Dinner With a Dragon (Open: Max plus 2 other players.)

Dragon Xiao was able catch up to the creature, as it paused to attack Max. There was no more thought in her bestial mind, as it was all replaced by anger and animal instinct, all of it directed at the destruction of the monster. The people all around took cover as a second beast had materialized in their city, her wide wings and tail breaking in a few windows here and there as she passed by the high rises.

Dragon Xiao pulled up to fly above the bug, attempted to land on the creature’s back; the dragon’s only desire was to bite into its neck and rip off the head. There was nothing sophisticated about her at all- who needed tactics when one was a big, angry dragon?

Soon enough, the LAPD, paramedics and firefighters were now responding. On the perimeter of the battle, news teams were beginning to cover the event, as the police department focused on getting people to safety. LAPD SWAT teams were arriving by their truckloads, packing heavy ordinance to deal with the monster. In a world where giant monsters appear, it was only natural that grenade launchers and anti-tank weapons were in the arsenal of SWAT.

Should the attack not be resolved soon, the National Guard would soon arrive.

Isidro winced as the bug creature swooped down and bit Max in the chest. He took a moment to breathe and decided he wasn't going to sit back and watch the teen die. The dragon waitress was closing in on the bug creature and seemed to be trying to get onto the monster's back. Isidro tried to ignore the blaring sirens of the LAPD and whatever ambulances were arriving. It meant that he could probably focus more on helping the fight against the giant monster instead.

He took a deep breath and shot up into the sky, heading towards the bug creature. He closed his eyes momentarily in order to picture some sort of weapon. A submachine gun to be specific. He needed something that hopefully wouldn't injure him if he shot with it. He felt the tips of his fingers tingle, and wrapped his hand around the newly created energy weapon. As he reached the bug monster's head, which held the poor dangling teen, he aimed the gun and fired, hoping none of the bullets misfired. He wasn't great at aiming, nor was he good at keeping guns steady with his strength.

His next plan was to attempt to open the monster's jaws with his telekinesis, though he wasn't sure if it would work, or if he even had enough power to be able to do so. All he knew was that the teen was dying and would probably die if he wasn't given medical attention. He let the energy gun frizzle out and disappear, deciding to focus on his telekinesis, rather than a weapon that he could easily cause to misfire and injure one of the other two. He was hoping that whatever the Dragon Waitress was doing would be enough to stop the monster, and that his telekinesis was strong enough to at least loosen up the bug's jaws a bit.

"Come on, kid, don't die now." he exclaimed, mostly to himself. Shem teased about Isidro being a hero for once, which he ignored. Was there any actual way to defeat a huge giant bug creature anyway? Isidro didn't know, though he really hoped he was around long enough to find out.

As a beast there was nothing to Xiao but anger, and an instinct to attack. She scarcely registered the people around her, her allies, or the buildings in her path as the creature attempted to shake her off, smashing her through steel and windows. People ducked and leapt away, hiding behind tables as shrapnel flew their way. Xiao roared in irritation as her head was smashed through concrete, snapping her jaws at the creature to little avail. With her sharp, draconic claws, Xiao hanged on, tearing into the creature’s softer body. Smashing through another solid concrete wall, she slipped off, but hounded the insect monster.

Dragon Xiao redoubled her attacks, attempting to bite at the base of its wing to ground it, and in doing so used her own considerable weight to steer the creature to smash into a building, avoiding any more collateral damage. This was done with a dim awareness, Xiao looked at the events occurring through the eyes of a dragon, as she was half-asleep, caught up in her monstrous form but attempting to control herself as well.

She would not relent. It was either her or the monster.

Isidro was relieved when the bug's jaws had opened, releasing the teen from its grasp. He wanted to try and stop the teen from falling and crashing into the ground, but the bug seemed to be going crazy. He hadn't had enough time to react as its razor sharp wings came his way. He tried his best to dodge, attempting to use his telekinesis to dampen the blow, but he wasn't quick enough to dodge it all. He ended up with the wing slicing his left arm as he flew backwards, trying to dodge any other attacks from the bug's flailing wings.

He clasped a hand over the wound and lifted it to see what the damage was. He was bleeding quite a fair bit, and all he could do was go, "Fuck my life." He looked downwards, wanting to try and stop the teen's fall, but he shouted, saying that he'd be fine. Isidro decided to let Max do what he wanted. If the teen could generate a giant fireball, then he could survive a fall of a few stories.

