Chapter 4: Charmander, the Stray Pokémon

This chapter shares its name with an actual episode from the Pokémon anime. There will be the reading of the Dragon Manuel and the Pokedex, and the name of the chapter says what else.


When Hiccup and Snivels returned from their walk in the woods, a thunderstorm rolled in, causing them to get drenched by the pouring rain. "Looks like Thundurus is angry," Snivels said as the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared. The Legendary Thundurus, a Flying and Electric-Type, was said to create large thunderstorms alongside Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Snivels never believed in the Norse gods, for there were quite a few Legendary Pokémon capable of such supernatural abilities.

As far as he knew, the Legendary Pokémon were the real gods.

Night had fallen, making it nearly impossible to see anything through the pouring rain, except for the torches at the Great Hall, which were covered by the overhang, protected from the rain. Not wanting to fall in the mud, Snivels proceeded to ride on Hiccup's shoulder as they approached the Great Hall.

The voices of Gobber and the teens, as well as their Pokémon, could be heard as Hiccup opened the doors of the hall. "Where did Astrid and Blaze go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked.

Astrid sighed. "I mistimed my somersault dive, it was sloppy, threw off my reverse tumble. Made it hard for Blaze to follow."

"Yeah, we noticed," Tuffnut replied.

Snotlout shook his head. "No that was so cool, that was so...'Astrid.'"

"She's right," Gobber said, "You have to be tough on yourselves."

By that time, Hiccup, with Snivels riding on his shoulder, had reached the table and taken the last plate, which had a chicken leg on it.

"Where did Hiccup and Snivels go wrong?" Gobber asked. Here it comes, Hiccup said in his thoughts. Snivels, however, was somewhat amazed that Gobber actually managed to remember his name.

Snickering, Ruffnut suggested, "They showed up?"

"They didn't get eaten!" Tuffnut added.

Their laughing was cut off by Astrid. "They're never where they should be," she said.

Snivels looked at Blaze, who shrugged as if to say "Sorry."

Ignoring their insults, Hiccup went over to sit at an empty table. Snivels jumped down off of his trainer's shoulder and onto the table, unsure of what to say.

Shaking his head, Gobber moved some stuff off of the table that the others were sitting at. "You have to live and breathe this stuff," he announced, holding up two old books in his hand. "The Dragon Manual and the Book of Pokémon– everything we know about every dragon and Pokémon we know of." He let the books fall onto the table.

A flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder dimly sounded outside. "No attacks tonight," muttered Gobber. "Study up."

It took a moment for his words to sink in to the others. "Wait," said Tuffnut in realization. "You mean read?!"

Ruffnut piled on, "While we're still alive?"

Snotlout slammed his fist onto the table in frustration. "Why read words when you can kill the stuff words tell you stuff about?"

"Let me put it this way," Snivels said, "If you don't read the words, you won't know how to kill it. And if you don't know how, you'll end up getting killed instead – which would do some of us a great favor."

Any argument that would have resulted from that comment was never made a reality, as Fishlegs started talking quite suddenly. "I've read them both, like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face, and its partner..."

He was cut off by Tuffnut. "Yeah, sounds great. You know, there was a chance I was going to read them," he grumbled, and Ruff finished, "But now..."

Snotlout growled. "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." He stood up and left the Great Hall, with the others trailing behind him.

That left Hiccup, Astrid, and their Pokémon. He made a move for the books lying next to her.

"So, I guess we'll share?" Hiccup said, somewhat hopeful.

Astrid shook her head. "Read them," she said, pushing the books slightly toward him.

"All mine then," Hiccup said, "Okay, so I'll see you...tomorrow." Astrid and Blaze had both left, leaving Hiccup and Snivels alone.

It was quite dark by now in the Great Hall (the wind having blown the central fire out), so Hiccup lit a candle and opened the Book of Pokémon. He decided to leave the Dragon Manuel for later.

The first Pokémon he looked up was his starter. "Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokémon. Cool, calm, and collected, it photosynthesizes with the leaf on its tail, and uses the sunlight it absorbs to make energy, which it later uses in battle. When it isn't feeling well, its tail droops."

