A/N: Yo, real quick, just want to apologize if some of the fighting descriptions look a bit weird; first time writing battle moments. Wanted to say thanks again to TheLadyFuyu (who can be found on twitter) for the new cover art~ looks awesome! Oh, and someone mentioned about the timeline with the Jake Long series V the Danny Phantom one; ok, so while the timeline of the American Dragon cartoon was made a little while AFTER the Danny Phantom one (IRL speaking, of course)–we are NOT going by that logic. Mainly because I feel like it's weird, plus I kinda want to keep the time of year vague so this fic will be less dated in a way. Besides, we'll tap more into how exactly my version of Female Jake Long ended up in the DF world/reality overtime, but for now, have fun theorizing~ Thank you all for the support!
"So…did you fry him again?" Danny asked as he sat in the passenger seat of the car, periodically glancing at his arm–as if it was ready to blow up at any moment–whilst Jasmine sat in the backseat; purposely ignoring her brother's inquiry before looking through her backpack for something. "I didn't fry him." Lily answered, knowing exactly who he was directing the question towards with a glance his way before swiftly focusing back onto the road in front of her.
The Fenton trio drove along steadily down the streets of Amity Park, passing by various buildings from the occasional busy cafe to the older people doing grocery shopping at the local produce store. "Lils, he was covered in soot." the teen deadpanned at his sibling, who only whistled innocently whilst she kept her eyes on the street ahead of her. "Well, it's not like it'll do any harm." Jasmine cut in with a slight huff before zipping up her bag, "Who knows? It might wake him up to realizing that he's wasted his entire life on his Ghost Hunting and should actually gain a profession somewhere worthwhile?" she ranted as she crossed her arms, causing Lily & Danny to blink in shock at their sister's harsh words with the boy turning around to face his red-headed sibling in the backseat in surprise.
Noticing her little brothers gaze, she simply shrugged with a pointed look at him. "Hey, you can't deny it!" she continued with her arms now crossed, "Remember when we went out for Moms Birthday?" she asked the ravenette, who only sweatdropped as his mind flashbacked to the previous weekend…
~~Flashback~~
In a casual restaurant, sat four people at one table consisting of; Danny, Jasmine and their parents–with the adults wearing normal clothes rather than their trademark hazmat suits–sipping on their drinks along with their meals as various gift wrapped packages were being opened by the Birthday woman herself. "Oh, this is so pretty!" Madeline Fenton exclaimed with cheer as she pulled out a silver bracelet with a rose-gold colored microscope attached to it with four initials etched onto it; each one from a member of their family. Jack Fenton cheerfully grinned whilst politely using a napkin to remove leftover droplets of gravy on his face, "I saw it down at McGinny's Jewelry last friday and couldn't help but remember about our first date." he explained with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
Madeline chuckled knowingly, with Jasmine and Danny peeking at the gift curiously; "You know, you never did tell us how you two met." the redheaded teen piped up with an intrigued look on her face as she sliced another piece of steak before her brother continued to eat as well; only with eating his fries as his steak was already finished.
"Oh…" The older woman jolted slightly, as if in surprise, before scrunching her eyes in thought; "You know, I never thought about it until now…" she realized while carefully attaching her gift to her wrist. "Well, kids, I can tell you!" her husband proclaimed to their children enthusiastically, pointing his hand towards the air dramatically, "It all started back in college–" *HOOOORN*
Startled, the whole table turned to the window to see the Fenton family's van begin to blare wildy with its lights flashing various lights as if to highlight where it is followed by sounds of breaking glass. The table was silent as they pondered on what was happening to the vehicle, with Danny gaining a concerned look on his face, "Uhh…should we…do something about that?" another breaking noise pierced the air as if on cue.
Sighing in exasperation at the situation, but glad the family is safely inside rather than out where the ominous sounds were originating, the birthday woman took out her phone and quickly dialed 911 before placing it against her ear. "It's ok kids, just remain seated and we'll figure this out. Jack did you remember to–Jack?" she paused with the realization her husband somehow disappeared from his seat beside her.
"GET OUT OF OUR TRUCK GHOST!" the man in question yelled, drawing attention to his sprinting form waving a random modified weapon in hand towards the vehicle. "WAIT! JACK!" Madeline shrieked in horror before racing out of the restaurant as well, "IT COULD BE A ROBBER!" she cried out to her husband; who began to randomly shoot his weapon at the van.
