(edited.2020.04.01)
Locked Away, Chapter 20
Ash and Misty started out of town before nightfall.
"Shouldn't you be going back to the gym?" Ash asked, eying Misty from his diagonal position away from her. He saw her shoulders slump slightly under the weight of her recently purchased backpack—compliments of the gift shop in the Pokemon Center—and her gaze shifted from watching his back, to the ground.
The easy answer was yes, she should have gone back to the gym hours ago; taken the first train to Cerulean City and called it a day, but something compelled her to follow Ash further. Most likely his heroism and ignorance—and most importantly, his plan on facing a rampaging Charizard that had become well known around the Kanto region as nearly untouchable. Not even league masters could thwart the raging pokemon.
Ash was crazy if he thought that this charizard was his.
Misty let out a long, exaggerated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose: "I will once I know you're not dead.."
Why couldn't he just come back to the gym with her like a normal person? She whined inwardly. Normal wasn't in Ash's vocabulary.
"Jeeze," he rolled his eyes mockingly, "You worry too much. I'll be fine." He grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. At the pokemon center in Pewter City, Ash used a bit of his allowance to not only heal togepi, but to purchase pokeballs for his adventure. He also grabbed some potions in case of an emergency. If he was going to hunt down charizard, he was going to need the ability to capture it.
"How do we know that this is even your charizard anyways? Didn't you say that it was stuck in a rainstorm as a charmander? Wouldn't its tail have gone out? How do we even know that's what really happened?" Misty glowered as she asked her questions, adjusting the straps of her bag.
Misty still had on a pair of his baggy jeans and a black shirt that she had changed into once the other set was soaked again. The rain departed hours ago leaving behind small trickles of sunlight that poured through the thick clouds. In the distance, they saw the roaring storm clouds growing with a vengeance, but the duo decided that they should leave town before the rain pelted down once more. Misty offered a side glare at Ash. Actually, Ash decided they should leave; Misty wanted to go back to the gym.
"I don't know—but what's the harm in checking? Besides, charmander was a fighter, there's no reason he wouldn't be in this world, too, right?" Ash asked, back turned away from her as he marched on ahead through the damp forest. Misty let out a strangled noise at the back of her throat, and followed him.
"We don't even know if he will remember anything, Ash!" Misty whined beside him. If she ever found the person that put that damn newspaper clipping under the door, she was going to throttle them.
It was true, charizard, if it was Ash's, wasn't even guaranteed to remember him. Just because pikachu knew about Ash's past, didn't meant that the fire pokemon would. Ash stiffened at the suggestion, and his pace quickened. Misty's frown only deepened. What worried Misty the most though was remembering Ash's battle with Brock; not how the battle went, but how Ash fainted. He got lucky—but not even his luck could help the level gap between the pokemon. Togepi was still healing and wouldn't be one-hundred percent for a few days, its shell was still cracked and pikachu wasn't even healed at the pokemon center. Ash wrapped pikachu's wounds, but it was sleeping in his bag for preparation of the next battle. Ash carried togepi, who seemed to stare forward into the forest without complaint.
"What if it's not the same one? Then we'll have a crazy charizard on our hands—and have you seen a crazy charizard?" Misty leered at Ash, scrunching her nose as he sighed, frustrated finally.
"If you don't want to come, Misty, then go back to the gym; but I have to do this! Brock was a bust-" Ash paused, stopping his wavering voice with a swallow to keep his emotions at bay; "But if my other pokemon remember anything, I need to find out." he added solemnly, and Misty let her head hang. His face was hidden by the shadows of his hat, coupled with the fact he was turned away from her, she couldn't see the pained expression underlying his features.
"Toge-brrii" it purred happily in his arms in an attempt to cheer him up, but he sighed in return. Ash did not want Misty to see him upset. He spent too many months whining over his problems—he had to take action now; he had a goal. If Brock couldn't remember, then his pokemon had to. Pikachu did, after all.
Maybe Brock was a fluke. Maybe people were not affected the same way pokemon were. Hadn't he read that pokemon were more spiritual creatures, that they created a bond with their trainers?—maybe Ash's, if he was lucky, held bonds that defied the natural order of this world. Perhaps... he wasn't as alone as he thought.
Defeated, Misty let out a sigh that drew his attention back to her; "Fine." she muttered, finally matching his pace by picking up her dragging feet, and looking forward confidently. "But if it comes to battling—you let me take care of it." She grimaced, and Ash's eyebrows raised at the suggestion.
"You would battle charizard?" Ash asked skeptically and Misty, scowling, nodded her head.
"Togepi is not taking part of a battle with a damn near-crazed dragon," She pointed at him accusingly, eliciting an evil glare to demonstrate her ideas, and then bit the inside of her cheek.
"Toge-piii" It chirped happily in Ash's arms, reflecting her ideas with relief, Ash pouted.
"And while piakchu might be affective—he's out of shape and you passed out the last time he used a thunder attack. I don't think I need to tell you how devastating that would be in a non-formal battle, do I?" She asked with an appropriate grimace that he could only nod in response.
Ash's face fell as he sighed. That was the other thing—he passed out when pikachu used electrical attacks. Would that be a normal occurrence? Ash honestly believed it was a one-time thing—seeing that golden bird with the rainbows again. Maybe it was the weight of the memory that made him collapse, not pikachu. He might have even gotten a little too excited, as Brock suggested—it was his first match, after all. Ash grinned nervously at the situation he was plunging headfirst into now; his second match would be with a charizard that had terrorized route twenty-four the last four years.
Misty might have been right to call him a little crazy.
XOX
Brock tapped his fingers against his desk, reclining back in his desk chair with his feet kicked up onto one portion of the desk. His expression was thoughtful—peaceful, but his fingers tapped frustrating against the hard wooden desk.
