Chapter 28 – Date with a dragon

The Pokémon centre had not been difficult to get out of. While the front doors are locked at night, preventing trainers entering or leaving until morning, the window, for some reason, were not.

Ashachu had had little trouble, clambering out of Ash's bed, and onto the windowsill. Even with the Pokéball clasped in one paw. One decent shove with his free paw and shoulder was able to push the French style windows open…Provided he didn't lose balance and fall out.

"Whoa…PIKA." He swung his arms and shifted his feet in an attempt to regain balance. The dark void that was the other side of the ledged loomed at him. They may have only been on the first floor, but at his size, a fall would still have hurt.

"Phew…" Ashachu sighed with relief as he felt his body stabilise. The lurching fear in his stomach subsidised, and his heart rate slowed. "That was close."

He tentatively glanced over his shoulder to see if his gasp of panic had woken his parents. Fortunately, both Ash and Pikachu were heavy sleepers. Ash was still lying there on his back, snoring heavily, Pikachu lying on his chest, his ears twitching occasionally.

Another sigh of relief as Ashachu turned back to the empty window, gripping the Pokéball in both paws…POP…There was a flash of light as the ball opened, and his boyfriend materialised in the grass outside the centre.

"Pi Kkkaaa!" Ashachu leapt off the window ledge and into Charizard's waiting arms.

The fire lizard caught the mouse in his arms and held him tightly against his chest. He bowed his head and licked Ashachu across his ears and the top of his head. His efforts were rewarded by Ashachu's happy coo of "Pika Pikachu."

"Mmmm, it's good to see you again cutie," he said, as gripped Ashachu tightly.

"Hehehe," Ashachu giggled. "It's only been a couple of hours. Attachment much!" Still, he buried his face in Charizard's chest and breathed in his scent. Arceus, he loved being held so tightly.

"Is it such a problem that I love being with my mate, and miss him when he's gone." Charizard gave him another lick to the ears, before nuzzling the top of Ashachu's head, gently with his large snout

"Ha. You're worse than Pikaka. He can't seem to bear to be away from my dad."

Charizard's grip on Ashachu slackened, and his face fell. Ashachu looked up, just in time to see a sad expression flicker on his face. It quickly passed though, a half a second later, the flame lizard was nuzzling him again and holding him tighter than before.

"Come on. You missed me too. Admit it."

"Alright. Maybe, a little."

"So, what should we do," Ashachu asked, after a few moments of nuzzling and giggling. He clambered out of Charizard's arms and pulled himself up on his shoulder, where he perched himself right in the crooks of the flame Pokémon's neck.

"I don't know," Charizard replied. "We could find somewhere open and do a little training."

Ashachu groaned and slapped the top of his head with his paw. "Nah, we always do that. I'm tired of training. I want to do something fun."

"I thought you liked battling and getting stronger."

"I want to do something else that's fun. You know, like a date. With my boyfriend."

"Well, why don't we go for a walk," suggested Charizard. "We're bound to find something to do!"

"Okay," Ashachu agreed, and so they wandered out into the street…

It was obviously quite late at night. Ashachu wasn't sure how late, as he hadn't bothered looking at the clock. He'd just spent the last few hours waiting for Ash and the other Pokémon to fall asleep so he could slip out.

The sky was inky black, and dotted with a thousand twinkling stars, and the moon shone brightly above them. The only other light came from the amber street lamps. The lights were off in most of the shops and houses, their inhabitants asleep in their beds.

Looking around, neither Ashachu nor Charizard could see any humans lurking about…Which made it relatively safe for two Pokémon to wander the street unaccompanied by a trainer. Even one as large as Charizard.

Hulbury was shaped like a Rapidash-shoe. There was one main road, lined with houses, shops and business that stretched around the harbour, ending in a long wharf, upon which was built the gym along with, at the very end, a lighthouse.

"Hmm Lighthouse," Charizard mused looking up at the long, tall round building at the end of the wharf. There was a bright light shining at the top of course, but it was pointed out to sea.

"What's so special about a lighthouse," asked Ashachu.

Charizard shrugged. "Nothing really, I guess. Just remembering. I saw a lighthouse once, back when I was a Charmander. There was a lonely human living inside it. Trying to communicate with a Dragonite live at sea. He was also alone. I remember hearing its cry…It was sad. I wanted to meet him."

"Why didn't you?"

"Team Rocket got in the way," Charizard sighed.

Ashachu grunted and shook his head. "Figures."

They wandered along the street, where they came upon the only building in town with lights on…except for the lighthouse of course.

The smell of food hit their noses as they approached…Human food…Good food. A range of aromas that promised much good eating. Ashachu and Charizard felt their stomach rumble at the scents.

