A/N: To coldblue (guest), I'd love to answer all of your questions but it's a bit of a problem since I can't send you a private message because you're a guest. Opening a user on this website is really simple and I'll be more than happy to answer everything if you make one. That way you can have the site notify you about stories you've decided to follow and all other useful stuff too. ^_^
Chapter 3 - Leaving the Pokémon Center
Jake had entered the pokémon center with a feeling of relief at having finally found the place, but he was leaving it with a sensation that was more leaning towards 'what have I ever done to deserve this?' or 'this is some kind of a cruel joke'. When he'd decided to bring Charmander to a pokémon center he didn't realize that he was going to get way more than he'd bargained for. Instead of simply leaving her at the pokémon center like he had originally planned to he found himself walking outside of the pokémon center with the little dinosaur-like pokémon, which was walking right next to him.
He stopped after taking a few steps away from the pokémon center. His hands were in the pockets of his jacket, as was his habit when walking and he simply stood there for a few moments while silently looking out into the street ahead of him. It was almost 8 o'clock in the morning by the time he finally got out of the building so the streets were no longer empty. People were on their way to work or to wherever else it was they needed to go. He could also see a few pokémon trainers. Most of the trainers he saw daily were not really from Pewter City and were only passing by so that they could challenge the Pokémon Gym.
The teenager suddenly hesitated. Usually just staring into the distance helped him to not think about whatever was going on, but seeing the pokémon trainers reminded him of the fact that he still had a pokémon he did not want right beside him. He didn't look down to see whether Charmander was still standing next to his leg, as if trying to convince himself that it was all a dream and that once he looked he would find absolutely nothing there. Eventually he did look, but the little fire type was still right by his side. It wasn't a dream. He had a pokémon he couldn't just leave on the street and that was that.
Charmander was standing perhaps a few inches away from his leg while looking around rather restlessly. It was obvious that the small pokémon's attention was easily caught by everything that moved. Perhaps she wasn't used to being in a city or to seeing so many people at once. But if that was true then it meant that Charmander had no trainer, for if she had had a trainer before she would not seem so unused to the environment she was in. All that however did not discourage Jake at all. He couldn't jump to conclusions. Hopefully this pokémon did have a trainer and hopefully finding that trainer wasn't going to take too long.
Worst case scenario; he'd ask Jacob to take her. Then Charmander would go with him to his retarded journey all over Kanto. Far away from him. As would Jacob... Jake sighed.
It was a good thing that he didn't have to go to work that day, unlike the day before, which meant that he could devote all of his time to finding this random pokémon's trainer and returning to the pokémon-less life he had up until he had taken that walk through the Viridian Forest. Charmander seemed to eventually grow bored of everything around them and she looked up at him instead, again with a happy expression on her face. Aside from the cuteness there was also some naivety in her expression; was she really clueless to the fact that Jake was so uncomfortable next to her?
"Char!" she exclaimed all of a sudden, getting nothing but a silent and slightly cold stare.
"…"
"Char!"
"You can talk and yet at the same time you can't." said Jake eventually, referring to how pokémon were only able to say their own names but nothing else other than that. He never understood that. "That's stupid." Charmander then decided to hug Jake's leg and snuggle against it, causing him to sigh. "Of course." He lifted the leg in question slightly into the air, waiting patiently until Charmander decided to let go before starting to slowly walk in the direction of the inn. It made sense that he would be able to think of a good way to solve his little problem after getting some breakfast.
Charmander, of course, tagged along even though Jake never told her to. He never bothered to do that because he knew that the pokémon was going to follow him, even though he was still unable to explain why. This whole thing would be that much simpler if she didn't want to be stay around him. The little fire-type pokémon's curiosity at everything that her eyes noticed eventually got the better of her and Jake found himself going back for her several times because she couldn't resist the urge to go look at everything and everyone that seemed interesting.
"Come along." said Jake rather firmly at some point.
It lasted for perhaps a minute before Charmander was again about to wonder off, only that this time she stopped upon hearing Jake clear his throat with obvious annoyance. Other than that Jake hadn't shown any impatience even though he was dying to find the young pokémon's owner and get this whole nightmare over with.
"I've just noticed that you walk really slow." he said at some point, stopping. Charmander stopped next to his leg and looked up at him with her wide eyes. Her expression was more innocent than a baby's.
"Char?" again she affectionately rubbed against his leg, and Jake's eyes became wide as she reached up towards him with her tiny arms, as if wanting him to pick her up.
"No." he said bluntly and carried on walking.
"Char." The pokémon quickly followed, sounding like a child trying to change their parent's mind.
"No."
"Char."
"No."
"Char."
"…"
"Char."
Just ignore her, he said to himself.
"Char."
Jake facepalmed and once again came to a halt. He turned around and looked down at Charmander, who also stopped and stared up at him. Maybe she finally got the message?
"Char!"
"Ugh, fine!" said Jake in defeat, bending over and picking up Charmander in his arms. "But only because you walk really slow."
