Author's Note: This chapter takes place eleven years before "Amity Legacy" officially begins and it's something that's been sitting on my Tumblr for a while that I never got around to posting here.

-Amity Park, June 18, 2000-

Jake Long was so excited that his grandfather had agreed to take him on his trip to Amity Park that he didn't even care about the pain in his cheeks from smiling so much. "Patience young dragon," his grandpa told him with a gentle smile, "we are not here to have fun. Ever since your mother explained what happened during your race last year, I have been deciding the best way to introduce you to the magical responsibilities you will one day shoulder and it just so happens this is one of them, understood?"

Nodding in false agreement, Jake tried to contain his excitement as he and his grandpa walked around the city, their mission still a mystery to him. "Yes sir, but what are we looking for here?"

"Ah, an excellent question, Jake. You see, Amity Park has some of the most active spiritual activity in America, and with the amount of ghosts that pass through here it's important to regularly check up on the things that happen here."

"So…we're like the Ghostbusters?"

"āi ya, you kids and your cartoons, you really should read more, young one," sighing as he met the eight-year old's hopeful eyes, Lau Shi smiled and tickled his stomach, "but yes, like the Ghostbusters."

"Cool!" He beamed, his smile revealing his missing front tooth.

"Very."

Continuing on their journey, the two of them passed by several landmarks that Lau Shi insisted had ties to the supernatural. However, after about half an hour of walking, Jake began to lose excitement in this so-called "adventure."

"Grandpaaaaa," he whined, slumping over in defeat as they passed a restaurant construction zone, "I'mmm boreddddd."

"Patience Jake," the old man warned, "do not rush matters such as this, properly sensing spirits takes time and-"

"LOOK GRAMPS, A PARK!" Jake yelled, taking off in the direction to where a bunch of other children had gathered.

"-and you're eight, not eighty," Lau Shi relented as he watched his grandson join the mass of other children assembled at the park. "Play for now, young dragon, enjoy your youth while you can."

Shuffling over to the park bench, the elder dragon sat down beside a large man in a bright, day-glow orange hazmat suit who reeked of spiritual presence… and fudge; lots and lots of fudge.

"Hey old timer," the man said, hooking his thumb towards Jake, "that little firecracker who just ran through here yours?"

"Yes, my grandson can be a bit… excitable… when it comes to other children," Lau Shi said, folding his arms into his sleeves, "forgive me if he disturbed you."

"Nah, he's fine, if anything he could teach my son, Danny, a thing or two about having a little fun. The name's Jack Fenton by the way."

"Lau Shi," he responded, his hand dwarfed by Jack's during a handshake, "my grandson, Jake, and I are in the city on a…business trip."

"Ahh, out of towners, eh? Well, no worries man, Amity Park's a pretty quiet place, so you can just let the little guy have his fun and take a load off yourself."

"Yes," he said, watching with a smile as Jake laughed and went down the slide, "I suppose I can for now."

"That's the spirit old-timer," Jack said, reaching into his front pocket and pulling out a small brown square, "fudge?"

—

As Jake ran around the park interacting with the other children, he noticed one kid separated away from all the others playing with a toy space ship. Determined to make a new friends, Jake broke away from the game of tag and went to see what the strange boy's deal was.

"Hey," he said, surprising the dark haired native with a gap-toothed smile, "do you wanna come play with us?"

Momentarily confused, the other boy clutched his rocket to his chest and glanced around the park to see who could have sent him. "Did Dash send you over here to mess with me?"

"Uhh, no? Who's Dash?"

"The big, dumb dweeb who makes fun of me that's who," the native boy said, drawing circles in the dirt with his finger, "most people don't like playing with me anyway, but he's a big jerk and takes my stuff."

"Well that's mean, do you wan me to tell my granpa on him?"

"No! Then he'll just be madder at me next time! Anyways kid, you probably don't wanna talk to me for too long, otherwise they'll start picking on you too."

