Every Sunday evening, there was a boy playing his guitar in the park. Sometimes he would even sing, too. In front of him, his guitar case, filled with a few bucks in coins and notes. His red-brownish hair would glisten in the light of the sunset, and his music would be heard until the last sunray was gone.

His name was Toby Williams.

And he used every single dollar he earned to support his single mother. They weren‘t rich. In fact, they were rather poor. Her job at the gas station barely covered the rent and some necessities. So in order to buy some things their budget would not usually allow, like a washing machine, new cutlery, a new blanket, etc, Toby works as a street musician every Sunday, and sometimes even after school. It was a bit difficult to bring his guitar to school most of the time, since he went there by skateboarding.

But today wasn‘t Sunday, and it wasn’t a school day either. It was a Saturday, and Toby was out to buy new strings for his guitar. They weren‘t cheap, but he really needed them. One of the strings broke, and the others were pretty old and close to tearing as well.

„Thanks, see ya!“

He exited the store after packing his new strings, jumped on his skateboard and made his way back home. The sun has been setting, and this part of the city became more and more quiet as all stores began to close.

„Huff, huff, huff... ahh. Hah. Oh dear... I hope she doesn‘t find me!!“

Toby stepped off his skateboard as he noticed that one of his shoe laces was loose. He squatted down to fix it.

„Oh gee- oh no! I have to go!! She‘s gonna find me!! Hah... huff, huff, huff... OH F-“

„WHOA—!“ Suddenly Toby was knocked to the ground. „Hey!! Watch your step!!“ He shook his head and looked up. As he started to process what was in front of him, he smiled. „Oh, you‘re a dog! Sorry! Where‘s your owner?“

„Oh jee i‘m sorry!! I didn‘t mean to bump into you!!“

„... w-what,“ Toby stuttered. „Did- did you just- talk?!“

„I did!“ The dog looked up to him. Upon closer inspection, he looked a bit odd. He had blue, fuzzy ears and piercing, magenta eyes. This was no usual dog.

„B-But—“ Tobys eyes stood wide open. „Dogs can‘t talk!!“

„Oh- but I do talk!“ The dog laughed. „Maybe I‘m special!“

„...“ Toby was visibly in shock.

„I‘m Memis! Nice to meet-“ His ears perked up. „Eek!!“ He jumped behind Toby. „Please, please hide me!! There‘s a big, evil dragon hunting me!!“

„A... a dragon?“ Toby got to his feet again. „But... dragons don‘t exist...“

„Please!! I‘m begging you!!“ Memis whined. „If she catches me she will!! She will!!!“

„Hmmh“ Toby looked around. There were no people around, no one who could be the owner of this weird, talking dog. „You know what? Fine.“ Toby took off his backpack and opened it. „Jump in!“

„Ohhh thank you thank you!!“ Memis immediately jumped into Tobys backpack. „Now let‘s get away from here!!“

„Sure sure!“ He zipped up his bag, put it back on and stepped on his skateboard. With a few kicks he was back in motion and moved further away back home.

„Gggrrrll....“

The big dragon sniffed on the ground.

„Gggrrrlll....“

„What is it? Did you lose him?“

„Ggrrrlllll.... I lost his scent. It got mixed with human scents.“

„Hmmh, he must‘ve hidden in a crowd. Fine. Let‘s get moving. We have to find him as soon as possible.