"Chansey~!"

The soft cry of the Egg Pokémon drew Ash's attention from the view of the city he had from behind the window of the Celadon City Pokémon Center. It was nowhere near as large as the one in Saffron, but it was still relatively massive in contrast to some of the other places they visited. And for good reason considering how bustling it was.

Saffron was a connecting point to Johto Region and in the heart of the Kanto Region, so it was probably the most modernistic city within Kanto. Vermillion had the largest port, bringing in traffic via the ocean from the islands to the south and even further still. Celadon offered a connection to Fuchsia and the other western areas in addition to Saffron, which made it almost as lively with numerous forms of entertainment and retail.

Looking over to the Chansey, smiling softly while covered in soft pink fur, he noticed that she was carrying a tray that held within it a single poké ball. Charmeleon's ball. His chest tightened as he reached out to take it once more.

"Will Charmeleon be okay now?" Misty asked. The Waterflower of Cerulean had been sitting across from him until now, Pikachu napping within her lap.

"Fortunately, there were no complications," Nurse Joy of Celadon explained, approaching from behind the Egg Pokémon. "The poison was removed but, given that he had been enraged, I had to sedate him for the entire process. He probably won't be aware of the full scope of what has happened if he was in the middle of a battle, so he might be on edge. If you are going to let him out, I would suggest doing so in the training field."

"It wasn't like we meant for it to happen," Ash said, as though preemptively trying to shield himself from the guilt he felt over the situation.

Nurse Joy only softly shook her head and offered kind words. "Mankey and Primeape are known to linger around the travel path so dealing with the results of their rampage tends to be nothing out of the ordinary. Just take some time to reassure him that everything will be all right and console him since evolution due to those kinds of circumstances tends to upset the pokémon, as they had not been expecting it and may need to adjust to their new forms."

Their duty done, Nurse Joy and Chansey made their way back to their station while leaving the two trainers to contemplate what they were told. Charmander had been injured and likely not even fully cognizant of what was happening before he evolved and flew into using Rage. It was a matter of pure survival and if he awoke suddenly in a new place, he was likely to lash out until he settled down.

That was why he had been sedated along with Fearow and Primeape after Brock had made Nurse Joy aware of the situation. The rest of their pokémon had been treated relatively quickly since their injuries were lighter, with the thing being harmed the most severely being their pride. But those three had been out of control and each of them was a second-stage pokémon, making them a lot more dangerous to handle.

Ash wasn't too fond of Fearow or Spearow considering how he'd nearly been mauled to death by them on his journey's beginning. The fact that Gina said that she would deal with him on her own had worried him, but she rejected anyone else going with her. And at least Gina had been raising Spearow so chances were he probably would not attack her—or at the very least she could defend herself.

The same could not be said with Primeape. The Pig Monkey Pokémon had been so angry that he attacked without rhyme or reason. Running on purely primal instinct guiding him towards hurting whatever was near him, the fact that Brock said he would deal with it alone worried Ash as well.

Then there was Charmander, who had always been a sweet and loyal pokémon since Ash had saved him from his previous trainer. Just seeing him so enraged and bloodthirsty had been a shock that he couldn't get over at the time. If that was his default nature now, then… what could Ash do about it?

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Misty reassured him, as if reading his mind. "You just need to speak with him from the heart."

"…Right…" Adjusting his hat so that it obscured his eyes for a moment to hide his uncertainty, Ash rose to his feet. Pikachu stirred at the moment, head rising from Misty's lap as he moved to follow his trainer. Misty slid from her seat as well, joining the two of them heading out to the training field.

Once they were outside, Ash enlarged Charmeleon's ball to set it back into an active state. Then he took a deep breath before tossing it out. "Come on out."

The ball burst open. Light spilled out, taking on the shape of the Flame Pokémon before the details filled in. Shaking his head as he came to awareness after being put to sleep, Charmeleon's eyes sharpened and he began to look around while his claws tensed as though ready to rip through flesh. "CHAR! CHAR!"

"Easy there," Ash said, holding his hands up and gesturing for him to calm down. "That battle is over. You ended up poisoned, so I had to return you to your ball and wait for Nurse Joy to heal you. We're in Celadon City now."

That was when Misty added in, "The fighting got violent, and you wound up evolving. Remember?"

"Meleon?" Charmeleon's brow rose before looking over himself. His eyes focused on how the softer orange color of his body had become a deeper shade of red as a result of the evolution as he traced up his longer arms and then settled onto the sharpened claws adorning them. A swish of the tail revealed how his flame burned stronger to show he was brimming with more vitality.

