A/N: This is the first book in a four-part PMD Sky fanfic. Please note that I started this story two years ago, and that everything up to Chapter 3 may not accurately reflect my current writing style.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, nor am I writing this story for profit. All nonoriginal characters and settings in this chapter belong to Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and all other organizations with legal claims to the franchise. Leah belongs to me.

THE MORNINGRAY CHRONICLES
(TMRC) - PART 1

~ Prologue: ~
Grovyle's Lament

If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here now, standing in a world most Pokémon of our time never knew existed, a world they had cruelly been robbed of and never realized. I never would have seen the glory of a pastel-colored sunrise, or stepped into the heart of a forest overgrown with lush, vibrant wildflowers the size of my head, a sight that would leave even Dusknoir breathless with awe.

If it weren't for her, I would be just another wild Pokémon sentenced to life in a dead world. Soulless and bereft of purpose, my existence would revolve around survival and self-preservation. I never would have learned what love and compassion were, never would have believed that concepts such as friendship and family truly existed. I would have lived and died alone, as so many others of our time have, never knowing the good of life.

The memory of how it happened still haunts me. I'd already failed her once and nearly lost her in the process; I swore I never would again. But now…she's gone. Tears sting my eyes as I remember her, weakened and nearly unconscious, slipping from my grasp to tumble through the void to an unknown fate. Even worse is the knowledge that just before her disappearance, she had saved my life yet again…and I failed to hold on.

We had been constant companions for seven years—teaching each other, supporting each other, saving one another when need be. We made the painful decision to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good of all Pokémon, and we made it together, neither of us hesitating, both of us knowing it was what we were meant to do. Her choice was all the more astonishing because she wasn't even a Pokémon, but a human living in a Pokémon's world—a human who, by unspoken law, shouldn't have existed there. She chose to save the world that had torn so much from her, had stolen her innocence away at such a young age. She was only thirteen, with her whole life ahead of her.

Seven years are impossible to forget. I know what she would want me to do—I can almost hear her instructing me now. And I will do it, no matter what it takes. I will persevere through the pain and fulfill the promise I made—the promise we made. But I will never forget, and I will never abandon the hope that somehow, we will be reunited in the midst of our journeys, for separate though they may be, they are united by a common goal.

I will always remember, always hold out hope. She was everything to me—my companion, my best friend, my little sister. My family.

Her name…was Leah.

Last Edited: 2/12/12