Chapter 7: Joy Met In Tail-Light

Author's Note: I apologize, to however few of you care, for not being active for a while, I recently bought Elden Ring and was buried in that.

Pyre sat up and scratched his head, glancing around. He couldn't see anything beyond the blue glow of his tail. "Aww, darn it body, I was tryna sleep!" He groaned loud enough for the sleeping turtle behind him to shake and stir in his shell, but not awaken. Pyre stood up and stretched, glancing around again.

The Charmander suddenly felt a pain in his head and fell to his knees. A vision overtook his sight, a beautiful world, we're the light far outweighed the darkness. But in the distance a solitary mountain wreathed in black flames stood. Only a single pillar blocked it, and at it's peak, a flame as blue and brilliant as Pyre's tail. But it suddenly flickered out. A strangely familiar, but heavily distorted voice spoke out. "There is no sapphire flame left in this world. With no savior, all shall fall to the calamity. I can feel you so far away, but you can be our savior! Find us! Before it…" the voice was abruptly cut off.

"Pyre, are you alright?" Aqua called out.

Pyre stood up, and felt his eyes burn, the sun was out. But just a few minutes ago it was night. "I…what was that place…"

"What place? Pyre talk to me?"

"S-sorry, musta been a weird dream hehe!"

Aqua scowled and folded his arms. "That was no normal dream, you were wiggling and freaking out all night, ya bumped my shell and woke me. I've been trying to wake you up for hours!"

"Aqua, I'm fine really, whatever it was it's passed now." The Charmander gave him that typical grin. "Nothing to worry about, now come on. You just pop in your shell and go back to sleep, I'll carry ya until ya wake up again."

"I appreciate it, but I don't trust that it won't happen again. So I'm not going to sleep. Not yet at least." The Squirtle stood up properly.

Pyre started strutting onward. "Then let's get going, I'm starving!"

"When aren't you starving?"

"It's only been a few days and ya already know me so well." The Charmander chuckled as he put his arms behind his head. He glanced up and his mind wandered to that pillar with the sapphire flame. And the dark mountain beyond it. Somehow it felt familiar. "Hey Aqua?"

"Yes Pyre?" The Squirtle looked to him quizzically.

"What…what were your parents like?"

"Oh…I uh…." The Squirtle stopped in his tracks and looked away sadly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to say something insensitive." Pyre frowned. He hadn't meant to upset the Squirtle.

"No it's fine, I just don't remember them well. I hadn't been more than a few weeks old I think. My dad had been overly aggressive trying to get this scary ghost guy to leave. Dad was always like that, jumping to violence when we were around, it was just his way of showing he loved me and mom, and he was afraid of anything bad happening to us. But he apparently pushed that ghostly guy too far cause…well he's gone now, and mom…well she tried to help dad fight, but…they weren't… and…"

"You don't have to finish, I understand."

"I feel bad for saying this but…I don't hate the guy or anything." Aqua looked to Pyre with a sad face. "I can't forgive him, and I'll never forget him and that haunting crimson eye, but I can't bring myself to hate him either. Mom always said nobody should be hated, no matter how bad they hurt you."

"Well, there's probably a limit to that, but it sounds like your mom was a smart lady!"

"Yeah hehe, and she was a guy."

"And she was a guy? Cool, didn't know that was possible!" Pyre took the sentence without a second thought.

"Most people get confused or weirded out when I tell them that. So thanks for not making it weird."

"No prob buddy!" The Charmander kept walking with the Squirtle picking up the pace to catch up. "I can't really judge though. Didn't know my parents. Never met em. Hatched all alone."

"That's, sad as fuck."

"Wait really?" Pyre looked back curiously.

Aqua just stared ahead dumbfounded by how oblivious the crimson scaled Charmander was.

Before their conversation could continue they heard a commotion a short distance forward, over a hill.

"Humans or pokemon? Place your bets."

"What are we betting?"

"One extra berry at dinner from the other mon."

"Deal, I'm betting humans."

"Then let's go see, can't wait for that extra berry!"

"Yeah right it's mine ya big red glutton!"

The two rushed up the hill to find the source of the commotion.

"Sooo, I guess neither of us win?" Aqua asked looking down seeing a group of humans surrounding a smaller group of pokemon.

"Looks that way. Well Aqua, ya wanna be a hero right?" Pyre smiled at him.

"Y-yeah"

"Then here's the plan." Pyre folded his arms over his chest and fell onto his back before rolling down the hill. "YOLO!"

"That's not a plan!"

"WEEE!"

"That Charmander is gonna be the death of me." Aqua shrugged and tucked himself into his shell sliding down the hill. "Oh I think I'm gonna be sick."

