The voice seemed to be far off in the distance. Amber was only faintly aware of where she was. Everything was pitch-black.

"Amber!"

There it was again. This time the voice was louder, clearer. It seemed more anxious too. That's when Amber realized her eyes where still closed. But she did not want to open them. She did not want to make any movement at all. She didn't feel like replying to the voice. Was it because of the nice fresh sheets tightly wrapped around her aching body? No. Of course it wasn't. Her head laid on something soft and silky... something warm. Amber didn't know what it was, only that she wanted to stay there forever.

"Amber!!" The voice repeated.

This time two hands gripped Amber's shoulders tightly and jerked her, forcing her to open her eyes. Tyler was staring down at her, his hair uncombed, a look of pure glee sparkling in his eyes. Amber squinted in the light.

"What is it?" Amber asked, half moaning. How she yearned to lie back down on that nice warm and soft and silky thing...

"My Growlithe is fully recovered!" Tyler answered, unable to keep from grinning widely.

"Huh? Oh, yea... That's great!" Amber said, blinking sleepily. She sat up. Turning around she saw that the thing her head had rested on was the tail of her Flareon, whom was still sleeping soundlessly.

Her Flareon.

Memories of the day before suddenly raced through her head. Her Flareon hurting Tyler's Growlithe badly. Following Tyler to the pokemon center and talking with him. Finding a local hotel to sleep in. Nurse Joy showing her the scorch mark underneath the Growlithe's ruff.

The scorch mark.

A clear image of the small black fire in which two big black eyes stared was still etched in Amber's mind. It had been haunting her all night as she just lay there in bed, staring at the peaceful Flareon lying beside her. It looked so innocent and happy all the time. Yet Amber could still remember the Flareon doing that big fire attack. "A dream. That's it. It was all just a dream." She had told her self, trying to fall asleep. But it couldn't have been a dream, for she had not fallen asleep yet at that time. But she did fall asleep not too long after that.

And that was why, now almost fully awake, that Amber knew none if it was a dream. It was anything but a dream. Anything. Whether she liked it or not. Whether Tyler liked it or not.

Tyler. She had gotten to know him better while waiting for time to go by in the hotel.

"Amber? Are you okay?" Tyler asked. Amber shook her head wildly, her brown hair whipping her face.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just thinking." Amber replied.

"Then lets go to the pokemon center!" Tyler urged, jumping up from the bed in which Amber and her Flareon lay. Amber sighed and turned to look at her Flareon. She laid a hand carefully on the Flareon's head and stroked it.

"Flareon." Amber whispered softly. "You have to wake up now."

The Flareon's eyes flashed open and scanned the room, finally meeting Amber's gaze. At the sight of Amber, a familiar happiness sparked in the Flareon's eyes. Stretching, it jumped off the bed with a loud thud and yipped excitedly.

"Glad to see you're awake and energetic." Amber muttered. She couldn't help noticing something else in the Flareon's eyes, something just barely hidden underneath that layer of innocence.

*********************************************************

Amber had been so preoccupied with following Tyler to the pokemon center before that she hadn't taken the time to look carefully at her surroundings. The city in which she walked in was beautiful. The light sound of running water seemed to be everywhere, for fountains with tall majestic statues of legendary pokemon where scattered in various places. Amber and Tyler couldn't help stopping and staring a huge fountain with a statue of a Moltres.

"A fountain with a statue of a fire pokemon." Tyler said, rolling his eyes. "Haha."

Amber ignored Tyler's comment but instead watched her Flareon through the corner of her eye. Was that now sadness in its eyes?! Amber whirled around. Her Flareon looked at her alarmingly. But that look of sadness was now gone. 'I must have imagined it.' Amber thought.

Amber and Tyler continued walking, their footsteps echoing off the city walls. Amber sighed contentedly and breathed in the fresh air of the city. The image of the scorch mark in her mind was now getting blurry.

"Well, we're here!" Tyler said excitedly. Amber came back to her senses and blinked. The pokemon center seemed to tower above them. Amber and Tyler pushed through the huge glass doors and walked to the counter where Nurse Joy stood.

"I'd like to take my Growlithe back." Tyler said.

"Sure thing." Nurse Joy replied. "I'll be right back." After a few minutes Nurse Joy came back holding Tyler's Growlithe in her arms. The Growlithe jumped on to the ground and ran over towards Tyler, barking excitedly. Tyler kneeled down and laughed as his Growlithe started repeatedly licking his face. Amber just smiled.

But then the Growlithe stopped. Stopped everything. It stood still as if petrified. Then it slowly turned its head to look at Amber's Flareon, a look of pure fear yet anger in its eyes. Tenseness seemed to waft through the air.

"Er... my Flareon says its sorry for what it's did to you yesterday." Amber said quickly. The Growlithe relaxed a little, but continued staring at Amber's Flareon. A sudden rush of awe seemed to have emerged in the Growlithe's eyes.

Time seemed to stand still as the four of them just stood there, staring at one another. Nobody noticed that Nurse Joy had gone back to the counter to talk with the other pokemon trainers. The stillness seemed to be chocking Amber. She couldn't stand it. Yet her body remained still as ever.

