asked tide “No. But it seems like they have changed the directions now where they are searching. They are probably now looking over the entire forest.” “What do we do?” “We keep moving. Hopefully we can get home before they find us.” “And if they do?” “We’ll have to improvise…” They continued going through.

Eventually, night came again, and they needed to rest up for the night. “Hmm. Digging a hole and knocking down a tree would probably draw attention to this area if I tried that again. I highly doubt that’ll work twice. I need to do something else to make a shelter.” said Cryo. Cryo thought for a moment. He then broke off a couple branches from the trees, took a set of large leaves from the bigger ones, and sets of vines growing up them. He quickly began to make a frame of a large enough tent from the sticks, using the vines to tie them together. He then piled the leaves on top one at a time to cover the exterior frame and using a combination of his saliva and clay from the river to hold them in place.

“There we go. Tents done,” he said. “…Did the show teach you this as well?” asked Tide “A little bit. The idea of using clay and my saliva as an adhesive was my own idea. I didn’t actually know if it would work to be honest.” It began to rain in the forest, and a low sound of thunder could be heard in the distance. “Storm’s coming tonight Mom. We better get in quickly. The storm might lessen the patrols in the forest, so we might be good for the night.” “Alright, son.” The two got in their makeshift shelter as the wind and rain howled throughout the forest. It didn’t take long for Cryo to fall asleep. Tide looked at her son as he slept. “Look at him. Quite a little survivor he is,” she thought. “I wonder if the rain and thunder is actually a soothing sound to him. He looks pretty peaceful.” Tide laid her head down and gave a yawn.” “I better get some sleep too. I need to be ready to move again in the morning. Goodnight, my baby boy.” Tide slowly closed her eyes and then fell asleep.

Ch 6

Patient Project

Cryo slowly opened his eyes and gave a yawn. He felt something was off. He wasn’t in a forest along the river now. He rubbed his eyes as they began to focus. As Cryo’s head span a bit, he realized he was in some type of building, unlike any he had ever seen. The walls were white, but it seemed that the texture of the walls seemed to be imitating a spiders web. The texture blended to the wall quite well, and strangely felt soothing to his eyes. To his left, was a large window with light pouring in next to him, and the sight of large rolling hills far back covered in many different plants, flowers, and shrubs, with sprinklers watering it all over. Closer to the building, seemed to be a large and expansive farm filled seemingly with many different crops being tended to by workers. A bit further down seemed to be a couple greenhouses as well, having workers going in and out. Cryo couldn’t get an idea what the workers looked like though, as the room he was in seemed to be quite far up in the building. He also saw a couple of large, metal buildings around the area in a green hue, which seemingly combining with the rolling hills around it to made it a soothing view. There was a steel sliding door in the upper right corner of the room and a very large dresser lining the right wall, with many drawers across it. Cryo wondered for a second what was in the drawers of the dresser. In front, there was the insignia of a spider over a black background. Under it was a couple of chairs that had a spider carved on the back and a white and black cushion with a web pattern. There was also a set of simple wooden closet doors close to the entrance to the room.

Cryo tried to get up, but felt a sharp pain in his back right leg. “Ugh… My leg…” he thought as he gritted his teeth. He breathed in a few times, and looked down towards his body, and realized he seemed to be on a soft bed in the shape of a spider as well, and covered in a blue blanket. He lifted up the blanket a bit, and realized his back right leg was in a white cast. He also seemed to be in a blue hospital gown, made to fit a dragon like him. He also saw that his front and back paws had soft, fuzzy grey gloves and socks covering them, which also covered his talons. It felt a bit strange to Cryo, as he usually didn’t have his talons covered when wearing items like this. He felt a cold pack on his head and looked at it for a second. Seemed it was wrapped with a small strap around his neck. “Hmmm. Someone has been treating my wounds. But how did I get here? And how did my leg get broken? Wait a minute, am I back in…?” Cryo shook his head and gave out a sigh. “At least I’m not strapped down or worse now…”

Cryo looked around again and saw next to his bed on the right was a cup with a clear liquid inside of it, sitting on top of a small, wooden cabinet. Cryo began to slowly maunver himself up to take a better look at it, and saw an array of bubbles going through it. “This liquid seems to react to movement. Is it safe to drink? It might be medicine. Hmm. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a sip.” He raised the cup toward his mandibles and took a sip of it. “Hmm. A sweet and fizzy drink. With a citrus taste. I heard from Cameron humans haven’t been able to make drinks like this since they left earth.” Cryo took a couple more sips and drank the rest of it down and set it on a coaster. He then took in a deep breath and laid his head back down on the pillow on the bed. “No one has come to see me yet. I can probably guess there is something here watching me nonetheless,” he thought.

Not long after resting a bit, he began to hear the sounds of the metal door opening by sliding up. Cryo turned his head quickly toward the door. The metal door slid up and soon a familiar spider came in. “Your finally awake.” he said. “Oh. Its you Zeke.” replied Cryo. “You ok?” “Legs stiff as a piece of wood and I’m bed ridden. Otherwise, I’m fine.” “That’s good. You hungry?” “Yea, I suppose…” “Hang on. I have something for you.”

He went towards the door a grabbed a tray of food outside the room. He brought it over to Cryo’s bed and sat it down in front of him. On the tray was a food Cryo had never seen before. “What are these?” Cryo asked. “Well. This right here is a blueberry muffin, basically sweetened bread with blueberries in it. This here is hash browns. Basically diced potatoes fried and mixed and cooked with onions, herbs, and spices. This is oatmeal. Made of oats from an oat tree and mixed in with brown sugar and cinnamon. And finally, this is a glass of Citrus blast soda, a fizzy drink with lemon and lime fruits mixed into it to give it a sweet taste. I see you drank the soda we left for you earlier.” “So that’s what that drink was.” thought Cryo. “Do you need help to eat?” “Um… no. I’m fine.

Cryo tried each item one at a time, and liked it. It wasn’t long before there was no more. Zeke watched him as he ate, seemingly taking note of his movements. “Man. They don’t have stuff like this back at home,” thought Cryo. “You must have liked it since you ate it all.” said Zeke. “Yeah. Where did you guys learn to make all of this. “We learned it from transcribing ancient books of an ancient civilization on our planet.” Cryo nodded and then laid his head back to his bed.

“So Cryo…” “Yea?” “Can you tell me some more about the humans?” Yeah. I guess I can. What would you like to hear?” “I would… really like to know what happened after the military took you. You stopped the conversation there the last time we talked.” “Well alright. You see…” Cryo began to talk about what his life was like after he was taken after his first birthday. He talked about everything up to before the incident on the ocean, before he began to get very tired. “Hey, Zeke?” “Yes Cryo.” “Any chance I can take a rest for a bit. I’m getting tired again.” “Alright. I’ll leave you to get some sleep. Is there anything you need to help you sleep?” “Actually. Any chance there is a radio or something that can play soothing music to help me sleep?” “Yes. Hang on a second.” Zeke left the room and them brought back a small radio, after flickering a little bit with it, a soft tune began to play from it, which began to ring in Cryo’s ears. Cryo gave out a yawn and began to drift off. “Have a good nap Cryo.” Soon Cryo’s mind began to get fuzzy and he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Ch 7

Fish Food

Cryo gave out a yawn and rubbed his eyes a bit. He began to pick himself up and looked around. He realized he was back in the makeshift tent he made. He looked back at his back right leg and touched it. He then began to drag it across the ground a bit, seemingly testing it. “Feels fine. I guess I better wake up Mom.” Cryo thought. Cryo began to shake Tide a bit. “Hey mom. Wake up. Wake up mom!” “Mmpphh. Cryo?” She wiped her eyes a bit and began to pick herself up. “It’s morning. Ready to go mom?” “Yeah… Ughh… What time is it?” “Come on Mom. We have to be able to keep moving. They’ll find and catch us if we don’t.” “Yeah. I know son. What will we do with the tent?” “We’ll have to crumple it and hide it. It’s too big to carry with us and they’ll know we headed this way if we leave it. “Alright.” They exited it and began to quickly crumple it and then they separated it into several places around the area. ”Alright mom. Let’s get a move on. Come on.” They then headed forward from the river and continued on.

2 days passed as they continued following the river. On the third day though, as they were traveling, up river, they decided to to rest and eat some of their fruit. But they realized quickly they were starting to run a bit low. “We’re going to need to find more food soon. We probably still have a long way to go,” said Cryo. “Well. Your the one who seems to be an expert on this. What do you think we should do?” asked Tide. “Hmmm…”

Cryo looked at the river and saw schools of fish swimming through it. He then looked at the surrounding forest. He then went over to one of the trees and saw it had some long sturdy vines around it. “Hmm sun vines. Grow typically on trees near freshwater. Pretty sturdy and long , but easy to fold.” He then looked back at the river. “Hmm. Maybe…”

Cryo then slashed several of the vines with his talon and gathered them up. “Now then. I need something to support its frame.” Cryo looked around the trees and flew up toward the branches. Cryo quickly slashed off two large branches and gathered them up. “These branches should be able to make a good frame. I’ll just need to trim them off to make them smeller and easier to carry.” He quickly shorten and separated the thick branches using his talons making it into 2 smaller pieces. ” Alright, I better get started with this quickly.” He headed back toward the his mom, and began spreading the branches side by side.

“What are you doing, Cryo?” Tide asked. “I’m making a small fishing net.” “A fishing net?” “Yes. I’m going to use the branches as its frame and the vines to make the net. It’s going to take a little bit to finish it. It should work with these types of vines.” So Tide watched as Cryo tied the vines along the branches, loop after loop after loop throughout. Soon it was completed. “Alright then. Let’s make sure this works.” Cryo flapped his wings and flew over the river. He took a quick look down and saw many schools of fish swimming though it. “Alright. Let’s try this.” Cryo made a dive towards the river and dove under the water. A few minutes passed and Cryo’s head soon popped up from the river.” He slowly made his way back to the shore. As he emerged, with the net, Tide saw the net with several fish caught in it. “It looks like it worked. Now. we’re going to need to keep this fresh. But that’ll be simple enough,” Cryo said. Cryo took in a big breath and breathed a cold stream on the captured fish, freezing them solid. “There. That should keep them fresh. Now I’ll attach the net on my back for later use.”

Cryo took the net with the fish and folded it in half. Then he slung it over the back of his coat, and finally took one more vine and tied it around his back. “Alright. Now let’s continue, Mom. We’ve spent enough time here. Remind me to refreeze the fish in maybe an hour or two. We’ll need to keep these frozen so that they’ll be safe to eat later.” “Alright. I’ll try to remember Cryo.” The two continued on their way.

Ch 8

Mud buds

A storm began to hover over the forest and spayed rain down upon them, and the sun began to set as they moved forward. But as they did, Cryo thought he heard the sound of rustling somewhere further back. Cryo turned his head to take a quick look, but saw nothing. “Is something wrong, son?” Tide asked. “No… It’s nothing.” They continued moving forward. Suddenly, Cryo heard a tree branch crack and quickly looked back again, He could see movement behind, ducking in the bushes! “Mom! Run!” Cryo exclaimed!

The two quickly began to run away from the river through the forest. “They’re getting away! After them!” It seems they have finally found them. Cryo continued to hear the boots trampling the leaves on the wet ground as they continued going forward. They darted in different directions around and around, but they always seemed to be able to continue tailing them! Even worse, is that it wasn’t too long before Tide began to get tired. “I’m not sure how much longer I can run like this!” exclaimed Tide. “They must be wearing thermal goggles! They’re tracking the heat from our bodies!” Cryo said. “We have to do something!” Tide exclaimed. “Umm…! Uh….!”

Suddenly, Cryo and Tide slipped and rolled into a very large and quite deep muddy divot in the ground. “OOF.” As their head span a bit, they heard the quick sounds of footsteps being very close. “NO! It can’t end like this! They aren’t going to take us without a fight!” thought Cryo. He gave a angry scowl and slowly poked his head out just enough to see with his heart beating faster then an engine.

He saw their figures come into view of the area from behind the trees. They slowly crept in. 8 heartless figures wearing forest camo, goggles, and carrying tranquilizer guns. Cryo was about to climb out of the divot and prepare for the fight of his life, when they began to speak. “Where did they go?” said one of them,” “Huh?” thought Cryo. Cryo then stood as still as a statue, keeping an eye on them as the group walked right past them, around the deep divot in the ground. “Thermals not seeing anything. “How is that possible?! Two mythical creatures DO NOT JUST DISAPPEAR! These two have already caused enough trouble for us already! We’re not the only ones combing the forest for those two!” “Huh?” Cryo thought. “If those military boys find them first, we’ll never be able to get those dragons! They already know that Mick betrayed them. There’s no way he’ll be able to get us back in!” “Mick… I’ve heard that name multiple times. Did he used to work at the base?” thought Cryo. “They may be further ahead. Let’s keep moving forward. It’s possible they split up. You 4 go towards that direction. We’ll head this way. Come on. They can’t be far.” Cryo saw their retreating figures as they continued further in until they we’re no longer in sight.

Cryo gave out a sigh as he slowly ducked back in. His heart rate slowed. “That was really close…” he said. “I don’t understand. How did they not find us?” asked Tide. Cryo was confused for a bit, but then he looked at himself, and saw that his entire body was completely covered in wet mud. “The mud. I think the mud… hid us.” “The mud?” “Mud is cold, slick, and messy. When we fell in, We got covered and soaked in it. The mud is masking our body heat. They didn’t see us in the divot since they were seeing in thermal. and they just… walked right past us.” Cryo checked again to see if the coast was clear. “They should be gone.” Come on. Let’s head back in the direction of the river. We can use mud to keep ourselves hidden from their thermal vision. We’ll have to get more once it starts to dry on us, but the soil near the river and in it should be wet enough to keep us hidden from their goggles.” Cryo then quickly turned his head back and breathed some ice on the frozen fish. “Let’s head back towards the river. Those bad guys headed further ahead in opposite direction of the river, so we may be able to put much more distance between us and them before they realize they ran right past us.” Cryo pulled himself out of the divot. “Once we head up the river a bit more, we can start a fire and cook these.” “Do you know how to make one?” “I never tried it. But I might be able to do this.” The two went back towards the river, and continued to head up it.

Ch 9

Campsite Creatures

About 3 hours later, the storm had calmed and the moon rose up quickly into the sky. The two dragons had grown tired and had decided to set up camp for the night. Cryo began to make a shelter, this time using mud, clay mixed a bit with his saliva as an adhesive and bark from a tree he ripped off with his talons. Tide sat down and watched Cryo as he worked, wondering how he was so resourceful. “Cryo really knows how to survive out here. It’s almost like he was born in the wild,” she thought. “I don’t think a survival show alone could prepare him to actually survive out in the wilderness like this. I think there might be something more…” Cryo had begun to attach the bark to the frame for their shelter. Tide began to wonder something.

“You know, Cryo’s life growing up… He was raised in the mountains, the whole first year of his life.” She began to lay herself down. “He grew up near a lush forest, filled with rocky terrain, high up. He slept in a crib in a barn, with love and care that only a loving family could give. He watched his “older brother,” take things apart and he was able to pick up on it. Even if the amount of time with them was short, its what he grew up in. Maybe that’s why. I know he doesn’t get much time outside back at the base. Perhaps… Perhaps this is reminding him of his time with them.” Cryo had just finished with the shelter. And had walked over to Tide. “Alright mom. I’m going to try and make a fire,” Cryo said “How will you?” asked Tide

Cryo took out a black stone out of his pocket and the metal nail. “I’m going to use this flint and the nail from the “compass.” “Flint?” “Yes. I going to try to scrape the nail on the flint to create a spark and start a fire.” “Where did you get that, Cryo?” “It was where I found the magnetite. I picked it up since I knew we might need it.” Cryo took in a deep breath and exhaled. “Alright. Let’s try this.” He began to scrape the nail quickly against the flint. After a little bit, he began to see sparks coming out. “Come on. Come on,” he thought. The sparks began to hit the wood. After a little bit of time, a small ember began to light up. “Alright. There’s a start. Now…” Cryo began to take some deep breaths and blew slowly on the small fire, with each breath making it a little bit larger each time. Soon, the fire blazed and he was ready to cook. Cryo quickly pulled his paws away and stepped back. “There we go. Now…” Cryo then unwrapped his fishing net from around him and gave it to Tide. “Hold these for a bit, Mom.”

Cryo then began to quickly created a stand out of twigs and logs to help cook their dinner. Taking a bunch of sturdy branches and wet soil from under the river, it soon was built. “Let’s get cooking.” Cryo then quickly skewered the fish and began to cook their meal over the open fire. The sound of crackling meat could be heard as they it cooked. Cryo began to turn the stick to cook the fish from all sides. “It shouldn’t be long before their done.” Cryo said. “It could probably use some spices and breading, but it should taste good still,” said Tide.

After about 12 minutes of cooking, the fish were done and the two had started eating it. A crunch of satisfaction was heard as they chewed their food thoroughly. “The fish tastes good, son,” said Tide. “Your right about it needing some breading, Mom. I’ve never eaten fish without it. Both gave a small chuckle as they continued eating. Tide looked at her son, who stared back. “Is there something you need, Mom?”

“Cryo. Do you like being out here like this?” she asked. “Huh. What do you mean, Mom?” “Well its just that you seem to be knowledgeable about how to live out here. You’ve spent most of your life indoors at home. It can’t just be from watching a silly TV show.” “Well…” “I’ve just been thinking Cryo.” “About what Mom?” “When you were living with Greg and the others, you were mostly outdoors. In the mountains next to a forest. Yes, your “bedroom,” was a barn with a crib inside. But its still outdoors nonetheless.” “Well. I was just a hatchling then Mom…” “Maybe. But that’s what you grew up with. Even if the time with them was short, it was your first year on this world. You and your “big brother,” would play together outside for most of the day. You would take naps several times a day in your room, with very warm cloths on your back, and then wake up again to continue until you ran out of energy again or night fell. I really love that silver jacket Cryo. You look quite cute in it.” Tide chuckled a bit. “It’s defiantly proven very useful since we’ve been out here. Those pockets on it are quite convenient to carry our supplies. It also looks nice and comfy on you, even if your covered in mud right now. I can see now why humans wear cloths. I’m glad they could share that experience with you.”

Cryo began to sit back a little, thinking about it a bit himself now. “It’s a little more then that mom. But… I don’t think you’d want to know the more “specific,” reasons.” Tide continued. “Sometimes Noble would take you indoors and play inside. Sometimes he would take things apart and you watched him with curiosity. Over time, you began to pick up on it yourself.” “Yea. Much of my knowledge of how most machines work was from watching him taking things apart and talking and telling me about them…” “Then you had to leave them behind. Your life changed. You had to live in a “different world.” While the researchers there eventually realized your potential, they kept you inside most of the time. They watched you work. They watched you play. You would really only go outside only for “breaks,” or when you wanted to play catch. I think what it really is Cryo, is that, being outdoors like this. It really is a small reminder of what it was like for you back with them. The researchers didn’t realize what outdoors really means for you. It reminds you of home, and its why you can live like this out here. The painted walls within your room can’t really simulate what its like there.”

Cryo looked behind him, and then looked back at his mom. He took another few bites and gave a sigh. “I admit mom. Your right. I don’t really get a chance to spend time outdoors at the research center. For security reasons, I admit. I can easily see why they were concerned with me being outside, considering we were kidnapped like this. But… I endured it. I had to. For them. Cameron… well… he was there to support me through the changes. He reminds me of Noble. Not exactly, but he always had my back. But… he still isn’t him.” Cryo took another bite and looked up at the stars in the sky.” “I had hoped that I could see them again one day. But after what happened now, I doubt they’ll ever allow me out of their sight again.” “Maybe they would, Cryo. I think they would allow you to see them again one day still.” “Why do you think that, Mom? It’s been 6 years since I last saw them.” Tide looked at her son, took a bite, and gave a grin. “I think once we get back home, you’ll see what I mean.” Cryo pondered what she meant, but decided not to push further. The two soon finished their meal, and soon it was time to go to sleep. Cryo gathered mud from the river and spread it all over his body and Tide’s. “Hopefully the mud will keep us hidden during the night. While it may feel weird being covered up like this, hopefully we both can get some sleep. The two went in their makeshift shelter. While feeling a bit icky made it a bit more difficult to sleep, they eventually fell into a deep slumber.

Ch 10

Patch Pro

Cryo woke into the sight of the hospital room room again. As his head span a bit, he saw that several armored bugs were in his chamber talking to each other. His head felt a bit hot for some reason. He also felt a tiny bit numb and felt a sting in his upper right arm, and looked over at it. He saw there was medical gauze and bandages over it. “Hmm?” Cryo heard.

He looked toward the front left of the room, and saw a green dragonfly in blue hospital attire and cap. It turned around to look at him. He seemed to be sitting on a rolling rounded doctor’s seat with body facing back and towards Cryo. He seemed to had been typing on a small computer attached to the wall next to the window. “Oh. Good afternoon, Cryo,” it said in a soft and calming male voice. He smiled at Cryo and typed in a few more things and pressed a button on the side of the console. He then began to slide the computer back a bit, and then picked up his long wings and began to fly with a low whir sounding off them towards Cryo with the seat in his hands. The other soldiers noticed he was awake and began to face him as well. “Glad to see your awake, little guy,” said a red centipede in the room. He smiled at Cryo. The dragonfly set down the chair softly next to Cryo’s bed and sat himself down on it.

“How are you feeling?” the dragonfly asked. “Oh… Umm. I feel… a little hot,” replied Cryo. “Hot?” “Yeah.” Cryo began to cough a few times. The dragonfly seemed to take notice. “I noticed your head getting a little red while you’ve been asleep. I can check that in a minute.” “Um… ok. Thanks.” Cryo gave a faint smile at the dragonfly. He began to cough a few times again, and settled down on the bed again. The dragonfly nodded and put a medical mask over his mouth. He then put some gloves on his front arms. “I’m a medical expert Patch. I’ve been your primary physician while you’ve been here with us at this hospital.” “Oh. You’ve been my doctor?” “That’s correct.” He rubbed Cryo’s right arm a little bit. He then took an electric thermometer from a nearby wall.

“Could you open your maw, Cryo? I want to take your temperature.” “Oh yeah. Hang on.” Cryo opened his mouth, ready for the thermometer. “Good. Now please keep this under your tongue.” Cryo nodded. The dragonfly placed the thermometer under Cryo’s tongue and Cryo closed his mouth. “Good. Now just wait a few moments, Cryo.” Cryo laid still in the bed, breathing slowly. Soon enough, the thermometer began to beep a few times. “Alright. Now let’s check your temperature.” Patch gripped the thermometer and Cryo released it from his mouth. “Hmm…” said Patch. He waited a few moments while Cryo waited in anticipation. “About… 69.2`F.” “Oh… I am running a fever.” said Cryo. He coughed a few times again. “What’s your normal body temperature, Cryo?” “About 68`F.” “Ahh. I see. Hang on. Give me a minute.” Patch looked at his wrist, which had a shiny watch or something similar around it. He leaned it close to his mouth.

“Healic. Could you get a cold pad, Ferintoph, and maybe a few cough drops. Patient Cryo is confirmed to be running a small fever and is coughing.” “Yes Patch. I’ll get that for you.” a voice called back on the device. “That wristband must be some type of comm band, like at home. Although the screen seems to show a bunch of other data on it. I wonder if its a small computer as well.” thought Cryo. He put his wrist back down and looked back at Cryo. “Alright, son. It should only be a few minutes before Healic comes by with the meds and cold pad for your head.” “Um. Ok. What exactly is, Faintoph?” “It medicine that will help bring down that fever.” “Oh. Ok.” Cryo nodded and smiled at him. He gave a nod back. Cryo looked back at his bandaged right arm again and become a little curious. He looked toward Patch.

“Hey. What was this for?” Cryo asked. “We put an iv in your arm with a sedative. We just wanted to run a few tests, and didn’t want you to awaken.” said Patch. “What tests?” “We wanted to run an x ray, blood, saliva, and a few other tests.” “Why didn’t you want me awake for it?” “Well… We wanted to know a bit more about your biology and we didn’t know how you’d react to that.” “You could have just asked. I don’t mind having to take a few medical tests to get better. I know that it helps you help me get better.” “We didn’t know how you would take it. Please understand.” Cryo thought about it for a moment and gave out a sigh. Cryo began to cough a bit again. He looked at Patch and smiled. Patch rubbed Cryo’s head a few times and then asked “Do you need anything while we wait for the meds, Cryo?” Cryo smiled and said “Yes. Can I have some water.” “Sure thing hang on a second.” Patch turned to the centipede in the room. “Firestorm. Could you go out of the room and get our patient here a nice bottle of water from the supply cabinets. “Yea. Sure doc. Hang on for a few minutes, little blue bud.” He began to walk over and was about to open the door to the chamber he thought he heard something outside the door. “What in the…” Suddenly, the door to the room burst open from an explosion!

Ch 11

Will in the Wilds

Cryo shot up with his eyes wide open, and realized he was back in the forest. He breathed a bit heavily and began to slow his breathing to calm down. His head span a bit. “What is with these dreams…” Cryo began to nudge his mother to awaken her. “Come on, Mom. Wake up.” “Mphhh… Cryo?” “We need to get ready to move out quickly. Come on.” “Alright. Ughh… Hang on a second.” Tide slowly picked herself up and climb out of the makeshift shelter. Cryo soon came out as well. “Alright mom. We’ll first need to take this apart apart and spread it about in case they come back this way. We also need to replace the mud covering us from the soil near the river and we need to fish for some food for tonight.” “Alright.” They took apart their shelter and spread its parts around. Then they headed back towards the river.

