Authors note: Let me just say, I'm sorry if I can't come up with any weird uphamisims for Spud, but I'll try and make him as...Spudnificent as I can, ok?
!Chapter 2!
It wasn't until the next day, Saturday, that Jake saw Spud or Trixie, they had gone to the skate park. And after searching for the chalice everywhich-where on the subway and out of it, his Gramps let him take the day off of the investigation, saying, "It would do you no good to collapse from exaughstion, that and you also need to speak with Spud." Jake wasn't sure he could do that, so the night before he had asked Fu-dog for a favor, which he hoped would help with breaking Spud in slowly. With him you never knew how he was going to take things.
"You just found it in your backpack?" He heard the incredulous voice of Trixie, as he approached on his 'board.
"Yeah, man, it was just...there! Think Jake might've just dropped it in there on accident or something?" Spud said, his voice in that laid-back tone used often with him.
"No, no, no. I mean, I saw him leave with the trophy, right? And you let him keep it, so he must've left with it, right?"
"That's possible, I guess." Spud conceded, "But how did it end up in my backpack?"
"Hey, guys." Jake said, making his presence known, "What'cha talkin' about?"
"Oh, just how the talent show trophy just somehow appeared in my backpack last night, almost like magic." Spud said, while he was sitting on a bench, he had his skateboard under his feet, swinging it side to side, Trixie was standing behind him and off to the side, rummaging through one of the two 'packs on the ground.
"Like magic, you say?" Jake asked, trying to sound non-chalant.
"Here it is!" Trixie said, standing, and holding out the trophy, "See? I thought for sure that you took it with you, Jakie!" She said, handing it to him as he reached out a hand, intending to take it, and shifting the one arm that held the semi-large tome that he held, wrapped in gift-wrapper, to take the chalice, and study it all around.
"Wow, I thought I had this with me when I left, thanks man! Wait until Gramps sees this..." When he saw the look that Spud was about to ask something, "Well, uh, Gramps and the rest of my family, too, y'know."
Spud nodded, then pointed to the medium sized rectangle in Jake's arms, "What's the package for?"
"Well, actually, it's for you. You see, I, uh, well, I felt bad that you wouldn't take the trophy so I decided to get you something, y'know, so we're even." He said, handing it over to Spud, who took it and moved to start ripping the paper off, "No, wait!" He said, a little panicky, Spud wasn't supposed to open it until he was alone, or atleast, until Trixie left.
Spud stopped, then shrugged, "Ok, I just thought you'd like to see my face when I opened it, guess not, right?" After the shallow nod from Jake, he handed it to Trixie, who had been fixing her skate-gear on, and was now almost done, "Would you put it in my 'pack?" After Trixie did so, he got up, but, forgetting his feet were on the skateboard, fell off at the sudden weight switch, his board lurching forward, and tossing Spud onto his back, "I'm OK!" He said, raising an arm and then getting up a little slowly, "I'm OK."
Trixie thumped Spud's helmet a couple times, "Even without this, you'd be perfectly fine, what, with your head so thick and everything," She half-joked.
"Yeah, really, really, hard head." Spud agreed, getting up and chasing his skateboard around, Jake having put the chalice away, deciding he would take it to Grandpa later, and see Spud's reaction to the magic book later, as well. But for now? He'd just have fun with his friends.
None of them were aware of the two, piercing blue eyes, watching them from the shadows.
!o!O!o!O!o!O!o!
It was night time by now, and Spud just had a really good day, his friends were there, he'd spent the whole day skate-boarding and talking with Jake and Trix, and he still had a present to open.
Spud went to his room, noticing that his parents weren't back from the romantic evening they had made plans for, for like, months in advance. So he had the house to himself. He went to his bed and sat down on it, he noticed a tiny white letter on his pillows, he picked it up and tried to decide the best method for opening it, 'Should I just rip it open? Find the letter opener? And what could fit on paper this small, anyway?' He decided to rip off the top of it, which he did, and what happened next surprised him.
A floating image of Jake's head appeared, looking clouded, and then, it started talking, "Spud, by now you've probably figured something weird is going on, right? Well, let me be the first to say, this is just the begining." Floating-head-Jake paused, glancing behind him and nodding before turning back to face Spud, "This is a recording, ok? So don't try talking back to it...Yeah, anyway, what needs to be said is, I'm a dragon." He paused again, "No, really, I am, I'm a dragon, assigned to protect america! But right now, it's just starting out with the NYC. The next point I need to make is, I'm not allowed to tell mortals this kind of stuff, so guess what that means...Got it yet? Right, you're not mortal! I know, creepy and a shock, right? Well, apparently you're some great wizard with great powers and stuff, you've just been saying all the wrong words and you couldn't activate it. That's what the Magic for Dummies book is for. It's got beginner spells and basic information about magical creatures, so, on Sunday, tomorrow, meet me at Grandpa's shop, please? If you don't want to, or don't like it, I guess we just pretend this never happened, right? Ok, well, I'll let you get reading and the sooner you read, the sooner you can make a decision." The floating-head-Jake disappeared, and Spud was left to just stare.
