A kid runs through a city ruined by miles of inextinguishable flames. Dodging and avoiding the flames as to not be burned to death by the extremely hot flames destroying the city. The kid trips on a rock and grinds the ground on his stomach, his clothes and face collecting dirt and ash from the infinite flames. He coughs as he gets up on his hands and knees, suddenly hearing an explosion that causes his head to rise to the heavens, spotting fireballs flying about from the explosion. He lets out a shriek as one fireball falls downward to his position, but he swiftly gets up and jumps out of the way, the ball of fire striking the ground with its unrivaled temperature and spreading into tiny fire pellets.
The kid backs off from the fireball's landing point as the fire from it seems to spread like a wall toward his direction, gaining in speed as it gets closer to the boy. He chooses not to stick around and turns tail, fleeing from the firewall. He gasps and breathes in choked breaths as he cannot breathe anything but smoke, punishing him with virtually no oxygen.
It wasn't until he passes by the remains of a toy store did the boy collapsed to his knees from breathing in so much oxygen, dropping on his hands next and cough his lungs out from breathing in so much. He weakly lifts his gaze forward to see a figure standing before him just five feet away. The figure approximately stands at 7-8 feet tall, broad shoulders and bulky legs and build, its wings proudly and widely opened on his back, its scales a gold color and glow.
The kid coughs again as his strength is zapped out of him from the smokes, this sound causing the dragon to slowly turn around to face the unfortunate boy. It looks down at the boy with no expression on its face, just a blank stare. The boy coughs again and looks up at the dragon in fear, his own gaze looking right in the dragon's eyes, both of them locked in a stare.
The boy feels an overwhelming sense…He blinks sharply once and stares at the dragon in fear, trying to gasp for breathe…
The Millenium Dragon…A powerful and wonderful creature…
The problem…However…Is the wielder's will…
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Yahto slowly opens his eyes to a new day. Yawning widely as he sits up on his bed he stretches out his arms and bangs his fist on his alarm clock to stop its alarm feature.
"Man…" He mutters as he rubs his eyes and lean back on his bed, "A dream with that dragon again…First yesterday in school with a daydream now this…"
He slowly kicks the sheet off of him and turns his body over and sits on the edge of his bed, resting his elbows on his knees as he gazes at the ground, waiting for the drowsiness to subside and let his mind wander to other things rather than keeping it on the dream. He's sick and tired of having the same dream with the same dragon over and over. The thought of having the same dream again robs him of the desire to sleep again. At least give me different dragons to dream of, maybe the one from yesterday…
Yahto glances at the clock. It's just 7 AM, the usual time Yahto wakes up to get ready for school; though today he doesn't feel much like going. But he must; for his education and future. Plus, he might want to listen to Professor Hans Rotwood's class today; maybe that lunatic might know something about the dragon. Maybe he isn't such a lunatic after all…
A chirp from a bird outside his window catches Yahto's attention. He turns his head to the window behind him as a bird is perched on the window's protruded edge, singing in the morning sun. The bird's gentle song manages to shed a warm smile on Yahto's face…
DAY 2
The streets of New York are pretty calm for 4PM in the afternoon. People are still busy about in their work, just one hour away from that freedom they thrive for every afternoon. Along the 79th street in Manhattan's Upper West Side a bus stops at its usual bus stop, dropping off its passengers and picking up new passengers who wait at the bus stop for their familiar transportation vehicle. One of the people getting off the bus is Jake Long himself, and coming out the bus beside him is the comical grey Shar Pei dog, Fu.
"The next time that dirty mutt gets into my bus he better be on a leash!" The bus driver angrily shouts at Jake, his fist in the air.
"Dirty mutt?" Fu Dog reacts, quickly turning around and shaking his fist at the bus driver. "Listen here, pal! I may be a mutt but you have no right to-" He suddenly stops as a multitude of people are staring at him in awe and shock, none of them willing to believe that the dog just spoke English. Fu Dog and puts on cute puppy dog eyes and stands gracefully on all four paws, trying his best to look like any dog. "Uhhh…Woof woof." He barks.
Soon everyone shook it off as a trick of the mind and went on about their business, the bus driver closing the door of his bus and driving off with its passengers. Fu Dog sighs and turns to Jake, who seems to be quite embarrassed of this sudden predicament as his face is buried in the palm of his hands.
"Heheh, sorry kid," Fu Dog starts, "but you know what they say; a dog has to be a dog."
