The remnants of New Bark Town were quiet in the dark night. Only a tiny plume of smoke crept up from the destroyed buildings, stretching towards the sky and dissipating, remained to remind anyone who passed by of the destruction that had just passed. Suddenly, four forms shot out of the darkness. There were three teenagers, two girls and a boy. One girl was on the back of a massive hunting eagle, russet, copper, and ivory. The other girl was on the back of a strange blue behemoth, surrounded by a pure silver cloud. Its face was strangely birdlike, with white smears under its kind eyes. Its tail flared out behind it like azure ribbons. Tiny, three-toed feet were seen dangling under its body. The boy’s Pokémon was not Flying-typed, but it had clear, if delicate, wisteria wings. It was a moth Pokémon with a proud crest on its head and wide eyes.
There was one man, a man with a face etched in time. It had seen too much through its wide seafoam green eyes. He was on the back of a flitting water snake. His face fell into a frown as he gazed down at what had been New Bark Town. “We’re too late,” he intoned.
“It’s never too late!” the girl on the Chirutarisu, the blue Dragon-Flying hybrid, screeched. “There has to be some survivors…” Her Pokémon nodded in agreement. The serious-looking man gazed at her sadly.
“You know there are none. They would have gotten out of here by now,” he told. The girl he was talking to, with long periwinkle blue hair, wiped a tear away from an eye quickly. “I’m… sorry, Clair. I know, this place was everything to you.”
The two who had not been talking simply watched Clair, the third member of the Elite Four, dip in altitude on the back of her Pokémon. Tears streamed down her cheeks, although she chose to ignore them. “More than everything.” From a hundred feet above the air, she shot down, carefully guiding Chirutarisu above the city. The girl and the boy looked concerned.
“They have the audacity to attack New Bark Town… who knows where next.” The girl’s face wore an expression of concern. “What attacked here?”
The older man took a look down at the ground. “From the looks of it, a Fire-type, and one that got away fast. It must have flown or ran away quickly… Charizard, Ho-Oh, Moltres, Pheonix, Arcanine, Rapidash, Ninetales, Inari, Houndoom, Entei…” He sighed. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down…”
“Plus,” the boy commented, speaking for the first time, choking down the growing horror in his throat, “It could have been an electric fire… or started by other things…”
There was just silence as Clair came flying back up, openly sobbing but not acknowledging it. “Professor Elm… dad… he’s…” was all she said. “He’s…” She buried her head in the floating cloud on Chirutarisu’s back, and slowly, liquid dripped off the dragon to the smoking town below.
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A thousand miles or more away, a smile curved over thin lips. “Excellent.” He summoned his Fire Pokémon, Inari, over to him. The Inari was a fox Pokémon. It would have resembled Vulpix, except it had fierce, evil eyes. It was also far taller than even a Ninetales. Its most bizarre feature had to be its two bodies joined at one head. Inari was a deep maroon color. “You led all those Pokémon, huh?”
“Ina.” The Fire-type wore a smirk like its owner. It bumped its head into his hand, then curled up to sleep. Its owner’s smile reached farther as he watched the TV. On it, the foolish Elite Four – Sarah, Colin, Clair, and Lance – were warning people not to panic.
Colin stepped forward. He was tall and broad with muscles. His hair was a darkish brown, spiked in front, and he was rather pale, with freckles sprinkled across his face. He had incredibly cool gray eyes. They were naturally soothing. They lay behind wire-framed glasses. “The Pokémon League is having a day of mourning for those killed in the disgusting New Bark City attack. If anybody has any information at all about this attack, please contact us at…” A number flashed across the screen as Colin spoke it out loud.
The face of the man who was watching furrowed deeper into a frown. “Stupid Colin,” he whispered, hands shaking with rage. “What do you know?” The man immediately shoved himself off his chair and stormed off. Inari woke up and gave a knowing smile to itself.
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“I feel terrible for Clair,” Colin remarked to Sarah. She nodded grimly. Next to her, one of her Pokémon, Kekleon, stood, and was appropriately shifted to black as opposed to its usual verdant color. There were tiny tears in its reptilian eyes. Clair just stood ahead at the casket of Professor Elm, her father. Lance was her godfather, and was also up ahead, with his arm wrapped around Clair. She had her head in the crook of his shoulder. Colin tightened his lip, and swore whoever did this to New Bark Town would pay. Badly. He just had a terrible feeling about it all.
Sarah looked up at Colin. Colin, in the entire world, was her best friend, although she could never imagine him being anything more. She loved him beyond words, despite all his shifting moods. It was said that it took a lot to like Colin, but Sarah certainly did. It was just, sometimes, he scared her. Terrified her, really. It seemed like there was another side to Colin, a darker side, under all his smirky grins. It was something that lay dormant, but when it awoke… Sarah didn’t want to be there.
“You okay?” Colin suddenly asked Sarah, shattering her thoughts.
“As okay as I can be,” Sarah lied. “I’ve gone through this before… you, too.” She smiled weakly at Colin, who smiled back, his eyes like the center of a storm. They were calm, but there was turbulence all around them. What could that turbulence do to the world?