This… is a story for The Prompts, a contest with the subject line 'Losing Your…'

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

ahh what else… this is my first go at an angst story, so please tell me how I went! That's it, enjoy! :)

Beep, beep, beep

The room is white, too white. The walls, the lone large bed situated in the middle. The equipment is white, grey or black. The only splash of colour, the clothes you wear and the huge orange misshapen shape lying awkwardly on the bed. A tail lolls out from end of the bed and the sheets that were meant to cover the Pokémon have crumpled in a heap to the side, the flame at the tip burning weakly. You take the large hand of the Charizard, tracing the three lethal claws with your fingertips. The only sound in the room is the beep of the heart monitor and the Pokémon's deep heavy breathing. You sigh, getting up from the uncomfortable cheap plastic chair to inspect your Pokémon's face. With one hand stroking the side of his jaw, a wave of guilt and anger rushes over you… again. How many times have you cursed yourself for your Pokémon falling into this coma? How many times have you wanted to throw away your Poke balls, release your Pokémon and strip the name Pokémon Trainer from yourself? You grit your teeth as your mind unwillingly wanders back to that day.

"Accept my Pokémon battle!" A rough looking trainer had approached you, his face plastered into a permanent sneer and his buff arms pumped up and down, looking more ready to have a fistfight than a Pokémon battle.
You shrugged, that's okay, your Charizard could handle any Pokémon battle.

"A one on one!" You nodded; already your hand had found its way to the warm ball close to your hip.

The two of you positioned yourselves in the opposite side, and selecting the chosen ball; you had flung it across the field.

Your loyal Charizard appeared, roaring and ready for action. You had smiled, sometimes you just want to forget you had to start a battle and run over and hug your partner.
Across from you, a Hitmonchan forms from the stream of light. It turned to its side, punching the air to show off its apparent power.

The battle had quickly got underway. However, halfway through you'd realised something was fishy. Sure, Hitmonchan was the Punching Pokémon and only knew punching attacks, yet you had realised all the attacks were directed towards Charizard's head, or more to the brain. You had frowned at the thought, there was such a large surface area of stomach the Pokémon could have punched! But the Hitmonchan's eyes were glued to Charizard's head. You shook your head; you were probably over thinking things.

However, things had gotten more serious, for Charizard especially. He was gripping his head, howling even though he had not been attacked. This was more than confusion; this was a head splitting Pokémon migraine. Even still, your opponent was relentless, cruel even as you try to order Charizard to dodge and attack. He was in too much pain, too weakened to respond to your calls. He fell onto his knees, bowing over with his head touching the ground. Suddenly he rolls over, defeated.

You gave a shocked yell, and rushed to his side, gingerly cradling his battered head in your lap, paying no attention to the sneering man in front of you, his arm outstretched, not to help you get up, but for the money for winning. But Charizard doesn't open his eyes; he doesn't give you a weary and sorry look. He was not responding. He looked dead. This was bad…

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Charizard, please wake up," you croak out, fighting back tears as he is still lying there, still with that pained expression on his sleeping face. Why didn't I call him back? Forfeit the match? Confront that bastard even? You think, each thought roughly pushing its way into your mind. As your mind comprehends each 'what ifs' and 'why didn't I's?' you fail to notice the flutter of the eyelid of the Pokémon below you. Suddenly, a low menacing growl emits from him. Your head immediately snaps down, eyes impossibly big as you take your hands off him, placing them on his shoulders instead. A brief glance at his tail and you realise how big the flame is.

"C-Charizard?" Your voice is now no louder than a whisper, but somehow it cracks through the air, slicing the beeping and any other unimportant sound there may be.

"Charizard." You speak again, more clearly as you try to get into his head. His arms twitch and he raises one slightly, grasping air with his claws. All of a sudden his eyes fly open and he forces his way into a sitting position. You immediately try to push him back down again, reassuring that everything would be fine now. He resists your efforts and looks dazed and distantly into the bare white wall opposite.

"Charizard, it's okay now, you're safe," you murmur, stroking his arm. He looks down at you, his eyes full of an emotion you can't pinpoint exactly. It seemed to be a mix between confusion, emptiness and pain. But no recognition. Again he growls, his large mouth opens out to cough out sickly looking fire, if fire could ever look sickly. Tears force their way out from your eyes now, spilling down in steady drops down your face. Charizard, your Charizard. He's here, he's alive. You splutter out words, throwing yourself onto his great body in a hug. You feel him suddenly stiffen and you look up at him, startled. All of a sudden in the corner of your eye you see his arm come up to swoop down at your face. You reel back in shock, shakily lifting a hand to the warm blood oozing from your cheek.

