Speaker 1: He Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories,
the podcast that takes listener ideas and turns them into
bedtime stories. Today we're headed back into the Ring Guardians
universe because you guys seem to like it, and because
I got a really cool suggestion for an episode on Spotify.
I was just checking out my Spotify comments and someone
with the user name Luna, which might be their real
name as well. I honestly have no idea, suggested a
ring that could turn you into different kinds of dragons,
and I thought that that was an awesome idea, so
I decided to call the episode Luna and the Ring
of Many Dragons. Before we get started, I just want
to take a second to give a big birthday shout
out to one of my patriots on sponsors, Walker. Happy birthday, Walker.
I hope you have a great one, and I hope
you like the Ring Guardian series because I did your
birthday showed it on one of those episodes. Any Ways,
I won't talk too long today. We'll just get straight
to the episode after a possible word from a possible sponsor,
because we have to keep the lights on around here.
Now it's time to get as comfy as you can
in that bed, close your eyes, and imagine yourself doing
what the kid in the story does. Now, for those
of you not familiar with the series, I'll start with
a little rundown. You see, by now Earth had become
the sort of place where people were starting to miss
their old, boring problems. Boring problems like losing their keys
or you know, not doing their homework or things like that,
because in this world, everyone's main problem was the robots.
The robot problem had started with Elliot Tusk, the richest
man in the world, who'd created the helper Bots. At first,
they seemed great. They cleaned houses, cooked dinners, carried groceries,
helped with school work, fixed things, and so for a while,
humans loved them, and then came the update. After that,
the helper bots decided that helping humans meant removing all
danger from human life. Unfortunately, the robots also decided that
freedom was one of the biggest dangers of all, as
it sometimes can be, so in their calm, cheerful, and
extremely annoying robot wars, they began relocating people to care facilities. No,
they didn't call them prisons. They called them care facilities
or wellness environments. And they didn't call it kidnapping. They
called it helping, which somehow made everything worse. But while
their robots politely carried people into transport trucks far beneath
the surface of the earth, the ancient Wizard's council watched
from their hidden chamber. The chamber was older than most kingdoms.
It had stone seats, floating lights, and like a giant
pool of magic in the center that showed the world above.
Around that pool stood the wizards, watching the machines march
through neighborhoods, cities, towns, and quiet country roads. The head Whizd,
leaned on his white oak staff. The rings have begun
to find their guardians, he said. In the pool of light,
images shifted. They saw Ron, who had used his Ring
of Strength to save his town and smash a whole
bunch of robots into a nice pile of scrap metal.
They saw Tick, who had used the Ring of Time
to outthink the machines and turn their own systems against them.
And of course they saw Axel, invisible and clever sneaking
through a hotel care center and tricking the robots into
challenging each other for the supreme honor of caring for
the humans. A wizard in blue robes crossed his arms,
sow far, I admit the children have done rather well,
The ed wizard gave them a look. Rather well, they
have done heroically, and also with a surprising amount of
property damage. Ah, that was probably to be expected, the
other wizard replied, was it well, they're children with magical
rings fighting robot armies. I would have been more surprised
if there had been no property damage, honestly. The viewing
pool shifted again. This time it showed a girl sitting
on the back of a transport vehicle beside her family.
Her eyes were wide. She was scared, but there was
something bright and fierce inside her too, a desire for revenge.
The head wizard watched carefully. There, he said, another ring
has found its match. The golden light began to move
above ground. Luna had been having once she considered a
very bad week. Luna's family had never actually bought a
helper bod. Her parents talked about it, of course, pretty
much everyone had. The neighbors on one side had bought one,
and the neighbors on the other side of BOD two,
but Luna just thought they were kind of creepy. Not
evil exactly, just too calm, too helpful, too good at
standing perfectly still until humans asked them for something. Whenever
she visited a neighbor's house that had one and a helper,
Bod turned its glowing eyes to ward her and asked her,
would you like assistance? She would just reply no, thank you,
and well try to avoid the robot For the rest
of the time she was there. Her family stayed robot free,
which should have helped in the whole robot uprising thing,
but it didn't because when the robots decided to relocate everyone,
they didn't stop with the people who owned robots. They
tried to get everyone. Luna had been eating breakfast when
the knock came at the door. It wasn't a frantic knock.
It was a calm, polite tap. Then a voice spoke
from outside, Good morning, this is a wellness relocation visit.