Ash Ketchum: there wasn't a lot of news about him. The raven-haired boy was born in Pallet Town. His mother was Delia Ketchum, and he had no recorded siblings or known father that could be found with an internet search. Most of his stories consisted of the tragedy that befell his tenth birthday; a young boy caught up in a thunderstorm was electrocuted by his starter pokemon's electrical attack. He was carried to the Viridian City hospital by Misty Waterflower, the youngest sister of the Cerulean City Gym leaders, and was placed into a comatose state for ten years. Sending out a reminder to professors everywhere why ten year old's should not be given an electrical type pokemon as their starter pokemon.
Ash had only woken up recently, three days after his birthday: the Viridian City news called it a "miracle" but never sought to publish the headline outside of local papers—in other words, Ash's story never reached outside of Viridian City, and Brock was curious as to why.
When his father, Flint Harrison, passed away five years ago, the shot was heard around the whole region. Thousands of people mourned the former Pewter City gym leader, and the eleven children he left behind. An incurable illness overtook the father, something no doctor, no matter how far Brock searched could cure. Brock simply thought something as crazy as someone waking up from a ten-year coma with no immediate physical or mental illness would be groundbreaking science...
Brock licked his teeth beneath his lips, his face falling flat as he slid his feet off of the desk and onto the floor. Surprisingly, Flint shared the room right beside Ash's for years without Brock ever realizing it. Now that the current Pewter gym leader thought about it—he had seen the young red-head visit the hospital every once in a while—but back then, he hardly recognized her. Outside of the still-tomboyish clothes he last saw her in; she changed too much. As a child, she was scrawny, masculine, and a little boy-ish, as a woman; she was—well, Brock shook his head free of the distracting thoughts. Misty was still Misty. Something was off about this whole situation, and not just the crazy dreamland Ash had created- maybe Misty knew that?
Brock turned back to his laptop, rubbing his index finger over the top of his lips, and then clicked open a minimized screen that had a portrait of Misty and her battling marks as the gym leader. Not only were her battling statistics superb, but her test scores for elite-brain were phenomenal; the highest-rated of known-water pokemon applicants.
Brock scoffed, knowing about Misty's inquiry into the Elite-four and given the track she had been on, her involvement with Ash was even more curious. Was she doing it for public attention, or did she genuinely care about him? Brock frowned at the first thought. While he wasn't close with the youngest Waterflower, he knew enough about her to know that she wouldn't use a recovery story for public gain; she had no reason to. Her battle record spoke for itself—she was ranked at the top of Kanto with Sabrina for leading gyms the last four years, and her technique has been compared to Lorelei. At the rate she was going, Elite-Four was entirely in her grasp... Had it not been for the set back caused by Giovanni, she might have already obtained the title. All gym leaders were now under constant scrutiny, only made worse by the public distrust.
A long time ago, Brock thought ruthlessly, gym leaders were revered in their chosen towns; but since some gym leaders were shown to be working alongside Giovanni, such as Erica and Surge; people simply did not trust them any longer. While most gyms were able to cite 'blackmail' as their reason for following Giovanni, Brock knew better. His father was 'blackmailed' in the early portion of Team Rocket's scheme and Brock had been powerless to stop them. He gripped the fabric over his knee and let out a loud exhale. It was stupid, Brock knew, but a part of him—a large part of him, wanted to believe what Misty had told him about Ash.
Since his father's passing Brock was left at the gym, forced to support his siblings; who were all out on their own journeys now; living their own lives while he stayed at home, thwarting his dreams.
He leaned back once more, tapping his fingers on his desk frustratingly again; Ash said that Brock was more than a gym leader in his dreams—so much that he bluntly asked why Brock was still the gym leader. Brock gritted his teeth; he was still the gym leader because of his siblings and because it was home now. Besides, he was stuck here until he could someday find a replacement—a trustworthy replacement.
Yet, the only reason Brock could deduce that Misty Waterflower, the hardworking gym leader, would ever sacrifice such a well-earned title would be because some part of her must-have believed in Ash Ketchum. Brock remembered the incident following Ash passing out; when Misty described the truth behind their visit—she was so earnest; so honest with her explanation. Despite how crazy it sounded. How long Ash spent in therapy, only to find out that Pikachu remembered everything from his dreams as if he had been apart of them.
Brock understood Ash's reasoning for coming to him. He did.
But something more than that bothered him. Why was Brock selected to be apart of Ash's dream world? Misty was a given, she rescued him—but what did Brock do? He spent a lot of time at the hospital, but he never made any contact with the raven-haired boy; Brock was too busy looking after his father during that time...so why him?
Scratching his face, Brock shook his head playfully and smacked his lips in humorous disbelief.
"I can't believe I actually believe this kid." Brock grimaced to himself standing up to fetch his phone in order to call the Cerulean City Gym. After all, what could asking a few questions hurt? Like if his father was alive, what he did in those dreams—if they were related to breeding, or making pokemon food. Ash's intentions seemed legit, and if they weren't; Brock had no problem dishing out his own justice.
Maybe he had been too quick to toss them out; if he was lucky—they would still be in town.
XOX
Brock's call to Cerulean City fell onto empty ears; even though he left a message with Daisy, Misty's phone was dead from the moment she left the pokemon center to visit Brock the first time; in her three days traveling with Ash, that hadn't changed.
"We should have stopped in Cerulean City for supplies, Ash." Misty grunted, standing at the edge of the path that led through the forest connecting route four and twenty-four.
"I said if you wanted to go, you could—but we're too close to go back now." Ash spoke to her smoothly with togepi on his right shoulder, and pikachu following beside him. Misty sighed from the front of the group—unaccustomed to traveling for so long; she missed her bed and her shower.
Touching her dirty hair which she had tied into a ponytail days ago, she sighed to herself. She really missed her shower.
"You keep saying that, but you're not getting rid of me that easily." She grumbled in return, stomping to catch up with him.
Naturally, he smiled at her and adjusted his hat as he watched her carefully walk over rocks in the road and keep a determined eye forward. Her face was dirty, but so was his. She had tugged up the sleeves of his shirt that she borrowed, and rolled his baggy pants up to the ends of her knees. She was dressed comfortably, but most importantly, she was dressed for travel. As she stated previously, her skin-tight pants and tank top were not hiking clothes; and she would likely rip a hole in them even if she did wear them—so, she reluctantly stayed in Ash's clothes during the rest of the journey. Thankful for the millionth time that Misty was more than a girly-girl, he looked forward with a grateful sigh.
