Book 1 (Spring): The Winter Dragon


July 16, 2069. Day of the Invasion.

An old man with a face sagging with age and stress walked with purpose within the massive labotaries. He wore an old worn down white coat that seemed too big for him and underneath that he wore a plain brown shirt that did not seem to match with the rest of his outfit at all.

Finally the old man stopped when he came face to face with a young woman. He smiled at her, she was one of his most important employer, the chief engineer of the entire lab. ''Hello Deliah, how is the project coming along? Are we ready for the big reveal?''

The woman smiled. ''That's what I was about to tell you Professor Oak. The preparation are pretty much done by now. Now all we need is for the rest of the guests to arrive.''

At that Samuel smiled and nodded. With a wave he walked away with purpose toward the main hall and took a seat on the front row as he looked at his beloved machine still drapped underneath a thick blue sheet.

As minutes passed and more and more guests came and took seats behind him he couldn't contain the giddiness that built inside him. Finally the day had come where he could show his invention he had sweat blood and tears for. He felt like a young kid at christmas!

When every seats in the room were filled, Deliah Ketchum walked on the stage and the chatter he had barely noticed even existed quieted down completely.

Deliah smiled at the crowd and began her speech that she had practiced until she knew it by heart. ''Today is a historic day for both science and humanity. Our team of scientists and engineers worked tirelessly for almost a decade now to advance space travel technology to the point where we could send humans to other galaxies. Something most people thought would take another century at least. But we decided to think outside the box. We always thought we wouldn't be able to reach other galaxies until we managed to travel at the speed of light. But thanks to the revolutionary invention of the D.T. Starleap we won't need to. This invention will allow astronauts to teleport their ship anywhere with a precision of around one thousand kilometers. Rendering the need for light speed completely moot.''

The crowd started clapping at that while some were excited by the big news some only clapped politely. Samuel was glad that at least a few of them realised how big of a deal this really was.

''And with that I'm happy to let the famed Professor Oak take the stage and talk about his invention in more details.'' Deliah said with a grand gesture toward him.

As Professor Oak began his grand speech that he had practiced even more than her own. She went to the back of the stage. As soon as she was behind the curtains a small form ran up to her and huddled around her legs.

''Mommy are you done with the boring speech, I'm hungry!'' A young boy with raven hair exclaimed.

''Boring? Ash this invention will change our world completely. It will be like all those sci fi games you love so much.'' Judging by the bored look on the boy's face he wasn't impressed by her words.

''That would be cool except you never let me play with those cool invention of yours, so who cares?'' He said with a pout.

Deliah rolled her eyes, evidently this wasn't the first time this conversation came up. ''Listen teleportation is not a toy, what would we do if you accidently found yourself alone on Mars huh? You think you could take care of yourself on an alien planet alone?''

''Boring! I'm hungry let's eat!'' Ash replied with a huff.

The young woman sighed trying to push down the annoyance that was building inside her. ''Listen, Professor Oak is about to start up the Starleap for the first time I can't simply walk away and-'' She was interrupted by the sound of her own stomach rumbling loudly. She sighed in exasperation when she saw the shit eating grin her son was giving her. ''Fine, fine. It's not like I haven't seen the machine work dozens of time before today anyway. All we'll get to see is an empty stretch of space, so I suppose we can sneak out and eat.''

''Yeah! You're the best mom!'' Ash exclaimed while jumping around excitedly.


The engine of the car roared as the light finally turned green. ''Ugh that's why I hate the city sometime, there's way too much traffic in the streets.'' Deliah complained lowly to herself. Then she turned around and saw her boy sulking in the back. ''So!... Are you excited about starting your first year of school soon?''

''I guess...'' Ash replied while still not looking toward her.

''What's wrong Ash? You haven't talked to me since we left the lab.'' Deliah asked with a light frown.

''...I miss Kanto.'' Ash finally replied.

Deliah sighed, she had a feeling this would come up sooner or later. ''I know you loved living in Pallet Town Ash. But Orchestralia has been the hub of scientist discovery for the last thirty years and when Professor Oak himself asked me to be his engineer I couldn't turn him down.''

''...I miss papa.'' Ash replied now finally looking at her with a few tears in his eyes.

Deliah felt like something had stabbed her in the heart . ''I miss him too honey, but he's in a better place now.''

The rest of the ride was spent in silence until they arrived at a small restaurant joint stuffed between two buildings. It was the sort of place most people wouldn't even notice the existence of. But her and Ash had decided to walk in one day and it was one of the best decision they ever made. ''Look Ash our favorite restaurant.''

