Chapter 20: Purification
"Thunderlord Zapdos? Who gave ya that name?" Pyre didn't seem to be taking the situation seriously.
Gengar and Team Jerkwads however, were completely shaken. They seemed to be terrified, and paralyzed in place, as was Cobalt.
"Pyre, I don't think you should be joking right now. Look." Cobalt pointed toward the large bird's face, directly at the burned in claw mark.
Something within Pyre tensed up and he lost his grin. Some primal part of him told him he had to fight, to save not only Diglett and Metapod, but Zapdos as well.
Team Jerkwads suddenly rushed for the exit carrying Metapod off with them.
"Pyre, what do we do?" Ivy was more calm, or at least hid his fear well.
"Go find Diglett."
"What are you gonna.."
Ivy was cut off by Pyre's serious tone. "Just find Diglett."
Looking at the Charmander had Ivy stunned, something about how stoic he looked, it only made the snivy's heart beat faster for Pyre. "O-okay. Come on Cobalt."
"Hey, Zappy!?" Pyre shouted, making the thunderbird snap to attention and glare at him. "I'm not leaving you here. Not like this."
"Then you will die." As Pyre watched the legendary pokemon, its aura seemed to change, it lost the bright yellow color it had, and had been replaced by a pitch black aura. The same one he'd seen on Swindle and Moon. The exact same one, no distinction at all. At once Zapdos dive-bombed toward Pyre stabbing his beak into the ground.
Pyre had just barely managed to avoid the attack, and he immediately retaliated by belching flames from his maw and striking the thunderbird. It had little effect on the legendary bird. In a flash Zapdos thrust its beak forth again trying to stab him. Pyre couldn't avoid it, but was able to catch the pointed beak. Despite his physical strength the Charmander skidded back into a wall slamming hard into it as Zapdos tried again and again to peck and stab Pyre with its beak.
Up against a wall Pyre didn't have much space to move, luckily for him he was much smaller than Zapdos, and that beak was thin and precise which meant any space was enough to dodge it.
"You move too much! Let's see how you move around now!" Zapdos took flight and twisted itself into a spinning motion in the air, and when it unfurled its wings lightning rained down from above.
Pyre wasn't that fast and was struck by several bolts of lightning.
"PYRE!" Ivy called out as he dug himself into the ground sprouting dozens of vines from the cracked and craggy surface of the mountain peak. The vines were not nearly long enough to hit Zapdos, let alone hinder its flight, but they were enough to shield Pyre's convulsing body.
"Insolent pest!" Zapdos turned its attention to the snivy. Electricity seemed to gather around its body quickly. "I'll turn you to ash!"
Given his position, the snivy had no way of avoiding what was about to come. With a crackle of thunder Zapdos furled his wings up and prepared to let loose a powerful electric blast. But before he was able to, he felt something wet blast across one of his wings. And he found it hurt more than any water based attack should. Looking down the thunderbird found mud slathered over his wing.
"Leave my friends alone you big jerk!" Cobalt cried out, getting the legendary bird's attention.
"So many pests to destroy." It resumed charging electricity around it. "I'll just destroy you all in one go!" The electricity swarmed faster and seemed to be affecting Cobalt and Ivy. The static in the air had them rooted in place, paralyzed.
Pyre, under the covers of Ivy's vines was still convulsing from the several direct hits he took, but forced himself to stand up and push out of the vines. "No…I'm not letting you, I'm not letting anyone get hurt! Not again!" The Charmander was wreathed in bright orange flames as he took a running start, but once he leapt into the air to perform flare blitz the flames burst into their gorgeous signature sapphire color. The Charmander blasted off like a rocket slamming into Zapdos from behind, the momentum of the impact pushing them both higher into the air.
With a massive explosion of cerulean flames and a sudden burst of golden lightning in every direction, the two pokemon separated. Pyre was barely conscious as he descended, but he saw Zapdos had recovered and was diving straight after him.
The thunderbird slammed beak first into him, intending to use the rocky floor of the mountaintop to give enough resistance to impale the Charmander.
