Chapter 41

The hotel restaurant was still busy when Mark sat down with Maple and the Charmander-girl. As they walked in, the small girl gazed around in thoughtful, reflective wonder. The light at the end of her tail lit up the dark restaurant giving an ambiance of eating by candle-light.

The three picked a table along the right side of the entrance. Mark worried about the Charmander-girl's tail everywhere they went, but she seemed to have good control over where the flame drifted. When they sat down, she curled it around to lie up against her legs, but was also careful to keep it away from the tablecloth. Maple sat next to her, with Mark on the opposite side.

They all glanced around at the other patrons in the restaurant, always eager to see new human Pokémon and their trainers. However, like the Pokémon Center, it was almost deserted. There were just a few other tables that were full, despite the hour. Like most places they went, the human Pokémon outnumbered the normal humans.

A few minutes later, a Lopunny-girl bounced up to their table and greeted them. Their waitress was dressed in a one-piece brown dress with a cream-colored fur-lining. It may or may not have been a uniform, Mark couldn't tell. Her long, floppy ears brushed up against her shoulders and Mark was willing to bet money that she had a rabbit's tail.

"Welcome! My name's Babs, I'll be your server this evening," the girl beamed, passing out menus to the three of them, "can I get you something to drink?"

Maple blurted out a kind of soda so fast that it took Mark's brain an extra two seconds to sort out exactly what she had said. After her, Mark fumbled through ordering a water before the waitress turned to the Charmander-girl.

"And for you?" she cheeped.

The small girl blinked a few times, staring at the strange, broad smile on the girl's face. The grin began to fade slightly as the girl awaited a response.

"What do you want to drink?" Mark prompted Charmander.

"What do you mean?" she asked, dumbfounded by the restaurant process. Mark drew back in mild alarm. He had no idea how to make the question simpler. Why did she ask that? Did she not know what was happening?

"You can get whatever you want," Mark took a guess at what was bothering her.

"Oh…" still confused, the Charmander-girl didn't respond for another few seconds. The expression on the Lopunny-girl's face slowly transitioned from bubbly cheerfulness to something more akin to cautious confusion. "I usually drink water," Charmander finally answered.

"Okay!" the waitress chirruped and turned to leave, "I'll be right back with your drinks."

With the departure of the waitress, Mark opened his menu and began to look through it. He wasn't surprised that Maple didn't. For her, it was almost a moot decision. The restaurant had a very small selection of vegetarian meals and a garden salad was the most diverse item she could order.

However, after flipping back and forth between a few pages, Mark noticed that the Charmander-girl still hadn't opened hers. She was staring blankly at Mark and Maple. After a moment, Mark realized his ignorance. The girl had never done this before. If she had spent her entire life in a Team Deus prison, being able to pick what she wanted to eat would be a strange experience. Hell, just being outside must feel strange.

"You can order whatever you want here," Mark explained, "I'll pay for it. So, just order something that sounds good."

The girl blinked a few times at him, then opened the menu. She flipped through it, screwing up her face in puzzlement as she did so.

"What's this?" she turned the menu around and showed it to Mark, pointing to one of the pictures.

"You want a hamburger?" Mark asked. She must not have known what it was…

"What's a hamburger?" she asked, turning the menu back around, "is that what that is? It has weird green and red stuff on it…" Her nose wrinkled in revulsion.

"We could have them take that stuff off of it," Mark offered. A moment later, he wondered if he should be teaching the girl to eat her vegetables. If he was going to, it would be best to start now. But he decided that just this once couldn't hurt. Besides, Maple was a total vegetarian. Did the Charmander-girl have specific eating habits as well? He had no idea.

Furthermore, he was suddenly worried about what his role had become. He was her trainer now, but what did that mean exactly? How should he be treating this girl? Was he a father-figure, an older brother, or something else entirely? His relationship with Maple had changed constantly since she had evolved. Now he had to worry about what to do with his new Charmander.

Growing up, Mark had no brothers or sisters and lived only with his mother. He had never even known his father and his mother rarely talked about him. Whether he was supposed to be a father or an older brother to this girl, he had no idea how to be either.

"Here's your drinks," the Lopunny waitress returned and set down three glasses. Maple began gulping down her drink as if she had been in a desert for four days. "Are we ready to order?"

"Garden salad," Maple paused to take a breath and state her order before returning to her drink.

"Garden salad." the waitress noted, scribbling on a pad, "what kind of dressing?"

