"It's time."

The three girls nodded in unison. They were standing inside Tokyo Tower.

The three of them were dressed in different school uniforms, and at first

glance there was nothing that connected them. However, if someone would

look into their eyes, they would notice something akin to all three; they

all had the eyes of warriors.

Each of those pairs of eyes told a story of suffering, fear, death. They

also told a story of happiness, of the joy of having survived an ordeal

that few people would've, of meeting new friends, and the gleam of

victory.

"Is Guru Clef the one who sent you, Mokona?" Asked the girl with brown

hair and green eyes. She was wearing a deep-green private school uniform,

a pair of round glasses and a relaxed pose, which contrasted with her

two companions. To her right stood another girl of the same age, with

blue hair that almost reached her waist and an athletic complexion that

made her appear a little older.

"Puu Puuu!" came an answer from the backpack the third was carrying.

"What did the puffball said?" asked the blue haired girl.

"You know Mokona doesn't like to be called that, Umi!" answered the

redhead girl. She had her hair tied in a pigtail, and seemed younger than

the other two.

"Whatever! Did you understood what Mokona said, Hikaru?"

"Yeah, Mokona said that he would call us any second now..."

Suddenly the tower shook. Most people grabbed to whatever they had nearby,

the three girls waited until it stopped, then risked a look out of the

window. Below the tower the Sailor Senshi were fighting a strange creature,

it then used something that tugged at their souls.

"Magic!" Umi whispered softly.

"And of the darkest kind..." Hikaru muttered. "Let's..."

Suddenly everything stood still. "Come Magical Knights..." The three girls

could see the face of Guru Clef as they started floating.

Hikaru noticed that she was floating in a different direction! "Guru Clef!!"

"Hikaru!" Guru Clef frowned visibly as he concentrated. "Something's

interfering with my spell!"

"Umi! Fuu! Clef!" Hikaru shouted as she was pulled away faster and faster.

"Yes! It's finally mine!" Ash shouted as he walked looking at the Rainbow

badge. "One step closer to the Pokemon League!"

"You know, you were lucky Team Rocket burned the building and you had the

chance to save Gloom. Otherwise, who knows what might've happened..."

Brock commented.

"There's no way she could've beaten me and Pikachu here!" He answered, as

he held Pikachu up. "Isn't that right Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded happily. "Pika!"

Misty snorted. "Oh, sure..." she and the others stopped as some bushes

started moving. They stopped, and taking out their pokeballs waited.

Suddenly a small creature, much like a clefable, (without tail, and with

bunny ears and a strange gem in it's forehead) jumped out of the bushes.

"Puu! Puu!"

Ash quickly pulled out his pokedex. "What is that?" he asked.

"Unknown. This type of Pokemon is not in the database." Answered the

computerized voice.

Ash, Misty and Brock looked for a moment at the pokedex in surprise, as

Pikachu slowly approached the stranger.

"Pika?"

"Puu! Puu!"

"Pika-chu?!"

Ash had taken out one of his pokeballs and was about to throw it to the

small creature, when it suddenly took off with Pikachu into the forest.

"Hey! Where are you going!" Ash demanded. "Wait Pikachu!"

Ash, Misty and Brock ran after the two pokemons.

The road was still for a moment. Movement in a nearby tree broke the calm

as three figures dropped down.

"Did you hear that James?" asked a female voice.

"Did I?" answered James as he stepped into the light followed by his sister,

Jesse and their 'leader' Meowth. "A Pokemon never before seen."

James pulled out a rose.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meooooooowth, shut up!"

"We have to catch it! Boss will be happy!" Meowth exclaimed excitedly.

Team Rocket nodded to each other, and set off to catch up with Ash and co.

"I hate it when he does that!" Ash complained as he and the others tried to

catch up with the two small creatures. Eventually, after falling a dozen times

and getting scratched with branches, they made it into a small rocky clearing

with a small cave nearby.

The two pokemons were standing over a rock looking down.

Ash walked up to them. "Pikachu! Why did you..." he stopped as he looked down.

"Ash?" Asked Misty as she and Brock approached. The strange Pokemon jumped

from the rock. Brock looked down and gasped in surprise as did Misty.

"Puu! Puu!" said the small Pokemon as he looked up at them.

Hikaru opened her eyes when she felt a wet cloth being pressed on her brow. She

couldn't see very well, since the sun was directly in her sight. Putting her

arm up to bring some shade, she tried to sit up.

She almost blacked out again, but someone caught her. "Easy, take a deep breath."

Hikaru, did as she was told, and tried to open her eyes. This time she was able

to make out details. She noticed immediately her surroundings. She was seated in

a small grassy niche surrounded by rocks. A girl with orange-red hair was holding

her up, as two boys looked at her in concern.

"Puu!"

"Mokona!!" Hikaru hugged Mokona as it jumped at her. Misty stepped back looking at

the two. Hikaru noticed she was wearing her normal armor. She looked at Mokona,

then at the people around her, noticing their normal clothes.

"I don't think we made it into Cephiro, Mokona..." she said.

"Cephiro?" Ash asked. "What's that? A town?"

Hikaru stood up, and looked around. "No... it's... something else."

Brock, getting a good look at her for the first time, immediately reacted.

Walking up to her, he grabbed her hand and didn't let go as he looked into her

eyes. "Hi I'm Brock. We'll be glad to help you out!"

Hikaru tried unsuccessfully to prey her hand loose. "Uh... my name is Hikaru, who are

your friends?"

