"C-Char...he's evolving!" Adam exclaimed.

Char, now a charmeleon, looked on. He too was excited for his teammate to evolve. Perry was flashing with white energy. Perry's eyes were wide with horror. Perry never told Char why he had a fear of evolving but Char assumed it was a silly phobia that people and pokemon sometimes had.

"Char, please make it stop!" Perry pleaded. His voice was desperate.

"It's going to be okay, Perry, don't worry. Evolving isn't scary, I promise," Char grinned.

Tears were forming in Perry's eyes. He looked very tense, as though he was trying to suppress the evolution the best he could. "You...you don't understand...it's going to take over and I won't be me anymore!"

"What do you mean?" Char was alarmed. He didn't quite understand what Perry meant but it was then that he sensed that Perry had a valid fear and something was actually very wrong.

Char's head shot to Adam, who was holding out his pokedex excitedly, waiting to capture the evolution's pokedex entry. Char remembered overhearing that a pokedex had the ability to cancel evolution. He swiped at Adam's arms to try and get the pokedex away from him.

"Whoa!" Adam held the pokedex above his head so Char could not reach it. "I'll show you the pokedex after Perry evolves, Char. Just wait!"

"You don't understand! You need to stop the evolution!" Char shouted. It was no use. He dare not injure Adam to retrieve the pokedex. Any hostility actions towards a trainer was brainwashed out once a pokemon was captured in a pokeball.

Char rushed up to Perry instead. The mushrooms on his back were growing larger and beginning to form one large mushroom on his back. "I'm sorry, Perry, I tried. Just hold on, okay?"

Perry placed a claw gently on Char's foot, with difficulty. "I can't...I can't hold it off any longer... Goodbye, Char, my only friend..."

Suddenly Perry's form grew as did the mushroom on his back and his once bright blue eyes faded to white. The white evolution aura faded around him. Perry's evolution was complete.

Adam cheered behind them as his pokedex beeped with a successful entry.

"Perry? Are you okay?" Char asked, putting his claw gently on Perry's new large one. He was not sure what to expect out of Perry's evolution. Nothing looked off and he looked unharmed.

Perry's face looked up at Char's. It was hard to tell where Perry was looking with his soulless white eyes. "I feel perfect."

Something about Perry's voice made Char shiver. It had a tone very different from what Perry's old one was like. Perry shoved Char aside and scuttled around in his new body. It seemed that Perry was testing out his new body. Char carefully neared Perry. "So, what were you talking about before you evolved?"

Adam interrupted by bounding up to the two of them with his pokedex in hand. "Good job, Perry! I'm so proud of you!" He patted Perry on the top of his mushroom before turning to Char. "Here, since you wanted my pokedex so bad, I'll show you Perry's new pokedex entry!"

Adam pressed a button on his pokedex. "Parasect, the mushroom pokemon. A host-parasite pair in which the parasite has taken over the host bug. Prefers damp places."

"Cool, huh?" Adam said.

It suddenly all made sense to Char. Perry's fear of evolving, why he was so withdrawn, why he kept on trying to clip his mushrooms off, and why he did not even want to talk about evolution...everything about Perry made sense. No matter how much Char prodded at Perry to open up, he failed to succeed. Char later dropped looking for an answer and instead tried his best to cheer Perry up from his constant gloomy demeanor but he was also met with failure in those regards. Still, Char tried his best to be a good friend to Perry while their other pokemon teammates ignored or hated Perry for his attitude towards life.

Char spat embers at the parasect's feet. "Who are you and what have you done with Perry?!" Char roared.

"I don't have a name. I was born when Perry's 'mother' spread her tochukaso spores on her children. Perry is no more. He perished with our evolution and now it's my turn to use this body," the parasect answered.

Adam intervened once again. "Calm down, Char, no need to get angry at Perry! ...Unless...you want to challenge Perry to a battle? That sounds like a great idea! We can test out Perry's new strength! Char, back up a little and you and Perry can spar. I'll call off the fight when one of you gets too tired!"

Char did as instructed and growled menacingly at the parasect. "I'm not going to let you use something that belonged to Perry!"

