The gemstones of life.

Chapter 1: The tree.

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efore I tell you the story, I want to inform you that a long time ago, a century before when Oak, Aqua, Snowy appeared on Earth there was a beautiful girl.  She cared for nature so much that one day, a magical tree engulfed her at her will.  Why?  I have no idea.  Her lover, a famous gemstone miner, tried to coax her out of the tree using the finest gemstones he could find: Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Gold topaz, and Amethyst.  The tree took them, but never gave back the girl.  The miner decided that one day he would chop down the tree himself.  The girl was saved, but the gemstones were never found.   Now to the real story.  A decade later after the elemental birds existed, 6 kids found the mysterious gems.  They were called Crystal, Andy, Becky, John, Jimmy, and Tommy.  The small group were orphans, and they bonded to each other well.  The gems were magical because the tree was created in one of my earlier novels by Oak, the life elemental bird.  The magic in the wood seeped into the gems after being cut down by the miner I told you about.  Each gem floated down to a orphan.  If any other kid tried to snatch a gem, it would give that kid a shock.  So, the diamond was held by Crystal, the ruby went to Andy, and so on.  You could infer Becky got the sapphire, John got the emerald, Jimmy got the topaz, and Tommy got the amethyst.  Since Oak the bird needed all the elements to make the tree, the diamond had the cold power like Snowy the bird, the ruby had the fire power like Kahoot the owl, the sapphire had the water power like Aqua the bird, the emerald had the power of life and earth like Oak the bird and Shracaw the monk parrot, the topaz had the power of lightning and light like Ziggy the squirrel and Keesgat the eaglet, and finally, the amethyst had the power of darkness like Hurscree the eagle. (In case you didn't know, Hurscree contributed to the first plant Oak made.)  The moment the orphans touched them, they became dragons.  Crystal was a very pale blonde haired 13 year old girl that always wore white since the day she was abandoned by her parents.  Andy, on the other hand, was a 9 year old red head, which didn't care much about his clothes and was very short tempered, and Becky was a 11 year old that had striking blue eyes and a scent that always smelled like the ocean.  John was a brown haired  10 yr old boy with green glasses and green eyes.  Like John, Jimmy had glasses, but he also had golden brown hair and a yellow shirt and was 12 years old.  Tommy had very dark hair and a pair of sunglasses.

Chapter 2: The dragons of Dynusses.

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ow, after they became dragons, they found out they each had a slot in their head.  The slot held the gems to give them power.  When they needed to travel on foot, the dragons took out the gems.  To become dragons again, they put it in their pocket.  Everywhere, luscious trees grew and wild animals roamed about.  At this time they had to question several catlike creatures what date it was.  Roughly, it was 300 B.C. in a multi-verse that had galaxies that took abstract forms.  Unfortunately, the birds, squirrel and the author of this book got teleported to this dimension.  Fortunately, they landed together in a cave.  Kahoot, Shracaw, Keesgat, Ziggy, and Hurscree needed an explanation from Oak, Aqua, and Snowy who I was.  Snowy said, "Before we were introduced to the wild, this boy kept us to help us have time to fledge and learn to take care of each other."

I set out with the birds into the inner chambers of the cave. They seemed like they have grown bigger, like the size I was.

Meanwhile, the dragons were a little too wary, trembling as they went around the forest. When the majestic reptiles came to the entrance of the cave we were in, Crystal insisted on  going on in the cave. "Come on, people, we can't be whiny babies when we were orphans, now we have powers. We don't need our parents anymore," she declared. The rest of the group kept silent and went with the flow.

Right now, we quietly listened to the drip-drip of the flowstone coming from the stalactites. Keesgat picked up a few cave pearls and granting them the power of illumination. Hurscree was very content about the darkness of the room. Suddenly, hundreds of gaunt and glowing, shriveled mushroom people jumped out and trapped us in a cage of steel-hard spears. Since I had nothing to do, I took out my notepad and started to draft that the mushroom people were weakened and were vulnerable to the character's I made up attacks.

