Chapter 1: Introduction:

Excerpt taken from Darren Diamond's Journal

This is the tale of my life. I have been through everything a person can possibly imagine. I have seen creations and destructions of many nations and pokemon. Although my life's story began to hit a streak of popularity when I was thirty, my adventure began when I was seven years old.

I had long brown hair when I was seven. I can still remember my mom telling me that I should cut it so that it would match my blue eyes, but I wanted to look like my friend Lance. I was a silly child. I used to take long walks in the mountains because we didn't have television reception where we lived. Because of this I was very fit, and could beat up on the ten year olds because of my stature.

Growing up in the town of Blackthorn, I knew the legend of the many elusive dragon pokemon that lived in the lakes around us as well as everyone in the city. My best friend Lance and I used to hike up a part of Mount Silver that had a waterfall on it that was just north of Blackthorn almost every day because he swore that he saw a dragon in the lake above the waterfall. Lance was my best friend ever. He truly was a noble trainer.

After about six months of hiking, he devised a plan to capture this elusive dragon, for there was an unseen bond between the two, and he seemed possessed by the dragons' very existence. He told me that he must be left alone to capture it, so I left him alone overnight.

That night I sat in bed awake. I could not fall asleep. I kept worrying about Lance sitting on top of the mountain all alone. I wondered what he was doing and if he was going to be alright. Because I was seven, I didn't worry for too long as sleep slowly took me.

Before the sun came up that next morning, I was awake. I snuck past my parent's room, ate a quick breakfast, packed some food for Lance, and hurried to the top of the mountain.

When I arrived I saw the biggest smile on Lance's face as he showed me one of the brand new pokeballs his dad had given him. He threw it in the air and out popped a small, worm-like creature, about five feet long and as blue as a summer sky. It had glossy black eyes that made a person feel happy just looking in them. It swam in the water, but never farther than 5 feet away from Lance.

Lance stared at the creature with his mouth shut. It was evident that he deeply loved his newly captured friend. He then broke the silence by saying, "He's such a small dragon, and I'll call him Dratini." And so my friend Lance became the first known person to have captured a Dratini.

For a few minutes we just stared at the beautiful dragon, its silky scales and smooth features made it seem to glow. This glow made me want to touch it, to caress it, and to love it, but as I stepped into the lake I slipped and fell into the water. Struggling and gasping for breath, I tried swimming back to shore, but a strong current had me in its grasp. Even though I was in great shape, I was completely at the mercy of the raging water. It wasn't until I saw what was causing the current that I had any feelings of panic. An enormous waterfall loomed before me, pulling me towards it.

I looked towards the waterfall and knew that my life was going to be over in a matter of seconds. My mind froze and I stopped paddling. It dawned on me that I was going to die. No more walks in the forest, no more of mom's fresh baking, no more fun. As I was flung over the edge I saw the jagged rocks below me. They looked like black thorns, and they just so happened to be the same rocks that my hometown was named after. I shut my eyes. I suddenly felt the feeling of becoming weightless, because I was falling at the exact same speed as the water. For one brief moment I had absolute peace. I cringed, waiting for my body to impact at high speed into the jagged rocks.

I waited and waited for the crushing blow of the rocks but it didn't come. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself in what looked like a pink bubble of psychic energy. I had a neighbor that had a Kadabra that could make energy bubbles like this. I was but a foot from the pointy rocks. I let out an enormous sigh of relief. Then, the bubble unexpectedly shot upwards like a rocket. I watched my body fly upwards through the water that was falling down, but I did not get wet. When I was above the falls I could see Lance looking up at me, dumbstruck. The bubble I was in floated down beside him and melted away into thin air, and I landed on my butt on the ground with a thud.

It was then that I saw my rescuer. I looked into the sky and saw the legendary Mew, a small pink pokemon that flew without wings. It apparently held its frame up in the air with its psychic powers. Mew flew around Lance and me and seemed quite pleased with what he had done. It giggled as it somersaulted through the air as if it didn't have a care in the world. I watched the little pokemon in awe.

