Disclaimer: Pokémon…Hmm? Not owned by me (Thank goodness).
Thanks to DRD for beta-ing this chapter.
Burnt Charizard
My friends didn't mind staying for a few more days, especially if meant getting the upgrade to update the Pokédex so we could register Pokémon that were native to Johto.
Leaf was happy, definitely more than me. She would be able to add more Pokémon to this list she already had, her dream was to fill up the Pokédex and she was doing so well already with the Kanto Pokédex almost complete.
I was happy, it meant that I could scan more Pokémon, as I found out Pokémon that were native to Johto were in the Orange Islands Archipelago.
Camilla wasn't into completing the Pokédex, not as much as Leaf, but it would give her something to do while she looked for another dream.
Tracey now had a Pokédex, it wasn't like he would use it much, he tried to decline as he always drew the Pokémon he had encountered, but apparently the professor had insisted, so he didn't reject a gift from his idol.
I was finally able to scan Marill
'Marill the Aqua Mouse Pokémon. When fishing for food at the edge of a fast-running stream, Marill wraps its tail around the trunk of a tree. This Pokémon's tail is flexible and configured to stretch.'
This was good, now I had a better understanding and anther Pokémon in my Pokédex
As soon as the professor's aide left we decided we should also.
I knew we had to get to my next Gym Challenge, but I had no idea where it was, I guessed we should just continue and find out where the boat took us. Before I believed that Blastoise would take us around the islands, but there seemed to be a boat at almost every single island that would take us to the next.
I heard that the next island was quite vacant of people but was filled with Pokémon.
Leaf was happy to hear that news, the new update to her Pokédex will be filled in no time.
We arrived on the next island around noon. As soon as we arrived we saw that it wasn't a dock, there was just a trail leading into a forest. There must be some Pokémon in here that Leaf could register; I would have stopped if she found any.
We had trekked through the forest for twenty minutes with no sign of any Pokémon, the only sounds were our breathing and our Pikachu chatting with the occasional laugh or sound from Cubone.
I thought this place was supposed to be chocked full of Pokémon, we were told that, we should have seen at least one, right?
We made it out of the forest a few minutes later and we were greeted by a massive canyon, and we were at the bottom of, it. I would not like to fall from that height, it sure was high, higher that the cliff which we stupidly scaled to find nurse Joy, but smaller than that mountain, I had to scale, to qualify for Danny's Gym challenge.
My friends and I decided to follow the trail.
'Hello.' Tracey called after a few minutes of silence.
His voice reverberated around us.
As soon as his voice died down we heard a second echo.
'Hello?' This one was one of a question and sounded feminine.
My friends and I looked up; we could see a figure on top of the canyon.
The figure extended wings and glided down toward us.
We saw the figure was a Charizard as it landed, but a girl jumped off.
This girl had green hair that was pulled into a pony tail; the air still looked all over the place though. She had piercing blue eyes. She had a red top that covered her shoulders, but left her armpits bare and it also reached the midpoint of her stomach. She also had red short shorts, she had pink wristbands and her shoes were also red, she had something about that colour.
The Charizard that she had looked different to mine, it was larger and had a pink bow on its head.
'Hello.' The girl greeted us. 'Who are you and what are you doing here.'
The girls piercing blue eyes were intimidating us.
I was the first to recover.
'My name is Jordan, and this is my buddy, Pikachu.' I said introducing myself and my Pikachu.
'I am Camilla, and this is Pikachu and Cubone.'
'My name is Leaf.'
And I am Tracey.' My other friends said introducing themselves.
'Okay, what are you doing here?' The girl asked.
'We were told that this island holds lots of Pokémon, so we came to see them.' Leaf replied.
This girl looked a little shocked before she shared a look with her Charizard.
'There are only a few Pokémon on this island, and I bet you have already seen these Pokémon before.' The girl said, like she knew what information our Pokédexes held. 'My name is Liza by the way.'
'Can you at least show us these Pokémon?' I asked.
'It's quite a way.' Liza told me. 'Do you have a Pokémon that can get you there as quick?' Liza asked.
'Charizard, I choose you!' I called out. Charizard appeared and roared showing how strong it was.
'You have a Charizard.' Liza said, stating the obvious.
I nodded. 'Charizard is one of my strongest Pokémon.' I said.
'Why don't you show me how quick it is?' Liza suggested.
I was confused by that, was my Charizard going to have a running race?
Liza noticed my confused expression.
'Your Charizard will fly to where I lead you, it is not a race, but I want to see your Charizard's endurance.' Liza stated.
