Chapter 13: Coming Home
Later that evening,
Sun Park, Haley, Trixy, and Spud were walking home from stopping trolls rampaging through town. They passed the Parthenon building but never bothered to look up.
"I WISH FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HUNTSCLAN!" they heard Rose yell.
"That sounded like Rose." Sun stated.
"Must be practicing the wish making." Trixy said.
They then heard the sound of shattering glass. A few minutes later, a broken skull fell from the top of the building.
"AGGHHH!" Spud yelled jumping into Trixy's arms. "DEMON SKULLS!"
Trixy dropped him onto the sidewalk with a sigh.
Haley immediately recognized the skull
"That's strange." Sun said looking at the broken skull. "Unless all thirteen are together, these skull are unbreakable."
"And the last skull was in the possession of…." Haley hinted
The two dragons transformed into their magical form.
They flew onto the top of the building. Sun was carrying Spud and Haley carried Trixy.
When they got to the top, Jake was making out with Rose
"Oh. That's lovely." Haley said sarcastically
"Rose!" Spud exclaimed as the two dragons turned into Sun Park, and Haley Long. "You're cheating on Jake!"
Jake and Rose pulled out of their kiss and starred at Spud as if he was an idiot.
"How did you become friends with him?" Rose asked the tall muscular man
"Long story." Jake told her.
"Where have you been?" Sun asked Jake sternly as she recognized him IMMEDIATELY
"Oh come on." Jake said "Surely you've gotten those reports. The latest one being of how I rescued that herd of centaurs."
"How did you get all the skulls?" Spud asked
"Yeah. I thought Jake had the…last…." Trixy said before realization dawned on her.
Jake nodded.
"Whoa!" she said looking him over. "When'd you get so tall and muscular?"
Rose tightened her grip on Jake causing Haley to giggle
"Relax." Trixy said noticing Rose's reaction. "Me goin' out with this guy is like me going out with Spud. Not happening."
"Really?" Rose asked innocently, but with an evil smirk on her face. "So your little adventure in the prop storage closet with Spud meant nothing?"
"The prop storage closet?" Jake repeated interested. "Trixy and Spud?"
"It was NOTHING!" Trixy said blushing. "It was one accidental kiss. I thought he was Kyle, and he thought I was Stacey."
"Wait. Are we talking about me?" Spud asked.
Everyone present rolled their eyes.
"And how do you know Rose?" Spud added to Jake
"I've only tried to slay him a few times." Rose said.
Jake took the opportunity to transform into his dragon form.
"Jake!" Spud asked.
"C'mon Jake" Haley said. "Let's go home"
"Not yet Haley" Jake said. "I PROBABALY should face Gramps first"
"Good idea" Haley agreed
The dragons powered up and grabbed a human before flying off.
0000
When they got to Lao Shi's Electronics the dragons powered down and the group entered, Haley holding one of Jake's hands and Rose gripping his other
"So…this the highly informative teacher I've heard so much about?" Lao Shi asked
"Yes Grandpa" Haley confirmed
"How do you know so much about the magical world?" Lao Shi asked Jake, obviously struggling not to demand the answer
"You don't recognize me, G?" Jake asked
"The name is Lao Shi" Lao Shi said as Fu's jaw dropped as he recognized Jake's nickname for his grandfather.
Haley had a feeling that Fu just needed the solid evidence that it WAS Jake to believe what he was seeing.
Jake figured the same thing out and transformed into his dragon half
It was Lao Shi's turn to have his jaw drop.
"Hi Grandpa" Jake greeted innocently after transforming back
"Jake! Great to have you back Kid" Fu greeted
"Is it really you Young Dragon?" Lao Shi asked
"Yeah" Jake said looking a bit nervous
"AIYA!" Lao Shi started up before ranting in Chinese.
Fu held out some tissues for the humans and the female dragons to stuff their ears with
A few minutes into the rant, the door opened to reveal Susan. The mother froze at the sight of her father ranting in Chinese to a tall, young, muscular Chinese-American man while the others in the room were as far as possible.
Then,
"WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, YOUNG DRAGON?" Lao Shi finished.
"I never should have taken Chinese in college." Jake answered. "I was better off not understanding."
"Okaaay." Haley said seeing her mother. "This may get a little awkward."
"Why'd you say…that…uh oh." Fu started to asked before looking to see Susan starring at the scene. "For the record, I JUST found out today."
Everyone turned. If Jake was pale before, it was nothing after he saw his mother.
"What's going on?" Susan asked daring not to hope.
"Gramps was just chewing Jake out for running off with the last skull and then destroying them all behind his back." Spud tattled.
"Hey!" Haley said defensively. "Tattling on Jake is MY job."
"Since when?" Trixy asked.
"Since I was his little sister, a.k.a my whole life."
"And you never missed a chance." Jake added.
"Jake?" Susan asked as she saw her son for the first time in years.
"Hi Mom." Jake said a little embarrassed.
The next thing the American Dragon knew was that he was being squeezed into a tight hug.
"Missed you too, Mom." Jake managed to say as he returned the hug.
Haley smiled as her mother and brother were reunited.
Now all that was left was to get Jonathan in on the fun.
0000
Christmas Eve (see Coming Back for more details),
Haley ran upstairs after being informed that her brother had been sending home gifts.
Sure enough, scattered on the floor and on the bed were gifts. Mainly stuff that she'd would like
"IT'S TRUE!" she yelled down. "WOW! A DELUXE ART SET! COMPLETE WITH CLAY, WATERCOLORS, PASTELS, ETC.!"
"AN AUTOGRAPHED PICTURE OF SYLVIE GUILEM!"
"HALEY!" Susan called "WAIT AND OPEN THE REST TOMORROW!"
"FINE!" she called down as she headed down herself.
She froze on the stairs to see her brother and father embracing. It was painfully obvious Jake had missed everyone.
Haley smiled. Her brother was home for Christmas. This was REALLY going to be the best Christmas ever
And the best part was…
Her brother was home to stay so the American Dragon duties just lightened up
The End