Disclaimer: I have no rights to Pokémon and do not own it.
Later that night, Misty got a call from Nurse Joy. She found out that her Gyarados, Starmie, and Politoed were fully healed and ready for battle. Giving the nurse a happy smile, she thanked her, before saying that she would pick them up in the morning.
The night went by fast as Misty realized what this could mean for Charizard. Her Gyarados could definitely relate to his predicament. Both Charizard and Gyarados were tough, and intimidating Pokémon amidst a group of smaller, and tamer looking Pokémon, most of which were small and adorable.
When Morning came, Misty informed Charizard and Psyduck of where she was going before leaving to pick up her Pokémon. Upon reaching the Pokémon center, Nurse Joy greeted her before handing over a tray. "Here you are Misty," said the Nurse with a cheerful smile. "They should be ready for battle, though I suggest giving them a day off to relax a bit."
"I will, and thanks Nurse Joy," replied Misty, taking the Pokémon from and putting them in her pack. "How long until the others are ready?"
"It should only be a couple of days before they are ready to go home," replied the Nurse. "However, that young Goldeen shouldn't battle for at least a week after coming home."
"Got it," replied Misty. "I won't make the same mistake twice." Her walk back home was uneventful. A handful of people asked her if the Gym would be reopening soon, and she informed them that they would have to wait a little while longer. She felt markedly more confident with her strong Pokémon back, and had a skip in her step.
When she arrived, she released the Pokémon from their pokeballs. "Hey Charizard, Psyduck, we're back!" It didn't take long for a cheerful Charizard to emerge, followed closely by a less enthusiastic Psyduck. They were both happy to see three of Misty's Pokémon back in shape.
Starmie, Politoed, and Gyarados were surprised to see Ash's Charizard there. In fact, Gyarados had never even seen Charizard before. Silence persisted for a few moments before Misty caught on.
She gave her Pokémon an apologetic smile before saying, "Charizard is visiting us right now. He was exploring and came here by coincidence. He's been a real help with feeding the other water Pokémon." She gave Charizard a friendly smile before turning back to Gyarados and co. "I'm sure you'll all get along nicely with him."
Charizard let out a friendly grunt. /"Hello."/
"I'll leave you guys to get acquainted while I go make some breakfast." Misty's Pokémon all cringed at the thought of her making breakfast. However, when she was gone, the focus shifted back to Charizard.
/"It's nice to see that you're all better now,"/ said Charizard to break the ice.
The other three Pokémon just stared at him before Psyduck came to his rescue. /"Did you know that Charizard actually likes Misty's cooking?"/
The other three water type's cringes as they turned to Charizard. All of them, except for Starmie (due to obvious reasons), had a sick expression, demanding an explanation. To them it seemed like a general rule that whatever Misty cooked was tainted somehow.
The fire type chuckled at their faces (except starmie's). /"I don't mind her cooking at all. It might be dumb luck on her part, but her recipe for pancakes seems like the perfect food for me. I actually think it's better than what Brock used to make for me."/
Now all of them were shocked, including Psyduck. While they all agreed that Misty's cooking was bad, they had also unconsciously agreed that Brock's cooking was akin to ambrosia. How could Charizard, not only like something Misty made, but prefer it to what Brock used to make?
Not in the mood to find out, Gyarados quickly changed the subject. /"So how's the training coming. I heard that Ash left you in a place called the Charcific valley so you could get stronger. What kind of training do you do there?"/
/"It's mostly physical training,"/ replied Charizard. /"We train without humans telling us what to do, and rarely use our fire-type moves, though physical training does help with that as well."/
/"Is it all about power?"/ asked Gyarados.
Charizard shrugged casually. /"Pretty much. We generally don't focus on speed, mostly close-quarter combat. Speed just comes naturally to us as we level up."/
/"Sounds like fun,"/ replied Gyarados. /"Misty usually tells us to practice our grace and fluidity. That can be useful too in a battle."/
Charizard nodded, understanding exactly what Gyarados meant. /"Maybe we should spar some time. I'm sure we can learn a lot from each other."/ This received an agreeable nod from Gyarados. At that point, Starmie, and Politoed joined the conversation. That began a long discussion of battle techniques.
Pikachu began pondering his conversation with Pidgeot last night. While he wasn't quick to judge Charizard, he was still unsure of why the fire Pokémon would visit Misty, a water-type trainer. He knew Charizard preferred Ash as his trainer, but couldn't help feeling curious about what was really going on?
After some deliberation, he decided to ask Ash to call Liza at the Charcific valley. Curiosity was getting to him, and he had to know what was going on. He found Ash, still asleep, while Brock was already up, cooking. Dawn was up doing as well, though she had just gotten up and was freshening up in the bathroom.
Pikachu promptly jumped on Ash, rousing him from his sleep. The trainer yawned, before smiling down at his companion. "Good morning Pikachu. You sure are excited about today, aren't you?"
