All at once, the screams of the twitching Pokemon died down into exhausted panting and sighs of relief. Half of them immediately passed out as soon as their pain was lifted. Ash saw some of his Pokemon struggle to stand, but helplessly fell over. He tried to pull his legs out of the solid rock, but they wouldn't budge.
"Pikachu!" Ash desperately shouted to the only Pokemon that was moving. "Go get help!"
"But I need to stay here!" Pikachu protested, wincing as he walked and gesturing to the moaning crowd.
"You're the only one that's fast enough right now to go anywhere. Try to tell Nurse Joy to send some medics over here. Or at least get her to follow you."
"The Pokemon need my HE-"
"GO!" Ash shouted. Pikachu huffed angrily, then sped off toward the road as fast as he could.
Ash continued to tug on his sunken legs until he saw an enormous shape moving in front of him.
"THAT...was not fun..." Snorlax said to himself, still lying face-down.
"Snorlax!" Ash shouted. "Get me out of here, will ya?"
"No problem. Just...I need a minute." Snorlax rose to his massive feet and stood unsteadily, holding his pounding head and trying to regain his balance. He looked over at Ash. "What happened to you?"
"Tell you later. Just get me out of here!" Snorlax limped over to Ash, grabbed him under his arms, and sharply pulled upward. He felt himself move, but Ash's legs stayed stuck in the rock. "Ahh! Try again!"
Snorlax spread out his stance and pulled, this time more slowly and carefully. Ash wriggled his feet and roughly slid out of the two holes. Snorlax placed him on his feet where he staggered, waiting for the blood to return to his legs.
"Thanks." He said.
"No problem." Snorlax said, still as lazy as ever. He shook one of his legs. "Ow. Must've slept on it."
By then, Ash was already sprinting to the middle of the circle. He flung his head around wildly to see which Pokemon were alright. Heracross and Donphan were helping each other to their feet. Ash and Squirtle locked eyes as he was struggling to stand. He gave a weak thumbs-up before dropping to his knee. Slyther was already on his legs and was helping Bulbasaur set Noctowl's wing. Bulbasaur glanced over at Ash, nodded, then returned to his work. Ash saw that Bayleef was still lying on the ground and sobbing. He took a step to go to her, but was stopped by something tugging on his pants leg.
"Ash..." He looked down and saw that it was Cyndaquil, covered in dirt and with tears precariously balanced on his eyelids. "I'm sorry...I didn't...I" Ash quickly stooped and picked up his youngest Pokemon.
"It's alright." he said, patting him on the back. "You did good. You're okay. Shhh..." Cyndaquil sniffed back tears, trying to act as tough as he could. Ash jogged to Bayleef, Cyndaquil still in hand. He gently set Cyndaquil down before laying a hand on Bayleef's neck.
"Bayleef!" He said, afraid. "It's alright! Its gone! The Kadabra is gone!"
"Ash...." she said, weakly weeping, "He...hurt me...it hurt so badly....why did...." she broke down into tears in Ash's arms. He patted her, helplessly. "He did things to me...in my mind...Ash..." Cyndaquil plodded over to her and laid his hand on her shoulder. She continued to bawl for a few minutes before calming down.
"I'm so sorry..." Ash said. "This...none of this should have happened...I didn't know. I'm sorry, Bayleef." He wrapped his arms around her green neck and hugged her. He stood, reluctantly backing away, to deal with the other hurt Pokemon. He turned. His Pokemon were on their feet and helping the others to theirs. He smiled. His Pokemon were a lot tougher than he thought. They'd be alright. The pack of Arcanine who had showed up to help stood. They saw all the other Pokemon helping each other. The alpha, the one Ash had spoken to, gestured for the others to leave while he stayed to help. They obeyed without question. However, in between all the moving forms was one that stuck out like a sore thumb.
Charizard had not moved since Kadabra had dropped him.
"Charizard!" Ash shouted as he ran, not knowing if he was alive or dead. He slid across the dirt to his Pokemon. He grunted as he lifted Charizard's heavy head onto his lap as he sat down. Charizard had gotten it worse than anyone there. That was evident by the sight of him. Deep gashes were torn in his face from where he had been gripping his head in pain and terror. His thick skin was colder than he had ever felt it. It was clammy under his hands and Charizard was shaking. His breaths were shallow and fast.
"Charizard!" He yelled into his Pokemon's ear. This time, Charizard weakly opened his eyes. He stared off into space, his pupils dilated, with a look of twisted horror on his face.
"It...so cold....." he said, softly. "It was so cold....I...couldn't.....freezing...." Charizard curled up a little more. Ash noticed that his flame was barely the size of that of a lighter.
Suddenly, Ash felt a hand tug on the back of his collar, pulling him to his feet.
"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Brock shouted. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT! You KNEW that Kadabra was dangerous! WHY did you make us let it out!?"
"Brock! Stop it! This isn't his fault!" Misty said. "We took more precautions then we even needed! No one could have predicted that Pokemon was so powerful!"
"We wouldn't have even been IN this mess if it weren't for you!" He shouted at Ash.
