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Eggceptional Get Away: Deiser

Deiser had been having the most pleasant nap when someone rudely tried to wake him by making some kind of tapping noise. He attempted to roll over and ignore it but found himself stuck as he tried to move. Why was his bed so cramped now? And what was he doing? He was pretty sure he had just been having some kind of dream about two small fuzzy people running a business out of a barn then... Well he didn't remember much after that. Now he was awake and someone was just being really annoying making that noise. He decided to do his best to ignore it and go back to his nap. But then there was a tapping noise followed by a crackling... And suddenly his room was filled with light.

Except it wasn't his room. It took Deiser a few moments to realize where he was. The sudden light was blinding. When he could see he found himself laying flat on his back. He was laying on top of something hard yet flimsy... Kind of like the pieces of an egg shell but much bigger. In fact, it was a lot like an egg shell, and there were pieces of it laying all around him in a circle. Then around him there were a bunch of round eggs easily as big as he was.

Wait a moment...

Did he just come out of an egg?

Deiser's brain began to wake up as he slowly focused on his surroundings. He was in some kind of torch lit cave surrounded by eggs. But those weren't the only things around him. There were other people in the room. Three of them were humanoid scaly creatures. They almost looked like what Deiser might picture as a dragon, but they walked on two legs and had no wings. So kobolds? But then there was the fourth person. It was being held up in the air by the other two. It was smaller than them, but this one looked more like what Deiser would picture as a proper dragon! Sure it had an odd scale pattern that was striped orange and black like a tiger... But it also had horns, wings and a quadruped body! But it was smaller than the kobolds. It looked like just a baby.

And yet was bigger than Deiser. And this was the point Deiser finally looked down at himself. Not only was he not in his room today, he apparently wasn't in his body. Well... The coloration was right. But instead of the soft brown fur of a dog he was covered in hard brown scales. His round muzzle was longer and shaped like a reptilian snout. His tail lacked its normal fluff, but was long and flexible.

Deiser tried to stand up to get a better look at himself. Try as he could though, he couldn't stand up on two legs. Instead he fell over onto his hands and knees. Wait he was covered in scales and couldn't walk on two legs. He passed at glance at the baby dragon. Was he a dragon too!? Wait... No he had no wings. He was more like the kobolds... And he wasn't walking on four legs, he was crawling on his hands and knees like an infant.

He was a baby kobold.

Whelp, he was clearly still asleep and having some kind of dream. There was no point putting up much of a fess. If this was a dream that meant he still had plenty of time to get some rest. Without attempts at ceremony Deiser flopped down onto his belly, closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

"Well..." A voice spoke... It was probably one of the three kobolds. "That was a bit less dramatic than anticipated. Though I suppose at least it did hatch. Still, don't think to lowly of him, your new Second was just hatched." Deiser had no idea what those words meant. It was probably unimportant. Dreams didn't have to make sense. For now he dozed off becoming blissfully unaware as the four creatures left. When he woke he'd be back in his own room and the dream would feel like a distant memory.

At least that was the plan...

But however long later when he woke up he was still a baby kobold. Was that normal? Could you fall asleep in a dream and then wake up later and still be in it? Well obviously it was either that or he had somehow magically turned into a kobold egg and hatched into some kind of random nonsense. Honestly at this point it was hard to decide which was the sillier and less realistic idea.

He was still in the same cave with all the eggs as last time. There were more adult kobolds this time. They were moving between all the nests in the large cave as if looking for something. A blue one paused as she moved directly over Deiser's nest.

"Got another one!" She shouted. Before Deiser could react she reached down and grabbed him directly beneath his arms. In an instant he was lifted up and clutched to her chest as she carried him out away from the nest. She brought him near the entrance of the cave where there was a large container on wheels. Inside of it were several other baby kobolds of various words. The blue kobold gently sat Deiser down within the container then went back to checking the nest.

"Ababa?" Deiser tried to talk as he looked around the inside of this container at the other infants. Somehow he failed to create actual words. None of the other babies looked like they were talkers either. They also looked as if they weren't that smart... At least no smarter than normal babies. Most of them were curled up sleeping, a few others were crawling around exploring the container. Occasionally one of them might climb on top of another and start wrestling. One silver kobold had the audacity to crawl up to Deiser and bite the tip of his tail!

CHOMP!