"You pushed another dog off its seat and tried to steal a lady's lunch." Jake recaps of the mischief Fu Dog did in the bus as he takes his hands off his face to look down at Fu.
"I had nowhere to sit." Fu complains. "Who does that dog think she is thinking she's all high and mighty to keep a seat all to herself!" he pauses as he sits down, "Besides, I was hungry and that hamburger was too big for that lady to eat herself."
Jake groans as he starts walking down the sidewalk, "I don't know why I even brought you along. I should've gone alone."
Fu gets up on all four and begins to follow alongside Jake. "I came along to help you with your homework. My intelligence is as huge as the ocean itself."
"I could've easily found the information I'm looking for at the museum, Fu." Jake remarks.
"Museums are overrated." Fu points out. "What bigger help other than a 600-year-old dog can a museum be?"
"We're not just going to any museum, Fu." Jake points out, "We're going to the American Museum of Natural History!" A corner later the duo finds themselves facing directly to the entrance of the humongous museum in New York, and possibly, the whole world. Four pillars are in the front of the museum, two on the left and right of the main door, a statue on top of every pillar. The museum is huge in both height and width. Even the main door is humongous in height. "This place has everything!" Jake continues.
"Meh, it's OK." Fu mumbles.
"Stop being jealous Fu and c'mon!" Jake cries as he takes off running to the museum. "We got so much to see in there and we only have one hour and thirty minutes until they close!"
Fu got up and took chase behind Jake. "I'm right behind ya, kid!"
The American Museum of Natural History is a landmark alright. A museum with four floors full of exhibits and a basement where the visitors can grab a bite to eat in the food court and depart from the museum in an underground train via the subway, yes the museum has its own subway station.
Right now a train has stopped in the station, the doors sliding open and small amount of people pouring out of the doors. A kid exits the train, a backpack strapped to his back, a dark-blue cap with a black backside on his head and a blue crystal necklace around his neck. He looks around the place in awe, impressed by just the first impressions of the museum. He smiles a bit as he takes a few steps away from the train and closer into the place. The men and women restrooms are to his right and the Big Dipper Café to his left, a café with the theme of our galaxy's Big Dipper. He stops for a moment at a Information boot in front of the café to pick up a map of the place, then continues on his way.
"Wow…" Yahto whispers in awe, stopping in front of the food court. "This place is incredible…" He opens the map he took from the Information boot and found his location on the map, finding himself even more impressed with the place. "And this is just the basement…Can't wait to get to the upper floors then." He can't forget the reason he's here though. The homework he received from fifth period. He has to gather good information on a couple of reptiles. Let's see…Reptiles…reptiles…Ah-hah!
He taps his finger on a box in the map with a grey silhouette of an alligator with the words 'Reptiles and Amphibians' over it on the third floor map of the place. "Gotcha…" He mutters. Now all he has to do is get up to the third floor.
"Elevator!" He pinpoints to himself on the map. He folds the map up and places it into the back pocket of his backpack and turns to his left, walking away from the entrance of the food court and, like the map says, an elevator is there. He presses the button to summon the elevator when suddenly his necklace begins giving off a small glow, a glow which startled him. "Huh…?"
He suddenly grimaces at a small sting on his left wrist. He retracts his arm and clutches the wrist, arching an eyebrow at this weird sudden little pain. It's just like the pain from yesterday during that incident at school with those weird ninja people. He still hasn't figured out why some of them chased them down, and frankly he doesn't think he wants to know why.
DING!
The ding brings his attention back to reality as the elevator door opens, revealing its passengers inside. Courteously, Yahto steps aside to allow the people to walk out of the elevator, and soon enough it was empty and Yahto walks into it, luckily the only person in the elevator as the door closes.
"Alright…Level 3…" He tells himself as he reaches over and presses the button with the number 3 on it, and soon the gravity inside the elevator unnoticeably increases as it slowly but surely elevates to the floors above, a soothing and low hum starts as it elevates. Yahto glances up at the floor counters above the doorway. The number "1" is highlighted as the elevator reaches the first floor. It continues climbing without pause. The number "2" is highlighted. Again it continues without pause. This time, however, the necklace flickers a bright glow and again the boy's left wrist hurts, this time a bit more intense.
