Review Responses:

Pt35 - The troops here are supposed to have armaments roughly equivalent with current American military tech, though I know little to nothing about real life military tech, so it probably won't be highlighted in too much detail. I'm more of a sci-fi/fantasy guy myself, and this is probably one of the few times modern weaponry will be seen in this story, as the interconnected timelines tend to run mainly on advanced sci-fi technology; plasma weapons, spaceships, ect. That said, your thoughts on more primitive tech being able to outmatch advanced stuff has given me the idea of putting some of the characters into a situation where they're up against forces with futuristic armaments without any of their own, and have to make some makeshift gear from scratch and use their intellect and wits to outsmart their foes. Just another interesting idea to potentially explore later on.

Earthpatriot117 - This was meant to be a parody of alien and monster movies, though it will probably wind up spinning off into its own thing after a bit.

Chapter 29: Dragons Among Us

Possibility

Late Morning

The city of Possibility was bustling with activity, hundreds of people milling about the walkways that ran alongside the towering buildings. The streets were crowded with the four wheeled vehicles, honking and thrumming as they waited in massive lines around wide crossroads. Giant screens hanging off of the sides of buildings displayed brightly colored advertisements that battled for one's attention.

It was a magnificent sight to behold, yet it wasn't enough to distract Maple from the issue at hand. How could it be? Everywhere she went, she could hear hushed murmurs about the "alien spaceship" that had landed in the park, about the dragons that had come out of it, and the humans that had been with them.

When they weren't talking, they were staring at the screens of their PDAs, watching recordings of the landing or furiously tapping messages into the devices to send to others. Fortunately, most people seemed far too preoccupied with this to pay her any mind.

She passed an electronics store, a large assortment of screens on display on the other side of a wide floor to ceiling window. Each and every one of them was depicting some kind of a report on the events of that morning, a man and a woman sitting behind a large desk talking about it as footage played behind them.

Maple flinched back when she saw a picture of her and Reggie's faces. She'd managed to snag a discarded hooded coat from an alley shortly after escaping the tidal wave of people. It was slightly torn, and smelled like feet, but hopefully it would be enough to hide her identity from any cursory glances.

She continued walking down the street, staring down at the ground so as to keep her face relatively hidden. She wanted so badly to look around at the world around her, to run into every little shop and admire the wares inside (something she hadn't been able to do in the mostly dragon sized streets of Moss Town). But she held herself back, knowing very well what would happen if she was found out.

She sighed, taking a brief moment to stare up at the sky. The towering buildings stretched out above her, covering much of the blue expanse with their shiny glass exteriors. Sunbeams bounced off of the towers, casting glimmering trails along the hundreds of windows.

Alright, what's the plan? she thought, staring back down at the ground. Reggie's likely been captured by those soldier guys, Xavier and Ricky seemed to have gotten away. She thought back to the droplets of blood she had seen flying off of the RainWing. I hope he's alright….

Suddenly, she felt herself collide with another person, causing the PDA they had been looking at to slip out of their hands. They fumbled around for a bit, the device bouncing just out of their grasp until they finally managed to catch it. The person sighed with relief, turning to face Maple.

"Sorry 'bout that." they said, scratching the back of their head.

Maple stood still, wondering if she should split. They seemed nice enough, a boy somewhere in their mid teens, with brown skin and a scraggly tuft of yellowish brown hair. They had a small scar across their nose, and a golden hoop earring on one ear.

"Maybe you shouldn't be staring at your PDA while you're walking." Maple bluntly stated, slowly taking a step back.

The boy stared at her for a moment, confused. "You...mean my smartphone?'

"Hey, Qibli! What's wrong?" someone asked. Another person, a teenage girl with dark skin and long dark hair with two streaks of white running down the sides stepped out of the shop the boy had emerged from, turning to face Maple as well.

Qibli? Where have I heard that name before?

"Hold on, isn't that the woman from the spaceship?" the girl asked, pointing at her. Maple didn't have time to hear Qibli's response, as she had already bolted back down the street, turning down a nearby alleyway.

Gah! You should've walked away while you had the chance! she thought, hearing the sound of footsteps running after her. Not like I could've lied my way out of it, just gotta hope they're not as agile as I am.