Another 9 days passed as they travelled. They spent the time travelling through the massive forest. They would wake up and spread mud on themselves. As they continued on their way, they heard the sound of jets more often. Patrols were now happening much more frequently. They had to slow down with each ship and duck under the forest canopy to make sure they couldn’t be tracked by them. They spent their time talking and walking as they tried to make their way towards home. Cryo would always take time at least one point during the day to catch fish in his net for food and fill up their water bottle with clean water for the long road ahead. During those nights, they’d build a new shelter and a campfire and it was here that Cryo would introduce Tide to the concept of ghost stories. Tide seemed to like the idea of telling spooky stories while sitting by a nice fire in the darkness of the night and eating cooked fish. She was surprised that this was an activity humans took in when camping in the wilds for fun. She eventually was able to spook Cryo with her own brand of ghost stories. When it’s time for bed, they’d spread mud on their bodies again and settle in their built shelter for a nice sleep.

And so the sun rose again. Cryo knew he had to fish for some food. After destroying their tent, they headed towards the river. Cryo poked his head from behind a tree to see if the coast was clear. He looked around, and saw no one. “Alright. I better do this really quickly before they possibly see us.” Cryo motioned his mom to come forward and they immediately headed towards the river. Cryo immediately dove into the water while Tide spread mud on herself to conceal herself. After a few moments, Cryo poked his head out and pulled out a small bounty of seafaring wanderers. He immediately took his catch and blew a small stream of ice. he then quickly folded the net and tied it around his waist. “Alright. Let’s move out quickly, Mom.” The two began to head forward.

The two walked for a while, with the sun beaming down their backs. A smooth wind began to blow as they walked. Tide looked over at her son, who seemed to be very focused on something. “Cryo seems to be deep in thought,” thought Tide. “I wonder how far we’ve traveled since we have been out here. Perhaps he is trying to calculate the distance in his head. Or maybe something else is on his mind.” Tide looked ahead and began to think. “How long are we going to have to go to get out of this mess. We’ve been out for nearly a month. We’ve seen no rescue yet.” Tide looked back at Cryo. “Cryo may be thinking of what he heard those mercenaries said perhaps. They did get our message from the radio. I just wonder where they are looking for us from.” Tide began to look toward above to see birds flying above. “Perhaps they are looking further behind of us rather then on the path to home. We may have to get back all the way on our own.”

They walked for a couple more hours and Tide needed a small rest. So they decided to take a break under a big tree. “We can stay here for a bit. We’ll have to get back on the move soon though, Mom.” “Alright, my little boy.” Cryo pulled the water bottle out of his coat, and realized it was almost empty. “I need to scavenge some more water real quick for us mom. Hang on.” Cryo headed back towards the river. Taking out scavenged water filter and leaf, he dipped the leaf in the water, and then poured the contents into the pebble filled tire. It flowed through it and came out the bottom, filtering into the water bottle. “Alright. There we go. Now let’s get back to Mom.”

Cryo was about to head back, but then he heard a rustling nearby. He stopped immediately. Turning his head, he looked around. “What is doing that. Is that them?” Cryo began to slowly walk back, looking around as he went along. The rustling was closer now. Cryo began to pick up his feet and moved quickly. “It must be them! How did they find us?! I have to get back to Mom fast!” Cryo quickly galloped toward where his mother was, with the sound of rustling continually coming closer. Cryo’s heart began to race like a base drum and soon he found his mother resting under the tree. “Mom! We have to go. Now!” “Whats going…” “Come on, Mom. Quickly!” She picked herself up but the figure was very close by now. Cryo looked back and saw the rustling very close by in a bush. “Quick Mom. We have to run!” “Wait, Cryo!” said a familiar voice.

Ch 12

Rescue Relief

Cryo immediately halted and began to look at an emerging figure from the wood, wearing dark forest camo. Cryo immediately recognized his voice. “T… Ty?” Cryo asked. The man took off his helmet and googles and Cryo recognized Ty’s face immediately. “Yes Cryo. We’ve been looking for you. You don’t know how happy I am to see you here and safe.” Ty smiled softly and turned back and waved his hand forward. “Come on guys! Form a perimeter!” A bunch of soldiers quickly came in all around and took different positions around the area. “Come with me Cryo. Let’s get you two home.” Ty motioned Cryo to come forward and the soldiers took point and formed a circle around the two dragons as they moved.

A little ways ahead of them was a small airship. They quickly loaded Cryo and Tide and headed out for home. “You two are a mess,” said Ty. “Yeah. I know Ty,” replied Cryo. “ You two will defiantly need to get cleaned up when we get you back home. We’ll also have to get those nasty collars off of both of you.” “How did you find us?” asked Tide. “We got your call. When you contacted us on the radio with the coordinates, we immediately dispatched a team there. They were using the crashed ship as a command post for their search for you both. We assaulted it and managed to split up their entire group across the woods. And we also managed to get info on the direction that you were last seen from. When we realized you we’re heading directly in the direction of home, we quickly began to make our way back. We made several sweeps over the forest with our airships, but didn’t find you.” “Yeah. Sorry about that Ty. They had thermal vision so we needed to hide ourselves using mud,” said Cryo. Ty nodded to the little dragon. “As you could guess, we then decided to try to track you on foot.” “I see. So that’s how you found us.” “You don’t know how worried we were for you two. You’ve spent almost an entire MONTH out in the wilds alone, with no food, clean water, or shelter.” “Well that’s not exactly the case Ty…” “Yes Cryo. I kind of noticed.” Ty took a look at the fishing net Cryo made, wrapped around his back. “I’m impressed about how you’ve been able to survive out here. You made a water filter out of a tire, a net out of simple sturdy vines and branches…” Ty looked back at him. “You we’re able to survive all on your own, with nothing but a coat and items from the outdoors.” Cryo took a swig of water from his water bottle and nodded. “Alright. Let’s get you back. We’ll get you cleaned up right as we get home.”

Time passed and soon they arrived back at the base. They soon docked the airship into the hanger, and as the hanger door opened, The two saw a whole bunch of personnel waiting for them. They all saw the two Dragons and immediately cheered. “Wow! Quite a reception,” said Cryo. “Everyone here has been worried about you two. News traveled fast after you two were taken, as you two probably expected,” replied Ty. “Come on you two. Let’s get you back to where you belong.” “Is there any chance I can go with my son?” asked Tide. “Yes. We have moved your things into Cryo’s room while you both been out. If you guys don’t mind, I think we would like to hear about what happened to you guys after a bath and a good nights sleep.” “Alright. Let’s go.” The group headed back through the hanger with the sound of cheers ringing throughout it. Cryo looked back and saw some of the other kids from school cheering with them. “I didn’t expect to find any of them here… Wonder whats with them?” Cryo shrugged as he walked through. After walking through the hanger to the outside and then to the building where his room is housed. Soon they arrived, back into their rooms.

Ch 13

Sunset and Safety

Cryo saw that there were some things were added to the room since they’ve been gone. There was a much larger hay bed a bit away from Cryo’s own bed, on the other side of where Cryo’s closet and dresser was stationed, with a large blanket with a regal image of Tide, sitting proudly next to her loving son, covering it. Cryo thought it was most likely meant to be Tide’s bed. Cryo’s tv and “relaxation,” area had been moved a bit further back on that side to make room for it. There was also a new relatively low to the ground table a little ways away from his dinner table with and 2 small cushions seated next to it. Cryo thought it might be a dinner table meant for he and Tide to eat together. Ty safely removed the nasty collars from Tide and Cryo, using a key stolen from the downed airship and placed them on Cryo’s work bench. “Alright. Do either of you guys think you’ll need help with anything? Cleaning yourselves up? Making dinner?” Tide and Cryo looked toward each other and then looked back and both gave a smile. “No. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble,” said Tide. “Alright. I’ll leave you both to yourselves. Have a good night.” “Alright. Thanks Ty. I’ll see ya soon,” Cryo said. Ty gave a nod a left the room.

Cryo took in a deep breath and looked towards Tide. He gave a small smile and asked “You want to wash up first, Mom?” “You sure you don’t, Cryo?” “Don’t worry mom. I can be like this a little longer. Besides. I need to take my coat off and get it prepared cleaned as well.” “Alright son. I’ll just leave you for a bit.” Tide headed her way into the washroom and closed the door. Cryo could hear the sound of the tub turning on. Cryo gave a nod and began to make his way toward a small laundry hamper in his room.

He unzipped his muddy coat and held it out in front of him. He took a look at it. It was dirty all over, but there was a few spots of silver still glistening through it. “This coat was one of my favorites. I remember. It was a present from Cameron for my 4th birthday. I admit that I’ve never liked my birthday, but this jacket makes me think of the old cloths I used to wear at home. The design was made similar to my old ones, but, its made with sturdier fabrics. Not like the ones Greg and the others back home made for me. Its a stiffer, but feels warm nonetheless.” He stuck his hand in his coat pocket and took out a small metal tag inside. He read it. “To my best friend. Happy birthday Cryo. From Cameron.” Cryo closed his eyes and gave a small smile. “Things were simpler then.” Cryo placed the metal tag back into his pocket and zipped it up. He then placed his coat into the hamper and was about to head near the bathroom door to wait for his turn when he noticed something on his bed. He went towards it, and he saw a letter on it. It said “A group apology to Cryo.” “Huh?” What’s this?” he thought. He quickly opened it up. He saw that it was from kids from school! He began to read it.

“Dear Cryo. If your reading this, you have returned. For the past month, we’ve seen just how important you are to everyone here. It seemed so different around with you being lost. No one here seems to be happy. Not even us. Everyone is talking about what horrors you might be going through. There were even rumors you might have passed on or even worse, been turned into slaves to an evil group. The more we heard this around our homes and around the base, the more we began to realize how much we have wronged you and Cameron over the years you’ve been with us in school. We’re sorry for how we treated you. We want you to know we won’t mistreat you or Cameron again. Perhaps maybe, we can be friends when you are back to being with us again. If you need time alone after your ordeal, we understand. Please be safe and be happy.”

Cryo gave out a small smile and placed the letter back on his bed. “I guess even they could not accept me being lost.” Cryo went to take a look out the window towards the outside of his room, with a view of the vast mountain range towering ahead. He sat down on his bean bag and began to relax and stretch his wings out and then to his sides. He gave out a small yawn and looked toward the horizon to see the sun setting in a brilliant red hue.

“Looks beautiful,” he said. Cryo sat there and began to think of his time out in the wilds. “I never really got a chance to see the sunset since I was taken,” he thought. “I was on the run, so I never really got the chance to watch it.” Cryo began to think. “Who were those people. They wanted us because of our tech.” Cryo began to lay down. “From what I heard back, someone named Mick was somehow involved. I don’t recognize that name. ” Cryo tilted his head and scratched his neck. “Whoever Mick is, he apparently betrayed us. He sold us out to whoever those guys were. Cryo picked himself back up. “Why would he want to do this. Is it just because they wanted our tech to sell on the market, or did they have more sinister plans with us?” Cryo gave out a sigh and continued to watch the sun set.

The sun soon disappeared under the mountains and stars filled the skys above. Cryo looked toward the skies, lined with many stars, and began to become sleepy. “I haven’t got a chance to take naps during the day for the past month… I’m probably going to have to take an extra nap or 2 during the day now that I’m home.” Cryo gave out a yawn. Cryo heard of the washroom door opening behind him. He turned his head and looked back. He saw Tide come out, cleaned up and freshened with her scales slightly glistening from the light. “You look fresh, Mom.” said Cryo. “Thank you, son. You ready to get washed up?” Tide asked. “Yea. Thanks Mom.” “Do you need any help washing yourself?” “I think I’ll be good, Mom.” “You sure?” Cryo began to think for a moment. He then gave out a smile. “You know mom. Maybe I could use a little bit of help washing up.” “Alright son. Let’s get you cleaned up, my little boy.” Tide picked up Cryo with one arm and walked Cryo to his washroom.

Ch 14

Bath time buds

As they entered, he saw that there had been some renovations to his washroom since he was gone. A much bigger and deeper bathtub had been installed in and there was a bigger mirror inside. The sink was also larger, along with a new set of large dragon talon clippers, a large talon file, a rather large dragon toothbrush, and other dental items, nestled against the side of the sink, on the opposite side of Cryo’s items. “These must have been installed for Mom,” Cryo thought. “Come on Cryo. Let’s get you in the tub,” said Tide. “Oh. Hang on for a second, Mom,” Cryo turned his head towards his bathroom radio. “It’s been a long while since I had a chance to listen to any music. I want to listen to something calming now that I’m back home,” Cryo thought. “Voice command.” “Voice command recognized. Radio model 4510 Beach bather is ready to receive command.” Tide smiled and started stroking Cryo’s back a bit. “Silly Cryo. Has to listen to some nice relaxing music while getting cleaned up.” He smiled back at her, and faced back to the radio. “Play music from Capsule Creatures game playlist.” “Which song to start?” Cryo thought about it for a moment. “Play encounter, Bountiful king of crops in the snowy tundra, Callareity,” “Playing music.” A soft yet upbeat melody played, giving a mix of calmness and royalty, like being challenged to a friendly battle by a soft and royal legendary creature. Tide smiled back at Cryo as she listened to the tune, giving a small chuckle. “Perhaps my young boy wants to feel like a prince tonight,” she thought. She carried him to the tub and gently placed him in it “Alright. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Tide said.

She turned on the water for the bathtub and it started to fill with nice, warm water. Cryo began to relax as the warm water began to engulf his lower body. Soon the bathtub was filled up.. “Ahhh. I haven’t felt this in a while.” said Cryo. Tide gave a smile and grabbed a bar of soap. She began to rub it all across Cryo’s back, chest, and tail scales. The mud began to chip off little by little.

“Alright. Turn over and lay on your back, Cryo.” Tide said. Cryo began to maneuver himself in the tub so he was laying on his back with his legs up, out of the water. “Now let’s get those limbs and belly cleaned up,” she said. Tide began to slowly and carefully rub Cryo’s scaly limbs with the bar of soap, with the mud being slowly chipping off bit by bit. She then took it and gently rubbed it across Cryo’s belly, each stroke taking chunks of mud off. “Now let’s get your head, Cryo. Sit back up.” Cryo obliged and maneuvered himself back on his feet, with his head up high. Tide grabbed some dragon shampoo began to rub her hands together. “Alright Cryo. Close your eyes and hold your breath for a bit.” Cryo obliged and Tide carefully rubbed her paws across Cryo’s head, making sure to rub every spot of his head. Cryo began to feel very comfy as Tide’s firm, yet delicate grip massaged Cryo’s head. The mud chipped off and Tide poured water over Cryo’s head. “There we go Cryo. Now, let’s get you out and dried off.” Tide opened the drain to the tub as the water began to drain out. She picked up Cryo and placed him outside the tub. She grabbed a towel and began to slowly and carefully rub it against Cryo’s scales. Soon enough, Cryo was dried off, his scales glistening in the light. “There we go son. Clean and fresh. I bet you feel much better now,” said Tide. “I do, Mom. I feel like a new dragon!” said Cryo.

Ch 15

Burgers and Bed

Cryo went to his sink and brushed his fangs with his toothbrush. Once done, he gave the command for his radio to turn off. Afterword’s, Cryo exited his washroom with Tide by his side. “Alright son. Let’s make something to eat,” said Tide. They both went to the refrigerator and pulled out some Zurburgers from the fridge. Cryo and Tide cooked it on a small grill and brought it to their dinner table. “I haven’t eaten any meat except fish for a while. It’s going to be nice to have some Zurburgers again,” said Cryo. “I haven’t had these since the incident. When I fell into deep sleep…” replied Tide. Cryo thought for a moment. “Well mom, I hope you’ll still like them,” replied Cryo. They put their Zurbergers on seeded buns and began to eat. “Mmmm. Good stuff. Right Mom?” “Yes. It tastes just like I remember it.” They both smiled to each other and continued to eat their dinner. Soon enough, all their Zurbergers were gone, and their bellies filled and satisfied.

You ready for bed?” Cryo gave out a big yawn and his eyes grew droopy. “Yeah, Mom. I’m really tired…” Tide walked to a drawer near Cryo’s bed and rummaged around it a bit. She then took out a sky blue t shirt, with a picture of a sleeping blue dragon nestled in a bed of white clouds, with the words, Dream Little Dragon, below the picture. She then stepped towards Cryo’s bed and stopped right to the side of it. “Come here my little boy. I’ll tuck you into bed tonight.” Cryo nodded and walked over. He stopped in front of tide and gave a small smile. “Lift your arms up, my little blue boy.”

Cryo complied and lifted his arms towards Tide. She slowly maneuvered the t shirt over Cryo’s body, making sure the wings could slip through the back slits. Tide then picked up Cryo and Cryo’s blanket and carefully and gently wrapped it around Cryo’s body tightly. She then nestled Cryo onto his hay bed, head on the pillow. Cryo gave out another yawn and looked towards his radio. “Voice command,” he said. “Ready to receive order,” the radio replied back. “Play soothing bedtime music.” “Now playing Naptunes channel.” The dj on the radio station began to speak in a low, soothing voice.

“This is the Naptunes channel. This next song is a classic, known for giving dreams of adventure, strength, and hope. Inspired by dream of a mighty battle against time itself. Now playing, Primal, Time and Space. The radio echoed with the tune. “I’ve never heard this one before,” thought Cryo. “It’s beat is a bit fast, yet it feels so soothing, with the flutes and synthesizer.” Cryo gave out a big yawn, and soon his eyes began to get droopy. He then slowly closed his eyes, and fell into a deep slumber. “Look’s like Cryo likes listening to lullabies when he wants to sleep,” thought Tide. “I’ll admit it, I like this tune as well.” Tide pulled her head down and gave her dreaming son a small kiss on his forehead. Tide then went towards her hay bed and slowly laid herself down and covered herself in her big blanket. “Goodnight my precious son. Maybe I can try to sing you to sleep one day.” thought Tide. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

New abilities

Ice pick: Can cover the tip of his talons with ice to pick locks by breaking the inner workings with ice.

Cold Claws: Can coat his talons with ice to slash at things more effectively.

New known Likes:

Food and drinks of “Earth.”

Outdoor activities

Spending time with his Mom

Being accepted

New known dislikes:

Cyantrinian metals

Being on the run

Suspenseful situations

His mother being scared, worried, or unhappy.

Prologue

In the last book, Cryo was taken to a military research facility to be observed and studied. But Cryo spent his entire time there looking out a window towards the mountain range, only stopping to eat and sleep, leaving the head researchers of their project, Ty and Gerald, baffled as to what to do. But one day, while they had an argument in Cryo’s pen, Cryo, getting annoyed by their argument, decided to act upon a comment Gerald made. Cryo snatched Gerald’s phone, which had stopped working, slowly took it apart, and fixed its problem and put it back together, leaving the researchers surprised.

With more of an idea on how smart Cryo actually was, Ty decided to read over a research journal kept by Cryo’s adopted father, Greg. With the info, Ty decided to create and move Cryo to a new room, with toys, a crib, a workbench for him to repair items, and new cloths for him to wear and a blanket to wrap him up in at night. Things began to go much better for the little dragon.

A year passed, and Cryo’s room was changed from a toddlers room to a to a young Childs bedroom, with a hay bed instead of a crib, cups instead of bottles, etc., etc. Cryo slowly would mature and learn to be a little bit grown. They began to teach Cryo how to talk and gave him a basic understanding of language and reading (though he kinda wouldn’t have his speech down yet…). With things going well researchers decided to try to extend Cryo’s knowledge by sending him to a makeshift school in the base itself where the children living in the base go to.

Cryo’s first experience of school would be a little hard for him. While he was able to nail down his school subjects quite quickly, he was being bullied by the other kids. But one kid would approach Cryo and give him something he needed for a while, a friend. Cameron, the son of Ty, helped Cryo through his first day and they left the school as friends.

4 more years passed, and Cryo would end up starting to upgrade his room quite a bit with the help of some of the engineers in the base. He began to build his own custom devices for his room. Summer vacation began and Cryo and his companions would be going on a fun boat trip out on the sea. The researchers there wanted to see Cryo on the open water rather then restricted to 6 ft. deep mid size pool at the base. They wanted to see how fast Cryo could be on open water and how much exertion it would have on his heart. But, the trip would get interrupted by an attacking boat, which Cryo decided to try to lure away from the boat to protect Cameron and the others.

Reinforcements to find Cryo would arrive later. After turning on Cryo’s tracking implant, they discovered that he was not on the water but on the shore in the forest near the shore. After tracking it down they found Cryo in a pillar of ice, with the forest and trees subjected to ice. Hearing Ty’s voice, the ice quickly dissipated and Cryo fell unconcious.

After bringing Cryo back to base, they were told that Cryo was subjected to a special dart which causes paralysis in the victim. After mulling it over for a bit, they came to the conclusion that someone at the base had tried to take Cyro for unknown reasons. Someone had betrayed them. Realizing Cryo might be in danger, they decided to increase security measures around the little dragon. That night, they tucked Cryo into bed, still unconscious, while they went to get the required medicine to help Cryo get over his paralysis faster. Cameron, not wanting to leave his friend alone in such a condition, decided to spend the night with Cryo in his room, with the hopes things would be better for him in the mourning…

Ch 1

Sick Serphant

Cameron awoke to hear a soft and low voice near him. “Came…ron? Came…ron? Is… that you?” Cameron began to blink a few times as his eyes came into focus. “Huh?” He tilted his head a bit and saw that Cryo was awake. Though Cameron could tell from the look on his face that he felt very weak and he was breathing very slowly. “Oh, Cryo. Your awake.” Cameron lifted himself up and wiped his eyes, and looked at Cryo, who hadn’t moved since this whole mess started. “You ok?” “I… can… barley move…” “You were hit with a Nume dart Cryo.” “Nume… dart?” “It some type of dart that causes paralysis.” “That’s why… my limbs… stopped working…” Cryo struggled to move his head to try to face Cameron.” “Will… it… wear off?” “Dad said it might be a little while before your body is able to get the poison out of your system.” “How… long?” “We’ll have to see, Cryo,” said a familiar voice.

Cryo slowly struggled to turn his head toward the entrance to his room. Ty, wearing a blue shirt and dark pants came in with a large glass of water and a pill. He pulled up a chair and sat it next to the both of them. “Here Cryo. Take this. This will help with the poison.” “What… is it? “It’s medicine, called Sealitt, made up from a deep water algae, ground up and mixed with oil from a luminescent mushroom known as Littahre (Lit-tear). This should counteract the toxins within your body.” “Do… you know medicine… Ty?” “Not all that much actually. This was made by Nancy. I only know about it due to having to take a medical class in school. There were a few “incidents,” where I lived as a teen where this nasty compound was being used by a couple of troublesome characters.” “Were they… ever caught?” “Yes. They were. Actually it was them who made the original compound to begin with.” “Why?” “I would go into detail, but I don’t really think you would really want to know why, Cryo.” Cryo wondered what that could mean, but realized that maybe not knowing would be a good thing.

“Alright Cryo. Can you lift your head up?” “Somehow…” Cryo slowly struggled to put up his head enough so he could take the pill. “I’m… ready Ty.” Cryo slowly opened his mouth and Ty put the small capsule in on his long tongue. He then helped Cryo take a sip from the glass to wash it down. “It may be a little bit of time before the medicine will come into effect. Hopefully it will go quickly throughout your body to expel the toxins. You’ll know the medicine is working when your body starts sweating, Cryo.” “Sweat…ing?” “Yes. The pills effects will cause your body to expel the toxins by sweating it out. Depending on the dose within the dart, you might be able to start moving better in maybe half a day or longer. We have never tried using this on a Dragon before, so we don’t really know how long it will actually take. I think it would also be a good idea after you can walk again, to take a bath.” “Al…right… Ty.” “Cameron. Keep Cryo company and make sure he get’s what he needs while he’s healing. He’ll need plenty of water while the medicine takes effect. Ok?” “Yes dad.” Ty left through the door to the room, looking back one last time at Cryo. Cryo looked back at him, seeing his concern. He stepped out soon after

Cameron took a look at Cryo, who he immediately realized was starting to feel hot. He saw Cryo’s head was a little red and could see sweat running down his head scales and onto his favorite blanket. Cameron knew that the medicine was already taking effect. “Hang on Cryo. Let me get you a dragon cold pad for your head.” 

Cameron went to Cryo’s fridge, which had been rebuilt, enlarged, and customized in the shape of an Chrome dragon egg on a stand near the left side of his room and opened the left door. He took out a cold pad, made in the shape of a soft green mask to fit around his upper head and eyes and extended down all the way to his snout, with holes so he can still breath through his nose with it on and another hole to fit around the horn on his snout. It has an opening at the top used to fill it with crushed ice and a metal wire as well, extending out both sides of the opening so it can be pulled to seal it shut or pushed to open it up. Under the mask is a small leather strap that can be wrapped under Cryo’s neck so it can stay secured around his head (made specifically for when Cryo get’s sick. Its different parts could also be extended and modified to fit Cryo’s head as he gets older). Cameron began to use the ice machine on the left side to fill it with crushed ice and soon enough, it was filled. Cameron tied the top of it closed and walked over to Cryo, who he realized had tilted his head to watch him. He could tell Cryo was looking at the mask and thinking about the relief it would give him. He quickly came over to Cryo. “Alright Cryo. Hold still while I put this on you head.” “Alright… Came…ron.” Cameron carefully placed the cold pad on his head and then strapped it on. He could tell immediately Cryo was a little more comfortable now. “Is that better?” “Yes… This… feels nice.” “That’s good to hear. Do you need a drink too?” “Yes. Maybe… Just… a little.” “Alright. I’ll get you some fresh water.”

