*All dragons copyrighted to Poseidon Simons

Prologue

Gareth smiled as he played with his daughter. She was a year old, and there hadn't been a single bit of evidence that Peter or Amy would be coming back. Ingrid giggled as he poked her yet again. At a year old, she already knew how to walk! This might not have been odd if it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't been born in an animal form. Though it was almost impossible to tell, they knew that she was starting to speak as well. Gareth sighed when he heard a knock at the door of their apartment and put Ingrid in her crib. He opened the door, "Pik? What brings you guys here?"

Pik scowled, "Don't mention Josh, okay? He's been bugging me non-stop today." Pik tried to look more cheerful, "Kia wanted me to come over and take you to meet Poseidon today."

"Who?" Gareth arched an eyebrow at the interesting name.

"His name's Poseidon, but he likes to be called Don. Johnny lives with him."

Gareth perked up a bit, "Oh, so I finally get to meet the 10 cm tall anthro? Why didn't you say so? When?"

"Tomorrow. Don's just getting back from a trip, and is leaving for about a month again the day after."

"Where's he going?"

"I didn't ask him."

Gareth smiled and said he'd be there. He started to close the door, but an immense headache stalled him. He rubbed his forehead for a bit.

Pik looked concerned, "You alright, Gareth?"

Gareth waved him off, "It--it's okay. I've been having these for a few days now. It'll go away."

"If you're sure...I could take you to see Bill right now if you want."

"Nah. I already called him. He's coming over later today. See ya tomorrow." He smiled and closed the door. Gareth waited for Pik's footsteps to go away before he leaned against the door, "Damn headache! Stupid thing gets worse every day!" He experimented and tried listening to Pik's thoughts, but that just made the headache worse. Gareth collapsed on the floor and laid there moaning until the headache left, right at the same time Bill showed up. Bill knocked on the door, jolting Gareth with many smaller headaches until he answered the door, "Bill, don't do that. It hurts..." Gareth winced as he spoke. Speaking in a normal voice gave him a headache! He resolved to whisper after that.

"These have been going on for three days?" Bill asked.

"Yeah..."

"Okay, just give me a couple minutes." Gareth waited as Bill checked his ears, looked down his throat, and basically did everything Gareth had expected, "Hmm...Gareth. Do you have any plans this week?"

"Yeah. I'm heading over to Poseidon's place tomorrow. I get to meet him and Johnny finally."

Bill sighed and sat back in his chair, "I'd recommend you cancle that for about three more days, Gareth."

"What? But why?"

"The headache'll leave in three days. I'm sure of that, but until then, I want you to take it easy. If you get hit on the head you might black out! None of us want to see you almost die again."

Gareth chuckled, which brought on another small headache, and sighed, "Look. I can promise you that I won't let myself get hit on the head. I really want to go tomorrow, Bill."

"Why tomorrow?"

"I won't get another chance to meet either of them for a month afterwards! C'mon, let me go."

"Gareth, I said I recommened that you cancle it. I didn't say don't. I mean, honestly. Do I have any control over what you do after I walk out the door? Just be careful, Gareth."

"I will be. I promise."

All dragons copyrighted to Poseidon Simons

Chapter 1

Johnny Greenwood

"Ugh...Stupid headache." Gareth rubbed his forehead while they walked, "So...what's this guy like?"

Pik looked over at him, "He's another one of us 'special conditions' anthros."

"Hmm?"

"He left the island once and came back with a micro-chip planted in his forehead. He almost got it removed, but he changed his mind and has kept it in."

"Oh." Gareth winced as his headache worsened, "Rgghhh..."

"Gareth, are you alright? We can do this next month, you know. You don't have to hurt yourself like this."

"No, no. I want to do it today. I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay..." Pik sighed and continued to lead the way. It was about 4:30 when they reached Don's place, and he welcomed them in. Pik smiled and slapped Gareth's back, "I'll see ya in an hour, okay?"

"Fine by me, Pik. See ya then." Gareth waved as Pik walked away. He turned and smiled to Poseidon, "Hi. I'm Gareth."

"Don." Don held out a hand, so Gareth shook it, "Pik and the rest tell me you've got an interesting power. Is it something like this?" He smiled as a book, a TV remote, and a spoon floated toward them.

