Reggie awoke feeling a great pressure on his chest. His eyes were closed and he was having a hard time remembering what happened. He felt hungover, but didn't remember drinking last night. He slowly opened his eyes to a relative darkness. His vision was blurry but slowly his hangover dissipated and his vision cleared. He thought he was lying in bed but he only saw a sky full of stars and not the ceiling of his bedroom. The pressure on his chest remained making his breathing slightly labored but not enough to be a concern. He waited until his hangover cleared to lift his head and was surprised to find the pressure was from something large and possibly amphibian laying on his chest.

The head of the creature was facing his head and Reggie was looking right into its eyes. It didn't seem asleep, since the eyes were open, but was perfectly still. Reggie felt like the creature might even be enjoying its perch, though he was pretty sure that was his imagination. Since it didn't seem like an immediate threat he looked over the animal more thoroughly. It was at least three feet long and looked very similar to a salamander. Actually, it resembled an axolotl the most. Reggie had done a report on them in middle school and the information had stuck with him. The main problem Reggie had was that despite being an amphibian, axolotl's were entirely aquatic as opposed to their salamander cousins which sometimes lived on land. He also thought they didn't get anywhere near this size, though after so many years he could be remembering that information incorrectly.

The giant axolotl remained unmoving on his chest. Reggie was wondering how he arrived in this predicament in the first place. He remembered entering the new lab in search of the machine, but the details beyond the stairwell inside the entrance were seemingly gone. He didn't feel like anything was broken or even injured. In fact, now that the hangover was entirely gone, he felt kind of great. Why am I feeling so good? I have never felt this alive and energized before.

Reggie pondered this new feeling as he lay his head back down. The ground seemed solid, though his hands told him he was laying mostly in dirt. Sparse vegetation seemed to be randomly spaced around him and the ground felt mostly level. He lifted his head again to look at the giant axolotl. It was still in the exact same place. If it weren't for the fact that he could see it breathing he might suspect that it wasn't actually alive. Reggie cleared his throat as though he was trying to get someone's attention. The noise seemed to go unregistered by the animal.

Maybe more noise? Probably shouldn't yell, but slightly more volume may make it move along. Reggie cleared his throat again, though he wasn't sure why. "Excuse me, do you mind moving?" Oh yeah, talk to it. That will totally work. The giant creature responded with a strange gurgling bubbly sound and then slowly slid off. What the...Does this thing understand me? Nah, no way. Probably just the noise. "Thank you." Despite it being a large amphibian, Reggie felt he should still be polite.

Once the animal was off his chest, Reggie slowly got to his feet to have a look around. Not only did he not recognize where he was but he was getting the sneaking suspicion that he may no longer be on Earth. He slowly turned in a circle to look at his surroundings. It wasn't until he was facing the direction he couldn't see when he was on the ground that he knew the truth. He could see a light when he was laying down and just thought the Moon was rising and couldn't turn his head up to see it. But it isn't the Moon. It wasn't even a moon. For one thing, it was huge and surrounded by rings like Saturn. Yet it wasn't Saturn since color was very different. A variety of blues and reds and purples covered the entire celestial body. It was unlike anything Reggie had ever seen before.

After staring at the planet Not Saturn for a while, Reggie continued to look at his surroundings. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it didn't look too dissimilar from home. He seemed to be in the middle of a wetlands-type area. The ground he was on was dry but it turned very marshy a few feet away. The giant axolotl had retreated to the edge of the water but was still staring at Reggie as if it were trying to decide what to think of him. Reggie stared right back for a few seconds. "You know, it's rude to stare."

The creature made another gurgling noise that seemed to break up at times as though it were speaking. Reggie wasn't sure what to think of it but since he was no longer on his home planet, maybe it was speaking. The creature went back to silently staring so Reggie decided it was time to go find someone that could maybe help him get home. There were no lights in the distance in any direction but with the light from the newly risen planet, Reggie could just make out a path forward on dry land. Without any other ideas, he turned in that direction and started walking.

Reggie hadn't taken more than a step or two when a strange light appeared from behind him. He turned to look and found a bright light right about where the axolotl had been standing. Laying? Do they stand? I don't know. The light grew a little brighter and Reggie could no longer see where the animal had been. After a second it quickly faded and Reggie could only see a spot on his eyes due to the sudden change in light level. It took a couple seconds for his eyes to readjust and Reggie was astonished.

Where the axolotl once stood, now stood a girl with pink hair. She was around the same height as Hyacinth and entirely naked. Reggie quickly put his hand out in front of him and turned away, blushing heavily. "Oh my...why are you naked?" The girl didn't say anything and Reggie eventually looked back in her direction while keeping his hand up to allow for some privacy. "Do you understand me? Do you not have anything to cover yourself?" The girl, an amphibian just moments ago, obviously had nothing with her. Reggie took off his jacket and held it out to her. She tilted her head but didn't seem to understand the gesture. While trying not to look as much as was possible for a human male, Reggie wrapped the jacket around the girl and pulled it closed with both hands.

The jacket was huge on her since she had such a small frame which made Reggie laugh aloud. She looked like a younger sister wearing her older brother's clothes. "Do you have a name?" Reggie wasn't sure anything he said was understood but it's not like he had other options. He considered coming up with a name if she didn't offer one but it soon became unnecessary.

"My name is Nincora." Reggie froze when the amphibian girl suddenly spoke in perfect English. "Actually my name is @&@&@!!!^&@." Reggie didn't understand the last word Nincora spoke since it seemed to be some sort of weird language and sounded a lot like the gurgling sounds the axolotl made earlier. "I figured you wouldn't be able to pronounce that, though, so I roughly translated it into your native tongue."

Reggie was still speechless. It's not like animals ever suddenly became girls back home and started talking to him. He pushed past it as best he could. "Ok, uh...Nice to meet you, Nincora. I am Reggie." He held out his hand for a handshake but quickly pulled it back when she just stared at it and gave him a strange look. "Anyways, I am not sure how I got here but I am not from this world. Is there someplace nearby I could go that might be able to get me home?"

Nincora thought for a second before responding. "I am unsure about getting you home, but I can guide you out of the wetlands to the nearest town."

"Definitely beats standing here waiting. Thank you." Nincora nodded and walked up next to Reggie, taking his forearm in her small hand and lightly pulling him in a direction that was not the way Reggie was planning to go. He was suddenly very happy she was here. The two of them walked forward silently through the darkness as a new adventure began.