Aleia's Dragon

Aleia Jade groaned as she slowly returned to consciousness. Her wounds hurt and she was fairly sure that she would soon lose consciousness again. Struggling to remain awake, she looked at the wreckage around her. She popped the cockpit canopy to her ship and attempted to pull herself out. She gasped in pain and stopped moving for a moment to relieve the pain that was coursing through her. Her leg was caught amongst the twisted metal and trying to free it only added more stress to the wound. She had to think of something; there was a way out she just had to find it.

Everything seemed to spin around her. She had to concentrate. She had to stay awake long enough to get herself out of this mess. Aleia retrieved the emergency kit, hoping she would find something useful. She searched for something she could use to pry her foot free. Near the bottom of the kit she found something she could use to pry her way out. After several attempts and much pain, she managed to get her leg free and slip it out. She grabbed the emergency box just before she tumbled to the ground.

Retrieving the scanner, Aleia scanned her wounds to gage the severity. She sighed in minor irritation. It would take a long time to heal this leg, even with the advanced technology she had available. Aleia used the emergency kits splint to bind her injured leg. Now came the hard part. It took several tries before she was able to stand. She would need to find a physician who could properly set her broken limb.

Aleia wandered around until she couldn't walk anymore. Her leg seemed to throb with a heartbeat of it's own, so severe was the pain. She looked through the box and found some pain relief pills. Having no water, she swallowed them dry and attempted to think about her crash. She didn't remember what happened. She didn't even know where she was. She didn't like not knowing her location and with short term memory loss she was completely in the dark. Frustration overwhelmed her, she stretched out on the ground and closed her eyes. Sleep. She just needed to sleep.

***

Bright sun. Her eyes were closed but she could see the sun. It was very bright. Slowly, Aleia Jade opened her eyes, squinting just a bit as the sun's full intensity found her. Sitting up, Aleia scanned the sparse forest. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping but she was pleased to discover her wounds were healed enough that she could resume her search for civilization.

Hours passed before she found the edge of the forest, though the time lapse was actually due to her walking around in circles rather than in a straight line. It was like a wilderness outside the forest, just a lot of sand-like dirt and rocks. Aleia had no way to keep track of where she had been since the wind was blowing new sand over the tracks that she had made. Likewise, there were, what she identified as tumbleweeds, blowing around everywhere. She didn't have provisions in her emergency kit for long, only like a day or 2 at the most. She needed to find civilization and fast. Goosebumps rose on her neck and arms, she paused to look around. She kept getting the weird feeling that she was being watched.

Five days passed before she found the outskirts of a small town. Small and very strange. The town only had one road way down the center of it with buildings lining the street on both sides. The people walking around were in very strange attire. She had never seen anything like it. The men were dressed in their black pants, button up shirts, and vests. The women in their long fancy dresses with their fancy hairstyles. The people in this town wouldn't make a very good army, Aleia thought as she studied them. Had they ever the need to come up with an army, they would surely be a sight to see! They were skinny and the clothes were impractical to do much of anything. Especially one young man that had red hair and a smaller figure.

If only the federation could get look at this place! They would die of laughter. This town was a perfect target. It was so small that it could easily be overtaken. A sound rang out that Aleia knew well, a gunshot. She quickly darted to the side of one of the nearest buildings and tried to figure out where the attack was coming from. She quickly realized, however, that she was not the target. Right there in the middle of the street were two men intent on killing each other. Aleia looked around at the other people that were around. How odd. They just kept walking like this was an everyday occurrence. She shook her head and decided that she better get some medical attention before it became critical. Then she needed to find a new jumpsuit for herself. The one she was currently wearing was not in very good shape anymore. Walking down the boardwalk, she looked at the signs she passed until she found a doctor's office. She opened the door and walked in.

"I'll help you in a minute." The man called and it looked like he was just finishing up with a young boy who cut himself.

"Alright, thank you." Aleia didn't mind the wait because it would give her extra time to look around to find out more about this town. Everything seemed very primitive here, compared to the Planetary Federation of Combat's base. The Federation was constantly creating new technology and weapons because they needed to stay on top and be able to fight any sort of enemy they might encounter. Here, Aleia had yet to see one piece of technology. She never thought that she would say this, but she couldn't wait to go home. This place was so crazy and strange that she didn't think she would be able to handle the time it would take her to get back. Aleia had only been in town 10 minutes and she was ready to leave. She felt like she had fallen into a time portal that took her into the past. She glanced at the doctor as he walked the child to the door.

After the door was shut, he turned his attention to her. "My! It looks like you have had quite a time of it, come on in." He showed her into the room and had her sit down.

"I crash landed in the forest a few days ago. My leg is dislocated and needs to be rebroken and put back into place." She told him as she looked around this room hoping for a clue as to her location.

"Well that is unfortunate. Let's look at some of these other wounds to make sure they aren't infected before we get to that part." He said, looking over the cuts that were on her arm and then her head, "This is a pretty big gash, it must have been quite a crash."

"Well, I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon." She dryly remarked. "I just want to find some sort of ship or get mine fixed so I can be on my way as soon as possible."

