Chapter 2: Dragon!

“What was that?!” Sol asked, drawing her sword in preparation of a fight.

“Hold it. That's a dragon. Normally, you would assume it’s an earth dragon, due to the coloring, but this is a plant dragon we’re dealing with. You can tell because of the slightly bigger wings. They look very similar, but the techniques for fighting them are vastly different. For example, fire does almost nothing to the much more common earth dragon, but it is devastating to the rarer plant dragon. The plant dragon also has no harmful breath attack that has been recorded thus far. I’m not sure how you fight, Sol, but just listen to my instructions. You too, Aria.” Zone said, commandingly.

They nodded.

“Aria, circle around and scorch it, on my mark. Sol, get on the roof of that building and drive your sword through its head while it's stunned. Jump off after the first time it shakes its head. Only hit the spot with an obvious opening, don’t try to go for anything fancy. Just stab it where I told you to, or we can’t subdue it. Until then, keep yourself out of sight. I’ll keep it distracted. Understood? Now, go!” Zone said, rushing to his place on the battlefield.

He occasionally picked stuff up and threw it at the dragon, or taunted it, barely out of its reach.

It stayed in one place, swiveling to find where Zone was.

Aria snuck up behind it, and Zone taunted it towards the building that Sol was hiding on.

The moment it fell into position, Aria cast her magic.

"Flame Whirlwind!!" Aria shouted, invoking a giant spiraling tornado of fire, which surrounded the dragon.

The flames made the dragon dizzy, and it started to shake its head in confusion, it’s eyes burning from the heat.

Sol jumped, plunging her sword into the dragon's skull, downing it instantly.

She went in for the killing strike.

Zone stopped her.

“Stop. Plant dragons are rare and endangered. I’ll take care of the rest. I already found the reason it went crazy. In its current state it should be more than reasonable enough to talk peacefully. The position I put you in should have given you a clear stab to only one specific place, which knocks a plant dragon out and temporarily immobilizes it. It’s not as precise as you would think on a dragon. There's a decently large area that you can hit to accomplish this, hence why it wasn’t difficult for me to position you accurately. But the wound can still be dangerous or fatal. We need to get it treated quickly. I’ll have to bring her to the doctor once she transforms. Aria will help me with that, so you can just stay there.” Zone said.

Sol looked at Zone and Aria, baffled.

“You two…Zone, you created a strategy to subdue a dragon with barely a moment's notice? Subduing a dragon is even harder than killing one! What the heck was that! And Aria, what was with that massive storm of flames? That was insane!” Sol exclaimed, gaping.

Sol became determined to recruit the two of them, no matter what.