Viccy crouched miserably by the bilge pump, waiting for it to complete its work. Having not cleaned the place since they'd stopped at Baterilla, it was in an exponentially worse state now than it had been back them. He'd already fumigated the area, which he hoped had gotten rid of most of the sea-roaches, but the damn things were tenacious. The faint click of one skittering around in the darkness could still be heard from time to time, but they always disappeared the moment he tried to lock his eyes on them.

"You have a giant dragon living in your head and you're afraid of roaches..."

"I already told you I'm not afraid of them," Viccy said.

"I live in your consciousness, Runt..."

"What would a dragon even know about fear," Viccy said. "You have the 'immune to psychology' trait on your unit card..."

"Outside of what I know instinctively, all of my knowledge on the world comes from you," the dragon said. "We are one and the same, after all."

"We're not 'one and the same,'" Viccy scowled. "You're you and I'm me. Speaking of, you need a name."

"Denial will get you nowhere, Runt. I am Vicente Carver. You are Big Scaly Dragon. Besides, dragons don't have names."

"That you know of..." Viccy said, his head flying towards the latest skittering noise on the wooden walls nearby. He only manages to catch a glimpse of a spiky, finger-sized leg before it crawled between the boards and out of sight. He shivered and resolved to ignore the noises from now on.

"I think I'll call you Gecko," he said. "It's what everyone else seems to think you are..."

The dragon was silent for several seconds.

"Gecko? You there?"

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," Gecko grumbled. Despite his resentment, Viccy noticed that he didn't protest at being given a name.

Things were silent for a time. The bilge water only reached his ankles now; it had been halfway down his calves when he'd started.

"Hey Gecko?" he said.

There was a pause before Gecko answered. "Are you speaking to me?"

"Who else? I'm not crazy enough to start talking to myself. Not yet anyway..."

Gecko gave a low hiss, and it took Viccy a moment to realize it was a sigh of resignation. "What do you want," he said.

"I've been wondering this for a while now. What would happen if I went full dragon? I lost control the first time, but when that happened you were kinda..."

"A murderous monster that wanted to watch the world burn?"

"You know about that movie?" Viccy grinned. "Man, I haven't watched it in ages."

"It seems you still haven't gotten it through your thick skull," Gecko huffed. "We're the same person."

"Pshhh," Viccy said. "Whatever makes you feel better, Gecky."

"Don't call me that," Gecko hissed. "Gecko is already bad enough..."

"Just answer the question," Viccy said, grinning at having found a way to annoy his scaly tenant.

Gecko sighed again. "I'm not sure what would happen, but I do have a theory."

"You can have theories now? You're growing up fast."

"Shut your mouth and listen," Gecko hissed. "The reason I am the way I am is due to your influence; whether or not that's a good thing is still up to debate. But when you do a full transformation, I'm released in my entirety. That means I take over as the main consciousness, and If I'm released from your mind..."

"Any part of you that's mine might get erased..." Viccy finished. "You might go back to being a mindless monster."

"Well, not mindless," Gecko huffed. "Just... unfriendly."

"Is it always going to be like this?" Viccy said, sighing. While he knew that he shouldn't throw all his chips in with the fruit, he didn't want to be locked out of his strongest form if he could help it.

"How should I know? Maybe one day you'll manage to control it with the power of friendship or something. Like I said, I can't be sure."

The sound of the hatch on the ceiling opening almost gave him a heart attack. Leon poked his head through the hatch, squinting in the darkness. He looked around until he caught sight of Viccy.

"We're about to head out. Maddy told me to tell you to stop talking to yourself and hurry up," Leon mumbled, refusing to look Viccy in the eye.

"Tell her to have a heart..." Viccy said.

Leon shrugged, still not meeting his friend's eyes. "Maybe you shouldn't have blasted a giant hole in her."

"Oh come on! How was I supposed to know?!"

"Well, now you know how I feel all the time," Leon grumbled.

Viccy cursed under his breath, making sure to keep it as quiet as possible so that Maddy didn't hear him.

"You sure you'll be alright on your own?" Leon said, looking at Viccy quizzically.

"I'll be fine Bimbo. Just go away so I can finish."

Leon still didn't look entirely convinced. Nevertheless, he popped his head out of the hatch.

It was with a heavy heart that Viccy grabbed the nearby mop and set about cleaning up the muck and hand-sized sea-roach carcasses left behind by the bilge water.

"Well, I'll just head back to sleep," Gecko said. "Try not to wake me please."

Ollie looked over the island nation of Medeis. From what Maddy had told them, the island itself was divided into several city-states that were in a constant state of rivalry, if not open hostility.