I suppose that was fair. Charizard could show that it could handle whatever this girl could throw at it.
'Why don't you two hop onto my Charizard and Camilla can join Jordan on his, I don't suppose your Charizard can struggle with two people and three small Pokémon?' Liza asked as if she was testing my patience.
I would show Liza that my Charizard was not a Pokémon that would be pushed around so lightly, he helped me in so many battles. I even got him to mega evolve. That's how close our bond was.
Liza climbed on top of her Charizard with Tracey and Leaf closely behind.
I climbed atop mine while Camilla followed suite, behind me.
'Follow me.' Liza said and she took off.
My Charizard took off a little slower than hers, but managed to catch up with little effort.
'Where are we going?' I asked shouting over the wind.
'Characific valley.' Liza replied.
'Chara...what?' I asked.
'It's better if you see it, rather than me telling you.' Liza replied.
Sure enough a few seconds later I saw a large form of rock, it looked like a Charizard's head was protruding from the top.
On the outside were some stairs that led up to a stone gate from a moat that surrounded it.
Inside the moat a few metres away from the stairs were two rock pillars that held-what seemed to look like-dragon wings, they looked similar to a Charizard's wings.
Liza's Charizard landed just before the gate, mine landed a second or two later.
'Well done, Jordan, your Charizard is definitely stubborn enough to show me that it is trying to prove something.' Liza told me as she jumped off her Charizard.
I knew my Charizard would go to great lengths to show people what it could do.
Liza opened the gates and the sight that I saw was great.
Inside the gates were many Charizard, they were training, relaxing or playing around.
'This is Characific valley.' Liza explained.
All of the Charizard in here were larger than my own, but that didn't matter, size was not an issue. I had battled an Onix with a Pikachu and a Gyarados, also with a Pikachu, and both times my Pikachu had truimphed. This was a little different as Charizard was going to prove itself to other Charizard. Charizard had bad experience with its own kind when it was a Charmander. Now it really had to prove itself, more than ever, it did not want to be shunned twice by its kind; that would drop its confidence. I didn't want Charizard to believe it was worthless. I wanted Charizard to know that it was strong, that there was a reason I had asked it to travel with me when it was a Charmander.
'It's brilliant.' I said.
I noticed Tracey had already started to sketch.
'These Charizard are impeccable, their health is great, the way their horns are groomed, and their tails have the greatest swinging motion.' Tracey trailed off.
'Do you care for all these Charizard by yourself?' Camilla asked.
'Yes, actually, I do.' Liza replied. 'Every single one of these Charizard is either mine or a trainers, who has winded up on this island. They have asked me to help them train to get them stronger.' Liza told us.
Leaf was inspecting a Charizard. The Charizard didn't mind, it looked confused, but obliged to Leaf's requests.
'What is she doing?' Liza asked.
'Leaf is intent on learning everything on every Pokémon.' I replied.
'I could just tell her.' Liza said.
'Leaf prefers to study the Pokémon by interacting with them herself, this way she understands their nature, she says it gives her a better understanding.' Camilla assured Liza.
Liza seemed to understand, I knew that Leaf would hate to bee cooped up sitting down and writing about Pokémon, she would rather be out conversing with Pokémon, gaining a better understanding, she preferred wild Pokémon as they were in their natural habitat and had not been disturbed, but you could only get what you were given, but Leaf had sufficed with trainers Pokémon.
'I've seen your Charizard's endurance in flight. I would like to see it battle one of these Charizard.' Liza said.
'That's fine with me; my Charizard will beat any of these Charizard, hands down.' I replied.
I knew my Charizard was strong and I wanted to prove this to Liza.
'Then why don't you have your Charizard pick its opponent?' Liza suggested.
This was a good idea; this would give Charizard some individuality and give it some way to play to its strengths.
Charizard looked at me for approval. I nodded so he looked around and figured which Charizard he would want to face.
I looked around as my Pokémon did, there were at least fifteen other Charizard, every single one was larger than mine. I was beginning to become wary.
What if Charizard picked an opponent that I knew he would not be able to beat?
I saw a Charizard that was larger than the others punching against a rock wall every time he hit it with his fists it either cracked or a part fell to his feet.
I saw the look on Charizard's face and I knew instantly that it was going to pick that Charizard; I also knew it was a bad idea.
There was no way I was going to change my Charizard's mind though. Once he knew what he was going to do, he was too stubborn to change his mind.
I was extremely confident before my Charizard was going to battle, but now I wasn't so sure, there were loads of Charizard in here, but it had to have its big-headedness get the better of it. Maybe when I said that it would beat every Charizard in here hadn't helped.
