2: Burning Bush
2: Burning Bush

Under the gibbous moon, Chah's black peak gave a rumble so deep that Chad only felt it in his horns as he swooped to the rock where Vixen had said she'd be. Chigma had told him to be back early because of the meeting. She probably feared Chizmo might try something, even now.
Chad circled above Vixen in the dark sky. "I'm here." With a swoop of wind parting the grasses he landed in the clearing.
"Shhh," rasped Vixen, "and keep that tail flame low unless you want Chiffy to see you--he's guarding." She had seen him lose more than one tussle to that brat. "This way and DON'T light the grass."
Chad easily knew the way to Golem's Peak, but holding his tail clear of the grass he waddled after Vixen, scratched by shrubs as she slipped through with ease. Due to frequent fires, few places on Chah let bushes grow. "This isn't the way to Golem's Peak," he said through a faceful of leaves. "What are you doing?"
"The secret way. Didn't I tell you to turn that tail down?"
"I can't flick it on and off." Chad smelled smoke. He turned to see his tail igniting a blade of grass. He quenched it between his hands. Vixen glared.
"That would sure leave a trail of ashes. Chiffy would laugh his head off."
"Stop talking about Chiffy." Chad's lashing tail cast a swinging shadow on the Vulpix.
"Regardless of how touchy a topic he is, Chiffy is an obstacle. But I'll show you past him. He doesn't have half your brains, and that's saying plenty."
Chad puffed one tiny flame as Vixen led him through the rocky brushland, to a huge boulder jutting darkly against the sky, towering over the surrounding rocks. The top of a tunnel showed over the grass, and one look at its dimensions told Chad why charizards didn't use it. An earthquake or something must have opened it.
She popped in. "Chad? Can you become useful and light the way in here?"
"Will I fit?" Chad thrust his head and shoulders down in.
"You'd better."
Chad carefully squeezed his wings past, and with a grunt, crashed inside. He stumbled forward on the cool rock, barely keeping his balance. The shadows swayed on the walls.
"It's wider in here," said Vixen. "Come on. Chah, I had no idea how dark this place got at night."
Chad and Vixen took the only route through. More grass and bushes choked the exit, except a Vixen-sized gap that she leapt through. Chad wasn't worried about the bushes so much as the exit itself. He ducked, and his head, neck and shoulders were as far as he got.
"Don't tell me you don't fit! The meeting's probably started already! Come on, one foot at a time!"
Chad tossed his head as he pushed against his jammed belly. His talons scraped the rock inside. "My feet aren't the problem."
Backing out the original entrance, Chad gave his wings a lusty flap, glad to be free. "Where is Chiffy anyway." The wind from his flapping wings as he lifted off blew Vixen's fur. Chiffy would have heard the commotion and strutted over while he was stuck.
"You nut, come down here!"
Chad landed on the boulder top, alone.
"Looks like Chiffy deserted his post," said Vixen, catching her breath as she climbed up and trotted over. "Probably screwing Cherilla again. No! I'm kidding!" she added as he whirled on her. "You jealous oaf. This is much more important."
Chad resisted the urge to ask her again if she'd ever seen them coupling, and the urge to go make sure they weren't, as they pushed through bushes towards Golem's Peak.
They crouched in the brush at the edge of the Chasm, a gap separating Chah from the smaller Golem's Peak. Across the way, up on the rock, the three elders had gathered, their faded-orange, finely scaled hides gleaming in their tails' light. The strong wind whipped Vixen's fur crest back as she curled her tails beside him.
Chizmo, the oldest, began to speak, too far for Chad to hear.
"We've got to get closer. Fly us down the Chasm. We won't see them there, but they won't see us. I'll leave it to you to tell their voices apart."
"Are you crazy? They could just glance down!" Couldn't Vixen see he was walking on ice already? Didn't she care a whit for his afterlife?
"Keep your voice down," Vixen whispered. "Either you can get taken by surprise later, or fly in. What's Chizmo gonna do, gum you to death?"
Chad swallowed the butterflies in his stomach, which threatened to make him breath fire involuntarily, and Vixen climbed on his back.
The Chasm was not a dead drop; it slanted. In the moonlight, Chad lit quietly on a large, grassy ledge near the rim. They slipped behind a fold of rock, where Chad could hide his tail flame. At the bottom of the Chasm, a shallow river flowed. Chad looked down at the rushing water, barely visible in the dark, and shivered.
Vixen hopped off and patted his tail. "Thanks for the lift, lizard."
"I hear them." Chad creeped up on a higher rock and pointed up at Golem's Peak. In his mind he said a little prayer to Chah. Please don't seal my soul in the Cave of Ice and Darkness!

"...Chaun might be old enough," said Chug, Cherilla's father. "We don't want a disaster like last time. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"Chad," said the third elder, one with an almost red body. Chad and Vixen looked at each other. "Would you wish it on him?"
Chad stepped back until he felt the rock wall at his tail.
"See?" rasped Vixen.
"If ever these skies saw a waste of wings, he's it," said Chug. "He drives my daughter nearly to swimming."
"Chad should make room for the rest of us." This was Chizmo. Chad climbed onto a rock just high enough for him to peer over the rim, tail hanging down, and watch Chizmo. The faded old fire lizard straightened from his usual stoop, his wattled neck sprouting from drapes of flesh. His shrunken legs quivered. "That male leeches off his parents, befriends humans, talks to Vulpixes, and is rejected by every female he sniffs. Chah would do well getting that wastrel out of His horns while we're all ahead. Now, let us consult the mud. To see if taking action on it would be sanctioned."
Vixen gave a yip as Chad heard crackling below, and smelled smoke. He whirled around, tail swishing flame. He had lit a bush.
"Put it out!" Vixen cried. Chad jumped down and stomped it, but the fire fluttered onto the weeds, making them dance. It was amazing, Chad thought as he chased the flames like squirrels, how good charizards were at making fire but how pathetic at putting them out. He dropped to his belly and rolled on it, only to hear Vixen screaming that his tail had now lit another swath of grass.
"Remember, we were never here," said Chad as he flew them clear of the Chasm.
"Tell that to the entire circle of elders who're now staring at your fire," Vixen grumbled as she clung to his neck. "I told you to watch your tail."
"I told you this was a bad idea." Chad flew as if poachers were after him right now. If he flew fast enough, he could make it home before anyone got suspicious.
"Hey, I'm not blaming you." Vixen jumped off his back when Chad dropped her off by her den. "Good luck."

