"Absolutely not!" Roared his father "you know how I feel about that competition!" "And you know how I feel!" Yelled Zac in return. "Life passion or not I refuse to let you enter the very competition that took your Mother's life!" Zac shrank back slightly before standing straight again. Almost fifteen years ago Zac's mother had entered the world battle arena. She had made it all the way to the finals, but a falling chunk of crystal killed both her and her partner Pokemon, Dragonite, who attempted to save her. In the years to follow her husband had soured to the idea of the tournament and battles in general. Ever since he told his children not to enter battling tournaments, never the less Zac had competed in many, and won a fair few, but only with his dad's barely masked disapproval.
He laid a hand on his father's shoulder "I know you don't want me to enter because of the memories of mum, but that's exactly why I want to do it, you always said I was like her." His father stared him dead in the eyes "that's why I'm afraid you will die like her". Zac was taken aback, he saw genuine sorrow in his father's normally happy eyes, a sorrow he had only ever seen on his father's anniversary. "Dad, I know you worry but I have Bagon to keep me safe, not to mention the fact we have almost six months to train". His father's eyes softened a bit before hardening again "your mother had Dragonite, even he couldn't save her". Zac sighed, he knew this angle would get him nowhere. "Dad this is something I'm good at, something I can do right" his dad broke eye contact and stared at the ground. "Look dad there is a small tournament in town in three days, come see me battle, maybe that will change your mind?". Hi father let out a sign and dropped his shoulders in defeat "alright, we will come see you battle". He hugged his father "thank you so much dad! I promise you will see that we are strong" before running out the door with his three Pokemon in tow. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of" sighed his father, staring after him.
Sprinting out to the now fire charred woods Zac stopped in the midst of the the blackened stumps and boughs and took a deep breath, he could smell the fresh dew of an early spring morning mixed with the scent of burned plant life. Already Pokemon and plants were returning to the destroyed area, new shoots burst from beneath the ash and bug Pokemon flew threw the air, chased by small bird Pokemon. He turned to his Pokemon "alright boys, let's have some mock battles, who's first?" His Orange Charmander stepped forward as did Bagon, he turned to his yellow Charmander "sorry buddy, bit slow on the uptake" the small lizard simply shrugged before climbing his body and sitting atop Zac's head. He turned back to the other two "ok guys go wild really, it's still all ash so you can feel free to use fire attacks" Zac looked around briefly, before locking his eyes on a long stick. Walking over to it he picked it up and used it to draw a crude battle arena in the ash. He stepped back to admire his work. He had drawn a vaguely rectangular box in the ash, almost exactly the same size as the one used for local events. However his lacked the mounds of earth for the trainers to stand on. He finished his creation with two small lines each about a quarter of the way into the makeshift ring. "Bagon, Charmander, take your places" the two reptilian creatures stood at the freshly drawn lines and sized each other up. "On your marks" Bagon lowered its head, pointing it's skull cap at his opponent. "Get set" Charmander braced his claws into the ground and flared its tail fire up. "Battle!"
As soon as the words left Zac's lips Charmander rushed forward, his claws gleaming a silvery hue "looks like he is going straight in for the metal claw" Zac said absent-mindedly as his yellow Charmander gnawed on his head. Charmander picked up speed as it ran, dragging its claws through the ash, hoping to kick it up and disorientate Bagon. Bagon however held his ground, bracing his skull towards the oncoming fire type. With a growling yell Charmander lept almost two meters into the air and brought his right claw down in a thunderous arc at Bagon,finally sensing his moment Bagon readied himself as his white head glowed with power, he sprang directly upwards into the oncoming metal claw, intercepting it with his own headbutt attack. The two moves connected and burst apart with a bright light. Charmander was thrown bodily, landing hard on the ground, back first. Bagon dropped directly downwards and landed on his feet, orienting himself from the blow to his head. Charmander snorted a small plume of fire in frustration, knowing that his strike should have ended the battle there and then. His emotions getting the better of him he rushed forwards once more, activating metal claw again. Bagon saw the same attack ignite, but this time the blue dragon took the initiative, instead of giving Charmander the time to build up speed Bagon rocketed forwards, his stubby legs giving him a surprising burst of speed. Charmander's eyes widened in surprise when Bagon's maw opened all the way up, exposing his double layer of needle like teeth, shocked by how fast he had moved Charmander simply ran dumbstruck directly into the oncoming bite attack. Bagon rushed past Charmander's main body only to clamp his jaws around the fire lizard's tail. Charmander let out a yowl of pain as Bagon stopped for a second to work his teeth in. Charmander managed to get one metal claw attack off on Bagon, striking the side of his head as Bagon braced himself. Gathering all the strength contained within his tiny blue body Bagon swung his head upwards, in a semicircle like arc, Charmander being dragged with him by the tail. As Charmander reached the apex of Bagon's swinging arc the vice-like jaws of Bagon came undone and Charmander was thrown directly up into the air.