"Gah!" He cries a bit as he clutches his wrist; the pain subsides but leaves behind a burning sensation. He looks at his wrist, which is covered over by his wristband and a slight glow is seen below the wristband before it dies out along with the glow of his necklace. The previous pain irritated him; this sudden feeling of anger just erupts in his mind, the urge to take any power he could and abuse it in causing destruction and despair. A feeling he has never felt before. A feeling so strong that he could barely hold it back…
DING!
The sudden ding knocks him back to reality as he throws his head up to the counter. The number "3" is highlighted and the elevator's doors slide open. He is immediately greeted to a wall with a sign as he walks out of the elevator. The sign has a red arrow pointing to Yahto's right with the words "Amphibians and Reptiles" above the arrow. Yahto shakes off the burning sensation, and of course the weird feeling of going senile on everything he sees, and turns to his right. Another wall up ahead greets him with another sign with an arrow, this time pointing to the left with the words "Amphibians and Reptiles".
"Guess this is it…" Yahto mutters as he follows the arrows to the exhibit, and just when he turns the corner…
BAM!
"Oof!"
"Whoa!"
Yahto just walked into somebody and they both drop to the ground. Yahto fell backwards onto his behind, his cap drooped over his eyes and covering his view of who he just walked into.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, you little…Uhh…Woof!"
Yahto shakes his head and grabs the lid of his cap and pulls it up and out of his eyes. "I'm sorry, should've watched where I was go-" He suddenly stops as his eyes are set on the person he just walked into. "Jake?"
"Jeez kid, this museum is something else." Fu Dog compliments the place as both he and Jake walk through the main entrance.
"You got that right." Jake nods, "This museum is practically the biggest one in New York. It's a landmark!"
"Yeah yeah," Fu mumbles as the duo stop in the middle of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, a hall dedicated to the 26th president of the United States of America. Straight ahead of them lies the North American Mammals hall, to their left the Halls of Biodiversity and to their right the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. "So, where to now?"
"We're going to the Reptiles and Amphibians hall on the third floor," Jake instructs as he walks north and turns left, facing the stairs to the second floor. "gotta gather some good info on the komodo dragon and crocodile for tomorrow."
"The komodo dragon?" Fu echoes, "Aw c'mon, kid. You could've asked me that! I know more about them than any museum!" He stopped from climbing the stairs to bear his teeth to match the following, "Their sharp teeth," he lifts his paws to try to show his claws as a threat, "their sharp claws," and then finishes with an attempt to wag his tail, "and their strong tail! I know more about them than a komodo itself! Egugu!" He giggles his trademark giggle.
Though Jake groans as he slaps his face, not taking Fu's remark of his knowledge about the reptile seriously, "Look, I just wanna have a good score on this homework. All this dragon business has been wrecking my grades enough as it is. Plus, I thought you were busy with the scale I brought yesterday."
They were greeted by a wall when they reach the second floor. On the wall in front of them were a row of about four payphones and an automated teller machine. To their right lie the Museum Gift Shop and their left the hallway to get to the Asian Mammals hall. They turn a corner to get to the next set of stairs that'll take them to the third floor, but before they would get close to them Jake stops. "And speaking about the scale," he starts, looking down at Fu, "have you found out anything about it?"
Fu stops and looks up at Jake, a disappointed look in his wrinkly face. "Well kid, to tell you the truth I'm not finding out anything about it…" He continues as they continue up their way to the set of stairs to the third floor. "But there was something about it. It gave me the creeps, kid. And every time I look at it I feel like I've seen it before…Just can't put my paw on it."
"Weird…" Jake mutters, "You know, I kind of felt the exact same thing when I was carrying it back to the shop…"
"What?" Fu exclaims, stopping his climb. "Are you serious here, kid?"
"I'm dead serious," Jake nods at Fu as they both continue their climb, almost nearing the top. "I felt it in my heart…I don't know, felt like a burning sensation…I thought it might've been heart burn but the minute I let go of it I felt fine…"
"Hmm…I don't like this…" Fu admits, "This is all sounding way too familiar to me. It's scary."
BAM!
"Oof!"
"Whoa!"
The moment they touched foot on the third floor someone from Jake's right bumped right onto him and knocks him down onto his side, nearly missing Fu. Jake's elbow helped in breaking his fall, but landing on his elbow just jolts pain up his left arm and through his shoulder blades.
Fu Dog turns to the person at fault, shaking his fist at him. "Hey! Watch where you're going, you little-" Though the dog didn't realize how dangerously close the person is. He drops his fist and sits on his rump, trying to look like a dog. "Uhh…Woof!"
