Post by panthedragon101 on Oct 8, 2008 0:56:20 GMT -5
An American Dragon: Jake Long Fanfiction
California Dragon: Angela Serafini
By: panthedragon101
California Dragon: Angela Serafini
By: panthedragon101
EPISODE ONE: Enter Angela Serafini
[/b]My name is Angela Serafini. Most people know me as the California Dragon, or maybe even the Western Dragon. Sometimes I have to wonder if that's all anyone ever sees of me. There's more to me than just being the dragon who saves the day. Nobody understands that I have needs and wants that don't have to do with the magical community, which always seems to be in trouble some way or another.
It seems like every day I'm out saving someone's life, chasing down criminals, or helping someone find their lost kid. Tonight was no different than any of the others. At least, I didn't think it was until...well, you'll see.
~~~~~
She's the one, the one and only
California Dragon
California Dragon
Scene: A girl with brown hair framing her face is sitting, her head tucked between her knees. She is leaning against something brown that can't be distinguished. She looks up suddenly, her eyes flashing gold. The view pans out to reveal the tree she is leaning against. A dragon is carved out in the tree trunk and it flashes gold.
She won't stop, 'til she's done
California Dragon!
California Dragon!
Scene: The brunette girl is shown running down a dark street with a brunette boy and a black cat running along beside her. Behind them is a charging group of mountain trolls.
Gonna use her dragon powers
to make it to the top
She's the California Dragon
Dragon flight and dragon fire
to make it to the top
She's the California Dragon
Dragon flight and dragon fire
Scene: The brunette girl is seen as a white dragon, flying across the sky. She flies over some centaurs, who wave at her as she is flying overhead. The dragon begins to fly in a spiral pattern in the air and bursts through a cloud. the view closes in on her face as blue fire bursts from her mouth.
From Sacramento to L.A.
Watchful eyes are here to stay
On her way as quick as she can
::crash::
"Angela May!"
"Sorry, mom!"
Watchful eyes are here to stay
On her way as quick as she can
::crash::
"Angela May!"
"Sorry, mom!"
Scene: The brunette's green dragon eyes appear in a view of darkness. The eyes blink a few times before the darkness goes away to reveal, after another blink, the human girl. Another view shows the dragon flying through the air holding the brunette boy she was running with earlier. The view changes to her rushing through a house trying to get a backpack onto her shoulders. The bag knocks something off a table and it crashes to the ground.
She's the California Dragon
Dragon teeth and dragon ears
the magic world's, got nothin' to fear
with the one, the one and only
California Dragon
Dragon teeth and dragon ears
the magic world's, got nothin' to fear
with the one, the one and only
California Dragon
Scene: A view shows the girl as her mouth and ears become a dragon mouth and ears. View changes to her flying over a bunch of leprechauns, goblins, mermaids, centaurs, fairies, unicorns, and other magical creatures.
"Time for the dragon!"
Scene: The girl is engulfed in a screen of silvery smoke. Shows her arms and legs becoming dragon arms and legs and a tail and wings sprout.
Watch out Cali
here she comes
to save the day!
"Oh, yeah!"
here she comes
to save the day!
"Oh, yeah!"
Scene: Shows the girl standing with the brunette boy from earlier, and another boy with black hair that cuts jaggedly across his face. Behind them is darkness with evil, shadowy figures blinking at them. The girl holds up her left fist and shouts.
~~~~~
The new moon left a wide, blank space in the sky above us. My best friend, Spencer St. Clair, and I were on a wild goose chase looking for an allegedly crazed werewolf. I'm thinking it was just dumb luck that we were out in the countryside, searching for the werewolf, on the darkest night of the month. What sort of werebeast runs around when there's a new moon?
"Focus, Angela!" my Great Aunt Annunciata said. "This darkness will not help you in your human form."
"Is that a hint that I need to morph?" I asked. Morphing was a word I'd picked up from an old book series called Animorphs that I used to read. "Or should I stay put and let Spoof do some light magic?"
"You decide," Aunt Ann's voice replied.
"Make it quick! My paws are going numb in this cold," Willow, my black cat animal guardian, said from somewhere near my feet.
"Okay, let's do both! Ready for some teamwork, Spoof?" I glanced at the spot where Spoof's wand was glowing.
