Season 1 Episode 8
Professor Rotwood's Thesis
One night in Manhattan New York, a leprechaun walked out of a building and into an alleyway as it appeared he was exiting a party as music blared from inside, and he was carrying a pot of his lucky irish gold.
"A good night to you all." He said in his irish accent. "Next time, the corned beef's on me, don't you know?" He laughed as he closed the door behind him and when he turned ahead, he found a female leprechaun in front of him as she waved and smiled. "Top of the evening to you, lassie. And what might your name be?" He topped his hat and bowed.
"Malfunction. Malfunction." It turned out the leprechaun girl was actually an automaton robot as its arm fell off and began short circuiting and its eyes began rolling over.
The leprechaun seemed oblivious to even realize his as he continued flirting. "Oh, Mal Function. Would that be short for Mallory then?" Smoke whistled from its ears as he continued to be clueless about it. "Ah, is it me, lass, or are you sensing sparks between us? What do you think?"
"I think you've fallen for our hunting decoy." The Huntsman said as he jumped from his hiding place with Huntsboy by his side. The leprechaun's smile dropped as he turned around to face the magical slayer. "We use it to lure out our prey, and despite the malfunction, it appears to have worked."
"Now hand over the gold, leprechaun." Huntsboy demanded.
He held it close and before the two magical hunters could do anything, they ducked when a stream of fire flew above them. Then Jackie Long, who was in her dragon form, landed in front of the men to protect the leprechaun, as that's her main job was to protect magical creatures.
"Sorry, my man, but gold-digging definitely drops you a few points on the 'hot meter'." Jackie mocked.
"You're the one about to be dropped, dragon girl!" Huntsboy retorted back before his master blasted green beams from his staff as Jackie used a trash can lid to deflect his attacks while the leprechaun hid behind the trash bins.
Jackie then threw the lid like a frisbee and knocked the Huntsman's staff out of his hand. "Finish her!" He ordered his apprentice.
Huntsboy battle cried as he flipped towards the dragon, but she picked up the leprechaun and flew to the roofs as he kicked some bins instead. He then followed the magical creatures to the roof through the fire escape as she settled the tiny irish man down and he ran away to safety. Huntsboy arrived as Jackie used her tail to flick him over her. She then pounced on him, but he double-kicked her chest and flipped her over and tried to go for her underbelly, but then she wrapped her tail around his waist and they continued flipping away and towards each other as they jumped from roof to roof, exchanging blows while shouting.
Meanwhile, Jackie's mythology teacher, Professor Rotwood, was on his daily nocturnal spying at the night, trying to prove that magical creatures exist, even though he has no idea one of his students is a magical creature. He was wearing some special night goggles with a voice-recording microphone, wearing a photo camera around his neck, and wearing all black as he climbed the fire escape of a building.
"Scientific log, night seven hundred and thirty-nine of urban nocturnal surveillance. Still no proof of the existence of…" He said to his microphone, but then heard fighting as he turned around and found a dragon and a ninja boy fighting against each other as he gasped and smiled in delight. "At last! After all these years!"
He was about to take a picture with his camera, until a couple of police officers grabbed him by her collar. "Alright, peeper, show's over." One with the red hair said.
Rotwood managed to snap a picture just as Jackie flew right at its flash. As the policemen dragged him to their car, a photo printed out of his camera and he smiled as his little success. "No, wait! I have just captured a magical creature on the film! I am about to become the most respected scientist in the world!"
"Sure you are, pal." The dark policeman said sarcastically.
"Tell you what, I'll call ahead and reserve our special 'respected scientist' holding cell." His partner said with a sarcastic smile as he opened the backdoor of the car.
"Watch the head now." He shoved Rotwood into the car. Before the magical-obsessed teacher could walk out, they slammed the door in his face as he yelped.
Theme Song:
She's cool, she's hot, like the frozen sun
She's young and fast, she's the chosen one
People we're not braggin'
She's the American Dragon
She's gonna stop her enemies with her dragon power
Dragon teeth, dragon tail, burning dragon fire, a real live wire
American Dragon! (Jackie: Dragon up!)
American Dragon!
She's the American Dragon (freestyle with the dragon)
Her skills are getting faster
With Grandpa the master
Her destiny will walk up streets
Show time, baby, for the legacy!
American Dragon!
(Jackie: From the J-A, to the C, to the K-I, to the E! I'm the mack-mommy dragon of the NYC, ya heard?!)
American Dragon!
(Gramps: Jackie! Get back to work!)
American Dragon!
(Jackie: Aww, man!)
The next day at Millard Fillmore Junior High, Rotwood was released from prison after a night of unnecessary peeping like a spy. He began passing out his picture he took that night to his students with a five hundred dollar award labeled at the top.
"So, class, feast your eyeballs one my latest scientific discovery." Rotwood said to his students.
Jackie examined the picture and gasped when she realized that her teacher managed to take a picture of her in her dragon form the night she fought with Huntsboy, but at least it was very faint so everyone could barely notice what it was, which somewhat relieved her.
"Uh, Mr. Rotwood…" Travis began.
"Professor!" Rotwood corrected him irritably as he slammed his poster down on Travis's desk.