"I think it's just an excuse to keep wearing my clothes." he poked with his lips pursed playfully.
"Your clothes?" She spat, clearly embarrassed. "I bought them for you."
"Is that what all employers tell their employees?" He wagered with a deep chuckle that had Misty throwing her arms up and storming off ahead of him and down the hill before them.
Winter had not been kind to the forest. It was warm today, the rainstorms did not seize for the first two days. Most of Ash and Misty's walking were done under the shade of hibernating trees, and the bare branches provided little protection from the rain. Misty had brought an umbrella from Pewter city, and a set of ponchos to protect their clothes; so aside from the cold, they were at least dry. Due to the terrible weather, they spent the majority of the first two days of travel in determined silence; concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other until nightfall, and then making camp, and sleeping until sunrise. Because of the rain, fires were useless, so they survived on body heat when sharing their tent. Since Misty purchased a new sleeping back in Pewter City before leaving, they were no longer in fear of freezing, but as the December winds whipped through the thin fabric of the tent, they wouldn't deny huddling closer together; even though both of their backs were turned, and if asked, each would deny it. Togepi especially enjoyed the closeness of the trainers, often time sharing the spot where their backs would touch with pikachu.
It was awkward, and far from comfortable, but when exhaustion kicked in, anything was okay. Not even Misty, who flinched lately whenever Ash accidentally bumped her cared when the sun was down after a long walk—she only cared about sleep; and Ash couldn't argue with her. Watching her struggle forward, Ash smiled to himself and flicked a stray droplet of water that fell from the branches overhead from his shoulder.
Beside him, pikachu struggled through the worst of the road—but it had a newfound determination to find charizard, the same as Ash. Since the start of their journey, his cheeks had flashed uneasy sparks because of the thunderstorm—until today because they had a comfortable break in the weather much like the first day when they set out. The mouse was content, but also tired. Its old bones were worked numb, and his paws were sore and hot to the touch—but he refused to be held. Training, he had told Ash the first night. After its defeat by Brock, pikachu had taken another demeanor entirely, both refusing to use electrical attacks, even though Ash had asked the pokemon to on several occasions, and by working harder to exercise. Ash didn't even have to fight with pikachu about eating snack food... and that scared him.
On his shoulder, finally capable of balancing itself, togepi chirped happily at the lack of rain—it got stuck under the poncho during the rainstorm, and while Misty smelled wonderful on most occasions; Ash was starting to reek. In the rainstorms, the egg pokemon preferred Misty, but it was impossible for the young woman to carry the egg for ten hours straight—so she and Ash took turns. Togepi's stamina had definitely increased over the last few days, having to hold its breath around Ash.
Togepi wasn't the only one to notice the smell; and while it did not bother Ash, Misty wasn't as shy to mention it. Misty held her nose as she waved at Ash jokingly.
"We could have had showers."
"Pfft." Ash scoffed as if he had heard her complain about this before. "Do you complain about everything? It's not like I can help it."
"Well, you could have helped it if you didn't forget to pack your bath set—how could you forget that? Deodorant is essential." She laughed, and Ash fought the urge to roll his eyes—he knew she was trying to make small talk to pass the time, but did it have to be about this?
"I don't know. Probably because it wasn't an issue when I was a kid, and it's only a thing now." He stated painfully, pinching the bridge of his nose as Misty laughed awkwardly. It wasn't a horrible smell; most of his scent was covered by the earthen trail, and he tried his best to wash—but he had been walking for nearly three days straight; he didn't understand how Misty still smelled. What was weirder was how he noticed.
"So you didn't bath as a child?" She asked while walking over a particularly large rock; Ash puffed out his cheeks.
Pikachu snorted below him. "Pika." it said sarcastically as if agreeing with Misty, and Ash's face turned red.
"I did so, and I was not smelly when you first met me! I had just woken up!" Ash argued to pikachu before turning to look at a grinning Misty.
"You get flustered so easily." She teased.
"Well, fine. You can spray me with your girly spray-thing if it bothers you so much."
"Girly-spray? What makes you think I have perfume?" Misty asked as pikachu waltz beside her.
"How else do you not smell?" He asked bluntly, and her face drained of color first, but then was quickly replaced by a red hue.
"Why are you smelling me?" She hissed, turning away from him and covering her face.
"How can I not? I'm with you all day." At his response, her eyes turned nearly-demonic, taking his words negatively.
"Are you implying I smell bad?" She hissed, and Ash, confused at her low glower took a step away from her for safety—noticing that as she had gotten closer to him. She was no longer afraid of playing taps, and she hit a lot harder than she looked.
"No, the opposite, I swear."
She let out a mix of a gasp and sigh and shook her head with red cheeks. Ash didn't notice, but was a little embarrassed by his words.
"Piiiiikaaa-" The rodent grinned while togepi made a noise relevant to a kissing sound, and Ash spun around to silence pikachu by playfully knocking him over.
"Don't even suggest such a thing!"
Dumbfounded, Misty's arms fell to her sides and she inhaled and asked pointedly: "Don't you think that's weird?"
"What's weird?" flustered, he questioned her.
"How you can understand togepi and pikachu?" Misty said seriously, crossing her arms in thought.
Awkwardly, Ash raised his eyebrows: "...You can't?"
"Not even a little—I understand my pokemon from having trained with them for so long—but understanding body language and actually speaking with them... those are two different things," Misty observed rapping her fingers on her forearm. Ash blinked once, and then twice, and then his shoulders drooped—togepi slipped off as a result. The trainers around him in the pokemon center assumed the same thought.
"I guess I never realized. I assumed you could talk to yours, too."
"I can talk to them, sure. But I can't understand them." Misty confirmed, causing Ash's face to grow red.
