Post# 4250 Hear Ye, Hear Ye, it's SB009. :) I apologize for the length, but I had to tie up a few loose ends AND try and get Jerhevon more active. And even there, there wasn't the full opportunity. Ah well, I'm a sucker, sign me up for the next available slot after SB013 :) [SB009] Evolutionary Advancement The trio of Red, X, and Dinosorcerer looked down upon the wreckage of the Limerick nuclear power plant. And of the 40' black dragon now looming over the smoke stacks as they pumped out their toxic addition to the greenhouse effect. Sirens blared and people ran to and fro. Usually to try and do something about the plant to keep it from going critical, and fro as the black dragon spewed an acidic radioactive goo before them. X let her gun hang by her side, looking as disturbed by the destruction as Dinosorcerer. Meanwhile Red just watched with an amused look upon his draconic face. Suddenly X recovered her composure and hoisted her gun back up. Clicking her teeth determinedly she turned to the other two. "Anyone have any good ideas for dealing with this thing?" she growled. Red shook his head. "Not I, Even I don't fly too well with holes in my wings." Dinosorcerer considered then spoke up. "What if I used the 4D lens to make one of us big enough to face it safely?" X shook her head. "No good, we still don't know what limits the old coot's lens has. And even so, a big one of us could cause more destruction then what we'd be preventing if it worked so we could deal with that Kelp Monger that way." Red grinned. "Still could be fun". X glared at the chaos dragon. "We've enough problems without inviting the local authorities down upon our heads too." Red hung his head, but apparently Dino had thought of something else as he spoke up "What if I shrank that other dragon with the lens? I mean I shrink all of us down pretty often, so that should work.." X considered that and then slowly nodded "That just might work, can you do it from here?" Dino grinned "Yeah, I think so." and he brought up the lens, beginning to concentrate. He stood there a moment, then shook his head, "Guess not, I need to be closer after all." Suddenly, a flash of light from the shining sun reflected off the upraised lens and into the black dragon's face. Like black lightning it was upon them, breathing forth it's toxic venom. X leaped to one side, firing her gun, but the shots bounced harmlessly off the dragon's iron hide. Red took off the other way, snatching Dinosorcer up out of harm's way as well, and putting the momentarilly hapless dinosaur upon his back. The black dragon rose in pursuit, as Dino proceeded to try and get his bearings. Red's barreling to avoid the black dragon not helping any. X dashing along below, trying to figure out what aid she could be. Finally getting his bearings, Dino concentrated the 4-D lens upon the black dragon. But they're not quite close enough, or are they? The black dragon then made the most dumbfounded look imaginable at them. So very much like the one Wile E. Coyote presents to the camera as he realizes that he's not on solid ground anymore and is about to fall a *very* long ways. And this was the very look the evil dragon had as it abruptly realized it couldn't fly with one normal sized wing, and another the size of a large bat's wing. X darted out of the way as the black dragon crashed to the ground, spinning as it feebly tried to keep aloft by flapping both it's wings. Red and Dino landed near X, where Dino was discharged. X flashed them a toothy grin "It's working, now let's take care of this goon. Red, help me distract it. Dino, you circle around and try to shrink it the rest of the way." Red and Dinosorcerer nodded together, then they seperated. Red leaping back skywards while X dashed to the left, switching her gun's setting to "Powder Puff". Dinosorcer, began to move to the right, biting his lips, but grinning a little as he held the 4D lens up before him like a talisman to ward off evil. X fired a volley of giant puffballs against the black dragon's side. It span towards her, just as Red swooped down, raking talons across it's blindside. Roaring, it turned to deal with Red, only to get bopped by another volley of powder puffs, blinding it with the powder. Dino reached the black dragon's tail, then concentrated upon the dragon. This time, the dragon wasn't going anywhere, and nothing was going to break Dino's concentration. Swiftly the dragon was reduced from a 40' long menace to a 3' long pest, which X promptly pounced upon and stuffed into a lead shoebox. Dino grinned, racing over to X to thump her on the back as Red landed and rejoined them. "We did it!", shouted Dinosorcer. X nodded, grinning back. "Yes, we did, now we can let the humans deal with their reactor. Meanwhile, " and she nodded to the box in hand, the dragon thumping noisilly inside of it. "I know just what to do with this." And she gave a delightfully toothy and mischievious grin as they turned to head back to the fortrette. --- They got back to the fortrette in good spirits. Then X blinked and Red crooked a curious eye to her. "Didn't we leave the fortette under the bench? Not in the sun?", she asked. Dino nodded back to her, "Now that you mention it, yeah. I think we did..." X growled, "We better be careful then." and she readied her gun for business once again, setting it to something appropriately devestating. "I'm all set to go in there." Dino said, "Alright then." And once he got an agreeable nod from Red, he reduced them with the Lens so as they could enter. And what should great them but a perky Jerhevon. "Hey guys, was wondering where you were." X sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Dealing with things. Now how did the fortrette get out here?" "Oh, I moved it", the stegosaur replied. "Moved it?!? How did you do that?" "Well, when I woke, I was cold and hungry, so I went out, got a bite to eat, and moved the fortrette into the sun. It's much cozier now.", he replied matter of factly. X spluttered "What do you mean went out to get a bite to eat, and how could you move it with the forcefield on?" Jerhevon shrugged, "Plenty of grass and other vegetation outside. I don't know what you've been feeding me, but it's left a terrible taste in my mouth. And what forcefield? All I felt was a little tingling when I moved the fortrette." Then something occured to X and she moved to the fortrette's controls. Sure enough, the neeedles and gauges indicated the fortrette's energy had nearly run out and only relatively recently had started to rebuild. "Oh, Shards", she swore. "I forgot this thing runs off solar power. Normally we'd not have problems, but with all the underhangs we've been putting it under..." And she just shook her head before looking up at Jerhevon, "Somehow, someway, you've just managed to save us from another world of grief." --- High above, something nasty and evil just wasn't having a good day. Not only had it's dragon been defeated, but one of its ex-lietenants had brought it a small box marked 'Return to Sender' and 'Shake well before opening', which upon opening had released a tiny, yet very pissed off little dragon that spat venom at it. In irritance it swatted the creature out of the air, smashing it against the arm of its throne. And it sat there, grimacing as the dragon's toxic blood completely ate through its hand, leaving just a bony stump. The creature considered the stump a moment, then spoke. "Like my plans, I'll just have to replace it with something... Better." --------------------+------------------------------------------------------- Jerhevon |"Oh I'm a Stegosaurus, and my friends all call me Pete" Stegosaur at large | - Brian Dullaghan, Dinosaur Songs brefin@cache.cow.net| http://cache.cow.net/~brefin/Sarthia/ --------------------+------------------------------------------------------- ============= Mail to xdraco@panix.com for list assistance. Use subjects such as 'faq Herpetophile' and 'unjoin Herpetophile' for automatic list commands.