The Red Dragon of Change

“COME ON! Is that the best you can do?!” I shouted from my nest as I sent a ball of fire at my opponent. I knew I had this game locked down as they started throwing their Watchers at me. Watchers were... well, the most accurate description would be giant demon cannibalistic babies.

When Square Enix announced a reboot of Drakengard I knew I’d be buying it, however it came as a pleasant surprise when I found out that they’d be unleashing an interactive demo tournament at Games ‘Con.

Naturally, I joined as soon as I could - under a fake name of course - and picked the best character that was in the line up. The dragon, Angelus. I won’t go into detail about my strategy since it was basically just guerrilla warfare and trying to keep my nest small enough to slip under the other contestant’s radar.

I spat another fireball at my opponent’s avatar as it came too close. The crimson knight that was Inuart rolled to the side as fire washed over where he had been standing not moments ago. I laughed as he summoned his dragon, only for it to fall to my aerial defenses I had set up.

“Give up! You don’t have a chance,” he shouted, trying to look like he was in control.

“Your armies have fallen as well as your companion. And yet, you tell me to throw the match?” I said as I put a bit of drama into my speech. I loved to make things a bit more real, and I thought I was a great actor. “That’s almost enough to make me laugh.” I lunged for him suddenly and swept him up in my jaws before snapping his spine with the force of my jaws. I laughed, throwing his corpse down in front of me and lunging down to te-

“CONGRATULATIONS. YOU WIN!” flashed before my eyes. I could hear cheering going off, and a moment later everything went black. Dammit! Right at the best part, I thought as I opened my eyes and removed the helmet from my head and looked out at the crowd of people who had come to witness the new demo.

Looking out over the crowd, I saw the rest of the convention. You couldn’t even tell that this was the same place that all those disappearances had happened. Hell, many advisors told my dad not to use this place for his first ever time of planning Games ‘Con because of all the disappearances a hundred thirty-two years ago. But like always, his mind had been made and the workers had gotten out their dusters and tools to get this place shining again.

I turned to my left and saw a guy removing his helmet as well, he looked pissed and I couldn’t help but smirk. “That’s why you never mess with the best.”

“Yeah yeah, ‘die like the rest’ and all that shit,” The guy said as he flipped me the bird.

“Ha! In your dreams, bitch!” I turned around and walked up the steps to the main stage. It was then that I noticed the cheering had stopped and when I looked over to where the podium was, I saw my dad standing there. .... Fuck, he’s the one in handing out the prize?

Nathaniel Martin, C.E.O. of Square Enix and my father, was giving me an unamused look. I sighed internally. Great, now he’ll lecture me on being too instinctual again.... Not to mention lying to get into the tournament.

I’d actually listen to him, if not for the fact that literally everyone was afraid to play against me. And I’d bitch and moan about being alone... except I forced everyone away. I became the best pro-gamer ever with a win streak of over a thousand in any game you could think of, and I could get away with playing all day since it was my job to test all the games R&D comes up with.

It took most of my will to stand there next to him. I didn’t pay much attention to the crowd or what my dad was saying, but as I reached for the prize I saw what looked like a Moogle from that one franchise reach for it as well. It tapped the box of collector’s coins before disappearing, making me pause for a moment.

What was that? I thought as I paused, only for my dad to clear his throat. Glancing up at him I took hold of the box. And was suddenly in a different place.

I glanced around, affirming that, yes, I was in a snowy valley devoid of trees. Almost like it was a place game developers had forgotten about. There were a few rocks spread around, one of them looking like it was made of some sort of green material. Instead of being covered with snow, there was actual moss on it.

It was very out of place and actually made me snort in amusement. What developer would put a key item or place like that in the middle of all this white? And the moss didn’t even look like it... was....

That’s not just any rock, that’s an enemy, I thought as I tried to walk over to the rock, only to fall on my face.

“What the fuck happened?” I asked quietly. My eyes widened as I noticed my voice sounded rougher, more gravelly. Right in front of me in the snow was the box of coins I had just won. “Where did you bring me...? And which game is this?”

I looked over at my side where I felt the familiar weight of a folded wing. I felt as if my body temperature was several degrees higher, yet for some reason I didn’t feel sick, and truth be told the extra body head was welcomed as I felt the cold wind bite at me. Trying to stand I could feel something dragging behind me. Stopping to get my bearings I took a moment to calm down.

I avoided looking at the box of coins, the thought that they had something to do with me being here, while silly, was the only thing I had to go on. “It’s just a VR,” I told myself as I turned my head to inspect my body. “I really detailed VR,”

My body was covered from head to tail in crimson scales. My tail itself was huge and it reminded me of a scorpion's tail. The tip was more bone than flesh and it resembled a stinger. Looking down I saw my arms were missing, and yet somehow I could feel myself lowering my arms to steady myself. Looking at where the limbs should be, instead of arms I now had wings.

“So I’m a wyvern-” I noticed the green enemy move from the corner of my eye and turned my head, a growl making its way out of my throat. Not only do I have to figure out a new type of dragon, but I also have to fight an enemy as well? I smirked. These developers know how I like my learning curve.

As the enemy woke up, I could see that it was a dragon. It was taller than me and was messing with something around its front that I couldn’t see, but I thought I could take him down. I’d killed bigger before, way bigger.

I growled again, whipping my tail in the snow to make even more noise. “Looks like I have my first kill.”

The dragon turned to look at me and smiled as he said, “You best be ready for a true fight then!” He lumbered over to me - and there was no doubt about him being a guy since his pole was in full view - and chuckled. “You’re a bit on the weak side, but you got a lot of fire in you if you think you can take me.”

