I wait for death to come. For the bite sink into my neck and end my pain. The breath on my skin draws closer and I inhale sharply, awaiting the final blow. A bright light suddenly washes over us. I open my eyes but I see nothing but white and the shadowed form of the Arcanine above me. I hear his roar but it's different, changing. It grows deeper and more powerful, so loud that I feel the walls shake around me. The light fades and Charmeleon is gone. Charizard climbs over the desk, his anger written across his face as he growls menacingly at his master's attacker.

The Arcanine faces him and roars in defiance. I stare in awe as the monster dives at Charizard. He moves like lightning, meeting the Arcanine head on and catching its claws in his own. It releases a powerful fire blast but it washes over him like a gentle breeze. In return Charizard's eyes smoke and turn a fiery blue. A haze forms around him as the temperature in the room skyrockets. His power has grown more than I could have imagined. Arcanine struggles in his grasp as his claws glow like hot iron. Charizard glances at me and his glow starts to dissipate. If he had released that blast, the whole building would have been aflame. Instead, he whirls and slams the Arcanine into the wall behind the desk and releases a less powerful fireball at it. Fire is starting to spread around the room, rotten pictures fall from the walls in flames and ash dances in the air where ancient papers burn away. The Arcanine rises up, shrouded in flame and roars once more. It hops onto the desk ready to pounce but Charizard spins and catches it with his powerful tail. He follows the strike by diving on the Arcanine where it lands. He cuts off the beast's roar, biting its neck and wrapping his arms around the monster, clamping its arms to its sides. I watch as the Arcanine struggles but Charizard squeezes tight with his teeth sunk into the its neck. The struggle seems to last an eternity but there is no dislodging him. The Arcanine writhes in his grip as it gasps for air, its struggles becoming weaker and weaker. I meet Charizard's stare, his anger subsiding as the life falls away from the creature in his grasp.

Everything stops. My breathing is ragged as Charizard releases the limp Arcanine from his jaws. I see crimson catching the light, it runs from his mouth and down his body. I hold Golducks pokeball in a firm grip in my hand and Charizard's in my other as I feel my consciousness slip away.

~~~

I awake in a darkened room, firelight lighting the dusty furniture around me. My side burns angrily and I wince in pain as I try to move on the soft couch where I lie. Charizard lifts his head from the ground and crawls over to me, staring into my eyes. We both shed a tear as I embrace him, trying to ignore the devastating pain my side.

"Thank you."

He pulls away, grabs my pack and places it before me. I wince as I pull out the canteen with my good arm. My shirt is ragged and singed, the blood beneath dried and flaking. The gashes in my side are raw, an angry red where they have been cauterized. I look at Charizard and he lowers his head in shame.

"You saved me, Char. If it wasn't for you..."

He meets my eyes again but I can't continue. I pour some of the ashy water on my ribs, it stings initially but the cool water soothes it after a moment. I take a long gulp, sending shooting pains down my side. I stand up and Charizard jumps to his feet to steady me. The pain is almost unbearable but I fight through it. I have to.

Golducks pokeball lies on the ground next to the couch, I look down at it and Charizard bends down lifting it to me in his powerful claw. I refix it onto my belt. She will be okay. When her headaches start the best thing she can do is rest. Charizard's ball is missing. It's not important. I need to keep him out now anyway. I stand and stare at him in awe. I can't believe he's evolved. A Charizard stands before me. One of the most fearsome Pokemon left on the planet. He walks over to the window and looks out at the street, looking for any signs of trouble. He's still my Char.

I see light pooling into the bathroom of the apartment and slowly hobble over to it, leaving my pack behind. A large hole in the wall reveals the Alpha-Omega building before me, the roads around it quiet. The terrifying roars of the battle will have scared away any Mut's in the area.

Charizard wanders in and looks over my shoulder.

"You think you could fly down there?"

He looks at his wings and beats them experimentally like he didn't know they were there. He steps up to the broken wall and stares down apprehensively at the ground below. He flaps his wings again, harder this time and his feet lift slowly off the floor. It may seem strange to him at the moment, but it will come naturally to him.

"You can do it, Char."

He nods and takes a breath, then leaps from the building. He extends his wings to full capacity and flaps a few times before landing on the ground in a crash. He can't carry me down like that with my ribs as they are. I can't help but smile as he glares at his wings like it's their fault. He flaps them again and takes off slightly before veering to the left and touching down. I carefully lower myself down onto the ledge, hanging my legs over as I watch him learn to fly.

