Before I get started, I’d like to thank SilverBlaze09 for writing the poem in one of my SPPF (Serebii.net’s forums) Hell Hath no Fury threads. While I’m not sure if he intended for me to use it like this, I’m pretty sure that he won’t mind.

All is against them,
both time and tide,
but now comes the time,
for the fateful ride.
Death doth follow,
life runs away,
but here come the heroes,
to save the day.

--SilverBlaze09


+++++

Hunger. Pain. Hunger. The creature wasn’t sure who he was, but he knew that he was hungry. And that the hunger made him hurt. There was only one way to make the pain stop. Eat. Eat. Eat. But there was nothing to eat.

The behemoth roared, but nobody heard. He stamped his feet against some kind of surface, but nobody cared. He bit into the ground, but it burned his tongue. No, there was no way to ease the pain here. He had to get out. Out. And feed. No matter how much it took to satiate his hunger.

+++++

“Solar Beam!” Falkner Junior yelled out, and watched as his Tropius fainted an opposing Growlithe. “That was a good battle,” Falkner said, smiling, “But you may want to remember that although Sunny Day increases the power of Fire-type attacks, it dramatically lowers the amount of time Grass types have to wait to charge up for the Solar Beam Attack.”

The trainer smiled at Falkner and ran out of the lab, shouting over his shoulder, “I’ll be back, and I’ll beat you!” Falkner waved as the young man ran out of his gym.

Falkner smiled at Tropius and recalled the Grass type. “Hey Joy,” he called out to the small office door hidden behind a rather large tree a few yards behind him, “Tropius took quite a beating in that battle, she’s gonna need to be healed.”

The door opened and the familiar visage of a Nurse Joy poked her head out, and caught the Pokeball. “Tina told me to tell you that that was your last scheduled match of the day, and that your father is running a little late. Oh, and also, next time try not to make your Tropius hit this wall so much. It spilled her coffee three times.”

Falkner laughed, “Well, I know how much of a neat freak she is,” he said, grinning, “So I’ll get out of her hair before she kills me.”

“I heard that,” the gym’s secretary’s voice drifted out of the back room, “I’ll just kill you when you come in here to handle the paperwork. Oh, Falkner? Your dad gave me a letter to give to you.”

Falkner frowned. A letter? Why would he give Falkner a letter? They were going to meet at the Missingno Casino for lunch. He walked into the room and closed the door behind himself. He took the letter, ripped it open, and scanned it quickly.

Falkner paled, and stumbled backwards into a chair. Swallowing hard, he reread the letter.

Dear Son,

I know that this will come as a bit of a shock to you, but I can’t stay in Violet City any longer. I’ve been feeling crowded, and I know that this isn’t the life for me, cramped in some office in some gym in some town—I like wandering the wilds, relying only upon my Pokemon.

I know that this will leave you in the lurch, but I have to go. Now. I have something coming up. Something kind of big. I hope that you’ll be proud of me when you discover what it is. Until then, you’re in charge of the gym and, by default, Violet City. Take good care of it, son. Don’t let anything happen to it. I’ve left you my Skarmory and my Pidgeot. Please, son. Take good care of them. And don’t think any less of me. This work that I have to do is among the most important the world has ever known. It will literally change the world.

Your Father,

James Travis Falkner

+++++

“Are we there yet?” Lorelei demanded, “My feet are sore!” She and her companion, the Azalea City gym leader, Bugsy, had been walking since before the break of day to try to reach Violet City, home of the Falkners, who knew the more about birds than most people would know about anything in their lifetime. And, hopefully, he’d know about a bird named Allnian, who was Lorelei’s Sneasel’s only hope of returning to its former battling self.

The Sneasel had had an extremely large amount of poison put into him, enough that it actually dissolved most of his Carentamous Assembly, the part of a Pokemon that allowed it to perform its special attacks, or techniques as they were also called.

