Prologue

Hey, my name is Axel Frank. Yeah, I know. I might seem like your average guy with the average life, but I got my own little secret. I go by another name, one you know me as my alternate identity: El Dragon. Yes, the El Dragon. Hero of Ronan and leader of the Element Gang. The members of my team are just like me, just regular people who live double lives. Let me introduce you to my team. There's Basar Blood, who you know as Apolloid, the loyal earth elemental brawn of the team; Meri Mock a.k.a. ShockBlaster, the electrified wild one; Trustin Kelsch also known as FrostFang, the agile ice elemental; my cousin Tricha Gray, better known as Torna the generous air elemental; and finally we have Jay Richey, the quick and sometimes annoying water elemental Posidacus. If you think this is shocking, it gets even crazier. To tell the truth, even I'm not sure how to describe it. We all met each other a few years ago, back when I use to fly solo. For how met the others, it was during my first year of middle school. I already knew Tricha as she was my cousin but met the rest in different situations. They ended up caught up in what I was doing by accident. During my lone wolf years, I spent my life chasing after storms. But these aren't your average storms, they're manifestations of rifts that open up into different parts of the multiverse. Yeah, you heard me, the multiverse. Turns out there was more than one world. And there were two reasons I was coming back through those storms. First reason was that I was looking for my parents. You see, during my 9th birthday, the entire group of the Dark Gang actually attacked me and my family. Within that attack, a tornado appeared out of nowhere and was dragging everything in.

In that moment, my parents sacrificed themselves to save me and my older sisters by taking themselves and the Dark Gang into the storm. None of them were ever found or seen from again. For most of my life, I've lived out as an orphan, me and my sisters living under the care of our grandparents, our father's parents. I don't know anything much about my mother's family. Though from that day, I also discovered something. Before that storm appeared, I got this sort of feeling, like something was calling to me. So I decided to figure it out what it was. After a while, I figure it out: somehow I could sense when a storm like the first one would actually appear. When I turned 10, I decided to use this ability to track the storms and head out into one to look for my parents. I did this in secret so my family wouldn't worry nor try to stop me. From this, I received a little gift from Dragonis Maximus, the watcher of all the Element Gangs that ever existed and most powerful elemental in the universe. The guy gave me a very special motorcycle that was built with an engine infused with a core of my own elemental power: the Fire Cycle. With going into the storm, I discovered that the very eye of it was where the portal to different parts of the multiverse would form. I was amazed by the very majesty of the new world I entered, but soon feared for the danger it possessed. The second reason I kept coming back was that I also found out that we weren't alone in this multiverse. Along with our own, there are two other worlds that belong to two different planetary groups who only live to destroy and conquer worlds: the Vandals, a race of mutant, anthropomorphic, tribal animals led by their warlord Captain Kalus, and the Sark, an army of deadly robots lead by their master Zemerik.

From when I first met them, our war against each other began. Me protecting Earth from the threats of both the Vandals and the Sark. In those battles, I discover that the worlds I came to weren't ordinary ones like Earth or the ones that belonged to the Vandals and Sark. They were planet-like dimensions that were intersections between Earth and the worlds of the Vandals and Sark called Battle Zones. The reason for the name is that there were constant conflicts between the Vandals and Sark. All of them fought over possession of the Battle Key, a slate-like object used to open portals to the Battle Zones. The reason they fought over them was that the Battle Zone portals only opened to the beings of the worlds that they led to. It's like those entryways in the subways. You can only get through if you have the right identification. In simpler terms, it meant that only I could open the portals to Earth because I'm from there while the Vandals and Sark can't. The only way to get to other worlds freely is to get the Battle Key. The Battle Key can open the portals connected to the Battle Zones, including Earth. After my first victory in a Battle Zone, I ended up with that calling again after using the Battle Key to get home and figured out how to close the portals with the Key. Though my family was angry at me for making them worry, they soon changed their minds after they saw me use the Battle Key and a Surk, a soldier of the Sark, came through. After taking care of it, they decided to let me keep doing this but they had to keep all the Battle Keys I got until I was old enough to be responsible for them. After that, for 2 years straight, I kept traveling into the Battle Zones, fighting the Vandals and Sark and getting the Battle Keys before they did.

