Chapter 30: 30. Jonathan: Jonathan, you didn't disappoint me.
" Well, both of my children got themselves featured in the magic week magazine." I thought to myself as I'm currently ripping hobgoblins to shreds with my bare hands after all they dared to touch my daughter. I'm ripping off their limbs slowly so that they feel every single moment of the agonising pain. Of course, I'm not a mindless beast as I'm not going to destroy their entire species after all they have a role to play in my son's future.
There's a baseball match in the evening and it means the beginning of " HERO OF THE HOURGLASS" episode. Suddenly, J.A.R.V.I.S sent a message and the Uchrono hourglass and the super rare Uchrono hourglass design blueprint that I ordered from the Leprechauns have arrived. It cost a mere 5 Kgs of gold which is like dust to me. I teleport into my lab and briefly examined it and found that it uses special chi infused sand to manipulate tachyon flow.
If nothing very major is done this thing can prevent most paradoxes and it can perfectly integrate events into the timeline without creating an alternate timeline. I use a tad bit of Necron metaphysics to modify the hourglass which can connect with another hourglass and mimic it's actions. I also made a scanner which can be used to find other Uchrono hourglasses. Also, I'm currently working on something that can be used to do somethings.
The evening:
The baseball stadium was thick with tension because the game that was being held was not just any baseball game rather it was a match between Yankee and Red Sox. The game was being enjoyed by my daughter and wife over a bowl of popcorn. Now, some of you might say why they aren't in a VIP booth witnessing such a match.
Because it turns out my wife and daughter just enjoy the game watching from the comfort of the couch and they aren't a big fan of the baseball game they are just watching it for fun. I asked where Jake was and Susan said that Jake went to the library as he is on a mission to get an A in English.
Meanwhile Jake was fighting the huntsmaster on the roof of the stadium for a blue egg shaped stone necklace. The huntsmaster was declaring his intention of wearing Jake's pelt as a cloak and then harvesting his skull for a huntshelmet. Seriously, their obsession with skulls of magical creatures would have impressed Khorne. Jake was quick with his witty insults. Jake was able to take the Uchrono hourglass and stop a pillar from falling on the crowd but suddenly his leg slipped and he quickly turned into his human form and landed on the lap of a Yankee fan and then Jake caught the homerun ball and the crowd exploded in cheers. Jonathan saw all these in the TV and said in mock anger," Library my aunt Fifi."
Sometime later:
" Sneaking into the stadium rooftop to watch a game. Come on, Jakearoo you could have asked me and I would have gotten you any seat you wanted. Son, am I a stranger to you?" Asked Jonathan with a hurt tone. " No, dad of course not. It's just that I was there on a mis..." Paused Jake mid sentence.
" Mis what mister?" Asked Jonathan. " I was there due to a misdirection." Said Jake. " Son, while no one cared about your little stunt it still clearly violated the law. So, to make sure you don't make such mistakes again you're grounded for 2 weeks. No TV, no video games." Said Jonathan and left with slumped shoulders while Susan entered Jake's room.
Jake was fidgeting with the baseball he caught today. There was a moment of tense silence and finally Susan broke the silence by saying," Don't worry Jake I will talk with your dad about letting you off." Jake shook his head and said," This time it's not like other times. Dad seemed hurt and he felt left out. Mom, should we tell dad?"
Susan struggled for a moment and said," Come with me." Susan along with Jake took the pick up truck and came to their old house. They went to the basement where there was a trunk. " You see, Jake while moving we took all the things except this trunk." Susan took out an album book which had pictures of their younger years when they were wild. Jake was surprised to see both his mom and dad with dyed hair and hip hop clothes. Susan dyed part of her hair deep blue and also styled her hair in curls or locks while Jonathan had magenta colour on the sides and quite long brown hair in the middle. Susan said," Surprised to see us like this? Well, Jake we were also teenagers at a certain point in time."
Susan opened the last page where there was a letter taped and continued," During the last day of our high school I was going to slip this letter in Jonathan's locker." " But it's still sealed." Said Jake. " I backed out at the last moment." Said Susan. " Mom, do you honestly believe that dad is not least bit suspicious of my unusual tardiness where I seemingly ignore all of his instructions? For, whatever it's worth dad is now probably the most intelligent man in the world and what do you think he will feel like if he finds out by himself that we are dragons and he married into a whole family of dragons?"
