Hey, first Chapter of a random fanfic that I thought might be fun to write on.

I fell through the air,

falling...

falling...

falling...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGG!"

The scream shattered the peaceful, tranquil night air. What once was a quiet and still forest was now alive with the sounds of surprised and panicked animals followed by a loud SPLASH. In a few moments the animals had quieted down, the birds returned to their nests and each animal to it's respected home.

Okay, let's back up a little. It's always polite to introduce with a name isn't it? Well my name is...hmm, I can't seem to remember what my name is...I know, I know, typical.

Well, okay, let us skip introductions. How did I come to falling through the sky and landing in the middle of a forest? Well, let us start off by saying that I like playing Nintendo games...a lot. So, naturally, when I hear that Nintendo is coming out with a system that allows the player to be in the game, I kinda nerd out.

And I don't mean like in the game as in a playable character, but in the game as in a life size visual model of the game and you get to control the whole game from inside of the game type in the game.

I have a feeling that made no sense. Okay, let's just say that it was a cool invention and Nintendo was selling limited tickets to demo this system to see if it would be practical. So, naturally, I signed up and got the position to be one of the twelve testers of the game.

So, I got there and the was this big hullabaloo and tons of people were there, yes, I mean tons. Thousands of people filed in to see the development of this new gaming system. Well, it was like one of those helmets that you put on and you see everything digitally. We were all lined up to go in and I was last. They let us into the room with the systems about thirty seconds apart. When we were all settled, they announced the chosen game: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.

Great choice, I love that game, played it at least five times. Anyway, the game started and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Anyway, the game started and everything seemed to be going smoothly. The beginning credits rolled on and the game was starting. Coincidentally, that is when things started to go wrong. I wasn't in control anymore. The title screen just kept playing. Hmm, is this supposed to be happening?

Well, I couldn't hear any panicked voices outside so I assumed that they just wanted us to see the whole opening credits. As they played they seemed to add a few classes to the mix. They did go through the traditional cavaliers, paladins, knights, generals...and so on.

However, they kept going. I saw archers, snipers, pirates, berserkers, fighters, warriors, manaketes...manaketes...manaketes...great, the system froze. Now I started to get a little panicked. I tried to turn my head to look at the other participants. It looked as if they were all in the same predicament as I was. Suddenly, the machines started to turn off, with the players inside of them, and from what I heard that was not supposed to happen. I started to panic, and then everything went black.

Pain...lots and lots of pain. It felt as if my body was changing, forcibly becoming something that I wasn't- "AAARRGH!" ...Hey I did say that it was painful. Anyway, as the pain went on, my voice became so hoarse that I felt that I had thrown up food, blood, guts, and brains before I blacked out.

Where am I? I felt tired and weak. I felt like I was just floating through space. I was in pain. I was tired. I was complaining. I was hot. Then, I was cool, and it felt great. It felt as if I went to hell, then came back to heaven. Strength flooded back into my limbs. My lungs filled with cool air.

Then I opened my eyes to green, brown and blue. My eyes focused and the gears in my head slowly started to turn. Oh hey, trees, ooh and a lake. Hmm, this sensation really feels like I am falling. Yeah, it really feels like I am falling. Yeah, the gears were slowlyturning. Then it dawned on me.

"AAAA-

AAAA-

AAAA-

AAAA-

GGGG-"

-SPLASH!

I woke up on a beach, soggy and disoriented. As I got up, I noticed that I wasn't in Kansas anymore... I mean I noticed that I was wearing surprisingly cool and light black robes that went from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Different, but cool nonetheless. As I was admiring my change in wardrobe, I noticed an oddly colored rock laying there on the sand. Ooh, pretty. I thought.

I bent down to pick it up, and as my long fingers wrapped around it. Warmth and strength filled my body. I could feel the energy from the stone pulse into my body.

However, because I was not expecting that to happen, I let the stone drop and it fell back onto the sand. I just stood there looking at my hand, staring in shock. Thoughts were flying through my head faster than a bullet train.

What was that? Where am I? Who am I? That stone, it reminds me of something, something, argh why can't I remember!? For the next, I don't know, hour, I stood there trying to sort out all of the things that had happened. What did I remember was, pain, more pain and darkness.