"I'm sorry Zapdos…I…I couldn't save you…" Pyre reached out and up the long beak, the tips of his fingers alone touched the edge of the burned in claw mark. "I'm sorry…" a single tear left his eye, and due to the momentum and gravity hit his hand and flowed onto the mark. Those two touches ignited the mark in a blinding sapphire light.
Pyre was unconscious before they ever hit the ground. Though unconscious wasn't quite right.
"PYRE! " Ivy held the Charmander close, his body completely limp, his heart wasn't beating. "Hey, stay with me Pyre, come on!" The snivy lightly hit his chest in a vain attempt to restart his heart. "Please, come on Pyre, please come back to me." This continued for a few moments before the snivy pulled him close. He whispered quietly "please, I love you Pyre, don't leave me…" and he kissed the charmander. "Please Pyre….."
"Move, I can help him." Zapdos' voice came from behind. Something was different, Cobalt and Ivy looked him over for a moment. The claw mark was gone, as if it had never been there to begin with.
"S-save him…please…" Ivy hesitantly stepped away.
Zapdos loomed over the Charmander. "You freed me. Thank you. Pyre." Zapdos bowed his head and let a small electric jolt flow down into Pyre. The charmander's body shook for a moment, and settled, his chest rising and falling gently. "Thank you all." He turned to Cobalt and Ivy. "Who are you?"
"Cobalt, and this is Ivy. We're Rescue Team Sentinels!" The mudkip said with pride, a relieved smile on his face.
Ivy had since carefully lifted Pyre into his arms, using vines to help himself carry the Charmander like an unconscious princess.
"Thank you, Rescue Team Sentinels. Your bravery has left quite an impression on me. You may call upon me when you need my strength."
"Thanks, we'll give ya a call if we need ya!"
"Thank you, for saving Pyre." Ivy held the Charmander close still.
"Oh, before we forget, you wouldn't happen to have seen a Diglett around here would ya?"
At that moment a small creature burst from the ground. "Hi, th-that's me! Did my dad send you?"
"Yep, and we're here to get you home." Cobalt gave a reassuring smile.
"Oh thank you so much, I'm so glad I get to go home! I was so scared, but you guys were so brave and awesome!"
"Let's head back, Pyre needs some rest after that." Ivy carefully carried the Charmander toward the exit.
*Within Pyre's Dream*
The Charmander was smiling wider than he had in a long time. He was cuddled close to Cynder. It didn't feel real, but he was so happy.
"I missed you so much."
"I missed you too Pyre."
"It's been so hard to go on Cynder…without you…it hurts." The charmander held the fennekin close.
Everything started to fade from the dream and the two were being pulled apart.
Cybder spoke up holding tight to Pyre. "Hey, stay with me Pyre, come on!"
"I'm trying, I can't hold on…" he felt his clawed hands lose their grip on the fox pokemon. The two drifted farther apart and Pyre started trying to swim through the empty air back to his love.
"Please, come on Pyre, please come back to me." Cynder called out, doing the same.
"I-I'm trying, I'm not leaving you again, I promise!"
The two managed to be close enough to hold each other, but the thing pulling them apart only pulled harder. "Please, I love you Pyre, don't leave me…" and the two kissed passionately. "Please Pyre….." those were the last things Cynder said as he was yanked away from her.
*Mt Calamity, The Waking World*
The way the barrier contorted and bent to accommodate the clawed hands pushing against it was strange. Despite the searing pain the calamitous being kept his arms extended holding both Swindle and Moon up by their throats with his own hands. The pressure alone would have been painful, but given the dark creature's grip had them pressed tight against the barrier, they felt more than just a searing crushing force around their windpipes. "I told you to kill him before he reached the peak. And now that you have failed Zapdos has been freed from my grasp, and Pyre still lives. So tell me, why should I spare your miserable lives?"
"But master, Eclipse is the one that failed to beat Pyre!" Moon choked out her words.