"How in God's name was I supposed to know what would happen!?" Ash shoved Brock's hand off and pushed him backward. "You think this is MY fault!? That I'M the one who did all this!? FINE! But don't stand around blaming me while there's work to be done!"
"Ash!" Misty shouted, concerned. "Ash, what's wrong with Charizard?"
"I don't know! That's what I WAS trying to figure out!"
Brock knelt down beside Ash and felt Charizard's neck.
"Ash! He's going into shock!" Brock said, putting aside blame for a moment. "We need to do something fast before his body shuts down on him!"
"Wh-Then what do we do!?" Ash dropped to his knees and held Charizard's head in his hands.
"Cold...."
"Get him a blanket!" he shouted, whipping his head around.
"I don't think that's how you treat sh-" Brock began.
"We'll deal with that in a minute! Just get me a blanket!" Brock slung his pack around to his chest and pulled out a large, silver emergency blanket. Ash snatched it and covered as much of his Pokemon as he could.
"Cold..."
"Don't worry. We'll warm you up as soon as we can."
"It was...so cold....those eyes...they hurt me....cut me and bled me.....in the dark...."
"Oh hell...Cyndaquil!" Ash shouted over his shoulder. Cyndaquil, who had been comforting Bayleef, looked up, then ran as fast as his tiny legs would let him over to Ash.
"Cyndaquil! Use Fire Spin!" Ash shouted. Cyndaquil looked around confused.
"On what?"
"On Charizard!"
"But I don't want to-"
"You won't. Fire Spin!"
Cyndaquil stepped back, flaring up the quills on his back. He let fly a twisting helix of fire that washed over Charizard's lower body. Though not leaving so much as a scorch on his hide (as intended), it heated his body temperature a good deal. His tail flame got a little bigger.
"Again! Use Ember! On the ground!" Cyndaquil spat out small balls of flame that scorched the ground under Charizard, but didn't do much else.
"Cold..."
"I need it hotter!"
"But I can't do it hott-"
"Yes you can! Charizard is about to die, Cyndaquil! You need to be at your best if we're gonna save him!"
Cyndaquil backed up, lowered his forehead, then let fly a much bigger attack, squealing at the top of his lungs with his quills almost rocketing out of his back. It hit the ground dead-center of where Ash wanted it and turned the rocks red-hot.
"Perfect! Good job, Cyndaquil!"
"Cold..."
"We're doing the best we can! Just hold on, Charizard!"
"Cold....dark...."
"Totodile!" Ash shouted. The blue Pokemon sprinted over, his toothy, trademark grin nowhere to be seen.
"Yeah?"
"Spray water on Charizard's face."
"'Kay." Totodile, breathed in, then squirted a spout of water onto Charizard's face. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash noticed the flame getting bigger.
"Dark..."
"CHARIZARD!" Ash shouted in furious helplessness. Ash gripped him around his massive neck and shook him. "STOP! You're stronger than this! You've ALWAYS been stronger than this! FIGHT dammit! Fire is life!" Tears fell from Ash's face without him even realizing it. "That's what you told me! Fire is life!" He fell over Charizard's body, beating on his neck with a weak fist. "This world is colder than the one you're in right now...We need you and your fire, Charizard..." He stopped pounding and let his arm fall useless to the side."...Remember when we..had to thaw you out after you got frozen in the Orange Islands? I'm willing to do that a thousand times over, so long as I get to hear you roar again...." He chuckled. "So long as you're there to burn me now and again...you still owe me that flight, y'know. I told you I'd...I'd take you up on that..." Ash's voice broke as he began to cry again.
"I messed up, Charizard. I know that...It was my fault this happened...Not yours or anyone else's. Not even Kadabra's. We had a moment today and...I finally felt like we had become friends...The kind of friendship I have with Pikachu...the guys, basically. I finally felt like the wrong I did had been lifted...I just can't...." He swallowed a knot in his throat. "I can't let this be the thing you blame me for next...I'm sorry, Charizard. All I want is for you to forgive me...Just...." Ash finally broke down, lying his head down on Charizard's neck. "Just don't go before you get a chance to tell me if you ac-accept my apology, Charizard." He pounded one more time on Charizard. "Just be there to tell me we're still friends..."
Ash's voice finally failed him and he could do nothing but cry and hold his Pokemon's limp, shivering body. He felt completely useless for the first time in his life. He felt that there wasn't a thing that he could do in the world. His mind was blank. His vision was blurry. His voice was broken. His hands shook. His legs wouldn't support him. All he had left was his will, and even that seemed to be no good today. All he could do was weep like a pathetic baby, sniffling every so often like a child that had dropped his ice cream cone.
He never saw Pikachu and several doctors with medical Pokeballs come over the hill like the magnificent cavalry. He never saw Charizard open his eyes for a split second and glance at Ash before he passed out again. He never saw the sympathetic faces of his Pokemon as they watched their ever-watchful, unstoppable master break down before their eyes over an old friend.
All he saw was the dirt, wet from his falling teardrops.