By 5th Grade Students at Regnart Elementary
May 2012
The dragon guarded his cave. Flamer, the dragon, watched. She knew Hotdog very well. In fact, Hotdog had stolen one of her legs. She was furious with Hotdog.
Hotdog was a goofy-looking dragon. He was bigger than she was but what made him goofy was his snout. It looked just like a hotdog, hence his name. He was as round as an elementary school classroom—one of her favorite places to visit. He also was caked in dirt. He looked as if he never bathed. He was one ugly dragon. She thought all that caked on mud and dirt would make him feel soft and wet but also a little hard.
The horrible stench of zucchinis wafted toward her. Gosh, he stank! He was such a farm dragon—he ate and breathed zucchinis. She was a city dragon!
Hotdog was making a racket. He was stumbling around and crashing into things. What a klutz! Flamer prided herself on being very quiet. Even three-legged, she could tiptoe like a mouse. While he stumbled around, Hotdog grabbed zucchinis, peeled them, squeezed them into juice and poured the juice all over his body. Then, he licked it off. Flamer had never been more disgusted. She hated to admit that she was also strangely curious about what this would taste like. Perhaps she would like the taste of zucchini if she added a few more ingredients and tried it as a body juice.
Flamer was determined to get her leg back. She wanted to disarm—perhaps literally—Hotdog and send him to federal prison. She knew Hotdog was very allergic to strawberries. She had brought a pile with her. She started to pelt Hotdog with the fruit. He began to sneeze and his eyes watered so badly that he could barely see. Now, Flamer could sneak up on him.
She tiptoed close, bit down hard on his hotdog nose and tripped him. She whacked him on his back. He threw up. She rushed for the cave. Suddenly, she felt herself falling.
Oh, no, it’s a trap, she thought.
She fell into a cement pit that had slimy walls and a cage at the bottom. When she landed in the cage, she hit her head and saw double. Was she concussed? Everything was blurry. She thought she saw food in front of her. It looked a little like a cage but also like a silver fish. She chomped down and ate it up. She realized she could fly up into the sky.
When she flew out of the pit, she saw a cave entrance and flew inside. She saw something that looked like a big, thick drumstick only blurry. She bit into it and swallowed it. Only once it was in her stomach did she realize she had just eaten her leg. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Hotdog had witnessed her terrible mistake. He was laughing hysterically.
He said, “Flamer, you have now realized your big mistake. You have eaten your own leg. You will never get it back.” Mwahaha!
Oh how Flamer wanted to prove him wrong. She thought she might be able to vomit the leg out. She closed her eyes and thought of the grossest thing ever—zucchinis! She felt her stomach heave, but Hotdog punched her in the face and her concentration wavered. She tried again, but he punched her again.
When he went to punch her again, she was ready for him. She chomped down on his arm and bit it off. She swallowed his arm whole. Now she had leverage. If he wanted his arm, he was going to have to let her throw up her leg too. Gosh, his arm tasted horrid—like rotten zucchini. She felt nauseated but for some reason couldn’t throw up.
She had to think of something even grosser than zucchini. She was a city girl. She prided herself on being a no-human-itarian. Since she did not eat humans, she thought about what it would be like to eat one. To chomp on raw flesh. To drink their blood. Gross. Disgusting. Oh, she felt sick. She threw up violently.
The arm burst out first and rolled over to Hotdog. The leg rolled out and into the pit. Suddenly, there was a powerful earthquake and the pit was covered in rocks and debris. The ground heaved and rolled with a powerful aftershock. The leg was flung in the air and went over a cliff. Flamer rushed to the edge and saw her leg tumble into a deep lake. She thought it was sixty-feet deep.
Then purple streams shot around her. Flamer’s wings wrenched off, and as she watched helplessly, they fell into the water. She was crushed. She knew without a doubt that Hotdog had invoked the darkest of magic. How could he? She had had no idea that he was one of those special dragons who could master the dark side. Now, what could she do? All the other dragons revered those who were dark warlocks. No one would help her.
She jumped, diving into the deep lake. She had to find her wings and leg. She felt a terrible, sharp pain in her tail. It had been caught on a rock. Oh, no! Her tail fell off.
As she plummeted, she saw the water turn to cement. Hotdog must have changed it. She slammed into the cement and began to scrabble and dig. Then the water started to break through. Hotdog’s power was waining. He would need to recharge.
Flamer’s leg rose to the surface. Suddenly, a pile of zucchinis fell from the sky and tumbled all over and around her. The zucchinis turned into an army of little zucchini creatures and they began to attack Flamer. But then sparks showered down from the sky. They lifted Flamer and her wings and gently rose like a fountain shooting up…
The “Cliffhanger” End.
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