Chigma was waiting at the cavern's edge with Chalderon. She embraced him, her head nuzzled his neck. "We were so worried. You didn't see a fire in the Chasm, did you?"
"No." Chad shrugged.
"Chizmo arrived back in his lair," said Chalderon. "A brush fire started right near the Chasm and he called the meeting off. Very bad luck."
"I'll say," said Chad.
Brush fires were common as dirt. The following day no one mentioned anything about it to Chad. And the worry haunting his conscience receded.

One afternoon a few days later, after a successful hunt, he feasted till he could barely fly. He gave himself a long, leisurely grooming and lay down on a big sun-cooked rock, daydreaming. His wings fanned out, his tail doubled up between his spread legs so the flame heated the peak of his belly. A draconic grin spread over his face.

"Chaaar."
Chad started, flapping his wings. He opened his cerulean eyes to see--Chizmo. The dragon's once-orange hide was sandy and mottled; his shoulders jutted from sagging, doughlike flesh. Legend said that in his youth, he had cried out in the night and thus foretold Chah's explosive last eruption the following morning, which had coated the region with sacred ashfall. Thus began his long career of forecasting everything from charmander hatchings to thunderstorms. He wasn't always right, but no one seemed to notice.
His eyes narrowed, wise through their cataracts. Chad bowed his head, as much to dodge his bad breath as for respect.
"I'm asking everyone what they know about that mysterious brush fire that desecrated the sacred meeting."
"Oh." Chad shrugged. "Heard about it. But I don't know anything."
"I hope you are sure," said Chizmo. "Although I did have to cut the meeting short, I was able to make my forecasts." Chizmo smiled and Chad felt angry fire building in his stomach.
"Just to put your mind at rest. Good day." Chizmo flexed his wings to fly.
Chad tackled Chizmo, knocking him to the ground. "Stop playing games!"
They scuffled on the rock. Chad pinned the older one down on his wings, held his wrists on the stone and sat on him. "It's me, right?" Chad breathed hot steamy air down, as if to shrivel Chizmo's face even more. "Stop mocking me!"
Chizmo shook his floppy-fleshed head. "You youngsters can be so impulsive. Have you forgotten respect? Let me up this instant."
"Tell me what you're gonna say in those forecasts." Chad's eyes glowed white-blue. He took a deep breath from his stomach.
"Oh, quit bluffing. And give your eyes a rest, your Leer is pathetic."
Chad gruffed out a flame.
"But we both know how unpredictable you are, so I'll speak plainly. Life with a human would be to your benefit--"
"So you are planning something? Trap me and--give me away or--"
"How on Chah would I do that? You certainly can't sit still long enough for anyone to tie you down. Listen to me, I'm trying to help you. Look at you. You have no friends save that Vulpix." He snorted steam. "Whom I would have lunched on long ago. The humans would respect you, even love you. Before you denounce them, use your brain a little. Give it a chance."
"And my freedom? Hunting when I want, all that? That means something to me, in case you didn't notice!"
"I notice more than you. As for hunting, you can barely do it. Humans would provide you with all you could eat. All life's comforts. After all, you're not just any Pokemon. Charizards merit special rank in their society. Why else do they come out here?"
Everyone seemed to have a theory.
Chizmo's shoulder joint cracked as he wriggled. "Let me up. My muscles are stiff and the pebbles are digging into my back."
Chad stepped away, his chin ducked to show his horns. Chizmo rose slowly, flamed himself clean, gave his old wings a dusty flap and regarded Chad with squinted eyes.
"You don't care," said Chad. "You're too old to be picked."
"My son isn't," said Chizmo, rubbing his wrist. Chad snorted. Chiffy being caught was too good to be possible. "Remember, it's less painful to go willingly than be forced by humans. Great Chah, they haven't been sighted once yet, and already you're having temper tantrums and attacking helpless old lizards!"
"You won't come out and tell me the truth, but you do like to have fun flaming around the bush!"
"What? That you did the unthinkable and spied on a sacred meeting?"


"Some sacred meeting! You get together to talk about why this island would be better off without me!" His tail lashed. His wings fanned.
"And we're right." Chizmo stuck his neck forward, Leering. His eyes glowed through their cataract clouds. Chad gulped, unsettled. "Before I take leave of your shameful presence, I will say this."
Chad whipped his tail round and walked quickly away, hands in fists.
"You are THE most irresponsible, immature, ignorant, unstable and self-centered charizard I've ever encountered--and I've known hundreds! Frankly, if you were caught, the humans would probably return you and demand an exchange! You'd be unmanageable, as you are here! No wonder my son's concerned! You're a mud slap in your parents' faces!"
Chad took flight and didn't look back. He had tried not to let Chizmo get to him, but the words stung him like a Beedrill. `A mud slap in your parents' faces.' He glared at the sky ahead.