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Before Jake could even land a purple beam shot up at him from below the canopy of the trees. He dodged quickly and smiled. Even with his bigger, bulkier body he could still dodge things with as much ease as he did with his more lanky, stringy body.
He banked to the right to dodge yet another beam, obviously Spud was already waiting for him, arsenal at the ready.
Jake preferred his friend this way, alert, dangerous. In all honesty Spud was more dangerous than any magician he had faced before after training with his grandfather. Eli Pandarus was nothing compared to Spud in his present state. Even the magic folk admired him now and not because of his friendship with the American Dragon. Jake often found that people would recognize Spud before him on some occasions and was perfectly fine with that.
"Whoa." He said as he barely managed to avoid another attack, maybe a different spell considering the different color of the beam. Spud was getting good, a little to good. He decided it was time to switch to the offensive.
He dove, straight down, into the trees, hoping that Spud couldn't tell where he was. He was in a very thick section of the forest, heavy with moss and shade.
"Iporvious!" he heard Spud shout from somewhere nearby. Almost immediately he found himself swerving to avoid a bright green laser coming at him.
He managed to dodge it but because he was looking backwards while flying he crashed, head first, into the thick trunk of a tree.
As he slid down the length he had time to not only curse himself but swear that he was avenge himself. He morphed back into his human self once he found purchase on the moist ground.
"Ha," Spud climbed over a log to his friend, "So is that a point for me, or the tree?" he teased.
Jake got to his knees and rubbed his right cheek diligently, "Very funny, Spud."
Spud, over the last three years of intense training, had grown, just like Jake but more so. His skinny body had long since morphed into a large tower of pure muscle although his eating habits stayed the same. He now stood at a whopping six-five, completely dwarfing Jake just like when they were in eighth grade.
"Come on, man," he held out a hand to help Jake up, a big smile still on his face.
Jake smiled back and graciously took his friends hand, "You're getting really good." He complimented. Not like he could deny it anyways, he did just run into a tree, "I might have to ask the old man to train you less and me more."
Spud made a pouty face, you wouldn't dare. Or else your trusty sidekick may not be so trusty." He joked.
Jake suddenly stopped midstride and looked Spud right in his eyes. Spud looked confused and jerked his head for Jake keep walking, "What's up man?" he asked.
Jake shook his head, "You're my best friend, Spud." He said in a tone.
"And you're mine."
"Are you sure you want to keep coming with me while I'm doing my Dragon duties. I wouldn't blame you if you stopped coming with me." He said in an even more serious way, "You get to have a normal life."
Spud turned all the way around, "Jake," he started, shaking his head slowly, "We've been through this a million times. I made a promise to you the day Lao-Shi said he'd train me."
Jake nodded, smiling a little, "Yeah, yeah, that we'd find and rescue Trixie," he paused, "Together."
"Exactly."
They stood there like that for a moment, Jake sorting through his thoughts. He couldn't imagine going through all this without Spud by his side, "Spud," he said, beginning to walk again. Spud quickly gained pace next to him.
"Yeah, dude?" he asked.
Jake laughed a little before saying,, "I'd totally go gay for you."
"DUDE!"
They laughed all the way through the park, down the street and into a local pizza shop where they would meet their very elusive informants.
They took their usual seats, as this was a routine Saturday, and ordered their usual pizza with everything on it, Minus mushrooms, Spud thought they were unpredictable. One of his odd quirks that stayed with him through the years.
Jake locked his fingers together, placing his chin on the top of the woven flesh strcture made in a pensive state. He stared at the table. Spud propped himself on the windowsill to stare out the window at the passersbys that went by.
It was a sunny day, so there were lots of people out, meaning it was good they left the park when they did—the runners were sure to show up sooner or later.
Spud tapped on Jake's shoulder, a large grin on his face as he continued to stare out the window. Jake looked at him strangely, "What, Spud?" he questioned. Spud jerked his chin at the window and he looked.
Outside, three friends were doing tricks on their skateboards, two guys and a girl. They were laughing, helping each other up when they fell and high-fiving each other gleefully when someone did something cool. Jake automatically knew why it brought such a smile to Spud's face and found himself smiling to, "Eventually." He murmured.
Spud's face suddenly dropped, "We'll get her back." He said.
Both of them suddenly found themselves defended by silence. Trixie, just the mention of her name or something that reminded them of her, made them go cold. It's been three years and nothing. Jake thought that they would have at least sent someone out to tell him that she was dead—though he prayed desperately that she were safe and warm somewhere. He hoped that she was thinking of him every night, just as he was thinking of her. He wondered if she was able to see the stars every night, if she was eating right, even what music she's been listening to. He wanted to see her so badly sometimes that it hurt. And then there was Rose.
