1. Old and New

Greatsword village, Britain: 525 AD.

A knight in shiny silver armor rode his similarly fortified white horse through the forest of dead trees. To his left, a boy one third shorter than him, apparently in his mid teens, rode a brown donkey. He had no armor over his bland clothes, and his head was covered by a black sheepskin hat.

"We're almost there, Milo!" the knight said to his companion.

The teenager's face gained a wide smile. "Are you going to slay the dragon using your new tool?"

"No, it's not meant to kill it. My flail could do that. But this time, I want to teach you how to properly slay a dragon. That's what I gave you that sword for."

Milo looked at the sheathed golden sword he carried at his waist. "Do you think I'm ready for such a task?"

"Of course you are!" the knight said, lifting his helmet's visor. "You're the about the same age I was when the King invited me to join the Knights of the Round Table."

"Do you think they will let me join if I slay the dragon?"

"Maybe. I'll do my best to convince them of your bravery."

Milo smiled at the knight, but then his smile faded as soon as he saw the dreaded cave with blazing torches on its entrance's sides. "Brother? I think I am the one who needs to be convinced of my bravery. That place looks scary."

"Absurd, dear Milo! Our ancestors lived in caves. You will feel safe in there."

Seeing that the knight made his horse gallop toward the terrifying place, Milo shouted, "Josef! Wait! You'll wake up the dragon!"

Josef made his horse halt at the entrance, jumped off, and then petted the animal. "You'll have to wait here, Sorrowsweet." He pointed at the cave. "There be dragons."

Milo's donkey arrived, with its rider looking slightly pale.

"Leave Sir Heehawlot at the entrance, Milo! We can't afford to lose our animals; we might need them if we're forced to retreat."

"I p-prefer to just stay with him outside and w-watch."

Josef gave him a nasty look and then brought out a rope from a crevice in his armor. Then he proceeded to use it as a lasso to catch his brother and pull him off the donkey. Milo ended up being dragged into the cave, in spite of his struggle to free himself.

A roar shook the cave, and then loud, heavy thumps announced that the beast was approaching to meet the two brave men.

"I want my mommy," Milo said.

"Keep being like that and the dragon might take you to her," Josef said. Then he pulled the rope to bring his brother closer. "Now stand and fight!"

A large ball of fire came toward the brothers, knocked them both to the ground, and left them covered in soot as black smoke came from their bodies.

"Wonders!" Josef said. "I forgot to put my visor back on."

Finally freed from the now charred rope, Milo got up screaming, ran toward a rock, and hid behind it.

The knight was swiftly back on his legs. He covered his face with the visor and then said, "Quit hiding, Milo! You'll miss this very important lesson in dragon catching." Grabbing a chain from another compartment of his armor, he pulled out a metallic weight and began swinging it. "I've prepared this thing especially for your fiery breath, dragon!"

The giant red lizard revealed its scaly face and opened its jaws wide to threaten the intruders with its sharp teeth. Its wings fanned out to make the creature look bigger than it already was.

Josef did not seem impressed. "Are you done?"

Seeing that the bite-sized human refused to leave, the dragon decided that roasting him to death would be a better idea.

Milo peeked from behind the rock and said, "Brother, no!"

Josef didn't even give the beast enough time to take a deep breath, because he tripped the creature with the chain and then used it to tie its legs and snout. "That ought to keep your muzzle shut!"

"You did it?" Milo said while taking a step to the side to get a better view. "You did it! Your traps are amazing, brother!"

Josef pointed at him. "Now come here and slay it with your sword!"

The younger brother looked at the sword strapped to his waist. "Um, right." He ran up to the dragon and unsheathed his weapon. As he closed his eyes and prepared to plunge it into the creature's neck, he heard the sound of rocks that rolled from the ceiling. Then he heard footsteps and he turned around to notice his brother take out an expandable double-headed spear and plant it into the ground right next to him.

"Die, you nosy knights!" the voice of an old woman said.

A giant rock rolled off a ledge toward the two brothers, but Josef's spear stopped it from crushing them.

"It's the darn witch!" Josef said while looking at the woman who ran on the ledge. "So that's where she's been hiding!"

The spear started to give in under the weight of the boulder, so Josef had to act fast. He pushed Milo away and tried to jump to safety as well, but his weapon finally snapped, causing him to get crushed from his legs up to his chest. He reached out for his brother, who was on top of the dragon's head. "Milo … Milo, please … stop the witch, and slay the dragon!"