Charmander panicked, he knew what Bagon would do next, he had seen it many times before, but Bagon had never done it to him. Just as Charmander began his decent Bagon's head began glowing again and he lept into the air, aiming the Headbutt directly at Charmander's belly. Charmander steeled himself, knowing their was only one option now. Igniting his teeth in a fire fang attack Charmander turned his body in the air so that he shot straight down, directly into Bagon.
As Bagon shot into the air he allowed himself a small moment to revel, battle was his forte and his strategy had gone exactly to plan, bait out the hotheaded fire type and punish his mistakes accordingly. Bagon tucked his head to his shoulders, bracing for impact, knowing Charmander would have a move to answer his own, Impact was only moments away. However, something was wrong, Bagon caught a flirting movement out his left eye and just as he realised what was happening a bright light impacted with him and Charmander.
To Zac's slow processing human eyes it appeared as if twin blades of light had cut straight through where his Pokemon were about to strike each other and sent them flying from their original course. Bagon slammed into a oak, so hard in fact that the bark of the ancient tree cracked and the wood beneath splintered. Charmander once agin hit the ground, hard. Zac screamed out "Bagon! Charmander!" And rushed to aid his fallen Pokemon, the yellow Charmander on his head jumped off and ran to protect the two downed Pokemon. Reaching them Zac quickly scanned their bodies for injuries and found none. He looked upwards to where they had been hit, to where a small bird Pokemon now hovered.
"A Starly" whispered Zac "when they were up in the air Starly must have thought they were threatening its territory". The small bird Pokemon let out a sharp bird song, one that seemed to be a warning. His remaining Charmander, the yellow one, refused to move and so the Starly reignited that same white glow on its feathers. "Must a a strong one" mused Zac "it knows wing attack". Charmander answered the swooping attack by firing of a small gout of flames rom between his jaws, his ember attack only barely missing. Zac pulled an empty pokeball from his pocket. "Maybe this will help show dad" he thought, "if I can catch something and have it ready for the tournament he would surely see I'm serious about training". The Starly began its decent again, singing threateningly the entire way. "Alright then Chrmander" called Zac, pointing as he did so "hit it with an ember!" Again the small yellow lizard let out a tiny gout of flames, these ones however, found their mark. Starly gave an alarmed squawk as the fire threatened to burn its delicate wing tips. The force of the flame made Starly recoil up into the air to minimise the damage, but stumbling like that gave Charmander his opportunity to launch another flame. Shaking from its confused state Starly tucked its wings in and dropped neatly past the flame, leaving a glowing white wake in the air as it went. "Charmander watch out for the!" Starly crashed directly into Charmander's chest, sending him tumbling away "...quick attack."
"Strong and fast" thought Zac "this is easily the strongest Pokemon I ever seen in these woods, I have to catch it," with new determination Zac called out to Charmander "c'mon buddy I believe in you, I know you can defeat it" flashing Zac a toothy grin over his shoulder Charmander rose shakily to his feet. Charmander locked eyes with the small bird, flapping lazily in the air, seemingly gloating it's victory. "Charmander!" Yelled Zac "use dragon rage!" The bird Pokemon's eyes grew wide in surprise as a bright light grew between Charmander's jaws before bursting forwards in a wave of blue flames. Starly turned and flew upwards, attempting to put as much distance as it could between itself and the swiftly approaching fire. As the attack caught up Charmander finally released the stream from his mouth, allowing the fire to form into its true appearance. The flames contorted in the air, squeezing and shifting before finally settling into the shape of a huge dragon head. Charmander let out a roar, echoing its creator the blue fire dragon did so too before clamping it's jaws down on the unfortunate Starly. As the jaws closed the fire head exploded in an awesome show of light. As the fire dissipated into a smoke cloud the Starly fell, twirling towards the earth, leaving a trail of smoke as it fell. Zac was quick on the uptake he activated one of the balls already in his hands and with an overhand hurl, threw it directly at the falling bird.
The pokeball struck the Starly smartly on the forehead. The bird let out a squawk as its body was morphed into the strange red light trademark of a pokeball before the ball opened and the Starly's essence was pulled inside. The White and red ball fell to the forest floor, landing perfectly upright. It wiggled once, Zac watched intently, twice, Zac felt the pressure building, three times, Zac could feel his anxiety in his throat, and with a final click the ball settled.
Zac sprinted forward, grabbing Charmander under his arms and lifted him into the air, spinning him about his body, laughs joyously. "You did it buddy!" He looked over at the ball lying in the ash of the forest floor. He set Charmander back on the ground, approaching the pokeball with a mix of awe and apprehensiveness. Grabbing the ball he lifted it to his face for an inspection. "I caught my first Pokemon" he thought. "Now to train it."