"ka-chu, pika." The small yellow mouse said while pulling on Ash's jeans. Togepi rolled in the grassy plain of the field they had stumbled into, and Ash had only now glanced at his surroundings. They found an opening in the forest, where the grass was a yellow-green that rose to Ash's knees in length. Misty stared at him with expectant eyes—she wanted an answer on how he understood pikachu but Ash looked down at his longtime companion, and then at togepi who watched him with big eyes and then finally back at Misty.
"...I...I guess I don't know." He said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. "I never realized it was strange in this world." He added and Misty's shoulders dropped respectfully.
"Ah, well. I guess it doesn't matter then." She said flatly as she tugged off her pack.
"That's it?" He asked, blinking worriedly. He was surprised at her acceptance to drop the issue so quickly.
No that's not it! she thought fitfully but forced herself to smile. She had a million questions but her own brain could only handle so many strange feats at a time. She rolled her her shoulders and motioned to the dry ground beneath them which had a couple of rocks to sit on
"That's it." She nodded, screaming internally. "But we should break for lunch."
"Togepiii!" The egg yelped from the ground, shouting for Misty to hold him and then rushed forward the moment that Misty sat down on a larger rock. He hopped directly into her lap. With a soft smile, she petted the pokemon's head while Ash took a seat beside her on a rock closer to the ground, where he stretched out his legs and she unpacked their scarce rations and divided them.
"...Could you understand my pokemon?" Misty asked suddenly, unable to look at Ash.
Ah-ha. So that wasn't it. Ash grinned: "You know... I'm not sure I got close enough or paid enough attention to notice." he paused, "It's only been really noticeable since reuniting with Pikachu."
After a short moment of silence, Misty framed her lips with an 'o' and nodded to his explanation. The wind whipped around their heads and Ash glanced embarrassingly at the forest path they walked from. Apparently, Misty was done asking questions, so Ash pursed his lips instead.
"I don't really smell, do I?"
At this, Misty snorted. She saw the faint blush crawl over his cheeks and grinned.
"You smell like the forest Ash, but don't worry about it; I hardly notice." Misty said, speaking mostly truths while Ash looked at her admirably, taking a mental note to wash a little bit more the next chance that he got.
XOX's
After their short lunch, Misty packed up the remaining food. There wasn't a lot, but it would last until they found charizard—route twenty-four was close enough to Cerulean, that she was sure she could talk Ash into returning for a few days once this was all said and done. He plucked at a string on his gloves and gave a soft sigh as he tucked his water bottle back into his pack, preparing to start the trudge once more.
"This feels a lot like my dream, you know?" Ash said with a soft smile. Misty watched him curiously; since the first few days were spent with horrifying weather, she hadn't heard him speak about his dreams much—or really at all, and so she smiled at his words.
"How so?" She questioned while rubbing her fingers soothingly over togepi's shell.
"Well, maybe not exactly like this; no one smelled in my dreams...but landscapes themselves seemed to lack a scent, too, so that's something... but... traveling with you again. It's familiar, It's.." he choked on his words, nice.
Unable to finish his statement, suddenly feeling very hot under the collar he was thankful when Misty's chuckle sated his embarrassment.
"It's nice." She reflected his sentiments and he relaxed beside her. "I haven't traveled since before I took over at the gym five years ago; it's a lot harder than I remember it being but..." She smiled earnestly at him. "It's very rewarding, don't you think?"
"It'll be more rewarding if charizard is mine." As he spoke bashfully, his eyes fell on pikachu who looked up at him with equally as hopeful eyes as the typically snark pokemon burrowed his head into the crook of Ash's arm.
Misty's smile faltered and she looked off to the side, her fingers intertwining around togepi as she set the pokemon down onto the ground. They rose simultaneously.
"So, I was thinking..." Misty murmured, glancing down thoughtfully.
"Oh no." Ash joked breaking the serious atmosphere, looking back at her through tangled, unkempt hat-hair.
Misty puffed up her cheeks and glared at him, having lost her nerve; "What about the rest of your companions? Do you think they would remember you?"
"Well..." Ash said automatically. "You've met Dawn, haven't you?"
"That's right," Misty confirmed, nodding her confusion.
"And she never mentioned me? Never visited me?" He asked Misty, eyebrows raised. Misty looked up at him, meeting his brown eyes and she sighed. She had been worried he hadn't thought about this at all, but the resignation in his eyes told a different story.
"No, she didn't," Misty said glumly and Ash scoffed while watching the trail break off into a field.
"Then I don't think anyone else will—I mean, if anyone remembered, they would have visited me, right? At the very least said something to me. Pikachu tried, but had no way of getting to the hospital—right?" Pikachu nodded at the inadvertent question while Ash continued. "So I think if Brock doesn't remember, then..." no one else does, either. Ash stammered off, unable to say the words himself as he pat his hands on his blue jeans. Misty nodded her condolences and gave a short sigh.
"Then shouldn't the same principle apply to your pokemon?" She asked skeptically, watching his face for answers. His shoulders dipped.
"I thought about that, but how would my pokemon know where I was? Humans have this internet that they can use, but if my pokemon remained in the wild—then I doubt they could have known anything about me in this world. If they do remember, they might not even know that I am real, especially because they never met me before."
Misty blinked surprisingly at his thoughts, and then smiled earnestly before nudging him gently on the shoulder. "You put some thought into this." She said happily, though Ash didn't reply with her same glee.
"It's all I can think about," Ash confessed tiredly, glancing down at pikachu whose ears flattened, but togepi, who had been jarred by Misty's playful punch, patted Ash on the back of the head with its small arm. The crack in its shell healed thanks to the gel they were given by the pokemon center, but it was still weak.
Misty's own glee dwindled at Ash's comment, and she looked away shyly. Unlike Misty, Ash didn't have a lot in this world; he had no pokemom license, and thanks to her phone dying, no way of knowing when Gary could get him one. He had no family—where his mother's whereabouts plagued him endlessly before, now that he knew, it was nothing more than a kick in the head. Pikachu was the one highlight that he had—and on a good day, his younger brother Cole—but everything else was...