Their current heading was towards the port-city of Urbis Ora, which owned one of the few ports in the entire nation; even the waters were jealously guarded.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go to the docks?" Ollie said.

"It'll be fine," Priscilla snorted. "Marine ships hardly ever lay anchor in civilian docks and most civvies don't want them there anyway. 'Go where you're wanted, not where you're needed' as the saying goes.

"That's pretty backwards, isn't it?" Adelphie said.

Priscilla shrugged. "Most countries can defend themselves without any Marine intervention these days."

The waters near the docks themselves were rather crowded. Everything from merchant ships and their mercenary escorts to all manner of pirates and smugglers were present and accounted for. Despite the place being full to the brim with cutthroats and outlaws, nobody seemed to be in any hurry to start any kind of trouble here.

The Maiden slowed to a crawl as she furled her sails made her way towards an empty pier, giving a slight shudder as she came to a stop and her anchor fell into the water.

"Make sure to call me every day," Maddy said as the gangplank lowered.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Ollie said.

Maddy made that strange buzzing noise that was her equivalent of a snort. "I can take care of myself, kiddo. I doubt any of you want to be stuck here for the next two weeks until the log pose resets, so go. Enjoy yourselves. I'll send Viccy along tomorrow."

"It doesn't feel right leaving Spice behind," Leon said as they made their way down to the pier. There was a man waiting for them with a clipboard in hand, wearing a funny looking monocle and an odd set of robes with an anchor insignia stitched onto the left side of his chest.

"I'm not waiting around the whole day for him," Priscilla said impatiently. "We left him the other baby snail and only an idiot could get lost on Medeis either way. Besides, it's not like either of you has any problem with leaving me behind, you little pieces of-"

The robed man cleared his throat loudly as if to remind them that he was there.

Priscilla rolled her eyes at the man. "Iron Maiden. No cargo. Waiting for the log pose to reset. Destination: Ur Vell. And we're all pirates."

The man turned his eyes towards the Maiden. Apparently, giant holes blown into ships were a common sight around here, because he didn't look for very long. He scribbled onto his clipboard, muttering under his breath as he wrote. "Cargo: none... Log pose... Ur Vell... Roving Travelers. Alrighty." He looked up at Priscilla, whom he must have assumed was in charge. "I'm assuming you'll want a full refit?"

"Go for it," Priscilla said. "Just don't send anyone below the gun deck. She won't like that."

"She?" the man said. "Is there anyone else aboard?"

"Just the captain. He'll be along later. The ship's making him do chores as punishment for blasting a hole in her."

The man's mask of indifference broke for a moment, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Pay the man, Fuzzy," Priscilla said as she slid by him.

Adelphie moved into step beside her."Have you been here before, Cilla?"

"Yeah. It's been ages though," Priscilla said. "There's actually some folk in Vell I'd like to go see. You'll like them."

Viccy was in that bilge for so long that knew he would be having nightmares of chitinous exoskeletons, dead compound eyes, and vaguely audible skittering for weeks to come.

More than once, he'd heard what he thought was the sound of someone yelping in pain from the decks above but would find that the hatch was clamped shut if he tried to leave and investigate. Maddy wasn't releasing him until he was finished.

It took him hours to finish cleaning the bilge on his own. By the time the hatch opened and he scrambled out, the day was almost over.

As he made his way to the top deck, he was surprised to find that the hole in the rec room had been patched up and the 24lbers that had been knocked out at Baterilla had been replaced.

It was nothing to the surprise he got once he stepped outside though.

It was like something out of a fantasy story. Dozens of the rudimentary cars he had first seen on Zapacata made their way down the immaculately cobbled streets, which were lined with stone buildings that made rather superfluous use of archways. Carefully trimmed hedges and parks were present on every corner. Children played, dogs barked, and birds chirped. The late afternoon sky dusted every surface in a lazy shade of red.

It was a beautiful sight. Just not one that he had been prepared to see.

"Maddy," he said shakily.

"What?" Maddy said.

"Are we still in Kansas?"

There was a short pause as Maddy actually snickered through the speaker. "Is that one of your idioms? This is the port-city of Urbis Ora in the nation of Medeis."

"Medeis, huh? I like Medeis..." he thought.

"Oh don't just stand there gaping like a fool," Maddy said. "The others left you something on the table in the rec room."

Breaking out of his daze, Viccy moved slowly to the rec room. There, on the table, was a single wallet full of bills and a baby transponder. He didn't waste any time in waking the creature up. After a short pause, it's face morphed into a replica of Ollie's. "Hello?" it said.