Sniff…Sniff…Sniff….Ashachu closed his eyes and leant forward slightly on Charizard's shoulder.

"Oh man, that smells good," he moaned longingly. "What is that a restaurant."

"Looks like it," Charizard agreed. He inched slightly closer, being careful to stay in the shadows so as not be seen by anyone who might be looking out of a window.

A sign above the door read The Captain's Table, and a had large picture of smiling man in a set if chefs overalls with a moustache.

"Fuck. I haven't eaten anything that smells that good since Cilan was travelling with us," said Ashachu sadly. "I wish Pokémon could go and eat at places like that, like humans do when they go on dates."

"Yeah," Charizard agreed. For a moment he looked as disappointed as Ashachu felt. And then, his long face suddenly transformed into a wicked grin… "Wait…Maybe we can!"

[Pokémon]

There were two entrances into the Captain's Table. A set of double doors at the front which opened onto the main street and through with the guests arrived and left. And a second set of doors at side for the staff, and which lead directly into the kitchen.

It was late at night, and there was only one chef working. His name was Pierre, and he was one of the finest chefs in the world – He also happened to be the owner. The Captain's Table was not normally open at this hour.

But an exception had been made tonight for a very important guest…

Pierre hummed to himself as he removed the basket of battered fish from the deep fryer, doused them in salt, and placed them one by one onto the platter to join the rest of the feast. It was as he was laying the plate on the trolley to wheel into the dining room that he felt it.

The hairs on his neck stand up and the eerie sensation that someone was standing beside him…And then he heard someone cough…

"Are you insane," Ashachu hissed as Charizard pushed open the doors to the kitchen, bowed his head and stepped inside. "This is a terrible idea; we're going to get caught. Or hurt. Or arrested."

"He, you worry too much," came the dismissive reply.

Ashachu's heart thumbed and he felt his fur bristle as he looked around the kitchen. There were three long steel benches, each with a sink at one end and a stove at the other. Several large ovens and a giant refrigerator lined one wall and there were pots and pans everywhere.

In the middle of the room was a man standing behind a large steel trolley, ladened with the most delicious looking food Ashachu had ever seen. Even in his fearful state, the sight of it still made his mouth water.

Charizard cleared his throat. A low roar, just enough to let the human know he was there…

Pierre turned around and jumped so high he nearly knocked over the trolley. "Ahhh."

Charizard grinned at him, showing him his long sharp fangs. Then he held a single claw to his lips before pointing at the trolley. The message was clear…Give me the food, and everything will be okay.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Pierre screamed. He ran around the trolley and shot out of the double doors at the other end of the kitchen and into the dining room. Charizard picked up the entire trolley with his two claws, spun around and walked back outside.

Next thing Ashachu knew they were in the air, Hulbury falling away below them…

[Pokémon]

"Arceus I can't believe you just did that," Ashachu groaned as he slid off Charizard's back. The two had come to land on a top of the hill beside the lighthouse and Charizard had put down the stolen trolley. "What an earth were you thinking, are you insane?"

Charizard looked down at his boyfriend, cheeks puffed out, fur brisling and a cross expression on his face. He was unable to suppress a laugh. "Ha. You know, somehow I think you're even cuter when your angry."

"Are you listening to me?"

"Of course, I am. You said you wished we could have a date in a restaurant the way humans do. Well, voila." He gestured to the trolley with his claw. "Now you get to have a romantic moonlit picnic with me."

Ashachu shook his head but couldn't help smiling. "Charizard, you nearly gave that poor man a heart attack. Plus, you stole all his food."

"Are you kidding me," Charizard replied. "He had plenty of food in that place. Beside humans get their food either from our Pokémon bodies or from our land. It's only fair that we should get to take some from them."

"If Ash finds out that we," Ashachu started, before being interrupted.

"He won't, unless you tell him. Now come on let's eat."

"You're as bad as Meowth from Team Rocket."

This caused Charizard to give him a serious look. He raised his claw and replied firmly, "now that's not fair. Team Rocket steal us. They kidnap Pokémon and take away their lives and cause them great suffering. All we did was steal food from humans who didn't need it, were going to sell it to make money, and would have wasted whatever they couldn't sell…But, if you think it's so wrong that's fine. You don't have to eat any…"

He began unloading the trolley, placing plates of food on the ground before Ashachu. Ashachu's mouth watered at the sight of it. There were plates of deep-fried fish, calamari and other sea creatures. Bowls of hot fries and crisp salad, and an assortment of cakes and deserts.

There was even a bottle of wine. Charizard was trying to dig the cork out with his claw.

"I didn't say that…"

"Then stop whinging and dig in…"

Ashachu sighed, then shrugged, than sat down in the grass and pulled a bowl of fries towards him.

