Jake Long and Yahto were on their way up the stairs from the fourth to the fifth floor. Just a few minutes ago they announced a new exhibit being revealed in the Saurischian Dinosaurs section of the final floor, and while they were there why not go check it out.

C'mon," Yahto told to Jake as he takes the lead, just about halfway up the stairs. "They're gonna show the new exhibit any minute now!"

Jake brings up the rear along with Fu Dog, who hasn't been quite cooperative with the ascend of the stairs. C'mon Fu, hurry it up!" Jake hurries as he stops for the dog to catch up. "We're gonna miss it."

Fu manages to catch up to the young boy with pants and gasps for breath. "Hahh…hahh…Take it easy, kid. I'm not as young as I used to be."

"C'mon Fu, that's the oldest excuse in the book!" Jake comments as he continues ascending the stairs. Looking up he sees the end of the stairs and greeted with a sign pointing toward where to go for the Saurischian Dinosaurs section. After getting to the top and turning toward said direction he bumps into Yahto. "Yo, what's the hold up?" He inquires. But just like looking over Yahto he gets the answer by himself. "Ah maaaaan…" He groans at what he sees. The section is crowed by hundreds of people waiting eagerly for the new exhibit, it's like as if the whole museum decided to see this. Being way in the back, they would hardly see the new exhibit; if they can see anything from the position they're in.

Yahto was trying in vain to look over the crowd, even going as far as climbing on top of a railing to gain some height to look over the audience. Jake takes notice of Yahto's struggle to see, "See anything?"

Yahto shakes his head with a grunt and jumps down the rail. "Nothing, just heads bobbing back and forth." He looks back at the crowd, there has to be a way to get through them. If he can't look over or can't get around them, then he would just have to go through them. "C'mon." Yahto pushes himself into the crowd, squeezing in-between people as he slowly makes his way to the front.

"Yo, wait up!" Jake shouts as Yahto takes the lead into the crowd. Shrugging at Fu he follows Yahto into the crowd, slowly but surely squeezing in through the crowd trying to make it to the front. Luckily they're kids otherwise it would cause a riot about them cutting in front.

"Excuse me, pardon me, let me squeeze through here, I'm sorry." Yahto was slowly making his way to the front, making tight squeezes through people and slightly pushing others out of the way to make his way forward, and after squeezing through two more people he finally he makes it to the front. He adjusts his hat a bit and looks at the exhibit in front of him, happy to see he made it just in time; the exhibit hasn't been unveiled yet. "Aaah, just in time too." He looks around to see if Jake made it to the front. "Jake?"

"Welcome everyone to the Saurischian Dinosaurs department here in the American Museum of Natural History!" Too late to try to find him, the unveiling has begun as an excited-looking employee has walked out from behind the covered exhibit, welcoming the audience. "I am pleased to see such a huge audience anticipating the premier of our newest exhibit here in the Saurischian Dinosaurs department." The hostess smiles and looks to her left. "Isn't that right, Tom?"

A male employee pops out from behind the covered exhibit, giving the crowd a warm smile. "That's right, Lilia! What we have in store for you will undeniably amaze you! For years we have worked hard to build this department up into the majestic attraction you see today. To shower you all with knowledge of the creatures who have dominated our planet millions of years ago!"

"Everyday we learn something new from these majestic creatures!" The female employee, Lilia, continues. "But recently, an item has been discovered that has even puzzled the experts of the Jurassic Era."

"An item first of its kind!" The male employee, Tom, adds. "And we have it here as our brand new exhibit!"

Yahto's eyes were already beaming from anticipation, this new exhibit sounds promising. What could it be though? What new item has surfaced that has baffled even the most experienced experts? Yahto leans forward as the employees get ready to pull the cover off the exhibit, but as they get ready for that the whole crowd are roused and inches forward, crushing Yahto a bit between the people as they all slightly push forward. "Agh! Hey!" He complains as he nearly gets squished between two anticipating people.

"And now," Lilia announces as both her and Tom are about to pull the covers off. "we proudly present the newest addition to the department!" The two pull the cover off, leaving everyone to gasp in awe at what they see. Yahto manages to push himself forward to where he was and gasps in awe as well.

The exhibit is a collection of three scales. Three yellow scales nearly the size of a human head, and not only that but they seem to be glittering in the exhibit spotlight. The items were of wonderful beauty. Yahto frowns, for some odd reason those items look rather familiar. Just a feeling he has that he cannot explain. "Huh? Hey! Waaah! Stop pushing! Aaah!" Suddenly Yahto was pushed back from the rousing crowd as they all try to get closer to take pictures of the new exhibit. Yahto never stood a chance against the adult current going forward.