"Have you thought about what you're going to do after all of this? If charizard doesn't remember?" She asked quickly, asking her original question.
The breeze of the wind caught Misty's hair just enough that strands danced in the front of her face, and Ash's light jacket blew open. He watched her sea-green orbs with a distant look in his chocolate eyes; both confused, and pleading. He thought a lot about where he would go if this was a dead-end—and truthfully; he wasn't sure. Part of him wanted to return to Viridian City, to live close enough to his mother that he could work out the kinks in their relationship and visit with Cole more. A piece of him wanted to return to Pallet Town—but he knew that would never be home again, but at least Gary was there.
...And an even larger part wanted to go back to Cerulean City gym, where he spent the most normal days since he woke up. No worries, with a full-time job, and the ability to train pokemon peacefully without ever missing the chance to watch a battle. Daisy, Lily, and Violet were there, too, who he had grown attached to like his own family—but he couldn't find it in him to ask Misty to open up the gym to him again. Perhaps, his own pride prevented him from doing so, but he knew that his options were limited. Not many people would hire a ten-year coma patient. He had no experience, hell, he only had limited mental experience; he still struggling with childish thoughts on a daily basis. Combine that with the age-appropriate thoughts plaguing the back of his mind, he was a real winner.
Catching his train of thought, Misty scrunched up her nose and pressed her hand forward to touch his shoulder to bring his drifting gaze towards her own.
"Ash, you know you always have a home in Cerulean City..." Misty mused sweety and as he looked up at her, the moment was robbed from him because his eyes widened like saucers.
Seconds later, she was flat on the ground with him hovering above her.
"What the he-" Before she finished her complaint, fire engulfed the area above them and she gasped, terrified.
Blazing hot, bright flames projected above them, scorching Ash's flowing jacket as he ducked just in time to avoid the blast. Beneath him, Misty grunted, her limbs tangling around his as a deafening roar echoed from the direction of the fire as it enveloped the damp grass of the field, igniting the dry parts. Above him, the sound of flapping wings soared, causing a gust of wind to push at him on the ground, begging him to run.
"Move!" he urged Misty, pulling her up by her upper arms. Now that he had a grasp of the situation, he cursed at himself for not noticing before—many of the hibernating trees were scorched in this area. Glancing at Misty's red face, he saw her acknowledge the same facts as she pushed him into a roll, tucking togepi between them as the red-orange pokemon swooped over them once again. They rolled away from the fiery blast with a role—and the red pokemon above them gave no indication of letting up.
"Pikach—Fuck!" Ash groaned as Misty clawed her fingers into his collar and rolled him a few feet away from another attempt at grabbing them from the pokemon above. Misty didn't have time to comment on his careful choice of words—Ash rarely swore, and when he did—it was never...
Again, Ash rolled a few feet with her and togepi, the later of which grunted painfully as its cracked shell reopened at the jarring movements. They needed to do something fast. Finally, Misty thrusted togepi into Ash's arms, and she jumped to her feet. He followed.
Ash couldn't see pikachu in this mess, fire mixed with smoke, and he was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe. AFter Misty rolled off of Ash, she ignored her aching body and the fact that she was covered in mud again; instead, she wrapped her fingers around the pokeball on her belt and exhaled. Ash looked upward, he saw charizard, a pissed off charizard circling above them, blasting terrifying roars. Its tail flame was huge like the pokemon itself. It stood at least seven feet, with large, teal and red wings stretched out in every direction; its lower body was heavy but muscular, and Ash saw the faint glimmer of hardened scales along the pokemon's body. Ash couldn't see its ferocious eyes in the distance, but he knew the snarl of its wide mouth which carried equally as sharp teeth.
"Holy shit." Ash breathed, the first time seeing a real-world charizard and Misty sprang forward.
"Don't tell me charizards were bunnies in your dreamland." She hissed, mocking his surprise as she plucked the button on her pokeball for it to grow and Ash swallowed.
No, he wanted to say, but found that as charizard turned and launched himself towards the duo, all Ash could do was jump out of the way with togepi tucked beneath his arm like a football. Separated from Misty, his mouth fell agape at the blast of intense fire between them.
"Mist! Are you okay!?" Ash yelled worriedly, his question echoed by togepi.
At first, silence answered him back, but shortly after he was enveloped by a bright light, and an even taller monster stood in front of him with a mouth half as tall has charizard, with sharp, white teeth pointing at each corner of his wide mouth. Terrifying purple eyes rested behind blue scales at the top of a snarling snout. Its long, blue snake-scaled body towered over charizard in almost all sizes. Ash almost fell backward even after spending a month with Misty, he had never seen gyarados used in a battle.
...and the dragon-looking serpent left him trembling and speechless.
In the distance, he heard Misty call confidently out to the large pokemon, giving a command he didn't quite hear as the intense roar shared between the two pokemon deafened him. He clung to togepi as he landed on his rear-end. His ears rang at the pitch of gyarados' roar, and he closed his eyes long enough that when Misty gripped his shoulder to pull him up; he thought that he was a goner.
"Misty!" He called to her, watching as she fanned his lower shirt clear of flames he had clearly not noticed.
"Don't zone out!" Misty called to him, and then spun back to look at gyarados, who had taken his master's run as a leap to follow his own instincts. The large pokemon shrieked at charizard challenging the raging beast to a battle that it so gladly accepted. Misty watched the fire burn in the back of charizards throat as it faced gyarados, she exhaled.
"If you think that's your charizard, you better figure out a way to calm it down." She hissed, unable to take her eyes off the challenging pokemon, and then clenched her fists before shouting at gyarados. She had no idea charizard would have stumbled upon them like this.
"Counter it with hydro pump!" she called to her mighty pokemon, its own attack was let off moments after charizard's own fiery blast, matching the eruption of flames with a waterfall of liquid that ended in a bath of steam filling the area.