My Charizard walked up to the one that was punching the wall and tapped it on the shoulder, it turned around and was met with a punch to the face.
My Charizard flew back from the force of the punch and landed inches from Liza's Charizard.
I knew this meant a great deal to my Charizard as it would not boost its confidence, but my Charizard was just too prideful, he would do anything to keep his pride, but at the moment he was acting as I did when I first started my Pokémon journey.
My Charizard got back up and went straight up to the Charizard that had swept it away like it was a fly. It opened its mouth and attacked the Charizard with a flamethrower.
Once my Charizard stopped the attack we saw that the Charizard it attacked had not been harmed at all.
My Charizard looked down sheepishly and I knew it now regretted the actions it took to impress us, it looked at me and I knew it saw my expression was pity.
The Charizard used its own flamethrower on mine and my Charizard looked like it had suffered a lot of damage.
As soon as the last Charizard turned back around, every other Charizard looked at my Charizard and made a semi circle around him, it was as if to say he was not welcome here, in Characific valley.
I recalled my Charizard and walked out of the small enclosure.
Liza followed my friends and I.
The large stone doors closed and I sat down on the ground.
My friends sat with me.
'Your Charizard is too prideful,' Liza started. 'It needs a reality check, if I'm being honest.' Liza continued.
I nodded.
'Is there anything I can do?' I asked.
'If your Charizard can show enough willpower then we may let it into our group.' Liza said.
I knew my Charizard would love to be here and train, but I knew it couldn't face the other Charizard now. I had to show it that it needed to stay strong.
Liza left my friends and I and went back into the enclosure.
I let my Charizard out as soon as the stone doors shut behind Liza.
'Okay, Charizard.' I started.
Charizard was looking down I knew he was ashamed of how foolish he was, but I couldn't let him keep himself down, I needed to boost his confidence and there was only one way to do that.
'Do you remember when I was battling Giovanni?' I asked Charizard. He nodded so I continued. 'I had to keep my cool because I hate that man. I stayed in my place on the other side of the battlefield because it was what I was supposed to do.' I continued. 'You need the same type of willpower that I had then.' I told my Charizard.
I knew it would be hard for him and he needed a way to show willpower, but he had to show me that he could do it by himself.
'Also, you have too much pride, if you have too much pride you thing you are better than everyone else and you make rash decisions, just like we saw.' I said. 'I was just like you when I started my journey, but now I've grown and now I am less rash, I'm sure you could do the same and become less prideful, like me. It's like this: if you don't lose, you won't learn.' I told Charizard.
Charizard turned away from me and slowly descended the steps into the water.
'What are you doing?'I asked him.
He just ignored and kept walking into the water.
He continued into the water until his stomach was submerged. He kept his flaming tail out of the water, so that he wouldn't lose health, but he was being a little reckless still. He was a fire type and now he was going into the water which was a type he was weak to.
I walked down the steps, but I was on the step above the water level.
'Charizard, get out of the water.' I told him.
I had never forced my Pokémon to do anything before, but Charizard was being a little stupid right now.
He had done wrong before, thinking he was the best and now he was acting stupid again, being in water.
I don't know why he was acting stupid, but he must have had a reason.
He got himself in the water, so he could get himself out.
I realized my friends had not said much at all.
Camilla would be the one person to say something, but she had been silent, she was normally the one out of us who would talk.
Tracey must have been too busy focusing on how healthy the Charizard were.
I noticed Leaf was fascinated by the sight of that many Charizard to learn about.
My friends had probably figured that this was something that Charizard and I had to conquer together.
I also knew that. I knew that it was Charizard and I had to figure out ourselves, we both had to prove that we had learnt from our mistakes, more Charizard than me, but we still both had to.
How would I prove myself? I would not stay in the water. I would prove that I would be strong, I would stay awake the whole night with Charizard, he wouldn't be able to sleep, if he did his tail would lower and the fire on the tip of it would be extinguished and that would make him extremely ill, or worse.
Charizard was looking at the doors, so I would look at him.
I sat down on the steps determined to stay up the whole night, there was no way I was going to fall asleep, when I needed to prove to Charizard that we were both as strong as each other.
The afternoon rolled around slowly, and it dragged on.
Charizard's stare never left the doors, and I felt boredom taking over me, but I had to show Charizard that I was strong.
I heard my friends talking amongst themselves in hushed tones. I knew that they didn't want to distract me, but at least they were okay with staying here, they could leave if they wanted to, I wouldn't mind. I would stay here with Charizard.
