American Dragon: Way of the Fire-Breathers

by srebak

Jake Long is finally back & he's ready for some new adventures & experiences. This includes meeting up with some new allies & facing off with some new villains, all while being backed up by some old friends & allies, & dealing with some old enemies of his in the process. Also, he'll be learning quite a few new secrets about the ways of the dragon, old ones too. I own nothing!

1. Chapter 1

Episode One – And so the Fun Begins

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

It was the last full week of summer vacation in New York City, and in one household, no one knew that better than a young Asian-American boy named Jake Long. He knew that these were the last days of summer fun he had left before he had to go back to his daily routine; which is why, as soon as his alarm clock went off, he got up as fast as he could, gathered up his clothes (which were already folded up and ready for him, by the way), went in and out of the bathroom as quickly as possible and then made his way downstairs to an empty kitchen. The rest of the family had not yet arrived, and when they actually did arrive, not only were they surprised to see that Jake was already up, but they were also surprised to see that he was almost finished fixing his own breakfast.

"Jake…?" is what Jake's mother, Susan Long, said, after yawning rather groggily

"Morning, Mom: Morning, Dad: Morning, Haley; love to stay and chat, but I'm in kind of in a hurry, you understand, right? Thanks; mean it, really…" Jake replied, rather rapidly, as he finished making his breakfast and headed over towards the table

"Why are you up so early today anyways? Isn't it still summer vacation…?" asked Jake's younger sister, Haley Long, as she sat down at the table, while yawning rather groggily herself

"(Scoffs) Just barely; in just a few short days, the school bell will be ringing again and when that happens, Summertime will officially be o-ver" Jake replied as he sat down at the table himself and started eating his breakfast "Which means there's only a few short days left to do everything I can to make sure that this summer goes out with a bang, and you know that I will, am I right, people?"

"Whoa, whoa, hey, slow down there, Jakeroo?" said Jake's father, Jonathan Long, as he witnessed his son practically wolfing down his breakfast "At least stop to chew your food"

"Sorry, Dad, no time" said Jake, as he finished off the last of his breakfast and prepared to guzzle down the last of his orange juice "I've only got an hour and half left to meet up with Trixie and Spud, and stopping to eat breakfast already took up enough of my time!"

After that, Jake took all of his dishes to the sink, ran out of the kitchen, grabbed his backpack and skateboard stuff (which were already placed near the stairs) and opened the front door. The rest of his family peaked out of the kitchen doorway to see him do all of this and all Jake did in response was say-

"Catch y'all later, bye"

- Before exiting through the door completely and leaving his family to look at each other, somewhat befuddled.

Once outside, Jake walked down the front porch steps, took a deep breath and stared at the beautiful late-summer morning while saying—

"Oh yeah, this is my kind of morning; the kind that just screams "let the good times begin" and I'm hearing all of that, loud and clear, baby, loud and clear…!"

He then hopped onto his skateboard and started moving, while saying -

"Yea-Hea, with the kind of good mood I'm in right now and the kind of great morning that this looks like, there ain't nothing in the whole wide world that's gonna ruin this week of fun for me, not a single thing…!"

It is then that the scene cuts to the other side of town, at the city docks. There, a large freighter was just arriving and it had a quite few people on board, most of them dressed in gray cargo pants and black turtlenecks. But the most recognizable of them all was an elderly man wearing fancy suit; Sigmund Brock.

"Ah, New York City, and so the fun begins…" is what Brock said, right before he smiled and we fade to black

(New Opening Sequence)

We are shown that Brock's freighter was finally dropping anchor, but before we actually got back to the man himself, we are first shown the large logo on the ship's left side: a hooded ghostly figure striking a sinister looking pose with a globe in his hand. Afterwards, we see that Brock was still looking towards the city and while he did so, he calmly said…

"Ah, it sure feels good to be back in this bustling metropolis again after so long, let me tell you. Though, at the same time, it feels like I was only here just yesterday, serving as a nauseatingly well-loved Middle School Principal…who was forced to leave, due to a messy Press Debacle… in shame and disgrace, (slightly shaking fists) at the cost of nearly all his scientific funding! (Regains his composure, clears his throat and turns around) but, hey, that's all water under the bridge now, right? After all, we're all here because we have a new task to take care of and I, for one (chuckles a little bit), can't wait to get started on it…"

Brock was talking to a moderate-sized group of men and women dressed in black turtlenecks and gray cargo pants, and they were all standing at attention as if they were marines, especially when Brock walked up to them and continued with-

"Now; Squadron-A will proceed to the pre-designated coordinates programmed into Submarine Red's onboard computer, while Squadron-B will be using Submarine Black to search the lower levels of the Hudson River for a special "treasure". Remember, not a single one of you is allowed to return until you've found and retrieved your respective targets, have I made myself clear on that point?"

The two squads just saluted Brock in response to this question, and this prompted the latter to say-

"Good, now move out…!"

The two squadrons began to run off camera after that, and once they were gone, Brock addressed another group of people…

"…And while they're all off taking of their assignments, Squadron C, yours will be to make sure that they don't get hindered by any… unfriendlies, along the way…"

Squadron C also used a group salute to respond to Brock's words, but just then, all of their attention was redirected towards something else; one of the three crates that they were all standing right in front of. The crate at the front was shaking ever so slightly, as if something were alive inside it, and given the fact that a loud and vicious growling was emanating from the very same crate, it would be safe to assume that that theory was correct. Still though, that didn't stop Brock from walking passed Squadron C, so that he could approach the crate, nor did it stop him from putting his hand on the side of said crate and continuing with-

"…fortunately, the contents of these-'packages' should help you do just that, especially when you get them to their planned destinations within the city…"

Brock started to chuckle ever so slightly after saying that last part, and the members of Squadron C just smiled wickedly while he did so. Though, this did not stop the creature inside the crate from growling ferociously some more, with even more ferocity even.

We then cut to the underside of the freighter, as it let loose two small submarines into the Hudson River. One continued to go downwards, but the other headed off in a completely different direction. The missions of the two squads had officially begun.

The scene then shifts back to within the city, where we see that Jake is still skateboarding on the sidewalk. He performed a few fancy moves along the way, but they were kept short, since Jake was still in quite a hurry. Eventually, he arrived at the Familio Festevedro restaurant, where Trixie and Spud were waiting for him. Once he was right in front of them, the first thing he said was-

"Yo, Trixie, Spud; I'm here, you guys ready to get it on today…?"

However Trixie and Spud did not appear to be very happy with Jake at the moment, and when he saw their angry-looking faces, all he could say in response was-

"What?"

"Jakey, where in the name of Benjamin Franklin have you been, boy?" said a visibly angry Trixie

"Yeah, bro, you were supposed to meet us here at 8:30 on the mark, dude; it's 8:30 with only 55 seconds until 8:31, you're 5.1 seconds late, mister!" added an equally angry Spud

"Whoa, whoa, hey, okay, I'm sorry, Spud, really, I just couldn't resist trying out a few new Skateboard moves on the way here, you know, it being such a nice day and all. But-but, don't worry, I'm sure we can totally make up for that later on in the day today. We have until sunset to get everything done, am I right?" said Jake

It was then that Spud gave the brief impression of deep thought, right before he reached into his backpack and pulled out a long list. He started to look over it at that point, while saying…

"Well, I suppose it is possible, if we speed things up a little bit at lunchtime, but, that means only one hamburger and one soda for each of us, understood…?"

"Whatever, freak, I just want to get this party of ours started, you feel what I'm saying, baby!?" Said Trixie "So, what's the first item on our list, Spudinski?"

"Hmm, well, according to this; we're first due at the arcade for an hour of mind-numbing video games and air hockey" said Spud right before he looked at his watch "But the arcade doesn't open until 9 o'clock, so, we have exactly…27 minutes and 5.5 seconds to get there and get hyped up for it along the way"

"Perfect, 27 minutes … (looks at his watch) um; 26 minutes and… 52 seconds, is just enough time for me to make one last pit stop…" said Jake, as he started to skateboard away, while paying close attention to his watch

Trixie and Spud both gave each other a brief look of confusion and surprise before they started to follow Jake via skateboard. But when they finally caught up with him, Trixie skateboarded up to his side and asked-

"… (Clears her throat) and where, exactly, would this little pit stop of yours be, Baby Jakey…?" asked Trixie as she and Spud skateboarded after him

"… (Mildly scoffs) the new home our fourth member, of course, where else…?" Jake replied smugly, right before regaining his lead

Trixie and Spud both shared a look of surprise after hearing that. But soon enough, their surprised expressions turned into subtle smiles. They both knew who Jake was talking about.

