Charizard's Story
Chapter 22
As Brock, Misty, Ash, and Onix entered the Pokémon Center, Brock noticed they were missing a few people.
"Hey! Where's Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Squirtle?" he asked.
Misty looked around. "Hey…Where'd they go?"
Brock groaned. "That's what I just said."
"Do you think they're still at the volcano?" asked Misty.
"How would I know?"
"Nixxx," Onix complained.
"Right," said Brock, "Let's get Ash to our room, and then we can go back and look for them."
"Or you could send out Zubat again," suggested Misty.
"Uh…I don't think so. Zubat needs to rest. It's already tired out from looking for them on the volcano."
"…Oh."
"OONNN!" Onix roared angrily.
"Sorry. Sorry," said Brock, "Come on, Misty. Let's go find our room."
They found their room, put Ash on a bed, and then Brock recalled Onix.
"Where do you think they are?" said Misty.
"…Do you want to go look for them or not?"
"I…" She glanced over at Ash. "Do you think he'll be okay?"
"He'll be fine. Do you want to look for them or not?"
"Um…"
In the time that it took for her to consider this, Ash started to wake up. He groaned and rolled over.
"Ash!?" cried Misty. She jumped to his bed and watched him anxiously. "Hey! Ash! Are you okay? Wake up!"
Brock stood by her side. "That's not gonna help."
"I don't care! He'd better be all right! He still owes me a bike!"
Brock sighed. Of course. There was no way she could have actually been worried about Ash.
Ash moaned a little more, but he was finally coming around. He blinked groggily to see Misty and Brock staring down at him.
"…Huh? Where am I?"
"We're in the Pokémon Center," Misty replied cheerfully, "You owe Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Squirtle your life!"
"Ugh…What'd they do? How'd I get down here?…Where are they!?"
"Uh…" Misty looked at Brock.
"Uh…heh heh…um…uh…We don't know, Ash."
"Don't know what?" He sat up.
"Uh, what he's trying to say is, that we don't know where Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Squirtle are," said Misty.
"What!? Then how'd they get me down here? Didn't you see them? Where did they go!?"
"Geez! Calm down," said Misty, "We have everything under control!" She looked at Brock. "…Right?"
"Uh……We do?"
"Ugh!" Misty groaned in disgust. "You're supposed to play along! We have to let him think everything's taken care of, so he won't bother us while we figure out what to do!! Urgh…"
Ash listened with growing anxiety.
"You mean you don't know where they are…?"
Misty gritted her teeth. "There's no use hiding it now," she said under her breath. Loudly she said, "That's right! We have no idea where your Pokémon are!"
Ash tried to jump out of bed. "Then we have to go find them!" he yelled.
Misty pushed him back. "No way. You're not going anywhere. Leave this to us. Right, Brock?"
"Right. You still need to rest up. We'll take care of it."
Ash narrowed his eyes. "…I'm fine now! Let me help! They're my Pokémon!"
"Sorry. No can do," said Misty. She turned to Brock. "Let's go, Brock."
He nodded. The two of them left the room.
"Wait!!" Ash stood up. "Come back here!……Don't…don't go……"
When it was obvious they weren't coming back. Ash sat down on the bed.
Everyone was abandoning him…Charizard, Misty, Brock…Bulbasaur and Squirtle…Even Pikachu……
He shook his head and tried not to think about it. Just don't think about it…
Hopelessly, he lay down again and felt sorry for himself.
Charizard's Story
Chapter 23
Misty and Brock stood outside.
"Do you think we should go back to the volcano?" asked Misty.
"Sounds good to me," answered Brock.
They walked in that direction. They had gone about a block, when they noticed a warm-colored flying figure heading in their direction.
"Hey…Do you see that?" said Misty.
Brock looked up. "Hm. If I didn't know better, I'd say that was a Charizard.
Misty squinted to see better.
"Hey!" she shouted, "It is a Charizard! Ha! This is our lucky day!"
Brock looked doubtful. "It is?"
"Shut up, Brock," Misty said off-handedly, "Maybe that Charizard belongs to Ash! Won't he be happy?"
"Uh…Since when did you care whether or not he was happy?"
Misty decided to ignore him. She waved her free arm around and shouted loudly.
"Hey! Charizard!! Over here! We're down here!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Brock.
Charizard looked down. The girl. And the boy with the invisible eyes. What did they want?
"Pikapii!!" Pikachu shouted back at them.
Charizard groaned in disgust. How could anyone be happy to see a human? They were weak, pathetic, and stupid creatures. How Charizard had let the boy, Ash, trick it into letting itself be captured as a Charmander, Charizard really didn't know.