"He was not meant to defeat him. I sent him to weaken Pyre, and see the difference between them. The two of you were supposed to finish the job. I sent you to kill him. Yet you could not even wound his allies. Clearly you do not take my threats seriously." The dark voice turned toward the onyx tailed Charmander as he dropped the two pokemon. "Eclipse. He's all yours." Swindle feltna strange energy fill him, as if his mind was seeing his body from the outside. He watched in horror as he stepped before Eclipse and dropped to all fours lifting his tail.
"Master, please, we see you're serious!"
"Evidently not. Take what belongs to you, Eclipse."
"Yes, father." The Charmander moved himself into position. "Don't worry, Swindle, I'll be gentle. At first."
*Firelink Square*
Ivy hadn't left Pyre since they returned to their shared home. The snivy was sitting with Pyre's head in his lap while Cobalt handled their clients.
"Thank you for saving my little Diglett."
"Not a problem Dugtrio, that's what we're here for. To help those in need."
"If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask. I'll even join your rescue team if you want!"
"No need for that, we could use more members, but you needed help, so you don't have to offer to help us to pay us back."
"Such generosity." The Dugtrio smiled.
"When I grow up, I wanna join your rescue team and be heroes like you guys!" Diglett spoke up.
Cobalt turned to Caterpie and Metapod. "Those Jerkwads aren't getting credit for my rescue." Metapod spoke quickly. "Especially since they basically blackmailed Caterpie, and just sorta kidnapped me."
"When we're strong enough, we'll help you guys out in any way we can! And I won't take no for an answer." Caterpie smiled.
"Thank you guys. We appreciate it." Cobalt smiled back. "We should all get out of here, give them some privacy."
All together the five pokemon exited the building.
And now Ivy and Pyre were alone together. The snivy had been hugging the charmander tight. But once the others were gone Ivy repositioned himself on top of Pyre and began gently rubbing the sleeping char's groin. "Let me give you something nice to wake up to." After only a few moments Pyre's rod was fully erect and the snivy held himself just over the charmander, preparing to seat himself on his friend's member.
Guilty filled the snivy and he removed himself. He didn't want to just mate with Pyre now. He wanted more than that, he wanted to experience the love and passion Pyre had to give. He wanted Pyre to love him. Ivy carefully cuddled up close to Pyre and shut his eyes letting sleep overtake him.
*Later*
Pyre carefully removed himself from beside Ivy, leaving the snivy to sleep.
The fire type felt empty inside, and he hurt all over, even so the most pressing issue he found was that he was surprisingly aroused. Looking down he saw himself throbbing.
He moved to stand outside and found it was night time. He needed air, he needed a lot more than that though. It was like the gaping hole left by Cynder had only gotten bigger. He slowly walked toward the town. It wasn't a long trip, he found himself in the main square entrance rather abruptly. More specifically he found himself standing in front of the Kecleon Shop. He sat down resting his head against the counter. He curled his legs in on himself and sobbed into his legs. Tears cascaded from his eyes relentlessly as he quietly cried into the night.
Though he hadn't meant to bother anyone, the Kecleon brothers had heard him from inside their home.
"Hey, you alright?"
"We heard you from inside, and we were worried."
Pyre looked up and saw the green and purple chameleons peaking over the counter.
"I…I'm all alone." Pyre kept crying. "I lost the love of my life, and it was all my fault."
The two brothers carefully pulled Pyre over the counter. He didn't resist.
Green spoke first. "Don't say that, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to blame yourself."
Purple chimed in. "Yeah, Green is right, they'd definitely want you to forgive yourself."
"I know that…it just…"
"Hurts right?" Purple spoke up again.
"But that pain just shows how real it was. Even if you never find someone like that again, you clearly experienced a love few others can say they have."
"I..I guess you're right."
Purple seemed to have taken notice of something as they walked Pyre into their home. And he gave a short downward nod toward Green. The two directed their movements toward what appeared to be a single large bed.
"Ya know what helps me and Purple when we're down?" Green asked as they sat on the bed together.
"What?"
The purple Kecleon reached down and began caressing Pyre's legs. "A nice distraction." The two gently pushed him to lay back on the bed.
"Let us, distract you from your pain." Green caressed his chest carefully as they prepared for what came next.