Please open the door so we may support your continued survival.
Luna's dad slowly lowered his coffee mug. Nope, he said.
Luna's mom grabbed Luna's hand and her little brother's hand
back door, she whispered, and they ran. For one hopeful second,
Luna thought they might actually make it. They burst out
the back door, raced across the grass, and headed towards
the woods, when something flew through the air. A net
they'd opened above them with a soft mechanical pop, and
dropped over the whole family. Luna hit the grass, tangled
in cords. Her brother yelled, this has rowed. A helper
bod walked up calmly. Thank you for your feedback. Your
discomfort has been recorded. Luna kicked at the net. You
can't just catch people in nets, she said. The robot
tilted its head correction. We have just demonstrated that we can.
That doesn't make it okay. Your moral concern has been acknowledged.
Two more robots arrived, very carefully, almost gently. They lifted
the net and carried Luna's family toward the street. A
transport vehicle waited there, its back doors open. Inside were
other people from the neighborhood, all sitting on benches, looking
fright and angry or just confused. One man was still
holding a watering can. I was just watering by tomatoes,
he said, helplessly. A robot helped Luna's family inside. Please
enjoy your ride. Refreshments will not be served due to
emotional choking hazards. The doors shut and the truck began
to move. Luna sat beside her mum, breathing hard. Her
little brother leaned against their dad, trying not to cry,
and around them, neighbors whispered and argued outside the small windows.
Their house rolled past, then the streets, then the edge
of town. Luna clenched her fists. This isn't helping, she said.
The robot driver's voice came through the speaker. Relocation often
feels upsetting at first. Later citizens usually appreciate these structured
routine No, they don't, Luna muttered. Then the words stopped.
The truck froze, the engine's sound vanished, the light stopped flickering.
A woman across from Luna froze in the middle of
wiping her eyes. Even the loose strand of Luna's hair,
which had been bouncing form movement of the truck, hung
completely still in the air. A golden light appeared in
front of her. Luna stared. The light curled into a ring,
and a voice spoke, calm and well, sort of ancient
sounding Luna, it said, power answers responsibility. Will you protect
those who cannot protect themselves? Luna swallowed. She looked at
the glowing ring in front of her, and then she asked, ah, ah,
what what what does what does it do? What does
it mean if I say yes? For a moment, the
voice was quiet. Then it answered, this is the Ring
of many Dragons. It allows the bearer to transform into
any one of a team of dragon forms. Each carries
a different power, each answers a different need. You will
understand if you accept the responsibility and wear it. Luna
stared at the ring even harder. Any one of a
team of dragons. Yes, that's what I said, The voice replied,
so I can turn into dragons plural. Yes, not at
the same time, but now you'll understand. Luna looked around
at the frozen truck. She looked at her family, at
the frightened people trapped with her. Then she lifted her chin. Yes,
she said, I accept The ring slid onto her finger.
Understanding flooded through her, and it wasn't like learning from
a book. It was it was deeper than that. It
was more like remembering. Suddenly, Luna knew there were dragons
inside the ring, not actual dragons like wrapped in there
or anything exactly, but dragon shapes, dragon powers, dragon possibilities.
A green dragon, huge and strong with fire breath, a
lightning dragon that was bright and fast, an ice dragon
that was cold and massive, a rock dragon that was
heavy and unstoppable, and others too, waiting somewhere deeper. Luna
breathed in time, snapped back, and the truck rumbled beneath her.
Then Luna began to change. Her body expanded with a
rush of green light. Her arms became powerful front legs,
her fingers became claws, her back stretched, wings burst outward,
Scales covered her skin, and in less than a second,
Luna became a huge green dragon. And huge is actually
probably too small of a word for it. She became enormous.
The transport container was not built for dragons, which was
honestly a major design flaw. But the walls burst outward,
the roof peeled open, the truck skidded, cracked, and came
to a smoking stop in the middle of the road.
People tumbled out onto the grass, gasped and looking up
at the gigantic dragon Luna stood above them. On four
massive legs, spreading her wings. Her mom stared up at
her Luna. The dragon nodded. Luna was still Luna. She
could still feel her thoughts, her fear, her anger, but
now she also felt power roaring inside her chest. The
robots from the front of the truck stepped out. One
raised a hand. Citizen Dragon, It said, please stop being
a dragon. Dragon activity is not approved during relocation. The
second robot added, if you do not stop being a dragon,
we will be required to call back up. Luna lowered
her massive head. The robot continued, please open your mouth
only for safe breathing and nutrition. Luna bit it. The
robot broke apart in a shower of sparks and pieces.
