Prologue

The clouds hung overhead. The grey masses moving across the sky like ominous harbingers of fate. The day seemed as just another day at the facility. Team Galactic Scientists and Grunts were moving about their business as usual. The facility was issued for Pokémon research. Not the kind that you would find in a normal laboratory, but one in which the poaching and enslavement of Pokémon were of a primary concern. How to do it, that is. That was where our hero came in.

The laboratories located inside the facility were massive, and dark, filled with machinery of all kinds. Machinery, with which, to experiment on Pokémon. The machines themselves were large monstrosities, lining the walls, going from metallic floor to metallic ceiling. The lights were off, leaving only buttons, dials, and diodes to provide a mere deathly glow in the blackness.

The door to the room opened, and through it came some scientists, followed by grunts. The scientists were carrying Pokéballs. No doubt for research of a horrific kind. Lights in the room came to life as they entered. Scientists began to flip switches, and turn dials, bringing monitors to life, as well. They placed the Pokémon on a grey, steel laboratory table. Taking one Pokéball from the tray, they positioned it into a machine. The Pokémon was released into a large glass tube. It was a little Bidoof.

"Now we shall see if this new device is fully operational. If this works as planned, we will have no trouble in capturing the Pokémon we need."

"Bidoof." The Bidoof clawed the glass tube as it furiously tried to get out.

"Now," the head scientist said. A lab assistant pressed a few buttons on a grey console. Generator probes slid out of the ceiling. Purple bolts shot down from above, striking the Bidoof and causing it to scream in agonizing pain. The Bidoof continued to fight the rays, but it began to tire, and eventually gave up. The Bidoof stood up, its eyes glowing a sinister purple, its brown fur standing on end.

"Release it," ordered the scientist. The tube slid upwards, allowing the Bidoof to come forward. It took a few steps towards the Galactic Scientists, then let out a hideous screech and fell over, twitching and convulsing in apparent death throws.

"Failure! Again!" cried the head scientist. He slammed his hands down onto the laboratory table. Calling back the creature into its Pokéball, he turned towards the others. "We will just have to try again tomorrow. Possibly with something a little less pathetic. Schedule the next batch for testing."

The group of grunts and scientists turned and walked away. The door to the laboratory shut behind them. The lights once again dimmed, leaving the room in the haze of lit diodes. The atrocity did not go unseen, though. A pair of eyes was watching from within an overhanging air vent. The dark blue eyes stared in disbelief at what had just occurred. How could they have done that to the Bidoof? There had to be something done. Screws at the corners of the air vent began to undo themselves, as if by some unseen force. Which in reality, was a magnetic screwdriver. The screws fell out one by one, as the vent cover was slid off. The cover was pulled into the vent and disappeared into the hole. A small mirror on a collapsible stick came out of the duct. It revolved around, scanning the entire room. Having satisfactorily done so, it as well was pulled back into the vent. A shadowy figure in dark clothing slid out of the air vent and to the floor. Cautiously, it moved over to the console.

"Now, just to find out what they are doing here," a deep voice whispered. He slipped a small black cord into the computer port, and plugged the other end into what appeared to be a small hand-held object. The screen lit up, reflecting off of his black hair. "Downloading information, now."

The progress was shown on a bar. Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent. Footsteps were heard coming down the hallway. The figure turned his head, directing his blue eyes to the doorway. There was no time left. The progress bar was still moving slowly. Sixty percent. The figure took out a Pokéball and prepared to throw it. The footsteps stopped, a shuffling was heard as the person most likely was searching through pockets for the key card. At ninety-nine percent, it stalled. The light on the access panel turned green and the door opened. In stepped the guard. He walked over to the table and looked around.

"The professor said that the Pokéballs were here, strange. He must have taken them with him, and forgot."

The guard tuned back, and exited the room. While just above, the cover was being placed back onto the vent. The figure crawled silently through the shafts, until he reached the room of his destination. The figure leapt out of the duct, and landed silently on the floor once again. He moved down the grey hallway, being careful not to make too much noise on the metal floor. Where did they get that much metal? he thought, as he made his way down to the next room. Tiptoeing to an intersecting hallway, he was forced to stop, as a pair of guards walked past. Luckily, they were too busy conversing to notice him, and they walked right by. He shook his head at their incompetence, and continued down the hall. Being as careful as possible, he moved past the cameras placed around the facility. He reached a corner with a moving camera. Timing himself, he ducked beneath as it rotated around. They would not have know he was ever there. He would have preferred staying in the air ducts, but unfortunately, they didn't reach the room he needed to access. On the other hand, he did, in fact, have the layout of the facility memorized, as per his mission directives.

