Sapphire Aura: Prelude

Prologue

"Daddy, where are we going? It a really nice day." Sapphire chirped, unaware of the swelling grief in her father's heart. "Maybe to the playground?"

"No, darling, I'm taking you to a place where you have never been to before," her father replied, with only a hint of any emotion. Obviously, Sapphire, being the naive girl she is, did not know what was coming for her. While she dreamed about what fantasy was about to come true for her, her father only felt sadness.

Deep inside the nearby forest, they stopped walking, and Sapphire gaped at the green beauty of the place. "Wow," she mused. "This place is really pretty."

"I used to come here often," her father added. "But this will be your first and last time seeing this place." Sapphire cocked her head, unable to comprehend what her father had just said. Her vocabulary was just average for an eight-year-old, after all.

"Sweetheart, what I mean that you will never see your home or me again." Her father's voice broke as he said the truth that he had been hiding for so long.

"Wh-what do you mean?" For the first time in forever, Sapphire's face actually showed a hint of fear. She was known throughout the royal family for being brave and fearless, standing up to whatever she thought was wrong.

Her father said no more to her, and only called out into the further depths of the forest. "Celebi! You can act now!" As his daughter stared at him, bewildered, she didn't notice a strange blue glow softly enveloping her body.

When she did, it was too late. "Dad!" she yelled. "What are you doing to me?" But her father never answered. With a flick of his torn cape, he ran away from his only child, leaving her sobbing as she was sent to a thousand years in the future over a span of two years, her memory partially wiped.

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In an unknown and unmarked forest in Hoenn, Sapphire buried her face within her hands and cried for what seemed like hours, while a Torchic watched nearby, undecisive as to whether he should comfort the girl, or if that would only make her cry more.

"Torch?" The little Pokemon gathered up its courage, and finally nudged the new girl a little. Of course, the girl may not have heard him at all, but he meant: Are you okay?