Flame's Blessing

Sitting out in the cool night air, I look up at my, large, orange pokémon. His majestic body is curled around me as he sleeps peacefully.I enjoy the warm sensation his body gives off. My mind wanders to a day six years ago when I first met my partner.

It was two months after we made our escape from a living hell that I once called home. My brother, Joe, was dead asleep in bed, exhausted by his fourteen-hour shift at the pokémart. Alex and Jai had drifted to sleep about an hour before. My board mind allowed my eyes to wander outside and gaze at the cold rain pouring down. The clouds created an unnatural darkness that left the surrounding area almost unidentifiable. A strange object caught my eye. It looked like a floating orange flame wandering in the darkness. I rubbed my eyes not believing what they told me. Then, I grabbed my coat and ran outside to investigate.

I carefully walked over to the light while the rain came down on me. The fire was coming off the orange tail of a shivering creature that looked completely miserable. Wanting to help the poor thing, I took of my coat and wrapped it with the warm cloth. I picked up the small creature and walked back to the house. I opened the door with a small creak and entered.

I set the pokémon down on the floor and fetched a towel. After drying it off, the small pokémon looked much happier. It emitted a small noise before I shushed it. I looked it over. It was mainly orange, but had a cream colored under belly. Its eyes were a startling deep blue that had curiosity in them. A smile covered its face, proudly displaying white teeth. It looked…cute. Flame-as I decided to call it- snuggled against me. Its body was very warm and cozy. I drifted to sleep cuddling it.

I woke up hours later to witness Joe playing with flame. A small ball was thrown from my brother's hand. Flame chased after it and then returned it to Joe. These actions were repeated many times as the smiles on Joes face grew larger. It was nice to see him having fun. That meant he would not send Flame away. I was overjoyed.

Days passed and the rain seemed to vanish. I was playing outside with flame when someone caught my eye. It was a boy who looked about as old as Joe. He was wearing ripped up jeans, a tacky purple shirt with horizontal stripes, and a black cap facing backwards. Anger was showing in his amber eyes.

"You! You are the one who stole my charmander! He's mine so I'm going to take him back whether you like it or not!"He screamed at me. I was confused and remained silent. He took a red and white ball off his belt and held it out in front of him. I could not recall what the ball was called, which frustrated me.

"Charmander, return!"He screamed out. I waited for something to happen, but nothing did.

"Uh, return charmander,"He tried again, only to fail.

"I SAID RETURN!"He screamed with more anger than I expected. Nothing happened. I looked around, trying to discover what he was doing. Not seeing anything, my gaze returned to him.

"Fine don't return. Stay with the stupid girl. See if I care," He shrugged and turned to walk away."I did not want you anyway. You're completely worthless" He walked away in frustration, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Those words made Flame angry for some, unknown, reason. He launched an ember attack on the boy, barely missing. The boy jumped and emitted a high-pitched squeal of surprise. He ran and Flame chased him. They continued this amusing pattern for about ten minutes before I decided to stop them before someone got hurt. I calmly walked over to Flame, who grew still as I approached. The boy stared at me with wide eyes. I placed my hand on Flame's shoulder and shook my head back side to side in an attempt to convey that I do not approve of what he was doing. He gave up trying to harm the boy, but continued to coldly glare at the boy.

"You may want to leave and not return," I advised the boy in an attempt to prevent harm coming to anyone. His gaze turned from one of spite to one of terror. He backed away slowly for no reason that I could see. Then, he started running at a fast pace. I looked down at Flame and then back to the boy's shrinking figure, wondering who he was and how he knew Flame. I shook the thoughts out of my mind and turned to go inside. Behind me, Flame walked over to the red and white ball that the boy had dropped while running, picked it up, and ran up to me. I looked down at him and smiled while taking the ball- a pokéball if I remember correctly- and clipping it to my belt. We walked back to the house, side by side, and never left each other since.

My mind returns to the present as I think Thank you for not working pokéball and thank you for abandoning your charmander in the rain boy because now I have a good friend that I will forever cherish. I look up at the majestic charizard while thanking my luck. One of his violet eyes lazily opened to look at me. I stroke his body. I leaned back onto him and closed my eyes with a feeling of complete content and happiness flowed through me. That day came with the wonderful realization that I was no longer alone anymore, that I would never be alone again, hit me. I was never truly alone, but for the first time, I really felt like it. That was one of my favorite moments. I wanted to tell somebody so, I did. What was your moment?