Chapter 3: The Dragon Council

"I knew it!" Jonathan Long exclaimed. "It wasn't a dream after all."

"Then why did you act otherwise when we told you it was all just a dream back then?" Jake asked with a faint smile, showing he didn't believe his father.

"Because then either I'd be wrong and your mother would think I was crazy or I'd be right and history would be changed." Jonathan explained.

"Whatever, Dad." Jake replied. "It still doesn't explain you calling Mom a monster."

"I didn't believe she was telling the truth back then." Jonathan explained. "I was afraid she made up that story to trick me into revealing my powers and only acted as if I hated dragons to make you think I wasn't one."

"Fair enough, Jonathan." Lao Shi solemnly replied.

"Dad! Are you really accepting that excuse?" Susan was shocked at that.

"We dragons must be careful about who we reveal our secrets to, Susan." Lao Shi explained. "Neither you nor Jonathan could be sure the other wasn't a slayer, for example."

Jake would have made a funny comment on how ludicrous that idea was until he remembered his own love life. He couldn't be sure he was the only dragon to fall in love with a slayer.

"Jonathan, now that we know you and your sister are dragons, I must ask you to present yourselves to the Dragon Council." Lao Shi told his son-in-law. "Why?" Patchouli asked.

After Lao Shi explained, they went to the station to take a magical elevator to the Island of Draco. "Mr. Lao Shi, we're taking a train to an island?" Patchouli asked.

"Of course not." Lao Shi stated as if he was stating the obvious. "We're taking the elevator." She then stared at her brother, who was as confused as she was. One elevator ride later, Jonathan and Patchouli were afraid they should have brought barf bags. "Hi, Jake. Hi, Haley." They heard a young woman saying as she approached.

"Hi, Sun!" Jake and Haley replied.

"Jakers, isn't that your Home Economics teacher?" Jonathan asked in surprise at seeing another familiar face.

"She's Haley's Dragon Master and the Korean Dragon, Dad." Jake explained.

"What's a Dragon Master, Jake?" Jonathan asked.

Lao Shi decided to explain that one. "Dragon Masters are dragons assigned to teach young dragons how to use their powers, Jonathan. Since you and your sister never had any, it's possible the Dragon Council will assign one for each of you."

Not knowing the truth, Sun Park was confused. "Lao Shi, why would your son-in-law and his sister need Dragon Masters? They aren't dragons."

"May we?" Patchouli Long eagerly asked Lao Shi. After the elder dragon assented with his head, she and Jonathan changed into their dragon forms. "What?" Sun was now shocked. "Lao Shi, how come you never told the order your son-in-law is a dragon?"

"I've only recently learned the truth, Sun." Lao Shi explained with a sad face. He even lowered his head in shame.

"You know the Dragon Council will be upset at you for failing to recognize a fellow dragon for all those years, right?" Sun asked in concern.

"This just gives me one more reason to be happy for keeping the secret hidden for such a long time." Jonathan commented with a malicious smile after he and Patchouli resumed their human forms. After all those years of enduring Lao Shi's dislike of him, he couldn't help enjoying the notion of his father-in-law being in hot water.

"Now I know where you got your immaturity from, Jake." Haley commented to her brother. All of them then went to the Dragon Council's room. "Luong Lao Shi, isn't that your human son-in-law?" Councillor Andam the African Dragon asked upon seeing Jonathan Long. "I thought you'd bring the new dragon."

"And he did." Jonathan said with pride as he and his sister, once again, resumed their dragon forms.

"Lao Shi, what's the meaning of this?" Councillor Kulde the European Dragon asked in anger. "We thought your son-in-law and his sister were normal humans."

"Patchouli and I kept it hidden from him." Jonathan happily explained.

"Lao Shi, how could you miss that?" Councillor Omina the Dragon of Atlantis asked with a similar expression than Kulde's.

"Hey!" Jake protested. "Dad and Aunt Patchouli failed to notice us as well."

"They're not members of the Order of the Dragon yet, American Dragon." Councillor Andam explained.

"And what exactly does being a member of this order entail to?" Patchouli Long asked.

"The Order of the Dragon is a group of dragons in charge of keeping the balance between human beings and magical creatures." Councillor Kulde explained. "We protect magical creatures from anyone human or magical meaning them harm and we protect humans from magical troubles."

"Jonathan and Patchouli Long, if you agree to join our Order, you'll be evaluated in order to check what sort of training you'll need with your powers." Councillor Andam said. "If you refuse, you'll be stripped from your powers to make sure neither of you will expose the Magical World to human beings."

"Well, if it's to keep Jake from missing too much on schoolwork because of his dragon missions, I'll agree." Jonathan decided.

"Being a dragon is a part of who I am and I won't renounce this." Patchouli added.

The Dragon Council was happy with the decision. "In that case, Dragon Jonathan, Dragon Patchouli, show me how good you are with basic dragon powers." Councillor Kulde asked and the two dragons started flying and breathed fire. "Pretty impressive but we'll also need to see your ability to create chi doppelgangers." Jonathan and Patchouli then created each one a duplicate. The two Jonathans then approached Jake and Haley and said. "Look, kids! Daddy in stereo!"

"I bet you've been waiting a lot for a chance to do that." Jake replied.

"Do you both know you can make partial transformations?" Councillor Omina asked.

"Like this?" Jonathan asked as he reverted to human form and then changed his right arm into a dragon arm.

"Or this?" Patchouli asked as she reverted as well and then turned her ears back into dragon ones.

"Excellent." Councillor Andam commented as he handed Jonathan and Patchouli brochures titled 'So, you're a dragon who grew up apart from your species'. "Please study these for next week when you'll be tested to see if you're ready for dragon duties or if you'll need dragon masters."

End chapter.