Chapter 24: The Dragon King

It was around two in the afternoon and the skies were the usual blood red, orange, and yellow. The hallways at the camp were cold and emitted an eerie presence. Ziggy turned a corner and saw the doors to the war room. He walked inside and saw General Hall, Rodan, the Doctor, and President Reed sitting at a table. The most noticeable thing was that Doctor Rogers' white lab coat had small burn marks that seemed to be the result of a few of his tests. Ziggy sat down at the end of the table.

President Reed stood up and said, "We have a special mission for a few members of your crew. Since the US doesn't really have a home planet anymore, we MUST go out and find one with enough resources to support a rebellion."

A hologram of the galaxy appeared above the table. It zoomed into a planet on the outer edge of the galaxy.

"I want you to go to the planet, Kroth in the Ragnos Sector. Intel says that a temple resides in a Volcano that has been active for many decades. Recover what it holds and scope the surrounding planets for power sources and natural resources. This way, we can gain intel while searching for livable planets."

Ziggy looked at the President and asked, "What if we find hostiles?"

"Then you find out what they want, and you take it," said the President in an aggressive tone as he sat down in his chair and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Sensei Rodan spoke out and said, "Gain intel on why they're there. Then decide if its worth your time to get it before they do. If it isn't let them be or get rid of them." Zakee nodded and stood up looking at President Reed.

"I'll grab my team and head to Kroth immediately," said Zakee eagerly.

The president stood up and said, "Report to me when you learn of anything."

Ziggy left the room; he already knew who was gonna be on his team. First, he needed someone powerful that was good from long range. The immediate thought of a guy flying around appeared in his mind. The next crewmate was of course the strategist, Clayton. The final two were two that had chemistry with his team, Sarah and Jake.

He sent out a group message that told them to meet at the Ebon Hawk in the hanger immediately. Within five minutes, Clayton, Jackson, Sarah, and Jake were in the main hold of the Ebon Hawk.

"What's this all about?" asked Jake.

Ziggy leaned towards the group and said, "We have a mission." The ears of the others tilted towards Zakee.

"The five of us go to Kroth in the Ragnos sector and survey the surrounding planets for resources. Power and natural resources. However, there's a temple in a volcano on Kroth that could have some pretty cool stuff too."

Clayton stood up and walked to the exit of the ship and said, "Was there even a point in asking me to come here? Of course, I'm going. I'll be back soon with all my stuff." He walked off the ship and through the exit of the hanger.

Jackson looked at Sarah and Jake who nodded at them then back at Ziggy. "Looks like we're coming too."

"That's perfect. We leave Solia tonight." Ziggy already had his things packed together. He was tired of this planet. So dull. He was actually a little jealous of Ryder for getting to do his own thing. Ziggy left the ship and went to go talk to Sensei Rodan.

The new base consisted of 772 students and officers in an old bunker on the side of a mountain. The ship, covered by trees, was parked in a valley at the bottom of the mountain. The hallways were old with metal walls, and some areas even had the rocks behind them exposed.

Ziggy was walking towards the war strategy room which was where Sensei Rodan was most likely. He opened the doors to the room, and his sensei stood at the back of the room in front of a giant window. Ziggy walked up to his side and gazed out into the fields and forests that surrounded the mountain.

"Ever since the attack, all of the students have been doing everything at 120% the effort," said Sensei Rodan suddenly. "Shinigami practicing swordsmanship with ninjas, Jedi, and anyone who can wield a sword. They are getting experience in fighting a wide variety of powers. Many of them even practice against their own power's weakness in order to strengthen it that much. Through teamwork and determination, this small group of young students have had a dramatic leap in their own powers and athletic gains," said the Sensei staring at a small group of students practicing hand to hand combat in a field below.

Zakee looked up at his master and said, "They've gotten a lot stronger, but they must keep going."

"The enemy will have a larger army than us, so we have to have a better group of soldiers than them," said Rodan.

"That's right." Rodan gazed off into the sky. "They're no longer students. They are soldiers. Here. Fighting for their lives."

Zakee put his hand on Rodan's shoulder. "We will win this this war," he said. "If we take out their leader. All our friends that turned on us before will turn on them since they only left 'cause they were scared. Once that happens and they're so distracted, we will destroy that empire!"

Rodan let out a breath and said, "I hope that you're right." He turned to Zakee like a remembered something important. "But now I have something for you."

