After months of studying, Bob was ready.

To create more dragons in the world, to get his carp up to the dragon gate of this great river in Arida Zona, to free the great river from its human shackles, Bob the Destroyer would live up to his name: he would blow up the Great Dam in the Black Canyon. The torrent of water, now unleashed, would scour the land clean and bring things back to what Bob was sure was the natural state of things.

He had read up on fluid dynamics. He had browsed the Webzone. He had snooped around the Great Dam, watching the humans go about their work.

Bob was certain that he was now an expert in civil engineering.

Blowing up the dam part actually seemed to be quite simple. The dam complex was made up of four parts: the actual concrete dam holding back the waters, four intake towers that took in water from the reservoir and pushed the waters through four diversion tunnels, penstocks that lead the water from the diversion tunnels to the power plants, and the power plants at the base of the dam with their turbines that created power for the humans to use. All Bob needed to do was to make it rain (a lot) and then shut off the gates to the spillways. Bob could make it rain; he didn't know how, but he could always make it rain. So all he needed to do was to find the gate controls and shut them off. The water buildup would soon cause enough back pressure to shatter the dam once and for all.

And then Bob would ride with his carp up the freed great river to the dragon gate.

Interestingly, during his scouting trips he had found that there were other dragons! They were not the same as his people, with yellow coloration, long membranous wings and forward-facing horns instead of green coloration, short feathered wings and rear-facing horns, but they nevertheless seemed to be dragons. While moving up and down the river, Bob would occasionally see them peeking at him from the looming canyon walls or behind the dark crevices of jagged mountain. Being the friendly dragon that he was, Bob would wave to the watchers, but that would only cause them to melt back into the folds of the land. They were wary people, Bob decided, and figured that he would ignore them.

After Bob completed his duties on his 4.5 acre pond with exactly eight sandy inlets, two islands with six pine trees between them, and thirty-two rounded rocks inhabited by thirty six turtles and two hundred fifty carp of various colors- counting his denizens and making sure they have enough sun or shade or shelter or food to eat, he told his carp that he would blow up the great dam. Bob's carp were thrilled, and together they gathered a large supply of insects and arachnids for his journey. Bob set out alone. He wasn't too worried about Xin'an Pond now; the human volunteers, calling themselves the "Friends of the Jiangshan Lake" had gotten quite organized, a group of fifty or so making sure that the pond was clean and its residents happy-Bob hadn't eaten anyone trying to mess up his beloved pond for months now. Traveling through the drains, avoiding the houseboats on the lake, working his way up the great river, sneaking past the neon city-all were now familiar to the Eastern dragon.

And then the dam.

It loomed above him, the monster that it was. But Bob was not afraid. He was going to kill it.

Now to get in first, Bob would have to get into the Visitor's Center and take the elevator down. There were workers, there were security, and there were cameras, but Bob had intricately mapped out everything in his head through multiple scouting trips. There were blind spots to fill, pipes and shafts to work through, walls to climb and equipment to hide under. Also he had a swiped keycard from a careless worker-that helped too. Bob practiced multiple times, and the Eastern dragon was certain that he could get to what he wanted-the switch that controlled the spillway gates. Now starting with a storm-

As if on cue, a large thunderstorm quickly accumulated and began a desert downpour, cloaking everything in drizzle and moving the demoralized workers into their raincoats and more limited circuits. In minutes, the reservoir visibly began rising. Bob smiled, and quickly began working his way down.

And in only an hour he was there, dripping wet, staring at the ugly green control machinery and its buttons and knobs. The switch was there, as had been stated in the books and maps.

The end of the Black Canyon Dam lay right in front of him. And with it the freedom of the great river and the opening to the dragon gate. All he needed to do was flick it, and the water's rise would not be relieved. All he had to do was flick it, and the rising waters would do the rest. Bob was not one for ceremony so without pause his claws inched towards the switch. Just one smooth push and-

Blam!

