NaNoWriMo Day: Wednesday, November 16th, 2016
Title: Fight/Flight
Words: 2166
Suggested by songwithnosoul: Charlotte and/or Mario recovering from their amputations
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Saffron City was the ruins of a sprawling metropolis that now boasted a population that had only recently broken four digits. As a result, many of the newly-formalized civic operations, such as the hospital and Pokemon Centre, were spoilt for space if nothing else. The Pokemon Centre had, among other things, taken over the dried-up wasteland that had probably once been a public park near the hospital, using the space to care for those Pokemon too large to fit inside of human-sized buildings. At the present time, the only residents were a recently three-armed Machamp, a newly one-winged Charizard and her visiting family.
"Mario's got lots of human friends," Cedric said, looking at the crowd of white coats surrounding the mutilated Machamp.
"They're all doctors," Charlotte explained, wincing as she accidentally flexed her wings-wing and stump, which was still extremely tender. "From what they said, this kind of thing is really rare. Lots of doctors have come from all over to look at Mario and figure out how to replace his arm."
"Are they gonna fix your wing?" Caledonia demanded. Of the six of Charlotte's siblings who'd evolved into Charmeleon, Caledonia was the largest and most likely to evolve next-likely a product of her being the most literally hot-tempered of the fifteen siblings. Chaz had dropped the six Charmeleon off with Charlotte, then returned to Mt Moon to look after those who were still Charmander, less willing to let the weakest members of the clan wander around among strange humans or leave them unprotected.
"There are doctors looking at my wing," Charlotte promised. "It's just that Pokemon losing wings is more common than a Pokemon with four arms losing one, so they already know pretty well what to do."
"Pokemon with wings are common, but Charizard aren't," Chico pointed out. "Are you sure they know how to replace your wing? Humans have arms, but they don't have wings."
"They'll figure it out," Charlotte insisted, to reassure herself as much as her siblings. The idea of never flying again was giving her nightmares, not to mention that it would mean the end of her getting to travel and fight with Saylee less than a year after she'd finally gotten to do so.
"I'm gonna go ask one of them!" Carmen declared, running off towards the group clustered around Mario.
"Wait! Dad said stay here-owwww," Charlotte grunted, getting up to follow after her younger sister and, once again, almost collapsing in pain as she automatically tried to move her wings, to use their lift to help her up, and instead twanged the severed nerves agonizingly.
"I'll go with her," Cedric promised, following Carmen.
"Is your wing still hurting a lot?" Chico asked, peering at the stump. "I thought they had medicine to make it hurt less?"
"They don't have a lot of medicine, and because I'm big, I need a lot," Charlotte explained. "I told them I'd only ask for it if I really need it, and I can handle this. It's fine."
"It's not fine if you're hurting," Cade said, gently breathing soothing flames over the stump of Charlotte's wing. Charlotte could never help wondering how the most gentle and sensitive of her siblings had managed to evolve into a Charmeleon, but she was grateful for his presence. "When Carmen and Cedric get a doctor, we should ask them if there's any other way to make you hurt less…"
"Having you guys here helps," Charlotte promised, gently nuzzling her brother's head and tightening her tail around Callista, who'd decided to take a nap in the crook of her sister's tail. None of Charlotte's jostling had woken her, which really was unsurprising given that Callista had once famously slept through an entire cave-in.
"We got one!" Carmen called, running back over to Charlotte with Cedric and a short, skinny, pale human woman with long, dark hair.
"Dr. Oliver," Charlotte said, recognizing the woman. "How's Mario?"
"The good news is that we should be able to give him a new arm soon," Dr Oliver explained. "We hit a goldmine. One of the other doctors-" she gestured to the small group around Mario- "has a colleague in Alola who replaced a Machamp's lower-right arm just a few years ago. He's already sent us the schematics for the prosthetic he made, and hopefully he's going to be able to come join us to perform the surgery. Machamp have a uniquely complex shoulder structure, so having him on hand gives us the best chance of succeeding. Now, your siblings said that you're having pain?"
