It was mid evening, sirens blaring an emergency tone as soldiers and people around Ryuji would run about. His fellow police officers secured routes for civilians to find shelter and escape. The sound of footsteps beating against the paved, damaged roads echoed no matter where he turned. Although only a lieutenant at the time, he had been present to witness everything. Children cried in confusion on fear, superiors shouted out orders and positions to stop Rocket's advance. He sat beside his unit, his team by his side as just over the horizon, Rocket members approached in hordes. That's when he had first realized that his squad had not been placed to push the enemy back in some miraculous force.

It was to buy the town enough time to evacuate.

His hands shook but feet remained planted firm. People called to their Pokémon. Explosions sounded off across the sky. His once peaceful home had forever been scarred with the beating of a million feet, the echoes of a thousand cries above. People fell. Some friends he had talked to just hours ago. Others of Rocket members in anguish. Their faces blurred together as instinct flooded into his system. A source of heat came from above as forces rallied together to fuel some attack from the fire. Dragon types swooped from above as explosions rang out. Ryuji felt himself thrown every which way. Panic and cries range forth bbled out by the resulting chaos as the attacks found their mark

And then, silence.

Everything was over in an instant. He awoke amidst a scene of carnage. The city he had known to love since he was born, rendered an uninhabitable shell of its former self. Adrenaline flooded into his body to stand, though he would soon come to regret that. A battlefield of not Rocket victory but senseless destruction lied before him. The bodies of unfortunately civilians and more who couldn't get out in time greeted his awakening. Expressions of shock and horror as corpses rested in varying degrees of mutilation from the attack. The bodies of a select few amount of soldiers huddled together underneath an upturned truck came nearby,

In a moment of panic, he dashed towards one body in particular. The same man he had known for years since being sworn into the police. The same man he had gotten to know and love. His hands fell onto a cold and still chest as he grabbed at his uniform. Shouts and cries rang out but no sound came. He could never forget that face, his dying breath, the taste on his lips that would never leave. Ryuji held his hand as he died, praying that somehow, he could go with him.