Bugsy, a bug-type gym leader, shook his head and sighed. “Like I told you five minutes ago, Lorelei, we’re at least a mile off. It’ll be a while before we get there.” Lorelei made a face at him as he looked at a map, and continued walking.

Suddenly, over where Lorelei guessed was Violet City, something blossomed out of thin air. An enormous silvery—portal the only thing that Lorelei would later be able to describe it as—opened, and for a moment, nothing happened. It looked like a whirlpool. The entire thing was a dark silver. She couldn’t see anything past the center of the whirlpool thing. It almost reminded her of pictures of black holes she had seen.

Then, with a nearly bone-shattering screech, a form shot out of the vortex, and spun nearly on a dime. It roared again, and the portal—whirlpool in the sky thing—closed, and disappeared as if it had never been. The dragon, however, remained.

+++++

Falkner smiled at Julius Grant, the owner of the Missingno Casino as he entered Violet City’s finest establishment. “How’s the restaurant doing?” Falkner asked, hoping that he sounded a lot more happy than he felt.

“So so,” the proprietor replied, “Big thing’s the casino. We have your usual table waiting for you sir. Your father sends his apologies, but he won’t be able to meet you.” He rubbed his large hands over his rather large gut almost nervously.

Falkner nodded, “Thanks, Julius, but I already knew that.” Falkner nodded once more, and walked towards the back of the casino, muttering to himself. For sixteen years he’d come to depend upon his father, and now his father had simply abandoned him. How was that supposed to—

There was a large crash, and a cloud of dust blew out of the restaurant area. Suddenly, he could hear people screaming, and the temperature inside the casino began rising rapidly. Then one of the windows burst inwards, and fire roared through the empty windowpane. Falkner could feel the glass biting into his skin, and he ran for the door. Another window shattered inwards, and another gout of flame roared through. Then another, and another.

Within seconds, what had been Violet City’s pride and joy was nothing less than a scene of chaos. Flames were everywhere, and people were running for the doors. Falkner, being one of the closest to the doors, made it out shortly after Julius. And was the last one out. The building collapsed in on itself, crushing countless dozens of men, women, and Pokemon in its fiery collapse.

Falkner lay on the ground, breathing hard and coughing, and looked up into the sky, to see a huge, silvery dragon filling up most of the sky above the city. Dozens of Pokemon were attacking it, but it ignored every attack. It snorted, and fire came out of its nostrils and consumed the top floor of the Sprout Tower. It scanned the ground, but stopped when it came upon him. It roared, and began shifting its body weight for a dive. With a feeling of absolute horror, Falkner realized that the dragon was after him.

He reached for his Pokeballs, and realized with horror that, as was his usual custom, he’d left them back at the gym, so he wouldn’t be challenged. Falkner groaned and leaped to his feet. The gym wasn’t that far away, but he’d already seen what the dragon could do. He wasn’t really in the mood to see it destroy his gym as it had destroyed the Missingno.

He burst through the doors, knowing he smelt of smoke and his clothes were probably smoldering, and ran for the office. He jerked the door open and yelled inside, “Violet’s under attack! Get all the Pokemon out of here, and then you get out of here!”

Tina immediately tossed him his Pokeball belt and dove for the basket of Pokeballs that the Nurse Joy was preparing to heal. Falkner immediately turned and ran back outside the gym, releasing all of his Pokemon—Xatu, Fearow, Dodrio, Tropius, Altaria, Murkrow, plus his father’s Skarmory—as soon as he was able.

The dragon, he saw, had not been idle while he had been inside. The Pokemon Center was in shambles, and the Pokemon Mart was in flames. He doubted that it would be able to be salvaged. “Tropius!” he yelled at the first Pokemon he’d ever had, “Solar Beam. Xatu, Psychic; Fearow, Mirror Move; Dodrio, Tri-attack; Altaria, Sky Attack; Murkrow, Crunch!” Falkner darted forwards, trying to find some cover, and the fire that consumed his gym—and his two assistants inside, he realized with horror—barely missed him.