"These scales have been discovered deep underground in the deserts of Egypt." Lilia explained to the crowd about the scales' history. "It was then sent here to the experts to study its properties and signatures. The scales are about 1000 years old and have miraculously kept their glow intact. The scientists have concluded these scales are of a rare kind of hide they have never seen before, a kind of hide that glitters in sunlight."

"It's one of a kind indeed, Lilia." Tom continues. "It is the first of its kind in recorded history ever to be found. It gives us great honor to host it in our museum!"

Yahto was already out of the crowd as the employees continued, he was almost crushed in there and he was not willing to go back in there just to see three beautiful scales on display, not worth almost getting crushed. He fixes his hat and takes notice of his necklace, once again giving off a faint glow like yesterday. Curious, he takes off his necklace and looks at it as it glows. Turning to the crowd and aiming the necklace toward them he's surprised to see the glow intensify a bit. Maybe…Nah, it couldn't be…

Yahto puts his necklace back around his neck and looks around for Jake; he still hasn't seen him ever since they got into the crowd to get to the front. He must still be in the crowd up front…

"And now, we proudly present the newest addition to the department!"

Jake and Fu made it to the front by the time the new exhibit was revealed. It took Jake by surprise at what the new exhibit was; the three scales on display looked similar to the scale he found at the school lunch room yesterday, with the same glow and everything.

"No way…" He mutters as he turns around to get out of the crowd, just in time too as the crowd just begun to get roused up about the exhibit and pushing forward to take pictures and a better look of the new item in display.

"Fu, didn't those look like the one I found yesterday?" Jake inquires as both he and Fu turn a corner to a lonely area on the fifth floor, nobody to see or hear them.

Fu sits down as he looks up at the kid. "To tell you the truth kid, I think those are like the one you brought home."

"Heh, no way, Fu." Jake responds. "I mean, it couldn't be. They said they found those scales in the middle of nowhere in Egypt. How can they possibly be related to the scale we have in any way?"

Fu shudders. "I don't know kid, but it creeps me out. There's just something about them that's familiar, like the one you brought home yesterday."

"You think it might be from a mythical creature?"

"I don't have any doubts about it, kid."

Jake sighs. No matter where he goes he just cannot escape the grasp of his American Dragon job. If it's not the Huntsclan it's a mythical creature gone on a riot or something mythical falling in the hands of the unaware humans. "So what do you want me to do? Wait 'till its night for me to sneak in here and take the scales from right under their noses?"

Fu shakes his head. "Nah, not until we figure out completely what the scales are. If they hold any danger to whoever holds it, we won't have any other option but to take it."

"All right all right, chill." Jake jokes as he holds up his hands defensively at Fu who is giving him a look. "If anything goes down with these scales you can count on the Am-Drag here to take care of the situation."

Fu arches an eyebrow at the kid. "Uh-huh, good and dandy kid, but what about your friend?"

Jake blinks. "Huh? Oh, right! Yahto!" He looks back at the department to spot his classmate standing there looking at the crowd, probably looking for him. "Yo, Yahto!"

The bus trip back home was rather quiet between the two classmates. Yahto sits on the other side of the bus from Jake as he looks out the window, seeing the city of New York scroll past him as the bus is in motion. He was still puzzled by his necklace glowing, especially when aimed to the scales at the museum. It was all strange, like something out of Rotwood's classes. Yahto rubs his eyes in annoyance; they have been irritating him since he left the museum with Jake and his dog. He subconsciously scratches his wrist under his wristband where the birthmark is; like his eyes the birthmark has been irritating him since departing the museum.
'Note to self: Search the library and/or internet about this.'

The brakes suddenly screech as the bus slowly comes to a stop. The sound startles Yahto as he sits upright and bobbles his head back and forth seeing the scenery slowing down, seeing the bus station on his side of the window.
'OK, this isn't the street I had in mind.'

"Yo, what's the hold up?" Jake asks to the driver as he stands up from his seat.

"I'm sorry kid, but this is the end of the line for this bus line." The driver announces. "You'll just have to wait at the station for the next bus to take you to your destination."

"Of all the rotten luck…" Jake mutters to himself. "All right, let's go then."

Yahto looks out the window from the other side, recognizing the layout of the street and the park that's just a couple of blocks away, his house isn't far from there. Although as for Jake, the kid doesn't know how far he lives from the park. He looks at Jake already seeing him getting off, which he should do right now. He exits the bus and looks around the street, seeing the crimson sky as the sun is nearly setting and the moon getting ready to show its face. He adjusts his backpack with a sigh and looks at Jake. "Well, I can walk to home from here. I guess you'll stay here to catch the bus home?"