Sounds like a lot of work for a kid, huh? It was tough, but I managed to get through it. Though things were a little tougher when I ended up getting some hitchhikers with me. After losing the chance to get them home, we all had a little talk to figure each other out. Found out that the five of them were the members of the Element Gang, the new generation I was supposed to lead. They also told me that they got their vehicles from Dragonis Maximus and they were equipped with weapons and designed with engines like my Fire Cycle. After getting all this, I allowed them to help me but only to find the Battle Key and not to fight. With our search, I managed to make a communication link with them all through my Fire Cycle and explained everything. Getting the Key was hard as it was on top of a pillar and I couldn't use my Fire Cycle to reach it. Luckily, we had Basar's Rockwheeler, which was equipped with wheels that could transform into claws that he used to climb the pillar like a gorilla up a tree. Though it wasn't long until we came across the Vandals. Even though I told them to stay back and let me handle them, the others disobeyed me and joined the fight. Together, we managed to keep the Vandals busy enough for Basar to get the Key. But when we tried to get back to Earth, Jay thought it would be cool if he could open the portal himself and ended up losing the Key to Kalus. I was so frustrated with Jay as he just gave the Vandals the last thing they needed to conquer Earth. Though they managed to calm me down and volunteered to help me beat them, I told them to go home and that I would handle it. I admired their courage and marksmanship in this battle, but I just couldn't let them join a battle where no one couldn't make it out alive.

After they managed to find my home and got me to talk, I explained why I was working alone and that I didn't want anyone to get hurt under my watch. When the time came, I took my Fire Cycle and told them to stay back while I handled it. With the portal's opening, I was ready to face the Vandals. But what I got wasn't an army, but six villains I hoped I would never had to meet again: Tristone, Darkdra, Darktillian, DarkCla, DarkBlade, and their leader Dargon, who you know as the Dark Gang. As it turned out, the Dark Gang had aligned themselves with the Vandals to take over Earth. I tried to stop them, but they were too powerful for me, even with the advantage of my Fire Cycle's tech. I thought I was done for, but then…I got an unexpected surprise. Even though I told them I didn't want their help and they wouldn't have survived it, Basar and the others came all that way to help me in protecting Earth. With that, the six of us worked together and sent the Dark Gang packing back to Vandal. With this, we found out who they really were thanks to the Fire Cycle's onboard AI with an identity matcher. They were all kids like us, ones that disappeared years ago. Tristone's real name was Colt Taylor, the son of a gangster; DarkBlade was actually Berontha Delaurenti, Mari's cousin; Darktillian really was Soloman Stagg, a local bully in the streets; DarkCla was the alter ego was Kura Finley, a master juvenile cat burglar; Darkdra turned out to be Silvian Cheff, my own cousin; And Dargon's true identity was Kaze Shutzman, someone who actually had a real grudge against the Frank family. They swore revenge against us and that was the beginning of our battles with them and the Vandals. From that day, I decided that the job was too tough for me to handle alone. I needed a team.

From there, I apologized for my behavior towards them and offered Basar and the others the job to work with me to protect the Earth. They accepted and they even promised they would help me find my parents. From that point on, we were worked together and fought as one. United, we would make our stand against all those who threatened this planet. We would defend the innocent. We would defend this entire multiverse. We would defend…our home. That's the story of how we became the Element Gang. Throughout the rest of our years, the six of us had to balance our daily lives with our hero business, especially in the Battle Zones. We also had to make sure to keep our hero work a secret from all those beyond our families and the circle of trust we had, especially the new friends we made along the way. We had some tough times and we had to reveal our secret twice when we accidentally brought people from the Battle Zones. The first time was in our high school years and it was with a transfer student, a British snob by the name of Stanford Isaac Rhodes IV. Pompous jerk that was so self-absorbed because he was royalty. But I later learned why he was like this. It turned out he was just that he didn't want to be treated like he was nothing. Back home, he was always teased by his older brother Simon and it was hard for him in his childhood. All he was trying to do was improve himself. That gave me something to relate with him. I was the only Fire Dragon left and had to live up the name like my father, who was able to fulfill his duty in protecting the world. In the end, Stanford actually managed to help us get the Battle Key. With that, we allowed him into our circle of trust and he promised to keep our secret.