"What's the plan, little man?" Viccy said.

"I left you some money on the table so you could buy yourself something to eat," Ollie said. "We're in a little town called Ur Vell. It's not too far from Ora, but I'd still wait until morning to head out. They say the roads aren't safe at night, even for a pirate."

There was the distinct sound of a child's laughter in the background, accompanied by the equally distinct sound of a mother scolding them. "What are you guys even up to?" Viccy said.

"We're staying with some people Cilla knows. Apparently, they're the family of someone that used to take care of her when she was little." Ollie said, taking a pause. "I don't think I've ever seen her smile this often before."

"Ha. That sounds like it's worth seeing..."

Someone shouted Ollie's name in the background. "Yeah, I'm coming!" he shouted back. "I'll see you tomorrow, Viccy. Call me when you get here and we'll go find you."

The snail closed its eyes and returned to sleep, and Viccy stored it carefully in his pocket before going back outside. The first thing on his mind was finding something to eat, of course, so he huffed a quick goodbye at Maddy - whom he told himself he was still annoyed with - and set off down the pier and through the city.

The streets were pretty sparse this late in the afternoon, as more and more people finished their business and headed home for the day. Soon, most of the people out and about were of the rather dubious variety, so he quickly ducked into the friendliest looking pub he could find.

It was a cheery little place; Spacious, well lit, and smelling of slightly singed sausages. There was a single chimney directly in the middle of the pub. Inside was an oddly hypnotizing blue flame, built so that none of the smoke could escape into the room. Which made sense considering the pub's name was "The Blue Hearth."

There was a middle-aged barmaid bustling about, tending to the patrons. There weren't many people here to his surprise, and all of them were pretty unique looking. There was a cloaked man wearing an intimidating full face helmet sitting alone in the corner. A group of four, clad in ornate armor and sporting oversized weapons, chattered excitedly. A hunched pair of hooded figures with what looked like beaks poking out from under their hoods clicked and clacked to each other in some unintelligible language on the far side of the room.

"I'll be with you in a moment dear," the barmaid said, giving him a warm smile.

Viccy returned the smile and sat down at the closest table, near the group of four. He wasn't particularly trying to listen to their conversation, but they were loud and he was mildly interested.

"You'd have to be insane to take on a contract like that. Even for that kind of money," said one of them, a young olive-skinned girl in her teens.

"Fion and some of his lads are already talking about forming a hunting party," said the oldest of the group. He was a sturdy looking man in his forties.

"Well, Fion's an idiot," the girl said. "It won't be too huge a loss."

The other three laughed heartily. "Don't give up on him just yet," said another of the group. "He probably won't even find the damned thing."

"Here's hoping he does..." the girl said. "Nothing gets a guy out of your hair like having a flying monster scatter his guts across a few acres. Speaking of getting guys out of my hair..."

Viccy jumped as the girl clattered into the seat beside him, so close that the studs in her pauldron dug uncomfortably into his arm and he could smell the citrus shampoo that she used. He hadn't heard her stand... "It's rude to eavesdrop you know."

Viccy shuffled his chair a foot to the side, trying to reclaim his personal space. "You can't prove anything," he said.

The girl grinned at him mischievously. It set his hairs on end if he was completely honest, and he cursed himself in his head. The girl would barely reach the middle of his chest if they stood; he had nothing to fear from her. He hoped...

"My name's Anabel."

She looked at him expectantly. Viccy was at a loss for what to do. He could take a surprise interrogation or attempted murder as an introduction and just roll with it, but having a stranger come up to him for no reason and start making small talk was where he drew the line.

"What do you want from me..." he said suspiciously.

Anabel raised a dark eyebrow. This clearly wasn't the response she'd been expecting. "Hmph. Well, nothing I guess..."

She stood up without another word and returned to her group, all of whom were struggling to keep from laughing. The older man was the first to give in.

"Real smooth, kid," he managed to choke out in between raucous howls.

Viccy lay on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Sleep had eluded him for some time, as the incident in the Blue Hearth had bothered him a lot more than he would have thought.

At the time, he'd thought suspicion was a natural response. It seemed a pretty common theme that there was at least one thing on every island that tried to kill him after all. However, the look of surprise on the girl's face was already etched into his memory. He was beginning to wonder if his time in this world was making him paranoid.

"Hey, Maddy?"

"What?"

"Am I asocial?"

Maddy actually laughed. "You're asking a robot?"

"The only other person I could ask at the moment would just make fun of me," he mumbled. "And you're an AI, not a robot."

