"You really love him, don't you?" Adei asked, watching Whitney stroke the sleeping Dominic's scales.

    "Yeah, I do. I truly am blessed to have him." She said, while looking at the face she loved, or rather, a variation of it.

    "Seems you've found the perfect mate." Said Adei.

    "Oh no! We're not mates! We're just...well, not yet. I mean, maybe one day...but..." She said, blushing the whole time. "I do love him a lot. And he's been nicer to me than anyone else, ever. He really is a great guy."

    "You don't need to tell me. He brought me into his home; took care of me, healed all my wounds, even after I..." Adeipho said trailing off.

    "After you...what?" Whitney asked curiously.

    "I did some really terrible things before he took me in...things I really regret doing" He said; his eyes turning glassy.

    "Talk to me. I can tell your sorry, and you can trust me." Whitney said, noting his sadness.

    "I tortured him. I tormented him for no reason; treated him like a toy only for my own amusement. I watched him shake as I pretended to want to kill him in hopes to see him cry. I let him escape, only so I could cut him off. I wanted to show that I was stronger than him, and I did. He didn't stand a chance...or so I thought. He fought back; landed a blow right in my snout. I cried. I had officially lost everything. I ran away, towards the cliffs. I looked down to the barren and rocky valley below. I closed my eyes and prepared for my final leap." He said sadly.

    "You...you were going to kill yourself?" Whitney asked. He nodded.

    "But I heard someone sneeze. He came back. He said he understood me. He wasn't upset at all. He didn't even show that he was mad. He said he didn't care about me though, but he made me feel like a person. That was the first time I ever apologized for anything. But, in a way, that made me feel worse. I had been wrong all those years; I was still going to jump. But not before he showed up. Another dragon, one that really hates me and is really powerful. But at that point, I had nothing left to lose. I got cocky, and in no time I found myself knocked out." He continued.
    
    "That's horrible!" Whitney said.

    "I expected to wake up in the same place I started. But instead, I woke up in his house, on his bed, with him sleeping on top of me. He woke up, and I asked what I was doing there. He said that he did care about me; that he didn't really understand. He took me in, even after that horrible stuff I did to him. He even made me food! Or was going to... Before he had a chance, he started to change; and so did I. Then his parents came home, we escaped, and now we're here." Adeipho said, ending the story

    "Wait...so you just...changed? For no reason?" She asked curiously.

    "Pretty much...or maybe we just don't know the reason." Adei said.

    "There has to be a reason. You don't just change into a completely different creature without a reason. There has to be some sort of scientific explanation...If only Dante were home! This would be so much easier! Dante's majoring in biology; I'm sure if he had a sample of your scales or blood or something, he could figure it out." Whitney said.

    "Wait, whose Dante?" Adei asked.

    "Dominic's brother. But he's at college now, so that's out..." Whitney said bitterly.

    "Wait, wait. Is he kinda tall, with short, black fur on his head, and a little on his chin. Sorta big for a human?" Adeipho asked, wondering if his theory was true.

    "Haha...it's called hair when it's on a human, not fur. But yeah, what you described is Dante. Did you see a picture of him or something?"
    
    "Dominic!" Adeipho screamed, causing Dominic to jolt awake and fall face first on the floor. With a groan he lifted his head off the floor to find the face of a very pissed half-dragon. "Your brother couldv'e helped us figure this out! Why didn't you ask him!?"

    "I didn't want him to know! What was I supposed to say to him? 'Hey, uh...we're dragons. Make it make sense please?' What would he think!?" Dominic argued back.

    "That's pretty much what you did with Whitney!" Adeipho yelled back.

    "That was different! Look, the point is, that we don't need Dante. We'll figure this out on our own. We're not going to him, and that's final." Dom said.

    "Oh no. Your done making decisions. You've made every decision so far; now its my turn. We're going to your brother; he's gonna help us, and that's final." Adei said, while grabbing one of Dominic's horns and dragging him out the door while he pouted. Whitney followed them out, laughing the whole time. "Don't worry Dominic...we can keep our secret a secret from Dante...I have a plan..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "This is not going to work and you damn well know it." Dom said as he pulled his shirt on.

    "Of course it will, he won't know where we got the blood from and he will never know." Whitney said as she looked over the little glass plate with a drop of blood on it. "Good thing I had that science kit I got for Christmas last year."

    "As long as I figure out what happened to me, I don't care." Adei said, while attempting to tie his borrowed boots, courtesy of Mr. Dallas, Whitney 's father. "How do you tie these damn things?"

    "I'll tie them for you." she said, as she untangled the dragon-turned-human's hand from the tangled mess of laces.

    "Thanks." Adei said as she tied his boots.

    "So let me get this straight." Dom said, mentally going over the retarded plan in his head. "We're going to show him the blood and he's going to look at it for us why?"

    "We're going to tell him that it is for a school project and we want his opinion." She told him.

    "And what if he finds something weird?" Dom asked.

    "Of course he's going to find something weird," Whitney said, he face was lit up in a big smile, "I mean come on, look at yourselves. There has to be something weird in there."

    "And when he asks where we got it?" Dom said, getting to the retarded part of the plan.

    "We say we just found it in the woods." she answered.

    "Any plan one what to do when he asks where?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

    "I'll make it up as we go." she answer as they set out to Dom's House.

    "I still don't like this idea." Dom said, still pouting.

    "You don't have to like it." Adei said, "You just have to go along with it."

    The three of them made their way to Dom's front door and were greeted by Dom's mother.

