Book 1: Kanto Saga

Chapter 2: Renewed Hope - A New Quest Begins

Far removed from the events that transpired on Cinnabar Island in Kanto, in the part of the Pokeworld known as Sinnoh, my actions manage to catch the attention of the Alpha Pokemon, Arceus. He watches closely as the whole of Cinnabar Island and everyone on and near it are destroyed by my fire. "This is disheartening that rage has consumed one so young as this, his hope lost seeing what he has done. Dialga, Palkia, I summon you two forth." As Arceus says this, two portals open up below the staircase leading up to his throne in the Hall of Origin. Dialga and Palkia rise up from the portals and make their way up to Arceus. Once they arrive, the Temporal and Spatial Pokemon bow and await what Arceus has to say.

"I have seen some very disheartening activity coming from the Kanto region as of late, a very young Charmander has just lost everything he held dear to him at the hands of humans and a new threat that emerged, Shadow Mewtwo. Normally I would not concern myself with something like this, but the power and rage that he has shown has piqued my interest. Therefore I have planned to lend aid to the young Charmander, but I need someone of the same line as him to help him along the way. First, to stop his rage, calm him and renew his hope. A fellow Charmander maybe, or even a Charizard, one to give him a sense of comfort. Also I want this person to relay a message to the young one. Many Pokemon can help him in his new journey, to train him and help him steel his heart, temper it and make it stronger. He will need to seek out the legends in each region and learn from them. Only then will he have the strength to face the one who holds the essence of his parents, Shadow Mewtwo."

When Arceus finishes his speech, Dialga and Palkia look at eachother, wondering how they will accomplish this feat. They wonder if there is a Pokemon in the Charmander line that could even deliver this task without breaking down, not wanting to send this young Charmander on a task that difficult. Arceus senses the duos hesitation, he speaks once more. "If one such Pokemon in the line cannot be found within this time period or this world, look throughout time and space for one. It may be against the laws normally to do such a thing, but I fear if the little one doesn't find hope, the Pokeworld may not have a future." With that, Dialga and Palkia snap their gaze towards Arceus once again. Palkia speaks, "Sir...is this one little Charmander really that powerful to have you this worried?" Arceus responds, "He may only be powerful enough to destroy a small island now, but if his despair and rage is allowed to fester within him, then his power could overwhelm even the most powerful of us, yes, even myself. One whose Pokecore contains all power and ability within..." With that, Dialga heads down the stairs of the Hall of Origin and begins to meditate. Not long after, Palkia joins him, their collective spatial and temporal powers allowing them to scan the very cosmos, searching for one worthy of this task appointed to them.

As the duo continues to search, Arceus keeps an eye on their progress. "I hope they can find one worthy enough...even though, finding Pokemon anywhere but here will be a miracle." Dialga and Palkia continue their search through the space-time continuum when suddenly Dialga locks into a time in the future. "Arceus sir, I'm getting signs of Pokemon that reside on quite a few worlds within the time period that I'm searching in" Arceus responds "Excellent, have Palkia help you to narrow down the possibilities in that timeframe." Dialga nods and holds the time period as Palkia begins to scan through space to find a large concentration of Pokemon containing planets. As Palkia continues his own scan, his sights land on a strange planet that resembles the Pokeworld in many facets. On one of the many continents of that world he finds a Charizard wearing humanoid clothing, holding a cake and standing near a strange looking Blastoise. "Arceus sir...I have found a strange planet that has signs of many different Pokemon, possibly as many Pokemon species as we have in our own world. Also I have found a Charizard...but he oddly is wearing humanoid clothing and is standing by what appears to be a Blastoise, but it looks strange to me. He has spikes on his shell and his skin is yellowish rather than the blue we are accustomed to. He also appears to have no water cannons on his body anywhere.' Arceus replies, "Hmmm, that is very strange, to think that Pokemon are on another world in the future, and possible different variants as well." Palkia asks, "Sir, do you want Dialga to look through this Charizard's past to see if he may be the one we seek?" Arceus answers, "Yes, Look at all of this Charizard's past experiences. I have a feeling that this Charizard will be the one. "

Palkia begins to meditate deeply, using his temporal power to peer into the Charizard's past. He sees everything that the Charizard has experienced, seeing his life from hatching to his current time. Palkia witnesses several tragic events, most notably the death of his own parents at a young age. Palkia snaps out of his meditative state and looks up at Arceus. Arceus stares back, "What have you found Palkia?" Palkia responds, "Arceus sir...this Charizard has had a similar tragic event to the young Charmander at about the same point in his life. He also learned to overcome this trial with the help of friends he found in his own journeys, friends like the strange Blastoise, apparently nicknamed 'Bowser', and a female dragon type nicknamed 'Cynder' " Arceus sighs a little, "I see, it looks like we may have found one who may be able to help the little Charmander, but to rip him from his own time to this time and place..." Dialga speaks up, "Sir, if I may speak, it must be done, for you said yourself that if the Charmander doesn't have the fires of hope within him, and his hate and rage allowed to fester...then this world is doomed." Arceus responds, "I am quite aware...but I don't want to rip him here without warning, he must be aware of what is to happen." Dialga and Palkia nod in agreement and make plans to send a notice to this Charizard.