"Yeah...I'm looking at your flier, and the only thing my eyeballs is feasting on is a big red and yellow blob."
"It looks kinda like my mom's lasagna." Spuda said as she stared at her flier. "My mom's lasagna flying and doing kung fu!" She began doing kung fu gestures.
"Nien!" Rotwood interrupted in frustration, making Spuda recoil from his outburst. "This is not any pasta, it is a dragon! Or a sphinx or maybe a griffin, maybe, I don't know, and I am the first to capture one on film, whatever it is!"
His students exchanged confused looks like he has officially gone mad. "But that's all fairy tale, mumbo-jumbo stuff." Travis pointed out.
"Oh, yes. It's mumbly-jumbly stuff, of course. The fairy tales, but let me explain to you these three things. Number one: there is a magical creature loose in New York City. Number two: I am offering a five hundred dollar reward for physical evidence of the creature. And number three, and perhaps most important: IT IS PROFESSOR ROTWOOD!"
The bells rang as the students were dismissed from class. Jackie, Spuda, and Travis all stared at their fliers their teacher gave them about five hundred dollars for physical evidence of a magical creature, and Jackie believed she could do it no problem, but rules are rules and not to mention her teacher was a total nutcase than a teacher, believing in only what he believed in.
"Rotwood is tripping hard." Travis said as he shoved his flier in his backpack.
"What?" Jackie asked when he pulled her out of her thoughts before smiling and folding the flier away. "Oh yeah, totally."
"I wonder if my mom even knows that her lasagna escaped." Spuda said before sniffing her flier, making her friends stare at her oddly.
Later on in the afternoon after school, the trio then headed off to Travis's apartment where they played some of their video games, as they were currently playing a football game.
"The clock's running down! We need a touchdown to win it!" Jackie said as they played with their controllers.
"Travis! You and your friends hungry? You something to eat?" Travis's grandmother called from the kitchen.
"No, no, we cool Grandma!" Travis called back. "We just trying to make a fourth-quarter comeback up in this piece!"
Then, his mother walked into the room as she dusted a crystal antique up in the fireplace. Travis's mother had a job as a flight attendant for passenger airplanes, while his father is a airplane pilot for the soldiers, so he barely saw his father as much as his mother, so his grandmother is his constant caretaker while both of his parents were away.
"Travis, Captain Bierholtz's called in sick, so I'm flying the entire London to Tokyo to LA run. I won't be back until Thursday." Mrs. Carter told her son.
"Yeah, a'ight, Mom." Travis said.
"Behave to yourself, write to your father, and listen to your grandmother. Promise?"
"I promise, love you, Mom."
"Love you, too." Mrs. Carter kisses Travis's cheek and then turned to his friends. "Bye, girls!"
"Bye, Mrs. Carter." Jackie said.
"Fly safe; watch out for flying lasagna up there, you hear?" Spuda said in her usual dull tone. Mrs. Carter gave her a strange look before walking out of the living room with her suitcase.
"Travis? Where you going, boy?!" Travis's grandmother said from the kitchen. "You're just leaving-"
"I'm right here, Grandma!" Travis pointed out out loud. "That was Mom!"
"Oh! You hungry? You and your friends want some food?"
"No, we straight!" They paused the game and looked at Travis. "Alright, only time for one more play. Hey, yo, Jack, run a deep post. Spuda, pick up that red dog blitz."
They resumed the game as the players began the game and Jackie ran her football player down the field. "I'm open! I'm open!" She cried out.
As Jackie's player ran down the field, the player with the ball threw it to the air and caught it as she managed to miss the opposing team trying to tackle her. The player slammed the ball when he reached the end field and the referee called it a touchdown as the player began to breakdance and the fake audience cheered.
Jackie, Spuda, and Travis threw their controllers in the air in victory as Jackie began breakdancing, Spuda spun her yo-yo around, and Travis danced on his couch.
"That's what's up, baby!" Travis exclaimed.
"We're the champions of a world that doesn't exist! Whoo-hoo!" Spuda cheered.
"And the extra point is…" Travis then kicked on a pillow on his couch, making it fly and bounce from the ceiling, from the countertop, and finally on the crystal antique as it rattled. The trio gasped as it fell off the edge and they tried to reach for it, but it shattered to pieces on impact. "Oh, no! Not Mom's Suitton Crystal!"
"Travis, what are you doin' in there? What's that about the crystal?!" His grandmother demanded.
"Uh, n-nothing, Grandma! It's cool! I-I was just welcoming over my new friend! Her name is Crystal!" Travis then elbowed Spuda as she grunted.
"What, uh...right!" Spuda said in a higher-pitch, much to Jackie's little discomfort as she cringed. "I'm Crystal! Nice place you got here, Travis! And that Spuda is one cool-ow!" She ended up getting elbowed by her African-American friend again.
There was a moment of silence. "Your friend Crystal want something to eat?" Travis's grandmother asked.
Travis made a look of annoyance as Jackie and Spuda fist-bumped each other.
They all ran up to Travis's room as they examined the now shattered crystal he accidentally broke, and now he was freaking out. "Mom is going to straight freak! That was an antique, one of a kind Suitton vase. Dad gave it to her on their first anniversary." Travis exclaimed.
