Ryoke stared out the window on the third floor of the apartment building. The sky was dark and angry, clouds completely covering the sky over the city. Some of the other citizens had been saying that this was the worst storm in decades, Ryoke didn't doubt it. So far it had rained for three days straight and floods seemed to be a real worry. With a sigh, the teenager laid back on his bed and clicked out the light. School had been cancelled, minorly flooded, but there was no reason to get excited about the next day.

---

High in the mountains a silver shape shook tears from her furred muzzle. The sploshed wetly against the rock of the cliff she was perched on, displacing some of the water that had already landed from the now dissipating thunderstorm. Flooding hadn't reached anywhere near the silver Asian dragoness's peak.

The lithe dragon moved to the end of her perch, gripping the edge of the rock surface with her talons. She was an impressive creature, perhaps sixty feet long from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tufted tail and completely covered in fur; silver on most of her body fading to white on her belly with a long sky blue mane. Four golden horns graced the back of her head in completion of her crest. A single, fiery opal-colored pearl sat between her eyes on the base of her muzzle.

Giving a sigh, the dragoness lifted one paw, palm up, and tilted it to the side until another pearl, glowing blue, fell from her palm and plummeted to the valley below. She laid down, head hanging over the edge and watched the glow disappear into the mists below. It was gone now, the last reminder...

---

Ryoke was abruptly awakened by a loud, persistent banging on the door to his room. With a groan he rolled over--and off his bed. Grumbling he dragged himself up and staggered over the door yanking it open. "What do you want?" He grumbled, running a hand down his face.

"Have you looked outside?" the other teenager said, giving Ryoke a wide grin. "The rain's stopped!"

Blinking, Ryoke at last noticed that bright sunlight was streaming in through his window. "When'd it stop? Last night it was coming down in poolfuls!"

"Sometime during the night," the boy mumbled, taking a bite from an apple he'd been carrying in his hand. "City's still quite waterlogged and flooded, but the water's low enough to get out of town. Care for going up to the mountains? Will have to be careful, though. The trails are probably rather muddy."

"Sure," Ryoke replied around a yawn and grabbed a yellow t-shirt off his bed. "Just let me get dressed and my stuff together and we'll go."

---

The great dragoness stirred in the morning light streaming down through an opening in the top of her den, opening slitted sapphire blue eyes and rising to four relatively short legs beneath her snakelike body. Today was a new day, she would not live in the past.

She slithered through the air, watching the valleys below then after a while dove twisting her body behind her and plunged into the depths of a river that ran through one. The dragon came to a rest on the bottom amidst stones. She would stay here just a while longer, then move on...

---

Ryoke sat on the passenger side of his friend, Hotaru's, car. Head propped up on one arm, watching the beaded Chinese dragon ornament sway from side to side with the bumps in the mountain road through half-lidded eyes. He glanced over once or twice at Hotaru. They'd been friends since freshman year, yet somehow seemed so different.

Ryoke was fairly tall, especially for being mostly Japanese, with deep brown eyes and black hair like most any other Japanese. He was considered to be a 'jock' worked out, played a lot of sports and did outdoors-y stuff. To most he was part of the 'in' or popular crowd. Handsome, muscular...a womanizer.

Hotaru, on the other hand was the complete opposite. Like most Japanese he was small of stature and not particularly extraordinary in appearance. He wore glasses...not geeky thick ones, but glasses just the same. He, too, loved the outdoors...but in a different way. Hotaru was part of the science and environmental 'geeks'. He enjoyed the outdoors for the...outdoors.

Perhaps the only thing the two boys had in common was their love of the mountains. Ever since they'd met on a trip to the mountains they'd shared what they'd loved about them with one another. And over time, they shared other things...to an extent. Ryoke his erm....tips with girls, and Hotaru his book knowledge. Really, they made a good team.

Ryoke yawned lazily. They didn't really have much to talk about presently, they'd already discussed the rainstorms and their effects on the town. They'd talk later about what they saw in the mountains.

Hotaru pulled the car into a parking spot not too far up the mountain and the boys climbed out, pulled out their packs, and set out upon the trails.

"Which trail this time?" Hotaru asked, looking at a map. "We've been through almost all of them...wait, we have been through all of them..not much new to see. So what do you want to see again?"

Ryoke shrugged. "How about the valleys? We haven't been down there for a while." His face broke into a grin. "Besides, the climb's fun. You could use a little bit of excersize, get rid of that paunch and attract more lay-dies." He grabbed his friend's lovehandle and Hotaru pulled away aiming a playful punch at Ryoke's shoulder.

"Okay, I guess it's as good as any route...if you don't mind looking down at something," Hotaru gave Ryoke a wink, then started down the path to the valley. Eventually, they came to the drop-off they had to climb down. Ryoke went first, carefully descending by using ledges and roots as handholds, Hotaru soon followed.

About halfway down, a ledge Ryoke had been using as a handhold suddenly broke out from beneath his grasp. Offbalance and without a decent enough hold to regain himself, he fell. Luckilly, the cliff wasn't very tall and he only fell about ten feet and rolled a ways down a hill and stopped when the mud on the banks of the river at the bottom stuck to him. His hands went in deep.