"Cinnabar ranch."

"Okay," Babs noted, "what about you, sweetie?" She leaned forward and smiled encouragingly at Charmander.

"Can I get this without the green and red stuff?" the girl asked, holding up the menu and pointing.

"Oh, certainly," Babs squeaked, "a hamburger it is, then. How would you like that cooked?"

Once again, the Charmander-girl paused in confusion at the new option. She stared back at the waitress, wondering why someone would ask such a strange question.

"Uh…medium-well, I guess," Mark answered for her. Explaining the options to her would probably take a while.

"Alrighty," the waitress nodded happy to move on, "And for you?"

"Uh…the same," Mark said. In his concern over the Charmander-girl, he had forgotten to make a decision for himself.

"Okay, I'll be right back," the waitress took their menus and bounced away. As he watched her go, Mark suddenly hoped that her ability as a Lopunny wasn't Klutz…

Maple then began prompting the Charmander-girl to take a sip of her soda. The girl was apprehensive at first, but Maple's cheerful insistence wore her down. She took an experimental sip on the straw (blowing instead of sucking, at first) then her eyes grew wide and she began drinking it too fast. Despite the resulting coughing fit, Mark realized that he should order another for her when the waitress returned.

"Uh…Charmander," Mark interrupted and the two girls perked up to attention, "you can't read, can you?"

The girl shook her head, "I never learned how. Nobody in Team Deus ever wanted to teach me."

"Oh, okay," Mark bit the inside of his lip as he thought, "What was it like at Team Deus?"

The girl sighed and began staring at the table, "just…boring, really. I mean, they didn't treat me bad unless I misbehaved," she began tracing patterns in the table, following the grooves in the wood, "the worst part was when they wanted to give me a shot or take some blood."

"I see…"

They had experimented on her. And yet, she hadn't been badly affected by it. That was odd. Perhaps it had something to do with what Farin had said. As a Pokémon belonging to the leader's son, Charmander must have had special protection. That kept the scientists at Team Deus from experimenting on her in ways that might permanently damage her. But why had Vince abandoned her if they cared enough to not risk hurting her? It didn't make any sense.

"But I really hated not being able to see Master Vince," she balled her hands into fists, "he was my trainer. And he just…wasn't there. Even if they didn't hit me or make me take that weird medicine it was still wrong," her fist was trembling, "I just…miss him so much. And he just…left me…"

Maple set her hand on the girl's back and Charmander flung herself at the older girl. She clung to her the same way that she had clung to Mark earlier. Mark thought that it would be a long time before she could get over what had happened to her.

But was that all there was to it? Was her current state of loneliness that strong? The girl was in pieces. Could the absence of her trainer be the only cause of it?

"What did you get to eat there?" Mark tried to change subjects. That was twice in just one hour that he had made her cry without meaning to. Hell of a record.

"Huh?" the girl asked, wiping at her eyes while Maple lovingly stroked her bright red hair, "what did I eat?"

"Yeah," Mark explained, "you've never seen a hamburger before. So, what did they give you?"

"Bread, water and meat," the girl answered.

"That's it?"

"Is that weird?" Charmander had no reason to think that it would be.

"Umm…yeah," Mark drew a blank on how to put it more delicately. Prison food. No, it was even worse than normal prison food. Team Deus had kept her alive, but that was the extent of it. Mark suddenly had a feeling that she was going to enjoy her meal more than she realized.

"Wait a second," Mark paused and thought back, "Maple, do you know how to read?"

"No," Maple answered with clear, basic honesty.

Mark's jaw dropped open. But as he thought back, he realized that not once did he remember Maple reading. She ordered food by mimicking what Mark had done whenever he ordered for her. She never read street signs, and even the banner in the square Mark had read first.

But wait, when they first met him, hadn't Volt been…of course. Kim had taught him how to read. There was no reason for Mark to assume that human Pokémon knew how to read when they evolved. That was up to the humans around them. Mark felt like a dead-beat dad.

"Oh," he nodded and his human Pokémon girls grew worried as they watched his face turn pale, "I…didn't think of that. Well…I guess I'll…have to teach you, then."

"Order's up!" the sudden materialization of Babs made Mark jump in his seat. She placed the three plates around the table with quick, efficient ease. Charmander's eyes grew almost as wide as the plates as she realized how much of it was for her. "And I'll get another soda, for you," Babs added, taking Maple's glass.

