Chapter 1: Awakening

Author's Note: It'll take a bit to get to the Mystery Dungeon Aspect of this. It isn't mislabeled I just want to work up to it first.

A Xatu stood upon a cliff gazing into the past, present, and future. An Alakazam hovered just behind him.

"Doom approaches us accompanied by bright blazing sapphire flame. Only a pokemon, pure of heart and soul, can save us from our impending doom."

"Can we do nothing to prevent it ourselves?"

"Fear not, this savior shall arrive shortly after the calamity has begun."

*Elsewhere*

Darkness surrounded the charmander. He was in a dark cave, the only illumination he had was the dim blue glow of his tail. Despite the cold and dark of the cave the charmander was smiling. It had been a rather pleasant walk, despite the fact that several pokemon had shown surprising aggression toward him. Their aggression never went beyond threatening gestures however. "Just relax Pyre, they weren't angry at you, they were just scared." He said to himself as he reached the cave entrance. His voice was energetic and high pitched, like that of a young boy. He stretched his entire body a moment. His bright crimson scales shining in the sunlight, the nearly golden hue of the scales on his stomach glistening magnificently, and the vibrant green of his eyes showing that this charmander hadn't a care in the world.

"Oh yeah, a great day for being lazy!" Pyre finished stretching and strolled forward. Trees covered the view across the horizon, the sounds of dozens of pokemon going about their days, gathering food, playing, living their lives happily. It was a perfect and peaceful day, and the crimson scaled charmander had every intention of enjoying it to the fullest.

It didn't take long with Pyre's surprisingly fast strides for him to find a sunny opening in the forest with a beautiful glistening blue lake in the center. He found a large rock by the lakeside and laid down on it. He could feel the heat of the sun filling him as he looked down himself, he was rather chubby for a charmander. He'd be more physically fit if he wasn't so lazy, but he didn't care. The sunlight on his scales was wonderful and as he saw it, that's all that mattered.

This peace however was shattered only moments later.

"Fascinating! This Charmander is rather unique, those vibrant crimson scales, these gorgeous eyes, and that brilliant sapphire flame." A voice came as Pyre found himself suddenly surrounded by humans.

He looked around carefully at them.

"Such a specimen would be invaluable!" One human spoke.

"Perhaps he can help us. He could be the key to unlocking the true potential of pokemon." The first began again.

Pyre focused on the man speaking. He was blonde, with a long blue streak of hair snaking around his head, clad in a lab coat and glasses. Something about him made Pyre uneasy. The man's appearance brought a strange sense of safety to the Charmander, but his eyes and his aura said otherwise. There was an almost cruel look in the man's eyes, and as Pyre could feel through his very aura, there was a reason.

"Retrieve the specimen, I simply must examine him closer. For now we will use this retrieval as a preliminary test of his capabilities. Let us see how fear for his freedom can bring out the power of a pokemon." Pyre finally looked around at the other humans, who seemed to be wearing some form of armor.

After a moment the humans released several pokemon around him. Patrat, Scraggy, and Purloin appeared.

"Well there went my afternoon." Pyre said to himself as he took a deep breath and spit a jet of flames forward before spinning himself in a circle to spread the flames around himself.

The humans and pokemon stepped back a short distance. There was an opening in their surrounding group, right beside the lake. All he had to do was make a run for it.

He spit out another jet of flames once again spinning to spread it around, this time however he immediately broke into a sprint. Dashing through the flames, passing the humans and their pokemon, and fleeing around the lake. "LATER NERDS!"

"Well don't just stand there." The man in the lab coat proclaimed. "The experiment isn't done yet!" The man started strutting toward the fleeing Charmander, typing up the current status of the experiment on a small device in his hands.

The other humans however took off running followed by their pokemon.

Despite his head start, the chubby Charmander was easily losing ground, his pursuers growing closer by the second. In a desperate move Pyre turned on his heels, sliding backwards as he faced opponents. Once again his mouth lit with flames as he let loose another flamethrower striking the pursuing Patrat forcing it's trainer to cease pursuit. The others were undeterred and simply continued chasing. And seeing they were still coming Pyre turned back around and kept running, luckily not losing momentum.