Later, we found out that old Stanford was thinking of becoming a DJ. Mari helped him there. Still don't know how she can do it, but that girl really knows how to deejay. The second time was actually with a person that we all had trouble dealing with. Her name was Agura Ibaden, an African princess and one heck of huntress. She can track just about anything just by analyzing the trails that were left behind, even from a vehicle. The reason she was in our school was because her parents that it would be good for her to interact with others as she usually went off alone back home and that Ronan High School was the best place to start. I accidentally bumped into her while going through the halls. Even though she was princess, she didn't act like one. Her personality was more like one of a tomboy. In school, people called her "The Warrior Princess." She impacted me the most for…well, I sort got a crush on her. She was fast, strong, agile, and kind. As I heard said from other guys, what a woman. Though I was the one who had to deal with her when we got to the Battle Zone. It was a long shot, but I managed to get her to work with me. As it turned out, we made a good team, especially in combat. It was all thanks to her we were even able to get the Battle Key from the Sark. Sophomore year was pretty crazy. One day we managed to find a guy named Specter who said he was a prisoner of the Vandals. We took him in and soon found out he was really a spy for the Vandals. When he tried to take the Battle Keys, we got him to reveal his true purpose for all this was so he could overthrow Kalus and Kaze and take over both Earth and Planet Vandal. Luckily, we managed to trick him into taking a fake Battle Key container and, with some help from Dragonis Maximus, revealed his true purpose to Kaze.

It was only later that we found out that Specter went rogue with five members of the Dark Gang's Shadow Warriors who followed him. After a few months, they aligned themselves with the Sark. But, like always, we were still able to beat them. As we closed in towards our junior year, we ended up with a few new changes. What I mean by that is that me and the gang got all new power. The six of us went through a process called evolution, an event that occurs when one of us reached a new level of power. Before it, Trustin and Mari use to go by the hero names Icedra and ShockBlade. When Mari got to her first evolution, she then decided to go by the name ShockStaff, and she then became ShockBlaster as her final evolution. Trustin only changed his hero name to FrostFang when he got to his final evolution as his first didn't really look that different from his original form. Though we were all surprised when Basar and Tricha actually evolved at the same time, both first and final evolution. Jay's evolution had upgrades to his blaster, giving it more power and all new attacks. For his final evolution, he ended up getting water boomerangs for his blaster. With me, my first evolution was when Kaze and the Vandals kidnapped Agura and tricked me into a trap. My final evolution was when I went to keep on the fight when we got surrounded by both Vandals and Sark. With this one, I actually released a pulse wave so powerful that both the Vandals and Sark were sent on the retreat. Other changes were that there were all new relationships. Basar began dating my cousin, Mari somehow reeled Stanford, and I finally got Agura to be my girlfriend. It was a great time. But, when we got to our final days of high school, we all ended up having to deal with one last battle with the Vandals and Sark.

We won it and still had enough time to go to our senior prom. After graduation, this was the time where we had to say goodbye to Stanford and Agura as they had to go back home and promised we would see each other again. For this, I gave them their own communicators so they could keep in touch with us and I gave Agura a special necklace for her to remember me by. After me and the gang graduated from college, we decided to go on the road in search of those storms. With this, we wouldn't be just battling for our home, but searching for where my parents are. Once we're done with the Vandals and Sark, we can be able to search the Battle Zones we've secured and look for them wherever the storm took them. Mom, Dad, wherever you are, we're gonna find you and bring you home safe.