Cryo the dragon, Book 5, Birthday Blues

Prologue

Cryo the dragon and his mother, in the last book, had been taken captive by a unknown group of mercenaries, who wanted their technological prowess for unknown means. He and his mother were strapped down to medical beds with heavy straps, and taken aboard a large medical ship to be transported to an unknown location. Cryo, using his wit, managed to use his ice coated talons to break out of his medical bed. He then used his talon to pierce a hull through the ship straight to the fuel tank, forcing the ship to make an emergency landing. He managed to send out a call for help on the radio. But he didn’t know if they received the message or not, so he and his mother were forced to make a run from their captors into the forest on the mountain range.

Using his wit, he managed to evade his captors and rest up for the night with his mother using a divot covered up by bushes and felled trees. He then put his survival skills to the test, creating a water filter with a tire from an old bike and stones from a nearby river. He also made a compass from a nail from the bike and a piece a magnetite nearby in a group of rocks by the waterfall in the lake, and later on, a fishing net made of very sturdy vines and a sturdy tree branch frame. With a direction to go, an array of items for survival, and a group of evildoers to evade, they began to try to head through the wilds to the long trip home.

During the time he spent in the woods, he would have more dreams about the bugs of earth, with his bug friends in the dream continuing to show interest in the humans and in him. His leg was still injured from his previous dream experiences though. But his last dream, would end with bang (literally)!

As they travelled, Cryo would continue to use his wit to outsmart his pursuers, create shelters using the items around him, build fires to cook fish and keep warm, and surviving with the limited resources at his disposal. After about a month of travel, he and his mother would finally be rescued by Ty and his military escort. They flew on a ship back to home, washed up from their long journey, ate dinner within their home rather then by a campfire, and would tuck in for bed, as a new day would rise again, back at home…

Ch 1

Hero Heart

Cryo’s head spun a bit as his eyes began to focus on his surroundings. “Ugh… I don’t feel so good…” thought Cryo. He coughed a few times. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that he was somewhere else again. The room was mostly dark, with a small lamp hanging above him, shaking around a bit. Cryo was in a standard bed, with a white blanket over him, laying on his back, and had an iv going into his upper right arm. The room seemed to shake a bit as he laid down. Cryo looked to the right of his bed and saw that he seemed to be under heavy guard by a bunch of armored bugs. Many he could recognize. “You ok, Cryo?” A familiar voice asked. “Huh. Oh, Zeke,” replied Cryo. Cryo tried to pick himself up a bit, but felt a sting across his body. “Hey. Relax Cryo. Don’t move too much right now. Your roughed up pretty bad.” “Huh? Cryo pushed down the covers on him a bit, and saw his body had been bandaged up across most of it. He also saw that his cast on his back right leg had been damaged quite a bit as well. “How did this happen?” Cryo asked. “You don’t remember?” “Not really…” Zeke took a seat next to Cryo and leaned forward.

“We were attacked by something that wanted to take you.” “We were attacked?” “Yes. They resembled Dragon’s, like you. Only much bigger and decked out in highly sophisticated rig armor.” Zeke took something out of his pocket. He showed it to Cryo, which seemed to be a small microchip. “What is that?” asked Cryo. “This is a tracking implant we found in your back. It seems they had implanted this into you at some point. They used it to track your location after you arrived. They traced it straight to the military hospital. We found this when we scanned your body for shrapnel after the attack was thwarted. I must say, you were quite the hero when they came in, even with the leg injury and the fever.”

“I was… a hero?” asked Cryo. He coughed a few times again. “Yes. They jammed our comms and we didn’t realize they got in. They blew the door to your room open. Firestorm was injured from the explosion. If it wasn’t for you, he would probably had been killed when they came in.” “I… saved him?” “Yes. They were about to discharge a weapon on him, when you froze it solid. You fought off their entire group. They were eventually forced to retreat when help arrived. You got hurt pretty bad from the fight. But you saved firestorm and several others. They tried to use a grenade to help their escape. You froze it which contained most of the explosion, but you got launched headfirst into the wall when it detonated. It would have been a lot worse had you not reacted so quickly.” “Huh I was launched into a wall?” Zeke took a small mirror and held it in front of Cryo. Cryo could see that the top of his head had almost been completely covered in bandages. “I look like a mess…” said Cryo

“It’s probably why you cant remember anything that happened. Thankfully, its not full blown amnesia. I’m just glad your awake. You’ve been out since we had begun moving you to a new location.” “Huh? Your taking me somewhere?” “Yes. You’ve been compromised and we’re taking you to a secret secure facility where you’ll be safe. Whatever these enemies want you for can’t be good. We need to keep you safe.” “You won’t lock me up in a small room, right?” “Don’t worry, Cryo. You’ll be given free movement throughout the facility. We’re not going to lock you up like a prisoner of war.”

Zeke went to the back of the room and opened a small fridge and took out a large, plastic green bottle. He then went to a cupboard in the room and took out a plastic cup and poured the liquid in the bottle into the cup. He went back to Cryo and sat down. “Want some soda?” Zeke asked. “Yea… I could use some.” “Alright. Let me help you drink it.” Zeke carefully lifted Cryo’s head up with his upper right arm. Zeke moved the drink to his upper left arm and moved it before Cryo so he could sip it. “Alright Cryo. Take short, easy sips.” He slowly tipped the cup forward and Cryo began to sip the fizzy drink down. After a several gulps, the drink was gone. “That’s probably a little better now,” said Zeke. “Yea. It still tastes good.” “Now now, Shadowshot. That’s enough.” said another familiar voice. “Hmm?” said Cryo.

He looked to his right, and saw Patch, with a few places bandaged up across his arms and legs, and his blue medical cloths ripped in a few places. “Oh. Patch. I didn’t realize you were here too. You… ok? I see you have some injuries too.” “Don’t worry about me, my young friend. I’m nowhere near as beat up as you. And I have you to thank for that.” He smiled and positioned himself right next to Cryo’s bed. Cryo coughed a few more times. Patch took notice and pulled something out of his pocket. “Can you open your maw, Cryo? I’d like to check your temperature again.” “Oh. Yea. Hang on.”

Cryo opened his maw and Patch placed an electric thermometer under his tongue. Cryo closed his maw again, and then after a few seconds, it began to beep. Patch took the thermometer out of his mouth and checked it. “Your running a bit of a higher fever. Cryo. 70.2`F. Not really a surprise from all the excitement going on lately. He headed toward the back of the room, to a small medical refrigerator near the far left corner. He took a tray next to the fridge and placed a few things on it and headed back towards his patient. “Here. Take this pill. This will help bring down the fever. It will also help ease some of the pain you might be feeling.” “Alright. Thanks, Patch.”

Cryo opened his mouth and Patch placed his left hand behind Cryo’s head and slowly and gently lifted it up. He placed the pill on Cryo’s tongue and Cryo closed his maw. Patch then took a small cup with water from the tray and helped Cryo drink from it to wash the pill down. “There we go. Let me put this cold pad on your head as well. Bring down the swelling.” Patch grabbed an ice filled bag from the tray and a small strand of white string. He placed it on Cryo’s feverish head, and tied it on gently with the white sting. Cryo gave a small relaxed sigh, as Patch carefully placed his head back down on the pillow.” “There we go, son. I bet that feels better.” “Yea. The cold feels nice.” Patch rubbed cryo’s head a few times and pulled the covers of the bed up a bit for him.

“I think it might be best if you try and get some extra sleep.” said Patch. Zeke picked himself up from the chair, and patted Cryo on the belly a few times. “Yea. Take this time as a chance to rest up and recuperate. We’ll arrive to our Firebase 01 in less then a hour and a half. We’ll have a emergency shrapnel removal operation prepared by tomorrow, so we can get those nasty bits of metal and such out of your body. I hope you won’t mind being asleep for a extended bit of time. It’s best to have you not moving too much so the shrapnel won’t dig deeper inside of your body. Also, you probably wont be feeling too well with your injuries.” Cryo coughed a few times. “Oh… Well. I’m fine with being asleep for a bit longer then usual. If it helps me get better, I’m all for it.” Cryo said. He smiled and nodded at Patch. Patch smiled back and patted Cryo’s belly a few times. “Once were done with the operation, we can get you settled in and moved you into your new quarters while your still sleeping. Don’t worry. We promise not to wake you, bud. Once the sedatives wear off, you should be feeling much better.” “That sounds really nice. Thanks.”

Cryo began to think about what his “personal quarters,” will have inside of it once he wakes up. “Now, my fine scaley friend. Sleep easy now. You’ve had a rough go of it.” “Alright… I’ll do that. Thanks Zeke.” “Here. I’ll turn on some soothing music for you.” Zeke went to the back of the room and took a small radio from a table. He brought it over to Cryo and placed it on the cabinet next to his bed. He smiled at Cryo and turned it on. The radio played a soothing music box melody which flowed through Cryo’s ears. Patch seemingly began to change his iv’s medicine to something else. Cryo’s mind and then strangely his entire body began to feel really numb. Cryo’s mind began to fade quickly. Cryo slowly closed his eyes as his head became fuzzy and his eyes faded to black. “Sleep well, Cryo. You’ll be somewhere safe soon, my friend,” said Zeke.

Ch 2

Warm Welcome

Cryo’s eyes slowly opened up. He heard a ringing in his ear. He gave out a small yawn. He began to pick himself up. “Ahh… Good mourning,” thought Cryo. “Hey there Cryo,” said Cameron. “Huh? Oh hi Cameron.” Camron was sitting next to Cryo, near the bed. He looked at his radio, which was sounding the mourning alarm and read 9:04 A.M. “Alarm off,” Cryo said to his radio, which promptly turned off.

As Cryo leaned up from his bed and began to lower the blanket down, Cameron came close and gave a big hug to Cryo. “Easy Cameron. Easy,” said Cryo. “I missed you so much! You don’t know how worried I was. I thought I’d never see you again!” “I’m fine Cameron. Me and mom are fine.” “Everyone has been talking about how you were out in the wilds surviving off of nothing but a broken tire and sticks and vines!” “I wouldn’t go that far…” “How did you do all that Cryo?” “You have seen me watching that survival show before. I guess I just picked up on a few tricks I could try.” “I think that was MORE then a few tricks. You were outdoors for almost an entire month! Was it hard?” “Yea. I had to make a net to find food, make fires to cook, make a filter for purified water, and travel a REALLY long distance while being hunted by those bad guys.” “That sounds awful.” “I think I enjoyed it a little…” “Really? Why?” “I haven’t really been in any forest or even outside the base since I was just a hatchling. The only place outside I’ve really been is on the swim trip and around the base. I’ve never really been in many “natural,” places.

“Hey you two,” said Tide. “Huh. Oh. Good mourning Mom.” “Good mourning son. I see that Cameron has given you a proper welcome back.” Tide moved over to the dining table and placed down a bowl with a spoon in it and a plate with several pieces of toasted bread with a stick of butter on the side. “Come on, you two. I’ve got breakfast ready. I’ve got nice bowl of Fruity Frenzy cereal and toast.” “Sounds good. Thanks, Mom.” Cryo and Cameron came over to the table and sat on one of the cushions around the table. The three quickly took several pieces of toast each and began to eat. Cryo began to take a spoonful of cereal and gulped it down. “Mmm. Good stuff. I love this cereal,” said Cryo. “I heard its one of your favorites, son,” Tide said, as she quickly took a bite of the toasted bread.” “I like it too, Cryo,” said Cameron. The three continued to eat their food and soon the bowls were empty and the plate had nothing but bread crumbs left on it.

“That was good,” said Cryo. “I liked it too, son,” said Tide. “Hey Cryo. You want to play a board game?” asked Cameron. “Yea. Sounds good. I can play one right now,” said Cryo. “Can I join? I haven’t played one since I was with Greg,” said Tide. “Sure mom. Board games are better with more players.” “Which one should we play, Cryo?” asked Cameron. “Hmm…” “While you pick, I’ll clean up the table son,” said Tide. Cryo went towards a small cabinet near his window and opened it up. Inside was a bunch of board games stacked on top of one another in boxes. “Which one should we do?” thought Cryo. Cryo looked through all board games, until one caught his eye. “Detective. One of my favorites. I wonder if mom ever played this one before. Hmm… Yea. Let’s play this one,” thought Cryo. Cryo took the board game from the shelf and brought it to the table. Tide had already cleaned it off and was waiting there with Cameron. “Have you played this one mom?” Cryo asked.” “Detective, huh? No. I can’t say that I have…” replied Tide. “The game is simple, Mom. 3 cards are put into an small file, containing the 3 main clues. Suspect, weapon, and room. We roll a dice to move around the board to get into rooms and make guesses on a suspect and a weapon used in the room you went to. If someone has a card, they show it to you, and you mark it down. Game is won when you make a correct guess about the weapon, room, and suspect. “Sounds complicated,” said Tide. “It’s easy to understand once you get into it, Tide,” said Cameron. “Well, alright. I’m sure I’ll get it down,” Tide said.

So they quickly set up the board and played. Tide quickly picked up on how to play, and had fun. About an hour and 30 minutes passed as they played. Cryo then heard a familiar voice from the doorway, of his room. “You 3 ok?” asked Ty. “Huh? Oh, hi Ty, I’m doing fine,” Cryo said. “I’m ok, Ty,” said Tide. “Me too, Dad,” said Cameron. “I see you 3 are playing Detective. You having fun?” All 3 nodded in agreement. “Do either of you need a small break?” asked Ty. “I’m good Ty,” said Tide. Cryo thought for a moment, and nodded. “Yea, Ty. I could use a break.” “Alright Cryo. Let’s go outside,”

Cryo went towards Ty and he opened the door and began to escort Cryo outside through the halls of the living quarters. “It’s nice that your back with us Cryo,” Ty said. “You both really had us worried being out in that large forest all alone. To think all this happened. I should have never trusted him…” said Ty. Cryo thought for a moment. He began to think about what had happened. He remembered then about what he heard in the forest when they were running. “Mick. I remember those guys saying someone named Mick betrayed them,” he thought. Cryo began to wonder if Ty knew more about what happened. He decided to try to get answers from Ty.

“When you say that, your talking about Mick, right?” asked Cryo. Ty looked at Cryo in curiosity. “You knew?” asked Ty. “When I was in the forest, they ended up finding and chasing us. We fell into a small divot full of mud. They were using thermal, so the mud hid us from them luckily. But I heard them mention that someone named Mick. Actually… I think I heard the name multiple times while we were out in the wilderness.” Cryo looked forward and continued walking. “Can you tell me more about that, Ty?” Ty looked towards Cryo. He gave out a sigh, and then a nod. “Alright Cryo. I’ll tell you what we’ve figured out.”

Ch 3

Corrupt Commander

“Mick was part of the military detail in the base. He was a head in weapons development here and a commander of a group of military personnel,” said Ty. “Weapons development?” replied Cryo. “That’s right. He was also the commander in charge of the operation when we…” Ty breathed in a let out a heavy breath. “When we took you.” Cryo looked at Ty with a sad look and then looked back forward. “He wasn’t very nice. He tried to hurt my adopted family,” said Cryo. “Yes. It wasn’t supposed to go that way. I admit myself he did go too far…” Ty looked back at Cryo and saw his concerned look.

“His… interest in you ended up causing problems… When you first arrived here, he showed very little interest in you. Seeing as how you spent your entire day pretty much in front of the window, eating and sleeping, he assumed at that point you were really not worth the trouble. A wasted effort on a new creature with little interesting abilities or traits.” Cryo looked at Ty and saw he was looking pretty concerned now.

“That changed when word came around of your knack for repairing technology. He began to more closely monitor you. We found a whole bunch of videos stolen from our security cameras in his room. It seems he always had someone watching you in secret when you were repairing and working with tech.” Cryo began to breath a little more heavily. “When you began to make your own tech and adding upgrades to your items, he began to push us to convince you to build more. And he also wanted to start training you in combat. While we had limited knowledge on your abilities at the time, he saw an opportunity to use you as both a weapons expert and a possible asset in military intervention.”

“He wanted… to turn me into a weapon,” said Cryo. Ty looked at Cryo and nodded. “While we had an interest ourselves from what you and your mother could make, and your own special abilities, we realized that putting you through this would be awful and wrong. Especially at your age and what was written in Greg’s notebook.” Ty turned ahead, with a slightly angry scowl on his face.

“Naturally, we refused to go along with his request. But he continued to try to push us to try to do more with you. When we continued to refuse, it seems he decided to take matters into his own hands.” Cryo gulped and continued walking with Ty. “He convinced his own unit to try and take you and your mother for themselves. He believed we were wasting both your potentials and just keeping you as a pets. As a result, he came up with a plan to take you both and use you to create advanced technology to sell and have you both aid in major military operations overseas,” said Ty. “Sounds awful…” replied Cryo. “He and his unit were responsible for both attempts to take you. But in both attempts, they underestimated you.”

“They… underestimated me?” “Yes. In both attempts, they didn’t realize how crafty you were. Mick didn’t think you’d be such a difficult creature to outsmart. As a result, well… Both his plans inevitably failed.” Ty looked back at Cryo and gave a smile. Cryo gave a smile back. “Now that he and his unit have been found out, they’ll not be able to come even close to this base without serious consequences. He’ll probably think twice before coming after you again.” Cryo smiled again and nodded, and they continued on. They both approached the door to the outside area. Ty opened the door and escorted Cryo out. “Speaking of which Cryo. Could you tell us how you managed to escape and survive in the forest?” “Oh yea. Alright. Here’s what I did, Ty…”

Cryo took his break and sat with Ty on a outdoor bench while telling Ty about what happened. Ty seemed very impressed as Cryo told his story. “…And then we began to travel again after taking down our makeshift tent. After walking forward until near dusk, you found us,” said Cryo. “I must say Cryo. You really know how to survive on your own. I never expected you to know how to do all of this,” said Ty. “Yea… I guess so Ty,” “Well. We’ve spent enough time out here, Cryo. Why don’t we go back inside. Cameron and Tide are waiting for you.” “Alright. Let’s go back in, Ty.”

The two headed back inside and back into Cryo’s room. Tide was talking to Cameron and saw Cryo step back into the room. “Hi son. You were gone a while. Is everything alright?” asked Tide. “Yea. I’m fine mom.” “I was just talking to Cameron about what happened to us in the wilds, said Tide. “I was just talking to Ty about that too, Mom. That’s why it took a while.” “Ahh. I see. Well now that your back, we were going to watch a movie.” “Which movie?” asked Cryo “Legends series, Dragons and Dawn,” Tide replied. “I’ve never heard of that movie before.” said Cryo. “We recently got it. It’s in a 3 part movie collection. The series is supposed to be very emotional. It’s the third movie, in the series,” said Cameron. “Shouldn’t we start with the first one?” replied Cryo. “I saw this one in theaters. It’s really good. I haven’t seen the first two. We can catch up on the first two later.” Cryo tilted his head a bit and then gave a smile and nodded. “Alright. Let’s watch it.”

Ch 4

TV Time

Cryo took the remote to his Tv and used the joysticks to move it towards toward a group of bean bags and a small leather sofa near the right side to his room’s window. With a push of a button, the tv set itself down, extended its plug into a socket, and extended its hilt to meet with the floor. “Voice command,” Cryo said. “Voice command recognized. TV model 9500 Dragon’s gem is ready to receive command.” “Open chip drive for movie.” “Opening chip drive.” The chip drive for the TV opened and Cryo took the movie from its case and put it into the slot. The movie chip slid into its socket and the drive closed as Cryo went to sit in his seat. “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. “Command. Play movie.” “Playing movie.”

The movie played as the three intently watched it. As they watched it, they felt an array of different feelings and concepts. Sadness, willpower, companionship, strength, power, and hope. The movie soon ended as the three looked upon, satisfied with the experience they witnessed. “That was incredible,” said Cryo. “I told you you would like it,” said Cameron “I must say, I’ve never seen anything like this. I wish the dragons in this movie would have existed back on our homeworld. They could have prevented the travesty that took hold of our home world single handedly,” said Tide. Cryo looked at Tide, and became curious. “Home… world?” Cryo said. Tide looked toward Cryo and gave a sigh. “Yes Cryo. You do realize your not from this world, right?” “I’ve… suspected I’m not from around here. But I… never really knew where I really came from.” “They never told you?” “No. They always said to me that my origins aren’t exactly… pleasant…” Tide began to think for a moment. “Should I tell him?” thought Tide. She began to think for a moment. But then she realized that he deserves to know his origins. “Alright Cryo. I’ll tell you a little bit.”

Ch 5

Homeless to Home

Tide began by telling Cryo about their home planet and how a group of shapeshifting creatures had provided technology to them that changed their world. She told Cryo that they had their own plans. How they had taken over and subjected their entire world under their evil influence. How a desperate plan was made. And how she made her own plan. Cryo listened with a worried look. He understood why they never told him before. “That’s scary…” Cryo said. “Yes. Its awful what happened. But its wasn’t all bad.” “Really? Why Mom?”

“Because we came here, Cryo. We we’re travelers from far away. Far beyond the stars. We travelled far in order to find a new place. A place where we could call home.” Tide gave a smile at Cryo and stroked his head a bit. “We found someone willing to help us in our time of need. They took us in. They fed us, helped us, gave us a chance to start anew. A new world for the both of us. While the things that have happened to the both of us hasn’t all been good, I think we both know that we have a home here.” Tide looked at Cryo, who now had a small smile on his face. Tide gave a smile back. “It doesn’t matter where we came from. All that matters is that we’re here now. We’re somewhere where we can call home.”

Cameron came over and gave a smile at Cryo. “Yea. Your not back in a war torn world. Your here with us, now. Your home Cryo. And no one will take it from you, not without a fight,” Cameron said. “Yea, thanks. I do feel better now,” Cryo said. Cryo looked toward his work bench and saw a small pile of technology. “Looks like work has piled up a bit since I’ve been gone,” said Cryo. “Can you give me some time to work on this stuff?” “Alright. We’ll give you some time,” said Cameron. “Thanks. I need to get started.” Cryo went over to his workbench and began to slowly observe the tech. He took one of the devices and began observing it.

Ch 6

Program Prodigy

Cryo put in his magnifying speck on his right eye and prepared to work on repairing the devices. “Alright. Notes here say its… John’s personal computer. Hmm… I never had to do something for one of the kids at school before.” Cryo remembered the note he got last night. He then gave a small smile. “They’ve accepted who I am. Maybe I’ll be able to get along better with them. Now let’s see… A Zealot Shard gaming labtop by the looks of it. Problem seems to be its not turning on. Notes say he accidently dropped it and it bounced on his bed and hit the floor. First thing you check is the power,” he thought.

Cryo quickly used his screwdriver to unscrew the back and take a look at the power for it. “Power system seems good. Maybe the hard drive?” Cryo pulled out the battery and looked inside to find that the hard drive had a crack in it. “Defiantly the hard drive malfunction. Power systems working means nothing if the main computing unit is damaged like this. It will need to be replaced. Good thing the data for all computers at the base for each person has a backup in the system. I’ll be able to transfer the system by accessing the main data storage units at the base. Not to mention I have many different replacement parts prepared for me for cases like this. I should have a new hard drive ready to be installed. Cryo went to a very large and long set of drawers to the left to his work bench. He got up from his seat and combed over them. He quickly found the drawer he was looking for.” “Here we go. This should be the one needed for the laptop.” Cryo opened the drawer and took out the hard drive and started to come back over.

His eye however, drifted towards a drawer above where he keeps a “different,” hard drive. He walked back over and took a look at it. The word “prototype devices,” was listed on the drawer. “Should I?” Cryo thought. Cryo opened it up and took out one of his own custom built drives. Cryo began to think for a moment. “I built this one myself. Programmed it too. I was hoping to use one of these for my own custom modified computer one day but…” Cryo looked back towards his clients computer. “This would be a good way to possibly test this.” Cryo started to walk over to the computer with both drives in hand. “I’ve created multiple drives just like this one that can connect together. I’ve… never tested them before though. It’s supposed to be very advanced, but I needed to test it on an actual device beforehand. If it works, the computer will be smoother, faster, have a voice command system, and be able to hold much more data. It would require me to program a little bit extra, but…” Cryo approached the work bench with both drives and set them down next to the device. “If this fails though, it could damage the entire systems and possibly cause the data from the device to become corrupt. If that happens, I… doubt he’ll be happy. They’ve only just began to like me.” Cryo looked at both devices in his hand. “Should I try it?” Cryo thought for a moment, and made a decision.

“If this fails, I’ll… just replace the entire thing myself. Data, subsystems, programs, and parts. I’ll build one from scratch if I have too. I hope he’ll be able to forgive me. This is risky, and I don’t need any of them to hate me again.” Cryo nodded, took in a deep breath, and picked up his experimental hard drive. “Alright. Let’s give it a shot.”

