Chapter 73: Unfair Battle
Blade watched as Hunter landed his focus Blast attack on Charizard, off balancing the large pokemon, sending Ashachu flying from his back, and forcing the fire type to drop his egg.
"Oh shit!" Blade covered his mouth in shock. "Fuck Hunter, what have you done!"
"CHAR ZARD!" Charizard whipped around, a murderous look across his face as he bared his fangs at Hunter.
Blade could see them both, he could almost feel their emotions from his position to the side. Hunter stood in brave defiance against the overwhelming fire type. Though, his bravery was only matched by his foolishness. Blade could feel the murderous intent pouring out of Charizard. It both froze him in place and brought a strangely familiar comfort.
"You're dead," Charizard menacingly stalked toward the Riolu.
"Bring it on you overgrown Charmander," Hunter barked back defiantly. "You don't scare me! I've fought mons bigger than you and won, so fucking bring it."
"Hunter don't try it," Blade pleaded, grabbing him by the arm and trying to pull him away. "Come on, just get out of here before…"
But Hunter ignored him, tugging his arm free before dashing toward Charizard.
"I beat Norman's Slaking and Flannery's Camerupt. I've beaten plenty of Pokémon twice my size. I can take you, you big brute. Now eat force palm." Hunter jumped into the air; readying the attack.
"Zard." Charizard responded by blasting him with a jet of flames from his mouth.
The riolu was completely engulfed and pushed back, landing in a burnt heap.
"Is that all y-you got!" The little Riolu half barked half whimpered as he climbed back to his paws. "I'll show you!"
Despite his tough act, Blade could tell Hunter had been weakened by that last attack. He had burns over his body and he was struggling to stand.
"Hunter!" Blade heard Ashachu speak and shifted his eyes to the mouse, noticing his bristling fur. "Don't be a moron!"
"FOCUS BLAST!" Hunter tried to strike Charizard. However the fire type moved at an almost blinding speed, closing the distance and stopping the riolu before he could even react. And Charizard lifted him by the tail into the air.
"Will you?"
"Hey. What are you doing, let me go," Hunter began to wriggle and squirm, trying to escape Charizard's grip. He lost all confidence.
"You attacked my mate and my egg," he growled. "I should kill you right where you stand. Any other Char would."
"N-n-no… D-Don't do t-that!" Panic filled Hunter. His voice was high and he trembled as he spoke, still trying in vain to free himself. "I-I'm s-sorry!"
"Oh, don't worry," said Charizard with a slight chuckle. "I'm not going to kill you. I owe it to Ashachu not too. I'm still going to make you suffer for what you did, you little pipsqueak. Hmmmm, what to do!"
Blade was still frozen in place, his body wanted to move to help Hunter escape, and yet, the situation that played out had him frozen, with both fear and oddly nostalgia.
"ASHACHU!" Hunter cried out.
Blade saw the unsympathetic look on the electric type's face. He was clearly angry, and Blade couldn't blame him, he would be angry if he were in their position.
"hehehe…Ashachu's mine now," laughed Charizard. "He isn't going save you. No! You're going down my throat."
Blade was stunned at that. 'Ashachu's mine now.' Blade felt a surreal feeling. It felt familiar and he couldn't quite place why. His eyes shot open wider at Charizards decision. Was he really going to eat the poor riolu?
Hunter cried out in fear "What! NO! NOOO!"
Blade watched as Charizard fixed his hold on Hunter, positioning the riolu in the air as he looked up opening his maw wide.
"No STOPPP! I'm sorry!" Hunter pleaded.
"Oh," said Charizard. "Never call me a slut dragon again." Clearly there was no changing the fire lizard's mind.
Blade watched in stunned horror as Charizard forced Hunters head into his mouth before throwing back his head and letting gravity pull the riolu down. The fire type seemed to shake and move seemingly trying to pull the smaller mon further down his throat.
Finally Blade felt his body moving. "Fuck no, can't let this happen….HUNTER!" Blade charged forth, claws extended. "Eat Ice Beam." His efforts were fruitless however, as Charizard simply spun about slapping Blade away with his tail.
And Blade went flying into the rock wall at the end of the beach nearby. He went still moaning silently. "Snea…"
Blade sat in a daze for a few moments hearing a loud gulp then Charizard speaking again. "Well then," Charizard spoke aloud. "Anybody else got a problem with Ashy and my mating. Anybody else want to have a go at our egg." His eyes turned to Blade, as the Sneasel pulled himself up. "Sneasel."
Blade sighed as he slowly stood. He knew he was no match for Charizard and there was no way he could save Hunter. He felt suddenly hopeless. His mind replaying everything so quickly. 'Ashachu's mine now…. You're going down my throat.'
It felt oddly familiar, this hopeless feeling, the cruelty, and the almost ownership of the partner. And suddenly it clicked.
'Ashachu's mine now.'
'My Blade.'
'You're going down my throat.'
'I recall advising you to watch your tongue. Your mistake to not heed that advice, so I'll at least warn you that this will hurt.'
The possessive way of addressing the partner, the overly cruel and torturous punishment. Blade chuckled internally. Then he turned to Ashachu. "Hey kid! You want to know something!"
"Pika?" Ashachu looked at him curiously.