~~~

An hour later and the sun is moving past its peak. He gently takes me into his arms and stands on the ledge looking out at the drop like it's doubled in height. The pack can wait here for now, nothing is going to find it while we check the Alpha-Omega building.

Leaping out he suddenly lurches in the air, ripping a shout of pain from me. He had gotten used to flying by himself but my added weight was unbalancing him. He flaps hard to compensate and manages to land in a stumble.

"Not bad," I say through gritted teeth as he lowers me. I look up to the abandoned bank looming above us and take gentle steps forward, Charizard patiently at my side as we head to the front entrance.

It's dark and seems empty inside. I step through smashed revolving doors into a lobby scattered with sand. It's quiet. If I was going up against a god I'd want to get in close. Get it somewhere where I could surround it. We move through the empty lobby to the emergency staircase. Charizard tugs on the door handle but who-knows how many years without being used has got it nicely jammed. He rips it open with a deafening squeal across the sand covered tiles.

"Every Mut' in the city probably heard that."

I walk through and gingerly head down the steps to the basement vault. Charizard moves ahead of me, lifting his tail into the air in the darkness of the basement. He breathes in slowly, smoke streaming from his nostrils and his tail flame growing larger and brighter. The hall lights up in dancing shadows. A mess of broken and scattered furniture lies across the floor. Great gouges are slashed into the walls and into jagged steel that glints in the firelight. Despite so many years passing, the smell of death still hangs in the air. We walk forward and the light crawls out before us. A set of bones lay against the wall. Leathery patches of skin hang loosely and its black battle armour remains. I follow the path of destruction. Many of the rooms sit undisturbed until I reach a room with the door blown off. Inside lie several more corpses, both human and Pokemon. The air is dank and fetid. Sat against the wall to my side, a small sphere catches the light and reflects it back at us. A pokeball like none I'd ever seen, purple where it should have been red. My heart pounds in my chest. I stare at it, feeling completely out of my depth. The old fool had been right.

I'm not ready for this. Can I take this risk for the entirety of mankind? Who am I to make that decision? Whatever rests in that ball has the power to wipe out the rest of humanity. But it is the only creature powerful enough to save us.

I think of everything I'd seen over the years. Everything I'd learned while I pieced together the stories and rumours. Seeing people struggle through their lives. Struggle to collect enough water and food to keep everyone in their small settlements going. Hearing stories of families savaged by Mut's. Seeing whole settlements destroyed. Trainers were so rare now and healthy Pokemon an elusive, dying breed. People didn't live anymore, they just survived. Anything had to be better than this. It had to be worth the risk, to create a world worth living in again.

I step forward and pick up the Masterball, despite the angry complaints in my side. It feels heavy and it doesn't shrink down like the regular pokeballs. I hesitate as I stare at the large M on its surface. I look at Charizard beside me as he stares down at the ball in wonder. I have to see this through, for her.

The release resists for a moment before slowly sliding back with an audible click. The ball shakes and light bursts from it, knocking us across the room, tearing an agonised cry from me. I look up and the room is hidden in half shadows. Mewtwo stands before us with his head bowed. He looks at his large hands and flexes his powerful fingers. He glances at the bones scattered around the room, taking in the air before resting his gaze on me.

"Why have you released me?" his powerful voice questions in my mind.

I stare at him for what feels like forever. "You are the only one who can save us."

He stares at me for a moment and then enters my mind. His consciousness overwhelms my senses as he explores all my memories in an eye blink. Taking in all my knowledge, living through every moment I have lived, forcing me to watch the atrocities I've witnessed once again. He pauses for a moment absorbing all of my pain and analysing it.

He stares down at me in disdain and enters my mind again. This time, I relive my few happy memories. I see my family, my brothers and sisters playing in the sand, my father holding my mother in a loving embrace. Then he lingers on a memory from what seems like a different life.

