Rain Dragon

A few days later, they were deep in Oklahoma, watching the growing storm systems. The Egg had exhausted Cammie's supply of Queen CDs, so he was listening to all the Greatest Hits CDs repeatedly. Despite this new amusement, he was becoming increasingly restless, and Cammie knew that soon he was going to hatch, and then, she would have an entirely new problem on her hands.

This new problem hit around 3:27PM, just as she and Kitty were looking over some radar maps on the computer. There was a crack and a squeak from The Bag. Cammie and Kitty both looked up at the noise.

Uh oh... Cammie thought, suddenly panicking.

"What was that?" Kitty asked. The Bag started to rustle.

"What was what?" Cammie asked, then thought, 'What was what?' That's the best you could come up with? Idiot... There were several more crackling sounds as The Egg hatched.

"That," Kitty said, pointing to The Bag, which was now very apparently moving.

"My... egg," Cammie explained rather ineptly, then walked over to look in The Bag. She opened it to find a rather tired dragon hatchling covered in bits of egg shell and goo. The Egg... er, rather, The Hatchling, looked up at her and squeaked.

"What is it?" Kitty asked, peering over Cammie's shoulder at The Hatchling. He was light grey with sparkling greenish eyes and still very small.

"Uh..." Cammie's mind raced. "A... glass lizard," she decided, thinking of something reptilian without legs. Kitty put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't look like a lizard to me..." she informed Cammie, looking at the creature's odd face, large eyes, and rather strange tail, which seemed to blow in and out of existence, like mist, rather than remain solid as it should.

"Uh... Amazonian... very rare," Cammie tried.

*ME?* The Hatchling crowed into their minds. It was a question... of some sort.

"... and lizard's do not talk," Kitty emphasized. The Hatchling squeaked again and shook some of the goo off his head.

"Hoo boy..." was all Cammie could think to say. There was a long silence.

"So... this is your... thing?" Kitty asked after a moment. They both just stared at The Hatchling.

*Me?* he asked, cocking his head at them. He looked between Kitty and Cammie in confusion.

"Yes... my... thing," Cammie agreed.

*Me?* he asked again, this time looking at Cammie.

"Yes... you..." she said slowly. She and Kitty continued to stare at The Hatchling.

He squinted his eyes and wrinkled his muzzle in annoyance. *ME?!*

"Does he say anything else?" Kitty asked.

"I'm... not sure," Cammie replied. "Uh... can you... give us a moment?"

"Uh... sure," Kitty said. She wandered back to her computer, tossing glances over her shoulder as she went and shaking her head in stunned confusion.

The Hatchling watched her leave, then looked at Cammie again. *Me?* he asked again.

"Yes, it's you!" Cammie answered aloud, getting another odd look from Kitty over her computer monitor. Cammie decided to keep the conversation mental. What are you trying to ask?

*Who am me?* he asked, switching to speaking only to Cammie.

Oh, who are you? You're... Cammie trailed off. The Egg and The Hatchling flashed through her mind, but neither of those was a proper name. You need a name, she amended.

*Queen!* he decided, a happy expression crossing his face.

Uh... no. You cannot be named Queen. You are not a band, nor are you a queen... nor are you even female. We need to find a better name then that.

The Hatchling glared at Cammie sullenly.

Cammie thought of names that could be related to Queen. Well, let's see... we could name you after a band member. There was Freddie Mercury... hey, wait, Mercury. You're grey... and so is mercury the metal. And mercury has to do with weather instruments too... and you'd be named after the leader of the band Queen, Freddie Mercury. So, what about Mercury?

*Me am Mercury?* he asked.

That would be, 'I am Mercury?', and yes, you are.

*Mercury!* he cheered, loudly enough for Kitty to look up again.

Uh, yes, now you sit here and be quiet while I try to think of how to explain a talking lizard to Kitty, Cammie told him. Mercury seemed to frown at The Bag. It was still covered in goo and egg shell.

*Ewww...* he informed her, looking up with a comical expression of disgust on his face.

"Oh, all right," Cammie muttered aloud. She went to her own bag and found a clean sweatshirt. She went back and picked up Mercury in it, rubbing the egg residue off him and then setting him on the seats still wrapped in it. "You need a bath, mister..."

She turned back to Kitty, who was staring at her and the moving sweatshirt lump expectantly. What I wouldn't give to be able to do a Jedi Mind Trick right now... she reflected. *whoosh* You saw nothing. This is not the dragon you are looking for... Cammie sighed, then spoke to Kitty.

"How much do you know about dragons?"

Cammie explained to Kitty that Mercury was a dragon, that he was given to her to take care of, and that he shouldn't be turned over to some science lab for cruel animal testing.

"So... that's a dragon?" Kitty asked, still obviously not getting the point.

"Yes..." Cammie answer for the fifth time.

Kitty stared at Mercury, who squeaked and burrowed his head under a sweatshirt sleeve to avoid her gaze.

"Or, if you prefer, we can just pretend he's a talking glass lizard," Cammie told her.

Kitty stared at the wriggling sweatshirt lump. "What are we going to tell George?" she asked Cammie, turning to look at her for the first time in a few minutes.

Cammie sighed. "I have no idea... think he'll mind?"

