A/N: I suddenly had a renewed interest in JQTRA so I busted out the old 6 hour VHS tapes I made back when JQTRA aired for the first time over a decade ago. Ah, I forgot how great this show was. Anyway I ended up doing some research and something I found inspired me to write a fanfic (as well as the movie Jonny's Golden Quest, sounds like a porno lol) and so here it is. This kind of picks up where the series left off, except the last episode before this story starts was "The Robot Spies" episode with Zin (the final episode "More Than Zero" happened right before it instead of after it).

Plot: The Quests and Bannons move to the Florida compound after the Maine compound is destroyed by Zin. There Jessie finds an old picture that shatters the world she knows causing her and Jonny to embark on a quest for the truth behind her past.

Note: I never watched classic JQ and I was only able to find about three tiny pictures of the Florida compound on the net so I'm basing its design off those pictures as best I can along with Palm Key Island (which actually DOES exist, although it's tiny and there's nothing on it lol).

Disclaimer: "I do not own The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Hanna-Barbara does and if they were smart, they'd continue the series!"

" means spoken words

Italics means thoughts

A Jaded Secret

Chapter 1: A Picture's worth a Thousand Words

Jessie stared out the window of the van as it cruised down the highway through the sunny isles of the Florida Keys. Her dad was up front driving while talking to Jonny's dad, Benton, and Jonny was busying himself with a portable video game console in the seat next to her. Bandit was asleep on the floor. The family was currently in the process of moving to the compound located on the island of Palm Key just off the coast of Florida. The only thing the small island held was the Quest compound so Dr. Quest had to personally pay to build a private road to connect the island to the main highway. A few days ago, Dr. Zin sent his giant spider-like robots to the Quest Compound in Maine and, after kidnapping Jonny, Jessie, and her mother Estella – who had been visiting from South America – the robots blew up the house. Race had been at the airport picking Benton up – he had been at a conference to discuss quantum fractal energy sources – when it happened. Bandit had survived, miraculously, and Jessie suspected that it might have had something to do with the water of immortality he drank at Shambala when they were visiting Hadji in Bangalore a couple months back. They had been unsure if the water made one immune to old age or dying period, and though she still couldn't be certain, Jessie now thought it might be the latter.

Using the homing pins in Jonny and Jessie's watches, Benton and Race were able to track them to Egypt. Once in Egypt, however, they had to enlist the service of Jezebel Jade Kenyon, a woman Jessie wasn't all too fond of. Sure her dislike for Jade had lessened since their adventure to retrieve the Blood Gem in Djakarta, Java, but she was far from liking the woman. As she told Jonny before, there was always an angle with her. She'd proven that fact yet again on their last adventure. She had agreed to help Race and Benton find their children – for pay of course – and then she used them to steal the scepter of Osiris from a man named Stepheno Dupace in order to sell it to a different client. Turned out that client was Dr. Zin and that scepter helped him acquire the ability to control minds.

Jessie subconsciously clenched her fists in irritation as she thought back on that day.

Luckily they were able to separate the scepter from the gauntlet that Zin had, destroying his plan. Of course Jade didn't know she was retrieving the scepter of Osiris for Zin, but still . . . Her obsession with making a quick buck made their situation worse. And it was for these kinds of reasons that Jessie didn't care for Jade and probably never would. It still got under her skin that Jonny had thrown it in her face on more than one occasion that she and Jade were very similar and had a lot in common. She couldn't believe he had the audacity to compare her to that shifty thief. If there was only one thing in this world that Jessie knew for sure, it was that she would never be like Jezebel Jade.

