full summary: Four years have come and gone for the Kingdom of Kippernium, managing to pull through after an unexpected raid from soldiers of the Trustinall Kingdom. Fortunately, Dragon arrived to roast the intruders like charcoal, but the few survivors are now aware that there's a green dragon protecting the kingdom, with a young girl riding on its neck.
The elder knights cannot investigate the Trustinall Kingdom; their identity has been compromised by the survivors, leading Sir Theodore to send Jane and Gunther on the mission instead. They had not found the Trustinall's location until now.

On their adventure, they happen to stumble upon a mysterious village girl named Clarisse who apparently knows the key to defending Kippernium and solve the runes in Dragon's lair.

Oh gee i literally have no life i'm writing a Fanfiction to a show that almost nobody watches. it's a dead fandom.

i will ignore you if you say this is a kids show i know i dont complain when i see miraculous ladybug fanfictions now do i

disclaimer: i do not own jane and the dragon.

ohoho enjoy

PRELUDE I: ATTACK ON KIPPERNIA

Jane woke to the sound of knocking on her door. Not normal, slow knocking. Harsh and rushed thumping on the wood. "Wake up, sleepyhead. What, do you intend to sleep all day?"

As the red-headed girl stirred, she pondered on who must be knocking so annoyingly and rudely. It was a male's voice, she could hear it from the holes in the shutter. It definitely was not Jester; he knew better not to wake her so early in the morning.

It was not Rake nor one of her instructors, they had better things to do. Possibly Smithy? His gauntlets were heavy and loud, but he was most likely in his forge. Surely it was not dragon, the old lizard would stick his head through the shutters, not knock on the door.

The knocking increased to poundings. "Get up, wench, before I go in there myself with a bucket of water!"

Jane slammed her hands against her mattress, quietly groaning to herself. Gunther. What did he want now?

"Jane I swear, if you do not wake up this instant, Sir Theodore will punish us both!" Gunther shouted, and Jane had thought that the hinges on her door must be breaking by now.

"We have practice?" she gasped awake, reiterating his words in her head. "Maggots, how long did I sleep?"

It did not matter that her hair was in a fiery mess, or that there was still crust in her eyes, Jane pushed herself up from her bed and swung open the door to reveal Gunther leaning against the stone wall, picking dirt from his fingernails.

He turned his head.

Silence.

Jane did not realise on much of a wreck she was until her fellow partner apprentice began crouching in uncontrollable laughter. "Ha!" Gunther chuckled, arms wrapped around his stomach. "You should see your face! Your hair! I did not know it could be any bigger!"

"Hmm..." Jane grumbled, a slight blush of embarrassment crawling up her cheeks. "You should not be talking, weevil, for your nose is as big as your ego!" She smiled triumphantly once Gunther instantly placed his palm over his face, masking his nose.

"Very funny, wench."

"Funny indeed. Now do we have training or not?"

"Ha, no," Gunther replied, smug as ever. "I was just bored. Needed someone easy to train with, someone I could easily beat. So, I chose you of course." He held two staves in his hand and proceeded to toss one to the squire.

Jane rolled her eyes and smirked, raising the stave. He should know better, not to insult Jane like that. As she swung the stick towards Gunther, she gave him a good wallop to the posterior, then dashed for the courtyard. "See you there, coot!"

"Hey!" he growled, clutching his stinging bottom.

Of course, Jane had always forgotten that Gunther was much, much stronger than her, not to mention he was almost a master at staves. Mostly because Jane would never admit it herself.

Unfortunately, once again, she was on her knees with Gunther's stave pressing against hers, his strength far too great that her elbows were now at a small angle. "Struggling, Jane?" he asked with false concern, sniggering as his partner struggled to keep up.

"Just because you say that I am, does not mean I am," she retorted with a grunt. Even after all these years in the castle, Gunther was still... Gunther. She could say the same for the rest of the castle staff, aside from the fact they have all matured into young adults. Gunther was three years away from being a knight, Jane having to endure five years.

When the struggling became an absolute bore to the apprentice, Gunther reached his foot under Jane's knee and pulled, causing her to slip on her back and drop the practice weapon. "Bastard!" she seethed. "Stop cheating!"

"Dear Jane, you were at a hopeless position," he replied, pointing the end of the stave dangerously to her throat, even if there were cushions on each end. "Besides, you would have been dead by now. Or did you keep this up just to get down on your knees and bow to me? The village girls do tend to do that." He added as an afterthought.