Jake shrugs. "Nah, I'm not sticking around another half hour to catch a bus to go home." He approaches Yahto and walks past him. "Let's just walk home together, no point in going our separate ways here."

"Yeah…OK." Yahto agrees with a hint of shyness in his voice. The boy still isn't pretty good expressing himself when around people. And being around someone he barely knows, he pretty much keeps his head down a bit. It's going to take a bit of time for him to adjust as he makes new friends.

Jake's mind was still set on those scales he saw back at the museum. It was just bugging him for some reason. Not because they look like the one he brought to his grandpa's shop from the Huntsclan attack at school, but from what they belong to, what they can do, and if they can be potentially dangerous. It's gotta be something bad if he caught the Huntsclan with a scale of their own. Heck, the Huntsclan do their hunts and attacks to mythical creatures and they often tend to do it secluded from human eyes, why would they all of a sudden go for the attack at school?

Jake had a horrid thought. What if somehow the scale can tell them about any dragons nearby? What if the Huntsclan learned his secret of being the American Dragon by using the thing? Jake shakes his head. Nah, it couldn't have. If it did then they all would've ganged up on him yesterday in no time. Not all of them focused on him like they all should've if they knew their target right away. To be more precise they looked more like they were…Well, looking for something else.

Jake turns his head to his right, looking at Yahto. There haven't been any attempts at conversation between them ever since they left the bus station. Fu is pretty much taking the lead just a few steps in front of them as they walk through the rather deserted park, nightfall just a few minutes away.

"So…" Jake tries to make conversation. "Ummm…You got any hobbies?"

"Sort of…" Yahto answers. "I'm really into videogames, a bit of basketball. Oh, and I do a bit of skating as well."

"Awesome! You skateboard!"

"Uhhh, no. Roller skates."

"Oh. That's still cool."

Jake stops walking as he witnesses Yahto sigh with his head slightly down. He can tell the kid has a lot on his mind.

"Listen, Jake…I'm sorry but I'm just no good at introductions and first impressions…I kind of always have this problem every time I'm somewhere new…" He scratches the back of his head as his eyes still refuse to make eye contact. "I'm just no good at this…"

Jake nods with a slight smirk and shrugs. "Yo man, chill. It's cool. I know how the pressure can be. It's no cake walk with newbies in new cities. Just be yourself."

Yahto blinks and looks up at the darkening skies…

Fu stops as he hears the footsteps coming to an end. He turns around just to see the two youths talking. "Now this is just great…" He mumbles. "Just when I thought I was going to that comfy, warm bed of mine sooner than thought…"

"Yo man, chill. It's cool. I know how the pressure can be. It's no cake walk with newbies in new cities. Just be yourself."

Yahto blinks and looks up at the darkening skies, replaying what Jake just told him in his mind, reminding him of his past when he was 6 years old. "Just be myself…" He echoes. "That's something I've always told myself…It has always been my slogan so to speak…"

"Has been?" Jake inquires.

"Um, well it still is." Yahto sighs as the memories come back to him, back when he was younger and lived back in his hometown. "It's just…Well, sometimes I stray off…" He continues as he walks toward a bench.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just I've had it pretty hard…" Yahto continues as he sits down on the bench and grabs a long stick from the ground. "I mean, maybe it's just me but I've had it pretty tough trying to fit in…Back at the old school I used to go to everyone seems to follow a trend or two…And it's either follow it or you're by yourself…"

Jake frowns as he approaches the bench and sits down next to Yahto. "Yikes, that's pretty harsh."

Yahto sighs as the memories come back. He absently doodles on the dirt with the stick as he continues. "Because of them I found myself straying off from being myself, trying to follow the trends and being someone I'm not just to fit in…And it wasn't until three good friends of mine to bring me back on track during the last two years."

Jake tilts his head a bit and blinks. "Umm…The last two years?"

Yahto lifts his head. That's right, he hasn't told anybody yet that he just moved there. "Oh, right. Well, I just moved here to New York. About four days ago." He stands up and chucks the stick away before moving his gaze up to the darkening sky. "And just when I finally got settled and things were going great; my dad got moved to some a lab here in New York where he received a letter that he's needed over here."

Jake winces a bit. "You mean after all those years when you're finally adjusting, something comes and robs you of all of that? Man, that's so frustrating." Jake slightly tilts his head as he scratches his scalp, thinking for a split second. "Uhhh…What does your dad work on anyway?"

"Aah, he's an archeologist."

"It's just…Well, sometimes I stray off…"

"What do you mean?"