Since Brock didn't answer and continued staring at Hikaru, Misty took matters into

her hands. "I'm Misty. I train water Pokemon, that," She said pointing at Ash, "is

Ash, he wants to be the best Pokemon trainer in the world, although I doubt that'll

happen." Ash glared at her, but instead of answering looked at Mokona.

"Are you also a Pokemon trainer?" if so, he was interested in challenging her.

"What's a Pokemon?" All three trainers did a double take.

"You don't know what a Pokemon is?!" Ash exclaimed.

"Pika?" Hikaru suddenly noticed Pikachu standing next to her.

"Oh, kawai!" she said kneeling and picking him up in her arms.

"That's Pikachu, he's my very first Pokemon!" Ash said proudly. Hikaru looked at

Ash. "Okay, let's start from the beginning; Pokemon is short for..." Ash said

taking a deep breath.

Hikaru sat down and listened to Ash and his friends explain the basics of Pokemon,

showing her their pokeballs and their Pokemon.

When they finished Hikaru had a somewhat clear idea about Pokemon. "Well, it's

all very interesting, but we have to go to Cephiro, my friends are waiting for me."

she said standing up. "Mokona?"

"Puu?"

"Could you take me to Cephiro?"

"Puu!" Mokona said.

"You can't be serious!" Hikaru said getting a little pale. The others noticed it.

"What did Mokona said?" Ash asked.

"Mokona doesn't know how to get back!" Hikaru said a little desperate. She grabbed

Mokona and started shaking. "You have to find a way!! Guru Clef said there was

trouble! Umi and Fuu are in Cephiro! They could get killed without me!!"

"Puu-puu!" Mokona complained.

Misty put her hand on Hikaru's shoulder, getting a strange sensation when she

touched the shoulder armor. "Calm down! You're hurting Mokona!"

This seemed to calm Hikaru a little. She sank to her knees and hugged Mokona close.

"This isn't happening..." she whispered.

"Puu..." Mokona said softly. Hikaru risked a smile.

"Yes, you're right Mokona, they are very strong. They'll manage until we can get

back!" Mokona nodded firmly.

"We'll help you anyway we can, Hikaru." Ash offered, his friends, both human and

Pokemon, nodded.

Hikaru stood up and nodded. "Thanks!"

Suddenly they heard a small grunt. Looking around they followed the sounds to the

small cave. Ash put his finger on his lips. The others nodded understanding. They

went into the cave.

At first Ash thought he would have to call out Charmander, but a small light at

the end of the cave guided them.

When they came to the end of the tunnel, they all looked at the glow's origin in

surprise.

"A Charmeleon!" Brock exclaimed.

"And in bad shape too," Misty added.

Hikaru looked at the charmeleon, it's tail had a small flame that grew smaller by

the second. "Can't we help it?"

Ash looked at her and shook his head. "We won't be able to make it with him to

a Pokemon center. He would need a very high temperature to absorb heat."

"Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to build a fire strong enough, since it has

rained very often lately." He sighed. "Even if there was wood, it would never burn

hot enough."

Hikaru thought for a moment. "All he needs is extreme heat? How hot?"

"Uh... as hot as having molten lava near you I guess... why?" Misty asked.

"I have an idea." Hikaru answered, then placed Mokona in the floor. "Mokona, you

will have to protect them."

"Puu Puu! Puu!" Mokona said excitedly and jumped a little away.

"Protect us from what?" Ash asked.

"You'll see, there's no time to explain, just stand next to Mokona."

Ash and the others stood next to Mokona. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a

transparent-blue sphere.

"What kind of power is that, James?"

"I don't know, Jesse. But why did the girl stay outside?"

"I believe we're about to find out!" Meowth said pointing at Hikaru.

Ash touched the sphere. "Is this really necessary, Mokona?"

"Ash..." Misty said. When he turned she pointed towards Hikaru. Ash looked at

her and gasped.

Hikaru had started glowing with a red aura. Her clothes and simple armor changed.

Now red and white knee-high boots, a red and white uniform trimmed in gold, with a

long red cape. A complex, white, gold and red tiara appeared on her forehead.

The aura increased until it enveloped everything.

"If it's heat you need to survive... HEAT YOU WILL GET!"

From within the sphere Brock could see the rocks starting to glow red.

Charmeleon's tail flame started to grow slowly, but steadily.

Jesse, James and Meowth started sweating.

Slowly the sphere started heating. Mokona concentrated and the sphere became a

little more opaque. Finally, Charmeleon's flame grew completely, and the change

in condition was obvious to everyone.

Hikaru turned to them. "Let's get out. You will have to move with Mokona to avoid

getting burnt." The three trainers just nodded, and carefully followed Mokona out

of the cave.

They waited outside and after a while Hikaru walked out of the cave. They had

seated about 50 feet away from the cave, and could still feel the heat emanating

from the within.

"He's asleep," She informed them. "But he seems okay now."

Ash nodded absently, and watched in amazement as the armor turned into it's

simpler form.

"Hikaru... how did you do that?" Misty asked.

Hikaru sat down. "It's a long story guys, are you willing to listen?"

They all nodded.

"Very well. From where I come from there's a place called Tokyo Tower, where

schools usually take us for outings. One time, it happened that two other

schools were visiting..."

"Prepare for trouble..." James gasped.

"Make it... ungh... double..." Jesse said.

"To protect the world from..."

Team Rocket collapsed, all were covered in sweat, their clothes covered in soot,

their gloves melted, and had their hair scorched.

"That girl might be a problem..." James proclaimed before falling unconscious with

the rest.