Passive Aggressive

The next day, the newly formed trio climbs a mountain across from the lake, where Prince Naja saw the dragon fly before passing out.

Finally infiltrating the lair, Prince Naja silently signals for them to follow him. As he cautiously creeps through the stone halls, Cordayl and Esquimo nonchalantly walk behind him.

As they get to the end of the hall and see the giant snoozing dragon, Cordayl gulps as the beast is far bigger than he could've imagined.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Prince Naja whispers.

"I thought you had a plan?" Cordayl quietly responds.

"I did. Get into the lair, sneak up on the dragon, get my blade, and end its life. It seemed simple enough with you two here to help me distract it, but now I realize that I might have made a slight miscalculation and that I need to think of another plan."

"Okay, so first, that was a terrible plan. I thought you royal types were generals or something?" Cordayl retorts.

"I am a general, but I am still improving. What's your strategy since you're being so judgmental?" Prince Naja says.

"I don't have one. But we're here now, so we can improvise something," Cordayl states.

"Yes, true, but there is only so much I can assist in without my blade," Prince Naja admits.

"And where is this sword you so desperately need?" Cordayl ask.

"It's… Under the dragon's tail," Prince Naja sheepishly says.

"Like, under its tail or in its…"

"Yes, it's arse," Prince Naja says.

Cordayl stifles a laugh, but he and Esquimo silently crack up behind the prince.

"Are you finished?" Prince Naja erupts quietly.

"Man, talk about honoring your opponent." Cordayl wipes his eyes. "So wait, the second part of your plan relied on what? The beast sleeping on its back?" Cordayl ask.

When the prince is silent, Cordayl and Esquimo mutely burst into tears again.

"It had a 50/50 chance of success!" Prince Naja tries to defend his plan.

Cordayl and Esquimo are still hysterical, but Esquimo tries to calm the prince. "It's fine, young prince. You can read all the books in the world, but they will never triumph over experience. This is a good learning experience for you. We still have one more trump card, though."

"And what's that?" A stung Prince Naja asks.

"Cordayl," Esquimo answers.

"Me?" Cordayl stops laughing. "I'm not fighting that giant beast by myself."

"You don't have to," Esquimo tells him. "All you have to do is reverse gravity long enough for Prince Naja to pull the sword out, then we retreat and re-strategize," Esquimo explains.

"Esquimo, I just remembered how to do the technique. You think I will have the strength to pull the beast into the air and the duration to keep it afloat while the prince pulls the blade out? Look at how it's sleeping! The sword is probably buried hilt deep in its ass. What happens if he doesn't pull the sword out by the time I grow tired?" Cordayl ask.

"We'll just have to have faith that Prince Naja can withdraw the blade quickly and smoothly so as not to wake the beast," Esquimo tells him.

Cordayl sighs, "Fine, Esquimo. But you owe me one. Both of y'all owe me one." Cordayl says before exiting the hole and crawling down.

Slowly and carefully crawling up the dragon's back, Cordayl gets to the base of the tail and signals for Esquimo and Prince Naja to get ready.

Closing his eyes to focus, Cordayl reverses gravity and slowly starts to lift the beast's rear end.

In a deep sleep, the dragon is unaware of what is happening, as Esquimo pushes Prince Naja to help direct him towards the dragon's tail.

Slowly propelling through the air, Prince Naja reveals that he is floating like an asteroid as he softly lands on the backside of the tail. Crawling towards his sword, the prince finally gets to his target, and as Cordayl suspected, it is buried deep in the ass of the beast.

Prince Naja grips the hilt with both hands, and he slowly starts to pull his weapon out. It is a slow process, though, as freeing his blade from the dragon's skin is far more challenging than he expected.

The prince is starting to sweat as his muscles bulge in their continuation of pulling the blade out.

Cordayl, still atop the dragon, isn't growing as tired as he thought he would. He realizes he underestimated his durability and control of this power but also that he can't control the entire field of range.

The dragon, whose whole body has now started to float into the air, twists as it moves in its sleep.

Esquimo watches in fear as the beast's head comes within feet of hitting the stone walls. Cordayl notices this, too, and loudly whispers for Prince Naja to hurry up.

"Shut.

"Up.

"I almost.

"Have it." Prince Naja says through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, the dragon releases a devastating amount of gas right into the face of the Prince.

The stench is so foul that the Prince instantly loses consciousness and slowly descends back towards the ground.

While this happens, the dragon's head collides with the stone wall, and the pull of gravity forces its whole face to slide up the rough stone barriers, waking it up in confusion.

The dragon awakens, and it takes a while for it to realize what is happening. Once it does, it lets out a deafening roar and blazing spray of fire that shakes Cordayl enough for him to lose focus and cancel his control of gravity.

Now, with a thousand-pound dragon quickly descending from the sky, Esquimo jumps from his position, catches Prince Naja, and relocates before the beast can come crashing down on him.

The beast quickly flaps its wings to regain its balance in the air, and Cordayl acrobatically lands on the ground in time to avoid a fireball.

Realizing the situation, Cordayl instructs Esquimo to get Prince Naja to safety as he tries to distract the beast.

Cordayl picks up a few chunks of rocks and throws them at the flying beast, who returns the assault with a fire blast.

Cordayl avoids the bulk of the blast, but the heat of the attack burns off his clothing.

Though relatively small, the rocks connecting with the beast are launched so hard that they cause the dragon damage. Noticing this, Cordayl scoops up some more rocks in both of his hands and throws both fistfuls at the beast.

The dragon flaps its massive wings once, reversing the direction of the stones and sending them back at Cordayl.

When the dust settles, Cordayl is gone. The dragon sweeps the area but sees no one.

Suddenly feeling a slight pinch in his under region, the dragon flips its butt into the air to see Cordayl trying to pull the blade out. Cordayl sheepishly smiles as he realizes he's been caught.

The dragon returns the smile with a field of fire, covering half of his lair in flames.

Cordayl, who just figured he would take the heat damage and deal with the pain, is in shock as he realizes that he has not only pulled the blade out but has also been shielded from the flames by the blade.

Realizing this, the dragon roars in anger and flaps its mighty wings as it takes off towards the top of the mountain.

Cordayl shoves the blade back inside the dragon as he gets yanked into the air.

Now high into the sky, the dragon twirls and does several maneuvers to try to rid itself of this pesky warrior.

Esquimo, still carrying Prince Naja, exits the cave and watches as the dragon seems to flip out in the sky, dancing and blowing fire.

Prince Naja regains consciousness and groggily stands back to his feet. Shaking his head, the prince states, "I need to get back up on that dragon. I'm the only one who can wield the sword, thus the only one who can pull the blade out of the beast."

"And how do you reckon is the best way to get you up there?" Esquimo asks, spectating the fight in the sky.

"Hmm. I know! I'll climb to the top of the mountain, and then from there, I'll just-" Prince Naja's words are cut short as his blade lands on the stone mountain a few feet beside him.

The prince's jaw drops as he whispers, "Impossible."

"That lad up there is full of surprises," Esquimo states as he takes out his pipe.