The couple stood outside the office reading the strange ad once more before entering.

Seeking an elder couple as caretakers of large estate, must be married, apply in person with photo ID and AARP membership at 1100 West Woodland, Suite A. Must be willing to travel and also go back to school for additional training. Must Love Dogs! Bring your dog (if you have one) to the office for the first interview. Phone# 555 456-7890 for an appointment.

At their heel sat their old dog, the third in the 30 yrs of marriage. Times were tough and this job offer seem almost to good to be true, caretakers of an estate and must love dogs, a dream job. As the man open the office door, the women called to their pet to follow and enter the office, her husband right behind her.

Once inside they were greeted by the receptionist who after taking their names place a quick inner office call to which they were informed that Mr Sands would be right out and to have a seat in the waiting area. Moving to the area, designated by the receptionist, they sat and were just reaching for a magazine with a gentleman appeared, his right hand out to shake the husband had. "Jim, Jackie, I'm Mr Sands, your contact at 'Must Love Dogs', welcome". Jim stood up and taking Mr Sands hand in his own quickly stook it and introduced his wife and pet to Mr Sands. "Mr Sands, my wife Jackie and our dog Comet". "ahh, Jackie welcome and Comet, a big welcome to you young lady", a quick smile from Mr Sands to them both and then turning to Jack, "Alright then, if you would all follow me, we get this interview and questionary over and done with ASAP".

Leading them to a conference room down the hall, Mr Sands held the door open for them, moving in they moved to seats closes to the door, but Mr Sands moving to the other side of the conference room motion them to join him where some papers and a pitcher with glasses were waiting on the table. In the center of the table sat one of those conference phones. As they sat down in front of the papers, Jim could not help wonder about the single large chair next to them. Mr Sands pulls it back and call for Comet to have a seat, and surprisingly Comet jumps into the seat.

In the stack of papers were general contracts of hire for both, insurance, medical papers as well as wavers regarding shipment of any pets to the estate. In the contract were clauses stipulating that all of them would in fact be attending special schools and vocational training. One last paper ask about previous pets, names, age when they died and causes of their deaths, and location where buried, Jim thought this last was strange, and question Mr Sands about, where as Mr Sands explained, "you both are going to be asked to look after some very important creatures, and we here at 'Must Love Dogs' would like to make sure we are right in asking you to do that. One last piece of paper for you, this is a power of attorney for the corporation to handle all your legal aspect of your life during the time you are in training, please note the dates, the power of attorney is only for the next six weeks, and at the end of that period all of you should be well on your way to becoming the caretakers we wish for". Signing the last paper, Jim started to stand up from the table and suddenly felt very dizzy, sitting down he reaches for the water, the room seem to spin, his wife's head rested on the table, one last look up at a smiling Mr Sands and all goes dark.

A flood of bright light from a huge skylight shines down on him, he could see bat like creatures flying in the sky above it, a voice to his right, "ahh your are awake, good". Turning his head he sees a very beautiful, very young Jackie! The shock of seeing her as she was 35 years ago was nothing to the next, hearing a dog's whine he turns his head to see three dogs sitting next to the bed, all looking at him, "Jupiter! Starfly!, wait my voice". Raising a hand to his face, he exclaims, "my hand, what in the hell did they do to me, to us, and how is it I am seeing Jupiter and Starfly as well a Comet!?" His voice almost a shout as he sat up, as he did long red hair fell across his face, his hand held it for a moment the puzzle look growing more and more, the dogs seeing her sit up all became excited yapping, tails waging quickly, all heads and paws on their side of the bed waiting for her to pet them.

Turning back to the dogs, she bends and reaches for the first scratching him across the top of his head, "Jupiter, how is it you are here, and what is here"? Getting sloppy kisses from him caused her to giggle, Starfly was next, forcing her way in between Jupiter and her demanding equal time as well, scratching Starfly's head she again asked, "Starfly, you are here also? How is this possible"? Another dog's whine, this from Comet who feels left out, "Oh Comet you know I love you to, come here girlfriend". Patting her lap, she motion for Comet to join her on the bed, and with a huge leap she has Comet in her lap. Getting sloppy kisses all over her face she giggles and giggles.

