From the Ashes

Prologue

Officer Jenny stood before the burning house. Around her, Firemen cried out;

"Blastoise! Go! Use Hydro Cannon! Put out that fire!"

Tumultuous jets of water blasted past, from the ranks of Pokemon behind her.

Only the frail skeleton of the house remained, as the walls burnt away like tissue paper.

"Men! Get out of there! Typhlosions, in! Begin to scout!"

Like a well-oiled machine, men and Pokemon switched places, as the boiling flames grew too hot for the humans.

Noctowls began to swoop overhead, futilely scanning the wreck that was once a home with their extrasensory perceptions.

A wall collapsed with a spray of burning embers and molten cement. "Typhlosions! Out!" roared an officer, "It's too hot! Too unstable!"

Nurse Joy moved silently to stand beside Jenny.

"There's something not right about this. It's burning too hot, too quickly... Almost as though......"

"It was set?" asked Jenny

"Precisely."

"They haven't found anyone, have they?"

"I don't expect they will" sighed the Nurse, her dark blue eyes shadowed and flickering with reflections of the fire. "If even the Typhlosions were pulled out... mere humans don't stand a chance."

"We'll have to wait till it dies out before we can search for remains..."

A Noctowl suddenly let out a screech of warning. Its Trainer called out, his voice hoarse with smoke; "Officer Jenny! They've found something!"

Nurse Joy grabbed her arm, her voice unusually fierce. "We need to get them out! If there's any chance of someone, somehow being alive... we need to take risks... go to any measures... to keep them that way."

Jenny blew on the whistle around her neck. "Charmanders! In!"

It was dangerous, but these Pokemon were the only ones small enough to fit that had a high enough heat tolerance. The risk was high, if the Typhlosions couldn't handle it, the Charmanders could easily be burnt. Charizards would have been better, but their sheer size would have obliterated the building, crushing the very people they were trying to save.

It was a risk, but they had to take it.

They waited what felt like centuries after the pair of Charmanders slipped into the house.

Suddenly, an eerie keen cut through the air. The other Pokemon picked it up, sending shivers down the human's spines. The howls, cries and wails drowned out even the deafening crackle of the hungry flames.

Joy grabbed Jenny's arm.

"What is it?"

Jenny's eyes were haunted. "It's the Charmanders... They're... They're crying..."

A few minutes later, the pair returned, their fiery eyes dulled with sorrow.

Joy ran up to them, her red curls flying. "Are you hurt? Are there any survivors?"

The Charmanders shook their heads.

Suddenly a man's frantic voice was heard above the clamour of weeping Pokemon.

"My sister! Is she OK? What happened? My nephew? My brother-in-law? Tell me they're safe! Please!"

Professor Oak came tearing up to the Nurse Joy, gripping hold of her arms as though his life depended on it. "Please! Mary, my sister, is she here?"

"These are your relatives?" asked Joy, her voice trembling.

"Yes my sister, and her husband, they just had a baby, they've only been living here for a few weeks... They just moved from Vermillion City-"

"I'm so sorry." Said Joy, her eyes overflowing.

Oak said nothing, just stared at the flames, disbelieving, "No..."

Jenny's attention, however, was caught by the Charmanders. They had snapped to attention at Oak's description of the house's owners.

"What's wrong?" she asked sharply.

They looked at each other, communicating in that silent way that Pokemon did, then at her.

Slowly one raised its hand and mutely held up two sharp claws.

"Only two bodies? You only found two?" Oak grabbed hold of one of the Charmanders, shaking it violently. Jenny's loyal Growlithe hissed in warning.

"Professor! Stop!" Cried Joy, pulling him away. "You're in shock, not thinking clearly! You're hurting him, stop!"

Oak let go of the Pokemon, staring at his hands as though they did not belong to him.

"Was there the body of a child? A baby?" he whispered to the Charmanders.

The fiery lizards shook their heads sadly. "Charrr."

"So there's hope" whispered Oak, "Hope..."


After the deadly flames had finally died down, leaving behind nothing but ashes and ruin, an infant's cry could be heard, quickly stifled by an unknown hand.

Glowing purple eyes cut through the shadows of the smoke-filled night. Slowly, furtively, Mewtwo slipped away from the trees surrounding the house, a small squirming bundle clasped in his arms. He wiped a dark smear of ash from his hands.


Disclaimer:

I don't own Pokemon... I love it, but sadly... No. Hope you liked this chapter, more are on their way!