An American Dragon: Jake Long Fanfiction

California Dragon: Angela Serafini

By: digital devotion

Disclaimer: I don't own American Dragon: Jake Long, but I do own the characters and plots used in this story. Please don't steal any of them.

Author's Notes: I forgot to mention this earlier, so I will say it now. Since the characters sometimes use other languages that I do not speak, I am using an Internet translator to translate English into the other languages. (So far, the only languages other than English have been French and Italian.) I know that Internet translators may not be the greatest, but they are the only tool I have to utilize. I apologize if anything was translated incorrectly.

Thank you to YFWE and Riza-san for the reviews. To everyone else...please read and review! I doubt anyone has noticed, but the more reviews there are, the more I happen to write. I get writer's block sometimes, but the moment I read a review I get excited to write for that specific story again! So, please read and review!

Episode Two

Stolen Spellbooks and Broken Brownie Towns

È difficile da continuare le mie funzioni come il drago italiano quando sono così nell'amore con Eleanora. Il mio padrone del drago ha cominciato a notare che non sono stato come messo a fuoco ultimamente durante le mie pratiche. Che cosa sono da fare? Se dicessi a Nora che sono un drago, non lo crederebbe mai senza prova. Dirle la metterebbe soltanto nel pericolo, pure. Non posso…

Subtitles: It is difficult to continue my duties as the Italian dragon when I am so in love with Eleanora. My dragon master has begun to notice that I have not been as focused lately during my practices. What am I to do? If I told Nora that I am a dragon, she would never believe me without proof. Telling her would only put her into danger, as well. I cannot...

"Angela! Your great aunt is here!" I heard my mom call up the stairs.

I slammed the book that was in front of me shut. What could Aunt Ann want now? It had been a week since I'd encountered the Rousseaus, and my investigations into where they were hiding had all been dead ends. Could Aunt Ann have finally found something?

Deciding my aunt could wait a few more moments, I ran my hand over the cover of the book I'd been reading. The cover was completely blank, but the third page had its title written in tiny, scrawling Italian: Il giornale di Giuseppe Serafini. Translated it meant The Journal of Guiseppe Serafini. The book was crammed full of journal entries and sketches of the life of my great-great-great-grandfather from the time he was ten until the year he had died. My own father, Pietro, had given me the book the day I'd found out I was a dragon. I'd grown up learning how to speak and read (but mostly read) Italian, only to find out that had all been so I could read Guiseppe Serafini's journal.

"Angela May! Did you hear me?" my mother shouted.

I sighed and rolled off my bed and onto my feet. Might as well see what my aunt wanted with me today.

"What were you doing up there?" my mother, Carmela, asked me as I walked into the living room.

"Reading," I replied. "What's up, Aunt Ann? Have you found out something about the Rousseaus?"

"No, but a spellbook has been stolen," Aunt Ann replied. "You will need to investigate."

"Just great," I grumbled.

She's the one, the one and only

California Dragon

Scene: A girl with brown hair framing her face is sitting, her head tucked between her knees. She is leaning against something brown that can't be distinguished. She looks up suddenly, her eyes flashing gold. The view pans out to reveal the tree she is leaning against. A dragon is carved out in the tree trunk and it flashes gold.

She won't stop, 'til she's done

California Dragon!

Scene: The brunette girl is shown running down a dark street with a brunette boy and a black cat running along beside her. Behind them is a charging group of mountain trolls.

Gonna use her dragon powers

to make it to the top

She's the California Dragon

Dragon flight and dragon fire

Scene: The brunette girl is seen as a white dragon, flying across the sky. She flies over some centaurs, who wave at her as she is flying overhead. The dragon begins to fly in a spiral pattern in the air and bursts through a cloud. the view closes in on her face as blue fire bursts from her mouth.

From Sacramento to L.A.

Watchful eyes are here to stay

On her way as quick as she can

:crash:

"Angela May!"

"Sorry, mom!"

Scene: The brunette's green dragon eyes appear in a view of darkness. The eyes blink a few times before the darkness goes away to reveal, after another blink, the human girl. Another view shows the dragon flying through the air holding the brunette boy she was running with earlier. The view changes to her rushing through a house trying to get a backpack onto her shoulders. The bag knocks something off a table and it crashes to the ground.

She's the California Dragon

Dragon teeth and dragon ears

the magic world's, got nothin' to fear

with the one, the one and only

California Dragon

Scene: A view shows the girl as her mouth and ears become a dragon mouth and ears. View changes to her flying over a bunch of leprechauns, goblins, mermaids, centaurs, fairies, unicorns, and other magical creatures.

"Time for the dragon!"