    "Where have you been?" she asked.

    "Over at Whitney's." Dom told his mother.

    "Next time, tell me when you plan to spend a long time at another person's home." she said as the trio went up stairs.

    "Sure thing Mom." Dom said, "Where's Dante?"

    "Upstairs, of course. He's organizing his room." she answered.

    "Thanks." he replied.

    "Now that that's over with, on you your brother." Adei said as they made their way down the hall to Dante's room.

    "I really don't like this plan." Dom said with a huff.

    "I've told you a hundred times on our way here, I don't care!" Adei yelled.

    Dom just let out huff as he knocked on the door.

    "Hey Bro, you in there?" he asked.

    "Sure am, come on in." Dante said as the Dom opened the door.

    "Hey Dante, you got a minute." He asked, hoping to God he didn't.

    "Sure do." he said with a smile as he turned to face the trio as they came into his room.

    "Damn! Why can't he have a life!" Dom thought to himself.

    "Well, we need you help to with a biology question." Whitney said, stepping around Dom, knowing full well he'd stall for as long as it took.

    "What kinda of question?" Dante asked.

    "We need you to look at a bit of blood for us." Adei said.

    "Really now?" he said, kinda surprised, "Well I happen to have a microscope right here on my desk. It's a really powerful one I got for college."

    "Great!" Whitney said.

    "Let's have a look at this sample of yours." Dante said as they handed him the slide that had the drop of blood on it.

    Dante slipped the slide under the microscope and looked through the eye piece.

    "What the hell is this?" he asked, not believing what he was seeing.

    "It's blood." Adei said.

    "Where did you get it?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the scope.

    "We found a puddle of it in the woods." Whitney said, trying to sell her lie.

    "Okay, I know you didn't just 'find' this in the woods because it is fresh blood." Dante said, feeling a little hurt by them insulting his intelligence with such a retarded ans. "It hasn't coagulated yet. What ever this blood came from, it was taken very recently."

    "We just found it a little while ago." said Whitney. Still pushing her plan forward, despite the obvious fact that it was falling apart.

    "Don't lie to me! Now spill it, where did this come from?" Dante asked, now a little angry.

    "I told you. In the woods, there was a puddle of it." she said.

    "If you found that in the woods, then I'm a frickin' dragon!" Dante said and was about to force the issue a little more when something caught his eye. There was a flower print Band-Aid on Dom's right arm. "You didn't have a cut on you when you left this morning."

    Dante walk over to Dom and pulled the Band-Aid off, revealing a small puncture mark.

    "Please tell me that this blood didn't come from you." he said as he started to back away.

    "What's wrong with it?" Dom asked, worried that he had found something really bad.

    "What's wrong with it, what's right with it is the shorter answer!" He said as he readied himself for the small speech he was about to give. "Let's start with the most obvious thing. The cells have two nuclei. Human cells have only one, hell almost all life on this planet has cells with just one nucleus. To have two is unheard of outside paramecium. The mitochondria are twice the size they should be and don't even get me started on the endoplasmic reticulum. This blood could not have come from a human, there is now way in hell."

    "We found it." said Whitney.

    "Well then, let's prove me wrong." Dante said as he took a dropper and used it to stuck a little bit of blood out of Dom's arm.

    "Ow, that's still tender." He said as his brother took a sample of his blood.

    Dante put it on a fresh slide and stuck it under the microscope. He almost immediately reared back up as soon as he got it into focus.

    "The blood did come from you." he said as he turned back to face his brother. "How the hell did this happen?"

    "We were kinda hoping you would help us find out." Adei said.

    "I have no idea what could possibly do this kind of celluar reconstruction," Dante said, baffled about this realiziation, "its beyond any scientific understanding."

    "Well, can you at least take a shot at it." Andy asked.

    "I don't even know where to start. I'd need to see the extent of the damage to fully judge the severity of the problem." He stammered.

    "Oh, the damage is pretty severe. I can tell you that." Dom said with a grumble.

    "You look fine to me" Dante said as he began to circle his brother, "With is kind of cellular damage, you shouldn't be alive. We need to get you to a hospital, right now."

    "No, I don't think that's a good idea." Dom said, fearful of what might happen.

    "Don't argue with me, now move." Dante said as he grabbed Dom's arm and began to drag him out the door.

    But before he could even reach the doorknob, a snap of bone cause him to freeze in his tracks. The sound came from behind him. He turned his head slowly to find himself looking at Dom's friend Andy. Andy was starting to swell, the muscles on his body were being to expand and his skin was drying out and hardening into black scales. His pants were ripped apart as well as his barrowed boots when his left and feet reshaped into the hind legs of a four legged animal. A big scaly tail shot out at the base of his spine and his neck stretch out. A pair of leathery wings grew out of his back, ripping his shirt to shreads and his face pushed out into a muzzle. his hands lost a finger, but each digit grew a sharp black claw. As various horns and spikes grew into place, Dante couldn't believe what he was looking at. It was an anthropomorphic black dragon and it was standing less than five feet from him.

   "Dude!" Whitney shouted. "Those were my dad's boots!"

    "W-w-w-w-what the hell is this." Dante stuttered.

    "St-st-st-stutter much!?" Adei said with a big dranconic grin.

    "This," Whitney said as she motioned to her two friends, "Is the thing we wanted to ask you about."

    "W-w-w-what a-a-am I c-c-can I do about this." Dante struggled to say.

    "You can tell us how this happened." Dom said as he freed himself from his brother's grasp.