Rodan walked over to a bookshelf and scanned the spines of the books. Many of their them were worn out leather or cloth.

After mumbling for a few seconds, he pulled out a book and dusted off the cover. "I do believe I made you a promise." He handed Zakke a book that didn't have a picture or title on the cover page.

Ziggy opened the book to the first page and read, "The Dragon Claw Technique focuses on holding one's fingers in a claw-like fashion, crushing the adversaries with a powerful grip." Zakee looked up in shock. "No way, you're gonna teach me?!"

Rodan's face went from smiling to very serious. "This is a difficult and powerful technique. Once you understand the basics, you can develop the basics into powerful attacks."

Zakee nodded.

"Meet me at the very top of the mountain after you change into some clothes that you won't need in the future. Get ready." Rodan turned back to the window with his wrist clenched behind his back.

Zakee turned and left the room. As he walked, he kept reading the book, "The user can imbue his 'claws' with Color of Arms Haki, increasing the potent deadliness, being able to crush even a giant's steel helmet and causing incredible damage to said giant's head."

Zakee shook his head and said, "Damn. I don't even know what Haki is though."

He took a right down a hall and came to a stairwell. He went down six flights and opened the door.

It was the hanger.

He went into the Ebon Hawk and grabbed his training clothes. He grabbed his white training shorts, kunai pouch, and dark blue short-sleeve hoodie and put them on. He grabbed the book again and went outside. He looked up the side of the mountain and began jumping to the top.

Rodan was on the top of the mountain looking into the sky. The sound of rocks falling came from behind him. "Took you a little longer than I expected, especially if you think that you're ready to learn this technique."

Zakee stood up tall. The white shorts, wrist wrap, and blue hoodie made his face seem more serious than normal. "I'm ready," Ziggy said with conviction.

Jackson, Clayton, Sarah, and Jake were sitting in the main hold of the Ebon Hawk. "Where the hell is he," said Jackson as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back.

"We've been waiting for an extra two hours. We should be gone by now."

Just as he finished saying that, the sound of feet walking up the ramp reached them. Zakee walked around the corner looking completely different from the beginning of his training. Half of his shirt was practically gone; his shorts had burns and holes in them, and soot and dirt covered him from head to toe.

"What the fuck happened to you," asked Clayton.

"Just some last-minute training," he said as his body sluggishly walked to his room.

"Jake, go ahead and fly us to Kroth."

The four of them looked at each other and Sarah broke the silence saying, "Well get to it, Jake. I'm gonna go rest too." She stood up and walked to her room as Jake walked to the cockpit.

"Well," said Clayton turning to his Saiyan friend. "Wanna do some training with me?"

Jackson shrugged and followed Clayton to the training room.

Three days had past and they had finally arrived. Zakee, Clayton, and Jackson were in the cockpit. Looking through their window, they saw a planet was red and had swirling patterns on the surface that looked like storms.

"Do y'all feel that?" asked Jackson.

Ziggy and Clayton looked confused and said, "No?"

Jackson rubbed his head and said, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Quick with a smile, Zakee said, "We have a solid team. There is nothing to be worried about."

The Ebon Hawk zoomed down to the surface of Kroth. Volcanos lined the horizon as streams and lakes of lava filled the rocky land. A large volcano appeared in the distance. It seemed like it was as tall as Mount Everest.

The hair in Jackson's arms stood up. "I feel a really strong power coming from there." He pointed to the volcano and said, "Looks like that's where we're going."

The ship landed next to the base of the volcano. "R2, stay here with the ship and get out of reach from enemy scanners just in case this thing blows up." R2 beeped to let Ziggy know that it understands it's orders.

"Okay then, let's go."

The five of them walked down the ramp and stood at the bottom of the volcano.

At the top of the volcano, two figures stood on the edge looking down into the lava. "It's almost time, and it seems like we have some visitors," said one with his arms stretched over the lava.

"They won't be any trouble for us though," the other figure said.

The first figure began mumbling words as his hands began to glow.

Ziggy's crew was running up the side of the volcano when it began to shake.

"No way," said Sarah as her Blaziken. "It's not erupting on us already, is it?"

Clayton squatted down and placed his palm on the volcano. He looked up at Sarah and said, "No. It feels like some sort of attack." A loud whistle suddenly came from no where.