As Pyre rolled to his feet at the bottom of the hill he looked over the humans, they hadn't noticed him yet. To maintain the element of surprise he caught Aqua as the water turtle came sliding by. "Okay, I want you to fire the biggest water gun ya can right over top of em."

"Y-yeah got it, soon as I get my balance." Aqua shook his head still feeling a bit dizzy. "Well, here goes nothin." He felt his cheeks fill with water as he spit a massive ball of water over the humans and their trapped prey. Before he could react Pyre had rushed toward them.

The Charmander jumped, landing upon a Hitmonchan's head before jumping again, this time twisting himself to look up at the falling water. Taking in a deep breath Pyre let loose a powerful burst of flames hitting the water bubble directly causing a massive steam cloud to envelope the immediate area. "Run, me and my buddy got this! Get your peeps outta here!"

Chaos erupted as the pokemon fled. Pyre was hit from behind and as he turned to see his enemy he found a Gabite staring him down, backed by two Gible. Looking back, he recognized the approaching silhouette of the Hitmonchan he'd jumped on.

As the fighting type approached him from behind it was suddenly swept off it's feet.

Pyre quickly stepped to the side. "Olé" he called out as Aqua slid by hitting one of the Gible and carrying them off. "Well friends and enemies, it's time to dance!" The Charmander spun on his heel, coating his fist in flames as he punched the Hitmonchan down into the ground. Suddenly the fighting type burst up from the ground with a powerful uppercut that seemed to hit twice as hard as Pyre's punch. The fire type landed flat on his back. "Oof, counter eh? Well, I guess I do pack quite a punch don't I? Hehe, okay." He sat up only to feel a fist slam into his face hard comically indenting his head in the ground. "Ow." As another punch landed on his face his body enveloped in flames as he jerked up headbutting the fighting type. As the taller pokemon reeled, Pyre made his move rushing the two remaining dragon types. The Gible was take by surprise by the sudden point blank flamethrower to the face knocking him out almost instantly. Gabite however had seemingly vanished. That is until it burst forth from the ground.

Pyre couldn't react when it's mouth lit up blue and flames spewed out. The Charmander stumbled back into a sudden flurry of close up punches from behind. Gabite assaulted from the front slashing at Pyre with its claws.

The poor Charmander felt his body shaking as he was pummeled. Then that pain hit his head again. This time he saw that dark mountain again, unobscured by the final pillar. The black flames seemed to have grown, still restricted to the mountain, but definitely growing bigger. "Once the mountain is completely engulfed, the calamity will be unleashed, please you must find us! It's already sent…" that distorted voice had returned and vanished in mere moments. When he felt his senses return the two assaulting pokemon had started beating down Aqua. At least that's how it looked through the steam. Pyre picked up a rock and threw it hard smacking the turtle Pokemons shell knocking it out of the way and away from the two pokemon.

"Aqua, give em everything you've got! Let it all out! Push beyond your limits!" The Charmander suddenly wreathed himself in flames.

Beyond their opponents Aqua popped out of his shell taking in an extremely deep breath before letting out his biggest water attack. Where he'd simply meant to fire a powerful Water Gun, he'd managed to let out a massive Hydro Pump.

Gabite spit Dragon breath at the incoming water attack to try to stop it, but it didn't even slow the attack down.

Pyre started running at them, the flames engulfing his body heating up and suddenly glowing blue as he. Jumped, letting the flames burst him forth as his body spun fast. "Flaaaare Bliiiiitz!"

Hitmonchan caught the Charmander trying to hold him back, but the flare blitz carried him forth, breaking the fighting types at the same time, Aqua slid beneath his own Hydro Pump attack and off balanced the Gabite. The result, both pokemon unconscious as Pyre landed atop Aqua's shell. "What now?"

"Spin!"

Aqua seemed to understand as he spat a water gun from within his shell causing him to spin in a circle. At the same time Pyre belched out a flamethrower spinning them faster and pushing the surrounding humans back.

"Now stop." Pyre spat fire in the opposite direction to slow their momentum. "No just shoot straight, we're leaving in style."

Once again Aqua spit water from within his shell boosting them away. And Pyre still atop the Squirtle began breathing fire again, boosting them faster like a little jet engine.

After a minute or so the two let up on their attacks and took to hiding in a tree, having just expended quite a bit of energy in a rather daring rescue in Pyre's personal opinion.

"Don't even get a thank you cause we left too fast."

"Well we didn't help em to get thanked Aqua."

"I know, still woulda been nice though."

"I know, helping people is its own reward though!" The Charmander smiled and relaxed as the two watched their human pursuers rush by without an upward glance. "Silly humans. Didn't think to look up hehe. Alright, let's go see if they left anything behind!" Pyre hopped out of the tree happily followed by Aqua slipping and falling out.

