A/N: I am so so sorry. I started another story. Please forgive me. The adorable Charmander would not leave me alone!
This is what happens when I'm completely and utterly obsessed with Pokemon but can find like zero good Pokemon stories. Keep in mind, I hate powerful!character or harem stories. And that's like... 99% of all Pokemon stories.
My all time favorite Pokemon story on this site, besides this one, is 'Fishing for Trouble'. That I also wrote.
If you guys have any recommendations, I will gladly accept them. Until then I will have to be content with only the stories in my head. D: And try to share some of that with you. Please enjoy!
Super Awesome Betas: Infamous Storm, To Mockingbird, GwendolynStacy, Igornerd, Monster Cat Music Girl, Sage Thrasher, Duesal Bladesinger, Serrith and my RL friend, Jerenda, who does not have an ffnet account.
Chapter One: All Wishes are Final - No substitutions, exchanges or refunds
Today was the day.
After three years of searching, and another four months of waiting, Charmander was finally going to get his wish. He was practically vibrating with excitement as he traversed the narrow crack in the mountainside towards his goal. It was a good thing he hadn't evolved in his four and a half years of life, or he'd never have been able to fit. Who knew being the runt of the litter would have proved to be so useful?
He exhaled and sucked in his round belly in order to wriggle through the last tight pinch, spilling out into the small cavern. The flame on his tail cast a warm orange glow over the ancient rock face and lit up the crystal embedded in it. Barely visible through the translucent surface, was a blur of blue and yellow.
Jirachi. The wish-granting star pokemon.
And tonight was the first night of the once-per-millennium meteor shower that would awaken it.
The orange reptilian pokemon lowered himself down to wait until nightfall. In just a few hours he would get his wish. The only thing he had ever wanted in his entire short life. The only thing any pokemon born at a breeding center ever wanted, really. To be adopted by a trainer and go on adventure. That was what he had been bred for.
Except Charmander had been born smaller than the rest and the breeders had been half convinced he wouldn't survive past infancy. He'd certainly never be able to battle competitively. Which was why Charmander had watched while all his siblings were shipped off to labs to be given to new trainers and start their journeys. He'd been forced to stay behind.
But that was okay. Charmander didn't want just any trainer, no, he was going to have the best trainer. The perfect trainer. Together they were going to rule the pokemon world!
And ever since he'd heard of the legendary wish-granting pokemon, Jirachi, he'd known exactly how he was going to do it. Three and a half years later, he would finally have his perfect trainer.
Charmander didn't know how long he waited there, hours at least, but he stayed firm in his resolve as he stared down the crystal. Jirachi was going to wake up, and Charmander was going to get his wish. He'd even brought along something to barter with. This was going to work. It had to.
The first change happened when Charmander's tail flame was no longer the only light source in the cave. He hopped to his feet when the rock face in front of him began glowing a soft blue and he brushed a claw over its surface in anticipation. Any moment now-
All at once the blue light went out. For a split second panic threatened to overwhelm him before the light burst into existence again. It was behind him this time, and Charmander whirled around to stare at the living legend that was now occupying the center of the cavern.
Three golden points shaped like the top of a star framed its face as Jirachi took a moment to stretch. Each point held a strange blue tag-like object, and twin yellow tails floated lazily in the cave's non-existent breeze. Its tiny white body had a large horizontal indent that Charmander guessed held its third eye.
All at once, Jirachi's eyes snapped open and it let out a loud cheer. "Haha! I have awakened! Finally I can continue the search! This shall be the cycle I find my- AAAH!"
Jirachi's excited gestures had finally turned him (the voice was definitely male) enough to spot Charmander, interrupting his monologue with a startled yelp. An invisible force slammed into the small lizard, sending him staggering back into the crystal formation behind him. Charmander made a mental note to not startle powerful psychic pokemon in the future. That had hurt.
"Oh! My apologies, little one, you startled me." There was a warm glow around him and Charmander was lifted to his feet, and his injuries healed all in an instant. He marvelled at newly unmarred scales, the great Jiraichi was proving to be just as powerful as he'd been told!