"Well, I wouldn't recommend traveling anywhere for at least week." The doctor remarked as he began cleaning the wounds.

"Where am I exactly anyway? What is this town called?"

"The town is called Fickleberry Sportal." He replied briefly glancing at her. Poor child didn't even know where she was. He shook his head in sympathy.

Aleia laughed, it was such a ridiculous name for a town, she couldn't help but laugh. "And who gave it that name exactly?"

"Well, the first one who settled here. It was named after his two kids, Fickleberry and Sportal." The doc said. Because the names were normal around these parts, he couldn't figure out what she found so humorous.

"Wait, wait! So that's what he named his kids?" she couldn't help laughing again. Yes, this place seemed to get more and more hilarious the longer that she was in it.

"Yes. Is something wrong with that?" He asked as he finished cleaning and binding the injuries.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all." Aleia just shook her head, she knew he would never understand.

"Alright. I'm going to have to re break your leg now." He got something off the counter, "Open your mouth." he said holding out this small piece of wood.

"I don't need that, I'll be fine." she assured him. Nowhere in the universe had she seen that technique employed. Nowhere other than here. Go figure.

"It is going to hurt." he reminded her.

"I already know that and I'm saying I will be fine. There will be no need of that."

The doctor shrugged and shook his head, she was a very strange individual. She sure wasn't from around these parts. He could tell from the first moment she entered. No woman anywhere around here dressed like that. "On the count of three then." he moved and put his hands on her leg where it needed to be rebroken. "One...Two...Three...." in a swift motion he broke it and then put it back where it was supposed to be. To his surprize she never made a sound of pain. She just continued like nothing happened.

The pain that she experienced was nothing compared to things that she had suffered in the past. She saw the surprised look on the doctors face and felt satisfaction that she had put that look there. Aleia had done this countless times before, the pain didn't even phase her anymore.

"I would recommend that you stay off of it as much as you can at least for a week. Do you have somewhere that you can stay at until then?"

"No, I haven't had much time to look around Fickleberry much." She said.

"I can find some place for you to stay. Food will be included in that, of course. You look like you need to just rest for a couple days."

"That's fine as long as it doesn't hold me up long. I want to get out of here."

"I'm sure you will be fine in no time."

The doctor found a room at the Inn where she could stay and helped her to get there safely despite her assurances that she didn't need his help. Once there, she was given something to eat and some new clothes that she could wear.

She hated the clothes however because it was one of those useless dresses that she had seen on the way in through town. "How am I supposed to fight in a dress if the need should arise? You can't, that's how. I don't even have my swords. Hopefully this week will pass quickly because I will not stay here a moment longer then I have to." She told herself. Though she wished the week would pass quickly she knew it would drag since the only amusements she had were sitting and reading. Aleia was going to be insane before she left this place, she just knew it.

***

True to her thoughts, the week passed very slowly. When the doctor finally released her, she was more than happy to be able to walk around again. Now she could begin her search for more practical clothing. Her search proved fruitless and she was getting desperate. Her jumpsuit was in sore straits and she did not want to wear the clothing provided to her. Everywhere she had asked for pants insisted that women didn't wear pants and would refer her to the dress maker. Around and around she went.

After many failed attempts, Aleia resigned herself to being without her favorite jumpsuits for the time being. She went to the dressmaker's shop. She looked through some of the dresses before the woman came out.

"Can I help you?" The woman greeted politely.

"Yes, I am trying to find a practical dress. Something I can work in." She said turning to her, "Do you have any of those?"

"What kind of work, Dear?"

Aleia knew if she said fighting, it would only gain her crazy looks so she had to come up with something else. "Like, you know, for working on a farm. Preferably a dress with pockets."

"Hmm...let me see what I have." The woman scanned over the dresses quickly figuring out which will work best. "Why don't you try this one on and see how it fits? " she suggested as she held out a dress.

Aleia took the dress from the woman and went in the back to change. She nearly growled when she looked in the mirror. She hated seeing herself in a dress. She hated the whole idea of dresses in general, but she since she had no other options this one would do. It did have pockets, which was one thing in its favor. "This will work, thank you. How much?"

"That one is ten dollars."

Aleia just stared at her and then shook her head, 'Everything is old fashioned here.' She thought to herself as she took out some money and put it on the counter, "There. I need to have my ship repaired or find a way home. Where do I need to go for that to happen?"

"You would need to talk to Derrik Deegan about that."

"Great, where do I find him?"

"You'd have to get the sheriff take you there."

"Fantastic. Bye." she said walking out the door. Why was it that this place you had to go through several people just to do what you wanted to do? It was quickly getting on her nerves. She walked into the prison/sheriff's office. "I need to see a Mr. Derrik Deegan. I was told that you could take me there?"

"Yes, Miss. I can but not today."

"Why not? It's not like you're doing anything right now except sitting at your desk."

"He doesn't accept visitors today. Believe me you don't want to make him mad."

"I don't care, I'm not afraid of anything. I want you take me there now. Whatever is there, I can handle it."