Fu Dog rolls his eyes; he wants to go home already! He turns around and keeps going, if Jake wants him he can find him back at the shop. He just wants to get on his warm bed and snuggle in it before calling it a day and snoozing off. "Talk talk talk, that's all they do. All I want is my cozy little bed!" He grumbles as he continues his walk through the park, passing by trees. "What's a 600-year-old dog have to do around here to get what he wants as simple as to go home!"

Fu scoffed a bit before stopping in his tracks at the sound of rustling from the trees around him. His head turned left and right as his good hearing picked up rustlings in the trees here and there, his old yet strong heart starting to beat rapidly against his chest as fear begins to settle onto him. A good wif of the air around him quickly catches the familiar scent…

"Oh no…" Fu says to himself. "It can't be…Kid!" He turns tail and quickly flees back to where he came from. Running as fast as his four legs can take him; Fu zooms back to the two kids and runs right past them.

"What the heck? Fu?" Jake blinks after barely catching the sight of his talking dog running past them. Looking over his shoulder he sees Fu skidding to a stop and hiding behind a tree before he peeks out and motions his head at Jake to come over. Jake grimaces a bit before facing Yahto as he backs away toward Fu. "Uhhh…I'll just go check up on my dog, see whatever spooked him, heheh…Eh…"
'Smooth Jake…Not!'
Jake turns and walks over to Fu who's hiding behind a few trees. He glances back at Yahto before talking with Fu; he has a secret to maintain after all. "Yo Fu, what's up? You just zoomed right past us as if your tail was on fire."

"Kid, we got problems!" Fu exclaims rather quickly as he's shivering against tree, the look of fear in his wrinkly face. "I think the Huntsclan is nearby!"

Jake was taken back. "Say what?"

"You heard me, kid! The Huntsclan!"

"No no no no no." Jake repeated for a good two seconds as he shook his head while clutching it with his hands, unable to believe this. "This is the worst time! I can't just up and ditch Yahto!"

"Well you just can't ignore them, kid! It's your job as the American Dragon!"

"I know I know…" Jake groans with a sigh. "I guess I better get started then. Try to keep Yahto company and just stall in any way you can, got it?"

"Leave it to me, kid." Fu nods and then takes off toward Yahto. Jake sighs as he sprints away from them, he was hoping he didn't have to face with anything today, not after yesterday how he messed up and let the Huntsclan get away. Jake stops after going a bit of ways into the park and looked around, deserted. Perfect.

"Dragon up!" Jake cries as he throws his arms to the side and focuses deep the Dragon Power within, closing his eyes and concentrating on the transformation. Flames engulf his body as his height increases up to around 7 feet, his arms and legs grow longer and bulkier as his chest and torso expands, a strong tail forms as wings sprout from his back. His head was next as it changes to the shape of a dragon's head as his black spiky hair changes to green spikes from the top of his head down his back and tip of his tail and sharp claws arm his fingers and toes.

Now fully transformed, Jake looks around with his dragon eyes, their infrared dragon power scanning the cool area for any heat sources scouring around. He finds no activity, which makes him growl to himself. "C'mon, I know you're out there!" Jake challenges as he stomps his left foot on the ground. "I can take you all with one arm tied behind my back! C'mon, show me what you got!" Little does he realize he's been targeted from behind as he speaks…

ZAP!

"Gaaarrgh!"

"What the heck? Fu?"

Yahto was taken by surprise as well when Jake's dog suddenly ran past them like a hyperactive dog. The mere attempt of trying to follow the dog with his eyes made him dizzy, and he wasn't about to barf right then and there.

Yahto looks over at Jake as he starts stuttering. "Uhhh…I'll just go check up on my dog, see whatever spooked him, heheh…Eh…"

Yahto opens his mouth to say something, but Jake was already gone. He shut his mouth up and shrugged, just let him tend to his dog. OK, so what now? He doesn't seem to like me, probably thinks I'm a loser with low self-esteem who can't take care of himself. Maybe I should just go home…

As Yahto ponders this he pays little attention to the rustlings in the trees around him. The thought of wildlife crosses his mind as the source of the noise, so he pays little attention to it.

"Hm?" Yahto looks down at a glow on his chest. His necklace is giving that eerie glow again, just like it did back at the museum. He slowly reaches to the crystal and lifts it up to his face, taking a closer look at the crystal's little glow. Yahto seems captivated by it, until his eyes suddenly get irritated that is. With a grunt Yahto lets go of the crystal as he rubs his eyes as they start to ache. For some strange reason his eyes just suddenly felt like if they were on fire, and the crystal's glow wasn't that potent enough to irritate his eyes.

As he kept rubbing his eyes he also felt a slight pain on his left wrist, like if he just strained it. He grunts a bit as he slightly opens his eyes, this is barely tolerable as his eyes are burning and now irritated as they are a bit reddish. He grits his teeth as he rubs his wrist, what the heck is causing this all of a sudden? Now that he thinks of it, this exact thing happened at the museum in the elevator. "What's going on…?"