Jackie voice, "she is awake Doctor, yes we wait for you before answering any questions". Turning her head she sees Jackie hang up the rooms phone, she gets a look that she knows all to well from the 30 years of marriage and turns her attention back to her three pets, alternating between the three she scratches their heads she asks, "how is it possible they are all here, Comet I would expect, but Jupiter and Starfly, both have been dead for years, and how do you explain your youth, my youth, I sound like a little boy, yet you said SHE over the phone!" Another look with a raised eyebrow from Jackie and she shuts up.

The door to the room opens and in walks a doctor in a long white lab coat, looking at his face she exclaims, "Mr Sands! You have got a lot of explaining to do, what did you do to us and where are we and how is it my previous pets are here?" Turning her face to her wife, "And Jackie, why the look at me? Wait for the doctor? You could have answer my questions? Well?" Turning back to the now smiling Mr Sands. With a slight cough he cleared his throat and then corrected her on one point, "Its Doctor Sands, and I like to welcome you to the Dragon Riders Academy Jill. "

"Jill? My name is agg Jill, wait why can't I say Jim, what? I can say the name Jim, but my name is agg Jill, what did you do to me? And what is this nonsense about a Dragon Rider's Academy?

Jill if I may answer your questions, you are a Dragon Rider, and your pets are your dragons. All Dragon Riders are female, and normally have just one dragon, rarely do we see riders with two and in your case, a very rare fine, three dragons!"

"Dragons?! You people are nut cases, how do you see dragons here when I see three dogs, granted two were decease?"

"Jill Madisome" his wife's voice suddenly knifes through him, she turns her head to look at his wife, that look he always got when he was in the wrong was there, "you shut your mouth young lady and listen to Dr Sands!"

"Yes Mother, wait I tried to say Jackie, but", getting another look from Jackie, "yes mother, I'm shutting up right now mother." and turns her head back to the Dr.

"Good" the Dr continue, "as I was saying all riders are female who were once older males much like yourself. We found that by having a more mature male in a younger female that they were better able to control their pets as well as handle the stress of flight with them. Even your Air Force found that certain female pilots could handle more G forces then most males could. As to where you are, this is not the Earth you knew, we are in a pocket universe between other dimensions. You are here to train with your pets for the next six weeks in which time you all will be returned to your Earth to help that world prepare for the invasion of the World Eater".

"World Eater?" She asks, a confuse look on her face?

"yes a entity that seeks to consume life as we know it. It will be visible to your world Scientists in six years, in seven years its scouts will be landing on your world and in ten it will enter your solar system. Your world must be warn and also prepare for it, and you are the one that will see to that, along with your pets and of course your lovely mother".

"Mother?! me? why only me?"

"Yes you!, but you are not returning alone, there will be a total of 196 Dragon Riders, but most of them will have one pet only, a very small list of them will have two, where you will be the only one with three, each rider will be responsibly for insuring the country they are from agrees with what the UN says regarding their conduct and the receipt of the Armor Division from Dragon Island."

"Armor Divisions, Dragon Island?"

"Yes, when you return the world is going to be very concern about two very large islands, one in the Atlantic the other in the Pacific. The one is the Atlantic is the armory, its there countries will take delivery of the armor strike team, instructors from our world will teach them the uses of the new weapons, our tech people will also show those countries the technology for building ships, huge under ground shelters, force fields, smaller hand weapons, they will train on the island and then return home with the new equipment to prepare and protect from the incoming scouts.

The island in the Pacific is going to be home for all 196 riders, pets and mothers as well as visitors, guests, teachers, etc.. Both islands are protect by Force shields that only have one area that may be dropped to allow planes, ships to come and go. No one can land at the island except in those areas, and only Dragons and Mothers can depart the islands and return by means of teleportation."

"Teleportation? And why only the mothers and dragons, why not the riders as well?"

"Jill quit interrupting the Dr, this will go far quicker with little interruptions, trust me I know."

"Yes Mother."

Dr Sands cleared his throat once more, "Powers that you all have I believe will answer your questions, all mothers have teleportation, area coverage force fields, invulnerability and the knack of knowing where their daughter is 24/7. You as a rider have, invulnerability, above average strength, and the ability to influence gravity, very useful in space but can be used on the ground as well. The dragons all have teleportation, flight, invulnerability, super strength area force shields, and their own individual attacks."