"Ch-"
"Don't even dare. I'll put you back down." this time Charmander made no response, but Jake could tell that the pokémon was pleased and content. "No snuggling either." At least he'd get back to his inn room a lot faster that way.
Usually people locked the door behind them when upon entering their homes. However, seeing how his greatest fear was having Charmander somehow set his entire apartment on fire, Jake decided to leave the door unlocked just to be on the safe side. Why waste time unlocking the door in case of an emergency? He placed the little pokémon down at the corner of his living room (making sure to pick the corner that was as far away from any piece of furniture as possible) before making himself some breakfast. All the while Charmander continued sitting at the exact same spot and in an adorably silly position. At first Jake was surprised at how quiet Charmander was, but he figured that probably the only positive aspect of having the pokémon like him so much was the fact that she listened to him.
Still, he was quite worried about what might happen if Charmander's flame accidentally came in contact with anything that wasn't the wall or the floor. After a short moment of thinking the teenager decided to call Jacob, realizing that his friend would probably know what to do in order to avoid getting fatally injured. He picked up the phone and dialed the number of Jacob's house but hung up about a second or two afterwards when he suddenly remembered that Jacob was still in Pallet Town.
Perhaps he really should have written down Jacob's pokégear number. Jacob had gotten himself a pokégear about a week ago but Jake of course remained true to his stubborn nature regarding anything that was related to pokémon and didn't even write down the number. Thinking about it, though, it would be a smart idea to get it from him later. After all, it would be the only way they'd be able to communicate once Jacob left...
He returned to making his breakfast and, as he ate, began thinking of ideas on how to find Charmander's trainer. What he brought into consideration the most while thinking about each possibility that came to his mind was how long it would take to return Charmander to her previous owner. The fastest method, obviously, was the one he would prefer to carry out the most. Simply walking up to people with a Charmander in his arms and asking them whether they had lost one was not going to work. It had to be the most stupid idea Jake had ever come up with in his entire life.
"I guess the best thing I can do is make notices and hang them around the city." he concluded and then sat down to write a so-called sample which he would later photocopy at the city's library. "Alright, this should do it…" he muttered after he had finished. Looking at Charmander, he saw the little pokémon was staring at him. She must have been doing so the entire time. "Are you hungry or something?" he asked randomly, looking down at his plate and what was left in it as he did. "Do pokémon like toasts?"
"Char."
"You know," Jake said sarcastically, "I feel like I can have intellectual conversation with you."
"Char?"
"Yes." He paused for a moment and stared at the notice he had written, again trying to think how he had gotten himself into this mess. "I guess it's a good thing that pokémon can't talk…" he said after a rather long silence, "Sometimes I just hate it when people talk." He paused for a moment before looking at Charmander. The young female fire-type was still looking directly at him, and it seemed like she understood every single word he was saying.
"You just sit there and listen. Humans aren't always good listeners; we all feel like having the last word all the time." He studied the pokémon's expression for a moment before carrying on. "I don't see anything in you other than the fact that you're paying attention to what I'm saying. Sometimes I come across trainers who aren't very nice people and yet their pokémon seem to love them with all their hearts. I guess one thing a pokémon does better than a human is to accept other people despite all the bad things about them rather than concentrate on their flaws." He got up and walked over to the TV, looking at the picture that was on it. "One day I asked my sister what was it that she found so appealing about writing a journal. She told me that paper has more patience than people."
All of a sudden, after a rather long moment of him staring at the picture, he looked at Charmander with a frown. "I guess you pokémon are like paper in that regard. Maybe you really are more patient than us people. But there's a big difference between a pokémon and a sheet of paper." Charmander blinked in confusion as she noticed that Jake was raising his voice without even noticing it himself. He seemed like he was about to say something else but he didn't get to say it because the telephone began ringing. Jake stared at the fire type for another moment before picking it up.
"Hello?"
"Jake?" Jake smiled as he recognized Jacob's voice. Thank goodness! "It's me. Listen, this is so cool! I just left the professor's lab, I got a-"
"No, you listen!" Jake blurted out, cutting him short, "There is a freaking dinosaur in my room that is going to burn down the entire city with its tail!"
It took Jacob a few moments to say anything, probably because of how stupid what Jake had just said must have sounded to him.
"What?"
"After saying goodbye to you on the phone yesterday I went for my walk through the Viridian Forest and I found this pokémon there. It was hurt so I took it to a pokémon center and-"
"Aww, Jake, you're such a softy." Jake frowned upon hearing his friend chuckle.
"Shut up! Now I'm stuck with this thing until I find out who it belongs to." Jake heard Jacob gasp and hurried to cut him short by saying "If you say something like 'now you can be a pokémon trainer too and we can go on a magical adventure and stuff' I will strangle you." His friend said nothing. "Listen, I've barely slept and I've been around this thing since I woke up this morning. I'm going crazy. When will you be back here?" It was true that Jake was much calmer than he was making it sound like, but deep inside him he kept wishing that the pokémon in his room would suddenly vanish into thin air.
