Oh damn! I mentally yelled. Did I freaking run a marathon around the whole Griffon Kingdom?! I moved to support my myself. Where am I?! I looked around the unfamiliar room in confusion. I hold my head.The last thing I remember. . . Is falling unconscious in a train car. I lift myself up to a sitting position on the bed. Ow. I grab my chest. My hand touches fresh white bandages wrapped all over my chest and arms. Someone treated my wounds. Was it Trist? I looked around the room.

The walls were made of stone, no windows, and a single door. Looking up I saw an electric lantern, though not one as strange as this one. Next to the bed was a small table with a cup of water. Besides that the room was metallic in style and rather empty. I opened my mouth to find that my mouth was terribly dry. Looking to the cup of water again I decided to just drink it. I grabbed the cup and began to drink as fast as I could. Once the cup was empty I sighed with relief and placed the cup back.

Ok then, now that I'm not thirsty anymore. I scooted to the side of the bed and set my feet on the ground. I lifted myself up onto my feet, only to immediately fall down onto my hands and knees. Ouch I pushed myself back up.Why are my legs so shaky? Spinning myself so I sat upright with my back against the bed I stretched my legs. I got up onto my legs and put some weight onto both to test if they were ok now. Good, now then. Time to find out where the hell I am.

I opened the door and was immediately stunned. The door opened to an expansive room filled with metal contraptions of all sizes. I stood there with my mouth hanging, awestruck. What is all of this?! I looked around a little and could see two towers with electricity arching in between them, a metallic griffin arm, and a many others that were shot steam out everywhere. I took a step towards the closest machine. It was about the same size as I was and had pistons moving back and forth. Hot steam was shooting out the back and a rubber belt was spinning turning a wheel. I whistled in amazement of how complicated it looked. I was about to take a look at another machine, but I heard the conversation of two griffons walking closer. Crap! I looked left and right for a place to run. I saw another door in the opposite direction of the voices and ran for it.

Barging through the door, I ran into a straight hallway leading to a set of stairs. The hallway was dimly lit, and housed only three other doors. Never stopping, I ran past the doors and flew up the stairs as fast as I could. At the very top of the stair there was another door, and once again I pushed my way through into a smaller room. Except this one had windows. Hearing the sound of claws scraping against flooring, I looked for a way out. I rushed to the only other door in the room, although this one was different, and opened it.

What greeted me was a wave of smelly garbage and dirty water beneath my feet. Ugh! The fuck!? I quickly stepped out of the water onto stone bricks and noticed the wall right in front of me. Confused I looked around to find that I was in an alley. In one direction, there were griffin-pulled carriages and a few prototype automobiles. Looking up the stone brick wall in front of me, I saw that it was taller than any building I saw before.

As I was stepping backwards a claw grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back inside. I reacted on instinct and lashed out at my attacker with punches and kicks. But it wasn't before long that a sharp pain in my chest made me stop my assault. "Phantom! It's me, Trist."

I looked up to see Trist's familiar grey feathers and the few brown feathers atop her head.

~Trist!~ I signed as she wrapped her claws around me in a hugged.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're alright. You have so much to catch up on."

~Catch up? How Long have I been out?~

"You've been out for just about four days." A voice answered. Surprised to hear another voice, I looked behind Trist to see a tall, skinny male griffon with white feathers and brown fur (although the white feathers were a bit singed black in some places). The griffon took a step closer and reached out an open claw. "My name is Doctor Dominic Sawyer. It's a pleasure to uh, finally speak with you Phantom."

\\

~So, to sum it up, we are currently in Griphonia, The Griffon Kingdom's Capitol.~ After bringing me back inside Sawyer's home. Sawyer and Trist had begun telling me what had happened over my four day coma in another room. Trist and I sat down next to each other on a couch. Across a small low-laying table, Doctor Sawyer sat in a blue cushioned swivel chair.

"Yes," Sawyer responded. "It is currently the largest city and the second richest city in the kingdom." He finished by adjusting his goggles on top of his head.

~City?~

Sawyer looked at me oddly, before Trist interrupted. "Phantom has never been to a big city before. He's only lived in the wilderness or small towns."

"Ah," Sawyer nodded his head, "Well, to sum it up." He faced me again. "Cities are like larger, long established villages. Most buildings can reach seven stories high and are usually made out of cut stone. The more rich sections ,of this city at least, have begun to move to clay bricks and other fancy stuff." He waved the idea of luxury away.

~Ok, I get the gist of it.~ I scratched the back of my head. ~When I woke up, I had bandages and my wounds seemed to be healed. Were you the one who did that. . . Saw. .yer?~ I struggled with trying to find the right signs to say 'Sawyer'.