Before that...I couldn't remember. I clutched my head and sank to my knees. I must have fallen asleep because next thing I knew, I was laying on the beach, the stone clutched to my chest, and a pack of wild wolves surrounding me.

Immediately I got up. "Whoa, Whoa! What in the world?" I frantically looked around, and realized that I was surrounded by at least a dozen wolves in a semi-circle.

One wolf, probably the alpha male, a big animal with a stretch of golden hair right down its back, advanced towards me menacingly, growling. The rest of the back followed suit, growling and crouching towards me.

I backed up, heading towards the lake that I first fell into, and turned and ran. "AAAAHHH!" Ran screaming bloody murder...right into the lake. I jumped out into it and started swimming as fast as I could away from the shore, praying that the wolves wouldn't follow me in, or that they would be smart enough to wait for me to loose energy and come back onto the shore.

However, like all bad self-insert fics go, of course they were smart enough to wait for me. Every time I would try to get to the shore, they would be there. Great.

So, there I was, out in the middle of some unknown lake in some unknown land, surrounded by wolves, that were, I believe, very hungry. Time passed and still, there I was.

After about the first hour, I was still swimming with the same energy that I started out with. It didn't fell like I had lost any energy at all. Actually, it felt more as if I was getting more energized! Then I consciously noticed that I was holding that weird stone that I had picked up earlier. My thoughts raced back to when I first touched the stone.

However, the power that I felt from the stone when I first picked it up was like a rushing torrent. The power I felt now was like that of a trickling brook, like the output of energy that it was giving me was greatly decreased.

Thoughts raced through my head, What is this stone? How is it giving me so much energy? Can I use this power to save myself? I didn't know what to do. I had never felt anything like this before...that I could remember, which wasn't saying much.

Still, I decided to do something completely illogical cause my situation was completely illogical. I closed my eyes, and willed the stone's energies to pour into me. I didn't know how I did it, but it felt natural, like I was supposed to do it. I felt the energy flow through my body, spreading from my hands, to my feet, to my head, and throughout my body.

My mind was so absorbed with the process, that I didn't even realize that my body had begun to change. My body grew larger, scales started to appear where my skin once was.

I felt my feet touch the bottom of the lake, I opened my eyes with a start and gave a yelp, because I thought I had gone under water and started drowning. However, instead of hearing a "eep!" or "whaa!," I heard a "ROAR!"

I saw wolves that were chasing me running away. I opened my mouth to speak, "What in the world..." However, instead of my usual voice, I heard a deep thunderous voice instead. "Wha-Wha-Whoah!" I saw my reflection in the water. Instead of my face, what I saw, was the face of a sixteen foot tall dragon.

"What in the world!? What is this?" Frantically, I spun around, checking the rest of my body. Twenty five feet of a sleek, scaly body. Four legs, the front two could be used as arms if the situation called for it though. "Darn, no wings...wait, that is seriously all that I can think of after I turn into a dragon. No wings...well, wings are cool, too bad." I sighed, turning my head to the shore that was now clear of wolves.

"Hmm, I wonder where they went?" I pondered with genuine curiosity, "and, what do I do now?"

Slowly I walked towards the beach. Once I reached the beach, I looked at my body once more. "Okay," I said to myself, "not this is really weird. Have I always been a dragon? If not, how did I turn into one?... Well, if this was a bad fanfiction, I would head out on an epic quest to find out my destiny and past from a wise sage who abides in a towering mountain fortress, surrounded by enemies. Oh, or he would be a she, and she would be a divine queen who appears only to the true of heart or once someone collects the legendary items that she puts in hazardous places to prove the worth of the hero. Yup, there are only two options."

Yup, still talking to myself, like usual. I need friends.

"Still, I guess I am not freaking out about being a dragon because I don't remember much about being human...and how I know what a dragon and human are at all is a mystery to me. Now that I think about it, it appears that I have retained all general knowledge."

My monologue continued on, "For example, I know that is a leaf, and that is a twig. I know the difference between blue and green. However, I do not know, who I am, or where I am, or how I got here..."

