Chapter 2: There's A Dragon In My Room
The warehouse was in an awful mess.
The floor had been littered with empty beer cans and half-eaten sausages - some of them bitten at both ends.
The only sound that could be heard, was the sound of two dogs snoring on the sofa. The first - the male of the two - made a rough, grating sound, though the second - the female - had a quieter, and more satisfied-sounding tone. As they were laying there, the male had his front legs - which, due to his anthropomorphic nature, doubled as arms - wrapped lovingly around his partner, and he was sniffing her hair with each inhalation between snores.
As the Californian sun slowly crept in on this peaceful Saturday morning, a sudden interruption came from the next room...
Ri-ri-ri-ri-ring... Ri-ri-ri-ri-ring...
The noise of the telephone caused the female to awaken, and open her green eyes in surprise.
"Huh...?"
In a hurry to pick up the phone before it stopped, she carefully prised her partner's arms away from herself, before crawling out from under his weight. Once she was on her feet, she took the door into the room where the telephone was, and quickly picked it up from the hook.
"Hello, Flea Bite Café. What's your order?"
"Uhhh... Sasha? You there?" came a human boy's voice from the other end.
"Speaking."
"Uh, okay, umm... you see, err..."
The female dog slowly tilted the handset, waiting patiently for him to finish hesitating.
"Right," the boy continued. "I've just woken up, and... there's something in here that... huh? Sasha, I think you'll just have to see this for yourself."
The Irish Setter lowered the handset, as she wondered what the heck the boy could have been talking about.
"All right," she continued, raising the phone back up. "I haven't visited you in a while, so... may as well."
"Okay. Bye!"
Sasha then hung up, before going back into the warehouse.
"Heyyy..." said the male German Shepherd cross, who was still lying lazily on the couch. "What's... hic! What's up, Sash... Sazzhh... Zsa-Zsa?"
"Darn it, Charlie!" the Setter replied sternly. "You're still full of drink from last night. I can smell it in your breath!"
"Heeeyyy...!" Charlie said again, picking up a sausage from the floor at the foot of the sofa. "W-... want one?"
"No!" his girlfriend replied bluntly. "It'll be full of germs from being on the floor all night."
But, the Shepherd took no notice - he popped the wiener in his mouth anyway, and obnoxiously chewed it with his mouth open.
"Eurrrgh, Chaaarlieee!"
Obviously disgusted with her partner's inebriated behaviour, Sasha decided to quickly fetch him a glass of water, before leaving him to rest as she walked out the back of the warehouse.
After about twenty minutes of strolling the streets of San Francisco, Sasha could see something unusual happening in the distance. As she approached, she could see a news crew gathered at the front of the local museum. As the anchor stood with her microphone in front of the camera, a team of policemen and women were walking in and out through the front door of the building.
What's going on? Sasha thought.
Taking a good look around, she noticed the electronics store at the side of the street. Hoping that the shop-window TVs would be showing the news, the red dog walked over.
... And, fortunately, they were.
"This is Sally Dane, reporting live for SFBC News. Overnight, a mysterious artifact had been stolen from the Museum of San Francisco, prompting the Police Department to cordon off the building, denying all public access as they carry out a most important investigation."
The coverage then changed to show CCTV footage of the incident. The camera angle showed a mask resting on a pedestal, enclosed in a glass case. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a dog - or, at least, what appeared to be a dog - came rushing towards the case, before violently smashing the glass with a punch, grabbing the mask in its paw, and making a hasty escape.
Sasha could not believe what she was seeing...
"Oh, my God..." she panted. "That dog looked just like me...!"
She then looked behind her, and saw some civilians standing nearby. Some of them were looking at her, with suspicious looks on their faces.
In a panic, the Setter ran over to the newsagents, and, using her mouth, grabbed a newspaper from the stand as she passed.
I've got to show this to the others, she thought.
However, she quickly skidded to a halt, as she saw that a mob of humans had obstructed her path.
"Hey, dudes!" said the young man who stood at the front of the group, holding a baseball bat in his hand. "It's the dog from the news! Get her!"