Kitty blinked. "Well... I think it's sorta cool, personally, but you never know about George... he might be worried that it will interfere with your job."

They both stared at each other, then realised the absurdity of that statement. The burst out into giggles.

"Okay, I'll tell George when we stop for dinner," Cammie agreed. "In the meantime, no freaking out. He's just a baby, after all... and besides the talking thing, he's not very weird."

"He can't, like, breathe fire or anything yet, right?" Kitty asked warily.

"Right," Cammie assured her.

"Okay then," Kitty said. "Now I have to get back to work. Weather Channel's going to wonder what my report is..."

"Right," Cammie said. She glanced over at Mercury, who was still hidden under the sweatshirt. "Hey, Merc, want to learn about weather radar?"

Mercury popped his head up to look at Cammie and squeak.

"... we'll say that means 'yes' for now," she said and lifted him up into her arms. Then, she got back next to Kitty at the computer and kept reviewing the radar maps.

When the convoy stopped for dinner, Cammie felt a cold pit rise into her stomach. How am I supposed to spring this on George? she thought in a panic. This is crazy... I shouldn't have even told Kitty! Not like I had a choice...

George's crew entered the trailer, talking about something, but all conversation stopped when they spotted Mercury, who was perched on Cammie's lap. George and Bulldozer stared, while the rest of the guys were stuck outside the trailer, wondering what the hold up was.

"Army... what is that?" Bulldozer asked finally.

"Uh... don't ask, don't tell?" she said, attempting some humour. "George... this is... Mercury. He's my... uh... he'll be travelling with us. If you don't want pets around, I'll understand... but I was hoping he could ride along."

George stared at Mercury for a moment, then came over to lean in and peer at the hatchling.

"Is that a... dragon?" George asked, surprising Cammie.

"Uh... yes, actually," she answered, a bit flustered. She should have known that someone was going to say that eventually, given the prevalence of dragon lore in their culture.

"How... where... how?" George questioned, putting a finger forward to Mercury experimentally. Mercury stared at George's finger in confusion before grabbing it lightly in his teeth.

"Well, that part's a little... confusing," Cammie explained. Mercury, let go of the man's finger, she hissed at the hatchling, who promptly pulled his head back and let go. "But the gist of it is that I'm supposed to be looking after him for a while."

"Does this have something to do with this 'mission' you mentioned?" George asked.

"A lot, actually... but maybe we should talk about that later," she said, looking over George's shoulder, where the entire team was gathered, staring at her and Mercury.

"I think we'd better talk about this now," George said firmly. He turned to the rest of the group. "Everyone, have a seat." When the guys had settled in, everyone's eyes turned to Cammie.

"Okay, so this is the problem..." she began.

"... and so, we have to find these marble things, and in the meantime, I have to make sure no one tries to sell him to a science lab or anything."

There was silence. Bulldozer and Lupe glanced at each other, then at George. George seemed to be fighting the urge to poke Mercury again, just to make sure he was real.

"Well... anything for a friend," George said finally. Cammie sighed in relief, and the tension in the trailer broke immediately. "Besides," he continued, "how often will we get to see a real live dragon?"

"So, do I have to worry about this little fella setting my equipment on fire?" Weather Channel asked, coming over. Everyone else was crowding around now too, eager to look at the baby dragon.

"Uh, no, he can't breathe fire... we won't know what he can do until he's older," Cammie explained.

"Can I touch him?" Wes asked.

"Uh, sure," Cammie said. Wes reached to pet Mercury on the head, and the dragon cooed happily and flipped the tip of his tail back and forth.

"What is his tail made of?" Bulldozer asked, pointing at it.

"To be honest, I have no idea," Cammie admitted. "They didn't mention any of this where I got him..."

She reached down to run her fingers through it. It felt cool and moist... like mist. "Feels like mist... some sort of condensation," she told them.

"Hey, we've got our very own rain dragon!" Bulldozer said with a grin.

"Hell, maybe the little guy will be good luck... after all, you said these glowing marbles come out of the storms, right?" Lupe asked.

"Yep, which is why we came out to do some stormchasing," Cammie agreed.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a mascot then. Mercury, the stormchasing dragon," Weather Channel announced. There was laughter and some hearty agreement from everyone.

Cammie sighed in relief again. Well, Merc, looks like we're okay for now...

*Marbles!* Mercury agreed cheerfully.

"Marb—?" Cammie began, but Kitty interrupted.

"We've got action! It's farther north though," she announced.

"What's the scoop?" George asked, and the trailer burst into motion. Headsets were brought out, equipment was gathered up, and keys jingled as Weather Channel and Kitty looked at all the weather data.

"Watch issued for one of our storm systems, for the next three hours," Weather Channel relayed. "Heavy winds, hail... a real barrage up there."

"Okay, let's move, people!" George said. He, Lupe, Bulldozer, and Weather Channel rushed out to the truck, and Wes and Beethoven jumped to the trailer cab with headsets and maps ready. Kitty slammed the trailer door shut and battened down the computer equipment. She adjusted her headset, then grinned at Cammie.

"Trailer Squad, moving out!" she yelled. "Woohoo!"

Cammie grinned and let out a whoop of her own, startling Mercury a bit before he cheered, *Marbles!*