C.H.A.R.M.I.N.G.

A Dragon Encounter

Once upon a Yesterday, on the I-5 ramp that led from the Kingdom of [INSERT NAME HERE] to C.H.A.R.M.I.N.G. (an acronym not important to the plot of this story so don't worry about it too much) HQ, Nikolas Turner was running late. Very late. The kind of late that in a life or death situation usually meant death if the person who was running late didn't stop running late very soon. As he speeded down the ramp, running well over the reasonable 55 mph speed limit that had been set on his H.O.R.S.E. (a vehicle that looks more like a motorcycle and less like a horse, just try not to think of the name too much), he cursed under his breath. "Of all the days to sleep through my alarm," he muttered as he rushed past the shining towers of HQ and weaved in and out of traffic.

Thankfully, he didn't accidently kill himself in his haste to follow the big shiny dot on his GPS and turned off the I-5 ramp to eventually found himself on a dirt road. As he sped between trees, he started to hear a loud ringing sound coming from inside his helmet. Tapping twice on his helmet, he began to speak, "Alright Cass, tell me what's going on. I didn't have enough time to actually check what's up."

"We've got a young female," a women's voice answers, "18 years old. Dragon showed up before her parent's knights even had a chance to react. Hey-" the sound of scuffling could be heard. Then a new voice, male this time, "Oh Nik, it's horrible. Horrible!"

"Jordan, please but Cass back on the phone," Nik says, swerving out of the way of an oncoming tree and grunting when he lands back on the road. "I need details, not you begging me to save her."

"But-"

"Thank you!" Cass's voice returned. "Anyways. Big blue dragon shouldn't that be hard to miss. Cave should be linked to your GPS. Man, you're late," she stops talking, and snickering could be heard in the background.

"Can you please not bring that up? Or not mention it in general?" Nik asked, pulling off on the side of the road and parking the H.O.R.S.E.

"I could, but where's the fun in that?"

Nik doesn't respond, just takes off his helmet and turned off the H.O.R.S.E. He did one last check of his equipment before going to finish this fight on foot. "Moving into position, be ready to activate the N.E.T."

"On it princy," you could almost hear Cass's head nodding through the mic. "We'll leave you to your devices. Cass and Jordan out." And with a click they were gone. Nik sighs and moves forward to the cave.

***

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Cass pushes her chair back from the console and spins around a few times before going back to look at the screen.

"What? Facing a dragon on his own? It's not the first time he's done it," Jordan's eyes don't leave the screen.

"Ya, but the last time he did he almost got himself killed. Not to mention the fact that he slept through his alarm."

"He's not alone you know. He's got us. And enough equipment to take down a whole army of dragons. And at least he remembered he had something important to do today."

"Fair enough."

"Plus this isn't the first time he's met this one. I think she likes him."

"Friendly isn't the same as liking someone Jordan. We still need to be careful."

"Alright, you win. I'll head out there if it looks like something bad is going to happen. Will that make you feel better?"

***

"Come out and face me you foul, savage beast!" Nik drew his sword as he got closer to the cave, his shield already on his arm as he put his feet in position so that when the dragon did come out, he wouldn't fall over the second it came charging at him.