Then he froze in place as the fleeting memories hidden behind the drowsy haze cleared. The flash of his claws, the snarls and bloodlust, all of it returned. It left him stumbling back a few steps as he came to terms with everything up until now. "Ch-Char…"

"Easy there." Ash stepped forward and then dropped to a knee. "I'm sorry that I didn't come up with a better plan. Will you be okay like this?"

Reluctance. Hesitation. The Flame Pokémon paused rigidly as though afraid of his trainer… no. Not of Ash, but of himself and what he could do. He recalled how ferocious he had been, the throes of violence, and was afraid of losing himself to that.

It was Pikachu who came over. "Pi-Pika?"

"Char." He flicked his tail and then gestured to himself. "Me-Meleon?"

The Electric Mouse Pokémon shook his head before patting him on his arm. "Chu. Chu."

Ash managed to pick up the conversation after a moment from Charmeleon's body language. He thought himself to be scary compared to before. It was just as Nurse Joy had stated. So, Ash leaned forward and pulled him into a gentle embrace. "You're not scary at all, Charmeleon."

The Flame Pokémon reciprocated, burying his head into Ash's chest and gingerly bringing his arms around him. Relief flooded Ash. Even though his form had changed, it seemed that he was still his Charmander.

"I think he'll probably be fine as long as he doesn't use Rage again," Misty said. "Though you should help him train with his new strength. His attacks will be a lot stronger now so he might overdo it."

"Charmeleon, do you think you're still up for challenging the Gym like this?" Ash asked. He still shared the same dream of beating the Indigo Conference with his pokémon at his side. So if he was willing then Ash would place his faith that he could keep control.

On his part, Charmeleon pulled back at the question before looking over towards his tail flame. Then he nodded. "Char."

"Then let's work on it while we have the time."

[-oOo-]

Gina Oak sighed as she stretched her limbs after making it out of Celadon City. It was morning on a clear day and the sun was shining above. They were a reasonable distance away from the more urban part of the city so she should have a decent amount of privacy, just to avoid any mishaps.

"Right then…" Her thumb flicked over the poké ball she had, enlarging it before she held it out. "Come out, Fearow!"

The ball burst open. The Beak Pokémon emerged, taking shape only a meter away from her. His narrowed, intimidating eyes blinked rapidly before seesawing around to take in his surroundings. No, he was searching for his opponent. The sedative may have been out of his system, but his anger was still smoldering.

"He isn't here," Gina told him. "After you went off on him, he wound up evolving and Brock ended up having to catch him. You're not allowed to attack him ever again unless it's on my say-so."

His narrowed gaze fell onto her at the command. She could see the rage building as he rose up to his full height and spread his wings, driving his beak towards her and cawing at her for the audacity of denying what he perceived to be his right to enact vengeance. "ROW!"

Gina's hands came up. In a swift motion, she caught his beak and clamped it shut. Then she held it in place as she told him, "No, you don't get to do that anymore. You're too big now for me to let that slide."

Surprised, Fearow blinked rapidly before tugging at the grip to find it firm. He let out a muffled, "Rrow?"

"You've evolved now so I can't be as gentle on you as I was before," Gina continued. "Because if you do lose control, there will be actual consequences. Do you remember what I told you when I caught you?"

It had been some time now that she had caught him back when he was small. She had debated whether to capture a Pidgey and work it into becoming a Pidgeotto like Ash had done or forgoing a Flying-Type Pokémon all together. But, in the end, she had decided that she wanted to raise a Spearow up to bring with her to the Indigo Conference when she confronted him.

'Your kind has a bad reputation for being seen as ill-tempered and aggressive pests. But I think you've got the potential to be one of the best pokémon in Kanto. Let's go there together and prove them wrong.'

Those had been her words to Spearow after she caught him. He had put up a great fight against Nidoran and Rattata before being brought down. And, afterwards, she told him that she wanted to bring him along with her because for all his aggressiveness she thought he had what it took to be a Champion's Pokémon.

"You have two options when I let go of your beak," Gina told him. "The first is that you listen to me, and we work this out. The second is that attack me and run off, and I mean really attack me because if I can still hold your ball you're going back in and you're not coming out until I can be sure I have a means of reining you in—however long that takes."

A rumble bubbled up in his throat at the implied threat that was to be permanently sealed with a ball. If it was in an inactive state, he would be under stasis until she eventually decided to let him out. That could be years or decades.

Her eyes softened as she tried to reach out to him from the heart. "I don't want to make that call, Fearow. But if I have to decide between that or you being euthanized, I'd rather lock you away and retire from being a trainer entirely since I was the one who messed up by letting you get away with it for so long. I want to trust you. Understand?"

He gave no response barring to hold his stern gaze onto her. Then she let him go and Fearow fluffed out his wings as if to intimidate her by his new size, showing he could easily overpower her now compared to when he could only look up at her. But when Gina made no move as to run or defend herself, merely standing there with her arms crossed and a soft look on her face, he retracted them and cawed in submission. "Fearow."