"Um hey Pyre? Little help?" Aqua called out.

Pyre turned back looking at the Squirtle who'd perfectly landed on his back and couldn't get up. The Charmander stepped closer with no hesitation pulling the water type back to his feet. And then with his smile still on his face he turned back and walked back toward where the humans had been minutes prior.

After a short couple of minutes they made it back to the battle ground. There was a single backpack laying on the ground.

"Jaaaackpooooot!" Pyre said in a sing-song tone. He skipped happily up to the bag fiddling around with the zippers and pouches until they opened.

"Um P-Pyre, isn't ya know, isn't this stealing?"

"Aqua, lemme tell ya something. We won, we earned a reward. That's how these humans do it. Whoever wins gets something from the loser. And besides, it's humans, they were just trying to kidnap those poor mons! Kidnapping is way worse than stealing from a kidnapper!" Pyre smiled as he dug around in the bag.

"I dunno Pyre that seems kinda….I don't know, like a cop out."

"I know buuuuut," he pulled a box from the bag. "This was going in a guy's tummy later anyway, might as well be us!" He looked into the box finding a small amount of food left in. "Awwww, there's not much left." Pyre suddenly tilted his head back and poured the food down his maw, stopping momentarily and swallowing. He then passed the box to Aqua. "Go on, it's fine." And he went back into the bag.

Aqua hesitantly mimicked Pyre leaning his head back and hungrily devouring the food. "Ugh, that tastes….weirdly good…"

"That's uhhh, pokechow, that's the usual stuff these trainers get, good enough to eat but here's the real prize" He popped his head from the bag holding two bottles. "Soda Pops!" He slapped the caps from the bottles and handed one to Aqua. "They're really good!"

The Squirtle hesitated less this time tipping back the bottle and drinking down the fizzy liquid. "Oh wow it tastes just like a cheri berry!"

"I know these are great!" Pyre did the same, drinking down the soda as well. The Charmander guzzled down the drink greedily as he carefully sat the bottle down beside the bag, thinking back on how his friend had scolded him in the past. "Tasty!"

"Hey, that's mine!" A voice called out and the two pokemon took up defensive postures. Looking over they saw a human standing by the treeline. Despite the aggressive posture of the two pokemon before him he smiled and casually walked up to his bag. "You're lucky I don't mind helping cute little guys like you out." The human reached into another pouch on the bag pulling out two cookies. He held them out for the two mons. "Sorry about my friends, I keep telling them they're too aggressive when it comes to catching pokemon. Trust builds a good team after all!"

Taking the cookie Pyre looked over the human, adorned in a school uniform, with bright blond hair in a two-block style, with red rimmed glasses hanging over his golden eyes.

The Charmander wasted no time in stuffing his face with the cookie letting out a happy sigh as he swallowed it nearly whole. He glanced over at Aqua as The Squirtle slowly nibbled on the cookie. Pyre picked his soda back up, holding the opening to his maw he tilted his head up guzzling it down happily. Aqua did the same quickly drinking down the remainder of his soda.

The human smiled at them happily and gently took the bottles from their little hands. "I've always preferred feeding you guys and asking you to join willingly. I'm not one for unnecessary violence after all." The boy put his bag on his back. "Well, I should get going before my friends come back. But you," he gently poked Pyre on the nose. "You and I are gonna meet again, and when we do, I'd like to see how my team fairs against you. Hopefully I won't have fallen out of practice by then. And hopefully I can find them all." He stood up properly and stretched. "Oh, and just so ya know, you can call me Monty. So before I go, what can I call you?"

The human smiled down at the grinning Charmander. "Pyre! And that's my buddy Aqua!"

"Then when next we meet, Pyre, I hope it's under friendly circumstances." The human turned back strutting off into the treeline.

"Hehe, that guy was pretty nice!"

"He was planning something."

"Aqua, relax, he was nice."

"No way Pyre, those guys just tried to kidnap those pokemon and he was with em."

"Yeah but he left his bag behind."

"That doesn't mean…"

"I could feel it, and kinda see it okay!" Pyre blurted out. "I can tell when people feel things and I can see what they feel, he wasn't planning anything and he wasn't a threat."

"What do you mean you could see it?" Aqua looked confused.

"Well, how do I put this?" Pyre adopted a thoughtful look. "Basically…I can see it in, like colors." He looked over Aqua. "Like you, I can see you're blue in the face and arms and stuff, but there's this kinda faint green light around ya."

"Green?" Aqua looked unconvinced. "And what does yours look like then?"