"Actually, since you could consider the AI my brain and the ship my body, I am an autonomous-"

"Just answer the question please..."

There was a short pause as Maddy calculated her answer. "Viccy, I only ever see you when you're on board. You speak and laugh with the others as they speak and laugh with you. You are loved. So no, I don't think you're asocial. Why do you ask?"

Viccy told her the story of his encounter at the pub. Maddy remained silent throughout. "I think I more or less understand," Maddy said when he was finished. "I wasn't programmed with knowledge of the human psyche, so I can only base my decision from what I have observed from those around me. You're not asocial. But there is something else wrong with you."

"What?" Viccy said, steeling himself for her answer.

"You're an idiot. Now go to sleep."

The early morning passed in a flurry of activity. He scrambled himself some eggs, which were about the most complicated thing he was capable of making, went to his bunk and stuffed whatever was in arms reach into a backpack he'd found lying around, said a hurried goodbye to Maddy, and set out for adventure with the warmth of the rising sun against his back.

Or he thought he did at least. As he stood on the outskirts, staring at the dozen cobbled roads that led out of Urbis Ora, he struggled to remember what the town his friends had gone to was even called. He agonized over it for several minutes, wondering if he should wake up Ollie this early in the morning.

He didn't hear the boots striking the cobblestones until they were only a few feet behind him.

"Well, look who it is."

Viccy turned on the spot, startled by the man's familiar voice. Just like last night, something about them made his hairs stand on end.

The armor they wore was beautiful, but it seemed heavy and impractical. The kind that belonged set up on a rack in some king's bedchamber instead of an actual battlefield. The early morning sun shimmered in waves off of the silver plates, and the intricate runes engraved across them seemed to glow. Despite that, they moved effortlessly in the armor, as if they wore nothing at all. The metal plates moved and shifted across each other so silently that even his enhanced senses struggled to hear it.

Their oversized weapons were slung across their backs; the girl, in particular, looked like she shouldn't even have been able to get her massive flail off the ground. The end of the shaft rose at least two feet above her head.

But what truly set him on edge was the way they walked. There was no wasted movement. Every action and step they took had a purpose, and it was impossible to know that purpose was. It was like they were ready to do anything from draw their weapons and lop his head off to kneel down and adjust their greaves.

"You've been standing here for the past three minutes," the man said. "Are you lost?"

Viccy forced himself to relax. These people were clearly dangerous, but nothing about them indicated that they had to be dangerous to him specifically. "Do you know where Ur... Vull I think it was... is?"

"Ur Vull?" The man turned to his companions. "Is there a town like that around here?"

"I think he means Ur Vale," one of them said. "It's about half a day's walk from here."

"That's probably it." Viccy shifted his backpack a bit higher on his shoulders. Looking down the road the man had pointed out. It led towards a set of mountains in the distance.

"Say." The older man's hand was on his shoulder before he could react. "I've seen you before... Carver, wasn't it?"

"Goddammit..." Viccy whined to himself in his head.

"Oh don't tense up, kid," he said. "It's not our job to round up every little pirate we see. Only the ones they pay us to. Maybe if you were worth a little more..."

Oddly enough, that didn't put Viccy anymore at ease. A low growl involuntarily escaped his throat, and he felt the man's hand tighten a bit.

"I think you're scaring him, Lark," one of the others chuckled. "Leave the poor guy alone. We have to get going anyway."

The hand left Viccy's shoulder. "If you head out now, you should make it to Vale in the afternoon," the man named Lark said. "Watch yourself though. There aren't any bandits, but there's a gryphon eyrie somewhere up in the mountains and those things are no joke. They don't bother people unless they actually go looking for them though, so you should be alright."

"Someone must have forgotten to tell Fion," laughed one of the others said.

"What does 'no joke' mean in this case?" Viccy said, his plot senses already tingling.

"It means they're up there with phoenixes and rocs on the 'this thing will kill you' meter," Anabel said. "Some big shot in Urbis Impera has been trying to get his hands on a chick for ages, but anyone that goes up the mountains either comes back empty handed or never comes back at all." It was the first time she had even acknowledged Viccy's presence there. Her dark eyes were narrowed at him in disapproval as if he had unknowingly wronged her and she was waiting for him to make it right.

"I'll keep that in mind," Viccy said, retreating several steps away from her.

Lark surprised everyone by twisting around and gripping the massive axe at his back. His eyes scanned the buildings, looking for something that none of them had noticed. His search must have turned up empty, for he turned back around and addressed the others in a voice so low that he clearly wasn't supposed to hear. "We should go, or we'll become the hunted. He's getting suspicious..."