"I'm not afraid of them," Jake said, sitting down beside the melancholy child, "I'm tougher than I look! My name's Jake by the way, me an my grandpa are here to be Ghostbusters but don't tell anyone cause it's a secret, okay?"

The other boy seemed to shoot up at the word "ghost," turning to look at Jake with a mix of skepticism and fear. "Did you say ghosts?"

"Yeap, so if anyone tries to mess with you just let me know, kay?"

Finally smiling at the foreigner, the other boy stuck out his hand to shake. "You know what, deal. My name's Danny, my parents are sort of Ghostbusters too. You…wanna play Crash Nebula with me?"

Beaming once again at the idea of making a new friend, Jake nodded enthusiastically at Danny's invitation and began imagining scenarios for them to play through. After a few minutes of pretend space flight, the two of them set up a mock command station at the edge of the woods.

"Don't wander too far, Danny, you remember what happened last time!" Jack Fenton called to his son, flashing back to the squirrel Danny had somehow smuggled home last month.

"Still not sure how that squirrel got into my pockets…" he mumbled in response before going back to playing with Jake.

Soon, the sun was setting on the park and almost everyone else had gone home except Jake, Danny and few other kids. "Aww man," Jake said as his grandfather announced that he had thirty minutes left to play, "and we weren't even halfway through season one."

"Don't worry about it," Danny said, pulling himself up from the ground where he'd been 'killed' by Jake, "we've still got time for one more episode."

"Um, okay, which one do you wanna do?"

"How about you pick this one, Jake?"

"Ohh, okay…um…oh! I know, how about the one where Pyrox and Fantasma team up to save the school?"

"Sure," Danny said, laughing at the idea of the two of them being a half-dragon and space-traveling phantom, "which one do you want to be?"

"I call Fantasma," Jake eagerly volunteered, grabbing a stick to represent the ghost-prince's spectral sword, "'Prince of the ghost planet!'"

"In that case," Danny responded, unlooping his belt to create a make-shift tail, "I am Pyrox, the invincible dragon man!"

After one last harrowing adventure (which mostly consisted of the two of them chasing squirrels into the bushes), Jake and Danny collapsed on the ground, sweaty and tired from a long day of playing.

"Hey Jake?" Danny asked, sitting up and knocking the dirt off of his shirt.

"Yeah."

"You… you don't think I'm weird for liking space and stuff right?"

"Whaaat? No, space is cool, just like ghosts and dragons."

"Hahaha, I'm not so sure people think ghosts are cool."

"Nah man, ghosts are like Pluto, which is like the coolest planet."

"Huh," Danny said, smiling once again, "never thought about that. You know, Jake, you're pretty smart for an eight year old?"

"My mom and grandpa say that knowing stuff is the best super power to have."

Laughing, Danny began the uphill walk to where to his father was talking with Lau Shi, "It sounds like you'd get along better with my sister than me."

"Does she like dragons?" Jake asked, still swinging his stick sword.

"Nah, she's all into Care Bears and junk."

"Then you're still cooler."

"Thanks man… but I'd seriously be so cool if dragons were real."

Pausing before they got too close to their guardians, Jake stopped Danny and pointed to the tip of his pretend sword. Before he could ask why they'd stopped, Danny watched as Jake blew a small flame across the top of his stick and waved it around, causing the fire to die out as quick as it appeared.

"WOAH!" Danny breathed, admiring the charred stick as Jake handed it to him, "Just like Pyrox!"

"Shhh," Jake said, smiling at the older boy as his grandfather called him to leave, "don't tell anyone I showed you… it's a secret."

Now, smiling wider than Jack had ever seen him smile before, Danny began the walk home with his father.

"So Danny," Jack asked, opening the front door to their home, "you and your new friend had a good time today?"

"Yes sir." Danny said, shoving the burned stick into his back pocket and rushing down stairs. If he gets to be Pyrox… he thought, looking around at all the ghost hunting equipment in the lab and the blueprints for something called the "ghost portal," …then maybe I get to be Fantasma.