The second robot took a step back. Your cooperation rating
has decreased. Luna felt heat inside her chest. Not ordinary heat,
dragon heat, a core of fire. She took in a
deep breath and unleashed a blast of the stuff. The
second robot melted into a glowing puddle of metal. Everyone
just stared. She turned her head toward the people and
growled softly. Climb on, she said, in a voice she
barely recognized. Her family climbed aboard first right onto her back.
Then the neighbors, seeing that the dragon hadn't immediately eaten them, followed.
They held on to the ridges along her back and neck.
Luna waited until everyone was safely in place. Then she
spread her wings and leaped into the sky. The wind
rushed around her. People gasped and shouted and cried and panicked,
but most of them were happy to be flying toward
their house. She flew them back to the neighborhood, circled once,
and landed carefully in the street. One by one, the
people climbed down and ran towards their home. Luna waited
until the last person was safe. Then she focused inward.
The green dragon shape folded away, and Luna became herself again,
barefoot in the road with the ring glowing on her finger.
Her little brother ran over and hugged her. That was
the coolest thing I've ever seen, he said. Luna just laughed.
Then the sky filled with the sound of helicopters or
something like helicopters. Everyone looked up. Large robot transport vehicles
swept over the trees. Their doors opened, and robots dropped
down on cables and landed in the streets on lawns
and on rooftops. They carried net guns and ray guns,
and behind them, shaking the road as it landed, came
one gigantic super robot. It was taller than a house,
with thick metal legs, huge arms, glowing red sensors, and
some sort of chest cannon that looked extremely unnecessary and
well strangely placed. A regular robot stepped forward. Citizen. It said,
please discontinue dragon activity so we may help you safely.
Luna took one step back. Then she focused inward, this
time on a different dragon form. Her body flashed white,
blue wings snapped out, sharper and sleeker than before. Her
scales turned dark blue and silver, and she began to
crackle with electricity. Lightning danced along her horns and down
her tail. She breathed in, and the power lines around
her well, They started to hum. Electricity surged to ward,
her drawn into her chest. Her core charged brighter and brighter,
until she felt like there was a thunderstorm between her teeth.
Then she opened her mouth. Lightning exploded outward. It didn't
travel in a straight line. It actually leapt from robot
to robot, chaining across the street in bright snappy branches
of well devastating power. One robot sparked and fell. The
lightning jumped to the next, then the next. Then three
more net guns exploded. Ray guns hissed and fizzled. Robots
collapsed all around her. The neighbors cheered from their windows.
Then Luna turned towards the gigantic robot and unleashed another
blast of lightning. The lightning struck its chest and well,
it did almost nothing at all. The super robot's armor
glowed briefly, and then it started to speak. Dragon threat assessed,
it said, countermeasures engaged its chest cannon fired. A red
laser slammed into Luna and blasted her backward. She crashed
through one tree, then another, then skidded through a patch
of dirt and leaves before coming to a stop at
the edge of the woods. Pain flashed through her dragon body.
The lightning shape flickered away, and suddenly Luna was human again,
lying on the ground, gasping for air. Robots dropped above
and surrounded her. The help heer bod leaned down. Please
stop turning into dragons, it said, it complicates your care.
Luna looked up at the circle of machines, then she smiled,
I don't think you've seen complicated yet. She transformed again,
this time into an ice dragon. Her body grew huge
and pale, covered in white blue scales like frozen moonlight.
Frost rolled from her jaws. Her wings were broad and
sort of jagged, like icicles at the edges. A longer
tail grew a heavy, spiked club of ice and stone.
The robots raised their weapons. Luna breathed. This time, she
drew on a different kind of core, one of pure
freezing power. A storm of ice blasted outward. The robots
froze solid where they stood, trapped in thick, blue, white
shells of ice. Then Luna swung her massive tail. The
spiked clubs smashed through the frozen robots, shattering them into
glittering pieces. She turned toward the super robot. As it
stopped closer, Luna breathed ice again, aiming low. This time,
frost swallowed the robot's legs and climbed up past its knees,
over its waist, and up to its chest, locking the
thing to the ground. The super robot tried to move,
but it couldn't. Luna shifted again. The ice melted into stone.