"What is that?" asked Jake. Ziggy looked to the left and right but didn't see anything. "It's coming from above!" yelled Jake

A flaming boulder was falling right towards them. The five scattered and evaded the falling rock and the explosion that occurred shortly afterword.

'It must be coming from the top,' thought Ziggy.

"Let's hurry up and get up there!" yelled Ziggy to the others. They all began sprinting to the top. Jackson was flying; Ziggy, Clayton, and Jake were running, and Sarah was parkouring as her Blaziken.

A few minutes later, Ziggy jumped over the last ledge that kept him from the top and landed on the top of the volcano. One by one the rest of the crew reached the top. Close to the edge where you would fall into lava stood two people. One had on a yellow jacket and the other had on black pants, black dress shoes, and a white button down with his sleeves rolled up. The one in the yellow jacket turned to face Zakee and his crew.

"Colby, is that you," asked Sarah as she walked to the front.

"Hey guys," Colby said in a cheerful voice. "What's up? Wasn't really expecting y'all right now."

The crew looked at each other all thinking that seeing Colby here was suspicious. "What're you doing here?" asked Zakee.

Colby's demeanor changed. His grin went crooked. He had a soft, maniacal laugh. "Well isn't it obvious," he said as he stroked his chin with his hand. "We need to catch this Pokémon here to obtain its power!"

He threw up his arms, and the ground began to shake again, but this time, a giant claw grabbed the ledge of the volcano. A large Pokémon that had red armor and black skin beneath appeared. This giant reptile looked like an ancient, mythical dinosaur.

The other man that was with Colby raised his arms and said, "Finally! I am the one that woke you, Groudon! Be mine and we will rule the galaxy!" After a quick glance that Groudon gave the mysterious man, it let out a roar that shook the ground.

Zakee felt the ground slowly become hotter and hotter.

"Watch out everyone; something's coming from the ground." The ground began to glow orange as geysers of lava erupted all around the volcano. Jackson flew into the air and dodged one column of lava. Clayton and Zakee used Jutsu to get them out of the way while Sarah teleported her and Jake to another spot with her Kadabra.

"We need to be serious with our attacks. They're strong," said Colby to his partner as he grabbed a kunai from his back pouch.

His partner grinned as he pulled out three poke balls.

Colby performed five hand signs and said, "Shadow Style: Feather Spew!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest in an "x" form. He focused chakra to the underside of his arms and then forcefully opened them, sending a barrage of shadowy, razor-sharp feathers at Zakee's group.

Ziggy dove and dodged along with his teammates.

Jackson took this opportunity to fly right towards Colby, ready to engage in a fist fight. He came in with a swift heel kick to Colby's head, but Colby easily blocked it with his arms and a smile.

"Is that all you've got?" he mocked cooly.

Jackson began his combo, but once again, each punch, jab, and kick was blocked. Right when Jackson got too ambitious. He threw a punch that was grabbed by Colby who then countered by throwing Jackson into the side of a rock.

"Go, Blaziken, Jolteon, and Froakie," yelled Sarah from the side.

"A Pokémon trainer. This will be interesting," said the unknown man.

Ziggy glanced at Sarah who was in attack position. Clayton was right next to her.

"Okay then, Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Clayton formed three hand signs then released a storm of fire from his mouth that enveloped Colby and his partner. Suddenly the fire dispersed because of a sudden shock wave. Standing next to Dan and Colby, who only had a few burn marks on their clothes, were an Machamp, Charizard, and a Feraligator.

Sarah took a step back and said, "No way. Three all-time greats."

"That's right!" yelled out Colby's partner. "You're finished."

Feraligator and Charizard opened their mouth and released a Hyper Beam and Flamethrower that fused together. Ziggy took a step forward while he told the others, "Y'all might want to get back a little bit."

He cracked his neck then said, "Dragon Claw Technique: Iron Claw of the Dragon!"

His fist burst into flames as an ominous aura came from them. He met the fused attack on with a punch that housed all his power. The punch was strong enough that it redirected the Hyper Beam up into the sky.

A feint attack!

Machamp was right next to Ziggy by the time he punched the blast. It raised it's fists and then slammed them down on Ziggy.

As if Ziggy knew exactly what Machamp was going to do, he planted his foot, pivoted, then caught Machamp's hands using the Dragon Claw technique. Realizing that his hand was grabbed, Machamp quickly got away and retreated.