    "You mean to tell me," Dante said, recovering control over his voice, "That you can do that too!?"

    "Yes, I can." Dom said, "Now tell me how this happened."

    "You have to tell me how the hell you know a dragon first." Dante said, trying to fathom what had just happened in his room.

    "Long story." Dom said.

    "I have the time, so tell me." Dante said, impatiently.

    "It happened yesterday, I walking along when I met this dragon, Adeipho, and then we met his friend, who was not so friendly. Adei was injured and unconscious after the encounter, so I brought him home and cleaned his wounds and then my own. Shortly after that we both started changing at the exact same time. He went from dragon to half human, like he is now, and I changed to half dragon."

    "I had no idea that there were any dragons still around. I don't know for sure what could have made you both change like that."

    "So you have no idea how this could happen?" Adei asked, disappointed.

    "No idea. I mean, there's two of everything in each cell. That just doesn't happen...well, it can, but not in proportions like that. There's even some organelles I've never seen before. The only explanation I can think of is...wait" Dante said, before going back to the microscope. He looked back up a few moments later. "Well, like I said before, there were two nuclei in each cell. And after looking closer at the chromosomes, I saw that one nuclei looked like it had the normal 46...well, normal for a human. But the other had alot more. More than any creature I've ever studied. My theory: your cells combined to make one super-cell type thing. Somehow, you two mustv'e bled inside each others wounds. Why your white blood cells didn't just eraticate the foreign cells is a mystery to me. Instead, it just combined, multiplied, and 'infected' the other cells. The change in your DNA caused you to transform."

    "So you are saying that it was a fluke?" Dom asked.

    "I'm not sure, I have never seen anything like this." Dante said, shaking his head.

    "But why can we change forms? Shouldn't we just be stuck like this?" Adei asked.

    "That's the next anomaly. There's some foreign organelle in your cells connecting your nuclei. I'm not sure where it came from, but my theory is that it combines your DNA, allowing the form your in now." He said to Adei. "But it also has two other canals to the cytoplasm, each only going to one of the nuclei. I'm thinking somehow you're able to decide which canal is active, allowing you to choose what form you have as well." Dante said. "Now I have one last test..." He said, while taking a needle and extracting his own blood. He introduced it to the mutated blood on the slide. He looked through the microscope, only to come up a few seconds later. "Well, your not contagious. It didn't combine as it seemingly did the first time. You shouldn't be able to infect people." He said. "Unfortuanatly..." Dante mumbled under his breath.

    "Well, now that we have some sort of explanation, what should we do?" Dom asked, as his sister walked into the room to see what was going on, Adei tried to hide, but too late. The girl saw him and once again ran away screaming.

    "Is she always like that?" Adei asked. "Seems like she screams every time she sees me."

    "It does seem that way." Dom said. "But now what am I gonna do? My mother will likely be up here in a minute, and all of your clothes are shredded! If you think my sister screaming was bad, wait just till my mom seems you."

    "It can't be nearly as bad as you think, Whitney didn't freak out, and Dante here was only a little surprised." Adei said.

    "Dom's right, I don't think we can let her see you like this." Dante said. "You can hide over there in the closet if she comes in here, I will see if I can talk to her." He finished as angry footsteps could be heard approaching the door, he quickly went outside to meet the unwanted guest.

    "What are you doing in there?" Dom's mother shouted. "Laura told me you had a giant lizard in there! And that it tried to attack her!"

    "I can assure you that there is no such thing there, look for yourself." He said as he opened the door, hoping that Adei had hidden in the closet and that his mother would not notice that Andy was missing.

    "Hello." Whitney said, while holding a partially inflated inflatable dragon toy.

    "Is that what she ran away screaming about?" Dom's mother asked

    "Yes, I happened to throw it towards the door right as she came inside." Whitney said, trying to hold a laugh in.

    "I thought maybe Dominic brought home a lizard or some other nasty thing, he knows I hate them." Dom's mom said, as she left the room.

    "The coast is clear." Whitney said, after a short while.

    Adei slowly came out of the closet and said "That was close."

    "Yeah it was, she is terrified of snakes and lizards, she sometimes gets panic attacks just looking at pictures of them."

    "That does not make much sense." Adei said.

    "No it does not, but I don't know what we can do about it." Dom said.

    "I'll tell you what we can do about it!" Adei said, while begining to walk out of the room. Needless to say, It took everyone else in the room to contain the halfdragon.

    "You are not going down there!" Dom said.

    "And why not?" Adei asked, not really seeing a problem.

    "You can't just go down there, my Mom will freak out." Dom said, still tugging on his friends scaly arm.

    "I still don't see the problem. So far the only person to freak out is your sister." Adei said, trying move forward.

    "No, I'm not telling her and that's final." Dom said.

    "Fine, if you're going to throw a hissy fit over it." said Adei as he walked back into the room.

    "Good." Dom replied as he let go.

    As soon as Adei put enough distance between himself and Dom and Dom turned his he a little to much, he bolted for the door. He wasn't fast enough though as Whitney saw this coming as stood in the doorway.

    "Nice try, but not good enough." she said as she glared up at him.

    "Fine, just thought I'd give it a shot." He said as walked over to Dante's bed and sat down.

    "So now what are we gonna do?" asked Dom.

    "Best I figure, go on with your lives. There's nothing that I can tell that's a possible hazard so I'd say your fit to do as you please." Dante said as he cleaned off his table.

    "How do we go on, is that even possible?" Dom asked, starting to really think about his future.

