Chapter One: A Fresh Start

This is the first chapter of my latest project! Let me know what you think.

"Guys? Guys come quick! I think he's waking up!"

Three shadows suddenly blocked the harsh lighting that had blinded the young raccoon. One of the shadows apprehensively reached out a paw and placed it on the raccoons forehead, making him flinch in fear. The shadow pulled back and spoke. "It's okay, its okay. Don't worry. You're safe here with us."

The raccoon slowly curled his paws in the form of a small stretch, pressing the pads of his feet against soft linen. I'm...in a bed? He lifted his body onto his elbows and looked at the small room before him. The windowless white walls gave him no information, but the several empty beds surrounding him gave plenty. After swallowing several times, he managed to choke a few words out of his dry muzzle. "Where...where am I?"

One of the shadows turned the overhead light away, allowing the raccoons eyes to adjust to the darkness once more. Before him stood three teenage boys, similar in age to himself. They each wore bright white shorts over their bodies, nothing more. He immediately turned his head to face the one who had touched him, a tall and lanky fox who held an apple in his paw. The fox's ears perked at the raccoon's gesture of acknowledgement.

"Well, uhh...it's difficult to explain."

The middle figure, a white wolf of average height and athletic build, spoke next. "We were kind of hoping that you knew." A deafening silence filled the room.

The third guest filled the empty space. "What's your name?" The other two looked at their friend with blank expressions. The tan colored lynx lowered his eyes toward the ground and flicked his tail awkwardly.

The raccoon thought for a moment. "My name is Max."

The lynx stuck out a shaky paw towards Max. "I'm Jasper." Max weakly shook the lynx's paw and gave him a faint smile. Jasper smiled back happily.

The wolf's arms remained folded as he gave Max a slight nod. "Name's Kuda."

Out of courtesy, the fox followed suit. "I'm Vix."

More silence ensued while Max continued to think. In one decisive motion, he pulled off the blankets covering his body and swung his legs over the bed, placing his paws onto the cool tile beneath him. To his surprise, he wore the same white shorts as the others.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kuda chuckled and followed Max with his light brown eyes as he examined the room. Nothing stuck out to him but the white walls and simple beds covered in simple white sheets across a simple white floor. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling above each of the five beds to accent their lack of color.

Max ignored the question and instead responded with his own. "Why can't I remember anything? Anything at all about how I got here?"

Vix's head hung low and tucked his bright orange tail between his legs. "None of us can. We're all just...here. We woke up one by one, none knowing anything more than the next."

"Where's everyone else?"

Vix continued. "Whoever was in that fifth bed isn't here anymore, or maybe...maybe they never were to begin with."

Jasper put his arm around Max and pointed to a door at the end of the room. "See that door? That's the only way out of here, but it's locked tight."

Max approached the door and pressed his ear carefully to the crack. The soft sound of footsteps outside gave him a jumpy feeling. Whether this was of joy or fear, he wasn't sure.

"Someone's outside." He turned back to the three and pointed to the source of the sound. The three began to back away from the door.

Kuda spoke up. "Max, the people on the other side of the door are the same people who brought us here and messed with our minds. You want to make contact with them?"

Max rolled his eyes. "Will pretending they don't exist get us out of here and back home?"

With that, he raised a paw to the door and hit the surface three times. Upon raising his paw for a fourth knock, the lock on the other side of the door began to unfasten. Jasper crouched at the foot of the bed behind Vix.

The door opened to reveal a large dragon wearing a clean uniform of notable valor. The markings and symbols covering his patches and collar were unrecognizable by all four of them, but made clear his ranking was not to be questioned. The dragon was immediately followed by a small anthropoid feline much like Jasper. "Good. You're all awake."

Seeing that the dragon was not an imminent threat, Kuda took an offensive position. "Who are you, and why are we here asshole?" He stepped up to the dragon and looked him dead in the eye. "You better get to explaining fas--"

Without hesitation, the small feline reached out with a single paw and dealt a blow to the wolf's midsection. While he was taken aback, she wrapped her claws around Kuda's neck, pressing him up against the wall. "You will watch your tone in the presence of a captain, dog."

Max was too stunned to reply to what had just happened, and Jasper pressed himself closer to Vix in fear. Neither the size of the cat nor her disposition gave away what she was capable of, but here she was, holding a musclebound wolf off the ground by his neck.

The feline slowly released Kuda, who slumped to the ground rubbing his neck and abdominal muscles in pain.

The dragon continued, stretching his claws casually as he spoke. "As I was saying, I'm glad to see that each of you made it through the night. I understand that you have a significant number of questions you would like answered, and I respect that. I have been directed that you will be speaking to the head of the vessel shortly. You four are important to us, and will be treated as such. Nevertheless, you should be honored. It's not everyday that passengers get to speak to the headmaster."

Max, Jasper, Kuda, and Vix stood stoic yet incredulous to the words of the dragon. The feline smiled at them with a glimmer in her eye, looking between each of them for any reason to break someone's ribs. "If that will be all, Kari here will escort you to the captain."

Kari made a sweeping motion with her tail, deliberately tickling Max's nose with its tip while turning her back to the boys and prancing regally out from the door that the dragon had entered. Max followed first, half smitten by the cat's charm. The others followed in fear.