Risking a look from Mother she asks, "Attacks"?

"Yes, let first show you your pets as dragons and explain their power attacks, Comet if you would please teleport to an area above the skylight". In a flash Comet is gone, my looks of shock must have given my mother concerns as she quickly announces, "Baby look above you!" Looking skyward I see a huge white dragon floating above me, "Comet?" With a Roar Comet vanishes only to reappear back in my lap, "Comet that was you?" A gentle push by her confirms she understood my question.

Dr Sands then turns to other pets, "Jupiter teleport please," In a flash he is gone and above me I see a huge black dragon, in a flash he vanishes and Jupiter is back sitting next to the bed. "Starfly teleport please," Again another flash this time I see a huge golden dragon, each dragon is the color of the dog they are, a white german shepherd, a golden retriever and a dober pinscher. In a flash Starfly is back. "Comet Attacks are cold base, she can shoot a beam that can instantly freeze to a minus 500, and she can also do an area effect attack by lower the temp miles around her to below zero in minutes. Jupiter attacks are base on black hole, he can shoot a beam that would cause an object to collapse into itself. and can cause the gravity in the area to suddenly increase, something he is able to control, so no building would fall but people, machine within the area would not be able to move. Starfly attack are base are the energy from the stars, she can fire a beam of energy much like the phaser attacks on that Trek TV show, only 100 times more powerful and she can also make what we call torpedo or mine attack, firing short blast that seek and chase moving targets, she can also melt the area around her. All the beam attacks are line of sight, if they see it they can hit it."

A million questions were flying through her mind, yet when she looked into the eyes of her pets she understood and nodded to them, a link was now established between them. Yawning she snuggles next to Comet, followed by Jupiter and Starfly jumping into bed next to her. Her mother leans over and with a kiss on her forehead whispering "Sweet dreams my Princess". To which she mumbles "yes mother", and drifts off to a dream fill world of dogs and dragons.

Jackie turns towards the Doctor, "When will she awake this time?" "Tomorrow", he reply, "here put her Dragon Bracelet on her, when next she awakes she will be a Dragon Rider". Handing the bracelet to her, he turns and leaves the room.

As she turns and slips the bracelet on the wrist of the sleeping child, she whispers, "Jim my darling, I love you but I must confess I love my new daughter more. Sweet dream my love". With those words she teleport out of the room.

Such a every day sight they made, a mother and daughter walking hand in hand, the women was young, early 20s, very beautiful, her long red hair almost to her mid back, her young cute daughter at her side, wearing matching outfits, sundress, floppy hats, sandals and carrying a small purse, heads turned as they walked by. The six weeks in the pocket universe seems to fly by, here they were back on their Earth, in New York City, just outside the United Nation Building.

During their walk to the building they had passed new paper stands all hawking the latest news on the islands in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The islands had appeared the day before and as of yet no one had been able to fly over or land on these islands. Aircraft were turned away by some unknown forces and any boats that tried to land were also stopped by some unknown force.

Her pets were all in dog form, teleporting roof top to roof top. Awaiting her final commands to join her once they were inside the United Nation Building. The UN Security Council was in emergency session but that did not stop the tours, no way was some silly islands appearing going to stop the tourism of NYC.

Approaching the Cashier’s desk in the Visitors Lobby Jackie asks for two tickets for the the family tour, "One adult, one child for the family tour please". "Yes Ma'am, that will be $25.00 Dollars please". Jackie passes the request amount and receives the two tickets and pass the child one to her daughter, "Here you go Jill". "Thanks Mother". The Cashier looked down at the cute child, "oo you are such a precious angel, how old are you child?" "I'm eight years old and today is my first visit to New York". "Well welcome to New York City, I hope your visit with us is a enjoyable one". "Thank you." Looking back up to Jackie she explains, "The tour will start in 5 minutes the group is gathering now for it right over there", and with her hand indicates an area just off to the right. Grasping Jill hand within her own she reply, "Thank you, Jill say bye to the nice lady". As they walk away Jill turns her head and with a small waves says "bye", "Bye bye honey you have a good time on the tour" also doing a small finger wave to the young girl before turning back to her register. "Such a sweet looking child".