    "You have a human form, I really don't see a problem here." Whitney said.

    "There is a problem, a big one." Dom said, "I can feel myself getting weaker, the longer I stay human, the weaker I seem to feel."

    "Huh, let me look at you." said Dante as he looked over Dom. "You're starting to droop over and you muscles seem to be losing energy. It must be homeostasis."

    "Homeo-what?" Adei asked, still on the bed, but now paying attention.

    "Homeostasis is what your body needs to function." Dante explained, "You bodies are looking for the happy middle ground. You have two very different forms and your bodies are trying to find the middle ground between them, hence the anthropomorphic form. You seem to able to hold an extreme form only for a short time. If you change into you anthro form, you should feel better."

    "You sure your ready to see what I look like?" Dom asked, a little worried what his brother might think of him.

    "Just go in my bathroom and change," Dante ordered, "I'm a little curious of what my little brother's other face looks like."

    "He's really cute." Whitney said as Dom walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

    The sounds of bones popping and various other noises could be heard coming through the door. Not long after the sounds stopped, did a white anthro dragon walk out.

    "Well, this is the 'other me' I guess." Dom said as he placed his folded clothes on Dante's bed next to Adei.

    "Well, I'm impressed. You look really cool." Dante said as he looked the half dragon over, "You feel better?"

    "Yeah, I do. I feel great." said Dom as he realized all the pains were gone.

    "That means this is now your, quote unquote, 'true form'." Dante said.

    "What do you mean by that?" asked Dom.

    "You are essentially tethered to this form." Dante explained, "You will have to return to it; that fits with the homeostasis argument. You can't stay at one extreme end for to long or the system breaks. I guess you'll have to sleep like this it order to keep up your strength."

    "You mean I have to sleep like this all night?" Dom asked, "What if Mom or Laura walk in on me? They're not going to believe that a white anthro dragon is really me."

    "I know how you can fix that." chimed in Adei.

    "No, I'm not doing it. I'm not telling." Dom scolded.

    "You'll regret it later, you can bet on it." he replied.

    "No I won't, because she won't find out. Ever." said Dom as he crossed his arms over his scaly chest.

    "Isn't he just so cute when he's trying to be serious?" Whitney said as traced little circles on his stomach with her index finger.

    "Listen, I thick we're missing the real point here," Adei said as he stood up from the bed, "How are we going to get my turf back."

    "You really want to take on Octavius." asked Dom.

    "That's my turf and I want it back." Adei said, putting him foot down.

    "Well then, we need a plan." said Dom, rubbing his scaly chin in thought.                 

    "Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure." said Dante.

    "What the hell does that mean." asked Dom.

    "I just figured it was funny. I'm still getting whole thing of my own brother being half dragon now." Dante replied.

    "Well try to contribute a little more useful ideas please." Dom said.

    "Fine." Dante said in a huff.

    "Now how do we get rid of a dragon that is bigger, stronger then both of us." Adei said.

    "Good question, well we have a two options." Dom said, pacing about the room, "One, we take it on and kill it or two, run away. Who's for two?"

    "Where did you get that from?" asked Adei.

    "Red Dwarf, I love that show." Dom said.

    "You humans and your TV." Adei said as he shook his head, "We need to really think about this. I want my territory back."

    "I know, I'm just having a little fun." Dom told him.

    "Well stop it, we need a plan." Adei said.

    "I got it." Whitney chimed in, "We sneak into his cave and smother him with a pillow."

    "That's the dumbest plan yet." Adei said.

    "I think its good." she said.

    "You said the same thing about the plan with Dante and look how that turned out." said Dom.

    "Say that again and you can forget about me making you cheese cake for you ever again." Whitney told him.

    "Okay, I'll stop." Dom sighed, protecting his beloved supply of delicious cheese cake.

    "How about you guys go ask him to leave?" Dante said.

    "You obviously don't know Octavius." Adei said with a sigh, "He won't listen, he'll just beat us up."

    "Where brawn fails, brains can shine through." Dom said with a draconic smirk, "If we can't beat him in a straight up fight, don't fight one."

    "What do you mean?" asked Adei, curious of what Dom was thinking.

    "We get him to drop his guard and hit him with everything we have." he said.

    "How do we do that? He has his guard up all the time." Adei replied.

    "If you go full dragon, he won't think anything is amiss. I'll go human and pretend to not be much of a threat. He'll ignore me and go after you. I'll get up behind him and whack him over the head with something in anthro, giving me a strength boost. That should do some damage and leave him confused and disorientated, allowing us to hit him from two sides at the same time." Dom said proudly, quite pleased with his ingenius battle plan.

    "That could work if you had any clue of how to fight." Adei said as he looked over his friend, "You have a narrow stance. You hold your forelegs two loosly and you don't keep your wings out so wide."

    "Okay, first of all. I stand like this all the time. Second of all, they're called arms and you're supposed to hold them loose and third of all, I think my wings are just fine where thay are." Dom protested.

    "If you plan to fight, you have to be ready. I'd listen to him Dom." Dante said.

    "Fine," Dom said in huff, "What do you think we should do?"

    "We find a large patch of woods and we practice fighting." Adei said.

    "Each other?" Dom asked.

    "No, that imagery dragons from the land of whocaresistan." Adei said as he rolled his eyes, "Of course each other!"

    "I don't think I want to fight you." Dom said a little nervously.

    "If you don't want to fight me, then how the hell are you gonna fight Octavius?" Adei asked, "I'm a ton easier to fight than him."