"Oh no! I'm an inventor I'm a doctor in name, not a real one. And please, you can just call me doctor. I can tell that signing Sawyer can be a bit of a hand full."

"The one who treated you was Madam Armani." Trist stated.

"Yes, Armani is quite good with her hooves." Sawyer reached over and grabbed a cup of coffee from the table. I waited silently as he drank from the cup and placed it back down on the table. We all sat in silence.

~Is she here?~ I finally signed.

"Who?" Sawyer responded.

~Madam Armani?~

"Oh! No, Armani is busy right now. But next time she's free we can go meet her."

~Ok.~ I turned to face Trist. ~So what are we going to do now? Are we going to get going once I'm fully healed?~ Trist scooted on the couch making herself more comfortable before answering.

"Well, Sawyer and I talked about this while you were unconscious and we've com to the agreement that we'll be staying in Griphonia." Sawyer slid a cup of what looked to be tea to Trist and she gratefully picked it up. "We thought that in such a large city it would be more difficult for the clan to find us. And if we had a group protecting us we could continue to steal while hiding." She paused to take a sip of the warm tea. "So Sawyer has allowed us to stay here while we go to set up relations with his group."

~You're letting us stay here for free?~ I signed to Sawyer. Instead Trist answered for him.

"No, not exactly." She put down her cup. "In return for letting us stay here. We owe Sawyer a future favor. As goes his group's rules." Sawyer nodded at the correct information.

"I don't need a favor right now, but it is a favor that would need a masterful thief. You two will be living up stairs as my assistant, and her pet human."

~I always got to be a pet huh?~ I sighed.

"It is the best cover. Seeing as you are the first intelligent human I have ever met. No one would suspect that a pet human would be a thief!" Sawyer explained. I pondered the thought, but seeing as I had no choice in the matter.

~Fine, I'll be a pet again.

"Aw, cheer up Bruce. You had a nice time in Urenburgh didn't you?" Trist poked at me with my fake name. "Too bad Fiona isn't here anymore." I glared daggers into her as I instinctively raised my right arm and stuck out my middle finger at her. "What does that even mean?" I looked at my own finger, still sticking out by its lonesome.

~I. . . don't really know.~ I retracted my finger. ~But it feel s right for this kind of moment!~

"Ok, as much as this is getting interesting to me." Sawyer put a notebook down. "It is getting quite late." We all looked at the clock Sawyer had in the room. It said 11:28 p.m. "Seeing as I have work to do. Trist will show you to your room Phantom." Sawyer got up from his chair and moved to the door. Trist and I followed suit and got up as well. He opened the door allowing me to walk out first, followed by Trist. I quickly turned around and signed one last question to Sawyer.

~You're not going to test anything on me right?~ I stared at Sawyer suspiciously.

"No, Trist has already warned me about trying anything on you. It is also part of our agreement. So as much as I would love to test on an intelligent human, you have no fear of anything from me." He laid his claw across his heart. He then closed the door leaving Trist and me in the hallway alone.

"Come on, Phantom. Our rooms are this way." Trist started heading down the hall. Soon enough we reached the large room full of machines I had seen earlier.

~So whats your relation to the Doctor?~ I asked.

"Hm? Dominic?" I nodded.". . .Why do you want to know?" Trist eyed me.

~Is it not ok for me to know more about our housemate?~

"Fine, when I was younger, Dominic's father and my father occasionally met up with each other. Dominic was five years older than me and I consider him like an older brother. I don't know where his father is though."

~Any idea why his father isn't here?~

"I don't know. His father was a very well-known inventor and was hired by GoS."

~Gos?~ I repeated.

"Guild of Steam. After the creation of the first steam engine, GoS began inventing new steam-powered machines and grew to be the biggest business in the capitol." After that I couldn't think of anything to ask, so we continued walking until we reached my room. "Well, here is your room. My room is right next to yours, if you need any thing." I nod and open my door. "Night, Bruce."

Night, Shorty. I signed back and closed the door.

The room was nothing special. A bed, a table, bedside table, and a lamp. Well, at least it's a real bed. Not like the first bed Trist got me. When we were at the Clan, my first bed had been a nest of leaves. I made my way to the bed and took off my shirt. I jumped onto the bed and covered myself with the blanket. Closing my eyes I had one last though. Mmm, I would be really sorry for anyone who would have to sleep in a pet's bed. If this bed wasn't so comfortable.

Author's Note

I was surprised by how many views this story continued to get even though I was gone. I'm not sure if it was because of the YhaY-verse group, or cause you guys like the story, but either way, thanks.