Ryoke was sore from hitting rocks and falling ten feet, but it didn't seem as though he'd broken anything. He pulled his hands from the mud with a sucking sound and for some reason...began to feel better.

"Ryoke! Are you alright!?" Hotaru yelled, skidding down the steep incline to come to the aid of his friend.

"Yeah, strangly enough.." Ryoke responded, spitting a little bit of mud from his mouth. Something...smooth and round was in his hand. He staggered a little ways and washed the mud and muck from his hands the object--and was stunned by what he'd found in the mud. "Hotaru, look at this."

The boys stooped over the object in Ryoke's hand. By all definitions, it was beautiful...a large, blue pearl about an inch and a half in diameter with a fiery glow. Both were in awe, not quite sure what they'd found.

"Whoa..." Ryoke breathed. "I've...never heard of anything like this before. Look at how it glows..."

"Maybe it's part of a meteorite or something," Hotaru suggeted, pushing his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. "And the glow's probably radioactive or something. You should probably get rid of it."

"No way!" Ryoke exlaimed, putting the precious item into his pocket. "It's way cool--and I feel fine, it's probably harmless anyway. Come on man, it's probably just some toy or something."

Hotaru sighed in exasperation, he was worried about his friend but at the same time he knew that there wasn't really any point in arguing with Ryoke. He was as pigheaded as anyone could be. "You still took a bad fall...we should probably go back. Think you can handle the climb?"

"Definitely!" Ryoke started for the cliff, a spring in his step... Hotaru reluctantly followed after.

All the way home Hotaru had tried to convince Ryoke to give up the pearl, but the other boy had refused. He thought it was cool and wanted to keep it, despite Hotaru's warnings that it could be radioactive. Once they got back, Ryoke tucked it away in his sock drawer and promptly forgot about it...until a few days later when the schools reopened.

Ryoke opened his drawer in search of a clean pair of socks when they practically exploded out of his drawer. He'd never remembered having that many socks--and all in excellent condition. Then he remembered the pearl, he dug it out and held it up to the light. "Radioactive...hehehe...it multiplies socks," he laughed to himself nervously, then shoved it into the pocket of his uniform pants. Maybe it'd multiply the money there.

When Ryoke entered the school he noticed a strange pale-colored girl with long blue-silver hair and blue eyes watching him. He hurried off down the hallway, but she followed.. She never came very close to him, but she followed him everywhere...it made him nervous...

At lunch time Ryoke found his pocket rather heavy. As most teenage boys would, he had to brag to his friends. "Hey guys, look at this!" He said, spilling the coins on a table. The other boys didn't look too impressed.

"It's a bunch of coins, what about it?" One drawled, looking bored.

"This morning there were only three," Ryoke announced, a twinkle in his eye. "And no, I didn't find more. Gentlemen--feast your eyes on this!" He held up the glowing pearl. "It reproduces whatever you put it in with."

The boys didn't look convinced, Hotaru gave Ryoke a look. "Maybe it's not a good idea to be telling stuff around? The radiation must be getting to your brain."

"Prove it," said another boy. "You have a...gold crown in your mouth, right? Why don't you see if the rock reproduces that?"

"It'll probably just reproduce his spit," yet another commented dryly. The others burst into laughter.

Ryoke looked at the pearl. He'd cleaned it and it was rather big, he didn't see any harm in it. He popped it into his mouth, but right after he had another of his friends came up behind him and slapped him on the back in greeting.

"Hey Ryoke, how's it hangin'?"

Ryoke jumped, accidently swallowing the pearl--but not all the way, it was quite large and got lodged in his throat. He fell out of his chair, clawing at his throat as he began to choke. Several of the other boys started shouting at each other to do something. The entire cafeteria was in an uproar.

The entire place seemed suddenly very warm and cramped to Ryoke...he had to get out! He pushed to his feet and staggered out into the hallway, clawing at the walls. He needed air!

"That was rather...ignorant to do. But there's no helping it now. Come, I will help you," The girl who'd been stalking him was right in front of him, staring at him with crystalline blue eyes. He shied away, unsure what to make of the stranger but she made no move to hurt him or even touch him...just...looked at him. "Come now, we don't have much time before you start to change."

Change?! Ryoke just nodded, that's all he could do and with a fading misty visual and a slight vertigo feeling he found himself and the girl back in the mountains next to the river he'd almost fallen into. Overcome with a strange thirst, Ryoke threw himself partially into the river and began to suck down the water not caring that mud and water was getting all over his school uniform. Surprisingly, his throat had widened and he could now breathe.

When Ryoke lifted his head from drinking he was shocked by his reflection. He was turning blue and his throat where the pearl was lodged was glowing! As he watched fins began to rise from his head, neck and back and his hair became long and silky blue. His skin turned to scales and his face extended into a long, partially pointed muzzle. Ryoke felt his spine extend and his limbs shrink considerably in size to his body. From the base of his spine a long tail sprouted, nearly as long as his snakelike body and neck combined. When Ryoke looked again he was a 30' long finned blue Asian dragon!