    "I guess your right." Dom said, collecting himself.

    "You're damn right I am, now let's go." Adei said.

    "Wait, how are we going to leave the house looking like this." Dom said, looking over his scaly body.

    "Here, climb out this window. You can take off from the porch's roof." Dante said as he rolled up a rather large window near his bed.

    "That'll work." Adei said as he squeezed out the window and onto the porch's roof.

    "I hope no one sees us." said Dom as he too climbed out the window.

    "Even if they do, you'ld be surprised at just how easy it is for people to shrug off things like seeing dragons." Adei said.

    "I guess that's how you stayed hidden for all these years." Dom said.

    "Simple really." he admitted.

    The two half-dragons took off from the porch roof and went in search of a suitible place to train. That found an abandoned park that had a very large patch of woods in the middle of it.

    "This looks good." Adei said, eyeing the area.

    "So how are we going to do this." Dom asked.

    "Like this!" Adei yelled as he threw a punch right at Dom's left shoulder.

    Dom dodged it, but he couldn't dodge the right hook into his mid-section.

    "Is this how we're going to train?" Dom asked as he gasped for breath.

    "Learn by doing my friend, learn by doing." Adei said as he drove a hammer blow to Dom's right arm.

    The two of them continued to wail on each other, learning to anticipate their opponent's moves and watch their body for any signs of what the other was going to do. This went on for two hours, them just dealing one blow, bite, kick, claw and whatever they thought was the best move at the time. At the end of it, they had knocked down three trees, destroyed and old pavilion, and of walking bridge now was missing two of it's sis legs and the wild roses were burned to a crisp.

    "You need to watch your fire usage, don't get carried away with it." Adei said, wiping a bit of blood off his muzzle that came from a busted lip.

    "You got a mean left hook there Adei." Dom said as he rubbed his aching jaw.

    "You think you're ready for Octavius?" asked Adei, waiting for the responce he wanted.

    "I think so." Dom replied, unsure about himself.

    "I think so isn't good enough. You have to believe you can, that was my problem. I never thought I could, but that's changed. I think I can do this, I have a reason to do this and I have a friend to help me. So you with me on this?" Adei asked, a smile growing on his muzzle.

    "Right behind you man." Dom said, a smile finding its way onto his face as well.

    "Then let's do this." Adei said, with a huge draconic smirk on his face.

    "Time to get messy." Dom said as the two of them jumped into the sky to search for their target.       

    A few minutes and mile later, Dom and Adei found themselves at the exact place where the began; the stench of blood still lingered in the air. They found themselves staring down into a cave; Adei's cave, which had been taken over. Now it was time to take it back. They walked inside prepared for the fight of they're lives. They heard a few growls from within the cave. Soon enough, Octavius revealed himself.

    "Well, well, well. Looks like Addy's found a new friend!" Octavius mocked. The dragon then looked over to Dom. "You shouldn't have crossed me, kid. I gave you a chance; I could've easily killed you before, but I let you leave with your life. But now your trespassing once again. And you're going to have to pay." He said while walking slowly towards Dom.

    "Octavius! Forget about the human, just deal with me!" Adeipho said, while circling around to get on the other side of Octavius.

    "Hehe...no, Addy. Don't worry, I'll get to you in due time, but first comes the boy. It's a shame; if only you were stronger. Maybe you could protect him, but alas, now he's going to have to die. How's it feel, Addy? You finally get a friend, and now you're too weak to help him. This is going to be fun." Octavius laughed, as he continued to progress towards Dominic.

    "This isn't working!" Dominic mouthed nervously to his friend behind Octavius.

    "I don't know what to do!" Adei mouthed back.

    "Get over here!" Dominic replied, while motioning frantically with his hand.

    "And do what?" Adei asked back.

    "I don't know...just change or something!" Dominic mouthed back.

    "There's no time!" Adeipho said, as Octavius had finally gotten into Dominic's personal bubble. Frantically Dominic looked for some way out of the situation at hand. When he had come to the realization that there was no way out, he frantically threw a fist, just as he had done to Adeipho just yesterday. Now, it's one thing to brag about living to punch a dragon once, but twice was no where short of a miracle. Unfortunatly Dominic had no such luck, as Octavius had caught his arm a mere half an inch before connecting to his snout. Octavius smiled and laughed.

    "That may work on a weakling like Addy, but not on someone like me. It was a good attempt though, I'll admit. But that doesn't change the fact that you're trespassing, and now you must die." Octavius said, still grinning satanically. Dominic was in distress. There was no way for Adei to get over to help him now, and he was disarmed and had no where to run. He thought frantically for a way out. Just as he had given up hope, a strike of inspiration hit him. He had seen it in a movie, and there was a huge possibility that it wouldn't work. But at that point in time, there was no other choice. He prepared himself for the stunt.

    "This is all your fault!" Dominic screamed to Adeipho. "If you would've just fucking helped me in the first place this wouldn't have happened!" He screamed once more. Octavius was slightly shocked at this sudden outburst.

    "My fault!? It was your stupid plan!" Adei responded. Dominic had to use all of his will to keep from smiling. Adei's short temper hadn't failed him, thankfully.

    "My stupid plan might have worked if you weren't such a coward! 'Oh, I'm Adiepho, with my horns and tail and scales. I'm just gonna walk over here and let Dominic do all the work!' Pathetic!" Dominic said, as he lifted his arms to portray horns on his head. His plan had suceeded. Octavius was so caught up in the hilarity of the flame war that he didn't even noticed Dominic slipping out of his grip.

