(A/N) Hello everybody, welcome back, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, since I'm starting to write this a little early, I might as well say thank you to all of the people who reviewed, for you keep this story alive. But I can't take all the credit. Actually, my sister came up with the prophecy in the last chapter. (Luthien Eowyn waves from background. DMB turns around). Hey! Buzz off! This is my show! (Luthien falls through random trap door in the floor). Anyway, on with the fic!
American Dragon: Jake Long, Dragon Double
By Dark Magician Boy
Chapter 7: Ancient Poison
Rose trained for the next few days, and she perfected to her finest, and shined like a diamond, while Jake ran continuous laps from one place to the next, going further each time. The farthest he had gone so far was the islands of Bermuda, and he took nearly an hour for that.
The week was over, so they had to get Rose back to her apartment. They said their goodbyes, and Rose left, with the blanket strapped to her back.
About an hour later, Rose arrived at a titanic apartment building, then walked into the lobby.
She walked straight into the elevator, and listened to the elevator music for a few minutes, teetering back and forth, until she finally reached the very top floor, where there was only one door.
She inserted the key which had been in her pocket, and unlocked the set of locks on her front door, then slowly walked in.
A few seconds later, the bookcase on the side of the room shot up, and the Huntsmaster strode out. Rose didn't know why, but she felt a sense of uneasiness now. It was probably due to the fact that she was now magic, no longer mortal.
Rose was about to talk to the Huntsmaster, putting her hand up, but she noticed the her dragon birthmark had slightly faded.
"Huntsgirl, where have you truly been?" the Huntsmaster questioned Rose.
"I have been doing work, attempting to uncover the American Dragon's true identity," Rose said in her typical Huntsgirl voice.
Huntsmaster stared her down, and a nervous chuckle slipped out of her mouth.
"I think you're lying!" he yelled, and he held the green light of his staff in front of Rose's face, forcing her into a hypnotic trance.
"Now," he said, testing out Rose to see if she truly was hypnotized.
"Jump three times, and neigh like a horse," he said, which Rose did exactly. He knew that if Rose had been conscious, she would have never degraded herself to doing that.
"Good. Now, who is the American Dragon?" he instructed.
"A boy from school, one of my best friends, and he is named Jake Long," she said, with a glazed look in her eyes.
"Ah. The teenager," he said, in slight dislike.
"Now, what type of magical creature are you?" he asked.
"An oracle. The true oracle," she said, and Huntsmaster took in a breath, his heart skipping a beat. He could end an ancient prophecy, right here, right now. But he still needed Rose for a few more deeds.
"You do realize that mystical creatures are not permitted within the bounds of the Huntsclan, do you not?" he asked.
"Yes, I have memorized the rulebook," Rose unwillingly blurted out.
"Do you know that your existence in the Huntsclan now is not real any longer, and that you are hereby banished from the Huntsclan?" he asked.
"Yes. And the rulebook clearly states that you must find a new apprentice once I am gone," Rose said, as if a string had pulled from her back, and she was the unwilling toy.
"Good. One other thing. You know where the American Dragon lives now, so you must know where the old dragon is," he started.
Huntsmaster reached up onto a shelf, and pulled down a glass vial of turquoise liquid.
"This is an ancient poison, passed down to every next generation of the Huntsclan. I want you to use this poison, and poison the old dragon. The poison is so old, that it will not work on the American Dragon, since he has his youth. But the old one can be almost certainly killed by it, the only antidote being in the Temple of Oracle, which you will not know until you hear the word, lucky," he finished. He figured that that word would not one commonly heard.
"Yes Hunstmaster," she said, taking the vile from his hands.
"You will not remember any of what has just happened, and I will leave you for the American Dragon to find in the gryphon's nest on the top of the Empire State building. There, you will splash the poison on the old dragon, and you will remember everything that has happened tonight, but will never come back to the Huntsclan," he said, and Rose began to walk out the door, with one of the most dangerous elements of the world, in the palm of her hand, and she didn't even know it.
Huntsmaster turned off the hypnotism effect, and Rose dropped on the floor, asleep, as he turned his staff into a hover board, then flew out the window with Rose in his hands, flying toward the Empire State Building.
XXX
Jake soared past one enormous building, then glided over to rest on the tip of the Statue of Liberty's torch, then morphing back to human, while Fu Dog slipped down the base of the flame.
"Why do we even have to be here?" Fu Dog asked, looking down and seeing all the faces with bulging eyes popping out of the window right below him.
