The Plan

It was the day of Strong Bad's twentieth birthday, long after the party ended. Strong Bad sat on the floor next to Strong Mad's throne, bored as he watched the servants cleaned up. Strong Mad was nearly falling asleep, with his massive elbow leaned against the arm of the throne. It was nearly midnight, and the two had started said party rather early.

Slowly the fire prince's gaze looked up the dozy face of his brother. He stood and leaned against the side of the back, pulling out and playing with a piece of paper. Finally he cleared his throat, startling Strong Mad awake.

"You know... I've been thinking." Strong Bad began, getting a moment of undivided attention from not just the earth prince, but most of the servants as well. "I want my own kingdom. Like you and baby dumpus."

Strong Mad got up quickly, startling his many female servants. "YOU CAN'T HAVE MINE!" He exclaimed with a bit of territorial rage.

"I don't want your crumby kingdom, dummy." Strong Bad couldn't help but chuckle, which quickly turned into a somewhat cruel laugh. "Take-a look that this!"

With that he unrolled the paper he was playing with, revealing a map he had made a few 'modifications' on. Strong Mad squinted at it. The area was there, but five provinces were recoloured. Strong Bad had left the north uncoloured, the west was blue for Strong Mad, the south was coloured pink for Town. Then the east and center were both coloured red, except where he had drawn a cartoon version of his face with evil horns on his head. In the corner, beyond the provinces was a yellow thing shaped vaguely like a dinosaur, or something.

"As you can see here," Strong Bad said pointing at the map. "I'm going to take over the Forest of Dreams and the Forbidden Zone. I'll build my kingdom from there."

Strong Mad gave his little brother a perplexed look, scratching the top of his head. Then he pointed at the map rather forcefully, almost tearing it. Strong Bad just barely got it out of the way. "WHAT'S THAT?"

The fire prince's eyes fell to where his brother's thick finger was pointing; directly at the yellow shape. "Oh, that's a Da' Cheat!" He grinned, the idea for his favorite spotted companion making his eyes practically sparkle from behind his mask. "He's going to be my mount."

As though the very mentioning of his name summoned him from some parallel world, The Cheat appeared and scurried up the side of the throne. He looked at the brothers, asking what was going on in his strange language as he sat on the arm. Strong Mad laughed heartily at the idea of such a small creature being ridden by his younger sibling.

"YOU CAN'T RIDE HIM!" He managed to state within his thunderous mocking laughter.

"Not yet..." Strong Bad muttered. He crossed his arms and looked down at the creature. "Hey, Da' Cheat, how would you like to cheat your way into the body of a dragon chaser?"

Instantly the little guy began to squeak and growl, completely against the idea of becoming part of any of the wicked princes experiments. Normally 'cheating' was The Cheat's favorite thing in the world, but considering the last time Strong Bad experimented on something it ended up disastrous he wanted no part in it. He quickly pointed a stubby paw at the younger royal's face and reminded him of said last time. It was they very reason the youth now permanently had blue hair and a magic crystal stuck to his forehead.

"No, no no no no. No experimenting this time Da' Cheat." Strong Bad instantly assured his little yellow companion. "Follow me." He motioned for them both to come along, and The Cheat was right on his tail. Strong Mad was too tired and went to bed instead.

Once up in his room Strong Bad went for his junk chest. The Cheat just watched him by the door, scratching the side of his face. He was curious, but didn't want to leave himself without a quick escape.

Finally, with a sound of triumph, the fire prince pulled out sparkling reins. "See, my chasin'cheat? Its Dad's magical animal harness... Thingy... I found them in the treasury last week."

He hurried over and held them out towards the small animal. With a bit of reluctance The Cheat let the artifact be slipped on around his face. At first nothing happened. Suddenly The Cheat's beady eyes widened as he felt his whole form begin to tingle. The glowing began from the front of the reins, traveling down his furry face and body until he glowed in a nearly blinding light. Strong Bad looked away as fast as he could, unable to stand the light.

When the glow finally died the prince looked over, shocked to see what had now taken over a big chunk of his room. He backed away instantly to get a better look.

