"Happy Birthday dear Kim," an audience of young boys and girls sang to a blushing girl dressed in a red party frock with a pointy shimmery blue party hat on her head. "Happy Birthday to you."

"Make a wish dear," her mother smiled as her daughter drew in her breath.

WHOOSH!

The crowd of youngsters cheered as all seven candles went out at once before they were ushered away to play on the large lawn as the mother began to cut the cake into slices for each one to take home while Kims father and older brother, Mike, watched proudly from the side.

It was indeed a beautiful day with the sun at full blaze and the sky without a single cloud to block its light. The families Pokemon, an old Slowking, took advantage of the nice weather and was stretched out lazily on the swing seat that was located near the back porch. Not a single worry was on anybody's mind this day, despite Cerulean City being burnt to the ground only a week ago. The cause of such a disaster was never found out as all the witnesses had been slowly burned into ashes.

But today was not a day for things to dwell within a persons mind but to just let it all go and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. The citizens in the small mountain town had always done just that and always seemed to take well whatever life threw at them.

With the beautiful peace all around them, who was to know that it would be shattered within the most unpleasant of ways.

The group of children stopped in their activities suddenly as a piercing shriek tore through the sky and they looked up only to have something heavy and extremely hot land right on top of them.

Some died within seconds as they were trapped underneath an unbearably hot pair of wings while others screamed in agony as their party cloths caught fire while the two grown ups on hand tried their hardest to relieve them.

The clearly injured Moltres slowly rose to its feet and flapped its wings slowly, screeching at something else that descended into the lawn.

A female Pokemon trainer jumped off the Charizards back and stood to face the fire bird, paying no attention to the screams of pain all around her.

"Had enough Moltres?" Nikki smiled. "It would be so much easier for you if you just gave yourself up. Do you really want to suffer the same fate as your friend Zapdos?"

Moltres frowned angrily as it let out a screech of fury, puffing its body out as far as it would go.

"Hey!" Kims father yelled. "What do you think youre doing? Get out right now!"

"Keep your hair on pops," Nikki snickered. "Ill just finish my business and then Ill go. If you dont want to suffer the same fate as Cerulean City then I suggest that you stay out of my way."

"You did that?" Kims mother gasped in shock and horror.

"Yes," Nikki said without a trace of guilt as she slowly brought a Pokeball away from her belt. "And now that it was me, Im afraid that I cant allow this to get out." Pressing the release button on the Pokeball, a large muscular Machamp appeared in front of the back door. "Frank, keep the crowd under control."

She left the smiling Pokemon to deal with the old Slowking that had risen to defend its family and listened as innocent young children screamed in fear and called in vain for their mothers.

"Well," Nikki smiled as she heard the old Slowking fall with ease before a crunch was heard as her Machamp stomped on its skull, killing it instantly. "Lets get this over with."

Taking another Pokeball, she called out a round Golem that had a lot of fierce chips and scratches on its rock shell.

"Rock Hard," Nikki called. "Use Earthquake attack now!"

"Golem," Rock Hard roared as it used its powers to make the ground shake violently. Those who were standing were now knocked to their feet as their beautiful home collapsed, killing Mike who had gone to try and revive the dead Slowking. Nikki just stood easily against the attack and listened to the terrified screams and shouts.

The weakened Moltres tried with all its might to stand against the attack but it soon fell to the ground. It had been weakened too much by Nikkis sudden assassination with the assistance of her Charizard. As soon as its flaming body hit the ground, it was captured within a black Pokeball.

"Thats all it took Moltres," Nikki said as she recalled her Machamp and Golem. "If you had just surrendered to me then you could have spared these innocent lives."

Nikki turned to the terrified children and the frantic parents who were too busy mourning their dead son to notice what was going on.

"Kye," Nikki said in a soft dangerous voice as she released her Hypno beside her. "Use you Psychic attack to get them up into the air. And you, Fire Heart, can go and torch the whole town while we do this. Make sure that no one survives."

The Charizard nodded before it flew off to begin its vicious assault as the Hypnos eyes glowed an eerie purple, lifting the terrified part audience high into the air.

"Now crush them," Nikki commanded.

Kye obeyed, the glow in its eyes getting brighter. Screams of agonising pain rang through the air as their insides were crushed and they all died in horrible pain as the town around them became engulfed in flames and more screams joined theirs. As their bodies dropped to litter the ground, they were dead.

Nikkis smile dropped as she heard a soft whimper coming from the rubble of the destroyed home. She re called her Hypno and turned to see a little girl in a ruined red party frock. She had been partly trapped under some of the rubble and so had not fallen victim to the Psychic attack. Her face was grazed and tear stained as she looked up at Nikki with wide frightened eyes, full of tears that spilt over.

Picking up a piece of burning fence a few metres away, Nikki walked slowly up to the little girl, turning her head to read a colourful banner before it was burnt away.

"Are you the Birthday girl?" She asked in a deadly whisper, kneeling down to become eye level with the child.

Kim nodded as she caught sight of a Charizard landing behind the girl who had killed her family and friends.

"Well," Nikki gave a cruel smile as she lifted the burning wood and began to slowly move it towards the large pair of bright green eyes.

"Happy Birthday Kim."

In the next chapter: Ash falls ill but in such a remote island, can Brock find a cure before its too late?