His Pokemon performed admirably, but they just weren’t able to do enough. Murkrow wasn’t even able to get close enough to do anything. He was swatted down by on of the dragon’s massive wings. Fearow was caught in a stream of fire that consumed seven other birds.

The Dragon roared and swept his head to the side, swallowing whole at least a dozen birds, and several humans riding some of them. Falkner stared in horror. What was this thing? Was there no stopping it?

+++++

The metaphorical figure frowned. This was something completely new. So the Dimensional War had begun, had it? Yes, it had. It had begun with unleashing a modified form of a legendary into the skies over Violet City, and letting it do its work. A particularly powerful legendary at that. Drago was known for a nearly insatiable appetite when he was hungry, and this derivative of Drago must surely be hungry. He had to hand it to the Dark One, this was certainly the most impressive spectacle of inter-dimensional travel he’d ever come across.

However, if he didn’t do something, the modified Drago would destroy first Violet City, then head for the next biggest center of population. Goldenrod city. That would be a major point in history, further on for these people. So was violet, come to think of it. If either were destroyed, history would be irreparably changed.

So now it was time to step in.

+++++

Lorelei charged forwards, ignoring Bugsy’s pleas for her to stay back where it was safe. She released both of her Pokemon. “Geodude!” she yelled, “Rock Throw! Duskull, Night Shade!” the two Pokemon nodded their agreement, and the Geodude ripped a large amount of soil out of the ground and threw it at the dragon. Duskull sent several waves of shimmering black energy so powerful that they rippled reality itself towards the dragon. But all the attacks did was to annoy the dragon.

Lorelei saw the tail moving and dove to the ground. Geodude wasn’t so lucky. The tail hit him with such force that he exploded, and what was left of the rock type was sent flying over the treetops and into a lake.

Duskull, however, was unaffected by the tail, as it passed through her. Lorelei opened her mouth to shout out a command, but the dragon turned its head, and snorted. A jet of flame roared in towards her Duskull, who was flashing for some reason, and consumed the Ghost. When the flames faded, there was nothing left.

Suddenly the dragon reeled in pain, and roared in agony. Trees, buildings, and Pokemon alike were torn from where they stood as the dragon crashed to the ground. It continued thrashing for several minutes, and trainers and Pokemon began to peek out from where they had hidden, wondering if the attack was over. And then Lorelei understood what Duskull had done a split second before the flames had consumed her. Destiny Bond.

Then the dragon stopped moving, rolled over, and came up onto its feet. Its eyes were more enraged than it had been before, and it began moving slowly back towards the town, the ground trembling with each massive footfall. Lorelei paled as she stared up at the dragon towering over her. She had no Pokemon left, and there was no way that she’d be able to defeat it.

There was a sense of shock and horror that rippled through the people assembled in Violet City, and then resigned silence as they readied themselves once more, for an attack that never came.

Suddenly, from behind the dragon, another portal opened. It looked very much like the one that had spawned the dragon, but this silver was bright, almost to the point of being white. Once again it looked like a black hole, and this time, the analogy was very apt as the dragon was somehow hurled backwards through the vortex. The moment the last of the dragon was through the portal, both disappeared. There was a wary silence, as if they expected the creature to come at them again, from some other angle.

Lorelei merely lay where she had watched first Geodude and then Duskull killed ruthlessly. She had failed. Again. First Sneasel, and now Geodude and Duskull. All of the offspring of her original team.

Lorelei felt sick.

+++++

Falkner stiffly walked through the ruins of what had been one of the most beautiful towns in Johto. Wreckage, bodies, and rubble were everywhere. How many, he wondered, had died. How long would it take for the wreckage to be cleared? He looked to his right. At least the Sprout Tower had been saved. Mostly.

The top three floors were gone, as were most of the monks. The lower floors were generally for tourists, and the top three floors were where the monks lived and trained.

