The yellow dahlia crisis
He was always the first to fall asleep, but this time Ash had all the time in the world to feel Serena curl up against him as the night wore on. The girl's cold feet warmed against his stomach, her sleep restless until she pushed her nose into the hollow of his neck. Was it like this every night? Did they always sleep so close together in their nest of pillows?
He glanced at the beds around them with the uncomfortable feeling of being spied on. Ash groaned, it was because of Brendan that he had spent the rest of the evening with a lump in his stomach and now he couldn't sleep, counting the minutes until morning when Serena would call... who exactly? She couldn't just randomly call Pokemon Centers and hope that Joy would say, "Ash? Yes, he stopped by our center last night, I'll let him know you called as soon as he wakes up". That would take too long, especially since she had no idea where he might be.
Yes, Ash himself never knew where his next adventure would take him, so it would be difficult for his friends to find him unless they contacted... His mother. Of course, his mother, and even if Serena didn't know her number, she could always call the eminent Professor of Pallet Town. He could only hope that Oak could come up with a brilliant excuse as to why the Pikachu trainer was too busy to answer his friend from Kalos.
Morning, morning already. A sigh against his neck, a hand sliding across his chest, toes retreating before rushing back to the scales. He closed his eyes, pretending to sleep as Serena struggled to come out. Maybe she would give up, maybe the warmth of the wings would be enough to hold her back, to keep her from going off in search of the trainer who no longer existed.
"Hmm... it's true, Ash," he heard her sigh.
The shapeshifter's breathing quickened as she carefully unfolded the wings that covered her. Idea, discharge, idea, discharge, idea, quick, quick, quick! It had to come before Serena got up, or before she put on her shoes, or before she left... No time to think!
"Chari," he pretended to wake up.
The girl stumbled and hurried to explain:
"I'll hurry up and make my phone call, and I'll make you breakfast right after."
"Zaaaarrrr," he groaned, a hand on his stomach.
"Can't you wait?"
"Zard."
Trainer sighs
"Okay, first your breakfast and then my call."
It was a small victory for Ash, but he could feel that with his stomach in knots, he'd only gain about ten minutes, maybe less, considering the smoke already rising from the pan. Milk, croquettes, at least there were no more of those horrible chemical tasting "high protein, high calorie" creams.
"Are you sure everything's okay?
Ash drank his milk in one gulp to silence suspicion, and immediately regretted it when the gurgling protests threatened to rise again. Slowly he took a piece of kibble between his claws, certain that he'd have to give up here and now unless he came up with a brilliant idea. And that was just it...
"Say, you've got quite an appetite this morning," the girl noticed.
So... Genius might not be the right word, but to say it was a good idea... Let's just say that burning food with a flamethrower down your esophagus, while very effective, wasn't necessarily what your digestive tract appreciated most. In any case, it kept him going until the other Pokémons woke up and begged for their morning snack as well. And there you have it, an hour gained. Congratulations, everyone! Yay! What a great consolation prize!
"Want to help me with the dishes? You don't have to. You can go and have fun with the others," the trainer suggested.
"Char," the monster insisted.
Sound of a plate shattering on the floor.
"Really, it'll only take a few minutes, and I have a feeling you're not very awake yet, so..."
"Chari."
Song of broken glass.
"Um, Charizard, I know you want to help me, but I think I can go faster if..."
Pulverized porcelain bowl.
"..."
"Rizard."
"I think that's enough," she said, taking a cup from his hand.
"Chari?" he pretended not to understand.
"Leave the plate alone!"
"Charicha, zard," he refused.
"Charizard, I'm going to count to three, and if you don't do it by three... CHARIZARD!"
Upset, she pushed the reptile out of the kitchen without trying to understand the source of his bloodthirsty madness against the dishes. But he's strange this morning, very strange indeed, she thought between sweeps.
"Chari?" she heard a small voice in the distance.
"No, I'm not angry," she sighed. "But I would like you to explain why... What are you hiding behind your back?"
"Chari? Zaaaaar chari."
"And where's my bag?!"
"Charrrr... Zard."
"Listen, I have something important to do this morning and I don't have time to play..."