" Probably angry and most certainly devastated because we didn't tell this ourselves but please wait a bit Jake. I swear I will tell him at the end of this year." Said Susan. Jake just sighed and left.
Canal Street Electronics:
" Ah yes, the Uchrono hourglass built by Nordic elves in 1103 A.D." said Fu in fascination. " This hunk of junk better be worth it Fu. Dad's heartbroken because of this hunk of junk." Said Jake angrily. " Jake! That hunk of junk can traverse the flow of time. If it falls in the wrong hands the consequences will be disastrous." said Lao Shi in a serious tone.
" It better be able to rewind my relationship with dad and reverse my grounding." Said Jake in a dissatisfied tone. " Young dragon, the cage-ed lion doesn't roar because it's cage-ed but HIYAHH!!!" Yelled Lao Shi. " Well, that's a new one?" Said Jake in a confused voice. " Ah, it's my back. It's the problem caused by my fall from the ladder in 1986." Said Lao Shi while cursing in Chinese.
" Come on kid, we gotta stash this thing somewhere safe." Said Fu. Jake went to the back alley while under the guise of idle chat Jake figured out how to operate the Uchrono hourglass and finally both Jake and Fu went back to June 27th 1986.
Jonathan's lab:
Jonathan has finally finished creating his own Uchrono hourglass which is 4 times larger than a regular one because he used the chrono dust from 3 more hourglasses to modify his Uchrono hourglass. The rest were found in Denmark, Norway and Sweden inside abandoned viking settlements or sunken ships. The final product is a hourglass that looks like it's sitting on top of a lotus. Those lotus petals are the number dials which can be used for precise time travel, tracking or connecting with other Uchrono hourglass. The Uchrono hourglass can be shrunk to the size of a keychain and the lotus can become a bud covering the hourglass.
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I wear my old gear from my LGBTQ hunting days which is modified. It's a khaki trench coat worn underneath military gear, a pair of night vision glasses, a combat knife which has a phase blade, two flash grenades, two void grenades and a plasma pistol I nicknamed Rainbow killer because it has some similarities between my old handgun. The trench coat is equipped with a cloaking field generator and phase shifter which can be used to move out of normal space time. I mostly used the P90 back in the day. While what I am currently carrying is what looks like a P90 but it's actually an automatic ion bolt gun.
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The Pistol
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The Uchrono hourglass's petals starts rotating which means Jake has started his hourglass. The hourglass turned into a white door made of light and opened in front of Jonathan and Jonathan fearlessly walked through the door.
19 years before:
I look at my atomic wristwatch and it was 12 P.M. June 27th, 1986. I look at Jake making towards Millard Fillmore Middle/ High School. Turns out this used to be both a middle school and high school but it was separated in 2001. The Uchrono hourglass retreated into the petals and I put it in the cargo pocket of my trench coat. I entered phase shift mode putting me in a pocket dimension from where while I can see everything while others can see nothing.
I tail Jake as he and Fu entered my old school. I look around and I couldn't help but think that I went through the same hip hop phase as them and not to mention my break dance moves. I cringed at myself as I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose at embarrassment as I remembered what was going to happen at the locker. Jake hid in a corner and watched the interaction between the younger version of me and Susan. I looked at what I was wearing and it was a jeans pant with more zippers than I would ever need.
I had an undercut fade haircut which covered my left eye completely and the sides were dyed magenta. While Susan was wearing a blue spiked choker and mishmash coloured clothes and a hat on her blue and black hair. My past self does a break dance move which ends up slamming on the air vent which in turn inflates the jeans pant which causes the past me to float upside down and slam on the lockers. " Jonathan, are you okay?" Asked Susan with genuine concern in her voice. " This is the break dance moves I made for you sweet potato." Said Jonathan enthusiastically.
" It's totally tubular, Jonathan." Replied Susan clearly flattered. " It's a miracle that dad made it to adulthood." Said Jake to Fu and I agree 100% with Jake. Jonathan was moonwalking while beatboxing and finally fell of the stairs. Susan takes out the letter and after a moment of contemplation decided not to put the letter 💌 in my locker which Jake sneakily takes away from Susan's notebook and puts it in my locker. Jake and Fu were eating sloppy Joes at the entrance and suddenly Jake choked on his sloppy Joe and I materialised behind him and I gave him a water bottle.
