Disclaimer: Come, come, now. I wouldn’t be writing pokemon fanfics if I owned Pokemon, now would I? Nope, didn’t think so. ;)

It was night, and the woods and hills outside of the town of Pallet were quiet and still. Nothing stirred. Even the nighttime pokemon that would usually be up and about were still and silent. No sounds came from the large house on top of a hill overlooking the town. No nighttime noises disturbed its sleeping occupants. But a shadow stirred in the trees outside, and in the largest bedroom of he mansion, a young man shivered and sat bolt upright in bed.

He glanced around the room, pushing back his unruly black hair and wiping cold sweat off his forehead. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then looked at the two others sleeping soundly in the bed. The first was a slender woman with flaming red hair clad in soft blue night clothes. The second was a small yellow ball of fur curled up at his feet. He smiled sadly and leaned down to kiss the woman gently on the head before silently swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and creeping towards the closet, trying not to wake the others up. He felt a paw touch the back of his leg.

"Pikapi?"

The man glanced down at the small yellow rodent. "Pikachu, shh…" he whispered, then sighed as the woman sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and looking at him curiously.

"Is something the matter?" she asked sleepily. "It’s two in the morning," she added, pointing at the clock on the night stand.

"Everything’s fine. I was just-" he broke of as a shadow flashed past the window, making a rushing sound as it went. The woman’s eyes widened. "Oh no. Not now. Why does it have to be now?" She sounded like she might cry.

"We knew it would be back someday. You and Pikachu don’t have to come. It’s me it wants, after all. You can-"

Again he was interrupted. "If you think for one moment I would leave you now, you’re seriously wrong. I’m going to follow you into this mess, just like I always have!"

"Pikachu!" <That’s right!>

"Toge!" <Yeah!>

The woman had begun to get dressed when she turned in surprise. "No, Togetic! You have to stay here."

"Toge toge tic, togetic, toge to toge tic." <If you’re going, and Daddy’s going, and Pikachu’s going, I’m going.>

The man looked at them all, smiling sadly. He would have liked to try to convince them to stay behind, but he knew it would be a futile attempt and a waste of time. "All right." He pulled on a pair of loose fitting black pants and slipped jacket on over his black T-shirt. He buckled a poke-belt around his waste, and she did the same. Last of all, from the top shelf he took a battered red and white hat. He held it for a short while, looking at it, lost in memories. "So this is how it ends," he muttered quietly before placing the hat on his head.

"What are you going to do?" the woman asked, also looking at the hat.

"I intend to go down fighting!" He twisted the hat around backwards, giving her a rueful grin. She tried to return the smile.

"I’m with you, always."

"Pika pika!" <Me too!>

"Thanks, guys," he said, his amber eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

An ominous creaking came from above. "To late to go meet it! It’s here!" he cried.

"The children! We have to get them out!"

"Right, Espeon! I choose you!" He picked up a poke-ball that was not one of the six fastened to his belt and tossed it. The lavender psychic pokemon came out. "Espe?" it asked.

"Espeon," he instructed urgently, "I need you to get the kids out of here right away. Use teleport. Take them to one of their ‘uncle’s’ houses right away."

There was a crash from above.

"Hurry!"

"Spe on!" <Right Away!> The pokemon dashed out of the room, pausing only for a moment to shoot one last worried look in its beloved trainer’s direction before rounding a corner in the hallway and disappearing from sight. Not a moment to soon. There was another crash and a groaning sound, and the two trainers and their pokemon just had time to jump out of the way before the roof caved in and one of the walls came crashing down.

***

Some ways away, in a house in Pewter City, another couple was just arriving home, pulling their car up the driveway of the famous Pewter Breeding Center and into the garage of the house situated behind it. The driver, a tall man with dark hair, got out first, followed shortly by a woman with long, blue hair. She clasped his hand as they made their way up the stone path. "I never thought we would be getting back from that breeder’s convention so late," she whispered.

He nodded. "If I had known it would go on for so long, and then we wouldn’t be able to get the car started on top of it all, I would have just kept our hotel room for another night." He fumbled with the keys in the dark. She laughed gently.

"Oh here, let me," she said smilingly, taking the house keys from him. "It’s a good thing that trainer and his Raichu came along to jump start the engine, of we’d still be in that parking lot." The lock clicked, and she turned the handle.

"No we wouldn’t. We could have ridden Onix back."

"Well, why didn’t you mention that back there?" Even in the dark, she could tell he was blushing. They both laughed quietly, and the woman swung the door opened. They were immediately greeted by a worried looking furry, lavender face.

"Espeon! Es pe, speon!"

"Wha- What are you doing here?" The Espeon yapped again and grabbed the man by his pant leg, pulling him into the house. The woman followed, turning on the lights. The Espeon brought them to their sitting room, where their Ninetails relaxed on the floor, looking at them sleepily. "I don’t see what-" he began, then looked closer. Two small children were sleeping, wrapped and pillowed by the many soft, white tails. He stared at them. The older, who looked to be about seven, was a girl with soft black hair and skin tanned from much time in the sun. The other, a boy of about four, had a mop of red hair and a mass of freckles across his nose and cheeks. Both of his arms were wrapped tightly around one of the tails.

"But, what are they doing here?" he asked his wife. She didn’t answer, and went into the next room.

"There’s a message for us on the answering machine," she called softly. After another glance at the children, he hurried towards the phone. What had started as confusion and a vague worry was now steadily climbing towards panic. With a trembling finger he reached out and pressed the "play message" button.

The video screen came on. At first, there was only static. Then a face appeared; the face of his best friend. His face and clothes were covered in dust and grime, his shirt collar was torn, and there was a long scratch running down from his forehead, across his cheek, almost to his neck. He glanced over his shoulder and called out something about it being an answering machine. It was hard to hear him over a multitude of background sounds. He shoved his black hair back from his face, and the man watching the screen could see that his friend’s hand came away red. He began to speak, and the man had to strain to hear his words over the static and sounds of crashes and bangs coming over the line.

