Prologue
Johto Family Palace
Gently lit candles were the only light source in the enormous throne room. They lined the large red carpet which led up to the great golden throne. A red-haired man was positioned in the throne watching the flames of the candles flicker in the darkness. He loved the darkness. Ever since an early age he would rarely keep his curtains open during the day, possibly to reflect the darkness in his heart onto the world around him. This man was Lance. The young tyrant who ruled over Kanto and Johto after successfully killing Kanto's previous king in battle. Ever since conquering his first region 10 years ago, the man had a thirst for ruling over nations. "I want to rule over them all." These were the words Lance had uttered to his Elite 4 the week after Kanto was taken over.
Lance continued watching candles flicker until he heard the long-awaited entrance of Koga. He was a middle-aged man who wore ninja gear into battle and was extremely agile for his age. He stepped into the throne room and waited for Lance to give him orders.
"Speak." Lance murmured.
"Hoenn is going to start a war my lord." the ninja said obediently. He never looked Lance in the eye and instead stared at the floor in front of him. "Tonight, the first attack shall occur and it shall signal our chance to make our move." Koga remained silent, making sure he only told his lord what he needed to hear.
"Good...Tell Giovanni to prepare the Elite 4 to head out tomorrow." Lance said before nodding at the ninja. Koga took this as a sign to leave the room. "Wait." Lance ordered. Koga immediately faced him again.
"Yes, my lord." Koga quickly said to his ruler.
"Have your ninja's located Jirachi yet?" The Emperor inquired. Lance could not only rely on winning wars to rule over all six regions, he needed the wish maker. Once every 100 years, this Pokémon could grant one wish to one person. It was up to those who desperately wanted this wish to seek out the Pokémon. However, with generations of experience in granting wishes, the Pokémon was extremely well versed in keeping itself hidden.
"My lord, I am afraid not a single person I have spied on has heard anything but myths and legends about Jirachi, the Pokémon is just surrounded in too much mystery." Koga said cautiously. He looked up for a second to see his emperor's reaction to the shocking news. Lance stared down at him with a blank expression for a few seconds before sighing.
"That's fine Koga, keep searching and get more men on the hunt for Jirachi as well." Lance said while sighing again. Koga was in mild disbelief at Lance's calm reaction to his failed mission report. "What? I didn't expect you to find this Pokémon for a very long time. I knew just how difficult this task would be as soon as I assigned it to you." The emperor said matter-of-factly. Lance rose from his throne and walked down to meet Koga. "If I am the one to eventually gain the power of Jirachi and use it to crush anyone who opposes me, I will remain calm." Lance placed his hand on Koga's shoulder. "I have full faith in you, I know that you will not fail me on this mission...my friend." Lance muttered to Koga, ending the conversation. Lance then paced out of his throne room and headed over to his quarters. As he did so all the candles in the room went out, leaving a smiling and now motivated Koga to himself.