Suddenly, in the midst of my pondering life and all of its possibilities and problems (of which, I came to the conclusion that 42 was the answer to everything...I don't know how), when suddenly I felt a really sharp prick on the neck.

"Gah! That hurt!" I put my hand/claw thingy to my neck and felt a little wooden shaft sticking out of it. I grasped it between my claws and pulled it out, grunting with the pain. As I brought it around to my face, I saw that it was an arrow. Gears, clicked through my brain, arrow...bow...archer...human...behind me...oh. As a spun my head around to take a look at my assailant, another arrow embedded itself right below my eye.

"Ow! Stop it! What was that for? You just don't go around shooting people!" I growled at... a dirty blond boy (like his hair color was dirty-blond...well I guess he have used a shower, but that's beside the point), no older than fifteen, with a bow and quiver, and a bunch of rabbits hanging on a string that I presumed he had shot while hunting.

The boy responded, "Well, your not a person are you. You're an animal. Never seen one like you, but you could be potentially dangerous to the forest, so I don't mind shooting you." Then, he began to notch another arrow.

Snap, this boy has cheek. I reared back as he fired, the arrow, which sailed right on past, grazing the left side of my face. I growled at him, not wanting to hurt him but scare him off. He didn't even flinch, so I stepped it up a notch. I took a deep breath, and roared.

Something, was off. I felt energy gather in my mouth as I inhaled. I payed it no mind though and as I exhaled, expecting to produce only an ear-splitting roar, I felt the pent up energy in my mouth suddenly release and out of my mouth I fired a giant laser, going right above the boy. I mean right above, the beam was so close, the mere pressure of the beam knocked his hat off.

The recoil of the beam, because I was not expecting to fire an energy beam, rocked my head back, dislodging the arrow in my face and making it fall to the ground. The boy stood there wide eyed, jaw dropped staring at me. I stood there staring at him, both of us in total disbelief of what just happened.

"Y-y-your a-a dragon," said the boy pointing his finger at me.

That snapped me out of it, "noooo, what gave it away, the scaly large body? The random energy beam that I had no idea I could do until this very moment?"

Well, excuse me (...princess)," the boy said, also having snapped out of the initial shock, "I have never seen a dragon before, and I heard that wyverns were the only ones of your kind not extinct. How did you get here anyway, I hunt in this forest every day, and I have never seen you before."

I looked at him, "Wyverns?"

"Yeah, dragons with wings, which you do not seem to have, ha, dragon without wings, fail..." said the boy under his breath, "oh, and manaketes are totally different, those are people who can turn into dragons, they have wings too, ha rules you out...again. Your just weird."

I narrowed my eyes, "Hey, don't get on my bad side, I'll burn you to a crisp!"

Hooray for empty threats...

Thankfully, the threat had an effect on the boy, "Okay, okay sorry. Sorry, I won't do it again. Sorry...still, how did you get here, and what are you exactly?"

"I don't truthfully know, all I remember is falling through the sky and landing in that lake," I said, gesturing to the lake that I initially fell into.

"Hmm, actually, that's the reason I'm out here in the first place. You see last night my brother and I heard someone's scream from the forest. We would've checked it out, but our mother told us to go back to bed. So here I am," said the boy, "did you anything about that?"

"Actually, that was me," I said a little sheepishly.

"What? But the scream we heard was a lot higher pitched than you are..." asked the boy, tilting his head.

"Yeah about that, actually, I guess I am what you call a mantakete?" I said, not sure of the pronunciation of the last word.

"A Manakete, huh, but you don't seem to be bad." said the boy, "I mean if you were one of them, you would've killed me already..."

"Huh, why would I be bad? Why would I kill you?" I asked once again, thoroughly confused.

"You really don't know anything do you?" The boy shook his head. "Come with me we'll talk about it over a cup of tea. Oh if you are a manakete, please return to your human form, we don't want my family freaking out."

I blinked, "You are ready to trust a random stranger that you just met and take him back to your home?"

The boy already started to walk away, "You aren't going to hurt my family are you?"

"Of course not! Why would I do that!?"

"Okay, than I see no point in not brining you (Luffy logic, works every time). The names Archer by the way."