Bob suddenly felt the massive impact of an object hitting him hard. Next thing the Eastern dragon knew, he was sprawled on the ground, fuzziness in his eyes and a ringing in his ears of a collision. Looking up, he saw one of those yellow dragons, a female looming above him, breathing hard and glaring at him angrily. She had evidently dived into him.

*What in the heavens name are you doing?!* The other dragon roared.

Bob blinked. Draconic.

*What is the heavens name did you do that for?* He replied. *Why did you attack me?*

The female replied with another question. *Why are you here, messing around with the magics of the humans from beyond the sea?*

*I am going to blow up this dam! Free the river! Let it flow-*

*What? Why would you want to do that?*

Bob blinked again. *Why not?*

The female jabbed a claw in front of his face.

*Did it ever occur to you that freeing the river may not be a good thing?*

*How could it not-*

*You are going to kill everything in eyesight of the waters, from the Escalante to the bottom of Arida Zona! Animals! Plants! Humans! What won't be swept away will probably die of thirst or heat!*

*It's not natural!*

*Nothing is bloody natural you stupid underwater panther from-beyond-the sea! What exists now survives because they adapted to the times! And now YOU'RE saying you're going to reverse things back to what they were? Who are you?* The other dragon yelled. She liked yelling. Bob wondered if security had been alerted yet.

*I'm Bob. And who the heavens are you? Why would you know what is natural or not?*

The female growled. *I am Pooence of Yuta, and this is part of my home! And my mother's home before that, and my mother's mother's home back generations! Who do you think you are, you green turd who suddenly appeared in Arida Zona after that fool of a human brought a giant boat carrying an entire piece of land with a pond to Havasu?*

*Well fine then you know about this place more than I do. Still we can try-*

*You're not bloody natural! You're from the lands of the invaders who through some strange magics ended up in Arida Zona! Your pond should have withered up and died-which it would of if not for the humans you're now trying to kill! You should have died-that would have been natural! Now you're saying that you're the one who will make things natural? Get off your sky throne!*

Bob was shocked into silence. The female finally also fell quiet, breathing hard.

Finally, the Eastern threw up his paws. *Look, I just want to get my carp up to the dragon gate and create more dragons in the world-*

*What the heavens is a dragon gate?*

*What?* All dragons knew this information since they were hatchlings. *All dragons evolve from carp! The dragon gates are at the headwaters of great rivers! Only when a carp leaps through the dragon gate can they become dragons.*

The female cocked her head sideways. *Is that where you think baby dragons come from Bob?*

*The friction from going up the cataracts promotes tissue differentiation in a-*

"Good Lord. What the hell happened down here?" The voice echoed across the interior of the dam. Both dragons froze.

"That storm sure did a number here. Get the mop Larry." The shuffle of human feet and the clanking of tools quickly reminded Bob and Pooence where they were.

Pooence was slightly shaking, but she made one final glare at Bob.

*We must leave! Now! I'll be keeping an eye on you! Don't do anything this stupid again! Or I'm going to eat your beloved carp for supper!* And with that the underwater panther disappeared into the shadows.

With a sigh Bob did the same, slinking around the pipes and machinery, hoping that his camouflage and weather controlling abilities would help him escape this underworld nightmare.

Evidently it did, for after only a few hours of hiding and working around humans and cameras, Bob pushed aside a drain cover and exited into the starry night. As he covered the long trip back to Xin'an Pond he thought he could feel dozens of eyes staring down at him through the dark canyons.

Returning home, Bob completed his duties on his 4.5 acre pond with exactly eight sandy inlets, two islands with six pine trees between them, and thirty-two rounded rocks inhabited by thirty six turtles and two hundred fifty carp of various colors- counting his denizens and making sure they have enough sun or shade or shelter or food to eat, before he told his carp the bad news, though he quickly glossed over the stuff about the other dragon. Again his carp were disappointed by their inability to travel upriver, but Bob reassured them that he would try again.

Munching on his scorpions, Bob just wondered how. The world seemed to be a much more complicated place than Xin'an Pond.

---

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The Who-Slip Kid

Another beautiful work by  TheRoguez!

Original: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/33072721/