We then do a scene change to a suburban neighborhood, where we see a family of three unloading their belongings off of a moving truck. This might seem irrelevant at first glance, but, upon closer inspection, we are shown that these people are, in fact, Rose and her parents, all of them looking as well as they did in "Hong Kong Longs". Rose was the first to get the box she was carrying inside the family's new house and right after she set it down, and wiped some sweat from her brow, she called out to her parents-

"Mom, Dad, that was the last of our boxes, do either of you need to take a break?"

"Take a break? Are you kidding me?" said Rose's father, after bringing in the large box he was carrying "Why, I'm just starting to get warmed up back here, pumpkin. You know, there's no better way to start out the day than with a nice brisk workout. In fact, I say that we keep up this marvelous momentum of ours by unpacking all of our stuff right here and now; who's with me?"

It was during this time that Rose's mother entered the house. But, unlike the rest of her family, she was carrying, not one, not two, but three boxes stacked up on top of each other. Naturally, she had some trouble keeping her balance a few times, but once she was finally inside the house, she finally set all of the boxes she had in her arms down, and then practically collapsed right on top of them when her husband was done talking. Rose and her father both took notice of this and ran over to the exhausted woman, just in time to hear her say-

"Definitely…not… me, Brett…that's…for…certain; whew, in fact, I, for one, could definitely use a break right about now. Wake me when it's time for dinner, won't you? Thanks; love you, mean it, good night…"

-in-between heavy pants, and right before she got into a comfortable position on the boxes so that she could nap on them, which made Rose and her father (whose name is apparently Brett) give a look of mild concern for a brief moment. But that soon changed when they looked at each other and smiled at one another.

"(Scoffs) like mom is the only one around here who needs to, like, take a break right about now-" said a fourth voice within the house (in a valley girl-esque way no less) "—Hello; like, I'm so worn out from all of this, like, "heavy-lifting" stuff, that it's, like, not even funny anymore. Seriously…"

Rose and her father, Brett, both looked in the direction of where it came from and saw that it was a young woman sitting comfortably on a few of the boxes, while filing her nails no less. The young woman in question was around Rose's age and looked almost exactly like her as well; right down to the long blonde hair, fair skin, rosy lips and bright blue eyes. The main difference between them was that, while Rose kept her hair loose and wavy, this young lady kept hers in a propped up ponytail (similar to the one that Rose had at the beginning of "Dreamscape"). She was also wearing a pink tank top with a purple miniskirt, which was complimented by a pair of magenta high heels, while Rose stuck with the same clothes she wore in "Homecoming"; a white blouse with a blue pocket skirt, a necklace and greenish high top sneakers. This was the slightly older Twin sibling that was briefly seen in Rose's memories way back in "Dreamscape", the sibling who was born without the dragon-shaped birthmark; Marigold.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Marigold-" Rose started, in a somewhat sarcastic tone "—I guess we just never fully considered how "arduous" a task it must have been for you to bring in 5 small boxes, one at a time, and then sit down on your butt while mom pulled all of your weight for you, like she normally does…"

Rose then crossed her arms and made a "really, you're really doing this" face.

"Well, what can I say, Rose?" said the young blonde woman (whose name is apparently to be Marigold), as she stopped filing her nails and started blowing on them to finish the filing job "We can't all be rough and tumble, muscley, pack mule-type girls like you. Some of us are a bit more lady-like and elegant than that, I hope that makes sense to you, little sis…"

Rose was definitely put off that "pack mule" comment, but the last part really cheesed her off. She probably would have assaulted the young lady right when she was starting to file her other hand, if not for her father stopping her.

"Now, now, Rose, you know that your sister tends to joke about certain things, especially whenever she's venting out some of her frustration about something or other-" is what Brett said, somewhat calming Rose's anger in the process, right before he sighed ever slightly and continued with- "-and this move back to the States is bound to be frustrating for all of us in some way, shape or form"

"Ugh, you are, like, so preaching to choir on that one, Daddy, no questions asked, for sure" Marigold added as she stopped filing her nails and got up to walk over to her father "I mean, I could, like, totally understand us moving all the way out to the other side of the word, because of your new job and all, and even us staying way over there because it too. But, just when I was, like, actually starting to get me footing in way over there, we suddenly have to move all the way back here? What kind of sense does that make, huh, daddy?"

"Now, Marigold, sweetheart, I already told you the "reason" why we had to move back here, don't you remember…?" Brett replied

"(Sighs) yeah, yeah, Daddy, I, like, remember it all and stuff" said Marigold as she turned around and went back to her spot to sit down and file her nails again "But that still doesn't really, like, solve the whole "lack of a social life" issue that I'm having right about now, now, does it? (Sighs) and to think; I used to be the only one in this family who actually had a social life…"

Rose was about to say something in response to that last part, when, all of a sudden, she was caught off guard upon hearing what sounded like someone saying "Honk-honk" and "Beep-beep", in that order, akin to car horn going off during traffic. It was coming from outside her new home and when she and her father went to the door to see who it was, she learned that, as initially suspected, it was Spud making that noise. A noise that he continued to make for a second time, even after Rose saw him, along Jake and Trixie, parked outside of her new house. The latter two were even waving at her, most likely as signal for her to come out with them. Rose smiled at this and then turned around to face her sister and smugly say-

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you, "big" sis…?"

"Well, well, well, Rose, it looks like you've made some new friends before we've even actually moved in. Is there something I should know, Pumpkin? Something involving long distance phone calling perhaps?" asked Brett as he crossed his arms on that last part

"Um, E-mails, actually, Daddy…" Rose replied somewhat nervously "…uh…you see, they're actually a group of old friends of mine from, uh, way back when I was going to Middle school here. And when I found out that we were coming back to New York again, it only seemed right that I let them know that I was coming via e-mail, so I did, very thoroughly, I might add. That's probably why they're all here now; to…um…welcome me back home, properly…"

"Hmm, I see" said Brett "Well, in that case, pumpkin; don't let me keep you from a heartfelt reunion with your dear old school chums. You go, have fun, I'll finish up all of the unpacking here; I could use another good workout anyway"

"You sure…?" Rose asked as her father picked up a box

"Oh, absolutely" Brett replied, right before he turned around to face his other daughter "Marigold, why don't you go out too and have some fun with your sister and her friends, hmm…?"

"I think I'd rather stay here and watch Mom take her nap for entertainment instead, Daddy" said Marigold, rather flatly

"Oh, well, I'm so glad we could, at least, agree upon that one little thing, big sis, really, I am…" said Rose; half flatly, half happy, as she was already mostly out the door "Love you all, mean it, goodbye…"

Rose closed the door without delay after that and right after she did, her father briefly put down the box he was carrying and rubbed his hands together while looking at all of the other boxes all around him. In a way that screamed "where do I even begin", one must add.

Meanwhile, back outside, Rose practically ran right down the staircase and then right up to Jake so that she could wrap her arms around him and give him a big kiss right on the lips. The spiky haired teenager, naturally, took it, of course, and even wrapped his arms around her waist while she did so. When the two of them finally broke their kiss, Jake asked Rose-

"So, you ready to spend an entire week of End of summer fun with us, Rose?"

"You know it" The blonde teenager replied "But, won't this be a bit of an issue, seeing as that I don't own a skateboard like the rest of you?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Rose" said Spud as he got out the list again "That's the second item on the list; help Rose buy a skateboard, and, should the need arise, I also put in "teach Rose how to use a skateboard" to do after that, always pays to be prepared, you know…"

"Uh, actually, Spud, I do already know how to ride a skateboard, so…" Rose started, in an "as a matter of fact" tone

"Great" said Spud "Then that means we can cross that one off the list and move right on to the next item after that; "Two hours of heart-racing skateboarding action at the good ol' skateboard park"! Whew, that'll certainly work up an appetite for lunch, won't it…?"

"Whatever, Spud, let's just get this train of ours rolling again, okay?" said Trixie "I thought we were supposed to be on a tight schedule for the rest of the week, people"

"Well, we do still have 22 minutes and 23 seconds left to get to the arcade and-" said Jake as he looked at his watch "-it's actually only a couple blocks away from here; a few minutes away if we walk and even less if we…"

"Perfect" said Spud, as he puts the schedule back in his backpack "If we walk all the way there, then not only will Rose be able to keep up, but we'll also be able to get there at the exact scheduled time. Instead of being there a few seconds late or worse; a few minutes early, And I HATE BEING EARLY…! It just feels so weird and there's nothing to do but wait and… (Shudders)… I hate having wait for deadlines and appointments; it just rubs me the wrong way… (Shudders again)…"

"Okay…" said Trixie as she and her other two friends were somewhat unsure about what to make of Spud's reaction "…So, uh, let's get going then, shall we…?"