"Well, I guess you’re not there right now. Maybe …. just as well. I sent Espeon …. with the kids. …. try to hold out as long as we can, but …. no hope, really…. I guess …. this …. good bye. You’ll look after the kids, right? You always …. after us …. best friend I could have had. We’ll miss …. Tell the kids … love them always. I only wish-" He was cut off by a shrill scream heard in the background. "I’m coming!" he cried, and turned and ran, not bothering to hang up the phone and stop the message from recording. The two horrified watchers witnessed his back retreating towards a broken and scorched wall before there was another crash, and the screen flickered and went blank.

The man and woman stood stunned, staring at the black screen. "I have to go," The man finally managed to choke out.

"Be careful," the woman murmured, placing the keys in his trembling hand.

"It’s not me who’s in danger," he replied, then kissed her on the head and strode out the door.

As the man drove down route 2 heading for Pallet Town he knew he was speeding, but he didn’t care. If an Officer Jenny tried to stop him, he would out run her. If he had to get a ticket or go to jail for it afterwards, fine. Some things were more important than Officer Jennies. He quickly broke off that line of thought and glanced at the road, making sure he knew where he was going. Of course he did. He’d traveled this road many times, both by car and on foot. He wasn’t going to loose his way now. His friend, on the other hand… A brief smile flashed across his face, but was swiftly replaced by deeper worry. Why was it taking so long to get there? The lights of Viridian City twinkled before him, and he pushed his foot down harder on the gas.

He raced trough Viridian City as if in a dream. Or a nightmare. Even in this busy city, the streets were mostly deserted at this time of night. The street lamps cast eerie shadows on the sidewalks, and the few solitary windows that were lighted seemed only to make the darkened windows darker. It all streaked by the car window in a flash.

It was near the outskirts of Pallet that the car stopped. The driver had just dared to hope that he might get there in time, when the engine made a coughing noise, sputtered, popped, and died. The car rolled to a stop. "No!" he shouted. "No! NO! NO!" He cursed and kicked at the gas pedal. Nothing happened. With a strangled cry he shoved the door opened, prepared to run the rest of the way, but suddenly he stopped, as if an invisible hand had snagged the back of his shirt. His recent conversation with his wife came to his mind, and he pulled a Poke Ball off of his belt. "Onix, go!" With a flash of light, the giant rock-snake pokemon appeared. The man leaped on its back and the two of them continued on their way, leaving the car sitting in the middle of the road, one door open and headlights on.

When he finally reached the house, he saw with a sinking heart that it was in shambles. Parts of the roof were missing, windows were broken, walls were caving in. Water sputtered out of broken pipes and over the yard in a hissing stream. A closer look revealed scorch marks on patches of grass and on some of the walls. Debris littered the area, making it look as if a tornado had blown through. He called out, but there was no answer.

Some dark sense told him to look up. With a feeling of foreboding, he let fate’s hand pull his eyes towards the sky, only to see shadows. Shadows not made of clouds, but thick and tangible, reaching out to the east, grasping for something. The man let his eyes follow the flowing, shadowy fingers and saw what looked very much like a Dragonair. A Dragonair with a figure seated on its back, and a Charizard, also bearing a passenger, flying around it in protective circles. The man stood, trying desperately to think of a way to help. But even as he watched, horrified, there was a blast of flame, a beam of ice, a bolt of lightning, and the shadow’s groping fingers closed over his airborne friends.

For a long while he stood, petrified, unable to move or think, only watch. For some time, he fancied he could still see bursts of energy shining through from the heart of the shadow. Then for a moment, it appeared to be a normal storm cloud, pulsing with electricity. And he watched, helpless, as a breath of wind stirred, and the shadow faded away, leaving only the stars and the clear blackness of space behind. They were gone.

The man dropped to his knees, tears wet on his cheeks. This could never have been meant to happen. The night was as still and quiet as it had been when it began. No gust of wind. No creatures of the night. No soft and peaceful noises of people sleeping. Nothing seemed changed, save for the wreckage that had once been a home, and the lives of scores of people and pokemon. Lives that would never be the same.

***

Notes: Well, there it is, the prologue to my very first fanfic ever! I have just recently begun to explore the fascinating world of fan fiction, and I look foreword to many more exploits in its realm. Much more to come in the near future. I hope everyone who reads this can find it in their hearts to send me reviews saying… erm… whatever they like. J Now, about the story itself.

I actually have a good reason for not mentioning anyone’s name here, which ought to become clear in the next chapter. I think, in the long run, it may help things be a bit less confusing than they undoubtedly will be. Anyhow, I would think most people would have figured out who’s who by now. (If you haven’t, well, you’ll just have to wait, although I would suggest while you’re waiting, you go watch a couple episodes of Pokemon to remind yourself who the main characters are.)

I don’t know if Espeons can teleport, or even if Ash has, or ever will have, an Espeon. (Whoops, just gave part of it away there.) I gave Misty a Dragonair (Well, there I go again) because she likes them, and let it fly because I needed it up in the air. Hmm, what else. I guess I just paired Brock up with Susie (Ack, well, it’s all out now. Oh well. That’ll teach you to be careful reading my notes if you don’t want any glaringly obvious secrets spoiled) because I felt like it, and because I couldn’t think of anyone better for him to be with off the top of my head.

Oh, one last thing. Please attribute any errors to the fact that I was writing this at about the same time of night this prologue is taking place, so I might not be exactly all there (or here, or wherever it is I ought to be.) Well, until next time. Please review. J

Wydinel Sheergale