It's typical you want to hear how I lost one of the Serdian Golden Apples. It's actually a pretty funny story. I remember it just like it was yesterday- in fact, it was a year ago yesterday...

It was the first meeting of the Dragoon Council. Some fellow Dragoons and I decided that the only way for us to keep in touch was for us to form a council of Dragoons to talk about issues currently affecting us and mostly just to goof off with good friends. I, as the president of the International Dragoonal Council (the council's formal name), naturally arrived first. Then in tandem, the vice-president and advisor respectfully, Dart and Shana arrived next. Then last but not least, King Albert of Serdio (everyone just calls him Albert because he gets mad if you call him Your Majesty or King Albert), arrived at the grand hall so that the IDC (I call it that for short) was complete.

"Ok, let's bring the first official meeting of the International Dragoonal Council to order," I said, "What is our first order of business? Never mind, I have my sheet."

"Where did Rose wander off to?" Dart asked.

"Rose? Who's Rose?" I questioned.

"Rose is a good friend of ours; she has saved my life more times than I can count!" Dart replied.

"Oh. Well I hope she gets here soon because I don't want to wait all day for someone I don't even know to arrive," I put bluntly.

"Who don't you want to be waiting for? I hope it's not me because I'm already here," a mysterious voice called from the rear of the room.

"Rose!" the others exclaimed.

"We thought you weren't going to come, but I'm sure glad you changed your mind," Shana chirped.

"I'm glad I could make it," Rose stated.

"I was just wondering," Dart began, "as to why you are so late?"

"Well I-"

"It's plain to see, Dart," Albert interjected, "An experienced sleuth such as myself can see it as plain as the sun shining on a cloudless, summer afternoon."

"What is it that you see?" Rose inquired, genuinely amused.

"It is an amalgam of factors presented by your visage that lead me to conclude that you were involved in a skirmish. For example, your face is faintly dotted with perspiration from exertion, and your breathing is slightly labored making your chest... heave... um, where was I? Oh yes, your clothing also shows a vague semblance of cuts along your midsection."

"Oh, well I guess the jig is up oh astute detective," Rose said with the sting of sarcasm.

"That is a good pile of evidence but other form of training or exercise can result in those same characteristics," I interposed, "I came to the same conclusion but by a different set of evidence."

"And that would be..." Albert questioned doubtful that he had missed any other forms of evidence on Rose's person.

"Her sword-" I began.

"Demon Stiletto."

"What?" I asked.

"My sword," Rose replied, "is called the Demon Stiletto, and I would appreciate it if you would call it by name."

"Okay," I acquiesced, "as I was saying, your 'Demon Stiletto' smells of blood, as does your hair, and by estimating your apparent level of fitness, I believe that your heart rate is 27 beats per minute over resting."

"Wow," Albert said, dumbfounded.

"How do you know all that?" Shana questioned.

"I have special abilities from my past; you don't want to know about it."

"C'mon Antoine, we're all friends here. You can tell us," Dart insisted.

"You don't want to know about it," I replied.

"If he doesn't think we should know, then we shouldn't push him. We can all wait for him to get ready to tell us like big boys and girls," Rose chided the others.

"We're sorry," Dart and Shana chimed together.

"It's all right; I know you had good intentions. Well now that everyone is here why don't we get this meeting underway," I suggested.

"Splendid idea Antoine," Albert replied, "I believe that the floor is yours."

"Alright, our first official act as the IDC is to speak at the upcoming press conference in Serdio. Rose, I don't know you very well but you seem dependable and trustworthy. Would you mind being our public speaker?" I inquired.

"What do you mean by 'new' public speaker?" Rose queried.

"Well currently, I'm the public speaker, but I tend to freeze up in front of the cameras. The only reason I have that position is because I'm the president. It wasn't my idea; in fact I vehemently protested against the nomination but here I am. Well, Rose, what do you say? Will you be the new public speaker?"

"Uh, I wasn't aware of you needing active participation on my part when I agreed to come here," Rose replied.

"Rose, I implore you, your assistance is essential," beseeched Albert.

"C'mon Rose, can't you help out a few of your friends?" Dart asked.

"I don't kn-"

"Please Rose, we need you," Shana pleaded.

All the occupants of the room waited on bated breaths for Rose's response.

"Fine."

"Yay!" the others cheered.

"I'll only do it," Rose added, "if Antoine writes my speeches. I listened to a couple speeches you gave earlier, and if you can get past the stutters and pauses, they're really good."

"It's a deal then," I answered.

"What's the next order of business?" Shana inquired.

"I've got this one Antoine; I'll tell everyone after we greet our new guest. Hello there Miss," Albert said.