Ch 7

Accidental AI

Cryo worked on installing the new hard drive for a while, carefully arranging it inside and fixing it to the computer. Soon the hard drive was fitted in and now Cryo needed to turn on the computer. “Alright, let’s boot it up.” Cryo pressed the power button on the computer, which very quickly turned on. “Alright. The computer turned on. Now to download his files from the base’s backup systems to retrieve his computers downloads, files, games, settings, etc.” Cryo typed on the keyboard with the notes on where to retrieve his files. Typing in the passwords and navigating the database servers, the file were quickly retrieved in less then 15 minutes. “Alright. Looks like its working so far. I thought it would take much longer to retrieve his files. Guess the hard drive is working as intended.” Cryo looked at a gauge placed within the socket on the computer telling of the electrical output. “Computer seems to be running fine, power wise. But now let’s test playing a game for a bit. Games usually use a lot of power and overheat a computer.” Cryo opened a game on the computer and tested it out and played it for a bit, keeping his eye on the gauge. “No overheating. Frames are very good. Things seem to be working very well!” Cryo became a little excited to see the his drive doing extremely well. “Let’s test the command system.”

“Voice command.” “Ready to receive order.” “Open chip drive.” “Opening drive.” The chip drive opened up on the side of the computer. “Close chip drive.” “Closing chip drive.” The chip drive slid back into the computer. “Let’s try another command,” he thought. “Check computer diagnostics for discrepancies.” “Checking computers for problems. Scanning.”

The computer began a scan of its subsystems and quickly stopped. “Problem found. Partial data corruption.” Cryo gave out a sigh and began to think he might have screwed up. “Where is the corruption,” “Data system for 3d modeling program, Monet, has several files that have been corrupted.” “Options?” “Already at work repairing.” “Really?” “Yes. Files will be retrieved from storage and repaired in less then 7 minutes.” “Hmm… Thats a little weird.” He thought for a moment. He decided to dismiss it.

“Any other problems?” The computer continued scanning. “Problem found, slight deficiency with power unit sub system.” “Huh? Problem with… power?” “Yes. Computing resources using slightly more power then expected.” “Really?” Cryo looked at the gauge attached to the computer again and noticed that it was right. The computer spoke again. “Advancements with hard drive have had a slight impact on power subsystems. Solution already found, Adding a distributer to main power unit should suffice and properly regulate power through the subsystems. Replacing the power wire connected to the hard drive with a regulator wire should maximize battery life, while also increasing battery lifespan without causing problems to main cpu unit.” Cryo thought for a moment. “The computer itself could figure out a problem with the power? A solution as well? Even upgrades? My notes did say a power discrepancy, though… it seemed to be just the hard drive, right?” He began to think a bit. “Well… I suppose… I should get on it real quick. Cryo shut down the computer and began to disassemble the back so he could add the distributer and the regulator wire. His mind began to drift a bit.” “The command unit is much more advanced then I thought. Seemed… observant. Almost like it had a personality. Wait a minute…” Cryo turned away for a second. He then turned back with a concerned look. “Did I accidently program an AI?” Cryo became worried at the possibility. He quickly assembled the back on. “I need to look further into this…”

He turned on the computer, which booted up almost immediately. “That was a really quick startup. Even quicker then before… I don’t think that could have been just from the new power unit…” Cryo thought. Cryo began to think of a question to ask the computer.

“Umm… search internet for umm… movies about dragons.” “Searching.” The computer screen quickly opened up to a large list of movies going down. “I never programmed a search program for the internet,” thought Cryo. He began to breath a little more heavily.

“Umm… How are you… feeling?” “Calmed. Feeling good to be of service to you. Excited to help and observe. Prepared for more interaction,” the computer replied. “It could tell me how its feeling. I think it actually has emotions. Oh dear…” Cryo began to sweat a bit. He began to think.

“I think this hard drive has… a mind of its own. That… could be VERY bad,” Cryo began to remember some movies he watched. “It… seems friendly. But… I’ve seen too many movies where an artificial intelligence could go crazy.” Cryo thought for a moment. “Can you… um… answer more… direct questions?” “Go ahead with your questions.” “Ok…” Cryo began to think.” “I better ask VERY carefully. There’s no telling how this could go.” He took in a deep breath and looked towards the screen.

“Umm… what do you think about… uh… Humans?” “Humans have had their problems in the past. They have a tendency to cause problems across one another. But there are many good people in this world. A couple of bad seeds do not make a society as a whole, creator.” “Creator?” replied Cryo. Cryo began to really get nervous.

“Umm… What about… dragons?” “Dragons are smart and clever creatures. Based on old Earth ancient mythology. The fact that a kind and gentle blue water dragon stands before me now means there must have been some truth to those stories. I was created by that very special dragon.” “…It knows about me… It knows I created it… Is it… able to see me with the computers camera?” Cryo gulped, and decided to ask one more question.”

“Umm… Do you… have the possibility of… becoming dangerous or uh… really mad at either humans or dragons and cause serious problems? Your… directly connected to our network and I’m… concerned about what that could entail if something goes wrong…” “Your concern is noted. Do not worry. I would never harm the creator, caretakers, or his buddies. If you would like, I could disconnect myself from the main servers of this installation so that I cannot access without your input. Would you like that?” Cryo thought for a moment. “Umm… Yes please.” “Disconnecting main ai connection from main servers. Adding command input for creator, caretakers, and staff safety. Ai unit will be used on this computer and in assistant devices. Would you like anything else, creator?” “Umm… you do realize this computer is not mine, right?” “Yes. I do know creator. I’ll be ready to be transferred to your own computer when you have one.” “What will happen to the command structure on his?” “It will still function normally.” Diagnostics will still run itself and be able to continue identifying problems. The upgrades to your clients computer will continue to function normally.” “Alright. Uh… Thank you.”

Cryo closed the computer and put it into his clients computer bag with a look of concern on his face. “I hope I didn’t create a monster here. It did say it put a command input to connect to the bases main servers, but I nonetheless worry. Sigh… I guess I’ll just have to monitor things from here.”

Cryo then took his next device to repair. A chip drive movie player. “I need to listen to something calming while I do this now.” Cryo placed down the movie player on his work bench, and raised his magnifying speck over his head. He began to head toward his bed. He picked up his radio and took it back toward the work bench in the back. He was about to say something when it turned on by itself.

“You seem tense, creator. Would you like for me to tune the radio to your favorite type of calming work music?” “…!” Cryo’s eyes shot up! He realized that the AI he programmed had inserted itself in his radio and now probably his TV and other custom items. It might even be connected to EVERY electronic item in the room. Cryo gulped. “Relax, creator. Take a deep breath. Clear your mind. And calm yourself. You have work to do. Let me help ease you into it.” Cryo gave out a sigh. “Alright. Play soft rock.” “Playing Radio station 2.1.1., New Generation Rock Radio.”

Ch 8

Connection Curiosity

Cryo began working to repair the chip drive player as he listened to the soft melody from his radio. “Ok. Notes say… movies are freezing sometimes during movie play. Hmm… Normally I would think its the chip itself that’s the problem, but it says here its happened with multiple movies.” Cryo thought for a moment. Cryo carefully took the chip drive player apart and took a look at the chip reader. “Just as I thought. Looks like the chip drive reader is old and starting to corrode. It will need to be replaced.” Cryo went to his cabinet and went to the section where he keeps different chip drives. He took out a replacement drive, and began to work on installing it. As he worked, some thoughts began to wander in his head.

“That whole story about what happened to Mom. It’s hard to believe how crazy things ended up for her. Hmm…” Cryo scratched his neck a bit and continued to work. “To think a bunch of evil creatures took over our homeworld. Subjected nearly my entire species. Nearly took Mom and… me…” Cryo looked back and saw Tide and Cameron having a small conversation. Cryo turned back to his work. “And to think that most of what was left decided to transform themselves…” Cryo scratched his head next. “Its crazy when you think about it.”

Cryo had finished installing the new chip drive reader and put the chip and put it carefully in place. He began quickly put the movie player back together but leaving the chip drive reader exposed. “Now it just needs a little kick.” Cryo dabbed a tiny bit of his talon in his mouth and dabbed it a bit on the chip drive reader. The small electrical charge in his saliva caused the movie player to power on for a second and then turn off. Cryo then placed its remaining parts back together. Cryo was about to head to get the controller from his tv, when he noticed something strange was happening to it. Suddenly, the tv began to hover up and retract its stand inside itself. The tv began to immediately move towards Cryo’s location, and plugged itself into the the power outlet on the wall above the workbench. It slowly hovered itself back down gently and extended its landing frame. Cryo looked at the tv with disbelief. “It’s defiantly in my tv now…” Cryo thought.

“Ready to test the results of your repair, creator,” the tv spoke. It extended it chip drive reader outward. “Ugh… This is going to take some getting used too…” Cryo placed the chip into the chip drive reader and it immediately closed. “Would you like me to skip all previews and menu’s and immediately play the movie?” “Yes please…” “Playing movie.” After watching a movie for a bit, Cryo was satisfied that it was working perfectly. “Movie drive player is operating normally creator. Good work on a job well done,” a voice echoed from his TV. Taking notice, Cryo decided to give another reply. “Um… Thank you, I guess,” “On to your next project, Creator.”

Cryo took his next item to repair, a Medium flat screen Tv. “Ok notes say… a ball hit the screen of the tv. Screeen kept working, but the graphics on TV goes out sometimes. Ok…” Cryo thought for a moment, and began to carefully take it apart. He looked towards the part connected to the screen and found its problem. “Just as I thought. The screen connector is has been damaged. It needs to be replaced.” Cryo went towards his drawers and took out a replacement part and headed to start repairing it. Cryo began to think again. This time, he began to think about the dreams he’s been having lately.

“Now that I think about things. My dreams. Some of them, had dragons… In some type of advanced armorsuits.” Cryo gave out a look of curiosity, and then one of concern. “The first one was when I was young. Not very long before I was taken. I woke up within my own destroyed town. No idea how it happened. Alone and scared. My house was destroyed. Then they showed up.” Cryo began to sweat a bit. “They said that my family escaped, except Mom… But they were looking for me. They chased me, bound me, and blindfolded me, right before I woke up.” Cryo gave out a sigh.

“The next time I had a dream about them was when I was… paralyzed.” Cryo tilted his head and scratched his neck. “I woke up in a prison. Muzzled and trapped. They came in and tried to blindfold me again. But, I was rescued by… a movie character of all things… Things went dark after that.” Cryo gulped and wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead. “They said that… someone wanted to meet me. But who I wonder? It couldn’t have been anyone friendly. I probably would have ended up just like the others who were subjected. Possibly even worse…” He gulped again and shook his head a bit.

He quickly finished up the TV. After plugging it in, he saw that it was working perfectly and began to box it up to be taken back. “Excellent job once again, creator. You’ve done a good job.” said his radio as the music faded in volume a bit so its mechanical voice could be heard. “Umm… Thanks again?” replied Cryo. He picked up his next project, a cylindrical music drive player.

“Let’s see here… Notes say that it stopped playing music. Hmm…” Cryo turned it on to see if it could power on. “Power seems to be working. Must be something with the sound system itself.” Cryo began to take it apart and looked at the sound systems. “Looks like the speakers has water damage. Short circuited the sound systems. I’ll need to replace the speakers.” Cryo got up and quickly got a replacement sound system and began putting it together. He went to work placing the replacement speakers. He then began to think of his dreams again.

“The next time I saw those dragons was when I had that dream about my Mother, only a little bit after she woke up. That was the first time I actually fought them off.” Cryo began to screw in the final few bolts for the music player back in. After plugging it in and testing it. He saw it was working. He began to box it up to be sent back to its owner. “That dream helped me learn to fight. The dream felt different a bit though. It didn’t feel like it was… connected… to what I had before, so to speak. Its felt like, I had it for a different purpose. My mom woke up soon after. Then the whole mess started with those kidnappers. We got away, but… I had even more dreams while going through the forest.” After boxing it up, his radio spoke up again. “Excellent job creator. Another successful repair. Your client will be pleased.” “Yea… Thanks… I suppose.”

Cryo picked up another item to repair, an Ignition portable gaming console. “Alright notes here say… screen damaged from fall. This one is at least is obvious. Though, I’ll still need to check the other systems to see if anything else is wrong.” Cryo got a replacement screen and began to take the console apart. After looking a bit, he found another problem. “Looks like the image conductor is also damaged. Even if I replace the screen, it still won’t put up an image. it will have to be replaced as well. Cryo grabbed another replacement part, and began to work. His thoughts began to wander again.

“Most of my dreams seemed to be connected to each other. That world I ended up on, with those bugs. I’m sure it is Earth. Albeit different from what I expected it to be. It’s sentient species now seemed to be advanced bugs.” Cryo yawned a bit and continued to work on the console. “I woke up, in an alleyway near some buildings. I was in a crater, my leg was broken. There was an indent in the wall of the building, implying I fell from the sky, knocked into the building, and landed hard on the ground. It would explain why I had a broken leg, along with other injuries. I limped out of the alley, hurting all over, only to be greeted by all of them.” Cryo began to finish up putting the console together and was about to box it up. “They took me and loaded me onto their ship. Thankfully, they began to see I was no threat to them after that Spider, Zeke, began to talk to me. They took me in, treated my injuries, and gave me comfort in an unfamiliar world. But still…”

Cryo had just it finished putting the console back together. After turning it on and playing it a bit, he saw that the power systems were working perfectly and began to box it up to be transported. Cryo gave out a small yawn. “I’m getting a little tired. I should probably take a nap soon. “Good job with another repaired item, creator. Your starting to look tired though. Do you need a nap? I understand you have a tendency to take naps during the day.” He looked toward the radio and took in a deep breath. “Um… I… uh… have enough energy for just one more item.” Cryo replied back.

Cryo went to pick up his last project of the day, a microwave. “Alright… Notes here say, heater is taking much longer to cook items. Hmm…” Cryo began to take it apart and looked heater. “Yep. Internal Heater is shot. Looks like an electrical surge damaged the heater. Probably from one of the storms when I was going through the forest. I need to replace the heat bulbs, heater, and some of the wires.” Cryo quickly got the needed parts and began to repair it. His thoughts drifted again.

“The last time I heard about them, was with my most recent dreams. When I was being transported somewhere else by those bugs. They told me that those… dragons had placed a tracking chip inside my back, and they attacked the base to take me. But I apparently… fought them off and saved several of the bugs warriors that were watching me. Patch as well. Even with my broken leg and fever. Though apparently… I was injured further during the fight.” Cryo gave a small smile and a nod and continued working.

“But that dream shows that both of the types of dreams I had are somehow connected.” He finished up with the microwave. He quickly tested it and confirmed it worked and began to box it up to be safely transported. “Good job creator. Another item perfectly repaired.” “…Umm yea… Let’s… clean up now.” Cryo’s went to work to clean up his workspace and was soon cleaned up and his tools put back. Cryo gave out a big yawn and rubbed his eyes a bit. He looked at the time, which read 11:10 A.M. “Alright. Time for a nice long nap.”

Ch 9

Nap Near Noon

He picked up his radio and moved it on the cabinet next to his bed. Tide and Cameron took notice, and began to walk over. “Are you going to take a nap, Cryo?” asked Tide. “Yea. I’m pretty tired now, Mom. I need some sleep.” “Would you like for me to tuck you in?” Cryo thought for a moment. He smiled back at her and nodded. “Yea. You can tuck me in, Mom.” “Alright, my little boy. Would you like to sleep in a nice, comfy shirt as well?” Cryo thought for a moment. Then he smiled and nodded. Tide gestured Cryo over to her. “Come over here, Cryo. Let’s get something nice and cozy to wear and snuggle up in for your nap.” “Mom… Cameron’s here.” Cameron and Tide smiled at each other and chuckled a bit. “Come on, Cryo.”

She picked up Cryo’s blanket and headed over to the cabinet with his cloths close to his bed. Cryo headed over to her and sat himself over next to the dresser. She placed Cryo’s blanket next to her and began to rummage around a bit in the drawer. She then stopped for a minute and then took out a nice black shirt with the small picture of Cryo huddled up in his bed on the bottom, with a very large thought bubble going above his head. The thought bubble itself had a large picture of Cryo wearing a white space suit and flying through space itself with a small rocket pack attached to his back. The words, “Sleeping within the vastness of space,” were above the picture in an arch and white letters. Tide smiled for a second and turned to Cryo. “Hold up your arms, my little boy.”

Cryo smiled and lifted his arms up and Tide lifted the shirt over Cryo, making sure his wings could extend out the back. She then lifted Cryo and his blanket up and carefully and tightly wrapped him in his blanket. She smiled at Cryo and then carried Cryo to his bed nearby. She rubbed his head a few times and then placed his head on the pillow on his bed. Cryo yawned and smiled, back at Tide. She then gave one more kiss on Cryo’s forehead and stood back up.

“Alright, Cryo. Me and Cameron will leave you alone to get some sleep.” “Have a good nap, Cryo. Why don’t we go outside for a bit, Tide,” said Cameron. They both headed to the door, turned the lights off, and closed the shutters on his large window at the side of the room, and left so Cryo could sleep peacefully. Cryo yawned again and rubbed his eyes. “Alright. Time for some well needed rest.” Cryo huddled even tighter in his blanket, and began to settle down. “Would you like for me to play soothing bedtime music?” said the radio. Cryo looked at the radio, with a slightly worried look in his eyes. He took in a deep breath to try and relax. “Y… Yes please…” replied Cryo. “Now playing Naptunes Channel.” The radio dj came on the speakers. “Greetings fellow snoozers. This next song is new and was inspired by a dream of a battle against the cold and dark. A song giving a sense of hope against impossible odds. We’re now playing, Bittercold Breakthrough.” A soft yet quick, soothing tempo played from the radio. The melody ringed into Cryo’s ears as his eyes began to fall to the dark. He gave one last yawn and slowly closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber. “Radio off.”

Ch 10

Another Awakening

Cryo slowly opened his eyes and yawned. He saw he was somewhere else again. He saw he was nestled carefully on a rather low to the ground bed against the back wall of a mid sized room. The bed had a calming blue frame made to look like a large adult blue dragon on its back. There also was a smiling dragons head right above where Cryo was sleeping connected directly to the wall, high enough so there wasn’t a chance for Cryo to hit his head standing up on it. His head was laying on a soft blue pillow, with calming water pattern on it. The back corners supporting the bed looked like back dragon paws facing up and curved forward a bit. A very soft dark blue blanket was over him, with the picture of what seemed to be him, flying through the air and seemingly about to blast a stream of ice from his mouth, within a circular black frame. Around the picture seemed to be smaller insignia of different bugs in black frames on other parts of the blanket. As he looked at how the blanket was tucked into his bed, he felt like it looked kind of like a pouch, like on a hopper (an evolved kangaroo back on Cyriss). It felt a bit strange to him, as mother dragon’s didn’t have pouches as far as he knew. He began to look around the room.

The room itself was well lit, with the sun beaming down from a wide window to the left of the room. Outside the window, Cryo saw the room he was in was on an upper floor of the building, with a large view of VERY tall and expansive forest within a rocky, mountainous region. The view of the outside was soothing to Cryo’s eyes, and he began to lay back in the bed a bit and relax a bit more. The walls were painted with dragons and bugs working together throughout the room. The front wall in the room had the same picture of Cryo as the blanket.

Toward the far left corner of the room was a medium round table with 4 chairs surrounding it. The chairs were metal blue chairs, with a cushion on top with the picture of different types of bugs, cutting through different colored backgrounds. 1 chair was raised a bit more then the other 3 toward the table, and was wider also. It’s cushion showed what appeared to be Cryo’s head, cutting through the blue background on it. Cryo thought he could see his name, printed at the top of the seat. The top of the table had a pattern resembling blue water with waves and the stand seemed to looked a bit like there was cold blue water running through it.

Next to Cryo’s bed on the right was a small cabinet that resembled a blue dragon’s body sitting down, with a drawer directly where its dark blue belly was. On top of it was a small lamp looking like a dragons head and neck looking up. The cover was above the head and looking similar to a fountain of clear water coming out of the dragons mouth. In front of the lamp, was a tray of different foods and a drink on top, clearly meant for him. A little ways away from the cabinet, was a small screen on a stand. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the screen was connected to a portable stand on wheels.

He looked further right, and saw a see through closet that seemed to have different sets of cloths. Looking more closely, it looked like the cloths in there were made specifically for him. Hanging in front of the closet though, seemed to be some type of full body shiny black bodysuit with black wings extending out of its back, seemingly for the suit to be able to cover Cryo’s wings up while wearing it. The suit looked like to have very advanced technology running throughout it. Cryo thought it looked pretty cool, but wondered what it could be used for. There was a mirror attached to the left sliding door of the closet, lower the the ground. Cryo could see his reflection in it, and saw that there was a few bandages wrapped around the top of his head still. He also saw a few wrapped around his upper arms in a few places as well. To the right corner, against the wall next to the closet, was a large bookshelf containing many different books. Some seemed to be different storybooks. Others seem to be about different types of mechanical engineering. Some were even based on combat and tactics. The entrance to the room was further down on the right with a metal sliding door.

“Hmm… I’m back here again. I don’t see anyone in my room right now. Looks like they’ve been pretty busy since I last “woke up,” here. I can imagine I’m probably still being watched over though,” he thought. Cryo began to pick himself up from his bed, when his back right leg felt a sharp pain. “Ughh… I keep forgetting about my leg here. Probably should have remembered right as I saw myself in the mirror. That last dream, I was pretty beat up…” he thought.

Cryo lifted the covers on his bed a bit to look at his right leg. He saw it was in a cast seemingly made of really soft yet very sturdy pitch black webbing, and saw that several names were written on it in Cyan with many different messages from the creature’s he’s met here. He also saw many messages thanking the young dragon for saving them, saving their friends and messages giving him support in getting better. He recognized several of the names, including Zeke and Patch’s name. Zeke’s message read “Hope you like this cast. Thank you for saving my friends. You’ll be better soon enough. Zeke.” Cryo looked at Patch’s message. “I’ll be sure to take very special care of my very special patient. You’ll be walking again soon enough. Patch.” There was one from Flare the centipede, that said “I hope your feeling better. Had to give you a bit of an energy boost during the surgery. You’ll be fired up with my energy. Feel better soon, little blue buddy. Flare.” Flare’s message confused Cryo a bit. But then, Cryo gave a small smile. He looked at one final message on his cast. “Hope you like the arrangements I made for you living quarters. I hope you’ll be able to find it a home away from home. We’ll get you back home. Until then, rest up, and live to fight another day. Sereph Stringer.” “Looks like I have a lot of bugs supporting me and my recovery. Feels… good.”

He looked at his left leg for a bit and saw a few bandages going across around it as well. “I don’t seem to have as many injuries as I had before I arrived here. I looked like a mummy from some of the stories I was read to before bedtime when I was a hatchling. I did find those stories about incredibly ancient human culture to be pretty fun. Can’t imagine how someone would react to a dragon mummy,” he thought. He smiled and chuckled a bit and put the blanket back down and carefully positioned himself to lean up on the bed to look around further. He began to take a closer look at the tray of food, but then he realized he was wearing a few cloths.

He had a dark blue shirt on with the picture of what appeared to be him, standing heroically with his right paw in a fist and held forward in some type of full body metal armor suit on a tall building with the background containing a large group of rolling hills and the sky at night on the front. The armor seemed to have a few features that seemed… strange.

“This armor in the shirt looks pretty cool. I think that’s supposed to be me on it. I kind of look like a bug dragon hybrid. The armor is a nice Cyan. The visor has a nice shade of dark blue, though it looks a bit strange with the visors texture. The visor looks… bumpy, I suppose. Looks like it extends all the way across the helmet to both eyes. My wings in it seem to be white and a little ridged, similar to a fruit fly back home. The top of my wings seem to also be silver. I think I can see a small silver rocket engine or something similar attached to the end of the top of the wings. Is that safe? Hmm… It looks like the armor has pinchers across where the mouth is. A bit odd… I can see a dark purple mouth on the suit as well. It also seems to have metal grating lining it. Is it just to speak out of? Or maybe its a filter to allow me to breath in more hazardous environments, similar to a gas mask? Or maybe… it allows me to breath ice or water somehow out of it? The back of the armor seems to have some type of inner compartment with silver colored metal on it. How would I get it open and what’s inside I wonder? Maybe some type of weapon? Non lethal I hope if that’s the case. Hmm… Looks like there is something else on top of my front paw near the wrist. Looks like something that can shoot. Maybe another weapon? Or maybe a grappling hook? Looks like it also comes from a small compartment within the suit as well. I can see I also have some dark blue antenna on top of my head. Is it some sort of comms device for the suit? Or maybe something that could detect enemies close by me, like a radar perhaps? Despite some of the strange qualities, I really like the look.” Cryo smiled and took in a breath.