She frowned as her pokemon's scales paled, suddenly remembering what Brendan had said:
"Do you have a problem with me calling Ash?"
"Char," he denied, turning his head away.
The problem of being the adoptive mother of a big fire dragon: it was already problematic with Brendan, so what would it be with Ash?
"I assure you, he's a good person and I'm sure you'll become fast friends, you're so much alike." She put her hand to her heart and bit her lip, promising herself to stop saying such things. "Come on, I'll introduce you."
"Char!" he stepped back.
She grabbed his hand and forced him to follow her, drawing up a little plan in her head: first say hello, then introduce Charizard, then...
"Ah, there you are at last!" she heard. "The trainer of this..."
"Pancham," the nurse breathed.
"Yes, that's right, that pesky little Pancham."
A man in his sixties stood in front of Joy's counter, and from the way the panda had taken refuge behind Serena, she feared the newcomer's accusations were well-founded.
"What have you done, Pancham?" she whispered. But the man was an attentive listener and was happy to answer for the culprit:
"Yesterday, your little monster climbed over my fence, destroyed my garden, and injured my pokemon, which is a lot, don't you think?"
"And I learned Ice Punch," the monster finished in a small voice.
He felt all eyes on him. He had no choice! There was no bamboo in this forest, and he'd found this garden with a pokemon capable of Psy Attacks: the "Blessing" that lit his bamboo branch.
"You climbed a fence? With your knee?!" exclaimed Serena, tugging at his ear.
"I'm telling you, there's more to it than that! And if you don't want us to take this up with Officer Jenny, you'd better fix the damage your pokemon caused."
"We'll take care of it this morning!" she said with a bow. "But if you could give me some time..."
"I want my garden looking like new by noon, so you don't have a minute to lose."
Serena glanced frantically at the videophones a few feet away, but she soon realized that it would only make the man more angry if she persisted. So she postponed her call and followed her jailer, not noticing the fake pokemon's broad smile. A smile that almost reached the monster's horns as Serena, wracked with pain and urged on by Brendan, left town, forgetting the existence of videophones. She might even have spent the rest of the day thinking nothing of it if Grovyle's trainer hadn't challenged her to a mid-afternoon pokemon battle. But Brendan was as passionate about fighting as Ash, and it was perhaps the only thing Charizard would accept from the boy: a fight.
"You're out of it," the trainer remarked.
"I forgot to call him," she confessed. "Block him with Fire Spin!"
"That's for the next town. Leaf Blade!"
"Fly away! I'm out of options anyway. Any idea when we'll get there? Charizard uses... Charizard? What happened to your wing?"
Ash winced; he hadn't thought she would notice, and he had almost managed to burn it off. But there were still a few thorns between his scales, and while he wouldn't say it was painful, it was annoying when he was flying.
"Brendan, I'm sorry, but we have to stop here. Charizard, show me your wing."
"Chari, Charichar," he tried to calm her down.
"Don't argue."
Brendan watched as the dragon unfolded its wing, as tense as someone who had to give a bad report.
"How long have you had that?" she asked, looking at the slightly darker scales around the spikes.
"Zar," he accused the boy without remorse.
"And why didn't you say so before? We could have asked Joy to remove them."
"Zaaarrr," the monster pleaded.
The girl turned to her pocket and pulled out a pair of tweezers. The fake pokemon's eyes narrowed at the instrument of torture.
"Stretch out your wings and don't move."
"Zard!" he refused.
"I can't leave you like this and... come back! Charizard, I'm not kidding!"
The pokemon had taken off at full speed, and now only the clay plains knew where he'd hidden.
"Well," Brendan hissed, "I knew charizards didn't like their wings touched, but this..."
"He still doesn't trust me," she lamented.
Brendan put a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder and asked:
"Tell me, Serena, have you ever been tickled?"
The trainer stepped back. What mischief was the boy up to when he raised his hands? But he was merely flexing and unfolding his fingers as if they were claws.
"Why are you walking away? Don't you trust me?"
"Not really, no."
The boy pouted and sighed:
"You broke my example, but hey. I suppose Charizard hasn't any problems when he's the one touching his wings or when he's decided to point them at someone or something, right?" He dusted off his bag and put it back on his shoulders, taking his time to adjust the straps. "Think about it."