Cameron went back to the kitchen in his room. Taking a larger cup from a cupboard next to the fridge, he went back to the fridge and filled it with a bit of crushed ice. Then he changed the ice machine settings to pour water and pushed it in. The fridge began to pour water out of it, and soon it was filled near the top. Cameron screwed on a lid with a nozzle so Cryo could drink from it easier. He then quickly came back to Cryo’s side. “Alright Cryo. Do you need me to lift up your head to drink.” “No… Ugh… I think… I… can manage…” He slowly tilted his head forward until it was upright. Cameron could tell he’d probably still need to hold his head forward so he could drink. “Alright Cryo. Drink up little buddy,” Cameron put his left hand behind Cryo’s head and brought the water towards his mouth. Slowly opening his jaws up, Cameron brought his head a little more forward and then Cryo closed his jaws around the nozzle and began to sip from it, little bits at a time. It wasn’t long before he stopped sipping it. “That’s enough… for now.” Cryo said. “Is that a little better.” “Yes. Thank… you,” “That’s good.” Cameron placed the water bottle on Cryo’s dresser next to his bed, for him to drink later. “Do you need anything else from me?”

Ch 2

Movie Max

“Can we… watch… a movie… together?” “A movie?” “Yes… a… movie. You… told me… Ty bought… a bunch… of old movies… that featured… dragons, right?” “Yes. Dad bought them recently to show you how our race thought of dragons in the past.” “Can I… watch them?” “Yea. But one thing Cryo.” “What?” “Dad was a little concerned about showing you them.” “Why?” “These movies are probably not factual to how your actual history is.” “What… do you mean… by that?” “My dad only has very limited data on what your home planet was like. From what he told me, the history is not the most pleasant. These movies are only interpretations of myths and legends humans had about dragons. They probably aren’t factual.” ” “Even so… I would… still like to… watch one.” “Alright. I’ll bring a one over.” Cameron went to a set of bookcases near Cryo’s tv area and pulled out a couple of movies. “It would probably be best to show a movie where a dragon is not a villain,” thought Cameron. “Which one? Hmm…” “Cameron looked through each and found a very old remastered movie series set. “Dragons taming moving collection. “Hmm… What does it say on the back about these movies?” Cameron turned it on its back to read the summery. The box contained a summery for all 3 movies there. He looked at the first one.

“A war has broken out between dragon’s and a group of young vikings. When a young boy manages to befriend a special one after it’s injured, a special bond forms that could change everything they know about those creatures.” Cameron thought for a moment… “Would this be a good one to show to Cryo, considering a “war,” at the start?” He looked back at Cryo who had turned his head to watch Cameron as he looked at it. “I suppose, it wouldn’t hurt. Maybe this might be good for him. Cameron brought the box over to Cryo. “Do you want to watch this one Cryo?” Cryo looked at the box of the first movie inside the box. “Dragon Tamer? Is this… a guide…. to make me…. obedient… or something? Aren’t I… enough already?” “No, silly. Read the back right here.” Cameron turned the box over so Cryo could read it. “Hmm… A war… With Vikings… and Dragons… That doesn’t… seem…. pleasant.” “Come on Cryo. Give it a chance. Did you read all of it?” Cryo looked back at the box and read the rest. “A boy… and a dragon… changes everything?” “Yea. I heard this movie was really good when it first came out. It’s been remastered multiple times. It’s one of the few old movies from back when Earth was still hospitable.” “Really?” “Yea, Cryo. You want to try it?” Cryo though for a moment. Then he gave a small smile and very slowly nodded his head. “Alright. Let me move the TV near you Cryo.”

Cameron grabbed a small remote at his tv area and pressed a button on top to turn the TV and remote on. The TV’s systems activated immediately and started to lift itself off the ground a tiny bit (the TV was in the shape of medium purple marble. Cryo made this custom TV from rebuilding his original one and his knowledge from taking apart and studying blueprints of several television systems and hover technology from Jetty Jeeps, with a retractable smart plug as a power source and several places it can plug into in his room. It also has a temporary battery life of 2 hours should a plug not be available. He had help programming it from one of the tech experts at the base). Cameron gripped the 2 joysticks on the front of the remote and pressed the left trigger on the back. The tv turned to hover mode, with it’s base replaced by it’s anti gravity lift. Cameron pressed the right trigger and the TV started to raise up a bit. Then Cameron turned the joysticks about and the TV started to move. Positioning the TV a little ways across Cryo’s bed, the TV quickly attached itself to a plug close to Cryo’s bed. Cameron pressed the left trigger again and the TV began to slowly lower back to the ground, with it’s regular stand coming out again as it touched to the floor.

“Voice… Command…” said Cryo. “Voice command recognized. TV model 9500 Dragon’s gem is ready to receive command.” “Open… chip drive… for… movie.” “Command understood.” The TV opened a slot on the stand to place in the movie chip (movies in this world are made with small sized, very strong and resistant cartridges). “Ready to receive, program.” “Man. You have the coolest TV ever, Cryo! I still don’t know how you made this thing… Does it have artificial intelligence?” “No. Just a… simple… command list. There are… too many ways… artificial intelligence… can fail.” “Well, ok then.” Cameron took out the movie chip from the box and placed it into the slot and closed it. “Beginning movie subsystem. Would you like to skip to the selection menu.” “Yes.” “Connecting.” The TV turned immediately to the main menu of the movie. “Alright Cryo. You ready?” said Cameron “Yes… Command… Play movie.” “Playing movie.”

The two good friends watched the movie. While Cryo was concerned at the start of the movie with the whole first battle with the vikings and the dragons, he quickly warmed up to it when the two main characters, the Black dragon, Sure shot, and his rider, Ardos came together. Cameron made sure that Cryo got plenty of water to drink during the movie and made sure that his dragon ice pad had fresh cold ice to keep his head cool. After several hours, the movie came to a happy end.

“That was a fun movie, huh Cryo?” “Yea. It was pretty fun.” “You feeling better?” “A little. I feel a little icky from the sweating. But otherwise, I think I’m starting to come around a bit. I still feel rather numb still. Nowhere near as bad as before. My head doesn’t feel fuzzy anymore.” “That’s good.” “I’m feeling tired from watching the movie though. I think I’m going to take a nap.” “Alright then Cryo. Do you need anything else from me? I can’t really leave you right now.” “Don’t worry. I’ll turn on some soothing music to help ease my mind to sleep. You can do what you want here as long as I can get some sleep. Just don’t touch the work bench, ok? “Alright.” Cameron moved his tv back towards the relaxation area and went there to relax a bit himself. Cryo began to awkwardly huddle himself tightly in his blanket. “Ugh… Still pretty stiff.” After struggling a bit, he got himself comfortable. He gave a big yawn, and looked toward a radio and clock mimicking the shape of a golden dragon egg of a bed of hay with a handle on top , which Cryo had custom built himself.

“Voice command.” said Cryo. “Voice command recognized. Radio model 1550 Dragon’s nest is ready to receive order.” “Play soothing bedtime music.” “Playing Naptunes Channel” A soothing jazz echoed softly from the radio. Cryo gave out a big yawn and then his eyes began to droop. The musical spell began to work its magic on Cryo’s mind. Soon enough, he was fast asleep. The radio turned off soon after.

Ch 3

Prison Pad

Cryo opened his eyes slowly, his head drumming a little bit. “Ahh. Good mourning… Huh? Wait a minute… Where…?” Cryo thought. Cryo seemed to have woken up in an unfamiliar place. He looked around and saw he seemed to be in a large 4 corner metallic white pen. There seemed to be no opening to this area. Only a see through Cyan sheet in the front. “Mmmph.” Cryo tried to say something, but realized something was muzzling him. He touched his snout, and realized some strange technological metal muzzle was wrapped around his snout. “What!? Where am I!? What is going on!?” Cryo thought. He tried tugging on the muzzle to try and get it off. But it was stuck on him really tight. He couldn’t get it off. “Ugh… I can’t talk with this thing on. Or blast some ice to break out of this mess… How do I get out of here? Hmm… This thin layer in the front. It’s different from the other parts. Everything else is solid except this wall.”

Cryo peered through to try to get a better look. He realized that there was multiple chambers like this throughout this area. “Could this be some type of entrance to this place?” Cryo touched the strange sheet. “Odd… This, doesn’t feel like anything I have ever touched before. It looks like some type of metal or ice, but I can clearly tell it isn’t. My paw tingles a bit when I touch it. What is this wall? Cryo tried to push on it. Urghh! Urghhh!”. It didn’t even budge an inch. “Ok… Maybe I can break it with my claws.” Cryo then began to try to swipe at the strange surface with his claws. Right as he struck his claw against the wall though, ZAP! “AGHHH,” thought Cryo as a small shock circulated throughout his body. He stumbled back a little bit and landed on his bottom. He slowly picked himself back up. He shook a few times. “Ughh… That didn’t feel good.” He checked the wall for damage. There wasn’t even a scratch. “That certainly didn’t work… Ugh… What else can I do.” Cryo gave out a sigh and tried to look around the outer area again. “How in the world did I end up here. I was resting peacefully in my bed in one instance. And then I end up here. At least the paralysis is gone. But that still doesn’t matter because I’m trapped here! And where is here! Everyone must be worried sick about me! Now that I think about it…” Cryo thought for a moment.” “Are they here somewhere too?” 

Suddenly three figures came into view in front of the pen. “Huh?” thought Cryo. He realized immediately they weren’t Human. They were looked like dragons, but outfitted in a metal armor! “Ahhh. Our guest has finally awoken. What good news for us!” Cryo recognized that voice. It was the same dragon commander from that dream long ago! And it looks like he brought two other dragon soldiers with him! ”Bring down the barrier. Let’s do this quick.” “Yesssss, commander,” the soldier on the left said. Suddenly the barrier came down and the soldiers began to step in. Cryo realized this might be his only chance to get away! “Don’t make this, hard kid,” the soldier on the right said. He took out a piece of red cloth, the same one that they used to blindfold Cryo before. He began to lean forward towards Cryo. Cryo then quickly pulled his body back, and lunged forward at the soldiers legs, knocking him down. “AGHHH. Stupid kid!” he said as he fell down. “Time to make a break for it!” thought Cryo. He began to try to run out of his cell.

Unfortunately, he was immediately caught by the tail and pinned down by the Dragon commander. “AGHHH. LET ME GO!” thought Cryo. “My. You still got quite the fight in you boy. I can tell your going to be very useful to us. Your time on that silly planet has clearly helped your head. Your clearly a smart boy. But you won’t be worming your way out of this. Someone very important wants to meet you. Someone who will help you see how war and conquest is the only way to live in this pathetic universe. “No! Let me go! Let me go!” thought Cryo. The commander lifted Cryo like he did before, with his arms around Cryo’s neck and waist. Cryo desperately tried to fight off the commander but it seemed it was no use. “Alright. Blindfold him. We’ll tie his limbs next.” “No! NO!” The soldier was about to wrap the cloth around Cryo’s eyes, when suddenly, a couple of black spheres of energy shot across the area and hit all three of them, knocking them away and sending them for a loop. “AGHH. What in the…!” The commander said. “Huh?” thought Cryo. Cryo quickly picked himself up to see what just happened. He saw a figure quickly approaching. He looked familiar. As they approached he realized it was the same dragon from Dragon Tamer. It was Sure Shot the black dragon! “What is he doing here?” “Come on! Get up!” Sure Shot said. “Can you run?!” he asked. Cryo tried to get up but for some reason his leg wasn’t working. Cryo shook his head. Sure shot looked toward the other dragon soldiers, who began to pick themselves up. “I’ll have to carry you. Don’t worry” 

Sureshot quickly grabbed Cryo in his arms and began to lift off. “Come on, bud!” Sureshot quickly picked up his wings and began to quickly fly throughout the this strange place. “Worthless winged traitor! Don’t let them get away! Raise the alarms on the ship!” said the commander. The alarm began to go off and now it was a race to get out of wherever this was. Cryo looked around this place as they flew. Cryo realized quickly that this place was some type of prison complex, as he could see there were more dragons within it then just him, each of different colors, sizes, and types throughout. “What on Cyriss is going on here!” thought Cryo. Suddenly a large flock of wings appeared behind them. Looks like the other soldiers got the call. “Hang on, little guy,” said Sureshot. Cryo suddenly felt his head spin again, and then he felt tired, then he closed his eyes. “Cryo. Cryo!” Sureshot called to Cryo as his voice grew ever softer as Cryo’s eyes closed.

Ch 4

First Fix

Cryo quickly opened his eyes and tried to look around. He realized he was in a familiar place. The dragon wallpaper. The workbench. The chrome egg fridge and the purple marble TV. He was back! “Ugh… Just another bad dream,” said Cryo. He tried to pick himself up, but still felt some numbness in his appendages. “Ugh. I must still be sick. Sigh…” Cryo looked around and saw Cameron approaching the bed. “You ok, Cryo? You were tossing and turning quite a bit. Did you have a bad dream?” Cameron asked. “Yea. Just another nightmare, Cameron.” “Do you, want to talk about it?” “No, it’s fine Cameron. Don’t worry about it.” “Alright. Can you move?” Yeah, I can move a bit now. I still feel a little numb, but I feel like I can finally start gripping and moving my legs and arms again.” “Alright. Good. Dad has made some soup for you.” “Soup?” “Yea, soup. It’s your favorite type. Bird and bean (zing beans and an new evolution of chicken who evolved in a snowy climate known as Chillin (Chill-in)). “That sounds nice. Where is it now?” “Dad put it in the fridge. He saw you were taking a nap and knew you probably wouldn’t have wanted to be woken up.” “Can you bring it here?” “Yea. But, can you eat it on your hay bed?” “Yeah. Hang on a sec.” Cryo began to slowly move his hands out of the blanket picked himself up to sit forward, with his blanket still wrapped around his lower body. “Ughhh… Still doesn’t feel too good to move,” thought Cryo. Soon enough, he was was upright. “Alright. Can you bring it over Cameron?” “Yea. Hang on Cryo.” Cameron went to the fridge in the back to get the soup. 

Cryo began to think for a second. “What is with these dreams? I had a similar dream when I was still a hatchling. This… somehow felt like a continuation… Something about it… felt so real. But it couldn’t be. I mean, Sureshot is just movie character, right? He couldn’t possibly be real. Even if they were, how would it even be possible to make a movie about their actions. The original movie was made quite a long time ago and was remastered due to its popularity when the humans left Earth. Not to mention the movie itself is based on times before movie camera were even created. Way before. It would be impossible to record. Maybe in a book, but not a movie.” Cryo turned his head to look back at Cameron, who had just put the soup in the microwave near the fridge. “Maybe I’m just looking into this too much. It’s just a dream, right?” Cryo shook his head and huddled himself in his blanket. “It couldn’t possibly be anything more then that.”

Only a few minutes later, Cryo heard a familiar beep from the microwave finishing and he could smell the scent of fresh soup, perfect for the days when your sick. Cameron took the soup from the microwave, took a spoon from the drawer and put it into the bowl, and put the bowl on a tray to bring over to Cryo. “Here you go Cryo.” “Looks good. I can smell the cooked chillin broth inside.” “Do you need any help?” “No. I think I can manage.” Cameron carefully positioned the tray onto cryo’s hay bed so it wouldn’t tip over. Cryo slowly positioned his paw onto the handle of his soup bowl and onto the spoon dipping out of the bowl. Taking a nice deep breath in and out, Cryo took a spoon full of soup out, slowly opened his jaws, and took a big slurp.” “Ahhh. So tasty with its right sense of spiciness and meat.” “I know how much you like spicy flavors Cryo. Though I find it strange that your an ice dragon that likes food with a kick…” “I may be cold looking on the outside, but you can tell i’m very warm on the inside.” They both gave a good laugh and Cryo continued to happily eat. Soon enough, the soup was finished with not a single droplet left in the bowl.

“Ahhh… That soup was delicious. Just a the type of pick me up I needed,” said Cryo. “You feeling better?” asked Cameron. “Yes. A little bit at a time.” Cryo said. Cryo looked toward his work bench, and saw his tools were out. He looked over to Cameron. “Did you touch my tools?” Cameron gave no reply. “Don’t worry Cameron. I won’t be mad at you. Did something happen?” “Well Cryo, you see… I kinda… tried to… be like you and repair my Ignition portable gaming console.” “You only got that recently on your last birthday. How did it break already?” “Well, one of the kids at school… kinda… threw it to the ground.” “Ughhh… those kids… Don’t they have anything better to do then bully us… They have far worse grades then me, and they say I’M a stupid reptile…” Cryo shook his head and looked back at Cameron with a concerned look on his face. “Did any of my tools break?” “No. I think I only broke my IPGC more…” “Any chance I could take a look at it?” “Your sick right now, Cryo. Your in no condition to repair items,” “It’s all right. I might not have the dexterity right now for long projects, but at least let me take a look and see if I can’t do anything to fix it.” “Well… OK Cryo.”

Cameron took out his Ignition portable gaming device out of his pocket, which had been partially sloppily put back together and placed it in front of Cryo. “Hmm. I see. Can you bring me my tools from my workbench?” “Yea. Hold on.” “Also, bring any excess screws and bolts around the table. I think you left out a couple of them when you tried to put it back together and put it on the tray.” “Alright.” Cameron went to his workbench and gathered both Cryo’s tools and any items from his console he could find around. He grabbed them and brought them to Cryo’s bed and put them on the tray. “Alright Cryo. Here you go.” “Alright, let’s get started.”

Cryo took a quick look at it and saw a small gash on it’s back. “Looks like Cameron accidentally scratched the back with a screwdriver while trying to either screw a bolt in or take it out. Hopefully it didn’t damage the internal hardware. I better be very careful while checking this, considering my coordination isn’t at it’s best right now…” thought Cryo. Cryo took a magnifying speck (a single eye magnifying glasses with zoom capabilities) out of his toolbox and began to very slowly and carefully unscrew the back of the console off and look at the contents inside for damage. “Hmm… Main cpu is intact. Data center looks alright. What about power,” Cryo observed. Cryo took a look at the battery, and noticed something. “Hey, Cameron. Is the problem that your console won’t turn on?” “Yea. How’d you know. “Right here. Right near the part where the power meets the main circuit board. Wires severed.”

“Can you fix it?” “Yes. Luckily, it seems that the console itself took a brunt of the blow. It will just need a replacement wire and a small “kick,” to start it up.” “Will you need to order a replacement part for it?” “Actually, no I won’t. The wire itself for this console was made with an easy connect wire. Easy enough to replace with just a special connector and secure enough to not fall out during normal gameplay or a little rough housing. I work with these a good amount with items in base and I have a drawer with these pieces for different sized wires and plug sizes. Luckily, plugs have a standard size deviations made to replace under breakage.” “Um, that’s too technical for me…”

“Simply put. The industries have a set of sizes for these plugs. No wire or associated plug will be either more or less then these 3 sizes. Makes it easier to replace them under breakage like this. Since I already have a few, it won’t be hard for me to replace them. Cameron, go into the left upper drawer next to my workbench and grab the smallest wire strand you can find. I’ll need to measure and cut it to match the size of the original. Then go into the upper right drawer. I’ll need a pair of the smallest plugs to carefully tie an uniting nut (a nut that can shrink or grow to tie on the ends of connect wires) to secure the plugs in place on their respective ends. Once the plugs are secure, we’ll need to carefully put both ends of the plugs into their respective slots on the console, where the power meets the main circuit board, Then tighten the uniting nuts ourselves with my small wrench. I’ll probably need some help doing this, considering how my claws feel a bit shaky right now.” “Alright. Hang on a bit Cryo.”

Cameron went back to Cryo’s work bench and drawers and got Cryo’s requested items. and brought it over to him and placed it on the tray. “Alright then. Let’s get started. Cameron, I removed the original cut wire from the console from both ends. Can you measure it for me?” “Alright hang on.” Cameron took Cryo’s ruler from the tray and carefully measured the size of the wire. “About 2 cm Cryo.” “Good. Now, we’ll need for you to cut the wire. Place the roll of wire on the tray and measure 2 cm with the ruler. Then cut completely straight when your ready with my pliers.” 

“Alright. Here goes.” Cameron extended the wire roll in front of him and measured. “That… seems a little off from 2 cm. Look at the measurement again.” Cameron straightened to cut wire and realized the wire was about a cm off.” “Alright. Second try.” Cameron measured two cm again and cut. Cryo observed the cut again. “The wire wasn’t cut straight. The plug won’t act normally if we don’t get the straightest cut possible. Probably lose power often during play. Do you want me to try?” “No. I can do this. You still need to rest, remember.” “Take a nice deep breath in. Look carefully. Take the most precise 2 cm cut you can. I’ll try holding it down for you this time.” Cryo took both ends of the roll of wire and measured it and held both ends with the tip of his paw. “Alright Cameron. I’m ready.” Cameron took both ends of the wire. He took a slow and steady deep breath in, and focused his mind at the job at hand. “Alright. Here goes,” thought Cameron. Taking it slow, he took the the pliers and slowly moved them towards the wire. Placing it around the wire, he made the cut. Cyro looked closely. “Yes. This is perfect. Good job. Now we need to add the plugs.

“All you need to do is to hold the nuts at the ends of the wires. I’ll just need to situate the plugs on the wire and the nut will do the rest to attach itself.” “Alright.” Cryo began to carefully place the end of the plugs into position on the wire. He slowly moved the cut wire into the openings on the ends of the plug. Slipping them in nicely, he began to twist them so that they would fit into the console without bending inside. “I’m ready for the nuts, Cameron.” “Ok.” Cameron moved the nuts around the plug to the plug connected to the wire. “Just hold them perfectly in place… and…” said Cryo, just as the nuts began to slowly shrink to fit where the wire met the plug. “Perfect. There we go,” said Cryo.

“Where do you learn these things, Cryo. I don’t remember learning anything like this in school.” “I… Kinda have my… brother to thank for this…” “Oh… I’m sorry Cryo…” “It’s ok. Don’t… worry about it. We’re almost done. Now then. The last thing this needs is a small kick, to make it work. “How do we do that.” “Well…” Cryo put the tip of his talon into his mouth, and then dabbed his claw a bit on both ends of the plugs. A tiny spark came out of them. “Huh?” “My saliva contains a bit of electricity in it. It also is sticky for loose items like microchips. Alright. Should be good. Let me just slot it in and…” Cryo slotted the newly made wire on each end of the console. “There good as new. Just need to reattach the back and then it should turn on.” So Cryo slowly began the process of reattaching the back with Cameron’s help holding it down and soon enough, all the bolts were in place and the back was reattached. “Try turning it on.” said Cryo.

Cameron flicked on the consoles power switch and sure enough, it turned on. “There we go. Good as new.” “Wow. thanks Cryo.” “Your welcome. Always good to help a friend. I couldn’t have done it without your help as well.” “Yea. maybe I can become as good as you at fixing things one day.” They both gave a good laugh. “Do you need anything Cryo?”

“Can you give me the water bottle by my bed? Also, I think my cold pack needs some more ice.” “Alright. I get that taken care of.” Cameron took the water bottle on the cabinet next to his bed. He gave the water bottle to Cryo, and carefully took off the dragon cold pad from his head. Cryo took a sip from it, feeling a bit refreshed while Cameron went to the fridge to fill the dragon cold pad up. Cryo laid back and placed his head down on his pillow, and began thinking.

“…It’s been 5 years. 5 years since I left them. My family. I wonder. Do they remember me? Would they recognize me if I ever saw them again. He began to close his eyes a bit. With a deep breath in and out, he re opened his eyes. “Noble. I wonder how he’s doing. Is he well? Is he ok? And Greg and Suzy. Are they ok?” Cryo began to Huddle himself on his side. “Sigh… I miss them…” He gave another deep breath and took another sip of the water bottle. He looked back at Cameron, who was still filling his ice pack. “Hmm… now that I think about it. I remember hearing a lot from people around here and at school. That planet… Earth. It was apparently the human home world. I always heard that the humans lost Earth. From infighting. From differences. But whenever I was in history class, all the history told would be about this planet… Even when I asked question’s about Earth, the teachers would usually dodge the subject. Why?” Cryo then moved back on his back, still feeling the sweat down his scales in his blanket. He then turned his head back to Cameron. “Can Cameron tell me more?” Cameron came over with the dragon ice pack.

Here you are Cryo. Let’s get this around your head first. Cameron placed the dragon ice pack on Cryo’s head, and then strapped it on. “Hey. My water bottle is almost out, can you fill it too?” asked Cryo. “Sure. Hang on a sec.” he replied. He went to the fridge again and quickly filled the water bottle with crushed ice and water. He walked back and gave a smile to Cryo, who smiled back. Cryo took the water bottle from Cameron and took a nice big slurp from it. “Ahh… that’s refreshing.” “Need anything else?” “Actually… Yes Cameron.” “What you need?” “Can you… tell me a story?” “A story?” “Yes.” “What type of story.” Cameron sat himself next to Cryo “Can you… tell me… what happened to Earth?”

Ch 5

Earth’s Erasure

“Earth?” “Yes. I heard several times that your home planet was lost. Is there any chance you could tell me more.” Cameron didn’t reply. “Is it really that bad Cameron?” “It’s… not necessarily a topic anyone likes talking about. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand. You can tell me a different one if you really want.” Cameron thought for a moment. But he then gave a sigh and a small nod. “Alright Cryo. I’ll tell you.”

