Disclaimer: The characters are mine, but the concept is White Wolf's.
The sharp January air stung Ty's lungs. How long had he been running? It felt like forever, but he ran anyway as if his life depended on it. It probably did. He could hear his pursuers' voices behind him.
"Fuckin' fag," one of them said, "Runnin' like a little girl!"
Their further comments were not as pleasant. There were four of them, all of whom Ty knew, and did not exactly like. He could not believe what was happening to him. The night before, he had confided in his best-friend Alicia his deepest secret. That afternoon he found the words "Faggot" written on his locker and had lost a friend. And now four fuckers who never liked him in the first place were hot on his trail. It did not take a genius to figure out what they were going to do to him once they caught up.
Ty did not see the patch of ice beneath him before he slipped and landed on his head. Before long, his chasers were upon him like hyenas. The best Ty could do in his position was block, but covering his face only left his stomach open, and a fierce kick knocked the wind out of him.
At that moment, a large sillhouette flew overhead, followed by a swift wind and a loud THUD. The five looked up and thought their eyes decieved them as they faced a 20-foot winged dragon... Its serpentine body was covered with glistening red scales, and its yellow eyes were madness. It swept Ty aside with a wing, then let out a monstrous T-Rex roar. The attackers ran away in sheer terror.
The beast turned its attention to Ty, who never took his eyes off it. He wondered why he wasn't terrified, but the monster's look of madness was gone. Its form shimmered and shrank into a young black male, wearing stylish blue jeans and a hooded leather jacket. He appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties and was fairly attractive.
"You okay?" he asked as he helped Ty to his feet.
"Yeah, just...yeah," Ty sighed, "What the hell was that?"
"I figured those fuckheads needed a good scare," he said, "My name's Brad, by the way."
"Ty," the boy replied, "And...thanks."
"It's okay, those kids don't deserve to be walking," Brad replied. He changed the subject, "Let's get you cleaned up. There's that diner around the corner; it's got a bathroom. And I'm kinda hungry anyway. How about you?"
"I don't have any money."
"I got it."
Ty still didn't believe what just happened. Did he just see a dragon fly in and scare away those assholes? He didn't believe it but the footprints did not lie. But why wasn't he afraid of the beast? Why did the dragon seem...familiar?
"What the hell happened back there?" Ty finally asked.
"The whole dragon thing? Trust me, you ain't dreaming. I bet this is even familiar to you."
Ty blinked.
"If you think hard enough, player," Brad continued, "you might remember when Cleveland was tropical."
"Yeah, right," Ty winced as the cold wind aggravated his black eye and swollen lip. Brad noticed and sighed.
"The world's a lot colder now."