"Purple, I think." He looks over himself. "Yeah a nice purp!"

"Well if you're serious, what was the human's color?"

Pyre smiled, "A very nice red. Seen a few red ones in my time, like your uh brothers, I think it normally shows anger, but his was I dunno softer more like passion than anger."

"Ya know I was afraid you might be crazy when we first met, but okay I believe you." After so long in the conversation Aqua took a few bites of his cookie, finally finishing it off.

"Well, we should probably get going." Pyre stretched a bit and started walking away with Aqua following closely behind him.

*Later That Night*

Pyre and Aqua had gone to sleep for the night, with Aqua tucked comfortably in his shell, and Pyre using the squirtle's shell as a pillow.

*Within Pyre's Dream*

Visions, dreams, Pyre couldn't tell if what he was seeing was real or just a dream. It was that mountain again, wreathed in black flames.

He was seemingly at the foot of the mountain. He couldn't make out the two pokemon beside him, but he could hear them speak.

"The Calamity's strength has only grown since the sapphire flame went out. You told us our savior would arrive soon."

"The future is ever changing, every moment I see changes everything. The calamity will be delayed, but it's dark hold has already reached the summit." Pyre looked up as one of the pokemon seemed to point toward the peak. The black flames had indeed reached the mountain's peak. "And so, disasters will soon begin." The pokemon seemed to look back at Pyre. "Please, together you may be able to delay the calamity."

Pyre looked back seeing several large pokemon. Three birds, one of ice, one of fire, and one of lightning. A large blue and red whale like creature floating on a wave of water. An equally large red, almost dinosaur like creature. A pair of twins, similar in shape, like small jets, one blue and one red. And finally a single massive green serpent.

"The calamity will fall before it can reach it's full strength. Your precious savior won't be needed." The green creature spoke as they passed the two smaller pokemon beside Pyre.

"Of course, you will save us, please Rayquaza, you must not fail."

"Time is ever changing. Do not show complacency. Steel yourselves. Do not underestimate the calamity."

"Do you not believe in us, Xatu? Have faith like Alakazam."

"Time is ever changing. Faith misplaced or well deserved. Perhaps, the tide of darkness may yet be turned." The large pokemon each pressed forth beyond the large pillar at the foot of the mountain. The pokemon referred to as Xatu looked over straight at Pyre. "Time is ever changing. Slumbering nightmares claw away at waking dreams. Fate has made its final choice."

*In The Waking World*

Pyre sat up with a start as he heard sounds in the surrounding area. Standing up he looked around, his tired eyes struggling to see around him. He gave a quick glance back to the still sleeping Squirtle. He then looked beside them, he had made a small fire before they went to sleep, it had seemingly gone out while they slept. He carefully shot ember into the fire reigniting it.

Bushes shook in the distance getting the charmander's attention. Giving one final glance to Aqua, Pyre stood up and walked toward the bushes, a strange feeling pulling him.

The Charmander carefully peaked his head through the bush in front of him, accidentally bumping his nose against something. As he regained his focus he saw he'd bumped his nose against another nose. That of a small, yellow fox like pokemon with large tufts of fur in their ears, Fenniken. "Uh…i-im s-sorry I didn't mean to seem…" They spoke with an elegant, almost angelic, feminine tone.

Angelic and elegant to Pyre at least. Despite her stammering Pyre simply gazed at her. "N-no prob…" He smiled as the bright blue flame on his tail seemed to glow ever brighter. As he looked her over he noticed she was glowing a magnificent regal purple, so similar to himself.

"I…I just wanted to thank you for saving me and my family earlier….umm we.. are staying not too far from here and we'd like to invite you to stay with us while we're here. Obviously your friend is welcome too."

"That sounds wonderful." He glanced back seeing Aqua still tucked in his shell. "Oh um…I'm..I'm Pyre!" He felt uncharacteristically flustered and felt his cheeks growing warm. He was blushing, though it would be invisible due to the crimson color of his scales, with the biggest grin on his face.

The Fenniken smiled back at him. "Cynder. Pleasure to meet you!"

*Elsewhere*

A dark figure reached out plucking a single pokemon off the ground, a weavile.

"They believe their savior can stop what is coming. So I've chosen you, take your role as my envoy, and destroy their savior before he can return."

The weavile nodded quickly. "Of course! I serve master. But how do I find him?"

"This." The dark creature held out a small circular device.

The weavile reached out touching the device which crumbled to dust in his claws. He looked up to his dark master, until everything vanished around him and he found himself, no longer on a mountain but in a forest. Looking around he felt a piercing pain in his head. "Find the sapphire flame. Snuff it out." His master's dark voice felt oppressive in his mind.

"Y-yes master."