I knew my friends though, especially Camilla, she was the most loyal person I had ever known, since Cerulean city in Kanto she has never left my side; she and I were great-if not best-friends. I knew Leaf and Tracey were good friends of mine and they wouldn't leave me. Leaf would only leave, if Liam was to come back and if she said yes to travelling with him again. Tracey would probably leave if he got the chance to work with professor Oak.
As soon as the sky started to darken I could feel sleep deprivation hit me.
My friends were all sleeping, and I saw Charizard's eyes were still trained on those doors.
I vowed to stay awake, but fatigue had caught up with me and was determined to make me sleep. I fought off for as long as I could until sleep took me.
I didn't like the look of how things were turning out, not long ago I felt on top of the world and now I was falling, once again.
How many times had I been in this situation? It was stupid, I hated this repetitiveness, I had been so reckless so many times before, and now this was no different, was I ever going to learn?
There was no turning back now. I was already halfway; it was too late to change my mind.
This action could be put into almost every situation I had come to face with, there were always two decisions, and normally I would pick the most dangerous one, and look where it had got me. I was falling from a height that could only described as towering, there was no other building that I had seen that had been as high as that.
I remembered that I had died once or twice already and now I was going to die again. Why I had been brought back to life I will never know, but for some reason I had a big part to play, I had been told this a few times, by various Pokémon and they all included me, why was I so special? Couldn't someone else be the chosen one, why did it have to be me?
I was thinking about being told I was the chosen one, now again I was going to die, maybe those Pokémon were wrong about me, maybe I wasn't the chosen, one, maybe I was someone who could have been, they were obviously talking about someone else.
I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact, this would be the end, and once I connected with the floor there would be no way for anything to bring me back, person or Pokémon.
I saw an orange light speeding toward me twenty feet before I hit the floor. I was hit by this orange light, but it wasn't that much of a force, it was more of something that caught me.
I was placed on the ground, the orange light that caught me was gone as quickly as it appeared and I had no idea where it had gone. I looked around, but couldn't not find any trace of it.
I was alive, but this time I didn't die, this time I had been saved, this had happened more times than I could count. I had been saved too many tines than I had been bothered to count.
Before I could comprehend everything that had happened I was surrounded by hundreds of people.
Every single one of them started to ask questions, but I heard one question above the others, one that had scolded me more times than I can remember.
'What the hell were you thinking?'
I woke up just as the sun was starting to rise above the rocks.
Charizard was still looking at the door, he didn't look tired at all, unfortunately I had succumbed to fatigue, but I'm not sure he cared. My aura had awakened showing me another dream, but I didn't worry about this one as I knew the outcome. Normally I would have loads of questions, but this time I only had a few, it was still an aura dream because it was from my point of view as all my other aura dreams were.
I saw my friends were all still asleep; they had not been woken up by the rising sun.
I slowly stood up, due to the fact that I had just woken up, my coordination and orientation skills were not working completely.
It only took my friends a few minutes after me to wake up.
Camilla was the first and she instantly came and sat next to where I was standing.
She patted the floor next to her and I sat down, we were both looking at the doors, just as Charizard had and still was.
I felt guilty about sleeping. I wanted Charizard to know I was strong, but instead I had fallen asleep, and I had shown him that I was weak.
I didn't hear when Leaf and Tracey got up, but they sat on either side of Camilla and me.
'Did you sleep Jordan?' Leaf asked me.
I nodded in response; I didn't really feel like talking, especially since I felt like I had let Charizard down.
The doors to where the other Charizard were had still not opened, I wondered what else Charizard could do to convince them that it was good enough to train with the other Charizard.
Charizard had still not looked away from the doors, I didn't even know if it had blinked this whole time.
I didn't want to put Charizard through this any longer.
'Charizard, let's go.' I said.
Charizard didn't even acknowledge me.
I stood up.
'Charizard!' I called, but he still ignored me.
How could he not see that this waiting was becoming more hopeless with every second that passed?
I heard a creak and turned around, the doors were slowly opening.
Charizard's expression didn't change, my expression however was wonder.
Liza came out with her Charizard.
'Your Charizard is definitely persistent and too proud to let anything stop him from achieving his goals.' Liza told me. 'It has shown great promise onto becoming a very powerful Charizard.' Liza continued.
'He has been very powerful and has helped me in every situation I have come across.' I replied.
'Do you think Charizard will like to come into Characific valley and train here with the other Charizard?' Liza asked.