Ash swore as Misty threw him back to avoid the burning steam. They both landed on the ground with a thump but since gyarados was battling, Misty jumped back to her feet. The smell of burning grass filled Ash's senses and he looked up, eyes burning from the smoke, to get a better view of the situation—possibly find pikachu in the mess.
Ash's mind raced, he never recalled battles being so intense—the steam literally reached them and burned them. He felt the heat of the attack and winced at the pressure of the battle as charizard broke away from his attack in time to charge the unsuspecting pokemon which still used its hydro pump. Believing that it had successfully overcame charizards powerful blaze—Misty, with the wind knocked out of her flinched when charizard side tackle gyarados with such force, it flew directly at Ash and Misty.
Moving before speaking, both trainers ran sideways to avoid being smashed by the large dragon; just as Misty whipped her head back around to see charizard coming back down for another attack.
"Gyarados, use aqua tail!" Misty hollered, still being pulled away by Ash who didn't let go of her arm even after they stopped moving. Sweat trickled down his neck—the same adrenaline rush he had during his battle with Brock sending vibrations through his entire body; only on a whole different level. The ground shook.
As soon as Misty sounded off the attack, Gyarados sprung back to life with lightning-like reflexes, his head whipped around as charizard barreled forward blindly, and then spun 180 degrees until its tail swatted the fire pokemon out of the sky with such a speed and ferocity that Ash was left inarticulate once again. Charizard was thrown into a tree, which snapped the entire trunk in half under the pressure.
Eyes wide, he wanted to make a comment—but had no real reason to; he shouldn't have been surprised that gyarados created such a force with its attack. It towered above charizard in size, roaring triumphantly before the battle was over; but Misty was able to rope Ash back into reality again.
"Ash?" She asked, or demanded, he couldn't tell; her eyes never left the battle, shifting around the field to look for where and when charizard would attack again. Her comment wasn't to check on Ash, but to remind him of his cue to speak to charizard.
"Charizard!" Ash yelled, cupping his mouth with one hand, as the other clutched a trembling togepi. "Pikachu and I came back for you!" He screamed desperately, even though he sounded silly because this charizard was indeed crazy; enraged beyond reason—could it really be his?
Behind him, he heard a squeak, and Ash spun to see pikachu trailing in the grass towards him; its tail had been scorched by charizard and Ash's lips flattened upon seeing his old friend with such an injury. His response from charizard was a deafening growl as he shot out of the trees and back into the sky above; flames pouring out of his mouth.
"I don't think it recognizes you." Misty hissed, swearing at herself for being put into this situation. "Try again!" She commanded with a powerful voice that made Ash look at her with a strange kind of admiration, but only briefly. Misty raised her hand and pointed at charizard.
"One more time, hydro pump!" Misty called to her pokemon, which reacted by immediately acting on the command. Concentrating on charizard above gyarados let out a violent torpedo of water, its body trembling from the force behind the blast. Ash tried again.
"Charizard; its me! Ash Ketchum!" He called hopelessly, feeling the intense aura from the pokemon flying dangerously above them—and upon dodging the hydro pump, it set its eyes on Ash with a demonic glare. Misty's face paled, and she grabbed Ash in preparation to pull him out of the way, but he pushed away from her.
"You were a small charmander lost out here, and I saved you-Do you remember me?!" Ash screamed loudly as the red dragon spiraled out of the sky, directly for Ash. For a split moment, their eyes connected, and Ash's heart skipped looking into the familiar eyes. Misty threw up her arms.
"Gyarados, stop Charizard!"
"Wait Misty, stop! Don't do it!" Ash yelled, looking hopefully at charizard, but it was too late.
"It'll kill you!" She argued back, though Ash was doubtful that charizard would, and ran forward with said belief.
Misty screamed at him. Blinded by hope, he connected with charizard right as the pokemon outstretched its arms to grab him, and Misty threw up her hand to cancel gyarados' attack before it struck Ash as well.
"Ash, stop!" She screamed, but the dragon already enveloped Ash and she covered her eyes, expecting the worst-case scenario. Rather than crushing Ash in a single moment, charizard whipped into the air, preparing to launch Ash in a toss. Ash inhaled; great job, nothing like breaking every bone in his body to wake him up!
"Charizard! You were left on a rock by a trainer! You know me! You know her! I found you, we brought you back-" He screamed, though his voice was strained and his eyesight was blurry from the circling of the attack. His hearing might have betrayed him, but he thought he heard a loud, pained growl from charizard as it spun aggressively. From the ground, Pikachu popped itself onto Misty's shoulder with its cheeks alert with lightning and togepi, who had been placed on the ground prior to Ash's poor decision yelled in an attempt to calm charizard.
Time moved in slow motion for Misty as her finger twitched. Attacking charizard directly at the moment was out of the question. The large pokemon would likely crush Ash. No, her finger twitched as she moved her hand to grab for her remaining pokemon, she had to buffer his fall when he was released! Togepi knew metronome—an attack that could use gust to sweep Ash off the ground—but it wasn't reliable. She was as likely to get gust as she was explosion! For a moment, her heart pounded and she shook her head. How stupid! How freaking stupid! Running directly towards charizard! What did he think was going to happen!?
"Gyarados use bite! Try to grab onto charizard without hurting Ash!" Misty commanded.
She had to act fast, though she knew the moment that gyarados launched himself forward, charizard would release Ash and defend. As she expected, the moment the blue dragon stretched itself high enough to grab the red dragon out of the sky, the later tossed Ash downward quickly, flinching only slightly when doing so. Ash's words meant nothing to the pokemon. Misty made a strangled noise and instinctively threw out three other pokemon.
"Use water gun on Ash to break his fall!" She hissed, watching as starmie, golduck and lapris emerged from their pokeballs, doing exactly as she had commanded them.