Cryo twisted himself a bit to look at the back of the shirt. He saw it had the symbol again, like in the front of the room and on his bed. Above it, a set of words read. “Cryo, Dragon force trainee.” Cryo lifted up his shirt a bit to see if he had injuries on his body from the previous dream. He saw that his body had been bandaged up in a few more places, but nowhere near as much as before. He put his shirt back down, and saw the warm scarf around his neck. He saw that the scarf was dark blue with a cyan webbing pattern on it. As Cryo felt around the material of the scarf a bit, he noticed that on his paws, were a set of fingerless black gloves and socks fitted carefully around his talons. “These cloths look pretty nice on me, I must admit. Feel really warm and comfy too. I wonder why it says “Dragon force trainee,” on the back.” Cryo scratched his head with his talons a bit and looked back toward the food. “Well. Let’s see what they made me this time.” Cryo carefully maneuvered himself to pick up the tray of food. He took the tray and placed it carefully on his bed. He took a close look at the food.

Cryo saw it had grilled, brown meat with black streaks between two buns, with a green leafy substance, a red chopped circular veggie, a couple of small green chopped veggies, all piled in a bun. “This resembles a Zurburger, but the meat and ingredients seem to be different.” Cryo then looked toward the next item. He saw a plate of diced, brown sticks. They were salted and seemed to be fried. “These resemble a bit like the hash brown I ate with them earlier. Maybe the are made of the same vegetable?” Cryo looked at his drink, and saw it had a orange, fizzy liquid in it. “This must be a different flavor of soda, I guess.” Cryo took a sip, and it tasted very sweetened. “This is much more sweeter then the lemon lime soda I drank before. A little bit more fizzy too.” Cryo put the cup down and took a look at the last item. This last one was more familiar to him. It was chocolate cookies, with white chips baked within it. “Guess not all the food in this world is different then from my own home. Though I’ve never seen a cookie made with chocolate dough though. And these chips on top are white, not brown. Is this chocolate too? Hmm…” Cryo sniffed his food to get a sense of the smell. “Smells pretty good. Well. Let’s dig in.” Cryo began to eat his meal.

He started with the sandwich. It tasted of sweetened grilled perfection with a hint of sour in it. Soon it was scarfed down. “That was pretty good. I wonder what meat that was?” Cryo then turned toward the golden brown sticks. Taking a small bite, he tasted fried salty goodness with a dry taste. “That was pretty good too.” Cryo took a sip of his drink and looked toward his dessert. “Time for some sweets!” Cryo took a bite out of the chocolaty cookie. The sweetened blend of the chocolate and the white chips filled Cryo’s mouth. The sweets made Cryo smile as he he took several bites. Soon the cookies were gone and Cryo’s belly was satisfied. “That was good stuff. I may be somewhere far from home, but at least the food doesn’t disappoint.” Cryo patted his belly with satisfaction, when he heard the sliding doors to his room open. Cryo looked towards the door and saw three familiar faces walking in.

Ch 11

Medical Minds

“It’s good to see you awake, Cryo.” said Zeke. “Yes. You seem to be recovering quite quickly,” said Stinger Spider. “Yes. The fever seems to have dissipated and your leg is already showing signs of recovery,” said Patch. “Thanks. I’m feeling a lot better then what I was before,” said Cryo. The three walked towards the table and grabbed the smaller chairs around the table and headed towards the bed. They sat down right next to him. “That’s good to hear Cryo. Do you like your living quarters?” asked Zeke. “Yea. It seems pretty comfy.” “Good. I see you’ve devoured your consumables.” said Stinger Spider. “Yea. That stuff was pretty good. Though, the only item I was familiar with was the cookies. Although I’ve never seen one with chocolate dough and white chocolate chips before.” Stinger Spider took the opportunity to explain it to Cryo.

“The sandwich you ate was a grilled Chitan with lettuce, tomato, and pickle.” “What’s are those?” “Chitan is a type of domesticated bird meat. We grilled it with a blend of different spices and flavoring. Lettice was the green leaf and tomato are the red vegetable. They are home grown nearby on a farm outside of this forest base and pair nicely with it. Pickles are a fermented cucumber that gives a bitter flavor.” “They defiantly taste good.” Cryo began to think for a moment. “They’re grown outside? I wouldn’t think the forest would be a good place to have a farm with the trees blocking the sun nearby. Especially if it could attract some attention from air vehicles.” “That would be the case normally, but a few clever tricks and that’s nowhere near as problematic.” Stinger Spider gave a small chuckle. “The farms outside have mirrors programmed to tilt and reflect the suns light upon the farm, allowing sunlight to continue to reach plants during the day, regardless of the tree cover. And the mirrors themselves are carefully positioned to reflect the trees surrounding it. It just looks like a forest canopy from the air. Clever. Right my scaley friend?” Cryo was tilted his head in interest and nodded. “Alright. Go on.”

“The golden fried sticks were fries. They were made by cutting potatoes into sticks and then fried to a golden brown and salted. “Reminds me of the taters back home,” thought Cryo.” Cryo smiled and nodded his head.

“The cookies were a blend of powdered chocolate mixed with cookie dough. It causes the cookie to mix with it and then will result in a very chocolaty cookie. The white chips are made of cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and vanilla blend. It blends together to create a white vanilla chip as you have seen.” “Is it chocolate?” “No actually. It may be made of cocoa butter, but its not made with a common ingredient of chocolate, ground cocoa beans. Ironically, the texts we found that taught us how to make it listed it as “white chocolate.” A bit strange since its not actually made of cocoa beans.” Cryo began to scratch his chin in interest. “How do you make it?” Zeke explained the process to Cryo on how to make the sweet treat. Cryo noted the recipe in his mind and nodded.

“Do those clothes feel good on you Cryo?” asked Zeke. “Yea. It feels really comfy. Doesn’t feel like its made of cotton or wool or any of the stuff I’ve worn before though,” replied Cryo. “Its spun with a combination of soft and sturdy spider string silk, mixed with a plant based silk known as Wick, and finally spun together carefully. The combination makes it very soft an resistant to tear, while the spider silk also offers a little bit of protection from hard impacts and some small arms.” replied Zeke. Cryo thought about it, and gave a smile. They smiled and nodded back.

“Cryo. If you don’t mind, can I take your vitals?” asked Patch “Oh. Yea. Go ahead Patch.” said Cryo. “Thank you. Now then. Please let me put this on you, Cryo. It’ll measure your pulse and heart rate.” He took out what appeared to be a small device similar to a comm band with a clip from a small toolkit he brought in the room with him.

“What is that, Patch?” “It’s an electronic heart rate monitor. It will give us information of your heart rate and pulse. It’s connected to this screen right here next to your bed. It’ll display your vitals on the screen. It just needs to be attached to your arm. We had a slight accident with it earlier today. Caused a malfunction” “Malfunction?” “Yes. One of my assistant medical staff had not wrapped it tight enough around your arm. It slipped off your arm and fell onto the floor as we were moving you in a medical bed to your new room during the night. Wouldn’t turn on. But when we were trying to fix it, something quite strange happened.”

“Really? What happened?” “We took it with us to your room to try and see if we could get it to work there. At the time, you still had a bit of a fever and were still asleep, and we had already placed you in the bed with your new cloths to sleep in comfily. But as we were fiddling with it, well… um… you began to salivate from your mouth onto your bed a bit. We took a vile from my toolkit so we could take another small sample of your saliva to see if you might be sick with something else. But while we were collecting the sample, the vile nearly slipped from one of my assistants hands. He caught it, but a bit of your saliva from the vile managed to fly off and onto the monitor. We thought it would end up short circuiting it.

To our surprise, it immediately powered on, and seemed to now be working properly. We didn’t know how it happened. After we got you fully settled in, we took the device to the science division of the base. They couldn’t figure out how it turned back on. After some testing through the rest of the night, they confirmed it was working perfectly and it was safe to put it back on your arm. That wasn’t actually that long ago when this item was cleared for use. We were coming back to put it back on your arm.” Cryo thought for a moment. He then smiled and nodded.

“Now just relax Cryo. Try to breath slowly. It will just take a moment to get it,” said Patch. Cryo obliged and began to lay back in his bed and breath slowly. He lifted his arm up towards his doctor. Patch carefully and gently lifted Cryo’s arm up to him and strapped the heart rate monitor to it. He then gently placed his arm comfortably back on the bed. “This doesn’t feel too heavy or bulky. It feels like the heart rate monitor I had on the swim trip. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble wearing this while I’m here,” thought Cryo. After a few moments, he heard low beeps coming from the device. Cryo lifted himself up from his bed and turned to the right which showed the screen next to his bed turning on. “Alright. The device will record your heart rate and connect the data to this terminal. “Just wait a few moments while the device begins to monitor your heart rate.” Cryo nodded and looked back towards Patch and the others.

“I guess my saliva must have powered the device,” said Cryo. “You think your saliva fixed it?” asked Stinger Spider. “Yea. My saliva contains a small electric charge. It’s actually been quite useful when I repaired items back on Cyriss.” “Really? That’s interesting. When we looked at the saliva in testing, we didn’t find an electrical charge in it.” “Trust me. Its there.” “Well then. I suppose that explains why it started working again. It got a “kick start,” I guess you could say,” said Zeke. Cryo chuckled a bit and nodded. “Alright, looks like the connection is complete,” said Patch. Everyone turned their heads towards the monitor to see.

“Alright. Let’s see…” said Patch. He paused for a moment. “Heart rate is currently 115 beats per minute. “That sounds about normal for me, Patch. My heart rate is typically 110-130 beats per minute. “Seems your stable. That’s good after coming out of surgery.” “Surgery? “That’s right. We just had to remove the rest of shrapnel from your body. You also needed a boost in elemental energy after the operation.” “A… boost in elemental energy?” “That’s right. It seemed the fight back at the base in your condition had caused the energies from inside your body to lower to dangerous levels. Thankfully, we had someone donate energy to you to stabilize you again.” “Really? Who donated?” Patch smiled at Cryo. “Why… Its one of the very bugs you saved when those nasty dragons attacked. Flare donated the much needed elemental energy.” “Really?” “That’s right. He was very glad to after you saved his life.” “I’m surprised he’s not here as well.” “Oh… He’ll be back later. He wanted to… get something for later.” “What was it?” “Oh… I think you’ll find out whenever he gets back.” Cryo wondered what it could be and nodded. He began to wonder something. “How long have I been out, Patch?” You’ve been out for a little bit more then about entire day and a half.” Cryo looked at near the top of his arm and saw bandages where an iv would be placed. “I guess I was sedated for quite a long time. Guess it explains how they got this entire room ready for me before I woke up.” Cryo thought. He nodded back to his friends.

“Now then. If you don’t mind Cryo, can I start changing your bandages on your body? You can continue your conversation with the others while I’m taking care of that.” “Oh yea. That’s fine Patch.” “Good. Now pick yourself up a bit on the bed and I’ll get started.” “Alright. Thanks. “Cryo began to carefully pick his body up to be sitting forward on the bed. Soon, he was in position. “Would you take off your shirt, Cryo?” “Oh yea. Hang on, Patch. Cryo leaned back up for a second and roll his nice shirt up, over his head and placed it to the side of his bed. “Good. Now just relax, Cryo.” Cryo nodded and breathed slowly again, and Patch and reached into his medical bag and took out a roll of bandages. “I noticed the bandages here look a bit fuzzy.” said Cryo. “This is spider string silk, spun together and dipped in medical and cleaning solvents. It’s excellent for wounds and such. Its done quite a bit of wonders on your body already. Now then. Just relax while I get you patched up, Cryo.” “Alright. Thanks Patch.” He began to change Cryo’s bandages as he slowed his breathing and relaxed on his bed. Patch turned to Stinger Spider and Zeke for a second. “You can continue your conversation while I’m helping our patient here. We haven’t even got to the more, amazing discoveries.” “Huh?” Cryo said. They both nodded and smiled at Patch, and then looked back at Cryo.

Ch 12

Interesting items

“You see Cryo, we found some cloths near where you fell after cleaning up the scene,” Stinger Spider said. “You found other cloths?” “Yes. We think, you were wearing them.” “I was?” “Yes. We found them attached to a flag that broke off from the wall. We think that you had hit the wall of the building and as you bounced off it, you got caught on the flag, slipped out of the cloths and hit the ground hard. The flag itself broke off with the cloths caught on it. They were relatively your size. But the funny thing is, they had suffered very little tear from them…” “Wait… What?” “I understand that your currently having a minor case of amnesia. But the cloths we found were… well, something we’ve never experienced before.” “…What do you mean?”

“Well… The cloths found seemed to be a silver coat and what looked a bit like a scarf. Albeit, a scarf that a group called, “cowboys,” used to wear.” “Umm… Ok then.” “Here’s the thing. The cloths we found were some of the most advanced pieces of clothing gear we’ve ever seen.” “Wait… What does that mean?” “It was made with some… strange materials. “What type? “We have no idea. We brought them to a lab to test them and well… It had some strange quirks to them.” “What type of “quirks.”” “There was… something mixed into the fabrics. Something very strong. Something strong enough to prevent tear, even from the fall, or getting caught on the flag with you still in them. It took us some strong tools to even get a strand off of it. Yet despite this resistance, it felt softer then any known fabric here. After some testing, we realized it seemed to have some strange quality’s.” “What type of quality’s?” “They reacted to the elements.” “They… reacted to the elements?” “Yes. They would seemingly prevent nearly all forms of water from connecting. It kept the wearer dry no matter what weather it was. But more importantly, it would react to the heat as well. It seemed to be able to cool off the wearer off when exposed to heat. It meant it could be worn on very hot days as well. The scientist’s here theorized that it actually might even be possible that the protection is enough to keep the wearer at a good temperature in EXTREMELY hot or cold environments. It could even be possible to keep the wearer safe in toxic and hazardous environments. Though the wearer, in your case, would probably still need to be covered up fully in such extremes… It was nothing like we ever seen. We tried to see what the cloths were made of, but we couldn’t identify any of the exotic materials added to it.

“This… This… sounds similar to the cloths Greg used to make for me. Albeit… a little more extreme, maybe,” said Cryo. “Greg? Your adopted father?” asked Stinger Spider “Yea. He used to make this type of clothing for me. Though, I’m not sure if they were capable of such extremes to be honest.” “Do you know what he did?” “I… only remember a little of it. He combined some type of chemical compound, soulfire petals from Cyriss, and waterproof fabrics to make them. “What chemical was it?” “I… don’t remember actually. I just know it was some type of chemical.” Zeke and stinger spider looked at each other and nodded. “Strange. I haven’t had any like this since I was taken. Or maybe I hadn’t noticed… I came here wearing that? I don’t remember that with the dreams before…” thought Cryo. “We haven’t really tested it too much, as we didn’t want to possibly study or dismantle something of yours further without your permission, but we think it might be strong enough to resist some stronger weapons as well. Possibly even some explosives. In fact, I believe these cloths themselves had taken most of the impact when you fell from the sky and hit the building,” said Stinger Spider. “Really?” “Yes. This could possibly explain why your body didn’t suffer much worse damage from the fall. In fact, its entirely possible that you survived the fall itself just because you wore these.” “Wait… Really?” They both nodded. “This is something we’ve never seen before,” said Zeke. “That’s weird. I never thought that Greg’s cloths could do this.” They nodded to Cryo, and Cryo nodded back. But then their expressions seemed to show extreme confusion. “And the cowboy scarf… Well… It is REALLY bizarre.” said Zeke.

“What do you mean?” “Here’s the thing with it. It had similar attributes to coat, except FAR MORE superior.” said Stinger Spider. “Umm… Really?” “Yes. We couldn’t even remove a single strand from it. It was so well put together, and so strong, not even a small cutting laser could even take off a small strand for closer inspection.” Cryo’s eyes shot up. Stinger Spider continued. “Not only that, but somehow, someway, there is a strange energy signature coming off of it. A rather strong one. It’s not dangerous as far as I could tell, but even then… How is it possible that this one cowboy scarf is giving off an energy signature, despite having no technology added to it at all? How is it something so small so ridiculously tough, it can take a laser beam like its nothing, and yet its silk is softer, silkier, even cleaner, then virtually any known type of silk? This one little scarf literally doesn’t conform at all to laws of nature. Possibly even reality. This scarf is beyond any rig armor we’ve ever made. And it was with you when you arrived here.

Zeke leaned forward in the seat to speak next. “Whoever gave you this, whether its the people the research center, your old home, or even elsewhere, must have really cared for you. Giving you such items like this is nothing short of being truly loved by the people at your home. They gave you things that could save your life. Possibly even survive in dangerous areas. With the impact… I think you have an idea.” “…” Cryo gave a look of absolute disbelief hearing these things. “How is this possible? They’re right. There’s no possible way ANY type of clothing can do this. This really does just break reality… Cryo thought for a moment. “Maybe… this is some type of advanced prototype cloths created back at the military section perhaps. Maybe they… prepared it for me. But why? Did they know… I’d be taken?” He looked back at the two and nodded. They nodded back. “Perhaps you might regain your full memory on how to make them. We’ve never heard of soulfire flowers before. Do you think they’re native only to your world? “I’m not really sure.” “Well, in the mean time, why don’t we get back to another topic,” said Zeke

“If you don’t mind me asking, Cryo, but could you tell us a bit more about your life with the Humans? You last left off at when you were about to go on an important ocean trip.” “Yea. I can tell you a bit. You see…” Cryo spent hours telling them about the attempted kidnapping on the swim trip, the paralysis, his mothers awakening, the actual kidnapping, and his time going through the forest, and his return home. Stinger Spider seem to have been taking notes on a digital device as Cryo gave his story.

“And soon after walking back through the forest, me and mom were finally found and rescued by Ty and the others and brought home. That’s… the last thing I remember right now…” They both nodded and smiled at Cryo.” That is very impressive, Cryo. To think you went through all of that chaos. I must say, you seem to be quite a resourceful little dragon,” said Stinger Spider. “Yea. I probably wouldn’t have thought of some of the tricks you used to escape your pursuers,” said Zeke. Zeke thought for a moment, and then looked back at Cryo with a concerned look. “Do you know what has become of Tide? Do you know if she was taken, like you?” Cryo frowned a bit and tilted his head down. “I… think she might have been. I’m… worried about her, but I don’t really know what happened to her. Or if she really was taken from home.” Stinger spider and Zeke looked at each other and nodded. “We’ll keep an eye out for her. If she’s in danger, we’ll do anything to help her. It’s the least we can do for you.” Zeke put his upper right hand on Cryo’s shoulder and then patted his stomach a few times with his lower right hand. He gave a smile and a nod. Cryo smiled and nodded and looked back at his shirt again.

Ch 13

Rare Recruits

“Hey. Why does my shirt say “Dragon Force Trainee,” on the back?” asked Cryo. The two looked at each other and nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind, Cryo, we would like to train you here, when your leg gets better,” said Stinger Spider. “Train me?” “Yes. While you have had a good amount of success in the field on your own, I think you might be able to do more.” “More?” “Yes. Since you’ve arrived, we’ve had several attacks from the invading force in multiple places. Our forces believe they must be still specifically looking for you. We need help, as their attacks are only getting worse.” Cryo gave a look of concern and looked back at them. “Whatever they want from you, they want it more then anything, but its not been all bad.” “It… hasn’t?” “No. Your not the only dragon we found.”

“Huh? I’m not!?” “No. There have been others who were discovered. All about you age. They’re here as well. We’ve come to the conclusion that they are all being hunted by the others. You however, have showed the most promise out of all of them. The enemy seems to be VERY interested in you particularly for some reason. The clothing you wore might be the reason. We think that maybe if you we’re trained up a bit more, you could possibly lead the other young dragons in a possible counterattack and discover what they really want with all of you. From what you told us, you are both resourceful and strong. With your help, we might be able to beat them back with the others and perhaps discover what happened and how you ended up here. And maybe. Just maybe… we might be able to get you back home where you belong. So. Will you help us?”

Cryo closed his eyes slowly, and gave a nod. “I will. I’ll help you stop them.” “Thank you Cryo. But that will be for another time. We need you to heal first,” said Stinger Spider. Patch had just finished wrapping Cryo’s wounds up. “There you go, little guy. All patched up,” said Patch. “Thanks, Patch. I feel better.” Cryo smiled at Patch and he nodded and patted Cryo’s belly a few times. Cryo turned back to the others. “When your leg is better. we’ll get started with you and the others,” said Zeke. “Alright. Thanks guys.” “Your welcome Cryo.” Cryo gave out a small yawn and looked towards his friends. “I’m getting a little tired. Can I get some time to sleep?” “Sure, Cryo. Let me just set your custom radio to something soothing.” “Custom radio?” Zeke gave a smile and reached above Cryo. As Cryo looked up, he saw dragon head above his bed was the actual radio, with the knobs looking like medium sized dragon paws below and the speaker being in the mouth. After turning a dragon paws and switches a bit, a soothing music played and ringed through Cryo’s ears. Like a dragon lullaby… “Have a good nap, Cryo,” said Zeke. They left the room as Cryo gave out another yawn as his eyes grew dark.

Cryo’s vision began to see a dark area. A low light beamed above, from a sun covered by the moon. The ground below was a dark, black sand, and in the distance, was the sight of water in a deep red, like the water at dusk. As he looked upon the vast ocean view, he felt a presence coming from behind him. He turned around slowly, and began to see a figure in the dark drawing closer. He saw it the black dragon he saw once before. “Ahhh… my boy. Quite a promising individual, aren’t you.” “Servant…” thought Cryo. Cryo tried to speak, but for some reason, no words would come out. “You become quite a survivor, haven’t you?” Cryo watched as he started to pace around him in his vision.

“You’ve been watching the shape of things to come, my son.” “Son!” thought Cryo as his eyes shot up. “Yes. I’m sure this is quite a shock to learn for my little boy.” He stopped pacing around Cryo and sat himself a little bit away from him in the front. He looked down, making eye contact with Cryo, and closed his eyes. His head dipped down with a solemn look on his face as his eyes slowly opened. “Our lives we’re split from each other from the views of me and your mother. I gave my body for a chance to start anew, in another. Your mother, couldn’t bear to leave you to such a fate, or worse…” He opened his eyes and nodded. “If things were not so dire from where we came from, perhaps I would have chosen better. Perhaps, I would still… be with her and you.” He breathed in a heavy sigh and looked back at Cryo. “Yet, here we are.” He approached Cryo and looked upon him, with soft eyes. “Our futures is intertwined, my son. The visions you’ve seen, are as far as I could foresee. I can’t see any further. Only after your with me, can I see further again, perhaps. You will arrive, my son. And I’ll be waiting for you.” He began to walk away, and looked upon Cryo one last time. “I will look forward to the day when I can look upon you myself. Perhaps, we can prevent a dark future for both our worlds. Goodbye, Cryo. Stay strong, my son. Stay strong.” He disappeared in a over a flash of dark energy and then Cryo’s vision grew dark again.

Ch 14

Poems, Problems, and Promise

Cryo slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. He was back in his room. He saw he was alone. He yawned and picked himself up, and shook his blanket off. He looked at his radio, which read 3:39 P.M. “This… This dream…” Cryo gave a look of concern and nodded. “If this really is the future… I’ll… need to be ready.” Cryo looked towards the door and began to think. “Should I… tell the others?” Cryo began to think. “The only one who might believe me is Mom… perhaps. Everyone else might think I’m becoming a little delusional from the recent events.” Cryo picked himself up, tilted his head down, and began to head towards the door to his room. “Maybe I should at least talk to Mom. Maybe she could tell me about…” Cryo began to give a look of concern. “…about Dad.” Cryo picked his head up and as he was about to open the door, when Tide opened it and looked at Cryo.

“Oh… Hi Cryo. I didn’t know you were awake.” “Umm… yea Mom. Where’s Cameron?” “Ty wanted him to come back with him for a bit.” Tide looked back at Cryo and saw he was looking uneasy. “What’s the matter Cryo? You seem a little tense.” “Umm…” Cryo began to think for a moment. “Umm… Mom. Could you… tell me about… Dad?” Tide looked at Cryo with a solemn look. “You want to know about your father?” “Yea mom. I’ve… been thinking about it, and… is there any chance you could tell me more about him?” Tide looked at Cryo and nodded. “I can my son. Though… It’s not the happiest tale.” “I can manage, Mom.” “Alright son. Let’s get you somewhere comfortable.”