Once their adventure in Egypt was over, they returned to the Maine compound to salvage what hadn't been destroyed. To everyone's delight, the lighthouse was still intact so IRIS and all the other QuestWorld gadgets were okay. The gang packed it all up to bring it with them. Jonny and Jessie were pulled out of Rockport High School immediately and they said their farewells to Mrs. Evans. She had been very saddened to learn they were moving but, after many hugs and some tears on her part, they assured her they would be rebuilding the Maine compound and returning once it was finished. And here they were, driving along the chain of islands that make up the Florida Keys in the Atlantic Ocean. It all happened rather fast but it didn't faze Jessie much because that was just how this family worked. They were always in the fast lane it seemed, jumping from one adventure to another all across the world.

"Hey, kids, we're coming up to the compound," Dr. Quest suddenly announced from the passenger side. "It'll be on the right side."

Jessie peered out of her window, interested to see what her new home would look like. She had never been to the Florida compound. The Quests and her father had already moved to the Maine one long before she came to stay with them. Jonny put down his video game and leaned over Jessie to see out the window.

"Hey watch it," Jessie said as Jonny accidentally elbowed her in the side.

"Oh sorry, Jess, I'm just excited to see the place. I mean I haven't been here since I was ten."

Jessie rolled her eyes at his childish antics but let him continue to lean over her.

As the Quest van drove around a small island full of palm trees, the compound came into sight. Jessie noticed the outward design was nothing like the Maine compound. It appeared to be really long and only one story. Palm trees dotted the island in place of the evergreen trees she was used to from the Maine compound, and white sand covered the island's surface with only a smattering of crab grass around the house. Jessie crinkled her nose in distaste. She definitely preferred the grounds of the Maine compound. She just wasn't a tropical girl, she enjoyed seasonal change.

"It looks just like I remember it, Doc," Race said as they approached the island.

"Yes, it doesn't appear to have aged a bit, does it?"

Race drove the van all the way up the long driveway to the front doors of the house. The gang exited the van, happy to finally be done with the long journey.

"Well, first things first, I'd better get the old security system updated and running since it will be awhile before IRIS is on-line," Race said while stretching. "We wouldn't want a repeat of what happened in Maine."

Benton nodded his head in agreement. "I'll start getting IRIS set up in the lab as soon as I'm done opening up the house. It's been a long time since anyone has set foot in it so it's going to need a good airing out."

Jessie watched them go before saying, "I guess that leaves us to start unpacking the van, Jonny."

She turned to face her friend only to see him running down the beach after his dog. Jessie sighed before chasing after the pair.

"Jonny, wait up!"

They finally managed to catch Bandit halfway around the compound. Jessie and Jonny looked out at the ocean silently. It was definitely a nice view. The ocean was so blue it was hard to tell where it ended and the sky began. It stretched on for miles and the pair could see a few of the other Florida Key islands off in the distance from where they stood.

"I can't believe we'll be living here for the next year," Jonny said suddenly.

"Yeah I know. But it can't be helped. At least you've lived here before. This is completely new territory for me."

Jonny smiled reassuringly. "Don't sweat it, Jess. It doesn't matter where we are, as long as we're there together it'll always be a blast!"

Jessie chuckled at Jonny's positive attitude. He was right though. No matter what happened to them, as long as they faced it together they were okay. They always came out on top. They were a team, the best of friends and had been for years now. They had some other friends back in Rockport but they weren't nearly as close to those friends as they were to each other. It made sense since no one else could relate to their adventurous life style. Their life style was the main thing that brought them so close together. Even before Hadji had left the group to take his position as Sultan of Bangalore, it always seemed to be Jonny and Jessie with Hadji on the side since often times he seemed to be in a league of his own. Jessie didn't know what their hectic futures held, but whatever happened she hoped her and Jonny would continue to be close. Little did she know, Jonny felt the same way. Jessie was a special girl and nobody knew that more than Jonny. She had grown into a beautiful, independent young woman with a fierce fighting spirit, an astounding intellect, and a kind heart. Jonny couldn't help but admire her. She meant a lot to him, that much was certain.

Jessie suddenly punched him on the shoulder lightly, a bright smile on her face.

"Come on, Hotshot, we have a van to unpack."