I walk through a destroyed village. Everything lies in ruin. Bodies litter the streets and smoldering embers still carry the scent of burning flesh. The sand is painted in flashes of blood. Sweeping arcs of crimson in a masterpiece of brutal death. It's the first time I've seen true devastation at the Mut's hands and it shakes me to my core. I see movement under a collapsed building and my heart stops in my chest. I stand frozen as the shuffling stops soon after it started. I cautiously approach, waiting for the Mut' to jump out and kill me like it has every other in this place. I wait long minutes but the heavy leather sheeting remains motionless. Eventually, I build the courage to slowly pull back the leather and the sight catches my breath in my chest. A Scyther lies brutalised before me. Its carapace cut in countless places and it's breathing shallow and ragged. It's glazed eyes open and look at me, pleading. Tears fill my eyes and I swing my pack from my back, I pull out my family's most treasured possession, given to me to bargain with should I get into trouble in one of the villages. I hold the Pokeball before me. Blood pools below the dying Scyther as she looks at me and see's the pokeball in my hand. She stares at it then looks deep into my eyes and nods. She want's this. I hold the pokeball to her and she raises her weakened claw to the ball. She touches it and I shout in panic, dropping the pokeball as she phases to light and disappears inside. I take it into my hands and hurry all the way back to my village where I know she will be safe. It takes many weeks but with my care she returns to full strength. I never got to meet her before the destruction of her village, but when she had recovered she was never able to rest. She would never leave my side, always protecting me. I tried to leave her behind in the village, knowing that no harm would befall her but the moment she was released, she fled and searched for days until she found me in the next settlement... Without her, I would've died so many times.

He retreats for a moment, frowning as he stares at me. I lie back in shock, feeling overwhelmed from living through the moment like it had just happened. Seeing her again like she was still alive. I let out a sob which drives hot spikes into my side. Why did I have to lose you Scy?

Then he enters my mind again. He watches Scyther and I battle a Wartortle that stands over a dying Charmander. It had mutated so badly that its rage was immeasurable and it barely resembled a Pokemon anymore beneath the swelling boils and sores. Scyther fights valiantly against it, her strikes failing as they fall on its powerful shell but her determination and speed soon begin to overwhelm it. In its rage, it releases a powerful water blast. I dive over the Charmander, scooping the infant into my arms and take the full brunt of the blast to save the tiny creature. It hurt like nothing I'd ever felt. My body was bruised for days but it would have been the end of the young Charmander. Using such a powerful blast absorbed a great deal of the Wartortles own fluids and it became sluggish and weak, allowing Scyther to finish it with ease. My family grew in size that day.

Finally, he watches me walk along the bank of a once great river now turned into a trickling stream polluted with ash. On the bank, I see a Golduck staggering along the water toward me. Unlike the rest of the wild Pokemon I've encountered, its skin is clear and its eyes are bright. It stands defensively with it's back to the water, but squints as it holds a single claw to its head. I see that it barely has any fight left. I pull my canteen from my back and throw it to its feet before walking away and leaving it in peace. That night the Golduck approached my makeshift camp. It walked gingerly before me, pausing as Charmeleon and Scyther stood to block its path. I tell them to stand down and it walked into the camp, accepting food from me and resting by my side. From that night, she was always with us.

As he leaves my mind I feel tears stream down my face, Charizard stands protectively over me despite being powerless against the god before us.

"I knew a boy like you once," Mewtwo says. "The kindness in his heart had been enough to deter me from a destructive path. I see it in you too. That same kindness. I sense hope in you. Hope for a better future." He turns his back to me and silence falls over the room. I lie propped against the wall completely at the mercy of the Pokemon that caused the end of the world.

"I'm sorry that you have walked this arduous path," he continues, "but the actions of one man do not redeem the terrible deeds of so many. I cannot forgive mankind for everything that it has done. Even now in such desperate times, evil thrives in the heart of so many humans." He turns his head to me. "I will spare you for now, so that you may say goodbye to your family... It is the only kindness I can offer." The sadness in his eyes has so much depth that I can't bring myself to respond.

I feel the air suddenly rush from my lungs and darkness enshroud me. A moment later I land in the middle of my settlement, my home, where my family goes about their day. Charizard looks around us confused, but I understand. I fall to my knees and look upon the people I love. My tears come silently as they stare at me in disbelief. Mewtwo teleported me home and now he is free, his wrath will never be stopped.

I tried to save us. Instead, I have killed us all.