//------------------------------//
// Rose Too 
// Story: Lovie Dovie 
// by The Psychopath 
//------------------------------//

Lovey wobbled forward at a regular pace while Scarlet watched her with bored eyes. She had been chewing on a large stalk of greenery while waiting.

"You done there? You can walk relatively well now, or do I need to carry you like an egg again?" she joked.

"No! I...I got it-woah!"

Scarlet rolled her eyes and dropped the stalk. She walked towards an opening in the maze walls and leaned against it. "When you feel like actually moving, this is where you need to go."

"And what's-grk!" Lovey had almost fallen over during her question. "And what's over there."

"Well, come over and find out." Scarlet said. She started waving her hands in circles and flexing her fingers. "Oooo. Spooky scary things."

Lovey took several minutes just to make one-fourth of the trip, but at this point, Scarlet was tired of the waiting.

"Okay, this has played out long enough," she grumbled.

She stomped towards the pink dragoness and picked her up with both hands, but not without difficulty. Lovey Dovey wasn't going to let herself be man-handled in such a way.

"I know you're upset with what happened to you, but don't you think this is a bit much?" Scarlet asked.

"No! I had a perfect life and then you ruined it by turning me into this. How would YOU feel if someone ripped you from your home and all your hard work to throw you somewhere else where none of what you worked to accomplish was ported over."

"Pretty upset, I imagine."

"EXActly!"

"Sounds more like you had a misguided life."

"That's not for you to say," Lovey pouted.

"Ooooh! I love it when you pout," Scarlet squee'd.

Lovey's eyes shot open when she recognized the tone of voice. "NO WAIT!"

But it was too late. Scarlet was squeezing the pink dragoness in a viciously tight hug that could have crushed her bones had the giant not relaxed her grip. Rounding the corner showed a huge yard filled to the brim with trees and bushes distinguished by their colorful leaves. Several dragons around Lovey's size were picking the fruits and placing them in large gray-green bags. There were others, however, who were grouped up and analyzing fruits, leaves, and bark both on and off their hosts. There was even a giant like Zunzoo who had straps around her torso and was trying to uproot what appeared to be a dead and rotting tree. Another, held upon a flat wagon pulled by the tiny dragons, was waiting to be installed into its new home.

"As you can see here, we have massive farms where we gather fruits and vegetables."

Lovey squinted her eyes to get a better look at the vast swaths of farm lands. "Aren't these rather small to feed you behemoths?"

"Ah ha. 'Behemoths'. Funny," Scarlet said dryly. "Yes. They are. That's why we have dedicated megaplants in other areas of our home here. The Pueric Mother used her magic to grow them big enough for us to get our needed foodstuffs."

"But what about meat? A man can't be one without meat."

"We still hunt for meat. We just have vegetables and fruits for a more balanced diet." Scarlet put Lovey in one arm and flexed her other. "And I'd say it did pretty good for me."

"Yes, yes. That's a cute little muscle," Lovey mocked.

"You just say that because you're jealous."

The pink dragoness grimaced. "Proportionally, I was bigger than you when I was still me."

"Uh huh. Of course you were."

"I WAS!"

"Yup."

"You think I'm lying, don't you?"

Scarlet kept a disinterested expression. "I never said that."

"But you're implying it."

"I never said that either."

"You don't SAY an implication directly. That's not how that works."

"How sarcastic' that you would think that." Scarlet stuck her tongue out playfully.

"What...Sar...but that's not..."

"And this is where we conduct diplomacy."

"Wh...Diplomacy? For what?"

In front of the two was a massive construct shaped like a semi-cylinder made from a mixture of red and green marble. It was big enough for Zunzoo to enter unimpeded, but since the doors and windows were covered by a thick sheet of interwoven and blooming vines, Lovey couldn't see the interior.

"Seems rather simplistic for a diplomatic building."

"The interior is important, not the exterior," Scarlet explained.

"Why do you even need diplomatic buildings? You're giant dragons that kidnap people against their will, change their gender, and warp their bodies. That's the LEAST diplomatic thing to do. It's like...like biological warfare or something."

"Don't be stupid. The reason why we're living in such a place and have a building like this is because our jobs are the most important amongst dragon kind: We prevent wars between our own people. In fact, the new Empress-in-training is set to come here in two days."

Lovey stared at her blankly. "You stop dragons from going to war?!"

"Only with each other. If they wish to simply have fights then we won't intervene. If they wish to war with another party, then we also won't intervene. However, if one of them wishes to negotiate anything alluding to said war, then we remain the neutral party." Scarlet raised her head proudly at such a statement.

"What if they don't want to avoid warfare and words fail? What if they even try to start a fight here?"

"Oh...We have...ways of taking care of that. Usually involving combat techniques 'n such."

"What?"

"Let me take you to the Shooting Range."

"You have guns?"

Scarlet tilted her head in confusion. "What are 'guns'?"

Lovey sighed. "Nothing. Never mind."

Scarlet shrugged it off and continued past a few more sections of the maze to a large area filled with stone slaps charred black and dummies of equal effect. Lots of them ere demolished, and the debris was kept on the side for future clean up or repurposing. Scarlet went to the end of the range and placed the tiny pink dragoness on the floor and stretched herself out. While the other dragons were busy fighting with each other further near the entrance, Scarlet would be free to pummel the massive slab of stone standing right in front of her. 

"Since you're going to become one of us later, you'll have to learn how to fight with both fire and body, and I'll show you one such technique."

Scarlet's mouth lit aflame of orange and red, and she spat huge globs of lava on her hands and feet.

"WOAH!" Lovey shouted. "That's disgusting and awful! Why would you do that to yourself?"

"Because of this."  The lava quickly hardened along the giant's hands and feet, created black armor with glowing orange cracks. "This is a magic the Pueric Mother gave us, and it's one only we Lovie Dovies have."

She punched the massive slab once, creating a brief flame at contact and charring the surface. She started punching several more times then adding kicks in. If Lovey didn't know any better, she could have sworn that the giant was kickboxing, but her spins to add velocity to her backhands and kicks were unique. In fact, at some points after a kick, she would fall back then, using the weight of kinetic energy, punched hard into the stone, cracking it slightly. 

"I call that the 'Lazy Punch'. Takes time to get just right, but once you do? The enemy goes soaring."

Lovey moved her jaw left and right as she contemplated what she had just seen and heard. "So you're like mercenaries, only free."

Scarlet forced a few laughs out while gasping for air. "Not exactly...but I guess you'll understand later on."

"What's to understand? You hit people hard with lava vomit on your hands and feet."

"I think you missed the point..."

"I--"

"But you won't be learning this until you curb your attitude."

"But--"

"No buts, and that's that." 

Scarlet crossed her arms and stared firmly at the pink dragoness. Lovey looked at her briefly then decided to just turn her head and groan. Of course, this meant she was pouting, so...