A sound from behind startles him. He turns around just to find Jake's dog staring at him as if he's from another dimension. This slightly disturbs Yahto, but he shakes off the feeling. "Uhhh, hi…Where's Jake?" As if the dog will answer me…

"Gaaarrgh!"

Yahto suddenly throws his head up upon hearing that scream. "That sounded like Jake!" He looks around at an attempt to locate from where it came from, but before he could even try the dog apparently was startled by the scream and ran off. And for reasons oblivious to Yahto, he took his backpack that was sitting right on the bench with him. "Hey!" He exclaimed at the dog. "Come back! That's mine!"

And so the chase began. Yahto made a mad dash after the dog to retrieve his pack. He could understand the dog being startled by the scream; but to take his backpack along with him? That's definitely right up there with the mystery of his burning eyes and irritable wrist. Yahto breathed in his nose and out his mouth as he continued his rather futile attempt at chasing the dog down. Geez! For a dog looking a bit old he's pretty fast!

Yahto barely manages to keep up to see the dog turning left behind a huge tree. He quickly takes the turn, although maybe a bit too quick…

BAM!

"Aagh!"

Yahto falls hard to the ground after slamming into something for the second time today. He rubs his head as he sits up while lifting his cap from out his eyes. He quickly spots the dog he was chasing right in front of him; apparently he too bumped into what he bumped into. Looking up he almost screams in shock as he faces a person with that dark-purple costume with the familiar insignia on his belt and on his mask's forehead. Not them again!

The warrior looks down at him with a cold glare. That was basically it for him. Yahto sprung to his feet and made a quick 180 to run away, but to his dismay the warrior caught him by the shirt collar to keep him from running away. Yahto grunts as he struggles to break free, but the warrior's grip was just too powerful for him. "Agh! Let me go! What did I ever do to you?"

He kept struggling until the man holding him screamed in pain and felt his grip come loose. He turns around just to see the man struggling with a certain dog at his leg, biting. The dog saved him. Yahto gasps upon hearing rustling in the trees and spotted two more warriors jump out from the trees, each of them holding spear-like staves. Yahto quickly turned around and started running, but upon running he quickly came to a complete stop. The dog was still back there, and if it wasn't for him who knows what could've happened to him. Fine time for a guilt trip…

No, it wasn't that. He just felt this strange urge to go back and kick their butts…

Almost not thinking he quickly turns and runs back, his eyes set on a glare. He quickly spots the three men, two of them going for their partner's aid as the one that grabbed Yahto was still struggling with the dog. He gasped as one of them aimed his staff at the dog and shot at it, knocking it off from the man's leg and away. That was the last straw, Yahto found himself within a deep anger, his eyes mysteriously glowing without him realizing it. He ran headfirst toward them, jumping and throwing a strong fist to a man's face. The man drops hard to the ground while his comrades stand there perplexed at what just happened. Before they could get out from their stunned state Yahto turns and slams his fist into the second man's lower jaw, knocking him back.

The remaining one standing gripped his staff tight and swung at the kid. Yahto jumped back, dodging the swing. Another swing from the man and Yahto jumped over the attack. Going around the man twirls his staff and swings the lower end of it at Yahto, but the kid ducks and avoid the attack. While ducking the kid sweeps his leg at the man, tripping him to the ground. The man quickly got up, but before he could catch his breath he receives a kick to his stomach, knocking him down to the ground.

The warrior that received the punch to the lower jaw was up and ready to fire an energy shot from the tip of his staff at the kid, but when he turned to him the warrior sort of froze. The child is giving him a deadly glare; his eyes are glowing red as he clutches his fist. Yahto has gotten incredibly hostile, he felt like something is controlling his body, and whatever is controlling him is bent on taking these guys on and shred them apart.

The man shook off his fear and shot. It came very close, but Yahto jerked to the left and jumped forward, dodging the shot and the explosion when it hit the ground. Yahto did a roll on the ground the moment his body touched earth and rolled forward, ending on one knee after the roll. By then another fallen warrior stood up and took his staff to shoot at the menace. Yahto was quick to get up and run to avoid the shots from the two men, giving them quite the frustration. When Yahto charged straight toward one of them the man thought he had a perfect shot, but when he pulled the trigger Yahto just jumped over the shot and slides on the ground and under his feet, toppling him down. The man managed to land on one knee, preventing a fall to the ground. But when he looked over his shoulder to look at the boy he received a shock of his life.