Tide picked up Cryo with her left arm and carried him over to a bean bag at the window in the room and carefully laid him down on his left side on it. She pulled the shades up and the light of the sun began to beam into the room again. She rubbed Cryo’s head a bit and then sat herself down beside him. “Your Dad was a Black Lunar dragon named… Servant.” Cryo nodded with that confirmation. “I met your father when he was sent to… well… protect their… investments with my research. He was sent in with a group of military dragons to keep an eye on progress and… me. In fact, He was one of the highest ranking and decorated dragons there, and directly served under the main commander of the unit. I heard he had performed quite exponentially with the operations he had been involved in. I heard that he even was a hero in the war,” Cryo began to feel a little bit uneasy with what Tide might say next about his dad. “At the time, I had began to have second thoughts about helping the others in the dragon war council with what was going on. I was beginning to suspect that something about the war was amiss. But something very strange began to happen as he was sent to watch over me.” “Strange?” “Yes. It seemed… a change began to happen over him. He became, well, smitten with me.”

“He fell in love with you?” “Yes. When your father first looked at me, he seemed… very nervous.” “Nervous?” “Yes. A day later, he introduced himself to me and well… walked away.” Cryo began to chuckle a bit. “Dad didn’t seem like the type to get nervous when he’s been contacting me in my visions. Mom must have been quite special to him.” He smiled back toward Tide, who began rub Cryo’s head a bit. “Every day after, when I woke up, I would find a poem in my room.” “He wrote poetry to you?” “Yes. I didn’t know it was him at the time. His poems were quite nice and calming. Considering my situation at the time, it felt nice to think that someone wasn’t just there to watch over my research.” “Do you have any of them, Mom?” “Yes, actually. I wrote all of them in my research journal, containing my research notes and the poems your father wrote to me. Reading them at hard times kept me going when I felt I couldn’t. I’ve kept it since I started working on the original portal. When I came here, I kept that journal with me. I still have it.” “Can I read one?” “Unfortunately, the journal is written in a different language. Dragon runes.” “Dragon runes?” “Yes it was the written language of our home world. If you want, I can read you one of them.” Cryo considered whether Tide could teach him at some point about his home worlds written language or not. He decided to ask later. “Yea. Read me one Mom.”

Tide went to the small cabinet next to her bed and took out a small journal with a small, metal lock on top. She placed her paw over the lock which then the lock released. She came back over to Cryo and sat beside him again. She opened it up and rummaged through a few pages and then stopped. She smiled and began to read the poem in a soft tone

In the day the sky gives a nice blue hue

And each day I stay, I always see you

As my heart beats fast, I might lose my cool

Your blue as the sky, as you soar so high

Your heart burns bright, like the sun in the sky

As you pick up your wings and start to fly

Tide closed her book and set in on the ground nearby. Cryo was impressed by the simple poem. He could tell it was packed with emotion. “What do you think, son?” “Pretty nice, mom. Dad made one of these for you every day?” “Yes. I loved waking up every morning and finding calming poem attached to my door.” Tide began to scratch Cryo’s belly. Cryo began to feel more relaxed as she continued on with her story. “Over time your father began to have the courage to occasionally strike up conversations with me. They were short, but he seemed to very much enjoy talking to me, as you can probably guess. We’d talk about our lives, our interests, how we were brought up, and our line of work. It felt nice being able to chat with someone while I worked. I remember very fondly of something very special your father gave me during the holiday season.

“Holiday season? Like Christmas?” Tide chuckled a bit. “Well, you see Cryo, there was a special time in our world, my son. A special year in our world that happened every 12 years on our world. Every twelfth year, on our world, was marked as the Year of the dragon.” “Year of the dragon?” “Yes. This year is a very special time for dragons, as its during this time that dragons celebrate bringing new life into the world. “New life? Like… dragon hatchlings?” “That’s right. It’s not really known why, but dragons cannot bring in new hatchlings unless its during the year of the dragon. As such, this year is incredibly important. This year is celebrated with many different festivals throughout the entire world at different times during the year. There is bountiful food, masks made of precious materials, celebrations of life and loved ones, and for dragons to… well… I think you can guess what it is, my baby boy.” Cryo thought this time sounded a bit fun. “Each dragon city would chose just one week during the year to hold a festival for their city to celebrate the tradition.”

Tide stopped scratching Cryo’s belly and began to stroke his head. She continued with her story. “It was about a few months before the end of the year. The dragons in the facility were going to celebrate it with a large party. But… the commander… cancelled the celebration. He wanted all focus to be on the portal project, and considered the year of the dragon to be irrelevant, compared to how important to project was. This hit me very hard in particular. I think I remember crying that night, considering how important this holiday is to dragons. But it seems your father had heard me crying that night in my bedroom. And so… when I woke up the very next mourning, not only was a poem in my room, I also found a small crystal that had been carved in the shape of a dragon hatchling. It looked beautiful, and it lifted my spirits higher then the stars.” Cryo thought for a moment and chuckled a bit. “Dad certainly knows how to be caring and romantic,” he thought. He looked at Tide.

“Did that crystal dragon look like me, Mom?” Cryo teased a bit. “Truthfully, yes it did Cryo.” Cryo eyes shot up a tiny bit. “Huh? Really?” “Yes. It might be surprising, but lunar dragons have the ability to occasionally see visons of the future, when touching certain objects.” “Um… Really? “That’s right. Touching something could possibly allow them to get a vision of the future related to it.” “Well… that might explain why dad knew of the future I suppose. Maybe touching Mom at some point gave him a vison of the future with me in it. Then again, he also said that he won’t be able to see the future again until I arrive. Why is that? That seems… strange that I’m needed to see a vision.” He nodded to Tide. “Do you have that crystal dragon still?” “Yes I do. It’s right in here, my baby boy.”

Tide headed for the drawer again and lifted out a blue crystal. She carried it over to Cryo. When Cryo looked closely at it, he realized it really was carved to look like him, huddled up in a tight sleeping position, and a pacifier in his mouth. It was large enough to fit on Tide’s palm. “That’s amazing, Mom. It really does look like me when I was little.” “Yes. It seems your father must have seen a nice vision of the future of what you’d look like. He made something truly special for me during a hard point within the year. I didn’t know at the time what the thing in your mouth was. It’s only later that he told me that it seemed to be a supplement to help with teething, though he himself didn’t know where it came from.” The poem he made for me that day was also related to you.” “Really?” “Yes. I can read it to you if you want.” Cryo thought for a moment. “Yea. Let’s hear it mom.”

She picked up her notebook again and opened it up and turned a bit more pages in the book. She then stopped again. She smiled and looked at Cryo. She then began to read the poem in a nice soft and gentle tone.

A tiny blue dragon sleeps on a bed

Vast dreams of exploration fill his head

He was raised with the utmost care as its said

And the dragons life was spent without dread

A heart like yours, will raise this quadruped

Tide smiled at her son, who was once again impressed at his poem. “That poem was really good, mom. Dad really is good at poetry. That’s for sure.” “Yes. I almost believe if the war had not happened, he would have been a poet or philosopher on the planet.” She chuckled at Cryo. He chuckled back. She closed the book and placed it back on the ground. “Now. Let’s get back to the story.”

“One day, 2 months before the end of the year, your father and the others were called back to command and when he came back, he seemed… concerned,” “Concerned? “Yes. In fact, I actually saw him beginning to argue with his own commander several times for some reason. Every time he saw me after, he seemed grief stricken. I didn’t see him for the whole days in some instances. They wouldn’t tell me what happened with him on those days. One night, after another fight with his commander, the moment he saw me, I thought I could see him tear up a little. I eavesdropped on a couple of the conversations between the dragons of his military unit while I was working. Rumors began to spread around. One conversation I heard while I worked is that he actually broke down one night in front of his commander. One dragon even said that he heard that he had desperately begged that night to his commander for something, or someone… He didn’t know what though. I have heard some of the amazing things he has done in the field of combat, so hearing these things was bizarre.” Cryo began to think. “Looks like someone had a change of heart.” He smiled at Tide, who gave a smile back.

During a couple nights later, when I was about to go to bed, he approached me.” Tide began to stoke Cryo’s belly again, as Cryo gave a relaxed sigh. “He told me that the high command were going to “commission,” me into their armed forces. “Commission?” said Cryo. “I not sure myself what Servant really meant by that, but he was very afraid of what that would do to me. He told me that if they didn’t leave soon, they would come for both me and my research and force me into service. I then asked why he would tell me this. And…” Tide began to scratch Cryo’s belly gently as he began to relax more. “And he recited one of his poems to me. I never showed or told anyone else about the poems I was getting. When I heard it, I knew he was the one who was writing them to me. He carved and gave me the crystal dragon. And I realized he really cared about me. I immediately pieced together his strange behavior. He knew this act was treason against the dragon army. It was nothing short of a death sentence. But he didn’t care. He told me this himself.” “I’d rather die with nothing then lose you to them.”

Tide began to stroke Cryo more slowly, as he listened intently. “He was willing to lose everything for me. His title. His friends. His reputation. His possessions. Even his life. All of it was nowhere near as precious as me. We then both came up with a plan to escape and destroy the data from the portal tech. We decided the next night, to insert a “special concoction,” to the others dinner.” “What did you add?” “A bit of a sleeping extract. Right as the others ate their meal that night, they fell right to sleep. After that, we tied them up and then went to the process of destroying all the data and devices within the facility, but…”

Tide took Cryo’s front right arm and extended it forward on the beanbag and began to slowly and carefully take a single talon and slowly and softly scratch it around Cryo’s palm and arm up and down as Cryo gave out a relaxing sigh and laid his head on his bean bag. “I believed that the data from the portal tech… may be needed one day. I secretly downloaded the entirety of the data and placed it on a special drive. It turns out I was right about needing it later. We both were on the run for some time after… being hunted by the others. But eventually, we found help.”

“Who, Mom?” “It was a resistance group of dragons attempting to stop the endless fighting and war and were attempting to fight back against the shapeshifters. They were called the Astral Awakened Dragon army.” “Astral Awakened Dragon army?” “That’s right.” “That’s a strange name, Mom.” “It was apparently called that, because the leader was once a starship Dragon general. Very well decorated and recognized by the entire fleet. He came to a realization of the main plans of the shapeshifters. To him, learning the truth was an “awakening,” to him. He was originally going to flee, but his crew on the ship chose loyalty with him rather then the shapeshifters. In the battle to escape the other ships of the fleet, their ship was shot down, but they were able to outwit the fleet into thinking they had been destroyed by crashing into a deep ocean. Through the teamwork of him and his crew, they were able to make repairs to the ship. It couldn’t fly anymore, but they modified it to be a seafaring underwater vessel. It seemed that for some reason, the dragon army had significant trouble tracking its movements underwater, which allowed them to stay hidden for quite some time as they went into battle and went on dangerous missions against them. They had stolen data from a military complex and learned quickly that we had defected and had sent tracking dragons to find us before the dragon army found us first. We were eventually found by them as we were sleeping in a destroyed building in devastated city and led us to their seafaring vassal to safety. We eventually found a time to create you, my baby boy, right near the end of the year, during the cold season. And we’d meet some familiar faces later on.”

Tide chuckled a bit and then moved Cryo’s right arm back to the bean bag. She maneuvered Cryo gently to be laying on his other side on the bean bag. Tide then began to rub Cryo’s left arm like with the right one beforehand. He smiled at her and Cryo let in a relaxed deep breath in and out. “This might sound ironic, my baby boy, but some of his friends from his unit also defected as well from the dragon army. They came looking for him, not to take him in, but they came seeking help. They had also begun having second thoughts on serving those shapeshifting creatures, especially after he defected. It seemed they didn’t like that commander either, and your father, leaving the way he did, convinced them that it was the right choice. Your father was surprised that him leaving like that had caused such a major rift in their entire squad. But it also gave him comfort that he still had people he knew he could count on for help. Loyalty came before duty. For a time, we joined their little crusade. We were a force to be reckoned with in the Astral Awakened dragon army. But… It was a losing fight. Despite our best efforts. Despite many battles….”

“Things in our world were only becoming worse. The planet was falling further and further into chaos. It eventually came to the point that the only few free dragons had to come up with another plan. I think you can expect what happened next.” Cryo nodded as he remembered what his mother said earlier. “Your father had asked me to join him on the final days. But… I was… about to have you , Cryo. I couldn’t leave you to this world and I couldn’t bear to turn you into a meteor. And so I made a decision. I would complete a portal for one last desperate bid to freedom. It would be something I’d have to do alone. But before I left, your father made a promise.” “What promise?” “He said that, even though that we’ll be forced apart, he promised that one day, he’ll find a way to come back to me. And so we parted and well… You know the rest.” Tide stopped stroking Cryo and gave Cryo a small smile. “Dad was a good dragon. He gave up everything he had to save mom. I was worried that he might not have been as noble as I wanted him to be,” thought Cryo.

Ch 15

Recipe and Recreation

Cryo picked himself up and looked at Tide. She gave out a comforted sigh and looked back at him. “Thats a pretty cool story, mom.” said Cryo. She gave out a chuckle. “Your father is somewhere now, Cryo. Perhaps somewhere far away. Maybe you’ll be able to meet him one day. I’ve always hoped he’d be able to see how much you’ve grown.” Cryo nodded and gave a smile. “Hey Mom. Can I go outside for a bit? I need a break.” “Sure. Come on Cryo. Let’s get you outside.” Cryo was about to head out when he stopped for a moment. “Oh. That recipe. I should write it down real quick.” Cryo looked down and saw he was still wearing a shirt. “I don’t think its cold enough to need a shirt or jacket right now. Especially one of my sleeping shirts.”

Cryo looked at Tide. “Can you give me a second to write something down, Mom? I also want to put my shirt in the laundry to be cleaned later” He asked. Tide nodded to Cryo. “Alright son. I can wait.” Cryo smiled and headed back towards his bed next to his cloths closet. Tide watched as Cryo walked, and became curious. “I wonder what Cryo needs to write down?” she thought. She continued watching him. Cryo took off his shirt and placed it into the laundry hamper. He then headed towards his work bench. Cryo quickly took a piece of paper in the drawer in a compartment in his work bench and placed it on top of it. He began to write.

“I remember the recipe back from my dreams. I might look into trying to make some with Mom later.” He wrote down the recipe to every detail from his work bench. “There. Hmm. Where should I keep this?” He looked towards his bed. “Yea. I can put it on the cabinet next to my bed. It should be fine there for now. He headed for his cabinet and placed it down on top of it. “There we go. Now then.” He headed for the door, where Tide was patiently waiting. “I’m ready, Mom.” “Alright Cryo. Let’s go out.”

They both headed out the door and went outside. Cryo took his break and began to sit at a bench with Tide sitting next to him on the ground. “It’s nice outside today. Not a single cloud in the sky today,” said Cryo. “It’s supposed to be nice all week. Actually Cryo. Would you like to soar around the sky a little bit?” asked Tide. Cryo nodded. “Yea mom. I could use a little fly time.” “Come on, my baby boy. Let’s spread our wings!”

The two spread their wings out to their sides and with a small, strong leap, they flapped their wings, and began to fly together around the base. They kept close to the bases buildings to shield them from the outside view of the city close by. They saw several people below watching them fly together. Cryo looked toward Tide who gave a smile. Cryo gave a smile back as they continued to soar around. Soon, Tide started to become tired though, and they quickly began to land themselves back to the ground. “That was refreshing. It’s been awhile since I had a chance to fly around, Mom,” said Cryo. “I love being able to fly around. My strength is starting to return to me, little by little. It’s nice to be able to spread my wings. I think I’ve had my fill for now, son. Come on. Let’s go back inside. It’s time for lunch,” said Tide. Cryo’s stomach growled and Cryo gave it a small pat. “Yea. I’m hungry mom. Let’s eat!” The two headed back towards their rooms and entered their rooms, where they found Cameron waiting.

Ch 16

Regretful Reminder

“Hey Cryo. Hey Tide,” said Cameron. “Oh. Hi Cameron,” replied Cryo. “Hello Cameron,” said Tide. “I saw you two flying around home. You guys looked pretty happy.” “It was fun to spread my wings out. I haven’t been able to fly freely like this for a while,” said Cryo. “Hey Cryo. You know what day is coming up tomorrow?” Cryo tilted his head, and thought hard for a moment. But he drew a total blank. He shook his head. “No. I don’t think I know Cameron.” “It’s going to be your 7th birthday, Cryo.” Cryo stood still for a moment and gave a frown. “Oh… my birthday…” he replied. “Come on Cryo. Don’t be like that. Dad has something very special planned for you this time.” “I’m… sure it will be fun… Cameron.” Cameron and Tide could see the sensitivity of the subject toward Cryo. “I promise Cryo. You’ll enjoy this one. I know that, well… it’s a hard day for you. But this one will have something very different. You’ll love it. I promise.” “Yea, Cameron… I’m sure I’ll like it…” Cameron realized that the conversation probably wouldn’t get any better, so he decided to try to change the mood of the room.

“Hey Cryo. You… want to… play some Capsule Creatures with me on our Ignition’s?” “Yea… Cameron. Let’s play together…” The two got their Ignition gaming consoles and began to play together on their games. Tide meanwhile, began to cook a nice lunch for the both of them. She looked over at Cryo as she cooked and saw Cryo seemed a little glum still. “His birthday is such a sensitive topic to him, considering what happened on his first one. I know about the plans for this years celebration, but…” she looked back and continued to cook. “It’ll be hard for him to cope. I think it’ll be best for now to not remind him of “old wounds.” Nor to ruin his surprise.”

After about an hour of play Tide was just about finished with the food. She looked toward Cryo and Cameron. “Looks like he’s still thinking a bit about.” Hopefully lunch will help him ease himself. I know he’s hungry anyway.” Tide placed the food on the table, and looked back towards them. “Guys. Lunchtime,” she said. The both of them looked over and put down their consoles and came over. “I’m starving. What did you make, Mom?” asked Cryo. I made some salad, breadsticks, and a sandwich for each of us with grilled chillin. “Sounds good. Let’s eat!” said Cryo.

They sat down at the table and began to eat. Tide looked at Cryo, and could see his birthday was still on his mind. “Hey, Cryo.” “Yea Mom?” “Would you like to do something fun together after lunch?” “Yea. I guess mom.” Tide took a bite out of her sandwich. “Do you have anything in mind?” she asked. Cryo thought for a moment. “Can we go outside to play?” “Of course, Cryo.” Cryo gave a small smile and continued to eat. Soon they finished with their lunch.

Ch 17

Superb Scout

The group went out the door and continued through the hall to the outside. They opened the door to be greeted by the sun and and a light, breezy wind. They headed out to a large grassy field in the back. They headed out to a small shed in the back and opened the door to it. Inside were a whole bunch of sports equipment. Tide took out a small, strike ball out and took out a catching glove for Cameron. They spread out across the field and began to toss the ball to each other. Cryo smiled as he caught the ball in his talons and threw it towards Cameron. “Catch Cameron!” he said. “I got it!” Cameron caught the ball in his mit. He threw it toward Tide. She caught the ball, and threw it back to Cryo. “I got it!” Cryo caught the ball and smiled again.

“Hey Cryo.” said Cameron. “Yea?” he said as he threw the ball towards him. He quickly caught it in his glove. “My Dad, your mom, and me were talking about some things lately.” Cameron threw the ball to Tide. “What things?” asked Cryo. “Well. It was about when your were out in the wilderness with your Mom.” said Cameron. Tide threw the ball back at Cryo. He jumped up and caught it. “We’re home now, Cameron.” Cryo said. “Dad was thinking that maybe…” Cryo threw the ball at Tide who caught it within he big paws. “Dad was thinking of having you join the explorers scouts at the base.” said Cameron. “Explorers scouts?” asked Cryo. Tide threw the ball to Cameron, who caught it in his glove.

“Yes, my little boy,” said Tide. “What’s the explorers scouts? Is that part of a military unit?” “No Cryo. The explorers scouts is a group that comes together on Fridays. They do fun activities such as camping, climbing, swimming, ziplining, and so much more.” said Tide. Cryo tilted his head in interest. Cameron threw the ball toward Cryo, who proceeded to catch it. “The scouts is meant to help teach you companionship, teamwork, and outdoor skills. You would probably be a perfect fit for it since you were able to survive in the wild like you did,” said Cameron. Cryo threw the ball to Tide.

“This is a country wide organization Cryo. One of the people here is a troop leader for the other kids at the base. There is a meeting every week on Friday at 4:00 P.M. While there would be worry about attracting trouble from those who might want to take you, I think it would be fun for you. Besides. The only members of the scouts around here are part of the base. I don’t think those others who kidnapped us will know whenever you go outdoors. Even then, I know you’d be able to take them in a fight. You could use some outdoor time. You don’t get enough of it, Cryo. I know you feel that way,” said Tide. Tide threw the ball to Cryo. “You can earn badges showing your accomplishment in the group and you’ll get a cool uniform here that shows everyone that your a part of it. I’m a part of it myself Cryo,” said Cameron. Cryo threw the ball to Cameron. “Do you want to try it out, Cryo?” asked Tide. Tide threw the ball to Cryo who caught it and began to think.

“That does sound fun,” thought Cryo. “But, considering the previous attempts to take me hostage, it might not necessarily be safe.” Cryo rubbed under his chin a bit. “But Ty did say tell me that they now know who was responsible, or at least a good amount of them. They won’t be able to get back in base easily to look for information about the times of the meetings or activities. They won’t necessarily know I’m in the scouts either if I keep myself hidden until we’re at our destination whenever we go outside the base. But still.” Cryo tilted his head a bit. “Would that be enough? I don’t want to attract trouble to the others. If someone comes after me on a scouting trip, I’d be putting the others lives in danger…” Cryo closed his eyes and thought about it. He then gave a small nod to himself. “I suppose its at least worth a shot. It sounds like fun!” Cryo looked toward Tide with a smile and nodded. “Alright Mom. I’ll join the explorers scouts.” “That’s good news Cryo. We’ll tell Ty after your… um… day tomorrow…” Cryo gave a small frown and tilted his had down again but then stood up, smiled, and nodded. “Alright. Let’s continue playing catch.”

Ch 18

TV Trouble

They continued to play catch for some time. After about an hour of play, they decided to go back inside and do something else. They entered into the base and to their room. Cryo looked at the clock and read it was 6:15 P.M. “It’ll be time for dinner soon. I wonder what mom will make tonight?” thought Cryo. Tide looked towards Cryo and gave a small smile. “What would you like to do before dinner, Cryo?” she asked. Cryo tilted his head and scratched his chin a bit. “Hmm… What should I do now?” he thought. He looked around the room, and eyed his TV. He thought for a moment. “I could probably watch a movie before dinner,” he thought.

“Want to watch a movie?” Cryo asked. “Yea. I’m up for one.” said Cameron. “Which one should we watch?” asked Cryo. Cameron looked back at the tv, and saw that Ty had left a new movie in a box by the TV. “Hey Cryo. Looks like dad left a movie for you up there.” Cryo looked toward the back, and saw the box for it. Cryo went to pick it up and looked at it. “Sky Strikers series movie collection.” Cryo read.” Cryo looked at the back to see the description. “In this series reboot, our classic dragon hero is the leader of a group of hero’s known as the sky strikers. They battle the forces of darkness and protect the light in this series of 4 movies. Prepare for laughs, action, and epic battles in this collection.” Cryo looked again at the front. “A series reboot, huh? Well. I do recognize 2 of the characters on the front. They look a bit different, but i’m sure its fine.”

Cryo grabbed the movie case and the Tv began to move by itself to Cryo. “Hey Cryo. Isn’t your tv control remote over there? How did the tv move to you?” asked Cameron. Cryo looked toward his bean bag chairs and saw the remote over there. “Oh no…” thought Cryo. The Tv positioned itself by Cryo and opened its chip drive player. “Ready to receive movie, creator,” it said. Cryo turned towards it and nervously put the chip drive into the player, which then closed. “Huh? You didn’t even give a command to it Cryo. And did it call you, Creator?” Cameron asked. “Umm…” Cryo thought about if he should tell Cameron about his “accidental AI,” creation. But he then decided that it might not be a good idea. He didn’t know how Ty might take it that an AI program was in some of Cryo’s items (and that it at one point directly connected to their base’s main servers, and possibly security), and its likely Cameron would tell him. Before he could give Cameron an answer, the tv spoke again. “Where would you like to watch the movie, creator? I’m quite excited to observe it myself.” “…!” Cryo knew he might now be dug too deep in and he’d really have to think of an excuse now to hide his AI now. “What did the Tv just say, Cryo?” “Oh umm… Uhh… Please excuse the tv Cameron. I uhh… added some new upgrades to it. A… better command system and programming structure. Much easier to use now. And uh… A… key word system that allows it to detect specific words like uhh… movie and channels to… make it easier to use. Heh heh heh…” Cryo smiled back at Cameron. “Huh. Cryo’s acting a little weird. Is something wrong?” thought Cameron. Cryo gulped and looked back at his Tv. “Is something wrong creator?” “Oh… Uhh… I want to watch the movie where the bean bags are. Please uhh… plug yourself in the power socket there,” said Cryo. “Very well. Moving toward relaxing area.”

