Chapter 4: Watching Dad at Work

That evening,

"What do you mean the school's closed?" Jake asked his wife at dinner after getting caught up on what he missed in New York for the past year as he was dealing with some issues in the western states.

"The janitor found some mold" Rose said "Rotwood and I both checked it out and I recognized it. Luckily, so did he"

"How bad is it really?" Julie asked her mother

"Well, as far at Rotwood believes, the mold gives off a deadly fume after being exposed to fresh air for so long. However, that's not the truth."

"It's not?" Ben asked

"It's just residue from a swamp monster" Rose explained "I THINK it's looking for either your father or me for revenge"

"Probably me" Jake said.

"Couldn't you or Aunt Haley have handled it?" Julie asked now having seen a bit of her mother in action.

"We snuck to the school to try." Rose said turning to Ben. "That was when I told you that you had to babysit your sister when you wanted to go to the movies. However, when we got there, there was no way one dragon and two ex-huntsclan members plus four humans trained in magical combat and a talking dog could handle it. It's strong"

"So you needed the Am Drag on your team" Jake said.

"Yes" Rose said

"You guys went seven years without me" Jake reminded his wife.

"That was different Jake." Rose said. "We had Lao Shi for backup PLUS the huntsclan. Granted, the latter would have only helped if it was for their own personal gain and they didn't know they were helping dragons. Now with the Huntsclan destroyed, the only other strong-enough back-up would have been your grandfather."

"I understand" Jake said before looking like he had an idea. "Kids? How would you two like to seem me in action?"

"Really?" Julie asked excitedly as Ben continued playing with his food

"I've already seen you apparently" Ben said

"Trolls are nothing compared to something the team can't handle without me" Jake said

"Okay" Ben said

0000

After contacting Fu and Haley figuring they may be able to handle this without the other humans, the group went into the abandoned school.

"Hopefully after spending all this time in the abandoned school, it's weaker" Haley said

"Not when it's found the thermostat." Jake said as a wave of humidity hit him. He then turned to his wife and kids. "When we see the monster, duck and hide"

The family explored the abandoned school. Suddenly, Jake and Haley stopped

"Dad?" Julie asked

"Ear of the dragon" Jake whispered as his ear turned into his dragon ear.

"Ear of the dragon" Haley repeated as her own ear did the same to make sure she was hearing what her brother was.

"The basement" they chorused

The family went downstairs only to be greeted by a huge muck green slime monster.

"Stay in the stairwell!" Jake instructed his family before shouting along with his sister "DRAGON UP!"

Julie's jaw dropped as a blue swirl of what looked like magic engulfed her father as he jumped up and transformed into a dragon.

"Wow" Julie gasped

"Hey Ugly!" Jake bantered "Looking for something?"

The monster roared as he shot swamp muck that looked like mold at the American dragon.

Jake dodged each one. He then signaled to Haley who smirked and nodded before flying behind the monster to the boiler.

"Nothing like seeing good teamwork, eh Rose?" Fu asked

"Considering how those two were growing up, it definitely shows some hope" Rose agreed as she turned from the fight to her children.

Julie was watching wide-eyed as she had NEVER seen her father fight, let alone breath fire.

"Wow" Julie gasped

Rose then threw a concerned look towards her son as Ben had a bit of betrayal on his face all day. However, the concerned look dropped to a smile when she saw nothing but pure admiration and pride on her son's face as he watched his father take turns with his aunt as they switched back and forth between distracting the monster and forcing a hole into the floor leading to the sewers. There was still a small hint of betrayal, but it was very dim.

"NOW HALEY!" Jake called out as he flew up to her.

They both blew their dragon fire at the monster causing it to back up and fall into the hole and then they flew in after it.

"BEN!" Rose called as her son ran to the hole

Ben stopped at the entrance and looked in and listened closely

"AND STAY OUT OF TOWN!" Haley's voice rang through the sewer

Ben backed up as his father and aunt flew out of the sewer and they transformed back into their human forms

"That was AWSOME!" Julie exclaimed before anyone could say or ask anything "Will I be able to do that?"

"We'll see" Jake said "Providing the one bit of power you showed when you were born wasn't a flook like we were originally thinking now that we know Ben's weren't"

"And now that you'll be around the magical world between your father staying home more and your brother, there's a good chance you'll start developing your powers early" Haley said. "After all, I started developing mine when Jake here turned 13"

TBC

Coming soon:

"So…let me get this straight" Ben said. "You and Dad kept the biggest secret of your lives from me and Julie just so we wouldn't know what we were missing if those one timers had just been a TINY bit of our dragon blood revealing itself?"

"Yes Ben." Rose confirmed "And it was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do. But honestly Ben? Had you been younger, how would you have taken the knowledge that your parents had once tried to kill each other literally?"