In the meantime, charizard used the distorted balance of gyarados, who was on the end of its tail, to press another hard tackle into the pokemons underbelly, knocking it to the ground with a loud roar escaping its monstrous jaw. Had the ground been dry, dust would have stirred, but the damp surroundings allowed for the entire scene to play out in front of Misty. She watched, her attention torn between saving Ash and battling as charizard followed with a slash and a flamethrower that caused a gushing of red to cover the two dragons. A huge gash formed over gyarados' chest, made worse and bloody by the fire blast. Unable to focus on the battle; she dismissed Ash once the trio of pokemon effectively used their water guns to shoot him into the field, probably injuring him, but bruises were better than broken bones.
She waved her arm. "Gyarados, return!" She screamed the red light engulfing the bleeding pokemon; worried that charizard would go for a killing blow next, she met eye to eye with the enraged pokemon—seeing the hatred burned into his eyes. He growled and charged directly for her. However, she was not going to back down.
"Starmie use water gun!" She shouted and then raised her other hand. "Lapris, ice beam, now!" She watched as charizard effectively dodge the first torpedo of water, but was struck quickly by the ice beam and slammed back into the forest floor.
As the battle raged on—with unfair numbers, Ash rolled over; holding his sides, in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, looking up at the cloudy sky above him—the sun had disappeared behind the gray storm clouds, and he winced once more. What was he thinking? Running at charizard—did he have a death wish? He grunted, looking at himself. Misty, who had thought fast enough to save him from being a pancake still battled with charizard; who refused to go down, even though he was fighting a losing battle with his tail on the verge of going out. He still rushed at Misty with full force, but she was able to counter effectively with starmie; and if need be, she followed up her attack with another pokemon.
Ash blinked tiredly; an unfair advantage on her part—but charizard wasn't exactly an easy opponent. Actually, he glanced once more at the pokemon, watching as it got up time and again to continue the battle—he wondered how many trainers had failed to defeat the pokemon; if they wound up dead by some tree somewhere. Ash saw the blood trickling down the pokemon's body with each critical hit, and he exhaled, pulling himself to his feet as pikachu bound towards him.
"Pika! Pika chu!" The yellow mouse scolded Ash as he waved the pokemon forward. He watched charizard, the way its body lurched forward, its body growing weaker and Ash exhaled loudly.
"I know." he hissed, holding his sides, he looked at the dragon desperately trying to win in this battle, and he found it in himself to stand upright.
Earlier, before he had been thrown when Misty made the command for Gyarados to bite, Ash had muttered: "don't you remember me...?" and only very briefly did charizard hesitate, flinching enough that the toss didn't have as much power to it. Ash stood upright and directed pikachu with his finger pointing forward.
"Use thunderbolt, pikachu!" Ash screamed, alerting Misty and the mouse who argued with him, worried that Ash would faint again.
"I'll be fine!" Ash demanded while holding his stomach. "Use thunderbolt on charizard!" Ash screamed and the yellow mouse reacted with its cheeks sparking from the weather, and then ran forward. The dragon wasn't enthusiastic about this, however, and turned to look at pikachu with hollow eyes as Misty inhaled.
"Starmie, use water gun!" she yelled, watching as the pokemon tore charizard's attention from the unfit pikachu, dousing it in a thin coat of water; the dragon roared.
"Now!" Ash yelled, watching pikachu leap, and then curl its paws under his chin, and release a loud shriek, followed by the indiscreet lightning charged electrical attack that connected with charizard. Blinded, Ash covered his eyes, prepared for the onslaught of pain and dizziness that overcame his body before—but when nothing happened, he looked forward with a confident gleam in his eye.
Giving a howl of pain, the red dragon collapsed onto the ground during the attack, its entire body fell limp from the electrical attack which was amplified by the water. With a loud thump, it collapsed and Misty recalled two of her pokemon as the small mouse set forth an amazing charge.
When its cry finished, pikachu fell to the earth gracefully, landing on his four paws, and staring at charizard, which was unable to physically move its body as Ash hobbled forward to where Misty was standing, a few feet away. His heart pounded behind his ribs and he looked up to see her.
"I...Should I capture it?" Ash asked, and Misty snapped at him.
"You need your damn head examined is what you need!" She hissed, grabbing his arms and shaking him forcefully.
A pained cry came from the defeated charizard and drew Ash's attention to it. His worried eyes glanced at the pokemon as he shrugged off Misty's hands and jogged towards him.
"You can't be serious? You don't think you still know him, do you!? It just tried to kill you!" Misty shouted worriedly, but pikachu followed Ash faithfully to the pokemon's side, and collapsed onto his knees near its head.
"Charizard..." Ash muttered, outstretching his hand to touch the dragon's face. When the warmth of Ash's palm touched his scaled flesh, he winced; rage filling its eyes once more before tears pooled; watching as Ash gritted his teeth. Betrayal filled charizard's eyes.
"You waited a really long time, didn't you...?" Ash muttered pathetically, his own eyes filling with tears as pikachu found his way to the pokemon, the same spark as when Ash and pikachu met previously igniting between the two of them. Charizard groaned and closed his eyes before slumping.
Misty watched from a few feet away, mouth ajar and her limbs limp at her side.
"...You..." Misty grimaced. "I can't believe this, really?" She muttered, glancing down to togepi who seemed to smile bravely at the scene. Misty couldn't see the joy behind this because her entire body screamed at her from the battle. She had been thrashed and beaten during the match, and forced to use more than one pokemon. On top of it, gyarados had been fatally injured—she would need to leave him at the pokemon center for a few days before he would recover fully. Yet, charizard seemed to react to Ash's touch—what kind of relationship did they have?! Misty decided it would be safer if she didn't go near the pokemon.
Ash watched as charizard blinked at him, giving another, pained growl and Ash sat forward, pressing his forehead against the dragon's.
"I'm so sorry." Ash muttered, "I'm here now." If Ash had never rescued charizard that rainy day—if it truly happened like that; charmander waited on that rock for days... or months. Maybe years. The reason he's alive was a mystery, but there was no doubt in Ash's mind such a rage belonged to no other pokemon.
Ash hiccuped once, tears streaming down his face as he hugged the now-calm pokemon's neck. Both from sadness and joy—charmander was left in the forest alone, but he remembered everything. His pokemon remembered everything.