"Yes, lets" said Spud, upon regaining his composure

However, what the four teenagers didn't know was, at that very moment, somebody was watching them from afar as they headed off to their next scheduled destination. A whole group of people was watching them, in fact, and they were all the very same people whom Sigmund Brock dubbed Squadron C on his boat earlier. They were all perched on the roof of a nearby building roof at this point and one of them was closely observing the teens with his high tech binoculars. Eventually, he ceased his observation for a brief moment and used what appeared to be a transmitter placed in his ear, so that he could make a specific call-

"Professor Brock, this is Squadron C reporting in-" the mysterious man started "-we have located the initial targets and are ready proceed to phase two as planned, but…"

"But what, commander…?" said Brock over the transmission

"There, um, appears to be a new addition to the targeted group, um, sir. Should we consider this, um, a cause for a change in plans…?" the mysterious man (who's apparently the squadron's commander) continued

"Not at all, commander-" said Brock "-This 'new addition' was actually an expected change to the original plan and one that barely alters it any way. Proceed to the next phase of the operation as originally planned, soldier, and then report back to me as soon as you're done, is that understood…?"

"Affirmative, sir…" said the mysterious man (who's apparently the squadron's commander), right before he ends the transmission and gestures to the rest of his squad to bring something up to him.

They all do just that, thanks to the help of a dolly, and when they do; we are shown one of the very same crates that was seen from earlier on Brock's boat. Just like before; the crate was rumbling very ferociously and a low growling sound could be heard from within its interior, thus confirming that there was indeed something alive trapped inside. The other members of the Squadron all backed away from the crate when it started to rumble, and one of the female members even said-

"Are we sure that using this…thing is even a good idea, commander?"

"Who knows, lieutenant?" said the Squad Commander "All I know is that our job isn't to question the necessity of this thing, but to unleash it…"

The Commander then removed a piece of the crate's wood during that last statement and when he did, he looked into the inside of the crate and saw what looked like-eyes. Glowing red eyes to be precise, and there were two pairs of them, all of them looking very angry at that very moment. This fact was only confirmed when the strange creature inside started growling again, this time in a lower, subtler and more menacing way. Then we fade to black…

(Commercial Break)

The four friends were now all speed-walking towards the Video Arcade and Spud was obsessively looking at his watch the entire time. Suddenly, he just came right out and said-

"Come on, people, we're going against the schedule of Fun here; so, how about a little change in our moving pace, if you don't mind, please!?"

"We're going as fast as we can here, Spud" said Jake

"At least in the terms of speed-walking at any rate" Rose added

"You know; maybe we should just run the rest of the way if we're running late here, Spud…" Trixie suggested

"No, no -" Spud replied "-we're not running late right now, Trixie, we'll be there with a few minutes to spare if we keep up this pace, and that's the real problem we're having right now, understand? What I meant to say is; we need to slow it down just a tiny bit, just a teensy little bit, if you would all be so kind!"

Jake and his two young lady friends all shared a brief glance with one another upon hearing those words, but, then they all began to slow down their pace ever so slightly, to the point where they were barely even speed-walking anymore. Still though, that was, apparently, not good enough to satisfy Spud as he continued to glance at his watch with worrisome look on his face, until he finally came right out and said-

"Aw Man, we're still running ahead of schedule, I knew we shouldn't have taken those last three shortcuts! Quick, we need a distraction; something that'll make us slow down just a tiny bit, but only a little tiny bit, mind you, remember, we don't have that much time to spare, you know. (Thinks for a second and gets an idea) Oh, I got it; does anybody here know any good stories they could tell? How about you, Rose? You've gotta have some great "Tales of Hong Kong" stories with you, am I right…?"

Spud's question caught Rose completely off-guard and that was saying something since she was not one you could catch by surprise so easily. She always knew that, sooner or later, her three friends were going to ask about her time in the Chinese city, but, she was not expecting that to happen so soon. She could think of no stories to tell at that very moment, and it showed in the way she replied with a—

"Well…"

"Hey, I'll tell you a story I'd like to hear from you, little Miss Ninja thang-" Trixie intervened "—how exactly are you even back in New York City any way, Girl? I mean the last thing we heard was that you and your family were living in Hong Kong full-time now, thanks to your daddy's new job. So, what exactly is the dealy-o here, girlfriend?"

"Yeah, I'm a little bit curious about that one myself, Rose; um, care to explain that one for us, baby…? Ya know; if you don't mind that is…" Jake added after casually clearing his throat

Now having a specific story that was she expected to tell, Rose simply smiled and said-

"Not at all, Jake; in fact, it's actually a pretty funny story to tell, to be perfectly honest (chuckles ever so slightly), and when I say funny, I actually don't mean "haha" funny-"

It is then that we are treated to a flashback sequence of Rose's old apartment in Hong Kong, China and are shown that her father was doing something with a table covered with all of the tools of a professional chemist. He was in the living room at the time and with him was his wife, his two young daughters and three nicely dressed gentlemen with, glasses, clipboards and pencils. Brett was obviously performing some sort of experiment with the tools he had with him and, during this, Rose was narrating the entire flashback-

"See, it all started when my dad invited all of his bosses over to show them a special little presentation he prepared. He was going to unveil his latest creation for their company to them, up close and personal-"

It was at that moment that the Brett of the Flashback said-

"Esteemed gentlemen and generous benefactors of mine; prepare to be amazed by my scientific genius. For I have created a new formula that is sure to put your cosmetics company at the tip-top where it truly belongs. A new concoction that is sure be purchased by people suffering from crow's feet and wrinkles for years to come. And all I have to do to complete it is simply add these last few chemicals into the mixture and let it all bubble. Then you may test it for yourselves, gentlemen…"

It was then that Brett continued to mix up his special new formula and, while all of this was happening, Rose resumed her narration of the story by saying-

"Now, at first; it seemed like things were going the exact same way as they did before; when my dad first mixed together this special new formula of his and then showed it to the rest of the family as "dress rehearsal" for his big presentation. But, that's actually when things started go a little bit off the rails for my dad, you see, because, well-"

It was during that last bit of Rose's narration that we are shown that Brett was getting ready to pour in a large beaker filled with a strange, blue colored chemical, much to the shock and worry of his wife and two daughters.

"Um, Daddy, like, what exactly are you doing right now?-" Asked the Marigold of the flashback as she grabbed her father's sleeve in an attempt to stop him "-you only needed to use, like, a few drops of that stuff before, so, uh…"

"So, this time, sweetheart, I need to make sure that I make an even bigger impression with my formula now that my bosses are finally watching me-" Brett interrupted her in a whispering voice so that his employers wouldn't hear him "—and that means I have to go all out with this presentation, in any way I can think of…"

"Um, Brett, dear, I really don't think that that's such a good idea, you know, at all…" said Rose's mother, with a worried look on her face

"Oh, relax, Rhonda, everything under control" said Brett, reassuringly "Don't forget; I am a chemist after all…"

And with that, Brett basically poured the entire beaker he had in his hand into the formula and then we cut to the outside of the apartment building. There, we are shown an explosion of purple smoke as it poofs out of the building through a pair of aligning windows and when it started to calmly turn into a simple fuming smoke, we are then shown what the inside of the family's apartment looked like afterwards. To know what the interior looked like at this point, you need only remember what happened during the test shown in "Nobody's Fu" and imagine the color being purple instead of blue. This, naturally, made Brett feel more than a little bit sheepish and it showed in the way that he smiled and chuckled nervously to his bosses when they all glanced over to him. It was at this point that the flashback ended and when it did, Trixie replied to the story by saying-

"Whoo baby…!" as cheerfully as she could, right before the group stopped at a crosswalk so that they could press the crosswalk sign button "Sounds to me, Rose, that your daddy just made the granddaddy of all epic mistakes that day, girlfriend, mm-hmm, seriously. So let me guess, little Miss Ninja thang; he was, like, so totally fired after that little snafu, am I right…?"

