Chapter 7: Busted

The months passed and Ben had passed his training test. Of course, it helped that Jake made training fun and they had some help between Rose, Seth, Haley, Trixy, Spud, Chad, and Renee mixed in with Julie's cheering.

It was now six months after Ben started his dragon training and Mark and Ron were starting to worry about their friend.

"Hey Ben?" Ron asked. "Wanna go board at the skate park?"

"Sorry Ron. Can't" Ben said apologetically as if he wanted nothing more. "But I have dra…er…work"

"Isn't there something called 'Child Labor Laws'?" Mark asked

"Uncle Seth and Aunt Haley need the help" Ben argued

"Ben. We've rarely seen you these past six months. You're always doing something with your Dad or your Aunt and Uncle and you missed some of the best surf" Ron stated "We miss you"

"I miss you guys too." Ben said sincerely "But Dad said that there are reasons and it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll see if I can't get the weekend off and the three of us can just have the weekend to ourselves. No parents, no little sisters…"

No magical beings

Ben put on his helmet and skateboarded to the shop as Mark and Ron went the opposite direction.

0000

A few hours later in Central Park,

Mark and Ron were resting after skateboarding and getting lost.

"Last time I ever ask you to lead the way" Ron snapped at Mark.

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise

"What was that?" Mark squeaked as he ducked behind the bench.

Ron went around to join Mark, but instead of hiding from fear, she hid to spy.

Suddenly, something large and red came flying from the bushes. Ron's jaw dropped as she recognized what it was

It was a dragon.

Suddenly, a medium-sized pink dragon flew up to him.

"That the best you got nephew?" the pink dragon asked in a familiar voice to the spies.

"That was a dirty trick Aunt Haley" the red dragon accused in a REALLY familiar voice as another red dragon flew to the fray. This one was larger which told Ron that this new one was a full grown dragon

"You have to be prepared for ANY tricks. There ARE dragons out there that will play dirty. And not just dragons. Trolls are some of the worst" the larger red dragon

"Besides," the pink dragon added with a smirk "if you want to graduate to the next level and fight your uncle or your mother to prepare you for dragon hunters, you have to beat me"

She then took a deep breath and breathed fire causing the spies' jaws to drop. That myth was TRUE?

The smaller red dragon ducked and rolled under the flying pink dragon and used his tail to grip her.

"if you were anyone else, I'd breath fire on you right now." The smaller red dragon told his aunt

"Plus there's the fact you still need to work on controlling it" the larger one added

"At least his flames come out the RIGHT end" the pink one teased

"Nobody is going to let me live that down, are they?" the larger dragon asked with a sigh

"Nope" the pink one teased with a smirk as the smaller one laughed

"Okay son" the larger dragon said indicating that pick-on-the-American-dragon time was over. "Good job with your aunt."

"Does that mean I can graduate to dragon hunters?" the smaller one asked excitedly

"yes, but not today" the father confirmed proudly. "We can start tomorrow."

"Actually Dad…" the smaller dragon said as if there was a conflict. "I was wondering if I could have the weekend off. My friends are really worried"

"Why didn't you say anything before? Of course you can have a bit of time off to hang out with your friends. You only need to tell me when you need a break"

"I didn't want you to think I didn't want to train"

"Son" The larger dragon said flying up to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder "I was once 13 myself. I know how important it is for you to have fun with your friends. However, that shouldn't be your WHOLE life as it had been in the past."

"Why six months after the training?" the aunt asked

"Truthfully…it was a good way to avoid the questions. But I've been missing them and now that I have better control in most of my powers, I can hang out. Plus I've had time to think of good cover stories. But I'm still a bit worried that Ron won't buy it."

"That Veronica IS a smart girl" the aunt informed the father

Ron's jaw dropped. The name, the voices, the story…they all fit, but it was impossible.

"Excuse me?" she asked as she came out of hiding.

"Ron!" Mark exclaimed horrified having not put two and two together yet.

"Ron? Mark?" the smaller dragon asked looking panicky before looking around to see that his father and aunt had flown the coop to see how Ben would handle the situation.

"Uh…I mean…" the dragon said before clearing his throat and deepening his voice. "Humans! How DARE you infiltrate my training?"

"How dare WE?" Ron asked "how dare YOU keep such a big secret from us, Benjamin Long?"

"Ron. That's a dragon. Not Ben" Mark told her

"I think I would know my best friend" Ron argued

Realizing that his aunt was right about Ron being smart, Ben sighed and transformed back into his human appearance.

"BEN?" Mark gasped "How the hell are you a dragon?"

"Born this way, but came into my inheritance months ago" Ben answered

"How can you keep this from us?" Ron asked again with tears of betrayal in her eyes.