The stillness shattered at the sound of an alarmed voice.

"Fire!"

The whole pokemon center went hysterical as pokemon trainers crowded near the doors to see what was on fire. Sure enough, black smoke was slithering through the air in the distance. Amber pushed her way through the crowd, followed by her Flareon, Tyler, and then Tyler's Growlithe. Outside, Amber just stood there, gawking at the smoke in pure horror. That's when something rose to her throat... a feeling, an emotion. She didn't know what it was. Of course she didn't. And she'd never find out either. But it was that emotion that made her start running towards the smoke.

"Amber! Come back here! What are you doing?!" Tyler's voice called. But Amber ignored him. The only thing she listened to was her heart beating in her chest, beating more rapidly every second. She was just barely aware that her Flareon was carefully following her. Only one single thought drifted through her head.

The scorch mark. The scorch mark in which there was a small black fire with two big black eyes staring out.

She wasn't sure why she was running towards the smoke as a blob of glowing and flashing red slowly emerged in the distance. But she only knew that she had to get there, that it had to do something with her.

But of course it didn't have to do anything with her. Why would it? No, it had to do with someone else. Someone who had been searching for something for ten years.

As Amber ran to the front of the building, the fire emerged fully. Huge flickering flames were scattered throughout the building, producing thick wispy clouds of black smoke. She could feel the heat of the fire nearby. A couple of firemen blocked her path.

"You can't go here, miss. It's too dangerous." One of the firemen said. But Amber ignored him and continued running. She only stopped when she got to an alleyway between the building on fire and an old run-down building. She coughed from the smoke filling up her dry lungs, but stayed put. That was when she saw it.

A tall figure of a girl could barely be seen through the smoke. Amber tried to get a better look, but the smoke was burning her eyes too much. She didn't know who the girl was. But why did she send a shiver running up Amber's spine?

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Amber called out.

"I could say the same to you." A haunting voice replied. A girl stepped out from the smoke. She had long blood-red hair that looked like a big sweaty mess. Her both sleeve-less and strap-less tight orange shirt was horribly ripped at the bottom and covered in mud and scorch marks. Her long blue jeans held the same appearance. Amber couldn't help noticing the girl's eyes were a burning red, too. But there were also lines underneath her eyes, giving her the appearance that she hadn't slept for days. All Amber could do was just stand there, gawking in horror.

"That's right, it's me, Freesha. The great pokemon trainer of fire." The girl whispered in a raspy voice. "But you've probably never heard of me. Of course you haven't." She took a step closer towards Amber, but then looked away at the sky. "Years, its been. Years of constant searching. Time goes by so slowly, but at the same time, fast. Its been painful, this time." The girl said. "But of course you haven't been in any pain. Of course you haven't. You don't know what it feels like. None of you knows what it feels like!" And with this, fire emerged out of nowhere, blown in every direction by a big gust of wind. Amber shut her eyes tightly and grimaced as she just barely got burned. A low growl reminded her that her Flareon had followed her the whole way. Amber's eyes flashed opened as the fire stopped. Freesha was staring at the Flareon.

"Ruby."

"What are you talking about?!" Amber finally chocked out.

Freesha slowly raised an arm to point at Amber's Flareon. "Ruby. You have Ruby." Freesha said in hardly a whisper. "You have my Flareon!!" With a final angry shout, Freesha leapt out at Amber. Amber screamed. Something swept her off her feet and lifted her up into the air, then back down again. Only did she realize it was her Flareon. She clung onto its ruff and shut her eyes tightly as it carried her quickly through the city. She looked back. Freesha wasn't following them.

*****************************************************

"Freesha... what type of name is that?" Tyler asked as Amber typed away on the keyboard. Amber ignored him. After her Flareon had carried her back to the hotel Amber had told Tyler the whole story. She was now on the internet, searching for something, anything about Freesha.

"I found something!" Amber exclaimed. Tyler hurried over to take a closer look. Amber squinted at the small text on the computer screen. "It says here that Freesha was one of the greatest pokemon trainers to ever have lived, and that she only trained fire pokemon. It also says that her favorite and most powerful pokemon was a Flareon she nicknamed Ruby."

"So you think this Freesha person thought that your Flareon was Ruby?" Tyler asked.

Amber shrugged. "I guess so." She replied. "It also says that she'd let people know she had been near by having Ruby leave a unique scorch mark behind."

Amber and Tyler stared at each other.

Tyler walked over to his sleeping Growlithe and pushed back some fur of its ruff. The scorch mark was still there.

"Well, read on." Tyler said nervously. Amber continued.

"And finally it says that Freesha was last spotted ten years ago, where she mysteriously disappeared-

"Er... yea. Whatever." Tyler simply said.

"Wait, I'm not finished. It says something else too." Amber quickly said.

"Fine then... just hurry up."

Amber took a big shuddering breath.

"It says that Ruby had been killed in a battle with a Groudon right before Freesha disappeared."