"Not before the evening, maybe the afternoon if I make haste."
From Jacob's tone it was easy to guess that he knew that having Jake and a pokémon alone in the same room was a bad idea.
"Dude, it's been staring at me with those monstrously large eyes for like eternity and I think it's hungry. It's going to eat me. It's going to spit fire in order to roast me and then it will eat me."
"Jake, pokémon don't eat people. We've been over this already." said Jacob with a sigh, "You just need to get some pokémon food from a pokémart and you'll be all set. What pokémon is this? I can't really help you from here if I don't even know what we're dealing with."
"It's a Char."
"…" Jacob said nothing for a very long moment. "What?" This had to be the weirdest phone call he has ever had in his entire life just because of those three words.
"Yeah."
"I don't…"
"You know how pokémon only say their names?"
"Uh-huh."
Jake looked at Charmander who was still sitting in the corner. "You, say 'char'."
"Char!"
"See?" asked Jake, waiting for his friend's response. "A Char."
All of a sudden Jacob started laughing. "Dude, there's no such thing as a 'Char'!"
"…"
"That sounds like a Charmander to me."
"A Charmander?" asked Jake, confused.
"Charmander!" exclaimed the little pokémon with a jolly expression.
"See?" asked Jacob with a chuckle.
Jake said nothing for a few moments. "But all it has ever said so far was 'char'. What the…" he looked at Charmander with a frown and pointed a finger at her accusingly. "You set me up!"
On the other side of the line Jacob began laughing once again. "I'm pretty sure Charmander didn't set you up."
"Stop laughing!" said Jake, feeling embarrassed.
"But it's funny… Alright, alright, I'm done."
"I guess I can't photocopy this then…" said Jake, looking at the sheet of paper that was on his kitchen table.
"What?"
"I've decided to make notices in order to find this pokémon's trainer."
"You wrote 'Char', didn't you?" asked Jacob with a chuckle. He could just picture it in his head. "Hey, is there maybe a poorly drawn picture too?"
"Don't you dare laugh."
"Listen, don't make any notices to put around the city." Jacob said after a short silence.
Any person who knew the two teenagers would have realized Jacob's thought process right away. He had the best chance he was ever going to have to convince Jake to become a pokémon trainer and he wasn't going to pass it up that easily.
"Why not?" asked the latter with a frown.
"Because, uh… I… I want to see your Charmander first." It was a pretty lame excuse, but it was all Jacob was able to come up with quickly.
"It's not mine." said Jake, sounding a little angry.
"Yeah, sure, sorry. Just wait until I get back." said Jacob, hoping to convince him.
"Fine." said Jake with an annoyed sigh, even though he didn't like the idea of waiting any longer before beginning to look for Charmander's owner.
"I was just on my way out from Pallet Town so I'll try to get back to Pewter City as soon as I can."
"Don't stop on the way for something stupid like a pokémon battle please."
Jacob chuckled, "I'll do my best. In the meantime why don't you try bonding with it or something?" Jake made no reply and Jacob knew how much his friend felt like hitting him or throwing something heavy in his direction for what he had just said. "Just try not to throw it or yourself out of the window before I get there."
"Just hurry. Please." Jake sighed and hung up the phone, looking at Charmander as if he had forgotten the way he had openly spoken to her just a few minutes ago. "We are going to get you some food in order to try to prevent you from devouring everything that I own, which isn't much to begin with anyways." He hadn't really forgotten the 'conversation' he had had with the pokémon just before. Actually, it was the fact that he had spoken to Charmander so freely that bothered him so much. "On the way there you will not talk to me or touch me, understood?"
Charmander would have attempted otherwise like before, but something about Jake's expression seemed to deter her. Unlike on the way back from the pokémon center, he seemed more than serious. The pokémon silently nodded her little head and followed him as they left the apartment.
"This thing has the appetite of an actual dinosaur…" mumbled Jake to himself sometime later as he watched Charmander eat, having placed down a plate with some food in the corner of the living room.
"How much exactly can you eat?" he asked all of a sudden, trying to remember when was the last time he had eaten that much.
It was even stranger when bringing Charmander's size into consideration. But it was true that the female pokémon hasn't eaten anything since before Jake had brought her to the pokémon center. Charmander looked up at him without making a sound.
Jake couldn't help but become curious about how she ended up in the forest and in such a horrible condition to begin with. Up until that moment he hadn't really thought about it.
"How did you end up there? In the forest, that is?"
The whole idea of her being abandoned by her trainer and in such a bad condition seemed very unlikely and Jake knew more than well that there was a chance that this pokémon didn't even have a trainer.
"I'll find your trainer even if it's the last thing I do." Charmander was quite cute, yeah, but he still didn't trust her one bit, no matter how obedient she's been so far.
"Don't take this personally..." he added with a sigh after a short moment of silence before walking over to the TV and picking up the picture that was on it. After looking at it for a while he placed it back down on the TV without saying another word before lying down on the sofa. The lack of sleep from the previous night eventually got the better of him and he fell asleep almost immediately.
