Note: Before I begin the story, I would like to have a bit of commentary on this first chapter. I wrote this chapter in under 30 minutes. The chapters will be rarely long. However, if you want longer chapters, I can combine two and sometimes three chapters at a time as long as you don't mind minor time skips. In ending, I hope you will give this story a chance. It's based off of my real life friends, and so characters will be more relate-able. I hope to update at most three times a week, however I have other things to do in life so I might not make that many a week. These teams I've created aren't my own idea. I've incorporated the "dream" teams of my friends as their character's team. Now let's get going for the Prologue: The Aftermath!

For a moment, he couldn't hear a thing. But slowly, the shock wore off. The heavy pressure on his back was starting to hurt. It was hot, like everything around him was on fire.

And it was. The flames of beams from the ceiling of a house crashed around him. The flickering of the flames was loud in his ears. The smoke from the fire was choking him, and making it hard to see. But the light from the flames counteracted that and allowed him to see rough shapes around him.

The little blue dog stood at the door, calling out as loud as it could. "Rio! Ri ri!"

It took a minute, but it registered at last. The blue dog was Riolu, the first ever Pokémon that he had ever gotten. Riolu, the same one whom he had hatched from it's egg after an old woman was begging people to take it.

"Ri...Riolu…" He managed to speak.

Riolu turned, and it's face brightened up as it ran over to his body. "Lu! Ri!"

"A little help..?" He asked through a cough.

Riolu's right palm glowed, and then it smashed the beam across his back with a single press of his palm. It looked relieved that he was OK.

"Thank you." Slowly the boy got to his feet. It was a slow process, and he was extremely shaky at first. Time passed slowly for him as a name suddenly popped into his head, "Zoe…"

Riolu tugged on his hand, "Riolu!"

"You know where she is? Show me please." The boy didn't know why it mattered so much to him. But that's all he could think about.

Riolu pointed at the door, and it was blocked by a single beam. "Ri ri."

"I'll move it." The boy staggered over to the door. He placed one hand behind the beam and pulled as hard as he could. The beam moved slightly, but it wasn't enough. The beam was still blocking the door. "Riolu, try breaking it while I pull."

Riolu's hand glowed again, and it gave a nod to signal for him to pull. Then, it rushed the beam and smashed it with a single press of it's palm.

But suddenly he started another coughing fit. He wasn't able to fight against it. He was finding it hard to stay conscious and breathe. He fell to his knees, and clawed at his throat.

Riolu couldn't take the sight, and it rammed into the door, forcing it open. It waved at a squad of Squirtles who were fighting rampant fires. The largest Squirtle waved back, then it turned back and looked at a man who was talking to another. It tugged on the sleeve, and pointed towards Riolu.

The man put his hand on the Squirtle's head. Then, he ran over to Riolu. "Hey girl. What's wrong?"

Riolu turned and pointed at the boy. "Riolu…"

"Got it. You're being brave. He'll be fine." The man picked up the boy onto his back. "I'll take it from here. Thank you for signaling us."

Riolu gave a smile and a nod. She followed beside the man on the way to the group of people crowded behind the Squirtles. She kept her eyes on the boy, and she worried about his health. Then she remembered, Zoe. She needed to find Zoe. And so, she closed her eyes. She just focused on everything around her. She could sense it, a house that was still burning. A single girl trapped inside. When she opened her eyes, she took off running towards the house.

"Hey! That's not safe!" The man sat down the boy. "Squirtle! Stop her!"

The large Squirtle jumped in front of Riolu. It held out it's hands, "Squirt! Squirtle squirt!"

"Ri! Riolu ri ri olu!" Riolu pleaded. She was desperate.

Squirtle lowed it's arms, and thought for a moment. Then it shook it's head. "Squirtle."

Riolu balled her hand into a fist. "Riolu!"

Squirtle shot a blast of water at Riolu as a warning.

Riolu's hand glowed brightly. But, then the glowing stopped. She heard the boy coughing. Her attention went back to her trainer.

The boy sat up. "Zoe...Where's Zoe?"

"Who?" The man kneeled beside the boy. "Who are you?"

"My name...Is Ryan." The boy said. "Zoe...I need to find her."

"Riolu! Ri ri olu!" Riolu responded.

"Alright!" Suddenly Ryan was full of energy. "No time for me to heal fully. Sir, a girl is trapped in that house."

"It's too dangerous for us to go in right now. Let the Squirtles calm the flames." The man looked wearily at the scene. Several houses had burned down during the fire.

"I can't just sit by." He was quickly at Riolu's side, then passed the Squirtle to enter the house.

Riolu gave a smirk, and then rushed by the Squirtle, following her trainer into the house. When she caught up to him, she took a single giant leap and landed on his shoulder. She was listening closely to her surroundings.

"Zoe! Where are you?!" He shouted. He looked around. Compared to his house, the smoke and flames weren't as bad.

"Ryan? Ryan I'm here!" A girl called out. "I can't see anything! Please hurry!"

Riolu pointed towards a caved in door. "Ri!"

"Thank you Riolu." Ryan pet her on the head. "I'm sorry, but help me out one more time. Use your Force Palm to open up the door."

Riolu gave a nod, and the energy glowed from her hand again. She rushed, and thrust her palm on the debris. Riolu narrowed her eyes. and applied more pressure. And then, as if by some miracle, the large pile of rock and wooden beams were pushed to the other side of the room.

He ran into the room, and he wrapped his arms around the girl standing in a daze. "Zoe! I'm so glad you're OK."

"I was worried." Zoe admitted. "Your house was the first hit."

"Hit?"

"Oh you didn't know? The local fire Pokémon went berserk and started fires all over the place." Zoe looked him in the eye. "What's wrong? You seem different."

""How...Do we know each other?" Ryan finally asked her. Gaps. There were gaps in his memory. Huge gaps.

"Oh sweet Arceus…" She backed up horrified. "You really don't know...We're childhood friends. Together since birth. How...How could you forget…?"

"Sorry...I don't remember a lot. Just my name. Your name...And that Riolu has also been with me since I was little."

"Oh...You'll remember. I know you will." Zoe kept a smile, despite the obvious hurt in her eyes.

That hurt him. It hurt him more than the pain in his shoulders. But he couldn't help it. Amnesia. That's what it was. And that's something someone can recover from.

"Let's leave this place." She suddenly said. "I'm sixteen tomorrow. I waited six years like my mom wanted. Come with me on my journey as a trainer. You and Riolu. That's all I need."

"Yeah...OK. I'll go. Maybe it will help my memory." He looked up upon hearing a terrible sounding crunching of breaking wood. He pulled her close, into a tight hug. He was going to protect her from the now falling flaming beam. "Watch out!"

But it never landed on him. After a few seconds, the beam was in two halves and landed beside them.

"You two, we need to get out right now." A man called out. "Good work Garchomp. Nice save."

Garchomp sounded gleeful when it cried out. "Garchomp!"

Without a fight Ryan, Zoe, and Riolu followed the man out. The only thing on Ryan's mind, was the identity of the man. Who was he? Why was he there? Where did he come from?