Chapter 5 - Trial Prep
Submitted September 29, 2008 Updated December 4, 2008 Status Complete | Still in Hong Kong, the dragon council wishes to knight Rose for her efforts against the Dark Dragon. However, she has to pass a few trials before she can accept the honor, otherwise, her memory of the magical world will be permenently erased.
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Cartoons » American Dragon: Jake Long |
Chapter 5 - Trial Prep
Chapter 5 - Trial Prep
–the Streets of Hong Kong, The following morning
“Well, someone looks well rested,” Jake said in a sort of joking manner. “Thanks,” Rose answered with a grin, dressed in her school uniform. “It was nice of you to walk to school with me,”
“No prob,” Jake answered. They walked side-by-side as they made their way towards Rose’s School, pretty much enjoying the moment. “You know, it’s weird,” Rose started,
“What?” Jake asked.
“During my life with the Huntsclan, we never could enjoy a walk to school together.” She added
“Yeah, what with me being a dragon, and you having those muscle-heads watch your every move...” Jake picked up, an awkward silence following. “Still,” Rose continued, “It’s a nice gesture.” another silence followed.
“So...when and where are we supposed to meet the council again?” Rose inquired. “Hong Kong Harbor at noon.” Jake answered. Rose let out a frustrated sigh in response, “How the heck are we supposed to get me out of school in time without raising suspicions?”
“Way ahead of you,” Came a familiar voice. Jake and Rose turned their heads to see Sun Park leaning against a nearby phone-booth with her hands in her pockets. “Sun?” Jake and Rose asked simultaneously, “What are you doing here?” Jake asked.
“Well, Fu Dog said that he was going to try a fake-illness potion for some elaborate scheme, but I decided to go for a more...um... immediate approach.” Sun answered. She then pulled a small, empty jar from her pocket. Jake and Rose raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “So... what’s the jar for?” Rose asked.
“Actually, this is about what was in the jar, emphasis on WAS,” Sun replied. Jake and Rose still didn’t get it. With that, Sun just decided to say it up-front. “I planted lash-tongue beatles in Rose’s school, and now it is closed for fumigation.”
“Oh,” Jake and Rose said at the same time. “Wait, shouldn’t I have gotten a...” Rose started before she was interrupted by her cell-phone ringing. She answered it to hear an automated message tell her that the school was closed for fumigation; after hearing that, she hung up.
“Thanks Sun,” Rose said. Sun shrugged and responded with, “Eh, no problem. Now you two can spend some time preparing for the trial.” afterwards she walked off. Jake and Rose looked at each other, wondering how they were going to prepare for what they knew little about. Then Jake had an idea, “Yo Sun! Wait up!” he called out as he and Rose ran after her.
– Huntsclan Victoria Peak training hall
Rose stood at the beginning of an obstacle course dressed in her homemade Hunts-uniform. She was in an upright stance, braced for anything, holding a traditional Hunts-staff upright. Spud and Trixie were operating the training-field environment weapons, which included cardboard spring-ups and various firing weapons, from a high-up control center, Sun Park and Lao Shi standing further in the course, waiting for Rose to reach them. Jake and Haley were at the finish line of the course, ready to time her. Rose stood with her eyes closed, basically finding her center; when she opened her eyes, it was basically The cue for everyone to begin, which they did, starting with Spud.
He activated the motion-triggered cardboard spring-ups as Rose started. She was being tested on her judgement as she saw the cardboard figures spring up. She saw an ogre with a club, which she kicked off. She then passed a goblin with a violin, which technically wasn’t a severely dangerous threat. Followed by a Krylock, which she blasted, a snarling werewolf, that she kung-fu chopped, a troll with flowers, she left it alone, a stragoi, a ninja-star to the heart, a cutout of their Milord Fillmore middle-school principal Hans Rotwood, which she kicked the head of just for giggles, and finally a cut-out of a kelpie, which she sliced down the middle. “Test of judgement, complete.” Spud said over an intercom.