"Here, you'll want this with those," said Charizard, pawing Ashachu a bottle of ketchup.

Ashachu took hold of the bottle in both paws. It was nearly as tall as he was. "Err…What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Oh sorry." Charizard took the bottle back off him, and poured some of its contents onto the fries. It was a thick, rich red liquid. "Hehehe. Pikachu, loves this stuff."

Ashachu picked up a fry and took a bite. It was crisp, salty and hot and the ketchup on it has a spicy tomatoey flavour. His eyes seemed to sparkle as he chewed and he couldn't help but give a happy cry of "Pika," after swallowing.

Charizard beamed at him. "See, what did I tell you. It was worth breaking in there, for this."

"I am never going to admit that" Ashachu replied, but grinned all the same.

Charizard took a second bowl of fries and tipped the entire contents into his large mouth. He chewed it once before swallowing. An expression similar to Pikachu's crossed his face. "Hehehe. Oh yeah. That's the stuff."

Next Ashachu tried the fish. It was firm and flaky beneath, and the batter crispy. After that the salad. The lettuce was cold and crisp and the tomatoes juicy. There was seafood chowder. A rich thick soup that Ashachu dipped his paw into and it off, and which Charizard slurped down.

There was some kind of roasted meat. Ashachu didn't want any of that. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of the cooked flesh and shook his head. "No thanks."

"Fine, more for me." Charizard ate the entire thing in two bites.

There was something, that had been a crustacean at one point, full of white meat. "Pika." Ashachu crushed his with an iron tail, and proceeded to pull the shattered red shell off the meat. It had a sweet flavour. Charizard at the whole thing.

A box of dumplings. Meaty, greasy and served with a spicy sauce. Ashachu ate one before throwing one to Charizard. Same with a plate of rice balls. A tray of fish moray, creamy and made with lots of cheese. Ashachu managed to make quite a mess shovelling it in with his paws. Charizard licked the tray clean…then Ashachu.

"Hehehe. Char, you're tickling me," Ashachu giggled and the long tongue caressed his torso and face.

And then finally, there were the deserts. A cheesecake so sweet it caused Ashachu to get on his four paws and burry his face in it, eating it Growlithe style.

"Ashachu, you do know most of that is going in your fur, don't you…Hey save some for me."

Charizard had to pull it away from Ashachu in order to get a taste – not a difficult feat given their size different.

"Hey quit it. I'm not done yet."

"You've nearly finished it. It's my turn. Go try the chocolate cake." Despite pressing his weight on the plate, Ashachu felt it slip from his paws.

"Yoink…Oh thanks." Charizard grumbled at the amount he'd been left, then licked the remains off the plate.

"Fuck…I don't think I can move," Ashachu announced when they had finally finished. He lay on his back in the grass, his stomach bulging slightly, breathing heavily. "Human food is tasty, but too rich."

Charizard scooped him up and cradled him in his arms and against his chest, the way Ash often did Pikachu. "Mmmm. You know Ashachu, you're a really special Pokémon. I love you so much."

Ashachu blushed a little. "You keep telling me that."

"Because it's true. Does it bother you?"

"No, it's nice to hear. I love you too"

"Hmm." He lowered his long muzzle to Ashachu's chest and nuzzled him again, making Ashachu giggle and squirm with pleasure.

"You've really helped me a lot," said Ashachu when Charizard finally stopped nuzzling him. "I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't helped me after Hunter…" He trailed off, not wanting those particular memories to surface. "So, thank-you for that."

Charizard grinned. "No need to thank me. I like helping cuties. And like I told you, I know what you were going through." He sighed, then added, "…I never told you the full story did I. Why I stopped listening to Ash."

Ashachu raised his head slightly and looked up at his boyfriend. "No."

"I was jealous," Charizard explained. "Jealous of what Ash had with Pikachu."

Ashachu's ears pricked up. "Y-you wanted Ash."

Charizard shook his head. "No. I had a crush on Pikachu."

This really surprised Ashachu. He sat up his ears twitching, "you did."

"Mmmhmm." Charizard nodded. "Pikachu was the first Pokémon I got to spend time with since I left my previous trainer," Charizard begun.

"The one who," Ashachu sought to clarify before realizing what he was saying. "Umm…."

"The one who abandoned me and left me to die in the rain, yes," said Charizard, a note of resentment entering his voice. He took a deep breath and snorted, a little smoke billowing from his nostrils.

Ashachu wrinkled his nose before coughing and trying to waft it away with his paws.