Scene: The girl is engulfed in a screen of silvery smoke. Shows her arms and legs becoming dragon arms and legs and a tail and wings sprout.

Watch out Cali

here she comes

to save the day!

"Oh, yeah!"

Scene: Shows the girl standing with the brunette boy from earlier, and another boy with black hair that cuts jaggedly across his face. Behind them is darkness with evil, shadowy figures blinking at them. The girl holds up her left fist and shouts.

"I can't believe you actually came!"

My hand was pumped enthusiastically by the witch in front of me. She was fairly tanned and wore an extravagant, navy blue gown that touched the ground and hid her feet. A silver belt that had silver stars dangling from it was clipped around her waist. Her hair was a dark brown, but lighter than mine, and she had pleasant blue eyes.

"Angela, this is Matilda Gluck," Aunt Ann said. "Matilda, this is Angela Serafini."

"The California Dragon," Matilda said with an even wider smile. "I simply cannot believe you came! I thought you would have more important things to attend to!"

"Everything is important," Aunt Ann replied. "Will you please show us where your spellbook was located?"

There was a funny tinkling sound behind us. I heard Spoof say, "Oops..."

I turned around to find Spoof standing next to a glass case with tons of glass trinkets in front of it. There was a sign standing in the middle of the surface that read Do Not Touch. One of the glass figures beside Spoof's hand had broken into thousands of tiny shards.

"Spoof!" I said, grinding my teeth together.

Matilda laughed in an airy, sort of annoying, way. "Do not worry, California Dragon! Touch it again, boy!"

I wanted to tell her, "My name is Angela!", but I was interested in the glass figure Spoof had broken.

Spoof gave a shrug and poked at the figure again. The tiny shards tinkled again and the figure, which was that of a centaur rearing up onto its hind horse legs, put itself back together. "Way cool!" Spoof said.

"Those are trick glass figures," Matilda said with her large smile plastered on her face. "Guests often break such valuables and have to replace the figure they broke. This way, the hosts can have a big laugh when their guests think they've broken something important."

I don't think that's very funny, I thought to myself.

"The stolen spellbook, Matilda," Aunt Ann said in a gentle tone.

"Oh! Yes. It was kept back this way," Matilda said.

The witch led us through her shop, full of knickknacks of all sorts, from crystal globes to feathered hats, and into a room in the back full of books. There were multiple pedestals similar to music note stands around the room with open books on them. One of the pedestals was empty.

"It was one of my favorite spellbooks. One Thousand and One Ways to Entrance A Man by the lovely Miss Swansinmarsh!" Matilda said with a sigh. She clamped her hands in front of her chest and gave another huge sigh. Talk about a drama witch. "I've read that spellbook so many times I've nearly memorized all of the potion recipes."

"When did you last see it?" Aunt Ann questioned. "And were any other books taken?"

"Yesterday afternoon," Matilda replied. "I was closing the shop for the night. I always check every room to make sure everything is in the right place. None of my other books are missing."

"Was everything in the right place?" Aunt Ann said. I noticed she was scanning the room with her eyes. I began to do the same, though I was more interested in what Matilda was saying.

"Yes, everything was exactly the way it should be," Matilda said. "The crystal globes were all polished and shiny. The hats were stacked and hung in the easiest way for my customers to see them all. The figures were all sitting the way they'd been set down last. The..."

"What about the books?" Aunt Ann interrupted.

"The books were all settled on their shelves and pedestals," Matilda said. "Nothing was out of its place."

"Was there anything unusual at all? Did you see anything or anyone outside of the shop after you locked up?" Aunt Ann had stopped looking around the room.

"There was someone standing outside my shop," Matilda said. "Lisa, one of my regular customers. She asked me when I would be open this morning. I told her, ten...the same as every Saturday morning."

"Did she leave the front of the shop before you or after you?" Aunt Ann wondered, her thin eyebrows wrinkled together.

"Before," Matilda asked. "She asked her question and went on her way."

"That doesn't sound that suspicious," I said.

"Wouldn't a regular customer know when the shop was regularly open?" Spoof asked from where he was standing in the corner.

"That would make sense," Aunt Ann said in agreement. "Were there any unusual customers in your shop yesterday, Matilda?"

The witch pressed an index finger to her lips as she thought. "Now that I think about it, there was a man in here early yesterday. He wore the saddest gray suit I've ever seen. I remember him because he wore an atrocious red tie with the suit. He asked me what time I was closing. I told him at nine, the same as every weekday night."

I saw Aunt Ann's face turn into a scowl. "Thank you, Matilda. Would you mind letting us poke around in here, privately? We may find some clues as to who stole the spellbook."