"Hi there! Anyone know where I can find the president guy of this group of dragoons?" a voice called out from the back of the room.

"Shareesa (I call her Ree for short)?!? What are you doing here? Oooh, it's so good to see you again!" I said to her as I gave her a crushing hug.

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure that my little bro didn't earn the wrath of a world power or anything," Ree replied, "and I brought an old friend of ours to see you."

"Will they still be out there in a few? We only have one more issue to resolve before we'll be done," I asked.

"Sure, don't let me interrupt your big meeting or anything; just come get me when you finish," Ree replied as she walked away.

"Will do, Albert will you continue please?" I responded.

"All right, Minister Noish wants us to come to the capital of Serdio and talk to him about some golden apples. Or at least I think it was about golden apples, I can never remember a message correctly," Albert said.

"Why does he need to talk to us about golden apples for?" Dart thought out loud.

"Where do the apples come from, Albert?" Shana asked.

"I don't really know, Shana. I mean I know that Serdio has a secret garden containing the secrets of our ancestors, but I was never privy to the knowledge of what was growing in there," Albert answered.

"Well if we don't know, we'll just have to find out, right?" I said.

"Right," Rose agreed, "this matter needs to be taken care of immediately."

"But a side trip is in order, for I still need to talk to my sister," I reminded the others.

"Right," they chimed.

Soon we were chatting away with my sister Ree. We talked about random things, from sports to the weather, but I was about to explode form the anticipation. You wouldn't meeting old friends would get you into international scandal, right? Well in my world, we wouldn't either, but it still happened to me. Oops, let me get back to the story.

"Okay Ree, I'm gonna explode if you don't tell me who you brought with you," I pleaded.

"Ha ha, I shall have pity on your mortal soul, come on out Diesel!" she replied.

Then, out like a shot from a cannon from the alley behind us, a big assed Great Dane barreled right at me.

"Diesel! How've you been bud?!? I missed ya!" I exclaimed when he bowled, "Hey everybody, come meet Diesel, he's my Uncle's dog, and a good friend of mine."

Shana was the first to come over and start petting him.

"OOOH! He's just so cute!" Shana crooned.

The rest eventually came over to greet our newest guest except Rose.

"Are you scared of dogs, Rose?" I asked

"Of dogs, no. But he can hardly be called a dog! Dogs are small and fuzzy and cute and... I can't believe I actually just said that."

"Said what?" Albert inquired.

"Nothing at all," Rose replied, "Anyways, he's monstrously huge and vicious looki-"

Rose suddenly froze up and paled while quietly "eeping" and quivering quite visibly. What could cause a hardened warrior like her to quake in fear? Diesel was gently licking and nuzzling her hand. I chuckled to myself while the others gawked in amusement and awe.

"Help... me... !" Rose whimpered while Diesel continued to lick her hand, oblivious to the duress he was subjecting its owner to.

"Come on Rose, he obviously just thinks that you're really tasty!" I joked.

If I hadn't been there and saw it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it. But after previously paling when Diesel began his torment, she visibly paled even more after my comment. I thought she was gonna disappear if she got any whiter. I suddenly got a very wicked idea in my mind.

'Oh, I definitely think Rose will love this!' I cackled mentally, "Hey Ree, why don't you and Diesel join us on our trip to Basil, we have our first official IDC matter to resolve over there."

I know I heard Rose emit a gulp although she denied it in further questioning.

"Sure, we'll come. I have a villa over there," Ree grinned.

"Cool. I guess we'll see you there tomorrow," I replied back as we turned to leave.

"Peace out, bud," Ree called out after us.

The next day, the gang and I arrived at the address my sister had given me. As she opened the door we could peer inside and all of us gasped at the ajar of her home.

"Hi guys, I'm really sorry about the mess," she said as she let us in, "I really haven't had the time to organize my space junk."

"You're an astronaut?" Shana and Albert asked in unison.

"Nope," Ree replied straight faced.

"B-b-but," Albert stammered looking dismayed.

"She isn't an astronaut, Albert. Look at that uniform hanging on the wall," I pointed, "she's a space commander."

"Whoa- hey, is that your ship?" Albert inquired.

"Yep, that's my baby, the SRS Amphigory," Ree answered.

"Amphigory?"

"It reminded me of my brother while I was out in space," Ree answered with a smile.

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Shana gushed.

"Hey Albert," Dart began, "when are we supposed to meet Minister Noish?"

"In about fifteen minutes, why?" was the response.

"FIFTEEN MINUTES!?!?" I screamed, "It's lunch hour, we've got to go NOW!!"

We all began running around like chickens with our heads chopped off in an effort to arrive to the meeting on time.