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The hulking bear let out another earth-shaking roar and stomped on the ground in front of Vur with its front leg. It glared down at the two humans and white dog. “I will not ask you again.” The bear curled its claws, raking four fissures into the ground. “Where is the dragon!?”
Vur snorted and slid off of Sir Selddup’s back. “I’m the dragon,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked up at the massive bear and furrowed his brow. Before the bear could say anything, Vur pointed at it and said, “Polymorph.”
“What?” the bear asked as its body shrank. “Hey, what did you do to me?” Its voice increased in pitch as its body decreased in size. By the time it finished speaking, it was the size of a large dog. “What kind of dragon magic is this!?”
Vur looked down at the bear and nodded his head. Now that he didn’t have to crane his neck up to look it in the eyes, he was much more comfortable. The same couldn’t be said for the bear.
“You sneaky dragon!” the bear shouted as it rose up on its hindlegs. It was still shorter than Vur, and its voice was no longer loud and threatening. “It doesn’t matter if you decreased my size; I’ll beat some sense into you!” When it finished speaking, it charged forward, running at Vur while standing upright on its hindlegs as if it were a human.
Vur braced himself for the bear’s tackle, but it didn’t come. The bear stopped in front of Vur and roundhouse kicked his side with its right hindleg. Vur held his hand left hand, catching the bear’s shin, stopping its kick with ease. The bear narrowed its eyes and shouted, “Repulsion!”
Multiple cracking sounds rang out as if a firework had burst, and Vur’s hand was flung away from the bear’s shin. Vur stumbled once to the right and raised his left hand in front of his face. A furrow appeared on his brow; the skin on his palm was lacerated as if it had been struck by hundreds of little whips. He turned his head to look at the bear, and it growled at him as it brought its hindleg back and raised its forelegs up like hands, standing in a ready stance. The bear’s fur rippled despite there being no breeze, and its eyes widened as it shifted towards Vur and threw a haymaker at his face.
Vur leapt backwards, avoiding the bear’s punch by less than an inch. Vur’s brow furrowed, and he leaned his head back even further. The furs on the bear’s paw swiped at Vur’s face like miniature whips, missing his skin but still causing tiny stinging sensations as they passed by. The bear’s paw retreated from Vur’s vision, but he grabbed its ankle before it could escape from his range. The bear grinned as the furs on its leg stiffened, their tips hardening into little needles. Like living creatures, the fur on the bear’s leg surged towards Vur’s hand and stabbed into it, the sheer amount causing Vur’s wrist and hand to disappear from view.
The bear’s grin stiffened upon seeing Vur’s eyes. They glowed golden as an imprint appeared on his forehead. The bear’s fur rose against it will as electricity arced through it. A second later, the bear let out a scream as hundreds of thunderbolts surged out of Vur’s fingertips. Lightning traveled up the bear’s leg and passed through every inch of its body. Ashes and soot fell away from Vur’s hand—the one that had been impaled and buried by fur—as he released his grip, and his mangled flesh contorted as a green light engulfed it, repairing his injuries.
“You,” the bear said and coughed out a cloud of black smoke. Its body spasmed as it moved to fix its posture. “You don’t fight like a dragon.”
“You don’t fight like a bear,” Vur said. “Are you a human pretending to be one?”
“Nonsense!” the bear shouted and raised its front legs over its head in what it thought was a threatening manner. “I have a Paws and Claws black belt! I’m qualified to teach any bear our most sacred martial arts, so how could you even suggest I’m a human!?”
“Shouting works a lot better when you’re bigger,” Stella said, poking her head out of Vur’s chest. “When you shout, all it does is make you look silly.”
The bear furrowed its brow and wiped at its eyes, causing a layer of soot and burnt hair to fall to the ground. “You, uh, have a head growing out of your chest.” The bear took a step back. “What kind of dragon did you say you were again?”
Vur ignored the bear and looked around.
“We’re surrounded,” Sir Selddup said and sniffed the air. “I’m smelling a lot of gunpowder and metal.”
The small bear laughed. “It noticed!” he shouted. “Fire!”
Explosions rang out, and projectiles flew through the air. The brown runes on Vur’s arm flashed, and an earthen dome rose up and over Vur’s group. Seconds later, steel harpoon heads pierced through the dome but stopped before hitting the ground, the majority of the force having been blocked by the earth.
“Wow, these bears are smart,” Stella said and flew out of Vur’s chest. She touched one of the harpoons and admired the multiple hooked barbs sticking out of it. The fairy queen gulped as she grabbed the head of the harpoon and gave it a tug, pulling the whole weapon through. It fell to the ground with a clang, and Stella flew down to its shaft. With a grunt, she managed to lift the weapon despite her tiny size, and with a clumsy swing, the head of the harpoon accidentally stabbed Sir Selddup’s leg, causing the dog to flinch and yelp while pulling away.
“Do you want help?” Vur asked, raising an eyebrow at the struggling fairy. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t need help,” Stella said and grunted as she raised the spear horizontally off the ground. “With those nutrients, I’m strong now! Let me at ‘em! I’ll make us some bear skewers.”
Vur tilted his head at the fairy queen. He poked the floating spear, causing it to wobble and fall to the ground, accompanied by Stella and her yelps. Vur blinked. “I think you need more nutrients first.”
“Hey!” the bear shouted from outside the dome. “You can’t hide in there forever!”