Crack!

The little orange salamander watched his parent as she smashed strong, deadly fists into the small boulder. The fire on its mother's tail would flare violently with every punch, as if the adrenaline even affected the burning fire. It always impressed the little Charmander to watch his mother punching through rocks like they were nothing, crushing them into pebbles to make a nest for the pair to sleep on, or to reveal a safe cave.

With a sigh, the Charmeleon came to a stop, flexing her clawed fingers and shaking her paws afterwards as if to shake out slight irritation. She turned and looked over her shoulder at the younger lizard, and a gentle look passed onto her face. "Charmeleon."

Leaping to his paws, the little Charmander dashed over to his mother. He didn't need to be told twice to be close to his mother; she was the safest place on his planet no matter where they were. As he climbed onto her back, awkwardly clinging to one of her shoulders in a brief and funny sort of hug, the baby lizard knew he would love his mother forever. That they would be together forever, as a family looking out for each other.

But sometimes, forever is not as long as we would like it to be...

Hunting at night always made the small Charmander nervous. He wasn't scared of the dark, exactly, but the prospect of what lurked in it terrified him. As he stayed by his mother, padding slowly along beside her and clinging for dear life to her tail and the light it offered him, the little lizard couldn't shake the feeling tonight was a bad night.

"Char charmander."

His mother stopped, looking down at him and frowning slightly. "Meleon."

"Char!"

His pleading was of no use, however. They had both not eaten for a couple of days, and as such they were both very hungry. His mother wasn't about to not hunt just because he had a funny feeling, and although it was upsetting to feel so ignored the Charmander also knew his mother was right. They had to eat.

For the first two hours of the night, it was fine. They managed to find a small baby Pidgey that had fallen from its nest in the trees, and as his mother explained to him, it had been on the ground for quite some time. It was near death, and while she was killing it, she was putting it out of its misery. The Charmander felt immensely sorry for the Pidgey at the story, and he didn't even want to imagine how horrible it would be without his mother. He patted the little bird on its head and whispered little apologies to it for a moment before his mother shooed him away. The kill was quick and clean and the little baby bird hadn't felt a thing.

The small Charmander was always grateful he had such a caring mother. She was always looking out for others, if she could, and would never torture something or hurt it if she didn't have to.

The little ball of feathers hadn't proved enough of a meal for both to share, and so the Charmeleon placed her son into a hole in a nearby tree with his meal and told him to stay quiet while she went out to find her own meal. She would be back before he knew it, had been her near exact words. He hadn't been happy with having to be all on his own in a small dark hole, and he didn't manage to eat much more of his meal once he was all alone. Instead the Charmander lost his appetite, and curled up in a little corner hugging his tail to his face and admiring the little bit of warmth and light. Of course, it didn't replace the warmth and light of his mother's tail, and the little orange Pokemon only wished that his mother was back.

It had only been a few minutes – despite the fact it felt like hours – when he heard it. The cry of a Charmeleon in pain, and the angry barks of Pokemon he didn't know. This was followed by the shouting of something that didn't even sound like a Pokemon; he could understand what it said yet it did not speak the same language that all Pokemon did.

Worried for his mother and forgetting her orders, the little Charmander rushed out of the hole and followed the sounds of a fight.

"Houndoor, use Crunch now!"

"Houndour!"

He was close now. Sticking his head through a bush and ignoring the irritation of small and scratchy branches, the Charmander blinked as the scene unfolded before his eyes.

His mother was trying to fight off a strange, black dog Pokemon that refused to let go of her right arm. The wound didn't look all that serious, but it was enough to cause the Charmeleon's arm to bleed, and this scared the little orange Charmander. The second black dog Pokemon was running in towards her, about to attack her and probably hurt her more seriously.

Without really knowing what he was doing, and only knowing that his mother was hurt and this was bad, the little Charmander jumped out the bushes and ran forward. He focused all his energy on getting to his mother before the strange dog Pokemon, and once he was close enough the lizard leapt with claws ready.

"Houndour lookout!" The strange, not-Pokemon cried.

But he was too late. There was a loud, pained yelp, and the second black dog Pokemon staggered backwards suddenly as it shook it's head violently. Blood dribbled down its nose and across its head, getting slightly into one eye and causing great irritation.

A second yelp and his mother had freed herself in the commotion. "Charmeleon!" She snapped over at him, causing the Charmander to look over at her and shake his head. He wouldn't leave her to be hurt and ganged up against. He would help. Or at least, he would try to, but like all children the little Charmander wasn't really weighing up the situation properly.

He turned his head back over to the Houndour, and realised that it was glaring at him. The glare wa fierce and intimidating, and the orange Pokemon squirmed slightly under the gaze. Terrifying. He had never seen another Pokemon look so angry. Look so ready to hurt. Ready to kill.

"Oh goodness me, it's a mother Pokemon!" The not-Pokemon said. "Leave them alone you two!"

