“Watch, Dad, this is how you lose!” 

Dragon Little, only 4 years old and already an experienced sword-fighter and adventurer, stood next to her father, surrounded by pirates. This was Backwards Day, in which, as Dragon Father had defined it, they were doing everything backwards. They flew Bonny’s Revenge backwards, they gave stolen treasure to pirates rather than steal it back, released a super villain rather than imprison him, and now fought him and his crew in order to lose the fight.

“Ha ha!” Dragon Little hit one of the pirate’s swords with her small sword. 

“Ow!” both the pirate and Dragon Little said, and dropped the sword. They said the same thing, but only one of them was faking it. 

“Damn,” Dragon Little made a face at the pirate nursing his arm, and picked up her sword again. 

“Oh, no, you got me!” Dragon Little raised both hands in surrender as another pirate approached her, holding a sword next to her head. 

Dragon Father had neglected participating in the fight, and stood beside her, watching her with a great smile. 

“Ow!” Another pirate that had come behind Dragon Little was hit by her sword as she raised her hands, and it gashed his cheek. 

“Sorry, sorry!” Dragon Little turned to face him, her sword accidentally hitting another pirate in the stomach. 

“Gaaah!” That pirate fell to the ground, holding his new wound. 

“Not as easy as you’d think, is it?” Dragon Father asked her, still smiling. 

“No!” she looked upset, but this was her ‘upset-while-happy’ face. 

“Well, it’s a good thing they almost have us beat!” Dragon Father raised his voice, to make sure everyone heard him. “We’re keeping them busy here, so they don’t know the treasure in the palace is unprotected!” 

Dragon Little looked up at him. It took her two seconds, and then she nodded. “Yes! We’re keeping them distracted! Good thing they don’t know!” 

“Right!” 

“Good thing they don’t know about the unprotected treasure!” 

“Riiiight,” her father agreed again. 

“The unprotected treasure in the palace!” 

“All right, that’s enough,” he gently put his hand on her arm. “They got it.” 

And, indeed, the pirates around them had stopped nursing their wounds and ran to their spaceship. Soon, they were off the meteor. 

“The adventure’s almost ending,” Dragon Father looked down at his daughter. “Actually, it’s almost beginning, since we’re doing it backwards. Ready to see how this ends?” 

She nodded. 

“Let’s go!” 

I will tell you of the ending to this strange Backwards Day tomorrow.

—Told by The Red Dragon