The next page showed a Pokémon that Hiccup had never seen before. It looked a lot like Snivy, except that it was bigger, and its tail was longer and had more leaves. It also had some sort of horn on its head. "Servine, the Grass Snake Pokémon, and the evolved form of Snivy. Servine whips its opponents with vines, and dodges their attacks by hiding in the shadows of thick foliage."

The next page showed a drawing of what looked like a green snake with two large horns on its head, no legs, and two small leafy arms. "Serperior, the Regal Pokémon, and the evolved form of Servine. It absorbs sunlight through its horns and then boosts the power internally. Its glare is enough to stop its opponents in their tracks. Serperior only battle their hardest when they are up against the strongest opponents." Hiccup didn't hesitate to turn the page.

He skipped the pages about Torchic, Combusken, Magby, Magmar, Nidoran, Nidorino, Nidorina, Lotad, Lombre, Cubchoo, Beartic, Nosepass, and Probopass; since he already knew a lot about them. He skipped all the way to nearly the end of the book, where there was a list of the Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.

Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Mew, Mewtwo, Entei, Raikuo, Suicune, Celebi, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Latios, Latias, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Heatran, Cresselia, Phione, Manaphy, Shaymin, Darkrai, Arceus, Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, Tornadus, Thundurus, Reshiram, Zekrom, Landorus, Kyurem, Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Hoopa, Volcanion, Diancie, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma, Magearna, Marshadow, Zeraora, and...

...the Regis.

Hiccup skipped ahead to the list of the Regis.

Regirock, Registeel, Regice, and Regigigas.

Hiccup then noticed something on the very last page of the book. "For those of you who have read this far, you now know the names of the Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. Due to only a few witnesses, the images of the Pokémon were never recorded. The most remarkable thing is the thought that they could be out there, waiting for someone, anyone, to prove themselves a worthy hero. Oddly enough, though some of these Pokémon are Dragon-Types, they never take part in any dragons raids."

Hiccup closed the Book of Pokémon, put it aside, and turned to the Dragon Manuel. He opened it.

"Dragon classifications," he read out loud. "Strike class, Fear class, Mystery class."

He began with the Tidal class. The first page depicted a detailed sketch of a Thunderdrum. "This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools with its partner Druddigon," said the book. "When startled, the Thunderdrum releases a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

The next dragon was a Timberjack. Reflecting on how Timberjacks could fly through dense forests by simply slicing through the trees with their razor-sharp wings, along with Haxorus, he skipped several pages.

Then came the Scauldron. It was a bit of a funny-looking beast, with its enormous belly and long, serpent-like neck. "This dragon's partners are the rare and powerful Kingdra. The Scauldron sprays scaulding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Hiccup flipped to the Mystery class. "Changewings are known for their chameleon ability, being able to blend in with any environment. These dragons are aided by Dragalge. They can spray a deadly acid, even when newly hatched. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

The pictures on the pages seemed to come alive, and move as Hiccup flipped through them. "Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Boneknapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight."

Hiccup flipped to the very last page of the Dragon Manual. The page was mostly blank, except for a little bit of writing at the top and bottom. "Night Fury," he breathed, reading out loud once more. "Speed unknown, size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only hope: hide and pray it does not find you."

Unconsciously, Hiccup took out his sketchbook and opened it to the page with his drawing of the Night Fury in the forest canyon. He held it out and placed it on the open manual, so that the page looked complete at last.

"Hiccup!" Snivels had left the Great Hall, and was outside in the storm. "Hiccup, come quick!" Hiccup looked up from the book. He quickly grabbed his sketchbook and tucked it back into his vest. He then ran outside to see what Snivels was yelling about.


Snivels was drenched by the rain, but he didn't care. His focus was on something completely different. Hiccup ran up to him. "What's wrong?" he asked. Snivels pointed underneath one of the nearby buildings. There was a weak, but telltale light underneath it. Crawling under the building, Hiccup and Snivels found a weak, orange, lizard-like Pokémon with a small flame at the end of its tail. A Charmander. And it was dying. Once the flame at the end of a Charmander's tail went out, the Pokémon died with it.

