Thanks for the support! Wheee!

Well, I've one thing to say: Enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: I sat on Santa's lap once and asked if I could own ADJL. He said, Dream on, kiddo.

=.=

Explain this to me

Chapter 2: Tale of the four dragons

The alarm woke Jake up. As usual, he shot out of bed and fell flat on the floor. "Urgh," he grunted in pain. Jake rubbed his back, but when he felt scales, he yelled. "I'm dreaming. Yeah."

With that, Jake crawled back to his bed and pulled his covers over. He shut his eyes and faked snores. After a while he said, "I can't do this." Jake lifted his scaly arm and pinched it with his claw. "Ah! Alright, I'm definitely awake."

Jake got out of bed and walked towards his mirror. He looked at his reflection. The red dragon stared at him again. Jake smiled, then frowned, and stuck his tongue out. The dragon did all the things he did. "Okay, that's definitely me."

"How do I change back?" Jake asked the dragon, but it just stared cluelessly back at him. Jake sighed. With all his might, Jake concentrated on his human form. His eyes that were squeezed shut flew open after he thought he did it. But he was wrong. "Aww man."

Jake tried again. "Come on, Jakie needs his pretty face back."

When he opened his eyes, Jake saw himself smiling at the mirror. "I did it!"

Just then, the door flew open and Haley stood at the doorway. "Jake, mom told me to tell you to hurry because we're going to be late."

"Say what?" Jake turned to check his clock. It was 8.03 am. And the flight was at 9.00 am. "Aww man," Jake sighed as he ran to the bathroom after grabbing his towel.

=.=

"Jacob Luke Long! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" Susan's voice rang through the empty house.

"Just a sec, mom," Jake yelled back. He ran up to his room to grab his bags. Jake looked around to check if he had left anything behind. Then, his eyes were set upon his mythology textbook. Jake frowned and turned to shut the door. But then he stopped. He hurried into his room, grabbed the book, and rushed down.

I can't believe I'm actually going to be reading this book. Oh well, what's a guy supposed to do when he finds out he's a lizard, I mean, dragon?

Jake hopped down the flight of stairs and squeezed inside the cab next to Gramps. "Haha," chimed Spud. "Hong Kong, here we come."

Throughout the ride, the whole dragon thing was stuck on the back of my mind. I didn't know whether I could believe it or not. Then, after sitting next to Gramps the whole time, I remembered that he was from China. And so, he should know a thing or two that's logic about dragons, right?

"Uh, Gramps?" Jake quietly turned to his grandfather. Lao Shi looked at Jake and raised his eyebrow, "Yes?"

Jake scratched the back of his head before saying, "I was just wondering, what do you know about... dragons?"

"Dragons?" Thoughtfulness filled Lao Shi's voice as he spoke, "Well, dragons are just a myth but my mother used to tell me a story of dragons."

"Really? What is it about?"

Lao Shi had the attention of everyone in the cab now, even the driver, probably. "It is about the Tale of the Four Dragons. Long ago, there were no rivers on the Earth. There was only the Eastern Sea."

"Really?" Spud cut in.

"Aiyah! This is just a myth! Now, in this sea lived four dragons; the Pearl Dragon, The Yellow Dragon, the Black Dragon and the Long Dragon."

Spud cut in Lao Shi's story again, "Long? As in Jake Long, Haley Long, Su-"

Lao Shi clenched his tiny fists and yelled, "Yes, Long!" Trixie nudged Spud in the ribs as Lao Shi took a deep breath with eyes closed. "One day, as the dragons flew from the sea to the sky and played in the clouds, the Pearl Dragon pointed down to the Earth and cried out for the others to come and look."

"Wha-" Before Spud could finish, Trixie smacked her hand over his mouth and smiled sheepishly to the Longs.

"On the Earth, they saw many people putting out fruits and cakes, and burning incense sticks while they prayed."

"Why did they do that?" Jake asked curiously.

Haley spoke before Lao Shi could, "Silly, they're either praying to the spirits, Gods or their ancestors. The fruits and cakes are offerings, something like that."

"Correct, Haley," Lao Shi beamed as Haley smiled her winning smile. "The dragons saw one white-haired woman, kneeling on the ground with a thin boy on her back. She prayed and said, Please send rain quickly, God of Heaven, to give our children rice to eat. There had been no rain for a very long time and the crops had withered, the grass turned yellow, and the fields cracked under the scorching sun.