He decided to ignore the stinging pain on his left arm for the moment, focussing on taking the monster down instead. He watched as the Dragon Waitress continued to attack the bug monster, which seemed quite effective, really. He took a deep breath and raised whatever large debris he could from the ground with his telekinesis, flinging it at the bug monster. He hoped that he had aimed it well enough, and went to lift another large bit of debris from the buildings. He also decided that he may as well keep a fair distance between himself and the monster to avoid anymore injuries that could cause him to bleed to death at a later time. Though, for a short moment, he believed that they could maybe beat the monster.

((OOC: Sorry for the day delay, school work caught up with me again, I can't wait to get out of high school.))

I felt my heart skip a few beats as I fell down towards the roof of the building. I've never fallen that kind of distance in my whole life. I honestly hoped that I wouldn't have to feel that again. I felt myself speeding towards the roof of the building, but with my shield cast on myself, I knew I would be fine. Through my blurry vision, I could still see that the dragon was still on the bug and mercilessly destroying it. I could also catch a small glimpse of my table buddy getting sliced by one of the wings, but I couldn't tell how much he was injured by it. I could see debris being launched from the ground. It was no doubt my table buddy getting vengeance for the injuries he had.

A few seconds was all it took for me to hit the roof. I heard the shield shatter with the sound of glass breaking as it connected with the roof. I felt the shield break under me, but I was still about a few inches off of the ground, so I bounced once or twice before I actually landed. I sat up and gave myself a few seconds for a breather. Everything happened so fast and I was almost put out of commission before I knew what was going on. My vision started to become clearer. I looked at my injuries. My clothes have been torn to hell and were stained with blood. I took off my shirt and got a closer look. I almost wished I hadn't the second I pulled the shirt off.

I truly didn't know what was more terrifying to look at, the large bite marks, torn open larger from being pulled into the air, or the crooked cut on my stomach. Both wounds were still bleeding, but not as much as they were before. I should get some help eventually, but it's not needed right now. Now that I left the combat, I should be able to get a little bit of wind back in my step. I think I can try something again, but I probably shouldn't try anything unless there's an emergency. I looked up back at the battle and wondered how it was progressing.

I saw that the debris from my table buddy's telekinesis bashed off of the sides of the bug, some missing, but most hitting. The bug shrieked in pain and looked as if it was about to die. The fact that the dragon was tearing apart the creature was also a big factor. I could see it dying with the deadly combination of my allies. The bug was falling out of the air, it made one last shriek, then died. It fell over onto the ground, it landed with a huge smash and debris flew everywhere. It was all over, I couldn't be more happy.

Except that it wasn't over. There was another huge creature in the vicinity, the officers down below were also very stupid. They panicked at the fact that one giant creature remained. I watched in horror as they trained their guns on my ally. They didn't seem concerned with us, they only seemed to be noticing her. They began to shoot at her! I immediately panicked as well, what if she hurts them as well? That can't be good. I shouted with all of my might, "Watch out!" I blasted a gust of air towards the bullets, I only hoped that I was in time to get them as they were fired at my dragon ally.

Xiao’s plan didn’t go as she thought the beast landing on the streets rather than into a building. She dug her claws into the creature as she braced for impact, but her massive body could take an astoundingly large amount of punishment.

The path where they landed was broken up by their mass, the two beasts skidding to a halt as concrete giving way to dragon scales. The dragon roared in triumph as the beast was undone, magic and telekinesis bringing it low much as her fang and claw did. To be sure, the dragon chewed the head off, which was an intimidating display in itself.

For a moment, all was silent. Xiao looked around and made eye contact with her temporary allies, seeing if they were safe. She turned her snout to Max to check his condition with a sniff, and emitted a low rumbling growl... Then the helicopter spotlights were trained on her.

Dragon Xiao looked up and growled at the lights trained and her, and now a new problem had arisen- human police officers in their panic had lined up, pointing at the dragon and with little provocation began opening fire. Max created a gust of wind, though given the speed at which bullets travelled they only barely affected the bullets’ trajectories. No, the rounds barely registered on Xiao’s thick scales, and she roared in anger and misunderstanding- the object of her wrath was now dead, and yet the humans- the ones she was trying to protect- were terrified of her.

She beat her wings with great force, creating a gust of wind and debris, kicking up a cloud of dust to obscure their vision- she flies directly at them, forcing them to take cover. She crushes the engines of a couple of police cars by dropping thick pieces of concrete on them. The dragon took to the sky and roared in fury, but helicopters were beginning to crowd the air space. Despite her rampage she was conscious enough to leave the humans unharmed.

