A long time ago, near a village called Buttery Town, there lived a dragon. He was the color of the dark night. He was huge and covered in sharp, pointy scales. The fire he breathed could light up the night sky.

He lived in a nest high above the village in an old, very old, dead tree. 

Everyone in Buttery Town was scared of the dragon...everyone but one precocious and brave girl.

Alexis wanted to be a knight. She was strong and brave and fearless and unafraid.

Sure, the dragon breathed fire, and scary for everyone else. But there were people with worse breath. And sure, the Dragon looked very scary. But there were dogs and different things in the village with scarier faces.

One day, the dragon had come down from his nest and was hiding in the cornfields. He was big, so everyone saw him.

Everyone ran to escape the dragon. Everyone except for Alexis (The Brave).

Armed with her homemade sword, helmet and shield, Alexis ran through the deserted village toward the cornfield, and toward the big blue dragon. She was proud to be a real knight.

When she spotted the dragon, Alexis snuck up behind him.

“Excuse me!” Alexis yelled. The dragon roared. He lowered his head to her level. Alexis felt the dragon’s hot breath on her face. It actually did smell awful, but just like Alexis thought, there were people with more awful breath.

“I’m Alexis,” she said. “I’ve come to tell you to go away. You’re scaring everybody.But...You're not scaring me!”

The dragon’s breaths quickened. Huff! Huff! Huff! It looked like the dragon’s fire was about to blow! Alexis braced herself. But instead of fire coming out his mouth, tears began pouring down the dragon’s snout. Alexis was surprised.

“I’m so lonely. Nobody likes me. And they think I am evil,” the dragon said.

“Why should anyone like you?” Alexis replied. “You burned down the castle.”

“I didn’t burn down the castle,” the dragon said. “It was struck by lightning. I would never do that.”

“Wow,” Alexis said. “Sounds like you’re the victim of a smear campaign. We’ve got to fix this. What are you good at?”

“Breathing fire,” replied the dragon.

“Well, let’s see it,” ordered Alexis.