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" He roared in a voice like a waterfall. "WHY'M I A DRAGON!? I CAN'T GO BACK TO SCHOOL LIKE THIS!"

"Indeed, you can't," the woman replied coolly, unphased by what she'd just seen. "In fact, I must say that you will have to start on an entirely new life. You're a dragon now, not a human."

"What did you do to me!?" Upset, Ryoke made the mistake of lunging at the strange girl and found himself face to face with a furry female dragon larger than he was!

"I would not recommend that," the silver dragoness growled, knocking him away with her tail. He thumped to the ground then rose up, shaking himself off.

"Who are you..." Ryoke snarled, bending his short legs and crouching lower the ground. "What did you do to me."

"I am Ryuuhikari, a queen of dragons...and I didn't do a thing to you...you did it to yourself," the female replied, twisting her long neck to groom her shoulder in a catlike manner.

Ryoke blinked still black eyes. "Howso?"

"Well, you took the pearl...and then you were stupid and shoved it in your mouth," Ryuuhikari rolled her eyes. "Rather stupid, really... eating my brother's pearl. Then again, I guess everything happens for a purpose."

Ryoke just stared at her..."Brother...?"

Ryuuhikari rolled her eyes again and sighed, resolving to tell the new dragon a story,"A king of dragons, my brother...we were of a great line. Rare among dragons, the lords of the dragons... But he was recently killed by a demon called Aligoran...I got rid of his pearl to hide it and rid myself of the memories of his death. We are...generally unliked among the demons as we help the factions against them. I have a son who has been quite...adamant against them with the rest of his family and descendants." She cocked her head, looking at Ryoke. "I travel through all sorts of realms, helping and learning...Since you swallowed the gem, you became a Chinese Lung...an asian dragon with a pearl in your throat. You're my brother's successor."

Ryoke grunted, laying down with his head in the dirt. "Yeah so...now what? I'm a dragon!? HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BE A DRAGON!? I never read any of that mythology crap!"

Ryuuhikari sighed and rolled her eyes. "Would it help you if you were near another type of dragon? It might help you learn some things...though with my kind there's much more to learn than you could there."

"I suppose so..." Ryoke replied with a sigh. "Just...don't change me into anything else."

---

"Weyrwoman Jeyann..." Minaeya said, coming into the same room as the Weyrwoman of Ryslen. "We have some...rather interesting visitors."

Jeyann raised an eyebrow. She'd seen strange creatures come and go from Ryslen since she was a child, but these seemed to have... set the Searchrider off somehow. "Strange? In what way?"

"Well..." the Searchrider began, taking a seat. "When Darreon, rider of sunset-brown Liojuth came here to Impress he was in an Asian gold dragon form...his aura was...weird, it was all colors but especially gold-green. It took on a sunset-brown tinge in addition to the others after he Impressed. These two are also Asian dragons...a furry blue-silver and a finny blue-green. Both have auras kind of like Darreon's..."

"Hmm...." Jeyann said thoughtfully, tapping a pencil against her palm. "What do you say, would they be decent candidates as well?"

Minaeya smiled, "I think so...I'll ask them."

Hikari, why do I have four wings, Tiessiapa has only two, while you and Ryoke have none? Oeraevinse asked looking around at the other dragons in the room.

At least that's one thing that Ryoke still has that didn't change... the silvered-copper Tiessiapa murmured quietly. The young dragon was still getting over the shock of hatching from his shell only to find a blue-green Chinese dragon instead of a Japanese boy.

Ryuuhikari sighed and smiled, showing a rowing of sharp wolflike teeth in her furred muzzle. "We're different types...and breeds of dragons, 'Aevinse. Not everyone looks the same. Wings are...like colors in some, aspects."

"Yeah, it's not like a difference between two totally different species," Ryoke grumbled, pulling his copper hatchling to him with a paw. "But, I suppose...changes and differences are all parts of life and have to be accepted." He gave his dragonet a squeeze.

"Indeed, without change and differences the world would be very boring," Hikari stopped to clear her throat. "And sometimes, without changes great things would never happen."

Tiessiapa heard Hikari's words and settled down to cuddle with his bond like a puppy would. If Ryoke hadn't changed, he would never have been at Ryslen... And unlike other dragons, he'd never get too big to wrestle with his bond!

It seemed as though Oeraevinse and Tiessiapa grew up overnight and were able to join their bonds in the sky. Ryoke had learned to fly, though he was still awkward at it and wasn't quite certain how to be a dragon. But with the help of his copper bond, he was slowly learning.

Doesn't it seem like we were hatchlings just yesterday? Tiessiapa asked Ryoke who gave a nod.

"You're right, it does..."

"Maybe someone did a TYme Warp..." Hikari joked. "Now that 'Aevinse and Tiessiapa are grown up, perhaps we could do something I've been wanting to do for a while? I went down and checked the records using my human form... My son and his bond at are a place called the Ring of Fire. I'd like to go see him."

The others agreed that they didn't see why not... They were all rather sick of seeing the same place!

(Oeraevinse and Tiessiapa grew faster than their clutchmates with a little TYme Warp, done by Ty, so that they could all participate in the SoF Frenzy. =P)