One portal opens between the two, opening up to show the house of the Charizard. Arceus speaks, "Do your best and try to convey my message to the young Charizard...our world is relying on this to succeed." Palkia and Dialga nod and step into the portal arriving at the Charizard's home world. They could hardly imagine that it looked very much like their own. As they searched the surroundings, they saw on a clearing the Charizard engaged in what seemed like a friendly battle with the strange Blastoise and the dragon-type Pokemon. The Charizard managed to bring down the Blastoise, which made Dialga and Palkia very pleased. The two approached the battlefield. "Excellent fight you put up there, Charizard," said Dialga, which brought the Charizard and his two friends their attention. "Perhaps you could be of some help to us." The Charizard eyed Dialga and Palkia uneasily, he clearly has never seen them before. "Wh-who are you?" he asked. Palkia speaks, "I can understand the apprehension I see from you, I am Palkia, and my partner here is Dialga. We control the very forces of time and space." Dialga bows and begins to speak again, "We have come on a mission of grave importance, our very world could be the center of a crisis." Palkia and Dialga then create an observation portal looking over Cinnabar Island. "This is Cinnabar Island as how it looked several hours ago, that is until a Charmander from our world and time changed the landscape...taking many Pokemon and people with it." The image in the portal shows the events that transpired, leading up to the present time in the Pokeworld. "The Charmander's rage and hatred unleashed a power we have never seen from any normal Pokemon...Our leader Arceus worries that if this little one doesn't find something to hope in, then his hate and rage will fester and what happened to Cinnabar could happen to the rest of the Pokeworld." Palkia speaks again, "As we are restricted in interfering in the affairs of normal Pokemon, we have been asked to find one suitable to convey a message of hope to the little one."

The Charizard focused on the observation portal where he saw Cinnabar Island, which at first glance looked calm and peaceful, then it changed to appear bleak and in ruins. When he saw the cause of the island's destruction, he was shocked when he saw the Charmander. He looked troubled and tortured, and at the same time it was angered as it harmed Pokemon and people alike. As his two companions looked on, the Charizard grimly felt an urge to help out this Charmander. "I cannot believe that this little fellow could cause a catastrophe," he said as the image finally evaporated into nothingness. "So if I were to help this Charmander out, would that save the world he is from?" He paused momentarily. "But even so, how will it be possible to go to this world?" Palkia responds, "We can help you get there with our combined spacial and temporal power. It will be a long journey, and if you are truly willing to go then we can leave at any time." Dialga speaks up, "There is one more bit of information we must relay to you, once the Charmander has been calmed, he will have to go on a journey to help him strengthen his heart and mind...because there is another threat in our world that helped sow the seeds of Cinnabar's destruction into the Charmander's mind. It is an artificial construct taking the DNA of the New Species Pokemon, Mew and fusing it with the very essence of many other Pokemon who had capabilities benefiting one with cunning and manipulation as well as great physical and special ability...the Charmander's parents fell to the experiments to bring this Pokemon, Shadow Mewtwo, to life...giving their Pokecores to it unwillingly. The Charmander may someday have to face Shadow Mewtwo, but in his current condition, that would be disastrous."

"This journey that the little Charmander must embark on could be quite perilous in it's own right though. He will have to make the choice to accept or decline on his own, but if he does accept then he must find the legends within each region of our Pokeworld and learn from them. We see great potential within this young one, and through this training he may even be able to save the world from Shadow Mewtwo." Dialga says as he wonders how the Charizard and his friends will respond. Understanding everything that he has been told, the Charizard turned to his two friends. They both nodded at him, indicating that this is a mission that they will have to undertake in order to save the Charmander and his world. "We will do what it takes to prevent the destruction of Cinnabar Island from happening," he said. "My name is Draco and these are my friends Cynder and Bowser, I believe you haven't told me yours just yet." Palkia smiles, "You might have missed it when I told you earlier, but I am Palkia, and my partner is Dialga, as for Cinnabar...that place shall never return unfortunately. If we attempt to change what has happened, a different disaster could happen." The spatial and temporal Pokemon prepare to create a portal leading to the destroyed Cinnabar, a little bit away from myself as to not scare me. "We cannot accompany you once you three step through this portal we are setting up, once there it is up to you to help the small Charmander," Dialga says as the portal opens up. "We hope that you are able to succeed in this endeavor, may the power within serve you well."