Yahto was turning around with one of his leg stretched out against the ground and his foot dragging, getting ready to throw that painful kick. And if his eyes weren't failing him, his foot was trailing fire! Actual fire! It all happened so fast for the warrior and before he could react he took a mean kick to his jaw. The kick was made worse by the fact that the fire he saw was real! A part of his mask got set on fire and his jaw was burned!

Yahto slowly gets up after the attack, the glow in his eyes slowly dying out. It would seem whatever's gotten into him is slowly subsiding. But just when things were settling down the man standing raised his staff and shot Yahto in the back, the distance between him and the kid was just enough to prevent death from the shot. "Gaaah!"

He falls forward to the ground, slight smoke rising from his back. The kid let out an inhuman growl as he lies there on his hands and knees, his fists slowly closing, clutching soil and dirt in-between his fingers. The glow in his eyes grows brighter, his anger and hostility dangerously rising.

The warrior was caught off guard upon seeing a gold aura surrounding the boy as he slowly stands up. The boy slowly turns his head to the warrior, his growl getting louder as all of a sudden golden fire erupt from under his feet and increase in height up to his knees and then up his waist, the flames licking against his pants and hands yet they do not burn him. Yahto slowly lifts his right arm and extends it out to the warrior. And in a flash, the flames engulf the kid and blows out in all directions. The warrior and his fallen comrades could only utter a little shout before the flames took them all.

The flames lit up the surrounding trees. And just a few feet away the dog, who recovered from being shot from the warrior's staff, was staring in horror as the flames slowly give way, allowing him to see a dragon with gold scales roaring to the heavens as the golden fire surrounds it…

"Uuugh…Man…What hit me…?"

Jake slowly opens his eyes after getting shot; he must've been out for a few seconds or so. That stung like heck. He quickly caught up at what happened and jumped up to his feet, to his dismay facing the Huntsclan. About 10 of them. Apparently they gathered around him after shooting him down. "Great, the welcoming committee!"

"Well well, so we meet again, dragon!"

Jake's eyes widen. That voice!

He turns around to face the Huntsgirl. These two go way back since Jake's first days as the American Dragon. Months after Jake learned the horrifying secret, his love interest, Rose, was the Huntsgirl. And not long after the Huntsgirl learned Jake's secret as well. And after a long time of being separated, they found each other again and with a little help they managed to be reunited again, working together to go up against the Huntsclan in undercover. Despite the relationship, they must still pretend to be mortal foes when in combat and in front of the Huntsclan.

"Attack!" Which is something the Huntsgirl is definitely trying her best to make it look convincing as she just commanded the whole group to charge the dragon.

"Whoa!" Jake cried as he immediately took flight, avoiding a head-on conflict with all of them. That would be suicide. He flies over them and spits fire at them, managing to spread them out. He quickly lands and eyes them all. 3 of them are close, 4 of them are a bit far away and the rest of them are on the other side. Perfect. Jake smirks and goes for the attack. He jumps and kicks the closest Huntsclan across the face and turns around with a fist to the next one who got close, punching his lights out. Jake turns to the one coming at him and leans back, dodging the hunter's staff swing. Jake smirks at the hunter and smashes him down with an elbow to the face.

"Hah! How did you like that, Huntscum? The AmDrag is here to give you the lowdown on getting your butt whipped!"

He turns to a Huntsclan hunter charging at him. The hunter swings with his staff but the dragon catches it and throws it away, throwing the hunter along with it and smacking into two other charging hunters. That's six down.

"Ha-ya!"

Jake turns to the cry and gets kicked in the chest by the Huntsgirl, knowing him down to the ground. He quickly recovered and rolled out of the way when the Huntsgirl shot with her staff, dodging the shot. He jumped up to his feet and looks behind him as two more charge at him. He quickly turns at them, dodging a stab of their staff and slaps them away with his tail. He quickly turns to keep his eye on the Huntsgirl, bringing up his guard. The huntress charges and swings her staff at him, which the dragon avoided to the left and whacked the staff out of her hand with a quick swing of his arm. The Huntsgirl glared and throws a kick, but the dragon quickly caught her leg, stopping her attack. But she's not easy to take down. She quickly jumps and with her free leg she wings, kicking Jake right on the jaw, releasing herself as the dragon veers and fumbles to the side.

"Ugh!" Jake complains after the kick, rubbing his jaw. "Whoa!" He ducks quickly to avoid another flying kick. And then finds himself backing away as he dodges fists and kicks from the Huntsgirl. "Nngh! You're very fast, girl!"

"At least you haven't lost your touch defending!" The Huntsgirl comments as she keeps bringing on the offense.

"Thanks for the comment but can you tell me what you're doing here and what's the Huntsclan planning!" Jake inquires, keeping up the fight to conceal their conversation.