The Charizard walked forward and released an unexpected Blast Burn and smokescreen that sent fire and smoke everywhere.

"Hey! Let go of me," yelled Ziggy from somewhere in the smoke.

Jackson looked around to see if he could see Ziggy. "Zakee! Can you hear me?!"

The sound of his other teammates screaming out Ziggy's name filled his ears, but Ziggy's cries for help were not heard.

Suddenly, a blue dragon flew straight up from the smoke then b-lined towards a mountain range in the distance.

"What the fuck just happened," said Jackson. "We needed him for this battle." Clayton turned to Jackson and said, "Don't worry. Even though he's gone, I've got a plan."

Colby glared at his partner. "Dan, the hell did you do that for?"

Dan looked completely lost. "I have no clue why my Garchomp did that. I didn't even send him into battle. He broke out of his own ball. He must've been under a genjutsu or something." Dan looked back at the other three. "Anyways, who's next?"

The three were standing in a triangle. Jackson was in the front and Sarah and Clayton were in the back.

Jackson began to fire off small yellow balls of chi at both Dan and Colby. Dan dodged towards the opening of the volcano, and Colby dodged to the edge of the volcano. Jackson and Jake kept fired after Colby.

Clayton had made three shadow clones, and they were throwing kunai at Dan. Blaziken was using Flamethrower and Jolteon was charging his electricity for an attack. Froakie was next to Jolteon throwing water shurikens at Dan.

Dan landed and coated his forearms and hand with a dark coating that looked like black steel. He jumped and punched at Clayton who quickly created a mud wall Jutsu to put a barrier between the two, but the armament on Dan's arms were strong enough to bust through the wall.

Dan swung his legs towards Clayton's head while still in the air, but was too slow because Clayton ducked and jumped back to gain ground.

Colby started forming hand signs and said, "Chidori." Small bolts and crackles of lightning coated his hand. it sounded like a thousand birds singing different songs.

"Why're you doing all this, Colby?!" yelled Jackson.

Colby and his chidori were racing towards Jackson. In an instant Colby disappeared then reappeared behind Jackson and thrusted his chidori at Jackson's heart.

However, Jackson could sense the attack, so right when Colby attacked Jackson's chest, he side stepped and blasted Colby at point-blank range with a chi blast.

The explosion faded, and Colby was left on the ground slow to get up.

*POOF*

'A shadow clone,' thought Jackson as he saw a small white cloud take Colby's place. He immediately felt Colby's presence right above him, but before he could react, Colby's heel slammed down onto Jackson's head.

The force of the kick was so powerful that Jackson hit the ground and immediately bounced about two feet off the ground. While suspended in mid-air, Colby round-house kicked him into a nearby boulder.

Clayton snapped at Jackson and said, "Jackson, stop fooling around. We've got to beat them or escape!"

Slowly, Jackson stood up from the ruble of the boulder and cracked his neck. "Alright. Let's do this." Jackson spread his legs apart and flexed his arms by his side. Veins emerged from his biceps and neck as a white energy began to grow larger around him. Rocks began to float next to him from the mere pressure of his increasing power.

With Jackson distracting their opponents, Clayton quickly did six hand signs, slammed his hand onto the ground and yelled, "Forbidden Technique: Earth Oven!"

Four walls made of dirt and rock erected around Dan and Colby while Clayton was riding one of the walls, and Jackson was flying above. Clayton quickly turned his head to Jackson then said, "Get ready. They might try to escape by flying or running up the walls."

The walls were at least ninety feet tall. Dan looked at Colby and said, "The floor is slowly heating up."

Colby looked up at Clayton and said, "He's trying to force us up to jump, then they'll attack us while in the air, or box us in down here with lava comes from the ground. He has us trapped. Smart kid."

Colby wove sign after sign then said, "Wind Style: Wind Dragon!" Air currents gathered above Colby and slowly formed the head and neck of a dragon.

Still with his hand on the ground Clayton smiled then jumped high into the air and yelled, "Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!" A large stream of fire spewed from his mouth and rushed towards the wind dragon that Colby had just created. Since wind release powers up fire release, the fire expanded into a giant wave that stretched the entire width of the box. It engulfed everything that was in the earth box and scorched it right there.

Suddenly, Clayton and Jackson heard a soft chirp from up above. They look so and saw Dan and Colby hovering above them on a multicolored bird. Clayton said, "How did y'all get up there?"

