-Prologue-

Johnathon was only 6 when his world came crashing down around him but little did he know that from the ashes a phoenix will rise. It was like any other day the sun warmed his family's happily average home. The Pokémon sounded their hearty hellos to the people outside. Some people however, are sadly not the light-hearted type though, for in the shadows of the bushes lurked an intruder. His name was Ronald Harrison, a lowly criminal who had just been let out of prison with a malicious intent to return to the life he left behind. When the family slept that night he snuck in through an open window. At first he stole the jewelry and the cash but it escalated heavily when Jonathon's parents awoke from their beds to a loud crash downstairs. Harrison fought his father as young Johnny watched helplessly from the safety behind his mother. The criminal, in desperation swung his arm around accidentally knocking over a candle which in turn engulfed the curtains. Outside the police watched in horror as chaos was brought to a seemingly cookie cutter neighborhood. Over the next hour the house was swallowed entirely by the unrelenting flame. The onlookers tried water-gun, but to no prevail. Inside Johnny's mother acted quickly to defend her only son. She thrust him into the other room as the one containing the others collapsed on top of them. "NOOOOOOO! MOMMY!" he screamed but no answer could penetrate the screaming flames of the fire. He fell to his knees, tears in his eyes but suddenly he saw it, a strange sight indeed. It was a movement in the flames, some unknown angel among the dead. It quickly flew through the destruction until it stopped to look into the defenseless boy's eyes. Suddenly there was a loud explosion as the fire reached the gas-main in the house. The being acted quickly and dove to cover the boy and shield him from the explosion. Outside the neighborhood watched as the home Exploded into the sky with fire, smoke, an death.

Eventually the fire settled only leaving the glowing ash of the remnants of the house. The fire department searched the house looking for the family until, just before calling it a night and walking past the candle-light vigil left by their neighbors, something moved in the rubble. Everyone sprinted over to save the trapped victim. What they saw surprised them however. It was the boy safe and sound other than being covered in soot and ash. He coughed back to life and the first thing he saw was the local heroes helping him up, but where was his guardian angel, the one who ultimately saved his life? That's when he glanced up toward the moon to see the silhouette of a CHARIZARD! flying overhead. Johnny smiled and winked at the flying angel above as they carried him toward the sound of sirens and flashing lights.

Chapter 1!

"Mom?" Johnny's mother loomed over him with a soft light at her back.

"Yes, Johnny it's me. Everything's going to be okay." She spoke with a soft, reassuring voice.

"Mom, i miss you so much." Johnny said in desperation.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay." Her voice faded out into the abyss of white light as she held her hand out for her son to take.

Johnny reached out for the embrace of his mother, but when their hands met her arm turned to ash and suddenly the once white glow was now a fiery red prison for his mind.

"NOOO! Come back! Mom!" Johnny shouted as he awoke to the roar of the train car. He had been riding the rails all over the region, not to anywhere specific, just away. After that night when he was nine he did what any scared child would do, he ran and he ran till he couldn't run anymore. The safety of a train car was his last hope for escape from his ruined past. For years he's been riding that train car from town to town; city to city. He didn't know what he was looking for but he would know when he found it, he thought.

The light shown through the cracks between the wood panels of the train. The clunking of the train grew loud and unbearable. Johnny peeked his head from the door and looked out onto a beautiful skyline of mountains and forest. Ahead of the train was an old metal bridge leading to the other side of a deep chasm. Down, below was a rushing tidal wave dancing between jagged rocks. He thought nothing of this as he has passed over many bridges before; at least he thought nothing of it till he noticed scores of ratatat scampering off of the bridge as if running from some invisible foe.

Clang! The train was now on the bridge, darting across this rusted structure beneath him. About halfway across there was a suspicious creaking and then... Crash! The bridge was collapsing at the center! Johnny quickly climbed out to the ladder on the outside of the train car. Metal screeched as it scraped against the side of the locomotive. Sections of the train derailed and threatened to force the train over the edge and into the hellish end below. Johnny sprinted as fast as he could across the top of the train cars hopping from one to the next. He was almost to safety when out of nowhere a fearow swooped down with a gust of wind and flung young Johnny off his feet. He could tell this Pokémon was angry. Its nest was perched underneath the bridge on a ledge and now that the bridge was collapsing its nest had plummeted below.

Infuriated, it attacked again this time using its beak at a dart and attempting to impale the boy. This time he was ready he leaped out of the way and jumped to the next car. "I do not have time for this!" Johnny realized he would not have enough time to make it back to the Cliffside he would need to improvise. "Alright! You want to tango? I'm game!" He leaped up as the fearow flew by, missing the top of his head by only inches. Grabbing onto the Pokémon's feet, he was airborne, suspended hundreds of feet in the air. It was then that the caboose of the train plunged off the bridge. But Johnny was facing a different problem now, the bird overhead. It thrashed and jerked. "This is not as good of an idea that as i thought!" Desperately, he leaped for the edge.

Flying through the air he felt like a bird himself...but sadly he missed the edge and began plummeting down. He screamed out for help. Hope looked lost until, he was caught! Opening one eye he noticed he had stopped falling and was instead ascending! When he opened his other eye he was surprised to see a charizard below him!

Flashbacks flashed before his eyes; the angel in the flames, the shadow on the moon. Could it be? Was this the same savior as when he was a kid? He was nine and now he's 14 and here, underneath him, was the same guardian angel? He couldn't believe his eyes!

Suddenly, the fearow returned angrier than ever. It attacked the charizard but luckily he avoided it. Charizard reacted with a fireball right towards the creature which he quickly countered with a gust of wind. The two flew at each other at top speed. They clawed at one another, tumbling down the chasm into the mist that the rapids spewed.

They were now lost in an endless sea of mist and fog. Who won? Which will prevail? For a moment there was only the roar of the rapids ... until ... Charizard bursted heroically into the air with Johnny screaming with triumph on his back. They flew into the high into the air, the sun warmed their soaked bodies. Johnny smiled.

They continued to fly back over the Cliffside and further toward a clearing in the trees. Flowers filled the clearing and the grass swayed in the wind. All around the songs of clefairies filled the air. Wind swirled around as the large wings of the charizard landed the two safely on the ground.

It took a will before Johnny could think of anything to say to the creature. " Uh, hey." he murmured awkwardly. The charizard just rubbed his head against Johnny playfully. "Ha-ha. Why did you save me...twice?" The charizard looked deeply into the boy's eyes and nodded towards the dog tags on his neck. Johnny had been so wrapped up in the situation he hadn't noticed them. He proceeded to take the dog tags off of the Pokémon and was surprised to read what they said. "This charizard belongs to Nathanial St. Cloud." Johnny froze from shock. This was his father's Pokémon. He looked at the charizard and noticed a charming twinkle in its eye. It quickly grabbed the chain from Johnny. "Hey!" Johnny exclaimed. But the charizard wasn't taking it. He put the necklace around Johnny's neck to forever remember his father. "Um. Thank you. I don't know what to say." Johnny looked at the flip side of the dog tags and saw that the Pokémon's name was in fact... "Ignition? Is that your name?" Ignition licked Johnny's face happily. "Ha-ha ok. Ignition, you and me, i think we're going to get along just fine." Johnny smiled as he began to stroke Ignition's back lovingly.