"Pi…Pikachu. Pika."
"A phone call?" Ash cupped his chin in thought. He had gotten better at interpreting what Pikachu said, though certain things were harder to translate. He smiled triumphantly as Pikachu gave him an affirmative nod. "Alright then." Ash made his way to the phone and turned to Pikachu again. "Who do you want me to call?"
It took Pikachu several more minutes to tell Ash that he wanted to him to contact Liza in the Charcific valley. After Ash dialed the number, the Charizard trainer's face appeared on the screen.
"Oh…Hello Ash. Do you need Charizard for something?" Her tone carried a hint of nervousness due to Charizard not being present, though Ash failed to pick up on it.
The young trainer should his head. "No, Pikachu just wanted me to talk to you…I don't know why though." Ash just shrugged. "I guess he just wanted to know what Charizard was up to."
"Oh…Charizard has been traveling out of the valley. He decided to leave and explore for a bit before coming back. He's not here right now, and I don't really know where he is. Sorry if you didn't want that."
"No, it's fine," replied Ash. "I'm sure Charizard will come back soon. He was really enthusiastic about training there. I'm sure he'll come back." Ash turned to Pikachu. "So Pikachu, are you satisfied?"
"Pi…Pikachu."
"Alright," he turned to Liza. "Well thanks for the update. I guess I'll be going now. Bye." He hung up, and a smile came to his face. "Hey Pikachu, I just got an idea." Pikachu tilted his head curiously. "Why don't we have a little reunion? I could arrange to have Pidgeot, Charizard, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and us all together again. How does that sound?"
Pikachu's face lit up instantly. "Pika Pi Pikachu!" /This is awesome! I can't wait! We'll have so much to catch up on!/
Ash chuckled happily at Pikachu's response as they went outside to tell Pidgeot. When they went outside, they saw Pidgeot rallying his flock. "What's going on?" asked Ash in confusion.
"Pidgeot is taking his flock to Professor Oak's," said Brock. "He'll be back for good after that, it wouldn't be a good idea for the entire flock to travel with us."
"I agree," replied Ash before turning to his old friend. "Good luck Pidgeot. I'm planning a reunion with Squirtle, Charizard, Bulbasaur and us in the future, so I'll be looking forward to see you again."
Pidgeot chirped happily before taking off with his flock following in a "V" formation. /Soon…I'll be back Ash. Then I will get to the bottom of what Charizard is up to./
When Pidgeot was out of sight, Ash stopped waving and went back to the phone to contact Officer Jenny about Squirtle and Professor Oak about Bulbasaur.
Back at Cerulean city, Charizard was also getting ready to leave. He had to get back to the Charcific valley and continue his training. Misty, Psyduck, Starmie, Gyarados, and Politoed were standing outside with him, ready to wave goodbye.
"Goodbye Charizard," said Misty. She was a little upset about Charizard leaving so soon, but understood his responsibilities to Ash, and she respected that. "Come visit again okay? We'd love to have you over."
Charizard gave a friendly grunt in response. /"I'll be back. I enjoy being here too much not to."/
Gyarados let out a low growl. /"I'll look forward to sparing with you one of these days."/
/"You can count on it."/ Charizard was eager to learn about how water Pokémon fought when out of the water. The conversation he had with Misty's main fighting Pokémon had piqued his interest. They would definitely be seeing him soon.
Misty sighed as she turned to go back inside. "Well I guess nobody is going to be eating my pancakes for a while." She chuckled as she saw her Pokémon cringe at the thought of eating her pancakes.
Pidgeot and his flock arrived at Professor Oak's laboratory at night. He could see a good, well-forested spot to land somewhere in Professor Oak's backyard. Landing in a tree, he looked up to make sure his flock followed his lead. The Pidgey and Pidgeotto landed in the trees and were happy and content to stay and rest there. However, Pidgeot saw an old friend nearby and landed to talk to him.
/"Ash said you would come,"/ said Bulbasaur, smiling up at Pidgeot. /"It's good to see you again. So how have you been?"/
/"I have been doing well. It was good seeing Ash again after so many years. It's good to see you to. I heard that you've taken a leadership role here. You're a peacekeeper here, right?"/
/"I am. These Pokémon can be hard to manage sometimes, but they're really nice. The good news is that your flock probably won't disturb any of the other Pokémon. Barely anyone uses these trees."/
/"That's good. I'll be leaving now. I should be getting back to Ash now."/
/"Awe…Come on. Stay the night. Professor Oak and all of the other Pokémon will want to meet you."/
/"Alright I'll stay,"/ replied Pidgeot. /"But I'll be getting back to Ash tomorrow."/
/"Follow me,"/ said Bulbasaur enthusiastically, as he turned to show Pidgeot to Professor Oak's lab.
This chapter was mainly there to set up the plot of the story. I'll try to elaborate more on Misty and Charizard's friendship in future chapters. I have a pretty good idea of where the plot is going now, so updates might come a little faster.