Wizard? Powers? As in, Magical? He was a magical creature? Jake was too? "Ok, getting weird." Spud decided, but he took off his shoes and set them at the end of the bed, sitting down and unwrapping the present Jake had given him earlier. Underneath the wrapping paper of chinese dragons and symbols, there was a plain, black book, nothing on it. Spud just stared, and then moved his hand over the cover, intending to take a look inside, but as his hand over it, words glowed a soft yellow on the front, reading, plain and simple "Magic" on it. He turned the page and started to read.
!o!O!o!O!o!O!o!
Here he was, standing outside Jake's grandfather, Lao Shi's, ancient antique shop. Spud had finished about a quarter of the book the previous night, learning the basic rules of magic, about how no mortal should be told of magical creatures and would have to learn to be descreet, the introduction to many mythical creatures also helped him learn the nature of unicorns, imps, trolls, goblins, gargoyles, dragons and many more. He even learned a spell. It didn't do much, just some basic wind tossing, and all he had to do was say "Gustoi," move his hand in the direction he wanted the wind to follow, and at what velocity. He also had the hunch he could move things with his mind as well, but that was just a theory.
Now Spud took a deep breath and entered the shop, "Magic" tucked under his right arm, he saw Jake at the counter, "Hey, Jake!" He said, and muttered, "Gustoi," and waved, the pages of the books infront of Jake started to move lightly, then flip over entirely new pages, the wind becoming a bit stronger, then stopping. He walked over and set the black book infront of him, inbetween himself and Jake, "You know, this is all to crazy not to be true, y'know?" Spud asked rhetorictly.
"Spud!" Jake greeted, then his chair scooted back once all the pages of his books were lost. He listened to Spud's comment and nodded, "You seem to be taking this well. And you've already mastered a spell! I heard it ussually takes a few weeks atleast...are you sure you're not just pulling my leg, man?"
"No, really, Jake, the first time I tried it last night, I didn't get much of a response, but I can do it now!" Spud said, obviously excited, well, as excited as Spud would get, "Hey, can I see you turn into a dragon?" He asked, hopping up to sit on the counter, and putting the tome in his lap, watching Jake.
"Well, I dunno, I guess I could." Jake shrugged and went over to the door, flipping the "Open" sign to "Closed" and turning around, walking to the center of the room, "I haven't quite gotten the hang of it, just to let you know."
Spud waited, watching Jake walked to the center of the room, raising an arm and say, "Dragon up, yo!" And then flames started to lick his body, climbing from his center and stretching outward, until, in Jake's place, was a large, red dragon with a tan underbelly, black hair and green tips.
"Wow. That's just completely awesome!" Spud jumped off, making sure not to drop his book, and walked over to Jake, feeling over his scales and taking in the sight, "That is just so totally awesome!" He said, going around Jake, and tugging on his wings slightly, "Can you fly? Can you breath fire? Do you speak like, your own special dragon-y language? That's like, roars and growls or something?"
"Spud, Spud!" Jake said, laughing a bit and turning around, "Let's see...Yes, yes, and no." He said, Spud was taking this better than he thought.
"Well, Spud, I'm glad you find this all so interesting, but we must start lessons, mustn't we?"
"Gramps!" Jake said, turning to the newly entered Lao Shi, "I uh, was just showing Spud what dragons look like."
"Totally awesome!" Spud interjected.
"Yes, I suppose so," Grandpa conceeded, nodding slightly, "But now, Spud, it's time for lessons to begin."
"Lessons?"
"Yeah, Gramps and I are gonna teach you the basics of magic and how to do some spells and potions and junk. Hey! Maybe you can be like, my side-kick or something! I can see it now," He said, putting his two claws infront of him, making a sort of frame, "The American Dragon and Spud the Spudnificent!"
"Yeah, I like the sound of that." Spud agreed.
His life just got a whole lot crazier in the span of about twelve hours, but Spud didn't have a problem with it, this was going to be fun, and exciting. What more could he ask for?
!o!O!o!O!o!O!o!
Author's note: Here you go! It's longer! Although it's not exactly how I planned it to be, I like this version better than the other Chapter 2. I'm sorry if Spud seem's out of character, but I was half-asleep when I wrote this, and I was trying to keep everyone as in-character as I could. Hope you guys like it, and don't forget to review! (Please.) And don't worry, they're'll be more Rose in the next chapter(I hope). Who wants me to continue from where I left off, or start the next chapter the next day at school? Please tell me in your reviews.