Jake quickly took it and after finishing drinking he said," Thanks, dad." Suddenly he turned his neck at an unnatural speed and his pupils shrink at my sight. " Da..da.. dad!!" Stammered Jake. I ignored Jake's nervousness and said," Knowing my past self he will probably be terrified and will try to break up but I love Susan to death but my past self needs to realise that through a trial by fire. Jake, I don't ground you because I don't want you to do dragon work but rather to keep the temporal stream stable for a certain period of time."
At that moment my past self confronted Susan about her family being dragons and proceeded to break up which upsets Susan greatly. " Well, son better take care of this mess or you will cease to exist." Said Jonathan as he made his way towards the sobbing Susan.
Young Susan's Pov:
Susan was sobbing on the road because her one single letter ruined her perfect love life. No matter what anyone says Jonathan despite all his shortcomings was truly a good person. " You shouldn't cry at the road Susan and here have some water." Came a voice from behind her. Susan was immediately startled because the voice that came from her back is obviously Jonathan's but instead of his usual squeakyish voice came a deep mature voice.
Susan turned around and what she saw made her froze. A middle aged face but the face was full of vitality without any wrinkles, brown hair while hair at the side was grey in some places. She was startled because her heart was yelling it was Jonathan but she just saw him a few minutes ago and no way can a single person age so much in a few minutes. Susan hurriedly got up and put her right hand on Jonathan's face and asked in her teenage squeaky voice," Jonathan, how did you get so old?"
Jonathan grabbed her hand gently and pulled it down and said," The Uchrono hourglass and because of our son." Susan then turned her head to see a 14 year old boy with black hair with green tips wearing a red minimalist jacket ( Minimalist in 1984 terms.) with dark blue three quarter pant with black shoe and white socks. Jonathan introduced," Susan, meet our son Jacob Luke Long aka American Dragon Jake Long."
Susan was flabbergasted then her face turned angry," Mister, you're grounded!! No TV!!! No board games!! Two weeks. Do you have any idea what will happen if Jonathan's past self doesn't marry me and why did you slip the letter in Jonathan's locker?" I bust out laughing while Jake rubs his neck guilt evident in his eyes. In order to break the ice I said," Let's go to father in law's shop. If I remember correctly today is Canal Street Electronics's grand opening."
Canal Street Electronics:
Lao Shi was using the ladder to put a few heavy VCR's on a high shelf and suddenly his left foot got tangled with his robe and he was about to fall off and at that moment Jonathan along with the others were entering the store and when Jonathan saw that Lao Shi was about to fall he used the body flicker technique without hesitation and caught Lao Shi.
" What? How? Who are you and why do you look like Jonathan but older?" Said Lao Shi at the speed of a machine gun. I explained everything to Lao Shi and I sent Fu to steal the Pyraminx from my younger self who will most definitely follow it. Lao Shi was flabbergasted to say the least learning how Jonathan has created a tech company which has absolute monopoly over the technology market and about being grandfather to the first dragons born in the entire American continent. Lao Shi yelled in Chinese," 杰克!你知道如果我们不能让苏珊和乔纳森再次聚在一起,后果将是多么灾难性吗?Jiékè! Nǐ zhīdào rúguǒ wǒmen bùnéng ràng sū shān hé qiáonàsēn zàicì jù zài yīqǐ, hòuguǒ jiāng shì duōme zāinàn xìng ma? (Jake! Do you have any idea how disastrous the consequences will be if we can't get Susan and Jonathan together again?)"
" Rest assured father in law we will fix everything." I assured Lao Shi." I projected a holographic projection showing Fu's location which means my younger self is following Fu. " Hmm, better catch a cab if we want to reach Coney Island Beach before my younger self." I said while checking my gun. " Um, Jonathan why are you checking a gun?" Asked younger Susan. " Well, my younger self called a hotline named Love line and he blabbered out things about dragons and that line is run by the huntsclan. I need to be kidnapped by the huntsclan and in front of their threats I realised that for you dear I can accept not only torture but also death with a smile on my face."
I got up called a cab in which I shoved Susan and Jake in and sent them to Coney Island Beach and I told Jake that it is him who must try to convince my old self to get back with Susan. I stepped into the dimensional pocket because travelling through a dimension where time and space is defined very loosely and can be manipulated by me makes travelling hassle free plus a 35 year old male travelling with a 18 year old girl and a 14 year old boy looks weird.