Sasha let out a scream, before turning to run in the opposite direction. Fortunately for her, being a dog, she could run considerably faster that the average human, but she still needed to find a way to lose the mob.
Thinking quickly, she now noticed that she was approaching the penthouses. It took her less than a minute to reach the side of the nearest house, before climbing up on to the side-scaffolding steps.
Once Sasha was at least a few flights up, she quickly looked down towards the ground. Unfortunately, the 'dudes' were starting to climb the scaffold as well, yelling and waving their rakes and bats.
Letting out a mild gasp, the red dog continued up the narrow, metallic steps. It took her another thirty seconds to reach the roof, but by this time, she was beginning to tire. Looking straight ahead, she saw the opposite edge of the rooftop, and, after that, the gap to the next building.
"This is it," she said to herself, muffled by the newspaper which she still held in her mouth. "Gotta jump!"
With that, she used what stamina she had left to make a flat-out sprint to the edge. She could hear the yelling of the mob coming up over the top, but she didn't have time to worry about that now - this leap of faith would require all of her concentration.
Fifteen metres...
Ten metres...
Five metres...
Jump!
Fortunately for Sasha, the next building had a lower roof than the penthouse, which was what made this leap possible. As she sailed through the air, her ears blocked out all the noises of the environment - in her mind, everything fell silent as she trained her eyes on the edge...
Thump!
This was the sound of the Setter grabbing the ledge, her pulse quickening as her hind feet hung down.
Taking a deep inhalation, shortly followed by a just-as-deep exhalation, she gave one more push to climb up on to the rooftop, to safety. Once she was on all fours again, she turned around to face the penthouse which she had jumped from, watching as the mob skidded to a stop at the edge.
"Now what?" said a person who was standing next to the mob leader.
In response, the leader stepped back a bit, wound up his arm, then stepped forward to his previous spot as, he threw his bat across the gap.
On the other side, Sasha jumped back defensively, before realising that the young man's throwing power had been nowhere near enough - the bat feebly tumbled down on to the street below.
Removing the newspaper from her mouth, the Setter cheekily stuck out her tongue at the humans, before putting the paper back and continuing on her way.
Some time later, Sasha finally walked up to the house of her human friend. Once she was at the door, she gently knocked, and waited patiently.
After about a minute, the door opened. On the other side, there stood the male owner of the house. He wore a beige sweater, coupled with a pair of brown trousers.
"Oh... hello," he said, looking down at the dog. "Sasha, is it?"
She nodded.
"Then, come right in! If you're looking for David, he's in his room upstairs."
Acknowledging this with another nod, the Setter walked past David's father, and began to make her way up the stairs, as he closed the door behind her.
Once she was at the top, Sasha tapped on the door...
"David," she said. "I'm here."
"Okay," came the reply from the other side. "Just give me a sec..."
After that, David opened the door for her. He was now a little taller, and somewhat older than when Sasha had first known him, but his usual style of grey tracksuit bottoms, with a red sweater, still remained.
"Hi," said Sasha, putting the paper down on the floor, before nudging it towards him. "You... might wanna see this."
The boy did as he was advised; however, when he saw the photo on the cover, his throat almost seized up.
"That's... that's not you, is it?"
"Of course not," Sasha replied. "Listen to me, David. Someone's trying to frame me, and I'm not liking it one bit. You're lucky that I made it - some mob tried to catch me, but I managed to lose them."
"My gosh..." David continued, as he folded the newspaper back up.
"So," the Setter resumed. "What was that thing you were going to show me?"
"Oh, yes. Be right back!"
He then walked over to his wardrobe, and picked something out from inside. Holding the 'something' in both hands, he carried it back to where Sasha was standing.
When the Setter saw the creature, she almost let out a scream.
"What... the heck... is that?"
"Hi..." the creature replied, waving his clawed front foot in the air.
"This is Spyro," said David. "He's a dragon! How cool is that, huh?"
For the second time today, Sasha could not believe what she was seeing. She stared at the purple dragon in half-amazement, half-bemusement, her emerald eyes widening almost to the size of tennis balls.