"BWAH!" Deiser pulled his tail back and shook his fists angrily at the other baby kobold. It responded in turn by giggling and rolling on its backside. A wise guy huh! Well Deiser could show him a thing or two! Seizing the opportunity he dove atop the kobold and playfully bit at one of their arms. It squeaked... And then the fight was on! The two rolled back and forth against the stone, each one trying to come up on top and find new places to bite the other infant. Neither one paid attention as the other kobolds added more and more babies to the container. The rolling didn't stop until suddenly the container lurched and began to move. This threw them off of each other and against the wall.

Deiser wasn't tall enough to properly see over the container's walls to know what was going on. He could see part of one of the older kobolds who was pushing it and he could see the cave ceiling as they passed through tunnels a lot. It looked like they were changing directions a lot as they went. It almost seemed completely random and Deiser found himself wondering if the kobold was lost. Eventually they reached some their location though and the container came to stop.

At this point the kobold that had been pushing them around bit over and picked one of the kobold babies out of the container and disappeared with them. Deiser crawled to the wall trying to get a better look at what was happening but he just couldn't make it out. Eventually the adult kobold appeared again, selected another infant and again vanished. One by one the infants were picked up and taken away Eventually even the silver kobold Deiser had played with was gone. There were almost none left before one of the kobolds picked him up.

Once lifted up Deiser could get a better look of the cave they were in now. It was filled with kobolds that looked to be anywhere between infancy and toddlerhood in age. Most of them were running around freely. There was an assortment of what Deiser could only assume were meant to be toys... But they looked like they were mostly made of bones. Most of the bones were being chewed on than being used for any actual practical purpose. Occasionally one kobold might get the clever idea of using one of the bones to smack one of the others. This went almost completely unnoticed by the adults in the room.

Deiser was carried to a large stone table and sat down on it. There were numerous buckets of liquid sitting on the table near him with brushes made from bone and hair sitting close by. The kobold slowly looked at him and picked up one of the brushes only to be interrupted by a second adult.

"That's the new second!" She gave a shout.

"I didn't forget." The kobold with Deiser growled. She dipped one of the brushes into the buckets and began to paint stripes down each of Deiser's arms. Deiser squirmed a bit as he felt the cold paint come in contact with his scales but he didn't fight. He had no idea what the significance of this was or if he should be concerned. (And also hadn't concluded if this was real or not) After a few seconds orange stripes had been painted going down each of Deiser's arms. From there the kobold grabbed a second brush and began on a second set of stripes, this time in black. These went onto Deiser's arms right next to the first set. There was just a half inch of his scales brown color between them.

It only took a few seconds before Deiser had orange and black stripes running down both of his arms. At that point the kobold lifted him off the table and sat him down on the ground with the other kobolds. Deiser looked around at them to see if they had been given the same treatment. To an extent yes... Each of the babies had been marked with paint going down both of their arms. However every single one of them had their stripes colored green and gray. Deiser looked up to the adult kobolds and at their arms. It was hard to see, but if he squinted he could make it out. Green and gray stripes that looked like they had been painted on years ago and were now faded.

The silver kobold he had been playing with earlier crawled up to him apparently wanting to play again. The fresh green and gray paint on his arms were clearly visible. Deiser looked at his own arms seeing the orange and black. Only he had been marked with a different color. Among both the other hatchlings and the adults he alone had been singled out. Then he was pretty sure people had been calling him the Second. He had no idea what it meant. Yet... Looking at his new silver scaled friend and the different markings he couldn't help but immediately feel a little lonely. If only he knew more about what it meant...

But maybe it was possible. The adults didn't seem like they were paying a whole lot of attention to all the kids crawling around the room. He might be able to sneak off without being seen. Maybe if he explored these caves a little bit he might find someone or something that could give him information on what the situation actually was!

He looked up at the adults to verify they weren't watching. They were busy putting the body paint onto the last few infants. He quickly crawled as quickly as he could on all fours for the cave exits. No one attempted to stop him as he worked his way right out the exit. No one had noticed!

Well almost. As he headed down the rocky tunnel outside the nursery cave he suddenly felt a sharp pain on the tip of his tail.

"BWAAH!" Deiser let out a squeaky shout as he felt the pain. He spun around in place to find the same silver kobold from earlier with a goofy grin on his face. Deiser yanked his tail out of the other kobold's mouth and gave him as serious a stare as he could muster for being a freshly hatched kobold.

It wasn't very serious.

And it didn't last very long.

Deiser couldn't help but let out a laugh. It was obvious that he had made a new friend who just wanted to play. And this other child might have been the most observant kobold in the entire area considering no one else had seen him leave. Deiser reached forward and gave the silver scale a playful bop on his nose.