"Brendan!"
The boy slowed his pace, ready to set off in search of the dragon.
"It'll be easier if we split up," he explained.
"Do you think you'll be able to face him without me?"
"I've got enough food in this bag to soften him up, and it's kind of my fault that this is happening. I don't want you to think I'm the kind of guy who doesn't take responsibility."
"It's not just sort of your fault," Serena reminded him. "And taking responsibility for something you shouldn't have done..."
"I know it won't redeem me. But that doesn't mean I'll just sit back and let you handle it."
Serena couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's bluster. He had this good-natured side that reminded her of Ash, and it was nice to talk to him when he wasn't making his dubious jokes.
"If you're determined," she agreed. "But I warn you, he's pretty picky about his food, so don't rely too much on what's in your bag."
"Let me guess, he only eats what you give him?"
"Not exactly," Serena admitted. "He only eats my pokemon food, but if it's something for humans..."
"Okay, I'll start with my sandwiches."
With that, Brendan set off on his own, hurrying along the ochre slopes until he was sure he was at a safe distance from the trainer so he could call his Kirlia.
"Can you find it with your psychic powers?"
The pokemon had no trouble guiding him. The dragon was hiding in the shade of a mound among wild asparagus, thyme, and sun-browned bushes. Brendan took long steps to avoid the stinging flowers that littered the path, drawing the reptile's attention as he flattened his wings against the red earth.
"Don't panic. Serena's already explained to me that you don't like..."
"Zard."
"That you hate having your wings touched, and I suppose it's even worse when it's not her."
The shape-shifter relaxed a little as Brendan seemed to be behaving reasonably for once.
"I'm still surprised you're reacting so badly. I've seen other charizards do much better than you, and they weren't as close to their trainer as you are with Serena."
He wasn't like the other charizards, he wasn't even a charizard at all! And the way he felt her touch through his wings was just... It wasn't painful, but a mixture of frightening, electrifying, and appealing.
"It's hard, isn't it? Because it's beyond trust, it's accepting that she becomes a part of you, accepting her whole self."
Ash fidgeted with his fingers, the scales turning red as Brendan approached and gave him a friendly nudge.
"You're fragile, buddy. Way too fragile for a pokemon."
"Char," the shapeshifter admitted.
Everything with Serena was so new and different, you couldn't blame him for feeling overwhelmed sometimes (very often). Brendan gave him a knowing smile and handed him his sandwich. The shapeshifter accepted his gift with a cautious grunt.
"Is it any good?"
Ash took another bite. His tail swept quietly across the dry grass, and his satisfied growl gave the boy the confidence to approach. The shapeshifter glanced up to make sure he wasn't trying to reach his wings - Serena had already done that to him - but Brendan was content to hand him another sandwich.
"Thanks."
Brendan sat and watched the monster, fiddling with a sprig of alfalfa to keep himself occupied while he finished.
"Shall we join Serena?"
"Zarrr..."
"I won't hide the fact that she won't give up," he was amused to see the dragon's dejected expression.
"Charichar."
"But I might have an idea if you're determined not to let her touch it."
"Chari!"
Ash was all ears, and Brendan twirled his hat around his finger. He nodded, as if reluctant to reveal the secret arcane to this young apprentice.
"Will you tell Serena?"
"Char!" Ash swore, raising his hand without really listening.
Brendan let the centrifugal force take his headgear before catching it in mid-air with a quick movement.
"Tell her you're human and she'll never come near you again."
He knows. The whirring in his head drowned out the noise. He knows! A tense stream of terror short-circuited him. He knows! He knows! He knows! The insatiable swarm chirped, devouring every last thought.
A finger snapped under his nose. Ash lifted his head, body straight and stiff, mind still numb. How long? His lungs choked his breath, his heart throbbed with blood and his voice hung in his throat.
"Am I right?"
