Even Dragons Need Help

The thought of seeing her deal uncle and guardian again made Melissa's heart thump with joy. Though that joy soon turned to fear when she heard a pained, draconic roar bellow outside the mansion. All her years living with a dragon, she grew accustomed to the various sounds a dragon would make. That was not a roar of anger, it was a roar of fear.

"Uncle Skie…" she breathed. "He's in trouble…"

"What?" Jack asked.

"Uncle Skie!" Melissa cried, pulling away from Samantha's arms. She dashed off out into the courtyard.

"Melissa, wait!" Sam cried as she and the rest of the team ran after her. Melissa did not get far though. She stopped, standing frozen like a statue before a horrible sight. She saw Khellendros, her uncle, wrapped in slime-covered tentacles of a monster that nightmares were made of. She saw a slight glow affect trickle up and down the tentacles of the monster and from all those years of seeing magic, she knew what it meant. That creature—whatever it was—was sucking the life out of Skie. SG-1 paused as well, their eyes wide at the scene before them.

"That—has got to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen…" Jack blinked.

"What is that thing?" Daniel asked.

"Apparently the 'bate' has been caught," Teal'c rumbled.

"What is it doing?" Sam asked.

"It's draining Uncle Skie," Melissa sniffed, wiping her eyes free from her flowing tears. Sam knelt down to her.

"You—know what its doing?" she asked.

"See the energy flowing into its arms?" Melissa pointed. "It's draining Uncle Skie's life." She turned back to Sam, staring up at her with her pale blue eyes. "You gotta help my uncle. Please?"

"That thing's bigger than Skie…" Daniel breathed. "How can we go up against something like that?"

"It would appear we have no choice, Dr. Jackson," said Teal'c. "We are to see our Stargate again; we must get it from the gnome. To do so, we must defeat that monster."

"No, we get that monster away from Skie and then he defeats it," Jack stated. "Daniel's right, we can't fight a monster like that. But Skie can. Now—its our turn to play the decoy." He turned back to Daniel. "Got anymore of that stuff?"

"Yeah…" Daniel said. "You think it'll make us strong enough?"

"It'll make us strong enough to get that squid-thing's attention," Jack shrugged. Daniel sighed and handed the bottle over to Jack who took a drink. Then, he handed it back to Daniel, who took a drink, and then on to Teal'c.

"I am not so sure this will affect me," began Teal'c. "Given the symbiote inside of me."

"Just try it," Jack said. "If it doesn't affect you, it doesn't."

"Very well…" the Jafa nodded his head and took the last drops from the vile.

"Wow…" Daniel began. "I really feel kinda…peppier."

"Yeah," Jack said. "Okay…let's go."

"Melissa," began Sam. "We're gonna try to save your uncle. Just stay out of sight, okay?"

"Yeah," Melissa nodded, ducking back into the bushes.

"I'm feeling up to some calamari," Jack grinned.

0

"My, aren't we in a bind!" David laughed. "It won't be long now, you'll be nothing more than blue-scaled jerky."

Skie felt all of his strength seep away from his body. The pain itself was going away, replaced by numbness as more and more of his life force was flowing out away from him. He began to think back to the times when his kind did something similar before the Rule of Ascension was made. His kind once fed upon life force like vampires. It was a horrible venture for the victim. Though he was now Ascended, it did not mean his life force could not be drained by anyone. He could die from it just like any mortal. He did not want to die, he wanted to live so he could see Melissa again. Though the hopelessness began to dawn upon him that he may never see her. With those thoughts, Khellendros began to give up, his head slumping over and his eyes slowly closing.

Don't give up…he heard his spirit say. Don't give in. That's not like you. You never give up.

Skie lifted his head up and stared at the starry sky above.

Please, help me…he prayed to an unseen force that only he and his kind could acknowledge. Give me the strength…please…for Melissa…

David chuckled: "I see there's some fight left in you…"

A gold flash exploded upon the left side of the monster and it reared back in pain and annoyance. David swung around, his eyes wide when he saw four mundane humans dressed in military garments dive out of the shadows, spraying their weapons upon his creature.