Trixie then activated the skill-test portion of the course. Rose was faced with multiple energy cannons of a wide variety, and a spike pit at least 20 feet deep, and 20 feet from one end to another with 5-foot spikes. As Rose kept running, the cannons started firing at her. Rose dodged the blasts with a series of ducks, sidesteps, and acrobatic flips. As she passed the first five small-cannons coming from the ceiling, she swung her hunts-blade, firing a wave of energy that destroyed all of them at once. Afterwards, she was caught between a line of wall-based cannons -six on each side- firing rapidly. She quickly gymnast-flipped between each pair of cannons, tricking them into destroying the ones across from each other. When she came across the two, large, ground-based cannons, she froze for a moment as the turrets rotated to face her. As they fired, she jumped up, using the shock from the impact of the blast to give her a boost upward. In midair, she reached into her weapon-satchel and pulled out another staff, then she through them both blade-first at the cannons, thus destroying them in a huge explosion as Rose landed. She continued to run until she reached the edge of the spike pit; thinking quickly, she pulled out another Hunts-staff, backed up, gave herself a running start, and then used her staff to pole-vault over the pit, firing it off at the upward thrust for that extra boost. She made it most of the way across the 20-foot gap, but noticed that she started to pull downward at 17 feet. Thinking fast, she threw her staff downward to stick it into the wall below her, only. Luckily, she was falling in a diagonal direction, thus she was able to land on top of the staff which was at least 6 feet from the spikes, and used it to spring herself high enough to grab the ledge and pull herself back up and move on. “Skill test, complete.” Trixie declared over the intercom.
Then came the combat test. Sun and Lao Shi jumped out in front of Rose, both in dragon form, and in battle-ready stances. They all stood still for a minute before both Sun and Lao exclaimed, “Combat test, BEGIN!” They both flew at Rose with full force, while Rose charged at them full force, with an appropriate battle-yell. As Sun and Lao Shi did a dive bomb at her, Rose jumped upward to avoid the attack, then ran along Lao Shi’s back as he kept flying until she could leap off. Once she landed, Sun doubled back in an attempt to ambush Rose from behind, but Rose was too quick for Sun. Rose quickly back-flipped and landed a kick right between Sun’s wings with an appropriate “HYAH!”, sending Sun flying downward with a yelp of pain as she involuntarily reverted back into human form, tumbling as she landed. “Oh, sorry,” Rose apologized as Lao Shi managed to sneak up on her an wrap his tail around her in a constrictor-hold. Rose struggled to free her arms, but no luck. Lao Shi gave off a smug chuckle as he leaned towards Rose’s face. “Give up?” He asked with a smug grimace; Rose’s response came in the form of a fierce head-but to Lao Shi’s forehead. The result of the impact left Lao Shi in a daze, allowing for Rose to escape and cross the finish line. “Combat test, pass.” Lao Shi said dizzily as he swaggered back and forward.
Jake stopped the timer and let out a whistle of astonishment. “Not bad,” He complimented. Trixie and Spud exited the control center to help Sun and Lao Shi up and out. Rose turned to see what she had done to them and apologized. “Sorry you two, I guess I just got a little carried away.”
“Well,” Sun started, “At least we’re still able to get back up. By the way, how did you know that kicking me between the wings like that would revert me to my human form?”
“I didn’t,” Rose answered, “I guess that I just got lucky,”
“Regardless,” Lao Shi added as he reverted back to human form, “You are more then ready for the trial,” Rose gave a grin of confidence.
– Main corridor
As everyone exited the training chamber, Lao Shi asked, “By the way, why couldn’t you do the combat exercise with Jake?”
“Do you really need the answer to that?” Rose answered as Jake but his arm around her shoulder. “Well then how about letting us down?” Came #89's voice from the rafters. Everyone looked up to see both #88 and #89 still hanging there the way Rose and Jake left them. “Yeah, come on!” #88 added, “We’ve been here all night! Could you please let us down?”
“Yeah, I mean were BEGGING here!” #89 continued, “AND HUNTSCLAN DON’T BEG!!”
Jake and Rose just rolled their eyes at that last statement. Then Rose decided to be clever, “Okay, I’ll let you down....”
“YES!!!” #88 and #89 too soon exclaimed. “If....” Rose continued, “You can guess my last name.” She finished with a smirk. Faced with the challenge, #88 and #89 both pondered for a moment, then #89, “I got it! It’s killdragonosa, right?” Rose scoffed at the response, “Guess again,” she answered. Then #88 spoke out, “Massey?”
“Nope,” Rose, Jake and the others just left the base as #88 and #89 switched off between lame guesses.
“Goode?”
“Bennet?”
“Young?”
“Basco?”
“DiMaggio?”
“Tom?”
“Scholy?”
“Strong?”
“Baker?”
“Ullman?”
“Sprouse?”
“Finn?”
“Bruckner?”
