“You are our heroes!” The king of Planet Galaxy told Dragon Father and Dragon Little. “You saved our lives! You saved everyone’s lives! And now we will remember you forever!”
Dragon Father and Dragon Little stared at the giant, heroic statues of themselves.
“Well, I, uh, I don’t know what to say,” Dragon Father began. “I, uh, never had a statue made of me. It’s…”
“It’s scary!” Dragon Little stated simply. “That’s more scary than monsters!”
Dragon Little leapt into action. She took her sword and ran towards the statue.
Dragon Father caught her before she reached it. He lifted her up and held her in his arms. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s disrespectful to try and destroy the statue they built of us.”
“I hate it! I don’t look like that!”
“It actually does look a lot like you.”
“It doesn’t! I’m not that big!”
“Yeah, you’re right. You don’t look like that. You’re not that big.”
“Why did they do it?” she sounded like she wanted to cry. She began to twist in all directions, making it impossible for her father to hold her. “Why?
“Joy, Joy, what’s wrong?” he let her down and spoke softly so the others won’t hear. He was on one knee, looking at her face.
“They shouldn’t have done that!” she was sniffing.
“What’s the matter, Joy?”
She looked down. “Why do they need another me? I’m already here!”
Dragon Father stopped for a second and seemed surprised.
“Wow. Joy, do you understand that’s not another you?”
She looked up at the statue. “It looks like me! Why does it have to look like me?!”
“It looks like you, but it’s not… Do you think they took a part of you? A part of your soul?”
“What’s a soul?”
Dragon Father didn’t get to respond as the alarm began.
Everyone began to run.
“What’s going on?” he stood up, asking a running passerby.
“Space invasion!”
“Joy, shall we?”
Her face lit up. “Only if I’m driving!”
Dragon Father looked at her and smiled. At this age, he would only let her drive Bonny’s Revenge during a fight if she was feeling bad and he thought it would improve her mood.
His hesitation led me to think he realized he was being manipulated this time.
He smiled and said, “Sure.”
Even if he did realize he was being manipulated, I am sure he did not know how big of a manipulation it was. I will tell you about that part tomorrow.
—Told by The Red Dragon