Cauldron Here We Come

"Ugh, where am I?" Starkage groaned in pain as his eyes opened slowly. His vision was blurry, but he can make out the white walls of the room and a yellow blur above him. He shifted slightly, feeling the covers on top of him shift also and the straw mattress adjust to his shifted weight. His vision cleared up more, making the yellow blur take the form a cat, its blue eyes shining brightly. The cat wore a long blue cloak, the hood pulled back revealing a black feather sticking out from the top of its head.

"Glad to see you're awake, Starkage." The cat replied as she removed a bandage rapped around the dragon's head. The white linen was placed in a small bucket of water placed on a side table along with a brown sheep-skin pouch. The cat rummaged through the pouch before pulling out a roll of linen. Ripping a piece from the roll, the cat placed it where the old bandage was.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" the earth dragon asked as the feline moved the woolen sheets off him and removed the blood-soaked bandage and replaced with a fresh new one The few seconds that no bandage covered the wounded side allowed Starkage to take a look at the scars where Blackwing struck him with his tail.

"Sorry, my name's Victoria. I heard a bit about you from Merlina."

"Oh yeah, you're her apprentice aren't you?" the dragon replied in realization. Victoria nodded.

"Well, not anymore. Merlina granted me the position of being a full wizard. I was asked to help Moltar along with Estrella and here we are." She replied as she removed the gloves from here hands and placed them in a wastebasket. The cat then grabbed the pouch, placing the strap over her shoulder, and the bucket in a hand.

"So, how long was I out?" Starkage asked as he sat up in the bed, his side burning in pain from the movement.

"Three days," she stated, earning a shock expression from the earth dragon. The cat chuckled slightly, "You're lucky Merlina taught me well, or you would've been out for a good week or two. Silver was in similar condition, though, you put a lot of effort to stop your brother causing you to pass out. Silver had to rest from his wounds for two days, but seeing that they would have to wait for you, it seems that telling him that would be useless.

"Oh, well, thanks for your medical help, Victoria, but…Whoa." The dragon said in surprise as he was pushed back down on the bed by the cat, his side wound stinging at the rough movement.

"Oh no, you need to rest until that wound heals up, which should take two to three days. So you'll stay in bed, or I'll freeze you in a block of ice for a decade." She replied as she glared at the dragon. Seeing him gulp and nod his head in agreement. She smiled before exiting the room.

"How is he?" Nate asked as Victoria closed the door to the dragon's room. Everyone stood up in worry for their injured friend and/or ally.

"He just woke up. Seems to have most of his strength back for someone with some could be fatal injuries. No infection of any sort and the stab mark seems to be healing up nicely. Still a bit of pain in the side, but I say he be ready to go and two to three days." Nightmare grunted at the cat's comment.

"He's an earth dragon; he'll shake that pain off in a couple of hours with some fresh air."

Um, excuse me, but I'm the doctor here, so I decide what's best for him, and that is to stay in bed and rest." Victoria sharply replied with a scowl. Nightmare growled slightly as he walked up to her.

"No excuse you for saying that you know more about dragons than a dragon himself. I saw Starkage get in worse cases where he was a cold for a good two months and after he woke he came out like he went into hibernation, even with the several bruises and scratch marks he had. This right here is nothing." The duo was face to face with each other, the atmosphere around them growing tenser by the second.

"Oh yeah, and how do you know about that?"

"Because of a partner thing I was force to do several years ago. I got paired up with the dragon and we had to do a mission together. I would've rather been paired up with his younger brother, but I will admit, he's not so bad once you get to know him." Nightmare replied. Victoria continued to glare at the black hedgehog.

"Fine, but if he comes back with those pain worsened, it's all on you." The feline stomped off back toward the dragon room.

"Hey, back so soon, what was all the commotion outside?" the green dragon replied as he watched the cat poke her head into the room.

"Yeah, we had a change, you're free to leave the medic." She replied before walking away to somewhere else in the clinic. Starkage quickly jumped out of the bed, his side searing in pain, as he walked out the door.

"Hey ya, didn't mean to keep ya waiting." The green dragon replied.

"Seems like you're okay, scale-face." Lamorak said with a smirk.

"Ya know I'm going to let that go today because I'm in a good mood." Starkage replied, "Anyway, Galahad, you're doing okay, and who's the girl with ya?"

"Oh, um, I'm doing fine," the white hedgehog said, a small and faintly noticeable blush appearing at his cheeks, "anyway, this is Alayna. She's a childhood friend of mine." Lancelot was the first to greet here, being that he was the closest.

"Hello, Alayna, glad to see you again." He said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Sonic." The blue hedgehog replied as he shook her hand diligently.

"I'm Gawain." The red echidna replied.

"The name Percival." The purple cat politely shook her hand.

"Lamorak the name." the hawk responded.

"Nightmare." The black hedgehog simply responded, shaking her hand for a few seconds.

"Starkage, nice to meet ya." The green dragon said, giving a hidden wink to Galahad who glared at him in response.

"Nate and Lunar." The twins said as they both took their turns shaking the hedgehog's hand.

"Well, now that we have the formal greetings done, isn't there somewhere we're supposed to go?" Sonic nodded in agreement.

"Alright everyone, our next destination is Cauldron." The group walked out of the clinic and was getting ready to exit the town.

"Hey, Nightmare," Starkage whispered as the shadow dragon turned to look at him, "come over here, need to talk to you." Nightmare let out an annoyed groan before walking to the black of the group where the dragon was.

"What is it?" he replied sharply, but at the same volume as Starkage.

"I heard what you said to Victoria, I knew we could be good friends." Starkage said. Nightmare rolled his eyes at the comment.

"Alright, alright, yes I admit you're a bit okay." Nightmare replied with a small smile.

"See," Starkage said as he pulled the hedgehog in, one arm across Nightmare's neck, "this could be a start of a beautiful friendship." Nightmare growled before pushing the green reptile off of him.

"Don't push your luck, I can easily take back all of that."

"Any other reasons why you said that?"

"Yeah, I didn't feel like waiting."