Hiccup quickly took off his vest and wrapped it around Charmander to keep it warm. He and Snivels crawled out from underneath the building, Hiccup carrying the Charmander in his arms. "I'll make sure that Charmander's tail flame stays lit," Hiccup said, mostly to himself.

The two friends quickly started for home, ignoring the pouring rain, the booming thunder, and the flashing lightning. Hiccup kept his vest draped over Charmander's weak tail flame to keep the rain from drenching it. "Hang in there, Charmander!" The little Pokémon whimpered weakly in response.

When they made it back to the house, Hiccup quickly set Charmander in front of the fire, which was still wrapped in his vest. Snivels got out a blanket, took the vest off of Charmander, and draped the blanket over the shivering Pokémon. Snivels handed Hiccup back his vest and he put it on, it was slightly warm from what was left of Charmander's fading heat. Hiccup and Snivels stayed by Charmander's side throughout the night, taking turns rubbing the Lizard Pokémon's body with their hands to help it warm up. The two of them watched as Charmander's tail flame grew, little by little.

Sometime after midnight, Snivels fed it an Oran Berry to help it heal faster. Hiccup reached down and pet the Lizard Pokémon. "It'll be alright," he whispered.

When Charmander's flame had almost reached its full power, the two friends decided to take a quick break. "You know," Snivels said, "I always believed that Vikings were stubborn and heartless people waiting to move into the next fight. Almost all of the trainers I had prior to living here matched that description, which is why I abandoned them. But you were willing to take me in when we first met, and what you did to help save this Charmander when you knew it would have died out there on its own, that's the kind of thing I've been searching for in a trainer. I'm glad that you were able to meet my expectations." Hiccup had been listening all throughout, but he said nothing, his eyes fixed on Charmander's flame.

By morning, the flame on Charmander's tail had regained enough of its flare to that of its normal strength, ensuring the Pokémon's survival. Charmander opened its eyes and looked around.

Hiccup was the first to notice that Charmander was awake. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. Charmander nodded in thanks.

It wasn't long after that when Snivels stretched himself awake. The first thing he noticed as he returned from dreamland was the Charmander's eyes. Enchanted, he slowly moved forward until he was inches from it. "You're a girl," he said suddenly.

"I am," Charmander said, "And you can talk."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're brighter than the sun?" Snivels asked, blushing furiously.

When the Charmander heard this, she blushed as well. "Thanks," she said, "My name's Amber, by the way."

"I'm Snivels," said the young Snivy. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had fallen in love.

In the Pokémon language, Amber explained that her trainer had abandoned her, so she ran away and ended up on Berk. Because it had been hard to find a good home, Amber's flame had been growing weaker due to the lack of food, water, and rest. Eventually she became too weak to move, and ended up sheltering under one of the houses.

Hiccup listened as Snivels translated Amber's story to him. "Well, if she doesn't have anywhere else to go, I guess she could stay with us." No sooner had the words left his mouth when Amber ran over and hugged his legs, purring with happiness.

Snivels was especially glad to have a new friend...and possibly even more.


"I can almost smell them," Stoick murmured, staring hard at the map he had with him. "They're close."

He and his small fleet of ships were heading for the foggy region north-west of Berk, where the dragon nest supposedly was. The dense fog never lifted, hiding the dragons' dark secrets. Ever since Vikings had arrived on Berk three hundred years ago, the hidden nest had remained elusive. In his heart, he knew that this trip was to be as futile as the uncountable others.

He steeled his courage and commanded to the pilot of his ship, "Take us in."

The pilot instantly shouted to the other ships, "Hard to port!" All three of the Viking ships sailed straight into the fog, seeming to be swallowed by the murk.

The ship that was last in line was lagging slightly. The pilot became nervous as he saw the sterns of his companion ships vanish. It was too quiet, and his warriors began to mutter to themselves, trying to encourage themselves or otherwise break the uncomfortable silence.

Just then, there was a loud roar as the shadow of a Monstrous Nightmare became visible in the deep fog.


Hiccup and Snivels have a new friend and ally, and for Snivels, something more! Although, in the games, a Snivy and a Charmander can't really be together, it is fanfiction after all!

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