"There you go, good as new. Now, I must leave! I have a female to find and only seven days to find her before I sleep again. Farewell, my young friend!"
Charmander's eyes widened in alarm as he hurried to lunge forward and latch onto the other pokemon. "W-wait! Please!"
"What is it?!" the star pokemon snapped in mild irritation as he shook out of the other pokemon's grasp. "What part of 'only seven days' did you not understand? I'm in a bit of a hurry, in case you hadn't noticed!"
"I can help with that! At least, I'm pretty sure it will work. I don't think they had this medicine a thousand years ago..." Charmander trailed off as a bout of uncertainty hit him.
He was forced to shake it off however when he suddenly had a face full of legendary and the intense and undivided attention that came with it. "Medicine?! What medicine?"
The small lizard took a deep breath and told him. "It's a medicine that wakes up sleeping pokemon and keeps them awake for a few hours. More if they keep taking it. I... can get you some. But... but you have to grant me my wish!" There. He'd said it. Now to pray the great legendary wou-
"Agreed. Give me this medicine!"
"Wha- really? Just like that?" Charmander squeaked in incredulity. That... had been surprisingly easy. Jirachi hadn't even hesitated!
"Yes. Really. If this medicine works as you say, even if it buys me only a single extra night, it will be worth it. Besides, these wishes are useless to me and you're the only one who's ever offered to bargain for one. Usually there's a whole lot more ambushing and capturing and demanding involved. Though, I do reserve the right to deny the wish in case of any world ending peril it might cause. No sense in being awake an extra day if there's no world to spend it in."
Jirachi spun away from the fire pokemon so he could find a good patch of air to sit on. "Now. The bargain has been struck. Where is this medicine and what is your wish? I will peer into the future to verify both the authenticity of this miracle elixir you have described as well as the ramifications of your wish. If both are acceptable then you've got yourself a wish, Kid."
Charmander could hardly believe it! But he could waste no precious moments convincing himself, Jirachi clearly valued time more than anything else. He quickly scampered over to the crack in the wall he had come through, reaching through to grab the strap of a satchel he'd left just out of sight. He'd found it abandoned a few months back in a forest. A known nesting ground of Jigglypuff, though he'd been sure to visit it after nesting season. He suspected a trainer had wandered too close, fallen asleep, and then simply forgotten their bag after waking up. Hopefully. Charmander tried not to think of other grisly alternatives that may have befallen a helpless human in a wilderness full of wild and dangerous pokemon.
This trainer had obviously known about the Jigglypuff in the area because inside was a bundle of a dozen Awakening potions. That was what the small lizard dug out to present to his legendary companion. "And my wish is to have the perfect trainer. One that will help me realize my full potential so that together we can be the best team ever!"
"Train-er?" Jirachi asked, confused. "Like... that thing... where humans round up a herd of pokemon and tried to get them to do tricks? Why on Earth would you want that?! Is that still around a thousand years later?"
"No! Not 'tricks'! Human trainers train us to fight. To be strong and grow! I want to be a Charizard one day, to be big and scary and have no one pick on me ever again. Pokemon trained by a human are the strongest, and that's what I want to be. The strongest."
Jirachi hummed thoughtfully. "I still don't get it. Why not just wish to be the strongest then?"
Charmander paused. He hadn't really considered that. Surprisingly though, the thought didn't appeal to him. "I... I'm not sure. I think it's because it'll be lonely by myself? And because it feels a little like cheating that way. No, I still want my perfect trainer. It's all I've ever wanted. Is that okay?"
"Well, at least you know what you want. Probably better this way anyway since being 'the strongest' is far more likely to end in a world ending disaster," the legendary mused before shifting his interest toward the bundled package of blue spray bottles. "This is the medicine?"
Charmander nodded in confirmation.