"That vase wasn't one of a kind." Spuda said, examining a piece of the crystal. "According to this stamp, it was limited edition of one hundred pieces. Now let's go find another one!" Spuda walked through a door, but she exited through the wrong door and she realized it was just Travis's closet. "Uh, I'm lost."
Travis crossed his arms and made a look while Jackie grinned a little.
The trio made their way to the antique shop in the city as they found a Suitton Crystal behind a glass door of the viewing case. The employee picked it up and settled it on the counter.
"You have exquisite taste." He said. "Suitton Crystal, 1912. Mint condition."
"Wrap it up, my man! I'll take it." Travis said.
"Uh, very well. That will be six hundred dollars all wrapped up."
That made the trio make looks of panic when he directly clarified it was very expensive, even too much for all of their allowances. "Did you just say six hundred dollars?!"
"Now, how much if we get it unwrapped?" Spuda asked. The employee only cocked a skeptical eyebrow, not exactly falling for her loophole.
Back outside Travis's apartment, Spuda began counting how many allowance money they have, but as close as any teenager could count, they don't usual get above fifty dollars just for mowing a lawn.
"We've got sixteen dollars and sixty-three cents." Spuda said.
Travis buried his head in his hands in despair. "I'm doomed. Doomed!"
"He's getting hysterical!" Spuda grabbed Travis by his shoulders. "Get a hold of yourself, you man!"
"Just chill, guys." Jackie said. "The three of us are friends for life and friends for real. If we put our minds to it, there's nothing we can't do."
Travis smiled and nodded. "Yeah! Alright! You right!" He said as he stood up. "Let's get it cracking!" They all then fist bumped each other.
Later on, Jackie and Travis have volunteered to paint someone's house, but that ended up making two sides of the house red and blue. Jackie glared at Travis, who blushed in embarrassment. Then, Travis went on and clean windshield on cars as they stopped in traffic, using a newspaper to dry before he read off of it. The driver made a look of annoyance and honked his horn, making the teen jump and smile innocently.
Back in their painting job, as Travis and Jackie painted red over the blue, Spuda backed up like she was angling something. Her friends turned and their jaws dropped when they saw Spuda painted the garage door like an old painting from years ago. Jackie then went to the subway to show off her breakdancing for tips; everyone seemed to enjoy this girl's dancing, until she spun on her back and accidentally knocked everyone off their feet and ended up in a train.
At their painting job, Travis and Jackie painted red in someone's house and a man opened the door as they both accidentally painted on his face and torso. They both smile nervously as Jackie handed him a towel. Then, the trio set up a lemonade stand as they sold them for a dollar, and Spuda impulsively dumped lemonade on her friends in victory, making them glare at her, as she realized her mistake. The trio smile at the new red house, until a real painter began shouting at them that they did the wrong house, making them flee away from their boss.
After about two days of finding jobs, they all met back outside Travis's apartment as Spuda counted their new money, which still wasn't enough from all the past mistakes they did during their jobs.
"That's six dollars. Wait a second, we lost ten dollars and sixty-three cents." Spuda clarified to her friends.
"I'm doomed. Doomed!" Travis said in despair as he rested his cheek on his fist.
"He's losing it again!" Spuda grabbed his shoulders again. "Boy, get a grip!"
"Guys, guys, it's just a setback." Jackie interrupted as she stood between them, knocking down the coin pile. "So we still need, let's see…" She pulled out the old flier and began doing some math she did at least understood as she muttered to herself.
Jackie found out they needed five hundred and ninety-three dollars and thirty-seven cents, and then she flipped the flier about Professor Rotwood's five hundred dollar reward for physical evidence of the dragon he filmed earlier. She then smiled with an idea, since she was an actual dragon, maybe she could use some of her own physical evidence to win some money for her friend's crisis.
"Uh, listen...I got an idea." Jackie said as she buckled her helmet on and mounted on her skateboard. "Meet me back here in a couple of hours." She then skated off.
Jackie arrived back home and asked her little brother, Hayden, to take some pictures of her for Rotwood, which he agreed to do. They both agreed to do it at the rooftop of their house so their parents wouldn't notice.
"Dragon up!" Jackie shouted as she transformed to her dragon form.
She began doing different postures and poses as Hayden snapped some pictures of her with their parents' camera. "Work it, own it, now pout for me. Jackie, I'm not feeling it." Hayden said as he twisted the camera around.
His sister made a look of annoyance. "Just take the pictures, Hayden."
After she got enough pictures, Jackie was in her room as she copied the pictures her brother took as she printed them out. "And print and...bingo." She said as she took the pictures from the printer and ran out of her room to head to her least favorite teacher's place.
Jackie arrived at where Rotwood's address was on the flyer as she buzzed the doorbell.
"What? Who's there? Go away!" Rotwood shouted as he answered through his garage door, until he noticed Jackie while he made as blank expression. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"The dollars, yo." Jackie answered as she showed him his flier he gave out to class earlier. Rotwood allowed her inside as she looked at all the containers of weird-looking blobs on the shelves. "Huh, so this is where you live." Then a blob showed it's teeth, making her back away, a little creeped out. "Uh...real nice crib you got here, Mr.-I mean, Professor Rotwood."