I snorted, "Ha Archer's an archer! Funny."

Archer rolled his eyes, "Woooow, how original. I totally haven't heard that one before."

I dropped my gaze, "Sorry."

Archer just laughed, "Ha, don't worry about it, well, I gave you my name, what's yours?"

I just stood there, "Uh..."

Archer facepalmed, "That's right you have no memories, well, I'll call you...Zero!"

I looked up, "Zero?"

Archer laughed, "Yeah, cause you got ZERO talent at making jokes."

Ouch.

"Haha, just kidding, actually no I'm not, I am going to call you Zero."

I pondered for a moment, and then spoke, "Zero, has a nice ring to it."

Archer smiled, "Thanks! Well, here we are, my home."

I looked around. The house was a small house at the edge of the forest. It was well kept, and looked like a nice cozy home. The house was stuck in the middle of a dense forest, and a wide, open, green, hilly plain that stretched really far, only to be interrupted by the sight of mountains in the distance.

"Wow, nice place," I asked still taking in my surroundings.

Archer smiled, "Yup, I think so...umm, could you transform out of dragon mode now? Might be a fright to my family if I bring a dragon home..."

"Ah about that, I don't really know how..." I said. Archer looked at me with disbelief. "But," I hastily said, "I think I can figure out how."

I closed my eyes and focused. Just like how the power flowed into me, I pictured it flowing out, taking form of the stone that the power came from. I opened my eyes and...nothing, I was still a dragon.

"Umm..." Archer looked at me.

Quickly, to avoid suspicion, I closed my eyes again. I need to try harder. Wait, what if the change is permanent! What will I do then? Well, I guess it doesn't really matter because I don't remember anything about being human...

Archer broke my chain of thought, "Umm, Zero, how long are you just going to stand there?"

"Wha-whoa," I opened my eyes, and there I was, two legged and human, once again. Surprisingly, my cloak that I had on transformed with me and I still was wearing it. "How did that happen?" I took a step forward only to stumble and fall.

Archer lunged forward and caught me. "Hey, you okay?" He looked worried.

I tried to stand, relying on Archer for support, "Yeah, it's just, my dragon form was powerful, I feel so weak now."

"Well, I'll help you until you get used to your "weak" human form," smiled Archer.

"Thanks," I smiled, "so why are people like me evil?"

"Oh yeah, I did say that," started Archer, "well, from what I heard, the manaketes hometown Dolhr has sided with Gra, Grust and Macedon, the human baddies, and have declared war on everyone else basically. They took over Altea, which was the most powerful nation, and have started to subdue the other countries. Currently they are winning their campaign in Archanea. Rumors say that Altea's Prince Marth, escaped from with a handful of his knights."

Archer took a breath, "I hope they did but it's unlikely, because Dolhr has been taking over lots of land since they took down Altea. There are only a handful of provinces left that Prince Marth could have taken refuge in. Oh yeah, your original question, well Dolhr is a nation of manaketes. They are known to be ruthless to regular humans and don't think twice about killing. I think that they started the war because they thought that the other humans were lesser than they were and that they deserved to be under manakete control."

I stood there my brain processing the information, "That's not very nice! Ok, understatement, that's horrible!" Archer nodded in agreement, "I mean, I would never do that!"

"I know," said Archer, "but others who have been hurt by manaketes would not take kindly to seeing one, even if they do have good intentions like I believe you do."

"Wow," I said, "just one more question, if Altea was the strongest, how did they loose?"

Archer hesitated, "I heard that they were betrayed by Gra, who were originally Altea's allies, and that during battle, Gra attacked the Altean forces from behind, surprising the Altean forces so badly that they could not recover form their own allies betraying them."

"Again, that's horrible! Those backstabbers." I exclaimed.

"Yeah, not exactly role models," Archer said, "well, aside from all the depressing talk, would you like to meet my family?

I jumped at the offer, "Sure, why not!"

As we neared it I could smell a delicious sent coming from the house. My stomach growled and Archer smirked, "Hungry huh."

I nodded my head, clutching my stomach which had completely natural noises coming from within it.

Well, that went well...or did it?

Regardless, review and read...not necessarily in that order...

Ciao,

SeaJade