Falkner felt like he was about to throw up. Who would want to do something like this? He’d lost Fearow, Tropius, Dodrio, Xatu, and Altaria in the attack. That left only Murkrow and his father’s Skarmory.

His father…he had abandoned him. On the same day. Within an hour of each other, Falkner realized, two major catastrophes had occurred. Falkner sat down across from where the burned-out hulk of his gym had been. At least he hadn’t let his father store their library in the gym, he thought.

Then he could hold it in no longer. He bent his head down to his knees, and began to cry.

+++++

The metaphorical figure metaphorically stared through the viewing portal to the dimension to which he’d sent the dragon. It was impossibly powerful. He had barely managed to capture the twisted Drago simile. If it hadn’t been for the Duskull’s Destiny Bond, he wouldn’t have been able to stop it.

He shook his head. He had thought that he was more powerful than anyone or anything else in the Physical Realm, but this?

He shuddered. If the Dark One had more of these creatures, then when the war finally came, it would be very bloody, and very brutal, with high casualties on both sides. And that was if it were in the Other Realms. If it were in the Physical Realm…

The figure metaphorically shivered. If it were in the Physical Realm, then the war would be horrendous.

+++++

Lorelei stood quietly, watching Falkner and Bugsy talking in the middle of Falkner’s library. Bugsy had found Falkner within minutes of the strange disappearance of the dragon, and the disheveled young man had invited them to his family’s private library, a half mile outside of town. Falkner seemed down about something, but she hadn’t asked what he was sad about.

Lorelei, on the other hand, was furious. Every single Pokemon that she’d managed to have on this journey had been a descendant of one of her Altan team before she’d moved to Kanto. And now, they were either dead or seriously injured. Her eyes narrowed, and she glanced around the fancy library. She wanted to punch something. There had to be something that she could find to fight around here.

Just before she would have walked out of the room to see if she could pick a fight with one of the fighting type Pokemon she’d seen on her way in to try to work out some of her anger, Bugsy came back over to her. Falkner, she noticed, had moved to one of the walls, and was scanning it intently. “Falkner said that he’s got several books on Allnian. He’s going to go find them, and then he’s going to go out and find out exactly how much damage there is to the city.”

Lorelei nodded, and took out her Pokedex, to check on the download she had started earlier. She was downloading everything that Silph Company had for public consumption about Allnian. At the current rate, it would take several hours. “All right, then,” she said quietly, “Let’s get started. And once I’ve found Allnian, I’m going to find whoever let that dragon loose over Violet City and personally wring his neck.”

+++++

“Got it,” Bugsy said five hours later. Lorelei looked up, and took her feet off of the library’s desk.

Her spirits soared. They’d been going through books for hours and hours, but so far they hadn’t found anything even remotely suggesting where Allnian might be. “You know where Allnian is?” she asked.

Bugsy shook his head, “No, but I think I know what kind of dragon attacked Violet City.” He put the book on the table, spun it around, and pushed it towards her. “A Drago.”

Lorelei frowned and closed the cover most of the way, keeping her finger between the pages where the Drago was, and looked at the title on the spine. She frowned. “You found it in A Thousand and One Things About Allnian?” She demanded, “What’s it doing in there?”

Bugsy grinned and took the book back, “Well, the Dragon, Drago, is apparently supposed to be good friends with Allnian, and the two are rarely any more than a hundred miles apart from each other. Drago has an enormous appetite, and is rarely seen except when he becomes hungry. And then…” he trailed off, and his face paled, “And then,” he said quietly, “Drago has been known to eat the population of entire countries before he is satiated.”

Lorelei and Bugsy stared at each other uneasily. Lorelei shifted uncomfortably. “So,” Lorelei said, “If it’s still hungry, then…”

Bugsy nodded, “Then this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him.”

Lorelei sighed and ran a hand through her hair, which, she realized with a start, was a mess. “Then we’ve got to stop Drago, too. Just our luck that Allnian and Drago are so close to each other.”