"Ah. Well, enough of the pleasant chitty-chat, eh? You have evidence for me, ya?"
"Yo, do I ever." Jackie pulled out her pictures in her folder and handed them to him. "Chika-check it out. So I'd like the reward in cash. It's all about the Benjamins, baby. Yeah!" Out of nowhere, Rotwood ripped the pictures in half, much to her surprise. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey!"
"Shame on you, Ms. Jackie Long. These photographs are obviously a ridiculous hoax."
"Say what?! Those were way better than that lasagna picture you handed out in class!"
"Exactly." Jackie cocked an eyebrow in surprise. "These are too good; no one could get this close to an actual dragon, particularly an amateur such as yourself. Now take these away from my face!"
Rotwood then shoved his least favorite student out of his lab and slammed his door shut. "Aww man!"
Jackie then went back home to peel some of her dragon scales off of her for real physical evidence then those pictures. She was currently in the bathroom in her dragon form as she uses a pair of tiny tweezers to pick out some of her scales off of her leg and then moved onto using a nail clipper to chip off some of her dragon claws, even though it wasn't really easy, considering how strong a dragon's claws were.
"Travis, you're gonna sell your what to science?!" Jackie asked on her phone while she hugged her phone with her shoulder close to her ear, looking a little disgusted and confused as she snapped one of her claws out. "No, just hang tight. I'm totally on this." She tried to snap another claw, but ended up shattering her own nail clipper.
Jackie returned to Rotwood's lab as he examined the her dragon scales and claws under a microscope.
"Mm-hmm, interesting, uh-huh, hmm…" Rotwood muttered as he removed his eyes off his scope and readjusted his monocle fore glaring at his student. "These are clearly fake!"
"What?! No! Those are genuine dragon scales and claws for real." Jackie said, clearly looking very confused on why he thought they were even fake.
Rotwood only laughed like she was trying to play with him. "You should know better than trying to fool a trained mythobiologist, Ms. Long. Dragon claws glow in the dark, everyone knows this, and their scales have the faintest odor of lavender."
Jackie cocked an eyebrow, clearly thinking that he was totally making all of this up and he only believed in what he believed in. "Lavender? Glow in the dark? That's crazy, they do not! You wouldn't know a dragon if it took a bite out of your butt!" Of course, Jackie really wished she could bite her completely oblivious and stubborn teacher in the butt right now.
"You flaunt your ignorance, Ms. Long." Jackie only crossed her arms as she glared. "Dragons go for the throat and have acute allergies to human 'buttockses'."
"What?!" Jackie finally glared and waved him aside. "Aw, forget you."
Jackie walked out of his lab and down to the city with a look that she could tell him that he was the most stupidest guy she has ever known. He only came up with these lame theories is because it's what he only wanted to believe in, and he could be doing this for his own deeds. Jackie only signed up for his class so she could learn about magical creatures since the day she learned she was a dragon, but she learned extremely fast that he was not all that bright about magical creatures.
"Glow in the dark, allergies to butts." Jackie muttered before scoffing.
"Help! Help, don't ya know!" She heard someone cry out, catching her attention as she perked in surprise.
Jackie walked down an alleyway and looked around for the source of the shout. "Eye of the dragon." Her eyes glowed red as she looked more closely at the edge of a rooftop and saw the same leprechaun from a few nights ago being cornered by the Huntsboy.
"End of the line, leprechaun, so much for the luck of the Irish." Huntsboy mocked, making Jackie gasp in concern. "Say goodbye, leprechaun." He threw a net at him, blowing to be scorched by a stream of fire as Jackie arrived in her dragon form.
"Not so fast!" She charged at him with her foot as he flipped away to avoid her attack. Huntsboy jumped from the edge and the two of them began exchanging blows as they jumped to another rooftop. "Don't you ever take a day off?" She swung her tail as Huntsboy ducked.
"I've been dreaming about slaying a dragon since birth." He swing-kicked at which Jackie ducked from.
"Well, keep dreaming!" Jackie tried to kick him, only for him to cry out as he kicked her harder, sending her crashing to the building, disorienting her as she grunted from the impact.
Huntsboy looked down and noticed Travis and Spuda riding their skateboard down the alley below him, so he just walked away to not be seen.
"We could try back alley turtle racing, or, uh, pull-it-as-I-go karts; I hear that could be pretty lucrative." Spuda suggested as she checked their money.
"Spuda, please. Don't even come at me with anymore schemes." Travis said. "I need paper, cold, hard, loose change, and it ain't gonna just drop down out of the sky and-"
Jackie then collapsed in front of them, making both of them shout in surprise. Jackie groaned as she drifted into unconsciousness and she didn't even notice both of her friends were gaping down at her.
"Whoa! That's one big lasagna." Spuda said with wide eyes. "Maybe I'm dreaming or maybe you're dreaming. Hey, what are you doing dreaming about me anyway, huh?"
Travis gave her a look before skating towards the dragon as he tapped his board on her head. "Is it dead?" He asked.