"Gotcha, Angie," Spoof replied. He raised his wand.
"Time for the dragon!" I said, my little saying to indicate to everyone what I was doing.
The silver smoke that suddenly engulfed me would have been invisible in the darkness if it hadn't been for Spoof suddenly lighting the area with his wand. As the smoke dissolved, I looked around with my newly enhanced dragon eyes.
As a dragon, I have white scales and a rainbow striped stomach. I don't have spikes on my back or tail, but I do have three curved ones on the tip of my tail. My wings are bat-like and leathery. The only thing I keep of my human self are my green eyes and dark brown hair.
"See anything?" I asked Spoof.
"No. I sure hope this werewolf doesn't bite me," Spoof commented. "It was bad enough when I got turned into a werebull."
"Stop complaining and keep looking!" I hissed at him, straining my eyes to see if I could spot any movement in the darkness.
Something moved to our left. We turned to see a shadowy figure disappear behind a tree trunk. I nudged Spoof and indicated that he go left and I would go right. He nodded. I had a bad feeling he wasn't on the same page as me. Spoof gets us into more trouble than any magical creature I've met so far.
Slowly, we crept toward the tree trunk. My dragon ears picked up the sound of heavy breathing trying to be quieted. I couldn't see Spoof anymore. He must have put out the light from his wand to be able to sneak better. But then where was he?
"Hiya!"
I didn't have time to moan in exasperation as the werewolf jumped out from its hiding place and began to run. I flared open my wings and quickly went after the werebeast. With a grunt of effort, I grabbed the werewolf's furry shoulders and jerked whoever it was to a stop.
"Please! I don't want to be made a pet!" the werewolf whimpered.
Okay, this was definitely a girl werewolf.
"A pet?" I said, turning the werewolf around so we were facing each other.
The werewolf's blue eyes widened. "The California Dragon! You..."
"What is going on?" Aunt Ann asked as she walked over.
"She said she doesn't want me to make her into a pet," I replied, still confused.
"They said they were going to make me their dog!" the werewolf said hurriedly. She glanced around anxiously. "Please, don't let them take me! I don't want to be a pet!"
"Let who take you? There's no one else out here!" I said. This werewolf was confusing me even more with all her babbling. "Are you sick or something? We got a call from someone who said a crazed werewolf was running around here."
"I'm not sick, and I'm not crazy!" the werewolf snapped angrily. "They're after me! They want to make me a dog!"
"There's nobody else out here!" I repeated.
"That's what you think," a new voice said.
We all spun around to see a maroon dragon standing in the sphere of light coming, once again, from Spoof's wand. He had a black and gray striped chest and stomach. Black spikes ran from the back of his neck to the tip of his tail, which ended in a sharp, black spade. Brown eyes looked at us threateningly. Two, black horns curled up out of his head like the horns of a bull. His wings were bat-like and very muscular.
Behind him were other dragons hiding in the shadows. It was difficult to tell how many there actually were lounging behind him.
"Who are you?" Spoof asked, raising his wind higher.
"We are the Rousseaus!" the maroon dragon hissed. "And we are not very happy with you! You've lost us a valuable pet!"
I snarled at them and curled my black claws menacingly. "Werebeasts are not pets!"
"You disappoint us," the maroon dragon said.
"Dude, we just met you," Spoof commented. "You're awfully judgmental if we've already disappointed you."
"That is beside the point! We had hopes that you would join our forces and aide us in our conquest to rule the entire world! But you are too angelic to be interested in our cause!" the maroon dragon said with a sneer. "Be warned, California Dragon! This is not the last you'll see of the Rousseaus!"
"Aw, darn. I thought this would be our first and last meeting," Spoof said.
The dragons all hissed at us before slipping away into the shadows. I tried to see where they went, but the darkness was too thick.
"You saved me! Oh, thank you!" the werewolf said. "I'm Suzy Wolf. Is there any way I can repay you?"
"No," I said, quietly returning to my human form. "Knowing you're safe is enough for me."
Willow came over. "We brought an antidote to make you human again," the cat said.
"That's okay. I'm happy this way," Suzy said. "My boyfriend and I are both werewolves. We like it that way."
"If you insist," Willow replied. I don't know if the werewolf noticed, but Willow had a tone of voice that made me think she thought Suzy was weird.