It was about what she expected. For as aggressive as Spearow was, for as anti-social and proud as he was, he hadn't tried to harm her once she had caught him. Even if he could be frustratingly difficult at times, he acknowledged her as a trainer. Evolving hadn't changed that much.

"I don't blame you for being mad, Fearow," she continued. "You were being good and minding your own business when that happened. Ash's Haunter was to blame. But after you evolved you went out of control and stopped listening to me. Did you even see Rattata when you went for that Mankey?"

Fearow's response was stalwart silence as he kicked at the ground once and ruffled his feathers.

It was as good as admission for Gina. "I worry about you because you get so mad that you can only think about hurting whatever made you that way and not what'll happen afterwards. When you were a Spearow it could be excused because I could stop you before you went too far. But the moment you evolved that went out of the window, so you have to learn self-control. If not for your own sake, then for me. Is that too much to ask?"

His wings fluttered out twice and he let out a grumble before looking away with a small, "…ro."

"That's all I'm asking." To emphasize her point, she pulled out a treat for him that she had picked up. "I won't ask you to sacrifice your pride. I like that part of you, believe it or not. But just have faith in me and listen when I say not to go too far. I want you to stay with me until we become the Champions. Okay?"

He eyed it for a moment before plucking it out of her grasp by the end, raising his head, and then swallowing it. Then his tail flipped before bobbing his head in compliance. "Fea."

She ran her fingers through his feathers, wearing a small smile. "Still, I wasn't expecting you to evolve so soon. I'm going to have to rethink what we're going to do going forward now. We'll need to test out what you can do, like how fast you are now. You up for that?"

The Beak Pokémon spread his wings and rose into the air to show off in response.

[-oOo-]

"Hopefully this works out," Brock muttered to himself as he looked over his preparations to come to terms with his newest capture.

Unlike Fearow or Charmeleon, who had an existing bond with their trainers and were not likely to attack them, Primeape had been a wild pokémon. One who had been aggressive even until the very end. Therefore, dealing with him would require a different approach.

A gentle wind stirred next to him as Zubat flapped his wings, coming to land on Brock's shoulder from his morning flight. "Did you make sure no one else is around?"

"Zu. Zu," squeaked the Bat Pokémon in confirmation. Brock had him fly a circuit around the location to make sure that no stray pokémon or other people would come by and make themselves a target. If things went wrong and a fight broke out, it would keep things contained.

"Thanks," Brock said, running a finger over the top of his head in a show of affection before turning his attention back to Geodude. "Will you be okay with your part in things? Depending on how it goes you'll be the one in the most danger."

The Rock Pokémon floating in the air faced his trainer. Then his stony lips pulled back into a grin and he gave him a thumbs-up, as if to say that he was aware of the risks of the plan and still was willing to go through with it. "Dude."

Brock returned the gesture with one of his own before looking over his shoulder to where a string of boulders was settled onto the ground. He approached them and brushed his hand against the surface of one that was elongated, only for stone to part and reveal itself to be an eye. "I'll be counting on you too, Onix."

The Rock Snake Pokémon roused at that, slowly furling its lower body around as a rumble emerged from its throat. Onix was one of his oldest pokémon, given to him by his father when he was younger. Back then his father had been dutiful even as he taught him responsibility for managing the Gym. Even though his feelings towards his father had soured substantially after the man disappeared and left everything on his shoulders, he was still grateful for the gift.

Climbing onto Onix's head and holding fast to the horn, the Rock Snake Pokémon brought him a decent height into the air. He then pulled out his newest capture's ball and enlarged it. "Come out, Primeape."

The ball burst open. Light speared onto the ground below and slowly took shape, the simian's round and fur-covered body sitting in the grass. He brushed his eyes that were drowsy from the sedative and yawned. "…apeee…"

"Good morning," Brock called down to him. "How are you feeling?"

Primeape blinked at that. Then his attention snapped back in full as the memories from yesterday surged. He jumped up and shook an angry fist towards the man atop the towering titan of stone, yelling as if to tell him to come down. "Ape! Ape! Ape!"

"Still upset, huh?" He can't say he didn't expect that given everything that happened. Fortunately, he had accounted for it. "I get you still want to vent, but I imagine you're feeling hungry right now too?"

The Pig Monkey Pokémon deigned to not respond. His stomach, however, was very vocal as it let out a loud gurgle. "Grrrrrrr."

Mankey had only just evolved. And evolution used a lot of energy. Factoring that in along with the fact that it was fighting without rest and in a Rage, he had burned a lot of energy and had eaten nothing.

"How about this: we'll get you some food as we talk things out. If you still want to punch me afterwards then we'll work something else out?"