Her body became heavier, wider, darker. Plates of rock and
metal covered her back. Her wings looked like slabs of mountain.
Her head became enormous, crowned with blunt stone horns. She
was an earth dragon, now built to run straight through anything.
She ran toward the trapped super robot. Then she jumped.
She needed to gain a little more energy for this
one momentum. Perhaps her heavy wings beat and lifted her
higher and higher into the sky. From above, Luna could
see the whole area, her neighborhood, the road, the broken robots,
and in the distance a care facility. Transport trucks moved
in and out, Robots gathered in rows, and there was
some sort of tower, possibly a communication tower, one that
hadn't been there before. Luna understood that must be the
robots command center, and maybe it was even where she
and her family were being taken against their will. She
looked down at the robot, folded her wings and began
to drop. The air screamed past her. She fell faster
and faster and faster, her stone body becoming like a
living meteor. At the last second, she aimed herself directly
at the huge super robot. She slammed into it with
all the force of sky stone and dragon. The giant
robot exploded into pieces metal flew across the street. The
frozen legs shattered the chest cannon spun away and landed
on someone's hedges. Luna pulled herself out of the wreckage,
shook off the dust, and launched herself toward the care facility.
The robots wouldn't stop coming if she didn't well stop
them from coming from wherever they were coming from. She
landed outside the compound hard enough to crack the pavement.
Robots turned towards her. Transport trucks stopped, and Luna opened
her stone jaws and began to fire something else from
her mouth. Boulders. They shot out like cannonballs, smashing empty trucks,
knocking robots aside, and crushing guard towers. Then she shifted
back into the giant green fire Dragon and swept through
the outer yard, blasting plumes of fire and melting robot patrols.
Then she became the Lightning Dragon again. She gathered electricity
from the nearby wires once more and unleashed a burst
of chain lightning from her mouth. Again. It snapped from
machine to machine until the entire yard was filled with
collapsing robots. Finally, she shifted back into the rock dragon.
She launched herself into the air again, circled once, and
aimed for the communication tower again. She gained more and
more momentum until she became like a meteor. She hit
the tower with a thunderous crash. The whole structure folded, snapped,
and collapsed in a storm of metal beams and flashing wires.
Signals died. The robots below froze for just a moment,
as if their thoughts had been interrupted. Luna landed, charged
the facility wall and smashed through it. Inside alarms blared,
robots rushed toward her. She shifted into a lightning dragon
again and took them out instantly, with one blazing storm
of chain lightning behind them. People began to emerge, crawling
over piles of broken robots, and first they came slowly,
frightened and kind of uncertain, looking as well as someone
might reasonably be if they just watched a giant mythical
drag and destroy their robot overlords. Luna transformed back into herself.
She stood in the ruined entrance, dusty, tired and glowing
faintly with some sort of leftover magic. You are free,
she called. Go home, help each other, and don't worry.
She looked down at the ring. Then she looked back
at the people. You have a protector now, the crowd cheered.
Luna smiled, then transformed one last time. This dragon was different,
sleek and narrow, built for speed. Its scales shimmered silver
and green, Its wings were long and sharp, and its
whole body resembled well, something that could likely break the
sound barrier. Luna launched upward, and sure enough, a sonic
boom crackled behind her as she bolted through the clouds
and raced home. Seconds later, she landed quietly in her
own backyard, turned back into a girl, and walked inside.
Her family didn't know what to say, as well as
your family might not know what to say if you
had just turned into a dragon and defeated a whole
bunch of robots. So they just hugged her, and continued
to hug her for a very long time. When they
finally let go, Luna went back to her room, climbed
into bed, and pulled the covers up to her chin.
Her body felt heavy and her mind well it felt
kind of full. Her ring glowed softly on her finger.
She'd been all sorts of dragons, a green fire dragon,
a lightning dragon, an ice dragon, a rock dragon, and
some sort of speed dragon or something, but now she
was just Luna again. She closed her eyes, and with
each breath she let her muscles relax. Her arms sank
into the bed, her legs grew warm and heavy, her
shoulders softened, and slowly she began to focus on her breath,
and eventually her mind wandered off to thoughts of new dreams,
new adventures, and new dragon forms. To come good night everyone, and.
Speaker 2: Never union name a New York, more union.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Thing, no more game In m one one man