Chance decided to step back outside after walking Charley back inside.

"I am such an idiot sometimes," he said under his breath as he realized that he'd just passed up an opportunity to be with a beautiful woman who obviously wanted to be in his company tonight.

Yet his sense of honour demanded that he remain loyal to the Shirley of his timeline, no matter how futile or even misplaced that loyalty may be. It wasn't something he wanted to think about too much right now, anyways, though he'd have to make that choice someday.

"What the--?!" he said as the silhouette of what looked like a dragon (!!!) passed across the face of the full moon. "Now that is just strange..."

He stood there in open-mouthed wonder for a few moments before he realised that what he was seeing was very real.

He ran back inside. Ignoring all the cat-calls of the women inside who admired his well-toned physique and Scandinavian good looks (not that it went to his head or anything), he ran over to one of the few at MBL Consulting who could fly under his own power.

"Raptor!" he called as he ran up to Edulcore Cicciotto. "Ed, we need Raptor right now. There's something you've got to check out for me."

"Chance, I haven't seen you all evening! Where have you been? The countdown to midnight is about to begin!"

"Hurry, Ed, while there's still time!"

"All right," Edulcore replied, setting down his drink and following Chance at a casual pace.

Reaching the doorway, the two looked out and saw... nothing.

"I could've sworn there was a winged dragon up in the sky."

Edulcore laughed. "It's just your imagination, my Swedish friend. A little too much to drink on a night like this can produce many illusions." He continued to laugh as he went back inside.

"Perhaps," Chance said, though he hadn't had a drop all night. He stood there on the steps and scanned the horizon once again. There were villagers walking all around below.

Inside, someone had found a television set and had turned it on to watch the countdown. The entire room was full of excitement, and nearly every woman in the room was next to someone as the ten-second countdown began.

"10!"

"Chance!"

"9"

He turned around. "Charley?"

"8"

"Alone?"

"7"

"Yeah."

"6"

"Mind if I..."

"5"

"...join you?"

"4"

"Not at all."

"3"

"Hey!..."

"2"

"...you see that?"

"1"

"What?"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"

"That!"

Charley pointed up as the winged dragon flew by once more. At that moment, cheers erupted from within the fish factory, and all over the village firecrackers and fireworks were set off, illuminating the sky in a multitude of colours.

Up above, Drax was disoriented by all the fireworks exploding around him. He screamed, a roar that sounded more menacing than it did frightened, and began to swoop down to the ground in what looked like an attack despite his best intentions.

"Look out!" Chance shouted and pulled Charley to the grass just as the dragon swooped over them, crashing into some bushes just outside the factory.

Charley was laughing giddily as Chance asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'd tumble for you," she said with breath that smelled like champagne and began laughing a bit more.

Chance smiled in confusion and got up. By this time the sound of the crash had been heard throughout the whole village as well as by everyone inside. Chance walked carefully over to the dragon, waving all the children with firecrackers back. It wasn't long before the rest of the MBL were right behind him.

Drax opened his eyes and attempted a smile. "Uh... happy New Year?" Needless to say, he had some 'splaining to do.