This was a toughy to write but it was worth it. Alot of character development here and this will probably the last time I touch on Flame's past for a while. I also cleared up a few things about his behaviour regarding all of the 'throwing self in harms way' stuff he does.

It is a bit dialog ridden though, nearly no action at all apart from the small piece of foreshadowing. Bloomin 'eck, this was a long Episode. Good thing I had it half finished last night or I think my fingers would have fallen off.

Comments pwease, as usual, or I'll make Flame cry again.

Episode Sixty-Five: Past vs Present

I didn't know for how long I ran but I had left the others far behind. The tears were flowing freely by now as I vividly remembered the day that had scarred me for life. My head was swarming with images of death and destruction. Nina and the Flareon had both perished while I could do naught.

All those that I had managed to save in the Rocket's hideout, they all fled the moment they had the chance. Just like my brother once did. Was I doomed to repeat the same misfortunes over and over again. I tripped over a tree root and fell to the floor

"Why? Why torment me so?" I yelled to the world. I yelled it to the earth, to the wind and the waves and even to my own burning flame.

"Very melodramatic," came a chuckle from behind me as the familiar form of Mew hopped down from a tree.

"What do you want now?" I said, climbing to my feet and wiping my tears away.

"I want to help."

"How?" I yelled, the tears coming up once more, "how can you help me with this?"

"Easily, if you'd calm down and let me."

"I don't want your help, or that of anyone else!"

"Then what do you want then?" Mew said as he looked at me, eye to eye, "pity? A hug? What?"

I looked down at the floor to try and get my thoughts in order. After about a minute of silence, I returned my gaze to Mew.

"I want," I started, "to be left alone. I want to be in control of my own life without people watching over me all the time."

Mew seemed generally apolagectic and nodded, "I can understand that. But, before I leave you to drown in your misery, I have to tell you something."

"What?" I asked, wondering why Mew had suddenly lost all of the cryptic crap.

"I was the reason that you survived that day with only that scar on your face. I was too late to save your sister and for that, I must apolagise."

I was stunned by this, but quickly recovered and answered, "you are the one who saved me?"

"I was looking after you before you were even born. I stopped your egg being eaten on three seperate occasions."

"Why?"

"Because you still have a vital role to play. I couldn't let your story end before it even began."

"Back to the cryptic crap, I see," I managed to say with a small smile.

Mew laughed at this, "of course. I wouldn't be me if I didn't confuse you. And you wouldn't be Flame, the heroic Charmander, if you kept up the pity trip."

My smile vanished at the word 'heroic'.

"I am no Hero."

"You saved over a hundred Pokémon from Team Rocket and managed to save the Flareon's kits from certain doom. I'd say that makes you a hero. And I have not even mentioned what you did for that clan of Ratatas."

My brain agreed with Mew on that one but something still didn't ring true, "I was never alone. I always had help."

"True. The Ninetails was the only reasion you managed to escape Team Rocket and without the Umbreon, the Hypno may have managed to achieve his goal."

"So I am no Hero."

Mew sighed, "Flame. Heroes very rarely work alone. They always have friends and allies behind them. That was what gives them the power and focus to keep going. That is what allowed you to defeat the Hypno all those times. It is that same reason that made you run back into the cave in and save the rest of those inside. It is that reason that allowed you to keep going dispite your injuries. It is that same reason that makes you stand out from the rest, you will throw your life on the line in order to protect others and inspire others to do the same."

"Only so I do not end up like my brother," I muttered.

"Then, stop running away from your past. You told Spiral to move on, you should do the same. The past may have sucked, but the future is what you want it to be."

We both stood in silence for a while as I thought over Mew's words. Eventually, I nodded and smiled.

"Your right."

"I always am," Mew laughed, with me joining in.

"One last thing," I said with a deadpan expression, "how do I get back to the others? I'm kinda lost."

"Just follow your instincts," Mew replied and vanished from my sight.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked the air around me, "that made no sense what so ever. So I have to wander around at random and hope I strike lucky?"

My talking to myself was interrupted, however, by a growl coming from the bushes. I turned to look and was greeted by two yellow orbs staring back. The face of the Persian appeared inside the branches as it stepped into the open. I knew it was the same one by the, still massive, burn on its side.