Gareth blanched, "That's just like what Amy can do!!!!" He winced again as his headache acted up, but forced it away and smiled, "No, mine's a bit different."

"Really? What's it like?"

For an answer, Gareth changed his shape to look like Player, then Pik, then whatever else he could think of. He couldn't stop his smile from growing when he saw Don's amazed face, "Well, am I up to snuff?"

"Yeah, I'd say so..."

Gareth chuckled, winced, and changed back to his normal dragon form, "That's not all I can do. I can read thoughts at times, make things with myself, which is how I was able to affored my wife's wedding and engagement rings...I can--I'm sorry. I feel like I'm bragging or something."

"Oh, that's okay. I bragged for a bit too once I got used to my powers. Of course, with Vitara here, I haven't been able to have many guests."

"Why not?"

"She jumps on them! It doesn't matter where or when, she'll jump on them and bowl them over. I get so emberrassed!" Just then, Vitara jumped from out of nowhere, landing on Gareths head. Don slapped his face, "See what I mean?"

Gareth just smiled, "Hey Vitara. How are you?"

"Gareth! Where've you been?"

"Taking care of my daughter, Ingrid. I meant to visit you sooner, but..."

"That's okay. Why're you here?"

"I came to visit you, meet Don, and finally come face to face with Johnny."

"He's small. I hope you can see him when he comes."

"I'll manage."

"Gareth, what're you doing?" Don asked as he pulled Vitara off of Gareth's head.

"Talking to Vitara. She's been thought-talking to me. I can speak to animals with my thoughts."

"What about anthros?"

"Tried. It didn't work."

"Huh...That makes you like Player, then."

"Yeah...say, where's Johnny? I haven't gotten to meet any little anthros yet."

"What? You've never seen a little anthro? Every anthro I've ever met has at least seen them!"

"Not me. I'm not exactly an anthro..."

"Wait, wait. What?"

Gareth sat down on a chair and changed into his human form, "This is what I'm supposed to look like." He laughed at Don, who was, once again, staring, then changed back into his dragon form, "I kinda prefer to look like this, though."

"Well, I'll admit I hadn't expected that. I'd heard there was another human on the island...Huh. Wait'll Johnny sees you! HEY JOHNNY!!!!!!" Don turned to Gareth, "Hang on a second. I'll go find him."

Gareth leaned back in his chair and moaned. His headache was getting worse! It subsided a little, giving Gareth time to make sure he wouldn't look like he was in pain. As he straightened in his chair, an idea came to him, "I wonder if I can get smaller...heck, maybe I can shrink down to Johnny's size!" He started to get smaller and smaller, watching in wonder as everything slowly seemed to get gigantic. He shrank until things stopped shifting, then looked for a ruler. He found one and stood it up to measure himself, "Damn. Six inches. I was hoping I'd get smaller."

He flew back to the chair and waited for Don to come back. While he waited, he experimented with what he looked like, smiling at some, outright laughing at others that he thought looked hilarious, and kept himself amused while he waited.

"Gareth, he's coming!" Gareth heard Vitara before he saw her. She bounded up onto the chair, yelping in surprise when she saw how small he was. He held up his hands, shouted at her to stop, but she couldn't and slammed him into the back of his chair, knocking him out cold.

Vitara looked down at the small figure she'd hit, "Gareth, is that you?" When no answer came, she wimpered. How was she supposed to wake him?! She gently nudged him and asked again, "Gareth?" She could hear Don's footsteps coming from the next room and panicked. He'd be so angry with her if he saw Gareth! She picked Gareth up in her mouth and trotted to her bed, hiding him under the blankets as Don passed.

Johnny whistled as he flew beside Don. This anthro sounded interesting! He landed on Don's shoulder, "So, what haven't you told me about him?"

Don smiled, "Well, I meant to keep it as a surprise, but if you're that interested..."

"Yeah. I'd like to know more than his name and the fact that he can talk to animals."

"He's no anthro."

"What?"

"Remember when the news started talking about that second human on the island a year ago?"

"Yeah..."

"That's him."