"Who are you?!" he cried.

"Back up…" one of the humans replied. Skie's eyes turned to the firing, a weakened smile appeared on his face. He knew them, Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c. They were coming to save him. Teal'c continued to fire his staff weapon upon the monster as Sam, Daniel, and Jack raced around its flank, spraying their weapons at the side. The creature let out an audible cry and its tentacles trembled. Skie Khellendros began to feel the tentacles loosen around him and he managed to pull a claw free. With some strength left, he thrust his claw forward, ramming it into the main stalk of the monster. The monster flung him to the ground. The tentacles slung around, slamming into the ground below, trying to smash the humans who were causing the irritation. Sam leapt up into the air, surprised by the altitude she managed to gain. She flipped over as a tentacle barely missed her, allowing her new super speed to carry her towards the fallen dragon. David called out to the monster, trying desperately to control its tantrum.

"No, my beauty!" he called. "Focus! Focus!"

A tentacle spasm and flinched towards him. With one whip of the tentacle, David was smashed into a bloody smear on the grass. Jack paused, blinking at the sight of the gnome's death.

"Well, that's the end for him," he said.

"Okay, but what about that?" Daniel asked.

"Carter!" Jack called.

Samantha rushed to Skie's side, kneeling down to the dragon who lay deathly still on the ground.

"Skie…" she called. "Come on, get up."

"Where…how…could you run so fast?" Skie asked, peeking an eyelid open.

"We—took some sort of potion," she replied. "It kinda gave us super human powers."

She handed it over to him and Skie gave it a sniff.

"A—tonic," Skie gasped. "It just boosts your natural abilities. Makes you run faster, become stronger, jump higher—even boosts your—natural armor—your skin. It won't last long."

"And it's the last bit we took," she said. "That's why you need to get up and defeat that thing!"

Skie lifted his head painfully up, his whole body was shaking.

"I—don't have the strength to…" he gasped, trying desperately to get to his feet. "I'm—too weak."

Samantha glanced back as the monster slithered towards Skie again, its tentacles reaching out for him.

"Carter!" Jack cried. "Carter, Skie! Get the hell away from that!"

Teal'c slammed the end of his staff into one of the writhing tentacles. The creature reared in pain again, glancing back at the Jafa. One by one, the many tentacles slammed against the ground as Teal'c dashed between them. Skie glanced up again, rising slowly to his shaking feet. A tentacle lashed out and scooped Samantha Carter up, bring her closer to it.

"Major!" Skie cried.

"Carter!" Jack called.

Skie glanced back up to the sky again: Help me! Just a little power! I'm not asking for much.

"Skie, stop staring at the sky and help Carter!" Jack called.

Skie growled, rearing back onto his hind legs. He spread his wings wide and used his tail to steady himself. His head leaned back and he built up the charge in his mouth. He knew the monster was immune to his lightning, but he had to make it drop Sam. Skie bellowed and spat his breath weapon out, only nothing would come. The only thing he could muster was a spark. Growling in frustration, Skie shifted his weight and his tail lashed out, slamming into the monster and knocking Sam out of its grasp. Jack ran out with open arms, catching the major as she fell.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah…" she nodded.

"O'Neill!" called Teal'c as another tentacle came down. Jack dashed off. Daniel rushed out in front of Skie, glancing up at the dragon as he swung a wing around. He used the claws at the tip of the digits to slash across the monster's flank. Daniel could see the fatigue in the dragon's body.

"What's wrong?!" Daniel asked.

"The—monster drained me the—last bit of—my energy…" Skie growled in frustration. "I'm so tired."

"Skie!" Jack cried. "Do something!"

Skie growled again and reached deep inside of himself for what last bit of magical energies he had.