Dan smiled and said, "My Braviary knows Extreme Speed. It took me and Colby in a blink of an eye through an opening that it saw."

Because it had been awakened and not yet put to rest by either a Pokémon out powering it or the sky god Pokémon putting it to rest, Groudon was angry to say the least. The lava Pokémon let out a loud roar to show that it was pissed off.

Quickly realizing what had to be done, Dan controlled his Braviary to few right above bird Pokémon flew above the pit and saw Sarah on the back of her Blaziken throwing Pokeballs down at Groudon in the middle of the volcano.

"How and when the hell did she get down there!" yelled Colby. "That Pokémon belongs to us!"

Jackson grinned at his opponents. Clayton had transformed her into a shuriken, and one of his shadow clones into her when he summoned his other clones. During the short battle, Clayton threw the shuriken, really Sarah, at the mouth of the volcano.

Clayton looked over at the pit and yelled, "How's it going down there!"

A firm voice yelled back and said, "Just give me a little more time. It keeps swiping my balls away!"

Clayton and Jackson looked back at Colby and Dre and powered up for their second wave of attacks.

Everything he saw was blurry as a bright light shone in the upper right corner of his vision. His surroundings looked gray and brown. A few things started to become visible, and he began seeing colors. Most were dark colors like brown, gray, black, and blue.

Ziggy felt a soft mat underneath him as he rolled over. There was a small wooden table with four chairs in a corner, and next to him was another cot about the same size. The sheets were all messed up so someone had to be sleeping there.

The air there was thick and musky; it made breathing much more difficult. He heard a voice coming from the open door on the other side of the room.

"I hope he wakes up today, Mommy."

The voice sounded young and innocent.

"Well, I guess we'll have to see then." This voice was strong but it still had a soft feminine side to it.

Ziggy didn't feel a threat from them. A shadow of something foreign entered the room but what came after was more shocking.

It looked like a big lizard but it had leaves up and down his spine, and the end of its tail was a leaf too. Around its neck were two gold leaves that looked like a collar. Behind it was a yellow-bellied, orange lizard. Its orange tail had a small flame on the tip. Now the appearances startled Zakee.

He was sitting on his bed when they walked in, and when he saw them, Ziggy summoned a kunai from a seal on his forearm. The green lizard stepped in front of the orange one to protect him and spoke first saying, "We aren't enemies! We're here to help!"

Slowly, Ziggy lowered his kunai and asked, "Who are y'all?"

The green lizard set down the clothes in her leafy hands and said, "I'm Sliz, a Servine, and this is my son, Blaze. He's a Charmander. Here are some clothes for you." She pointed to the clothes on the ground.

"Where am I," asked Ziggy?

Sliz looked around the room and said, "You're in Mount Clement. The home of the great Dragon King."

Ziggy's eyes widened at the words dragon sage.'

He shook his head and said, "Dragon King?! That's right that Charizard grabbed me and took me here I guess. But why did he grab me?"

Sliz smiled and said, "Well 'I' don't know, but maybe he might. Get changed so we can go speak to him." She pointed to the clothes. "Change into those, then we'll go."

Ziggy put on the silk robes that were on the ground over the clothes he was already wearing. It was like a kimono.

"Come this way, please," said Sliz when Ziggy finished putting on the kamino.

Ziggy followed the two through the seemingly endless tunnels. They looked like a group just drilled through the rock to make the tunnels. The group finally came upon a large stone double door with two torches on each side.

Sliz looked at Ziggy and said "Go ahead. Open the doors."

Ziggy looked at Sliz then walked to the door. He placed his palms on the stone and dug his feet into the ground. He tried pushing the doors open but they didn't budge. He built up all his chakra and used his max strength. Ziggy could feel the doors slightly budge, but he knew that it wasn't enough to open them.

Sliz sighed and said, "Move aside."

Ziggy let go of the door and moved to the back of the group. Blaze waddled up to the doors and placed his small hands on the stone. As if he did it effortlessly, the doors gracefully opened and revealed a very large room with columns and a row of Dragons at the back side.

Sliz, Blaze, and Ziggy walked up to the dragons and knelt as a sign of respect.

Six dragons sat on thrones in a line with a young man in the middle sitting higher than the others.

"Dragon sages," said Sliz. "This human was brought here by Charizard. He said that the human used the Dragon Claw Technique."