Primeape eyed him warily for a moment, brows furrowing as he considered the offer. Then his stomach gurgled once more. A terse, short nod followed. "Ape."

Brock clapped his hands to serve as the signal for Geodude to come in. The Rock Pokémon drifted closer while holding a serving tray within his hands. Atop it was a number of different foods that Brock had specially prepared, taking into account the increased metabolism that evolved pokémon typically had and their species' food preferences. He had Gina to thank for that one since she allowed him to use her Pokédex when the two discussed how to deal with the matter of Fearow and Primeape.

The Pig Monkey Pokémon's eyes were fixed onto the tray, the glimmer of hunger reflected within them. But, as if he had just recalled they had been fighting moments ago, he shook his head to not let his hunger consume him and kept a wary gaze on Geodude. He was expecting a sneak attack like with Haunter if Brock had to guess.

None was forthcoming as the Rock Pokémon only gave the go-ahead. "Dude."

Keeping vigilant until the living stone drifted further off, Primeape turned his attention back to the tantalizing treats in front of him. Drool escaped from his mouth beneath the thick fur coating its round body and his stomach rumbled in anticipation. He cast a final glance towards Brock, still uncertain. "Pri…?"

"Enjoy it," the former Gym Leader told him. "No strings attached."

Primeape cautiously obliged. Reaching for a banana, he stripped it of its skin before bringing it to his mouth and taking a bite out of it. And the moment he did so, all of his restriction was thrown off as he proceeded to scarf it down along with everything else.

It was… honestly impressive how quickly he began to clear the tray. Fruit. Bread. Snacks. Everything edible was consumed without a scrap of it left as he began to lick the tray until the silver shone.

"Was it good?" Brock asked, receiving a jubilant nod from the evolved Pig Monkey Pokémon whose eyes were upturned in satisfaction. At least until he realized that he shouldn't be too lax around the giant string of boulders shifting around. "So, if you're full now, let's talk about what happened back when we first met."

"Ape. Ape!"

"I understand you probably feel angry about what happened with Fearow," Brock began. "His trainer will handle his punishment. But going forward we'll need for the two of you not to try and beat one another senseless. Can you do that?"

Primeape shook angrily at that, raising his fist towards the former Gym Trainer at the thought of not being able to get revenge. "APE!"

"Figured as much," he mumbled. "Tell you what, if you still want to punch something, I'll give you a chance to work it out with this."

He gestured and Geodude floated back into the view. This time he was holding a pair of training pads strapped to his muscular arms, being held in place to provide a surface for Primeape to hit. "Geo."

"Pri?" The Pig Monkey Pokémon eyed the pads with uncertainty before Geodude braced for it and gestured for him to give it a go. Never one to back down from a challenge, apparently, Primeape immediately wound up a punch. "APE!"

Thomp.

There was a satisfying sound of air escaping as the pad cushioned the blow, leaving Primeape to stare at it with eyes that were somewhat puzzled but entranced. Then Geodude prompted tend him to keep going. "Dude!"

Thomp-Thomp. Thomp-Thomp. Primeape began hitting the pads over and over, harder and harder while his expression became fixed. Unlike with his normal aggressiveness, the vein on his head throbbing, he had a calm focus as he kept punching at the pads while Geodude held them up using his inherent strength and the ability to float.

"So, feel better now?" Brock asked after a few minutes of the woods being filled with the sounds of punching from the pads, to which Primeape responded by nodding. He may not have been a specialist with Fighting Pokémon, but he was a breeder in training and had experience with training others.

Hitting the training pads was a method of stress release in both humans and pokémon. That was because not only did it help work out the tension, but the brain released chemicals to feel happy and relieved in comparison to a regular battle. For a pokémon like a Primeape that bounced between angry on a dime and normal, having a way that could drain the anger out of him for a while meant there was a method to slowly work him into handling his rage.

"You know there's a gym that caters to Fighting Pokémon in the city," he said as Onix cautiously lowered him to the ground now that the immediate threat of being punched by an angry monkey had seemingly passed. "You'd have to be on your best behavior, but how about we go check it out to see if there's anything else you'd like to try?"

On the ground level with the Pig Monkey Pokémon, he offered his hand for a shake. It was a calculated risk, but also one where he was trusting that he had earned enough goodwill to the newly captured pokémon to not need the threat of other pokémon to rein him in. More importantly, it presented them with a chance to start building a bond with one another. Right now, Primeape was only being kept in check by his own pleasures and had no sense of attachment to any of them—something Brock wanted to correct.

Primeape rubbed what served as his chin from beneath his fur before cautiously extending his own hand and grabbing Brock's extended hand for a shake. "Ape."

"Then we have a deal."