Chapter 1

At first glance, the glade looked as abandoned to the forces of nature as it had been five years ago. The last rays of sunlight were not enough to light up the entire area, but visibility was not poor. Small creatures could be seen scurrying across the branches of tall oaks, or flitting through the ferns and bushes littering the ground. A light wind blew steadily across the open space, breaking the quiet by rustling the leaves. All in all, it was peaceful- an idyllic view of a simple forest.

All of a sudden, powerful, erratic gusts of wind made the branches tremble and frightened the little denizens of the clearing. The origin of these gusts was a large black dragon shaped creature seen up in the sky above the glade. The dragon was hovering in place just above the treetops. The tip of its tail looked to be on fire, the heat of which could be felt over a hundred feet away; each of its limbs ended in claws the looked like they could cut through stone with ease. The dragon let out a roar, showing fangs like daggers. Its eyes were a brilliant crimson. On its back was a young man, black hair ruffled by the flapping wings. The dragon slowly descended into the clearing, causing all the forest inhabitants to scurry away in alarm. As the dragon neared the ground, the man leapt of its back in a remarkable show of agility and landed on his sneaker covered feet. His shoes, like the rest of his clothing, was completely black, matching the color of the dragon he had just disembarked from. He was carrying a small backpack, from which he took out some small balls; each was half red and half white. He pressed a button on each one and a beam of light shot out from that location giving form to other creatures, each one a magnificent specimen of its species.

One was a large tortoise, standing upright on its hind legs. It had a smirk plastered on its face, and it stretched out its arms as if just awakened from slumber. From its shell, on either side of its head, a cannon popped out and popped back in just as fast, as if stretching those as well.

The other one was a green reptilian quadruped, looking very much like a lizard without a tail. If a lizard could be said to have a tree growing out of its back. This one stomped the ground with its front legs, as if annoyed at something.

"Sorry my friends. I know you are not used to being inside these infernal contraptions. But you do not have wings, and this was the fastest way – "

The rest of what the man said was drowned out as another creature crashed down next to the black dragon. This one also looked like a dragon, but instead of the fearsome visage of the first, the latecomer looked like one out of a children's book. It had a bulky lower body with small forelimbs and small wings. There were two feelers on its head and when it opened its maw, there were no fangs to be seen. The man knew though, that this docile looking creature was one of the fastest fliers in the world and when enraged, one of the most dangerous as well.

The man turned to look at the newcomer.

Before he could say anything, his words were cut off by a thump. This originated behind him, and he turned around to see his last two companions arrive.

There was another dragon, though this was smaller than the first two. It had three heads, one at end of its neck and two smaller ones at the ends of its arms. Its hind legs looked so weak that it would be a surprise if the creature could support its own weight. Because of this, the dragon remained hovering, its six wings pulsating to keep it in the air. As the young man turned, it let out a violent roar, as if challenging any and all to a battle.

The young man shook his head wryly and turned his attention to the other new arrival.

It looked like a cross between a dragon and a pterodactyl. It was grey in color and had saw like teeth along its lower jaw. Its wings were attached to its forelimbs and its tail ended in an arrowhead tip. It looked at the youth with amused eyes as if to say, "See what I have to put up with?"

He grinned in reply and turned to face the first dragon.

"Okay Charizard, let's set up here for the night. Tomorrow we go out to face the world again."

The black Charizard raised its maw up and let out a Flamethrower attack into the darkening sky, followed by another roar.

As the young man bent down to unpack his backpack, the rest of his pokemon joined in the Charizard's roar, their combined volume making the entire forest quiver in fear.