"I'm not sure myself, Jake." She replies as she jumps for a roundhouse kick, which only misses as the dragon ducked low to dodge it. "But whatever it is it can't be good. The Huntsmaster is bent on finding whatever it is he's searching for!"

Jake growls as he blocks a punch. "First the Aztec Skulls and now this. I mean what is UP with that man?" He then makes a quick 360 turn to attack with his tail.

"I don't know." Huntsgirl replies as she makes a back flip, dodging the tail. She lands next to her staff and picks it up, charges in and swings horizontally. The dragon parries the attack, catching the staff with his hands, locking them both in a struggle with the staff. "But the Huntsmaster entrusted me with some kind of gold scale to find what he's searching for."

Jake's eyes widen. "Say what?" This information clipped something in his mind. The scales he saw at the museum and the one he recovered at school yesterday! So they're connected with each other after all! Jake was about to add something else before another hunter jumped in and shot Jake's side, the shot burning his side and throwing him off his feet and down to the ground. "Aarrgh!" He skids on the ground after landing, clutching his side as he slowly gets up. "Nnngh…That was cheap!"

"Tough luck, dragon!" Huntsgirl cries as she twirls her staff. "Good work, hunter." She congratulates the one who made the shot before turning to the dragon and points her staff at him. "Attack!"

Jake gasps as six out of ten hunters charge at him. Jake backs up and eyes them, spotting one charging at him with a swing of his staff. Jake ducks and uppercuts after dodging the staff, striking the hunter's jaw and knocking him down to the ground with a busted jaw. He spots a hunter coming at him and in a quick move he turns and grabs his staff, twirls it around and throws the hunter off. Still wielding the staff he parries another hunter's staff swing and tilts the staff down the right, striking the hunter's head with the blunt end of the staff. He twirls the staff and holds it up horizontally, parrying a third hunter's attack. He swings the staff to the side, knocking away the hunter's grip on his staff and turns for a roundhouse kick, connecting with the hunter's face and sending him flying back to the ground.

"Hah!" Jake cries out victoriously after the kick, twirling the staff and striking a pose with it. "Is that all you got, Huntscum? 'Cause the AmDrag isn't breaking a sweat with this playtime!"

The Huntsgirl couldn't help but giggle. "Have you noticed you're fighting with a Huntsclan weapon yet we're your enemies?"

"Say what?" At first Jake was confused by the Huntsgirl's remark, but when he gave the staff he was wielding a second thought it clicked in his mind. Jake got out of his pose and grabs the staff with both his hands, snapping it in two, quickly coming up with a rather lame excuse. "Erm yeah…I knew that…Just wanted to add insult to injury by kicking your butts with your own weapon…"

As he threw the broken staff away a hunter came up from his blind spot and shot him from behind. "Gaahh!" He collapses hard on the ground, his back aching from the shot as he slowly gets up on his hands and knees. "Uugh…"

"You should know by now to never let your guard down!" Huntsgirl advices as she stands there. The battle was about to continue when sirens blared through the silent atmosphere. The Huntsclan hunters stopped in their tracks and look up upon hearing the sound. Huntsgirl looked behind her as something caught her eye, spotting a glow not far from them at the park. It was fire! Huntsgirl's eyes narrow into a glare and turns her head to her comrades. "Huntsclan, retreat!" They obeyed and disappeared into the tree tops of the surrounding trees, leaving behind the dazed and hurt dragon. Huntsgirl looked over her shoulder at Jake, who was slowly getting up and clutching his arm. "I'll let you know what I find about the Huntsmaster's plan tomorrow at school." She told him after making sure her comrades were long gone, then she disappeared too into the tree tops. Leaving Jake alone behind.

"Hahh…Awww maaan…" Jake groans as he tightly clutches his arm. He's bummed at how bad he got his butt handed to him just now. Sure, he managed to hold out and give them a run for their money, but the final outcome was the same as the past week. Huntsclan escaping, stage right. Hurt dragon, stage left.

He looks at where Huntsgirl was looking at, he too spotting the glow of fire not far ahead. Two names immediately came into mind. "Yahto! Fu!"

He quickly reverted down to his human form and made a dash toward the glow. If there really is a fire, then with those sirens in the air the fire department must've gotten there by now.

Not far ahead, Huntsgirl is standing in the leaves of the tree tops, hidden away from plain view. She hoped she wasn't too rough on Jake back there, but they had to make it convincing they hated each other's guts so they wouldn't blow their cover to the others. But that's in the past, she's intrigued at how this fire started from out of there. She noticed back there she was three hunters short, but she knows they wouldn't do something as reckless as setting a part of the park on fire.