Milo got back on his feet and ran to Josef's aid. "Brother!" He tried to lift the boulder, but it was too heavy for his weak muscles. "Brother, I can't … I'll get … I'll go get help."

"No, don't. Milo, it's easy. Just get rid of the witch. The dragon's not going anywhere without her help."

"But Josef … you're ..."

Josef pointed toward the interior of the cave and, with his last breath, said, "Go." Then his arm, much like the rest of his body, went limp on the ground.

Milo felt tears starting to form in his eyes, but he held them back and gained a glare as he turned around to chase the witch, who had been hiding behind a rock in the cave. "I'll make you pay dearly for this!" he said, showing his teeth.

The witch ended up running into the dead end of the cave, where her witchcraft table awaited with many metal cups full of concoctions that glowed in various colors and sizzled or bubbled. She grabbed one with a pink substance and threw it at her pursuer, but the liquid narrowly missed him and landed on the ground behind him, making a deep hole in it.

Milo pointed at her. "I was only going to tie you to my brother's horse and drag you through the village. But now I'm really mad!"

The old woman didn't know which potion to throw at him next, so she reached out for an orange one.

"I'll dip you into everything you got on that table!" Milo said as he rushed to tackle her.

The witch stepped aside at the last moment and the young man landed on the table, over all the cups of potions. She threw the orange liquid at him and it reacted with the other concoctions that mixed below him, opening an orange portal that sucked Milo in, making it look as if the table ate him.

He screamed as the portal's harsh medium dissolved his body away, leaving behind only his soul – a cloud that took on the orange color. Then, the portal took his memories.

Metro City: present day.

The bright sun beamed over the neighborhood that hosted the house where a teenage girl, her uncle, and their two robots resided.

Inside that house, the orange robot sat on the couch with a purple joystick in his hands while using a third arm coming from his hat to feed himself tortilla chips and then help himself drink soda out of a green can. His eyes remained focused on the screen of the monitor in front of him.

The blue robot approached him with a look of disapproval on his face. Then he began to tap his foot on the floor while crossing his arms. "You've been here all afternoon, Fidget. What in the world are you doing?"

"I'm playing. Can't you see?"

"What kind of game is that? Your character's spinning so much I'm amazed you're not complaining that it's making you dizzy."

"It's a MOBA called Legends Make Awesome Offensive. And it is making me dizzy! Now go pester someone else, Digit! I'm in a tournament!"

"Penny said she's taking us outside to play football. Come on! You have been indoors since last week!"

"Robots don't need to go outside," Fidget said before filling his mouth with tortilla chips.

"They don't need to play video games either," Digit said as he shuffled away.

"Just because you don't enjoy playing video games doesn't mean all robots don't!

"Private Digit's right, you need to go outside from time to time."

"You tell him, Lieutenant Gadget!" Digit said and then grinned at the man who just entered the living room.

"Could you people just shut up? I'm trying to concentrate here!" Fidget yelled as he mashed the buttons even more aggressively.

"How rude," Gadget said while shaking his index finger. "Now listen here, private! I need you boys to test the new pool. I've filled it, put the life savers on the edge, and dechlorinated the water."

Fidget showed his metallic fangs and said, "Tell it to someone who cares! I'm busy!"

Gadget frowned at that. Then he got serious and extended his arms to reach both robots and grab them. "Some fresh air will lighten up your mood." Digit made no effort to free himself or complain. Dragging Fidget proved more difficult than he had anticipated, as the orange robot kept grabbing furniture in an attempt to stay inside.

Both robots were thrown into the pool, causing a big splash and then two simultaneous 'thunk!' sounds. Fidget landed on his feet, but Digit landed on his head. The blue floor of the pool cracked a bit.

"There we go!" Gadget said. "Oh, and the pool also has a heating system. You know, just in case you want to swim on a cold day."

"Uncle!" a girl called out.

"Hi, Penny! The pool's ready!"

Penny gasped. "Why did you throw Digit in there? He hates water."

"He'll have to learn to swim eventually," Gadget said.

Digit was already at the edge of the pool, struggling to climb out. "Get me out of here! This is not good for my joints!"

Penny helped him get out, and then she looked at Fidget, who just sat in the water, growling like a dog.

"He looks like he's about to murder someone," Digit said.

Fidget curled his hands into fists. "The tournament! I've lost the blasted tournament!"