“It was a long time ago. Long before anyone on this planet was born. From what I heard from Dad, Earth was a sprawling world full of all different types of creatures and people. We were highly advanced, more advanced then we were now.” Cameron paused for a moment. “Unfortunately, we may have been… too advanced…” “Too advanced?” “Yes. With the need for technology, means a necessity for resources to build such technology. We needed metals, programmers, fuel.” Cameron stood back up and turned around. “As our… population grew, so did our need for these items. As such, we cut down forests, mined ore deposits endlessly, used up every resource we could find. At the rate we were going, we began to ran out quickly.” Cameron turned back to Cryo. “With the desire for resources, humanity began to collapse quickly. Air was running out as there were not enough shrubs or plants or trees to create oxygen for all of us. Fuel for vehicles ran dry and made transport over long distances impossible. It was also discovered that at the time, we were starting going into the elliptical orbit around the sun, which shortened our summers and spring and brought a large ice age, with nothing to help keep us warm during the cold seasons. Not enough sun to help new plants to grow…” Cameron looked grim now, and Cryo could tell. Cryo knew the worst was yet to come.

“Desperation created tension. Tension created conflict. And conflict…” Cameron paused. “Conflict created war. Countries took up arms one by one against one another. For the desire for what limited resources were left in each others possession to survive.” Cryo’s heart began to sink. “It wasn’t long before most the populations around the world were now warzones for the armies of the world. Battle after battle would rage. People were killed. Lives were destroyed. And people lost hope that things would get better.” Cameron sat himself down right next to Cryo again, with his head to the side of him. “Eventually, after many years of war, even those resources ran out. Humanity began to realize how their desires had truly ruined everything. But there was hope.” Cameron looked at Cryo.

“In the final days, a plan was hatched. A probe in space found a group of hospitable planets in the solar system. Ones with life. Ones that could sustain us.” Cameron nodded his head at Cryo. “The ones that survived came together, with one of the biggest and most important projects in the history of our species.” “What was it Cameron?” “A small fleet of long term spacefaring vassals that can travel millions of light years away to these faraway planets. Everything we had left in us, we had to get there. Every resource left. Every animal still alive we could find. Every human they could find. They gathered all of them in one of the most important projects ever constructed. Within a short time frame, we discovered the keys that would allow us to continue, to leave our world forever and to start anew. It wasn’t long after that the Final Gamble, the name of our space ship that brought us here, was made. Several others were made and would also be sent to try to colonize some of the other planets. Built for a journey that would last more then thousands of years. The ship’s name was no joke. They risked everything on this last move. It contained an AI that would guide the ship all the way from Earth to here, Cyriss X12 The planet itself was named after the developer of the ship and the AI and had died before finishing, Cyris Zelve. His wife created the original cryogenic sleeping pods that allowed them to sleep through the entire journey from Earth to their new world. Her name was Julius.”

“With the plan in place and the ships built, all the animals we could gather and all the humans left went to a deep, deep, sleep. A sleep that would last thousands of years.” “The humans that left were asleep for thousands of years? But, I thought the human lifespan was much less.” “Cryogenic sleep stops metabolic activity. Or at least, that’s what my Dad told me.” “Metabolic activity?” “It stops you from aging, decomposing, and pretty much stops all activity within your body. But the thing is, it also does not kill you. It put’s you into a deep, deep sleep, that you can’t wake up out of until your released from it.” “How do you get released from it?” “From what Dad told me, the original AI was responsible for that. The AI led the ship across deep space on a charted path created by the world’s most brilliant navigators. But even they had problems.” “What do you mean Cameron.” “There was a slight… altercation to the plan on the ship.” “What altercation?”

“It was attacked on it’s way to the other planet.” “What! Attacked!” “Yes. The AI in charge of the ship logged in an attack during the 6031st year in space when it was heading towards it. “Does it know who attacked it?” “No. It didn’t. The only thing it knew that the lifeforms inside seemed to be very advanced. Not only that, but it could detect some sort of weird energy source inside. “What type of energy source.” “The AI logged it as a bunch of unknown lifeforms.” “Unknown lifeforms?” Yes, and the infrared scan the AI aboard the ship showed what is possibly some sort of creature with wings.” “A creature with wings!?” “Yes. The AI received a message in a language it couldn’t recognize. He believed it was a warning.” “What type of warning,” “I don’t know. But the ship was scanned but then it just let us go right after.” “You think it might have done something to the ship. “It did. When we approached the planet another 4000 years later, the ships AI seemed to malfunction.” “Malfunction?” “Yes. The ship crash landed on the planet and the AI deactivated.” “What happened to everyone.” “While the AI was deactivated, all systems on the ship still remained online and stable, but since the AI wasn’t online, well… The sleeping humans could not be woken up. In fact, they spent about 100 extra years in cryosleep. But in reality, there was a good reason for this.” “What happened.” 

“It seemed the AI had found out something was attempting to trace the ship to it’s location. The AI shut itself down to prevent the tracking device from accurately working. Meanwhile it spent it’s computing resources attempting to counteract and disable the tracking device. It knew whatever was trying to track the ship could not be anything friendly. The ai was smart enough to plan ahead for such a situation. It unfortunately took a long time for the AI to create a countermeasure to the Tracking device, so it had to take extreme measures to protect everyone aboard the ship. It’s the reason for the crash landing and for taking so long to wake everyone up. “So it saved everyone…” “Yes it did. When humanity emerged from sleep, it learned of these events from the log. While surprised from the turn of events, they realized how lucky they really are to have been able to come this far after what had happened. However, communications with the other vassals had been severed. It had to cut those so that the other ship couldn’t try to reestablish the trace to the other ships. We never knew what happened to the other ships. But even then, it was probably for the best.” Cameron gave a smile back at Cryo. “And so, humanity restarted. With a knowledge of of events beforehand to help guide them, humanity began to create a new future for itself. The ship contained plans on previous useful technology and more importantly, structures that could be made as humanity rebuilt from the ground up, albeit wiser to what they do with what they have. Eventually, the crashed ship was refurbished and made into a museum, a symbol of how we could all come together and build something for the good of us and all.

“Wow. That’s… a pretty amazing story Cameron. I never knew that the human species had to go through something awful like that…” “I’m not sure that’s as awesome as discovering the existence of a very smart and kind creature.” “What creature?” “Who else but you, Cryo!” They both gave another laugh and seemed the both of them were in really good moods now. “Ahh, thanks for that Cameron.” “Your welcome Cryo.” “Hey. Do you think there is any life left on Earth now? “I’m not sure really. Maybe a few bugs perhaps. Bugs seem to be able to survive anything.” “Hey you two. Dinners ready,” said a familiar voice. 

Ch 6

Mex Munchies

They turned towards the door to see Ty and Gerald, standing in it, each holding a plate of food in it.” “Ahh, dinner. I was getting pretty hungry,” said Cryo. “We heard you were feeling better, so we decided to try something different for you,” said Gerald. “What you make?” asked Cryo. “A dish that was made back on Earth, using a flour tortilla filled with beans, chillin, and different vegetables, and covered in white ched, called a burrito, and comes with a side of fried rice.

“You made Mex, Dad?” asked Cameron “Mex?” thought Cryo. “Yes I did. Try it Cryo, you’ll love it. Here you go guys. I’ll take your soup bowl as well Cryo.” Ty placed the plate of Mex cuisine on Cryo’s tray and took the soup bowl from it as well. Gerald gave the plate in his hand to Cameron. “Eat up boys. We have to go.” The two left the room and Cameron began to eat. Cryo looked at Cameron a little confused at the food in front of him. “What is this?” he asked. “You never had a burrito before Cryo?” “No I don’t think so.” “This food is really good. You ever had Cobb chips?” “Yea… but.” It’s like a sandwich wrapped in it, except its covered in melted white ched (ched is like cheese) and you eat it with a fork and knife and it’s wrapped up. “Food is inside it?” “Yea. Take a look at mine right here.” Cameron put his burrito closer, in which he could tell that inside of it there were different veggies and meats. “Try it. Cut off a piece of the long end and then take a nice bite. You’ll love it. I promise.” “Well. Alright then.” Cryo began to cut a small portion of the closest corner to him. He slowly moved it towards his mouth. With his mighty jaws, he closed the fork around his mouth for a taste. After a little bit of chewing, a smile came across Cryo’s face and he began to quickly cut and eat more pieces. “Told ya it was good.” “Yea. This is delicious. I’ve never seen food like this before. “It’s an old recipe back on Earth.” “Really.” “Yea. This was apparently very popular somewhere on it. “Why is this called Mex?” “I think it’s to describe the culture that made it.” “Well, they defiantly have my approval.” They both chuckled and happily ate their food. “Hey Cameron. Do you think they’ll allow me to go to that museum one day?” “Maybe when the world is ready for you Cryo.” It didn’t take them long to finish.

“That was good stuff, huh Cryo?” “Yea. It was nice for my stomach. I’m feeling better. But I still feel like I can’t really walk right now.” “It’s starting to get late Cryo. Maybe you should just turn in for the night. You’ll probably be up and moving again tomorrow.” “Well I suppose an early night’s sleep might help out. Alright. Can you turn the lights off Cameron?” “Yea I can, Cryo.” Cameron went to the door and turned the light switch off next to it. Cryo began to position himself on his bed huddling his blanket tightly around his body and laying down on his side with his head nestled on the pillow. He faced his radio. “Voice command.” said Cryo. “Ready to receive order,” the radio said back. “Play soothing bedtime music.” “Playing Naptunes channel.” The radio began to play a soothing music box like tune. Cryo’s eyes began to become heavy from the soothing music. Giving out a big yawn, he looked at Cameron who just got back over. “Good night, Cameron.” “Good night, Cryo.” Cryo slowly closed his eyes as his mind became a haze. No sooner after, he was fast asleep. Cameron looked at his sleeping friend, with a look of concern. “Who tried to hurt you…” Cameron paused for a moment. “little brother?…”

Cameron got up and took a look out the window of Cryo’s room, with a look of a large and vast mountain range in the distance. “Is Cryo really safe with us?” Cameron went to get the blanket he used last night to sleep and made his way back to the chair to huddle up in it. He could still see the sweat running down Cryo’s scales. “I should probably change his ice pack. Hopefully I can be careful enough not to wake him up. He needs all the sleep he can get right now. He might wake up if his head get’s too hot while he sleeps…” Cameron approached Cryo and slowly lifted the back of his head from his pillow. Carefully releasing the strap around Cryo’s neck, he began to realize if he uses the ice machine right now, the sound might wake him up, even with naptunes playing right then. “Hmmm. Is there any way I can plug Cryo’s ears,” thought Cameron. Cameron began to think for a moment. Then he came up with an idea. “His headphones. I can plug them into the radio and place it on Cryo’s head. That should keep him from hearing the ice machine.” Cameron carefully removed the ice pack around Cryo’s head and slowly placed his head back on his pillow. Creeping near the radio, Cameron looked back at Cryo, who was still snoozing. “Alright. I need to be quiet.” Cameron slowly plugged in the head phones, which immediately cut the music from playing around the room and put it through the headphones. Cameron then carefully placed the headphones on Cryo’s ears. Luckily, he didn’t wake. “Alright. That should keep him asleep. Now then…”

Cameron took the ice pack and dumped the melted ice out of the top and refilled it. With his task complete, he crept back over to Cryo, who was still sleeping with his headphones on, playing music. “Alright Cryo, just going to need to take those headphones off for a second…” Cameron slowly removed the headphones from Cryo’s ears. Suddenly, Cryo gave a small snort and started to breath a little heavily. But then he began to relax again and turned his head sideways on the pillow. “Ok then, this might be a little more difficult to put this on, but…” Cameron slowly lifted Cryo’s head up from the pillow again and very carefully placed the ice pad around his head. Then slowly strapping it around Cryo’s neck, it was finally back in place. “I should probably put the headphones back on Cryo as well. He really does need all the sleep he can get.” Cameron carefully placed the headphones back on Cryo’s head and slowly lowered Cryo’s head back down on the pillow. “Now I just need to press a few buttons to turn off automatic shutdown…” Cameron switched a few of the knobs around the device, which disabled the night timer shutdown and the mourning alarm on his radio. His task complete, he sat back down again, and gave a deep breath. “Alright. I think it’s time for me to go to sleep as well.” He gave a small pat on Cryo’s forehead, which was nice and cool now from the ice pack. “Good night little brother.” Cameron then slowly closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber in the chair. 

Ch 7

Surprise Arrival

Cryo gave out a yawn and slowly opened his eyes. “Ahh good… Really…?” thought Cryo. It seems our friend has once again woken up in another unfamiliar place. “Again… Ugh…” Cryo immediately began to feel around his snout with his left paw. “No muzzle this time. But where am I?” He looked around at his surroundings. He realized he looked to be in some futuristic city, at night, in a dark alleyway. He seemed to be laying on grass on his side, as below him was green bristles of grass and there were several hanging plants and vines around. He looked around further. He saw small imprint on the wall of a green building, as if something had crashed into it and bounced off. He also saw what appeared to be a flagpole broken off and on the ground, near the entrance to the ally. Cryo saw some fabrics still attached to them, but couldn’t tell what they looked like. Looking down to the ground again, he saw another small crater around where he woke up at. “Did I fall out of the sky or something? And crash into a wall of a building?” He tried to pick himself up, he felt a sharp pain in his back right leg. “Aghh…” Cryo gritted his teeth in extreme pain. “My back leg… I think it’s broken. How in the world did I end up here?” He looked around his body and saw he had several other injuries. Cryo slowly picked himself up and slowly limped to look outside the alleyway. “Ugh… It’s hard to move with the pain.” Cryo dragged himself through the dark and soon emerged from the alley, only to be greeted by bright blue and red lights and a voice. 

“Freeze!” Cryo immediately stopped and looked around in shock. As he got a better look at his surroundings, he saw strange creatures in different futuristic armor and strangely looked kinda like large insects. A light shined onto him from above, coming from an air vehicle! “Take it easy buddy. Don’t try anything,” said one of the spider looking troops.” With Cryo’s leg the way it was, it would be very difficult to get away. “Get on the ground very slowly,” it said. With very little options, he complied, laying himself on the ground, concerned with what they will do with him. “Looks like he is complying sir,” said one of the dragonfly looking ones. “Keep the stun stringer on him. You, Firestorm, your on me. Approach with caution.” The armored spider and the armored centipede approached slowly toward Cryo, with a large cannon in the back of the area trained on him. They soon were looking down upon Cryo. “Is this really…” said the armored centipede. “No doubt about it. Just like those ancient storybooks. It’s a dragon.” “Like with Zeke?” “Perhaps… He looks hurt. Probably from the fall. Take him to base. Get a medical team to look after him. Put him on high priority watch. Only experienced staff get’s in or out of his containment area.”

Hearing these words, Cryo become very afraid. But this was not a situation he could get out of, so it was the only choice. “Alright, get a muzzle on him,” said the armored Spider.” “Should we tie his hands and wings too?” “No. I don’t think we’ll need to. I don’t think he’ll fight with that leg injury. Something also tells me there is more to this young creature then we think.” “Alright commander.” The armored centipede like creature took out a small metal wire and wrapped it around Cryo’s snout. It strangely looked like webbing, but Cryo wasn’t sure. “Alright. He’s ready to be transported,” said the armored centipede. “Good. Get a hover bed out here. Another spider like creature came into Cryo’s view with a small hovering bed with some straps on it. “Let’s load him up. Come on little guy.” They picked Cryo up carefully, keeping Cryo’s leg and other injuries in mind and placed him on the bed. They strapped him down tightly and began to cart him away. They escorted him into what seemed to be a airship in the likeness of a beetle. They removed Cryo’s muzzle and loaded Cryo into a small reinforced glass pen in the back of the large ship with a small guard detail to look after him. The ship took off, and headed for their base.

Cryo spent a while looking at the strange creatures who had captured him and wondered what they planned to do with him. Would they perform experiments on him? Would they beat him up? Would they dissect him? He gave a sigh, and waited for whatever fate would come next.

One of the guards, seeing Cryo’s concern, walked over to check on him. “You ok?” Cryo gave no answer. “Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.” Cryo picked his head up. He looked what appeared to be a four armed creature in a black armorsuit and wearing a metal helmet with a visor. “Can you speak?” “Yes I can…” The armored creature placed his upper two arms on his helmet, and Cryo could see the helmet folding its neckline upward a bit and could hear a quick hiss as air rushed out of it. The creature removed his helmet and Cryo could see that it really was a very large Spider within the armor. “I’m Zeke. Do… You have a name?” “I’m… Cryo…” “Cryo huh. Nice to meet you. Any chance… You could tell us how you got here?” Cryo tilted his head, wondering the same thing. “We heard reports of a unknown flying ship in our atmosphere. Next thing we know, a meteor strikes in the city. We found you right at the drop zone. Can’t be coincidence. Were you on the ship?” “I… don’t really know how I got here really. I… Just woke up here.” “You have amnesia?” “I don’t think so. I remember who I am.” The large spider scratched his chin a bit and gave a small smile and nod to Cryo. “Perhaps its just a minor case of it. The fall probably knocked your head for quite a loop. Your pretty beat up from the impact. I’m surprised that your not in worse shape. If we were expecting a visitor, we probably would have ordered a medical transport instead. I’m sure you’ll remember how you got here some time later. So… are you from a different world?” Cryo nodded his head.

“What’s your homeworld, Cryo?” “It’s called Cyriss X12. “Is your family there?” “Yes.” “Is there a lot of dragons on your world?” “No. Me and my mom are probably the only ones I know. Though… Mom has been… well… unconscious for a long time.” “Is she comatose?” “It’s what I’ve been told. Since before I was born.” “So who raised you then?” “Humans.” “Humans!?” Zeke’s eyes shot up for a tiny moment, but quickly came back down. He took in a small breath, and gave back a small smile. “Ahh. I see. That’s very interesting Cryo. I can guess your adopted parents must be worried sick about your right now. Are they ok?” Cryo gave a small frown and dipped his head down. “I really don’t know what happened to them.”

Zeke looked concerned at the little dragon and gave a small nod. “Can you wait for a second, Cryo. I’ll be right back.” Zeke went towards to the front of the room. He talked with some of the other guards for a little bit. Cryo’s watched with curiosity, wondering what he could be telling them. He saw all three of them nod, and they each grabbed a chair and sat it down in front of Cryo’s containment cell. The two other armored creatures grabbed their helmets, which the proceeded to vent some air and detach from the main suit. Cryo saw what appeared to be another spider and a dragonfly. “Why don’t you tell us about your life at home with the humans. It might help jog your memory a bit.” said Zeke. A little hesitant. Cryo decided to tell the truth, hoping to maybe earn the trust of these strange insects. Meanwhile, the camera’s on the ship within the containment area recorded and listened in interest.

About an 2 hours of flying and telling his story, they arrived at their base of operations, and a group of the insects in armor came in to transport him. The armored centipede from earlier came in front with the muzzle again. The commander stepped in. “The muzzle won’t be necessary this time Firestorm.” “You sure, Stinger Spider?” “I think our friend here will be cooperative, right Spider Shadowshot?” “Yes. I don’t think he’s a threat.” He nodded in understanding and stepped back. “We have a medical bed waiting outside for our friend here. Get him loaded up and taken to medical. I want his leg looked at immediately. Alright. Open the containment cell.” The cell lifted up and the group of bugs carefully lifted Cryo up and carried him outside the ship and loaded him onto a medical bed in the shape of a Scarab. “Alright. Let’s get to working on your leg and other injuries immediately little one. Let’s get him to medical quickly.” They tucked a blanket around Cryo and began to move the hovering bed. “Don’t worry, Cryo. We’ll have you patched up soon,” said the Zeke. “Thank you Zeke.” “Hey. Is there… any chance… you can tell us more about the humans?” asked Zeke. Cryo was about to speak up, but then, Cryo’s head became fuzzy. His eyes started to wander. Feeling a bit of exhaustion, his eyesight began to become fuzzy. “Cryo. You ok? Cryo!” exclaimed Zeke. “Subject losing consciousness. Need emergency medical team here immediately!” said Stinger Spider “Come on Cryo. Stay with me!” 

Attempting to stay conscious, his eyesight faded to black, and he heard one last voice in his head. “Hmmm. It seems we will be destined to meet one day, little dragon. I never expected any dragon to have escaped them. But I’m glad at least one very special dragon was able to keep his body. So much was risked by our original plan. Had we realized about your mother’s portal would have successfully worked earlier, we might have all been able to save ourselves.” In Cryo’s darkened eyesight, he could see a figure approach. Cryo tried to make out the figure. “I must say young dragon, your quite a show to watch from beyond the stars. It’s a good thing about our “connection.” But I digress. There is a battle coming to both our worlds Cryo. A battle to bend the very fabrics of right and wrong. Do or die. And as much as you would not like to fight it, all that we care about is at stake.”

As the figure continued to approach, he began to make out the figure a bit better. He seemed to be a large black dragon! But without a metal suit of futuristic armor, like he always see to see with nearly all others. “Humanity has changed since I last exchanged wills with it. They did leave me here on this planet. But, it was probably for the best that they did. I really hope this time they can actually get along and not fully mechanize your planet like before. I’m quite happy from the conservation efforts that the species back here on the human homeworld, a world the humans left so long ago. These fascinating creatures had gone through very considerable effort to preserve a great portion of the biological greenery here on the planet. They learned it from the human texts leftover from their departure the dangers of over harvesting resources and destroying far too much of nature. It’s also nice to know the humans are doing better on their new world now, too!” Cryo tried to speak, but no sound could come out. “I’m very much looking forward to the day we can meet, Cryo. Yes. My friend and host, Zeke, will be more then happy to help guide you on the path you need to take to win. It will be quite a bit of time before that day comes though. I suggest you spend a good amount of time preparing ahead for that fateful day. But until then, adieu. I will be watching over your progress, Cryo. You and your mother will be important on the days ahead. Yes… Very important. Suddenly the white light enveloped the entire area, blinding Cryo. “My name young dragon. Yes… My name. My name is Servant. Dragon of the lunar eclipse. Your strength will be known, as our family has always been known for it.”

Ch 8

Baths and Bugs

Cryo’s head span a bit as he opened his eyes. He looked around, and saw he was back in his room. He heard the Naptunes channel playing in his head, and realized that his headphones were in. He looked at the radio beside his hay bed on a shelf, which read 2:00 P.M. “Looks like I slept in really late… Probably from the Naptunes radio… though… Looks like my alarm was also turned off. Guess they wanted me to get some extra sleep.” Giving out a yawn, Cryo took his headphones out of his ear. “Voice command.” “Ready to recieve command.” “Radio off.” “Command confirmed.” ” He looked over towards the fridge, and saw Cameron filling a water bottle with something. Cameron then noticed Cryo was awake.

“Good Afternoon Cryo.” “Oh. Good afternoon Cameron.” “Are you sleeping well, Cryo?” “Um… why do you ask, Cameron?” “You were… muttering some… strange things during your sleep. “…What things?” “You were saying things like large insects, Zeke, Servant, broken legs…” “Umm… Don’t… Don’t worry about it Cameron… It’s… just a dream.” “You sure Cryo?” “Yeah. I’m… sure.” “Well alright. Can you move?” Cryo poked his back legs out of the other side of his blanket, then his front legs, and spun himself around to be on his belly. He then lifted himself up from the bed, feet first, with his blanket still wrapped around his body. He began to walk around a little bit. It seemed the numbness has finally worn off. “Ahh. I can finally move again. He began to walk a bit around the room, clearly enjoying being mobile again. A big smile ran across his face. He went to his bed and grabbed his blanket, still wrapped around his body and pulled it off of himself and placed it on his bed. He then began walking toward his fridge. He unhooked his dragon ice pad from his head as he walked and placed it in his fridge.

“Ahhh. So nice to be able to walk like any dragon. Feel’s nice to not be a vegetable.” “You need a break, Cryo?” Cryo then realize he really did need one.” “Yeah. “I definitely need one.” “Let’s get you outside.” They began to quickly headed for the door and took a walk down the hallways of the base. “After your break, you remember what Dad said you should do, right?” “Actually, I forgot, Cameron.” “You need to take a bath. You kinda, smell a bit.” Cryo took a whiff of himself, and realized he was right. Being stuck in bed for a whole day with little movement along with no breaks in between and sweating all day. You probably would smell bad after. “Yea. Your right Cameron. I need a cleanup.”

So Cryo took his “break,” and came back inside and headed back to his room with Cameron. Right as he stepped into his room, he noticed that his blanket was gone from his bed. “I guess Ty is washing it. I hope I didn’t… Ah never mind…” thought Cryo. He went to his washroom on the right of his room, between his work area and his closet. Right as he entered, he went to take a look at himself in the mirror that was low to the ground on the left wall of the washroom. Under it was a small sink, a little bit raised above the ground. To the right of the sink was a talon dragon clipper, a custom dragon toothbrush (a bigger bush with a dip to the brush inside of it to better clean around his gums and around his fangs), Listerine, a blue towel with a picture of Cryo swimming in water hanging on the wall near the door for when he washes his hands in the sink after he works on repairing items, and a brush to groom his scales and get dirt and grime off. A bit further in on the left side, was a radio looked like a beach ball, custom made by Cryo himself and linked to the one near his hay bed with the same command system. There was two more bath towels hanging on the right wall on a rod, one with a cartoony picture of Cryo sunbathing on a beach in a blue beach chair and sunglasses with the words “Splashing and relaxing,” in yellow letters carved in the sand. The other towel was white and had a picture cartoony picture of Cryo smiling and facing forward. He was waving on it and his scales were glistening. The words “Clean Creature,” in Blue letters below. The room itself was a island and water theme at sunrise, with the ground being a hard, grainy floor imitating yellow sand with a very small but smooth, lumpy texture which also helps keep Cryo from slipping when wet. There was a small drain in the center of the room in case of spills from the bathtub or shower. The walls were made to imitate water surrounding it. The lower part of the wall had been painted to look like water with images of different sea life swimming through it while the upper part of the wallpaper had the horizon and was filled with flying dragons, with the wall on the left with a large sun and a picture of Cryo flying across it. In the very back however, was Cryo’s bathtub and shower, something Cryo desperately needed right now. The shower nozzle and bathtub nozzle were steel dragon heads, while the knobs for it were in the shape of dragon paws like his. He began to remember a bit of the day he helped forge and assemble the custom assets in his bathtub.