Jonny secured his hold on Bandit and followed after her.

xXxXxXx

Jonny dropped the last box on the living room floor before wiping his hand across his brow. They had been moving boxes from the van to the house and unpacking them for the last few hours.

"Phew, there might not have been a lot of boxes, but they sure were heavy."

"Hey, at least we had some stuff to bring seeing that our house was destroyed," Jessie pointed out. "If we hadn't stored some old stuff in the light house and the store house at the end of the compound we'd have nothing."

Before Jonny could reply Race walked into the room.

"Hey, kids, it's time for dinner and since we have no food here we're going out to eat. Benton's already in the car."

Jessie and Jonny followed him out to the driveway. Once they were in the car Benton spoke.

"Tomorrow I'll be enrolling you two at the local high school."

Jonny frowned earning a chuckle from Race.

"Come on, Jonny, you miss enough school as it is."

"So what? I learn a lot more from traveling around the world. It's a lot more fun too," he grumbled.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Well I enjoy going to school."

Jonny scoffed. "You would."

xXxXxXx

Jessie hauled several shopping bags through the front door.

"Ugh, I think my arms are going to fall off!" she cried as she dropped the last of the bags to the floor.

"Dr. Quest, where's Jonny?" she asked Benton as he passed through the room on his way back to the lab.

"He's out back windsurfing."

"Still?!" she asked incredulously.

Last night after dinner the family went grocery shopping to get some food in the house, but they were too tired to do any other shopping. When Jessie left this morning to go shopping, since most of her clothes were gone among other things, she was going to ask Jonny to join her. She was informed by her dad that he had already headed down to the beach to windsurf so she left without him, but not before her dad roped her into picking up some new clothes for him on the notion that he hated shopping and trusted her judgment. Six hours later, she made it back to the compound completely weighed down with bags and Jonny had yet to come back from windsurfing.

Benton chuckled at Jessie's exasperated look. "Yes he's not wasting any time adjusting to the Florida atmosphere."

"Apparently not . . ."

Jessie knew it was going to take her a lot longer to adjust to their new surroundings. Having to drive at least 20 minutes just to get to the next island was already wearing on her, and she'd have to do it every morning to go to school as well as anywhere else. That in itself was a big difference from what she was used to. Plus that wasn't including the time it took to reach her destination once she even made it to the next island. Seeing that she wasn't going to receive any help, Jessie lugged the bags containing her clothes to her room. She had to make a right after passing through the living room. That hallway led to the kitchen which had a backdoor leading to the other side of the beach. After venturing through the kitchen she came upon the last section of the main building which housed her room – presumably Hadji's room in the past – and Jonny's room plus a bathroom. After setting her bags in her room she returned for Race's stuff. She didn't normally go into her father's room, but she knew if she didn't put his new clothes away they would sit in the living room for days making it even harder to get the long neglected house cleaned up. She hauled the heavy bags down the hallway Race and Benton's rooms were in. There were only two bedrooms and a bathroom in that hallway and it was directly across from the front door on the other side of the living room. After figuring out which room belonged to her father, she dragged the bags through the door. It was a pretty standard room, just like all the other ones in the house. Everyone's room looked almost identical at the moment because they hadn't had a chance to add their personal touches yet. That was one of the reasons Jessie wanted to go shopping so soon: To get new clothes and things for her room as well. Jessie looked around and decided to leave the bags in Race's closet.

He can unpack them himself, she thought as she pulled the thin, wooden doors open.

She bent down and dumped the bags on the floor, but when she attempted to stand back up she knocked her head on the shelf above. The shelf reverberated from the contact and a small shoe box that had been left on the edge toppled to the ground, spilling its contents. Jessie cursed under her breath and rubbed her head. Dropping to her knees, she examined the contents of the shoe box splayed out in front of her.

"Pictures?"

A smile formed on her rosy lips when she noticed they were family photos of her with her mom and dad. Some were pictures Jessie had seen and some weren't, but they all held happy memories. She looked at some of the pictures as she placed them back in the shoe box.