"I can handle it," Charlotte said quickly.
"Charlotte, our painkiller supply is our problem to worry about, not yours," Dr Oliver said patiently. "I promise you, you're not going to run us out of supplies. Let me give you something."
"I really don't need it," Charlotte insisted.
"You do if you want us to be able to replace your wing," Dr Oliver explained. "If you're in pain, you're tensing your muscles. That can damage them and make it harder for the prosthetic surgery to go successfully. As your doctor, I have to give you something. So please, if I give you medicine, take it?"
Charlotte nodded, finally relenting. "Thank you," she said quietly. "How long until…?"
"We have a frame and the materials for your wing, we're just working on the nerve structure," Dr Oliver explained. "It's mostly based on other wing prosthetics from recent years, though, and we don't have a recent-model Charizard prosthetic to work from, noting that uses modern nerve replacements. You're a very rare species and, not to be morbid, but anything capable of doing this much damage to a Charizard is usually fatal."
"But you can study the wing she's still got, right?" Cedric suggested.
"We can, but we also need more time studying a Charizard with two functioning wings," Dr Oliver sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Your wings aren't like your arms and legs. You always use them in concert, almost never independently of each other. Do you know when Chaz is coming back?"
"He said he'd come pick us up later, but he can't stay here for long," Chico volunteered. "He has to look after our land on Mt Moon."
"I understand," Dr Oliver said, nodding. "You're extremely rare, but not unique. I understand Miss Oak's been contacting other Char owners elsewhere in the world to find out if any of them are willing to donate DNA samples-I can ask if any of them have a Charizard that they're willing to send here for us to meet and study. Until then, let me get you those painkillers."
"Thank you," Charlotte said. Dr Oliver smiled at her and walked off in the direction of the Pokemon Centre.
"So… it could be a long time until you get a wing?" Cade said, looking sad.
"They need to study a Charizard," Caledonia said thoughtfully. She turned to her siblings with a big grin, raising her claws. "Alright, who wants to fight?"
"Cally, now is so not the time," Carmen said, rolling her eyes.
"Actually, it just might be," Chico said, looking thoughtfully at his larger sister. "She's closer to evolving than any of us, and if she does evolve, then they don't need Dad to stay here or to find a Charizard from somewhere else, right?"
"Hey, yeah!" Cedric said, brightening up perceptibly. "I'll fight you, Cally!"
"Then come at me, bro," Caledonia said with a broad grin, embers dripping from her teeth.
"Just watch that you don't hit me, Mario or any of the humans," Charlotte said, shuffling back a little, tugging the still-sleeping Callista with her.
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"...This is a hospital," Chaz said, landing carefully next to Charlotte. "Sort of. Not a gym."
"Cally's doing really well, though," Callista said lazily, getting up from her nap spot for the first time all day to hug Chaz and relocate to a nap spot on his tail. "I think she's about to beat Cedric, Chico and Carmen all at once."
"They've all been fighting all day, though," Charlotte said, accepting a greeting-nuzzle from Chaz. "They're all going to tire themselves out."
"Why have they been fighting all day?" Chaz asked.
"Cally's trying to evolve," Cade explained.
"Wish they'd let me fight 'er," Mario said wistfully. The Machamp was sitting cross-legged on the ground next to Charlotte, his upper arms folded while he leaned back and propped himself up on his remaining lower arm.
"You also have a surgery coming up, which means no fighting," Chaz pointed out. "Cally's been looking forward to evolving for ages, it's why she's always picking a-"
"The doctor said that they can make Charlotte's new wing faster if they can spend a lot of time studying a Charizard's wings, both of them," Cade said, wincing as Caledonia hit Carmen with an Iron Tail, sending her flying into both Cedric and Chico. "Cally wants to evolve now."
"I understand that you can't be here for them to study," Charlotte said quickly at Chaz' guilty look. "You'd have to stay here for hours, probably days. You can't be away from Mt Moon for that long."