He crept over to the guard post and quickly dispatched the two guards, before they could pull out their Pokéballs. He pulled a device out of the pack at his side, placing it on the access panel, lights flashed and notes rang as the device decoded the lock. The lock detached and the door slid open. He slipped inside; failing to notice one of the guards had fallen onto the large red alarm button on the guard console. The room was large, a storage bay. It housed large generators that powered the entire facility. Taking it down would completely cripple the laboratories within. It would take months to repair. Running amongst the large cylinders that lined the room, he began attaching square devices to the large containers. Setting the clocks on them to three minutes, he crept out of the forest of machinery to hear the sounds of footsteps above him.

"Hold it, right there!" cried a voice.

He turned up to see a dozen Galactic Grunts on the railing above him lead by the head scientist. Several of them had called out Pokémon, as he could see a Charizard, and an Infernape among them. Not being one to like third degree burns, he placed his hands in the air.

"Thought that you could get away, huh?" laughed the head scientist. "I knew something was wrong when those Pokémon went missing in the lab!" He smiled a malevolent smile.

"You Pokémon Rangers are such fools. Going in by yourselves, you can't help but save helpless Pokémon!"

"I guess you're right," the dark haired Ranger said, "We just can't help ourselves." He slowly reached for his device, lowering his arm down.

"Hey! I said don't move!" cried the lead scientist. "Move, and we'll burn you to a crisp!"

The Ranger continued to lower his arm down, calling their bluff, and pulled out small hand-held device.

"What is that?" yelled the scientist. "Tell me now!"

"Just an average Pokédex," replied the Ranger, "Nothing special, just like me." Raising the Pokédex into the air, he proceeded to press a button. The alarms started sounding and red lights began to flash throughout the room.

"What is going on here?" asked the lead scientist.

"The Pokémon have all been freed from their confines, sir!" a grunt came in yelling.

"You! Just who are you?"

Staring him down with his dark cerulean eyes, he responded, "Just a Pokémon Ranger, but if you must know, they call me Kuro." The numbers on the devices scattered throughout the room counted down to nothing. Zero. There proceeded to be a large flash followed by combustion of the machinery. The facility was being sucked up in flames.

"What are you waiting for? Get him!" yelled the distraught head scientist. The Pokémon and grunts began to converge on the Ranger.

"My apologizes, but I must be on my way." Kuro turned and ran towards the remnants of the wall that had been destroyed by the explosions. Running outside, he darted towards the cliff face. He ran as fast as he could, the Charizard flew towards him, shooting down upon him. The ground burst around him, rock flying everywhere. Kuro breathed hard, trying to outrun the giant Pokémon. The Infernape was beginning to catch up to him, as well. Even the swiftest of humans couldn't outrun Pokémon such as them. Infernape grasped at his leg, pulling him down. With him on the ground, Inferape slammed its fists down, trying to crush him. Twisting and turning, he dodged as best he could. The Infernape reared back, fire welling up in its mouth. He saw that he was to be finished off with an Ember. Rolling back, he kicked both of his boots into the ape Pokémon's face, causing him to whip backwards. Using the momentum, he pushed off with his legs, tumbling in reverse. On his back, the Infernape couldn't stop his Ember. Bolts of fire flew skyward, almost hitting Charizard, forcing it to swerve out of the way. Free of the Infernape, Kuro began running once again. The Charizard swirling up above began to take chase. The Charizard swooped down, letting loose a Flamethrower. Trying to dodge it, Kuro was hit in the shoulder, the jacket he was wearing burnt, with the flesh beneath singed. The smell of flesh filled his nostrils. Pokémon firing at him, and Galactic Grunts chasing him, he proceeded to leap off the cliff.

Free-falling, he took out a Pokéball and threw it into the air, "Go, Staraptor!" Out came an extremely large bird, which latched onto Kuro and began flying away. He winced at the pain in his shoulder.

"It's a good thing you're larger than an average Staraptor," he said, petting its talons. "Good girl."

As the factory burned in the distance, one could hear the disgruntled shouting of "Kuro!"

Hello, thank you, for reading. I know that you probably are reading for Cynthia, and she will be appearing in a few chapters. I just need to set up the main character. I implore you continue reading, it will get much better, and the plot will thicken. I promise.