"Nope, it turns out that my dad was still an important asset to the company as a chemist, thank goodness" Rose replied "But, that incident certainly did cost him his most recent promotion, a promotion that was actually the whole reason why our family had to move overseas in the first place, so…"

"So, you had to move all the way back out here because of that? Wow, what are the chances; am I right, people…?" said Jake, semi-enthusiastic, right before Rose started to smile and began chuckling ever so slightly herself

"Yeah-" is what she said, when the crosswalk sign finally turned green and allowed the group to finally cross the street "—I've got to be honest with you guys though; it seemed a little bit too good to be true in my eyes at first, but, the facts don't lie; here I am, back in New York City and that's good enough for me…more than enough for me, to be perfectly honest…"

During that last part of the last sentence, Rose grabbed Jake's hand after the group made it to the other side of the street, and then the two of them stared lovingly at each other's eyes; right before leaning in so that they could rest their foreheads against each other's.

"Oh, come on now, you two!" said Trixie, obviously trying to stop the moment before it could fully flourish "Can't we at least get through one hour of planned out arcade related fun first before you two lovebirds have to go all kissy-kissy face on us again? I mean seriously now, people…!"

"Hey (repeats this word 4 more times), come on now, Trixie, let's not get ourselves all worked up before we even have the chance to get started, okay?" Jake replied in an attempt to calm Trixie "Look, trust me, nobody wants this week of fun to go off without a hitch as much I do, alright, and that is exactly why I am absolutely, positively certain that nothing is going to ruin the next seven days for us. Not anything from the human world and not anything from the magical world, nothing at all, I tell you, nothing at all…"

It was at that point that Jake felt something really sticky touch his back and then pull him backwards into a nearby alley. He barely got a good enough look at it at first, but, it appeared to be some sort of spider webbing of some kind. A fact that was only confirmed when Jake actually saw the one responsible for what just happened to him; a very large, very ugly-looking spider-like monster, snarling and growling ferociously no less.

"I had to say something, didn't I?" said Jake while he was still on the ground, with a rather annoyed tone in his voice, I might add as well

It was there that the scene quickly transitioned to the bottom of the Hudson River, where we are shown the silent and graceful moments of one of the two mysterious submarines that Sigmund Brock sent down there a mere few scenes prior this one. More specifically; it was the submarine that the group known as Squadron-A was assigned to take; Submarine Red, and on the inside, Squadron A was hard at work at the submarine's instruments.

"Talk to me, Mr. Morgenson, how close are we to our planned destination at this current point and depth?" said a female member of the squadron as she remained the only member of the group standing up and walking around while the rest of her squad remained seated at their apparent posts

"Hmm, well, according to these instruments, Commander Tarlos; we should be at the exact location specified by these coordinates programmed into the ship's onboard computer-" said a male squadron member operating one of the submarine's sonar systems (his name being Mr. Morgenson, apparently) "-but, so far, my sonar's not even picking up so much as a single blip on i-"

It was at that very moment that the aforementioned sonar system began to blip, which caught Mr. Morgenson's attention within a good hot second.

"Well, it would appear that I spoke too soon, Commander, according to this; we should only be a few feet away from our targeted location, if even that far away from it" Mr. Morgenson followed up

"Nolann, quick, get me a visual on this target of ours, I want to actually see it with my own two eyes" Commander Tarlos ordered, which resulted in another male member of the squadron tapping on a few keys on the board of his console and causing the video screen within the submarine to turn on within a few seconds.

Once the screen was on, the crew, along with the audience, is shown that their "planned destination" was the Mermaid City seen in "Something Fishy This Way Comes", though it was shown only at a distance this time around.

"Ah, the East Mermaid City" said Commander Tarlos as she stared at the wondrous sight "It's pretty much as beautiful as it was always described to me, maybe even more so. Quartz, scan the entire area within a 25 mile radius, I want our main target found and I want it found now!"

Commander Tarlos' orders were heard and acted upon by another female squadron member with short blonde hair. She pressed the keys at her console and before long, the video screen turned into a digital map which scanned the exact amount of distance that was requested and ultimately, the squadron member (whose name is apparently Quartz) found another location not too far away from where the Mermaid city was. That's when the video screen turned back into a regular video screen, so that this find could be shown, and when it was, it was revealed to be some sort of strange prison complex of some kind.

"And just like that, there it is, Commander-" said Quartz "-the Oceanus Maximum Security Prison complex, found just a few feet away from our current location, which gives it, approximately; a…um… 20 minute ETA time in terms of approaching it and in terms of leaving it as well, if my calculations are correct, of course…"

"Hmm, I've heard a lot about this particular complex, Commander Tarlos; they say that it is home to some of the most dangerous and most lethal criminals in the entire Aquatic Magical World in these parts. Every single prisoner that is, or has ever been, kept inside that massive structure is in there for one reason or another…some of them, for even more reasons than that, or so I have been told…" Morgenson added on while looking at the prison complex from his station

"…Hahahahahahahahahaha, and that, my dear Mr. Morgenson, is precisely the main reason why we were sent all the way out here to find it today-" Commander Tarlos replied "—which reminds me, Phrick, did you remember to bring the experimental charges with you, like you were told?"

"I was wondering when you were gonna ask me that" said a third female squadron member with red hair (whose surname is apparently Phrick) as she pulled out what appeared to be a mine-like object of some kind and tossed it over to Tarlos' hands "Here, I figured that you'd want to take a better look at it for yourself, Commander, and don't worry, according to those boys back down at the laboratories; their mixture of pixie dust and sphinx hair should do the job quite nicely. That's why I already outfitted a few of them onto the retrieval squadron before we even got here, boss lady"

This made Commander Tarlos smile ever so slightly, right before she said—

"Well then, by all means; let us proceed to carry out this little assignment of ours, shall we? Varson, begin sending out the Spectris, if you please…"

Tarlos was talking to a male squadron member at this point, and he responded to her command by nodding dutifully and pressing a small red button at the edge of his console. Said button caused a small hatch to open underneath the submarine and out of it swam five mysterious-looking figures. Up close, they almost resembled ninjas, right down to their ominous looking red eyes and dark coloring. But in any event, once they were all free, they all began to swim towards the prison complex, while each of them wore belts that were covered with the very same devices that Phrick showed Tarlos earlier. And back onboard the submarine, Tarlos was looking at this via the visual screen and she was smiling a somewhat wicked smile.

We then transition back to Jake within the city, where we see that he is now being thoroughly attacked by the spider creature that pulled him into the alley. The beast never actually touched him, of course, but, it certainly came dangerously close. Jake was mostly dodging the attacks defensively at first, but, then he decided to go on the offensive, by the time he said-

"Okay; that is it; Dragon U-"

But before the young Dragon could even finish his battle cry, the spider creature spat out a long string of webbing from its mouth and hit Jake in his mouth with it. Caught completely off guard by this move, Jake was left completely open to the spider creature long enough for the latter to begin pulling him back and swinging him around a second time. This time, the result was Jake getting swung right into a solid brick wall and as he started to get back up, the spider beast began to advance on him for another attack. Fortunately, before the creature could do so much as one more thing to Jake, something hit it on the side of its arachnid head. As the object dropped to the ground, Jake saw that it was his skateboard that hit the beast and when he looked in the same direction as the monster, they both saw that it was Rose who did the throwing

"Legs off my Boyfriend, bug!" is what the young blonde said as Trixie and Spud soon joined her on screen

It was at that point that the gigantic arachnid let out a loud roar and then proceeded to attack Rose and the others mere seconds afterwards. It leapt right at them, but, fortunately, they all got out of the way just in time and when the creature landed on the ground with a huge, loud thud, Rose took advantage of this opportunity to deliver a sound kick to the spider beast's body. It was a very forceful attack and one that sent the beast stumbling to the side a bit, but, the creature soon recovered from that a mere few seconds or so afterwards and then growled a little bit more before continuing with its attack on the young blonde teenager. Fortunately, Jake was already back on his feet by this point and, after he removed the webbing from his mouth, he finally called out-

"DRAGON UP…!"