"Thank you again for saving me," Suzy said. "I'd better get home before Bill gets too worried."
"Get home safely," Aunt Ann said.
"Thank you." Suzy waved before running off.
I turned to Spoof. "What were you thinking when you shouted? We were supposed to sneak up on her on both sides so she couldn't run!"
"Sorry. I thought you wanted me to scare her toward you," Spoof said. "It worked, didn't it?"
I rolled my eyes. "And the Spoof does it again!"
"Angela, now is not the time to criticize your friend," Aunt Ann interrupted.
"Why? Because that family of weirdos is on the loose?" I scoffed. "What can they possibly do? Dragons look after the magical community, not try and take it over. Right?"
I noticed Aunt Ann was looking worriedly in the direction the family of dragons had gone.
"Aunt Ann?" I said.
She turned to me. Her blue eyes were full of worry. "I'm afraid this isn't very good, Angela. We need to call the Dragon Council."
"What? Why?" I blinked in surprise. "Just because they wanted to make a werewolf their pet?"
"It's much worse than that," Aunt Ann said. "The Rousseaus are..."
"Are what, Ms. Serafini?" Spoof prodded.
My great aunt sighed. "Evil."
~~~~~
"So you knew about them but never told me?" I said.
We were at my Aunt Ann's house. Spoof and I had told our parents we were spending the night at her house so that we would go find the "crazed" werewolf without having to bother our families afterwards. Since my dad came from a line of dragons and Spoof's mom is a sorceress, both of our families know about the magical world. Right now, we were sitting on Aunt Ann's couch as she paced around the air mattress on the floor of the living room.
"Yes. The reason I didn't tell you was because the Dragon Council was keeping an eye on them themselves," Aunt Ann explained. "There were only a few instances where the Rousseaus tried to do something, but the plans always failed. It seems that they are at it again."
"At what?" Spoof asked, peeling a piece of red licorice apart.
"The Rousseaus want to rule the entire world. They want to expose the magical world and then rule over both magical and nonmagical communites," Aunt Ann said. "Tomorrow afternoon, we will need to go and speak to the Dragon Council."
"Whatever you say," I replied. "But if we're going to do that, can Spoof and I get to sleep now? I'm beat after trudging through those woods."
"You flew most of the way!" Spoof said, throwing a piece of licorice at me. "We're the ones who had to trudge!"
"Don't get candy all over my living room," Aunt Ann said before slipping away.
I grabbed a handful of licorice from the bowl between us and threw them at him. "You could have done some sort of levitation spell or something!"
"Those take too much concentration," Spoof replied, grabbing the licorice I'd thrown at him and cramming it all into his mouth. "Mmm ooo azzy."
"You're too lazy? Well, you're not lazy enough if you can complain!" I said.
He stuck out his tongue, revealing the chewed up licorice in his mouth.
"Eww, Spoof!" I threw a couch pillow at him. "Get on the air mattress so I can go to sleep!"
Spoof slid off of the couch and crawled over to the air mattress. "Waaver ooo ay, mmmtee agonnn!"
I flung myself onto my pillow. "Go to sleep, you weirdo."
"G'night, Angie."
"'Night, St. Spoof."
~~~~~
"I can't believe Mrs. Knight gave us so much homework," Jason said. He was leaning against the locker next to mine.
Jason Swartz is my normal, nonmagical best friend. He has shaggy, black hair with bangs that slash across his forehead and cover his right eye and chocolate brown eyes. He wears a green hoodie over a black t-shirt, gray cargo pants, and black skater shoes. Every girl in the school has had a crush on him at some point in time, except for me.
"Did you finish it all?" I asked, closing my locker.
There was a moment of silence.
"Jason..." I started.
"Don't freak out, Miss Smartypants," Jason replied hastily. "I had...other obligations this weekend."
"Tell me about it," I grumbled.
Jason has no idea that I am a dragon, so he didn't know that my weekend had been full of finding lost fairies, repairing a magical market booth Spoof had accidentally destroyed, chasing werewolves, meeting a family of evil dragons, and (of course) doing all of the homework that Mrs. Knight had assigned.
"What did you say?" Jason asked.
"Nothing. How much homework did you get done?" I inquired, heading for the cafeteria.