She hopped up on top of a large metal can, pulling herself up over a metal wire fence and landing down on the other side onto a pile of flattened brown boxes that crunched under her feet. She turned back briefly to see if her pursuer had given up, only to see Qibli effortlessly hoisting himself up over the fence after her.

"Hold on! We're not gonna…."

Maple didn't let him finish, bolting down the alleyway towards the street on the other side. She tossed down some more cans and a few square wooden platform things, hoping to block off the pathway as she stepped out into the next street over. A few pedestrians gave her curious glances, but they were otherwise glued to their devices.

She heard Qibli climbing over the mess she had made, and spotted a large government four wheeled vehicle parked just to her left. The rear portion of it was covered with a pale sand colored tarp, crates of supplies stored underneath. She didn't have time to hesitate, quickly sliding under the tarp amongst the many crates.

There wasn't much room in the back of the vehicle to move around, and Maple found herself in a slightly awkward position, her elbow rubbing against a hard wooden crate while her legs were squeezed beneath her, her knees jabbing into her stomach. Still, she didn't dare budge. Qibli was likely looking for her just nearby, and any sudden movements could give herself away.

Sweat beaded along Maple's forehead, the heat of the desert sun amplified beneath the tarp. She didn't know how much longer she'd have to hide under there, not to mention whether or not someone would spot her slipping out.

Maybe I shouldn't have run away. Maple wondered, slowly wiping the sweat from her forehead with her one free arm. They seemed nice, maybe they would have helped me?

She glanced around the cramped trunk, the soft glow of sunlight filtering in under the tarp. In hindsight, she probably should have risked finding a better hiding spot than a vehicle likely owned by the very people she was trying to avoid.

"So, what do ya think the aliens came here for anyway?" a male voice asked from outside the tarp. Maple frose, the opening and closing of the vehicle's doors sending vibrations beneath her legs.

"I dunno, but they sure did choose the wrong city to invade!" a female voice replied. Maple heard the two speakers burst into laughter, the sound of a key turning causing the entire vehicle to vibrate and hum.

"We'd better high tail it back to base, the General won't be happy if we're late." the male voice stated. The vehicle suddenly lurched forward, causing Maple to bang her elbow on one of the crates as she was flung back. She gritted her teeth, silently rubbing the sore joint as she shifted around into a slightly more comfortable position.

"You're one to talk! Remind me whose fault it was we didn't get to see the aliens before everything went nuts."

"Heh heh...well uh…ya hear about those two humans that were with 'em!" the male voice sheepishly replied, attempting to change the subject.

"Hm, my guess is they were abducted. Probably probed to high heaven by those ugly lizards." the female voice bluntly responded.

Maple frowned. Ugly was the last word she'd use to describe dragons.

She sighed, and sat silently in the back of the vehicle as it drove along the black paved streets of the city. Occasionally, she would peek out from under the tarp, watching the world zip by as they made their way out of the city and into the desert beyond. The sun was starting to beat down even harder, and Maple was starting to regret her hasty thinking back in the city.

Hey, who knows? she thought, Maybe these guys will take me to where they've taken Reggie.

She peeked out of the tarp once more, watching the sparse plant life make way for the endless dunes of the desert, when a massive bang caught her off guard. The vehicle ground to a halt, the doors swinging open as the drivers stepped out. Maple saw them look up at the sky, audibly gasping, and glanced towards where they were looking.

There, hovering above Possibility, was the Salvation, its golden hull gleaming like a second sun.

?

Reggie awoke to the sound of muffled shouting. He groggily sat up in his chair, squinting as he examined his surroundings. He was in a small, metal room, a single metal table at its center with two metal chairs on either side, one of which he was seated in. A bright electric lamp hung overhead, casting a blinding white light throughout the room.

His head was killing him, and he attempted to raise a hand to it, only to realize that he was cuffed to his chair. He turned to his left, noticing a large opaque piece of glass taking up much of that wall. A one way window, likely; this place was giving off serious interrogation room vibes.

Two muffled voices were shouting back and forth behind the opaque window, locked in a heated debate.

"You were out of line! You should have contacted me first before marching in like that." one of them said in a deep, commanding tone.