The Cheat was gone, and in his place was a yellow and black dragon chaser. His face, though a much longer, still looked like him. His body, however, was much like a spotted, furry, predatory dinosaur with wings. He rolled his small shoulders, flapped his wings and krilled in a deeper version of his voice. The Cheat then looked to Strong Bad's mirror and instantly liked what he saw.

"Oh, man! You look so awesome!" The grin on Strong Bad was met with the animalistic gold toothed smirk from The Cheat. "So... How about it, mighty steed?"

With a nod of permission Strong Bad climbed onto The Cheat's shoulders, resting his legs just above his wings. He stroked the soft fur, getting a bit of a happy tone from the dragon chaser. "I could get use to this." The magically mighty creature nodded again before his powerful legs took to running around.

Strong Bad cheered as he was taken around the decent sized space, laughing whenever The Cheat's tail broke something, or at least knocked something over.

When they both finally stopped The Cheat landed on his humanoid companion's messy bed. Strong Bad laid next to him, resting against his large back.

Then Strong Bad pulled out his map, turning it to the back and reading the rest of his notes. He thought for a moment before looking up to his current back rest. "OK, I've got my mount, thanks to you. Now all I need is something to protect me from dragon attacks. I can handle fairies with a little fire... But what do I do against Trogdor and his brood?" He went silent, back to thinking. Slowly his eyes fell to his cape, and more particularly what held it onto his shoulders.

When he first grew into teen hood he discovered he looked (in his mind) amazing without a shirt. His mother, however, didn't want him to get cold, but she didn't want to stifle his personality either, so she compromised. On his fifteenth birthday she bought him a black and red cape, and with it a replica fairy amulet broach.

"That's it..." He whispered with a chuckle as he jumped to his feet. "That's it!" He hurried to the door. "I think Strong Mad has dad's... I'll be right back, mighty steed!"

The Cheat just watched as the youth practically leaped out the door before he shrugged and plopped his head back on the bed. He obviously couldn't remove the reins, so he couldn't get out of the room. He figured he might as well make the most of it.

Meanwhile Strong Bad rushed towards his brother's room. He was so excited of the sudden idea griding the gears of his brain that he almost ran into the door, slamming his hands against it instead. There was some shifting on the other end, but no one came to answer. Strong Bad frowned. He knew better then to burst in on his older brother.

"Hey, Bro, can I burrow your fairy-tail amulet?" He finally called through the door. There was some heavy shifting before he felt the ground shake a little.

"GET YOUR OWN!" Came the grumpy, sleepy slur of a yell from within the room.

"Uh, how?" When he got no reply he sighed in frustration and yelled a little louder. "HOW do I get my own?"

There was another minute of silence before the door burst open, almost taken off its hinges. Strong Mad leaned against door frame with tiredness heavy on his thick face. "I TELL YOU, THEN BED!"

"OK..." Strong Bad agreed quickly, bobbing his blue haired head.

"FIRST TRICK FAIRY. MAKE FRIENDS, OR MAKE FALL IN LOVE. EASY. CUT OFF TAIL, MAKES IT MORTAL." As Strong Mad explained in his rumbling voice with no volume control his younger brother listened closely. "KILL MORTAL FAIRY, BATH CRYSTAL TIP IN BLOOD. CRYSTAL BECOMES AMULET, AMULET PROTECT YOU!" With that he yawned a mighty yawn and closed the door. The walls shook slightly as he obvious jumped back into bed.

"Uh, brother?" Strong Bad called into his room after a moment.

"SLEEP NOW!" Was the only answer he was going to get. Strong Bad glanced down at his amulet, brushing his red gauntlet covered fingers along the smooth surface. With a smug grin he wandered back to his room.

He shook his head as he looked at the sleeping beast on his bed. "OK Da' Cheat, we're heading to the Forest of Dreams in the morning."

Tomorrow he was going to the forest, and tomorrow he knew he'd have a fairy in his clutched. He snuggled up against the warm fur of his The Cheat, chuckling again over the idea of getting some idiot fairy to befriend him, or fall for his hotness. He fell asleep to the idea of cute little giggling fairy ladies being all over him with hot oils and healing spells.