“Alright. Time to wash up. But first…” thought Cryo. He looked toward his bathroom radio. “Voice command.” “Voice command recognized. Radio model 4510 Beach bather is ready to receive command.” “Now what type of music should I listen too while I bathe?” he thought. He began to scratch under his chin a bit and then turned back to his radio with a small smile. “Play music from Capsule Creatures game playlist.” “Which song to start?” “Frozen frontier.” “Playing music.”

The radio began to play the tune which sounded like a peaceful tune, the type you’d hear wandering through a snow driven town on the mountains high up. He smiled and got into his tub and turned the nozzle on his bathtub, which immediately started to fill his tub with water. Stroking his paw with the flow of warm water, he began to start feeling a little more relaxed. “Ahh, nice and warm, just how I like my baths,” thought Cryo. Cryo’s tub soon filled with nice warm water and he began to sit himself down on his back with his head raised. He placed his hands on his belly and gave out a relaxing sigh. Cameron soon stepped into view of the door of Cryo’s washroom. “Do you need any help Cryo, or do you want some privacy?” “Just give me a little “me,” time, Cameron. I’ll be nice and clean soon.” “Alright Cryo.” Cameron shut the door to Cryo’s washroom and Cryo took a a few moments to take it in. Cryo began to dip his head underwater a few times slowly, and then started to rub some of the water into his head with his paws, getting it nice and wet. “After some of the crazy stuff I’ve been going through, I really needed something like this. Cryo then sat himself down and gave out a relaxed sigh.

But Cryo began to think back to the dreams he was having. “What could these strange dreams be about? I had one like this once, when I was still just a hatchling.” Cryo shook his head with a concerned look on his face. “I remember. My home was destroyed. My family was… well… no where to be seen.” Cryo paused. “And those dragons in those uniforms. That armor. Who were they?” Cryo began to think back to the second dream, with a look of bewilderment.

“Then I had that second dream, when I took a nap yesterday. I was in a… strange… prison complex. I was muzzled, trapped, and then… they appeared again.” Cryo slowly dipped his head underwater again and rubbed the scales on his head. “In both of those dreams, they said… someone wanted to meet me. In both instances, they… tried to blindfold me. Why? What did they not want me to see? The rest of the other dragons throughout the complex? And what was it about war and conquest they were talking about. It sounded frightening when they told me that. What… What in the world were they planning on doing with me? Nothing positive I imagine…”

Cryo stood straight up and took a bar of soap in the front left corner of the bathtub. He began to rub the scales on his stomach and back. “What was with Sureshot in the dream? He couldn’t possibly be real. They are just… movie characters, right? Me and… Tide… are the only dragons to have ever met humans. Isn’t that true? I mean… Cameron would have told me if there were a history of Dragon’s on…” Cryo paused and gave a small sigh… “On the destroyed Human home world.”

Cryo then began to take the bar of soap against his legs and paws, one at a time. “And the third dream…” Cryo began to slide the soap against his talons. “I woke up on CLEARLY on a different planet. Somewhere very far away. I wake up in a city, at night, in a crater and a indention in the wall near it. My leg was broken, along with other injuries, which implies I made that from falling from VERY high above.” Cryo began to breath a little more heavily. “And then… I… struggle to move out of the alleyway, only to find that… I was…”

Cryo dipped down in the water and came up again and then began to twist himself so that he could rub his tail with the soap. He began to slowly scrub his tail with the soap. “I was surrounded by large bugs. Bugs that were almost as tall as an… adult human. Maybe even a bit bigger.” Cryo raised his head again and began using his paws to splash water on his face, as if he is waking from a bad dream. “They… took me. Onto a large… ship. Possibly a spaceship, in the shape of a giant beetle.” Cryo took a bottle from the front right side of his bath tub and began to squeeze some dragon head scale soap from it. He rubbed his paws a bit together. He began to close his eyes tightly and began to rub across his entire head with it, making sure to cover every part with the head soap.

“They put me in a glass pen. I remember… I was… scared at first… but then, that one spider, came over. What was his name?” Cryo concentrated for a moment and lowered his body a bit in the water. “It was Zeke, right? Zeke… He comforted me. He was nice to me. I remember telling him about my home here.” Cryo took in a deep breath and then dipped his whole body and head underwater, lifting it back up very soon after, with water drenching off of all his scales. “Zeke was very interested in humans. Come to think of it… right as I mentioned human’s, the other guards there… they came over to listen as well.” Cryo dipped himself underwater again, this time sitting underwater a bit longer. “There was Firestorm, Stinger Spider, Strike Sniper, and Battle Beetle in the flying the ship.” “And, I think those were all codenames. Zeke had one too. I think he was… Spider Shadowshot…” Cryo lifted himself from out of the water and shook a bit, water splashing around the tub. He sat himself back in the tub again. “At least after I told my story, they trusted me enough to transport me without the need of restraint devices. But then…” Cryo turned his head toward the entrance. “Then I think I blacked out, or at least I think I did. But then that other… dragon appeared.”

“He seemed… different then what I met a before. No metal suit. Didn’t seem to want to harm or terrorize me either, thankfully… I think he said his name was… Servant. He seemed to know me somehow. He said he’s been watching my progress. But how would that be possible? Hmm…” Cryo put his paws in the water and splashed his face a couple times. “Didn’t he say, that we had a “connection,” somehow. But how could that be? Could we be related? Or… could we somehow have met and I didn’t know?” Cryo began scratch his head a bit, and place his paw on his eyes and rubbed them a bit. “Now that I think about it, that dragon… he knew Zeke, didn’t he? He did mention him. And before they took me away, the bugs there knew that I was a dragon. They said they knew it from ancient texts. Didn’t they also mention Zeke there as well? Does Zeke somehow know about dragons?” Cryo felt that he was clean enough and opened the drain in the tub to empty the water. Cryo stepped out and grabbed a large towel, hanging on the right side on a bar, close to the tub, and started to dry himself with it. “That dragon mentioned a bit about humans as well. Come to think of it, he seemed to know about Earth as well. Suddenly, Cryo’s eyes lit up, and he began to realize something. He remembered back to something Cameron said before he went to sleep that night.

When Cryo asked if Cameron thought there was any life left on Earth, he replied “I’m not sure really. Maybe a few bugs perhaps. Bugs seem to be able to survive anything.” Cryo began to breath a little more heavily. “Wait a second! Could that place I was at! That planet. Could that have been… Earth!” Cryo began to stop drying himself with the towel. He wrapped the towel behind his lower body and began to creep near the door. He creaked his door open to peek at Cameron, who was playing his Ignition console at the table near the fridge. Cryo then slowly closed the door and went back to the mirror with his towel with a look of disbelief.

“If… that really was Earth. That means… it wasn’t destroyed after all!” Cryo began to grin again and started to dry himself again.” “It survived! If what servant said was true…” Cryo stopped rubbing the towel against his scales and put it back on the bar. “I remember learning in science class, during biology week, the concept of evolution. How one species introduced into a new environment can evolve through time in order to better survive. Like with the chillins.” Cryo decided to brush his teeth as well while he was thinking of this revelation. He picked up his toothbrush and the toothpaste (his toothpaste is made with a stronger oral cleansing formula, as his teeth and gums are larger, stronger, and require a bit more work to clean). He poured toothpaste onto it, and began brushing.

“If thats the case, then it seems that the original bugs on the world there that survived the damages and went through evolution. They become the future of Earth! Servant said that they went through considerable effort to keep nature in balance. I remember that there was a good amount of plant life near the area I landed at. I also saw a good amount outside the alleyway and at their base. I thought I landed at a park when I first ended up there. I guess they learned from whatever the “ancient texts,” they found. Storybooks maybe? It would also explain their fascination with humans. What type of sentient society would not be interested with ancient technologically advanced creatures that came before them. Probably learned the dangers over harvesting resources as well from those books as well, one way or another. I wonder if all the cities back there are made with combining nature and technology to keep the balance between both.” Cryo began to swish the toothpaste within his mouth a bit and then spit out. He took a glass located in a cupboard behind the mirror and filled it with a little water. He took a small sip then then spit it back out with a nice big “PTEW.” “I wonder how the plants grew back? I thought most were over harvested. Maybe just enough were left and they were able to pollinate, repopulate and refresh Earth’s trees and plants. Not to mention important components of life like oxygen.” Cryo took the Listerine from the cupboard and sipped a bit into his mandibles. After swishing them a bit in his mouth, he gave another big “PTEW,” again.” . “Hmm… But a few things he said… sounded worrisome.” 

Cryo gave a concerned look and took the same glass and poured water into it and drank it. “He said… a fight was coming… Not only back on Earth. It would come… here as well.” He turned to his radio. “Turn off radio.” “Turning off radio.” The radio’s tune turned off and the room was silenced. Cryo headed for the door.

Cryo gripped the knob and opened the door back to his room. Cameron noticed and gave a smile back at him as he walked over. Cameron noticed the concerned face on Cryo as he stepped over to meet Cameron at the table. “Hey Cryo. You… feeling ok. You look pretty glum.” “Um… Yea… I’m ok Cameron.” “You still a little sick?” “Um… Yea. Just an occasional stiffness.” “Well with most of the bad stuff out of your system, you’ll feel better soon.” “Yeah… Right Cameron.” “Well, you want to do something fun?” “Um… yea. Why don’t we play catch outside.” “Alright. Come on buddy.” The two headed for the door and headed down the hall with a small ball. Cryo began to think. “A fight. Those dreams. Could they be a vision of things to come. Or… are they things warning me of the potential future I might have. If the latter is the case, is there any way I can change it? Servant said… I have to fight… But I… I really haven’t tried my abilities out that much. I wonder if the people here would teach me combat. But… They don’t want me to fight I think. I was always told never to attack others. It’s bad. But if something this bad is coming here, and to Earth… I… I have to protect them somehow. But… I’m… a new species here. A creature born somewhere no one else has been. I… really don’t know where I came from. I… remember faintly.”

“I was born in the back of a truck filled with hay, like my bed. I couldn’t walk then. Or at least, not very well… I never knew my mother… my real mother… before then. She’s just always been asleep. My adopted parents told my she fell ill saving many people, including them. If she was awake, maybe she could tell me more… What should I do now? Now that I think about it, should I tell the others? Would they believe me? Even if they did, there is no telling how they would take it. It just might make things worse. Or they’ll think I’m overworking and going crazy… Sigh… I… think its best I keep this to myself for now.”

So the day passed. Cameron and Cryo played catch with each other and watched the second Dragon Tamer movie. Soon it was dinner time. Ty had made some Zurburgers and hot dogs on the small portable grill for Cryo and Cameron to eat. Cryo was tired soon after and decided to go to sleep early again tonight. Fortunantly, Ty came back with his blanket when Cryo ate his dinner, all clean and smelling of a pleasant forest meadow. “You going to be OK for a bit by yourself Cryo?” asked Cameron “Yes. I could use a bit more sleep before I try to repair some of the items on my workbench tomorrow.” “Alright. Have a good sleep.” Cameron turned the light off in Cryo’s room and left. Cryo wrapped himself tightly with his blanket and laid down on his hay bed. “Maybe if I have another dream like that… I can get some answers. I could use some extra sleep anyway.” Cryo turned his head toward the radio near his bed. “Voice command.” “Ready to receive order.” “Turn on music perfect for sleep.” “Turning to Naptunes channel.” A DJ on the radio station came on in a low key voice. “This next smooth song is inspired by the sacrifice of one hero in the classic movie, Evolving world. Hold your ears for the song, Parting hurts.” A melody came out of the radio that Cryo had never heard on the channel before, and quickly felt something from it. A sense of wonder, adventure, and strangely… loss. As the music played in his head, his eyes grew droopy and his head felt fuzzy. He gave out a yawn, huddled himself tightly in his blanket, and fell into a deep lulling slumber.

Ch 9

Battle Brawl

Cryo head span as he opened his eyes, curious as to whether he was dreaming again or not. As his eyes came into focus, he realized he was in a completely black room. He couldn’t see anything. “Am I? Back in the medical wing back on Earth?” He looked around to see if he was on a bed or something similar. But he couldn’t see anything. He felt cold air around him, and the floor felt like ice. Yet it was not slippery. “Aghh… I can’t see. Where am I now? I’m going to have to try to feel my way around. Hopefully I can find something to light up the area.” Cryo began to carefully step around the area, trying to feel anything that could help him understand where he was. As he felt around, he began to see a small light floating near him. “Huh? That light… Isn’t that a luminescent spark fly (Basically a 4 wing bug that is similar to a firefly and a dragonfly, that glow at night with a different color glows, depending on the season). It began to circle around his head a bit and made Cryo quite curious. It began to drift away from him though. “Hey wait. Come back! Where are you going!” Cryo began to chase the light. “This thing is much more agile then a Spark fly. Every time I get close, it just seems to go faster and starts getting away again. Its changing colors a bit too. Its changing between different blue hues,” thought Cryo.

He continued to chase the strange light and began to see something in the distence. “There is a light shining from above over there. This thing is headed straight for it. What is it?” Cryo and the light continued to head towards it. Soon enough, they now stood in front of what appeared to be a layer of ice around something. “What is this?” thought Cryo. “The light…” The strange light Cryo had been chasing somehow passed through the ice. As it dug further in, it seemed to start to illuminate something inside of it.” “There’s something in there. What is it?”

Soon, Cryo began to make out something was inside the ice, encased in it. As he took a closer look, he saw that it was a blue dragon!” “Is that… Mom?” Cryo looked upon the inside of the ice incasing and realized it was indeed her. “What is going on here” What is she doing here, frozen like this?” Cryo then heard a voice. “Your mother sleeps, her mind frozen in time,” it said. “Huh? Who said that?” “You possess amazing abilities, and yet you’ve only just begun to realize what they are capable of.” Cryo stayed silent, a little wary of the voice. “The freezing can be undone. But only if its done here, young dragon. “…And how would I do that.” “A spark is all she needs. Just one. You carry it within you.” “…And how would I get it out.” “You already know that one, young dragon. Think. And it will come to you.” Cryo realized this must be some type of puzzle. But a spark. Where could he get one. But then he had an idea. His saliva…

“Worth a shot I guess…” Cryo dabbed his talon a bit in his mouth, and then touched the frozen ice with the tip, suddenly, talon became stuck! “What the! Let go!” Suddenly, the spark seemed to course through the ice, and the ice started to crack. “Uh oh!” Pulling as hard as he could he yanked his hand from the ice and quickly backed away. The ice coursed with electricity and then the ice shattered, releasing Tide from the ice. Cryo approached her. “Mom?” She didn’t move. Suddenly the area and scene transformed, and Cryo saw what appeared to be a volcanic ravaged land around him. “Where?…” He looked back to his mother, with the frozen bed had become a hard stone with his mother laying on top of it. He looked back, and saw something was approaching him. Huh? Who are?… Uh oh…”

Cryo realized the approaching figures, were his enemies from the dreams. The dragons from before. “This isn’t good. The voice from above called again. “Unleash yourself upon them. Your ancient bloodline… You are more then they could ever be. Focus yourself, and your power will come. Clear your mind, take a deep breath, and unleash your ice storm!” With his enemies approaching quickly, and with little choice, Cryo complied. He slowly closed his eyes, taking slow and steady deep breaths. Clearing his head of the sounds of the approaching mob he felt something. Like his ancestral line trying to guide him. As they approached he took in a deep breath a blasted the approaching hoard with a stream of cold ice, freezing them solid. Another wave approached from the behind. Cryo spread his wings and flew into the air and blasted a set of med sized icicles from his wings. They slammed into a couple of the soldiers and shattered as they made contact, knocking them out. “A fire rages on. Douse it.” Cryo saw a group of dragons about to unleash a fire breath on him.” Cryo huddled himself into a ball and a bubble of pure water was created around him. As the dragon’s attempted to breath fire on him, it was quickly extinguished by the bubble. Cryo then extended his paws out towards the dragons and blasted each with a jet of water from the bubble. Releasing the bubble around him, he saw one person left. The commander. Taking out a large electric baton, he rushed Cryo quickly. Attempting to slam Cryo from above, Cryo quickly rolled out of the way. Cryo then lunged at him and knocked him across his head with his wings. He quickly picked himself up again though and tried to slash at him with it. Thinking quick, Cryo put up a small wall of ice using his breath to block the attack. Cryo then kicked the ice forward, hitting the commanders legs. The blow caused him to trip and drop his baton. Cryo, having had enough of this began heard the voice one last time. “Unleash your fury, and show them what it means to be true dragon.” Cryo hovered himself in the air, and began to glow within a brilliant cyan light. Stretching his paws and wings out, a massive blast of freezing cold, blew through the area, covering all in thick ice. The entire battlefield was an ice now. Cryo had won. “The battle is won. Wake up and be reunited. There is a long road ahead of you. But your mother… she’s coming home,” said the voice. Suddenly the entire scene went to white.

Ch 10

Tense Trip

Cryo slowly came out of his daze and looked around. He saw he was back in his normal room with the alarm on his custom radio going off. “Ugh… That last dream was pretty crazy.” Cryo looked at his clock, which read, 9:00 A.M. Cryo lifted his front claws and pushed the blanket off of him. He turned off the alarm and then he went to get some milk from his fridge and quickly slurped it down with a nice big “GULP.” Rubbing his eyes, he went over to look out the window to his room, and began to think about the dream. “Hmm… That dream. That strange light. Could that have been…” Cryo began turn his head to the side. “That was a nasty fight. Hmm… Was it… trying to help me learn to fight. That dream seemed to be an end to something, or perhaps… a beginning. It was very different to what I’ve had before. It doesn’t… feel like a continuation of events. Not this time. It felt like something outside what I’ve been witnessing.” Cryo gave out a sigh, and laid down, looking towards the deep mountain range behind the base. It started to rain outside, with a mist beginning to form around as it fell. He began to think again. “Was that light… really my mother?” Cryo thought for a moment.

“It’s… a little colder today. Perhaps… it would be a good idea to put on a jacket.” Cryo headed towards his closet. He searched through it a picked out a nice silver jacket zip up jacket. Cryo carefully slipped his wings through the slits in the back so his wings could spread outside of it and then zipped it up from the front. Cryo then went back to his bed to think. 

“I… I never really knew her. When I was just an egg she… she… got sick.” Cryo looked towards the ceiling. “She’s been asleep for so long. I always thought she had already passed on. I remember the last time I saw her asleep was… Before I was taken. They always told me that she was still breathing. But…” Cryo put his head down again. “It was the ones who adopted me who took care of me. Dad, Suzy, and Noble. They always looked after me. Tended to mom while she was asleep too…” Cryo began to think about some of the times he spent with them. While it was short, he still wishes he could see them again.

Giving out a sigh, he turned to look at the TV, remembering some of the shows he watched while here. One he took in mind was a movie, based on an alien who arrives on the planet and is taken in by the military for fear of what is was and why it was here. This reminded him of himself. He seemed to be no different. “I’ve been here for 5 years. I remember the first few month’s here were… difficult. I was no different then a wild animal, at least to them.” Cryo gave out a sigh and then stretched his limbs around him. “Then, they gave me an actual room. They started to treat me better. Made me feel more… human, I suppose. But…” Cryo looked toward the door and saw that no one was there. “But it was never the same. I wish… there was a way… I could see them. That last thing in that dream. That last thing she said. She was… coming home. What did the voice mean by that?”

Cryo picked himself up, and looked toward the exit to his room. “Cameron, Gerald, or Ty haven’t come to see me yet. They are usually here by now. Is something going on?” Cryo checked his clock again, which now read 9:30 A.M. “Maybe I should look for them. They probably need to know I’m awake. I know they worry about me quite a bit. Especially after recent events.” Cryo headed towards the door to his room. He slowly turned the knob on his door to open it, and he found Ty, Cameron, and Gerald at the door, about to open it themselves. “Oh. Hi Cryo!” said Cameron. “Huh? Oh. Hi guys.” replied Cryo. “Cryo. We have wonderful news for you,” said Ty. “Wonderful news?” “Yes. We have something very special to show you.” “Really? What is it?” “Come with us Cryo.” ” replied Gerald. “Well… alright then.”

They took Cryo down through the hallways of the living quarters building and outside towards medical. “We’re going to medical?” “Yeah Cryo,” replied Cameron. “Am I getting a checkup after being sick?” “Actually, no. That’s tomorrow. Someone want’s to meet you.” replied Ty. “Someone? Who?” “You’ll see Cryo.” Cryo, while curious as to who, knew they were probably not going to tell him. They continued on to medical.

They entered the building and Cryo saw that there were many medical officers in the lab today, wearing blue hospital attire. “What’s with all the doctors here right now? Usually I only see Nancy and some of the other nurses and caretakers around? All others are always busy with the others being treated here,” said Cryo. “You’ll see…” said Gerald. They continued to walk down the hall through the hospital, and eventually made their way to an elevator deep in. The three entered the elevator and headed down. “That’s strange… I’ve never been taken into this part of the building before. Where are we going?” he thought. It soon opened up to a security checkpoint at the bottom, with a x ray scanner to check for held metal objects and several guards placed around to keep an eye on things. Cryo began to get nervous from the high security here. Something very important is here. But what? The group slid their held items through the scanner and were checked by a team of officers there. They were returned shortly after. “Your clear to pass,” the officer there said. “Alright. Come on everyone.” They approached the door at the end of the claustrophobic hallway. Slowly, the metal doors rose up. It looks like Cryo was about to find what this is all about. “Come on in everyone. You too Cryo,” said Gerald.

Cryo stepped into the room, and could see that the room that they had entered in seemed… strange for a high security area of the medical building. He expected to find a room filled with vials containing all sorts of nasty viruses and dangerous chemicals being tested here to find new medical cures or… other reasons. He expected that the walls inside would be pure reinforced chrome steel and the floors would have drains inside to dilute said items in case of a spill. But none of that was here.

Instead, the walls were painted, similar to his own room, with pictures of humans and dragons living together on a mountain range. The walls weren’t made of steel chrome, but of a smooth concrete, and the ceiling showed the picture of a sun, with a small lamp shedding light in the room above, over a very large medical bed in the back. The really big bed was covered in a blue blanket with a water motif. Cryo thought there might be something under it. Something rather large… Next to the bed, there was a cabinet with chillin tenders and fried tato on top (based on the fries of Earth. Potato plants are known as tato and went through evolution after some time on this world. Pronounced tay-to) Cryo quickly noticed there were two sets there, and Cryo liked these quite a bit… Now he was really nervous. “Umm… this doesn’t… feel right. Somethings… off. Are they planning on locking me in here because of the events from the ocean? I would think… that’s… a little extreme, to protect me…” Cryo began to turn his head nervously toward the others. “Um… guys…” said Cryo. “Yes, Cryo?” replied Ty. “Your not… locking me in this room for the rest of my life, Right?”

“Relax Cryo. This is where she’s been sleeping.” “She…” “Yes Cryo. Why don’t you go over and take a look. She’s been waiting for you. We brought one of your favorites to eat with her,” replied Gerald. “Uh… Huh…” said Cryo. Cryo thought about the situation. He could get in REAL trouble if he doesn’t go over, especially if he tries to run out now… Is this a trick to get him away from the door? To lock him into this room forever with no sun, no toys or tools. Nothing but bunch of painted walls. But why would they want to trick him though. They’ve been the only family he’s had other then back with Greg. They wouldn’t do that, right? “Come on Cryo, don’t be nervous. This isn’t a trick. I promise. Now come on,” said Ty. “Al… Alright,” said Cryo. Cryo slowly approached the bed keeping his eye on the door behind him. He realized he was right about there something big being under the covers. He took one last look at the door. He went to the front, and saw a familiar face, covered comfortably under the blanket.” “Hello… my son,” Tide said. “Mm… Mom?” “Yes, my baby boy. I heard that you were called, Cryo. I think that’s a cute name.” “Mom…” Cryo huddled next to his mother’s head a gave a nuzzle against her.

Ch 11

Virtuous Visit

“Isn’t that cute guys. See Cryo, we weren’t going to do anything to you.” said Gerald. “Yea. Don’t you trust us, silly?” asked Cameron. “I shouldn’t have doubted any of you. Thanks.” said Cryo. “Do you, want us to give you some privacy with your mom?” “Yeah… just… a little bit of time.” “Alright… why don’t you eat together. “Alright thanks. The group left the room but Ty turned back for a second.” “Oh. Cryo. I forgot to give you this.” Ty pulled out a small radio and gave it to Cryo. “What’s this for?” he asked. “We’re going to have to lock the security door behind you. Use that radio and the guards at the security station here will open the door to let you out. Unfortunately, your mothers is weak right now and can’t move much.” “Is she infected with Nume poison?” “No. She’s woke up from a sleep that has lasted longer then any known person here, and possibly anywhere. It might be some time for her strength to return. Until then, I think it would be great if you two… got to know each other a bit. I know she would like that.” “Alright then. Thanks.” They headed out of the room and the security door shut behind them. 

Feeling relieved that they weren’t locking him up for eternity, he took the tray of food to his mom and laid it on her medical bed. “ Can you eat, mom?” “Yes. I feel weak… ugh… but… I can eat. Tide slowly lifted herself further up on the pillow on her medical bed, and slowly lifted her arms to pull the tray close to her. Cryo took his tray of food and sat it next to him on a small bed of hay next to the bed. It was clear it was meant for him.