"It's still breathing." Spuda rolled her yo-yo as she wrapped it around the dragon's upper mouth and opened it as the dragon breathed actual fire, much to her surprise. "Breathing fire." Jackie then passed gas with fire. "Out of both ends?! Wha-"
"Breathing and tooting fire? Hold fast." Travis pulled out the flier and smiled when he realized they found the dragon their teacher was looking for. "Come on, Spudinky, don't just stand there, grab the head." Travis grabbed the dragon's tail as Spuda reached for his head. "Not my head, girl! The dragon's!" Spuda walked to Jackie's head and smiled sheepishly at her friend for being an idiot like she usually was.
In Rotwood's lab, he pulled out some kind of an inscription from some boiling green liquid with a kind of claw grabber and held up a tape recorder to his mouth.
"Finally! Scientific log, I will now decipher the mystical inscription on the lost Aztec Tablet of Monte Rubio. It says…" He said as he began examining the inscription.
"HEY, YO! OPEN UP!" Travis shouted from outside, making Rotwood jump in startle as he drop the inscription and it breaked on impact of the floor, making him growl in frustration. "What up, what up?! You in there, Mr. Rotwood?!"
Rotwood opened the door as he glared irritatedly down at Travis and Spuda. "Professor! It's Professor Rotwood. Now what is it? What do you hoodlums want?"
"We here to get paid!" Travis showed him the flier.
"Believe that." Spuda added.
"Oh, no, no, no, no. No more hoaxes and con jobs from you little swindlers." Rotwood said, after his 'studying' with Jackie. "Now, go on. Get out of here. Shoo! Run away."
"Alright, Professor. I guess we'll just take this genuine dragon elsewhere." Travis said casually as he and Spuda pulled Jackie (still in dragon form and unconscious from her blow with Huntsboy) by their skateboards. "Let's roll, Spuda."
Rotwood immediately made a look of disbelief and shock at the sight of the dragon before him. "Wait! Achtung! Stop! Wait...what is that?" The teacher's face broke into a wide and excited grin. "It's a magical creature. A dragon!"
"Well, heck, yeah. Ain't that what you asked for?"
Rotwood only sputtered and stuttered, completely speechless as he stared at the dragon before his eyes. "I-I-I…"
"That's about as much proof as you're ever gonna get, buddy." Spuda said. "Now cough up the cashola, hmm?"
"Well, of course I'm coughing! I'm coughing! I'll get the five hundred dollars immediately. Wait right there, I'll go cough."
Travis then stopped his teacher before he could run back into his lab. "Oh, pop them brakes, dude. Uh-uh. We just delivered you a whole live dragon right to your door. You're gonna have to start talking more bucks than that." He said.
"Shall we open up the negotiations, dude?" Spuda offered.
Rotwood gave them more money than five hundred dollars, enough to spend money for the crystal they've been trying to buy to save Travis's life from staying in his room for eternity.
"Yeah, baby! Now that's what I call bling-bling!" Travis said as they admired their cash.
Spuda inhaled the money and sighed in satisfaction. "Money smells good."
"Come on, Jackie's gonna lose her pudding when she sees this."
Meanwhile, in Rotwood's lab, Rotwood has trapped the dragon in some kind of reinforced cage as she remained unconscious.
"Wakey, wakey, Ms. Dragon." He said as he splashed water on Jackie's face, enough to shoot her awake.
"Huh? What?" She asked herself as she sat up in surprise. She looked around and discovered that she was inside a steel cage, which was actually a truck and saw Rotwood with a hose and wearing a protective suit. She had no idea how she even ended up in her teacher's clutches.
"Scientific log...success at last! I have a quiet, alive, female magical creature!" He said in his tape recorder.
"How did I-Professor-I mean...rrarr?"
"I have contained the creature in the back of a specially-reinforced armored car of my own design." He turned around as Jackie tried to break free from the truck, but to no avail as she rattled the vehicle with her superhuman strength. "The specimen displays super strength and the ability to fly! However, the legends of dragons breathing fire and all of these things have no basis in factual-ahh!" Jackie glared at her teacher and Rotwood yelped as he ducked from the dragon's fire breath and he stood back up. "Uh...strike that last part." Jackie glared even more as she growled like a real dragon before she spat another fireball to destroy his tape recorder, and then continued open firing at her teacher as he shouted and ducked behind his desk. "Enough with the fire!" He pressed a button and a glass shield closed on Jackie. She tried to punch it before breathing fire at it, but it didn't even break or melt, dumbfounding her a little. A phone rang as Rotwood answered it by his ear. "What?! What do you want? Oh, yes, this is correct. Bring all of your TV cameras. I will be unveiling my discovery at a press conference in exactly two hours." He then realized his phone was on fire, making him shout and then pulled out a fire extinguisher. "HOT! HOT! HOT!"
Meanwhile, Spuda and Travis arrived at Jackie's home as Hayden led them into her bedroom.
"Oh, Jackie, you home, baby?" Travis called out.
"Where are you, sis?" Spuda asked.
Hayden cleared his throat and held out his hand before Spuda gave him a dollar. "I'm not usually supposed to let friends into her room unsupervised. She's afraid they might find out about her teddy bear collection and the fact that she sleeps with a night light, every night...since she was two." He said quietly before walking away and closed the door behind him.
"Man, where is Jackie? We gotta let her know that we're gonna have enough dinero left over to buy some new skateboards and all that." Travis said as he sits on Jackie's bed.