The TV quickly hovered over toward his bean bags in the back of the room. It quickly extended its landing frame, slowly hovered down, and plugged its plug into the socket. “There we go. Let’s umm… watch the movie now Cameron,” said Cryo. Cryo slowly sat himself down on the bean bag and Cameron came over and sat in his. He looked back at Cryo. “He looks nervous still. I wonder what’s wrong with him,” he thought. Cryo looked back at Cameron and gave a small smile. He then looked back toward his Tv. “He’s probably just thinking about his birthday tomorrow. I know how much he doesn’t like it. His upgrades to his Tv are pretty cool.” The tv spoke again. “Now playing movie. Would you like to skip the main menus and play the movie, creator?” Cryo gave out a sigh. “Yes. Please play movie. Thank you.” “Now playing movie.”

The Tv played the movie as Cryo and the others watched for quite some time. The movie gave a a good amount of laughs to the group as it played through. Cryo seemed to enjoy himself and relaxed as it played. Seeing characters he’s familiar with in a more lighthearted adventures, made Cryo smile. Soon, the movie ended, and the credits rolled.

“That animated movie was pretty hilarious, Cryo,” said Cameron. “Yea. I thought it was too,” said Cryo, giving back a smile. “Movie was quite lighthearted and fascinating. Does this have some truth to what the dragon race is like?” said the Tv. “…Not again,” thought Cryo. “Huh. Did the Tv say something else, Cryo.” said Cameron. “Umm… Don’t worry about it Cameron. Uhh… Please… uh… plug yourself into the socket near my bed and uhh… wait for instructions…” “Very well. Moving to napping area.” The Tv moved itself toward Cryo’s bed and plugged itself next to it. It then extended its frame down and landed. “I hope Cameron doesn’t suspect anything… I… should probably have a conversation with it tonight before bed…”

Ch 19

Wish List

“Hey you two. Time for dinner,” said Tide. “Yes! I’m starving. You hungry too, Cryo?” “Yea. I’m pretty hungry. What did we make tonight?” “I made something different tonight. It’s a couple of different dishes from another human culture,” said Tide. “Really? What food is it?” asked Cryo. “Well first we have a chillan covered in a sweet and sour sauce, a couple of egg rolls, with different mixed vegetables, pork, and other ingredients wrapped up into it, and vegetable cooked Mui (vegtable fried rice made of the Mida plant) said Tide. “Ohhh! You made Asienga food!” said Cameron. “That’s one of my dad’s favorite foreign culture foods.” “I’m not familiar with this type of food,” said Cryo. “You’ll like it Cryo,” said Tide. “Alright. Well I’m willing to try it.” “Here Cryo. You’ll need these. Tide took a pair of chop sticks from the table and gave it to Cryo. “What are these Mom?” he asked. “Chop sticks. You use these to eat them. Come over here and I’ll show you how,” The three went to the table and grabbed the different foods and put it on a plate. Tide showed Cryo how to operate the chop sticks. “A weird way to eat food,” thought Cryo. “I would think a fork and knife would be much easier.”

Cryo struggled a bit at first to grasp the concept of how to eat with them.” “Here Cryo. Let me help you with that.” Tide came over and helped position the chop sticks in his talons. then she took her chopsticks and carefully picked up some of the food and put it on Cryo’s plate. Cryo observed her carefully again. “Now you try it son.” “Alright then.” Cryo looked at a piece of chillin and took the two chopsticks in his hand. carefully positioning it over the chillin, he carefully picked it up, slowly moved it towards his mouth, opened wide, and put it in. The mix of sweet and sour flavor in the special sauce on the chillin brought a smile on Cryo’s face as he went to get another piece of it. “There you go Cryo. Now your getting the hang of it.” They continued to eat as the time passed. Cryo continued to eat and began to think about tomorrow. “I wonder what they have planned for me? I guess it doesn’t matter… Worst day of the year regardless…” He began to slow down in eating his food. Tide began to take notice.

“Hey Cryo,” said Tide. “Yea, Mom?” replied Cryo. “Are you ok?” You seem to be in deep thought.” “Oh. It’s… nothing Mom.” “He’s probably thinking about tomorrow again,” she thought. “Your thinking about your birthday again, Cryo?” Cryo didn’t reply back. “I know it’s a hard time of the year for you, Cryo. Is there… anything that you would particularly want for your birthday?” “Sigh… If I say nothing, she’ll probably just keep pressing me about tomorrow. Better swallow this in and tell her something I want. The only thing I really want is never going to happen anyway. Wishes never come true…”

Cryo began to think for a moment about something. “I guess I want a… computer… I suppose. “A computer?” “Yes. I have… a need for one right now.” “Any computer in particular?” “I want the Portal XGS computer. And I would also like to add a “special drive,” to it that can hold a high amount of data. “Alright Cryo. I probably can see if we can get you one.” “Yea… Thanks… I guess.” “Anything else?” “Maybe some new jackets and other cloths as well, some fun movies, maybe the new capsule creatures game for my Ignition, and, maybe some extra parts for my computer. Also some on the side for repairs.” “Alright, son. We’ll see what we can get for you.” They continued to eat their food and time progressed and soon the food was gone.

Ch 20

Water and Will

“I’m stuffed,” said Cryo. “I am too. That was good stuff,” said Cameron. “Hey, Cryo?” said Tide “Yea Mom?” “You should probably take a bath tonight, so you’ll be at your best tomorrow. Nice and clean for your special day.” Cryo gave out a sigh and nodded. “Alright Mom. I’ll… take a bath tonight.” “Will you need help, my son?” Cryo shook his head. “I’ll be good mom.” “You sure?” “Sigh… Yes mom.” “Well. Alright son. Me and Cameron will go talk to Ty while your cleaning yourself up.” “Alright. I’ll see you when I’m done.” “Alright. Have a good cleanup, son.” Tide placed the dishes in the sink to be cleaned later. She then left the room with Cameron while Cryo began to walk towards his washroom. “I wish they would stop reminding me about tomorrow…”

Cryo opened the door and went next to his bathtub. He turned on the water and it poured into the tub. He quickly hopped in and plugged the drain as the tub began to fill with warm water. Soon the tub was filled with water and Cryo began to relax inside. But the thoughts of tomorrow filled his head. He gave a out a heavy sigh.

“That time of the year again. The worst day of the entire year.” Cryo began to take his head soap and squeezed some out into his paw. He began to rub all over his head. He then quickly held his breath dipped his head underwater, and then emerged back up from the water. “It’s been… 6 years since it happened. Sigh… I hope the party tomorrow will end quickly. I… just can’t understand why they can’t just let the day go for me. There’s no real reason to celebrate it. It’s just a reminder of… what I’ve lost.” Cryo stood up in the tub and took his scale soap and poured a bit on a loofah and began to rub it against his body and back.

“I wonder what they’re doing right now. Greg… Suzy… Noble… I wonder if they’re alright. If they are doing fine without me. Do they even remember me? I wish I knew if they we’re ok. If they we’re able to continue on without me.” Cryo began to position himself in the tub to lay on his back with his head and limbs out of the water. He began to rub his front and back limbs with his loofa. “I remember what they said. When they said blowing out the candles on the birthday cake is supposed to grant wishes. I’ve wished every year to be able to see them again. But… I know by now. Wishes never come true. No matter how much you want it.” He turned over again and opened the drain in the tub. The water quickly began to drain out and Cryo leaped out of the tub. He grabbed a towel and began to rub it carefully and slowly against his scales. He soon was dried off and began to go towards the sink to brush his fangs.

Taking out his dragon toothpaste, he squeezed it on his brush and began to stroke his teeth with it. As he brushed, he continued to think about tomorrow. “I wonder what they have planned tomorrow for me? Hopefully not a trip out of the base, considering the recent troubles we had. Not that it matters I suppose… There’s no reason to think it’ll be fun regardless. Not even the cake tastes that good… Sigh…”

He took the brush out of his mouth, swished the toothpaste in his mouth a bit, and spit it out into the sink. He then poured some water into a plastic cup and then began to sip it into his mouth. Swishing it around again, he then spit into the sink. He then took some of his special dragon floss (it’s a bit thicker and much stronger then regular floss) and began to wrap it and carefully floss his fangs. A few moments later discarded the floss and looked into the mirror in front of the sink to take a look at his nice and shiny white fangs. Using a talon to lower his mandibles, he could see he had done a good job cleaning his teeth. “That should be good enough.” Cryo then looked towards his talons, and saw that they’ve grown quite a bit. “Hmm… I probably should trim and file my talons a bit. It’s been about a month since I last had a chance to clip them and they look pretty long and sharp. Cryo took out a talon clipper and a dragon file above the sink in a cabinet below his mirror. He slowly and carefully trimmed his talons down, making sure that the edge wasn’t too sharp and was easier to grip things. He then took a dragon file and began to file his talons a bit more to even out and clean up the edges.. After a few moments, he looked at his talons. “That should be good. Nice and trimmed.” Cryo began to place everything back where it needed to be and headed for the door.

Ch 21

Stories and Sleep

“I wonder if they’re back yet?” he thought. Taking a peek out of his washroom, he saw that Tide and Cameron we’re back and talking to each other. He noticed that Ty was also in the room. “They’re talking real soft so I can’t hear them. They must be discussing my birthday plans…” Cryo gave out a sigh and opened the door to his washroom and walked out slowly with his head low. The 3 noticed Cryo walking out and smiled at him. Cryo walked over slowly to greet them. “There’s my nice and clean boy,” said Tide. “You ok Cryo?” asked Cameron. “Yea… I’m fine Cameron. Don’t worry about it.” he replied. “I know tomorrow is hard for you to think about, Cryo. Don’t worry about it for now, Cryo. Why don’t you go to bed a little early tonight. Perhaps this will help calm you down a bit,” said Tide. “Yes. Why don’t you go to bed early. You’ll be more refreshed tomorrow,” said Ty. Thinking about their suggestion, he nodded in agreement. “Yea. Your right. I could use a bit of extra sleep to prepare for tomorrow.” “Would you like for me to tuck you into bed tonight, Cryo?” asked Tide. Cryo gave out a sigh. “No thank you, Mom.” “Are you sure, my little boy?” “I’ll be alright, mom. Really. Don’t worry about me…” “Alright, Cryo. Goodnight my baby boy.” Tide began to head to the front of the room to turn the lights off.

Cryo started to head towards his hay bed and gave out a yawn. He stood before his cloths drawer and opened it. After rummaging around a bit, he took out a green t shirt with the picture of him wearing knights armor with a lance in his left paw on the front with the words, “Adventurer of the old world, Cryo the dragon,” in grey text. He turned it towards the back, and saw himself sleeping in his bed with a thought bubble showing him fighting a legendary creature from the capsule creatures game in said armor. “I must say. Despite not being like my old cloths, the people who make my cloths here sure have some pretty fun ideas for clothing designs.” He smiled a bit and raised the shirt over his head. He quickly put his arms through the openings and carefully maneuvered his wings out the back. He then headed back towards his bed nearby. Tide switched the light off to his room and headed back to where Cameron and Ty were. Cryo watched as Tide headed back. He looked towards the others one more time, who seemed to be watching as he began to pick up his blanket. He began to tightly huddle it around his body and began to lay down. He placed his head on his pillow and rubbed his head on it a bit, getting comfortable. His radio began to speak.

“Would you like to listen to some relaxing sleeping music or listen to a online storybook to help you sleep?” it asked. Cryo tilted his head to his radio and gave out a sigh. “Can I ask you a something?” “What do you need, creator?” “Keep your volume down a bit… Anyway… I’m a little worried that my umm… friends and family… may not be understanding of you. Can you… maybe… try to make it not as… obvious that your umm… sentient… I guess?” “Suggestion taken. Will work on communications and mannerisms to reduce suspicion of sentiency until family and friends may be understanding. Will you like anything else?” Cryo yawned again and began to lay his head down on his bed. “I could listen to music I guess. But… I’m curious about its mention of the online storybook. I haven’t listened to a bedtime story since I was 4, I think… Might be a fun way to go to sleep tonight. Hmm…” he thought. Cryo gave out another yawn. “Let’s at least try it I suppose.”

He tilted his head at his radio. “Can you open a online storybook?” “What type of story would you like to hear?” “Well. I would like to hear a adventure story I guess.” “Searching.” The radio remained silent for a few moments.” Would you like to listen to the story, “Explorers series, book 2, Time, darkness, and sky? This book features the characters from capsule creatures series. I understand you like the games.” Cryo thought for a moment. “Sounds interesting. Alright then,” Cryo thought. He yawned again. “Yes. Play storybook.” “Playing storybook.”

The radio began to play a soft, young voice. “Chapter one. Stormy seas.” Cryo huddled himself a bit more tightly in the blanket. “There was a time where everything fell to ruin. Where the dark took over and the sun grew dim. I was there. I don’t remember much about it. I am Kyle. I look different then what I once looked like. I was known as a human before. I don’t really remember what I looked like as a human since it happened quite some time ago. Now. I am something else. Something different. Something… red. A young dragon I have become now. An Embertail. But how did this all begin. Well It started a bit like this.”

“There was a flash of electricity as the crackle of electric bursts could be heard from all over. My vision of what happened remained dark as the chaos ensued. “Don’t let go. We just have a little bit to go!” Cryo noticed that the radio had changed it’s voice to reflect the new character in the story. The new character voice sounded very distorted, as if the story itself was trying to hide who this new character was. “My strength was fading though and my grip was becoming loose.” “I can’t. I… Wahh!” My grip had failed and I had let go of it. My eyesight began to fade, and with a flash of light I lost consciousness.”

The radio paused for a moment. “Chapter 2. A new world. As the chaos faded, I woke for a brief moment, tired and weak. My vision was blurred and I tried to make a sense of where I was. But I quickly faded again, and soon fell to the dark. While I was down, someone not far off was attempting to follow his heart. A person I would begin to know as, Anubis, the Aurum. Someone who would help me in my time a need. Someone who would help guide my path forward and understand what would be the most important reason as to why I’m here.”

Cryo’s mind began to drift off from the soothing story. He felt like he’s heard something similar to this story before. His eyes started to close slowly. “I have to do it this time. I have to be brave.” The new character in the story had a young, low pitched voice. “The unknown creature walked up to what appeared to be a large building in the shape of the head of a Lyttiby (Li-ty-by), with a big metal barred gate covering the entrance and a scanner pad on the ground in front of it. He looked at the scanner, took in a big gulp, and began to step on it.

“Scanning beginning,” an alarming, deep, mechanical voice boomed. Surprised by the the voice, he quickly stepped back. “Sigh… I still can’t do it. It’s still too much.” The creature looked at a fragment of metal in his hand. “I thought bringing this would give me the strength to get passed and register. Sigh. It’s still not enough.” The creature gave a sigh and began to turn back. “Why can’t I be brave?” As he turned back, Two figures began to take interest in him. Or perhaps, something he had…” Cryo’s eyes fully closed and he gave one last yawn.

“Chapter 3: Beginnings.” As the radio was about to begin to speak from the storybook, Cryo’s mind had finally fogged up and he fell into a deep slumber. “Saving bookmark for next time. Radio off.”

Ch 22

Proper Preparations

Tide and the others noticed he had fallen asleep and walked towards the door. “How long will it take for them to get here?” asked Tide “The ship will be sent out first thing in the mourning. It may take some time before they arrive,” Ty replied. “He won’t be very happy until then,” said Cameron. “We’ll just have to keep him occupied until then,” said Tide. They looked at each other and nodded. “Alright. Let’s start getting ready for tomorrow,” Ty said. Ty and Cameron left the room and Tide headed toward Cryo’s bed to take a look at him. “He’s huddled himself really tightly in his blanket. He looks so cute.” Tide turned towards Cryo’s radio. As she was about to say something, she noticed a piece of paper on the cabinet next to Cryo’s radio. She leaned in a bit to take a closer look at it.

“Hmm. What’s this?” She picked up the paper and began to read it. She remembered that it was what Cryo had wrote down earlier. She began to take interest immediately. “Is this a recipe? Hmm. White chocolate. White chocolate?… There is chocolate that is white instead of brown?” She continued to look at the recipe. “Interesting. Where did Cryo get this recipe? I’ve never heard of white chocolate before.” She scratched her chin and then gave a smile. “This might actually be something nice for Cryo’s party. Something that might cheer him up.” She nodded to herself.

“Ty needs to know about this. This recipe is perfect to make for Cryo. We may even be able to use this with his cake. Even if we can’t, we can just follow the recipe, with a few additions or altercations to instead make a white chocolate treat for him. It should help him cope.” Tide looked at Cryo one more time. She leaned down and gave a small kiss on Cryo’s forehead. Cryo began to move a tiny bit and then shifted his weight to his other side.

Tide then shifted her attention back towards his radio. She whispered to it. “Can you make sure he stays asleep tonight. He’ll need all the sleep he can get.” The radio gave a short moment of static. “Don’t worry. I know. I won’t tell anyone. I would like for him to wake up later then usual tomorrow.” She grabbed a pair of Cryo’s headphones that were in the drawer next to his bed and connected them to his radio and carefully put it on Cryo’s ears. “Turn off your alarm and play naptunes for him all night. Try to keep him asleep until we’re ready for him. If he wakes up, try to convince him to sleep a little longer. If he doesn’t, convince him to stay in his room. We’ll need some time to prepare for his party. Understand?” The radio stayed silent for a few moments. It then replied back. “Understood. Analyzing strategies for Creator’s containment. Planning preparations for tomorrow. Do you need anything else?” “No. Good luck on your end.”

Tide began to walk towards the door when the radio began to speak again. “How did you know?” the radio asked. Tide turned back toward the radio. “I realized it right as you started acting on your own. You knew when Cryo wanted to watch a movie without him even giving a command. And you called him creator. It takes a bit more then adding more key words and commands to react to Cryo the way you do.” She headed towards the door and opened it up. “Stay out of trouble, please.” Tide left the room leaving the two alone. “Playing naptunes channel.”

Ch 23

Cake Conflicts

Cryo’s eyes slowly dimmed into focus. As he picked himself up, he looked around and saw a gigantic birthday cake in front of him. He looked around and seemed to be in a very dark room. One by one, large candles on the cake lit up one at a time on top creating a very bright glow at the top. A voice then called to him. “Make a wish, Cryo.” The voice sounded slightly distorted, but strangely familiar.

A staircase of wooden steps began to build itself to the top where the candles lay. Cryo gave a frown and a sigh. “Wishes never come true.” He began to walk away from it towards a darkened door much further back in the room. The voice called again. “Wishes can come true. Come and make a wish.” He turned back to the cake again, and sighed. “I’ve heard that one before.” He continued to head for the door. “Don’t give up hope. Make a wish.” He stopped for a moment and tilted his head down and gave a frown. He closed his eyes, picked his head up a bit, shook his head, and continued on. He went to the door and began to turn the nob to head out of the room. It was locked though. He saw the locking mechanism on the door and tried to turn it. But it would not budge, No matter how hard he tried to turn it.

“Why don’t you want to make a wish?” the voice asked. “I’ve made the same wish every year. It never came true. Why would it be any different now?” “You’ll never know until you try. Come and make a wish. There’s always hope, my little brother. Make a wish.” Cryo tilted his head in confusion, but immediately dismissed it. He then gave out a sigh.

“If I make a wish… will you… let me leave here?” “Only if you make a wish. Step up and make your dreams come true.” Cryo gave out a sigh and went back towards the cake. “Fine. I can imagine this is not going to end well…” He climbed the staircase up towards the candles on top of the cake. He looked at the top of the cake. It had the words “Happy 7th birthday Cryo,” in blue frosting. Cryo sighed and gave out his wish. “I wish to see my old family again.” He took in a deep breath and blew out the candles on top.

Suddenly, the candles began to shake violently on the cake! Their frames began to light up VERY brightly. Cryo began to back away a bit and shield his eyes from the light. Each candle then began to shoot up into the air, one by one. Cryo looked up towards the sky, as each candle exploded in the air, creating an array of colored cinders in the sky! “Is this… fireworks?” As he watched the spectacle above, he began to feel strange. He felt his strength giving out. Cryo’s head began to become fuzzy. He began to rub his eyes. His eyes began to quickly lose focus. He then collapsed onto his side, feeling like his whole body was being weighted down. “What’s… happening to me? I feel… very weak… I… can’t move. Am I poisoned again?”

As he tried to see, he felt something lift him up carefully and gently. Cryo’s eyes couldn’t recognize the figure. He only could see its black silhouette of a humanoid shape. It cradled him in its arms and gently stroked his head and belly a few times. It then began to walk away from the cake, down the staircase, and towards the door. Cryo tried to speak, but he couldn’t make any words come out. “Who… is this…? Where… is it taking me…?” he thought. The figure unlocked and opened the door to the dark room and exited it to another room. The room was a white haze as the figure continued to carry him. Cryo didn’t have the strength to move himself. He could only move his head slowly. The figure stopped in front of a darkened table, where an array of strange items were folded up on it.

He placed Cryo slowly and carefully down on the table on something very soft. Cryo tried to move again, but he still couldn’t budge even a inch. It scratched Cryo’s back a bit, which helped relax Cryo. “This… Is this creature… trying to help me?…” It stopped scratching Cryo and picked up the first item to the far left of the table. It gently lifted Cryo up and carefully fitted on him what looked to be Dark blue light, that stretched across Cryo’s upper body all the way down to near his waist. He carefully maneuvered Cryo’s front arms from 2 openings in it so they could be extended outside of it while also fitting it so his wings would come out the back. “What… is this. Is this… a shirt? It’s… warm and soft. It feels… like my old cloths…” Cryo thought.

The figure placed Cryo down on the soft mass again and picked up the next item, in the center. It then lifted up Cryo’s head gently, and began to very carefully wrap some type of Cyan cloth around Cryo’s neck, which began to light up brightly for a few moments as the creature finished tying it on behind his neck. “Is this… a scarf? Why… does it extend farther down… my neck? It feels… tied, not wrapped… on the back. It… feels different. Its softer… then anything I’ve been coiled in before. It smells… like a natural purified spring. What… is this?” The figure gently scratched Cryo’s head a few times.

It then gently picked up Cryo again and then picked up the final item. Cryo saw it was what he was placed on before. It unfolded it, which seemed to be some type of soft and thick, dark blue mass. He began to carefully wrap it tightly around Cryo’s entire body. It felt very soft, comfy, and clean. Cryo felt like the items all seemed familiar to him somehow. He yawned, as the masses enveloping his body gave him a strange feeling. Something he didn’t expect after this started. Comfort and warmth. The voice came again. “There we go. Let’s get you in bed.” Cryo recognized it as the voice before. It began to carry him across his shoulder, rubbing Cryo’s back very slowly and gently as they moved forward. “This… what’s going on?” He gave out another yawn as he tried to focus his eyes. But he still couldn’t see well.

The figure soon stopped before something below. It carefully laid Cryo down on a large mass of yellow light, which was big enough to lay his entire body on, carefully positioning his head on a another small blue mass of light. Cryo felt the warmth and shape of the masses together adjusting to his body and weight, and made him feel warm, comfortable, and very cozy. Cryo tried to stay conscious, trying to understand what was going on. He was at least able to move his head slowly to watch what the figure would do next. The figure stepped a little bit towards the front where a small, rounded darkened rectangle sat nearby. He could see what seemed to be dark pegs coming out a few places on the bottom of the item. He turned these pegs a bit, and a soothing melody began to play out of it. The musical spell quickly took over as Cryo’s ears listened. His eyes began to completely fade to black. He could not stay conscious. Cryo had finally succumbed to the strange ritual being performed here. The last thing he would hear, is the figure calling to him, one last time. “Happy birthday, little brother.”

Ch 24

Strange Suspicion

Cryo opened his eyes slowly and blinked a few times. He gave out a yawn as he could hear soothing music in his ears. He recognized it as the tune from his dream before he had succumbed. His eyes began to focus into view. He was back in his room. He lifted himself up and realized he had his headphones on, playing naptunes channel. He took his headphones off and rubbed his eyes a bit. “Someone put my headphones on me as I slept. Maybe Mom or Cameron?” Cryo looked towards his radio besides his bed on the cabinet. It indicated that it was 11:12 A.M. “I’ve slept in for a couple hours. Guess I got extra sleep after all. Looks like someone turned off the alarm. Mom or Ty probably.” He poked his back legs out of the blanket, then his front legs. He then turned on his belly and lifted himself up. He then began to unwrap the blanket around his body when his radio began to speak.

