In
about twelve hours, they had made it all the way to North America. They landed
in the state of California, for they heard in classes that a lot of metal was
made there; this was indeed ideal if they planned to go any further with their
plan. They stopped at the smith's office in Los Angeles and asked if she could
experiment on something for them. The future king made sure to use his serious
"or else" tone to make the smith cower in fear and do whatever he
wished.

  As he had expected, the smith was too
frightened to oppose him.

"What would you like o-kind
dragon?" she asked tentatively.

  "I would like you to make a body protectant
sheet of metal. We’d like one for each of us and make them fit for battle and
as impenetrable as you can," commanded Seoul.

  "As
you wish, now can I get your sizes please?" the skittish smith asked
hesitantly.

  Seoul
told her to just experiment on shapes and styles for now because they were only
juvenile dragons and had a fair amount of growing to do. She agreed that she
would have it ready as soon as possible and would send a messenger to their
location upon the armor’s completion. After a deal had been settled, the
dragons took off in search of a temporary home.

  After hours of searching, they found a
secluded patch of bushes along an uninhabited beach as long and wide as a
football field and perfect for hiding from other dragon scouts. Dragons
generally hated the water and mostly avoided it, which Seoul thought was the
perfect cover. Just in case, he decided to put Utar and Trenton on guard, and
two more of his minions once he learned their names. He lined them back up and
started with, once again, the opposite side of the female dragon.

  "I am Cravy, and I know
it is not much, but I assure you, I won't let you down," the first dragon
stated proudly once they’d begun.

  Cravy was almost the exact opposite of
Utar. He was a silvery white and was very slender and short for his age. Cravy
kind of reminded Seoul of an over-grown horse. He had a plain back, for it had
no spikes or spines, and a neck that was neither long nor short. His nostrils
were not slitted like most dragons, but large holes upon his short and stocky
snout. Another odd feature about him was that he did not have tiny ear slits on
the sides of his head like other dragons; a horse’s ears would be the closest
comparison.

  He was alright, because most small
dragons grew to be huge, and with his very long tail he could do some pretty serious
damage upon reaching adulthood.

  "I
admire your courage; you are now free to take guard duty for now," Seoul
responded with about as much kindness as you could get out of him.

  Cravy’s
silver, pupil-less eye shone with pride as he stood on his hind legs and bowed.
Then he took off to accompany the other guards, leaving Seoul with seven dragons
he still didn't know.

  He moved down the line and next
studied a wyvern that changed his name to Wyvern. He looked like a
Compsognathus (a type of dinosaur) with a very peacock-like strut. He was a mix
of green and gold and had three lonely horns sticking out of the back of his
head. He also had a row of spines going down his back and stopping before his tail.
He wasn’t very bright in Seoul’s opinion, but he was alright.

  He next moved along to two twins who
looked exactly alike except for their colors. One, Calberring, was a rusty red,
and Lorry was one of brown fudge shading. They both had very moist scales and
the body of an alligator propped up on very strong, muscular legs. Their tails
had tiny needle-like spikes and a barbed arrow-like attachment at the end of
them. Their faces had crocodilian teeth and features. Calberring's eye was
paper beige and with a light crayon black pupil. Lorry's was black with a brown
pupil.

  They
both had the courage (or craziness) to go back into the God Pine after running
away and threatening to take over the world, and guaranteed Seoul that they
would come back after battle without a scratch. They also said that they could
fool everyone with their “cuteness” and kill everyone. He didn’t believe that
part at all, for if Calberring and Lorry were anything, it wasn’t cute. The
next one, Bandit, looked exactly like a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex with wings, no
arms, and a slightly less ferocious manor.

  There were only two more dragons to
interview, and the girl was right after a dragon called Orcanic. He was a
foreign dragon with a face like a hippopotamus with razor-sharp sharks’ teeth,
the body of a lion, and the tail of a very large baboon. He had super sharp
spikes down the middle of his head and was the color of a thunder cloud. His
eye was the color of lightning and had a stormy black pupil. When he left,
Seoul gave a very exasperated sigh. He was alone in the bush with the female
dragon and was about to be on the brink of facing the possibility of hearing
her talk about ponies and rainbows and all things feminine.