The person groans. "I'm sorry, should've watched where I was go…Jake?"
"Huh?" Jake blinks as he sits up to rub his shoulder. He looks at the person who just said his name and gasps a bit. The person who bumped into him dons the familiar blue shirt, black baggy jeans, black and blue sneakers and wristband on his left arm. The only new attire though is a dark-blue cap. "Yahto? What are you doing here?"
The kid, Yahto, scratches the back of his head before replying. "Well I uhh…Came to check this museum out…Heard that it had an exhibit about our homework for tomorrow and thought why not kill two birds with one stone?"
"Oh, so you're here for the home work too just like me?" Jake smiled as he picked himself up, finally, someone to talk to in public who doesn't have to bark to fit in, and certainly not wait until the coast is clear to talk neither. "Cool, we can go together!"
Yahto looks at Jake and smiles. "Really? You'd go with me?"
Jake nods. "Sure, why not?"
Yahto nods and grins, "Alright then, let's go!"
Just outside of the American Museum of Natural History, on top of a roof, stand two hunters of the Huntsclan, one of them holding a circular-shaped object. The object is slightly glowing a gold color, though a glow too weak to be considered noticeable.
The Huntsclan hunter looks at the one holding the scale. The item is glowing, but not as much as they would have hoped. But it does mean something: What they are looking for is somewhere close by.
"Has the dragon been located?" The Huntsmaster approaches from behind them, and from the look of his glowing red eyes he is not too happy. He gave these two hunters the job of carrying the scale and following its glowing reaction to track down the creature they're searching for, but so far their performance in tracking it down has been nothing but unsatisfying, which has gotten the Huntsmaster infuriating. Right now he's losing his patience at these two not giving him an answer. "Well?"
The hunters seem to be hesitant in their answer, but a sudden glow from the scale has given them a reassurance to give in their report to them. The one who's not holding the scale turns to the Huntsmaster. "Sir, we believe it might be in that museum up ahead."
The Huntsmaster's glowing red eyes turn into slits from the deeper glare he's surely making, making the hunter flinch. He lifts his head to the museum up ahead after intimidating the hunter, "Ahhh…The American Museum of Natural History…"
Just as huge as it is inside the museum is huge from the outside, extending a good range from the sides to show off the museum's huge structure. Four pillars in the front, two on the left and right of the main door, a statue on top of every pillar. The view itself is marvelous; no wonder it is a landmark…
"Hold position until dusk!" The Huntsmaster shouts to his troops, staring at the museum. "We'll wait until night fall when the dragon comes out to make our move…"
As evil as the Huntsclan can and may be, sometimes they prefer their hunts by night. Fewer distractions the better…
"Awesome…" Yahto whispers as he stands right at the entrance of the Reptiles and Amphibians hall. On his left and right lie displays of realistic dioramas. Realistic displays of crocodiles, alligators, komodo dragons, lizards, anything reptilian and amphibian. For a second there he thought they were for real.
Jake had already walked deeper ahead in the hall along with his dog to check the rest of the dioramas while Yahto takes his time in the hall looking at each diorama, admiring their realism and accurate anatomy and habitat. Yahto approaches a diorama of what seems a replica of an underwater habitat with a couple of realistic turtle dioramas, the snout of the turtle resembling a beak and four small sharp claws on the turtle's feet and front feet.
"The Alligator Snapping Turtle…" Yahto reads the plaque in front of the display, "The largest freshwater turtles. Weighing between 155 and 175 pounds, they are characterized by three large, pronounced ridges, or keels, that run from the front to the back of the carapace…" Yahto looks again at the turtle diorama, admiring the prehistoric-like look the turtle has, quickly shifting his mind to dinosaurs, the mightiest creatures that ruled the planet millions of years ago. I should make a stop in their hall if there's time afterwards.
Yahto continues along by the different dioramas in the hall, stopping to look at a diorama of a snake. The snake seems to be about 12 feet long, tan in color with dark crossbands. "Boa Constrictor…" He reads the snake's name on the information plaque. He continues down the hall and finally finds a crocodile for his homework, "The Cuban Crocodile?" Yahto reads the crocodile's name on the plague. He looks at the crocodile's diorama and immediately knew it was the one for him.