"But... b-but..." she stammered. "Please, pinch me. I must be dreaming."
"Oh... kay..." said Spyro. "Basically, I come from a world where dragons... let's just say, they never actually died out - only banished."
The Irish Setter continued to stare blankly, made none the wiser by this hurried explanation. She held out her paw...
"Pinch it!" she said. "Just... do it. Show me that I'm not going completely round the twist."
Sure enough, Spyro did just that.
"Ow!" Sasha yelled, before retracting her paw, and licking it. Sure enough, the dragon was still right there, in front of her, in David's arms.
"Sooo..." he continued. "Not to change the subject, but, you two wouldn't happen to have seen a monkey and a mole anywhere, would you?"
"Err, no," Sasha and David said simultaneously.
"They can't be far; we should go and find them."
"Whoa, whoa, hold on," said the boy. "We can't let you out of this room. What if someone in my family finds you?"
"Oh. Good point."
With that, Spyro retreated back into the wardrobe, and his two new friends made their way downstairs.
Once they were at the bottom, it was not long before they heard voices coming from the kitchen.
"Daaaviiid!" yelled a woman's voice. "What's this monkey doing in my refrigerator?"
"Hee-hee-hee!" came the giggling voice of a toddler shortly afterwards. "Monk-eee!"
"Oh, no..." said David. "Oh, no-no-no!"
Sasha decided to stay back, as her human friend stepped in.
"Mom!" he said, even though she was his stepmother. "What's going on?"
"This!" she said, shoving the shivering, suited simian closer to his face. "What is the meaning of this?"
The next minute, David was sat down on the sofa, his father and stepmother standing in front of him. The monkey had now managed to break free from the woman's grasp, and there he stood, on the seat adjacent to the boy, his laser blaster pointed threateningly at the grown-ups.
"Leave the kid alone!" said Agent 9.
"We will, we will," said the father, raising his hands in surrender. "But where did you come from?"
"Ooh! I would tell you, but... you know what all the spies say."
He then gave the blaster a small nudge, before winking at David. The boy did nod his head in agreement, but not without a worried look.
Then, the toddler - David's stepbrother - finally entered the room. In his arms, he held a brown mole in a white lab coat - the Professor, of course.
"Oof, oof! Put me down!" he said. Agent 9 was just about to raise his blaster, when David quickly stopped him, before stepping over to the small child.
"All right," he said. "Give him here."
"No. My talking teddy bear!"
The older of the two boys shook his head, mildly entertained by his stepbrother's mislabelling of the creature, and proceeded to gently wrest the Professor from his grasp.
After that, David, Agent 9, and the Professor all made their way upstairs, but Sasha stayed at the bottom.
"What's wrong, girl?" the boy asked.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "but I think I've seen enough."
She turned back towards the front door, and David's father opened and closed it for her. The two grown-ups then stood back, the stepmother holding the toddler in her arms - they, too, had seen quite enough.
Sasha was just about to continue on her way, when...
"Stop right there, criminal scum!"
Upon hearing this, the Setter's heart instantly sank. Before she knew it, a meaty, gloved hand had grabbed her by the neck, and thrown her in front of a team of Kevlar-clad men, who were all armed with tasers and handguns.
David's father had heard the shout as well. Putting the chain on the door, he carefully opened it again... but as soon as he saw the squad of men, he slammed it sharply, and rushed to carry his wife and young son upstairs to safety.
Meanwhile, outside, Sasha was in a dire situation. She tried to protest, but a sudden rush of adrenaline had got the better of her.
"You've got the wrong dog!" she blurted out... in human language.
Reacting immediately to the sight of a talking dog, the tasers were all fired at once. As the sparking electrodes embedded themselves into the dog's skin, her central nervous system was instantly filled with tens of volts of electricity.
Sasha's fur stood frighteningly on end, as the coulombs sent her muscles into spasm, before quickly incapacitating her. The man who had initially grabbed her said, "Tell that to the judge!" as he whisked her up by the shoulder.
To finish, the team loaded Sasha into the back of their van, before the leader hopped into the driver's seat, switched on the ignition, and rapidly accelerated away.