    "Shut up! I just did what you told me to do!" Adeipho said, getting angrier by the second.

    "You should know that no plan is foolproof, you idiot!" Dominic said, as he walked over towards Adei. "I'm so pissed at you, I could fight you here and now!"

    "You seriously want to fight me right now!?" Adei, while walking towards Dominic.

    "Yeah! Right now, I just want punch a pure blood dragon right in the face!" Dominic yelled, suttley accenting the words "pure blood dragon", hoping that Adeipho would catch on.

    "I know what your saying! Well, I too feel the need to punch a pure blood in the face!" Adei said. For a split second he smirked, alerting Dominic that he truly understood what he was trying to say.

    "Fine! On the count of three, we each make our move! One!" Dominic shouted.

    "Two!" Adeipho shouted back, as they each readied themselves.

    "Three!" They shouted in unison, as they turned toward Octavius. They threw they're appendages at him. He was too caught up in the moment to react, so both the fist struck him dead center in the face. The force of the blows almost made him seem to fly through the air backwards. He was pushed back a good 50 feet. Dominic and Adeipho both smirked and looked back at him.

    "You shouldn't have done that!" Octavius screamed. While holding his bleeding nose and wiping his watering eyes. "You're both going to pay with your lives!"

    "I think now's as good as time as ever to show him our special 'talent'" Dominic said calmly, while extending his hand.

    "Yes, let's show him." Adeipho said, while shaking Dominic's hand. They both signalled for the change to happen. Dominic began to grow his white scales, while Adeipho's bones rearanged. Dominic's face pushed out into a snout, and his head grew horns, while Adeipho began to shink somewhat and lift off the ground to shift into his bipedal stance. Dominic grew his wings and claws, as Adei gained thumbs and dextarity. Octavius was speechless and dumbfounded. The two halfdragons smirked and scoffed.

    "What the hell are you!?" Octavius shouted, scared as hell.

    "Just two friends who discovered something very unique." Adei said, still smiling.

    "I do have to thank you, Octavius. If you weren't so brutal and merciless, I would've never helped out Adeipho. But because of you, we discovered that if our blood mixes inside of us, and our bodies are willing for the change, it'll happen." Dominic said.

    "'But that doesn't change the fact that you're trespassing, and now you must die.'" Adei quoted mockingly. He looked over at Dominic and nodded. Dominic imediatly understood what was to come next. They both inhaled a huge amount of air. Octavius's eyes grew wide, as he stood up as fast  as his shaking body would allow. Both Dominic and Adeipho let out a stream of fire driectly at Octavius. The dragon started to run, but wasn't fast enough. He took a direct hit of fire to the right side of his head. He cried out in pain; even his scales couldn't survive the intence heat of the blast. His right eye was blinded, and his scales fell off, leaving a charred patch of skin. He ran out of the cave as fast as he could into a different part of the forest. No one knew when he would stop running, or even if he would. That just left Dominic and Adeipho in their regained territory.

    "We did it!" Adei said, "Now what?"

    "I'm not sure, I think I should let my family know about my new self." Dom said

    "It's about time! Nobody has freaked out yet, what's the worst that could happen?" Adei  asked.

    "Not sure, she is terrified of snakes and lizards, so it might not end well." Dom said. "But still, I have to try. If my family will not accept me as I am, I don't need to stay with them."

    "I will come with you. I don't think Octavius will try and retake the territory just yet." Adei said, smiling. "You helped me solve my problem, I can only return the favor. Even if I caused the problem in the first place."
   
    "Thank you, but this is not anywhere near as big a problem." Dom said. They flew back to Dom's house, where Whitney and Dante met them outside.

    "So how did it go?" Whitney asked.

    "We did it!" Dom said.

    "We didn't succeed in killing him, but I doubt he will bother me again anytime soon."

    "That's good, but what are you two going to do now?" Dante asked.

    "Well, Dom here is finally going to let the rest of his family know about his new abilities." Adei said.

    "Are you sure you want to?" Whitney said.

    "Yes, I must do it, I won't be able to hide it forever, and it's not right for me to hide something this big from them."

    "I agree." Dante said.

    "And I brought you some clothes, I think you should meet them in your human form, they will never believe the dragon form is you."

    "Indeed. Thanks." Dom said. "But what about Adei?"

    "I will come as a dragon." Adei said.

    "Ok then, lets do it." Dom said, as he took the clothes and went out of sight to change back to human and dress himself. Then he knocked on the door of his house, and waited for his perants to open it.

    "Hey, where have you been? You never told us you were leaveing again!" His mother said.

    "I was helping a good friend out of a tight spot." He answered.

    "Who? Was it that boy who was here earlier?" She asked, curiously.

    "Yes, it was him, but not as you know him, or me for that matter." Dom said.

    "What do you mean?" She asked. "I don't understand."

    "Neither do I, at least not completely." Dom said. "Here let me show you. Please do not panic, nothing will hurt you. Adei, now is the time, come over here."

    "Adei? I thought his name was Andy." His mother was saying, she stopped talking completely and stared  as she caught sight of the black dragon coming up behind him. His Father had saw it as well, and said "Dominic! Behind you!"

    "Don't worry, this is the person you know as Andy. He's not going to hurt us." Dom said, trying to calm his parents down. It failed. As the black dragon got closer, Dom's father's fight or flight responce kicked in and he lounged at the dragon, ignoring the fact that it could easily kill him. The dragon jumped out of his way, and Dom restained the man.