"Oh crap," I muttered, backing away as the Persian looked at me. I was amazed that it hadn't just attacked without any warning, but that amazement was overruled by the fact that it looked ready to eat my face.

"It isn't here," the Persian growled, glaring at me while I was trying to back through a tree. The cat Pokémon turned away and left, which was more suprising seeing as I had killed its boss. I stayed backed up against the tree for several minutes untill I was sure that it had gone.

'What the hell was that about?' I asked myself, wonding if any of the others would know, 'Oh shit. The Others!'

I turned tail and legged it in the opposite direction of the Persian, not knowing if I was even going the right way.

"Next time," I muttered, "I'll try to look were I'm going while running away and crying."

Although, I didn't perticually want there to be a 'next time'

I heard voices coming from somewhere to my left, so I skidded to a halt and went to have a looksie.

"Still no sign of him. Damn that Flame. Why did he get that upset over such a stupid thing?"

I moved so that I was hidden from the speakers view by a tree and peeked round it.

Typical Pika, pacing in circles while Squirtle was sat in the middle.

"Would you stop that? You're making me dizzy," he told the Pikachu.

"He had no right to have a pop at you like that!"

"I couldn't exactly blame him for losing it like that. If you latched onto someone as a makeshift mom and watched her die slowly while the one that was supposed to protect you ran away, you'd be pretty upset yourself."

"Even so, he should have gotten over it by now."

"Think about it for a second, he was born into the wild and had a mistrust of humans. He was reclusive when I first met him, I barely got a word out of him. He had obviously not spoken to anyone in a long time. He'd built up all of the emotions inside him for a few years, maybe, and hadn't been able to let any of it loose. We set him off and the rockslide of emotion just kept getting bigger and bigger untill he couldn't handle it and ran away."

Pika stood, staring down at Squirtle as though he had some diesese.

"Since when did you have so much insight?"

"I'd been thinking about it for a while. That and Flame isn't the only Charmander I've come across so I know how they think. There was a small group of them at Pallet Town, around the same age as me so I pretty much grew up with them."

"So that makes you the expert, does it?" Pika blurted out, sparks beginning to fly.

"No, not by a long shot, I'm just a little more familiar with the species than most. The bigger ones always used to pick on the smallest, who I had to rescue from trouble several times. The little one followed me everywhere, a bit like what Flame must have done with his sister."

"So Flame was the runt of the litter?" Pika said, slowly getting ready for her own temper tantrum.

"If you want to use that phrase, yeah. He did react a fair bit when Frank had called Spiral a runt, so I figured that bit out a long time ago and pieced the rest together just now. Elementary, my dear Pika."

I could tell that the sudden explanation made her see sense as her temper suddenly deflated and she plonked herself down next to Squirtle.

"That would make sense."

"It also explains why he doesn't like talking about the past and why he reacted so much to the Flareon being killed."

"Because it had happened to him!" Pika cried, as it all became clear to her. I had to hand it to Squirtle, he'd figured it out on his own.

"I think that is why he saved the Eevee too, because he was in the same boat a long time before and he didn't want them to turn out like himself. You remember how jolly and playfull he was when we were raising them?" Squirtle said, looking at the electric Pokémon that sat beside him.

"Yeah, I'd never seen him joke around so much."

"I'm pretty sure that those kits had reawakened his childhood self which took over from the usual grumpy and elusive Flame that we know and love."

"It also explains why he went crazy back there in Cerulean. He must have blamed himself for the death of his sister and nearly losing Blacky brought those memories to the front of his mind," Pika said.

"Exactly, you're getting the hang of this analasis lark," Squirtle told his 'student'

"Now I'm even more worried. If he got that upset, who knows what he would do."

I stepped out into the open, still out of view from the two Pokémon.

"I'd listen to you two retell my life story," I said, loudly. Pika lept upright and spun round.

"Flame!"

"Yep, the last time I checked I believe that was my name."

"You came back!"

"No," I said, sarcasticaly, "I ran away and this is just a figment of your imagination."

"Back to normal, I see," Squirtle laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about losing it."

"Okay, maybe not. You are actually apolagising," came the turtle Pokémon's retort.

"I'll unapolagise then."