-and then proceeded to transform into his ever impressive, "American Dragon" dragon form, ready for action no less, if I might add that as well. Meanwhile, the spider beast was still having no luck at all in regards to attacking Rose; in fact, it wasn't even so much as landing a single blow on the blonde teenager. However, the beast's efforts did leave it open long enough for Jake to swoop in and tackle the creature to the ground so that he could pick it up and throw it inwards into the alley, much to the beast's anger and annoyance, to say the least. Then, after it shook off that attack and then just growled ferociously again, the spider beast was poised to make another attack, when, all of a sudden, Jake started to fly upwards for some strange reason. The young dragon then balled himself up into a living cannonball at that very moment and then came hurdling downwards right at the creature from a very precise and specific angle. The spider beast was somewhat confused by Jake's tactics at first, but, that was soon made to matter so very little when the American Dragon suddenly cannonballed the arachnid right on the head and, subsequently, into the ground. Jake then ricocheted off of the creature and landed right next to Rose afterwards. Mainly because, somehow, they both knew that that wasn't going to be enough to defeat this monster, so, they both remained poised for another offensive move made by this creature. This also made them both somewhat more anxious when they saw the beast start to stand back up again. However, much to the apparent surprise of them both, the spider creature seemed somewhat afraid of them now and then began to make a retreat via climbing up the walls and escaping on the rooftops. Once it was gone, Jake reverted back into his human form and Trixie and Spud both approached him and Rose.

"So that was what, exactly?" asked Trixie

"I think I've seen one of those things before, Trixie…" Jake replied "…I think it's called a, uh, Kumo or something"

"Oh, oh, I've heard about the Kumos, Jake, from my old Mythology 101 Class back at my old school in Hong Kong" said Rose "We were learning about the mythological beasts of Asian cultures one day and, according to what I was taught; The Kumos are a race of vicious, bloodthirsty, Japanese spider monsters known for attacking people at random. Though, I've never actually believed that they were real until now, let alone that they could be found in New York City for that matter either…"

"They… can't…" said Jake "From what I hear; the only reason you'll see a Kumo in the NYC is because someone smuggled one in. This one probably just escaped from some Goblin gangsters or something, it happens all the time, it's really no big deal."

"Uh, no big deal…?" Trixie retorted "Excuse me, Boy, I would think that getting attacked by some giant, huge, slobbery, ugly, hairy-legged, red Spider-like monster for practically no reason at all would count as a very big deal, would you not agree with me there, Spudinski?"

"Yeah and the worst part of it all is; this new bit of dragon business is definitely going to tap into our scheduled fun time for the rest of the day, you guys; it always does, people, it always does!" said Spud in a somewhat whiney tone

"Oh, but not this time, Spud, not this time-" said Jake "—because this time I can personally guarantee that we won't be seeing that freak of the week for the rest of the day or any other day for a while actually…"

"W-what are you talking about, Jake?" asked Rose "We-w-we just saw that… thing get away on us just a few seconds ago, so…"

"So, it's totally not worth getting upset about, Rose-" Jake replied nonchalantly "—see, now that I know that that thing was a Kumo, I am suddenly reminded of what my Gramps and Fu Dog once told me about the Kumos. Namely that if you hit one on the head, sort of like what I just did a few minutes ago, it usually makes them give up and go back to their secretly hidden nests so that they can secretly hide like secretly scared little bunny rabbits, secretly. Sort of like that thing where if you hit a shark dead on its nose, it'll just give up and swim away or something like that, I'm not really sure. But, anyway, with that in mind, I am absolutely, positively certain that we will not be seeing any more of that spidery freak for at least another month or so, and certainly not for the rest of our day of wild and crazy fun today, my good friends, believe me on that one, people, believe me on that one"

Jake simply casually placed his arm around Rose rather intimately while he was saying that last sentence, and, as he and his three friends all continued to walk along, they all had facial expressions that gave the impression that they didn't have a care in the world at this point. That was when the scene began to transition again, and this time, we are shown the four friends looking upon something with both shock and horror. Apparently, the very same video game arcade that the group was so set on arriving at had already been severely damaged and was currently being blocked off by a modest number of police officers and watched by a moderately large crowd of people.

"Whoa, man, what the…what the heck just happened to our favorite video game place, Yo? Did a bomb hit this place or what?" said Trixie out loud

"To be honest, kiddo, the police aren't exactly sure of what could have caused any of this damage…" said some random female citizen who overheard Trixie's question "…All they know is that it happened really fast and hard, and that it was only less than an hour ago too…"

"I heard that the owners think that they saw a monster or something do all of this in a blind rage just a little while ago" another civilian added on, his words catching the attention of Jake and company "Apparently, it was some kind of giant spider monster or something with bright yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp pointy fangs. It just came from nowhere and started wrecking the place for no good reason, or at least that's what the owners think they saw happen. Personally, I think they just had some bad cereal and milk for breakfast, to be perfectly honest"

It was at that moment that Trixie, Spud and Rose all looked directly at Jake (not angrily, mind you, but still), who then, nonchalantly, sighed and said-

"Somehow, I should've known that things were gonna turn out like this for me today. I'm assuming that you guys all know what's gonna have to come next, right?"

"Let me check the schedule, bro, see how many things we're going to be missing out on for today" said Spud, after sighing ever-so-slightly himself

(Commercial Break)

We are then shown, once again, the Oceanus Maximum Security Prison complex, deep down underwater, and the five mysterious-looking, ninja-esque figures were all still swimming right towards it. Then, once they were all within 5 feet away from the complex, they all did their very best to make sure that they were not spotted by the mermaid guards. Especially when they all started to begin placing the experimental charges that they all carried on each of the prison's walls, which actually caused them all to start beeping with flashing yellow lights to accompany the loud sound. Meanwhile, back onboard the Submarine Red, Tarlos and her squadron were all, basically, on stand-by while all of this was happening, until Quartz's console practically came alive via a small flashing yellow light bulb which could be found on the very right edge of said console. When that happened, Quartz took an even closer look at the small light bulb and said-

"Alright-y then, Commander, the charges have all been set, they just need someone to start activating every single one of them, as of right now, is all"

"(Chuckles) All in due time, my good friend, all in due time…" said Commander Tarlos "But, first; I think that it's at last time for us to allow our dear old friend and partner, Mr. Seafoam, to finally have his chance at pulling his weight on this little assignment. You all know how much he was looking forward to this, after all"

Mr. Morgenson was smiling rather wickedly during the course of that last statement and, after nodding rather dutifully, he then pressed a button at the bottom edge of his console. It was at that very moment that we cut to the outside of the submarine and are shown the interior of the Mermaid city, which included the front gate and various Merpeople civilians simply going about their day without a care in the world. That soon ended, however, when the populous briefly caught a glimpse of what looked a flashing glow of dark red light flowing upwards for some strange reason. Now nobody within the city was really quite sure about what they should've made of what they just saw, but, the anomaly most definitely attracted the attention of the Merpeople guards, who were all rushing towards the city's front gate so that they could go outside and investigate the strange cause of this strange event. However, before the guards could even open the front gate, it came smashing inwards towards them instead and the cause of that was revealed to be…a Kraken and it was most definitely in an unruly mood, as made apparent by its loud monstrous roar. In fact, the mere sound of that was enough to send the entire Merpeople populous into a frantic panic, and that was soon justified even more so then before when the Kraken began go Godzilla on the Mermaid city.

It was at that very moment that the scene then transitioned back to the middle of New York City, where the Video Game Arcade was still lying in ruins. The crowd of people that was looking on at the rubble before was still looking on at it now, while the police were all still trying their very best to keep them all back. But, what nobody took the time to notice was the fact that this crowd was, at least, short by 4 people at this specific time and that was because those very same people had gone underground via a manhole cover. These four aforementioned people were, of course, Jake and his 3 young friends and they were all (mostly) determined to see if there was any truth to the belief that a "monster" was, indeed, responsible for all of the damages caused way up above, topside. However, the fact that they had to traverse a disgusting sewer to accomplish this very end was not a very pleasant experience for any one of them, to be perfectly honest, for some of them, even less than others.

"Yuck, the sewers, ick, why does it always have to be the gag-nasty sewers that we end up having hoof it through whenever one of these "monster type" situations start to get too serious, people? No, no, seriously, I'm asking, you guys; why is that always the case for us, hmm, anyone, anyone, huh, huh?" said Trixie, as angsty as anyone else would be, as the group continued their trek through deep dark sewers, with each and every single one of them carrying a flashlight.

"Hmm, call me a little crazy, Trixie, but, I'm actually a little bit more concerned by the fact that Spud not had four flashlights that would've been useful if we were searching for someone in the forest at night, but actually brought them along with him for a day planned for arcades and skateboard parks. I mean, what's the meaning of that one, might I ask, huh, Spud?" Said Rose, under a soft chuckle

"Laugh if you must, Rose, but it's just like my mom and dad have always said to me while I was growing up; 'tis better safe than sorry so that you can live to see tommorry'" Spud replied

"Yeah, fine, great, that's some, uh, r-r-really clever wordplay that your parents have going on right there, Spud. But, uh, let's just try and keep things down for just a little bit longer, okay, you guys? I mean, don't forget; there is still one butt-ugly, spider leg monster loose down here somewhere and I would rather that it be us who gets the drop on him first, instead of it being the other way around, you know what I'm sayin'?" Said Jake as he continued to head-up the search, while his words left the others all somewhat stunned, right before they all snapped out of it and continued to follow their dragon friend.

