Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite

Yet again the professor looked over the assembled students. "Today, children, we have three very interesting pokemon." He motioned, and the curtains once again rose, displaying three metal cages.

The first was a simple metal cage. Unlike most of the cages, this one was not made of special reinforced metal. In fact, almost any pokemon could escape from it. The pokemon within it, however, would not. A small, calm dratini looked out at the assembled children with interest.

The second was slightly stronger a much larger, containing an even more placid dragonair. It looked out at the students in a strange way. Unlike most pokemon, it showed no desire to kill them, much like the dratini next to it.

The third was larger but not much, if at all, stronger. A large dragonite looked out, its temperament the same as the other two.

The assembled students did not show any fear, as they would upon seeing anything from a pidgey to an onix, since both could and would kill a person.

There was no reason to put the dragon pokemon in strong cages. They were completely tame. Rumors of their intelligence had been given more consideration when it was seen how they behaved after pokemon began to stop evolving, and they were often trained

"Dratini, dragonair and dragonite were once one of the rarest pokemon. Now, however, they are common. Dratini was not much different from any pre-evolution, and dragonair was a bit weaker then most full evolutions. Dragonite was strong, but it took a long time for it to get to the level necessary to evolve. Still, because of their slow reproduction, they were so rare that strength mattered little. They lived in hidden underwater caverns and such."

"Professor!" called out a student. "I've never understood why they hid. Mine isn't weak at all."

"The reason is simple. Most water pokemon, at high enough levels, can use ice attacks, which dragon pokemon are weak against. Dragonite, the strongest, gained the flying type upon evolution, which gave it a double weakness to ice. Was it not for their ability to use electric attacks, they probably would just have gone extinct.

"In fact, when people first realized that pokemon were losing the ability to evolve, scientists tried to figure out which pokemon would go extinct and which would flourish. They did not do very well, because there are so many things that must be taken into account. For example, they never even considered the fact that pokemon of the same evolutionary tree would fight each other, because before this didn't happen. And, of course, they forgot to factor in the gyarados' explosion of power, causing them to wipe out nearly everything else. They thought, for example, that the dratini and its evolutions would be one of the first to die off, because unlike most pokemon there were almost none. In a new, more dangerous environment, the already rare dragons were expected to die off."

"However, the gyarados, which can use electric moves themselves, swiftly wiped out most other water pokemon. The few remaining are mostly water/electric pokemon. Thus, the dragon pokemon had the chance to expand."

"But professor, gyarados can use ice moves too!" called out a student.

"True. But since dratini and dragonair could use thunder, which gyarados had a double weakness against, and the dragon pokemon only had a normal weakness to, they could fight back.

"Also, the gyarados kill each other off, as do most other pokemon evolution trees, for territory and food. A few of the flocking creatures, like birds, don't do this, but any competitive creature does. The dragons don't.

"Dratini may be weaker then the others, but it is not attacked by dragonair and dragonite. Dragonair has become as strong as dragonite, but they do not try to kill off the dragonite. All of them, strangely, work together.

"It is in fact one of the great mysteries of this time. Why do the dragon pokemon work together? We think it may be because of their great intellect-"

"Professor, I heard that dragonite was as smart as a person! Is that really true?" asked a boy in the front row.

The professor laughed. "No, of course not. Pokemon are and no doubt will remain no more then dumb creatures. But for a pokemon they are quite smart, as is shown by how well they work together."

"Also, because dragon pokemon are strong against electric moves and water moves, plus they can use electric attacks, they are often trained. Since the major threat now is that of electric pokemon and gyarados, they are very good pokemon bodyguards, which is the reason so many of you were given one."

The professor smiled, patting the dragonite's head condescendingly. "Dragon pokemon may not be as smart as us, but they are quite useful. They can be taught complicated strategies and such for battle, learn move combinations and many other things that would be impossible for normal pokemon. I hope all of you will remember that when training them."