"C-Charizard…? You don't understand, what is happening to your Charizard? What happened to the gentle docile nature of your Pokémon. Charizard only adopted this behaviour in battle, but never intended towards you.
He lifts himself up from the table, unfurling his wings and flaps them to stretch. He roars out, shooting out Flamethrower attacks randomly at the hospital equipment.

"Charizard, calm down! Charizard!" You shout at him, eyes wild with bewilderment. He rampages on, smashing down glass apparatus with his mighty tail. The flame is now impossibly big, fuelling his energy as he goes.

"Oy, kid, get out there, we have bad news for ya!" You spin around to see a doctor, cowering behind a door, beckoning for you to come. You throw a desperate look at Charizard before running out the door, leaving your Pokémon.

The doctor was hurrying down the corridor, you recognise him as the person who was monitoring your Charizard's process throughout the coma.

"In here," He motions towards another room. You enter slowly, finding a seat to steady yourself in. Immediately a nurse comes over to you, crooning at your unexpected wound. As she dabs unknown liquids on the flesh, you fail to notice the sting in your cheek. Instead, you can feel the pain in your eyes as tears push forward and roll down your cheeks again.

"Well, you want good news or bad news?" The doctor reappears again, holding a clipboard and adjusting his glasses ever so professionally. You had a faint idea of the bad news, so you decided to go with the good.

"Is there any good news?" you reply weakly.

"Not really, only that your Charizard is alive."

"…"

"What?" He looks surprised at your annoyed look.

"What's… what's the bad?"

"Okay, your Charizard has developed amnesia. His memory has been totally wiped out." He sweeps his arm through the air to demonstrate.

"He.. doesn't remember me?" You gape up at him.

"We've been monitoring his brain signals, and no, he hasn't the faintest clue."

You're speechless now, your thoughts putting up a bloody mental battle as you think of something comprehensible, but that doesn't stop the doctor from continuing.

"But wait! There's more! Along with his memory being completely cleared, he also seems to be suffering from bipolar disease. Which explains his sudden attack in the room. If you don't understand, it means your lovely gentle Pokémon has been turned into a rampaging monster who wouldn't mind destroying the world. As we speak, he's being tranquilized and sent off to a Charizard proof cell."

Too much information going at once. Overload. First amnesia, then bipolar? But your brain picks up on something that the doctor said.

"What? Charizard proof cell, like jail? Like dungeon? Like prisoner?" You jump up from your seat, ignoring the protest from the nurse.

"Not exactly…" The doctor tries to reason, but he knows your pretty much spot on.

"Where? Where is he? Where did you put him?" Tears continue to stream down your face and you feebly reach up to punch him in the chest.

"Tell me!" you screech helplessly.

Realising there was really no other option, the doctor sighs, readjusting his glasses and leads you out the door. You make your way down the corridor, past a door that you never really paid attention too and then down into a small stairwell. It's dark and dank; the air still with a musty smell. Immediately you walk closer to the doctor and the cold wraps around your body like an ice blanket. The door behind you slams shut and you can feel the vibration and sound reverberate and resound through your heart.

You walk further down the steps until you finally reach the bottom, a small door presenting itself to you. Your heart is beating furiously, you have no idea what to expect.

"In here," the doctor speaks for the first time since your little journey.

He opens the door and waits for you to enter first. You timidly walk through, your eyes immediately enveloped in darkness and you stay there till they adjust. Eventually they do and your heart drops at what you see. Another passageway and stairs you must go through. Just barely, at the end of it all you can see a very faint glow of fire. You walk with more confidence now, taking a purposeful step towards the light. You can see the light is flickering, fading out then reappearing in bursts. Flamethrower. As you walk closer, you hear the roar of your Pokémon, the displeasure of being kept in such a terrible place. You hurry now, barely aware of the doctor trying to keep up with you. One more corner and you'd reach him.

And then you see him.