…help…me…

Skie's eyes opened wide when he felt a surge of power wash over his body. He saw the monster slither swiftly towards him, tentacles out—ready to drain the rest of his life. Skie bellowed out, crying to the sky, his scales becoming the same color of his hair—platinum. His beard disappeared off of his chin and the blue tips of his horns faded away. His horns became branched at the bottom. His features seemed more along the lines of a Metallic Gold Dragon now than a Chromatic Blue Dragon, but his scales were platinum. Even his eyes changed color, becoming intense blue—the same his scales once were. Daniel glanced up, dropping his weapon. Though there were no Blue Dragons that he knew of in Earth Legend, there was however one Platinum Dragon.

"I—don't believe it…" he breathed.

With renewed strength, Skie launched himself into the air. Khellendros knew that the change would not last long. He knew that in order to do this spell, he was about to blow off every last ounce of power he had left. He was not even sure if he was going to live after such an expulsion. The monster bellowed at the changed dragon as a powerful light built up inside the dragon's mouth. Skie unleashed the shot, a frosty-colored, liquid spray spiraled down to the monster before it could react. SG-1 leapt out of the way as the spray hit, freezing the tentacled monster solid.

"What the hell…" Jack breathed. His eyes turned skyward as he saw another built-up charge from Skie. "Yeah…I think we better move."

"Sir…" Sam began. "I think that was liquid oxygen…"

"That's nice, Carter," Jack nodded as he pulled her by the collar as soon as a powerful blue-white beam blasted apart the frozen monster. The monster shattered to dust and then became vaporized by the tremendous heat. Skie's form returned to normal as he landed down onto the ground. Blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth. His throat was on fire. He clutched at his chest, feeling his heart quiver. It felt like it was about to burst. Melissa rose up out of the bushes, dashing towards the dragon.

"Uncle Skie…" she breathed. Skie nodded and smiled at her, but before she could reach him, he collapsed onto the ground. Melissa ran towards him, tears welling up in her eyes, blinding her vision. She threw her arms as far as they could go around his bearded chin, softly sobbing at his side. Jack glanced back, looking at the fallen dragon. Then, his eyes roved over to where the monster once was. There was nothing left but a massive, burnt crater.

"What the hell was that…" he breathed. Daniel blinked, and walked with shaky steps towards the colonel.

"Bahamut…" he finally was able to say. "That—was Bahamut."

"What?" Jack asked, glancing back at Daniel.

"A Sumer god," Daniel replied. "The Platinum Dragon. The Arabs believed he was an angel who rode upon a massive fish or whale and he carried in his hands the gates of both Heaven and Hell. But the Sumerians believed he was a dragon. They believed that Bahamut could breathe a ray of light that could obliterate evil. The Babylonians thought he was some sort of massive sea serpent that protected the oceans. And here I thought he was nothing more than some answer on one of my exams when I was a college."

"In Jafa legend," began Teal'c. "In the incident on Oererth, it was said that a Gold Dragon called upon the power of Bahamut and channeled it through its body to drive away the Goa'uld. The legend states the dragon died afterwards because the power was too much for it to take."

Sam placed her hand over her mouth, feeling her heart become crushed as she watched Melissa weep softly.

"So Skie…" Daniel began.

Jack's eyes blinked when he saw a frilled ear twitch. He glanced over and saw the massive chest of the dragon rise up and down.

"I don't think he's dead yet," he said as he slowly approached Melissa.

"Melissa…" Melissa heard the pained voice of her uncle. "He won't—let me go—just yet…"

Melissa gasped and then began to laugh, hugging her uncle's chin tightly. She turned back at Jack and smiled brightly.

"I take it—he's a tough old dragon…" Jack began softly.

"Yup…" Melissa nodded. Jack turned his head back to the sky when he saw a chopper come into view. He knew that General Hammond was on that chopper. Then, his eyes fell upon the two Stargates. He knew things were not quite over just yet. Skie still had to own up to his crimes despite why he did them. This was not going to be easy for either of them. He glanced back down at Melissa, who's happy face became worried again.

"Is Uncle Skie in trouble?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jack replied. "He is. He—stole something of ours, but he did it in order to save you."

"Is he gonna go to jail?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know," Jack replied.