"Oh, me too!" Charmander blurted out. A smile was curling at the ends of her lips. This was going to be the greatest meal of her entire life.

And it was.

Mark had never seen anyone eat so fast. The little girl inhaled the hamburger that was too big for Mark to finish. She tore into it, ripping chunks off like a lion devouring a freshly caught meal. The girl was not even remotely shy about her eating habits. She didn't have the presence of mind to care. She was too busy enjoying the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.

She began hiccupping when she was almost done with the hamburger. Mark watched her with a mixture of parental concern and mild amusement. He feared that she would start choking, while still amused by her reaction to restaurant-style human food. It reminded him of Maple's initial transformation. Even though Charmander was fully transformed, her own introduction to the world of humans mystified and entertained her just as much, if not more.

"What are…these?" Charmander slowed just enough to ask about the fries sitting around the edge of her plate. Her continual hiccups didn't seem to bother her.

"They're called fries," Mark explained, but when her confusion didn't fade he continued, "They're cut up pieces of a potato that you fry." He feared that this explanation would require him to explain what the words "potato" and "fry" meant, but she let him slide.

"They're kinda…"she hiccupped again before finishing, "wet."

"That's just grease," Mark explained, "try them. I'm sure you'll like them."

Charmander bit a piece off of one and chewed on it. She tossed her head side-to-side as she thought about it. The fries were clearly less of a hit than what the hamburger had been.

"How is it?" Mark asked. So far, she really did have meal preferences like Maple did. However, she was the opposite of Maple and preferred meat. It made some sense, since Charmander was a lizard Pokémon and Leafeon was a…rabbit?

Anyway, she could eat the fries, but they were inferior to the hamburger in every way.

Looking down at his plate, Mark still had a full corner of his sandwich left and he didn't expect to finish it. He offered it to Charmander who snatched it from his fingers and proceeded to shove the whole thing into her mouth at once.

"Hey, slow d-" but it was gone before he had the chance to warn her. She hiccupped a few more times and grinned broadly.

Throughout the meal, Maple watched with subdued joy and amusement. The Charmander-girl was quite possibly the cutest thing she had ever seen. She really would make a great little sister.

"Are we ready for dessert?" Babs' impeccable timing continued and she appeared with unnatural suddenness.

"Oooh, yes!" Maple cried with delight, pushing her only half-eaten salad to the side, "do you have any…oh, what are they called? Sun…sundaes?" She looked to Mark for confirmation and he nodded.

"Certainly!" Babs nodded, delighted with the decision, "we have a delicious house special that's running a two for one deal, right now."

"Okay!" Maple agreed, "We'll get that."

"Excellent choice! I'll be right back," the Lopunny-waitress gathered together the dishes and hopped away.

A few minutes later, Babs returned with two glass dishes filled with three scoops of vanilla ice-cream. It was doused in hot-fudge, covered in sprinkles, with little bits of chocolate brownie mixed in and was topped with whipped cream and bright red cherry. She set them down in front of the two girls and giggled at their respective wide-eyed expressions before skipping away.

Maple began by plucking the cherry off of the top and snapping it off of the stem before tossing it into her mouth. The Charmander-girl was more reluctant and she sniffed at the fruit. A moment later, she decided that she wouldn't like it and she set it down on the table.

However, once she tasted the ice-cream, an unspoken race ensued between the two Pokémon girls over who would finish their sundae first. The victory went to the fire-type Charmander, who seemed impervious to brain-freeze.

"Wow…" Charmander's hiccups were finally beginning to slow, "is all…food this good, up here?" She smiled at Mark and Maple who both couldn't help but smile back at the small girl.

"I don't know about all of it," Mark began, "but you'll definitely like it better than what they were giving you before."

"Wow…" she hiccupped again, for the final time.

"I'm so happy you like it here!" Maple exclaimed and had to suppress the urge to hug Charmander.

"Me too," she nodded, "although, I do still miss Master Vince..." Her gaze dropped to the table, again.

Mark sighed. He was beginning to realize that Vince was going to be a sore spot for a long time. She may never get over what he did to her. Still, they could offer her a home. That was a start.

"But," the girl continued, "you're both really, very nice and I'm glad that I met you. Thank you, so much." This time, the cuteness was too overwhelming and Maple hugged the girl tight in her arms.