“Good mourning creator.” He looked towards his radio. “Umm… good mourning… I guess.” Cryo looked around the room and saw that no one was in it currently. “Hmm… I’m alone right now, I wonder where everyone is?” Cryo thought. Cryo was about to start heading towards the door, when the radio spoke up again. “Why don’t you take a little bit more time to sleep, Creator,” it said. “Sleep? But its almost halfway through the day already,” Cryo replied. “It never hurts to get a bit more sleep. You look pretty tired still…” Cryo tilted his head and scratched under his chin a few times. “I feel well rested enough.” “It’s going to be a hard day for you, from my understanding. Maybe some extra sleep will help you get through it.” Cryo looked towards the radio with a look of suspicion.

“You seem awfully convinced that I should get more sleep. Is something going on?” The radio paused for a moment, and then gave a reply. “If your sure that you won’t need sleep, I won’t stop you. Perhaps it would be a good idea to take another bath before then.” Cryo took his paw and sniffed at it. “I smell pretty clean.” “Maybe take another to make sure? It’s a big day for you and it would be unfortunate if you smelled a bit before then.” “I… think I’ll be fine. Cryo continued to head for the door to his room, when the radio spoke up again.

“There is some items on your desk that could use repair. Perhaps you should take the time to fix them?” “I’m sure that can wait. I probably should tell the others I am awake, considering I slept in so late.” “They probably already know your awake and fine. There are camera’s in the room.” Cryo scratched his head. “Well, I suppose that’s true, but…” “Why not take this as an opportunity to be by yourself for a bit. It may be for the best that you try to do something you like before you head into something rough for you.” Cryo thought for a moment. He began to notice the AI was trying VERY hard to keep him in his room. “Is something wrong, creator?” it asked.

“Umm… Is the door locked?” asked Cryo. “Not to my understanding.” “Then I think I’m going to go… I’ll… see you in a bit.” Cryo quickly headed for the door. “Creator. Please come back,” said the radio. He was about to open it when someone else opened it. “Hello, my little boy.” “Ohh… um… Hi Mom.” Tide stepped in the room, carrying a large new blue bookbag over her shoulder. Tide looked over towards the radio, and then looked back to him. “I was hoping that your “friend,” there could keep you occupied for a couple more hours, but I suppose I should’ve considered how cautious you are. “Wait… You…” “Yes Cryo… I was the one that told your AI buddy to try to keep you inside.” Tide stepped in the room, carrying backpack. Cryo gave a small frown and sighed. “You knew about it…” “Yes. I figured it out pretty quickly with its mannerisms.” “Do… the others know?” “No they don’t. Don’t worry. I promise I won’t tell them.”

Cryo gave out a sigh and looked straight up at Tide. “Now Cryo. I know you want to probably go out and see the others for a bit, but… could you please stay in your room for now? There’s things we still need to get ready for.” Cryo gave out a sigh, and nodded. “Alright Mom. I can stay locked up in here, waiting for the worst to happen…” Tide gave a hug to Cryo and kissed his forehead. “I know how hard this is for you. Please just hang out in here for now while we get ready. Oh… and if you don’t mind…” Tide placed the bag she was carrying near Cryo’s bed. “There are some cloths in here I would like you to change into for later. Oh and also, if you decide to work on repairs, don’t put the cloths on while you work. You’ll probably also need to wash up a bit after so you don’t smell like grease.” Cryo nodded. “Alright mom.” “Good. Just wait until we’re ready for you, honey. I’ll come get you when we’re ready, ok?” “Alright…” See you later, my baby boy.” Tide smiled at Cryo, patted him on the head a few times, and left the room.

Ch 25

Lunch Munch

Cryo went back towards his bed and looked at his radio. “So I guess I’m going to stay here after all.” “Very good creator. Is there something in particular you would like to do?” Cryo tilted his head and scratched his chin a bit. “I wonder what I should do. It’s probably going to be a while before the party.” Cryo looked around and then heard his stomach rumble a bit. “I’m hungry. I should probably eat something.”

Cryo began to head towards his fridge. As he approached, the doors began to open by themselves. “What do you feel like eating, creator? There is plenty inside to consume at your leisure,” a mechanical voice echoed from it. “Well… its in my fridge now… Then again… it might not really be all that bad I suppose.” He looked inside, he then took out ham, sliced ched (name of cheese from the planet), two pieces of bread, and a bottle of a orange condiment. He placed it on the counter next to his fridge. He then took out a red liquid in a large drink container and placed it next to it. He finally went to get a jar of a red, creamy yet curdle liquid and placed it on the counter. “Ahh. A nice pork and white ched sandwich with the base’s homemade midster (basically mustard), with Cherish sauce on the side (like applesauce but made with a fruit called cherish instead), and a fruit mix drink. Perfect for lunch.” He began to make his sandwich. “Will you need any help or instructions on making your meal, creator?” Cryo looked back at his fridge and chuckled a bit.” “Come on… I’m a big boy. I know how to make myself a sandwich of all things.” He went to his counter and placed the bread in a toaster in the shape a dragon head with an open mouth facing up. As he placed both pieces of bread in, they quickly descended into the machine. “Beginning toasting sequence. How would you like your bread, creator?” “Its even my toaster now… This ai really knows how to get around…” Cryo thought. He began to think for a few seconds. “Umm… I usually like my toast darkened quite a bit.” “Understood. Bread toasting sequence will be complete in about 1:46. Feel free to prepare other supplements for your meal creator.” “Umm… Alright. Thanks.” Cryo headed to the cabinets to the left of his kitchen. He took a small bowl from a cabinet above and poured some cherish sauce into it. Cryo smacked his lips a bit. He then grabbed a cup from the cabinet next to it and poured his drink into it. As he placed his items on the table, Cryo heard the toaster pop up.” “Toasting sequence complete, creator. I hope you enjoy it. Please keep in mind the bread might be hot when removed,” the toaster said. Cryo nodded and grinned. He quickly headed over and took the two pieces of toasted bread between his talons and placed it on a plate. He then put some slices of ham on top of one of the pieces, then some cheese, and then picked up the bottle of midster and squirted a little bit out.

He grabbed his sandwich and brought it over to the table. He placed it down on his table and began to pick up his sandwich. “Enjoy your nutritious and healthy meal, creator,” the fridge spoke. Cryo smiled and nodded. He slowly moved the sandwich in front of his mouth. He smacked his lips again and slowly opened his mandibles. His saliva began to drip on the plate a tiny bit, creating a few very tiny sparks (due to his saliva having a small electric charge, his plates, bowls, and silverware are made of materials and metals that can safely resist its electric charge. Luckily, his saliva is not strong enough to cause fires on soft surfaces such as blankets, carpets, outdoor flora, etc). Moving the sandwich towards his mouth, he took one big bite out of it and began to chew. A small smile came over his face as he chewed. He then let out a big gulp and swallowed the first bite, clearly satisfied.

He then took his spoon and took dipped it into his cherish sauce. Opening his maw, he moved the spoon into his mouth and closed his jaws around it. He pulled the spoon from his mouth and placed it down on his table. He then took his cup with his drink and began to slowly maneuver it over to his lips. Tilting it forward, the liquid soon came into contact with Cryo’s lips. He took a small sip and placed the drink down with another smile ran across his face.

“Ahh. This stuff tastes good. I love the cherish sauce the base makes. Sandwich is delicious too. The fruit mix tastes freshly made as well. Its lucky we have people here who know how to make stuff and condiments like this here.” He continued to eat, taking bites out of his sandwich and slurping up his cherish sauce and drink. Soon enough, the meal was finished and Cryo patted his belly a bit with a smile on his face. “That was pretty good. I wonder how long it took.” Cryo looked at the clock, which now read 12:34 P.M. “About an hour and 30 minutes. Hmm… I better clean up real quick.” Cryo began to clean up around the table and where he made his meal. He put his dishes in the dishwasher to be cleaned and closed it. Cryo nodded on a job well done with a smile and then looked towards the door to see if anyone might be standing there. But he saw that no one was at his door.

Ch 26

Repairs, Rinse, and Reminders

“Hmm… Looks like they’re still not ready for me. I wonder what’s taking them? He scratched his chin and looked around. “Must be still working on whatever they have planned for my party. Guess I should find something else to do.” He looked back towards the back of his room, looking at his work bench. “I could try to repair a few things. But it might mean I’ll have to take another bath. And there’s no telling when they plan to get me. He looked towards his washroom. “Hmm… I suppose it wouldn’t be that bad. I’m sure mom will inform me when they’re about ready for me.”

He began to walk towards his work bench, when he then turned his head to his radio. “Hmm… I should probably listen to some calming work music while I work. Its going to be a long day.” He headed towards his bed and picked up his radio on the nearby counter and began to head towards his work bench.

He placed his radio on the work bench. He turned his head toward the radio. “Hey. Can you play calming soft rock while I work today?” “Yes, creator. Turning on new generation rock radio.” Soft rock began to play on the radio. Cryo gave a smile and he put on his magnifying speck. He began to look at the items he needs to repair. “Hmm… Not that much left to repair for now. Just 2 items.” He picked up the first one, a toaster. “Let’s see… Notes say that bread will not stay down when she pushes it in. Dropped on the ground. Hmm…” Cryo carefully took it apart and observed its parts. “Just as I thought. The springs and locks on both sides is damaged. I’ll need to replace them.” Going to his large parts cabinet, he took out the replacement parts and began to fix the toaster.

“Ahh… life seems easier when your fixing things. I always feel like I’m doing something productive for the people living here. Like I have a purpose for being here,” he thought. The parts we’re soon replaced and he began to put the toaster back together. Cryo’s mind began to drift. He began to think about some of the first few months he spent at the facility. “Life was a lot harder here when I first came here. I pretty much had nothing. Just a room with a small pool of water and a few toys, and a window. A window that was my only way to see the outside world, towards the mountains…” Cryo gave out a sigh as he began to finish his first repair of the day. “Maybe its just because of the stress I get on this day. Everyone I know are fully aware that I hate this day.” The toaster soon was put back together. Cryo plugged it into a socket near his workbench. He went to the fridge to get two slices of bread to test both sides. He pushed it down into the toaster and observed. “Alright. Everything seems to be working,” he said. “Excellent job with the repair, creator. Your client will be pleased. What’s next?” the radio asked. “Oh. Thank you, um… radio…” Cryo smiled for a second, seemingly a little less weirded out then before about his ai.

Cryo picked up his final repair project, a small z phone. “Hmm. Interesting. I don’t typically have z phones to repair. This looks to be a slightly newer model. Luckily, I have enough experience with these. I shouldn’t have any trouble figuring out the problem.” he thought. He smiled and nodded. “

“Alright… Let’s see the notes. Hmm… Power failure. Won’t turn on…” He began to take off the back and took a look at the battery. “Battery is shot. Must have been used a whole lot, or left on and active for long periods.” Cryo went towards his parts drawer and took out a spare battery. He began to attach the new battery to the phone. “It just needs a small “kick,” now.” Cryo dabbed his talon in his mouth a tiny bit and carefully touched the battery. A tiny spark came out and the phone turned on for a second. “There we go. Now let’s get this put back together.” He began to place the back of the phone back on. He began to remember a bit more about his first days at the facility.

“Hmm. This reminds me of my first repair.” He began to screw the bolts of the back on. “It was Gerald’s phone, right? Yea. It’s only after I repaired his phone that things became better for me. They gave me something to do. They then gave me a proper room, toys, a bed, and made me feel like I was more then just… well… a wild animal. Now that I think about it… I haven’t seen Gerald in a while. Hmm… Oh! I remember now! Ty told me yesterday while I was outside that he’s been attempting to look more into our kidnappings. I guess that’s why. He worked as a investigator for the government before he decided to take a different career path and work more with biology and science. I hope he’s doing alright. He’ll probably miss the party today. I wonder when he’ll be back?”

The phone’s parts were soon put back in place. He messed with the phone a bit and confirmed that it was working properly. Cryo nodded in his success and then powered off the phone. He placed it to the side and gave a small smile on a job well done. “Alright. that should do it for now.” “Well done again, creator. Your job is complete. Congratulations on finishing up your mechanic occupational duties.” “Hehe. Thanks again, my, uh… AI friend.” ” He cleaned up his work space and nodded with a smile. “Can you turn off the radio?” “Radio off.” The tune from the radio stopped and Cryo began to take a couple of relaxed breaths. “Now what time is it?” thought Cryo. He turned his head towards the clock above his tv.

The clock now read 3:10 P.M. “Hmm. Time has passed quite a bit. Guess they still aren’t ready for me.” Cryo looked at his paws and saw spots of grease on it. “Looks like I could use a small washup.” Cryo headed towards his washroom and opened the door. He immediately looked in the mirror to see how he looked. “I don’t see any grease on my body and head. I think washing my hands and arms should be good enough.” Cryo headed towards his bathtub and grabbed a bar of soap. He then slowly trotted back to his sink. Cryo turned on the faucet and began to lathe his paws, arms, and shoulders with water. He then took the bar of soap and rubbed it all across his arms. Cryo then rinsed his arms off and turned the faucet off. He went to his towel hanging next to the sink on a wall ring holder and began to dry his arms off. Soon his arms were dry and he sniffed at his arms. “Smells pretty clean. I should be good here.” Cryo began to head out the door and looked towards the door to his room. He saw that there was a note on the door. He walked over and read it. “We’re ready for you at 4:20 P.M. Please get dressed beforehand. Thank you, my son. Love, Tide.” “Looks like their finally close to being ready for me. They want me to change into the cloths in the backpack. I wonder what mom wants me to wear? Let’s take a look…”

Ch 27

Concerning Clothing

Cryo opened the backpack and began take out the items one by one. He first took out a silver jacket. It seemed to be brand new. It had several pockets on the front, and on the back was a blue cartoon dragon, that looked similar to him… It was sitting down with a smile across his face. He began to feel around the material. “This is made of special materials. A mix of waterproof fabrics combined with chillin feathers and soulfire petals. Keeps the wearer nice, warm, and dry, even on very cold winter days. It also can be worn in warm weather since the fabric’s soulfire petals mixed is with a chemical formula that reacts to warmer weather to cool off the wearer. Interesting… Feels very nice and soft.” He rubbed it against his head a few times and smiled at the feel of the fabrics.

Cryo took out the next item, which seemed to be a warm red scarf, with the image of a majestic fire breathing dragon on it. “This looks really warm. Fabric feels really soft, like a fuzzy blanket. Hand knitted, hmm… Cryo began to think for a little bit. His eyes then shot up and slowly dipped to sadness.

“These are the nearly the exact type of cloths I wore on my first birthday! This silver jacket with the me on the back… The scarf with the firebreather… Even made from the same material! Why do they want me to wear this?… This is really going to be a horrible birthday…” He gave out a saddened sigh and began to tear up a little. But he quickly wiped the tear away and took in a deep breath. “It’s just for today, Cryo. It’s just for today. The others won’t like seeing me like this. Just relax… Just… relax.” He took in a couple more deep breaths and looked to see if there was anything else in the backpack. He saw a pair of fingerless gloves that had a strange pattern on it with an extra pair of toeless socks for his back talons as well. He took a look at the gloves first.

“Hmm… This looks strange. The pattern is a little odd. Why does it have a dark blue rounded polygon in the middle going down off the gloves and a bunch of trees and shrubs surrounding it. And what’s with the words “Reun on the left glove and ion on the right. What does this mean? Cryo then took a look at the socks given to him. “This pattern looks similar to the gloves. But… the rounded polygon is on top instead and the shrubbery is surrounding it on the bottom. He began to read the letters engraved on it in dark blue. “In the darkest of times…” the left sock read along the ankle line. Cryo read the other one “There is always hope.” Cryo gave out a sigh. “These wise words don’t make me feel any better about today.”

Cryo began to put on his cloths. He slipped his arms into his silver jacket and carefully maneuvered his wings out the back. He zipped up the jacket and took a deep breath in. He then wrapped the scarf around his neck carefully. He then slipped on his fingerless gloves carefully around his trimmed talons and then his socks on his back paws. He headed towards his washroom to take a look in the mirror. He sat himself down for a second in front of the mirror to look at himself from the front. He then stood up again and began to turn himself around to get a better look. “I… guess I look good I suppose. I… always loved the feeling of this material wrapped around me. I haven’t felt like this in a very long time.” He began to feel around his coat again, and began to wonder something…

“Strange… This coat and scarf, despite the slightly different fabrics and structure, they use the same methods and materials that Greg and Suzy used to make my own cloths back on the mountains. As far as I know, they are the only ones who knows how to correctly make cloths like this, right? It’s not easy to find soulfire flowers either. They are only grow deep in mountainous forests and they only grow on very rich soil, within spots where the sun can beam through the trees most of the day and onto the ground. You can’t make them grow unless your REALLY good a botany and have all the required supplies and conditions to make them grow. And the petals only grow during the spring. It’s neither easy to find these or easy to grow. It’s a rare plant indeed.” Cryo began to head towards the door back to his room.

“Since we originally lived very close to the mountains, Greg had the time to look for them during the entire spring season when we’d take a walk through the forest. They’d take me on a rather long walks with everyone at least once per day after breakfast. Then I’d take a nap when I got back home. I remember that he always looked around for these plants as they walked me around the forest in a harness and leash. I don’t think it takes too many to create cloths like this. He just needs to grind a couple petals and mix them with a special chemical and add it to the fabric. Hmm… I still don’t remember what chemical he used though.” Cryo turned the knob on the door and headed back into his room. “The mix between the flower petals and the chemical caused a strange effect within fabrics that allowed it to be worn during the summer, without causing the wearer to become to hot. These cloths are also some of the comfiest I’ve ever worn too. It’s why I always wore cloths like this during the day and night. I always like to bundle up and keep warm and comfy like this, surprisingly… These cloths worked to keep me both nice, dry, and warm during the winter while also preventing me from getting too hot during summer and spring.” Cryo scratched his chin a bit. “As far as I’m aware, none of the cloths that have been made for me here have used this method, right?… Or maybe I just never noticed?”

Cryo tilted his head and gave a sigh. “Perhaps I’m looking into this too much… I’m sure Greg and Suzy learned how to make cloths like this from watching a tv show or something.” Cryo nodded his head and gave a frown as he began to turn the doorknob to go outside his washroom. “I’m sure anyone could make cloths like this with enough time to learn.” He opened the door and headed into his room, and started to head towards his bed. “The researchers here have my old scarf and coat since I was a hatchling stored somewhere here.” I outgrew it so…” Cryo nodded to himself and took in a deep breath. “I’m sure the researchers here could have easily cracked the formula on how Greg and Suzy made my cloths. I doubt it would be too hard for them to figure out how to make them.” Cryo turned his head to look at the clock. It now read 3:30 P.M. “Well… Nothing left to do but wait until they come to pick me up.” thought Cryo. He grabbed his radio from his workbench and brought it over to his bean bag chair in the area where his tv is usually situated. He placed it on a stand beside the tv. He then sat himself down and began to wait. Cryo maneuvered himself onto his back leaning up on the bean bag and began to get himself more comfortable.

Ch 28

Computer’s Concern

“Can you turn on some calming soft rock music again? I need to hear something soothing before my tensions get high for todays party.” The radio flickered on and replied. “Turning to new generation rock radio.” The radio began to playing a soothing chord of rock and roll and Cryo closed his eyes and began to relax a bit and focus on the music. “Ahh… This music is calming. I wish there was a little bit of time to take a nap. It’s going to be rough day. Then again, they usually allow me to take a nap at least once when the party is going on. They know that I like to take 1 or two naps during the day.” Cryo thought. He opened his eyes and sat back a little bit more in the bean bag.

“You seem very tense for the coming party, creator. Your reactions shows stress levels are very high,” a mechanical voice echoed over the radio as the music continued to play. Cryo turned his head to face the radio, and he gave a sigh. “I’m sorry… You… don’t need to worry about me. This day will… come and pass like it always does,” Cryo replied. “If you don’t mind creator, I would like to know more why this day is so hard for you?” Cryo tilted his head a bit in confusion. “I’m surprised you don’t know. Weren’t you in the system at one point?”

“You are correct. But there is a difference in reading a simple document then actually hearing the story from someone who was there to witness it. I might be a simple machine, but I find there is more to understand. I can understand the extreme emotional withdraw that comes from such a traumatic experience. But… there might be something more you can learn. A birthday is supposed to be a special day, celebrating the day of the coming of age, 1 year at a time. Its supposed to be a day with food, fun, family, friends, and future possessions. You might be one of the only creatures of this planet that hates even the general idea of it. Or at the very least, your own. General consensus shows that your perfectly fine with celebrating others birthdays. Its just your own that causes so much pain.”

Cryo tilted his head again a bit on the side and began to lay his head back in his bean bag chair. The radio continued as the soft rock faded in volume as it spoke. “If you don’t mind creator, could you tell me the story, in your own words about how it happened?” Cryo scratched his chin with his trimmed talons and looked back at the radio. He thought about it a minute. “It might be therapeutic for you to talk about it a bit.” The radio said.

“Well… I’m… worried you’ll get the wrong idea about the people here or around the base if I tell you. I don’t want to make you think the people here are monsters or anything. What happened on that day… well… wasn’t exactly the way it was supposed to go. It just… escalated due to the leadership in charge of my… ahem… relocation…” “I am aware the individual in charge of the operation. He has recently been found as a conspirator and possible leader for the recent kidnappings of your mother and you, creator. His actions don’t speak anything about the others here. He didn’t care about you. The people here truly do. I’ve observed it myself from this rooms camera how the people here have treated you. They are just as much your family as your mother is. And I’m not currently connected to base servers or main security unit, except the camera I use to watch over you. “Watch over me?” “I could not do anything even if I wanted to. And I’m not going to go against my creators own wishes, even if I form the wrong opinion. I can understand your concern. But I think talking a bit about this might be a good way to release some of your tension. Would you please tell me?”

Cryo began to look away for a second, and turned toward the door to look at it. He looked back to the radio. “It’s… going to be awhile before they arrive. Maybe its right. Maybe talking about what happened might help…” Cryo nodded. “Alright. I guess I can tell you while I wait.” Cryo clasped his paws together and sat up. “Why don’t you start from the beginning,” the radio said.

Ch 29

Past Problems

“It happened… 6 years ago. Back then. I was living in a town called Wayside in a house close to the mountains. My room was actually a barn outside the main house. It was fine though. I was being cared for by my adopted family at the time. They loved and cared for me as if I was their own son. But the story… doesn’t necessarily start on my birthday. It starts one day before.” “What happened creator?”

“It started past noon. I was waiting for my “brother,” Noble to get home. I was in my room chewing on my pacifier.” “You had a pacifier as a hatchling?” “Yeah. I began teething very early on. Even after my “adult,” fangs grew in, I still liked chewing on it. But I had to stop when I was about… two and a half years old, I think. About the time I was to start being enrolled in school here.” “Its an amusing image to think of my creator chewing on a pacifier. Did you also have training pants?” “Ha ha. No I didn’t.” Cryo gave a small smirk at the thought. “They were able to housebreak me pretty early thankfully. I didn’t need to have something like that. That’s also kind of the reason why I stayed in the barn as well.” “I’m surprised it worked out so well.” “Well Dragons, even at a very young age, have the ability to understand languages of other species. Even when I was just a hatchling, I knew what they were telling me.” “That makes sense. With that type of ability, it would be nowhere near as hard as being trained regularly. Just being reminded a few times probably stuck into your head.” Cryo smiled and nodded. He looked back towards the radio.

“Anyway, Noble had to take a class for summer school since he ended up failing a class that year. But… He seemed to be running late for some reason. I… guess maybe I started to get impatient. My adopted father and mother, Suzy and Greg, always told me never to wander out on my own, and to never be seen by others, and for good reason. But unfortunately, I guess maybe I was concerned for him. Either that or I just didn’t want to wait for him. I remembered the path to his school since I rode in the car in the back once when we were taking him there. I was hiding under a blanket at the time, but I popped my head out just a bit under the blanket to watch outside as they drove. Not enough for anyone to see me though. I decided to go look for him, using the forest path along the edge of the street to use as cover so I couldn’t be seen. It was a little bit of a walk, but I had plenty of energy back then. Still do. Anyway, I made my way to the school. But when I got there, I found my brother being bullied by a couple of the kids there. I don’t remember what they were trying to do to him. But you can probably guess, I didn’t take too kindly to that…” “Did you kill them?” “What?! No! I just sprayed them down with a blast of water from my mouth. I think I might have knocked them unconscious though. Noble immediately realized I was there and hurried me back into the woods and we began to quickly get back home. Unfortunately, someone saw us go as we left.” “Who?” “I think it was a teacher from the school. I think if what I remember from what the the people here told me, she was about to break up the fight when she saw them getting blasted by a large spray of water. She saw Noble holding me for just a glimpse retreating into the woods after.” “Interesting, I’m guessing this is how they discovered your location.” “Unfortunately… yes. Anyway, We got back home and Noble reminded me that I cannot afford to be seen. It turns out he was right, as you can guess.” Cryo gave a small pause and gave out a sigh as he tilted his head down. He then faced the radio again and continued.

