The Riolu ran from the blazing forest, tears dripping from his cheeks onto the damp soft grass. Why? Why would someone do this? All those innocent lives now lost to the glimmering flames that consumed the once luscious trees. Everything he loved was now lost. He had nothing to hold onto, nothing to value but his life.

35 minutes ago.

Tyler the Riolu sulked against a tree, his Zigzagoon friend's bothering going through one ear and out the other. "-And of course, who could forget- are you listening to me?!" Tyler turned to Twig with a blank stare. He was sick of hearing his friend screaming about the hotties of the forest, currently a handsome Patrat. He wasn't jealous, it's just that you would think Twig was a little too obsessed with good-looking Pokémon if you hung around her for long enough. Not that she wasn't, but it was all she talked about. "Just talk to them. And don't stare at them weirdly from afar like you do with all of them. Honestly, it's no wonder they assume you're insane. Take it slowly! Let them know you're not a maniac."

"Slow?!" Twig screamed, her eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. "But then he'll only see me as a friend! What if some other girl comes along a takes him from me?" Tyler opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, the pair heard an explosion. Their heads twitched towards the source of the loud sound, and turned to each other, fear entering their eyes.

A Houndoom abruptly leapt from the trees, landing on the grass with a soft thump. Tyler and Twig slowly edged towards the thick trees. The devil dog Pokémon eyed the two, before smirking. It sprayed out a flamethrower attack in the direction of the duo. They threw themselves out of the way, picking themselves from the cold wet ground as soon as they landed. Tyler's brain raced as he scanned the situation. A Houndoom wouldn't normally attack random people, they usually keep to themselves. This was most likely tied to the explosion from a minute ago.

The Houndoom growled, baring its teeth, and pounced at Tyler, pinning against the ground. It chomped on his left arm, its teeth sinking into his skin. Tyler gasped, and struggled helplessly to push the larger foe off of him. Blood leaked from the wound and slowly trickled down his arm. "Get off! Get off! GET OFF OF ME!" Tears sprung into his eyes and he struggled, but the Houndoom didn't let go and only gripped harder. Tyler felt as if his arm would tear off any moment. He screamed, and slammed his other arm against the Houndoom, yet it still persisted.

Suddenly Twig slammed her body against the larger Pokémon, managing to send it crashing some distance from Tyler. "Go!" she cried. Tyler stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes filled with gratitude, before pulling himself up from the ground and stumbling towards and through the trees.

The branches whipped against his face, cuts and bruises appearing all over him, but that didn't stop him. His legs kept moving, despite the pain he was in. Suddenly a blunt force slammed against his stomach, throwing him onto his back and winding him. He gasped and coughed for air, clutching his chest. After a few seconds, he felt he could move, and suddenly realised what could have hit him. He slowly moved his head up expecting to see the Houndoom standing over him. Instead, he saw a drooping branch sticking out from a tree.

He breathed a sigh of relief and lay there for what seemed like hours. After a while, he tried moving. Grunting, he lifted himself from the ground. He listened out for any sound that someone was near, yet heard nothing. A chill ran up his spine. It was very eerie to hear almost nothing but your own breathing. A wave of pain flew through his body and he realised he hadn't seen how bad his arm was. He glanced over and he gasped in shock. His arm was covered in blood and had bite marks all over it, accompanied with a searing pain. He shook himself from the pain. An arm was hardly important compared to what might happen to the forest. He could go get his parents for help, but if he did he might be too late. He could go towards the explosion, but he couldn't fight in the state he was in. And yet if he tried, he could still make a difference. He cradled his arm and made a guess as to where the explosion happened, heading in that direction.

After a while of walking, he soon saw plains with signs of explosions from a distance, along with a group of large Pokémon. His slowed down getting closer ducking into a bush. Then he noticed the Houndoom from earlier, blood dripping from its fangs. Tyler's eyes widened. It couldn't be Twigs blood... could it? Or maybe his? His may have been crazy, but she wasn't weak, that's for sure. Then again, the Houndoom seemed powerful, along with the group of Pokémon it was with. A Heatmor, 2 Electrodes, and a Typhlosion. The appearance of the Electrodes would explain the explosions, yet the others seemed to be there for backup, right? At that moment Tyler spotted corpses and blood scattered around the evil pokémon. Some of them had obviously been the result of the explosion, with marks all over their bodies. Others appeared to have been mauled or burnt to death. Including a certain Zigzagoon.

Tyler fell back in shock, quickly covering his mouth so as he wouldn't make a noise. He heart was now pounding hard. They got Twig! He started to crawl away, trying as hard as he could not to make any noises. Snap. He paw landed on a stick, making a sharp snapping sound. The evil Pokémon's heads shot at the direction of Tyler. Luckily he was hidden in the bushes. He managed to see the Typhlosion nod, as it went towards him to investigate. Tyler lay dead still, his paw still covering his mouth, sweat dripping down his face, tears of fear starting to well up. The Typhlosion came closer and closer, until it was in front of the bushes. It squinted and Tyler squeezed his eyes shut.