Matilda nodded and quickly headed back to the front of her shop.

"What is it, Aunt Ann?" I demanded.

"I had seriously hoped it wasn't who I thought it was, but Matilda's description of the man in the gray suit and red tie fits Audric Rousseau exactly," Aunt Ann replied. "His wife, Melisande, is a witch. It may have been her idea to steal the spellbook."

"Why would a witch who is trying to take over the world steal a copy of One Thousand and One Ways to Entrance A Man?" I asked skeptically. "That doesn't sound like the..."

There was a loud crash. Spoof gave a yelp. Aunt Ann and I turned to see Spoof with a load of books on his feet. Matilda came rushing into the room, her cheeks red with anxiety.

"My books!" the witch cried out. "Move! Move!"

Spoof leaped back, looking sheepishly at us. "My bad. I tried to pull out one of the books and the whole shelf of books came down."

"Four. Five. Six?" Matilda gave a sudden gasp. "A book is missing!"

"Say what?" Spoof said, looking down at Matilda as if she was crazy. "There was seven books on the shelf when I was trying to pull one off."

"Thief!" Matilda screeched, pointing a finger at Spoof. "Reveal the book you have stolen, thief!"

"Matilda!" Aunt Ann shouted. "Calm yourself! Mr. St. Clair has not taken anything from the shop."

"Then where is my seventh copy of Accidental Spells: How To Make It Look Like An Accident by the dastardly Jon Von Hurricane? I keep seven copies of every book at all times!" Matilda screeched.

"Accidental Spells?" Spoof asked with a laugh. "I don't need that book. I cause accidents without even trying."

"Matilda, perhaps whoever stole One Thousand and One Ways to Entrance A Man also stole a copy of Accidental Spells," Aunt Ann suggested. "I believe that the stolen One Thousand Ways was only to distract you from the fact that a more important book was stolen."

"How is Accidental Spells: How To Make It Look Like An Accident by the dastardly Jon Von Hurricane more important than One Thousand and One Ways to Entrance A Man by the lovely Miss Swansinmarsh?" Matilda demanded to know. "I checked my inventory after I found a copy of One Thousand and One Ways to Entrance A Man by the lovely Miss Swansinmarsh missing! I had all seven copies of Accidental Spells: How To Make It Look Like An Accident by the dastardly Jon Von Hurricane!"

"Perhaps it was simply an illusion," Aunt Ann said thoughtfully. "Whoever stole the two spellbooks was obviously someone who would know how to use them. Thieves do not often steal a spellbook unless they can use it themselves."

Matilda began to shove the copies of Accidental Spells: How To Make It Look Like An Accident onto the shelf Spoof had pulled them from. "Then you must find them and see that they never use a spellbook again!"

"We will try our best, Matilda," Aunt Ann said. "I do not think we can gain any more knowledge today, Matilda. We will be on our way."

"Will you keep me updated?" Matilda asked, getting to her feet. "With only six copies of One Thousand and One Ways to Entrance A Man by the lovely Miss Swansinmarsh and Accidental Spells: How To Make It Look Like An Accident by the dastardly Jon Von Hurricane, I am not as protected from the evils of thieves and taxes!"

"Why don't you just get more copies?" Spoof asked.

Matilda snorted at him. "You doubt my superstitious ways! I do not need to explain my ways to one who will not believe them!"

"We'll be going now," Aunt Ann said hurriedly, gesturing for me and Spoof to head out.

"Come on, Mr. Spoof-tastic," I said.

We headed out of the shop with Aunt Ann right behind us.

"Did you have to knock those books off the shelf?" I asked Spoof.

"Hey, if I hadn't done that, we'd never have realized there was another, more important book missing!" Spoof retorted. He grinned. "The Spoof has done it again!"

"Why don't I find that surprising?" I sighed.

"Hi, Amy! Ready for some studying?"

Amy Baker walked into our house. Amy is one of my other friends at school. We usually study for tests and things together since we have most of our classes with each other. Amy has blonde hair she usually keeps in a ponytail and pretty, blue eyes. She usually wears a white t-shirt with plain, blue jeans. I've never seen her without a couple of books in her arms and her light brown backpack hanging from her shoulders.

"Yeah," Amy replied in her quiet, complacent way. "What do you want to start with first? Mrs. Knight's homework or Mr. Petersen's review sheet?"

"Mrs. Knight's homework," I replied. "So we can get it all out of the way."

"Okay," Amy replied.

We headed into the living room, where we usually sit on couch pillows and do our homework on opposite ends of the large coffee table in front of the couch.

