Untold Tales

My Little Weapon

Foolish Gawayne, he should have known better than to display "his" dragon out in the public, where she would be merely a side show for them to point and look at, not to mention the cursed flash photography.

Sure enough, poor Stormy went on a little rampage, with the small sample of her great power displayed. Luckily, she seemed to calm down by the time she reached Snory Dude, who was warm and comforting to her.

Something about his scent was familiar, so she never felt threatened by him.

Zarya finds her and tips Snory Dude with a gold piece for obtaining her. The gesture was appreciated, yet the old panhandler couldn't help but feel Stormy was in imminent danger, whether the Mysticons themselves knew it or not.

***

In the Undercity, the ruthless, anthropomorphic viper, as well as kingpin of crime, Creed Slitherwick, was happily sipping his fancy beverage upon learning a dragon had been found after all these years. His two henchmen, anthro anaconda twins named Charlie and Nixon, discussed this matter further as they play cards.

"So that's really a baby dragon eh? Where do you even find something like that these days?" Asked Charlie

"Beats me Charlie, last I checked there were none left." Nixon replied as he drew another card.

"Ha, bet it'd sell for a pretty gold piece!"

"Yeah, we should steal it then auction it off, see how much it's worth!"

Both twins laughed pretty smugly at that thought. After all, the last dragon of Gemina had to be worth loads of gold. However, Creed sees a different opportunity.

"Ignorant fools." Said Creed in a calm yet cold tone, silencing his two simple minded henchmen. "One doesn't just sell one of the realm's greatest treasures." He picks up a small statue of a dragon, displaying proudly as he continues. "Legend has it that the last dragon of Gemina possesses the very power of Gygax himself. They say that's where his soul resides. Seeing the big picture yet?" He then laughs smugly, "First the pathetic King and Queen get turned to bone, next that old hag Necrafa gets reduced to dust! Now, once I get that dragon on my side and turn it into a weapon of destruction, no one will be able to oppose me. This city will belong to Creed Slitherwick!"

At the last sentence a rat happened to be crawling next to his tail. Big mistake, as Creed snatched the rat with his tail and consumed it. Meanwhile, Charlie was skeptical on how to obtain Stormy.

"But boss, how are we gonna get it? We're not exactly dragon hunters."

"Yeah, but I know someone who is." Nixon replied, holding his phone out. "This one's got great ratings, best in the business they say. Word of caution though, this one can be a bit... intense."

"I'll be the Judge of that." Creed assured, just after he slurped in the tail of the rat as if it were a spaghetti noodle. "Make the call."

With that, Nixon made the call. As if on cue, the dragon hunter appeared before them riding a fierce looking manticore. To assure that this mysterious figure meant business, the hunter has the manticore blast Charlie with an energy beam from its scorpion-like tail, stunning the poor snake. The hunter then walks up to Creed to converse, growling every step of the way.

"You wish to hunt something? To open a contract with... the Claw?"

"Indeed I do, my masked friend. Indeed I do." With that, Creed took a quick sip of his drink, and let out an evil chuckle with his potential success.

***

A long time had passed, and Creed was tapping on his desk rather irritably. The Claw, known otherwise as Clawdette, was running late. If there's one thing he hates, it's when people he had hired are running late, especially when they are running an important errand for him.

"I'm getting tired of waiting, when can I expect my dragon to arrive?!" He looked directly at Nixon when he asked, as he was the one who suggested Clawdette was the best. Nixon was hesitant to answer, but as if on cue, there she was, carrying Stormy with her.

"Special delivery for Creed Slitherwick!" She said in a cheerful yet deep voice, as her mask was still on to make her look serious.

Creed was very much glad to see his dragon finally here. After the payment was processed, Clawdette makes her way to the exit, though upon briefly seeing the poor dragon in the hands of this madman, she was beginning to have second thoughts about her actions. Meanwhile, Creed tossed Stormy in some kind of training room. As he walked in, he was carrying a metal whip in his tail. Stormy was frightened by that.

"Now, my little scaly friend, I'll keep this very simple. I tell you to destroy these "people" as they show up. If you don't..." He whips the whip on the ground close to Stormy, scaring her further. "That will happen, only I won't miss." He then presses a button, which then a cardboard cutout of a civilian pops up. "Now, Destroy it."

Stormy was hesitant, for she didn't want to destroy anyone, even if they were fake. If anything she wanted to leave. But Creed was having none of it. He then raises his whip.

"I said, destroy it!" Creed then whipped stormy on her rear end, which caused her to shriek in pain. Not wanting to feel that pain again, she did exactly as Creed asked and destroyed the cut out civilian. "Yes! Destroy them all!"

As more cutouts of random civilians popped out, she destroyed each and every cutout that appeared. So far, this was going exactly as Creed planned, surely Stormy would become the ruthless, coldblooded killer he had hoped for. That was, until a cutout of Snory Dude popped up. For some reason, she could not bring herself to destroy this one, much to Creed's confusion.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Destroy it!" Stormy refused to, and even went up to nuzzle the cut out. Creed did not like this... not one bit. He whipped the poor young dragon again, only this time on her side. "Impudent little pest! Don't tell me you took a liking to this vagrant, he's nobody! Now for the last time, destroy him!" He then whipped her on the face, right on her left eye, leaving a nasty scar.

Right then and there, storm clouds were forming around the area. The Mysticons quickly caught sight of this, and rushed over with their trusty griffins. Stormy's eyes started glowing a very bright blue color and she took flight. Creed demanded she come down, only to be met with her lightening breath, knocking him against the wall. The Mysticons then barged in, seeing all the destruction in her wake. They were horrified to see her enraged, yet even more horrified to see the scar on her left eye.

"Stormy" Whispered Zarya.

Stormy then dived down, nearly ramming them. Then, with her Lightening breath, she created a hole in the wall in which she escaped. For a moment, the girls were wondering what made that scar, only to soon find the whip that was on the floor. They then find Creed getting up from the floor, groaning while doing so. He managed to stand, only to be met by an enraged Zarya pinning him to the wall, pressing her bow staff to his neck.

"You monster!" Shouted Zarya, "How could you do such a thing to Stormy?!" With all her strength, she was choking the nefarious serpent. She might have actually killed him too if not for the intervention of Arkayna.

"That's enough Mysticon Ranger! We'll deal with him later, right now finding Stormy is more important."

As much as Zarya hated to admit it, her sister was right. Now was not the time for vengeance. Before releasing him, Zarya warned in a cold tone, "We're not done." With that, she released Creed, who gasped for breath, coughing and breathing heavily. Arkayna looked at him with disgust, but as she said so herself, it was time to go. And so they did. Creed then looks on at the cursed Mysticons leaving, hissing with rage as one of his schemes has once again failed.