"I already told you; Perry is dead. It's too late," the parasect responded smugly. "You'll be stuck with me so you should get used it."

Even with its smug attitude, Char could see that the parasect was fidgeting. It was probably afraid of Char's fire, much like Perry was. "I'm going to burn away your very existence from this world until you are nothing but charred ashes for the pain you put Perry through," Char hissed.

Adam signaled. "Fight!"

Char immediately charged and shot embers at the parasect. The parasect's large body was slow to respond. It dodged unsuccessfully and its right side was pelted with burning hot embers. The parasect screeched in pain and hastily responded with a fury cutter. It didn't even phase Char. The charmeleon aggressively scratched at the parasect's face. In defense, the parasect released a purple spore right in Char's face. Char jumped back, coughing. His felt his strength slowly draining him and pain started spreading throughout his body. He recognized this sensation; he was poisoned. The parasect took this moment to shoot out a stun spore as well. Char could do little to avoid as he breathed it in. He could feel his muscles start to clench up as well. "Curse you!" Char growled.

"This power...it's wonderful!" the parasect exclaimed.

Char released a smokescreen, hoping it would provide him cover in his weakened state. It would also hide what he intended to do from Adam's eyes. He pushed his protesting muscles to move and circled around the parasect. He could faintly see the parasect's form through the smoke. Hopefully the parasect could not see him as well. Purple fire shot out of his mouth. He could hear the successful hit of his dragon rage due to the parasect's screech.

The parasect slashed in the direction of the dragon rage to no avail. Char kept on moving. When he thought he was behind the parasect, he charged forward and bit into its back with a fire fang, digging his teeth deep within the mushroom's core. The parasect let out an even louder screech and it desperately tried to claw Char off its back but its claws were too short. Char kept his mouth clamped on the parasect, continuously pumping fire through his mouth. The heat of his own fire was almost unbearable for Char himself as was the parasect's continuous screeching, but he refused to let go. The parasect tried releasing more spores, but the weight of the smokescreen around the two pokemon pushed the spores down so Char would not breath them in.

"Char! Perry! I think that's enough!" Adam's voice shouted. He sounded very concerned, if not scared, over what was happening. He still couldn't see due to Char's smokescreen.

Char ignored his trainer. Flames started to spread over the parasect's body and the screeching got louder. The parasect's body started convulsing and twitching; then it went silent and collapsed on the ground. Char released his grip on the parasect and slumped on the ground next to the parasect's body. His body was throbbing in pain and his muscles had finally won their battle and tensed up so he could not move. As the smoke started to clear, he could see the parasect's eyes...burnt, but still white and lifeless.

"I'm sorry, Perry," Char murmured as tears ran down his face. "This is the only way I could help you now. I hope you can forgive me for what I did to your body. I'm sorry I couldn't stop your evolution. I only wish you would have told me what constantly haunted your mind. Maybe then I could have helped you somehow... I wish things could have been different."

When the smokescreen had finally cleared, Char saw Adam run up to them. He gasped. "Perry!"

Char's vision was fading, but he could imagine his trainer's face. The parasect's body had been brutally destroyed by him. Large gashes and burns covered the body. The smoke floating up from charred corpse gave off a horrendous smell.

Adam tried to recall the parasect back to Perry's pokeball but nothing happened. Adam tried again and again. He was starting to panic; Char was sure that he had started to figure out that the parasect was really dead. Adam started to sob. "What did you do, Char?! This was supposed to be a friendly battle!" Adam fell to his knees. Adam's voice started to sound angry. "Perry was my second pokemon. I thought you two were friends! Why would you do this?!"

The last thing Char heard was the sound of Adam's crying before he was recalled back into the darkness of his own pokeball. Char wondered what would become of him. He knew it looked bad from his trainer's perspective. He had violently killed one of his pokemon. Maybe Char would be thought of as too dangerous and be thrown in a PC box for eternity. Maybe Adam would forgive him and they could move on. Char wasn't sure. At least he had avenged his very first friend. Char hoped that wherever Perry's soul was now it was at peace, finally free from his tormentor.