She fled into the deep river, the aquatic serpent finding it to be the safest place to hide, and headed back to the restaurant; the helicopters would soon give up the search, the creature seemingly disappearing.
With the power out at the area of the L.A. Dragon, Dragon Xiao looked about and saw it was a peaceful place, abandoned by people. She sniffed the air and headed towards a large transporting truck, prying it open and seeing a large collection of fish. The dragon hungrily reached in and fed on the plentiful seafood, compensating for human Xiao’s vegetarian tendencies. A child would sneak a peek and bear silent witness to this 'awesome dragon!' He quickly took out his mobile phone, and began recording, completely oblivious to the danger he was in.

After enough debris being tossed at the monster - some hitting and missing - it was down, and Isidro was relieved. He watched for a moment as the dragon continued its assault against the bug, and watching it finally crash into the ground. He tried to dampen the destruction by catching any stray debris, and placing in safely to the ground. He knew that soon enough he'd have to deal with the repercussions of his wounds that, for now, adrenaline was keeping at bay.

He looked down to where the teen was, glad that he had survived the fall, at least, though he was in need of some intensive medical care for his wounds. He brought himself down to land next to the teen, noticing that the other enforcements had their guns aimed at the Dragon Waitress. He raised his hand to try to stop the few bullets he could, though, it was unnecessary as the bullets just seemed to bounce off the Dragon's thick scales.

The dragon went on to kick up dust and destroy some of the police cars before diving into the river and swimming off. Once the Dragon Waitress had made her escape, everything seemed calm and quiet, minus the whirring of engines still running, and the blaring, lifeless sirens that still continued on in the background. Isidro was just glad it was all over.

"I guess we sort of won." he said, turning his gaze over to the teen. "I believe that you need medical attention. Quickly." It wouldn't do any good to let the teen just bleed out and die, so he tried to find a way to escort him over to any free remaining paramedics. He considered just lifting him with telekinesis, but he wasn't sure if he could still walk at all.

Once Dragon Xiao had her fill- and fill she did, clearing out the large delivery truck of sea food, the great dragon opened her mouth to yawn. She sniffed, and detected the child. Her head sharply turned, coming eye to eye with the spectator.

“Oh crap-“ He exclaims, but soon found the dragon in his path, blocking his escape. He froze in fear, and awe. “This would be so awesome... if I wasn’t going to die about now...” He managed to mutter. Instead, the dragon sized him up, gave him a few whiffs, and then snorted onto him out of contempt. He was a mere child, not even quite afraid of her. She licked him with her rough, coarse tongue, getting him wet with dragon spit.

“Eww... I saw... what you did with the monster... you are the coolest ever...” He said. The dragon blinked twice, before picking him up gently with her teeth, setting him on the nearby sidewalk. The dragon nudged him gently with her nose, to go on, and then Xiao slinked back into the shadow, keeping her reptilian eye on the child.

“Bye...” He waved, before skateboarding off.

Content, the dragon returned instinctively to behind the restaurant. Once she calmed down, she reverted to human form, clothes gone- barely conscious, Xiao returned inside to change.

A FEW DAYS LATER:

At the Park, Xiao sat with a cone of ice cream, Ben&Jerry’s cookie dough flavor, as she held her iPhone and viewed the news.

“Dragon in L.A.? An intrepid camera man took this exclusive video at the area of the attack...”

She sighed with distress, disturbed at the images of the monster battle; somehow a camera had gotten a good look at her dragon form, as she trashed the police cars. She barely recalls the events, worrying herself to no end if she had brought harm to anyone.

“...The dwagon saved me and papa... bad monster was gonna hurt us... but the good dwagon made sure we were safe...” Xiao’s heart lightened at the unexpected testimony of that girl. She looked familiar; she felt like these feelings of knowing people meant something.

Xiao continued looking at the people at the Park, slowly enjoying her food. The restaurant had closed due to the attack- and though it meant she had free time, her funds were quite dry now.

Isidro turned to the teen and nodded at the question, hand clasped over one of his more major wounds. "She was our waitress." he answered plainly, "I'm sure she's fine, the question is if you are fine. Who knows, maybe our paths may cross again. It's hard to miss a giant dragon in L.A." He continued to help the teen over to the paramedics, just in case the guy decided to pass out or something on the way there. Not to mention he needed to get some attention for his wound as well, before he started to just bleed out. It was probably considered a first world problem when he bleed quite a bit, and didn't have enough blood to bleed in the first place.

There was a sense of success and fulfillment from the battle. Isidro felt glad that he was at least able to help somewhat. There was that sense of thrill; the dopamine that shot through his brain for doing something good. It was the same feeling as when he robbed from places for his own personal gain, however there was something more positive about the feeling that he sort of enjoyed. He considered finding more monsters to battle, though robbing banks and stores still yield similar results.

He sighed and wondered whether he'd bump into the Dragon Waitress ever again. She was definitely interesting, and he wanted to know more about it.