Thomas always looks a bit disheveled. Perhaps because his negation power makes everything look like it needs to be put to rest. (When you are a hammer, everything around you starts to look like a nail, right?) He misses his mother terribly, but is glad that Tamsin and he got out alive from the monsterous wreckage from the fight that killed her.

Thomas absolutely shares his Dimension-cousin Raul's dislike of Chemistry. He and reactions just don't get along! In fact, while he's busy working on something that should be fizzing and bubbling, it just sits there. His powers aren't as easily controlled as his sisters - sometimes the results of them working can't be seen for a while. On the other hand he loves the Advanced Air Guitar class at the end of the day. He's really flexible, very energetic by that time of day so he figures why not let it all out?

And by that time, too, his hair's been brushed and sometimes he even buttons his shirt! (To be fair, he's always rumpled because he is an agent of entropy. Honest.)

***

Thomas is standing at Coeptus Weir

***

Though he put up a good front, Thomas was actually kind of peeved that they weren't staying on their home world to become superheroes. Yes, yes, there were courses at Carramba which could help out, but he'd been involved in so many training exersizes he really felt that his powers needed a better workout than three times a week.

"You could stop moping around," Tamsin said from the couch, "and find an activity group. There are dozens of them at Carramba. If you'd ever pause out of your oh so busy schedule to look at the Speaker's area, you'd have found a bunch of fliers about it."

Glowering at his sister, but knowing she was right, Thomas said, "then I'll find something tomorrow."

"Lunchtime and after school," Tamsin chirped and then continued deeply reading whatever it was she had in her hands. Thomas was halfway tempted to accellerate the decrepitude of the paper, but instead all he really wanted to do was sleep. Or, as his sister had it, 'mope'. He was quite good at it.

By the end of the next school day, he'd almost forgotten about the information he was supposed to find. Darting back from T'angle Way into the Speaker's Plaza, he saw a dozen tables with sunshades over them, and about three dozen people still milling around them.

"Crochet club... no. Croquet club... no. Donation organization?" He looked into that, but found it was merely a group of kids who kept other groups organized and in motion. Dragon club, now there's one he was expecting to join sometime - if he got himself a dragon of course. They weren't all riders, he learned. Instead they were hopefuls, friends-of, hangers on. But he signed up for that one anyway, it would give him something to do on Saturdays.

Then he found the two competing Superhero booths. They were the only loud clubs left - aside from the Chess club over there on the corner - with two colorfully garbed young women shouting at each other from behind their booth tables.

"We've got matching uniforms!" Said one.

"Yours are colored so lame - we like to have personal freedom in choosing our uniforms!" Said the other.

"Our roster includes alumni and graduates of the C4 Supers program!"

"That's because half your group is too old to attend Carramba! Our group is for current students!"

"We have a full roster of days and times for patrol, we offer every time slot for the appropriate powers."

"We've got two dragons!" The second shouted, and that was what turned Thomas' head. Superheros - and dragon riders?"

He signed up immediately, and noticed with a smirk that the green-fur-wearing heroine standing behind this counter stuck her tongue out defiantly at the blonde in the white-and-pink outfit behind the other desk.

"Hey, great choice!" The girl said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Disruptor, do you have a secret ID or a public one?"

"Public, right now," Thomas said, "I haven't got a local dimension ID yet here at all..." He might have worried about that, but the two Relaxation classes he'd had this week put a stop to that.

For the next couple hours, until dusk when the students were all asked to clear the campus and head home, Thomas filled out forms and took little quiz tests to see what he'd be best to do with their group.

"If you had signed up with the Patrol," Disruptor said, "Dale would really use you. He's trapped inside his own force field half the time..." Thomas chuckled at that. "But yeah, we do have someone who could use you, her shapeshifting goes way out of control when she's under stress. Cat girl, you might have seen her."

"I think she's in my Relaxation class," Thomas said, pondering the sight he'd had of the green-blue colored feline alien who at the drop of a hat would suddenly become a small cat-sized cat - or the one time she'd been surprised by the class bell and morphed out into a huge ball of fur that no one could get by. "I'll tell her I'm going to be part of her team, that should make her happy."

"Sweetie, if we could get more guys like you in our teams, everyone would be happy." Disruptor said with a wink.

Later on, back at their apartment (recently converted very quickly from a warehouse into a small complex of apartments by the Alabaster company) Thomas wondered aloud what she'd meant by that.

"Probably that you're a Sanger, bro," Tamsin said. "She's totally hot on the Doc."

"But I don't look anything like him... I'm all rumpled."

"And he never is, go figure. You're stealing all the rumple in the world!" Tamsin giggled.

Shortly, they were both called away to their dragon sites... And Thomas found himself wondering how he'd balance the riding and the superheroing...

Thomas was a bit unsure what was going on. He got to Coeptus for the gold's nest, along with almost a dozen others. But while they waited, everyone official and in charge was nowhere to be found. The only people left to watch or to attend the hatching, were the sick, weirbrats, a couple medics that weren't even senior apprentices, and a batch of elderly riders.