A new pulse against the thorns. His irritated wing, the invisible edema pulsing and heat spreading to the rest of his cooled body. Highway to Hell sang the pain as it compressed his consciousness. Fast and loud. How long had he known? Fast and hard. A day, two days, unless he'd understood all along. Fast and hard. It wasn't the "when" that mattered. Ash revived. The "when" he would tell Serena everything would never be answered. He bit the edge of his numbed tongue, the taste of blood reviving his existence.
"Charrr, Zard?" he denied.
The innocence of those blood-stained words. Brendan raised an angry, disappointed eye to the dragon.
"It's true, it's a little crazy."
"Char, chari," the shapeshifter confirmed.
"What if I asked Serena?" he exclaimed. "What did she always say? Oh, yeah, that you were a weird pokemon."
The fake pokemon cowered as Brendan rummaged through his pocket.
"Not just weird, but a weird pokemon."
The words rolled off the boy's tongue, smiled against his teeth, and triumphed over the dragon. With the beast dominated, the trainer had no trouble slipping a tablet between its claws.
"I can't speak the charizard. So I expect you to speak in words I can understand." He tapped his finger on the screen, his good humor dripping into every vibration. "You can do it, can't you?"
"Zard," the fake pokemon denied.
The boy removed his cap, as one would at a mass or a funeral. Just as well, since Ash was currently longing to be buried under marble.
"You've made mistakes, Charizard. And if I've tipped the scales in your favor so far... Don't you want to try?"
The need to obey the trainer overwhelmed his human conscience. He pressed the button, waited, the screen stubbornly dark.
"Ch-Char?"
The monster's voice was no longer deep and loud. It was the squeak of a reptile collapsed on the ground, spikes full of wings and its nose spitting out pain.
"This is for writing, not playing," Brendan explained.
Ash found the thin stylus hidden on the side. As soon as he pulled it out of its hiding place, it slipped away and disappeared into the grass. The shapeshifter scanned the ground with the dazed look of a drunken man. Half focused, half unaware, convinced he would succeed.
"Relax, buddy," Brendan said with a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I'm not going to eat you. In fact, it's more likely the opposite."
He'd taken a breath before giving it back. Was that why the boy hadn't said anything yet, for fear of reprisals? Except that Ash would never be able to, unless... Brendan could believe it, he could believe that beneath that pokemon skin lurked a monster capable of reducing him to ashes if he didn't hold his tongue.
With renewed hope, the shapeshifter spread his wings, growling and even lathering a little drool over his lips like a pokemon galvanized by pokerus.
"You don't think Serena will notice if..." Brendan said, slicing his throat with his thumb and sticking out his tongue. "I don't think she'll want to keep that kind of pokemon with her, unless you've got something like that in store for your dear trainer, and then I'd have to worry."
As brilliant as the opportunity was, Ash refused to take it, so disgusted was he by it.
"Chari, charichar!"
"I told you, I don't understand the charizard very well," the boy scoffed.
Ash looked at his claw marks, worried that he had damaged the machine, until the vague memory of his mother buying him a new toy so he wouldn't waste any more paper drawing pokemons came to mind. The former human pressed the button and ta-dam! the screen was blank again. Okay, that was it. With the flat of a claw, carefully and delicately, he printed new marks on the board.
'I'll tell her you're gone'
The venonat paws made the trainer smile.
"You'll say the smell is tepig after using Ember? In Unys maybe, but in Hoenn... No, buddy, if you start the job, you'll have to finish it."
Ash winced, his tail raised in stress and his back twitching at the wings. Either Brendan was hiding his fear well, or he didn't believe for a second that the monster could hurt him. So what to do? A motto, an evil laugh? Come on, he'd been facing Team Rocket every day since the beginning of his journey, he should be able to learn something from them!
"C-Char... Chari, Charich..."
"The tablet," the boy called back.
The shapeshifter observed the object, wondering what James would say in this situation, before remembering that Jessie had more the profile of the true villain... or perhaps the least clownish of the three bandits.
'If you're ready to test'
Ash observed his message, added an exclamation mark and proudly handed it to the boy. But Brendan, far from being frightened, put his hand to his lips to stifle a laugh.
"Okay, all the better. But why don't we stop joking and you can tell me how you turned out."
'I'm not joking'
"Neither am I, Charizard. I'm not joking either. You won't hurt her, not even the slightest scratch, and I'm more than happy about that."