"But you said he had black and white scales! He even has wings!"

"I know, but he can change shape! Cool, huh?.."

"Nah. He can't pick up something with his mind, or stop something from crashing and breaking while he sits twenty feet away from it. All he can do is look like somebody else. I don't see much of a big surprise in that. It's only a step up form putting on a costume if you think about it."

Don stopped in the living room, "That's odd..."

"What is?"

"This is where I left Gareth. He seemed like he wanted to meet you...where'd he go?"

"You mean he left?! What's his problem?"

"But why would he leave? He really seemed interested in you, Johnny. Maybe he just went to another room."

"Umm...I'll wait here then." Johnny landed on the empty chair and sat on its edge. He sighed and laid back when Don had walked away, "Why doesn't Don see it? I'll bet that guy was nothing more than a robber. He's probably half-way back to his home by now." Johnny sat up when he heard padded footsteps, "Don't even think about it, Vitara! I'm watching you!" He shouted as she came in from the bedroom. Her head was hung low, her tail was between her legs, and she looked positively guilty. Johnny wondered why she would act like that and flew into the bedroom. Right as he entered, someone moaned. He scanned the room from where he flew and saw something move under the blanket over Vitara's bed. He pulled the blanket off and gasped. Underneath the blanket was a red, little anthro water dragon! The water dragon had blue fins and a blue-tipped nose. In fact, Johnny was slightly taken aback by how similar he looked from Pik! It seemed a bit too large to be a little anthro, but when he stood the dragon up, he wasn't more than about a giant anthro inch taller. He brushed the water dragon off and helped him keep his balance, "You okay?"

"Ohh...man, my head hurts..." The water dragon turned to him, "Who're you?"

"Name's Johnny Greenwood. You?"

"I'm--my name's..." He held his free hand to his head, "I--I don't know..."

"Oh, come on. You can't remember your own name?"

"No...where am I, anyway?"

"Poseidon Simons' house. In the land of the huge anthros. You truly can't remember your name?"

"The where?..I am sorry but you aren't making any sense at all, and no, I really have no idea who I am. Would you happen to know?"

Johnny tried not to look puzzeled, "Ah, no. Well then, what should I call you?..How does Jack sound?"

"Jack? I guess..."

Johnny smiled, "Okay. Jack it is. Nice to meet you, Jack."

Jack smiled, "Nice to meet you too, but could you please explain where we are?"

Johnny let his smile drop, "He has no idea at all! What's this one got? Amnesia?" He gasped, "That's probably it! I wonder how..." An image flashed in his mind of Vitara with her tail between her legs, "VITARA!!!!!" Vitara shuffled in, still looking like she'd been bad, "Vitara, did you do this?!" He pointed at Jack and made an angry face. Vitara whimpered and nudged Jack very gently, "Vitara, this is why you have to stop jumping on anthros! The poor guy doesn't have a clue who he is!" Vitara whimpered again, this time with a worried glance in Johnny's direction. Johnny sighed, "No, I won't tell Don, yet. I'll take him back to Wrall City when we all leave. Don won't mind." Vitara yipped happily and licked both of them. Johnny slouched over, watching as some of the drool dripped off of him, "Vitara, I'm going to tell Don about this. You had no right to do that to this anthro." Vitara was instantly all sad again as she walked away.

Jack moaned and wiped slobber off of his head, "Remind me to watch out for that next time. Ugh, it'll take forever to wait for these clothes to dry."

Johnny smiled, "Actually, we can go sit on the heater. Don leaves it on for me and my family. We spend a lot of our time over there to make sure my son gets his sleep."

"Why? What's wrong with your son?" Jack asked as he stretched, trying to get comfortable in his drenched clothes.

"Nothing. He's just always been really curious. We need him to take naps, so we head over there to make him sleepy. C'mon, it'll take us a while since we have to walk."

Jack was thinking about something as they walked, "You son's always curious...he has lots of energy then?"

"Yeah. Runs everywhere he can reach."

"Really...that sounds familiar for some reason."

"It does?" Johnny asked. Maybe they could figure out what his real name was!

"Yeah...Can't think why, though."

"Oh well." Johnny sighed. So much for that bit of hope