Where was she, he wondered. Maybe, just maybe they were together in the Huntsclan. Maybe Rose recognized Trixie enough to try and save her life. He often wondered what would happen if Trixie and Rose became friends. It wasn't like Rose was on Trixie's favorite persons list or anything. Then he laughed, wondering if Trixie still had that sharp tounge of hers.
"Hello Gentlemen," the voices of his informants rang in his ears. They spoke in unison, which Jake thought was kind of odd but did not say anything because today he was getting information. Real, usable information. None of that location crap his grandfather gives him, because it's always a wild goose chase. He loved his Grandfather but found, over the years, the he was to loyal to the Dragon Council for Jake's own good.
With these informants he could finally be on the right path to finding Trixie.
Both he and Spud looked at the same time, wanting to laugh at both of the boys' disguises. They were completely covered, long tan trench coats and hats with pitch black sunglasses, "Hey eighty-eight, eighty-nine." Spud groaned.
"Shh!" they both said, sitting on the booth seats. Jake and Spud moved over to make room.
Jake frowned, "Whatever. I'm not paying you for nothing."
Eighty-eight spoke up first, his voice was more tolerable than eighty-nine's nasally one, "We've got information that you are going to love, that's why…"
"We're pushing the price up." Eighty-nine interjected.
Jake frowned, surpressing a loud growl that was just itching to get out, "What?" he hissed.
Eighty-eight shrugged, "We're risking our lives being here. If he found out."
"What do you mean him?" eighty-nine interrupted, "I'm more worried about her! She's brutal."
Jake tried to make heads or tails of their little squabble. He could see Spud working on it to, probably coming to about fifty different conclusions by then—he was a genius afterall. Spud cleared his throat, "Her? You mean the Huntsgirl?" I asked, implied.
Both eighty-eight and eighty-nine shook their heads furiously, both of them turning pale, which had to be hard for eighty-eight. "Huntsgirl is nothing compared to," he gulped, "Her."
Jake could feel himself loosing it with all of their cryptic messages, "Who is this her? Tell me what I'm paying you for!"
"We told you the price has gone up." He tapped his fingers on the briefcase, "Extra for the package."
Spud suddenly raised his hand at Jake, telling him to stand down, "How much?"
"One." Eighty-nine said with a smirk.
"Hundred?"
"Thousand." Eighty-eight said, smug.
Jake nearly lost it then, "ONE THOUSAND!" he whisper-yelled, gripping at the table so hard he was leaving small trenches where his nails had been, "The original price was two-hundred!"
"Jake!" Spud yelled, "Calm down, I expected something like this to happen. I got it." He pulled his wallet out, a dingy faded brown leather one, and pulled out ten one-hundred dollar bills, folded them and handed them to the two huntsclan rejects.
Eighty-nine thumbed through them briefly, confirming the amount and then nodded at his partner, who then shoved the briefcase across the table to Jake, "Been a pleasure, boys." Eighty-nine said before getting up.
"Wish we could say the same." Spud told them.
And then they left through the door, the bell over signifying their exit as a cheery one.
Jake's hands were trembling against the briefcase, like he was cold or something. He was anxious, scared, excited. Whatever was in the case would bring him one huge step in the direction of finding his friend Trixie, his beloved friend Trixie.
He could see the same amount of anxiousness on Spud's face as he slid into the booth seat next to him. "Well," Spud began, "Open the damn thing. I paid a thousand bucks for it." He said in a joking tone but meant every word.
Jake's jaw tightened, "Right." He tried to laugh but quickly found that he couldn't.
His thumb found the latch in the center of the briefcase and flipped it up. He paused, waiting to see if it would blow up in his face, like all of his feeble attempts before. Every time he got close to something, something else would get in the way. But now—now had to be different. He could feel it in his muscles.
Spud, obviously tired of his hesitation flipped the top up unceremoniously and was suddenly awestruck, "Whoa." Was all he could muster.
There was folder after vanilla folder of paper, pictures records. What was all of it, they wondered? Jake pulled out the top folder, looked around the pizza parlor and then opened it up slowly. There was a letter and a picture attached to it. Jake held the piece of paper gingerly in his strong hands while holding the picture in the other.
Spud once again uttered, "Whoa," with a follow up of, "Who's that." He pointed at the picture.
There was a girl in the picture. Stunningly beautiful with long, straight, black hair, that extended to the middle of her back, and mocha colored skin. Her eyes were pitch black like how the sky is a the stroke of midnight—like nothingness. Some how Jake found a sense calm in them, despite it just being a picture. He stared harder, noticing the slightly lopsided smile and way she shifted her weight to oneside, with one hand on her hip sassily. Her frame was like that of a cat, graceful yet powerful. He knew her, he could feel it, but it didn't click untilSpud suddenly let out a breath he had been holding up until then, "Trixie."