I was a little baffled. Liza was so intent, yesterday on not letting Charizard in with the other Charizard yesterday, but she had said that my Charizard had shown great promise.
I looked up at Charizard; he was looking back at me.
'It's ultimately his choice.' I replied.
'Great.' Liza said. 'Charla, show him inside.' Liza said.
Liza's Charizard showed my Charizard into the valley.
'So how long will it be until he'll be stronger?' I asked Liza.
'You were planning on staying here while he is training?' Liza asked.
'Um...yeah.' I replied.
'Jordan, Charizard's training will take years.' Liza replied.
'What?' I asked.
Years? This was something I didn't count on, this would leave me down to four Pokémon, I'm sure the champion of the orange islands had six Pokémon, if Charizard stayed here I would need to catch two more before I was able to battle the champion.
'It will take years to train Charizard to a high enough level for it to be able to travel with you again.' Liza explained.
I looked in the direction of Charizard and he seemed oblivious to the situation he and I were both in. He was too busy conversing with the other Charizard in Characific valley.
Their behaviour towards him had changed drastically overnight. That was weird.
Here I was worrying about my Orange Islands challenge and Charizard was being accepted into a cult of sorts with other Charizard.
I should be happy for him, not being selfish over my own needs.
I decided to suck it up and walked toward Characific valley.
'Charizard.' I started.
He turned toward me.
'I'm glad you've found a place you truly belong, its better this way, you will become more powerful here than I could ever hope for you.' I told him.
If this place would help Charizard more than I ever could why shouldn't he stay here and train instead of me? It was better for him. Of course I was sad that I would be leaving Charizard, but this was for the best, for the both of us, it would help him and it would help me explore all my other Pokémon's attributes. Also it would give me a goal to work towards. I would now have to look for two other Pokémon to help me compete in the Orange Islands league.
'Thank you for everything.' I started. 'Goodbye.' I said.
I walked backwards out of Characific valley and Liza walked in.
'Oh, Jordan? Before you go, here.' Liza said handing me a number. 'It's my PokéNav number, so you can call me if you want to see Charizard, or want him to train with you, if you change your mind.' Liza said.
'Thanks.' I replied taking the number off of her. I would put that in my PokéNav plus later.
'Liza, is there any way off the island without going the way we came?' Camilla asked.
'Of course.' Liza started. 'There is a small path that way and it will take you to the shore. I hope you have a Pokémon that can travel by water or air to get to the next island.' Liza said.
'Thank you.' Leaf said.
Liza closed the doors to Characific valley.
Charizard looked at me with a painful look, I was sure that the look that I sent back was a reflection.
The doors finally closed and I felt a sharp pain hit me in the chest
And now it would be ages until I saw Charizard again.
This is the second Pokémon I had let go, but the first one wasn't as painful as this.
With Lapras it was easier, I hadn't had a deep connection with Lapras, we only just befriended it, but with Charizard it was different. I found Charizard as a second to its sibling, it was left alone as a Charmander, so I took it in and it evolved into a Charmeleon, then once it was strong enough it evolved again, he and I had been in many great and bad times and now to say goodbye to him was one of the most painful things I would ever have to do.
I started to run off in the direction Liza told us was the way to get a boat off this island.
I could feel the tears threatening to exit my eyes and streak down my face. I did not want my friends to see how weak I was when I was leaving a Pokémon behind, but it was like losing your best friend, like they were moving away and there was a chance you may never see them again, that was how I felt.
'Jordan!' I head Camilla call me.
I knew Leaf and Tracey wouldn't be far behind her, all three of my friends chasing after me.
I slowed down once I thought I had gained enough distance between me and Characific valley.
I felt a tear streak down my face, it hung on my chin for a second before falling to the ground.
'Pika?' My Pikachu asked me.
'I'm fine buddy.' I assured him using my sleeves to wipe away and excess tears or streaks.
'Jordan.' Camilla said coming up next to me, a little out of breath.
'Are you okay?' Leaf asked.
'Yeah.' I replied after a few seconds of silence, sure it was hard to let go of a Pokémon you had a bond with, but I knew I would be fine after a while.
Camilla looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
'I'm fine, I promise.' I assured my friends. 'Come on, I have my third badge to get.' I said.
I was definitely pumped to get number three as then I would only need one more before I would be able to battle the Champion and hopefully I could get two more Pokémon before then.
I ran off again, but this time I was eager.
I am alive! Been almost two months, and I will not use any excuses, but I'm back anyway and updates should be more frequent now, anyway till next time.
Chapter Twelve: Snor-lax Part 1