  When
he finally brought himself to look at her, he was astonished that he hadn't
noticed how beautiful she was before. She was certainly a sight to behold as he
suddenly saw her with new eyes. He had a feeling that she wasn’t like the other
female dragons at the God Pine; she was not one to chatter endlessly like all
other mindless female dragons. She was a warrior, and a proud one at that.

  "Are you all right, you look like
you just got hit up the side of the head with a club," she told him with
such a fierceness that still maintained its softness.

"I'm fine," he said dumbly.

  He
blushed from the embarrassment he felt. He had not stopped to think that it
would show on his face. For once in his life Seoul was glad his scales were
red. She hesitated before she began with a look of confusion.

"I am Luna," she exclaimed
with pride.

  He
took a long while to savor her features. She had an almost feline appearance.
Her back legs were longer than her front, and her hip hunched upwards when she
walked with all fours, not unlike a panther. She could walk with her hind legs
if she wanted to, though she preferred otherwise. She had wickedly sharp-tipped
and freshly polished horns that dipped downwards and curved back up again very
slightly. She also had very sharp eagle talons. He could tell that she descended
from one of the goddess’s children for she resembled Atlantis greatly, but she
had a feature that was unlike the goddess; she had a beak-like horn over her
upper jaw and two little slits in the center for breathing. She was the deepest
shade of black you could ever imagine, with a blue trim that led all of the way
to her scaly underbelly. Her eye was the prettiest sight though. It was a baby
blue with a black pupil and white dusty clouds that existed on it and floated around
it. There were golden flecks around the edge of her slitted pupil.

"I am...," Seoul took a moment
to decide.

  He didn't want to keep his name. He
would be sure to make a bad impression on Luna and the other dragons with a
name like Seoul. Surely a ruler couldn’t bestow the name of Seoul upon himself
with the freedom to choose whatever he wanted? No, the name Seoul had to go,
but what would be his powerful new one? Then, he came up with the perfect idea
for a ruler like him.

  "You can call me, Dragon
Killer!"

  "I
like that name, perfect for someone like you," she purred sweetly.

  As she turned to go she paused ever so
slightly. Dragon Killer knew she had something to say but couldn’t really get
the words out.

  "I’m
going to be creating a kind of program to help ready us for the coming
battle," Dragon Killer told her to be rid of the awkward silence. “How
would you like to help me with that?”

  “I would love to, sounds like
following you was the right thing to do,” Luna responded lightly.

  Turning to leave, neither dragon
noticed the other’s blush as they thought about the conversation that just
happened.

  ***

  “There’s no sign of them!” the search
party announced as they returned from the hunt of the savage little dragon
rebels. At least that was what the tree had decided to call them, savage little
dragon rebels. The hall burst into angry conversation as they heard the news.
How could a band of puny dragons, barely even adults escape with intentions to
take over the world? Of course no one believed that they would succeed in
taking over the world, let alone the God Pine. After all, they were just
children.

  A little dragon named Savannah fumed
over in a corner with her friends Memphis and Kaleb. She had been the one to
rat out Seoul and his gang of “friends” as they were planning to flee. The news
that they had gotten away wiped the smug grin right off her face. The dragons
of the Central Pine Academy knew very well that Savannah was upset. Seoul had
embarrassed her several times during lessons, and Savannah had gotten so
infuriated that she lunged at Seoul in the middle of his chortling and started
attacking with every bit of strength she had. Of course Seoul was much bigger
and stronger than Savannah and had managed to pin her down, jamming her spines
into the splintery ground of the tree. She was also the one who took the blame
and got the punishment, all as the class laughed at her. A few of them turned
around now to see her expression and search for any sign of emotion.