Coney Island Beach:
The sea beach is filled with people setting up telescopes in order to view the Halley's comet. At that moment Fu with a Pyraminx in his mouth and a panting younger Jonathan in tow. Jake approached younger Jonathan while Susan was hiding. Jake did his utmost best to convince Jonathan and when Jonathan was about to be convinced he was attacked by a huntschump which turned out to be the huntsmaster during his younger days and boy did he have a funny voice. Jake insulted the young huntsmaster by saying that his voice sounded like an accordion stuck in a wood chipper.
Finally Jake was sent flying into a rocky cavern and the huntschump threw a huntsgrenade which resulted in the cave collapsing but I arrived at the spot just in time and used Wood Style: Wood Expulsion Jutsu (Dragon face shield). Meanwhile huntschump took away my unconscious younger self using a huntsubmarine.
Huntsclan Coney Island Base:
Unconscious younger Jonathan was strapped on a huntschair and a splash of water waked him up. Susan, Jake, Lao Shi and older Jonathan was hiding behind huntscrates. In order to find Jonathan they used Lao Shi's magical tracking device which he uses to track Susan and Jonathan's dates which made younger Susan mildly upset.
Older Jonathan is waiting for the conversation to happen while the rest of people were fidgeting not because they fear the huntsclan but what older Jonathan will do to younger Jonathan if he slips. " Tell us everything you know." Demanded one of the huntsmasters. " I will tell you nothing." Said younger Jonathan strongly. The huntsmaster simply pressed a button which revealed a lot of huntstorture devices and a hole opened in front of Jonathan where a loud roar was heard.
"Okay, okay I'll tell you everything. In 10th grade I filled my teacher's trunk with three beans salad , in 7th grade I drove a lawnmower through my sister's inflatable pool, in 6th grade I took all the money I made for the less fortunate and spent it all in the arcade." The huntsmasters clearly getting impatient said," Tell us about the dragons. Why endanger yourself for those monsters?" Asked one of the huntsmasters.
Suddenly Jonathan's eyes became firm and he said in firm tone," The only monsters I see are you." " So be it." Said a huntsmaster as he turned on the huntstorture devices. " Oh, Jonathan he is so brave." Said Susan. My lenses darken, I plugged in earbuds and I say," Cover your ears and shut down your eyes."
I pull the pin of a stun grenade and throw it which resulted in a very loud bang and a very bright flash which is more bright than regular flashbangs the entire base unlike the original timeline the base had 5 times the manpower. But an ion bolt gun is not a normal gun either after all a cluster of charged particles hitting a target at 0.9c is quite the spectacle.
Swaths of huntschumps died but when it came the future huntsmaster Jonathan was careful and used his hand gun for those in his vicinity. Meanwhile Susan and Fu went to free younger Jonathan while Jake was battling with the huntsmaster in training and his grandfather was keeping the reinforcements at bay. Jake was ensnared by a huntswhip by the young huntsmaster who tried to kill Jake using electro shock but it turns out their technology is not as advanced as the future so Jake was able to destroy the whip and toss the young huntsmaster into the monster hole from which he was able to escape after some time.
Younger Susan and Jonathan was watching the one sided massacre being delivered by older Jonathan suddenly young Jonathan noticed the falling rubble and used his break dance moves to get Susan out of harm's way and in the process he was knocked unconscious. Jake and Lao Shi took Susan and younger Jonathan away while older Jonathan used the modified neuralyzer to wipe away any memories of his involvement from the minds of the surviving huntschumps.
Jonathan entered the pocket dimension to go back to the beach and he saw the quantum analysis indicated that a new time branch creation is imminent if he didn't wipe the memories of his involvement from the minds of his family so he steeled his heart and used the neuralyzer to wipe all memories involving his old self and modified the entire encounter just like the original episode.
Jonathan discreetly observed and saw that the last parts carried out just like the original timeline and Jake also got caught in the picture and his family knew him as Beyonce Timberlake the Canadian dragon. After Jake left Jonathan also left after witnessing the huntsmaster take his oath to destroy all dragons in his sinister voice. Jake time travelled during a school day so Susan grounded him again. Jonathan acts as everything is okay but deep inside he has realised that he must tell his family everything as soon as possible in order to lessen his guilt.