"And let those beasts roam free about the city? I took decisive action, and had I not we could be in a lot more trouble than we are now!" the other voice snapped back. Reggie quickly recognized it as the man with the sunglasses from the park.

"Or, we could be in peaceful negotiations with them! There was no evidence that they were hostile!"

"And there was no evidence that they were friendly either!"

"One of them literally said 'we come in peace'!"

'Hey...uh...I can hear you, you know!" Reggie said. He wasn't sure how loudly he'd spoken, whatever had knocked him out still seemed to be working its way through his system, but the two men stopped bickering nonetheless.

A door at the back of the room swung open, and the two men walked in. Reggie instantly recognized one as the man from the park, a scowl drawn on his round face. The other, a tall, brown skinned man, seemed to be some sort of superior to him, with far more badges decorating his chest and a golden scorpion insignia on his hat. Strangely, the man seemed to have six fingers on each hand. Reggie blinked, assuming it was from whatever drugs they had pumped him with, but they were still there.

"So, you're finally awake, are you? You gonna talk or what?" the man with the sunglasses said with a frown. Reggie wasn't sure why he was still wearing the dark glasses indoors, though the light above them was pretty bright.

The six fingered man brought one of his abnormal hands up to his face, sighing, before turning to Reggie with a sympathetic expression. "Sorry about my subordinate, he tends to...jump the gun." he said, eliciting a glare from the man with the sunglasses, "I hope you weren't hurt in the commotion back there."

"It's not me you were shooting at." Reggie replied, the fatigue having now mostly dissipated.

"Listen here, this isn't the time for snark, got it?" the man with the sunglasses commanded, slamming his hands down upon the metal table and causing Reggie to flinch back. "Now you're going to tell us what in high moons those things were, why they're here, and how to…."

"Colonel, enough!" the six fingered man commanded. The man with the sunglasses backed off, glaring at Reggie.

"L-Look, we're not here to cause any trouble, alright?" Reggie started, leaning back under the colonel's imposing glare. "We...we're from another uh...another timeline, you see. And we're just trying to find our way…."

"Another timeline? Do you really believe this wingnut?" the man with the sunglasses asked, turning to the six fingered man.

The six fingered man shrugged. "Two dragons and two humans just popped out of a portal above Possibility in a spaceship, anything's possible."

The colonel grunted, turning back to Reggie. Beads of sweat were starting to build up on his forehead and under his arms, and the colonel seemed to have noticed, grinning slightly.

Suddenly, a younger man, somewhere around Reggie's age and dressed in an undecorated uniform burst into the room, panting. He turned briefly to Reggie, and then two the two military officers.

"I...it's crazy! There's a...huff...there's a…." he wheezed, hands on his knees.

"Well, out with it!" the man with the sunglasses chided.

"There's this huge golden spaceship that just appeared over the city! Everyone's freaking out!" they blurted out, fear and excitement in their eyes.

The Salvation? What's it doing here? Reggie thought, Not that I'm complaining.

The man with the sunglasses paused for a moment, before quickly barking out orders to the young man. "I want all my troops out on patrol to head east and hunt down those…."

"Now hold on, who exactly is in charge here again?" the six fingered man asked, holding the colonel back.

"Listen to me! If we capture those two lizards that got away, we could use them as leverage to keep the others from trying anything funny!"

"Or, we could make ourselves prime targets. Do you ever think these plans of your's through, or do you let your pride get the better of you?"

"This has nothing to do with pride, Sixclaws. Would you rather have those two creatures freely running about?"

"That's General Sixclaws to you. Remember, you're only here because you jumped the gun."

"Excuse me. I-I think I could help." Reggie meekly stated. The three military men turned to him, causing him to lean back under their collective gaze. "I-I think I have a bit of an idea as to how to pilot that shuttle, from looking at the manual we got a while back. Well, it wasn't really a manual, more like a…."

"You can pilot the shuttle?" General Sixclaws asked skeptically.

"No, everything's dragon sized." Reggie replied, "But with enough people working together, we might be able to get it into the air, fly up there and smooth things over."

"Ha! You really expect that to work?" the colonel laughed, "Listen, with my troops, we can capture those escaped lizards, and then have them pilot the shuttle."