The portal shone very brightly that Draco, Cynder, and Bowser had to take a step back. Draco turned to his two friends. "Are you guys alright?" he asked. "Yeah, we are," said Cynder. "Okay, let's go," said Draco, and the three headed right into the portal. In a moment, they find themselves in an island that looked bleak and desolate. Draco takes a look at his surroundings. The world he, Cynder, and Bowser are in looked very much like theirs, but they could see that it isn't the same world they came from.

A small distance away from the portal, the little Charmander is laying on the ground crying, his hands bruised and bloody from the multiple punches to the ground he did. "I never wanted this to happen...only to harm the guy in the strange coat a little...to make him stop...I didn't want to kill anyone," he looks back at the Riolu and frowns, "I don't know if I should be forgiven...I gave into rage, I'm a monster..." Just then the Charmander sees a glow from off in the distance. "Huh, what could that be? Could someone, or something have survived?" He stands up and makes his way slowly towards the glow. The glow slowly grew brighter, as the Charmander rubbed his eyes, the silhouette of a Charizard appeared in front of the glow. Finally, the silhouette revealed itself. The Charmander was stunned, as the Charizard looked very different. He was wearing human clothes. "Don't be afraid," he said. "I have come to help you." The Charmander watches as two other forms emerge from the glow, standing behind the strange looking Charizard. The Charmander takes a couple steps back, clearly apprehensive about this situation, knowing not who these people are but also because he doesn't believe anyone would want to help the monster that he has become. "Y-you want to help...me?" The Charmander looks down somberly, "Why would strangers want to help one who destroyed everything here...why help a monster?" The Charmander starts to cry into his bloody and bruised hands.

"Because you're not really a monster," assured the Charizard. "You are unsure with who you can trust, seeing that you must have gone through a lot." The two forms revealed from the flames, one was a rather unusual dragon-type and the other which resembled a Blastoise, but was obviously different in appearance. Both remained silent while the Charizard tried to coax the Charmander "We just heard about a Charmander that is in distress here on this island, so we have come to investigate and bring him to safety. You must be the Charmander, aren't you?" The Charmander looks up at the trio, tears still in his eyes, "Y-yeah...I guess I am..." The Charmander tells the trio his story from his view, about being taken from his home, watching the cruelness that happened to some small Pokemon he met, the experiments that the scientists and Team Rocket members put his parents through, the removal of his parents Pokecores that killed them in the process and about Shadow Mewtwo...at that moment of remembering Shadow Mewtwo he remembers that is when his rage started. "Shadow Mewtwo...he set this in motion...and he has my parents essences...what am I supposed to do now? Where am I even supposed to go...I don't know of any other place except here and my home...and what am I supposed to even do once I leave here?" Draco thought what to do for his new friend. "Team Rocket..." he said slowly. "Sounds like those people are no good." "I can't believe that they would do away your parents," said Cynder. "We can't let them harm any more Pokémon!" "But there's also the Shadow Mewtwo," said Bowser. "We really need to help this poor Charmander out, but how?" Draco looked his two friends, feeling a certain kinship with his Charmander. "Since he's lost his parents and possibly his home, I'd say it is up to us that we take care of him for now and help him regain his strength." The Charmander looks at the trio, "How are you going to help me do that? I wouldn't even know where to begin, where can we even go?" Some debris moves by the group, within is a slightly singed map that somehow managed to not be totally destroyed. The Charmander picks it up and looks at it. "Huh...is this what my world looks like, it's a lot bigger than I thought."

Draco checks the map. "So that's your world?" he asked. "Wow, you are most certainly right about that." Cynder notices a rather interesting landmark. "Look at this place," she said as she pointed at the map. "The Great Charizard Shrine, maybe we can find some answers and solutions to what to do." "She might be correct about that, Draco," said Bowser. "I say we investigate the place to help our little friend." Draco looked to his friends. "Bowser, Cynder," he said. "I'm so glad you're here to guide me whenever I need it, so let's go find the shrine." The little Charmander looks up and smiles, thinking to himself some. "Thank you everyone...I'm glad that I found others who want to help me out."