"Cheer up, private," Gadget said. "I'll get you all some ice cream and maybe then your temperament will cool down."

Fidget's expression went from furious to sad, but it was a slight improvement of his mood. At least it made Digit stop fearing that his brother was going to snap and do something foolish.

Gadget's right hand started ringing. "Oh, it must be Colonel Nosehair. I wonder what happened this time."

Fidget started glaring and growling again. He knew what that call meant: no ice cream.

Gadget activated his top-secret gadget phone and spoke into his pinky while putting his thumb to his ear. "Hello, Colonel! Anything new came up? Um-hum, I'll be right there, sir!" After stopping his phone, he turned around and said, "No time for soaking, privates! The Colonel has something important to tell us." He wrapped his extended arms around the robots, took them to the soda machine, and then dragged them all the way to the Colonel's room.

The Colonel was not there. Instead, his face appeared on the room's large monitor. "Welcome back, Gadget." He looked pretty worried.

"Good afternoon, sir! Hey, are you okay, Colonel Nosehair?"

"For the love of … I'm not in the mood for this, Gadget."

"Yeah, something's definitely wrong with this picture," Fidget said to Digit. "He's not even arguing about his name being mispronounced."

The Colonel took in a deep breath. "There is no easy way to put this. General Sir passed away this morning."

"Oh, no!" Gadget said before taking his hat off and holding it to his chest. "He was such a nice man ... May he rest in peace."

"I'm afraid he can't rest in peace until this one last mission he gave is done."

Gadget put his hat back on. "He left us a mission? I will take it on with great honor!"

"Alright, listen, Gadget. The people of Greatsword, a little village in Britain, have trouble dealing with a dragon that comes and steals gemstones, copper coils, and sheep."

"Wowzers!" Gadget said. "A real-life dragon?"

"Yes, I find it hard to believe as well," the Colonel said. He showed a photo of the red flying beast, and it looked pretty clear.

Fidget stepped in front of Gadget and got closer to the screen. "Hey, why don't they just send the army there to catch it? Where does all the taxpayers' money go?"

Gadget wrapped his extended right arm around the orange robot and pulled him away. "Be quiet, private, or I'll give you a time out!" He then placed him on top of Colonel Nozzaire's desk. "You'll have to excuse my robot, Colonel. He's been dealing with some anger issues lately."

Fidget stood up on the desk and started jumping in place. "I. Am. Not. Having. Anger. Issues! You. Made. Me. Lose. The. Tournament!"

"Go Go Gadget Duct Tape!" And so, Gadget finally silenced his insubordinate robot.

Colonel Nozzaire cleared his throat and then said, "The reason why they're not sending the army there is because the dragon seems to disappear and reappear randomly, and not even infrared tracking devices could track it down. So, we need you and your skills to solve this mystery with your arsenal of gadgets."

"Understood, sir! But I have one last question before I go: where are you now?"

"I am at General Sir's secret headquarters. There are way too many things I have to take care of, but it's a good thing. I get to stay away from you, for once! Now go and catch that dragon!"

Gadget saluted with his hand and then turned around to check on the Gadgetinis. Fidget finally managed to get rid of the duct tape that covered his mouth and was preparing to complain, but Gadget just wrapped his arm around him and dragged him off the desk. "Save it for later, private Fidget!" Then he looked at Digit. "Are you going to the Gadget Mobile or do I have to drag you there too?"

"It's okay, sir, I'll walk," Digit said and gave his boss a nervous grin.

Outside, Penny came up to her uncle. "Are you guys going on a mission again?"

"Yes, and unfortunately this is the last mission General Sir will ever give me. He passed away."

"Oh, send my condolences to everyone at W.O.M.P.. So, where are you going?"

"To a small village in Britain. We need to catch a teleporting dragon."

Penny flinched at that information, but then regained composure and said, "Uncle, could you take me there too, please? I would love to take photos of the places there. The other girls will be so jealous!"

"Well, I don't know, Penny … I mean there is a dragon involved."

"Pleaaaase, uncle Gadget?"

Gadget couldn't resist those puppy eyes she made. "Alright, hop in the car!"

Digit was already in the vehicle, but Fidget held on to a fire hydrant while Gadget still kept him in the wrap. The orange robot's only concern was, "What about the ice cream?" His hands slipped, and he was finally inside the Gadget Mobile, just as it took off.

To be continued.