After about a minute of watching the little display of affection, Mew turned and began to leave, but before it did, I yelled, "Thank you, Mew! I'll never forget you!"
Mew laughed once again and then flew away. That was my first encounter with a legendary pokemon. I didn't know it then, but it was not to be the last time I would se one. This experience inspired me to become a trainer, that maybe one day in the future I would see my legendary friend again.

My training began on my eleventh birthday, the age that most children in my village were looked upon as adults. My father, who was a world renowned trainer himself, presented me with my very own dragon pokemon, a small Bagon. It was custom in Blackthorn for the father of a trainer to give their child a dragon as they came of age. I was so excited that I almost left the house without saying goodbye to my parents. Through the years, Bagon and I became the best of friends, and through the wins and the losses we learned to love each other deeply.

On the day that I left my home, Lance and I went our separate ways. We met at the southern gate of Blackthorn and Lance said, "When we are both famous one day we are going to have to battle sometime." I nodded, for I couldn't find any words leaving my best friend. He smiled and then headed north to the icy caves for endurance training with his dragons. I headed south, not knowing what I was to expect.

Lance went on to become the most powerful dragon trainer in the world. I still read about his accomplishments in newspapers and see him on the covers of magazines. I went on to master the art of battling; but I followed this path out of the spotlight unlike Lance. We had battled each other over the years, always in secret, underground arenas. Sometimes he'd win, sometimes I'd win, but no matter the outcome we were still great friends, but after we separated it had always felt as if there was a wall between us.

My pokemon grew quite well over the years. After long and careful training, my little Bagon became a full fledged Salamence, who quite enjoyed flying and didn't mind my frequent world vacations. I felt that I loved him better than my own parents because I was with him more. I mostly talked to my parents because I thought it was kind to them, and now I wish I had spoken with them longer.

When I was a beginning trainer I caught just four other pokemon and could never give them up for the world. I just didn't like the feeling of placing my pokemon in cold storage, never to be used again. I had captured a Ghastly once in Lavender Tower because I believed it to be haunted and proved it with this ghost. Through rigorous training he became a Gengar, very skilled in interdimensional workings.

Also, when I was twelve, I encountered a Ralts through the Ilex forest. It was very odd to see one in this part of the world, but it was not unheard of. Ralts grew very close to me, as was her nature, and over time she became a beautiful Gardevoir, one who protected me from all types of danger. It seemed to me that I had a very spiritual bond with Gardevoir throughout my years as a trainer.

I had also been frustrated one day when an elusive Goldeen would not consent to being caught by me. In this frustration I threw one of my pokeballs into the river. After I calmed down I got into the river and began searching for my pokeball. I found it amidst some rocks and fished it out. It felt slightly heavier than when I had thrown it and I wondered if I had in fact caught the Goldeen after all. I threw the ball into the air and to my surprise out popped a Magikarp. I was shocked but slightly disappointed. All I heard about Magikarp as that they were completely useless. However, out of pity I kept him, and one day he evolved into a splendid Gyarados.

And the last of all my pokemon that I had captured was a Pupitar. In fact, Pupitar was a relatively recent addition to my team, as I had only had her for about three years when my adventure began. There were some miners that were digging for gold in Mt. Silver. One day they had found her and assumed that she was an odd shaped rock, so they threw her aside in a pile of rubble. I just so happened to be watching the miners at the time and quickly went and saved her. She was grateful for my goodness and has been faithful to my team ever since.

Each of these pokemon has a deep and significant meaning to me. I have only had five pokemon throughout my entire life because I never trusted the pokemon teleportation system. I had heard a rumor of a person capturing an oddly colored Tarous and that when he checked his computer later for it, it was gone. I loved the pokemon that I had, so I was sure to keep them with me at all times.

I believe that I have now given you enough information on the story of my past life and I am sure that you are eager to read what else I have done with my life. I would like to tell you that I am not writing this to brag or to boast, but to preserve a record of truth that we might all grow closer together.