Upon Flights of Fantasy (an Upon Wings of Change story)

Chapter 3

The scarlet dragonet, who I now know is, quite literally, called Scarlet, looks at me with confusion as I finish explaining our predicament to her.

"So that's what happened?" she asks. "I thought it was just some normal kidnapping. This is a bit overboard."

I shrug, or at least the closest I can manage to a shrug. "I mean, at least we're alive, right?"

Scarlet nods thoughtfully, then turns her attention back to the ruins around us. "Any idea what did this?"

"No clue. But what I heard while still in my egg may explain it."

She looks at me, wide-eyed. "You really think it was aliens?"

"I mean, most anything is possible at this point," I reply, pointedly looking at her wings and tail. "So if all we have to go on is aliens, then so be it."

Suddenly, my stomach rumbles. I sigh and look around the demolished lab before turning back to Scarlet. "I think we'll have to find a source of food before we starve."

She nods in agreement, then adds, "And water."

I stretch for what feels like the first time in decades. Surviving out here, separated from the rest of the dragonets, it was going to be hard. But spending all my time in the dojo taught me a very important thing, if not among other things;

Never give up.

That was my motto through my human life. Now, as a dragonet, I'm still going to look to it when I get lost.

I spread my wings and nod to Scarlet, saying, "I'll check the empty food bowls and see what kind of diet we have."

"Sounds good," she replies, then turns to the sky, her eyes narrowing. "In the meantime, I'll check out what happened to the world for this to happen to the lab, be it aliens or anything else." She takes off, her wings still a bit weak, but determination radiating from her scales.

I snort at her formality, then take off towards the closest non-egg cage that's still standing. I land inside and check the bowls. Using my newfound sense of smell, I can tell there have been some kind of fruit in the bowl before, though I can't tell what kind. I guess we're herbivores, then. I check the other bowl, but there's no water in it.

Annoyed, I soar over to the next cage, and the next and the next.

After searching almost every cage, I only found one bowl of water and a few fruit pieces, peach, strawberry, and mango. Carefully, I fly each bowl to the ground, where Scarlet and I agreed to have as our "camp." Sniffing the fruits, I can almost instantly tell which ones I prefer in this form, but I know it would be better to wait for Scarlet first.

A little while later, Scarlet wings down to me with a simple trill as a "watch out, I'm coming" alert. Her eyes brighten when she sees the food and water, then fall as she realizes how little there is.

"You checked every cage?" she asks me. "Even the egg ones, for good measure?"

"Yes, I made sure to check them all, even the ones on the floor, though it was a bit hard to get in." I shiver. "I sure hope no other human or alien tries to put me in a cage. At least I didn't have to live through being in the lab."

"Why? I don't think it would have been that bad," Scarlet muses, "I mean, you would have food and water, and I'm pretty sure those are heating lamps."

I turn to the closest cage with a shock. They were heating lamps? I would've never known had I not met Scarlet. "Well, I'm a bit claustrophobic," I answer her question. "I probably would have gone crazy within the first day."

Scarlet chirps in amusement, and suddenly I realize how familiar the sounds of the dragonets are becoming to me already. And it hasn't even been a day!

"Can you tell which ones you prefer?" I ask Scarlet, gesturing to the fruits.

Delicately, she sniffs them all, then points to the peach and mango."I was never one for strawberries," she explains.

I trill in joy. "That means the strawberry is all for me!" I stop, and look at the mango, which I also kind of want. "How about we split the mango?" I suggest, and Scarlet nods.

"I thought you had your eye on the mango too!" she giggles, though the giggles, in dragonet language, sound more like a sneeze. I giggle in reply, creating more small sneezes. We have a sneeze fest before finally settling down to eat and drink our food supply.

We're careful to leave a bit of everything in case we don't find food tomorrow. My stomach grows in displeasure, but I shrug it off (figuratively). We need to ration our food and water, I tell my stomach. We don't know how long we'll be stuck without any sources to get more stuff.

At that, strangely, my stomach settles down a bit. I yawn and turn to Scarlet.

"We should find a way to rest," I say.

"Mm. Good idea."

We work together to carry a tray of sand from one of the cages to our "camp." While moving it off the table, I notice the label on the side of the cage.

"Specimen 2843
Human Name: Tasha
Female, 20 years old
Intelligence specification group
Collected: September 14th
Tranquilizer: Blend A3
Metaforming Completed: February 2nd
Egg Case Finished: February 18th
High Heat Hatching Method: C5
Hatched: March 21st
Fight or Flight
Avoided Conflict or Engaged Conflict
Actions: Mostly defensive moves
Weight: 4 lbs, 8 oz - 1.9 kg
Height at Shoulder: 9 in - 23 cm"

Hm. Tasha. That's a nice name, I think. I wonder if she made it out.

Together, Scarlet and I heave the sand tray onto the ground, right next to our meager rations of food and water.

Side by side, we sink into the sand and completely relax for the first time that day.

"So... How'd your observation go?" I ask Scarlet, curious to know what she saw.

"Pretty good. I can tell that this is work of aliens. Everywhere, there are weird puddles of goo with things like clothes stuck on them. I think they're humans, victims of some kind of alien machine." I inhale sharply. For once, I'm glad I'm not a human anymore, or that could have been me. Or Scarlet."I also noticed an abundance of strange, white life forms that I believe are the aliens that attacked Earth," Scarlet finishes.

"If there was a laser thing, then I must have still been in my egg when it hit the lab. I didn't see anything like it, at least," I muse.

"We'll have to stay on alert for any of those white aliens," Scarlet points out."They may be dangerous and attack us." 

I nod in agreement."Good point." I curl up, leaning on Scarlet's warming scales. "G'night, Scarlet."

"Night, Noelle," she whispers back.

With the comforting words echoing in my head, and my motto blazing in there as well, I sink into a my first sleep as a hatched dragonet.

And so my new life begins...