They began to eat, with Cryo looking at her mother’s sluggish movements. “You sure your ok, Mom?” “It’s going to take some time for my strength to return. I’ve missed so much of your life, my baby boy.” “Mom… come on now. I’m… grown up.” “You’ll always be my baby to me. I heard you’ve… become quite fixer upper.” “Yea. I guess Mom. I… learned it only from the best…” “You mean with Noble and the others?” “Yea. It’s been about, 5 years since I saw them.” “Yes. I could see how troubled you were.” “What do you mean, Mom?”

“I may have been asleep, but I have been watching over you since then. Certain dragon’s with strong, loving bonds can watch over and interact over long distances with the people they love, even when injured or asleep.” Tide took a bite out of a chillin tender. “How, mom?” “It’s an ability called, Oversoul. I have been watching you as I was asleep, watching you become quite a smart little Dragon. I was worried about you adapting to human culture, especially when you were taken away. “You… watched that?…” “Yes. I… wasn’t to happy about that at first. But they soon turned into a loving family on their own, and I could only forgive what they did after that. “Rerr… really?” “Yes. It took a bit of time, but they realized what you were. Not a silly wild animal, but an intelligent, kind, and good little boy. They gave you a new home, a new room, toys and tools to use, and of course, put you in school. I can see that there was a little struggle with those naughty kids, but they just don’t see that your no different then them. You never once tried to lash out against them. You knew better.” “I really didn’t know how to fight then anyway. And Cameron was always there to cheer me up. Just like… like…” Cryo paused and looked at the front wall of the room near the exit, with a large wall with a picture of him standing on top of a snowy peak overlooking a forest. “Like Noble…” “You really miss them, don’t you?” “Yeah. I really do. With the dreams I have been having, I remembered them. I remember the day they took me. My… first birthday.” Cryo gave a small frown but quickly turned back to a small smile. “But. I have to stay here. For them. If I tried to run away. I’d… be putting their lives at risk. It’s not by any means, bad living here. But… It’s… never really been the same.” “I know. Growing up is always hard. There are ups and downs in life. But think of this Cryo. You might be able to see them again soon enough.” “Wha?… What do you mean, Mom?” “I have something to tell you. Something you’ll enjoy. You see…” 

Ch 12

Uninvited Usurpers

As she was about to continue her speech, she felt something was off. The room’s lights flickered on and off a bit. “What’s wrong with the lights? A power surge?” asked Cryo. “No… it’s…” She then very faint sound. She looked toward the air vent of the room. She heard what appeared to be some very low banging noise, popping in quick intervals. “Cryo. Somethings wrong.” “What? Wrong?” About a few minutes later, they heard it banging again, closer and seemingly in the hallway leading to here. It then stopped.” They now saw the security door to the room was starting it’s unlocking sequence. “Huh. Are the others back?” said Cryo.” “Cryo, quick! Freeze the door!” “Huh? Wh…” “JUST DO IT BEFORE THEY GET IN!” Cryo rushed over to the door. Taking in a brig breath of air he quickly let out a strong stream of ice, which covered the door and froze the opening mechanisms.

“Ok Mom… Why did I do that, considering that was the only way out?” But as Cryo said that, he began to hear something from outside the door. Pressing his ear up against the ice covered door, he tried to listen in. “Door’s not opening. Something is wrong with it.” “What do you mean?! We come this far only to get stopped by a door of all things!” The voice paused for a second. “What are our options. It’s not going to take them long to realize we’re here now.” “Huh? Who are these people? They don’t sound like they are from here…” thought Cryo. Cryo then heard a tapping from the door. A voice started up. “Hello? Dragon. We’re here to take you home.” “Huh, what do they mean?” thought Cryo. Cryo gave no answer back. “Come on dragon. Open up. We won’t hurt you.” “What happened to the people in the security station,” thought Cryo. “Come on. Open up. We’re here to take you back to your family on the mountains.” “Huh? Back on the mountains? Do they mean…” “We were hired by your family to take you back. Come on dragon. Open up. I promise we won’t hurt you.” “Don’t listen to them Cryo. They aren’t here to take you back to them,” said Tide. “I know Mom. It’s too good to be true. Considering what happened back at the ocean…” Cryo paused for a moment, remembering the chase. “Ugh… How on earth did they get here? How did they get past security? The last thing I need is to be paralyzed again.” said Cryo. He pressed his head towards the door again. “Still no response from inside. Guess we’ll just have to blow open the door. Get the explosives ready.”

“Explosives!” exclaimed Cryo. Cryo backed away from the door quickly wondering what he can do now. “Once that door opens. we’ll need to subdue the both of them quickly. Throw a flashbang in to disorientate them. Should be easy to take them after. Whole base will probably be alerted. We’ll have to move quickly to get out.” said someone outside. “Cryo. Your going to have to fight them.” “Fight them? They’re probably armed to the teeth with all sorts of crazy weapons. With you bed ridden, well. It’s going to be hard to protect us both.” 

“You can do it Cryo. Don’t doubt yourself. Keep a clear head. And focus. Don’t worry. Your ice stream will immobilize them without causing permanent damage to their body. Once that door breaks, you’ll need to act fast.” Hearing these words, Cryo knew there was no options left. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Cryo moved towards the bed. “Hide under the bed Cryo to protect yourself from the shrapnel blast from the door.” “What about you?” Tide then breathed a small stream of ice to create a small ice wall in front of the bed. “That should protect me.”

“Explosives are set. T minus 15 seconds.” said a voice outside. “Alright, everyone. Get back.” Cryo quickly ducked under the medical bed and started to count down the timer in his head. “15… 14… 13…” Cryo took some more deep breaths in and covered his eyes. “9… 8… 7…” Cryo plugged his ears with his talons and thought about his friends here at the base. “Are they alright?” he thought. “4… 3… 2…” Cryo took in a big deep breath, the deepest he ever took. “1… 0!”

Cryo quickly shielded his eyes with his wings as the door burst open and hit the wall, creating a big dent in it! An alarm started to sound in the medical wing. “Security breach in high security wing. Repeat. Security breach in high security wing,” said the intercom. A canister the ground inside hit the ground inside and let out a bright flash. “Security breach in high security wing. Repeat. Security breach in high security wing,” said the intercom. Let’s get those two!” the group said.

A couple of people in black masks and dark combat suits quickly darted in weapons trained on on the ice wall and Tide near the bed. “Where is the small one?” “Right here you cold crew!” said Cryo as he quickly rolled from under the bed to the front, unleashing a stream of ice to encapsulate the people unfortunate enough to step in. A couple took cover outside the door. They then poked themselves in and readied there weapons to fire at them. Cryo recognized the same weapons used on him from before. “Cryo, quick! Create an Frost barrier! Freeze the ground up!” “Fire!” said someone outside the doorway. Cryo quickly concentrated his ice stream on the ground and made a wall to protect himself behind. The men began to try to fire their shots, but just ended up getting stuck in ice. “Drat. He’s made cover for himself!” “Get out your Shock strikers.” “Looks like they’re going to try to fight hand to hand now,” said Cryo. “That’ll be a mistake. Get him, my good little boy.” said Tide. “Aww come on mom. This now of all times?” “Alright boys. Rush them!”

The lot of the group came in to try and take Cryo by beating him with shock strikers. One quickly tried to bash Cryo on the head with a downward swing with his shock striker. Cryo rolled out of the way and hit the man with his wings against his legs to knock him down. He then tried to swipe him from the floor. Jumping up, Cryo rushed him, with a coating of ice generating around Cryo’s paw. He quickly slammed his ice covered hand directly across the side of the assailants head, shattering the ice. Another tried to jab him with it. Cryo ducked and then spin to swipe at him with his tail, knocking him down. Another tried to hit him from behind, but Cryo rolled forward and then shot a small blast of cold water to knock his assailant against his frozen compatriots which shattered, releasing them. They were pretty hurt from the attack though, and were unable to continue their attack further. One final crewman came in, trying to hit him with a tranquilizer dart. He tried to fire, but Cryo, thinking fast, shot a blast of water at his feet, knocking him to the floor as he fired, causing the dart to bounce off the ceiling and hit him instead. “Light’s out, you devolved brute,” Cryo smugly said.

Ch 13

Cruel Kidnapping

Three more came around him to surround him. “Your a real nuisance, dragon. We are running low on time here, so unless you come with us, we’ll have to beat you and your mother into coming with us.” Cryo become quite enraged by that comment. “Relax Cryo. Don’t give into rage. He’s trying to rile you up” said Tide. “Shut up you science project! Come on dragon. You really want to try our patience here?” Cryo realized whoever this was must be the leader of the group. The assailant then pulled something out of his pocket. “Oh no! That’s a detonator!” exclaimed Cryo. “That’s right dragon. I personally don’t care about you or anyone in this building. But it goes boom if you both don’t come with us.” “You coward! Hiding behind an explosive payload just to take the both of us. Why do you want the both of us anyway!?” “Shut it. Times running out boy. Bombs been wired to the supports of this structure and we have one more with us. All wired for 5 minutes left. Come with us, or no one gets out of this building.” “Ughhh…” Cryo looked at his mother, who showed equal concern as him. She didn’t know what to do either.

“…Fine. You win. Disable the explosives, and we’ll come with you…” “That’s a good boy.” The other men in the room picked up themselves up. 2 men picked up the other assailant who was hit with the dart and carried him out. “Get the medical restraint beds in here you two. Strap the both of them down in it tightly. We’ll cover the both of them in heavy blankets. Tie wires around their mandibles. We won’t need these sleeping darts for these two now. We’ll roll out of here in a medical jumpship. It will be big enough to fit all of us and our “cargo.” We’re going to be REAL rich boys. No one will dare try to stop us once we show the detonator.” Two men came in with medical beds stolen from the upper floors. They quickly and roughly grabbed Cryo and slammed him to the bed on his back. “Agh! Quit being so rough!” Cryo said. They then strapped heavy duty reenforced leather straps around his body, neck, arms, and legs pinning him down tightly to the bed. They laid something else next to him, but Cryo could not tell what exactly it was with his movement restricted so much. They then tied a thin wire around his mandibles. They quickly did the same with Tide. They took blankets and covered the both of them with it and then soon carted them off toward the elevator. As they exited the elevator, they were met with plenty of soldiers with guns trained on them.

“Freeze!” One of the soldiers said. “Oh I don’t think so everyone.” “Take a look at what I have.” He held up the detonator. “Now. We’re going to walk out of here with these two to a transport. If any one of us doesn’t make it, well…” The figure stepped forward. “We’ll blow this entire building and your “precious research projects.” He then revealed the both of the dragons to the group. “There’s a bomb on their beds!” said a soldier. “Now. We don’t need to waste innocent life here, do we? If your all smart, you’ll let us pass. Because we also planted a bomb on all the support structures in the building. Going to blow this entire building to the moon! Now then. What are you all going to do?” “Ugh… don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. Let them pass. Don’t risk your lives for us,” thought Cryo. He wished he could speak right now. “Let them through,” said Ty, who was over to the side. The soldiers lowered their weapons. “Now. That’s better. Come on everyone. Let’s cash out.” The group headed towards a medical carrier in the vehicle bay and loaded both of them into a small compartment in the back of the plane. The plane took off with hordes of concerned patrons watching helplessly as they take off “Cryo…” said Cameron.

New known abilities:

Frozen Fist: He can cover his entire paw with ice to Smash his enemies with it.

Ice spikes: Lashes his wing forward to shoot a small array of icicles at his opponent

Bubble Block: Creates a bubble of water around his body, making attacking Cryo less effective from projectiles and melee getting slowed by water and is also VERY effective to protect himself from fire based attacks. Also can extend his arms out within the bubble to shoot out strong streams water from the bubble.

Cold Cover: Blows a stream of ice on the ground up, allowing him to take cover behind it.

Forever freeze: Unleashes a very powerful blast of ice around the entire area, covering all people and objects in a thick sheet of Cryogenic ice. Very powerful, but uses a lot of energy.

New known likes:

Movies

Calm sleeping music (typically Naptunes channel)

Baths

New Known dislikes

Paralysis

Sweating too much

Suspicion

Being a prisoner

Prologue

Cryo’s mother, Tide, and Ferrin dragon, had just left her war torn homeworld with her precious child, who was still in an egg. She used a special portal to escape the clutches of a group of warmongering dragons. The portal was destroyed in the jump, along with her lab and all the data.

She woke up on a world where humanity had moved to after earth fell to some cataclysmic event. She was found and tended to by a family of humans. Their names were, Suzy, Greg, and their son, Noble. They tended to Tide and helped her get better, while also keeping her egg safe.

After some time with living with them, she learned to speak with them and told them about her home planet and the plight she witnessed. Greg had plans of revealing her existence to the world, but worried about what could happen if its known she built a portal. But it didn’t take long for things to go sideways.

A massive storm hit the suburbs they were in right as they were going to move out to reveal Tide to a group of biological researchers. Tide’s power prevented the town from being destroyed but, she fell into a deep deep slumber as a result. Even worse, the military had taken interest in the storms dissipation and sent units to find the cause of the massive storms sudden disappearance.

But during that time, the little dragon hatched. With his help, they were able to escape the suburbs and out deep into the mountains. Greg decided it would be best to go into hiding to protect the little dragon and his mother and wait for tide to wake up, so they might be able to find someplace safe to live. They named the little dragon Cryo and got to work taking care of him

A year passed and the little dragon was liking his home and his family. But one day, His big brother, Noble, was running late. Curious as to why he was taking so long, he went to find him at the school. But when he got there, he saw that he was being bullied by some kids there. Getting mad, he soaked the kids with his water breath and Noble quickly take him back home, hoping he wasn’t seen.

The next day, it was Cryo’s first birthday, and he would be taken near a lake deep into the forest. Cryo would play with his big brother and have a birthday feast. Cryo would have a strange dream when he took a nap later, dreaming that the dragons from his home world were trying to take him and his entire family. He woke up and finally got a chance to swim. Unfortunately, it turns out someone did see Cryo when he soaked those bullies. They made a call and the military units showed up and ruined his party. Seeing the military trying to get the info on where he was, Cryo surrendered himself and said one last goodbye to his adopted family before being taken away, leaving heartbroken knowing he’ll probably never see them again…

Ch 1

Depressed Dragon

Cryo was taken to a military research center all the way across the mountains in a region of the planet called Crota (the base was located outside the limits of a city called Midnook Bay near the mountains. The area was in a warmer part of the world, and a much lower elevation than his previous home). The soldiers had allowed him to look through the tinted windows of their armored vehicle the whole time since he gave himself up earlier and was behaving. The trip took quite some time, but they at least kept him in relative comfort while riding. They also made a small bed for him and he took a nap in between the trip as well. As they made it into the city, he was a bit surprised at the scene. This was the first time Cryo had ever been close to a big city and took at least some interest in it. They traveled outside the city’s limits and drove off road to a military research complex a bit away from the city itself.

They brought Cryo inside a medical center in the complex for a checkup to see if he was healthy. The medical team inside the base immediately got to work. While they had taken the research notes that Greg had in the house, all but 1 medical professional disregarded most of it due to how ridiculous it sounded for when he was watching both Tide and Cryo. So instead, they decided they would observe on their own. They gave Cryo some booster shots, took blood and saliva, checked blood pressure, took x rays, and took some physical tests, such as height, weight, running on a treadmill, and other things, similar to what you would have at a regular doctor’s appointment. The researchers there noticed how Cryo wasn’t making any attempt to resist them, including when they were taking blood and giving booster shots. He wouldn’t even fight back. He just closed his eyes tightly and looked away, as they put the needle into him, seemingly bracing for when the needle would pierce into his scaly skin. They also began to think that he seemed to understand them, as he seemed to follow their lead and commands on each procedure. Managing Cryo through each of their procedures was surprisingly incredibly easy for them, something they really didn’t expect at all.

After his checkup, they moved him into a secure observation room that had a small pool of freshwater in the back (for Cryo to swim and bathe in), two bowls for feeding, a couple of chew toys, and pink leaved tree, and a glass window and an orange floor below it, made of metal. It looked towards the vast mountain range and forest in the distance… The ground around the rest of the room seemed to be made of a sandy substance, perhaps trying to replicate a small beach. There was a security camera overlooking the room in the back right corner of the room, near the metal sliding security door. The commander released the muzzle and thin chain leash from Cryo and let him be. “I hope this little dragon doesn’t cause too much trouble,” he thought. He looked back at Cryo. “You’ll eat at 5:00, Cryo. Don’t get into trouble…” he said of their new project. The commander left the room and Cryo looked around. He began to feel very lonely and went towards the window to look out toward the outside world. He laid himself down right at it and stared at the outside world.

At 5:00, 2 of the researchers investigated the pen from a very small reinforced glass window on the door. One was carrying some diced meat and water to feed him. When they entered the pen, Cryo was still at the window, staring outside. “How long has that dragon been there, Gerald?” one of them asked. “I think he’s been there the entire time, Ty. I don’t think I’ve seen him move away since he got here,” said the other. They both paused for a moment. “What do you think he’s staring at?” asked Gerald. “I don’t really know. I haven’t seen anything outside that would be mildly interesting. Even if there was, it wouldn’t have been there that long. He’s been there for 3 hours at least.” said Ty. “That’s not good psychological behavior. Do you think he wants to go outside?” “I’m not sure. I don’t think it would be a good idea to have a dragon outside right now, especially since he might try to fly away. We’ll just keep him under watch. Anyway, let’s get this food in. Keep a sedative ready in case he attacks us.” They came in with a hand in their side pocket. Cryo heard the security lock for his door release.

“Cryo, you hungry?” Cryo looked behind and saw the two researchers. The man holding the food to the left had light skin with a bit of red mixed in blue eyes with some type of strange item on his nose that put some strange type of glass in front of his eyes, and brown hair. Cryo was able to make out what seemed to be his name that seemed to be pinned onto his coat. He saw the letters that spelled Tyler Jerrin, but he didn’t know what they said.

The other person, standing beside him on the right, had very dark skin, brown eyes, and black hair. He was wearing similar clothes to his counterpart. He saw more letters, pinned on the coat like his counterpart. He saw the letters, making the name Gerald Jones, but couldn’t read it either.

Cryo looked at their expressions as they walked in as the security door shut behind them. As they looked upon him, Cryo felt a little uncomfortable. The two looked at the majestic creature in the room, first looking at it in amazement. They then softened their eyes with a slight look of concern for their new pet project. They slowly crept over a bit to get a slightly closer look at the dragon.

Cryo gave out a small sigh. He soon slowly turned back to look outside the window. “He’s not even interested in the food. I hope he doesn’t plan on starving himself.” said Ty. “Just put it in for now. We’ll see if he eats if we leave the room,” said Gerald. So, they both filled Cryo’s bowls and left the room. As the door closed, Cryo immediately went to eat from it.

“Look. At least the dragon’s eating,” said Ty “That’s good and all. But why was he so afraid to eat while we were in the room?” asked Gerald. “I don’t know. Something must be wrong with him psychologically. He was pulled from the ones who were taking care of him. I’m sure things will change in time once he gets used to being here.” “I hope so. I can’t stand seeing a magnificent creature act like this.” They both continued to watch Cryo eat until the food was gone. Cryo then went back towards the window to look out towards the mountains again, and soon fell asleep as the moon rose into the sky…

“Looks like Cryo fell asleep,” said Ty. “At the window…” replied Gerald. “Why is he so obsessed with the outside?” “We’ll worry about it tomorrow. Let’s have the staff watch him overnight and make sure he’s ok. We’ll come back when Cryo wakes up. “Alright. Let’s go to bed.” So, the researchers went to bed while security watched the little dragon.

Ch 2

Surrender and Sorrow

At about 9:00, the research team woke up. The two in charge of the research called in to check on their project. “Security team. Is Cryo awake yet?” asked Ty. “No. He hasn’t woken up yet.” a voice replied. “The dragon must be a late sleeper. Keep watching him. Let me know when he’s awake.” said Gerald. 3 more hours passed, and they called in again. “Security team, is Cryo awake?” Ty asked again. “No, he’s still sleeping.” “Why is he still asleep after this long? Something must be wrong with him. He must be sick or something. Let’s get him into the medical bay. Come on,” said Gerald.

They picked up a muzzle and a chain and headed to Cryo’s pen. “Alright, he might fight back once we get the muzzle on him. Have the sedative ready,” said Ty. They both opened the door to the pen. Sure enough, Cryo was still asleep at the window in the back. “Alright, do this carefully. Try not to wake him…” They crept closer to Cryo with their tools ready. However, Ty stepped on a branch broken off from the tree, and a couple of its pink leaves fell as they did. More importantly, Cryo immediately popped his head up, and looked back, seeing the two! “Uh oh,” said Gerald. Cryo gave out a small yawn, saw them with the restraints, and headed towards them.

“Quick… the sedative…,” said Ty. Cryo kept walking towards them. As Cryo approached them, the two were getting ready to sedate him. However, Cryo stopped a few feet in front of them and laid down. He tilted his head forward, with his maw shut. He then clasped his paws around his maw and placed them back on the ground. Ty realized something was amiss and began to take a closer look.

“Wait a minute, Gerald. Look at him,” he said. “Huh. Wha…?” said Gerald “He’s… stopped. He’s not coming closer. His head is tilted forward. I think… he’s letting us muzzle him,” said Ty. “Wha…? Why?” “I don’t know. Give me the muzzle. Get ready with the sedative just in case he bites.” Gerald handed the muzzle to Ty and he approached Cryo slowly. “Alright Cryo… Just going to put this around your snout… No need to get panicky…” Cryo continued to just sit there ready for it. “Alright then. Just relax, little guy…” Ty wrapped the muzzle around Cryo’s snout and then put on the chain leash around his neck. “Alright. Cryo’s good to go. Now come with us.”

Ch 3

Window Watching

They escorted Cryo down the hall and into the infirmary building within the facility. They ran several more tests on him, but each confirmed that Cryo was completely healthy. The medic in charge of the tests gave her report to the head scientists. She had dark skin, blue eyes, and was wearing a light blue medical uniform and cap, black pants, and white shoes with black soles. Cryo sat patiently next to the scientists in charge of him on the ground, staring and seemingly paying attention to his medical doctor.

“As far as I can tell, this dragon’s completely healthy. We may not know too much about dragon anatomy quite yet, but I don’t think he’s ill. It must be something else… I suggest you keep watch over him. Try interacting with the little guy a bit more. Maybe try to get a positive reaction out of him.” she said. Cryo gave a sigh and began to lay himself on the ground. “How do you suppose we do that, Nancy?” said Gerald. “I’m not sure. Didn’t you pick up the notes from his original caretakers?” she asked “The family treated this dragon like a baby. It’s an animal. Not a child…” “Maybe take another look at it,” she replied. “Alright… Come on Cryo. Let’s get you back to your pen.” Cryo slowly nodded and stood still, waiting for his leash. They wrapped the chain around Cryo’s neck and started to head out and lead him back to his room. Nancy took off her cap to let out her short black hair. “This poor creature needs more than what he has now. There’s something very special about it. I can feel it.” She began to head back into the room to take another look at his test results.

The two researchers soon had made it back to Cryo’s pen and they released the muzzle and chain from him, who then proceeded to head back to look out the window. “Come on, Cryo. Stop with that now! What’s wrong with you?” asked Ty. Cryo continued to stare at the outside. “Are you hungry?” Cryo shook his head and continued to stare. “Maybe try playing with him?” said Gerald “How?” “Maybe fetch?” “Alright. Hey Cryo. Want to chase this long chew toy?” Cryo looked back but turned his head back to the window. “Come on little guy, it will be fun!” Cryo gave out a sigh and picked himself up and headed towards Ty. “I think we’re getting somewhere,” said Gerald. Cryo sat himself in front of them both. Ty picked up one of the chew toys in the pen. A long blue wolfy chew toy. “Alright. Fetch!” Ty said as he threw the toy toward the tree. Cryo walked his way to the chew toy and picked it and brought it back to the two. “There we go. Want to go again? Alright fetch!” Ty threw the toy and Cryo gave another sigh and begrudgingly walked over to the chew toy again and picked it up and brought it back over.

Ty this time could see the big frown on Cryo’s face. “This doesn’t appear to be working after all. Cryo seems to feel this is a chore to him,” Ty said. “What now?” said Gerald. “I don’t know. Maybe he needs a little alone time. Come on. Let’s leave him be. They left the room and Cryo slowly tilted his head down and dropped the chew toy. He began to dig in the sand a bit and put the chew toy in. He then swiped his tail over the sand to bury it under. He gave out a low sigh and yawned. He walked back towards the window and sat down. The two scientists looked into the room again from the security door.

“He’s back at the window again! What is so interesting about the outside!? It’s just a view of the mountains!” exclaimed Gerald. He began to think for a moment while Ty scratched a bit under his chin… “It must be a desire to be outside.” Gerald said. “No, I think it’s more than that Gerald,”. “How do you know?!” “I… don’t really know. It’s… just the feeling I got.” he said. “Should we board up the window?” asked Gerald. “No. Whatever reason he’s staring outside seems to be at least keeping him out of trouble. He’s not trying to resist us in any way. Looking outside might be therapeutic for him. For now, let’s keep a close watch over him. Hopefully his behavior changes soon. I don’t know what else to do at this point. Come on, Gerald.” The two left the area as Cryo continued to stare at the outside world.