"That still doesn't solve the problem of making ourselves a target." General Sixclaws replied.

"We're already a target now that we've got that ship of theirs!"

General Sixclaws groaned, turning to the floor to think for a moment, before turning back to his subordinate. "You have four hours." he stated begrudgingly.

The colonel grinned triumphantly, the bright electric light above gleaming off of his shades. He started to make his way to the door, when his superior addressed him one final time.

"Capture, don't kill." he said, sternly.

"Yeah, yeah…." the colonel said, walking out of the room with the younger man.

The General turned to Reggie, calmly sitting down across from him. "So." he began, "I'll get a small team together, and we can begin working out how to pilot that shuttle, right?"

"Wait...but didn't you just…?" Reggie asked, turning back to the doorway.

"I know what I did, and odds are he ain't coming back with squat."

Reggie paused, trying to work out what exactly had motivated him to send his impulsive subordinate out on a wild goose chase in such a pressing situation. Not that he was complaining, as long as it meant the others would be safe. He still didn't know what had happened to Maple, though he figured she'd be able to handle herself.

"Why'd you send him after Ricky and Xavier then?" Reggie asked.

"That's the dragons' names?" General Sixclaws asked, looking somewhat amused. He chuckled, thinking for a bit. "Well, that's surprising. And to answer your question, I sent him out to keep him occupied, otherwise he'd probably defy orders and rush out anyway. This way I at least have some control."

"But...why keep someone like that in charge?"

"He's from a family of powerful, influential nobles, who aren't too keen about the Sand Kingdom's current queen," he explained. "She agreed to put their son in a high ranking position in the army, to keep them out of trouble. And it's my job to make sure he doesn't screw too much up while he's here." The General seemed somewhat disgruntled in saying this, though Reggie could tell that he planned to carry out his thankless task regardless of what the man with the sunglasses did.

Reggie turned up to the ceiling, the light gleaming above him as he lost himself in thought. Ricky and Xavier were somewhere out there, hopefully far away from wherever the colonel was heading. Maple was likely still lost in the city, unless the government had finally managed to grab her. And now it looked like Hidden had just barged in with the Salvation.

"Alright." he said, turning back to the General. "So um...have you ever heard of a game called Twister?"

Hills East of Possibility

Late Morning

Ricky stared out at the vast plains that stretched out to the east of Possibility, the city itself standing tall along the smooth horizon. Thin beams of sunlight shone down through the leaves of the oak tree he was laying beneath, dancing across his crimson scales as the leaves shifted in the breeze. The smell of grass wafted through the air, the pale green blades rustling in the wind.

A small grin crossed the SkyWing's snout, as he remembered all the times he had visited these plains with Hidden and Xavier when they were kids. Hidden had always had some crazy idea he'd wanted to try out, and despite his best efforts to protest against it, Xavier always wound up wrapped up in it with him. Ricky had always been willing to tag along, even if most of the projects wound up failing spectacularly. He might not have been a tech genius like the other two, but he'd always be there to stand by them when things went awry.

They'd spent hours in those fields, building rockets, go-karts, and even Bippy. Ricky still remembered the look of pure glee on his brother's face when the drone had finally managed to stay in the air without crashing into the grassy soil.

He sighed. They seemed so close to home, yet were still so far. How many more Pyrrhias would they have to go through before they could get home. Before they could see their father again.

Ricky turned away from the vast open expanse, looking back into the small cluster of trees he and Xavier had taken refuge in. The injured RainWing had leaned himself against a thick tree trunk, wincing from the bullet wounds scattered about his body as he fiddled with the inter-timeline morse code device Hidden had made.

Even with the energy shield Hidden had snagged from the futuristic timeline he and Xavier had visited, Ricky had still been unable to fully protect his friend.

"Hey, Xavier?" Ricky asked, "What're you doing?"

Xavier continued tapping a message into the device for a moment longer, before stuffing it into his shoulder pack, wincing from a bloody bullet hole in his shoulder. "I just sent Hidden a message with our approximate coordinates. Hopefully, he'll be here soon." Xavier explained.