  She was definitely showing emotion all
right; her face conveyed every bit of fury she possessed. After getting a good
glimpse of her, most of the dragons just looked away and avoided eye contact.
Savannah was definitely not a dragon you wanted to have on your bad side.
Dragons like Seoul could get away with it because of their size but Savannah
was a tough dragon to deal with. Girls in general are good at holding grudges
and spreading gossip amongst the population and overall destroy one’s reputation.
Savannah was that to the 100^th power.

  “How could they escape an entire
trained search party, this is ridiculous!” she shouted.

  “Hey, keep your voice down,” Memphis
hissed as others started to glance their way.

  “Yeah, this isn’t the right time to be
making a commotion,” Kaleb stated wisely.

  Savannah harrumphed haughtily as she
continued to rant, but in a much lower volume. She faintly heard the four
leaders of the tree assure their dragons that they would be found, caught, and
captured soon enough, but as if from a distance. Something had to be done, and
soon. If the search party couldn’t find them minutes after they had left, they
surely wouldn’t find them after they had had one night’s head start. They could
be anywhere in the morning! No, something had to be done now before it was too
late.

  “Kaleb, you’re pretty well known
around here, do you know any skilled trackers?” Savannah asked.

  “Well, there’s Florence…” Kaleb
replied in a voice that suggested this should be obvious.

  Savannah knew full well that Florence
was an excellent tracker. There was only one problem; an adult dragon wouldn’t
be suitable for this idea. They needed someone that not only would be willing
to help, but would also bend to their every desire.

  “I know Florence is a great tracker,
but I need someone more close to our age, preferably someone we know well
enough to do whatever we say,” Savannah chimed as she cut off Kaleb
mid-sentence.

  “Well…there’s always…no…uh,” Kaleb
muttered as he struggled to think of something.

  “Hurry up the thought process there
dumbo, we don’t have all night,” Savannah interrupted rudely.

  “Well for your information, I do know
of someone who could help, but I’m not going to tell you if you keep being like
that to me,” Kaleb replied with menace that matched Savannah’s.

  “Fine, I’m sorry. Now can you tell me
who will help us?” Savannah mumbled.

  When Kaleb didn’t say anything,
Memphis cut in and added, “You might as well tell her Kal, that’s the closest
you’re going to get to an apology.”

  With a sigh, Kaleb stated, “The best
one I’ve got is Ash.”

  “Oh, Ash,” Savannah remarked glumly.

  Ash was the weirdest kid in the entire
tree. He didn’t hang out with anyone, he wore a pair of used human glasses
(that he didn’t really need), he was always doing odd experiments, plus he
constantly sniffed everyone and everything. He was prefect for Savannah’s plan,
but she would have liked to avoid him if possible.

  “Are you sure there’s no one else?” Savannah
pleaded desperately.

  “Positive, and why do you need a
tracker any…oh Savannah no! I know what you’re thinking and that’s a definite
no!” Kaleb said in a very hoarse whisper.

  “Oh come on, you know as well as I do
that if we wait until morning, they’ll be long gone. The search party doesn’t
care enough to make something like this top priority, so it could be weeks
before they really go out to look for them again,” she protested.

  “Savannah, didn’t you just hear them,
they said they’re going to go out first thing tomorrow morning, plus you don’t
need to be chasing after a few dragons just to get revenge for making you look
bad in class,” Memphis stated matter-of-factly.

  “This isn’t just about revenge,
although that is a huge part of it. Think about it, these dragons believe
they’re going to wreak havoc across the globe, and if we stopped them, think of
the glory we’ll get! Plus, think about what it’ll be like for them! With all of
their talk about ruling the world that we overheard tonight, what if they
didn’t even last a whole day before getting captured? It would be the gossip
story of the century! So what do you say?” Savannah protested.

  After prolonged sighs and a silent
unspoken agreement from Memphis and Kaleb, they both polished their claws and
placed them into the center of their circle of threesome. With a triumphant
expression on her face, Savannah did the same, and they all shook talons on the
matter. Now all they needed was Ash, some food and drink, and a note explaining
that they would be out on a little excursion.