There was a time above. A time before. When dreams become our life goals. Dreams, goals, love, and friendship were all perfect things in our world. However, those perfect things, like pieces of glass, can become fragile.

A group of people, wearing black clothing, are headed towards the top of the hill, within the Pallet Town Cemetery. Behind them, there's a woman, named Delia, carrying a small box, which contains the ashes of a fallen hero.

Things fall... into the deep dark abyss. And what falls... gets broken.

A young girl, named Serena, suddenly runs away from the group.

When she runs off, a young man yells out, "Serena, wait! Serena! Serena, it's alright! Serena, please!"

His voice faded away as Serena kept on running towards a forest nearby. As she runs, tears are flying off her face. After entering the forest, her mind starts playing a memory from her childhood.

---

A shady forest in Kanto where a younger Serena is lost, looking for the rest of her group. She's suddenly scared by a rustling in the bushes, which causes her to trip and injure her leg.

The rustling Pokémon is only a Poliwag, which quickly runs away. Scared by her surroundings and wanting to go home, Serena begins to cry, while lamenting that she didn't even want to go to the camp.

At the height of her despair, she cries for her mother. She hears another rustling in the bushes and leans back, afraid of what it might be.

---

While running through the forest, Serena suddenly stops and stares at a tree. She pulls out a blue handkerchief. She held it very tightly, close to her chest. The tree symbolizes the spot where she met the boy of her dreams. The handkerchief is all she has left of him now.

---

Calling out for the Poliwag that ran by, just now, a younger boy emerges from the bushes and asks what Serena's doing. He introduces himself, as Ash, to put her at ease and asks her name in return, as well as to what the matter is.

Serena sniffs and states that her leg hurts, to which the boy pulls out the same handkerchief. He ties it around Serena's leg as a bandage and calls it a good luck charm to put her further at ease. Serena whines that she still can't stand up.

Standing up himself, the young boy offers Serena his hand and tells her, "Don't give up until it's over!"

---

Remembering those words, Serena begins to feel tears, welling up, in her eyes.

---

He takes her hand and pulls her to her feet, congratulating her on standing. Still holding her hand, he takes her back to the campsite, while Serena looks at him in awe and wonder.

---

Serena falls to her knees and cries uncontrollably. She's crying because the boy of her dreams is now gone forever. Today is his funeral. While she's crying, the young man catches up to her. He comforts her, and then, the two walked back to the funeral service.

My dream was to become the very best like no one ever was. What a beautiful lie.

---

(5 years later...)

It's a calm, peaceful night, the stars and the moon shines brightly. Not a soul could tell though, as the lights of the bustling Saffron City outshine their magical magnificence. The city was more alive than ever before, as a year of preparation was finally about to give the inhabitants of the city their reward. In only a day's time, the first battle of the highly anticipated Pokémon Master's Challenge Tournament would begin.

Saffron's own Silph Corporation is sponsoring the tournament. The multi-billion-dollar corporation is using this tournament to unveil their newest technological breakthrough, the Master Ball, a Pokéball that can capture any wild Pokémon without fail. It's perfect if you want to capture a Legendary Pokémon, like Entei or Suicune. The tournament winner is promised the first-ever marketable prototype, along with a very handsome sum of cash, and the title of Pokémon Master.

The prizes were surely on all the competitor's minds, all except for one. Three figures stood upon one of the multitudes of skyscrapers that enhanced the city's landscape. They hid in the shadows, a place they had grown accustomed to the last five years. They looked to the outskirts of town that displayed where the tournament would be held.

"Silph Village", as the city's inhabitants affectionately called it, is, if anything, a symbol of the company's ego that built it. To the North, stood a gigantic hotel that's multi-stories high and what seemed like blocks wide. The lavish hotel was decorated with lights, showing off the sleek design that the company wanted.

To the East, West and South, stood three large battling arenas, each open-aired and capable of holding up to ten thousand occupants; but these three massive arenas paled in comparison to what stood in the middle of the 4 buildings: The Silph World Battling Arena. The arena could easily hold thousands upon thousands of spectators, while still having seats left over.

On the North end, towered a magnificent statue of a PokéBall with the company's seal where the button should have been resting. When fully lit, the bright lights even made the dazzling spectacle that was Saffron City seem like a flickering candle in an otherwise darkened room.

The three figures stood there in silence for a moment, taking in the sights and sounds of everything around them.

On the far left, was a tiny electric mouse; yellow fur covered its body except for three black stripes that crossed its back, two red spots that adorned each cheek, and a brown spot at the base of its lightning-shaped tale. Its name was Pikachu.

The one on the far right was a predominantly blue and black bipedal Pokémon although its belly did show a tan color of fur. This Pokémon is called Lucario.

Between these two creatures, they stood their master. He stood 6'2" with a black jacket that had a hood to cover his raven hair, the jacket itself was unzipped showing a black shirt and a necklace with Pikachu's PokéBall. Covering his face was a black mask, so only his auburn eyes are shown through. Along the left side of his face, was a scar that reached from the top of his ear, across his eyes, and past his lip. He wore jeans and black shoes to finish his wardrobe.

They looked on in silence until Lucario interrupted the silence.

"Everyone seems so excited for the tournament," Lucario said while communicating with his trainer through the power of aura.

"Indeed Lucario," his master responded. "They have been waiting for a year for this tournament to finally take place; but remember, we are not here to win, essentially."

"Pika pika," Pikachu spoke solemnly.

"I know buddy. I want it to be over too. We need to finish what we started five years ago. This time, we're taking him down and no one is going to stop us," the trainer said with a tinge of venom in his voice.

"Master, what about your friends? Are you not happy to finally see them again? It has been so long and they still think you're dead!" Lucario responded, with a sound of joy in his thoughts.

"You know they cannot find out, Lucario. As of right now, things must remain status quo," he explained with a cold look in his eyes. "He took my life away from me, and now I'm going to take it back." the trainer stated.

"Let's go." He said as the three vanished from the rooftop and into the darkness.