Embers '@'

Kamonegi walked down the long dirt road. He had walked down this path many times before and knew ever rock, crack in the dirt, he could make his way through it with his eyes closed, and as his mind wandered he may as well have been doing so as his thoughts were a million miles away. There was so much to get done before the winter frost. They needed to strengthen the greenhouse, plant the winter herbs, and winterproof the house. 

He let out a long sigh, his exhale turning white in the chilly air as it escaped his mouth. So much to do, but they were still in a good place at the moment. The snow wasn't supposed to fall for another week or two and he was now returning home with all the supplies they would need to finish everything up. He adjusted his heavy backpack and glanced down the road. He was almost to his home town now. He could see the tall stone wall the surrounded the city peaking up from over the crest of the hill. A faint smile sprouted on his face as the memories he had made on that wall danced around in his head. He had spent many a nights up on the top of that wall keeping watch next to a small fire with the other guards.

Kamonegi squinted. Hold on a moment, it was getting dark out now, someone should be on the wall... you should be able to see the light from the fire from where he was now on the path... but there was nothing. His heart sunk a little, something was wrong...

He stopped walking for a moment and studied the horizon above the city for a moment. Was that.....yes, black smoke. His heart fell the rest of the way, oh no, something was defiantly wrong, smoke like that only appeared when things were going wrong. His old guard instincts kicked in and Kamonegi broke out into a quick run panting as he closed the gap between him and the wall.

Approaching the front gate his heart rate increased, the door was open a jar and he could hear shouts from the other side, no they weren't shouts, screams. He quickly slide inside the door way and was instantly frozen in place. The town in front of him, the place he had grown up, where he had meet his wife, raised his family, was in flames.

The houses in their town, much like in other towns were made out of highly flammable material, but they had systems in place, safety measures to prevent and put out fires before the had a chance to spread, why wasn't anyone trying to put them out? And that was when he noticed it. There were mon running around the town, but they weren't attempting to put out the fire, no, they were running from some strange Pokemon he had never seen before, all of them with fast masks and wielding weapons. He took a step back as one of his Nabors was cut down in front of him. 

For a brief moment he was frozen in place, unable to comprehend what was in front of him. Who were these invaders? what did they want, why were they doing this, the a thought pierced his mind. His family, they were in trouble. This thought instantly kicked him into gear and before he knew what he was doing he was running towards his home on the far side of town. Dodging attacks, ducking under burning buildings. 'Mon he had grown up with cried for him to help them, and he wished he could, but he had something more important to take care of.

He pushed himself to run faster, move quicker. He cursed under his breath, raising his family had made him lazy and out of shape, he had always meant to try to get fit again but never found the time for it. His lungs burned as he rounded the last bend.

"no.....no...no,no,no,nonononononononononononononono." He shouted as his eye fell upon the burning building. He tried to run even faster. The flames that danced around his home were colorful and vibrant, likely from the magical herbs and plants they kept inside the home. He whispered a quiet prayer under his breath, to the bird legend, to mew, to anyone to please have his family be safe.

He slowed to a walk as he got feet from his burning home, the heat and the smoke attempted to push him back as his eyes darted around. "Negi!" he shouted getting a mouth full of smoke. "Allium, Kur-" He started to cough, the smoke cutting off his words.

His eyes started to water when his ears picked up a sound above the crackling of the flames, a sound he had been hoping not to hear.

"Father! We- *cough* We are in here *cough*"
"Kamon-*cough* We- we can't get out!"

The voices of his kids and wife rang out from the middle of the burning wreckage. His body shook, he wasn't sure what from, fear, anger, terror? But he couldn't allow a moment of hesitation. He quickly ran towards the noises, his eyes squinted tight and his cape covering his mouth in an attempt to protect them from the smoke. He moved into the fire and attempted to pull up some fallen beams but every time he touched them the heat would burn his hands causing him to pull back.

Tears started to fall down his face, both the smoke and cries of his family causing them to form. He made another attempt to pull debree away so he could reach his family, their shouts getting quieter and quieter. He managed to move a large piece out of the way, blocking out the pain his hands felt. As he took a few steps deeper into the burning building he felt something wrap around his leg and yank his feet out from under him causing a pile of soot and ash to erupt as he landed on the ground. Before he could react he found himself being pulled backwards out of the flames he tried to claw at the ground to stop himself, but the thing pulling him back was to strong.

After being dragged a few feet away from the burning wreak he stops. Something behind him rips his bags off of him and a heavy weight is set on his back. He tries to wiggle free but is unable to. He can still hear the faint cries of his family as something grabs onto his crest and pulls him up off the ground.

A voice above him says something, but due to the roar of the flames and the pain and adrenaline pulsing through his body he is unable to make out what they are saying, but he doesn't really care. As the voices in the flames go quiet he attempts to wiggle free again, but is rewarded by doing so with a swift hit to the side of his chest. His vision goes blurry and everything nearly turns black as he attempts to stay conscious. 

"Negi!" He weakly tries to shout as he feels his hands and feet being tied up. Liquid start to drip down his face, but he is unsure if its from his tears or blood. He gets slammed one more time his vision disappearing for another few moments. By the time he recovered the 'mon that had tormented him were gone, but he was still tied up and unable to move. He watched his house and town burn down to the ground as he lay their helpless.

He sat there for a moments, minutes, hours. Darkness fell and the fires died down to nothing but embers, Kamonegi sitting there the whole time just trying to comprehend it. At first he was just shocked, but as night came, something else came with it, utter rage. Anger and hatred started to burn inside of him from the embers in front of him, it burned hotter then any flame ever could. 

It was then and there that he vowed to take down those who had destroyed everything and protect others from their destruction. He no longer had his family to live for, so he would give his life to this cause.