Prologue

"Why'd you call, Ash?" Misty asked, brushing a strand of orange hair from her eyes casually.

"I, um, just to say 'hi!'" Ash grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, well, 'hi'," Misty replied sarcastically, amused by the look on her best friend's face.

In reality, she loved his calls, relied on them, but she couldn't let him know that. Hearing his voice was a reminder of the happiest days of her life, when she was free to travel, to follow whichever dream she chose. Now she was tied down again, and worst of all, she was alone.

"So, where are you now, Mr. Pokemon Master?"

Ash chuckled, "In Mossdeep City, you'd like it here, it's an island and there are heaps of Water Pokemon!"

She smiled, "Sounds great. So, how's Brock, and er, May and Max?"

"They're good," Ash said slowly, drumming his fingers on the edge of a table in front of him. "May just won another contest actually. She's come a long way since she first started training,"

"Oh, that's great," Misty said a little too chirpily, running a hand through her bright orange hair.

"Yeah, so-" Ash paused, a rumbling sound could be heard from somewhere close by. "Um, do you hear that?"

"Yeah…wha- what's going on?" Misty cried as the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. She dropped the phone.

"Misty? Hello?" Ash cried, his voice slowly fading as the power went out in Cerulean Gym. "Misty!" he yelled through the phone. She didn't answer. A bright flash of light lit up the video screen before it mysteriously went blank.

Ash stood surprised for a few seconds. "Probably just a blackout in Cerulean..." He said to himself as he hung up the phone, but he couldn't help feeling that something strange was going on.

"Ash, what are you doing? Come on, dinner's ready!" Brock interrupted his thoughts as he called from the back of the Mossdeep Pokemon Center.

"Oh, coming!" Ash called, taking a glance back at the video phone. The blank screen glared eerily back at him. Something was amiss in Cerulean.

-x-