The young boy slightly perked up at that and the two of them exited the car. They entered inside the small restaurant and were greeted by a teenage girl sitting behind the counter. When she heard the sound of the door closing she looked up and smiled when she noticed who it was. ''Miss Deliah! It's been a while. I was beginning to think you didn't like our food anymore!''

Deliah smiled at the girl who was the daughter of the owner. ''Me getting tired of your amazing barbecue chicken? never! It's just been a couple of busy months at the lab.''

''I can imagine.'' The young girl said with a smirk before motioning to the television bolted to the wall. Professor Oak was front and center on the display and she could see the D.T Starleap behind him.

''He's still talking about his invention?'' Ash asked with a roll of his eyes.

Deliah chuckled slightly. She had told the professor that his speech might just be a tad too extensive. But the old man could be stubborn when he wanted to and nothing could stop him from giving his invention all the love and praise it deserve.

''So how old is our little man now? The last time I saw him he was four right?'' The young girl asked with a smile.

''He had his birthday last month. He's five years old now. You're such a big man now aren't you?'' Deliah cooed proudly much to the embarassment of the raven haired boy.

The mother and son were soon guided toward a table by the young girl. In no time at all they were served their meal. The way Ash dug into his chicken drumstick and strip the bones clean of the meat reminded Deliah of some sort of wild animal and she couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she ate her portion much more slowly.

''-And with that I present to you the next step in mankind history. It is only fitting that it would take place here on this historic day. Exactly one hundred years since we landed on the Moon.'' The small muffled voice of Professor Oak said on the television.

At that Deliah completely abandoned her chicken's breast and focused all her attention on the screen. She recognised these words as the end of his speech. And she knew what was coming next. It might not be as impressive as seeing it live but she was glad she would at least be able to see the D.T. Starleap debut in some way.

The sheet were thrown aside finally revealing the machine to the world for the first time. The best way to describe the Starleap would be that it look like a giant silver ring. Of course there was a lot of heavy and complicated machinery attached to that ring. But the giant ring is what most people would notice right away.

As the Professor pressed his finger on a remote the giant ring whirred to life with arcs of electricity running all over it. Hopefully this time it wouldn't make half of Ringabell City black out like on the first test. The Mayor had been mad about that one.

Finally the center of the rings exploded with colors before finally fading into a breathtaking view of an unknown galaxy. Deliah eyes widened in awe, the last times they tested the Starleap all they saw were the cold empty expense of space with barely any stars at all!

Had the Professor really managed to calibrated the teleporation and find an alien galaxy without even telling her?... No as brilliant as Professor Oak was there was no way he could have done this without her and the other engineers help. Most likely he just opened the portal on a random coordinate and prayed for the best and it look like it really payed off.

The camera on the screen was assaulted by flashes as the news outlet took hundred of pictures of the amazing view and for once she couldn't really blame them. Finally after a few minutes the Starleap slowly closed down and the view of the millions of stars faded away as if they had never been there in the first place.

As Deliah looked at Ash she could see him looking at the screen with a slight expression of awe and she couldn't help but feel a small surge of pride that she could bring such a feeling to her baby boy. The moment was soon shattered however when she noticed just how cold the restaurant had suddenly become.

''Isabelle did you turn on the AC? It's freezing cold!'' Deliah asked to the teenage girl.

''I mean yeah, it is the middle of summer. But I don't think our AC can possibly turn the temperature that low.'' The young girl replied as she shivered.

''Mom?'' Ash asked with a bewildered look on his face.

''What is it honey?'' Deliah asked worriedly.

''My orange juice is frozen.'' Ash replied while pointing at his glass and Deliah indeed saw that the juice had turned into a solid chunk of ice.

''Our AC can definetly not do that.'' Isabelle replied with a baffled look on her face.

Before Deliah could say anything else the ground started rumbling. She was almost thrown on her rear as the chair and tables fell over all around them. Ash ran toward her and grabbed her legs with an iron grip as he tried to stay upright.

As soon as it had started the rumbling stopped. But before they could even let out a sigh of relief a loud piercing roar echoed throught the entire buidling and nearly made her stumble once again.

''W-what was that?'' Ash replied in a shaky scared tone.

Deliah wish she could reply but she really didn't know what sort of thing could make a sound like that. It certainly did not sound like any animals she knew.