Which left the two teens all alone at their table. Jasmine was emotionless as she simply reached for her mothers abandoned phone whilst Danny could only watch dumbfounded at his panicking mother and rambling father outside causing a large commotion.
~~Present Day~~
Lily hummed in remembrance of the night in question, "Scared the living hell out of me when I got the call about it; the old man was lucky it was a false alarm." she shook her head in exasperation at the memory before slowing down to a stop in front of a crosswalk.
"Kinda freaky how determined that woodpecker was…" Danny noted in a mixture of confusion and disbelief as his mind flashed back to the avian in question for a moment. Jasmine simply shrugged at her younger sibling's words, "It's been scientifically proven that they're smart enough to use tools, so I wouldn't put "breaking glass" being too out of the ordinary." she explained, placing her headband back onto her head carefully. Only for the ravenette to turn around once more to face her with an incredulous look, "It was trying to attack the reflection of a tree."
The eldest sister giggled at Danny's look, leaning her elbow against the armrest as she passed by a schoolbus–a sign they were getting closer to their destination. "Well, we don't know that for sure. I mean, for all we know…" Lily paused dramatically as she used her free hand to wiggle her fingers at her brother in an over-exaggerated spooky gesture. "It could've evolved to eat glass~"
Her two siblings just scoffed humorously at the theory just as the car pulled to its stop in front of a large highschool building, a sign reading "Casper High" was attached proudly on the front just underneath an American Flag. Various teenagers were either heading through the front doors or mingling for a while longer outside with their respective family members before heading in. A few adults wearing semi-formal attire roamed around the area; presumably teachers, as they were split between talking to parents or telling students off for misconduct.
Lily turned around her seat to face both her sister and brother with a fond gleam in her eye, "Kay, enough about the terrifying..." she paused once more, using both her hands this time to exaggeratedly wiggle her fingers at them. "Glasseater~ head on in; see you guys at 3 like usual." she finished, giving an enthusiastic Jasmine a one armed hug–who then gave one last wave before finally exiting the vehicle with her bag–before quickly latching onto her brother to do the same. Once she settled back into her seat she paused, suddenly scrunching her nose at Danny; who noticed her newly confused expression.
"Hey, you sure you don't want the leftover Pancakes?" she asked abruptly before going to tap at the orange tupperware container that had been on her lap during the trip, causing the younger to blink from the unexpected question before he shook his head, "Nah, I'll just grab something from the cafeteria…why?"
His sister gave him a knowing smirk as she shrugged, "No reason. Just noticed an interesting smell..." she answered cryptically, lightly pushing on his shoulder with a gesture to his car door. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she exclaimed cheerfully with a wave, "Getting good grades?" Danny responded cheekily, just barely avoiding Lily's half hearted smack as he ducked out of the car.
The woman sighed dramatically at his words as she noticed him joining a caucasian girl about the same age as him wearing gothic clothing, they spoke for a few moments before being joined by another teen; this one being an african-american boy with glasses and a light red hat. Lily took a deep breath at the sight before abruptly shaking her head then placed the tupperware onto the passenger seat beside her, eyes directed back towards the road as she pulled away from the school.
Trying to shake away the image of another trio she used to know.
The dark blue SUV drove through a dirt path road, dust flying in its wake as it headed towards a rather worn down district of Amity Park. The crowds in this area thinned significantly, along with the SUV in question currently being the only vehicle going down the road. Passing by various buildings, it was as if Lily was driving backwards in time as each one was becoming older and older with their structure as well as designs highlighting this fact whilst she made her way down the street.
After all this time, it's still so bizarre how different this life is compared to my past one.
The woman's voice narrated, the car continuing down its journey as the streets she went down became less populated by the moment with the surrounding buildings seeming to deteriorate the more she traveled.
But it turns out, some things still remain the same.
The SUV slowed down before turning into a driveway located in a tight space between two abandoned apartment buildings. It was blocked by a frail chain link fence that was closed securely by a rusty security lock that seemed to be seconds away from crumbling into dust at the slightest touch.
After taking a moment to check her surroundings, using her Dragon Eyes to be sure, Lily exhaled heavily before turning off her car and grabbing the tupperware container along with her keys and purse. Unbuckling the seatbelt, she then got out of her car with a firm shut to the door before looking towards the fence.
I just had to look hard enough.
She then took out a unique brass whistle–that looked to be beautifully carved in the shape of a seal surrounded by waves–out to her lips. A sharp chirp pierced the air as she blew into the item in one long note before she stopped. The air rang with the sound a while longer before silence reigned on the street once more.