Bugsy nodded miserably. “We threw the combined power of almost two hundred fifty trainers at it, and it didn’t even seem to notice. Except for that Destiny Bond at the end. And even then, it got back up as if it were nothing.” Lorelei could see the fear in his eyes. “And we’ve got to stop this thing.”

Lorelei swallowed hard. She had known that her mission to find Allnian would be nearly hopeless. It was a legendary, after all, and it wasn’t likely to listen to her. And now, the impossibility factor of their mission had just quadrupled.

++++++

A woman watched the Violet City survivors scurrying around their ruined city, trying to clean up the death and destruction that had consumed the city. She shook her head. They’d actually managed to prevent it from razing the city to the ground this time. In her future, Violet City had been completely destroyed, as had Azalea, and Goldenrod had been severely damaged before they had managed to kill it.

She glanced to her left, and saw her partner silently surveying the damage as well. He looked at her, and smiled faintly. Their plan had indeed worked. Transferring the Winters girl to Kanto had indeed prevented the complete destruction of Violet and Azalea. And from there, she would take care of The War, if all of their calculations had been correct. If The War were taken care of, then the Dark Elite would never come about, and the world would remain safe for at least another decade or two.

+++++

“Seventy humans are dead.” Lorelei looked up from the book she was reading to see Falkner standing in the doorway, his clothes stained with blood, and his clothes a torn and filthy mess. “And the death toll is still rising.” Out of the corner of her left eye, she could see Bugsy getting up. “Twenty are still missing. Ninety humans are injured.” He continued reciting the toll the dragon had taken on Violet City as he walked stiffly towards a chair. “Sprout Tower’s all but destroyed, the Gym’s unsalvageable, the Missingno is gone. Over three hundred Pokemon died that we know of. That’s trained AND wild,” he said, his voice getting quieter and quieter.

Bugsy took a deep breath, “Would it help if I told you we knew who did this?” he asked quietly.

Falkner looked up at him, and nodded slowly. He looked so pathetic, Lorelei would have laughed if the situation weren’t so dire. Bugsy took a deep breath and handed the book he had shown Lorelei earlier to Falkner. Falkner paled, and he visibly shrank from the picture. “It’s a legendary!” he whispered as he read the information on the page opposite the picture, “how are we supposed to defend against it if it comes back?”

Lorelei heard a faint beep, and took out her Pokedex. The download she’d requested was done. “Me and Lorelei are going out to find it. We’re going to kill it.”

Falkner asked quietly, “Do you know where Allnian and Drago are now?”

Bugsy grimaced, and opened his mouth to say something, but Lorelei interrupted him, “Give me ten minutes, I’ll have the general location.” She stood up, and held out her Pokedex for examination, “The download of all information regarding Allnian just finished.” She said to Bugsy. She turned to Falkner, “I set it to create a map of the world to show where all the sightings were. It’ll take about ten minutes to compile.”

Ten minutes later, they had it. “Nuschantz,” Bugsy said softly. “Ski capital in the world. Not to mention the biggest tourist trap that there is. No public transportation, except for expensive bush pilots. No roads, not even any cities. They’ve got skiresorts instead.” He looked up at Lorelei, “This isn’t going to be easy.”

Lorelei glanced over at Falkner, who was still sitting in the same chair he had been ten minutes before, and was nearly catatonic, “Yeah, but we’ve got to. It’s the only way to make sure that Drago doesn’t hurt any more people.”

Bugsy nodded, “All right, then. Meet me at the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center. We’ll go on to New Bark Town together. I’ve got to go back to Azalea to get my things together and make sure that the gym is taken care of.”

Lorelei smiled faintly, “Road trip.”

