Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon and certainly NOT the shipping.

I FINALLY CAME UP WITH A SUITABLE TITLE FOR MY FIC!! Shinji may seem somewhat OOC. Flames appreciated if written civilly.

A/N: Here I will use solely Japanese names. In any case those of you who follow the dub:

Paul – Shinji
Dawn – Hikari
Ash – Satoshi
May – Haruka
Brock – Takeshi
Zoey – Nozomi
Kenny – Kengo
Johanna, Dawn's mother – Ayako

And everybody knows our cold-hearted trainer's brother who is 6 years older than him, the warm-hearted breeder of Tobari City Reiji.

Ok, let's get on with the show

Chapter 1: Crystal to the Grave

The freezing mountain air blew with a loud howl but a certain seventeen year old boy with violet hair was browsing through the pictures in his cell phone in the comfort of the tent he and his brother shared. Most of the pictures contained him and her, the blue haired energetic girl that he had known since the outbreak of the highly infectious disease that infected all of her friends except her. All of the images were sent to his phone from her anyway.

"Hey… Shinji…" a muffled voice came from beside him. Reiji sat up, half awake. "Aren't you going to sleep at all? Or are you missing Hikari-kun too much?" That earned him an icy glare from the younger brother.

"Fine, you win," Shinji surrendered. He set his phone to wake him up early tomorrow morning and quickly fell into slumber.

The next morning…

"Reiji! Be careful!" shouted the head of the archaeology excavation site head as Reiji descended into the ruins with a flashlight. Reiji turned back, the sunlight striking him in the face. "I KNOW, oji-san! Besides, Shinji is already down there!"

Down in the underground maze, Shinji had found some ancient writing on the wall. It looked like the Unown language that Hikari had once managed to decipher. He made his way back up to where his older brother was.

"Aniki! Oji-san! I found something. It looks like the Unown language back in the ruin of Zui Town!" Shinji said loudly. In no time at all, almost the entire archaeology team were shining their torches at the wall.

"It IS the Unown language Shinji. Someone copy them down. You'll have to trouble Berlitz to decode again," said the head of the team. Reiji turned to Shinji who was trying to decode the writing himself.

"So what can you read?" asked Reiji. Shinji's brow furrowed deeper.

"I'm not too sure. Hikari would be more apt at this. It says, 'A crystal' then something I can't read clearly, 'changes' something else, 'weather phenome- something', 'when three beings become one', I can't read the rest," Shinji said uncertainly. Reiji looked at the wall. The Unown language bore striking resemblance to the English alphabet, except more decorative. Hikari was one of the best in that language, which was probably why she deciphered it with almost no trouble. He noticed something else, a block of Unown characters at the bottom where it was almost concealed.

"Shinji, look down there. It's another phrase," Reiji told Shinji. Shinji shone his torch to where Reiji pointed. It was probably the only phrase he could read with no problem.

" 'A girl named after the day's first light will be the final'," Shinji nearly whispered in confusion. Nothing made sense here. Now he really wished that he had taken up Hikari's offer to recognize Unown characters. He suddenly thought of something, which is probably why it was so confusing.

"Oji-san," Shinji called his uncle, aka the head of the archaeology team, "What if, this was a prophecy? Like the Tanoby Ruins in Seven Island in the Nanashima?" This had the latter's attention.

"Maybe, but we will know after Berlitz decodes it. But before that, just watch for more artifacts. And tell Reiji to watch out more. He nearly triggered a trap," replied the older archaeologist.

The acrid smell of burning wood stung her nostrils as she raced through the castle to find that particular room. The castle was under siege by a neighbouring state, but the purpose was clear. It was the recently discovered crystal rock they wanted. She raced to get the crystal to safe keep before the army got hold of them. It possessed certain qualities that they were never able to figure out, supernatural properties that made it glow silver in the dark. It was kept under the watchful eye of her son, although Hien is now buying time for her to get the crystal and escape.

She kept running through the twisting corridors and numerous rooms that looked exactly like each other. An arrow would occasionally strike the wall but more than once, the arrows nearly caused her to drop dead on the floor. After what seemed like hours, she finally reached the room. The silver lock was burning hot from the fires that blazed through the castle but she paid no heed to the heat and jammed the key into the lock and twisted it open. The crystal was glowing serenely, so calmly, as if it were oblivious to what it had caused. She quickly scooped up the crystal and placed it inside her kimono and ran back out. She paused for a while to check out the situation. Hien was apparently not able to conquer the sheer size of the army and had vanished. She raced through the castle once more to the secret garden where she and her husband often sought sanctuary. What she did not expect to happen, was that a stray arrow had been shot in her direction and it stabbed her just below her right shoulder blade. She resisted the urge to scream, for it would give away her location. Instead she got up and struggled to reach the forest just beyond the castle. Her blue hair that cascaded gracefully past her shoulders before were now slightly black due to soot and in disarray.

Finally she reached the safe zone where a small number of the servants were waiting.

"Goodness Your Majesty, what happened?" her personal maid asked. She was so weak from the blood loss that she collapsed in front of them. They were shocked that she would collapse but saw the serious wound that the arrow inflicted.

"Where's Hien?" she asked, struggling to breathe.

"Hien-sama is currently in the safe refuge the Emperor has set in such cases," replied one of the servants. She struggled to sit up.

"I want all of you to listen closely to what I have to say," she commanded. All the servants suddenly looked attentive. Being the Queen sure had its advantages. "I do not think I have long to survive. The arrow's wound is too deep. When I leave, I want you to burn my body. That way, the sacred crystal will not fall into enemy's hands. I will bring it with me to my next life. Regarding Hien, tell him to temporarily stay with my parents in the outskirts of Shinou region. He will be safe there. As for His Majesty, please bury him in the royal cemetery." With that last sentence still the air, her heartbeat stopped.

Hikari woke up with a startled jolt. That dream had seemed so real. The fire, the pain, the castle, it felt like she had been there once. And the crystal, what was it all about? She glanced at the clock. It was 3.15 in the morning. Her table lamp glowed dull orange and a textbook with some pieces of paper littered the desk. She had briefly forgotten that she had a test on Shinou history tomorrow. She sighed and went back into a restless sleep.

Ha! 1st chapter done!! By the way, 'oji-san' is a term used to called uncles. 'Ojii-san' with double 'i' means grandfather or old man.