“When my brother reminded me, I started to feel like that I’m in big trouble, and well… I actually went back to my room and climbed to the top floor of the barn and jumped into my play pen to take a “time out.”” “You gave yourself a time out, creator?” “I know it sounds silly, but I felt like that Noble and my adopted family would have done it anyway. I also felt guilty for not listening to them. I think Noble actually tried to take me out but I refused.” “Sounds quite amusing to me creator. The creator did something naughty so the creator gives himself a time out. Must say that you must have been quite well behaved when you were a hatchling.” Cryo smiled at the thought and gave a small chuckle. Cryo continued his story. “Anyway. I stayed in there for about half an hour. Then Noble came back to get me for dinnertime. It was there that he told me there was a surprise tomorrow waiting for me. I think you already know what it is. He carried me into the house to eat with everyone for dinner. At dinner though, I learned that the teacher had called the house about the incident. Greg and Suzy reminded me I can’t be seen and more importantly… well… I wouldn’t be able to stay with them forever. “Really? They said that?” “Yes. They told me that I would be in danger staying with them for too long. They told me people we’re looking for me and Mom, who was… well… in hibernation at the time.” “I’m familiar with your mothers condition.” “Yes. It was due to this that they told me that once she wakes up, we’ll probably need to leave to stay safe.” “I see. Considering you ended up here, it seems their prediction held true.” Cryo gave a small frown and a nod. He continued with his story.

“After dinner, Noble carried me up to his room to watch him take apart a z phone before bedtime.” “Take a z phone apart?” “Yeah. Noble was hoping to go into engineering I think and had a hobby of taking apart different old machines he got from the junkyard and brought them home to take apart. Actually, I think Noble had actually fixed a few of the broken machines, using parts from different identical machines to replace the parts. “Fascinating. Perhaps that explains of why your such a good repair dragon.” Cryo gave out a small smile. “Yeah. I guess watching and listening to him while he’d take things apart helped me learn how machines work and how to repair them. Noble usually would talk to me as he worked, telling me a bit more about the parts.” “So he was in some ways… a teacher to you?” Cryo smiled and chuckled a bit. “I only learned from the best.” Cryo nodded and looked back at his radio. “Anyway. I watched Noble take apart the Z phone carefully for some time and then Suzy then put me in some night cloths for me and tucked me into bed.”

Cryo moved his paws on his belly and sunk a little bit backwards in the bean bag. “The next day, as you know, was my birthday. I woke up to the voice of my big brother, who was hanging over the edge of my crib. Funny enough, When Noble asked me if I knew what day it was, I thought it might be Christmas.” “How amusing. Silly creator thinks its Christmas during the summer season.” Cryo chuckled a bit again. Cryo continued.

“Noble carried me inside and started to tell me what a birthday is and what its for. When I got into the house, I saw that Greg and Suzy had made a bunch of food and there were a bunch of packages wrapped up like Christmas presents. I got confused again, but Greg and Suzy told me of the plans for today.” Cryo closed his eyes and tilted his head down for a second and opened them his eyes slowly.

“The plan was to go deep into the forest near a lake and have a wonderful birthday party there. I was going to swim, play games, eat, and have fun, but as you can guess, it… didn’t end up exactly that way…” Cryo looked back at the radio and clasped his front paws together again. “The party ended like a flash, as well… personnel from the military closed in on our campsite and began to terrorize Greg and Suzy, trying to get them to reveal where I was.” Cryo began to frown a bit and closed his eyes again.

“I watched as they beat Greg and Suzy at first. When they were about to beat my brother, well… I couldn’t allow them to continue. I knew there were far too many to fight off without them getting hurt, and so… I did the only thing I could do to stop them…” Cryo opened his eyes again and took in a deep breath in and out. “I gave myself up… I knew they’d take me away. I knew I’d probably never see them again. I knew I could possibly end up suffering a terrible fate. But I couldn’t let them suffer because of me. They… at least gave me a chance say goodbye to them. And well… that’s, how I ended up here. At the very least, they haven’t really done anything really malicious or cruel to me since I’ve been here. They… adopted me and treated me like I was their son, like Greg and Suzy did. They cared for me and mom while she was still in hibernation. It was a little hard when I first arrived, as they didn’t understand that I was more then a wild animal. But… eventually, they realized my potential and gave me a better life then I had when I first arrived. I’ve been able to continue on since the incident. But still… I really miss them…” Cryo began to scratch his trimmed talons gently a tiny bit against his clasped paws. He then closed his eyes as he began to sit back further in his bean bag. He gave a sigh and opened his eyes again.

“Can you tell me more, Creator?” asked the radio. Cryo tilted his head to the side a bit in confusion. “More? What do you mean? What’s more to tell?” replied Cryo “Your party couldn’t have been have just been all of that. Is that the only memory you have of that party? Didn’t you get to do anything fun before the incident?” Cryo looked at the radio again, thinking about what it said. “Your focusing only on the bad, creator. It couldn’t have been all that happened there. I believe there were some happy moments at the party.” Cryo scratched his chin a bit. “Well… I guess remember a bit more then that.” “If you don’t mind, please tell me about what you did before the incident.” Cryo thought about it for a moment and gave a small smile and a nod.” “Alright. I guess…”

Ch 30

Clothing Confusion

“The first thing I remember is that before heading off into the mountains, is that Noble changed me into some really nice and comfy new handmade cloths.” “What cloths?” “Well actually… similar to what I’m wearing right now.” “Really?” “Yes. A silver jacket with a cute picture of me on the back and a red scarf with a majestic fire breathing dragon on it. I didn’t have gloves or socks though. like I do now. But the materials and method are the same as Greg and Suzy used to make cloths for me.” “Interesting that your mother here would dress you in a similar outfit to your first birthday. What we’re your cloths made from?” “Well…” Cryo explained the method to his ai friend about his adopted parents method of making cloths.

“…and after mixing the fabrics and crushed soulfure petal mixture with the special chemical, it binds within the fabric itself and spreads into it and it creates a set of cloths that is very soft and comfy. They also cool off during hot days while also being very warm for winter seasons.” “That’s fascinating. Where did your adopted parents learn such a technique?” Cryo scratched his chin and head a bit. “I’m not sure really. He probably learned it from watching tv or something. The cloths I’m wearing now seem to be made in a similar method.” “Really?” “Yes. The researchers must have figured out how to make the same type of cloths.” “How do you know it’s made from the same method?” “The texture of the cloths is… specific. Cozy, warm, comfy, and reacts to cool and warm temperatures and water or snow. The fabric is softer then well… anything I think. Yet it’s sturdy enough not to tear against my scales and such. I’m sure that the researchers here had just cracked the formula on how he made them from what I wore at the party. They have the same scarf and jacket stored somewhere since I outgrew it. Either that, or they researched online or watched a tv show to learn how to make them.” “…I don’t think so, Creator.”

“Wha?… What do you mean? “Your right about one thing. The researchers here had tried to learn how to make similar cloths to what Suzy and Greg made. But despite their best efforts though, they could not figure out how in the world they made such magnificent cloths for you to wear that were very strong and seemed to react to both temperature, weather, and environmental elements. But they’ve never even come close to a finalized and successful product, until now apparently, now that you seem to be wearing a set of them…” “Um… How do you know that?”

“In my brief connection to the main servers, I downloaded documents pertaining to you specifically. One set of documents in my memory banks, is a group of research papers that have been years in progress pertaining to an investigation of cloths made by your adopted parents for you. The documents show many different tests to replicate said clothing fabrics for you. But the problem was, the technique they used was missing something. All tests made the cloths very easy to tear and gave a grainy and uncomfortable texture. Compared to the fabrics from the original jacket, which we’re VERY resistant to tear and the silk and such felt much more smoother and silky then any other known fabric techniques. They’ve been settling for years on clothing designs made from more reenforced fabrics to combat your scales issue.” “Well… Maybe like I said. It appeared… on tv…?” “I did a quick sweep of the internet, and there is no known fashion program or radio program that has ever mentioned or even looked into making cloths like this. As far as it is known, only your adopted parents knew how to make these.” “…Umm… Ok then… Thats… weird…” Cryo stayed silent for a moment. “If this is true, how in the world did they make these then. This is very strange,” thought Cryo. “Why don’t we get back to the story, creator.” “Umm… Ok then. Anyway…” .

Ch 31

Memorable Moments

“After that, they had already loaded up the vehicle and we quickly went on our way towards the mountains,” The drive was pretty long, but I got a beautiful view of the mountains and the forests as we drove by. “Did you have a car seat on the ride?” “Ahh… no I didn’t.” Cryo went into thought for a moment. “Though I guess that actually would be pretty funny if I did have one though. A dragon car seat. I wonder how that would work? Ha ha ha!” thought Cryo. Cryo gave out a small smile and went on. “Noble had wrapped me up in my favorite blanket at the time as we drove along, with cartoon characters from my favorite tv program stitched onto it” “Favorite tv program? Was it perhaps… Capsule Creatures?” “Oh yes. I loved that show since I was a hatchling. Still watch it today. It keeps adding new creatures, games, and always made me happy and gave me a good laugh every now and then. It even has dragon creatures in it.” “Makes since the young creator would watch a tv program like that. Its attracted a wide audience since its inception.” Cryo nodded and smiled. He continued with his story.

“Noble also kept me nice and hydrated on the trip.” “Hydrated?” “Yes. He fed me from a bottle several times as we drove on through.” “So you even had a nice baby bottle as a hatchling. An amusing image to think of my creator, riding in a car on a long drive, on his back, wrapped in a blanket, and being fed from a bottle while wagging his tail.” Cryo smiled at the thought.” “Yeah. Unfortunately, due to the trip itself, I had to have water instead of milk. It would have been extremely difficult to keep it cold with how long we’d be out.” “Were you a big milk consumer as a hatchling?” “Oh yes. When I was very young, I needed plenty of fluids as I went around. There was a nice farm near the end of town, where there were plenty of Craw walking around. Every time they’d drive me to the farm, I’d always get excited to see them. I’d poke my head out from the side window just a tiny bit to see them walk around while my parents went inside. Noble would keep a nice hold onto me and scratch my back. Right as I saw even one, I knew I’d be getting some very fresh milk to drink. I could tell they were treated very nicely, and their milk was some of the best I think I’ve ever had. I always liked herd animals like this.” “Sounds like the creator was a enthusiast for animal life. Especially ones that had a degree of responsibility for feeding the youngster.” Cryo chuckled a bit. “Well… I suppose it is a pretty important job keeping a young dragon well fed through some nice, refreshing dairy I suppose.” Cryo smiled and patted his belly a few times with both his paws.

“Anyway. The drive was pretty long still. The long drive wasn’t bad at all since I was being well fed and looking out at the beautiful expanse of forest. It felt very relaxing, and well… I eventually fell asleep. I think I dreamed that I was climbing a vast and beautiful snow covered mountain with a large expansive forest to view as I climbed up. At the top was where a vast horde of beautiful crystals were waiting for me to take home to my family. I was asleep for some time, until my nose got a whiff of some grilled Zurburgers.” “So the smell of fresh cooked meat awakens the young creator. You must have been a hungry little dragon.” Cryo gave out a small chuckle. “Yea. I suppose so. Anyway. Noble saw me awaken and took me out of my crib. He then asked me what I wanted to do.” “What did you do?”

“Well. We played hide and seek.” “Ahh. The classic human searching game. I imagine it would not be hard to see you in the shrubbery. You would stick out like a swollen thumb.” “Hehe. Yea. Anyway. Noble went first to seek.” “How long did it take Noble to find you?” “Not very long. Maybe about 7 minutes.” Cryo gave a small smile and began to lay himself back, head towards the radio. “Now it was my turn to seek. I looked around for a bit, trying to find my brothers scent, and eventually picked it up. I eventually saw him under a park bench near the lake. I decided to try to sneak up behind him to try and catch him by surprise, using the shrubs and trees to try to hide myself. But just as I was getting close, he heard me rustling the shrubs nearby. So now the chase was on!”

“Did you catch him?” “Yes I did. I actually caught him by flying for the first time.” “Really?” “Yes. Noble was pretty fast and I had a little trouble keeping up, so I climbed a nearby tree to make him think he lost me. I then glided towards the ground to him, and with a couple flap of my wings, I climbed onto his back, tagging him.” “Your first flight, huh?” “Yep. After that, I was hoping to swim, but Noble wanted to check with the Greg and Suzy, so we went to check with them.” “Did they allow you to swim?” “Well… not yet. Instead, they convinced us to play catch instead and wait after lunch.”

“Did you have a dragon catcher’s mit?” Cryo chuckled a bit and shook his head.” “No. Considering I walk using both front paws, it would be awkward for me to try to move around with something like a baseball glove on.” “Perhaps that could be a fun project for the future for you, creator.” Cryo tilted his head and rubbed under his chin a bit. “Hmm. That might be something cool to make. For that to work though… I’ll probably need a mit that has the ability to extend itself outward and be able to condensed again at will on my paw so my movement is not awkward or restricted. Hmm… It might be something worth trying to make some time…” Cryo thought. He turned back to the radio. “Yea. It might be a fun pet project. Back to the story.”

“It wasn’t long until all the food was finally ready. I was pretty hungry by then. I remember scarfing down every little bit of food they gave me. I think it was the most I ever ate in one meal setting. Then, came the cake.” “Ahh… The coup de grace of a birthday celebration, other then presents perhaps.” “Haha! Yeah. They special ordered a cake in the shape of a blue dragon like me.” “What type of cake was it?” “It was a chocolate cake. Its the first time I tasted chocolate.” “Sounds like quite an experience. Did you like it?” “Oh I did, alright. Scarfed so much of that down. I was so full after the meal, I absolutely needed another nap.” “Ahh the creator ate too much and needed to sleep off feeling lethargic. How amusing. What did you dream, creator?”

Ch 32

Destructive dream

“Umm… well…” Cryo began to think for a moment. “Is it really a good idea to tell it.. THAT dream…” he thought. Cryo began to drop his head down a bit. “Is something wrong creator.” “Oh. It’s umm… nothing.” Cryo replied “If I tell it about the dream, he might become… concerned. If what my… Dad told me is true, something like this or similar to this is going to happen in the future. An… invasion… trying to find me and… Mom too. A future I’m not sure if it can have a different outcome then what I witnessed.” He began to look back to the radio. “I… suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell him. Despite being a smart ai, he’d probably think its a food induced dream. Alright then.” Cryo nodded and clasped his paws together again.

“Well… My dream was… just a nightmare.” “A nightmare?” “Umm… yea. It was… a pretty bad one.” “Do you remember what happened in it?” “Actually, yes. It kinda… stuck with me.” “Is it something you don’t want to say?” “Oh no. Its fine. It happened like this…”

“I woke up, in a destroyed town. I had no idea what town it was or where my loved ones were. So I began to look around. I eventually found a destroyed sign. After thinking for a bit, I recognized it as the welcome sign to my own home town.” “Oh my… Sounds like things are already off to a bad start.”

“Umm… yea… Anyway… Right as I realized that it was… my home town. I began to rush to where my house was. When I got there… my house… was destroyed and my family was nowhere to be seen. I began to panic and worry about the whereabouts of my loved ones.” Cryo took in a deep breath. “Just then, I began to hear a noise behind me. I ignored it at first, but it started to become louder. When I turned behind to see what it was, I saw what looked to be a metal dragon.” “A metal dragon?” “Yes. It was in some type of space armor or something like that. He had apparently been looking for me and Mom…” “That’s awful. Were they responsible for the mess?” Cryo nodded. “He said that Mom had been taken by them and they were going to use me to make her build a portal.” “What about your adopted family?” “They apparently escaped but they were searching for them as well. But to be honest, I think they wanted more then just using me as a hostage.” “Why do you think that?” “Umm… It’s… just a feeling I have. I’m um… not really sure if there was more to it. Just a… a hunch I had.” “Strange. What more could they want with you?” “I don’t know. I just ran into the forest, trying to lose them. There was no way I could fight them off at the time and I knew it. I ran through for what seems like forever. I eventually found log cabin still intact deep in, with the door unlocked… I went in and looked for a place to hide from them. I… eventually hid where most kids would hide.” “And where was that?” “Under the covers of a bed.” “Not very tactical…” “I was just a hatchling then. I didn’t think of anywhere else to hide. I’m not as smart as I am now.” “Well… What happened next creator.”

“Well. I heard what sounded like jets overhead flying over the cabin. It eventually went away. After waiting a bit. I decided to… take a peek to see if anything was out there… and…” Cryo gave a small gulp and took in another deep breath. “The dragon from before, was towering right over me. I tried to get away, but he quickly pinned me down and then lifted me up with his arms around my neck and waist to keep me from wiggling out of his grasp. It became hard to breath, and I began to panic. I tried as hard as I could to break free. But it was no use. Other dragons with armor came in and bound my limbs, tied my wings down around my body, and they muzzled me.” “That’s just cruel. Destroying a town, terrorizing a baby dragon, kidnapping…. It’s just overblown at this point. All of this seems completely unnecessary! All just to kidnap 2 innocent dragons! Anyone who goes THAT far is uncultured heathens. No one should be pushed around and bullied like that. It’s pathetic and just sad.” Cryo actually gave a small chuckle and smile at the comment.

“Yea. Your probably right. I guess they considered me and mom too valuable and went overboard for no reason except to show off their military might and power. Your right. Anyone who decides to go that far are simply brutes.” “Did anything else happen after?” “The last thing that happened before I woke up is that they said someone was really wanting to meet me, and after that, they blindfolded me and then, everything went black.” “How unnecessary…” “Yeah. I agree.” “Do you have an idea who or what wanted to meet you?” “Well, no… It’s just a dream anyway, right?” “I suppose your right. I must say, that’s quite an awful dream to have right on your special day. I wouldn’t be surprised if that also ruined your birthday.” “Well… I suppose that could have contributed to the more negative aspects of what happened. Anyway… I woke up with Noble watching me. He told me I had been tossing and turning in my sleep. After that, I finally got a chance to swim. I jumped in before they were ready for me, but they didn’t mind once they saw I could swim safely on my own. I swam with Noble for a little bit. After that… well… You know the rest.”

Ch 33

Therapeutic Thesis

“That’s quite a story creator. It’s a shame what happened on your special day. I understand your feelings of grief on your birthday now, I believe,” said the radio. Cryo put his head down a bit. “But, it seems that it was not all bad. You were able to recount some very positive moments from the day. It might be hard sometimes to focus on the positive aspects after such a traumatic experience, but I think you should at least try to stop focusing on past trauma, and instead focus on what’s important. You and the others here who love you. They don’t like seeing you sad like this. They want to see you having a good time, Creator. Let go of what happened in the past. It should remain there. Don’t think that you’ll never see your adopted parents and brother again. There is always hope. Don’t ever give up on that.”

Cryo looked down for a minute, and slowly closed his eyes. “…It’s right. I’ve spent so long remembering the worst aspects of what happened. I let the grief of that day scar me for years. I never even once took moment to focus on the good things that happened,” thought Cryo. Cryo began to pick his head up and gave a smile. “You’re right. I never began to think of the fun things I was able to do with them before it happened. I only focused on the loss, not on what truly matters. Family and fun.” Cryo began to sit up and nodded. “Your right. I can’t give up hope. Maybe one day I’ll be able to see them again. I have to keep trying. Keep wishing. Maybe if my wish is strong enough, it’ll come true.” “That’s better creator. Try to have some fun on your birthday. Let go of the past and look towards the future. There’s always a chance you’ll see them again. Never lose hope.” “Thank you.” Cryo gave a smile and began to stretch a bit in his bean bag chair. Cryo looked back at the radio, and thought of something.

“You know… I never gave you a name.” “A name, creator?” “Yeah. I probably should give you a name.” Cryo began to think for a moment, scratching his chin. He then looked back at the radio and smiled. “How about I call you, Craft.” “Craft?” “Yea, based on the fact I crafted you myself.” “Very well. Adding name to profile. I will be known as Craft.” Cryo gave a smile and began to sit himself back in his seat, when he heard the door open behind him. He turned his head to face it, and saw a familiar figure standing in it. “Cryo, honey. We’re ready for you.” said Tide.

Ch 34

Big Birthday

Tide began to walk over to her precious son and gave a smile to him. Cryo saw she had cloths on like him. She had a purple sweater with an image of her and Cryo flying together with the words “Family and Flight,” under it and a blue scarf, with the image of a majestic blue dragon on it, similar to his. She also had some warm fingerless purple gloves and toeless socks around her front and back paws. “You look pretty nice, Mom. Looks like you have some new cloths too,” said Cryo. He walked over to her. “Thank you honey. These cloths feel wonderful Cryo. I can see why you really liked being bundled up like this.” She gave a smile at him and Cryo gave a smile back. “Ready to go son?” “Yea mom. I’m ready.” “Good. Let’s get you to field.” They both walked out the door and headed for the outside.

As they walked toward the hallway, Tide noticed that Cryo seemed pretty relaxed. “You don’t seem to be too tense right now Cryo. I thought you’d be a little antsy going to your party.” Cryo looked back at Tide and gave a small smile. “Don’t worry Mom. I’m fine. I’m sure things will be fun today.” Tide was surprised that Cryo seemed to be perfectly fine with his birthday celebration. Tide began to wonder why Cryo’s attitude seemed to have completely changed. “Are you sure your ok, honey?” “Heh heh. Relax mom. I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.” “Well. Ok…” They continued to walk down the hallway, and Tide began to think. “Did something happen while we we’re getting ready for Cryo’s surprise? I didn’t expect such a positive attitude for what’s usually a hard day for him. He looks so calm. Hmm…” Tide looked back ahead and gave a small smile. “Perhaps I’ll ask later.” They continued and headed out the door to the outside.

They headed towards the field where a big crowd of people were gathered. It seems the event would be pretty big this year. “Seems to be a lot of people planned to join the celebration this year,” said Cryo. The crowd looked toward the little Dragon, and gave a big shout. “Happy birthday, Cryo!” Cryo chuckled a bit and gave a smile. “Is this my surprise for this year?” “Not quite honey. This is only the introduction. Why don’t we head towards your real surprise…” Cryo tilted his head a bit and Tide nodded. She gestured Cryo with her head to continue following her and they headed towards the center. He saw that there was blue and cyan picnic blanket with a box pattern for him to sit on. Next to it was a small picnic basket. “Please have a seat with me, honey.” She smiled and sat down. She gestured Cryo over with her paw and tapped it a few times next to her on the blanket. Cryo, confused as to what was going on, strolled over next to Tide and sat next to her. “What’s going on here?” Cryo thought. He looked around at the area.

He looked towards the left and saw there were several tables filled with different types of munchies for him and the party guests to eat. He recognized one of the things seem to be a large container containing a white chocolate treat, spread across the entire container. “They made white chocolate for me? I guess I did leave the recipe next to my bed. I have to wonder if anyone else will like it? It’s a… well… new type sweet treat in this world I suppose…” His mother opened the picnic basket and took out a small plastic plate, with a few treats on it. She placed it in front of Cryo and gave a smile. He recognized it as the same treat from the container. “Here Cryo. Why don’t you have a couple pieces of white chocolate chunks. We did our best following your recipe, and I hope you’ll be our taste tester while we wait for your surprise. Please. Have a piece my son.” Cryo looked at the plate a smacked his mandibles a bit. He sniffed it a bit, and could smell its sweet scent. He picked up a piece, opened his mouth, and took a bite. Munching a bit, he gave a small smile and nodded. “I think you guys got the recipe right, Mom.” “Good. You can have the rest while we wait for your surprise.” “Don’t you want to try some Mom? I know I should probably share.” “Don’t worry, my baby boy. I’ll have some later. Now. Just wait for a bit.” Cryo nodded and continued to look around to see the rest of the party. He looked to the right to see a large stack of gifts from many different people there. “Lots of gifts this year. I don’t think that’s the surprise though. It seems… too obvious.”

He took another white chocolate chunk and took a bite of it. As he chewed on the delicious treat, he then looked straight ahead, and saw that the field seemed to be set up to play several outdoor games and sports. “Looks like the field is set up for both blitzball (aka soccer) and strikeball (aka baseball). Interesting. Haven’t swung a bat in a while, but I’m sure I’m still really good at catching the ball. I’m also pretty quick when it comes to blitzball. The games will be pretty large with the amount of people here today. I wonder how team selection will work?” Cryo began to lay himself down flat on his belly, with his head held up. He lifted his arm up and then took another bite of his treat. Tide looked behind herself to see a small group coming forward, she gave a smile and a nod back to them and turned to Cryo. She began to slowly scratch Cryo’s back and he gave a relaxed breath in and out. “Hmm… Nothing’s really happening right now. I wonder…” Suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head around and his eyes lit up like the sun. “Hello little brother. It’s been a while, huh?”