“Ugh, put that thing away before you lose it, you damn Hentai reject,” I growled, letting my gaze rest just above his head. “Besides, I’ve taken down bosses bigger than little minion NPCs like you.”

He laughed and grabbed something on top of my head, pulling me up until I was eye to eye with him. “You’re even more fiery then I had thought!” He licked the side of my muzzle.

Eugh.... Damn NPC’s from that Corruption of Champions game, I thought as I shook my head roughly. “Okay, that’s it. You’re more than just dead!” I lunged forwards and latched onto the spine on top of the dragon’s head, twisting his neck and flipping him onto his back.... A bit more easily than I thought I would. “Seems like you’re weaker than you thought, damn NPC.” I pulled my tail over and plunged int-

The dragon growled as he caught my tail and threw me against one of the boulders in the valley. “You want a show of force!? I’ll give you one!” As I tried to regain my breath, the dragon stalked over and plunged his tail spikes into the membrane on my wing making me use the breath I had regained to cry out in pain.

Fuck! Why did it hurt so much? They’re supposed to dull the pain in these VRs to where it isn’t agonizing when we break a leg! I thought, my eyes widening.

“Now you’re mine, little wyvern,” he taunted as he placed his claws around my wings preventing me from moving them. “and I don’t intend to let you escape.”

I watched as he lined himself up down there. I thrashed around hoping to throw him off so I could escape, but he was much larger than me... and stronger. I closed my eyes as I tried to block out what was about to happen next.

“Hey asshole!” I heard someone shout nearby. A moment later I heard the dragon above me shout in pain as he was thrown off. Getting up quickly I turned to see a green rhino standing next to me, it’s horn covered in blood.

Turning to face the dragon I saw a large gash running down his side, it wasn’t very deep, his scales seemed to take most of the blow, but he was still bleeding and it was giving him trouble. I turned to face the rhino again only to see it was gone, instead standing there was... Beast Boy? The boy standing next to me was green like the character from the TV show, but he was different.

Instead of looking more wild and wearing a loincloth like in the show, he seemed more well groomed and was wearing a weird black and purple track suit. It was strange.

I stared at him for a moment before saying, “I’m not in a VR, am I?”

“I don’t know what that is, but I’d say no.” He replied not taking his eyes off of the other dragon. “Need some help?”

My eyes widened and then narrowed. “I don’t need help from a boy such as you!” I turned to face the dragon who was just then getting up. “I have this under control.”

The dragon roared and charged forward as I reared up on my back legs, trying to make myself appear bigger while I tried to shoot a ball of fire at the dragon, but before I even open my maw, I felt something clamp around my throat. My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I saw the dragon’s maw around my throat. He wasn’t biting hard enough to puncture anything but I freaked a bit and began to struggle.

His jaws tightened slightly as I tried to free my neck. The feeling of something being torn from my body and an intense pain were the only things I could feel. I gasped as I felt warm blood running down my throat and chest and I could feel my skin crawl as his tongue lapped along my neck. In a moment of desperation my tail shot out from the side and stabbed him in one of his shoulders.

He immediately let go but not before I felt one of his claws raking down my neck and chest. I screamed in pain as more blood leaked down my chest. Before I could get back up and charge him again, I saw Beast Boy, in the form of a T-Rex, charge the dragon. His head connected with the head of the dragon which caused him to clutch his head.

Before the dragon could recover, Beast boy roared and sank his teeth into the base of the dragon's wings, causing him to roar in agony. Letting go, Beast Boy returned to his base form before he jumped away from the dragon, who was now spewing fire in anger.

“Pesky little rodent!” the dragon screeched.

I growled and lunged forward, my teeth closing around the dragon’s throat. He yelped and tried to pull away, but I tightened my grip and before I tore his windpipe out he said, “This isn’t how mating wor-” His claws raked my underside in his death throes, drawing more blood and pain. I screamed in pain again and spat out the chunk in my mouth, closing my jaws around his spine and crushing it.

I turned to Beast Boy and growled out, “I told you I had this under control!”

“Well excuse me for saving your life, I guess I should have just minded my own business and let that dragon kill you,” he said giving me his own growl.

I growled and took a step towards him, only to yelp as I collapsed from the pain. I grit my teeth and stood up, putting less weight on my right wing. “You didn’t help me as much as you seem to think, whelp!”

He nodded his head as he stroked his chin in thought. “So... when he had you pinned and I knocked him off, you didn’t need my help then?” he smirked as my frown only deepened.

“In case you didn’t notice I was going to tear his throat out, much like I did just now.” It was a lie, but there was no way I was going to acknowledge that he helped me. Not after the last time.

“Fine, so I didn’t help you,” he said holding his hands up, “Doesn’t matter now, what does matter is you’re bleeding and we need to stop it.”

I growled again and unconsciously took a step back. “We aren’t going to do anything. You are going to turn around and leave.”

“Oh so you’re an expert on this sort of thing? That’s good to know, tell me how long have you been away from home?”

I snarled as I thought over my options. There wasn’t really much I could do.... Except letting him help me out of this predicament or die because of one reason or another. My tail lashed out at a boulder and pulverized part of it as I lowered my head in defeat. “Fine. Tend to my wounds.”

He shook his head. “Not here, I don’t have any supplies and it’s too cold to do anything out here. I’ll take you to my cave and head for the nearest town to steal some supplies,” he said as he turned and headed back the way he had appeared from.

I gave his back a look of disgust before covering it up and saying, “May you please grab that wooden box for me?”

“Oh please? So you do have manners. That should make this easier,” he snarked before looking around and picking up the box with my coins.

“If it gets me free manual labor, yes.” I bent down and bit into the dragon’s carcass, intent on dragging it with us.