They began their nearly silent trek down their own path. "Take care, kid," Lark said.

"Uh, yeah..." Viccy fought with himself for a moment before blurting out his next words. "Hey. Anabel, right?"

The girl turned towards him expectantly.

"I'm sorry about before," he said.

She gave him a look that clearly said she was as unsure of what to make of him as he was of her.

"Hmph," she huffed, before following after her companions.

The cobblestones had eventually ended, and the road had become little more than a dirt path lined by fir trees on both sides. He'd only passed a single person after several hours of walking, headed in the opposite direction. They had exchanged a friendly nod, but that had been it for his human interaction so far.

The farther along he got, the more a feeling of antagonism grew in the pit of his stomach. He knew that something would happen, but it wasn't enough to make him turn back. On the contrary, some unknown instinct was urging him forward.

It was around midday - when he was munching on a sandwich and wondering how much farther he had to go - that the feeling of antagonism exploded into pure bloodlust.

Gecko the dragon roared awake, sending an incomprehensible mess of sensory information and primal instincts directly into his mind. He became aware that he had involuntarily morphed into his hybrid form. He could feel something glaring a hole into the top of his skull, in much the same way that the doctor often would. He flipped his head to the sky, just in time to make out a dot diving towards him at an incomprehensible speed.

It was on him within moments. Sparks flew as several needle sharp objects made contact with his shoulders and neck, tearing through his clothes and flinging him backward through the air. A growl ripped through his throat as he clambered to his feet, only to be thrown forward in a shower of sparks again.

He caught a blur of motion as he stood up the third time. As it came upon him, he whipped both his arms above his head, delivering a hammer blow that would have shattered most creature's ribs. His clenched hands made contact with a mass of solid muscle, and the force of the blow sent the creature careening off course.

A thunderous crack rent the area as it barreled into a nearby clump of trees, snapping them like twigs and sending dust and wooden splinters tearing through the air like bits of shrapnel.

The creature recovered quickly, and with a mighty flap of its wings, the dust cleared, allowing Viccy to finally get a good look at it.

Dense muscle rippled across its entire body, which was around the size of an elephant. Golden feathers shimmered across its upper body. Its wings, each one as long as an eighteen wheeler, sent debris hurtling forward with a mere twitch. Massive black talons capped each of the raptor's toes on its front legs. The golden feathers gave way to equally golden fur halfway down the body, where it transitioned to a powerful lion's body. A vicious beak stood out prominently on its face, and its neck was ringed by a mane-like crest of feathers - but the most striking feature of all were the eyes. They stared at him with a cold intensity that would have frozen the blood of any rational creature solid. A gryphon - it was the most majestic creature he had ever seen.

Every cell in his body was screaming for its blood.

He fought tooth and nail against the instincts, wondering where all of the hatred he felt was coming from. "What the fuck is happening?!" he shouted at the dragon.

Gecko's only response was something along the lines of "ROOOOAAAA!"

"Gee, thanks. That's real insightful..."

The gryphon raised its wings high, sending up a massive puff of dust. Viccy felt a faint buzzing in his ears, and his scales tingled uncomfortably as static began to build in the air. The gryphon brought its wings down, and to his surprise, the feathers began to arc with electricity. It moved in intricate patterns across its wings, then it's forelegs, and soon the entire creature was crackling with energy. Its feathers and fur stood completely on end, making the beast appear even bigger.

"This thing's like a Pokemon..." Viccy thought.

He could hear the dragon struggling with itself inside his head; the murderous instincts he felt towards the gryphon were clearly much stronger for Gecko than they were for him.

"G...Get..." Gecko strained with every syllable, as if he were hissing through clenched teeth. "Get... away... This foe... is beyond you..."

The gryphon extended its crest of feathers. This was the only warning that Viccy got before the creature pounced, its rear legs propelling it forward at an impossible speed. He held his arms up to shield himself.

The creature's talons were still unable to get through his scales. There was the usual shower of sparks and a metallic scrape. But there was something else mingled with it this time. A roar of pain.

Viccy stared in disbelief at his right arm. His clothes had been burned through where the electricity had arced across them, revealing the now blackened scales underneath. For a moment, it felt like someone had branded his arm with a hot iron.

And then there was nothing. His arm slumped to his side, useless and immobile.

deviantart(.com)/art/The-Gryphon-713958087

I almost gave myself a migraine drawing this one... Still, I look at it and then I look at the first thing I ever drew and I can't help but feel proud of myself. I've improved somewhat at least.

Til next time peeps...