"Alright, time to do some wish divination." Jirachi folded his legs under him and closed his eyes. A moment later the third eye on his stomach cracked open just a sliver. Through the lids, Charmander couldn't see much besides a faint silver glow. "This only works with wishes, by the way, otherwise I'd have used it to— Oh. Well. That didn't take long." Jirachi's third eye snapped shut and he went back to floating lazily slightly above and in front of the other pokemon.
"What? What didn't take long?" The fire lizard hopped impatiently from one foot to another. Surely seeing the future took longer than that...?
"We're all set. The medicine will buy me two whole extra days! Oh, and your wish is fine too. Next I give you one of these—" he paused to telekinetically float one of the paper tags down from his crown to within arm's reach of Charmander. "— and you just speak your wish out loud and press a claw onto its surface."
Charmander gingerly plucked the parchment from the psychic grasp and regarded it with near reverence. This was it! He was finally going to get to meet his trainer! He was just about to follow through with the instructions before pausing to reconsider their location. "Uhm. We should probably move outside. There's not enough room in here for a human."
Jirachi shrugged. "Yeah, you're probably right. Here, I'll take us somewhere safe. At least, it was safe about a thousand years ago. Definitely space enough for a human, anyway."
The fire lizard didn't even have enough time to agree before a soft white light infused them both and they were suddenly somewhere else. Harsh sunlight forced him to shield his eyes while they adjusted. When he opened them again, it was to the sight of lush forest.
"Huh. This was a field of flowers last I checked. Eh, safe enough. Go ahead and speak your wish." Jirachi floated over to perch on a half-rotted log, leaving the other pokemon to stare at the wish tag uncertainly.
Charmander took a deep breath and nodded decisively. "Okay. I wish for my perfect trainer; someone who can train me to be the best I can be and, together, we'll be able to reach greatness." He then placed the tag on the ground and pressed a palm to its surface.
The tag flickered briefly, and when he let go of it, an imprint of his claw was left behind. "Okay, now what?" he asked, glancing over at the star pokemon.
Jirachi pushed off of the log to come over and scoop up the little slip of paper. "Now you get ready for a light show."
Without any further preamble, the legendary pressed the wish back into place on his crown. Instantly he was infused with a white glow and a bright pillar of light consumed him and his immediate surroundings. Charmander was forced to shield his eyes again and retreat a few steps.
It only lasted a moment, leaving dark spots in the fire lizard's vision before clearing to reveal a somewhat drained-looking Jirachi and a suspiciously human-shaped lump on the ground beneath him.
Charmander did not even remember crossing the distance to get to her.
Vaguely he remembered he'd always subconsciously thought of his perfect trainer as a boy-human, but discarded that idea as irrelevant. It didn't matter. His perfect trainer was here and she was perfect. She was also unconscious, much to his disappointment, but that was fine too. It gave him a chance to process her presence.
She had long dark human-hair, and two long short-furred human-arms attached to five-fingered human-hands. She even had all the gear of a trainer already on her person! A belt with six pokeballs. A backpack filled with all sorts of human stuff, probably for training. Her human-clothes even looked like the kind a trainer would wear.
In short, she was everything Charmander had imagined. And more since she was real!
"So, is this what you wanted?" Jirachi asked.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" The fire lizard hopped excitedly from foot to foot. "Thank you!"
"Good. Then I'm heading out. I've got a whole lot of searching to cover and only nine days to do it. Ha! Thanks for the upgrade from seven, kid. This is going to be the cycle I find her, I just know it!"
The star pokemon was already starting to float away when Charmander waved to him. "Okay! Good luck, Jirachi! Thanks again!"
The legendary was out of sight moments later and Charmander returned his attention to the human laying beside him. Hopefully she'd wake up soon. He couldn't wait to meet her! In the meantime, he settled himself down next to her to wait. Soon, very soon, Charmander would have everything he'd ever wanted.
He hadn't counted on how much screaming that would entail.
AN: And that's how it starts. Kidnapping a random human girl so Charmander can get his wish. Just remember, this all started because Charmander wished it to happen. This is all Charmander's fault. Got it? Okay, don't forget it. No matter how adorable Charmander is.
Next up: Who is this trainer? What has Charmander gotten himself into?