CARSON

            He dreamed again that he was in the sandy-floored tunnels. He was running, jumping, and fighting at shadows that seemed to come out of the wall. Pyro ran alongside him, sending fire balls at enemies that Carson Brightflame forgot to destroy or didn’t see. Yet it was almost as if Pyro was him, and he was Pyro.  Occasionally he’d swing a sword at a phantom, only to spin around and kick another with a talloned foot, and he could feel the fire as he expelled it from his beak. No, Pyro’s beak, he thought.

            Eventually, he made his way back into the Stone Giant’s chamber. There it stood, as ever, shrouded in shadow. It was almost as if it wasn’t there at all, most of the time the Stone Giant was just a voice that spoke to Carson in his dreams, but the boy somehow knew that it was, indeed, a giant made out of stone.

            “You are progressing in your abilities, Child of Fire,” the voice said, from nowhere yet from in front of him at the same time.

            “Thanks to you,” Carson called as he looked down at Pyro. The Torchic was standing on the sandy floor in the dark stone room. Carson and Pyro both seemed to glow in the dark; a bright orange glow emitted from the both of them. Even in his dreams, the red spot on Pyro’s wing feathers was still there. This is no ordinary dream, Carson knew. This is real.

            “Time is growing short for tonight,” came the rumbling disembodied voice. It sounded like boulders rolling down a mountainside. “Soon you must wake, Child of Fire.”

            “I don’t want to,” Carson cried. “When I’m awake, all I have is a round room, with only a bed. I eat the worst food I’ve ever had in my life. Why can’t I stay with you?”

            “Time is growing short,” the Stone Giant responded. “Soon there must come a day when you seek me away from the dream world where I am calling to you. There are others, Child of Fire. There are others who are looking for you. You must find them, and you must help them find my brothers.”

            Carson was confused, as ever. The Stone Giant often spoke in riddles, or hidden truths. “Why can’t you just tell me what I have do, where I can find you?”

            “That is something you must find for yourself. You are the Child of Fire. The Bringer of Freedom.”

            “How can I do anything when I’m a prisoner?” Carson called. Pyro chirped in agreement.

            “You must wish for it. You have to wish for it with all your heart, with all your being. Wish for it for the love you bear your Spirit Pokémon, the friends you once had… and the blood of those that you have lost. Then, and only then, will you have the sight to see, and the direction to come to me at last.”

            Carson looked down at Pyro, he loved his Spirit Pokémon, even more now that they knew how to share one mind. The ability Carson had to enter into Pyro’s mind and share its own thoughts and feel the little chick’s fiery heart beat had brought them closer than ever before. And even though this was Carson’s dream, he knew that Pyro was here with him.

 The dreaming Prince looked at Pyro and picked him up and hugged him close. As he pulled away from Pyro’s warm feathers, he saw again the spot of abnormally red-colored feathers. Father… He remembered now. The night Starfall had betrayed his family, Carson had found King Carlos Brightflame in his solar, dying as his own Spirit Pokémon lay lifeless in a smoking pool of blood.

“The blood of those I have lost,” he whispered quietly, finally understanding. The spot of red feathers was the same place where King Carlos had coughed up his last breath of life, and the blood had never truly washed off. A sudden fire swelled up inside of him, a passion that he had never known before. He called out to the Stone Giant that he could not see. “I wish to protect my family,” he said, tears emerging from his eyes. “I wish to protect the innocent. I want to bring freedom to my people, like I freed Brandon.”

Lights illuminated the dark cave, a simple arrangements of orange dots were the source. There were three in a vertical column, one in the center, and then another column of three.

“Child of Fire,” the voice came from everywhere and nowhere. “You have wished and so shall you be granted guidance… Now let me share one last thing with you before you wake. Come find me. Find me and save Hoenn itself from the storm that doesn’t end.”

Instantly, Carson saw volcanoes erupting all around him. He saw Mt. Chimney exploding into ashes and molten rock, consuming everything. Villages burned in the lava, and everywhere he looked, people were dying; bursting into flame or killing one another.

He and Pyro turned to run away but then he saw the sea to the east. A terrible storm was rolling in, and with it came sheets of rain that drowned every town, ships, and living thing. When the lava met the sea, great and terrible beasts seemed to clash in eternal hate and fury. Carson trembled at the sight…

And then Carson saw his father… Or was it? He was the same, yet different. He did a double-take, and then it seemed that he was his older brother Brandon… It’s neither, Carson knew. But he is of my blood.

At the side of this man was a Blaziken fierce with fury, and both emitted the same orange glow that Carson and Pyro had. Carson and Pyro could sense the same fiery passion for freedom within its heart. There was another flash of light, and both man and Blaziken were gone. In their place was a familiar Pokémon, one that Carson had seen painted on the walls in the deep dungeons and tunnels under Lavaridge’s castle. Trails of flame drifted from its wrists, and its black and red feathers were intimidating to behold.

The powerful Pokémon fought the beasts, but it couldn’t win… and just when all hope was lost, two other Pokémon appeared. Pokémon Carson had never seen before, a Pokémon that glowed blue, and another that was green. Together, after much struggle and heartache that made Carson weep, the fiery land beast and the titan of the stormy sea retreated.

Carson witnessed the three Pokémon separate after defeating the monsters. The dreaming boy floated up and up and up, and he saw time pass beneath him. He saw the familiar Lavaridge Castle grow in the shadow of Mt. Chimney. He saw towns being re-built, and new kingdoms sprouting from the earth.

“The Three Heroes were able to quell the rage of the Gods once before,” came the voice of the Stone Giant. “But if you do not act, only death lies ahead. You are the Child of Fire, the Bringer of Freedom. Hoenn’s fate lies in your hands.”

Find the others, Carson thought. It all makes sense now… The dream began to blur and Carson knew he would wake up soon. He frantically searched for the green and blue lights again as Hoenn shrank beneath him. He saw a familiar green light in the east, finally, but no matter how hard he wished, no blue light appeared to him.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in his tower cell. Light filtered through the barred windows. Carson rolled over, Pyro was already awake, looking at its Spirit Human with knowing eyes.  He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed to stretch his legs.

“Whoa!” his heart skipped a beat as his foot slipped on a piece of paper on the floor, and a quill… and ink. “Where did this come from?” Yet somehow Carson had a feeling he already knew.

“Gull! Wingull!” came a cawing from the barred window, as the strange sea-bird Pokémon flapped into the chamber and perched on the frame of the bed.

Carson had wished for help. And somehow, someway, it had come. He began to write on the paper, not caring where or who it came from. He didn’t know who he was writing to at first, but he wrote a message of help: who he was, where he was, what had happened to his family.

At the top of the letter he wrote:

            To the Green Light in the East

The first hero had friends, and he would need them as well. Carson rolled up the letter after the ink dried and handed it to the Wingull, who gently took it in its beak and flew back off through the window. Carson Brightflame and Pyro looked at each other… They didn’t know why, but they trusted that bird.