Within a few seconds later, the group soon arrived at place within the sewer system that should've placed them directly underneath the damaged video game arcade that they saw earlier. Jake then flashed his flashlight upwards when they all made it to this specific place and, right after he did, the group saw that there was a massive hole in the "roof", which meant that there was a massive hole in the video game arcade's floor (a good chunk of it too). Now, while the others were undoubtedly shocked by what they had just discovered, Jake was simply nodding his head rather casual-like, while he said-

"Mmm-hmm, just as I thought; Kumo hole, come on, you guys, let's keep moving, he couldn't have gotten too far by now"

-right before he led the group onwards into sewer system. Clearly, they were all officially on a magic-related mission as of this very moment.

"I-I still don't get it" said Rose as she followed Jake closely "I mean, i-if the Kumo's new home really is the video game arcade way up above, then why would it tunnel all the way down here into sewer system? What was it trying to do?"

"Create a new entrance to its real nest, I would at least think, Rose-" said Jake in response to his girlfriend's question "-which means there are probably two more tunnels that lead deep into the sewer somewhere in the city, (sarcastically) great..."

Rose, Trixie and Spud weren't exactly sure what Jake was talking about and it showed in the way glanced at one another while Jake continued to walk through the sewer.

"Uh, share what you know with the rest of the class, Baby Jakey?" Said Trixie in her own attempt to clear up all of the confusion "Because, frankly, the rest of us are kinda drawing on a blank right about now"

"I'm a little confused, Jake-" said Spud, chiming in "-I thought you said that the Kumo would run home after you beat it up, not go and dig ginormous holes, right into the stinky sewer system, no less too, yugh"

"These holes, as you call them, Spud; according Gramps and Fu Dog; are exactly how that spider freak was even able to get home right after I decked him" said Jake in response to all of this "(Sighs) Apparently, whenever a Kumo starts to build its very own nest, it just picks some random location just about anywhere and starts digging until it gets deep enough to feel safe on its own. Then, it actually starts to dig upwards to create two new different holes so that it can have extra air or..."

"So it could have can three different locations to choose from when it goes out to hunt for food ..." said Rose, finishing her sweetheart's sentence "Oh my gosh, we better find that thing and fast, before it's mealtime again..."

"Uh, just one more thing though, Baby Jakey" said Trixie "Why, exactly, were your Gramps and Fu Dog giving you a specific crash course on giant, man-eating Japanese spider monsters? Cause that just seems straight up freaky to me, boy..."

"Eh, Fu Dog said that he was in a bit of "buggy mood" at the time and Gramps told me that he felt that "knowing a little bit more about the Kumos could come in handy somewhere down the line in the near future" or something like that, I don't know, whatever, you guys..." Said Jake, as explained, while he remained in the lead during the trek

However, it was during that last part of the sentence that Rose noticed all of the video game arcade stuff strewn about all over the sewer tunnel. Most likely because the Kumo dragged it all down when it decimated the arcade itself. And when Rose saw how truly mangled all of the items were, she replied to Jake's statement to herself by saying-

"Hmm, good call on his part, apparently"

"What was that, Rose?" Said Jake, having, apparently, caught at least part of his girlfriend's soliloquy, much to the latter's mild chagrin

"O-oh, nothing, nothing, hehehe, (clears throat) let's just keep moving for right now, before we actually do get caught by that spider monster again, like you just said, Jake..." said Rose as a reply, as she and the others continued to keep walking further down into the sewer system tunnels.

But, what nobody within the main group even bothered to stop and take notice of was the fact that among the remnants of the Kumo's attack on the video game arcade was a small flower with a somewhat rainbow-esque colorization to all of its 12, thin petals. It was pretty much just floating there on the water at this specific time, but, we still get a good close up of it just the same.

It was at that very moment that we see the scene then transition back to the mermaid city, where we see that the Merpeople guards are still doing their very best to hold off the Kraken that was attacking them and their city. Now, as anybody would likely expect it, their weapons were not having that much of an effect on the Kraken at all, but, they were still pouring it all on just the same and while they did so, the other guards were doing their very best to get the Merpeople civilians away to safety. They would frequently regroup with one another after every few rescues or so, so that they could debrief one another about how to deal with the attacking kraken. However, when one of these very same debriefings was going on, the guards who were all having it all heard a very loud noise coming from very far away. It was an explosion, several, in fact, and they were all happening in tandem with one another from the exact same place; the Oceanus Maximum Security Prison complex.

Now some of the guards that were within the city believed that should go and investigate this possible secondary attack. But, the rest of the guards were able to convince them that dealing with the Kraken was priority number one, especially when they reassured the former group that the Merpeople guards within the prison were more than capable of dealing with whatever it was causing the problems around the prison complex. In fact, all of the guards that were on the inside of said correctional facility were all scrambling about to make sure that the prison was well defended, as well as make sure that all of the prisoners that were on the inside were all secured in their respective cells. However, what nobody even remotely noticed was the fact that someone had already gotten inside the prison's interior, 2 of them, in fact; both of them members of the Spectris squadron. And now that these two were on the inside, they began to set more of those mysterious charges that they both had, this time on the interior walls of the building. It did not take them very long to finish up this time around, but that was most likely because they didn't use as many as they did on the exterior walls. Still though, as soon as the two Spectris were both finished up with all of this, they made their escape before any of the guards could even catch so much as a single glimpse of one of them. What's more, they made their escape with the very same method that they used to get inside in the first place; they phased through the walls like ghostly apparitions.

Then, once the Spectris were all gone, the charges that they left all began to beep like the ones that were placed on the outside. Within a few minutes or so, the prison guards all heard another chain of explosions, only this time; they were all coming from the inside, which prompted the guards to go and investigate. When a certain amount of them arrived at the site of the explosions, they all saw a glittering purple mist completely covering the entire area. Now, this was not only strange for the guards because they were underwater, but, it was also rather strange for them because this was the exact same type of 'glittering mist' that they were told appeared on the outside, after the first few explosions went off. Regardless though, they all swam right into the glittering mist and when they got through, they saw a sight that was truly unsettling for them to see; three prison cells completely emptied.

This was where the scene then transitioned back to the outside of the prison complex, where we see that the Kraken was still in conflict with the mermaid city guards. Or at least it was, until it heard what sounded like a low frequency sound wave coming from all around, which, for some reason, the Merpeople guards could not hear for themselves. But, in any event, the Kraken most certainly heard it and when it did, it began to smile rather wickedly, right before it ultimately smacked away Merpeople guards, like they were little more than a swarm of flies. Then, once that rather simple task was finally dealt with, the Kraken, instead proceeding with its attack on the city, actually began to leave and swam towards a very large rock so that it could get behind it for some strange unknown purpose. Naturally, a few of the merpeople guards attempted to follow the great beast, but, by the time they were even remotely close to catching up to it, the Kraken was already out of sight, thanks to the very large rock of its choosing.

It was at that very moment that the exact same flashing glow of dark red light from before began to emanate from behind the rock, which delayed the Merpeople guards, momentarily, but not stop them altogether. However, as soon as they reached the other side of the rock, the guards saw that the Kraken had completely disappeared. This was, without a doubt, a very difficult scenario for the guards to fathom, since creatures like the Kraken do not simply vanish without a trace so quietly. However, while the Merpeople guards were all still trying wrap their brains around that one, we then cut back to Submarine Red, where we see that Commander Tarlos and her crew were all watching exactly what was going on, via their video screen and were all looking very, very happy about all of it, to say the very least.

But, in any event, right after all of that was shown, we then transition right back to the sewer system beneath New York City, where we see that Jake and his three associates were all still traversing a very dark and very dank sewer tunnel in search of their ferocious Kumo prey. However, none of this was of much concern to one Arthur P. Spudinski, since he had his mind focused on a few other things, namely; the things that were written on his precious schedule, which he was actually going over right at this very moment.

"Hmm, hey, you know something, you guys? I've been over our schedule a few times and I think that I may have just found a little bit of good news for us today, wanna hear it…?" is what Spud said, and, apparently, that was enough to get Jake and the girls to actually stop in their tracks and listen to what their friend had to say.