The other dragons gasped and looked at each other, then to the man in the middle.

The man stood up and walked towards Ziggy. This man had red hair, a white scarf, and a blue tunic. He looked like he was about twenty. "I am Natsu Dragneel. What's your name," he said in a deep voice as some fire spewed out the sides.

"Zakee," he responded with his head lowered.

"Do you possess any power," asked the red hair man.

"Yes. I'm a ninja," Ziggy replied.

"Ahhhh. A ninja. Who taught you the Dragon Claw Technique?"

"My teacher, Sensei Rodan, taught me it a few days ago. "

"Only a few days ago," said Natsu as he paced in front of Ziggy. "You must have some potential if you learned it within a few days." He stopped pacing and turned to Zakee. "Show me your power."

Liz stood in disbelief as she watched Zakee stand up and ready himself. The other dragon sages leaned forward and watched intently.

Ziggy took off the silk robes and drew a kunai from his pouch. He took a deep breath then ran towards Natsu. He cocked his arm back and threw a punch, but in the middle of the punch, Ziggy disappeared.

Natsu smiled and lifted his right hand beside his face.

Ziggy suddenly appeared mid-kick where Natsu's hand already was. Ziggy tried kicking and punching again, but with every attack, Natsu countered and block them efficiently.

After taking a few hits, Ziggy leaped backwards and performed a combination of hand signs. He finished and put both hands out by his side. Suddenly, numerous ice spikes formed around Natsu, trapping him in place.

Ziggy took another kunai out and threw it at Natsu.

"Rasengan," he yelled as a blue ball of chakra formed in his right hand. With his left hand, he held up his index and middle finger and disappeared again.

Natsu looked around but didn't see him. Suddenly, there he was. Right in front of him with the blue ball at his chest. Natsu could feel the dense power from the attack, but didn't think anything of it.

With a flex of his chakra points, a flash of green chakra and aura burst out of Natsu sending Ziggy back a few yards.

Zakee looked up at his opponent, who looked completely different. Natsu was engulfed with green chakra that gave him a horn on his forehead and wings. The skin around his eyes and nose turned black and black lines that resembled veins spread out from the black skin and across his face. His hair was standing up and now had a green hue. The sheer pressure of Natsu's chakra made Ziggy's knees tremble.

"You were hiding this power the whole time?" asked Ziggy.

"Of course, I'm not going to go all out from the beginning. You're like an insect to me know. I did say to power up and not attack too," said Natsu as he cracked his neck.

The other dragons sat on their thrones waiting to see what Natsu would do next. Sliz and Blaze were on their hands and knees because of Natsu's pressure.

"Do you understand now?" asked Natsu. "This is the ultimate power of the dragons, and only a few of us have mastered it."

It took most of Ziggy's strength just to wipe the sweat dripping down his forehead. When he took his hand away from his face, Natsu was nowhere in sight. Instinctively, he turned around, and Natsu was twenty yards away forming hand signs.

"Sage Art: Dragon Rush!"

The green chakra focused around Natsu's right arm and turned a darker green. He bolted towards Ziggy in a flash. He appeared in front of Ziggy and clothes-lined him in the neck. A bright light flashed upon contact, and dust flew into the air creating a cloud of dirt, dust, and rubble.

The dust and smoke settled, and Natsu was standing over Ziggy who was unconscious on the ground.

"You didn't have to kill him, you know," said a large three-headed, white dragon.

The green cloak of chakra disappeared from Natsu as he turned and walked towards his throne. He looked pissed off for some reason.

"He isn't dead," he said as he sat down on his throne. "Sliz, take him to the infirmary."

Blaze ran to Ziggy and threw him over his shoulder. Sliz led the two out of the room and the large stone doors shut behind them with a loud thud.

"What's got you in such a bad mood, Natsu?" asked a large black dragon. It's red eyes glared at their young leader.

After a few moments of silence, Natsu spoke out saying, "He quickly moved his hands to his neck then used the Dragon Claw Technique to absorb some of the blow. He would've died, but his quick thinking saved him."

The black dragon began laughing hysterically which made Natsu only more furious. "This boy, he's an interesting one," he said as he finished laughing.

Ziggy sat up in his bed and looked around. He was in a small room that had stone walls and a single window. A Servine walked around the corner and called out, "Hey, Blaze! He's awake!"