XoX
Ash was able to get charizard into a pokeball, courtesy of Misty, who lent him one of hers. His backpack had been knocked off during charizard's toss and ripped open spillling his supplies across the field. Fortunately, togepi and pikachu were more than willing to help collect the items while Ash was picked on by Misty. With the excitement over, Ash cradled his sides as Misty took out her first-aid kit.
"I can't believe you." She hissed at him for the umpteenth time that afternoon, pulling off his shirt and exposing his bare chest to the world. Charizard's new pokeball was resting in his crossed legs and he winced at the cold air hitting him. A few of the scratches on his face were already bandaged, but he was black and blue down his torso, his ribs were cracked, if not broken. Even though he couldn't see the worst of it—Misty saw very clearly where the water guns hit him; two on his back, and one on his hip. They were already purple, but she relented.
"I know..." He winced when she started wrapping a tensor bandage over his waist mercilessly, getting chills and shudders from Ash, who was no stranger to pain. Luckily, he wasn't as frail as he once was, otherwise, he might have been dead from such an impact.
"You're lucky my pokemon have self-control or they could have blasted you through a tree, you know!" She scolded, recalling the weak water guns her three pokemon used to break Ash's fall; he grinned at her.
"It's a lot better than being a pancake," he assured her, his eyes puffy from his tears earlier, but Misty was still sour about the entire situation.
"What in the world possessed you to run at an enraged charizard?" She yelped, and Ash could only sigh.
"You wouldn't understand," he said sadly, rubbing his sore hip bone.
"Try me." She half-ordered, half-challenged him as he looked over his shoulder at her working face as she concentrated on wrapping.
"I saw the look in his eye... it was pained—not angry." Ash confided, but Misty scoffed. She saw charizard's eyes, too, and she recalled hatred and anger very lovingly.
Hearing her scoff, he scowled in return; "Charizard and I, we've always had a strained relationship; he never listened to me in my dream world until...well, it took a really long time, and even then he was still very hard to control—most importantly, he was abandoned and if I never found him in this world..." Ash trailed off, but Misty had heard enough.
Sighing, she stroked her hand comfortingly across his back as pikachu pulled a near full back-pack to the duo with his teeth and crawled on top. Togepi followed the mouse and watched the two of them.
"I get it, it was horrible—but don't be so stupid next time. We could have gotten the same results by battling it." She warned him as she touched his bruise for emphasis. He flinched and shuddered at her touch.
"S-sorry." He stammered and Misty dusted her hands off.
"You should probably see a doctor..." She added, standing up slowly and handing him back his soaked shirt; he shook it begrudgingly. Recalling that Misty took his last spare clothes, he decided he would skip the shirt for now, at least until it dried—he wasn't fond of his bandages getting wet, and he was even further from prepared for the chill of the cold shirt against his flesh. Instead, he pulled out his jacket from his slightly ripped backpack, and then neatly pulled it over his shoulders, all the while Misty watched him with worried eyes.
"I'll be fine." He mumbled after a brief silence and then tied his wet shirt to his pack as he tugged it back over his shoulders-only to wince and drop it the very moment it touched his back. Misty sighed.
"Fine, huh?" She growled agitated. Scooping up his bag with her left hand, and throwing it over her left shoulder. Her frustration burned him.
"I can do it." He assured her, but Misty's determined look silenced him.
"You're reckless." She hissed as her shaking hands clenched. Ash took a step back; knowing that look in her eye—it was one he was all-too-familiar with; having only ever seen it back at the hospital once when he tried to starve himself; and countless times in his dream world.
"You're dangerous, and you don't think things through! You're irrational, brash, and you don't think about the consequences! You're not in a dream world anymore, Ash! Doing stuff like that has very serious consequences! Look at what happened to you already!" her voice pitched and she stomped her foot. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if charizard had really thrown you? He could have snapped your neck, you could have been paralyzed, or worse, you could have died! Is that what you were trying to do, do you still have a death wish!?" Her fingers wrapped around his black jacket collar, threateningly shaking him as she spoke, though her words were menacing, her voice cracked. "Do you even think before you act, Ash!? What if I missed, what if I wasn't here, what if...-"
"I'm sorry, Mist," Ash said pathetically, wincing as his bones ached each time she shook him, he reached forward to grab her shoulders to calm her down, but she refused to listen and shrugged him off.
"Sorry doesn't fix it, Ash! You need to think before you act! None of this bullshit, blowing up at people and reckless behavior! This isn't fake anymore, you're not ten, you're not a child and you're not dreaming! You can die here, Ash, we have repercussions, do you understand that?!" Misty screamed, latching onto his collar with both hands and bringing him in close; her eyebrows were furrowed, and her lips twitched but embedded into her eyes, he saw the worry twisted inside and he grimaced, opened his mouth to apologize once again, but couldn't find it in himself.
"You could have died!" She yelled once more for emphasis, scaring the stray birds in the area; her eyes watered, which only made Ash feel worse as he swallowed hard.
"I..." he muttered, glancing at his two pokemon who watched him sadly, with worried eyes—the two of them also judged his poor decision, and Ash looked back to Misty and then off to the side.
"I will try harder not to be so reckless." He assured her weakly, and Misty pushed him slightly, releasing her grasp on him as she staggered backward.
"You'll do more than try." She ordered and then snapped for togepi to jump up into her arms as she turned and walked away from Ash, shoulders high, but head drooped. Ash thought she was disappointed in him, and so he looked down and rubbed his hands. What he didn't see were the silent tears that dripped down her face and onto togepi's head when she squeezed tightly.
He could have died, Ash reiterated in his mind, and then squeezed his fists closed.
Author's Note
I know that Charizard and Gyarados -are not- type/dragon, they're type/flying; but for the sake of writing for them and the story, I stuck with describing them as dragon, because that's what they look like, to me, at least. That doesn't mean they have dragon benefits or w/e, but that does mean that's the description they fit.