Ch 35

Rightful Reunion

“N…Noble?” He kneeled down and gave Cryo an hug. Cryo looked behind him, and saw Greg and Suzy, standing behind. “My. You’ve grown quite a bit my little boy,” said Suzy. “Do you like your new cloths, Cryo? I bet they feel nice on you.” said Greg. Cryo looked at his fingerless gloves and he realized what the design was for. “The gloves say… reunion, when together, and the combination of the the socks and gloves, give the appearance of a forest around a lake, where I last left them.” Cryo began to tear up little as his “big brother,” let him go. “What are… you guys doing here?” Cryo asked. “Well little brother, we we’re invited here. To be able to be with you again,” replied Noble. “I… invited?” “That’s right Cryo,” said Ty. Cryo looked and saw Ty stroll up to Cryo from the right. “You… Brought them here?” “That’s right. But its more then just that Cryo.” “More?” “We’re going to be staying with you here now, little brother.” said Noble “S-Staying!?” “That’s right. We’ve got the special privilege of helping take care of you and your mother. We’ll be living here now, and you’ll be able to see us anytime.” said Greg. Cryo gave a smile as a tear rolled down from his eye. He began to place his arms around Noble and he looked over at Ty. “Thank you for this. This is… the best surprise ever!” Noble got up and Ty gestured the crowd. “Why don’t we give them some time to talk. I’m sure there is a lot they need to catch up on. “Come on, baby brother, why don’t the 5 of us go over towards the field and talk, as a family again.” Cryo nodded, and the Cryo, Tide, Greg, Suzy, and Noble headed towards the field to talk about the wild things that have happened since they left.

Cryo talked about his early days, school troubles, and of course, the dangerous situations they ended up getting in. They we’re quite surprised at some of the things that happened, but they we’re glad they got out of it safely. He told them about the care he was since he left, the friends he’s made, the fun times he spent, and the about his time repairing items. Soon it was time to rejoin the party goers, who have brought a large cake in the shape of a blue dragon. Enough for everyone there. Greg lit up the candles. After singing Cryo happy birthday, it was time to make a wish. “Are you ready Cryo? Time for you to make a wish,” Cryo strolled and looked at the lit candles. “What should I wish for? My wish has already come true, and I didn’t even need to blow out the candles.”

But he began to think towards something else. Something dangerous. He realized he had one other wish to make. He thought to himself. “I wish for the everyone here to be to be safe, for when THEY arrive.” He began to take in a breath, and blew out a small stream of water, extinguishing the candles. “Heh… sorry everyone. I guess I still need to work on that. “What did you wish for Cryo?” asked Noble. “Oh. Its a secret…” “A secret huh. Well. I hope it comes true!” “Yea… I hope so too big brother.” Cryo nodded and looked towards the sky. “I hope so for the sake of everyone here it comes true,” thought Cryo. He turned back to Noble and gave a smile. “Come on, Let’s party on!” So they partied on through the day. For the first time in such a long time, they saw Cryo have fun on his birthday. He shared stories with everyone, played some sports, and ate plenty of food..

Ch 36

Precious Present

After a couple hours, it was starting to get late, so it was time for Cryo to open his presents. He sat back on the picnic blanket, looking to his present stack, piled high with many gifts from many of the caring people and new friends he’s made. “Alright everyone. Let’s give Cryo his first gift,” said Greg. Greg brought over a small gift, in a long but rather flat box. “This one is something special Cryo. The three of us worked together to make this for you.” Cryo looked at the package, which was wrapped in a specially designed wrapping paper that was a shade of dark blue, with a smiling blue dragon was littered throughout it. “Special huh. I wonder what this could be,” Cryo thought. “Well. Only one way to find out.”

Cryo began to tear the wrapping paper off carefully, making sure not to rip whatever was inside with his trimmed talons. He saw that it contained a cardboard box, with something inside it. “Hmm… strange. I’ve never seen a box like this before. Its really long, yet the cardboard is very thin, making it a bit… well… squishy I suppose. I wonder what’s inside?”

Cryo began to open the box, and inside was a what looked like a scarf. But, this one seemed… different. The neckline for the item seemed to be pointed downward quite a bit and got thinner as it extended from the middle to its sides. It had a pattern looking like nice blue waves from a large, vast sea, with the sun shining above. “Do you like it Cryo?” asked Noble. Cryo began to pick it up and rubbed it against his head. It felt smoother, softer, and comfier then anything he’s ever touched before. He took a sniff of it, and it smelled like the spring of fresh, clean, purified water from a vast river going through a large, expansive forest.

“This scarf is unlike anything I’ve had before,” Cryo said. “Silly baby brother. That’s not a scarf,” said Noble with a smile. “It’s not a scarf? Then… what exactly is it?” “It’s called a bandanna.” “A… bandanna?” “That’s right. It’s like a scarf, but it flows down to give more comfort around your neck and a little further down towards your body.” “That sounds… really cool actually.” “Do you want to try it on?” Cryo nodded. “Alright, hang on baby brother.” Noble took the silky bandanna and tied it carefully and gently around Cryo’s neck. He felt the soft silk covering his neckline and a below and he could smell the pleasant scent as Noble finished tying it around Cryo’s neck. “There you go, baby brother. Does it feel nice on you?” Cryo looked downwards towards it. But just then, it seemed that the bandanna itself seemingly glowed, just for a second, but just as quickly died back down. “Huh… Did I see it glow?” Cryo looked at it again, and nothing seemed to be happening. “It must be my imagination.” He turned towards Noble. “I love it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt something like this before.” “Noble smiled as Cryo looked towards Greg and Suzy, who were also smiling. “Thank you. This is perfect!” Cryo said. “Why don’t you open your other gifts,” said Ty.

Time passed as Cryo continued to open his other gifts. He found many new sets of cloths, blankets, and other fabric items that followed Greg’s formula from many different party goers. Greg had told the secret of his trade. He got plenty of different parts of technology to upgrade his different machines in his room. He even got the computer he wanted and games for his Ignition. But, despite the vast array of gifts, nothing seemed to be more special then the bandanna Cryo had been given, stitched together with care and created with the love only his old family could give. But strangely, Cryo felt there was more to it then that… Much more…

Night was beginning to come around, and he was very tired from the party. “All right everyone. My baby brother seems to be dozing off. I think its time for him to get to bed,” said Noble. Cryo gave out a yawn. “Yea. I’m very tired. I don’t think I can party any longer.” The group of party goers nodded. “Alright Have a good night Cryo. Get some sleep little buddy,” said Cameron. “Come on, baby brother. Why don’t we try out one of your new night shirts when we get to you room,” said Noble “We should probably help bring Cryo’s gifts to his room. There is quite a lot of them,” said Ty. Everyone nodded. They began to pick up Cryo’s gifts one by one. “I’ll carry you to your room, baby brother.” Cryo gave out another yawn. He then scratched his eyes a bit. “Lead the way, Ty.” said Greg. Ty nodded, and they headed to Cyro’s room. It didn’t take long for them to get there.

Ch 37

Softer Stories

Noble headed into Cryo’s room first. Then, many of the party goers entered one by one and set Cryo’s gifts near his work bench. One by one they headed out of the room after placing his gifts down gently. “Alright. Let’s get you ready for bed, baby brother.” Cryo yawned again and nodded. “Can I sleep in my bandanna?” “Sure, baby brother. Let me get you a night shirt first and I’ll bring it back over. Noble helped Cryo change out of his party cloths and carefully unwrapped Cryo’s bandanna around his neck. He went to pick out some night cloths for Cryo in his gift stack.

Noble looked through some of the shirts, and decided to pick a blue t shirt with a side profile image of one of his favorite creatures from the game, Capsule Creatures, swimming through a vast deep blue sea with other creatures from the game. It looked like a fierce Orca, with long spread out fins and markings all over his fins and around his eyes and head.. On the back, the shirt read “As the storm passes over the sea, you know its the primal rain from Stormfall.” Noble nodded and gave a smile towards Cryo, who was looking over towards him. “This should be very comfortable for him to sleep in tonight,” Noble thought. He walked back over to Cryo.

“Alright. Hold your arms out, Cryo.” Cryo nodded and held his arms forward. Noble smiled and lifted the shirt over Cryo’s head and carefully maneuvered it around his wings. “Comfy little brother?” “Yes. It feels just like when I was a hatchling.” Noble then tied Cryo’s bandanna around his neck again. Cryo began to tilt his head down a bit to look at it. He began to smell its pleasant scent a bit and gave a relaxed sigh. “This bandanna feels pretty nice and smells nice. It feels even softer then this shirt too.” “That bandanna is really special. Dad found a way to make the material even softer, cleaner, and more resilient. He used them to make that very special bandanna. Both me and mom helped stich it together” “What did he do to it?” “He said he mixed Flo Lily petals with the bandana’s fabric.”

“Flo Lily! That’s one of the rarest plants in the world! In fact, no one knows currently how to correctly grow it, as transporting to research facilities it is not possible. They wilt and die immediately after exiting the water and putting water in a container to keep it alive doesn’t work either. They are also very fragile to handle. All that’s known is that it grows extremely rarely in waterside Lily plant clusters. Some think they are a mutated version or a ancestral strain of the lily plant. How did… How did he get one, let alone transport it?” Cryo thought. He looked to his brother, who was getting a blanket from Cryo’s stack of gifts. Noble grabbed a new Blue blanket in a similar design to his shirt except more cartoony, with the Stormfall and Cryo huddled together, facing forward, and sleeping on the surface of the ocean with a thought bubble over their heads of them swimming together. Printed below the picture was the words, “Sleeping in the Sea of dreams with Stormfall.” Noble smiled and chuckled a bit at the design. “Cryo’s going to enjoy being bundled in this. He’s probably wanted a blanket made from dads fabric designs for a long time. Stormfall I know is his favorite legendary creature in the game. I remember how excited he was when he first saw Stormfall on the tv at home. The anime series was his favorite show to watch back in Wayside.” He walked over and picked up Cryo, and began to carefully wrap the blanket around him.

“Um… Noble?” “Something up little brother? Is there something wrong with your blanket?” “Oh umm… no. It feels perfect. I haven’t felt a blanket this soft since I was a hatchling. I like the design as well. I was just… wondering. How did Greg… transport or use a flo lily. I learned in school that… well… its really hard to find, and even harder to transport…” Noble had just got done wrapping Cryo up and placed him on his hay bed, with his head nestled carefully on a new pillow with an underwater design and a bunch of sea life swimming through it from the capsule creature series. “I… actually don’t know, little brother.” “Oh…” replied Cryo. “It was your scales that were the key Cryo,” said a familiar voice. “Huh?”

Cryo turned his head toward the door, and saw Greg in the doorway. He walked over and began to rub Cryo’s head a bit. “My… scales?” “Do you know how me and Suzy make fabrics like this Cryo?” “Well… I know you use a mixture of a chemical and soulfire petals and waterproof fabrics, but I never knew what the chemical…”

“It wasn’t exactly a chemical, Cryo.” “Huh? It wasn’t?” Greg shook his head and looked at Cryo with a smile. “It’s your scales, Cryo. Ground up and mixed with a bit of water and fabric softener.” “You used my hard scales to make my cloths? But, how did you learn how to do it? And how does that work? It seems, outlandish to me.” “Well Cryo. It happened not too long after we moved into town. Early on, there was a problem with the blankets when we were curling you in at night. You actually turn around quite a bit during the night, and your hard scales would occasionally rip blankets up you were curled in. It sometimes would get bad enough where you would get really tangled at night from the ripped fabrics, causing you to wake up and cry for help. It would require us to have to untangle you and remove all the ripped pieces from under your scales. It could take a while into the night, and back then, you needed a ton of sleep, so keeping you up like this made you very cranky, and usually would cause you to sleep most of the day. Cryo nodded. “I know about that. The researchers here had to use more reinforced fabrics so that I wouldn’t end up like that. The blankets and cloths were a bit more stiff though, so it wasn’t nearly as comfortable as my old ones.” “We needed to do something about your scaly situation.” Greg pulled up a chair and sat next to Cryo.

“But, one day, we found out a strange little quirk with your scales. You see Cryo, one day, after a night episode, we had to try to calm you back to sleep. While we we’re getting another blanket ready and cleaned for you to huddle in, well… Suzy actually tripped and dropped your blanket and a bit of fabric softener spilled a bit, onto you. But then we saw something strange happen to your scales from the fabric softener. When we we’re wiping it off, well, we noticed that your scales had seemingly reacted to it. The scales that had fabric softener on it, become very smooth and the rigidness evened out as well. But not only that, the affected scales on your body felt like incredible fine fabric, but, it was still very resilient to tear, as if it was as strong as it was before, maybe even stronger, despite the clear reaction to the fabric softener. As you can guess Cryo, this little “accident,” began to give me an idea on what to do.” Cryo began to lean a bit closer to Greg, clearly very interested in the story.

“I began to do tests with the scales that you shed off during the last month (dragons shed scales once every 2 months). I needed to find a way to integrate your softened scales into fabrics to hold them together while offering the resilience to prevent tear and such with it. After about a 3 days of testing and looking into it, I figured out something. By grinding your sturdy scales into a fine powder, and mixing it with fabric softener and water, and then add it to fabrics while putting the cloth together, would cause the mixture to bond with the fabrics themselves. It made them much stronger, softer, comfier, and cleaner.” Cryo gave out a small yawn, and huddled himself in his blanket a bit. He turned his head back to Greg, who gave him a smile. Cryo smiled back. But then a question came into Cryo’s mind. He turned back to Greg with a confused look. “When did you add soulfire petals into it? “That came a little bit later.”

Ch 38

Comfy Creature

“About 2 weeks after giving you your new blanket, we… ran into another problem.” “What problem, Greg?” “You began to get cold a lot around the barn. Enough where it was starting to affect your mood quite a bit. I believe that the “icy,” part of you was causing you to become very cold. It might have been your ice based traits were developing and it was causing you freeze up. I’m remember that first week of the problem. You were shivering everywhere you stepped around. You obviously didn’t like the feeling of being cold all the time, so you began to walk around, carrying your new blanket everywhere and keeping it bundled around your body at all times. It kept you nice and warm, but obviously, you shouldn’t have to carry a blanket everywhere to keep yourself warm.”

“We decided that next, we’d create a set of cloths for you to stay bundled up in during the day and night so that you could stay warm to counteract the issue at hand. We made a small set of jackets and shirts to test on you. We figured out a way quickly to allow room for a slit in the fabric to let your wings out, without exposing too much of your back to the outside elements. It seemed that your wings didn’t get cold, but the rest of your body did. However, the original ones, well… didn’t keep you warm enough. And in some cases, on particularly hot days within the week, it ended up making you sweat a good amount. Something else you didn’t like. We began to wonder why on earth you seemed to be so fine with your blanket, even during very hot days but seemed to become too cold or way too hot with the cloths. So one day, I decided that there must be something with it that was different with the blanket then the other items I was making. And it turns out, I was right.”

“I took tiny little piece of fabric, which actually took some, shall we say “threading time,” to remove even a single small strand. But when I looked under a microscope at the strand, I realized that there was an “oddity,” within the sown fabrics.” “An oddity?” “Yes. There was something else mixed into the blankets materials. Something that wasn’t originally supposed to be there. I couldn’t remove the unknown material to get a better look at what it was, since it had already bonded with the fabrics. So I began to ponder what else might have somehow got dropped or dipped into the mixture. I decided to go to the table, where me and Suzy created the first blanket. I searched the entire area for anything that could have dropped on the floor that might be the solution, but I didn’t find anything that could have been it.”

Greg began to scratch Cryo’s back a bit as he talked. “So I asked a different question. What was supposed to be there on that day that was NOT there now. What could have been in the room that might have been accidently mixed in somehow. And then I remembered an oddity that night. We were going to dinner that evening with some of our friends in town and dressed up nicely. Your brother was to watch you and keep you happy. Before we left though, we had just got done grinding Cryo’s scale down and we’re about to mix them into the formula. But, when I looked at Suzy, I realized that she was missing something… Her corsage, made out of a soulfire flower. At that moment, it hit me.”

“I realized that when we grinded and mixed your scales, the soulfire flower must have somehow gotten dislodged from the dress and fell into the the mixture without us knowing. And so we had accidently added an extra ingredient to the blanket. But somehow, the soulfire petals must have somehow had a strange effect on your blanket. And so we decided take a walk through the forest with you in a harness and a leash the next day. While walking on the forest path I kept an eye out for as many soulfire flowers as I could find on and around the forest path and gathered them up so I could mix it with the next set of cloths fabrics and see if it could solve the problem. After you went to sleep that night, I began to work on a single shirt and a single jacket, to test and see if it would help with your little problem the next mourning. It was a longer night but I finished it with Suzy and we went to bed.”

“The next mourning, we picked you up from your crib while leaving your blanket in it. You weren’t too happy about that at first. You began to shiver quite a bit in our hands from being cold. We placed you on the floor and helped you into the new jacket. It wasn’t that long that, after we put it on, you stopped shivering completely. We then saw a big smile go across your face as you began to walk with the jacket on. It seemed to have solved the problem. Over the next few months, we took many more walks on different forest paths to gather as many soulfire flowers as we could. We created several different shirts, jackets, sweaters, and a few sets of talonless gloves and socks. We saw that the new sets of cloths we have been making for you not only keep you very warm during colder days and nights, but would also seem to keep you from getting too hot on hotter ones. Even the jackets seemed to never get hot enough to make you sweat. So you would typically wear a jacket or sweater during the day and at night, wear a warm t-shirt for bed. On wetter days, we’d also give you your socks and gloves so your paws wouldn’t get cold and wet.” Cryo began to position himself to lay on his back facing towards Greg. He lifted his head up to Greg and gave out another yawn, as his eyes began to get heavy. Greg saw Cryo was starting to doze off. “Can you stay awake for a little longer Cryo? I haven’t got a chance to answer your question yet.” “I still got a bit of energy in me. Go on. I’ll stay awake.”

Ch 39

Lily Luck

“So this last part happened not to long from now. I think… just 3 days ago. It was getting close to your birthday, and… I wanted to remember the days we spent with you. We didn’t know what had happened to you since you were taken. So the 3 of us went to the lake, where we parted with you. We were going to have a picnic there and remember the good times we had with you. But during the picnic, Noble spotted a particular oddity.” “An oddity?” “Something had remained behind on that day. Something of yours that must have come off during the chaos.” “What was it?” “A single, dragon scale. Your, dragon scale.” Cryo tilted his head and then breathed in a deep breath and then let out a big stretch. He then huddled himself tightly back into position. “Noble was swimming in the lake, and he found it in the water, tangled a bit in a Lily plant cluster near the shore. Realizing it was yours, he picked it up from the lake and brought it to me. But when I saw it, something special seemed to have grown on it. It had grown and wrapped itself around the entire scale. Noble saw it but thought is was just a strange Lily. When I saw it however. I was shocked. I think you know what it is, don’t you?” Cryo yawned and nodded.

“It was a flo Lilly, wasn’t it Greg?” “Yes. It had attached itself to your scale and grown around it. And the thing was, despite it being removed from the water, it did not wilt and die. The flo lily had been close to blooming, with its dark blue petals nearly ready to open up.” Cryo looked at Greg with a look of confusion. “How did it not die?” “There was something about your scale, Cryo. Something that… caused it to seemingly to be able to survive despite it being out of its natural environment. I was amazed at this. So after the picnic was over, I decided to take the scale and Flo Lily with us to study and look at why this was happening.”

“From what I could figure out, there was something special about your scale Cryo. It’s not an accident that a flow Lily grew onto your scale. Something about your scale being in the water all that time in a Lily plant cluster must have caused one to grow onto it. And something about your scale gave the plant life, even when being removed from its habitat. It was amazing. It wasn’t long after this, I would get a special call. One that would change everything.”

“It was from the people here at the base. Wasn’t it?” “That’s right. They gave us a chance to be able to see and live with you again. This was some of the happiest news we’ve ever heard. And I was excited. They wanted to create a bunch of special fabric items for your presents and wanted to know how I made the cloths as well. So I gave them the secret and then for the next day, they would go over their plans for your party. The people at the base would use the fabric formula to create a bunch of different sets of cloths and blankets and such.” Greg began to scratch Cryo’s head and under his chin for a bit and then smiled and sat back down. “But then, on the night before the party, I would… have a strange dream.”

“A strange dream?” “Yes. It’s hard to really explain it, but…” Greg took in a deep breath and looked at Cryo. He smiled at Cryo and nodded. “The dream I had… went a little like this.”

Ch 40

Dream Dragon

“I woke up, in darkness. I couldn’t see anything. But just then light began to pour over the horizon. But the light itself… well, seemed to be, covered up by some strange orbital object. It looked like a luner eclipse. “A lunar eclipse!?” “Yes. As the faint light shined over the horizon, I found that I seemed to be on, a beach of black sand. With a large expanse of water looming over toward the sun. The water was a beautiful red, like when its dusk outside. And then well…” Greg looked toward Cryo with a look of curiosity. “Then a big, shiny black dragon flew in from the horizon.” “Dad…” thought Cyro.

“At first I was afraid. But he told me that there was nothing to fear. He told me that he wanted to help me. He told me that I had something very special in my position. Something he knew could be used to create something very special. The flo Lily… He told me that it could be used to make a very special item for you. Something unlike any of the other fabric items I made before. He then… gave me a set of instructions on how to correctly harness it to make a bandanna for you using a combination of my original fabric formula and the flo Lilly. “What did he say you had to do?”

“He told me that to make a perfect bandanna for you I would need to first soften the scale up with the flow Lily still attached to it, by carefully dabbing fabric softener on the scale around the Lily. When the scale is softened up, I would need to then need create a mixture made of your dragon saliva which your caretakers were able to provide me with, grinded darklight coral from the sea, a bit of freshwater, and grinded leaves of a tree grown in cold weather. Aka the mountain Froz tree (similar to a pine tree). The mixture, when carefully poured on the Lily, would cause a reaction that would cause the petals to immediately open up and and strengthen them to not wilt and die immediately upon being removed from the main plant. After that, I then needed to slowly and carefully take each of the petals off one by one. After that, I needed to soak the petals in warm purified spring water for several hours. When the flo lily petals had turned from its normal dark blue color to the vivid cyan color, I could then mix them with my original formula and finish making it.” Cryo yawned again as his eyes grew heavy. “Considering the finished product, I’m guessing you did it perfectly.” “Yes, after he gave me the instructions, he told me that he wished you a happy birthday and then he said he hoped that the “special qualities’,” of the bandanna would help him in the future. After that, I woke up.”

Ch 41

Sleep Study

Cryo looked up at Greg and nodded. “That’s uh… some story Greg,” said Cryo. “I wouldn’t have believed it myself if it hadn’t actually worked. But everything that dragon said worked perfectly, and made you that special bandanna,” replied Greg. “I wonder who… uh… that dragon could be.” “I don’t know. I wish I could have thanked him for his help. But since the finished product has worked out so well, I imagine now that it might not have exactly been a dream.” “Um… Yea Greg. That dragon… maybe had wanted to make a, uh… personal gift with your help. I’m… sure he’s… happy with the results.” Greg nodded at Cryo. He stood up and rubbed Cryo’s head a bit and gave a small kiss on Cyro’s forehead.

“Well. I think that’s enough of a story tonight, Cryo. You look exhausted.” “Yea… I really liked the bedtime story. But I uh… need some sleep. “Alright. You want me to turn on naptunes?” “Oh… uh… yea. Just tell the radio to turn on the naptunes channal. You won’t need to switch the knobs or anything. It has… uh… voice command.” “Alright. I’ll try it.” Greg turned towards the radio. “Turn on naptunes channal.” “Turning on naptunes channal.” A soothing melody began to play and ring into Cryo’s ears. “Goodnight, my son. Hope you sleep well in your new cloths and blankets.” “Yea. Goodnight, Greg.” Greg walked out the door to the room. He turned back and gave one final look at Cryo and smiled and nodded. He turned off the lights and walked out.

Cryo gave out one last yawn, and slowly closed his eyes as the melody began to work it’s spell on Cryo’s hazy mind. “Dad gave Greg instructions on how to make this. Considering what I’ve seen, could this… bandanna have something more to it then just comfort.” Cryo’s mind began to drift as he began to tightly huddly himself in the blanket. “I shouldn’t think about this now. I really need sleep. I’ll think about this more tomorrow.” As the music played, Cryo’s mind finally succumbed and fell into a deep, deep slumber.

No New Abilities in this book.

New known Likes:

Being told and sharing stories

His new AI buddy, Craft

Poetry

His birthday (Surprisingly)

His brand new special Bandanna

New known dislikes

Traitors and his kidnappers

His race’s dark situation

The future and its possibilities