That was because everyone was busy fighting this Thread stuff. He helped out as he could, by tossing sacks of the stone which the dragons needed to digest in order to flame things.

Absently he wondered if they couldn't just breed that out of them, and make them independantly able to burn? But his thoughts were brought to a quick end, when someone bellowed that the eggs were hatching! The candidates had to leave off their help, and bolted into the chilly chamber where Erinquath and her eggs rested.

Outside, and for many many miles, there was a gigantic storm that rocked the airways. Echoes of thunder and the endless downpour of icy water from the black clouds overhead filled the cavern along with the broken humming of dragons announcing the birth. He heard another sound too - a wail, a cry of pain.

He knew that sound all too well, and Thomas' eyes closed. Someone had just died out there, in the storm, fighting thread.

Carefully they were lined up, even though it was absolutely frigid in there, and everyone was made to wait out the cracking of the eggs. They were told in no uncertain terms by one of the young women nearby, that they were not to touch the eggs or the hatchlings - that was how this had to be.

The queen and her tiny bronze mate accepted the candidates' quick bows of respect as they entered, but then all eyes went to the eggs.

A blue hatched first, struggling with his shell but able to walk about and scan his choices. He did impress somewhat quickly, and that was good. A brown and then a green hatched, the brown almost callously heading away from her when she wanted to lean on him for support. When a second green came only partially out of her shell, she demanded action from one of the girls - who helped her even though it was apparently against the rules.

Thomas' stomach sank when every adult and young dragon cried out at the same time: another fall? Another death? It chilled him to the bone as though he hadn't already been soaked and frozen. When one of the dragon healers from just outside came in to help briefly, it was she who'd bonded another of the greens!

Below, the hatching bronze finally managed to kick one leg out of his shell, followed by his head. Then, three other legs poked through, and he actually began to walk towards the Candidates still mostly covered in his shell. Olea burst into laughter at this display, along with most of the other people present. Of course, this didn't last very long. The little dragon managed to waddle himself onto his back, and flailed against his egg until it split into four pieces, leaving him a reeling mess of tangled limbs, shells, and egg-goo. Behind him, an egg that had been rocking fiercely stopped suddenly to reveal a blue nose.

The bronze swaggered around for a bit, not seemingly intent on anything in particular. His whirling eyes didn't seem to concentrate on one image for very long before moving on to the next sight.

But then he swung his wings up, almost like a salute - but almost like feeling around with hands that acted as cats' whiskers?

So, let's get this straight. The dragon bespoke Thomas. First, we chat a little, then we get some food. He leaned back and spied the feeding chamber nearby, and with the same tilt to his head as he used to glance at the food, he gazed at Thomas. Name's Sairojath, Thomas, and I'm your dragon and all, but I'm starving. Savvy?

Thomas couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Savvy, friend," he replied. They walked over to the food where the dragon appraised several different bowls of meat. Pointing at one bowl with his tail, and then another with his wing wrist, Sairojath decided upon one bowl in particular.

Even though Thomas was now privy to the inner thoughts of the little dragon? He still couldn't make sense of the logic behind that choice. Was there more meat in that one? Or less fatty looking? Or was it the smell?

Who could say. Sairojath didn't mention it, and Thomas was getting hungry himself too.

The rest of the hatchlings finally joined them - with the knowledge that these dragonets were meant to be new blood to replace the lost lives outside during this fierce battle...

***

Thomas practiced his powers at greater and greater distances, until he was sure that his control was as good as it was going to get. When he and Sairojath came back to Carramba High it was with a swagger and smile.

"That's a big ass bronze," Tamsin commented with her own broad smile. Her own gryphon was pretty stunning himself.

"Yes he is," Thomas said. He knew that Sairojath wasn't as large as his clutch brother Theorusth, or the lead dragon rider teaching here at Carramba, but then few dragons were! "And speaking of him," Thomas warned the bronze as they went down to the dragon training grounds, "Synesth is off limits. No pranking him. We want to stay here at Carramba long enough to graduate."

I thought you didn't want to stay here, you wanted to become a superhero. The bronze's wings fluttered a little, he stood on his hind legs and wobbled.

"Well I do, but..." After the few weeks away, since they couldn't take the extreme newly hatched dragons off world until they were ready, Thomas had realized that now he had responsibilities. And, that Carramba had their best interests in mind.

So then let's become superheroes, Sairojath suggested. Ooh, who's that? He gazed at one of the other instructor's dragons with bright patterns on his wings. And her? Who's she?

"So you want to know more?" Thomas said, and Sairojath's head and tail bobbed in time with one another. It turned out he did. "Well then we're on our way to class. And you can plot who I can zap with my powers if you see anyone cruising around, right?"

That is my duty to you, my friend, Sairojath announced with his tail 'saluting' before the dragon's nose. He rolled over on his side shortly after, and then they scampered to the field.