A Charmander quickly walked around the corner with a plate of food in his hands.

"We found out how humans like their meat, so I think they call this a steak," she said as Blaze put the plate on his lap. The steak was at least two inches thick and was cooked medium rare.

"It's great. Thank you both," he said taking in another bite of food.

"Good! You're gonna need all the strength you can get for your training," she said.

Ziggy took a bite and asked, "My what?"

"Master Natsu decided that you'll be able to train here for a while," said Blaze eagerly.

A roar sounded from far away.

Blaze looked at Ziggy and said, "Well, we have to go. See ya later!" The two turned the corner and left Ziggy's room. He looked down at his steak. It was nice and charred on the outside, but red on the inside. He felt as if this was somehow a warning directed towards him.

Ziggy finished his delicious steak and set his tray on a nearby counter top. He looked out the window as three large dragons flew overhead.

"Wow," he said to himself. "This is by far the coolest thing I've ever seen." He rolled back over and went to sleep.

Gray clouds filled the sky above his old high school. Girls in his grade had on tiaras to show that they were now the queens of the high school. The summer going into senior year sucked so far. It felt empty, just like the parking spot next to his car that remained vacant in honor of his best friend.

After the last day of junior year, Ryder's house blew up because of a gas leak, or that's what the TV said. However, Ziggy knew that something was wrong. First, he knew that Ryder's dad didn't have anything gas inside of the house; he was a very paranoid man along with being a drunk. Second, why was there a FBI squad at their house. No one in his family was involved in the government. Lastly, when he went to Ryder's house after the explosion, a neighbor frantically told him that he saw a spaceship suddenly appear in front of Ryder's house. Once he said that, a man in a black suit and sunglasses grabbed a hold of him and walked him away from Zakee saying that the man was old and senile.

These three reasons led Ziggy to joining the military after his senior year. He devoted his final year of high school to trying to figure out anything that happened on the day of the explosion, and to consider the different branches of the military as means to gain information. Since he was athletically gifted, Ziggy didn't worry about any of the boot camps that he had to attend, so he decided on joining the Marines.

About two months into being a marine, he overheard a group of fellow privates talk about a secret service team that comprised of marines, seals, and anyone else that could handle an intensely physical regimen. This group would be one of the highest ranking in the entire military. At that moment, Ziggy wanted in.

He walked up to one of the generals, saluted, and said, "Sir! May I have a word with you in private, Sir!"

The general looked at the others around him and shooed them away. "At ease, private. What's so important that you wish to interrupt my dinner time." The general cut pieces of his steak and began to eat them.

Remaining tall and upright, Ziggy said, "I overheard a conversation that mentioned forming a new, secret service. I'd like to try out for it."

The general put down his fork and looked up and down Zakee. "I've heard these talks too," he said. "However, no one has come here looking for any recruits. You're a great soldier, Ziggy, and I'd hate to lose you. However, I'll make sure that you're the first one to know whenever I'm told." The general picked up his fork and took a bite into his steak. "Now, get out of here and leave me be."

The general's tent turned to smoke and faded away.

Suddenly, Zakee found himself lined up with about one hundred other soldiers. Many of them were wearing different colors and types of camouflage that resembled their branch of the military. The commanding officer was reading names off a list: "Clayton, Dirath, Drexler, Jereen." After each name was called, that person would walk down the end of the line and into a bus that was just waiting to be filled.

"Alex, Liz, Tucker, and lastly, Zakee," finished the officer. Ziggy walked down the line and onto a bus. He sat behind a guy that looked the same age and asked him, "So, they're only going to get eight of us?"

Right after he said that, the officer stormed onboard the bus and yelled out to them, "Okay little girls. I hope you're ready to greet hell with open arms! You are currently being shipped to a training facility located on Area 51. There you will train and hone your skills in our newly developed special forces program. Get some sleep because you have a large day ahead of you all." The officer turned to the front of the bus, put the microphone down, and sat down in his seat getting ready to fall asleep.

The guy in front of Ziggy turned around and said, "I don't think the program is developed enough to allow any more soldiers into it."

He reached his hand out towards Ziggy and said, "I'm Clayton."

Ziggy smiled and shook his hand introducing himself too.

Go check out my poll at my profile. I tried putting the link in this, but it wouldn't work. It will help me determine my focus for the final arc and beyond... Hope you liked the chapter!

~Aldon