    "Why did you do that?" Adei asked, slightly confused. "Well, Dom did say you might freak out."

    "What is going on?" Dom's Father asked. "Who is that?"

    "It's Adei, also known as Andy." Dom said calmly.

    "But how? Andy was a kid like you! How could he become a dragon?" The very confused man asked.

    "The question is, how did he become a human." Dom said. "I met him yesterday while I was walking in the park. He was born a dragon, and that did not change until after I brought him home, he had been badly hurt so I did what I could to help him."

    "I would most likely be dead if not for your son." Adei added.

    "But I still don't understand, how can he be that kid you brought over?"

    "When I was working on his wounds, something very strange happened to both of us."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I can show you, but promise me you wont freak out again." Dom said.

    "Sure, I can't think of anything that could surprise me more then this dragon showing up at my door with my son." He said, still wondering what Dom was talking about. Dom walked a short distance away and next to Adei. "Let's show him what we truely are." Dom said.  They both started to change shape, as Dom's Father just stared in amazment. Dom remembered his clothes too late, and they once again ripped as his tail and wings emerged. Once the tranformation was complete, Dom and Adei walked back to Dom's father.

    "Wow, I have never seen anything like that." He said.

    "Neither have we. But I think the more important thing is what are we going to do about mom? She seems to be in shock." Dom said.

    "That's true." Dom's Dad said. "I'm not sure what we can do, she's always been terrified of reptiles." He and the two half dragons started walking back to the house.

    "Stay back! How could you do that to my son!" Dom's mother shouted, aperently able to move again.

    "Relax! It's me!" Dom said. "Please believe me."

    "I hate that black thing for doing this horrible thing to you!" She yelled. The three people continued coming closer, and she finally turned and ran into the house. Dom, his friend and his dad followed her inside, only to find that she had barricaded herself in the bathroom. One of the chairs from the hall was missing.

    "She grabbed a chair. She must have wedged it against the door. We're not getting in till she lets us in." Dom's Dad said.

    "How." Dom asked.

    "Under the knob, it works very well." he replied.

    "Well, that could have went better." Adei said, only mildly amused.

    "It's not funny." Dom's dad said, still a little uneasy standing next to two half dragons. "She is scared senseless."

    "Is everything ok?" Dante asked, after coming inside.

    "We came when we heard your mother yelling." Whitney said.

    "I don't know what to do, she thinks this is a horrible thing, and blames Adei." Dom said. "I hope she can get over it."

    "I think she can, but it might be a while." Dante said.

    "Man I hope this ends well, remember the time with the little lizard you found under the stairs?" Dante said.
    
    "She didn't come out of her bedroom for three hours." Dom replied sadly.
    
    "This is a much bigger problem than that puny little lizard." Dom's Dad said, "You two have really got her up a tree."

    "We just have to put our heads together and figure this out." Dom confidently said.

    "How?" asked Whitney, "You have a Mom that is terrified of reptiles and now her own son is covered in scales. How could possibly convince her to open that door?"

    "Let me think." Dom said, scratching his chin again.

    "You do that enough and you'll wear down your scales right there." Adei told him.

    "Stop it, I'm trying to think." he shot back.

    A little light bulb turned on in Dom's head. He had to convince her to come out and the best way to do that was to get her to want to come out. A mother's instinct to protect her children is a very powerful thing and if she was convinced that he needed her, she would come out.

    "Mom, you in there?" Dom asked through the door.

    "Is that thing still in my house?" she answered.

    "I'm right here." Adei replied.

    "Go away!" Dom's Mom yelled back, "I never want to see you again!"

    "Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere." he said back.

    "Mom, come out here so we can talk face to face." Dom told her.

    "Not as long as he's here." she shot back.

    "Well then you better get settled because I'm not leaving." Adei said, planting his feet loundly on the floor to make sure she heard it.

    "Mom come out, please. I need your help." Dom pleaded.

    "With what?" she asked, it sounded like she was a little concerned.

    "I need you help to deal with this, I can't do it alone." he replied, trying to sound as scared and alone as possible, but not over sell it.

    "Honey, you have to understand, I have a fear of reptiles. I can't even look at you without being scared out of my wits." she replied, her voice was a little cracked.

    "Does that mean you don't love me anymore?" asked Dom, part of it was his plan, the other part was that he truly wanted to know.

    "There is nothing on the Earth that can make me stop loving you, but I just can't be around you when you look like that." she said, it was clear that she was on the verge of tears.

    "This is what I am now and you'll have to face your fears sometime and you might as well get it over with." replied Dom, putting his head on the door, "So would you please open the door?"

    "No, not until he leaves and never comes back." she said, stubbornly holding onto her position.

    "He's my friend and that's the way it is." Dom told her, "It's not his fault that this happened and it's not mine either. It just happened and that's the end of it. To hold this grudge against him is wrong."

    "I still blame him." she shot back.

    "That won't stop me from seeing him, bringing him over, visiting him. We're both in this together." said Dom.

    "Why is it that you stick up for the creature so much?" she asked.

    "He is just as much a freak as me. He was a full blooded dragon before he met me, we both went through the same changes. We're both halfdragons now, neither of us are what we once were and now I need you to understand that." Dom strongly told her.

    "You mean to tell me you changed him as much as he changed you?" she asked, sounding really confused at this point.

    "Yes, I did." Replied Dom as calmly as he could.

    "So if the both of you are just as much misfits, then you really have nowhere to go do you?" she asked, she was defiantly starting to show her motherly instincts, but not a lot.

