Young Writers Society

The hero let out a sigh. It wasn't very effective in releasing her frustrations. While her enchanted armor very conveniently let her breathe underwater, exhaling water wasn't the same as exhaling an indignant puff of air.
The cause of her frustrations, a fluffy black creature that was clearly not from Earth, looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes.
"Okay, look here. I don't know where you came from, but I'm a retired hero, okay? I'm just making this one exception, so don't go hanging around after we get what you're looking for."
The alien pranced in the seabed around her ankles and sent enthusiastic images of the origami dragon into the hero's head again. The hero let out another unsatisfying watery sigh and trudged on through the outskirts of the underwater empire.

~~~a few assorted battles and sideplots later~~~

"Oho, so you're looking for this, eh?" The villain smirked and stroked the origami dragon's snout with a finger. The dragon, though made of paper, was remarkably unaffected by the water surrounding it. It simply sat on a golden pedestal next to the throne the villain had apparently won from the emperor through a game of chess. "Weeellll, how about we make a deal?"

The hero gripped the hilt of her sword and raised an eyebrow at the villain. "You again? I thought we'd both retired ages ago."

The villain chuckled. "Yes, but when I heard about your new quest, I couldn't help getting involved. And oh my, what a cute creature!" The villain reached out to pet the alien, which happily leaned into his hand, black fur vibrating. Then the alien nudged the pedestal with the origami dragon and gazed up at the villain plaintively.

"I can see why you'd want to help this little one so much," the villain mused. "Anyways, about my deal! All you have to do to get this origami dragon and complete your quest is to give me inspiration for my new romance novel. I'm thinking the plot will be some kind of enemies to lovers." He smiled, his eyes twinkling.

The hero paused, then huffed and raised her weapon. "Or I could run you through with my sword right now and not bother making any ridiculous deals with you."

"Oh, perfect!" The villain produced a sheet of paper out of nowhere and started scribbling on it. "Yes, just a couple more lines of dialogue like that will do nicely."

"...I'm leaving." The hero spun on her heel and started to march away.

"Wait! Don't you want to complete your quest?"

"I'm retired, remember? Anyways, the alien's already got their dragon." The hero hooked a thumb back towards where the creature had somehow managed to stretch a furry tentacle up to the pedestal and was now gently wrapping it around the piece of origami.

"Oh." Suddenly, the villain tucked the piece of paper back into whatever space it had come from and stepped hurriedly after the hero. "Are you doing anything this weekend? Retirement has been so boring without you."

The hero whirled back around to face the villain's pout. "Oh, great, another set of puppy eyes," she grumbled.

"I'll treat you to dinner!" the villain promised. "Free food!"

The hero stared at the villain for a moment, then relented. "Fine. But you better find a way to take care of that alien, because I can't. And don't even think about killing them." The fluffy being danced around their legs, holding up the origami dragon elatedly.

"Oh, never. Actually, I was thinking it'd be nice to have a pet. The forbidding castle in the mountains gets a bit lonely with just me, y'know?" The villain scooped up the alien happily. "Anyhow, about dinner, how does pasta sound?"

"Good, as long as it's somewhere expensive, since you're paying." The hero smirked and sheathed her sword.