tokage: That's one of the few inconsistencies in this series that I'm not really happy with. I started out by introducing P'oiu as this big, tough dragon, but I've gradually made him more and more of a pushover. It's sort of necessary in order to set him up for all these scenarios where he gets his nuts knocked in, but it's a little unsatisfying. My best explanation is that P'oiu used to be much more cocky, but after having his balls bashed up about a dozen times, he's become a lot more cautious and a lot more humble.

Still, I do try to cover for it when possible -- most of the time when a smaller/weaker character attacks P'oiu, I either make it a surprise (e.g. the orca, the hippo) or make him unable to defend himself (e.g. chain him to the floor). It might take away from the believability of the story a little bit...but then again, I'm writing about a dragon with indestructible balls getting the spunk beaten out of him. It's a ridiculous idea to begin with :P