"....no, I cannot turn into a crocodile. Or anything else, for that matter. I am a dragon - the transformation between man and dragon is intrinsic to my very nature."
He leveled a flat stare at Tabatha while this was said, glowing red eyes unblinking. He then looked to Enthis, and nodded. "And, yes, I'm serious. I am a black dragon of the Aerie Clan, from long before any history of yours was written." With that perplexing statement, he turned and walked back towards the dunes, in order to be a safe distance away to transform without harming his.... companions.
When he was sufficiently distanced from the others, he stopped, and closed his eyes. Reaching inside himself, he looked for that other side of himself, that place just beyond the thin veil of humanity. Pushing into it, he could feel himself expand, quickly.
His long-coat seemed to simply disappear as if it were never there, though the complex network of leather straps securing his blades remained. Underneath the coat, there was nothing but a mass of pitch-black scales, roiling over one another in an indescribable manner. A multitude of spikes shot out of this mass, spreading apart as his new body began to form.
A tail, more than forty feet long.
A pair of wings, massive in their span.
Four legs, pushing the mass of scales and spikes skyward, ending in deadly sharp black talons.
A huge spiked head, with a mouth filled with razor sharp, dagger like teeth, issuing forth a pale, blue otherworldly light. Two massive red eyes turned to look at the group. His mouth didn't move, but his voice boomed in their heads nonetheless.
Give me a direction...and let's be underway...