"Two pages," he replied. I saw him wink at a cheerleader as we walked. Once we'd passed the girl and her friends, I heard them all squealing.
"Two pages!" I shouted, feeling ready to punch Jason. "Out of...!"
"Do you think Anna Rockwell would go out with me?" Jason wondered, a look of curiosity on his face.
"Jason, you won't have time to date anyone when you get stuck in detention for the rest of the semester!" I snapped, pushing my way through the closed double doors of the cafeteria. I heard someone give a shout of pain and looked down to see a guy sprawled on the floor. The cafeteria suddenly filled with laughter.
"Hey!" Jason shouted. "It's not funny!"
The laughter faded away.
"I'm so sorry!" I gasped, trying not to let my face go red. I stuck out my hand to help the boy I'd hit with the door. A shock went through my fingers and up my arm when he grasped my hand. "Are...you okay?"
I hoisted him to his feet, noticing then that he had silvery blonde hair. Green eyes looked down at me and I felt like I was drowning in pools of emerald water. He blinked at me, surprise in his eyes and a sudden redness on his cheeks.
"Hey, you okay?" Jason asked, breaking the strange connection between us.
The boy stepped back. I recognized him as Soren Ruzzo, a guy in the same grade as me, Spoof, and Jason.
"I'm fine," he mumbled, averting his eyes from us. "I...have to go."
He brushed past us and out of the cafeteria.
"Strange guy," Jason commented. "Come on, Angie. Spoof looks like he's getting impatient."
I shook my head to try and clear it before following Jason over to the lunch line.
Jason was right. There was something strange about Soren Ruzzo.
~~~~~
A teenage boy with silvery blonde hair glanced around the roof of his school. Nobody was around. He turned his face to the sky and waved his right arm back and forth. A few seconds later, a dirt brown dragon landed on the roof beside the teen.
The dragon was covered in dirt brown scales and had a green stomach and chest. His wings were bat-like and extremely leathery. Dark brown spikes ran along his tail, which ended in a large, sharply hooked spike that resembled his dark brown claws.
"Ah, Soren. Comment s'est passée ta journée?" the dragon wondered.
Subtitles: "Ah, Soren. How has your day been?"
"Comme d'habitude," the teen replied, glancing nervously at the door he'd used to access the roof.
Subtitles: "The usual."
"Tu m'as l'air... nerveux. Tu as un problème?" the dragon said, his brown eyes looking suspiciously at Soren.
Subtitles: "You look...anxious. What is the problem?"
"Il n'y a aucun problème, oncle Alain," Soren replied. "Tout va très bien."
Subtitles: "There is no problem, Uncle Alain." ; "Everything is fine."
"Tu as une marque rouge sur le front," Alain said. "Ne me dis pas que tu étais dans un combat!"
Subtitles: "You have a red mark on your forehead." ; "Do not tell me you were in a fight!"
"Non! Non. Je ne me suis pas battu . J'ai...eh...foncé dans une porte," Soren replied.
Subtitles: "No! No. I wasn't fighting. I...uh...ran into a door."
"Très bien. Dis-moi. Comment se passe ta recherche?" Alain asked impatiently.
Subtitles: "Very well. Tell me. How goes your research?"
"Bien. J'ai appris les noms de tous les adolescents dans ma tranche d'age," Soren replied.
Subtitles: "Good. I have learned the names of all the teenagers in my grade."
"J'en ferai part à ton père, alors," Alain said. "Les mortels seront bientôt sous la domination du Rousseaus! Rien ne peut nous arrêter!"
Subtitles: "I will tell your father, then." ; "The mortals will soon be under the control of the Rousseaus! Nothing can stop us!"
Soren watched as his uncle flew away.
"J'aimerais arreter ma famille. Mais je ne peux pas décevoir mon père..." Soren whispered.
Subtitles: "I wish I could stop the family. But I cannot disappoint my father..."
~~~~~
I chewed on my lip as we waited for the magic portal to open that would lead us to the Dragon Council's chamber. Spoof was polishing his wand with the hem of his shirt, causing it to send out some yellow sparks.
"Careful, Spoof. You don't want to set a tapestry on fire," I warned.
A grin spread across his face. "Or Calasso's toupe."