"Cha..."
"At worst, I have my pokemons with me, and while I don't doubt your power, you won't get me in one go. I'll have time to escape, maybe with some burns, but who cares. I'll be able to get to Serena, I'll be able to tell her everything. Why not avoid that? Why not, in the simplest way possible, answer my questions. I promise it won't take long."
'Promise you won't tell her anything'
Without hesitation, the boy raised his hand to his heart and declared fervently:
"I swear."
Brendan had retrieved the stylus and handed it to the monster, a friendly, comforting smile on his face as he asked:
"Well, poor thing? How did you get inside a pokemon's skin?"
'A mask'
"Who?"
"Char?"
"Who gave it to you?"
Brendan had his hands in his pockets, but his shoulders were shaking.
'Professor Edivo' he hesitated before writing in smaller letters, 'he didn't really give it to me'
He detected a hint of disappointment in the trainer, who tapped his temple with the tip of his index finger.
"So you stole it?"
'NO!' Ash had written too big and hurried to erase the capital letters to register his defense: 'I was trying to catch it to keep it from breaking and it fell on me'
"Fell on you? And you turned into this just because it fell on you, by accident?"
No, not at all, Ash had obviously done it on purpose. Bravo Brendan, what a genius!
"What's your name?"
'Ash Ketchum'
"Never heard of you."
'Kalos League finalist' the former trainer said angrily.
"So you never won a single league?"
He said it like it was easy. But let him wait until after his first league to criticize.
"Anyway, whatever. Tell me why Serena doesn't know about you."
The monster's claws snapped. Could he bring up Archie without the consent of the main person involved? It didn't take him long to decide no.
'Getting her confidence back. This is the first time she's entered the contests'
"But she's already won two ribbons. I think your goal is more than achieved."
'Not human again'
"And..."
Ash tensed, and even though he erased his answer several times, it was the truth:
'Give up the Grand Festival to help me'
The boy quickly turned away from the tablet to fidget with the elastic on his hat.
"Still, I find it hard to understand. If I were you, I'd do anything to get my body back, especially if the only thing holding me back is that my friend might miss a season of contests. And then, let's face it, is it really impossible to make an arrangement for her to continue her journey while you look for a way to get back to your normal form?"
What Brendan said was what Ash had expected from the beginning. But would his presence really help the archaeologist? The shapeshifter already suspected the answer, so he'd rather stay here than be useless over there.
"What exactly are you afraid of?"
"Ch-Char?"
"Why is it that when I talk to you about becoming human again, you seem more frightened than interested?"
Ash touched his face. What was Brendan talking about? He wanted his body back, of course he wanted his body back! And then what? whispered an old friend. His eyes and throat ached as if they were boiling. What would he do? Once trainer again, he could continue to visit Hoenn with Serena. No, Ash, no, I'm asking you what you're going to do next.
"I'll tell her."
Brendan pulled his hat back over his head, ignoring the razor-sharp pupils.
"Char?"
"Char what? You didn't really think you'd get away with this, did you?"
Ash blinked, all his gray matter deflating and leaving him in a blissful "huh?" Brendan shrugged, unaffected by the monster's distress.
"You couldn't take advantage of her forever."
'YOU PROMISED'
"Promises are made to be broken, buddy, grow up."
The fake pokemon gritted his teeth. What did he care? What did he care if he stayed his pokemon a little longer?!
'I can't leave her'
"You can't? Why not? To sleep with her, to touch her, to enjoy the view while she bathes next to her innocent pokemon?"
From the tip of its tail to the tip of its wings, the fake pokemon trembled. He'd never stooped that low, he'd always... well, there had been a few accidents when she decided to finish dressing in the bedroom. Only he didn't enjoy looking at her! Yes, he might widen his eyes for a few seconds, but he didn't keep them wide open!
"It was easier to approach her as a pokemon, wasn't it?"
Ash's heart clenched, the boy's voice distorted, smoothed with more childish curves. It's always easier with pokemons, that's why you prefer them to people. One pokeball and they're friends for life, with you forever!
'Protect'
Brendan raised an eyebrow, this time giving the dragon the benefit of the doubt:
"From whom?"