Several months passed, and things were not getting any better. Every day. Cryo would stare and stare and stare at the outside world. His entire day was as follows: Wake up at 12:00 p.m. or later, stare at the outside, take a nap at 3:00, wake up at about 5:00 or later for food, and then stare out the window again until he falls asleep. The researchers were baffled as to why he was acting this way. Attempts to try to make him happy seemed to never work, and it started to drive the researchers crazy. They knew the dragon was far more interesting than this. But they couldn’t figure out why he spent all day staring outside…

Ch 4

Repair Reptile

The head researchers came into Cryo’s pen again, with some diced meat and water for feeding him. “Cryo… Are you hungry…?” Ty said. Cryo woke up from his sleep and gave a small yawn. He walked over as they filled his food dishes. He began to slowly eat from the dishes when Gerald suddenly turned towards the little dragon in frustration… “What does it take to make you happy, Dragon!? What more could you need!?” shouted Gerald. “Leave the poor dragon alone Gerald! He’s clearly not in a good mood…” “He’s never in a good mood! Months have passed and we still know very little about what makes a dragon, a dragon! He’s done nothing but stare out that window in this pen all day. What else can we do!?” “Calm down. Jeez, Look… We’ll… figure out something.” “What something?! What else are we going to do?! We’ve sent him to the medical wing multiple times, and all we get from Nancy is to check Greg’s notes! We know that this dragon ISN’T A CHILD! It’s bad enough that my phone dropped on the floor and now it won’t turn on!” “You’re making a scene in front of Cryo. This is not helping.” “Nothing is Helping!” 

Cryo was getting very annoyed while he was trying to eat as these researchers were arguing. He stopped eating and scratched his head a few times. He then decided to try something to calm them down. He sneaked up while they were arguing at each other and snatched Gerald’s phone from his pocket and went towards the back towards the window where the floor was hard. He began to observe it closely and then started to use his talon to carefully unscrew the bolts off the back and take it apart. By the time he took off the back, the two researchers noticed. “What do you think you’re doing, Cryo!? Don’t tell me you broke my phone! Is this some sort of prank!?” Cryo shook his head gently and continued to fiddle with the parts. The researchers however realized quickly that something strange was happening…

“Wait a minute! Take a closer look Gerald! He is not trying to break it! He’s being careful not to damage any of the inside parts!” Wha…? What do you…?” Gerald looked at Cryo with confusion as he continued to fiddle with the phone’s parts. As Cryo looked at the inner battery, he saw what the problem was… A chip connected to the battery had become loose. Using a tiny bit of saliva from his mouth, he carefully dabbed around the chip. A set of tiny sparks came out as he dabbed it. He then pushed it down and then began to put the phone back together, using his talons to screw in the bolts again. Soon enough, Cryo had perfectly put the phone back together and handed it back to Gerald, then went back to eating. 

“What… Was that all about.” asked Gerald. “Gerald… Try turning your phone on…,” said Ty. Pressing the power switch, the phone turned on and was working perfectly. “…It’s working…. I spent hours trying to turn it on, and Cryo gets it to work in 4 minutes. In fact, its battery and speed seem to be working much better than it was before.” He turned back to Cryo. “Cryo… How did you…?” Cryo turned to face Gerald and gave a small smile and wagged his tail a bit before going back to eat. “Cryo gave a smile! He seemed to like doing that! We may be on to something!” They both looked at each other, and finally realized that this tiny Dragon was FAR smarter than they previously thought… They decided to leave the pen for now while Cryo continued eating. “Gerald. Can you go around the base to see if anything small needs repaired. I want to… check something…” “Alright. I’ll ask around.” Gerald went to talk to the others while Ty decided to re-read the notes Greg had on Cryo.

He read the entire journal in the course of a week. As he read, an idea began to shape in his mind, based on the notes. Why was Cryo always staring out the window? Simply because he was raised near the forest on the mountains. He spent the first year of life there. Looking out towards the mountains, reminds Cryo of not only his home, but his family that took him in and raised him. Him trying to adapt to a new life like this, is impossible. It’s clear he hates being cooped up in a small pen and treated like a wild animal. He wants to be treated like an actual person. And it’s clear he’s smarter than he looks.

The notes included Cryo’s fascination with technology. After all, Cryo always watched Noble take apart different pieces of old technology, and it’s clear he learned how they work as a result. He was no different than a gifted human (except for being a dragon of course). Cryo seemed to understand human speech, despite not being able to talk himself. But it was possible for him to learn to talk, just like his mother, Tide, who was still comatose, despite their efforts to wake her. Tide herself was from somewhere farther away than they thought possible, and came from a place that fell apart, just like Earth.

Ty finally realized that there was a need for a change. On the night he finished the journal, he made an important phone call. “Hello? Command? I think we just made a breakthrough with Cryo! But… I need a list of favors done. Things need to change quickly. Sending you a list of requests that I need done as soon as possible…”

Ch 5

Relocating while Resting

Another month passed. The researchers had just finished with their little “project,” for Cryo. Now they just needed to move him in. It was late in the day, a few hours late for feeding Cryo, but they decided to add something extra into the dish… The 2 head researchers headed to Cryo’s pen.

Cryo was working to repair a Zen portable system (ZPS) from one of the children living with their family at the window, with a custom tool kit made for his paws and talons. They supplied Cryo with two trays for new parts and scrap (Cryo still didn’t talk yet. When he needed replacement parts, he would point to the parts to show the researchers what parts he needed to replace it). He screwed in the final screw and got finished right as the head scientist came in.

“Cryo. Dinner,” said Ty. “Sorry, dinner is late Cryo,” said Gerald. “We… had to restock on the food… Can you take a little bit of time off from repairing the device to eat?” asked Ty. Cryo looked back at them, smiled, and nodded. He put his tools away and started to eat. He devoured his food quickly and was about to start working to repair a Spark strike laptop for one of the soldiers at the base a bit before bed.

But suddenly, he started to feel lightheaded… His head started to spin a bit. He felt like his whole body was going numb. He felt extremely tired. His eyes began to lose focus. He gave a big yawn, and slowly laid himself down on his side and fell into a deep, deep sleep on the sand. Ty and Gerald stood over him. Gerald lifted his arm and brought the silver object around his wrist close to his head. He pressed a button on the side of it and then began to speak into it.

“Cryo’s sedated. Let’s get him moved into his new room quickly. Hopefully this will work. Bring in the stretcher.” The security team soon entered with a stretcher, and strapped Cryo onto it. “Alright, let’s get him into his new room,” said Gerald. “Will he wake up?” asked one of the soldiers. “He shouldn’t, Kyle. The sedative should last until morning. Although, we never tried this on Cryo before, or any Dragon for that matter… We have an injection ready in case he wakes up,” said Ty.

Ty took one last look at the sleeping baby blue dragon, resting peacefully on the stretcher. He knelt and rubbed his forehead a few times and smiled. “Rest easy, little one. You’ll be home soon…” he said. He looked to the left of Cryo’s workspace and saw the long chew toy they found once buried in the sand in the room. Cryo started to keep it close to him after he repaired Gerald’s phone. Ty stood back up and looked back to the others. “Alright team. Let’s get him in.” They carried Cryo away and picked up all his tools and the few toys within the pen, including the long wolfy chew toy, to somewhere else within the large facility.

That night, Cryo dreamed of his old life. He remembered his family and all the fun times he spent with his “brother.” He really wished he could somehow see them again. But it seemed the boundaries of space and time had all but split them apart from him, and it was unlikely he’d ever hear their voices again. While life had become better for him at the base, now that he was doing something more fun, he still misses his old life. As he dreamed about his old life, no sooner did mourning come and now Cryo had to wake up from this daze.

Ch 6

Toddler Time

Cryo blinked a few times and gave out a yawn. His head was still a little fuzzy and his eyes had some trouble focusing from the sedative. He realized that something had been wrapped carefully and very tightly around him. As he began to recover from his daze, he began to realize that it was not there to restrain him. It was soft, warm, and felt a bit stiff, but strangely comfy around his body. Looking around, he saw he was surrounded by walls that were a shaded darkened cyan with a bunch of tiny holes in it, allowing him to see through. Feeling the numbness wearing off he picked his head up a tiny bit to get a better look of where he was now. He realized that the thing around him now was a comfy blanket. He looked closer to it, and saw it had a cartoonish blue dragon smiling and laying down in a red shirt and a cyan scarf on the front of it, with the words, “Cryo’s Blanket Buddy.” reading under it. He also saw that his head was laying on a pillow. It was light blue, with a sleeping blue baby dragon on a cloud, with the words, “Sweet dreams, in a sea of clouds,” in an arc above the picture in blue letters. He then realized that the ground he was resting on was also very soft, like a large pillow. Or maybe… a bed?

Confused a bit, he looked around toward the walls surrounding him. Moving his left paw from inside the blanket, out the front, he touched the wall, and it felt soft like a cushion as well. They were on all sides except above. They were also pretty high up from his position, and would be very hard for him to climb out. Cryo picked himself up putting his other front paw to the front outside the blanket and his back limbs from the back. He lifted himself up with the blanket still wrapped around his body. He saw the long blue wolfy plush from back in his old room in the dwelling, but it seemed to have been cleaned. Cryo smelled it a few times, and it smelt like fresh citrus. The smell relaxed him a bit. He grabbed it and held it against him as continued to observe around this strange place. He realized quickly it seemed that the room extended beyond them. 

Cryo looked past the 4 surrounding walls, and could see that the room beyond had a different wall motif. The room was pretty large and was square in shape. The dwelling he was in seemed to be nestled against the farthest corner inside the room against the two adjoining walls. He saw what seemed to be the exit on the exact opposite corner of the room. The walls all around the room were painted to have an image of a large mountain range, complete with forests, snow, rock formations, animals, and a village with both dragons and humans together in it, with some even flying in the air.

Cryo also realized that the area he’s been sleeping in seemed to be suspended off the ground a bit. Looking down around the room, he saw the ground seemed to be mostly made of soft, dark blue carpeting, with many different toys around, like balls, small toy spaceships, and many other different items. One even looked like his favorite white dog plush he had back with Greg and the others, but brand new.

Looking to the right directly from his dwelling, he saw a large dresser, connected to the adjoining wall, with several large drawers on it. Next to it was what seemed to be a closet with a glass door, which he thought he could see some jackets and sweaters in it. His size… Next to the closet, was a long rectangular mirror, low to the ground.

Looking further down, he saw that there was a large, metallic brown work table nestled at the far right corner much further back in the room, made to fit around his needs when repairing items. It wasn’t suspended very high from the ground, with a hard black floor around it and a long, very low to the ground, sturdy seat going across from it. He saw that the tools the researchers got him were already there along with strangely, only the scrap parts tray. To the right of the work bench nestled against the adjoining wall, seemed to be a massive metal cabinet, with a large amount of large drawers attached to it. Above the cabinet, it read in large letters, “Spare parts cabinets.” Cryo didn’t know what it actually said though.

Cryo then tilted his head directly to the left of his dwelling and saw what seemed to be a medium sized flat screen tv close by. A little ways away from it, was a large and comfy looking bean bag chair that looked a bit like a blue asteroid. A movie player was also sitting to the left of the tv. Under the tv and movie player was a black cabinet with see through doors that looked like they carried movies in their cases in it. He saw one of the cases out and sitting out on top of the tv stand. While a little hard to see from where he was, he thought he could see a character from his favorite tv program, Capsule Creatures, on the case.

Further down, connected directly to the left corners of the room, he saw what appeared to be a very large window, with the bright light of the sun beaming in. From his angle, he could see a bit of the mountain range. He saw that there was a step leading up to the window and there was also a bright yellow bean bag placed there. The ground was also red carpet, with a large picture of a sun with the bean bag centered on it. He thought for a moment that it would be a comforting place to watch a sunset during late hours or even to take a small nap in.

Looking forward toward the entrance again at the front of the room, he saw what seemed to be a small kitchen. The ground around there seemed to be made of tiles. There was a small standard steel fridge and freezer in the back. There also seemed to be a large array of drawers and cabinets to the left and right of the fridge. Some were connected to the ground and some suspended against the ceiling above the ground ones.

A little ways away from the kitchen area was a medium sized rectangular wooden table. The legs seemed to have been carved to resemble dragon heads. There were 4 wooden chairs surrounding it. Each of the chairs’ backs had been carved to make the picture of the dragon’s head and neck and the back. One however, seemed to be bigger than the other 3. It was wider, raised a bit closer to the table, and the dragon carving on the back showed a full dragon on it. He thought it looked a bit like him. Cryo could see his name, painted in blue above the seat.

In the very center of the room, there seemed to be a medium sized playpen, that was similar in style to the dwelling Cryo was in now. On closer inspection, Cryo could see a few toys inside, which felt a bit strange to him. When he normally took a time out inside of one, he’d not be permitted to play with toys, at least back on the mountains. He could also see that the ground inside seemed pretty cushiony as well and it looked like there was another blanket folded and placed towards the corner inside of it.

Cryo began to step back a bit where he was standing and bumped into the back of the strange dwelling he was in. He stumbled onto his bottom, but slowly got back up with a look of bewilderment. Cryo started to wonder if he was still asleep. He began to shake the blanket from his body. As it fell to the ground, he realized that there were some more things on him. It seems he also was wearing a soft blue shirt with an ice covered mountain with snow falling around and a cartoonish blue dragon looking like him standing at the very top smiling. The words “Climbing to a new life. Cryo the Dragon, Brave explorer,” were below the mountain picture. Around his neck was a new purple scarf, with pictures of blue dragons seemingly running forward on it.

Cryo believed now that his time here must be affecting his dreams now, and tried shaking again to try to wake himself up. But nothing happened. He shook again. Nothing happened still. Cryo thought that either he must be in a very deep sleep now, or maybe this actually is real! But he realized something else. While he was shaking, something else was attached around his neck and was moving around under the scarf. He reached into it, and realized it was a pacifier on a strap. This one however was made to be bigger to be able to fit in his mouth more comfortably. Now Cryo was really confused. 

However, an idea began to take shape in his mind. Why was everything surrounding him right now so soft and secure? Made to keep him from falling off the bed or to keep him from getting out and into trouble? With a comfy blanket and clothes made for sleep. Could this be… a crib? And the outer room itself. It seemed like it was made for someone like him. With different toys around the ground and a comforting wall art. A place to be fed, play, and a place to work on repairing things? There was even a place for clothes that seemed to be his size… Why else would it look like this compared to what it was before?

“Good morning Cryo,” said Ty. Cryo looked toward the front of the room now, and could see Ty, standing in the doorway of the room, smiling and wearing a blue sweater and some nice black jeans. Next to him was Gerald, who had a Cyan sweater and gray pants. They slowly walked to his crib until they were looking over him.

“Do you like what we did little guy?” Cryo walked himself over to the closest end to him and sat down, looking confused. “We made some arrangements to create a better room for you little guy. We hope you like it. We read about a few things and we think this should be more adequate to your needs than what you had before.” said Ty.

“Are you thirsty?” asked Gerald. Gerald went to the kitchen area in the back and took out what seemed to be a bottle from one of the upper cabinets. He then went to the fridge and took out a white container and poured some of its contents into it. He came back and placed it in front of Cryo. “Here you go, little guy.”

A little hesitant at first, but it didn’t take long for Cryo to pick it up and start to drink from it a bit. He realized quickly that it had very fresh milk in it. He gave out a smile and then laid on his back with his bottle in his front paws and continued to drink from it. “Once you’re done with that, would you like to take a “break.” Get a view of the outside?” Cryo lowered the bottle and gave a small nod with a smile. “Alright little buddy. We’ll take you outside for a bit and get you back to play a bit. We also have a few things to repair or take apart if you would like as well.” Cryo gave another smile. He moved the bottle back into his mouth and continued to drink from it. It didn’t take long for Cryo to finish his bottle after that. He got off his back and stood up. He held his paw up and gave the bottle back to Gerald. Gerald smiled and rubbed the back of his head a few times.

“Let’s change you out of those night clothes first. It’s a tiny bit colder today, so I bet you’ll want a nice shirt to wear today, won’t you?” Ty lifted the shirt off of Cryo, and placed it in a laundry hamper next to his crib on the adjoining wall on the left. He went to the drawer next to his crib. He looked through the shirts a bit, and picked one out. “Alright little guy. Hold your arms up.” Cryo obliged and lifted his paws forward. Ty then put on Cryo a nice yellow shirt, with the picture of a cartoony Cryo swimming in the water at a beach, with the words, “Beach Buddy,” on the bottom.

“Alright Cryo. Let’s go out. Gerald will be coming with us.” Cryo gave a nod. Ty picked up Cryo and took him out of his Crib. They put a harness on Cyro and attached a small, thin chain onto it and soon they left his room and down a couple hallways towards the outer walls of the research center (luckily, the area was fenced in and had plenty of grass and shrubs dotting around it). This was the first time Cryo really got a chance to see around the research base. He was quite excited to be able to finally really move around and stretch his legs. After Cryo’s “break,” they took him back into his room. “Do you need anything from us Cryo. Another bottle? Some play time?” Cryo shook his head. He put his pacifier in his mouth to chew on it and headed to play with the white dog plush. “Alright, we’ll be back in a bit, Cryo.” 

Both the scientist’s headed out the room and shut the door. “So… how long are we going to keep him like this? We have to wean him off of these things sooner or later,” said Gerald. “Let’s keep him in a more familiar setting for now. We’ll work on communication and basic etiquette in maybe a couple months or a year. By then we should be able to start weaning him into being more mature. After that, we’ll try to teach him some math and science, and other subjects.” “Are we going to homeschool him?” “It may be best to try to teach him like any other human. We need him to get more used to us and to trust us more first. Until then, it’s best we do this,” replied Ty. “Alright then. When should we come back?” “Give Cryo an hour right now. We’ll check back on him then.” They both began to walk away through the hallway.

“We should probably give him a nice bath tonight. He’s probably been wanting a bath since he came here. Getting him cleaned up might make him feel nice and cozy after so long.” said Ty. “Yea. Let’s give him one at 7:30 tonight. A little bit before bed,” said Gerald.

So a year passed. Cryo’s life became much happier. The researchers there spent much time with Cryo. They made sure that he had play time with them, sat together for meals, watched over carefully, given baths, and given plenty of breaks. It wasn’t long after that they started to teach basic communication and etiquette to Cryo. They got him talking quite a bit, so it was now easier to know what Cryo needed (and of course, they were very careful trying to prevent him from becoming spoiled). With his language skills becoming more streamlined, they started to change his room around. They slowly replaced items in his room and in his daily activities, and of course adapted Cryo to these changes. His crib was changed to a hay bed. His “hatchling,” bottles were changed to proper cups. Cryo’s pacifier was slowly weaned away from him (this was particularly hard for Cryo). And Cryo was now given more freedom to move around the base (of course there was still always someone watching him). Things are progressing smoothly now. As Cryo slowly matured, so did the scientist’s fascination with him. But now, came a real test. With things going so well, a new important question came up.

Can a dragon go and learn from school? There was no telling how Cryo would take up to learning. He was still pretty smart. Seeing he has a fascination with technology, could they possibly take him further? Is it possible that maybe instead of learning by taking technology apart and putting it back together, or repairing old devices, can they actually try to teach him the basics of knowledge and maybe even in the future, he may be able to create new devices himself? This new project would be long and difficult, and there was no telling how Cryo would respond to actual school work. But this was too good of an opportunity to let slide. It had to happen. 

Ch 7

School Serphant

Ty woke up from his bed at about 8:30 A.M. It would be the first day for “school,” for Cryo (take note. they were not going to send Cryo to a school outside the research center. They had made a makeshift school at the research base for the families of researchers and military personnel living here). They had been building up to this point and have been trying to pump Cryo up for it. He had been given a much better understanding from reading from “storytime,” with the researchers. Ty got up, and went to put on a set of casual clothes and went to the door of his room. He found Gerald waiting outside the door to his room.

“Are you ready Ty?” he asked. “I hope so. We’ve never tried something like this on any creature other than a human before.,Ty replied “Is it a good idea to mix Cryo with other humans in a kindergarten setting? The kids around the base sometimes came to the window in Cryo’s room to watch him go around. The kid’s here were always told to leave Cryo alone until they think he’s more ready to socialize. They really never had a chance to know him.” “My son always said Cryo looked cute and silly. He kept telling me he always wanted to play with him. He actually always liked watching Cryo eat and drink from a bottle when I was in the room with him.” “But what about the other kids? You know that bullying usually happens to kids who look different. I really don’t want Cryo exposed to something like that. Remember the reason we were able to find Cryo in the first place?”

“Yes… the report called about a strange creature who attacked those youngsters. In reality, these three kids attacked Cryo’s “brother,” to steal from him… It would be really bad if something like that happened again. There is no telling how he would react. He blasted the 3 of them with water. Span their heads quite a bit…” “Should we just “homeschool,” him in the room instead?” “He needs interaction. Cryo told me himself that he wished he had some friends. He’s been thinking about his “brother,” Noble lately. He said that the only ones he’s played with are adults. He wishes he had a buddy like him.” “Nothing is like him… Except maybe his mother…” “I know. I know… As much as I hate to say it, Cryo’s right. He needs someone else. Someone who could be a good friend to him.” “Isn’t your son starting school today as well?” “Yes, actually. My wife brought him early to the classroom, and told him that Cryo would be joining at about the time class starts.” “Maybe try telling him to keep an eye on Cryo? To watch his back?” “Maybe. Anyway, let’s get Cryo ready. It’s a little colder today, so I have Cryo’s silver jacket ready. Let’s get him ready.” So the two scientist’s headed out to pick up Cryo for school.

They made it to Cryo’s room, and unlocked the door (while Cryo was allowed to move more around the base, his door would be locked when it is time for bed or when no one was available to watch him). They headed in, and found Cryo still asleep in his hay bed, tightly huddled in his blanket. They came toward the bed and gave Cryo a small nudge. “Cryo. Wake up. Time for your first day of school,” said Ty. Cryo slowly opened his eyes and locked eyes with Ty. He then gave out a big yawn. “Oh… Mworning mwister Ty. Mwister Gerald. It’s finawy time to lern?” “Yes it is Cryo. Let’s get you ready.” They changed Cryo out of his nightshirt and into his silver jacket and a nice blue scarf. “I hawvet seen muy jwacket since my birfday. It remimes me of mi big brofer. “I know Cryo. Try to work a bit more on you language, Cryo. Be more clear. Think a bit more on your words. “Yes mwister Gerald.” “Alright let’s get going Cryo. The others are waiting. So the group headed to the classroom near the front of the facility.

They soon enough made it and now it was time to say goodbye to Cryo. They were a little late, but class hadn’t started yet anyway, so it was fine. They opened the door to the classroom and stepped in. They were greeted by a bunch of prying eyes of a couple of kids watching the dragon from the front, including the eyes of Ty’s son.

“Alright Cryo. We really need you to be a good boy here. Absolutely no attacking anyone Cryo. Understand?” “Wy wud I awtack somwon mister Ty?” asked Cryo. “Because your different Cryo.” “Becuse I’m dwiffwent?” “Yes. None of the kids really know you Cryo. They don’t realize your a good kid. Your not like them. Neither in appearance or in personality. That might not rub off the right way with the other kids. “Wy?” “It’s… a weakness in humans Cryo. A major one. It’s something that all of us have. “Weally?” “Yes. This was one of the reasons that we had to leave Earth, our home world. We couldn’t get along from our own differences. We took from our home and from each other more then we gave. As a result, earth was nearly destroyed from the strife. We had to leave because there wasn’t much left for us after. While we as humans have somewhat learned from our past, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen every now and then. Please Cryo, no matter what happens here. No matter what the other kids say about you or anyone else. Just know one thing.” “What, mwister Ty?” “Your a very special kid Cryo. No one can take that from you. No matter what they do to you or say, no one can change that. Ever. No matter what happens, don’t attack anyone for any reason. No matter what they say or do to you.” “Ok. I pwomise I won’t.” “Ok. Cryo. Have a good day at school. Goodbye Cryo. See you soon.” “Goodbye mwister Ty. Mwister Gerald.”

They both gave Cryo a hug and sent him away. Cryo stepped forward into the classroom and looked around to get a better look at it. There was a group of desks looking towards the front of the class with a chalkboard furthest down the room attached to the wall. As Cryo stepped forward the teacher soon stepped in behind him to greet him.

“Ahh you must be our new very special student.” Cryo looked behind toward a towering lady looking upon him. She had white skin with red mixed in, red curly hair, glasses like Ty, silver earrings, and wearing a pink shirt with a red vest, blue jeans, and brown shoes. She also looked a bit older.

“You are Cyro, are you not?” she asked. “Yes. Im Cwyyo, miss.” “Excellent. I’ll take you to your seat. Do you have all the supplies you need?” Cryo remember the backpack Gerald gave to him before coming here. “Yes miss. I hawv it in hewe,” Cryo said. “Good. I’ve heard good things about you Cryo. Come with me to your seat,” she said. “I’m Mrs. Crowder. I’ll be your teacher for kindergarten. She took Cryo to a seat in the back, a little bit away from the other kids, and class soon began. “Alright kids. We have a very special new student joining us today. I’m sure some of you have seen this little one walking around the base. Why don’t you introduce yourself.” All the eyes of the classroom immediately began to stare at the little dragon. While getting nervous now, Cryo managed to speak up. “Hewwo evwyone… I’m… Cwyyo… Cwyyo the dwagon…” No one gave an answer. “…Welcome to our class Cryo. We hope you’ll be able to feel welcome here. Now class. please turn to page 10 of your math book. We’ll be starting with learning some addition and some subtraction today.”