Charizard, your Charizard, cooped up in a metal pen with scarcely enough room for him to move. He was thrashing about, a horrible noise of his claws scraping against the metal. Just hearing it was enough to make you cringe. His eyes are empty; throwing his head around as if it was worthless to him. Again and again he shoots out flamethrowers in an attempt to melt is prison. All around him, huge metal bars prevented his escape.

"Ch…Charizard…" You stumble forward, ignoring the warnings from the doctor as you reach the cage, your hands curling around the bars. God, they were big. As thick as your arm you presume.

"Charizard proof cell," you spit angrily, facing the doctor who was now looking ready to run away at any moment. "This is Pokémon cruelty!"

"Ah-ah I'll leave you to it, I'll come back and check on you later!" he cries, rushing out the door, a trail of swearing following behind from you. When you can no longer hear the rush of footsteps you slowly turn back, your eye meeting with his cold ones. He is growling at you, a frightening sound that you never heard before. He has calmed down a little, but not enough for you to be safe near him. He bangs the sides with his tail, sending out small shockwaves that rebounds off the cold walls. In the dim light, you catch sight of a small trickle of blood that has escaped down his jaw and then his chipped teeth. You realise he must've been gnawing at the bars and a pang of guilt hits you.

But you refuse to believe, you refuse to believe your starter Pokémon, your Charmander is now a monster. You half expect him to snap out of it, to crawl to you and lick your face like he always did, to laugh at your expression when you had his slobber all over you. To put his hand up to high five you, and to bowl you over like he was just a puppy.

"Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, don't you remember me?" Your voice is wavering, you simply refuse to believe. A shaky arm extends to try and touch him, but his mouth immediately retaliates to snap at you.

"What happened, Charizard? You were my strongest Pokémon, my starter, my everything. I'm so sorry; it's my fault isn't it? You helped me with everything, flew me to places, won me Gym Badges, and defeated the Elite Four! You loved me right? You still do… right?" You're crying like a kid now, sobbing uncontrollably as he still watches you from the confinements of his cage. He makes no move, but still has no sign of recognition. You want him again to suddenly snap out and punch you lightly, telling you he was kidding all along.

Then an idea hits you like that. It was crazy, but you defiant mind tells you it will work. Your hand unsteadily reaches down to the Poke ball resting at your hip. Return him! You smile an empty smile at him, stretching the Poke ball in front of you.

"Return!" you call. Immediately the red energy streams towards the trapped Pokémon, enveloping him and returning him into his ball. He' free! You did it! After this, you do not think, no logic comes into your head. Hasty decisions leads to terrible outcomes. But you do not think this, why would you when your Charizard is in your hands again?

You throw the ball up, and release him again. He appears and is now out of his cage. Inside you congratulate yourself. He looks down at you, a lot angrier than before. What? Would he have rather wanted to be in that cage?

"Charizard," you speak, "You're free now. Come, let's go out together." The tears have dried but your voice does not collect itself. He roars and furiously attacks everything he sees. First his attention is drawn to the cage in which he throws himself onto, letting all his built-up anger release. After a while, he notices you pained look and from the top of the cage, he lets loose another Flamethrower, which you narrowly dodge. He's never attacked you before. He never would he if still remembered me, you wallow in self-hatred.

Flying down rapidly, he goes to slash at your face again, successfully making a hit. You stumble back, but feel no pain. You can't feel the blood once again trickling down your face. It is then, it is at this moment when you realise all hope is futile, all little beliefs that you have are falling down a cliff into darkness. It hits you like a thousand more Flamethrower attacks at once. He's gone.

You don't hear the footsteps hurrying towards you and so you are unaware of the number of people.

Click, Click

This catches your attention. Your head snaps the other way, and immediately the colour from your face drains away to ashes. The doctor, the cowardly stupid doctor is with someone, a Ranger. A ranger with a gun. He has it positioned, the long barrel locked on Charizard's head. Words suddenly get choked up in your throat; so, instead you throw yourself in front of him, screaming out a wordless cry. But, like a horrible sense of déjà vu, it's too late.

Boom.

Phew. Okay, so how did I go? Good? Bad? Incredibly terrible? hahah anyway, please don't forget to review!

PS. Once this contest is over, I'll be changing the name to 'Losing You'. I can do that right? Change it after the contest? Yes? Yes? Good. I will.

PPS. I do believe I might be adding another… special or epilogue chapter afterwards, but I'll keep it as a oneshot cos the Prompts say so :)