He scribbled quickly: 'That's for Serena to tell you. If she wants to' he added more grandly.
"I was counting on that," the boy murmured, snatching the tablet from the dragon's hands. "But if she's really in danger, don't you think there are more competent people to take care of her?"
Ash opened his mouth but couldn't speak. The answer was simple: Archie had settled his scores up there, and since then, nothing, not even the smallest member of Team Aqua, had come to finish the job. In fact, Ash wasn't even sure those accounts had ever existed. But why then? Why did the thought of her finding out who he was make him so uncomfortable?
You won't be her pokemon anymore.
"Wait," Ash muttered.
His mocking little smile, the cowlicks of his hat turning brown in the sun as his footsteps led him away from the dragon. Did he remember now? Of that hot summer in Pallet Town, of Gary taunting from the hill: Catch me if you can!
"Wait!"
He had understood, Gary had understood in the course of a simple annoyance, a little remark he'd never imagined would cause him pain. You really like pokemons. Enough to keep looking for them when everyone in his class was at little Gabriella's birthday party. But now was not the time to think about that, as he dove at Brendan, claws out.
Of course, forget! Forget the fact that she gave the invitation card to me (who wasn't even in your class, not even in your school!) Run after pokemons to forget!
"Shut up!"
The green flash that hit his temple was a blessing, the pain an absolution, as he now rolled down the slope and fell...
"NO!"
The shapeshifter struggled to raise his head, his dirty eyes only allowing him to make out the shape of the kneeling boy, his hand outstretched as if to catch him.
"No..."
A scream, a whisper, Ash didn't know if he'd dreamed it or not. His skull lurched forward, and despite his best efforts, the false pokemon only fell back with his nose in the dust.
"It's over now... Over! Do you hear me?"
"Wait for me," he pleaded.
Still blind, he got to his feet and ran after the one who had taunted him, the one who knew Ash was incapable of catching him. No, Ash, no, you're not trying to catch them. It's you who's running from them. It's you who, obsessed with your precious pokemons, won't try to stay with them. He stumbled and fell on his wing, driving the thorns deeper into his nerves.
"Serena..."
His feeble cry slid down the ravine, failing to clear a single hill. Did she know now? Was she calling his name (Ash!) across these endless plains? What would you do when the pokeball broke? Haggard, he limped through the stunted trees and stunted grass. A shadow, a footprint in this strange land that crumbled beneath his feet, this desert he thought he'd left behind.
"Come back."
The sand choked his cries, gripped his voice, weighed down his moans. Alone, lost, exhausted by the undulations of this both vibrant and desolate landscape. The pokeball, Ash, your pokeball. But he wanted to stay, to be with Serena, be it human or pokemon, be it Ash... Don't cry, oh please don't cry.
He sat in the shelter, folding his wings to hide, not to hear it again. It wasn't just the desert, Ash understood now, he was sinking, suffocating.
"No, no, it's not true, it's not true, it's not true!"
Really? Then do it! Become human again! Show me what you'll do when all that unites you will be the same bond that united your father and mother.
That's what happened when the torrent soaked the sand! It didn't become fertile soil, nor smooth and resistant, but quicksand, a viscous and shapeless mixture that would swallow up anyone who ventured there. And no one, absolutely no one, would come...
"I've found you."
A whisper from the other side of the wings. Ash would like to remain motionless, content to wait under the sun, to live in this eternal summer. As long as he didn't move, as long as he didn't fight, he wasn't in danger of sinking, of disappearing, or at least that would happen a lot more... Slowly, he opened his wings to see her, so that a thousand questions would be born and die, until only one remained in his drowned soul:
Who? Who have you found this time?
She didn't care about the dirt staining her dress as she knelt before him. Serena wanted answers, and she wanted them here and now. The false pokemon swallowed, overwhelmed by irises dripping with reproach and incomprehension.
"You... I don't understand why... Brendan..."
She paused, took a long, deep breath to gather her thoughts, and confessed:
"Brendan told me everything."