This was mostly because they all decided to humor Spud on this, since they saw no real harm in doing so. But whether or not Spud actually knew about this was left unconfirmed, since the next thing to come out of his mouth was-

"You see, when all of this magical world-type business first got started, I was just so certain that it was going to mess up our entire day of planned out fun. But, after checking the schedule again, repeatedly, as well as checking the time just as much, I can safely say now that, if we finish this all up within the next, uh, 10-12 minutes or so, then we should have just enough time to get back on to our weeklong schedule again and then continue to go about our day of planned out fun. Although, that will require us to either skip our lunch break altogether or buy our food from the nearest vending machine that we can find... Just so you know..."

"Mmm, well, it's not the best compromise that I've ever heard in my life, but, at least it's something for us to hope for, anyway..." Said Trixie

"Hey, I'll take it..." said Jake, still in the lead "Anything to keep this "Once in a blue moon opportunity" from turning into a colossal waste of good relaxing time... I mean, seriously..."

""Once in a blue moon opportunity" w-w-what is that supposed mean, Jake?" Asked a concerned Rose

All of a sudden, Jake realized that he may have just spoken without thinking, and so, he responded to the question by saying-

"Oh, uh, n-n-nothing, nothing, nothing at all, Rose, just pay it no mind, baby, because i-it's nothing, nothing, really…"

-right before he started chuckling rather nervously, which was all a clear sign to Rose that Jake was definitely hiding something from her. Not that that really kept Jake from trying to change the subject, because, mere seconds afterwards; the latter added—

"B-besides, I-I-I-I really think that we should be, um, uh, eh, focusing on finding that big, ugly Kumo while we're down here, you know? Because, (blows a raspberry) let's face it; this job's never gonna be over for reals until we find and squish that overgrown spider freak, and I'm not just saying that because nobody on the outside wants to look at that big, ugly bug's mug, mind you…"

-right before he started to laugh at his own joke a little bit, which actually got a smile out of his fellow teenagers as well. However, the happy moment was soon brought to an end when Jake pointed his flashlight to the front of him again and saw that the very same Kumo that he and his friends were chasing was now standing right in front of them all. Now, naturally, the beast was snarling rather angrily at the four teenagers at this point and they were all left in pure shock by the fact that this creature was able to get so close to all of them without a single one of them knowing about it. Still though, this prompted Jake to say-

"Oh, hey, yeah, um, about that ugly mug comment…"

Not that it really mattered though, because, right after Jake began to say that sentence, he was swiftly smacked away by the Kumo. Now this was, of course, more enough to provoke his beloved Rose into going on the offensive, and that was "kicked off" by her delivering a swift kick to the Kumo's head. Unfortunately, it was not same spot that Jake hit it at from before, so it just kept right on attacking Rose, Trixie and Spud. However, Jake was, thankfully, able to recover from his early hit and then, he transformed into his dragon form and then flew right up into the air, with the intent to fight as well, no doubt.

"Okay, that's just about it, you glorified tarantula wannabe" is what Jake said as he got in closer "The dragon kid gloves are finally off on this one, so, consider me your personal exterminator and yourself: a bug who's fair game...!"

Almost immediately, Jake flew directly at the large, magical spider. But, whatever happened after that point was left completely ambiguous, due to the scene suddenly changing to a different part of the sewer system altogether. A part where a medium-sized group of humans could be found at for some strange reason and a place where they could all hear the sounds of a nearby fight going on rather clearly. This battle was, of course, the one that was going on between Jake and the Kumo, and, as it would turn out; the medium-sized group of humans seemed completely aware of this. In fact, one of the male members of this group was actually listening rather closely to the fight and even said-

"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, if I'm listening to that fight next door correctly, then that Kumo's time is definitely up now..."

-right before he started to chuckle a little bit in mild satisfaction.

"Doesn't matter, we have what we came for..." Said another male member of the group after he was done putting some unseen object in his duffle bag

As a matter of fact, two other members of the group, both of them women, were also carrying similar duffle bags, and both of them looked just as filled up to the brim as the first one's did.

"Great, so, let's get going now already, we still have a report to make in a short while too, don't forget" said the apparent leader of this group, who revealed himself to none other than the same squadron leader of Squadron C from before.

This only served to confirm the initial assumption that this group was indeed Squadron C. As did the re-appearance of the squadron commander's faithful lieutenant, who attempted to add on to what her commanding officer said by saying-

"Alright then, people, you heard the man; so, let's go, move it, double time, let's go, hustle yourselves people; go, go, go...!"

After all of that was said, the medium-sized group of humans began to head deeper and deeper into the sewer system. All the way up until they all simply vanished without a trace, courtesy of the very shadows that were found within the very sewer itself. Meanwhile, Jake and his friends were all just exiting the sewer via another manhole entrance that they all found and this one was actually not that far away from the one that they used to get into the sewer system in the first place. The one that was just outside the currently decimated video game arcade, which was still being investigated at this time. And since no one saw them using this manhole for their own personal reasons either, the group was able to slink away without having to answer anybody's questions about anything at all, much to their collective relief, naturally.

Within a few seconds afterwards, the four friends soon arrived at a crosswalk, and while they were all waiting for the sign to change right after Spud had pressed the button, Jake sighed in relief and said-

"Sure glad that that's finally over and done with. Okay, the Kumo's finally been dealt with; near as I can tell, he didn't do much damage to any place else, and, with the way things are looking right about now, the police are probably just gonna chalk this one up to being some sort of freak accident in the sewer levels or something like that"

"Mmm-hmm, and if I recall hearing Potato Boy here correctly now, Baby Jakey; there's still enough time for us make up for this lost fun day hour and still be on schedule for the rest of the week. Ain't that right there, huh, Spudinski?" Said Trixie with a smile

"Oh, well, yeah, sure, just as long we, like I said; get our lunches from a, uh, vending machine or something..." said Spud as he repeatedly pressed the crosswalk sign button, due to the sign not changing fast enough for him "...and provided that this stupid crosswalk sign changes soon, so that we could stop WASTING ALL OF THE TIME THAT WE HAVE LEFT TO MAKE UP FOR THINGS!"

While Spud was essentially throwing a temper tantrum over all of this, Trixie was basically just making an "Oh boy, here we go" face in response to it. And while all of that was going on, Rose decided to approach Jake so that she could ask him-

"Um, Jake; seriously now, dear, I really think that it's past time for you to tell me what you meant, exactly, back down there in the sewer tunnels earlier?"

All of a sudden, Jake began to appear very nervous for some strange reason and it showed in the way that he was sweating while he replied with-

"Oh, well, um, uh, he-he-he, I'm afraid that you'll have to be a bit more, um, uh, specific than that, Rose. I, um, uh, said a lot of things while we were down there, ya know... he-he-he-he-he..."

"True... but, I'm actually referring to what you said about a "once in a blue opportunity"..." said Rose "The way that you said that line kind of got me a little bit concerned, if you know what I mean..."

"O-oh, well, um, uh, y-y-you really shouldn't be, Rose. Because, um, uh, i-i-it's actually n-no big deal, really, you see, because, um, uh, um, uh, uh... oh, would you look at that; the crosswalk sign has finally made its change, Rose, how about that, am I right? Come on, you guys, let's go, keep it moving now, we're still on a schedule here, don't forget. No lagging behind at all, people, none at all...!" said Jake, rather frantically, as he walked Trixie and Spud, rather forcefully, down the crosswalk, with Rose following all of them from closely behind.

Now, Rose was far from being upset with Jake for obviously avoiding the subject that she chose for a discussion. But, she was still undoubtedly concerned about him and his unusual behavior, since she could obviously tell that there was definitely something amiss with that boy. She just simply had to find out what that something was, and find out what it was very quickly.

It is at that very moment that the scene then transitions back to the docks and then, back to "Professor Brock's" massive freighter, which is when we get an actual look inside of the aforementioned large boat. We then find out that the "Good professor" is currently seated in front a large amount of video monitors and was, apparently, waiting for something to happen, somewhat half impatiently, I might add. All of a sudden, his waiting was, apparently, rewarded, when he saw that one of the monitors that he was watching suddenly changed to reveal the face of Commander Tarlos herself.

"Ah, Commander Tarlos, I'm so glad to finally hear from you at last, my dear..." Professor Brock started with a smile, before changing it to an annoyed frown "...even if your call is just a few minutes on the late side..."

