The black town car pulled through the massive iron gates of the Blackwood estate.
The afternoon sun was casting long shadows over the manicured lawns.
Donovan stepped out of the car, carrying his heavy leather backpack.
The house was quieter than it had been that morning.
He walked through the grand foyer, his footsteps echoing softly on the marble floor.
He could hear his mother's voice coming from the western wing.
Victoria was on the phone, sounding exhausted and irritated.
"I don't care if the lead actor wants more trailer space," Victoria was saying sharply.
"Tell him he can shoot the scene, or I will replace him with a mannequin and fix it in post-production."
Donovan smiled to himself as he walked past her office.
*Remind me to never make Mom mad,* he thought. *She is terrifying when it comes to work.*
He headed upstairs toward the playroom and pushed the heavy wooden door open.
The room was an absolute disaster zone of toys, building blocks, and stuffed animals.
In the center of the chaos, his two-year-old sister, Chloe, was fast asleep.
She was curled up on a fluffy rug.
Guarding her was Barnaby, one of the family's three massive St. Bernards.
The Blackwoods didn't just have one dog; each kid had their own giant "Beethoven."
Barnaby, Duke, and Apollo were practically the size of small bears.
Their heavy silver collar tags jingled slightly when they breathed, each engraved with the name *Blackwood*.
On the other side of the room, Christian was currently fighting a war.
Duke, his personal St. Bernard, was snoring lazily right next to him.
The six-year-old was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
He had a plastic T-Rex in one hand and an armored knight action figure in the other.
He was aggressively smashing them together, making explosive sound effects with his mouth.
"The knight uses his sword! *Swoosh!*" Christian yelled.
"But the T-Rex doesn't care! He bites his head! *Chomp!*"
Donovan dropped his backpack by the door and walked over.
He sat down on the floor next to his little brother, crossing his legs.
"Who is winning?" Donovan asked casually.
Christian looked up, his face red from making too many explosion noises.
"The T-Rex is winning. He always wins."
Christian dropped the knight action figure with a dramatic sigh.
"But it's getting boring, Donnie. The knight is too weak. The dinosaur needs a better monster to fight."
Donovan looked at the plastic dinosaur.
Christian was right. A regular dinosaur was getting boring.
Kids didn't just want teeth and claws.
They wanted something cool. They wanted monsters with superpowers.
A sudden spark of inspiration hit Donovan's mind.
In 1992, the video game market was completely dominated by platformers and side-scrollers.
But a certain revolutionary game about collecting monsters wouldn't be released in Japan for another four years.
And it wouldn't hit America for even longer.
Donovan reached over and grabbed his leather backpack.
He unzipped it and pulled out his thick notebook and his favorite drafting pencil.
He flipped past the technical schematics and the pirate storyboards.
He found a blank, crisp white page.
"You want a better monster?" Donovan asked, a playful smile on his face.
Christian leaned over, his eyes wide with curiosity. "Yeah. Can you draw one?"
"I can draw a few," Donovan said.
His hand moved across the paper with absolute precision.
His mortal memory provided the exact design of the creatures.
His divine soul guided his fingers, making the pencil strokes smooth and weighted.
In less than sixty seconds, a creature appeared on the page.
It was a small, bipedal lizard with a flame burning brightly at the tip of its tail.
Christian gasped. "Whoa. What is that?"
"That is Charmander," Donovan said, adding a few quick shading lines.
"He's a fire monster. If he gets really mad, his tail burns hotter."
"Can he beat the T-Rex?" Christian asked, completely mesmerized.
"Easily," Donovan chuckled. "But wait until he grows up."
Donovan's pencil flew across the page again.
Next to the small lizard, he drew a massive, intimidating dragon.
"That is Charizard," Donovan explained. "He can melt boulders with his breath."
Christian dropped his plastic dinosaur entirely.
He grabbed the edge of the notebook, pulling it closer to his face.
"I want this one! Does he have a toy? Where did you buy him?"
"He doesn't have a toy yet, Chris," Donovan said smoothly.
"But he will."
Donovan didn't stop there.
He turned the page and started drawing a small, yellow creature with long ears and a lightning-bolt tail.
Then he drew a giant blue turtle with heavy water cannons resting on its shell.
With every new drawing, Christian's excitement skyrocketed.
He was bouncing up and down, pointing at the paper.
"The yellow one! Does he shoot lightning?" Christian asked loudly.
"Shh," Donovan whispered, pointing a finger at the sleeping toddler across the room.
Chloe shifted slightly on the rug, but Barnaby placed a gentle, massive paw over her, keeping her asleep.
"Sorry," Christian whispered, leaning in closer. "Does he shoot lightning?"
"Yeah," Donovan whispered back. "He stores electricity in his cheeks."
As he watched his little brother fall completely in love with the drawings, Donovan's mind was racing.
He was already building an animation studio in Burbank for *One Piece*.
But the monsters on this paper were an entire self-sustaining ecosystem.
He needed to develop a video game.
He needed a trading card game, plush toys, and action figures.
He needed to buy a software development team before the year was over.
The door to the playroom creaked open.
Victoria walked in, holding a cup of coffee.
She looked exhausted, rubbing her temples to fight off a headache.
Apollo, Donovan's St. Bernard, trotted in right behind her and sat down next to Donovan.
She smiled warmly when she saw her two boys sitting quietly on the floor.
"Well, this is a rare sight," she said softly, walking over to them.
"Christian actually sitting still? It's a miracle."
"Mom, look!" Christian whispered loudly, pointing at the notebook.
"Donnie made new monsters! They have fire and lightning!"
Victoria crouched down behind Donovan, resting a hand on his shoulder.
She looked at the sketches of Pikachu and Blastoise.
Her eyes widened a bit in surprise.
They weren't just messy kid doodles.
They were actually really good, like something out of a real comic book.
"These are incredibly cute, Donovan," Victoria said, genuinely impressed.
"Are these for your pirate show? The one Arthur is buying the warehouse for?"
"No, Mom," Donovan said, closing the notebook slowly.
"This is something else. This is a game."
Victoria raised an eyebrow. "A board game?"
"A video game," Donovan corrected. "And a card game. And a TV show."
Victoria chuckled, ruffling his dark hair.
"You don't do anything small, do you?"
Donovan looked up at his mother.
His deep blue eyes held absolute certainty.
"I don't see the point in doing something if it isn't going to change the world."
Victoria paused.
Sometimes, her ten-year-old son said things with such absolute seriousness that it caught her off guard.
She just saw her extremely brilliant, slightly weird kid, and it made her smile.
"Is Dad home yet?" Donovan asked, petting Apollo's massive head.
"He's in his study downstairs," Victoria said, standing back up.
"Why? Do you need him to buy you a video game company now?"
She meant it as a joke.
Donovan stood up, picking up his notebook.
"Actually, yes. I need to talk to him about software development."
Victoria just shook her head, laughing as she walked over to check on the sleeping Chloe.
Donovan walked out of the playroom.
He had spent the morning securing the hardware for his animation studio.
Now, he was going to spend the evening conquering the video game industry.
The script was moving perfectly.