EDIT FROM THE FAR FUTURE OF 2020! First of all if you are reading this back in 2004 avoid 2020 at all costs! And secondly please know the rewritten and definitive version of this story now exists in volume 1 of The Ursus Verses. 

Here is part 1 of a story that arose because I was considering the 4th state of matter. Part 2 is a vague notion in my head so I will finish it in the next few days hopefully (umm, I'll get to the pixie story again eventually. . .), but it is getting late so here is the beginning, at least.

 Sir Swampy Joe Brody was a cowboy, and he was a dragon slayer. He wasn't really a knight, though, and everyone knew it, but they called him "Sir" anyways out of respect. Sir Swampy Joe also happened to have an honorary PhD from Harvard, but he thought going by the handle of Dr. Sir Swampy Joe Brody was getting a little high falutin'. Sir Swampy Joe had a bit of a problem. There was a new kind of dragon in town, and this dragon didn't breathe regular fire. Sir Swampy had attempted a showdown with the vicious critter but it had melted his shield and very nearly melted his horse, Michael the Archangel. Sir Swampy figured he better skedaddle and go consult his mentor. Sir Swampy's mentor was a Blackfoot medicine man named Maskikiasin, though Sir Swampy called him Smiling Bear- once in Yellowstone they had been hunting a dragon and had come across a grizzly who was fighting for his life against the dragon. Without hesitating Sir Swampy threw himself onto the dragon's back and drove his lance into his vertebrae, dispatching him quickly, while Maskikiasin tended to the bear, applying an herbal poultice to his wounds. The spooked grizzly ran off to lick his wounds, but Sir Swampy swore he saw him turn and smile at them before he disappeared. So from then on Maskikiasin was Smiling Bear. "Have you heard about the new dragon?" asked Sir Swampy. "No, the smoke signal net has been bogged down with spam all day- as if a medicine man would ever need those kind of pills . . . " Sir Swampy wasn't really listening. "I hate to sound yella, Smilie, but this one might be more than I can handle. I never seen anything like it- his fire doesn't just burn things down, it vaporizes them." "Well, let's go take a look." So Sir Swampy Joe and Smiling Bear got on their horses and went in search of the dragon. It was a pretty easy search, as all they had to do was go against the flow of refugees fleeing the devastation. The demoralized citizens cheered Sir Swampy and Smiling Bear as they passed, but Sir Swampy couldn't help but feel that he was going to let them down this time. The dragon, even from a distance, was impressive. It was twice the size of a normal dragon. Its skin was slightly translucent and had a metallic, glistening sheen just beneath the surface that seemed to glow. It had all the typical accoutrements of evil- massive, reptilian wings, classic draconic wedge-shaped head with horns, fangs, scales and piercing, golden slit-eyes. Out of all the dragons Sir Swampy Joe had slain, he had never seen anything so singularly malevolent. "Damn," he said, "that's one mean looking varmint." Smiling Bear took one look at it and said, "It's a Plasma Dragon. Very bad medicine."