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The Water Dragon General - A Dragon Knights Story - A Bedtime Adventure · Dad’s Bedtime Stories

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: He Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'm Martin and you are listening to dad's bedtime stories. Tonight,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we're going to be headed back into the Dragon Knights
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: series for another episode that could honestly stand by itself,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: or it'll kind of fit in with the other episodes
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: you've heard about. This one will be the origin story
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: for the Water Dragon General. In the last episode of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the Dragon Knights, I asked people to write in if
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: they had ideas for backstories for some of the other generals,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: as we've done a story for the Fire General and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: you came through with this idea. Let's check it out.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: My name is Millie, and if a suggestion for the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Dragon Knights series for the Water Dragon and Nature general.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: A water dragon in General's called Splash and her mother
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: was a Dragon Knight, but she was a bit mean,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: so that's why she wanted to go with the Dragon Tife.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I love your podcast. I will give it
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: ten out of ten stars, and I think this is
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the best podcast in the world.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: You flatter me, Millie. That's a really nice of you
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to say, and it's a great suggestion for the Dragon
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Knight series. I feel like it's almost a challenge that
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: you gave me here to write a story about a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: person who joins the Dragon Thief because their parent was
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a dragon Knight and wasn't very nice to them. So
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I took that challenge on. I hope you like what
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I came up with, because I think it made for
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: some pretty cool characters that we can use in the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: future here, especially when it's time to, you know, take
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: on the water dragons in the next episode. If you
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: have any other ideas for this podcast, I really love
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: getting voice messages and ideas on the Google form. Maybe
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: about dragon Knights, maybe about something else, maybe about a
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: brand new series. You really can't do it wrong. I
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: can only pick two or three of them a week
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to make, and I get more than that. But I
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: really love getting them and I listen to every single one.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I actually take notes on every single one and kind
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of write down what it's about for when I'm looking
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: in the future. And aside from that, I just want
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to remind everyone that I just started another podcast, Dad's
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Anytime Stories, which will be going season by season. Each
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: season will be an entire novel, read chapter by chapter,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: starting with the Cards of Power. But I imagine that
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the Dragon Knights series, once I polish it up and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: turn it into a novel, will also be added to
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: that podcast anyway. You can find it anywhere you get podcasts, YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing, And if you to head over
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: there and listen to it and give me a rating
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: on it, that would really help other people find the podcast,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: maybe people who have never heard Cards of Power before.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: And yeah, if you want something to listen to on
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a road trip or some other time where it's not
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: necessarily bedtime, though you can listen at bedtime if you
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: want to. There's really nothing against it. Head on over
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: to Dad's Anytime Stories. I think the logo will look
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: pretty familiar, honestly, but now it's that time again, after
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: a possible word from a possible sponsor, because sponsors are
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: how podcasts are funded. Sarah, guys, close your eyes, get
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: as comfy as you can in that bed, and imagine
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: yourself doing what the kid in the story does. The
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: water Fortress was beautiful from far away. It looked like
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: a frozen sort of crown rising from the cliffs, all
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: bright ice and white snow towers shaped like jagged spears,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and ice bridges. Carving back and forth between them. Up close, though,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: it was cold in a way that went far beyond
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the weather. It was always windy, The floors bit through boots.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: The walls seemed to hold no warmth at all. Even
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: voices sounded colder there. Splash had grown up inside those walls.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: She was born there, raised there, and trained there. As
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: far as she knew, the whole world was made of ice, discipline,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: and people telling her to do better. Her mother was
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: a true water dragon Knife, one of the defenders of
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the fortress in the seas beyond it. She was powerful, respected,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: and always busy. Splash admired her more than anyone else.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: She also feared disappointing her. From the time Splash was little,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: her mother trained her relentlessly. Again, her mother would say,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Splash would lunge, her mother would redirect her with a
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: twist of the wrist, turn her momentum against her, and
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: send her sliding across the hard packed snow. Your balance
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: was off.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Again.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Splash would get up and try again, and again and again.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: When she was seven, her mother began making her train
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: with wooden blades, starting at dawn. When she was eight,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: she had to spar older students. When she was nine,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: she was told she was wasting her motion, wasting her breath.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: She worked hard, harder than anyone else, honestly, and she
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: learned fast too. She became one of the best young
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: fighters in the fortress. She was quick with her hands,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: impossible to corner, and unusually good at reading other people's
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: movement before it happened. Other children her age started out stronger,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: but Splash always won in the end because she simply
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: never stopped improving. And still it never seemed to be enough.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: You dropped your shoulder before the strike, you planted too
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: heavily on the tad. You won, but not cleanly enough.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Splash would nod, swallow the hurt and push herself harder.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: What she wanted was simple. She wanted her mother to