My mom was sitting in the reclining chair in the corner of our living room, reading. She looked up at us. "Hello, Amy. How has school been?"

"Great, Mrs. Serafini," Amy replied.

"Would you kids like a snack?" my mom asked. "We have celery and peanut butter."

"That'd be great, mom," I said. "Thanks."

"Can I have a glass of milk, too, Mrs. Serafini?" Amy asked.

"Of course," my mom replied. "I'll go get it ready right now. It's easier to think when you've got a full stomach!"

My mom usually gets us snacks whenever Amy comes over to do homework and study. We don't go to Amy's house very often because her father is rarely home. My parents don't like me being anywhere without parental supervision, even though I'm sixteen.

"Did you get the answer to question five on the Hamlet packet?" I asked Amy as we settled onto our pillows.

"I believe so," Amy replied.

My mom came in five minutes later with the celery, peanut butter, and glasses of milk.

"Thanks, mom," I said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Serafini," Amy added quietly.

"You're very welcome," my mom replied before returning to her chair to continue reading.

Amy and I had been working for half an hour when the phone rang.

"I'll get it," my mom said.

"I think this one is mitosis," I said, pointing at an illustration on the review sheet for Mr. Petersen's science class.

"It's mitosis," Amy agreed, comparing the illustration to the one in our book.

We were scribbling down our answers when my mom poked her head into the room from the kitchen. Her forehead was wrinkled slightly in worry.

"Angela, your great aunt is on the phone."

Uh oh.

"Be right back," I told Amy.

I took the phone from my mom, who stayed in the kitchen with me to listen to my half of the conversation. I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Willow, riduca fuori di là! Soltanto state rendendoli più arrabbiati!" I heard my aunt say just as there was a crash in the background. I could hear tiny, high pitched shouts as well.

Subtitles: "Willow, get down off of there! You're only making them angrier!"

"Aunt Ann?" I said, panicked. My aunt doesn't usually revert back to speaking Italian unless she is very emotional.

"Angela! Lo abbiamo bisogno immediatamente sopra alla mia casa! Là è un mazzo di brownies qui chiedendo voi!"

Subtitles: "We need you over at my house immediately! There are a bunch of brownies here asking for you!"

"It sounds like they're tearing apart your house!" I gasped.

"That's because they are!" Aunt Ann replied. "Fretta!"

Subtitles: "Hurry!"

The line went dead. I handed the phone back to my mom.

"What's going on? Annunciata sounded stressed," my mom said.

"She needs my help," I said. "I hope Amy doesn't mind. This is the third time this month I've ditched out on her while we've been doing homework."

"She'll understand, honey," my mom said.

I sighed and headed out into the living room. "That was my great aunt and..."

"She needs you for an emergency," Amy said. I realized her stuff was already put away. Had she guessed as soon as mom said it was my great aunt that I would be leaving? That made me feel even more guilty.

"I'm really, really sorry," I told Amy. "My great aunt is old and, you know, she often needs help..."

"It's okay, Angela," Amy replied. "I totally understand. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay," I told her.

After Angela left, I headed upstairs to grab my cell phone. I realized I had six missed calls from Aunt Ann. Oops.

I quickly dialed in Spoof's cell phone number, which I could punch in faster than having to search for it in my list of phone numbers.

"Hello!" Spoof said after two rings. "What's up, Angie?"

"A bunch of brownies are attacking Aunt Ann's house," I replied.

"Meet you there!" Spoof said before the line went dead.

I shoved my phone in my pocket. Since I was alone, I decided I didn't have to say my usual saying when I became a dragon.

Silver smoke floated around me as I morphed. My fingernails became claws, my ears became pointed and traveled up my head, a tail sprouted out behind me, and leathery wings sprung from my shoulders.

I stretched out my wings quickly before slamming open my window. I peered out to make sure no one was around to see me. Once the coast was clear, I shoved myself out of my bedroom window and flapped my way into the air.

Raccoon County is sort of a large city, similar to Las Vegas or L.A. There are mostly sky scrapers, but there are also residential districts similar to those in countryside towns. The city used to be small and more like a town. Back then it had simply been called Raccoon City. But it grew over the years and merged with a nearby town called Trout and city officials renamed the place Raccoon County. (People still joke around saying that Racoon City ate Trout.)

I flew across town to where my aunt lives in another residential area. After making sure I hadn't been spotted, I morphed back into my human form and walked to my great aunt's house. Spoof was already waiting on the sidewalk outside the house. His house is closer to Aunt Ann's.

"I hope Aunt Ann's okay," I said as we headed up the walkway.

We could hear the chatter and crashes coming from the house the closer we got. What in the world were the brownies so upset about? I knocked on the door, which swung open to reveal an angry looking Aunt Annunciata.

