So, The Dude (He Abides) over at Spacebattles posted an omake on how Lung and Taydred met and I loved it. So with his permission (and his later praise for the final product) I heavily edited it, did some rearranging and expansion on little details and came up with this. I admit there are very few times I make myself chuckle while in the middle of writing/heavy editing but this one managed it.

So enjoy this collaboration from Nemesis13 (SB handle is the same) and The Dude, enjoy the mayhem!

January 19, 2011-ABB Territory

Lung cupped his hand over his lighter as he lit a cigarette while exiting his third favorite bar in the local area, he quit trying to light them with his own fire years ago when he had destroyed an entire carton of smokes practicing what amounted to a parlor trick, not worth the effort.

Now, one might ask him why he was reduced to going to his third favorite and the answer was a series of stupid yet connected events. His second favorite bar had to replace the wall that was against the booth that he always sat in due to fire damage, he had lost his temper a bit when he was informed his favorite bar had to be shut down for repairs.

Apparently a drunk driver drove through the front door.

Ironic.

He inhaled deeply.

It was also irritating, he liked that bar, it had a karaoke machine, one of the few tastes he had left of his long lost home.

As he blew smoke from his nose, he stopped halfway through the exhale to try blowing some smoke rings. He could never do it, failed at it this time too.

The massive man sighed at the minor distraction while shaking his head, it would surprise a lot of people if they knew just how boring being a crime lord could be. It was mostly a lot of sitting around, glaring at people who brought bad news, dealing with a surprisingly soul shattering amount of paperwork, making an example once or twice a blue moon, maintaining a healthy flow of revenue and eeeeeeevery now and then get the blood pumping by fighting some other capes. Usually E88 like Hookwolf or those blonde giant girls whose names he had no hope of ever pronouncing correctly. Not so often the Merchants. Kami, if he ever fought Mush again it would be too soon.

That, that had been disgusting.

Crushing Squealer's vehicles was fun though, they made pleasant crunching noises. It was almost soothing really, like popping bubble wrap bubbles filled with the terrified screams of junkies.

Yet most of his time was spent in bars like the one he just walked out of, attempting to, and failing at getting drunk while letting his presence be known, a continual reminder that this was the Dragon of Kyushu's turf.

So boring.

He began walking his way home as he continued to smoke his rapidly burning down cigarette, flicking it away when it smoldered out at the filter. He pushed his mask up so he could rub his eyes out of frustration, such a boring week and today hadn't been any better. Maybe tomorrow he could take a walk near downtown and try to lure out a skinhead or two to smack around...

Meh, no challenge, but it was something to do at least.

He was about two blocks away from the bar when he heard a strange high-pitched sound rapidly getting louder. Wait. It was getting closer not louder, and it was coming from...ABOVE?!

"...weeeeeeEEEEEEEEE-"

He looked up just in time to see what looked like a glowing scarlet red and gleaming silver meteor falling from the sky.

"-EEEEEEEEEEEE!"

*BOOOOOM*

Whatever it was slammed down with the force of a couple packs of semtex, he knew the concussive wave well since Oni Lee liked to branch out from grenades on occasion, and completely destroyed the far end of the street he was standing on, causing dust to billow nearly straight up from the newly formed crater.

There was about three seconds of silence, that was when Lung noticed the streaks of what looked like blood red static electricity snapping and crackling throughout the spreading dust cloud. The next thing he noticed is that the high-pitched sound from moments before was a voice that he was having a hard time discerning much from, accent, age or even if they were male or female, curious.

"Hot DAMN that was fun! Didn't know I could jump that high, though going to have to work on the landings that had been a bit rough on the real estate."

As he watched the street lamp lit dust cloud a shadow started growing in the center which quickly becomes a silhouette of what looked to be a horned demon, which then become a person in very impressive armor when they cleared the now settling cloud, the red static from earlier snapping up and down their form.

They shook their arms out a few times and groused out "Ha! Still that was awesome, now what street am I on? Hell am I even still in the docks?"

Lung had to grit his teeth to keep from snapping out something along the lines of 'Does it even matter? The streets gone, you broke it.'

The figure then noticed him after a moment of taking in their surroundings, then met his gaze evenly while waving jauntily.

"Hey baldie! What street is this? Oh and am I still in the docks, that would help too really," They asked with a flippant cockiness that just seemed designed to piss off anyone with an ounce of authority, never mind the baldie comment.

Seriously, his hair wasn't immune to his fire, it wasn't his fault.

"Where's you shirt?" They continued on without a care in the world, "It's like the middle of January and 20 degrees outside. Your nips have gotta be like diamonds at this point, awkward. Point, get it? Heh..." They just kept talking and far too quickly for him to even respond to any of their queries even if he had been inclined to answer.

He was not inclined.

"Hey cool mask man, It kinda looks like a dragon. That's awesome!"

Lung had finally had enough, "Do you know who I am?" He snapped out in an effort to shut them up for a second.

"Not really, never seen you before. Why? You strong?" They asked this with a sense of growing excitement obvious in their voice even with the odd distortion effect.

Lung was taken aback by the sheer novelty of not being recognized in his own territory, he did not show it visibly though. He took a second or two to decide how to introduce himself as he had never had to do such a thing in recent memory, people just KNEW who he was.

He decided to keep it simple, seeing as the slight figure before him seemed to be losing their interest in the conversation rather quickly.

"I am Lung. I am the Dragon of Kyushu," as he said this he was able to use his minor agitation with the figure before him to begin ramping his power. His body started showing silver scales growing along his skin while flames lick up his chest and arms.

Showmanship is always important for ones reputation.

"...A Dragon huh? Me too! Hehehe..." The excitement and now bloodlust in their voice nearly palpable at this point causing Lung's adrenaline to start pumping and he could feel his power continuing to build up for a fight.

There was a flash of crimson lightning, then the figure was holding a massive two handed broad sword in their hands, pointed towards him as red static arced up and down their body.

Maybe this night won't end on such a boring note after all.

He just needed to make sure to lead the fight in the opposite direction from where he had come from, he was already running out of bars within walking distance from his home after all.