The RainWing attempted to stand up and walk over to Ricky, but quickly faltered and laid back down again, grunting in pain. Ricky shivered, realizing that the bullets hadn't even been removed yet. While none of the bullets seemed to have struck anything vital, there were still small, bloody holes scattered about the RainWing's body, his scales white around the affected areas and pale green everywhere else.

"You alright...Xavier?" Ricky hesitantly asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine…." the RainWing responded, though Ricky could easily tell Xavier was only trying to calm his nerves. Their first aid supplies from the med bay were back on the shuttle, and without proper treatment, Xavier's injuries could very well get infected.

A massive bang drew Ricky's attention away from his injured friend. Far off on the horizon, above the forest of skyscrapers that was Possibility, was the Salvation, gleaming in all of its golden glory.

Ricky felt himself well up with hope, help now on its way. He quickly turned back to Xavier, who was grinning despite his injuries, hints of yellow starting to dance across his scales.

"See, everything's going to be fine." Xavier stated reassuredly.

Ricky turned back towards the city, the Salvation hovering in place above it. Seconds turned into minutes, and Ricky was starting to wonder if Hidden was still trying to figure out how to pilot the thing. Eventually, the massive ship had begun to slowly turn in their direction, but by then, another sound had reached Ricky's ears.

The sound of motor vehicles, dozens of them.

He gazed out at the vast ocean of grass before him, and saw dozens of tiny specs starting to grow on the horizon. Many were scattered about the expansive terrain, but they all came rushing towards the lightly forested hills that would eventually lead to the Claws of the Clouds Mountains.

As they grew closer, Ricky could start to make out some of their profiles. Helicopters, armored transports, tanks, each likely filled with soldiers armed to the teeth.

"Xavier! Xavier! We...we need to go…." Ricky said, rushing over to the RainWing. He attempted to help him up, Xavier struggling to stand on only three legs.

"Let me guess, that sunglasses dude from before is back for round two." Xavier bluntly stated.

Ricky grinned. Hidden was usually the one to keep up a plucky attitude in dire situations. "Yeah, more than likely." he said, "You...think you can fly?"

Xavier opened up his wings, a few small holes in the membranes from stray gunfire, but nothing that wouldn't eventually heal.

"The joints feel fine, and the holes don't seem...urk...too bad…." Xavier muttered. Ricky frowned. The small tears in his wing membranes wouldn't hamper his friend's flight too much, but Ricky couldn't shake the irrational thought of something snagging on them and tearing Xavier's wings apart.

"Come on, we can hide out further in the mountains. I can give Hidden our new location then." Xavier said. Ricky nodded, and the two carefully lifted into the air, Ricky supporting his friend with every beat of his wings.

AN:

This chapter's meant to be about the aftermath of the catastrophic first encounter in the park. Maple's section does feel a little rushed, and there isn't much detailed description of the city, though as the chapter states, she can't just go running about the city gawking at every new and interesting thing. Maple's curious, but she's not dumb. Still, I probably could have gone with something more interesting than a standard modern city for Possibility, but this episode won't spend much time there anyway, and it would have been a bit much for me to worry about for a single week, considering everything else that has to be set up in this chapter.

The logic surrounding Reggie's part was a bit tough to work with. I had to set certain events in motion, like the Colonel going out hunting for Ricky and Xavier, and Reggie helping them pilot the shuttle, but figuring out reasons for why those things are happening that make sense is the hard part. I eventually settled with the idea that the Colonel comes from a family of nobles who dislike Queen Thorn (this timeline is meant to follow the plot of the main books, just with a different coat of paint). There could probably be a spin off one shot detailing the past of him, like how his family holds a powerful influence over much of the Sand Kingdom, and achieved this through their firm support of Burn in the war, but that's a whole separate story. Hopefully it at least makes some sense and doesn't feel too plot holey.

The final part seems fine to me, possibly a tad rushed. I don't actually want Xavier to get infected or seriously injured, as I want to have him tag along for the next episode, though it'll be tough considering the situation I've put them in. Then again, they do have a med bay with medical technology that surpasses our own, so stuff like that might not be as big of a threat to them. I also might start incorporating larger time skips between episodes, having them travel through many insignificant timelines and only really focus on the interesting ones. There are about four to five episodes left after this one, so things need to be able to move pretty quickly.

Stay tuned!