Knight in Shining Armor

         Percival gawked at the mirror. He gasped, "I'm not so sure about this, Gwen."

         "Hush." Gwen said, but she was smiling.

         Percival remained silent and didn't move until Gwen, brilliant engineer and passable seamstress, finished her work.

         The dragon's head slowly angled toward Percival, its jaw lowered, spewing burning liquid at him, scorching the ground.

         The crowd roared. Percival dodged the attack, his armor reflecting the harsh sunlight. The crowd had guffawed when he had first stepped out in the costume, covered in what appeared to be sequins, but they had already forgotten. They watched the fight, blood lust in their eyes.

         The dragon was three stories tall and cobbled together from blackened iron. Black smoke billowed above it. Its fiery attacks continued, but Percival remained unharmed. The crowd thundered for Percival's death.

         Percival dodged another attack, then ran toward the dragon. It was on tank tracks, and he tried to hack at its side with his only weapon, a glowing, theatrical sword, hoping to disable its movement.

         The dragon moved faster than Percival guessed. It turned and chug-chugged toward him. He leaped away.

         Percival heard clanking coming from somewhere within the dragon. This was the attack he had been waiting for. This was the attack he could not dodge.

         Rays shot from the dragon's mouth at Percival. Light flashed, blinding the crowd, stunning them into complete silence.

         Percival stood in the center of the arena, shocked he was still alive. The dragon was literally cut to pieces. It collapsed in chunks of iron. The rays from the dragon's mouth had been reflected right back at the dragon by Percival's armor.

         A defiant whoop echoed amidst the silence. Percival looked up. Clinging to the top of the fence, at the end of the arena, was a woman.

         "Gwen," gasped Percival.