Purloin caught up and went in to tackle the Charmander to the ground, but Pyre chose that moment to once again turn around to face them, using the moment of his turning to charge a mega punch in his right claw, slamming the feline and sending them flying as his momentum carried him back into his running position again.

Finally Pyre was making it away, one last glance back showed the Scraggy and it's trainer lagging behind, the pokemon unable to keep pace with Pyre any longer.

"Well this simply won't do, this specimen is far too valuable to simply let him escape." The man in the lab coat spoke as he tossed a PokeBall through the air. "Do stop that Charmander for me, he's being rather difficult."

Pyre kept running , taking a sudden glance back he saw the strange man fast approaching, but he wasn't walking or running, he was simply standing atop a Metang, which seemed to be gaining on Pyre rather quickly. Before the Charmander could react the ground shook and he was forced to stop as he faced forward again, now face to face with a massively steel type, the evolved form of his final pursuer, the pokemon known as Metagross.

"My my, you certainly gave quite a chase, do come quietly now, there is simply no way for you to escape." The man spoke adjusting the glasses on his face, which Pyre only then noticed. Unfortunately the man was right, trapped between Metagross and this strange man. And moments later, the other humans that were with him.

The little Charmander smiled as he raised his clawed fists.

"A shame you insist on resisting, but I suppose you will fight with everything you have if you believe your life is on the line. " The man's eyes seemed to light up with an almost cruel curiosity. "Then let your true potential shine! Attack Metagross! Don't hold back now, we need to see his limits!"

The ground shook beneath the Charmander as he watched the man on his Metang fly back. As he turned back he saw a large clawed limb coming down over him. Without hesitation he jumped out of the way. After standing up Pyre held his arms over his head and his body adopted a red glow. "Chaaaaaarrrr!" He brought his arms down to his side as he seemingly filled with power.

Metagross struck him with it's front right leg, slamming down upon him like a hammer on a nail.

Pyre dug himself out of the comical Charmander shaped crater in the ground and repeated his previous motion, raising his arms over his head and slowly pulling them down to his sides. "Chaaaaaarrrr!" He cried out again his body once again glowing red as his body filled with power.

Metagross used it's psychic attack to throw Pyre back and slam him to the ground.

The Charmander simply stood once again, this time coughing. "That….all ya got….I can do this…..all day.." he panted between words.

Metagross approached quickly preparing to slam it's arm over him once more.

As the arm came down Pyre finally made his move. Quickly taking in a deep breath he jumped back, dodging the attack at the last minute. And by doing so Metagross buried it's arm under the dirt.

The breath Pyre had taken began to hear up in his mouth, the corners of which sparked with a powerful orange hue. "Ya know the secret about bending fire to your will? Hard to do even for seasoned fire types." Pyre taunted as the steel/psychic type began to rip it's arm from the ground. Each word that left his mouth was accented by the spilling out flames. "Truth is real fire power comes from the breath, not the muscles." With one final intake of breath he was ready, the flames changing color from the powerful orange flames to brilliant blue fire. And to accentuate his words, he let the flames loose, firing the ball of blue fire that opened up into an almost star shape. Once it collided with Metagross it exploded in a blinding flash of light, the explosion alone shaking the nearby area.

"Truly magnificent what pokemon are capable of!" The man spoke from above as he and Metang lowered themselves to the ground. Upon stepping off the pokemon he returned them both to their pokeballs, still looking at Pyre. "Truly magnificent."

The Charmander was unconscious, but he had not lost by any means, despite the difference in level, the Charmander had let loose an attack so powerful it had knocked Metagross out before he ever hit the ground.

"Secure the specimen, I'd very much like to examine him more closely in a more controlled environment." He looked at the scorched ground and the now steaming lake. "If not for the data I gathered I'd consider this damage a tragedy, but this Charmander makes it a much more acceptable collateral."

"Doctor our transport is ready, and I'm afraid our leader has requested your assistance."

"I see, have him moved to the lab, along with those other's we recently captured." The doctor spoke.

"Yes sir."