Pulling a notebook out of his backpack he begins to read and write down any information on the crocodile's plague of info. The number of teeth, the length of how it can grow to become, the anatomy, their ways of life, diet, life span, anything valuable to learn from them. Yahto learned a lot about this crocodile in just the 15 minutes he's spent reading and writing the bio down. "They can grow up to be as long as 13 feet…66 to 68 teeth…Whoa, they sound like tough animals…" Yahto stops and looks at what he has written. More than half the page has been written about the Cuban Crocodile; seems plausible enough to get a perfect score for homework. Yahto put his notebook away in his backpack when…
"Attention all visitors of the American Museum of Natural History," The voice of a young lady announces through the museum's intercom system, "The museum will be closed in just one hour, please make the necessary procedures to complete your visit experience to the museum. Those who are also interested in the revelation of our newest addition to the Saurischian Dinosaurs hall please head to the respective hall on the fourth floor in twenty minutes. That is all."
"A new addition?" Yahto asks himself, "Sounds promising…"
It didn't take long for Jake, Fu and their new companion, Yahto, to get to the Reptiles and Amphibians hall; they were just a corner and a walk away from it.
Fu Dog was uncomfortably following Jake around the hall as the boy zigs and zags from diorama to diorama, admiring the details in each one and taking notes of different crocodiles and alligators he can find. Fu Dog is already getting dizzy of all this following, but he is not uncomfortable about all this movement though.
"Settle down, kid…" Fu finally speaks after Jake stops at the Komodo dragon diorama. The dog collapses on the ground next to Jake's feet and pants, "You're running me ragged all over the place here!"
"Sorry, Fu." Jake apologizes as he writes notes and information on his notebook from all the reptiles and amphibians in the hall, "But I really need the extra credit, this is a good opportunity to get my grade up."
Fu Dog gets up on all fours and rubs his head, "Well you could've at least slow down so I could keep up." He looks around the hall as people roam around in it, gazing and admiring each of the dioramas. Some of them taking pictures, others taking notes, and others just gazing and looking. Fu Dog stops looking around as his eyes find Yahto…He doesn't know why, but the kid gives him the creeps. He can't put his paw on it, but there's something about him…A feeling…A feeling that he's felt before…
"Umm…Kid?" Fu begins, "Haven't you noticed anything strange from your friend?"
Jake stops writing on his notebook and looks at Fu, "Other than always wearing that necklace all the time, not really." He thinks for a second. No, that's not true. "And…Well…His eyes; I don't know, but isn't it unnatural for a guy to have red eyes like that? I mean, if he's wearing contacts, then that's a weird choice for contacts."
"I don't think they're contacts, kid." Fu replies. "There might be something odd about him. I mean, there's something about him…It just makes me uncomfortable."
"Maybe you're putting way too much thought into it, Fu." Jake assures him, the eraser of his pencil pointed right at him. "Maybe taking that bite out of that lady's hamburger in the bus finally caught up with you."
"Are you kidding!" Fu remarks, "I may be 600 years old, but my stomach is as resistant and strong as it was when I was younger and hipper! Egugu!" He gives off again his famous yet annoying giggle.
"Attention all visitors of the American Museum of Natural History," The voice of a young lady announces through the museum's intercom system, "The museum will be closed in just one hour, please make the necessary procedures to complete your visit experience to the museum. Those who are also interested in the revelation of our newest addition to the Saurischian Dinosaurs hall please head to the respective hall on the fourth floor in twenty minutes. That is all."
"A new addition to the dinosaur exhibit?" Jake recalls, echoing the message the woman through the intercom delivered. He grins and looks down at Fu, "Sounds cool! How about we go check it out?"
"Aw man!" Fu moans, "You mean head up all the way to the fourth floor just to see something new being put in a box? No way, kid! I'm going home!"
"Too bad, Fu." Jake grabs Fu by his collar and proceeds to drag him off out of the Reptiles and Amphibians hall, "You can't board a bus without me, and it's a long walk back home."
"Jake, no, please, don't!" Fu complains as he practically claws at the carpeted floor, trying desperately to break out of Jake's grip, "I don't feel like going up there! I wanna go home and enjoy my warm comfy beanbag bed for the rest of the night!"
Jake was glad the hall is practically empty due to all the people leaving to check out the new addition to the dinosaur exhibit, otherwise he would've gotten some very strange looks right about now to a kid dragging his whimpering dog out of the room and up a floor. Although, Yahto is already looking at him and giving him a weird look.
"Umm…" Yahto starts, "Is your dog okay?"
Jake tries to bring an excuse to cover this rather weird picture. "Just…Disturbed from so many reptiles in one room, heheh…Ehh…"