When the trap sprung, the dragons heard it too. They rushed over and saw the commotion. Their dragon hearts made them bring everything they see to justice. They jumped up and brought forth their powers and knocked out all of them. I and the animals were dazed to see the dragons brought forth this power that the birds themselves have never conducted this much energy.

Chapter 3: the prophecy.

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Hello, very nice to meet you, and what are your names?" they asked.  "Our names are Ziggy, Kahoot, Snowy, Keesgat, Shracaw, Aqua, Oak, Hurscree, and Richard." I said. "It seems like you know a lot about our powers." Tommy said. Kahoot chuckled. "We also practice them." "Maybe you guys can teach us to improve our skills." they said. "Right on!" Ziggy giddily shouted.

"You must concentrate on your element, If you think about something else, the thought will interfere with your power, and it will come out as a wisp of smoke." Snowy said. The others nodded in a agreement. Suddenly, the camp was attacked by a pack of insect-like looking bugs with clubs in their claws. "Use what we taught you!" Hurscree called after them. They did really well as I inspected, but John was seriously damaged and even his own magic could not help him. Oak suggested the plants over by the tree that John was lying and I accidentally dropped my notepad on it. When I picked it up, a note was scrawled over that said, " healing plant for normal and physical wounds. Called: Konara." I said to Oak to pick them up and wrap a few leaves around  John's wounds. In that moment, I realized that my notepad can scan everything.

A few minutes later, a green, eerie smoke rose out of my notepad. A ghastly voice said, "fifteen figures to rule them all, one would go and leave them all. All will master their true power, all others will die and cower." Becky wondered, "From my mother, I remember leaving in prophecies means betrayal or death."  "Maybe it means someone will die in this team, because there is a very unlikely chance that there is going to be a traitor." Andy suggested.

Chapter 4: Survival

"You know, we used to live in a tree, and these ones might be the right homes for us!" Oak exclaimed. "You're right, but it might need some improvements," Jimmy said. I lifted my notepad over it. The pad said, "bamboo like trees that are hollow. If cut, germs will not harm to cause rotting, and non-flammable. Called: Hollow wood Lyde." Well, let's start making ourselves comfortable!" Becky yelled. Shracaw first flew up to the canopy and made a stone ladder up there, and John started going around the forest, chopping down wood for the floorboards in our tree house. Tommy started to smooth out the walls, while I started collecting food. Since I didn't know where to start, but the fruit of the hollow wood lyde looked edible, except I knew so little of the world around me, and I can't take any risks, so I took out my pad, and yes, I have to do that, and scanned it. The pad said it was edible only if it was exposed to intense heat. I put some more into my backpack, but we also really needed some protein. The meadow of konara over to the west had some snake like creatures out there, but as I zoomed in with my scope on my rifle Shracaw made, those organisms had sharp teeth! I was going to need more than my rifle to defeat the foul beast! Maybe Snowy can help with getting the food.  When Snowy came to my help, I asked him to carry me to a lower altitude so I can snipe their faces off, then he can spear them. The plan worked. I ripped a snake's skin off and Snowy swooped in to finish it off. We carried the fresh kill into the house, being happy campers. Jimmy was just finishing the lighting when we burst in, and we told everyone to gather around the fireplace and take a stick and spear the fresh fruit and meat into kabobs and roast them while Kahoot did a special chef's performance, engulfing our food in flames, but when we took them out, it was well and good. That night, Shracaw, our blacksmith, forged a suit of armor for me, the weakest, from the scales we found from the snake this afternoon.

The next morning, it looked like we weren't alone at all, there were some very fierce birds(not my friends) outside the house. They were fierce because whenever I approached them, they shot poison darts at me, but I was protected by the thick scales. I took out my rifle and remembered my hunting lessons on hitting flying targets back on earth. Sure it worked, and I got a lucky shot straight in the heart. After it fell, I called on Crystal to swoop down and carry it back, because I can't risk another of those konara snakes. Actually, the bird was called a cokad.  The feathers were actually useful, another of those cat-like creatures said. It will actually cure poisoning, so it was good to have in our bags. The meat was actually similar tasting to the roast duck on earth, and it also can keep you awake if you need a long night guard shift in camp.