Spud said her name as though he was in some orgasmic state of pleasure, Jake wished he could feel his lungs so that he could be in the same place. "No way." He said hoarsly, "She looks so…" he searched for words.
"Beautiful?" Spud added.
"Different." Was what Jake said but more agreed with Spud's statement.
Jake stared at the picture some more even after Spud yanked the piece of paper from his hands. He saw it as an opportunity to get a better look and confirm it was Trixie.
Spud cleared his throat and shook Jake, hard, "Dude, this is in Trixie's hand writing. I think she wrote this."
"What does it say?" Jake said, attention now on the paper.
"I promise to get out of here," Spud read from the paper, "No, I swear to get out of here. They can't keep questioning me. I won't tell them anything and I think they realize that but I'm scared. Scared they won't let me go. What if they…
"What if they decide I'm dispensable, that I'm not worth keeping around. And that Rose! She's not making it any easier. I swear that if they let me out of this cell then I'll do some real damage. "I looked up through my bars today and swore that I could see Jake flying but it was just a cloud blowing across the moon. I wonder what he and Spud are doing right now? I wonder if Jake still loves Rose. All the more reason for me to mess up her pretty face, I suppose. Girl friend has got a storm named Trixie Carter coming her way!"
Spud looked a Jake, "That's it." He shrugged.
Jake was in shock. They were in the same place, Trixie and Rose. But they were not getting along, as expected of them. He wondered when that was written. He bit his bottom lip and dove back into the case, "There has to be more."
Spud followed suit. Pulling out folders and looking through them.
They found many more pictures all of them of the same girl that had to be Trixie. There was one of her back in the day with her pigtails and then some from what Spud and Jake took as her in the present. From the pictures they saw her progress through time, her face lost some of it's youthfull roundness and was now in a more angular, heart-shaped form. Her hair was once unruly, after the pigtails, for a while until she got a hold of a hotcomb, they guess. She was always complaining about them back in the day.
They found her birth records and a few copies of her school records. They found, in disgust, a sandwich that was half eaten and sealed of in a Ziploc bag. There was another picture, different from all the others but of the same person. Trixie was dressed in a Huntsclan uniform now, hair pulled back into a high ponytail that looked like a whip behind her. She was frowing, lips puckered as though she was thinking about something and looking rather menacingly at the person next to her who was returning the glare. Jake recognized the blond hair and blue immediately, "Rose" he muttered.
"Jake. Another piece of paper." Spud said excitedly. He eagerly wrenched it from the folder and held it up to his nose, "Her handwriting is more refined in this one—bout time," he tried to joke, "This must be from recently."
Jake urged Spud to read it. Clearing his throat Spud began to read from the page, "Soon, now. Soon all of my months of planning will come full circle and I'll bust out of here. I've proved myself to the Huntsman and he trusts me. More than Rose, especially.
"My final test comes tomorrow night when I bring home the head of a troll. Luckily Jake showed me where some lived back in the day so they'll be easy to find, bring down and hack to pieces."
Spud had to pause and re-read the beginning, there was no way that this letter could have been written by Trixie. He continued reading, "I wonder… if Jake and Spud will be there. Even if they are they probably wouldn't recognize me in my present state… no matter. I still have to do what needs to be done. The Huntsman is getting old and soon he'll need a successor. Say bye bye to your throne Rose."
That was the end of the letter.
Jake and Spud had the same look of confusion on their faces as the letter slowly drifted from Spud's fingers to the cold table. They were both thinking the same thing, that the letter could not have been from Trixie.
Spud let out a sputter of a breath, "Jake that was written yesterday." He said.
Jake's head was swimming in darkness. Written yesterday? Meaning that tonight would be when she goes for the trolls. But, Trixie, his Trixie, loved magical creatures. She used to help him protect magical creatures, therefore this couldn't be her. He didn't want it to be her.
He looked at the paper again, but did not touch it. It seemed tainted to him in a sense. She must be under some sort of mind control, right? He went through many different scenarios.
When did she get so beautiful, he wondered as his eyes flicked over a picture of her in a miniskirt and layered shirt. Oh, that's right, he remembered, she was always beautiful. He looked at Spud, thinking he would know what to do considering the fact that he was a genius.
Spud looked at him matter-of-factly, "Well it's obvious right?" he paused to let Jake respond with a head shake, "We go on an old fashion stake out."
Oooooooo snap-skis! What's going on here.