Using the shadows of the tree tops she skillfully jumps from tree to tree, getting closer to the fire. She stops on one tree as she feels something warm in her pocket. She reaches into her pocket and takes out the item the Huntsmaster gave to her, the one she mentioned to Jake, a golden scale. She curiously looks at it as it gives off a rather strong glow. She remembered what the Huntsmaster told her, she would know when she was close to what he's searching for when she laid eyes upon the scale at the right time.
'That means it's got to be close…'

Huntsgirl stored the scale back into her pocket and kept going forward, the heat of the flames getting intense as she closes the distance. She stops at a good distance away from the flames and her eyes widen at what she sees. A…A dragon?

Correct. What she sees is nothing more than a golden dragon, standing there with its majestic wings spread out. It flexes its claws as it stands there and throws its head up in a loud roar, making the Huntsgirl to cover her ears. She slightly open her eyes after the roar ended, seeing the dragon as it spasms and drops onto its knees. What she sees next shocks her. The dragon roars weakly as it drops to the side and rolls onto its back, fire starting to engulf the creature. She jumps from the tree she was on and onto the scene, slightly covering her face from the heat of the fires in the trees. Looking down at where the dragon was she gasps in shock, for what lies there now is a boy. She recognizes the boy from school, the newly transferred one. But…He can't be a dragon…Can he?

Huntsgirl was without words. Double checking, she takes out the scale from her pocket. But as she suspected, the scale was reacting to the boy. She looks down at the unconscious boy, she couldn't…

The sirens were getting louder. She had to make her leave now. Before she split the scene she took notice of the boy's necklace, it too was reacting like her scale was. She wondered if it had any relation to the scale, but she couldn't stick around any longer. But also, she couldn't return to the Huntsmaster without anything to report. Surely another piece of scale one of the hunters from the group reacted and they took notice and mentioned it to the Huntsmaster, and as usual he'd expect her to have something to report from it as well. Believing the necklace was related to the scale; she reached for the necklace and snapped it from around the boy's neck and took it with her, disappearing through the trees.

Fu couldn't believe what he just saw. When he recovered from his daze from being shot by the Huntsclan's staff Jake's friend jumped in and fought them off by himself. But he was something else! He saw the kid's eyes glowing! And just when he thought it was over one of the hunters had to come and shoot him from behind and…Oh man oh man oh man, what he saw next made his blood run cold and his paws cement into the ground.

The kid just made a cry and he was engulfed by fire! It blew toward every direction and set the surrounding trees ablaze! And if that wasn't enough the kid turned into this golden dragon! That's right, a dragon! Fu couldn't believe it either, he just couldn't believe this quiet kid was a dragon. He knew there was something odd about the kid with his eyes, but this takes cake! But what's worse…Fu Dog just couldn't grasp it…He didn't want to! He refused to believe it!

The 600-year-old Shar Pei hid behind a tree covering his eyes with his paws and whimpering. "Aw man I can't believe this his happening." Fu spoke to himself as he cowered behind the tree. "This can't be happening! I gotta be dreaming! I gotta be dreaming! Argh, please tell me this is a horrible nightmare and I'm gonna wake up in my warm little bed in a matter of seconds!"

But it is possible, and he just saw it with his own two eyes. The moment he saw that kid go dragon the memories came back to him. He has heard about it happen three times and he has seen it at least once in all his 600 years of life to know what the kid just turned into. And, to his dismay, he wishes it didn't showed up here in New York and especially in this kid.

"Fu! Yahto!"

Fu brings his paws off from his eyes and lifts his head. Jake! Oh man he's running straight to the dragon! Fu Dog finds his courage and comes out from behind the tree, but to his relief the dragon is gone. Oh boy, not completely out of the woods. The dragon just reverted back to its human form. Fu was still terribly shaking from witnessing what he just witnessed. He just stood there as Jake made it to the scene and saw the two of them.

"Fu! Yahto!" Jake cried as he ran toward them and slid down onto one knee next to kid, Yahto. He slightly shakes the unconscious kid, trying to get him to wake up. "Yahto! Wake up!" Jake looks up and around the lit up trees, the fire licking against their bark and igniting more close-by trees. He looks at Fu. "Fu! What happened here?"

Fu, however, is terrified out of his mind, he's zoned out.

"Fu? Fu? Fu! Snap out of it!"

The sirens were getting dangerously louder. They had to split or be into a lot of trouble with the police. Jake transformed to his dragon form and scooped up Fu and the unconscious kid in his arms and flew out of there.

They made it out of there without being seen…

The fire at the park was put out, but investigators couldn't find the source of it…After all, how can you trace the origin of a fire to a dragon?