"Please excuse my tardiness, Professor Brock, sir..." said Commander Tarlos "...but, I'm afraid that my crew and I were having a bit of a time getting a signal out underwater, you understand..."

"Uh-huh, sure..." said an un-amused Brock in response "...that's the exact same excuse that Squadron B gave me when they called in late, Commander. Hmph, at least they had some good news to report about their mission to make up for it..."

"As does my own squadron, Professor Brock, sir..." said Commander Tarlos with a proud smile "...namely that we've succeeded in acquiring all three of our intended targets..."

"Now that's the kind of news that I always enjoy hearing, Commander Tarlos; results" said Brock, his expression having reverted back to happy "Now then, see to it that all 3 of new acquisitions get delivered safely to the specified rendezvous point. Squadron B's two "rare finds" from the Hudson River should already be there by now, so, be careful. They're supposed to be very fragile at this exact moment and they are not ready to be handled roughly just yet, understood...?"

Commander Tarlos simply saluted Brock after hearing all of that, and while she did so, another video screen right beneath hers suddenly changed just like hers initially did. It was soon discovered that it was the Commander of Squadron C who was calling at this time and, once that fact was made clear, Professor Brock said-

"Ah, just the man that I was hoping to hear from next, that will be all, Commander Tarlos, there's a good girl..."

After that was said, the female commander simply lowered her head ala a bow, and then, the monitor that she was on suddenly turned itself off. Leaving Brock alone to speak with the Squadron C Commander; who was still on his own respective screen.

"Merely calling in to report on some good news, Professor Brock, sir..." is what the Squadron C Commander said over the monitor screen

It is there that the scene then transitions right to the soldier's current location during this call, where we see that he is talking to Professor Brock via a laptop computer. All while his comrades were filling up jet injectors with some sort of strange liquid.

"...Because, as you initially anticipated beforehand, Professor; that angry Kumo that you had us unleash caused the exact type of chain of events that we were all hoping to reap the 'benefits' from. In fact, we're actually just starting to 'upgrade' the very same 'benefits' that the Kumo left for us in the sewer system, as was our initial order..."

It was during that last sentence that one of the female members of Squadron C used her recently filled up jet injector to pump something that was not shown on the screen up with the very same strange liquid that the injector was filled to the brim with. In fact, the rest of squadron C was doing the exact same thing, and whatever it was that they were using the injectors on was never actually shown to the audience in any way.

"Excellent..." said Professor Brock in response "Now then, don't forget, Commander; upgrades or no upgrades, there are still going to more specific procedures that you'll have to take when you put those items into place, especially when compared to how it was with the Kumo itself..."

The scene then transitions back to Professor Brock's end of this call, and that happened just in time for the commander to say-

"Right, but, um, uh, while we're on the topic of the Kumo, Professor Brock, um, uh, sir. I should, probably report to you that we, um, uh, might have lost it in the, um, operation, uh, sir..."

"Well, I suppose that that was to be expected, all things considered." said a surprisingly calm Professor Brock after sighing nonchalantly "But, no matter, those glorified magical bugs aren't as hard to find and capture as you think. Besides, (chuckles ever so slightly) losing one Kumo can hardly equate to what's coming up next, especially with the new 'upgrades', (chuckling stops) and I expect to be kept completely apprised with information gathered from onlookers like yourselves, is that clear?"

"Crystal, sir..." said the Commander

"Good, now then, report back to me only after it becomes clear that the second phase of this operation has begun, and not second later, understood?" Brock continued

Then, much like Commander Tarlos did right before he called; the Squadron C Commander simply saluted Professor Brock, which is when his monitor suddenly turned itself off, just like Tarlos' monitor did before. It was that very moment when Professor Brock let out a huge sigh, just as he was turning himself away from all of the video monitors via his bolted down revolving chair. However, Brock soon found something else to look at, or rather, he found someone else to look at, since he was actually not the only one within this chamber at this exact moment in time. In fact, during the entire time that Professor Brock was discussing things with the Squadron field leaders via the video monitor screens; this mysterious secondary individual was actually just standing a mere few feet away, with his/her arms crossed, while he/she was leaning up against a wall in a very casual-like manner. He/she was shrouded by the shadows at this particular time, and thus, not much was shown about his/her general appearance. The only type of movement that he/she was actually shown doing was turning his/her head towards Professor Brock's current position, revealing his/her glowing, narrow, blood-red eyes in the exact same process.

However, Professor Brock was actually far from being intimidated by this. In fact, just as soon as he saw this mysterious individual looking at him in such a manner, he started to smile, just before he said-

"Don't worry, my friend; everything is going exactly according to our plan here…"

The mysterious individual simply narrowed his/her eyes during that last part, which is actually when the scene suddenly began to change. We then cut to some sort of rundown shack of some kind in what appeared to be a snowy terrain in an as of yet unidentified location. The camera then began to give us a close up of this flimsy-looking structure, and while it did, Brock's voice could be heard via a voice-over, and he was saying-

"…Not a single loose end to found anywhere…"

It was currently night time at this particular unknown location and on the inside of this rundown shack; we soon find a small, fluffy doggie that was curled up on the floor on top of a brown furry blanket of some kind, fast asleep. It was a Tibetan spaniel to be precise, and within a few seconds or so, the small fluffy doggie was suddenly awakened by some sort of weird feeling that was coming from the inside. As one would expect it to be the case, the dog's head quickly shot up at that point and then, it began to start looking around for some information about its strange new feeling. However, while the Tibetan spaniel was frantically looking (and sniffing) all around for some answers, its movements actually caused some other creature, which was sleeping close by, to wake up with a strained yawn. The fluffy little doggie took notice of this and then turned its head towards the direction of the yawn, which was actually a makeshift bed of some kind, complete with an old and worn out, black, fur blanket and an equally old, yet tattered up, mattress, filled to the brim with nothing but straw.

Once the blanket was finally pulled off of this strange individual, however, it was, at last, revealed that this very same being was actually a rather young girl, somewhere around the ages of 11-12, to be precise. She had long and beautiful, straight, black hair that was actually long to go down to her back. As well as bangs that were almost the exact right length required to completely cover her slightly slanted, brown eyes, especially with their rather straight cut across. Now, in terms of clothing; this young lady was wearing a dark red dress with stylistic, golden symbols sewn onto it. The dress itself appeared to be short-sleeved, but, fortunately; the young lady was also wearing something underneath; something that was an even darker shade of red in terms of color, and had sleeves that were long enough to offer actual protection from the harsh freezing cold.

"Windchill...?" Is what the young girl said, albeit a bit groggily, as soon as she was sitting up in her 'bed' and rubbing her eyes open "Wha-w-w-what's the matter, girl, you having a bad dream?"

Now, the tiny little dog here (whose name is apparently Windchill) was not entirely sure about how to react to that particular question (and no, it was not just because she couldn't speak). But, the more she put more thought into the matter, the more she began to feel that whatever it was that woke her up really was just a dream. With that thought still fresh in her mind, the small Tibetan Spaniel dog simply shrugged it all off and then went right back to her own personal blanket, so that she cuddle right back up onto again and then, go right back to sleep. However, while the young, black-haired girl was also starting to do the same with her own 'bed' (she even yawned a little bit, too), she remained awake just long enough for her to try to comfort her canine "roommate" by saying-

"You know, I know that you've been having these weird, late night moments for quite some time now, Windchill, but, (over another yawn) I'm sure that there's no real reason for you to get too worked up about it, old girl. This is... probably just a 'coming and going' type of... phase... that'll be... over... real... soon..."

Now, it was, of course, no secret that the unnamed girl was slowly starting to fall asleep during her little 'words of wisdom' moment. And, once she was finally fast asleep, Windchill began to follow suit and started to doze off just a little bit herself. Although, there was a brief moment when she reopened her eyes again and began to look a great deal worried. A large part of her couldn't help but feel that her little 'late night moments' were actually a warning of things to come. Dogs are funny that way, after all.

(Episode Ends)

Author's Notes: A.) Not the best way to start things out, I agree. I guess I just spent so much time and effort on the side plots with the squad members that I just let the main plot with Jake and company start to dwindle. Also, I think I was trying to fit too much into this episode. B.) A while back, I was hoping to rally followers to help make this fanfics a little more than that, somewhat akin to what certain Kim Possible fans were doing when they put up "Project Possible" and "The Possible Missions". Although, these days, I am only out to find artists who are willing to devote a certain amount of their time to illustrate my fanfics for a no-profit fan comic, simply out of a pleasure to see our different types of art combined. Anybody interested?