"Maybe she, like, went and robbed an art museum, or perhaps she went on some reality show to win some money." Spuda said as she sat on Jackie's desk and accidentally turned on her laptop, showing some of her recent photos. "Or, you know, I dunno."
Travis noticed the photos. "Shush! Look!" They look at the photos as it showed Jackie changing into her dragon form. Travis gasped when he realized the shocking truth. "I don't believe it!"
"I don't believe it either! And I don't even know what the heck's going on."
Travis' eyes went wide with disbelief. "The dragon? Jackie?!"
"The dragon ate Jackie? Oh, man, what a way to go!"
"No!" Travis shoved Spuda's face towards the pictures. "The dragon didn't eat Jackie, look at this! The dragon is Jackie!"
"I'm even more confused than usual. What does this mean and how does my mom's lasagna fit into all this?"
"I'll tell you what it means. It means we just sold our best friend to Rotwood for cash!" Travis and Spuda looked back at the pictures of their own friend transforming into an actual dragon, and they still couldn't get how their best friend was a make-believe magical creature. "I can't believe we just sold Jackie out to Rotwood like that!"
"Man, we really are greedy and cold-hearted. I like hate us!"
Travis made a look of determination and dragged his dull friend out of the bedroom with him. "Come on, yo! Let's make move! We gotta do something!"
Spuda and Travis returned to Rotwood's lab as they knocked on his door like crazy and even buzzing his doorbell.
"Open up!" Travis demanded.
"Hello? Hello?" Spuda said.
Rotwood answered the door, still in his protective suit. "What? What is it?! Go away!" He said.
"Listen, Professor. There's been a bit of a misunderstanding." Travis said.
"We need our dragon back pronto." Spuda added.
Rotwood laughed rudely. "Your dragon? Hahaha! I don't think so! It is now my dragon, is it not? Now, who sent you? Dr. Van Horn with that hair? Or Professor Becksley? Mr. Bixley Becksley!"
Travis and Spuda exchanged looks before looking back at their teacher. "Look, dude, nobody sent us; we just want the dragon." Travis said before they held up the cash. "Look, we'll even give you all your money back."
"Plus our own six dollars." Spuda added.
"Nien! I am on my way to a press conference that will make me the most respected scientist in the world! You want a dragon? Here, take this one." Rotwood handed them his fake dragon. "Good day!" And he slammed his door right on their faces.
"Man, why didn't Jackie tell us?" Travis asked.
"We all harbor dark secrets." Spuda said eerily. "My third toe is longer than all my other toes."
Travis made a look of disgust at his friend. "Keep that one to yourself, homegirl. Now, we gotta get Jackie some kind of help. Do you think her mom and dad know?"
"About my toe?"
"No! Not about your funky toe!" Then something suddenly popped in Travis's mind as something clicked when he realized who could no doubt know her secret. "Hold up, hold up! What about Jackie's grandfather? That old working in the shop business." They began running towards Jackie's grandfather's shop not too far away from them.
At Lao Shi's electronics shop, it seemed like everything was going normally for Fu and Lao as they went on their usual business while Lao read off his scrolls and Fu Dog talked on his phone while sitting on a chair and was reading off a newspaper.
"Big Ernie, hey, listen up. I like the number four jackalope in the fifth race and the-" Fu said through his phone, and then he stopped short when Spuda and Travis entered the room, catching their attentions.
"My bad for busting in a y'all like this." Travis said uneasily.
"I'll call you back." Fu whispered urgently before he quickly settled the phone and newspaper aside and jumped off the chair onto his fours, pretending to be a normal dog. "Woof! Woof!"
"We're friends of Jackie." Spuda told Lao Shi.
"She is not here." Lao Shi said.
"Jackie...she's a dragon, ain't she?" Travis asked as he and Spuda held up the fake dragon they were carrying.
Lao Shi laughed like they were joking around. "A-a-a dragon? Oh, no!" Travis and Spuda gave him a flat look. "Ah, the imagination of the young, it's like a-a butterfly in...the rain."
"Jackie's a dragon." Spuda said as she showed the old man the photos of his granddaughter transforming into a dragon, much to Lao Shi's complete surprise as he stared at them with wide eyes. "Well, that probably means you're one, too, right?"
"Well, I-"
"Drop the act, Gramps, they know." Fu said as he walked up to them on his rears. "How are you doing, kids?"
Travis yelped in fright at the dog, recognizing that it was the dog Jackie once used for the talent show a couple weeks back. "It's that creepy dog puppet! And look, it really talks!" He exclaimed with wide eyes.
Fu rolled his eyes. "Very sharp, tough guy, check out the king-size brain on this one, eh?"
"After today, nothing will surprise me ever again." Spuda said.
Lao Shi narrowed his eyes at the friends of his granddaughter's friends who now know that magic existed. "You must understand, Jackie's identity is a secret. No one can know want she is." Lao said sternly to both of Jackie's best friends.
"That's just the problem, bud."
"Yeah, the whole world is about to find out what Jackie is...and it's all our fault." Travis said regretfully, making the old man and his dog exchanged worried looks.