"I bet Dad forgot he even has these here," she said to herself.

She picked another picture up but dropped it with a gasp as her eyes focused on the Polaroid that had been revealed underneath it.

"No way . . ." she choked out as she stared at that one picture, the rest of the photos forgotten.

With shaking hands she picked it up to examine it more closely. The implications of the photo in her grasp were impossible yet there it was in front of her, as plain as day. So many questions were racing through her head; it was almost too much for her mind to process. Completely absorbed in the photograph she had discovered, she jumped, startled, at the sound of the backdoor shutting loudly.

"Hey, Jess?!"

It was Jonny. Without giving it another thought Jessie shoved the Polaroid into the back pocket of her daisy-duke jean shorts and scrambled to replace the rest of the photos.

"Jessie?" Jonny called out again as he made his way down the hallway that led from the kitchen to the living room. He was sure she was in the house; he saw the van pull up the driveway from the beach.

"You back here, Jess?"

"Just a minute!" she yelled, hoping to buy herself some time.

Placing the box back on the shelf, Jessie dashed out of Race's room. She hurried down the hallway and into the living room. She stopped abruptly when she saw Jonny standing at the living room end of the other hallway. He was still in his blue and white swim trunks from windsurfing.

"What's up?" she breathed out, trying to sound casual.

Jonny raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing back there?"

"Putting the stuff I bought for my dad in his room," she replied simply. In an attempt to change the subject she asked, "How'd windsurfing go?"

"It was awesome, Jess! You gotta come with me next time," he answered, seemingly forgetting about what Jessie had been up to.

"Sure, I'll give it a go. But right now I have to go hang up my new clothes before they wrinkle. I wouldn't want to look like a slob on my first day at our new school," she laughed, although it was rather empty.

"Yeah okay, I'll see you in a little bit for dinner," Jonny said as Jessie hurried passed him towards the kitchen.

He watched her go before heading for his own room next door to hers. He was feeling slightly uneasy. Something was up with Jessie, he could tell. Generally she was a good actress, capable of looking completely cool and collected on the outside even if she was a mess on the inside. Today was no different. She was at the top of her game and would have looked perfectly fine to anybody, but Jonny wasn't just anybody. Despite her seemingly flawless act he could tell she was shaken up about something. Maybe it was because of all the time they'd spent together growing up, but Jonny could always tell when something was wrong with Jessie. The question was: What?

Whatever it was, he hoped she would be okay.

Jessie was sitting on her bed staring at the incriminating photo she had discovered minutes ago. No matter how long she stared at the picture the image didn't change. There, smiling at the camera in a small, foreign looking village surrounded by jungle foliage was Race. Jessie was also in the picture and she couldn't have been more than six months old. She only knew it was herself because of the short mop of flaming red hair on the baby's head coupled with the bright green eyes. And there next to Race, also smiling happily was a woman holding baby Jessie. The woman was what had shocked Jessie to her core. That woman wasn't Estella Velasquez as it should have been.

Instead it was Jezebel Jade . . . .

To be continued . . .

A/N: The idea came from Jade being Jessie's mother in the classic JQ movie Jonny's Golden Quest and also how they originally intended for her to be Jessie's mom in JQTRA but changed their minds when it was decided that Jade would never settle down and get married/start a family and they didn't want to open the "born out of wedlock" can of worms. So they created Estella instead. The title has a double meaning: it's a play on Jade's name and the definition for jaded being disreputable (disgraceful, shady, shameful, etc.). I'm really trying to keep the cast in character for the most part so please let me know what you think. I appreciate all comments and constructive criticism (from the plot, to the characterization, to the writing style itself). It's not only enjoyable for me to read but it helps push me to update faster too. For the most part, I already have the entirety of this story planned out for the most part (including a sequel) but suggestions and plot ideas are still very welcome! Hope you enjoyed this chapter; see you in chapter two I hope! :)

SakuraJade