“Oh?”
“Rugg?”
“Brown?”
“Whitman?”
But by the time they finished guessing, they realized that the others had already left. “Well this stinks,” #89 said, “I know,” #88 responded. After a brief silence, #88 foolishly asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Well, someone looks well rested,” Jake said in a sort of joking manner. “Thanks,” Rose answered with a grin, dressed in her school uniform. “It was nice of you to walk to school with me,”
“No prob,” Jake answered. They walked side-by-side as they made their way towards Rose’s School, pretty much enjoying the moment. “You know, it’s weird,” Rose started,
“What?” Jake asked.
“During my life with the Huntsclan, we never could enjoy a walk to school together.” She added
“Yeah, what with me being a dragon, and you having those muscle-heads watch your every move...” Jake picked up, an awkward silence following. “Still,” Rose continued, “It’s a nice gesture.” another silence followed.
“So...when and where are we supposed to meet the council again?” Rose inquired. “Hong Kong Harbor at noon.” Jake answered. Rose let out a frustrated sigh in response, “How the heck are we supposed to get me out of school in time without raising suspicions?”
“Way ahead of you,” Came a familiar voice. Jake and Rose turned their heads to see Sun Park leaning against a nearby phone-booth with her hands in her pockets. “Sun?” Jake and Rose asked simultaneously, “What are you doing here?” Jake asked.
“Well, Fu Dog said that he was going to try a fake-illness potion for some elaborate scheme, but I decided to go for a more...um... immediate approach.” Sun answered. She then pulled a small, empty jar from her pocket. Jake and Rose raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “So... what’s the jar for?” Rose asked.
“Actually, this is about what was in the jar, emphasis on WAS,” Sun replied. Jake and Rose still didn’t get it. With that, Sun just decided to say it up-front. “I planted lash-tongue beatles in Rose’s school, and now it is closed for fumigation.”
“Oh,” Jake and Rose said at the same time. “Wait, shouldn’t I have gotten a...” Rose started before she was interrupted by her cell-phone ringing. She answered it to hear an automated message tell her that the school was closed for fumigation; after hearing that, she hung up.
“Thanks Sun,” Rose said. Sun shrugged and responded with, “Eh, no problem. Now you two can spend some time preparing for the trial.” afterwards she walked off. Jake and Rose looked at each other, wondering how they were going to prepare for what they knew little about. Then Jake had an idea, “Yo Sun! Wait up!” he called out as he and Rose ran after her.
– Huntsclan Victoria Peak training hall
Rose stood at the beginning of an obstacle course dressed in her homemade Hunts-uniform. She was in an upright stance, braced for anything, holding a traditional Hunts-staff upright. Spud and Trixie were operating the training-field environment weapons, which included cardboard spring-ups and various firing weapons, from a high-up control center, Sun Park and Lao Shi standing further in the course, waiting for Rose to reach them. Jake and Haley were at the finish line of the course, ready to time her. Rose stood with her eyes closed, basically finding her center; when she opened her eyes, it was basically The cue for everyone to begin, which they did, starting with Spud.
He activated the motion-triggered cardboard spring-ups as Rose started. She was being tested on her judgement as she saw the cardboard figures spring up. She saw an ogre with a club, which she kicked off. She then passed a goblin with a violin, which technically wasn’t a severely dangerous threat. Followed by a Krylock, which she blasted, a snarling werewolf, that she kung-fu chopped, a troll with flowers, she left it alone, a stragoi, a ninja-star to the heart, a cutout of their Milord Fillmore middle-school principal Hans Rotwood, which she kicked the head of just for giggles, and finally a cut-out of a kelpie, which she sliced down the middle. “Test of judgement, complete.” Spud said over an intercom.