Later on that day, Rotwood drove his armored truck that contained Jackie (who was still in dragon form) out of his lab as he sang to himself and drove to his location where he planned to reveal a real life dragon to the world, proving once and for all that magical creatures existed. Unfortunately for him, he didn't drive off unnoticed as Lao Shi, Travis, and Spuda were inside a taxi cab with Fu Dog at the wheel.
"Here we go!" Fu said before stepping on the gas with his paw tied to a thick wooden cube, making the cab lurch forward at full speed. Travis and Spuda yelp in surprise while Lao Shi remained absolutely calm.
"Uh, shouldn't you be the one behind the wheel?" Travis asked Lao Shi.
"I don't have a license." He said.
"Oh, but the talking dog does?"
"Well, he has a dog license."
"Hey, huh, do you mind? The talking dog is trying to concentrate over here! Oh, yeah!" Fu said as he drove into a tunnel, trying to keep up with Rotwood's truck. "Hold tight, kiddies, we're passing on the right!"
Fu drove the taxi on the wall as he speeds up ahead of the other cars, making the teens shout nervously while Lao Shi continued to remain calm. Fu finally managed to make it behind the steel truck as he steered back onto the road.
"Keep it steady." Lao Shi said as he poked his head from the window and shifted into his dragon form. He reached out for the locked up handle as his granddaughter peaked out from the barred window.
"Grandpa!" Jackie exclaimed.
"Hold on!"
Unfortunately for Lao himself, Rotwood glanced down at his rearview mirror and saw Lao Shi's dragon form, making his eyes go wide. "Oh, unbelievable! Another one!" He exclaimed in disbelief. He glared angrily and pressed the oil button. "Take this, Mr. Dragon!" Oil suddenly spewed from the bottom of the truck and Jackie gasped as the taxi slipped over the oil and Lao Shi lost his grip on the door handle while the taxi span out of control.
"Hang on!" Fu exclaimed as Travis and Spuda shouted and prayed silently as the taxi finally screeched in a halt and Lao Shi shifted back to his human form and flipped onto the hood of the car with a yelp/grunt. Most of the cars then surrounded the taxi car as they honked their horns while Fu, Spuda, and Travis exited the vehicle and Fu helped his master up. They both watched Rotwood's van exit the tunnel with Jackie still trapped inside.
Fu glared at the annoying honkings as he stood on top of the taxi. "Hey, stick a sock in that horn! Can't you see we got a situation here? I oughta-" Fu exclaimed, but faltered at his constant mistake. "I mean…" He dropped onto his fours. "Woof!"
Travis and Spuda sprinted towards another cab as they slipped into the back. "Sorry, I am off duty." The driver said to them.
"This is yours, buddy, if you can get us to the Hoboken Scientific Institute in ten minutes flat." Travis said as he held up a stack of cash.
"That, plus six dollars tip." Spuda added.
That changed his mind as he smiled. "Buckle up, kids!" He said.
Lao Shi and Fu Dog watched dumbfounded that the teens managed to find another ride as they watch them drive off out of the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Rotwood had finally arrived at the Hoboken Scientific Institute as TV crews and news reporters were present for his press conference. He began to prepare the people for his latest discovery of a dragon, who was, unknowingly to him, really one of his least favorite students, Jackie Long.
"Six years ago, I was fired from this very institution for my controversial yet brilliant theories on the existence of magical creatures." Rotwood explained to the press.
The red cab arrived as Travis and Spuda exited the vehicle and rushed towards the truck as they tried to pry it open. Inside, Jackie had her knees close to her as she braced herself for the biggest reveal her teacher will expose about her, until she heard familiar grunting and groanings from outside.
"It won't budge!" Spuda said quietly as Jackie peeked from her window.
"Travis, Spuda!" Jackie whispered, until she cleared her throat. "Oh, I, uh, I mean...I'm a big, scary dragon! Rrarr!" She growled in a gruffy voice.
"Kill it, Jackie, we know it's you." Travis said, making Jackie look surprised as her eyes went wide. "Now hang tight, we about to spring you, baby."
"But I…" Jackie sighed helplessly. "There's no way. Rotwood's got this truck built like a bolt, you guys just better get out of here."
"No chance, sis." Spuda said.
"We're here for you, Jackie, friends for life and friends for real." Travis said as he began digging through his duffel bag. "Now this is how it's going down, listen up." He began whispering his plan to Jackie quietly and quickly.
Fu Dog managed to drive out of the tunnel from the commotion and headed straight to the location of the institution at full speed.
"-and so, it's time to change the very course of human history on science with one, startling revelation!" Rotwood finished announcing to his reporters as he walked to the back of his truck, luckily Travis and Spuda weren't seen, and opened the back of his truck ajar just as Fu and Lao Shi arrived to witness this.
"Oh, we're too late!" Fu exclaimed.
Rotwood opened the truck fully as all of the press stare into it with confused and baffled looks on their faces. "Behold, the dragon!"
"Hey, Professor Rotwood, can I take this thing off yet?" Jackie said to him, back in human form and wearing the fake dragon mask, making her teacher's monocle pop from his eye in surprise as both of his eyes went wide. She removed the mask and waved casually at the press as she stood up to her feet, smiling casually. "Hey, what's crackulating, y'all?"