''I-I think we should go back to the lab.'' Her first instinct had been to go back home. But she realised the lab was much more secure and could basically survive an atomic war if it needed to. Both Professor Oak and Professor Aether were very protective of their inventions and wanted to make sure nothing could ever happen to them even if the apocalypse should happen.

Deliah and her son made their way back to the car. But as luck would have it the car stalled and wouldn't start up no matter how many times she tried. She really didn't want to make her way to the lab on foot with whatever made that sound on the loose, but it didn't look she had a choice.

Stepping outside she went to the other side of the vehicle and took Ash in her arm. For once the boy did not complained about being held by his mom and she started walking rapidly.

However soon after she started moving she saw a huge crowd of people running from the opposite direction and she felt a pit of dread in her stomach at the look of pure terrors on their faces.

''What's happening?'' She tried asking them but none of them paid her any mind as they ran at full sprint. She tried asking a few more times and finally one of them replied but it wasn't the response she had expected.

''Dragon!'' A man shouted before continuing to run for his life.

Deliah starred at his retreating form for a while and rubbed her temples in irritation. ''Great the only one that want to talk to me and it's a pothead who's having a bad trip.''

However she soon realised she was wrong when another piercing roar resonated throught the entire city and this time it somehow sounded even louder than the first time. And then rounding the corner was some sort of beast that literally should not exist outside of fantasy books.

It was a huge hulking beast, bigger than the entire restaurant they had just exited. It's hide was made of silvery scales that almost looked metallic in nature and it's face was covered by what looked like a mask made of ice, it's jagged wings similarly looked frozen and unnatural. It's eyes glowed eerily with a yellow light and each time it took a step the ground froze around it.

It seemed to noticed Deliah presence for the first time and roared furiously before it started running toward them. Deliah let out a cry of terror before she ran as fast as her legs could carry her as she tightly grasped Ash with an iron grip.

As she ran she realised that the beast was much slower than her despite it's size and that gave her hope that she could outrun it. However the monster had another trick in it's sleeve. It opened it's mouth and released a stream of icy cold air toward the ground and froze half of the entire street in an instant.

Deliah realised with horror that her legs were stuck in the ice and she couldn't move anymore. She looked toward the huge beast that slowly advanced toward them with a predatory gleam in it's glowing eyes and then she looked at Ash who looked at the monster with clear fear in his eyes.

She closed her eyes for a second as she made her decision. She put Ash down on the ground and looked at him with sorrow. ''Ash you have to run away. I can't go on anymore.''

''W-what?! But I can't just leave you here!'' Ash replied with a look of shock and betrayal.

''Ash we don't have time to argue, leave!'' She replied with a tensed expression, the dragon was just above them at this point.

''B-but...''

''Go, now!'' Deliah finally snapped loudly at him. Ash finally did as instructed and started running as fast as he could.

The dragon growl at that and tried give chase to the young boy. But Deliah threw her entire purse at it. It did not hurt it at all, but it did serve to annoy him and focus it's attention back to the woman.

''Do your worst you ugly piece of crap! I bet you have a mask because even your mom couldn't stand to look at you!''

As Ash ran for his dear life he heard a last furious scream of challenge from his mom before a cold chill silenced her voice forever...


AN: So this is a project I had tought about for a long time now but always put it off due to how daunting it is. Today I decided to finally stop putting it off and just started writting, let's see where that will bring us.

A (very) few of you might find that the start of this story sound very familiar and that's because it is. This story will be basically a rebranding of World of Elestia, my own original story.

World of Elestia was loosely based on the concept of monster collecting like Pokemon but it was an original story that I was hoping to maybe make into a real book one day. Unfortunately the story did not catch on at all. And as much as I would like to say I don't care about how many views or comments I have. I have to admit writting around 175 000 words basically into the void is kind of depressing after a while.

So since my other story Daughter of Time was much more successful by compariosn I decided I would try to convert World of Elestia into a Pokémon story and see if it does better.

This will be much more than just changing names and species around. This story will change a lot of the old concept of World of Elestia to fit more closely with the lore of Pokémon.

World of Elestia was always supposed to be a post apocalypse story where elemental creatures invaded a Earth-like world that would slowly transition in a Pokémon-like world where humans and monsters learn to coexist together. So this story will kind of explore the theory that the Pokémon world might have been like our world at one point. But the road ahead to the utopia that is the Pokémon world we know will be tough and full of tragedy, so I hope you're ready.