Ch 8

Outlier Outcast

So the day continued. Cryo seemed to pick up on the basic subjects quite quickly. It wasn’t very long before Cryo got done with his work in the classroom. Soon enough. It was recess. Time to get a break and play for a bit. The kids left their seats and left to play with toys. Cryo himself decided to take a break to try and play with the other kids. He approached a group of the kids and said “Hi evwyone. Can I pway with you?” They gave no answer and stared. “Can you guys talk to me.” “Be quiet you dumb reptile…” one of the kids said. “Wha?” Cryo said. “Why is there a giant dumb lizard in the classroom? It’s obvious it’s too dumb to learn anything here. Can’t even talk correctly,” said another kid. “Wha! wha do you mean!” “Look at that stupid blue skin. I’ll probably get sick just by touching it.” another kid said. Cryo was starting to feel like an outcast. “Stupid lizard. Go away. You’re no smarter than a rock.” The other kids started to laugh and Cryo knew he wasn’t wanted.

Feeling very sad, he went to the right side of the classroom to be alone. Taking his book bag with him. He took out his tools and a broken device, and started to tinker with a broken device to try and repair it. “Look at that overgrown lizard, trying to mess with that tablet. He’s probably breaking it even more!” the other kids chuckled a bit, making Cryo even sadder. But he realized there was nothing he could do so he continued to tinker with it to try and fix it. He took in a deep breath and continued.

One of the kids over there though, came over to Cryo and began to watch him. Cryo felt his presence and began to get nervous. “What are you doing?” the kid asked. Cryo didn’t answer. “You ok?” he asked. “Whet do u want?” replied Cryo. “I just wanted to see if you were alright…” “Aren’t u just gowing to make fwun of me like the ofers?” “No. I’m Cameron. Nice to meet you.” Cryo started to feel a little better. He looked towards the other. This kid was had white skin mixed with red, brown eyes, straight, brown hair, and wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt. “I’m Cwyyo.” “My father has talked a lot about you, Cryo.” “He haws?” “Yes. You know my father well Cryo. He’s Ty.” “Your fawthr is Mister Ty?” “Yes. I’ve seen you playing with him in your room here.” “Yu have?” “Yes. I always thought you were really cute when you were playing with him.” “Weally?” “Yes. I think you’re a lot smarter than everyone here is thinking you are. They just don’t understand you.” Cryo thought about it for a moment.

“None of the kids here know that you’re more than just what they see. My father has told me a ton about how special you are. I’ve heard several stories from my dad about your mom, your previous life, what he’s been doing with you here, and more. I think you’re really cool.” Cryo looked at Cameron and gave a small smile. “Don’t let the others get you down. I think they are just jealous of you?” “Why are they jelos of mwe?” “Because, they want to be able to fly like you. They want to be able to have powers like you. They hate not being dragons, so they try to take it out on you to put you down. They think you are just a mindless reptile who doesn’t deserve them.” “What about u?” “I only want to be a friend to the one being put down like the others.” “Fwiend…” “Can I be your friend, Cryo?” “Won’t the others mwak fun of u too?” “I don’t mind them. Their words are empty. They don’t realize how special you are. So can I?” “Cryo thought for a moment, and then gave a big nod. “Wow. Cameron must be as mindless as that reptile…” one of the others said. The other kids giggled. The pair looked back at each other and gave a nod and a smile. “So what are you doing Cryo?”

So the day passed. Things were much better for Cryo now. While the others still teased, he felt comfort knowing at least someone accepted him. Soon it was time for Cryo to go back to his room on the research center. Before he left for his room, he wanted to say thank you to his new friend. “Thwank u for being nis to me. “Maybee you could com to my home here som tim. Away from all these other bullees.” “Maybe if my father lets me. He’s nervous about letting me around you. “Why?” “Well, he doesn’t really know how you would really take playing with others. “I pwayed with my brofer where I used to liv.” “Don’t worry Cryo. I’ll ask Dad if he’ll let me see you sometime.” “Twank Yu.” “One more thing Cryo.” “Yea?” “Definitely work on your speech, ok?” “K.”

So time passed again. The others continued to be mean while Cryo ended up easily being one of the smartest in class. Subjects and work came naturally to him (though it took him a while to get proper speech down). He was naturally curious and asked plenty of questions about the subjects presented to him. Ty was nice enough to set up “play dates,” between Cryo and his son. Things worked out very well. The extra companionship helped Cryo get out the anxiety of the other kids just being dumb and mean. Cryo had begun to upgrade and change some of the devices around his room with the help and planning of some of the skilled technicians and engineers in the base. He even built some himself with a little bit of their help as well. Soon enough, years passed. Cryo’s body began to change a bit, his Cyan scales on his belly became blue and was slowly growing bigger and bigger. With time passing, Cryo was soon ready to start 4th grade learning soon.

Ch 9

Ocean Opening

It was summer vacation now though, and Cryo wanted to swim. However, taking Cryo somewhere to swim around the area would be difficult, as there would be way too many prying eyes of people. So there was a small full day trip out to the ocean on a boat (with “personal escorts’,” for Cryo and the researchers) near the forest on the coast. This was too good of an opportunity to finally test Cryo’s more water based ability and traits in an unrestricted environment. Cameron would also be allowed to come along. So the group left towards the ocean a little bit away from the city and mountains.

They arrived and made sure no one else was around for their “family trip.” They then unloaded their supplies. “Alright Cryo. Are you ready for a nice swim today? “Yes Ty. I’ve been waiting so long for another chance to swim. I don’t remember the last time I’ve actually swam in deep water outside of the small water facility at home. I’ve wanted to go somewhere outside the base for awhile.” “Good. Let me put this around your arm real quick, Cryo.” said Ty. “What is it?” Cryo replied back. “This device is to measure your speed and heart rate while you’re swimming. We want to see how fast a dragon like yourself does in open water and how much exertion it has on your body.” “It’s electrical, right? Won’t it short circuit in the water?” “It’s been made specifically to resist water damage. Don’t worry about it Cryo.” “I was actually hoping it would be a little. Maybe I could have taken it apart to fix it after…” “Maybe we’ll let you when we’re done here anyway, little repairman. “Alright then. Put it on.” Gerald strapped the device around Cryo’s front arm, which looked similar to a watch, with two straps and a very flat and smooth across Cryo’s wrist. The screen was a small rectangle with a pointed top, which bent around Cryo’s wrist and adjusted as he moved it. Cryo looked at it, and saw it showed his vitals. “Hmm. I would think a device like this would be much bigger and bulky. I shouldn’t have any trouble swimming with this on,” thought Cryo. 

Soon enough, they unloaded their supplies on the boat, which included food, drink, standard swimming gear (for the human occupants), and a boat tube for tubing (they also hoped Cryo might try it as well, with the hopes to test his ability to balance himself. Cryo’s claws before the trip were trimmed and shortened as well and the tube itself was reinforced with lightweight plastic to prevent it from popping). With the crew ready to head off, Ty started the engine to the boat. “Why do we have a couple of armed crew here Ty? Is it really that dangerous out on the ocean?” asked Cryo. “It’s… just a safety precaution. You never know what you might encounter on the ocean.” Cryo thought for a moment. “Well. Ok then. Are we ready to set sail?” “Yes. Let’s shove off.” So the crew set out on the open sea.

Cryo enjoyed the feel of the wind and water as the boat rushed on ahead. Looking over the side of the boat on the vast field of water gave him a sense of thrill and adventure. He talked with Cameron as they sailed on the open sea, with some of the crew watching them intently and taking notes. After some time of sailing on the sea, they decided that it was time to see Cryo swim. They stopped the boat with the open water surrounding them, and looked toward Cryo, who was still looking at the sea. “Alright Cryo. Are you ready to go on the open water?” “Yes I am Ty.” He looked toward Cameron, who was putting on a life jacket. “Will I have to put on a life jacket too?…” he asked. “No you won’t Cryo. I think you will be able to swim well enough.” “Thank goodness… That “safety device” would just slow me down!” “Alright Cryo, why don’t you and Cameron jump in and show us what you got!”

So the two stepped over the side of the boat, ready to make a splash. “Last one in, is a rotten blowfish!” said Cameron. The two quickly jumped into the water, making a nice big splash as they both hit the water. Their two heads popped up soon after.

Cryo’s body began to change. His talons retracted completely inside his feet and his feet became webbed. His tail shortened quite a bit and his head and body became much more smooth, and his head now had a small fin at the top and another large one across his back. His wings become smaller and much more smooth. The research team had seen Cryo’s transformation before when they ran swimming tests with him at the base. They watched as the two swam around the boat. They soon started to talk to each other.

“This water is much colder than I’m used to,” said Cryo. “Did you swim much back on the mountains?” asked Cameron. Cryo paused for a moment at the question. “Oh, I’m sorry Cryo. I forgot…” “No… It’s… fine. I… really only had one chance to swim with them. It was… on my first birthday.” “Is… that’s why you usually don’t want to celebrate it.” “Yeah… I guess…” “You miss them, don’t you?” “Yea… but… there is nothing I can do to see them…” “Why Cryo?” “I know these people want me to stay here. And I can’t just try to get away from here. They probably have ways to figure out where I’m going. I repaired a tiny tracking device for them once. I wouldn’t be surprised if they inserted one in me. Even if I somehow removed it, they would know I would be trying to find my family. I don’t know where to go to find them. They probably know where they are now. They may go after them to get to me. I… I can’t get them in trouble again for my sake. It’s better they live without me…” “I understand. I don’t know what I would do if they ever sent Dad away.”

They started to slow down a bit, with the crew listening in the conversation more closely. “I heard you had straight A’s in school this semester.” “Actually, I got a B- in social studies.” “Why?” “It’s hard to get into the history of another race when you wonder so much about your own. I realize I’m not a human. I… really don’t know what I am. The only one who could possibly tell me is still asleep, after all this time. I heard that there was a diary somewhere at the research center that could give me a better idea of what I am, but I never had a chance to read it.” “Maybe dad has it.” “Maybe. But I doubt he’d let me read it.” They continued to swim around the boat for a bit. Cameron turned to face Cryo.

“Why are you so smart Cryo?” “I guess… It’s because I listen and do what the others tell me. The researchers. Teachers. The ones who take care of me now.” “Dad always told me you were surprisingly obedient. In fact, he said it was incredibly rare that you’d be disobedient or ever get into trouble, even when you first came to the base. When you did get in trouble, you wouldn’t even try to argue or get mad. You’d just accept your punishment and move on without a single fuss.” “I have to. It’s not a good idea for me to resist them or cause trouble. Otherwise, the combat personnel at the base may go after my family.” “You think they would send people after your loved ones back on the mountains if you got in trouble too much or didn’t do what the researchers say?” “I don’t know. But it’s probably better for their sake that I try to be as good as possible. Besides… Taking a time out when I was young wasn’t that bad… They’d take my toys out of the play pen, but left a blanket for me to huddle up inside of it. My play pen wasn’t only there to punish me. There were times where they’d put me inside because something came up that required their attention somewhere else and no one else was available to watch me. It was surprisingly comfy inside, I’ll admit. I’d usually take the blanket and have a small nap when placed inside.” Cryo gave out a sigh… 

“Nonetheless, I miss my family so much. I wonder how they are doing right now…” “Come on Cryo. This is a nice outing for the both of us. It’s very rare that anyone is allowed outside the research center. Don’t be so glum. Why don’t you try asking them if you could visit your family?” “They would probably say no. I’m too important for their research.” “You won’t know until you try.” “I suppose… But they probably have already moved on and forgotten about me. I’m not the same as I was 5 and a half years ago. I doubt they would even recognize me. Not even my brother…” The people back on the boat shook their heads… The truth hit them hard…

“So… That’s why,” said Gerald. “He’s so obedient and good natured because he’s trying to protect his family. Even now… he’s still trying to protect them,” said Ty. “Is Cryo afraid of us?” “It seems so, albeit a little bit. We removed him from the ones he loved years ago. We introduced him to a new life. A new world then the one he was growing up in. Even when he first arrived, he still followed commands. He never fought back. Never tried to get away. Always did what he was told. Even did anything he could to stay out of trouble, while also accepting consequences whenever he did. It was all because he feared we may hurt his adopted family.” “Why didn’t he ever tell us this?” “Why would he?… When do kids ever talk about problems like this.” “What should we do?” “I don’t know. This could cause significant psychological problems in the future if we can’t find a solution. We should…” And out of nowhere, shots could be heard hitting the armored boat!

Ch 10

Dragon Danger

“Everyone! Get down!” said one of the armed crew members. Immediately Cryo and Cameron, still in the water, turned around, and saw a small craft jetting towards them. “What’s going on!” exclaimed Cameron. Cryo, reacting immediately, grabbed Cameron with his webbed paws and blasted him onto the boat with a small blast of his water breath. “Get out of here everyone. I’ll lead them away!” yelled Cryo. “Cryo! What are you…!” said Cameron. “Just go! You can find me later!” Cryo immediately began to swim away at a high speed and the attacking boat soon set course straight for him! Soon the Cryo and the attacking boat were out of sight of them. “Hurry! Turn the boat on! We have to move. They may come back!” said one of the armed crew members. “But what about Cryo!” said Cameron. “The tracker is still implanted into Cryo. We can track him when we have support.” “But… He’s all alone on the ocean against those bad guys! They are probably going to hurt him!” “We can’t do anything right now.” “We have to go to shore before they come back.” “Sniff… Alright,” “Sigh… take us to shore Gerald…” said Ty. So the crew left for the shore with the hopes of getting support to find Cryo.

An hour passed before support arrived. “How many we have?” asked Ty. “6 light attack boats, with about 10 man armed crew each.” Gerald looked at a military solider, who was wearing a black leather suit and carrying a small device, rounded and with a screen on the front. “Will it be enough to find him, Kyle?” asked Gerald “It will depend on how far out the dragon went into the sea.” “Any idea who they were?” “No. No Intel about the ones who attacked you in the report. Could be pirates…” “But the ocean around these parts has been clear of that for years. It wouldn’t just start up again now… And they immediately targeted Cryo right as he started swimming away. They weren’t after us.” “I don’t know what else it could be.” He began to fiddle with the device a bit. “Bringing up tracking implant,” said Kyle “Alright. Quick. Every moment counts.” said Ty. Hang on while it loads up… Alright. We got a location!” “How far is he out to sea.” “Let me see. Hmm. That’s strange.” “What is it?” “He doesn’t appear to be out to sea at all.” “What! Where is he then?!” “Subject is 5 miles east, toward the Krayen forest. Subject is immobile. “Hurry. Get a ground team to him. We can’t leave him out there alone, especially if someone else is looking for him!” So taking a group of armored vehicles, they headed into the rough terrain of the forest. “Is… Cryo going to be ok, dad?” said Cameron. “I promise you. Cryo will be fine. He’s a smart dragon. He’ll know how to evade them.” said Ty “Oh. Hang in there Cryo. We’re coming!” said Cameron. So they headed to the location, and looked upon a surprising scene.

The forest around the area where Cryo was in was almost completly frozen! Trees, shrubs, rocks. Everything was covered in a thick layer of ice! “What on earth happened here?” asked Kyle. “I… don’t know. Keep your eyes peeled.” replied Ty. They continued to head forward. “Beacon is close. 21 yards ahead.” “Ready weapons everyone. We don’t know what’s ahead.” said Gerald. They continued heading forward into this frozen forest. And soon they arrived at the center, where large, towering pillar of ice stood. Along the outreaches were several vehicles frozen in ice.” “What is this?” “Beacon is very close. It seems to be, inside the ice?” “Wha… In the ice?” asked Ty. Ty loomed close to the ice pillar. “In here?” Ty asked. He looked into the ice to try to get a better look. It was very hazy inside. But it appeared that the inside was hollow. He began to make out a small cyan figure inside in the center. He realized it was Cryo, laying on his side, breathing very slowly! “Cryo! Cryo!” yelled Ty. Cryo wasn’t budging. “Someone quick! Break this ice!” “…Ty…” murmured Cryo.” Suddenly the vast expense of ice around the area immediately began to thaw and dissipate and the once frozen forest expanse now was released. Ty looked upon Cryo on the ground. “Cryo. You ok!?” “Ugh…” “Cryo then slowly closed his eyes and fell unconscious. “We need an immediate medical team here! Come on everyone, get him on the stretcher!” They immediately strapped Cryo in and hurriedly made way toward their armored transports, where the medical team were waiting. “Quick. Let’s get Cryo in one of the vehicles. We need to get out of here fast, before whoever those others were come back!” said one of the medics. So they quickly loaded Cryo into a armored medical transport to be hauled back into the research base.

Ch 11

Worrisome Words

They immediately took Cryo to the medical building to check to see if he was hurt. Ty and the others would have to wait in order to learn of Cryo’s condition. It wasn’t long after that the moon rose into the sky and night came upon the research center. “I can’t believe this happened.. Who would be so mean and do this to poor Cryo?” asked Cameron. “I don’t know, son. Whoever it was, was there for Cryo though.” replied Ty. “Do you think they were from Cryo’s original family?” asked Cameron. “No. We’ve… kept tabs on them. They haven’t had any misconduct against us since the incident. Nor do they know where we are. They don’t seem like the type of people who would go this far to get Cryo back. “This must have been the work of a third party” replied Gerald. “A third party? Who else would know about him? We’ve sealed off the research center and no one within the nearby city should have any idea about Cryo.” “That’s the thing. It was no accident that they came on the day we wanted to test Cryo’s aquatic abilities. They knew we were going out to sea for this. They knew we would have a small crew defending him. None of us expected them. If there was any other time to get to him, it would have been now.” said Gerald.

“Where are you going with this, Gerald?” said Ty. “What I’m saying, is that the only way anyone would have known that we were out there today, is…”  “If someone gave them that information…” replied Ty. “Someone in this base wants Cryo,” said Gerald. “Who would want Cryo? And why?” asked Cameron. “I don’t know the exact reason why anyone would want Cryo. It could be to gain a large amount of cash on a new discovery. It could be they want to harness Cryo’s powers to do something nasty. It could even be to hold him for ransom. Whatever the reason is, we need to be much more careful with him.” “If what your saying is true Gerald, then we have a mole here somewhere. Cryo’s at risk. We’ll need to increase security around Cryo. They may make an attempt to take him from here now that their first plan failed.” “Alright. I’ll get on it Ty. What are you going to do?” “Excuse me,” said a familiar voice. They turned to the right to look and saw Nancy in the doorway. “Is Cryo ok?” asked Cameron. 

“Yes. He’s alright.” The group felt a huge sense of relief hearing these words. “Cryo is sleeping right now. He’ll wake up in the morning.” “Is he hurt?” asked Cameron.” “No. He’s just feeling the effects of this,” she replied. She then took a small, thin object out of her pocket. “What is that Dad?” “That… That’s some sort of dart,” replied Ty. “Correct. This small dart was found in Cryo’s back left leg. Seems someone tried to take him using a tranquilizer gun. As you can see from closer inspection, the dart held a chemical inside which broke and leached into Cryo’s back right leg as it was injected in him.” “Must have tried to sedate him to take him without effort.” “Actually, not exactly. We ran some tests on Cryo and we found traces of the chemical, Nume, inside of him.” “Nume? From the crushed seeds of the Nueraula (Nur-al-a) plant?” “The same.” “Nueraula? Nume? What is she talking about Dad?” asked Cameron. 

“The Nueraula plant is a rare plant found very deep in dry savanna areas. Its seeds, when crushed and boiled, cause them to secrete a fluid that when ingested or injected, causes paralysis on that unlucky soul for a while. It can last only for a few hours or for several days, depending on how strong the creatures immune system is.” “That’s awful! Who would want to do that to Cryo!” Gerald stepped forward and put his hand under his chin and scratched it a bit. He then looked back to Ty. “Yes. Who would? I think it would have been far easier to just sedate him. Instead, they wanted to paralyze him? Why? The only reason I would think they would have wanted him awake…” Gerald paused for a second. “Is because they wanted to be able to talk to him… They wanted some type of information from him. It can’t be anything good…” Ty nodded. “This might also give us an idea of what happened in the forest.” “What do you mean Dad?” “Here’s what I think what happened.”

“After Cryo led the group away from the boat, he must have eventually come back toward the shore to try to escape and make his way back to us. Now that I think about it. Nancy. Did the heart rate monitor record his rate and speed during the incident?” “Yes it did. It read he went over 130 mph and exerted a heart rate of 150-170 beats per minute. As you know, his heart typically beats at 110-130 beats per minute. He had to swim pretty fast to outpace the other boat, especially considering he had to probably also had to swim very erratically to get back to the shore without getting hit with one of these darts beforehand. He seemed to be pretty exhausted by the time he was able to get back to shore, as seen here. His heart capped at this point, at 176 beats per minute.” “Could that have been when he was hit with the dart?” “Possibly. When anything is suffering from the effects of this poison, it starts with the subject finding it harder to control it’s limb movements. Running, walking, grabbing, movements like this will become progressively harder to control. Depending on the size of the creature, the effects may happen faster or more slowly. By Cryo’s size, I estimate at about 4 minutes, he would at least start to feel these effects.” “So Cryo made it to shore, but was followed into the forest by these people. They managed to stick one of these darts into him before or after he made it to shore, and they continued to follow him, knowing he would eventually succumb to full paralysis.”

“Correct. Second stage of the effect is severe numbness. Limbs and other appendages start to stop working. Heart rate slows. Subject finds it much more of a struggle to move.” “Poor Cryo,” said Cameron. “Final stage is, of course, complete paralysis. Subject loses all ability to move. Subject will probably feel light headed. Subject may lose his ability to “control his need to take a break,” if you get my drift. The subject may lose consciousness, but this is rare. Typically the subject will attempt everything they can to move after (especially in Cryo’s case), but cannot. Now the body attempts to respond to extinguish the poisons from the subject’s system. Typically through sweating.From what I can see from the heart monitor, it seems this started at about 5:12 P.M. about an hour and a half before we found him. It looks like he was able to fight it off for about 40 minutes before he completely succumbed judging by his heart rate slowing to its minimum here. Much longer than most other creatures could, especially for his size.” “If that’s the case Dad, why was the forest frozen? And how did they not capture him?”

“Hmm… I think… It’s because they underestimated what he was capable of.” “What do you mean Dad?” “Here’s what I think. Cryo was struggling to get away at this point. They waited until the paralysis took full effect before they approached him. They thought they had him. But Cryo, desperate, decided to tap into his own freezing power to save himself. It’s possible he knew how to. Or he did not. Either way, it worked. He was able to freeze the area around him. Judging how we found no one frozen there, when that happened, the people chasing him grew fearful, and ran off, not wanting to get frozen. Seeing as how Cryo also created a hollow piller of ice around himself to protect himself in, it’s clear that even if they came back, they would not be able to break it in time before we found him. Cryo’s a clever boy.” “Indeed. It seems even in the most difficult moments, Cryo seems to be able to get himself out of bad positions,” said Gerald. “Yes. But the question remains. Who is responsible? And why?”

“These will have to be questions for another time. Right now, we have to make sure he gets better,” said Ty. “Yes. I want Cryo to be moved back to his room immediately. No one gets in except us. Me, Gerald, Cameron, and you Nancy. “Why just us? Shouldn’t we just have a full security detail on him?” asked Ty. Gerald looked out the window in the back of the infirmary. “We can’t trust anyone. Someone at this base wants Cryo. It can’t be for anything good. I’m sure whoever it was will make another attempt. I have no doubt about that. Only those we absolutely trust can go see him. Until this is resolved, we cannot risk him getting attacked again. Understand?” Everyone looked at each other and nodded in agreement. “Alright, let’s move him,” said Ty. 

The group put Cryo on a stretcher and took him back to his room. They carefully wrapped him in his favorite blanket he got on his last birthday, with an aqua blue color and shows a cartoonish version of him transformed and swimming in the vast ocean with a night sky filled with stars at the top of the blanket. The words “Swim through the sea of dreams, Cryo.” were stitched at the bottom. Ty had taken time to clean it beforehand with a special wash that gives it the smell of a pleasant meadow, which helps keep Cryo calm and comfy when he needs to sleep. After he was tightly and comfortably wrapped, they placed him on his hay bed with his head nestled on a Cyan pillow with a water motif on it so he could be comfortable and stay warm. One by one, they left the room, except Cameron, who was sitting in a chair in the room by Cryo’s bed. He thought for a moment about getting up and going to bed, but he remembered what his father said. “Someone at the base wants Cryo, and they will make another attempt. These words rang in his head, like a hoard of bees, and he didn’t want to leave Cryo here alone. Ty came back in the doorway.

“Cameron. Come on bud. It’s getting late. You need to go to bed,” Ty said. “D… Dad. Can I… stay here with Cryo tonight.” “You… want to stay with Cryo.” “Yes. Please Dad. I… want to stay with him and make sure he’s okay,” replied Cameron. “He’ll be fine Cameron. Come on.” “No I… Can’t leave him, dad. Not like this. Please. Please let me stay with him.” “…Alright Cameron, let me get one of Cryo’s blankets for you. Just, don’t stay up all night watching him, okay?” “Yes dad. Thank you.” Ty went into the closet at the end of Cryo’s room and took out a red blanket with a picture of a dragon and a human, flying through the air together. “Alright. Good night Cameron.” “Good night Dad.” Ty left the room, turning off the lights. Cameron spent some time awake that night, watching the door to Cryo’s room. Wrapped up in Cryo’s blanket, he looked back at Cryo, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully now. Cameron wondered what Cryo could be dreaming about right now. He could tell it must be something nice, as he could see a small smile on his face. After some time, he would fall asleep himself.

New known abilities:

Metamorphosis: Cryo’s body changes when in water to better swim in it.

Frozen Fortress: In times of desperation, Cryo can tap into his freezing power to unleash a powerful freezing blast out of his body to freeze the area, while also creating an ice pillar around himself to make it difficult to get directly to him.

New Known Likes:

Fixing Technology

His new friend, Cameron

Swimming

Storytime

New known dislikes:

Being bullied

Loneliness

Being treated like an animal

Arguements

Not being able to go outside

His birthday