""How poor the people are!" said the Yellow Dragon. They will die if it doesn't rain soon! The Long dragon agreed and then suggested that they go and beg the Jade Emperor for rain. He then leapt into the clouds and flew towards the Heavenly Palace with the other Dragons following close behind."

"Why do they have to beg the Emperor for rain?" Jonathan asked.

"Because daughter's husband, the Jade Emperor was in charge of all the affairs in heaven and on earth, and he was very powerful," Lao Shi replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Where was I? Oh yes, the Jade Emperor, however, was not pleased with the the four dragons rushing into the palace. "Why do you come here instead of staying in the sea and behaving yourselves?" the Jade Emperor asked the dragons.

"The Long dragon quickly stepped forward and said that the crops on earth are withering and dying. He begged the emperor to send rain down quickly.

"The Jade Emperor pretended to agree and told the dragons to go as he would send rain tomorrow. The four dragon flew happily back to the sea after thanking the emperor. However, ten days passed and no rain came to the earth. The people suffered more and more. Seeing this, the four dragons felt sorry for the people because they knew the Jade Emperor only cared about pleasure and never took the people to heart.

"They then decided to rely on themselves to relieve the people from the misery. Seeing the vast sea, the Long Dragon said he had an idea. They decided to scoop up the water and spray it towards the sky as the water will be like raindrops and come down to save the people and their crops. The other dragons agreed and they flew down to the sea, scooped up water in their mouths and flew back into the sky where they sprayed water all over the earth. The four dragons flew back and forth, making the sky dark, and before long the sea water became rain and it poured down from the sky. The people cried rain and were happy that their crops would be saved. They leapt with joy as the wheat stalks raised their heads and the grasses straightened up.

"The god of the sea discovered what the dragons had done and reported it to the Jade emperor who became enraged," Lao Shi showed a furious-looking face, in attempt to portray the emperor's reaction. "He ordered the generals and their troops to arrest the Four Dragons. The dragons were outnumbered and were soon captured and brought to the heavenly palace. "Go and get four mountains to lay upon them so they can never escape!" the Emperor had ordered.

"The mountain God then used his powers to make four mountains fly from afar, and pressed down on the four dragons, imprisoning them forever. However, the dragons never regretted their decision and was determined to continue to do good for the people. So, they turned themselves into four rivers, which flowed past the high mountains and deep valleys, crossing the land from the west to the east, and finally emptied into the sea.

"Thus, they became China's four great rivers-the Zhujiang, Pearl Dragon, the Huanghe, Yellow Dragon, the Heilongjian, the Black Dragon, and the Changjiang, the-"

"Oh I know, I know!" Spud cut in again. "The Long Dragon!"

Lao Shi sighed, "Yes, the Long dragon." Jake smiled at the tale.

"So Gramps," Trixie spoke. "These four rivers are real, aren't they?" Lao Shi nodded, "Oh yes, the rivers are real. In fact, the Zhujiang river passes Hong Kong."

"So," Jake said, "Are the dragons real?"

All eyes turned to Jake. "I already told you," Lao Shi stated. "Dragons are myths. There are no such things as dragons."

"Right," Jake sighed. He could feel Trixie's eyes on him. "Yo Jakie, don't worry about that whole Rotwood dragon thing yesterday," she whispered quietly that only Spud and Jake could hear.

"Yeah," Spud agreed. "You know Rotwood likes picking on you."

Jake smiled. The thought of Rotwood didn't occur to him at all. But it was nice for him to know that there were some people who understood, sort of.

I began thinking, I know I couldn't tell my family about this. They'll totally freak. And they can throw me in the crazy can if they think I'm nuts. But Trixie and Spud can't. I know I should tell someone about this, but it all seems so whacked. Sigh, whatever. Me, a dragon? That's whacked. I was totally hallucinating. Maybe it's because of this whole Rotwood thing. Yeah. Definitely Rotwood...

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For the record, I'm not Chinese. I'm not from China either.

So well, there you go. If you Google 'The Tale of the Four Dragons' on the net, I assure you that you can find this story. More to come! Remember, reviews make me a happy writer. :)