"Wish I could," Chaz sighed, nuzzling her again. "I wish I could leave the others here overnight, too, but none of them have pokeballs-"
"-making them much, much easier to steal than a large Charizard who would have to be moved without a pokeball, I know," Charlotte finished for him. "It's okay, Dad, really. But you'll be back tomorrow, right?"
"Absolutely," Chaz promised, looking speculatively at Caledonia, who was stretching and flexing her shoulders, scowling at her lack of wings. "Cally! Cedric! Chico! Carmen! Ready to stop beating each other up and go home?"
"I'm almost there, I swear!" Caledonia insisted, scowling at her siblings who were clambering back to their feet with much muttering and complaining. "C'moooooooon, fight me one more time!"
"Cally, I dunno if you're getting there today, and I hurt," Chico groaned. "Save us, Dad…"
Chaz gently plucked Callista off of his tail and set her down next to Charlotte, before moving closer to the four combatants, looking speculatively at Caledonia. "Attack me," he said, extending his own broad wingspan.
"What," Cedric gasped. "Cally, you can't beat Dad!"
"But attacking a stronger opponent makes you stronger faster, Daisy said so," Chaz pointed out. "You don't even have to beat me, just attack me."
"Awesome!" Caledonia said, looking not at all put off by the prospect of fighting an opponent several times her size and strength. She dove right in in a burst of Dragon Rage.
"Dad's not even pointing back," Cade said as they watched the 'fight'. "He's just letting her beat on him."
"Not like she could really hurt him," Cedric said, limping over. "...even though she is hitting really hard…"
"You think she really could evolve just from fighting Dad?" Carmen said curiously.
"She's pretty big," Chico said, shrugging. "What do you think Charlotte? You've evolved."
"Maybe," Charlotte said, watching Caledonia fight, trying to remember how it felt to be smaller and wingless and at what point that changed. "She's definitely closest…"
"C'mon, at least fight back a little!" Caledonia shouted. Chaz swung a Steel Wing at her that she easily dodged. "You could at least try, Dad!"
"I could really hurt you, Cally," Chaz warned her, swiping a claw that missed her narrowly.
"That's what makes it a real fight!" Caledonia insisted, hitting him square in the chest with another Dragon Rage. "Come on!"
Chaz flew up in the air, sending a Fire Blast down towards Caledonia, who dodged back and forth, trying to send more Flamethrowers back in Chaz' direction. Each Flamethrower went further than the last, but they continued to fall short. Caledonia's tail flared as her frustration visibly grew. With a yell, she leapt into the air-
"She did it!" Carmen screamed as Caledonia burst forward, a surge of energy causing her to grow larger, wings to unfurl and flap and propel her into the air to tackle her father. The two grappled in the air for a moment before Chaz pinned her to the ground, grinning widely.
"Congratulations!" he said, nuzzling Caledonia's cheek. "You did it, Cally! Look at you!" He stepped off of her, gesturing to her new wings.
Caledonia got up, stretching her new wings and staring at them in awe. "This is awesome," she breathed.
"I know, right?" Charlotte giggled. "Congratulations, Cally!"
"This is brilliant," Chico said as he and the other Charmeleon gathered around their newly-evolved sister, cheering.
"I really did it," Caledonia said, a grin spreading across her face. "Charlotte, I did it! Dad, please can I stay here, they need to start looking at my wings right away-"
"Not overnight, same reasons still apply," Chaz insisted, "but you can fly back yourself first thing in the morning to show the doctors, okay?"
"You need to go home and get some rest, anyway," Callista said with a yawn. "Hey, can I ride on your back on the way home?"
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This one's a day late because I spent all of yesterday writing DD chapters 57 and 58, holy shit… NaNoWriMo is really working to get me writing again. I think having FINALLY landed a job in Japan after a year and a half of searching has really helped me climb out of the massive dip of depression that I spent most of the year in, too. It feels really good to be able to write again.
This ended up being not quite so much about Charlotte as her family, but I hope you enjoy it, Song! Your reviews are always the highlight of my day :D