Rotwood gasped in surprised confusion. "You! But-but-what have you done with my dragon?" The press began walking away with disappointed faces, now fully believing that this professor has completely lost his mind this time. "No, no, no! Come back! Listen to me! There was a real dragon in the back of this truck! A big, red, nice one, oh, with big eyes! It's true! Th-this is a misunderstanding! This girl is just one of my wretched students!"
"That's one of your students?" A policeman asked, hearing the whole thing as he glanced at them nervously. "You mind explaining why you have her locked up in the back of a truck?"
Jackie smirked as she leaned on truck with her hand on her hip while her teacher stuttered nervously, trying to come up with an excuse. "Well, I-well, I-could-I-"
"I think you better come with us." The other policeman said as they both grabbed him by his arms and began dragging him to their car again.
"No! Wait! Let go of me! There was a dragon! Oh, it was a beautiful dragon, I tell you! Oh, with such big eyes! I am a top scientist, a genius! Don't touch me!" From in front of the vehicle, Travis and Spuda peeked from the corner as they grinned at their psycho teacher's misfortune and they all watched as he was driven away in the police car.
Jackie hopped from the truck as her grandfather, Fu Dog, Travis and Spuda walked towards her, all of them looking very relieved that her secret was still intact. "Oh, thanks so much, guys!" Jackie said in gratitude to her friends as they all group hugged.
After rescuing Jackie from Rotwood after his arrest, she, her grandfather, and their talking dog all returned to the shop as Fu began brewing another potion for Jackie's friends, now that they knew Jackie was a real life dragon.
"Some phoenix feather, ba-boom! A little venus flytrap root, ba-bing! And presto, one mind-erase potion." Fu said as he corked it up before shuddering in disgust. "There's been many a morning I could have used a few of these."
He handed Jackie the vial as she examined with a look of reluctance. "So, what? I just...pour this into Travis and Spuda's drinks?" She asked her grandfather.
"It will make them forget everything magical they have seen." Lao Shi said.
Jackie looked down, not liking the idea of mind-wiping her best friends one bit. "But they're my friends!"
Her grandfather placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know, but there are rules. The World Dragon Council would never allow them to know."
Later on, Jackie rode her skateboard to Travis's apartment with the mind-erase vial in her hand with a look of sadness that she had to erase her own friends' memories of them knowing her secret.
"Lassie!" The same leprechaun called out from the alleyway, catching Jackie's attention as she halted her board.
"What?! Is it the Huntsman? What? Where? Where are they?" Jackie asked frantically as she got in a stance.
The leprechaun only laughed a little as he carried the same leprechaun girl decoy. "Oh, keep your knickers on, lassie. I just never got a chance to thank you is all."
He tossed Jackie a gold as she caught it and she smiled that she has finally found something to could help her friend out. She briefly stopped at the antique shop and gave the employee the gold and he accepted it as he handed her the Suitton Crystal in a bag. Jackie made her way to Travis's apartment where she gave him the crystal and he placed it on the shelf like nothing bad has happened to it, sparring Travis from a punishment of a lifetime.
"I don't know how you did it, Jackie." Travis said with a look gratitude before taking a sip of her soda.
"It was nothing. I used a piece of gold from this leprechaun and he-well, the...it's a long story." Jackie said.
"Listen, Jackie. Spuda and I want you to know something. This whole you being magical thing...look, girl, we don't care if you're a dragon, a troll, a unicorn-"
"Or even my mom's lasagna." Spuda added.
"Yeah...point is, we're friends for life, and friends for real, and that's what's up." Jackie smiled brightly when she allowed his words sink in, happy that her friends accepted her.
"Whatever he just said, totally."
They tapped their sodas together and took some sips. "Travis, what you doin', boy? You hungry in there? You want something to eat?" Travis's grandmother called from the kitchen.
"Nah, no thanks, Grandma!" He called back before setting his drink on top of the fireplace. "Come on, y'all. Let me give y'all the business of this game real quick." Spuda settled her drink next to his and followed Travis to play their football video game. Jackie stayed behind as she pulled out the mind-erase potion and uncorked it as she hovered it over her friends' drinks. "Jackie, what's up? You with us, baby?"
Jackie began to have second thoughts about mind-erasing her loyal friends' memories of the magical world. They've helped save her from being exposed to the world, they even accepted her for who she is, and not to mention she won't have anyone to talk to in school, other than her own family (minus her father) and her talking dog. With her mind made up, she poured the potion into the plant, sparring her friends their memories of magic being real. Plus, Jackie was really looking forward to bringing her friends along on her magical adventures into a make-believe world they barely even know about.
Jackie turned back to her friends and smiled. "I'm with you...most definitely." She said as she joined her friends on the couch and grabs her controller and joins her friends.
Meanwhile, in a prison cell, Rotwood had tapped together the pictures he ripped in half that Jackie gave him and to his wall as he talked into his tape recorder.
"Scientific log...begin working on a new theory concerning a dragon's natural ability to shapeshift into human form. Also, keep a close eye on...Ms. Jackie Long." Rotwood said with a suspicious look that something was up with one of his most troublemaking students. He noticed two prisoners glaring down at him, making him uncomfortable as he smiled sheepishly at them. "That's a very nice tattoo."