"Up until I got the powers, I wasn't aware of them myself." Ben answered

"And after?" she asked crossing her arms "I thought we were friends Ben"

"We are" Ben told them "I wanted nothing more than to tell you these past seven months, but…"

"SEVEN MONTHS!" she interrupted

"You've lied to us for seven months?" Mark asked stunned

"I didn't want to" Ben tried to reason.

"You know…I don't want to hear it" Ron said before turning around and walking away in a huff trying to hide the tears in her eyes

"Ron! Mark!" Ben called out as Mark followed her

When Ben felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, he turned and embraced his father who had transformed

"Give them time" Jake told his son. "They've just had a bad shock"

"I hate that rule" Ben told his father rightfully looking like he had lost his best friends.

"So do I" Jake assured his son

0000

Meanwhile, in another part of the park

Ron had finally stopped running and sat by a fountain (the one where Haley met Chad).

"Wow" Mark said after 10 minutes of silence. "Ben's a dragon. Never would have guessed that. I wonder why he didn't tell us"

"He didn't have a choice" a voice came

The two 13, almost 14, year olds turned and saw four adults they recognized. Two were Ben's godparents: Trixy and Spud. The other two were Ben's cousin's godparents: Renee and Chad. It had been Trixy who had spoken

"What do you mean?" Mark asked

"We mean that there's a rule that humans can't know of the magical world" Trixy answered

"You four know apparently" Veronica accused

"That's because we found out" Renee said "Haley transformed in front of us to save us from a dragon who was willing to do us harm. After we fainted, she told us it was a dream, but…"

"Better than us." Spud said. "When we found out about Jake, he had been knocked unconscious and landed in front of us. Then we sold him to Rotwood for cash. When we went to go tell Jake, we found some pictures on his computer of him transforming"

"And you were his friends?" Mark asked

"We didn't know it at the time and when we figured it out, we did everything we could to help." Trixy said

"And when we figured out the truth about Haley, we went right to her side to help" Renee added

"We were, as Trixy, Spud, and Jake put it, 'Friends for Life and Friends for Real'" Chad said. "We NEVER walked out on them"

"Like we just did" Mark realized with a wince

"We figured it was just the shock talking. At least that's what Jake's telling Ben" Spud explained "But Ben's going to need all the friends he can get"

"But he lied to us!" Ron argued.

"Oh? And you've never lied to your friends?" Trixy asked

"Well…" Mark admitted

"Mark?" Ron asked stunned

"The E in my middle name doesn't stand for 'Edward'" Mark confessed. "It's Eugene"

"Ron" Renee said. "According to Haley, one of Ben's first questions once he was told of his dragon heritage was if he can tell you. But the answer was No. You and Mark had to figure it out yourselves if you were to get involved"

0000

An hour later

Ben was at the shop helping Fu organize his potion collections

"Give them time Kid. Finding out your best friend's a mythological being is a big step" Fu assured Ben

"I don't know. Ron hadn't looked this betrayed since her parents got that divorce after her father was caught cheating" Ben said with a sigh.

"Really?" Fu asked stunned not having heard that

"Two years ago, her Dad started telling her and her mother that he had to work late and went on business trips. However, she had noticed that he would never kiss her mother goodbye. A year later, he was caught having an affair and her parents divorced. Ever since, Ron's had issues with lying"

"Ben." Jake said peeking into the back room that was reserved for the magical realm material. "You have some guests."

He then moved aside and let the redheaded girl and the brown-haired boy.

"Ron? Mark?" Ben asked confused

"Look" Ron said as if this was hard. "I'm still upset that you've lied to us, but it's been explained that you had absolutely no choice in the matter. But…just because of this, doesn't mean you're any different than before"

"You're secret's safe with us" Mark translated "And if you need help, just ask us"

"But no more lies" Ron said

"Deal" Ben said as they shook on it using their groups' secret handshake

"So…" Mark asked once the air was cleared. "All your Mom teaches is real?"

"Yeah" Ben said "she used to be a dragon slayer as did Uncle Seth"

"And your Dad and Aunt MARRIED them?" Mark asked

"It only gets weirder" Ben warned them.

"I wouldn't exactly say 'weird'" Fu pointed out

Mark's jaw dropped and Ron promptly fainted

"Smooth Fu" Ben said sarcastically but glad that his friends were accepting this. He turned to his father who was giving him an I-told-you-so smirk. Ben just smiled back

TBC

Next time

"I haven't heard anything, but that doesn't mean he doesn't" Jake said before smirking. "It's for this purpose I haven't called your Grandpa Jonathan and Grandma Susan to tell them about your training. For all they knew, that fire breath when you were a baby was a flook"

"!" a scream came

The two dragons transformed and flew to Julie's room.