"Let's just say, sometimes, I need to get away from Grandpa and Aunt Shui," Jake sighed, and he slid down next to Fu Dog, and allowed his legs to dangle right above the windows.
"Yeah, and that cat!" Fu Dog grimaced. "I feel like someone's unlocking my head and nosing around," he whined.
"Oh, well at least she can't fly." Jake pointed out, and Fu Dog looked at him.
"Yeah, but cats are extremely talented at climbing," Fu Dog sobbed, and Jake looked down to the ground, which looked like a Lego table from this height.
"You don't really think that cats could climb up here, do you?" Jake said, but before Fu Dog could even answer, a gryphon baby flew up and landed in Jake's lap.
"Gryphon baby?" Fu Dog yelled, and it looked up at him, smiling tiredly. "But gryphon babies only fly when learning from their mother," he explained, and Jake looked over the railing.
And sure enough, the mother gryphon slowly came up, and began squawking at Jake and Fu Dog.
"What's she saying, Fu?" Jake asked, slowly standing up, while Fu Dog pulled a book out of his fur, and flipped to the end.
"She's saying "Hey! Why are you sticking the ham sandwich there?" Fu Dog said, and all three gave him blank stares, and Fu Dog saw something was wrong.
"Whoops! That's for the pixie translations. Now let me see," Fu Dog said, flipping to the middle of the book
"Ok, here it is! Gryphon translations……… 'Come look, there is something strange and foreign in my nest'. Well, I guess we should go now!" Fu Dog said, and Jake morphed to dragon, then carried Fu off to the Empire State Building.
A few minutes later, the four arrived at the Empire State Building, and Jake saw a clump of the latest clothes, with a rose sign on the left pants leg.
"Rose!" Jake yelled, dropping from the air toward the nest, and landing in the hay next to her.
"Rose! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Jake yelled shaking her, her head waving back and forth as if it was that of a rag doll.
Rose's lip fell open, and Jake pulled her eyelid open, and it automatically shut, and Jake could tell something had gone terribly wrong last night.
He morphed back to dragon, thanked the gryphons, while Fu jumped onto his back and hung on tightly as he took off into the forest of buildings, with Rose held tightly in his arms.
XXX
"Rose? Rose? Wake up!" Rose heard, distantly.
The world looked as if she had her eyes open underwater, and she could see the fuzzy silhouette of Jake.
Jake! Jake's grandfather! She had to warn him. But her mind was off somewhere where it should not have been.
She attempted to walk, but she knew she was trapped within the cage of hypnotism.
Sure enough, green bars in a cube form appeared around her, and her mind was trapped in a sort of limbo, while the temporary mind, made by the hypnotism, took hold of her body, until she heard the word lucky.
Rose was trapped in her own mind (those of you who read Animorphs, you know what a Yeerk infestation is like. Well, this is what it is like).
She saw the world, but could not move her head. She felt Jake's dragon hands against her back, but it seemed as if she was on some sort of depressant that made her drowsy, which was all over her body. She could hear all of Fu's punch lines, but she couldn't even let a small chuckle out. She was the puppet of a temporary illusion.
Rose watched as she drew closer to Jake's house, and knew the bars that encased her would vanish, and she would regain control of her body when she heard the word 'lucky'. But until then, she could only wait. Wait and watch Jake's grandpa die at her own hands
XXX
Jake landed gently on the roof of his house, and returned to human form, as Rose shuddered, then slowly came to life. But there was a strange, glazed look in her eye.
"Rose, are you all right?" Jake asked as Rose got to her feet.
"Yes Jake, I am fine," she said, with a strange tone in her voice.
"You don't sound too relaxed," he said, uneasy at Rose's tone.
"Do not worry. In fact, I think I would prefer something to quench my thirst. How about we all settle down and have something to drink. I will make them," she said, and smile moving across her lips.
"Uh, okay sure, but, don't you wanna lie down and rest?" he offered as the three headed toward the escape ladder.
"Oh no, I am fine. In fact, I would like to make a drink for your grandfather, so I can go over some issues about being an oracle," she said, climbing down the ladder, while Jake carefully carried Fu down, who was circling his paw around his ear, rolling his eyes, ensuing that something was definitely wrong with Rose.
"Are you sure you don't want me to make the drinks," Jake offered, and Rose turned around.
"No! I will make the drinks! I have a special ingredient," Rose said, and they walked down the stairs.
Jake pulled out his cellphone, and invited over Cameron, Spud, and Trixie, who had been in the skate park, then he invited Jade over who had been at the theatre.
The parents were out with Aunt Shui, examining things such as glass statues, and Grandpa had stayed home to watch Fu Cat.