Suddenly, it whipped its arms into the shrubbery, gripping Tyler by the arm, lifting him into the air. Tyler struggled, but to no avail. The Typhlosion walked over towards the other evil Pokémon and threw the small Pokémon onto the ground. The Houndoom immediately shoved one of its forelegs onto the smaller canine-like Pokémon, making him unable to move. "That's him." It simply stated, opening its mouth to finish Tyler with its razor-sharp teeth. Tyler howled in fright

Tyler felt the pressure of the paw release from his chest, and he opened his eyes to see his father, a Nidoking standing in front of him. "D... Dad?" squeaked Tyler. The Nidoking glared at the dark faction. "Tyler, run. I won't let another family member of mine die." Tyler grunted as he stood up. "They what?" He then noticed the body of a Lucario, in his father's arms, claw marks all over her bleeding body. "No..." The Nidoking lightly placed the Lucario of the ground, placing her arms on her chest and closing her lifeless eyes. "Go!" he screamed, rushing at the vicious foes. Tyler stumbled the other way and sprinted off.

Soon after minutes of running, he came across a giant blazing inferno in his way, most likely cause by the Pokémon from before. He looked for a way around in horror, as the fire drew closer, spotting a path to his right. He tried running that way, but a burning tree branch fell in his way, almost crushing him. He leaped back, tripping over a log, landing hard. And at that moment a flaming branch crushed his already injured, bloody arm. He stared at the wood pinning his limb down, his entire body screaming in pain. He cried out and quickly pushed the log off. His arm was now not only covered in deep red blood, but now had burn marks all along it and splinters poking out.

Tyler fought the unbearable pain, getting onto his feet, and he continued running. He had no idea where he was going, except away from the fire and the fight. He ran and ran through the woods, adrenaline pumping through him as he avoided other bits of flaming wood and the fire itself until he came across a signpost. He jumped from out the trees and onto the gravel path. But he didn't stop running until he was completely out of the forest

Present

Tyler slammed his uninjured paw against the ground again and again, feeling pathetic for not being able to do anything. The adrenaline had left his body, leaving the pain from his wounds excruciating, and the whole ordeal and left him tired and exhausted, both physically and mentally. He tried lifting himself up, but his legs and arms were shaking in pain. Even if he could, he would just fall down from the trauma of what had happened.

Tyler's eyes fluttered open and closed, sleep slowly overtaking him. Through his blurred vision he saw a green figure approached him and stood over him. "Hey! Hey! Are you alright?" The figure bent over to help Tyler. The Riolu looked up, wheezing in exhaustion. He fell forward into the arms of mystery person. "Help... Me." His eyes shut and stayed closed.

Sometime much later

Tyler's eyes shot open, and he flung himself up, slamming his head against a Treecko's head. "Ah!" The Treecko fell back, clutching his head. "Ow... I take care of you and this is the thanks I get? And just as I was checking on you..." Tyler stared at the gecko Pokémon before moving his eyes towards the ground. "Sorry." He mumbled. After a few seconds of awkward silence (and the sound of the Treecko rubbing his sore head), Tyler finally broke the silence. "Who are you?" The Treecko smiled. "I'm Logan. What's your name?" Tyler, again, stared at Logan. He seemed nice enough, and trustworthy... "I'm Tyler."

During the silence that following, Tyler looked around. They were in a small shack, filled with a bed, a table with papers, a lit campfire in the middle and a cupboard in corner. Across the room was the entrance. Tyler could see grass and a path head straight ahead. "What happened?" Tyler darted his head towards Logan. "Huh?" Logan sat down on the hard ground. "When I found you, there was a massive fire overtaking the forest, and you were exhausted and immediately collapsed into... my arms." Tyler scratched the back of his head, embarrassed at the now-awkward situation. "Sorry, that did not sound weird in my head..."

Tyler raised an eyebrow, at Logan. He seemed quite cheerful and energetic. Then Tyler's eyes widened. His mind flew back to everything that had happened in the woods. The evil Pokémon, the big fire, his mother and friend dead... and his father saving him. His father! Tyler leapt off the bed, only to fall over and land, having only his right arm to support him. However, his left arm wasn't in complete pain like yesterday. He glanced down at his left arm to find it completely bandaged. Logan noticed Tyler staring at the injury. "You were bleeding a lot, so I washed off the blood, cleaned the wound and bandaged it. You also had a lot of burn marks, so you should keep the bandage on, and don't use your arm so much." Tyler nodded and smiled gently. "Thank you." After some silence Logan decided to speak "Do you want to talk about the forest now?"

Tyler hesitated before explaining what happened. "There were some Pokémon... a Typhlosion, a Tyranitar, 2 Electrodes and a Houndoom. They lit the forest on fire and killed many inside. I don't know who lived and who died, but everyone I knew is dead now. But my father. Maybe."

Logan noticed Tyler's eyes becoming wet. "Hey. Don't cry. I'm sure he's fine! You didn't see anything happen to him, did you?" Tyler nodded, yet said nothing. "Hey... You can stay here with me until you find somewhere else to settle, alright?" Tyler looked up at Logan, his eyes filled with gratitude. "Thank you." Logan smiled. "No problem!"