"Come in, quickly," Aunt Ann said, ushering us inside.

We entered the house to see it in ruins. The brownies had torn apart pillows, causing pillow stuffing to spill out everywhere; knocked over chairs; tossed knickknacks from shelves; ripped pages from books.

"What's going on here?" I shouted over the noise. I saw Willow hiding on the top of a very tall bookshelf.

"The California Dragon!" a brownie shouted.

The rest started shouting, "The California Dragon!" I watched as they stopped their destruction and began to gather in front of me.

"What are you doing destroying my great aunt's house?" I demanded the tiny people, who were all staring up at me with frightened faces.

"Our homes were destroyed!" a brownie, who was taller than the others, said. "By a black dragon!"

"What?" I stared.

Aunt Ann shook her head. "A black dragon? Was it the Dark Dragon?"

"No! No! He was not the Dark Dragon!" the brownie said in his squeaky voice. "He was small. A young dragon."

"He was not fully black! Dark gray, I would say!" another brownie stated.

The brownies all started shouting about what they had thought the dragon that had attacked them looked like.

I looked at Aunt Ann. "Could it have been the Rousseaus?"

"It's highly likely," she replied. "You must ask them to speak one at a time, Angela. They refuse to listen to me."

"Hey! Yo, brownies!" Spoof shouted. "Why don't cha ya'll stop talking at one time so we can hear you? You're giving me a headache!"

The brownies stopped talking and stared at him.

"That's better," Spoof said. "They're all yours, Angela."

"Uh...thanks," I said. I shook my head slightly to get myself to focus. "Okay, so a dragon with black or dark gray scales attacked your homes. When did that happen?"

"This morning!" the tall brownie exclaimed.

"He's still there, too!" another brownie shouted. "He told us to get the California dragon, or he'd eat us for breakfast!"

"Okay, well..." I paused and looked around the tattered house. "You can fix my great aunt's house up first. Then you can take me to your homes."

"Thank you! Oh, thank you! We will forever be in your dept, California Dragon!" the tall brownie said.

I wanted to tell him, "My name is Angela!", but the brownies were already fixing up my aunt's house.

Why couldn't anyone ever call me by my name?

"There he is!" the tall brownie, who was riding on my head, shouted.

We were flying over Little Mouse Woods, a forest to the north of Raccoon County. (Yeah, most of the stuff around here is named after animals.) I looked down to see a bunch of tiny wooden huts squashed flat. Standing at the edge of the brownie town was a slender, dark gray dragon with a silver stomach. He had black spikes from his neck to his tail, which ended in a three-pointed, fan-like spade. A single horn came out of the bridge of his nose and curled up over his forehead. Jet black hair sprouted from his head, from where his pointed ears poked out. He didn't look much older than me.

He looked up at me with leafy green eyes. A triumphant grin spread across his face. "Well, well, well!" he said. "If it isn't the California Dragon!"

I swooped down and let go of Spoof's armpits before landing behind him. Spoof quickly got out of the way as Aunt Ann landed with Willow in her arms. Willow jumped down and sat down beside Spoof's feet.

"Who are you?" I asked. I glanced around to see if he was with anyone, but he was alone.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he laughed.

"Uh, yeah, she would. I think that's why she just asked you who you are," Spoof said.

The young dragon looked at Spoof confusedly. He shook his head before composing himself. "All you need to know is that I'm your enemy and you'll be seeing a lot more of me as I continue to grow stronger!"

"Why did you crush the brownie town?" Spoof asked. "That seems like a pretty stupid choice for a first timer. Wouldn't you rather attack Kronos Bazaar? More people would hear about you that way."

"Spoof, don't give him ideas!" I hissed.

"I think he already did," the dark gray dragon said with a laugh.

I really hoped he wasn't being serious. Kronos Bazaar is the main magical area near Raccoon County. It's got tons of booths and shops for magical purposes. Matilda's shop, Gluck's Shop of Magical Goodies, was actually located in Kronos Bazaar. If this dragon attacked there, everyone would hear about it.

"Well, I'll be on my way now!" the dragon said. His winged opened up. "On second thought, if I fly away, you'll be able to follow me!" He tugged at a pouch dangling from a brown leather belt around his waist I hadn't noticed before. A second later, he upended the pouch and dumped out some strange spheres. There was a crackling sound and a plume of blue smoke shot up and around the dragon. He disappeared with an evil cackle.

"Who in the world was that?" I asked.

"Dark Dragon Junior?" Spoof suggested.

I hit him upside the head with my tail.

"Ow!"

End of Episode Two