If the Charmander was thinking straight, he might have thought that the not-Pokemon was trying to help them now. However, the way the two dog Pokemon stared at him and his mother had the small lizard frozen in place, the feeling of dread he'd had all night peaking as he realised that there was a real danger this time. He hoped the Houndour would listen to their not-Pokemon.

They didn't.

Both the dogs ran towards him, and paralyzed in his fear the Charmander could not even ready himself. His mother screamed something at him, telling him to run it sounded like, but the rest of the world seemed foggy and blanked out as he watched death run at him on four legs. There was a blur of fire and orange, and one of the dogs seemed to suddenly fly across his peripheral vision. Yet still, the world seemed distant, and as his mother screamed at him again he could barely hear what was said.

The black dog Pokemon leapt, and even time seemed to become distant. The Charmander closed his eyes and waited for death.

Yet, death did not find him. There was an explosion of pain in his back, enough to make him cry out, and time and the world seemed to come back to him as he fell forwards, landed on his feet, jumped and twisted. The pain was like nothing he'd ever experienced, and the Houndour was completely forgotten momentarily as the young Pokemon tried hard to reach the pain on the left side of his back to make it go away.

There were sounds everywhere; the not-Pokemon was yelling at his Houndour to stop and his mother was growling and snapping. A woosh of fire and the Charmander didn't even know which Pokemon, between his mother and the other Houndour, was winning. He turned to try and find his own opponent, suddenly remembering there were two Houndour, but he couldn't see the dog in time to defend himself.

Teeth ripped into his left arm, causing even greater pain, and he managed another cry as he turned and lashed out with his good arm at the face of the Houndour biting him. He missed. He scratched again, with vigor this time, and slapped at the dog Pokemon with his tail. He didn't miss, and his claws created more scratches in the face of the dog; deeper scratches that would possibly scar for a while.

The Houndour yelped and let go, lashing out with a paw and hitting the already injured right arm with impressive force. Not as strong as his opponent, the Charmander was easily thrown to one side, disappearing into the bushes. The world was spinning and he couldn't tell up from down as he tried to stand. His arm was badly injured, and he couldn't put weight on it at all. The not-Pokemon was screaming now, but the orange lizard couldn't make out what he was saying any more. The world was getting dark, very dark, and despite his efforts the young Charmander couldn't keep himself conscious.

As his world went black and the noise faded, all the little Charmander wished for was that his mother would come back for him, and that they could go home.

Light. It was light.

With a groan, the Charmander opened his eyes and squinted. He moved to cover his eyes with his left arm, and yelped at the horrendous pain he could feel. He turned quickly, only to realise there was some kind of dead weight on his back. It was keeping him somewhat warm, but it felt heavy and strangely cold. Perhaps his mother had hidden him away in a hole to keep him safe?

That's right, there had been a fight. Worry filled the little Charmander, and he huddled back into the darker area. It was so quiet, and cold outside too. The early morning fog was rolling across the fields, and a few aerial Pokemon were flying across the sky. Where were the dog Pokemon? Where was the not-Pokemon?

"Char!"

He waited for a few minutes, but his mother did not answer his call. Perhaps she had lead the not-Pokemon and his nasty dogs away. Frightened, alone, and in a lot of pain, the young Pokemon wondered what he should do. He was slightly hungry now, and it was getting colder the longer he didn't do anything. Sniffling, and trying to keep his tears at being so frightened and alone to himself, the Charmander called out for his mother again. Still, she didn't answer.

Maybe she was back at their nest. Waiting for a safe time to come and collect him. She would never abandon him willingly, after all. Filled with slight hope that maybe she was back home, the Charmander pulled himself out of the small hole, wincing as he did so. It was strange, part of the earth felt like it was following him as he crawled out. Standing upright, the Charmander jumped a little as something hit the ground behind him with a gentle 'thump'.

He turned and checked to see what it was, assuming maybe it had been a branch. What met his eyes made him cry in horror and shock, and he staggered backwards so fast he fell onto his back, causing pain in the scratches there as he landed on a rough surface.

It was a Pokemon. It was dark orange, though it was almost hard to tell given the amount of scars and bites and bruises and dirt. It looked like an overgrown Charmander, with a funny bump on its head. For a minute, the baby Charmander couldn't process what he was seeing aside from a Pokemon that looked hurt.

Then he realised it wasn't just any Pokemon, but it was a Charmeleon. Beaten and torn and battered, but still a Charmeleon. His mother. Feeling overjoyed that his mother was with him, albeit very injured, the Charmander rushed up to her and hugged her with an overjoyed "Char!"

When there was no response, the Charmander's joy began to seep away little by little. He let go of her body and blinked sadly, moving to shake her. His confidence fell dramatically as she continued to be still, and not respond to anything he did. His gentle shakes became more vigorous, but nothing he did worked. His mother wouldn't wake up, and the light on her tail had gone out. She didn't even seem to be breathing.

Something inside the baby Charmander broke in a way that hurt more than any of his scratches. He sat there, shaking his mother and calling at her to wake up, but she never did, and somewhere inside the Charmander knew she was never going to. She was gone.

"... Char..."