"Oh sorry," said Charizard before blowing it away with a beat of his wings. "Now where was I…Oh yes. I remember liking him from the moment I laid eyes upon him. He was just cute with his pointy ears, and cute little face and perfect little body. He asked me what I was doing on that rock, and I told him I was waiting to be picked up…Then later that day after I was." He paused a lump formed in his throat.

Ashachu placed a paw on his chest and squeezed. "Char…"

Charizard sniffed. "It's okay Ashachu it's just a…painful memory. It was after I was dying in the rain. Ash and his friends rescued me and took me to a cave. Pikachu licked me on my muzzle, patted me on my back and told me everything was going to be okay. And…it changed my perspective. When I'd been out there in the rain, I had been ready to die. I felt like I deserved to die. Pikachu made me want to live again…After that I started traveling with Ash and. Ash didn't have many Pokémon back then. Just Pikachu, Butterfree, Bulbasaur and Pidgeotto. And Pidgeotto was anti-social. So, I got to spend a lot of time training and playing with Pikachu. And it just got to the point where I wanted to be with him all of the time. Every time we spoke my heart would start racing, and my mouth would feel a little dry and I'd feel warm inside. I started having…fantasies about him."

"You mean," Ashachu asked, noting the blush on Charizard's face. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, but curious all the same.

"About mating him yes. It got worse when I evolved into Charmeleon. My feelings for him grew. As did my sexual desire. All of the hormones were…intense. They still are. Plus, for Charmeleon and Charizard, our arms are too short to reach our…umm crotch. The only way we can, errr, get off you might say. Is with another."

At this point Ashachu had to put his paws over his mouth to stifle a laugh.

Charizard rolled his eyes. "You can laugh, but it's actually a nightmare. I kept having strong feelings of arousal, desire any affection every time I was around Pikachu. Every time I caught his scent in the air. And I had no way of relieving the pressure. One morning I just snapped. I woke up and there was Pikachu all curled up and adorable. That lightning bolt tail wrapped around his body and his golden fur glinting in the sun. And I thought to myself, I wanted to wake up beside him every morning. So, I took him aside I told him how I felt. I poured my heart out to him and…and."

Charizard's voice broke and his lower lip trembled.

"Charizard," Ashachu whispered soothingly to him. "What happened?"

Charizard took a deep breath before saying, "Pikachu did not reciprocate. He was in love with Ash…It broke my brain. I felt like I had been abandoned all over again. My heart was torn in too. And it made me angry. Shortly after Pikachu told me that he didn't want to be with me, and that he was with Ash, I just had these intense feelings of jealousy and resentment towards Ash. Ash was just this weak human who couldn't battle and who had stolen my Pikachu from me…So I stopped battling for him or listening to him."

Ashachu frowned. "Just because Pikachu didn't like you that. That seems a bit harsh."

Charizard let out a long sigh. "I'm not proud of it. It wasn't just because of Pikachu. I was strong as a Charmeleon. And Ash just wasn't. He was still a little kid, and he kept doing stupid things. He still's a kid now. I didn't feel he deserved my power. I got over that eventually. When he showed me how much he actually cared?" He shook his head. "Story for another day."

A worrying thought occurred to Ashachu. "Wait…You don't see me as another Pikachu, do you?"

"No, no of course not," Charizard replied. He sounded a little hurt and it made Ashachu feel a little ashamed of his question. "I love you for you Ashachu. I really attracted Pikachu's generally, but I still like you for you. I eventually got over how I felt about Pikachu. After I went to live in the Charzific valley and met Charla. And we started…Well." He started to blush again.

Ashachu raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Who's Charla?"

"Another Charizard…"

"A female Charizard."

Ashachu sniggered at the increasingly bashful expression on the fire lizard's face. "Was she you girlfriend," he teased. "Should I be jealous."

"She was for a bit, yeah," Charizard replied. "And no, you don't have anything to worry about. We're not together anymore. I love you, Ashachu. Don't you trust me."

"Of course, I trust you." Ashachu slapped him with his paw. "I was just messing with you…And thank-you for telling me that."

He pushed himself up onto his hind legs – as much as he could being held like this – and gave Charizard a hug. Or, as much a hug as he could give the much large Pokémon. He spread his arms and placed them across Charizard's chest.

Charizard smile and gave him another lick on the crown of his yellow head. "You're sweet. I hope now you know that you're not alone in how you were feeling about Hunter!"

"Yeah, I do." It was then that a thought occurred to Ashachu. He let go of Charizard and looked up at him curiously, "wait, did you seriously say you can't…err…get off without another."

"Umm, yeah!" A worried expression crossed Charizard's face as an evil grin spread across Ashachu. "What of it."

"Seems like the power dynamics in this relationship might have must shifted in my favor," said Ashachu coyly.

Charizard groaned. "You'd have to be a real bitch to use that against me?"