"Hehehe. He's your Shadow," the Sneasel giggled, pointing to Charizard. How had he not realized it sooner, the way Charizard acted toward Ashachu was almost exactly how Shadow acted toward him, overly cruel in their defense of their beloved.
Ashachu glared at him. "Shut up Blade!"
"Shadow once ripped someone's tongue out for insulting me," Blade spoke from the heart, internally pitying Ashachu for falling into the same painful love trap he had. "And now your Chari here just ate Hunter for insulting your relationship. Your trainer might condemn Shadow for what he is. And he might be right. But, looks like his ace player isn't any better."
Charizard's eyes narrowed. "Careful Sneasel. You're Darkrai bitch is dead. Nobody here's going to protect you this time!"
Blade considered glaring or growling at Charizard but decided against it. His mind forced itself to remain focused, lest he lose himself in his own sorrow. He continued addressing Ashachu. "You know kid, you and I are more alike than you realize. We both were rejected by our families…" Blade confided to the Pikachu.
"My family did not reject me," Ashachu denied the suggestion. "What are you talking about?"
Blade was nearly stunned by his denial, whether he liked it or not, Ashachu had barely been treated better than Blade. They both suffered at the hands of their families, but where Blade suffered physically, Ashachu got an equal measure of mental torture. It saddened Blade, the poor boy didn't even realize how bad he'd been treated.
He ignored Ashachu's words. "And we both clung to the one powerful Pokémon who showed us a glimmer of hope when we were at our lowest. And that creature happens to be a psychopath… Oh don't worry. I know exactly what Shadow is. What he was… The real question is, do you know what that Charizard is!" Blade felt his heart and mind cracking as he spoke.
As he saw it, Charizard was no better than Shadow. The image of his boyfriend was still fresh in his mind. The Darkrai, cleaved in two, only to be bathed in the fire types flames moments later. Shadow was already dead, there was no way anyone could survive that. Burning him afterwards was simply cruel and for Charizard's own vengeful amusement.
Ashachu spoke angrily. "Blade, if you have nothing nice to say, then piss off. Arceus, I can't believe I almost mated with you."
Blade was too far to hear, but he could faintly make out Hunter's voice pleading within Charizard.
"Still wriggling in there," said Charizard. "Feels nice, keep going."
If not for witnessing what Shadow had done to so many, Blade may have found it disturbing to watch.
More muffled cries from Hunter.
"Well, you are inside a fire type. Who'd have thought."
"You are going to let him go, right?" asked Ashachu. "You're not going to… you know!"
Blade was curious as well, judging by how easily he decided to do it, Blade didn't doubt the lizard's resolve to digest the smaller pokemon.
Charizard chuckled. "Hehehe. Don't worry, I'm not going to digest him. I can't say no to your pretty face, now can I. Can't digest him whole anyway. I'll let him go in the morning. Once he's had time to learn his lesson."
Hunter gave more muffled retorts, but went ignored.
"Works for me," said Ashachu with a smile. Silently asking to be picked up by Charizard, who did so before stretching out his wings ready to take flight.
"I trust you can find your way back to Cameron," the dragon said to Blade. "Because I'm not giving you a ride. See ya! Come on Ashy let's get out of here." A great flap of his wings, and the dragon took off into the air.
"He's your Shadow kid," Blade called after him. "You'll work it out sooner or later!" He spoke silently to himself as they flew off. "And it looks like you're on a fast track to being more like me."
'Works for me.' Blade's mind replayed those words. Perhaps Charizard had an even worse effect on Ashachu than Shadow had on him.
"It took months for me to reach the point that I was okay with Shadow's cruelty and even longer to openly endorse it." Blade looked down sadly. "Kid…what changed?" He slowly started to walk back toward where he'd come from. He was in no rush, he'd likely have a few bad injuries once Lucario gets a hold of him. Not that he cared much. "When we met, you would never have wished anything like that on anyone, let alone someone you loved." The Sneasel stopped and dropped to his knees.
Tears in his eyes he let out one of his claws and stabbed himself in the leg. "It's my fault…it always is…." Blade thought back as he twisted his claw in his leg. He felt nothing. "When we met you were so sweet, innocent…you had your issues but everyone does….but you were good, a kind person.." he pulled his claw out before stabbing it back beside the first wound. "But I got you in trouble…you were treated so horribly by your family because of me. If you never met me…they wouldn't have treated you that way…if we never met you'd still be happy with Hunter…." Blade pulled his claw from his leg quickly driving it into his own stomach. "If we never met Shadow wouldn't have hunted you….he'd never have tortured you….I wouldn't have ruined your relationship…I wouldn't have ruined your life…." Blade sat still for a moment, the pain still not registered in his mind. But the blood dripping from his stomach and his legs was soothing to him.
He stood up, claw still buried in his gut and he limped up the beach. Blood dripping out, leaving a trail behind him. After a few slow minutes he stepped off the beach. And once again fell to his knees. "Hehe hehehe hehehehe hahahahaha AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He let out a blood curdling cackle as loud as possible before he felt himself go numb, his body falling forward passing out on the ground.
In truth he didn't know or care if anyone had heard him. And in his heart he hoped no one had. This way, bleeding out on the ground. Dying alone, a quite worthless death, to end his own worthless life. He felt it was fitting. And at least this way, he could see Shadow again. Together in their next life.