I haven't seen any of Episode N or Ash's Charizard returning, so this story WILL NOT fit into the anime's canon. But, it will be in relation to Ash's Charizard meeting up with Ash in Isshu.
Also, Liza is probably super OOC, I apologize in advance.
Story of Liza: CharizardShipping
"W-what? You're going to return with Charizard to Charific Valley?" Iris asked. Her Axew poked its head out of her hair, a look of surprise on its face.
"Sure," Ash said, patting his Charizard's head. "I feel like I could use a trip back to Johto for a little bit. Besides, I should probably thank Liza for her help with taking care of Charizard."
"But if you drop your Charizard off, how will you get back?" Cilan questioned, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'll just have him bring me back," Ash answered. He turned to the Lizard Pokémon. "Is that all right, Charizard?"
The Flame Pokémon growled happily and let a tiny flame escape its mouth.
"Okay," Cilan crossed his arms. "It's a long trip, so make sure you pack enough to eat. If you need me to, I'll whip up a few sandwiches for you."
"Sure, thanks a bunch!" Ash beamed. "I'll be sure to give you a call when I get there. I don't plan on staying too long, so don't miss me too much!"
"Oh, whatever," Iris waved her hand and smirked. "Who would miss a kid like you?"
They spent the night in the forest, Ash and Iris helping Cilan with dinner and all of the sandwiches for Ash's trip. Cilan had to make sure to tell him not to eat them all before he even got back to Johto, to which Ash chuckled and said he couldn't make any promises.
He set out early the next morning on the back of his Charizard with Pikachu on his shoulder. Most of the trip was over the ocean, but the group of three had fun flying along with the Wingull and Pelipper that decided to join them. Plus below them, plenty of other Water-types like Luvdisc and Basculin leapt out of the water. After some time, Ash began to notice mainly Johto-native Pokémon such as Chinchou and Tentacool under the water. He assumed he was getting closer.
Ash asked Charizard to take a break near a Pokémon Center close to the mountain so that they could eat, make the phone call to Cilan and Iris that they had made it successfully back, and rest. It was already getting late, so Ash would just take the trip up the mountain in the morning.
"Wow, it's been so long!" Ash said as he reached the main gate of Charific Valley. He spotted a few Charizard flying around and many others just relaxing.
He then heard footsteps quickly approaching him. He glanced over to his right and saw the familiar green-haired leader of the Valley.
"Hello, this is Charific Valley! May I help—?" she paused when she noticed who had just walked through the gates. "A-Ash! What are you doing here?"
"Just figured I'd stop by and visit," he smiled. "It's been awhile, Liza! How are you?"
"I'm great!" she returned Ash's grin. "Wow, I certainly wasn't expecting to see you."
"Yeah, I thought I'd have Charizard being me back so I could thank you for all of your help with training him."
Liza's eyes widened. "What? I mean, you don't have to do that! That is really nice of you, though. But did you really come all the way out here just to tell me that?"
"Well, I've been pretty busy recently so why not take a break?" he adjusted his hat.
"Oh, all right," Liza said.
Suddenly, they both heard a roar in the distance. They spun around to notice a Charizard fast approaching them. Ash recognized it immediately by the bow sitting atop its head.
"Charla!" Ash said, and his Charizard perked up beside him. Charla landed before Charizard and the two of them danced around together. "Well, they look happy to see each other again."
Liza fidgeted. "Yeah, you're right. Hey," she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Why don't we go in the house and I'll make you some tea?"
"Sure, that sounds great!" Ash said. "We can catch up while the Charizard do!"
Liza smirked at his chuckle. "Of course."
Ash spent the next hour in Liza's living room excitedly explaining all of his adventures through Isshu, which Liza was happy to hear about considering it was a new region she had never heard of before. He spoke of his new friends, the wonderful Gym Leaders, the big cities of Nimbasa and Castelia, and of all the cool new Pokémon he had encountered. When Liza asked if he could describe them, he walked over and sat right next to her on the couch to show her his Pokédex. She flinched at the unexpected close contact.
"And this is an Axew!" he showed off the little Dragon-type Pokémon. "My friend Iris has one and it's really cute for a Dragon-type. Y'know, how most Dragons are fearsome, right?"
"Y-yeah," she said in a fluster. "Well, I'm really glad you're having a lot of fun with your new friends."
"Yeah, it's really awesome!" he smiled. "So, how about you? You spend a lot of time on this mountain. Do you ever go out?"
She turned her head away, brushing some of her green hair away from her face. "Not really. I don't have many friends and there's never really anywhere to go."
"What?" Ash gasped. "I just flew with my Charizard across the ocean from a region pretty far away. You're telling me you can't have Charla take you a small distance to one of the nearby cities?"
"But what for?" Liza shrugged. "What is there to do?"
"Liza, there's plenty to do!" Ash suddenly jumped up off of the couch. "I surely know; I've taken my own trip around this region with my friends. There's so much you're missing out on!"
"I guess," Liza averted her gaze elsewhere. "But even so, like I said, I don't really have anyone I'm close to…"
"Why don't we go take a trip together? Maybe we can go to Olivine City and explore the Lighthouse together. There's a restaurant on the bottom floor and I'm sure I can ask Jasmine to let us go to the top. Does that sound nice?"
Liza blinked a few times before responding. "U-um, sure. That sounds…really nice."
"Awesome!" Ash threw a fist into the air. "Why don't we do that tonight then?"
"Okay," she nodded.
"I'm gonna go see what Charizard and Charla are up to," he said, rushing toward the door. Liza watched him walk out and then began to panic. She dashed to her room and flung her closet door open.
I'm going to hang out with Ash tonight! she flipped through all of her clothes, a few of them nearly falling off the hangers. B-but, my clothes are so weird! What the hell am I gonna wear? I've never been out and about with someone else before!
She then paused and smiled. No, I'm sure Ash won't mind regardless of what I wear. I don't really need to look exceptionally pretty. I'm a tough girl! I don't need frilly dresses or anything.
She stared at her wardrobe for a minute before sighing. Not that I have any anyway…
Ash perked up when he saw Liza walk out in another outfit. It wasn't anything fancy, but it looked nice on her. It was a light blue sleeveless turtleneck with a dark blue miniskirt. It was probably the most casual that Ash had ever seen her.
"Hey, Liza!" he waved to her. "You look nice!"
"Really?" a tinge of red lined her cheeks. "T-thanks."
"Are you ready to go?" he asked, petting his Charizard's wing. "Charizard is ready when you are!"
Liza bowed to the large orange lizard. "Sure, I'm ready now."
Ash attempted to help Liza up on the Charizard, but considering she was the expert she had already mounted the Pokémon. Ash sighed and hopped on in front of her. Liza yelled for the other Charizard to behave themselves while she was gone.
"Okay, Charizard, take us to Olivine!" he ordered. The Fire and Flying-type roared and flapped its wings, picking up its feet to leave the ground.
"If it's easier for you, you can hold onto me," Ash said behind him to Liza. She had trained enough with the Charizard to be able to hold steadily onto them, but she went ahead and wrapped her arms around Ash's waist.
"Ash," she said over his shoulder, the wind blowing her hair around. Good thing she didn't really bother with brushing it because it would have been pointless. "I'd just like to say thanks for offering to take me out. That was really nice of you."
"Hey, no problem!" he called back. "You really deserve it for all the hard work you put into training. I'm glad I was able to get you off of the mountain for a bit!"
She smiled brightly, resting her head onto his back. She was so happy that he had returned and hoped that maybe she could convince him to stay for awhile at dinner.
But she decided not to worry so much about the near future and made sure to pay close attention to the great night at the Lighthouse.