"Sick, " Jane spat. "Can I get up now?"

"Right after you declare I am the better knight."

"Squire," she corrected. "You are not a knight yet, mind you."

Gunther snickered, the tip still pointing to her neck, as if they were in a real battle. "Yet. You have a long way to go, Jane, whereas I will be a knight soon enough. Now beg or admit!"

Jane scowled. "Fine. I, Jane Turnkey, declare that Gunther is an unscrupulous sod!" She swatted the stave away and shuffled to her feet. She grabbed his weapon and yanked it from his hands, then pulled the same trick. Jane hooked her foot behind his ankle and tripped Gunther, flipping the staff to place him in the same position she was previously in. "Better?"

"You two are always getting along," Smithy chuckled their way, holding an unattached hilt to a sword. Smithy was the blacksmith, obviously, his actual name being Jethro. However, it seems that name has been long since forgotten, since only his family uses that title. Over the course of four years his light blond hair has gotten considerably longer and messy with sweat, but his personality has not changed... not at all, really. "Nice to see you so lively, Gunther."

"Yes, thank you," Gunther muttered back, slowly getting up to his feet.

Jane snorted, retracting the stave once footsteps began approaching the squires. "Letter for Gunther Breech," a man in a filthy tunic said, rummaging his knapsack for the letter. Jane raised an eyebrow; could it be the village girls he mentioned? Disgusting bastard.

When Gunther retrieved the note, he unfolded it and peeled the seal off the centre. He hesitated. The courier jogged back to the village. "What is it Gunther, afraid to face an admirer of yours?" Jane posed, a fist on her hip as she rest her other hand on the end of the stave.

"No, in fact." He skimmed the short paragraph. "It is my troublesome father."

"What does he want now?"

"Load cargo." He sighed, ripping the note into pieces. "Where is your dragon so he can burn this wretched note?"

Jane laughed, to at least bring up the spirits of an upset Gunther. It is not so fun when Gunther is down, since it is more difficult to insult him. "That bad, eh? If you dislike your father so much, why do you keep returning to him?"

Gunther sighed again. "I live with him, you know. And I do love my father, he is just... aggravating."

"Maybe he should lose that belly so he can do more work - perhaps if you confiscate his food you will not have to do his dirty jobs," she said with a short laugh. Gunther glanced up from the torn letter with an unblinking stare, but smiled a moment after. "You should get going. Do not want to keep him waiting, hm?"

"Of course not, " he mused, crumpling the pieces of paper in his fist. "Try not to get bored without me, will you?"

Jane tilted her head with annoyance. "It is much better without you anyway, dog!" she hollered as he approached the drawbridge. He looked back, chuckling, then raised his hand to acknowledge her insult. Then he disappeared to the town.

Stupid Gunther... trying to make a fool out of me, Jane hissed under her breath. At least Sir Theodore and Sir Ivon were in the court room. Surely Sir Theodore must of stopped them by now. Oh, the things squires do when their mentor is not around. Smithy could not help but laugh after their little scene. "Where is Dragon? Usually he is with you in the morning."

"Possibly sleeping in his cave, the little party we threw last night did drive him away to peace and quiet. We flew for a couple hours straight before that to patrol, so the green lizard must be tired," she explained. She sighed, exhausted from the minutes of training with Gunther. "Where are the others?"

"Do you need to ask?"

"Right," Jane replied. "Rake in the royal garden, Pepper in the kitchen. What about Jester?"

"Most likely in the Prince and Princess's quarters. What will you do?"

Jane shrugged, looking towards the clear sky. "Do not know. Dragon is not here so I can patrol. Do you need help in the stable..." She trailed off when her nose caught a familiar scent. "...Smithy, the flames in your forge are creating a hefty sum of smoke, is it not? I can smell it from here."

He also stared to where Jane was continuously gazing. "I see no smoke. And besides, the forge is still cold."

"What?" Jane asked, "but it smells of thin smoke. Odd, I see no fire."

"Perhaps the boredom has gotten to your head," Smithy jested, raising his hammer and letting it fall on the shaped metal. Smithy was partially right; Jane was awfully bored, and it has currently been an unproductive morning.

Jane leaned against the castle wall near her dummy. "Mm, I should train then."

Still, the scent of smog bothered her. It was not until almost an hour later, the smoke would lead to something worse.

"Jane!" Gunther had called out in strained breaths. "Enemies spotted approaching the village!"