"Especially not Calasso's toupe!" I frowned at my best friend. "Calasso and I are distantly related, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Spoof said with a roll of his eyes. "He's your fifteenth cousin sixteen times removed or something like that."
Ehno Calasso is the crankiest of the three Dragon Council members. Every time I've visited, he barely acknowledges me and speaks directly to Aunt Ann instead. Spoof thinks he's got a thing for my Aunt, but the two of them are related. (I know, fifteenth cousins and yada yada isn't that closely related, but it's still gross.)
The other Dragon Council members are Consuela Cortez from Spain and Seamus O'Baffle from Ireland. Aunt Ann told me they were both representatives for their countries while Ehno was never in line to be the Italian dragon. I'm thinking that might be why Ehno is so grumpy all the time.
Anyway, Consuela was the Spanish Dragon for a year until her brother's cancer went into remission. Cancer isn't common in dragons, but he'd gotten the disease before finding out he was a dragon. Once his dragon powers started to develop, Consuela allowed him to take over being the Spanish Dragon.
As for Seamus, he was the Ireland Dragon for quite a few years before becoming part of the Council and handing over the position to his cousin, Temair. Seamus is the most laid-back of the Council members. His attitude is another reason Ehno is always so grumpy.
When the portal was ready, we stepped through and entered into the Dragon Council's chamber. It's dark and gloomy and a bit musty, but it's also a bit homey. Spoof and I followed Aunt Ann toward the long table where the three Dragon Council members were seated.
"Welcome, Annunciata. Welcome, California Dragon," Consuela, the main speaker for the Council, said. "We have heard the news about the Rousseaus. What have you to tell us?"
"What have they done this time?" Ehno demanded. His scraggly, blonde eyebrows were crushed together in a frown.
Aunt Ann bowed to the three Council members. I quickly followed the gesture.
"I went with the California Dragon on a mission to find an allegedly crazed werewolf running rampant in the woods on the outskirts of Raccoon County," Aunt Ann said in her lilting accent. "The werewolf was indeed upset, but not crazed as we had intended. When Angela caught the werewolf, she screamed out that she did not want to be turned into a pet."
"A pet?" Consuela Cortez's brown eyes widened. Her olive skin, always so perfect, was creased with worry lines.
"Yeah," I said. "She said they wanted to turn her into a dog. She was talking pretty wildly, so I didn't really get what she meant."
"We were found by the Rousseaus," Aunt Ann continued. "They expressed their disappointment in losing a 'prized pet.' They mentioned that they had wishes for the California Dragon to join them, but they thought she was too 'angelic' to agree to join them."
"Which they were right about!" I added in. "No way do I want any part in taking over the world!"
"That is troubling news, Annunciata," Ehno Calasso said. It didn't surprise me in the least that he acted as if he hadn't heard me. "They are trying to implore the help of dragons who are dutifully protecting the magical world!"
"That sounds pretty wacko," Seamus O'Baffle said in his Irish accent. "They'd have to be pretty dumb to attempt on allying themselves with any of us."
Ehno clenched his jaws. "What do you think, Consuela?"
"I think that we need to keep an even closer eye on the Rousseaus," Consuela said. "It is obvious they are up to no good."
"I agree! We should get word out to all of the dragons, especially any in the Americas. It is obvious that is where the Rousseaus are residing," Ehno said.
"You may go," Consuela said to us. "Thank you for your report."
Annunciata and I bowed quickly before turning around.
"Is that gonna be enough?" Spoof asked.
I spun around and went to grab Spoof's wrist to pull him along with us, but his words had caught the Council's attention.
"Enough? What do you mean, young sorcerer?" Consuela asked.
"I mean, shouldn't someone be trying to investigate what the Rousseaus are doing around Raccoon County?" Spoof said. "There have to be more reasons for them being there than shopping for a dog and telling Angie she's too good for them."
The three Council members glanced at each other. I could almost see the gears in their heads grinding. The Dragon Council began to whisper to each other quietly.
"Spoof," I said through clenched teeth.
"You are right, young sorcerer," Consuela said. "California Dragon, Angela Serafini, we hereby state that it is your responsibility to figure out what the Rousseaus are doing in Raccoon County."
I bowed. "Of course. I'll do my best."
We headed back home. The moment we were through the portal, I turned to Spoof and shouted,
"SPOOF!"
END OF CHAPTER ONE