No…That wasn't true. It knew why. The boy had said that he would take care of it. He had said that they would be friends.
He was a liar.
Charizard had only ended up being used. Battles! Ha! What were they worth? Fame? For the trainer, yes, but for the Pokémon? Nothing. Maybe it was supposed to feel grateful that it had helped the trainer achieve something grand. But that couldn't be it. Charizard never felt that way. Ash was a trickster. A cheat. A selfish, power-hungry brat of a human. Charizard would never bow down to him. It would never succumb to the human's wishes. Never.
Charizard slowly circled down to the ground. Just before it landed, it searched the skies for the other Charizard. It was nowhere to be seen. Charizard smiled. The other Charizard was afraid of humans. It didn't want them to try to capture it. Charizard understood all too well. To allow oneself to be captured by a human would be the ultimate disgrace. It would admit the human's superiority.
Charizard quickly tried to convince itself that Ash wasn't its superior. After all, if he had actually tried to battle Charizard when it was a Charmander, there was no way he would've won………Right?
Misty approached them cautiously.
"Hey! You're all right!" she said.
"Togeprrriiii!" Togepi exclaimed, feeling its mother's happiness.
Charizard looked at the pair. Disgusting. When Togepi grew older, Charizard would have to explain to it that a Pokémon having a human mother was just impossible. It was wrong.
Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur jumped off of Charizard's back.
"Piikaa!!" Pikachu said happily.
"Squirt. Squirtle," Squirtle said, relieved to be back on the ground.
"Bul, ba!" Bulbasaur said, completely agreeing with Squirtle.
Misty grinned. "Ash is really worried about you guys. You'd better go see him right away."
Charizard looked at her, trying to pull the real meaning out of her words. It was impossible, right? A human couldn't be worried about a Pokémon……At least…
There was no way……Ash could be worried about…Charizard?
Charizard's Story
Chapter 24
Ash sat up when he heard the click of the doorknob turning. They hadn't been gone very long, though it seemed like forever. Misty's face appeared behind the opening door.
"Hey Ash," she said, "guess what we found…"
"Pikachu!?" he said, jumping up.
"PIIKAA!!!" Pikachu cried, dashing out from behind Misty and into Ash's open arms.
Ash squeezed it tight.
"You okay, Pikachu?" he asked.
"Piika. Pikachu?"
"Ha! Yeah, I'm fine."
The rest of the gang came in, with Charizard last.
"Squuirrtle!" yelled Squirtle, starting a group hug.
"Bullba!" exclaimed Bulbasaur, it joined in too.
Ash kneeled down and returned them the favor.
"Hi guys. I'm glad you're alright," he said.
"Squirtle, squirt," said Squirtle.
"Bulbasaur."
Ash laughed.
Charizard stared in amazement. There was no way……No way…
It turned and scoffed. Why had it come back? Why had it had any doubt? Ash wasn't its trainer. He never had, and never would be.
"Charizard?" Ash asked quietly. He had just noticed the large fire lizard.
"Pi…"
Ash stood up.
"…You came back."
Charizard slowly turned its head. It looked Ash over carefully.
He wasn't much of a human. Shrimpy little thing, really. Not worthy of any spectacular title.
He was staring right back at Charizard. Why was he doing that? He was making it nervous.
Charizard shifted uneasily.
Ash cautiously took a step forward.
Charizard glanced up. What was he doing? Trying to approach? What for? He couldn't possibly hurt it.
"Arrr…" Charizard growled in a low tone.
"Careful, Ash," warned Misty.
"I know what I'm doing," Ash replied, "It's my Pokémon, after all…And we're friends."
What was he talking about? Friends? That wasn't true. Not anymore. Maybe Charizard had let itself be deceived while it was a Charmander, but it wasn't going to be fooled anymore. It knew better now. It was older…wiser…It knew better…
Ash took a few more steps.
"Charizard?" he asked again.
Charizard let two streams of smoke escape its nostrils. If this human couldn't read the warning signs, he was going to deserve the consequences.
Ash looked at Misty and Brock.
"You think we could have a private moment, here?" he asked.
Misty was shocked. "Are you sure that's a good idea!? Charizard isn't the friendliest Pokémon…You could get hurt!"
"I'll be fine," Ash said dismissively, "Well?"
"……We'll be in the other room. If anything happens, yell, and we'll be right over. Got it?" said Brock.
"That won't be necessary, but okay."
"You sound pretty confident…Good luck…" said Misty. She and Brock went into the other room.