Just then, a sharp crack of rock filled the air once more as Lily's car was suddenly covered in stone before the newly turned statue melted into the driveway; blending into it perfectly like a puzzle piece as the chain link fence seemed to become liquid as it rained upward to the sky. The liquid solidified into brick as it filled out the supposed empty space with a normal-looking building along with the rusty lock even joining the transformation as it became a wooden door. A sign reading "Sealed Secret" along with an icon of a seal balancing a magnifying glass on its nose stood out prominently from the building with an electric sign reading "OPEN" lighting up beside it.
Seeing the change finish, Lily pocketed the whistle back into her purse before going up to the wooden door; opening it up with a light jingle front the bell beside the doorway, catching the attention of the occupants inside.
"LILY! Get over here lass!"
Exclaimed the bartender–who was a blonde woman with a missing left eye wearing a maroon shirt with a peculiar animal pelt tied around her waist like a makeshift belt/skirt with jean pants underneath–as she waved down the Dragonette towards the bar, where she just served a drink to a gentleman who wore a white tank top with two visible surgical stitches on the right side of his shoulder with dark brown hair holding a deck of cards in his hands. There was another man beside him wearing a facemask with a fanged frown drawn onto it with black hair and a long sleeved dark hoodie, who seemed to be focusing on the deck of cards he was holding intensely. It seemed that the two men are playing a card game, with the former recently ordered a drink from the red headed woman.
Smiling brightly at the three, Lily approached with a wave towards the bartender, "Hey Emily, you seem energetic today."
The bartender, or Emily, shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly at the comment, "Eh, just one of those days. Been unable to stop moving this mornin' for some reason." she scratched her head in thought for a moment before leaning down to collect something under the counter. "GO FISH!" Shouted the man wearing the tank top whilst triumphantly pointing to the other man, whose eyes simply resignedly shut at the others proclamation; "Rus, we're playing Uno." he deadpanned at the brunette.
Who simply blinked as he glanced down at his cards, then back up at the other. "Isn't this the one where you sink ships?" he inquired with a tilt of his head, causing the other to slam his face onto the counter in response. Lily chuckled at the scene, "What are you two doing?" the stitched man turned to the asian-american with a wide eyed smile, "HEY! Oh, uh, well, Ken's teaching me how to play a new game because he doesn't like Hungry Monopoly."
A well worn book slammed onto the countertop, drawing the duo's attention–as the masked man was still questioning his life choices–to Emily's exasperated expression. "No, it's because you kept eatin' my fish out of boredom." she explained before gesturing to the enormous fish tank drilled into the wall behind her, where its inhabitants are nowhere to be seen. "AGAIN?" Lily exclaimed with a bewildered stare at the culprit, who seemed to be chewing on something small–"OI! LET THAT GO YA MENACE!" Emily yelled, pulling the decapitated corpse of the poor fish from the man's grubby hands.
Sweatdropping at the scene, Lily placed the orange tupperware in front of the hungry man before opening it; causing him to sniff intensely at the delicious food offered to him for a moment as he then scarfed it down with the intensity of a man dying of thirst.
Emily–after tearfully wrapping the fish's remains with the rest of its brethren in the rubbish–sighed in annoyance at the man's rabid behavior, "Russell, we love ya, but ya can't just eat my fish willy nilly. That's the THIRD time this past week! Do ya have any idea how important these are for ingredients?!" she emphasized with a dramatic open of the book she place upon the counter, briefly flipping a page or two to reveal various potions that can be made from certain fish. Only for him to look back at her blankly, "But, isn't that what your blanket is for?" he questioned with a gesture to the unique pelt-belt she wore.
*STAB*
However, he only received a knife jabbed in between his fingers on the bench for his inquiry, "It ain't a wee blanket." the bartender growled out, her long hair cascading an ominous shadow over her face as she untied the pelt to show it off proudly; much to Lily's dismay. "This, here, is my pride. My Strength." she declared to the fish-eating man.
"Without me, it is nothin'. Without it, I am nothin'! It is the symbol of–" her voice faded into the background, with Kenji and Lily looking at each other unimpressed at the sight. "So, wanna go prep?" the masked man asked the woman, who nodded at her co-worker before they both wandered to the staff room to get ready for lunch service.
A/N:
Sorry if the end of the chap feels weird, was trying to find a decent way to introduce Lily's workplace and also wrap it up and it ended like this XD