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: smile and say good job. But it never happened. The
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: other kids noticed, of course, they saw how good Splash
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: was and how much attention the instructors gave her. That
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: should have made them admire her, but instead most of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: them resented her. She acts like she's already a knight.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: She only trains that all the time because she wants
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: everyone to notice her. She thinks she's better enough. They
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: would say behind her back. Splash heard those whispers often
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: enough that eventually she stopped trying to make friends at all.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: The only one who seemed to understand her was ice Thorn.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Ice Thorn was her mother's dragon, a massive water dragon
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: with pale blue scale and long icy spines running down
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: his neck. He was powerful in battle, but when he
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: was resting in the lower caverns, he was calm in
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: a way that no one else was. Splash often sat
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: beside him when her mother was away. Ice Thorn would
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: lower his head to her level and let her lean
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: against his cool scales. Sometimes he would watch her practice
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: with the wooden blade. Sometimes he would show her small
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: things her mother never had time to explain. Your mother
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: fights like a storm, he told her once, after watching
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: her spa an older kid.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Fast, direct, overwhelming. But that is not your way.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Splash wiped sweat from her forehead. Then what is Ice
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Thorn's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. You fight like deep water, quiet, patient,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: You pull people where you want them before they know
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: them moving. Splash liked that. Another time, when she'd lost
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: her temper during practice and thrown her blade across the yard,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Ice Thorn nudged it back toward her with one claw.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Strength is not the same as worth, he said in
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: his deep, steady voice. Splash frowned. You've said that before,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: because you still do not believe it. She didn't, not really,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: but she remembered it when her mother was a fighting ice.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Thorn was the one who made the fortress feel less lonely.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: He was the one who noticed when she was upset,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the one who listened. He was the one who told
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: her she was doing well. And because of that, Splash
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: loved him. The day the dragon Thief attacked, the skies
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: turned red. At first, Splash thought the sunset was strange.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Then the alarm sounded. She ran from the training yard
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: to the outer wall, just in time to see fire
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: raining down from the clouds. Not ordinary fire. The fire, somehow,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: burned hotter than anything the fortress had ever faced. It
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: hit the outer towers and melted ice that had stood
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: for generations. Snow turned to steam. Defensive walls cracked and sagged.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Water dragons surged upward to meet the attack, blasting arcs
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: of water and freezing power into the shields. But the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: fire punched through. Splash had never seen anything like it.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: No one had The sky was full of dragons, fired dragons,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: elemental dragons, and a few Earth dragons, all with riders
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: in black and red armor. The fortress shook under the impact.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Inside one of the instructors shouted, but Splash was already
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: running the other way. She needed to find her mother.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: She found her near the western gate, already armed in
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: her dragon Knight armor, standing beside ice Thorn. Her mother's
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: armor looked like it was coated with frost and sea water.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Ice Thorn roared as a blast of fire hit the
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: wall behind them, sending up a cloud of steam. Stay back,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: her mother shouted. The moment she saw Splash, I can help,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Splash yelled, no, get below the wall. Another dragon screamed overhead.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Ice Thorn turned and blasted a wave of seawater upward,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: freezing at mid air into a jagged shield. A second later,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the shield shattered under a blast of blazing fire. Splash
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: stumbled backward. The heat was almost unbearable. Now huge chunks
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: of the fortress were melting. Water dragons circled through the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: clouds of steam while defenders shouted to each other across
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: collapsing bridges. Then saw something worse. One of the water
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: dragons stopped mid flight, not frozen in ice, but frozen
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: all the same. Its wings still beat, but awkwardly, as
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: if someone else had taken hold of them. Its head
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: jerked sideways, Its eyes went blank. The rider on its
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: back screamed and then stopped screaming. The dragon turned and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: blasted a jet of freezing water at its own allies.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: No Splash whispered. They'd heard rumors of the Dragon Thief's
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: control spell, but now she was sure she'd seen it
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: with her own eyes. One dragon after another faltered as
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: they came in contact with the Dragon Thief. Some thought
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: it for a moment, moment twisting wildly in the air,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: but the spell took them anyways. The sky became chaos.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Dragons turned on their own nights, Water slammed into ice
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: walls from the wrong direction. Defences shattered from within. Splash
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: saw her mother look up, sharply run. Her mother shouted.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Ice Thorn shifted, moving protectively in front of Splash. Then
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the spell reached him. Splash saw the exact moment had happened.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: His body stiffened, his eyes widened. He let out a deep,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: pained sound she'd never heard before. Then it was gone.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: The warmth in his face was gone. He stood still, silent, waiting.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: No Splash ran toward him. A blast struck the platform nearby,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: knocking her off her feet. Snow and shattered ice rained
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: down around her. By the time she looked up again,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: her mother was gone and all of the chaos. All
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Splash could see was ice Thorn, standing there with empty
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: eyes as enemy riders closed in around him. The fortress
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: fell that day. By nightfall, the dragon Thief had taken
