Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. Warning! Eventual shipping between OC and Erika in later chapters.

Prologue

Tatsu Ryu looked into the fire of his study pondering his latest discovery. He wasn't really sure what to make of it really. An archaic text discovered in the ruins of Old Celadon. The text itself was in terrible need of restoration. To think that it was made of actual wood pulp paper, written in actual ink was almost hysterical.

As an archeologist, Tatsu had never found anything of real interest before now. In an ancient, rusty rectangular container was found a leather-bound text along with seven small, brightly colored orbs.

It was Tatsu's team who had stumbled upon the ancient peculiarities, so it fell to him to make what he could of it. Historic artifacts were not as appealing to Tatsu as to other eager archeologists. Mister Ryu, he dug and searched for ancient artifacts of immense wealth and prestige. Artifacts that would insure his name to be remembered forever as the one who found them. It was treasures that Tatsu sought, nothing more, nothing less.

Mister Tatsu Ryu found the artifacts before him unsettling. They were mysterious, that was for certain. There was something about the orbs, something so immensely disturbing that Tatsu could not bear to look at them. There was something IN those orbs, a kind of presence, he knew it!

And it was for that reason that Tatsu focused his attention to the ancient text. As to how old the text really was, he could not tell offhand. However, its pages were strangely preserved, the text legible. At least he thought. He would need to find out the language in which this document was written and then have it translated. The alien symbols were eerie, so eerie just looking at them sent shivers down Tatsu's spine!

As he studied the text closer he was startled to find that he was somehow able to understand what it said! If he looked directly at each individual symbol, it appeared just that, a symbol. But as his eyes swept over the strange writing his mind grabbed hold of ideas, phrases, memories…

His subconscious took in these things, stumbling over them for a little while. Then everything seemed so clear, as if he was actually reading, actually remembering…

Excerpt from a Memoir

"Drako? Drako?" a voice stirs me from my sleep. Funny, I don't remember dozing off. Where am I? I look around. Huey is here with me. But where is here? Oh, here is a pokemon center. We are back in Vermillion City.

"Drako, do you feel alright?" the sailor asks. "You took a pretty nasty cut to your face. I hope it's not infected."

I wince in pain as I touch my face. It DOES hurt. "Why are we in the pokemon center?" I ask Huey.

"The hospital is filled up with the other passengers who were on board. We were lucky enough just to stay here. Nurse Joy is busy tending to all of the injured pokemon right now but it shouldn't be too long and she'll be able to sort your face out well enough." he explains. "That Garydos got me arm as well. But don't worry it's only a scratch. And I got that damn dragon back in its pokeball not too long after you lost consciousness." and with that Huey shows me his right arm, and I see a long deep gash running down it. It looks pretty bad. In his hand is a small pokeball. He holds it out to me in triumph.

I just grin and look at the pokeball with uncertainty. "What's up, Drako?" asks Huey. "I figured what with me capturing this thing that you would at least take it back. Take it off me hands! The only pokemon I need is me polywhirl, you know that. Go on! Take it!"

I take the pokeball from his hand and look to my belt loops. Where are the other pokeballs?! I look around in alarm. Huey notices this and grins as he throws my rucksack at me. "Figured you'd be looking for that. I tossed your pokeballs in there with the rest of that rot. Your pokemon ought to be okay; pokeballs these days are water proof. But I don't know about the rest of your stuff. It's more than likely ruined."

But I don't care about any of that. All that matters is the safety of my pokemon. It is too dangerous to let them out now. I will just wait until Nurse Joy has free time to check up on them.

"Hey Drako, you know that the S.S. Alexei was the last ship headed to Hoenn for a while, right? Well, lucky for us a ship destined for Johto should be arriving here in Vermillion in about a week. How fortunate, huh? We just have to sit tight here for a little while longer and then it's back home to Olivine for me! Did I ever tell you about the lighthouse in Olivine? It's amazing..."

I smile, happy for Huey but I'm not really paying attention to his ramblings on the amazing Olivine City lighthouse. My mind drifts to other matters. Like returning back to Johto. Back to my overbearing mum. I love my mum but she can be so... Well, motherly! It's annoying, really. The way she always fusses about me. When she hears about the ship sinking she'll never let me go near the water ever again. She'll never allow me out of Blackthorne ever again. I might as well kiss my dreams of pokemon adventures goodbye. No adventures, no battles, no pokemon league...

And back to studying, studying, and more studying. I don't really want to be a docter. I want to have fun! I don't really want to go back to Johto just yet. And I don't have to. As far as mum is concerned, I am in Hoenn spending my vacation with my uncle. She won't start looking for me for a while. I'm in Kanto; she's in Johto. I guess she might think I'm dead, though. She'll find out about the accident and start worrying. After she doesn't hear from me she'll think I died.

But that's just perfect. You see, here in Kanto I'm free. I'm free to do whatever I like. I just had a near death experience! No way mum will be able to handle that! In fact, I should write about it! Right now.