"Oh, my Gruffen! Richard! Those snakes we killed were just babies! Their mother is coming for us!" Snowy screamed. "Hurscree! Get your sword! Those scales are too tough to break by our powers!" Keesgat shouted. Hurscree suddenly disappeared and after that a earsplitting hiss broke the sound barrier as blood gushed out of the wound on the weak links in the scales. The snake fell down, defeated. When we climbed down and rushed to the site, there were only a huge pile of dust. A wise but old flower man walked over and said that this powder is very fine and used to enhance the accuracy and damage of a weapon. Shracaw was very fascinated by this. When we got back to the house, Shracaw was not there. After five minutes passed, he came and dumped two sacks of the dust down on his work-bench. Then he asked us all to bring their weapons and a minute later, a sword and a rifle was neatly polished and made lighter so that we can both be faster with our reflexes and that I found out my gun was silenced.

Andy was really frustrated about his training. Kahoot was teaching him the phoenix missile move, but every time his missiles went awry and hit some poor bird. Snowy tried to calm him down. "Relax, Kahoot is a very good teacher. You have to stop thinking about other things, but I know you are concentrating, and that is well." His advice seemed to cool him down, but from my hunting lessons, his missiles still were not hitting the bull's eye mark. When he sent another one, I shot a bullet from my rifle and it startled the phoenix enough to send it hitting the center dot on the target. When he changed into his human form, Andy thanked me and revealed that he secretly had a crush on Crystal, but I came back with a firm reply: "You have to stop thinking about her in training and battles." "Ooooooooh! I heard that!" I turned around and there was Crystal, always loving the gossip. I looked back and Jimmy was blowing the alarm horn.

Chapter 5: The teleportation of earth.

"HOLY crap! Who is this?" John asked. "Could be someone I used to remember, or was it from junior high?" I commented. We were around a medical bed, looking at a bruised but knocked out person. "Is it someone you know?" Crystal asked. "Yup, it's my ex." I said. "You have an ex?" Andy asked. Snowy was holding an ice cube. "Ice, water, bucket, and face." He said. I groaned. "All right, do it the old-fashioned way." She woke up in an instant after we poured it on her face. Hurscree covered the room in a blanket of darkness. A while later, I explained everything to her and that teleportation thing we called dimensional reality.

"Look, I want to believe you, but I need proof." Viki said. I showed her my family. She needed more proof. I took her onto the balcony and she saw the luscious trees. She started to believe that this world existed.  Right now, a battle was just going on between the flower and mushroom people. Jimmy blew the alarm and I rushed to help. "Where are you going?" she asked. "To fight danger, and you can come along too." "That's okay to me." I let her borrow my armor, but there was a very weak mushroom man which was drunk so we decided to attack him. Seems that he was carrying two precious totems, time and space. When we picked them up, we suddenly morphed into birds. She evolved into a red tailed hawk, while I turned into a cooper's hawk. More and more mushrooms were closing in, but luckily I realized that I can morph matter, so I took a cloud and we escaped. When we were in the atmosphere, I saw a shrine that was causing all the trouble. "There!" I shouted. Viki quickly sped up time so we would get there faster, and there was a man who was just in the way of the tractor beam. I thought there must have to be a way to give a offering, because that was why it was called a shrine. I offered the shrine the man, and sure it worked. The beam instantly stopped. But the ground shook and rumbled. A giant fist reached out of the earth. "People! attack!" By this time, the feet stepped out and the giant was enormous. The dragons also cannot defeat the giant and caused a scratch. I asked the powerful elements light and darkness to join us and we accidentally created a gate to a black hole, but in the process, Hurscree was too dark for the black hole to resist, so she got sucked in along with the giant. But, as always, she turned into a ghost and still lingered in this world, and she was still with us. Since she was a ghost, I needed to make ectoplasm out of dark matter from the black hole. The plasma from the matter also served as a infinite source of energy. Then everything returned to normal.

That's all, folks! (NOT) :-)