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the stronghold. The dragon Knights and other loyal warriors were
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: rounded up and dragged away. Some dragon stood under new control,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: soldiers wearing black and red armor. The dragon Thief didn't
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: take everyone, though, he left anyone willing to swear loyalty
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to him.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: He gave them a choice.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Train serve and be free, Refuse and we'll be taken.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Splash wasn't proud of it, but she chose to be trained.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: After all, saying you were loyal to someone didn't actually
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: mean you were. And well, she figured she could do
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: more if she was free than she could if she
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: was locked up. At first, she was determined to hate
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: every minute of it. She hated the new banners and
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the new commanders and the dragon thief that now called
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: himself the Dragon King. She hated watching controlled dragons obeys strangers,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: and most of all, she hated seeing ice Thorn still alive,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: still powerful, but utterly silent unless commanded. But something strange happened.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: The Dragon King's officers actually treated the young trainees well.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: They were fed well, they were trained, they were given structure,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: and for the first time in her life, Splash found
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: adults who didn't just tell her what she'd done wrong.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: They noticed what she'd done right. She excelled quickly. She
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: beat the other trainees in nearly every martial test. She
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: moved through the drills with sharp, fluid, precision, and sparring
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: tournaments she won cleanly and then one again when challenged
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: by the older recruits. During one of those tournaments, the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Dragon King himself came to watch the whole training yard
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: when quiet. When he entered, Splash fought three opponents in
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: a row that day. She didn't lose once she redirected
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the first opponent's charge, trapped his arm, and threw him.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: She slipped underneath the second one's attack and ended the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: match with a strike to the chest. The third lasted longest,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: forcing her backwards across the ring. But Splash had justed.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: She parried his attack, shifted her weight, and sent him
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: flying into the corner instead with a sweep of her foot.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: The Dragon King stood and applauded. Well done, he said
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: two words, that was all. But they hit harder than
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: any training strike her mother ever landed. The Dragon King
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: studied her for a long while. Moment, you have discipline,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: control precision. Now what is it you want? Splash swallowed
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to be a dragon knight, she answered. The king smiled,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I can give you that. He raised one hand and
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the guards brought ice thorn forward. Splash's breath caught the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: dragon she'd grown up beside.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Was right there.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: He looked exactly as she remembered, and at the same
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: time he looked completely changed. He looked at her, but
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: he didn't seem to know her at all. This dragon
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: obeys the spell. He can be assigned to any knight.
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: I chew.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Splash's stomach tightened. Any knight, some cruel stranger could have him.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Then some fool who knew nothing about him. He used
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: to belong to your mother, I'm told, the dragon King continued.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Now he can belong to you splash, looked at as
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Thorn again. She knew this was wrong. She knew the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: control spell was well a mockery of the true bond
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: that humans and dragons were supposed to have. She wouldn't
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: share his power as she was supposed to, but she
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: would be able to command him. She almost refused, but
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: then she imagined another rider on his back, another rider
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: shouting careless orders, another rider using him like a weapon.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Her hands clenched, she took one step closer to ice
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Thorn and laid a trembling hand against his scales. I'm sorry,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: she whispered, so only he would hear. But if this
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: is the only way to keep you with me, I'm
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: taking it. Then she straightened, do it, I accept The
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Dragon King placed a hand against her forehead, and the
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: spell hit like freezing water. She gasped, and suddenly she
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: felt the connection. Not warmth, not trust, but command. She
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: thought of the dragon lifting his head, and he did.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: She thought of him drawing water from the sea, and
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the sea outside surged upward in a twisting column. She
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: thought of the water freezing, and the column hardened instantly
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: into ice. She stared at it. She'd done it, or
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: rather she'd made ice Thorn do it. She turned to
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: ice Thorn again, she felt the hollowness. No voice greeted her,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: no quiet reassurance, no rumbling words about strength and worth.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: He just waited.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: At least you're with me, she said softly. He didn't answer,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: but when she told him to follow, he did, and
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: for now that was enough. She rose quickly through the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: water dragon ranks. She was already an excellent fighter, the
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: best there was, and now she had a dragon she
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: knew almost as well as she knew herself. She understood
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: his range, his speed, his possibilities. She knew the kinds
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: of attacks he could give, the openings he'd leave. She'd
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: watched him battle with her mother hundreds of times, and
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: well she didn't share his connection to the water like
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: a true dragon knight would have. She could command him
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: to do the things that needed to be done, and
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: that made her dangerous and slowly it made her forget
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the promise she'd made to herself about not truly giving loyalty.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: It was during the campaign against the Earth Dragon's stronghold
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: that she truly distinguished herself. The Earth Dragons had retreated
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: into the mountains their fortress was monstrous, thick walls of
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: stone reinforced with steel towers, carved directly out of the
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: mountain side gates, so large that three dragons could stand