"We're just happy to help," Mark added, "you shouldn't have been forced to live like that," he paused before thinking of a way to commemorate the girl's escape into the real world, "I know, we should help give you a name."

"A name?" the Charmander-girl drew back from Maple's embrace in her excitement. She had almost forgotten her search for a name. Everything else had pushed it aside, but now was the perfect opportunity. A name…for her very own…

"Yeah…" Mark began, suddenly realizing he didn't have any suggestions, "we need a good name for you…"

All three looked away in an effort to think of names. Mark continued to draw a blank wondering why it was so hard to come up with a name for a fire-type, Charmander-girl. The girl herself could only think of the same names that she had been through with Aroma. Nothing fit.

It was Maple who spied the discarded cherry on the table. She picked it up and twirled it between her fingers. She looked back and forth from the small fruit to the young girl's hair. It wasn't a perfect match, but it was close. Maple held the cherry up to the girl's hair to get the attention of the other two.

"What is this called again, Mark?" she beamed.

"It's a cherry," he answered.

"A cherry?" the girl peered at the fruit and began to wrinkle her nose, "I don't know…it doesn't look very good."

"Try it," Mark shrugged, "it couldn't hurt."

The Charmander-girl took the cherry from Maple. She sniffed at it and bit her lip, still debating. Then she took a small nibble off the end of it.

"Well?" Mark prodded.

"It's…sweet," she concluded, "I like it."

"Then how does Cherry sound?"

The small girl plucked the fruit off of its stem and popped it into her mouth. She munched thoughtfully on it, tasting the fruit and the feel of her new name at the same time.

"I like it," Cherry grinned.

Mark was so exhausted he could barely stand when he opened the door to their hotel room. The third day of the tournament had been a long, exhausting ordeal. It had begun with him and Maple's tournament match against Tristan. Then his date with Maple had dissolved into a frantic rescue mission into the territory of Team Deus. Somehow, they escaped with their lives and their friends. They had even managed to help out the lonely girl that was now Mark's second human Pokémon; a ten-year-old Charmander-girl they had named Cherry.

"You mean…you have a mattress?" Cherry had heard of such a wonderful device, but she had never seen one. Better, she was being told that she could sleep on it.

She leapt on top of the nearest bed and began bouncing up and down on it with sheer delight. Maple considered joining her, but she was also exhausted. The sun had been down for almost three hours and it was catching up with her. Never mind her earlier fights against Tristan, Lionel and Farin, Maple missed the sunlight.

Mark couldn't help but stare at Cherry's tail as she bounced up and down. The fire that burned at the end of it was a dangerous accessory, but somehow Cherry's subconscious managed to keep it away from anything flammable.

Maple's eyes began to slide shut as she bounced her head up and down with Cherry's movements. She couldn't fight sleep any longer and she yawned.

"Are you sleepy, Maple?" Cherry asked and her bouncing came to a stop. Her older sister nodded and yawned again.

"Yeah," Mark agreed, "let's call it a night."

"Okay," Cherry nodded. She climbed down off of the bed and let Maple crawl up onto it. Mark and Cherry watched as she curled up on top of the covers, tucked her tail behind her legs and fell right to sleep.

"She's pretty," Cherry noted before looking at Mark, "are you two married?"

"Huh?"

Between the question's suddenness and the meaning behind it, Mark was floored, "uhh…well…no…" he managed to stammer out a response, but he chose not to elaborate.

"Oh," Cherry nodded, "okay." The matter dropped as quickly as it had appeared.

Without saying anything else, she climbed into the same bed as Maple. She curled up at the end of the bed, with her tail hanging over the edge. Once Mark turned off the lights, the small fire acted like a night-light.

He sat down on the opposite bed and watched the two girls sleep for a few more minutes. He still had no idea how he should act towards these two. He was their trainer, but the definition of that word changed every day. And after the kind of day that the third day of the tournament had been, who really had any idea what the next would be like?

Another five minutes passed as Mark watched his two human Pokémon. Whatever he was supposed to do, he would figure it out. For their sake.

Too exhausted to change clothes, he lied back onto the bed and fell asleep.

AN: I figure Cinnabar ranch dressing is actually a little on the spicy side.

So, how do you guys like the name of Cherry? I think it suits her (although, WildCroconaw's suggestion of Amburna caught my attention). Moreover, I like how they come up with it. Specifically the fact that Maple's the one that's responsible for naming her.

I hope you've enjoyed what I have so far and thanks for reading!