+++++

Bugsy closed his eyes, trying to ignore the chatter that was coming at him from all sides. “ALL RIGHT!” he yelled, and was gratified to hear that there was silence. He looked at his younger sisters. They were twins, and sometimes he was amazed that the ten year-olds could make so much noise. “Look,” he said, trying not to raise his voice, “I’m not going to abandon you. Brandon just needs me to take care of his sister.”

The twins giggled, and Bugsy shot them a dark look. “Ooh,” Molly said in a lilting voice, “Brandon wants you to take care of his sister!”

“Yeah,” Holly chimed in, “um…Brandon wants you to take care of his sister!”

Bugsy shook his head, “You guys are nuts. Seriously. There’s nothing going on. I’m just going to Nuschantz. All right?” The twins glanced at each other, then started giggling again. Bugsy sighed and did a quick last check to make sure that he had everything he needed, then turned to his sisters. “All right,” he said, “Mom and Dad are going to be gone in Sintaur for another three months, so I have some instructions for you. Rule number one,” he said, looking pointedly at Molly, “No parties.”

His sister made a face at him, and he continued, “Number two, If someone challenges you to a match for a gym battle, DON’T use your own Pokemon. Use they Gym Pokemon. Don’t use them for ANYTHING else. No more using Scyther to mow the lawn! Got that?” he asked. When he got a nod and a giggle from both of them, he continued, “Number three, Aunt Mary is coming over every day to check up on you. Four. You know where the food is. If you run out, do NOT go shopping yourself. Get Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny to do it for you. They’ll both be checking in on you too. For you laundry, get Nurse Joy to do it. NOT Officer Jenny. I think we all remember what happened last time, right?”

The twins looked at each other and giggled. Bugsy had to admit that now, after the fact, it was pretty funny. Officer Jenny had gotten one of the people she’d detained for doing something and had made him do their laundry. They’d barely been able to salvage anything from what he’d done.

Bugsy looked at his sisters and realized that he was really about to leave. “You guys,” he said slowly, “You guys take care, all right?” he said, feeling himself begin to tear up. The twins launched themselves into his outstretched arms, and they hugged. “I don’t know how long I’ll be back,” he said, “I’ll send you stuff back from Nuschantz.” As he hugged his sisters, Bugsy wondered in the back of his mind whether he’d be coming back from Nuschantz, considering his mission was to kill a Legendary, and force another to bend to his and Lorelei’s will.

+++++

Lorelei petted the fur of her injured Sneasel, transferred from the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center, lovingly, and knew that it would be the last time she’d see it for several days. It was lying on a medical bed, with wires and tubes sticking into it from all angles. The spines on its back were broken, the entire right side of its face was badly mangled, and the Nurse Joy had had to amputate its left arm.

Lorelei bowed her head and felt the tears flowing. She couldn’t stand to see her Pokemon like this, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. Until she found Allnian. Allnian was the only thing in the world that could heal this kind of damage. According to many legends she had found that were centered on Allnian, Allnian could heal anything-as long as it was still alive. No damage was too great-although if the spark of life had left the Pokemon or human’s body, there was nothing it could do.

Lorelei’s face hardened, and she forced herself to stop crying. That was why she would make Allnian heal her Sneasel. There was no other way. She HAD to do something. She couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and a voice in her ear, “It’s time, darling,” she heard Nurse Joy say softly, “Sneasel needs his rest.”

She nodded and got up, and walked into the main lobby, and saw Bugsy, standing there with a suitcase, a Scyther, and a Pinsir. “You ready?” she asked, swiping angrily at her eyes.

Bugsy looked at her sympathetically, “Yeah, Lorelei, I’m ready. Let’s go. It’s time to achieve the impossible.”

+++++

And this, my friends, is the end of the Johto portion of this fic. Coming up is one of my numerous created countries. It’s called Nuschantz. Check out the Author’s Note for information on it. I will probably include a lot of it, but if you want an intimate understanding, then I suggest that you go read it. It’s not the most in-depth piece of work that I’ve ever done, but it’s still a pretty good summary.