"Abubu!?" The silver scale covered his nose and nearly fell over backwards.

"Bah!" Deiser smiled. Having a companion along wouldn't be so bad. Truth be told, being this small and weak made him feel a little intimidated. Exploring a dark network of tunnels would have been an imposing task even as an adult. Seeing a friendly face made him feel braver. "Bwuh abuh!" Deiser pointed down the tunnel trying to communicate his plan. He had no reason to assume the silver scale would understand him. But there was always the chance. After all he was apparently an adult wolf's mind in an infant's body. Maybe the same could be said for the other kobold! Or some other species.

"Uwa?" The silver scale blinked a few times and then began to suck on his own toes. Okay, on second thought he was probably just a normal baby and had no idea what Deiser was talking about.

Wait! Maybe that was what Second meant! And what the stripes were for! It was a Second as in a second childhood! Or a second start! Did the kobolds know what Deiser really was!? Were they the ones who had done this to him! But... Why the orange and black stripes... Come to think of it the dragon he had seen when he first hatched had orange and black stripes. Was that connected? Was the dragon responsible? Another victim of the evil kobold plot? Deiser had so many questions and no way to vocalize them! Honestly all things to consider not being able to talk was the most frustrating part of being an infant.

Being unable to walk was a close second. It was taking a long time just to get down this tunnel. Eventually the tunnel leading from what Deiser assumed was a nursery widened and connected to a much bigger tunnel. This one wasn't very well lit but to Deiser's surprise he discovered he could see pretty well in the dark. This tunnel they entered was long extending in two different directions. Then there were dozen of smaller tunnels (including the one he had come out of) stretching out in every which possible direction. It looked like it would get confusing fast.

It was probably a good idea just to stick to the larger tunnel and avoid the side ones. He wouldn't want to get lost. Who knows if he'd even be found if that happened.

"Abwuuuh!" Deiser gave an excited shout before crawling down the tunnel. The silver scale watched him for a moment and seemed unsure. But after seeing Deiser move further away he hurried to try to catch up. Deiser was sure with the two of them together everything would be alright and nothing would-

Twang.

Deiser heard a strange noise and felt something snap at his wrist. He looked down to see a tiny wire that looked like it had suddenly split apart when he touched it. What could that be...

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" An adult voice shouted as a red kobold came running out of the side tunnels. He grabbed Deiser with one arm and the silver scale with the other before jumping straight back away from where they were standing. Not a second later several spears suddenly shot straight up out of the cave floor right through where Deiser had been about to crawl.

"Buuuuuh." Deiser felt his tail go limp. That was what the wire had done! If the red scale hadn't shown up he would have crawled right into that and been skewered.

"How did you two get out of the nursery!?" The red scale's voice was filled with panic. "Someone isn't doing their job. Guess we're just lucky I found you. The main tunnel is layered with traps for anyone dumb enough to try and invade. Ugh I think of so many ways a kobold can die in there. And so many ways they have when maintaining them." The red scale shuddered. He then moved the two infants closer to his chest so he could get a look at them. He paused when he saw Deiser and gave him a quizzical look. The kobold stared intently at Deiser's arm where the orange and black stripes were.

"Gwoooo." Deiser felt the fact he had been marked different again. He tried to shrink away from the older kobold. It wasn't very effective since he couldn't move while being held... But he was able to at least cover his own face.

"You're a Second." The kobold's eyes lit up. "Tiamat's Mercy. An entire kobold tribe was nearly wiped out before it even began."

"Buuuh?" Deiser started paying attention at that. Was he finally going to get an explanation on what was going on?

"Let's get you back to the nursery where it's safe." The red kobold started down a tunnel. "You don't know how special you are yet. Heh, I saved a Second. Maybe I'll get a special reward." The kobold smiled. "After all, the Second is a dragon's chosen kobold. The one that will lead an entirely new tribe when the dragon makes its own den."

So... That meant Deiser had been marked as a future leader? He had to admit that was not what he would have guessed. But wait a second... He couldn't lead a kobold tribe! He was a wolf! And an adult! He tried to squirm to escape, and to babble, but the red scale held him in a tight grip. It seemed he was stuck for now until...

CHOMP!

Deiser winced. The silver scaled infant had somehow shifted in position to get another bite at his tail. Well... At least if he was stuck growing up again like this he had a new friend along for the ride.

The End