Joining the group for the tour, they waiting a short time while the escort got ready, as the guide spoke they all were brief that the tour would take 45 minutes and that during the tour they were asked to stay with the group and not wonder off, the guide's eyes on young man that seem to have his hands every where except in front of him got this message loud and clear and a smack to the back of his head by his mother, "Oww! Ma!" "Hush! you better behave or else". "Yes Ma" he tries to move away from her, but she to quick and snatches his hand, pulling him next to her.

Seeing this Jackie smiles and looks down at her daughter next to you, Jill looks up, her smile echoes her mothers. All through the tour they slowly move, letting others pass them till such a time the General Assembly is in sight and they are well in the back of the tour group. With a nod to Mother and a silent signal to her pets they teleport to the floor of the General Assembly. All are shock as a women, child and three dogs all appear in front of them, the guards that flank the podium are the first to vanish as Jupiter and Starfly move to intercept and remove them, her mother throw up a shield that that covers the entire area of the podium and most of the open floor. "Comet Freeze them". Outside a huge white dragon appears over the UN building and then the temperature drop causes all in the area to quickly flee to warming locations. The building is completely block off of any outside aid and also forcing all within the building to remain right where they are.

Simultaneously, world wide 195 Dragon Riders appeared in the skies over each of their capital city mounted on a dragon. Those with two dragons did double missions with fly by of all naval forces that were around the Dragon Islands. Using advance technology of the Dragon Academy Jill's face appears in the monitors flanking the podium, again simultaneously world wide that cute face appears over ever city that a dragon flies over. "Jupiter go, Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Jill and I am a Dragon Rider, Starfly, warm us up a bit". A large black dragon appears over the sky of Washington DC, again Jill's face appears and her words echo across the world. With a nod from mother she begins to speak to the world, simultaneously in 198 locations her words are broadcast translated to the language of that country.

"Greetings to all of Earth, my name is Jill and I am, no we are Dragon Riders.", her hand waves to the screen and across the world images of the other riders appear on the monitors and skies, all waving back. "No doubt you have seen our islands and wonder about them, your arm forces have naval blockages at both locations and you have failed to obtain any news of them due to a shield blocking you."

A lone security officer moves forward with his weapon drawn only to see it melting on the floor, a beam of light had hit it, fired from Starfly eyes, he withdraws quickly.

"A one aircraft recon mission will be allowed to flying over each island at this time, the map coordinates for the fly over for both island will be displays below, each aircraft will be escort by a dragon, any error in the flight path and the aircraft will be forced down. Do not doubt the powers of the dragons, any attempts to attack them will be meant with greater force. Jupiter, The squadron of F22 flying around you, force one to land at the white house, he has been invited to have dinner with his Command in Chief". On the monitors all see the dragon vanish then appear above a fighter jet, the jet firmly grasp in the claws and then its on the ground, engines off, cockpit canopy open and the pilot on the ground looking up at Jupiter, then he alone as Jupiter is back on station above the Whitehouse. "Now he is going to have a tale to tell at dinner tonight".

A look from mother got her attention, "Ok back to earth and why my sisters and I are here. We are here to warn you and prepare you for an invasion from space", An image of the World Eater appears on the screen, "At its present location within the galaxy it will be several years before it can be seen by your Scientists so we have time to be ready for the scouts that will soon come, the longer we are able to keep the scouts reporting the Earth the more time we have to prepare all of Earth to battle this monster, believe me when I say we will need that time".

"That is all I am going to say today, except I will return tomorrow at this same time to speak to the UN Security Council, please make no attempt to stop me and please be sure to have all members of the council waiting when I arrive, or they may not like what happens when we pass out goodies, I can see by the reports that the recon flights are done and you all should have some very good pictures of the islands, rest assure that Embassy Row on Dragon Pacific will be awaiting for your ambassadors, Starfly be sure to melt all the ice and not damage the building. Mother I am ready".

Jackie takes Jill hand and they vanish just as the NYPD SWAT team finally enters the building, as the SWAT members rush the podium everyone is trying to speak at once, and it only the pounding the gavel from the chairman that order is brought back to the UN. Ever dragon and rider had vanished, back to Dragon Pacific.