As the two fire types started to cross the valley, Cyndaquil started to think about the past and how she got to met Charmander in the first place, she looked into the blue eyes of her partner at the thought, who didn´t notice it right away. Charmander was concentrating on getting out of the valley as quick as possible. Then he looked at Cyndaquil, who was grinning at the lizard Pokémon. "Is there something on me? " Charmander asked who was a bit scared. "No, it's just that I feel so much for you, I am so glad to have you as a friend, I feel so much safer with you around." She said. "I like you a lot too, you´re a really kindhearted Pokémon and words can hardly express what you mean to me" Charmander said , while stroking Cyndaquil head. The feeling of her friend's scales on her head made her blush a little, but it also made her confident, that her feelings were not ignored. Charmander looked at the cooled lava on his leg that had been broken the other day. "Say, Cyndaquil, how long do I actually need to wear this?" Charmander said, pointing towards the synthetic gypsum. "I´d say at least until tomorrow." Cyndaquil replied, looking at her friend's leg.
As the sun started to sink out of the center of the sky, the two Pokémon moved towards the mountain range. Charmander occasionally thought they were being watched, so he looked around a little bit more often then usual, but there was never anything in sight, that seemed threatening. However, no one could know for sure about things in this wilderness, as surprise attacks could occur anytime. After about an hour of walking they at last reached the other end of the valley, without running into any hostile Pokémon. "Well let´s get up there." Charmander said to Cyndaquil, who was looking up to the top of the mountain, which seemed especially high, because they were standing so close to it. "I hope we do. " Cyndaquil said, before she followed Charmander, who had already started to climb up .
From behind, she could watch her friend's flame, which seemed pretty calm, and she also could see Charmanders white soles. Cyndaquil was thinking if her fire was any hotter than his. The climbing by now felt like some sort of routine and as the two Pokémon slowly gained height the view of the valley got better. Cyndaquil scanned the area, especially looking out for the left behind Snivy, who she was actually worried about. But not a soul was seen around.
After another hour passed, the two fire Pokémon at last reached the top. "All right!" Charmander said, because to his surprise that mountain was an active volcano, which was filled with a lot of lava right now. Charmander slowly got into the fiery liquid, Cyndaquil quickly followed her friend into the crater. The lizard Pokémon could feel as the heat helped to wash away the stress from the past few days. He noticed a little projection of solid rock under the lava, which he sat on. Cyndaquil swam over to her fire loving friend. "Hmmm it´s so warm here, I could fall asleep." she said, while taking a closer look at Charmander. His blue eyes always made her think about the sky and about the future and in some way, she was sure, good things were in store as long as the lizard Pokémon was around.
She grabbed Charmanders right hand, the feeling of those scales was strange, but she liked it, on the other side, she could feel, how rough they were, especially around his claws, due to all the fighting and climbing from the past few days. She rubbed her head against Charmanders rather yellowish belly. Charmander was amazed by Cyndaquil, he never thought someone could like him this much . Somehow, he enjoyed the company of the fiery hedgehog as much as she did. Charmander started to stroke Cyndaquil´s back, although it was burning. At that moment Cyndaquil felt some kind of kinship with Charmander as no other type of Pokémon would able to do that without getting burned. Time passed as the two Pokémon enjoyed the relax break.
The sun slowly started to sink, as Cyndaquil got out of the crater, she spotted something in the distance that caught her eye. A pretty big Cave was quite a bit away from the volcano, there was also a wooden sign right next to it. Charmander also took a good look at the weird entrance. "Maybe it´s were we need to be." Charmander said to Cyndaquil. "But I doubt we´ll make it before the sun sets and I definitely don´t want to be wandering out here in the dark." The lizard Pokémon said. Cyndaquil shivered at the thought of something that could catch them of guard at night. "It´s pretty safe here anyway, right?" Cyndaquil said, looking at Charmander. Then she noticed that the lava brace she had made, was gone. It took a few moments for her to realize, that it had melted away in the lava pool.
"How is your leg." She asked. "It only hurts, when I put a lot of pressure on it." Charmander reported. "Maybe if your leg is better by tomorrow, we won´t need another lava brace." Cyndaquil figured. Then she yawned loudly. "I feel sooo tired, but on the other side, if it weren´t for you, I probably wouldn´t be sleeping here." She said, looking at her friend, whom she started to accept as some sort of leader. "Still, if you hadn´t helped me out with that guy, I would have been finished." Charmander said, looking into Cyndaquil's little eyes, although it was sometimes hard to tell if they were actually open, he could feel, how much those words encouraged Cyndaquil.
Charmander lay down next to Cyndaquil, who just starred at her lizard friend, it was almost a little bit frightening, but he could tell, she didn´t do it out of a bad purpose. The fire type lay down on his back, exposing his belly. Cyndaquil rubbed her head against it, before she fell asleep. She could actually hear Charmanders fire burning inside. She was very certain, nothing could endanger her. Charmander started to sleep rather quickly, as he was pretty worn out from the days twists and turns.
As the sun, once again set on the landscape another day passed. A day of survival, a day of fear, but it was good day, which brought the close ones even closer together. Additionally, their goal was at last within sight, but something already told them, they weren´t getting there the easy way.
-End of chapter 14-