His insides twisted to the point of ischemia, causing him to grimace in pain. Free to be himself again, all he felt was anger. He could just picture Brendan finding Serena (Where's Charizard?) and with his little smile, his calm and collected tone, who with one sentence and one sentence only (Charizard? Come on, Serena, there was no Charizard there, there's never been any Charizard at all.), hurled the monster into the ravine. Flames escaped like blood from a wound, scales vibrating in a final death rattle, the last angry glow of an agonizing flame.
"Including the part where you threatened him," she added.
Die, impostor, die! Lips curled even more, fangs protruding in a terrifying, threatening... Smile? A smile of renunciation and resignation that caught the young girl off guard.
"So it's true, you're really..."
She was trembling, her hands clenched on her dress, he expected her to be surprised, not to have her face scrunched up like she'd just been hit.
"Why?"
Her voice flew into the monster's ears, round and fragile like a soap bubble. Ash thought he felt her shudder, the thin surface battered by the pressure, stretched to the limit.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The bubble burst. She pleaded, her eyes lifted to his, her hands clenched over her heart. No, no, she was wrong. He wasn't hiding anything from her, he didn't want to hide anything from her, because he had always intended to tell her.
"Char..."
If he'd had more time, if Brendan hadn't done it for him, she would have understood. That it was for her, to help her, to prevent her from sacrificing her dream for him and ending up alone, crying, hating him. That was why, that was why he had to keep encouraging her, keep reminding her:
"Don't give up, Serena. You can't give up."
Deformed grunts, a hydatid shudder that larvae in his lungs, spleen, liver and heart. In truth, it had always been there, well embedded in the tissues of this accidental but delicious host.
"I... We'll find a solution, I promise."
The abscess burst with a disgusting borborygma, a chocolate vomit with a salty taste that made him nauseous. Oh... if only he'd had more time to prepare, to puncture the pus, to sterilize the cavities. But now he had to deal with the most pressing problems: coughing, spitting, regurgitating the parasites that had multiplied, cycle after cycle.
"I can... I'll help you."
What should have finished him, cracked him open, curiously retreated. Those blue eyes, that azure poison, he felt it spreading through him, paralyzing whatever was hurting him. But something else held him, forced him to hold on. The pokeball, Ash. A small shot of norepinephrine, injected to constrict his arteries and keep his blood pressure from dropping below the critical point, artificial, but so effective. You've seen its power over pokemons, over those friends who will never let you down, thanks to it. The shapeshifter's eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing, speechless. And now that it's captured you...
"Do you really have so little faith in me?"
He had barely gotten over his shock when he felt his life in danger again. There was no snow here, but Ash feared she'd soon find something to replace it. He spotted the trainer's hands, sure she'd throw a few thyme blossoms in his face, but instead she raised them to stroke his cheek.
"Charrrarr?" he choked out.
So, yes, it had become a habit between them because he had to play his pokemon role from time to time. Except he'd always imagined it would go away the moment Serena found out he was human. After all, when they'd traveled to Kalos, she'd never stroked his hair, or scratched the back of his ears, or even hugged him enough to rub his cheek against hers.
"Cha-cha-chariiiiii?!"
But Serena didn't seem to mind, not even the way her fingers ran up and down the dragon's neck.
"Maybe your evolution has sped things up."
"Char... ZARD! charicha, rizar?"
He'd pushed the girl's hands away. It was mostly Brendan who had accelerated things, and why the hell did she keep stroking him like that?
"Well, you know about..."
"Cha...?"
The girl looked around, finally showing a sign of discomfort with her rosy cheeks. Not crimson like the reptile's scales were at the moment, but a pale, dull pink.
"Don't tell me... you don't understand what's happening to you?" she asked, stunned.
Ash tilted his head to one side and furrowed his brow. Did she know more about his transformation than he did? And from the way she was staring at him, it looked serious, very serious indeed.
"Cha-Char," he swallowed.
The girl's astonishment redoubled and she glanced around to make sure no one was spying on them.
"So it wasn't just a feeling, you really do have trouble understanding your body," she murmured.
Ash checked his tail, his scales, which had returned to normal, and his wings. But nothing, he couldn't see what was still wrong with his body, so obvious that even Serena had noticed it.
"Chari?" he begged her to explain.