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: between them shoulder to shoulder. The Dragon King had already
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: taken some Earth dragons and the earlier fighting against the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: fire dragons, but the main stronghold held the rest. The
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: army tried attacking from above first, but it failed. Fire
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: scorched the walls but couldn't break them fast enough, and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the uh Earth dragons were able to turn the earth
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: into bullet like projectiles that shot out in every direction.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: The Dragon King grew impatient. He called a war council.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Splash stood among the officers and generals while a map
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: of the mountain fort lay spread across a table. We
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: need a breach, the Dragon King said, a real one.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Splash studied the map, and memories from her mother started
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to pour back into her. Memories about her battles against
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: other Earth dragons. Her mother once explained that she learned
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: if she saturated the earth itself and froze permafrost directly
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: into it, that well, it sort of gave her control
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: of the earth too. When Earth dragons or knights attempted
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: to use the earth against her, She would have control
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: over it as well, at least in part, she could
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: fight against their control redirect their attacks. She remembered her
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: mother's explaining that water had the power to erode almost anything.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: And an idea.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Came in to Splash his head, an idea so great
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: that well, she just wanted to share it, even if
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: she didn't fully think about the consequences. What if we
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: attack from below, she said, Explain the dragon king answered,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Splash pointed, from the coast of the base to the mountains.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: We use the controlled earth dragons to tunnel from the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: ocean deep enough that the defenders won't feel it. Then
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: we bring the water dragons through the tunnels and flood
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the ground beneath the fortress. Water under rock won't break
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a fortress, one of the fire officers said, not at first,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Splash said, but saturated ground will lose stability. Eventually the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: fortress will collapse into a giant sinkhole. And at the
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: same time, we'll seep the water into the earth above
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: saturated completely and freeze it into permafrost. That way, when
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the dragon's attempt to counterattack, will be able to have
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: control over the earth as well. With the ice inside it,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: we can deflect the attacks, break apart more of the ground.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the room went quiet, and the dragon king thought,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: then smiled, I say we do it, he responded. The
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: tunnels took days. Earth dragons and elemental dragons dug huge
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: tunnels all the way from the ocean to the underside
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: of the fortress. Then the water dragons followed the tunnels inside.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Led by Splash, they used the power of water to
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: see bend the ground above them to erode it into
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: a giant sink, coal and well underground lake of sorts.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: They seeped the water into the earth above, getting it
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: as wet as they possibly could, and then freezing it
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: solid into permafrost. When it was time to invade, Splash
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: gave the command, and they broke apart the rest of
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the ground. Water dragons and earth dragons tugging at the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: now frozen earth until a catastrophic collapse began. It sent
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the earth dragons into a panic as the fortress below
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: their feets began to sink. At the same time, fire
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: dragons surged from above. Water dragons burst upward through the
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: broken stone and rock and flooded into the halls. The
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Earth dragon knights fought back. Of course, they were powerful
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: and they knew the terrain better than any invader, but
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: they weren't expecting the earth underneath their feet to be
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: compromised by water and ice. They attempted to fire bits
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: of the earth at their attackers, but the Water Dragons
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: simply deflected it around them. They pulled water from the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: underground lake they'd created and blasted the Earth dragons with it,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: freezing them in place. At the same time, the dragon
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: thief made the rounds, connecting to dragon after dragon and
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: turning it on the others. It didn't take long before
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the defenders broke, before every single one of the Earth
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: dragons and riders were either captured and frozen water or
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: turned against their brethren. When the fighting finally stopped, Splash
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: stood at the edge of the fortress on ice Thorn's back.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: The Dragon King landed beside her on his gigantic elemental dragon.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: You have done what my Ahmi could not, he said.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Splash said nothing, Her hands rested lightly on ice Thorne's neck.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: The Dragon King turned to the assembled officers and raised
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: his voice.
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: From this day forward, Splash will be the Water Dragon
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: General the army knelt splash, looked out over the ruined
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: fortress and felt something she'd wanted for years.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Recognition, praise, status. She'd earned it all, and yet when
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: the army dispersed and the cheering faded, she felt empty inside.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Something about this just wasn't right. Was this what she
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: really wanted? That night, she laid in bed, She closed
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: her eyes, pulled the covers up over top of herself,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: and did her best to drown out the thoughts. The
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: secret was to focus her mind on something simple instead
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: of the whole thinking thing that she did too often.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: She focused on her breath, She noticed as her stomach
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: rose and fell with each one, and she let go
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of the tension and her muscles, starting with her legs,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: her arms, her shoulders, her neck, and even her face,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: until she lay silently in bed, sinking down deeper with
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: each breath, and she allowed her mind to wander off
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: to thoughts of new dreams and new adventures to come.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Night. Everyone, mhm.
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: Union name in the New York More Union No no no,
• 43:06
  Speaker 5: no assas