"Hey Grandpa, want something to drink? Rose came over, and well, I guess she wants to make drinks," Jake said, settling down next Grandpa and stealing some popcorn.
"How did Rose get here?" Grandpa asked, clearly surprised.
"She popped up on the Empire State Building, don't know how, she woke up halfway, and offered to make drinks," Jake said, swiping some more popcorn.
"Um, ok," he said, settling back into the couch, and watching the documentary on how dragons supposedly lived back then.
"See Jake, that is your great, great grandfather, who was commonly caught on paintings," Grandpa said, pointing to a picture of a green dragon on the screen.
"No way, he's not pretty enough," Jake said, heading to the door, then opening it to see Jade.
"Hey Jade, what's up?" he asked, and Jade shrugged.
"Well, I got over here as soon as the play finished when I heard Rose was over here. Anything to drink? Spending an hour in a thick dress under some heavy lights spends me," she said, clearly tired.
"Yeah, Rose is fixing some drinks," Jake said, welcoming Jade into the living room, who sat down, and also stole some popcorn from Grandpa, and paying attention to the green dragon on the screen.
"Oh, it's great, great, grandpa Morty. You know, he still throws just GREAT parties," she said, and Jake gave her a strange look.
"Oh yeah, magical creatures live for like, millenniums," Jade said, and Jake's mouth dropped.
"You mean in a couple of millenniums, Rose, Cameron, you, and I will still be looking this good, while Trixie and Spud are six feet under?" Jake whined, and Jade shrugged.
"Unless you enchant them, then, yeah," she said, and Jake put his hand to his chin.
"I'll have to look into that," Jake thought, walking into the kitchen, where Jade had prepared sodas for the teens, and tea for Grandpa. But he noticed it had a strange tint to it. But then again, he had never bothered to memorize the types of tea.
"Ready to bring the drinks in?" he asked, as Rose set down a strange looking vial, which looked ancient. "What's with the tube?" Jake asked, offering to carry the drinks.
"It is an ancient tea recipe," the hypnotic mind of Rose lied, as the real Rose stared from behind her eyes.
"No it's not! No it's not," she yelled, shaking at the bars of energy.
"JAKE! Don't take those drinks!" she said, screaming her throat out at the image in front of her.
Jake stared as Rose hesitated, and a word slipped from her lips, which sounded like Jake, but he couldn't tell. He took the tray from her, and let Cameron, Spud, and Trixie in on his way over there, as he set the tray down on the table, and each took their seats, and their drinks.
Grandpa slowly took his tea, but Fu Cat jumped, and nearly got a sip of tea, but Grandpa pulled it away with snake reactions, and Fu Cat yowled.
"Hey! You know what happens when you drink tea!" Fu Dog said, and Fu Cat grimaced.
"Don't remind me," she grimaced, then slinked over to Jade, who welcomed her into her lap.
Each of the teens took a sip of their soda, while Grandpa set his down on the table, and watched more of the documentary, and the hypnotized Rose glared at him.
"Don't you want some tea? I made specially for you," she said, her eye twitching slightly.
"Oh, well, can I wait till commercial break?" he asked eagerly, and Rose slowly nodded, as if her neck had rusted.
Meanwhile, within the confines of a cage that was forged of energy, Rose screamed out at the image in front of her, as the documentary neared break.
"LUCKY! LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY!" Rose screamed at the image, but nothing happened.
She stared solemnly, as the first commercial appeared, and the tea cup neared his lips.
"No," she said, tears slipping from her eyes, as it drew even closer.
But she knew that all it took was one sip, and the victim had a mere two days left, as they died slowly.
But in the real world, something happened.
"Say Rose, you sure are lucky that Jake found you in that nest," Jade said, patting Rose on the back.
In her mind, the bars vanished, and Rose flew into the image, regained control of her body.
"NO!" she screeched, reaching toward Grandpa. But she was too late.
A gulp of tea was swallowed by Grandpa before she could even get to the other side of the room, and his eyes grew wide in peril.
Grandpa began to sputter and cough violently, until slowly, he lied down on the couch, where Rose laid her head, and cried loudly.
"Rose, it's ok. I'm pretty sure it just went down the wrong tube," Jade said comfortingly.
"No, it's not that," she sobbed, and each pair of eyes rolled over to Rose.
"Jake," she cried, turning towards him and Fu Dog.
"Unless we find the antidote, your grandpa is going to die in forty eight hours," she said, several tears slowly slipping from her eye, and splattering on the ground in the silent room.