    "Yes Mom, you're our best hope." Dom pleaded with her, "If you turn us away, then I'll be forced to live in some cave out in the woods. Eating whatever I can find."

    The sound of a chair moving away from the door was quickly followed by the sound of the bathroom door creeping open. She leaded out to met the gazes of the assembled group of three humans and two half-dragons.

    "No son of mine will be forced into that life." she said, mustering any strength she had, "I'm not going to let my son live in the woods like some animal because of me."

    "Thanks Mom." Dom said with a draconic smile.

    "I resent being called an animal." Adei said.

    "I don't care. As far as I'm conserned, you still caused this. I'm only doing this to insure that my baby boy gets a good life. I will not stand to let him run off into the wild with the likes of you." She replied, glaring at Adei.

    "You are very lucky you didn't meet me two days ago." he shot back.

    "Adei no, we need to take this nice and easy." Dom told him.

    "Yeah, lay off. She's upset right now." Dante said, trying to help.

    "Cool it, we got her to listen, we don't need to scare her again." Whitney said.

    "Fine, I'm going back to the living room, there's a couch there." Adei said as he walked off.

    "I don't like him, but I guess I'll put up with him for your sake." Dom's Mom said.

    "Thanks." Dom replied.

    "So, you guys want dinner?" she asked.

    "Yeah, sure! Do you have any cow?" Adeipho asked greedily.

    "No, We're all out of that." Dominic's mother hastily and bitterly replied.

    "But we always have steak. Or at least bacon." Dominic contridicted.

    "Well, tonight we don't. I'll just make some chicken" She said, as Adei silently scoffed.

    "Doesn't she know that birds are my distant relatives? I can't eat my cousins!" Adeipho said quietly to Dominic.

    "Well, then, I guess your not eating tonight." Dominic's mom said, obviously overhearing the conversation. "Take it or leave it."

    "I guess I'll just go upstairs then." Adeipho grumbled bitterly as he stormed up to Dom's room.

    The family sat down at the dinner table prepared to eat their meal. All the chairs were filled up, except for one. No one seemed to notice for a while until the missing party opened the door. For a second the entire family forgot about their odd situation and let the visitor come in without any warning. Seemingly all at once, the family members looked up wide-eyed from their plates and realized that the scaly son might put off a few people. Frantically they stood up and were about to run and hide Dominic, but it was too late. Laura walked in the kitchen and froze. Time seemed to stop as the two parties just ended up looking at each other. The rift was repaired when Laura unleashed an earthshaking scream while pointing at the scaly figure in front of her. She seemed to scream for hours on end, although it was only a few moments. And just as she stopped for a breath, the creaking of the old staircase could be heard.

    "Hey! I heard screaming! Did your mom die?" Adeipho said, almost running down the stairs. Laura turned around, as her eyes got even wider than before, and continued her ear-spliting scream. Adei covered his ear holes with his claws. "I don't need to take this. I'm going back upstairs." He replied nonchalantly, as he walked back up to Dom's room to play with his stereo. By this time Laura was completely out of breath.

    "Dragon...house...here..." She managed to get out between gasps.

    "Calm down Laura, we know. This Dragon right here is your brother. Calm Down. It's gonna be fine." Dante said.

    "Dante...dragon...is...Dante?" Laura said disorientedly.

    "No, no. I'm Dante; this is Dominic. Get it?" Dante said slowly.

    "Dominic...is...a...dragon..." Laura said exhaustively, before colapsing on the ground. He parents rushed over to her to help her recover, while Dominic snuck a bag of deli ham from the refridgerator and scurried upstairs. He opened his room door to find Adeipho laying on the bed with Dom's headphones on.

    "You're wearing them upside-down." Dom said, noting the band around his neck. "The part that connects the speakers goes on the top of your head."

    "Thanks. I guess I just don't get human inventions." Adeipho said tiredly.

    "Yeah...Oh! I got you this." Dominic said, while tossing him the bag.

    "Thanks." Adeipho said monotonically.

    "So...um...what are you listening to?" Dominic said, trying to make conversation.

    "I don't know, but I like it" He said somberly, rocking his head slowly to the beat of the song. "Our music is different. We howl in tune with each other; just pure emotion. But I like your music better. It tells a story and involves both emotion and thought."

    "Yeah, I guess." Dominic said, noting his friends depression. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

    "No, it's nothing. It's just a sad song." Adeipho said dazed.

    "It has to be something more. You seemed upset even before you came up here." Dominic noted.

    "I told you, it's nothing!" Adeipho snapped, and then immediately backed off. "I'm sorry...I'm just having some repetance." He said, looking at the stereo, which had been on track 5 for 3 minutes.

    "What do you have to repent for?" Dominic asked.

    "Did you forget what happened two days ago? I know I said I was sorry, but I did that to a lot of people. And the way your mom is treating me is the way I treated a lot of people. I just hated them because they were humans, just like she hates me just because I'm a dragon. It feels terrible. I don't like it. I'm a terrible person, and I don't deserve any of this. I'm guilty; I was so wrong."

    "Sometimes you gotta be wrong; learn the hard way. Just when you're through hanging on, your saved." Dominic said, to Adeipho's surprise. "I like that song, too." He explained.

    "Still, it's all true. I tortured people, and I feel terrible. I hate myself for it. It's all true..." Adeipho said solemnly.

    "The truth is the truth. All you can do is live with it." Dominic quoted, just as the song ended.