Trixie then activated the skill-test portion of the course. Rose was faced with multiple energy cannons of a wide variety, and a spike pit at least 20 feet deep, and 20 feet from one end to another with 5-foot spikes. As Rose kept running, the cannons started firing at her. Rose dodged the blasts with a series of ducks, sidesteps, and acrobatic flips. As she passed the first five small-cannons coming from the ceiling, she swung her hunts-blade, firing a wave of energy that destroyed all of them at once. Afterwards, she was caught between a line of wall-based cannons -six on each side- firing rapidly. She quickly gymnast-flipped between each pair of cannons, tricking them into destroying the ones across from each other. When she came across the two, large, ground-based cannons, she froze for a moment as the turrets rotated to face her. As they fired, she jumped up, using the shock from the impact of the blast to give her a boost upward. In midair, she reached into her weapon-satchel and pulled out another staff, then she through them both blade-first at the cannons, thus destroying them in a huge explosion as Rose landed. She continued to run until she reached the edge of the spike pit; thinking quickly, she pulled out another Hunts-staff, backed up, gave herself a running start, and then used her staff to pole-vault over the pit, firing it off at the upward thrust for that extra boost. She made it most of the way across the 20-foot gap, but noticed that she started to pull downward at 17 feet. Thinking fast, she threw her staff downward to stick it into the wall below her, only. Luckily, she was falling in a diagonal direction, thus she was able to land on top of the staff which was at least 6 feet from the spikes, and used it to spring herself high enough to grab the ledge and pull herself back up and move on. “Skill test, complete.” Trixie declared over the intercom.
Then came the combat test. Sun and Lao Shi jumped out in front of Rose, both in dragon form, and in battle-ready stances. They all stood still for a minute before both Sun and Lao exclaimed, “Combat test, BEGIN!” They both flew at Rose with full force, while Rose charged at them full force, with an appropriate battle-yell. As Sun and Lao Shi did a dive bomb at her, Rose jumped upward to avoid the attack, then ran along Lao Shi’s back as he kept flying until she could leap off. Once she landed, Sun doubled back in an attempt to ambush Rose from behind, but Rose was too quick for Sun. Rose quickly back-flipped and landed a kick right between Sun’s wings with an appropriate “HYAH!”, sending Sun flying downward with a yelp of pain as she involuntarily reverted back into human form, tumbling as she landed. “Oh, sorry,” Rose apologized as Lao Shi managed to sneak up on her an wrap his tail around her in a constrictor-hold. Rose struggled to free her arms, but no luck. Lao Shi gave off a smug chuckle as he leaned towards Rose’s face. “Give up?” He asked with a smug grimace; Rose’s response came in the form of a fierce head-but to Lao Shi’s forehead. The result of the impact left Lao Shi in a daze, allowing for Rose to escape and cross the finish line. “Combat test, pass.” Lao Shi said dizzily as he swaggered back and forward.
Jake stopped the timer and let out a whistle of astonishment. “Not bad,” He complimented. Trixie and Spud exited the control center to help Sun and Lao Shi up and out. Rose turned to see what she had done to them and apologized. “Sorry you two, I guess I just got a little carried away.”
“Well,” Sun started, “At least we’re still able to get back up. By the way, how did you know that kicking me between the wings like that would revert me to my human form?”
“I didn’t,” Rose answered, “I guess that I just got lucky,”
“Regardless,” Lao Shi added as he reverted back to human form, “You are more then ready for the trial,” Rose gave a grin of confidence.
– Main corridor
As everyone exited the training chamber, Lao Shi asked, “By the way, why couldn’t you do the combat exercise with Jake?”
“Do you really need the answer to that?” Rose answered as Jake but his arm around her shoulder. “Well then how about letting us down?” Came #89's voice from the rafters. Everyone looked up to see both #88 and #89 still hanging there the way Rose and Jake left them. “Yeah, come on!” #88 added, “We’ve been here all night! Could you please let us down?”
“Yeah, I mean were BEGGING here!” #89 continued, “AND HUNTSCLAN DON’T BEG!!”
Jake and Rose just rolled their eyes at that last statement. Then Rose decided to be clever, “Okay, I’ll let you down....”
“YES!!!” #88 and #89 too soon exclaimed. “If....” Rose continued, “You can guess my last name.” She finished with a smirk. Faced with the challenge, #88 and #89 both pondered for a moment, then #89, “I got it! It’s killdragonosa, right?” Rose scoffed at the response, “Guess again,” she answered. Then #88 spoke out, “Massey?”
“Nope,” Rose, Jake and the others just left the base as #88 and #89 switched off between lame guesses.
“Goode?”
“Bennet?”
“Young?”
“Basco?”
“DiMaggio?”
“Tom?”
“Scholy?”
“Strong?”
“Baker?”
“Ullman?”
“Sprouse?”
“Finn?”
“Bruckner?”
“Oh?”
“Rugg?”
“Brown?”
“Whitman?”
But by the time they finished guessing, they realized that the others had already left. “Well this stinks,” #89 said, “I know,” #88 responded. After a brief silence, #88 foolishly asked, “Are you hungry?”
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