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"Caldwell! Thank the gods a familiar face."

Turning, Caldwell turned to see Miki. "A welcomed sight indeed, Miki. Have you seen anyone else yet?"

"Just that old woman from outside who Broadcasted," Miki replied. "It's a little strange that a non Rider can do that."

"Yes," Caldwell said. Looking about, he said, "This is a stra--"

"Will you shut your trap before I rip it apart like I did Larkin?!" a voice roared from overhead.

"I don't like it any better than you, but you heard what she said!" another voice shot back. "Something about this place has got Dragon's scales in a twitch and I'm not about to make her any angrier than she is already!"

"Let me GO!" the first voice snarled. A body was suddenly shoved over the edge of a balcony and landed at Caldwell and Miki's feet.

"Is it just me is her head on fire?" Miki asked, looking up at the woman peering over the balcony. "Her back too?"

"Are you okay, sir?" Caldwell asked, kneeling next to the man who had been shoved off the balcony.

Ignoring Caldwell, the man crawled to his feet. "You are so going to pay for that, Nogard!" Snarling, he transformed into a black dragon and shot up to the balcony.

"Miki! Look at him!" Caldwell exclaimed.

"Look at her!" Miki said at the same time, pointing at the woman on the balcony.

Switching their gazes between subjects, Caldwell and Miki said at the same time, "Nimue..." "Hiroshi..."

"Actually, that's Nogard and Broden," someone from behind them said, shoving chairs beneath the two as their legs gave out at the same time. "I'm Dai by the way." Glancing up at the two battling dragons, she said, "Oi! Knock it off you two or Dragon'll have your tails for earrings!"

Caldwell and Miki were too far in shock at the moment of the fighting dragons to pay too much attention to Ethan as he entered. Dai however turned to look at the new comers. Immediately seeing the gem sized dragon on Ethan's chest, she walked over and spoke to the dragon with her cat tail twitching. "Awwww! Aren't you the cutest little thing ever! Whats your name sweety?"

As Nogard and Broden crashed to the floor in a writhing twisting mass, Dai looked up, "Seriously you two, knock it off! There's a baby hatchling here and you're going to hurt the humans!"

As the two continued to fight, Dai sighed. "Alright. You two forced me to do this so it'll be your own fault."

Transforming into her own dragon form, Dai leapt into the fray. Within moments, she had Broden and Nogard pinned down by pressing one of her claws into each of their eye sockets. "If you do anything BUT transform back into your human forms, I will tear and rip. Broden, you can't afford to loose another eye and Nogard you're about as bad off with your eyesight."

"He started it!" Nogard growled.

"I don't care who started it, children!" Dai shot back. "I'm ending it! Now change back!"

Reluctantly, Nogard transformed. After making sure she had transformed back, Broden changed as well. Looking at the others, Broden said, "Well this is unusual. No one outside the Dynasty and those that Dragon's adopted into the family have ever seen us transformed."

"And lived," Nogard said.

"I will maim you," Dai said as she transformed back. To the others, she said, "Sorry ladies and gentlemen--and cute little green bugger you--for that. I'm--"

Roaring in fustration, Mujaji flew in, shrunk to his smaller form and landed on Ethan's shoulder. "By the GODS, someone who won't fight over me. I hope they didn't follow me in here."

"Where's the chibi stick?" Nogard asked, looking around.

"I haven't seen Raven anywhere around here," Dai said to Nogard, "wherever HERE is, so you'll be fine." To Ethan she said, "It's a stick that makes us do what your friend did."

"Speaking of," Nogard said, walking over to Mujaji, "what are you hollering about?"

"D--CRAP!" Mujaji groaned as one of the windows near the front door crashed in from a pair of girls fighting. One was scantily clothed and the other was wearing white robes. (( The Danni's ))

Looking at the two girls as they rolled around on the ground, screeching as they punched, kicked, and pulled each others hair, Nogard looked at the others and asked, "Friends of yours?"

Walking over to the bar, Broden stood next to Pill and reached over the counter and pulled out a flashy red bottle from behind the counter. "Just another day in the world of the Dynasty." Glancing at Pill from the corner of his one eye as he pulled the stopper out with his teeth, Broden took a swig before saying to her, "M'name's Broden. Firehead there is Nogard. The Neko-Dragon is Dai."

For a second, the two Danni's stopped and looked at Ethan. Then the scantier clad one brought her fist back--

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" a voice called out. The scantier clad Danni's fist stopped a quarter of an inch from the other Danni's face. As the spell hit both Danni's, the other was also frozen in place still looking at Ethan.

"n**! So glad you could join us!" Dai said.

"And about in the nick of time too," n** said, slipping her wand inside her coat. Looking around, she said, "Blimey, this place is odder than Hogwarts or Lestat when he was in Akasha's thrall."

< We'll have to be on our guard around that one, > Caldwell broadcasted to his fellow Riders. < A simple stick shouldn't be able to funnel a spell that powerful yet it has. >

n** grinned, revealing the tips of her vampiric fangs, at Caldwell. "You're not the only one who can do that buddy. My aging friend outside has just informed me what you said. I'll thank you kindly for what I'll take as a compliment."

Broden raised an eyebrow at Pill's endless rattle. When he was sure she was done, he began to answer her questions one at a time. "Well, Lil, not everyone here are dragons--just myself, Nogard, Dai, that little green one, and that black one that chibified himself. I certainly hope that the little green one and the black one who chibified himself are not pets, I will take issue with that--as will others of my family. Eating humans is a self defense mechanism--you try to harm us, you become dessert. I'd like to see these artificial wings of yours sometime, perhaps I could give you some pointers."

Taking a drink from the bottle he had been holding, Broden then said, "Not anything that is advisable for a human to drink--your bellies are too soft. Would you like something to drink?"

"If you attack your twin when I lift the spell, I'll confound you so quickly you won't even know what happened." n** said, pointing at the white Danni's back. With a flick of her wrist, n** released the spell on the white Danni.

Stumbling back from the black Danni, the white Danni hurried over to Ethan and hugged him. "Ethan, what's going on!?"

"I'm not sure, but I think for the moment keeping her frozen like that will be for the best," Caldwell said to Ethan. To Danni, he said, "How did the two of you arrive here? You share the same body."

"Means nothing!" Nogard said to Caldwell. "Me and my two older sisters once shared the same body before we decided to split ways. I blame our father for that."

"And if he had allowed you three to remain like that, then Draxanog would've been free to roam all these years," Dai said. "No one wants that."

Hopping over the counter, Broden scanned the drinks that were otherwise out of his reach if he had stayed put. Unsure of what would be a nonlethal dosage of drink, Broden said to Pill over his shoulder, "I'm not sure. They can chibifi themselves at will, which only happens to us unwilllingly. What would you like to drink?"