She lowered her head and intertwined her fingers, then explained in a low voice:
"If you've molted, it's because the way you feel..."
The fake pokemon checked his scales again before calling himself an idiot. Of course, she wasn't referring to the moult that would affect an Arbok, although it was strange to use that term. "Change", "metamorphose" or "transform", but "moult"... Did Serena like puns? At least if she did, it meant she wasn't too worried about him and didn't hold a grudge. Well, not that she had any reason to hold a grudge, right?
"It's because you're in heat," she admitted.
"Char... Ri?" he repeated.
Of course he was in heat, that was the whole point of a charizard: Flame Pokemon, special ability Blaze. CHARizard, it couldn't have been clearer or more obvious.
"Yes, it's... You're looking for a partner."
Ash's head was spinning. Serena was his partner and trainer, and he wasn't about to let anyone else capture him.
"Make an effort," the girl pleaded.
She pulled her navi-map out of her pocket and tapped it quickly. The fake pokemon was still seeing things as she showed him the photo that had motivated her to choose RefTown's contest.
"It's a Charizards Reserve. I thought there might be a chance of finding your family there, but you might also find a nice charizard you'd like to start a family with. Even if I don't want to be a grandmother just yet," she finished with a strained smile.
Ash's face turned red. Of course, Brendan hadn't mentioned the metamorphosis, but he had come up with a punishment that was a thousand times worse. And Ash couldn't see himself explaining that as much as he loved charizards, he had no such plans with them.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of! Even if I don't know much about your love affairs, I'm still your trainer and I'll do everything I can to help you."
It was embarrassing enough when his mother tried to give him advice without Serena getting involved! Anyway, he didn't understand what all the fuss was about, even when it came to Serena. Well, it wasn't a question of Serena or not, it was just... There, he couldn't see.
"Char..."
The scales on his arms had reddened, his tail flame and the insides of his wings swollen with blood heated by his boiling heart. Emotions he'd never felt as a human, emotions he'd thought he'd lost when Brendan left.
"Charizard?" she called him by his false name.
Despite himself, a smile formed on his lips. How long would it last before Brendan decided to turn it? At least for now...
"Chari, charichar," he thanked her.
"I prefer that," she rejoiced. "And if you ask me: to have the best chance, it's important to have no thorns in your wings," she advised, pulling the pliers from her pocket. "I know you find this uncomfortable, but it's just a bad moment before you feel better."
Despite the object's menacing appearance, Ash felt a small buzz in his throat. He didn't move as she approached, even offering her his arm to lean on and pull out the prickles.
"Are you all right?"
"Char."
"Hm?"
His claws brushed the ribbon, his hand drowning in her hair, his tail wrapped around her hips. Why had she kissed him that day? So weak.
"What are you..."
Did she think this was how they would meet again, that it would become an unbreakable bond between them: that pressure against her lips that had faded so quickly? Fragile, fleeting, Ash couldn't understand how she could have believed it. So much weaker than the bond between a trainer and his pokemon. But for now, he was ready to exhume it, to revive it. And if it worked, if it was enough...
"Charizard..." she choked.
He brushed his scales against her cheek, tickled her neck with his breath, and maybe she even felt his fangs brush against her skin. She let out a small cry of surprise as the dragon's lips, hips locked and head held by sharp claws, approached, their heat pulsing inches from her gasping mouth. He's not going to... He won't...
Serena's heart froze... Sweaty lips, her mind still flickering over the scales, the reptile pulled his nose out of the bag, a small basket clenched in his jaws.
"Ah..."
She watched as he stepped back and carefully opened the wicker box, paying no further attention to her. No, of course he wasn't... She felt a laugh of relief shake her chest, but she couldn't get it out. Did I really believe it? Charizard, my pokemon, trying to... Sorry, Serena, but you don't taste as good as a pokepuff, she laughed at her own stupidity. She giggled, though it sounded more like a hoarse croak:
"Don't eat it all."
And Ash ravaged the pastry under his teeth, weighing his burning tongue with cream. Your father understood too late, but you learned from the beginning. Sweet, warm and tender, if only he'd dared, it could have been so sweet, warm and tender.