Chapitre 268: Charizard lore
Boom, another long chapter...stones?
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{Flashback about 11 years ago}
Oak was sitting in his lab, not long ago, Ash was born, and he wanted to prepare something for him.
Then he got a call on his computer. He was surprised someone was calling at this hour, so he spun his chair and rolled over to answer it, and from it, he got a blurry image of someone.
"Bzzz- Professor! Can you-Bzzz- me?" The person said the line was cutting in and out from the weak signal.
"Sorry, what?" Oak said this was before he aged like milk, but it was still hard to hear with the line turning in and out.
"It's me- Bzzz-Ketchum!" The person said, revealing himself as Ash's father
Oak's eyes widen, "Oh, it's you, it's good to hear from you finally. We've been trying to get in contact with you, but the signal there is horrible,"
His static screen shifted a little, "Don't-Bzzz- worry about it, so I he-Biz- my son was born,"
Oak felt a sweat drop fall helplessly from his head, "Yeah, and I'm sorry you should have told me you and Delia were expecting, I would have asked my son Blue to do it instead,"
"What's done-Bzzz-is done, Professor," the person said, his voice cutting in and out as Oak could hear strong winds pick up, "Besides, I called Delia fir-Bzzz- and I got to see him, though I don't th-Bzzz- he knows what his old man looks like,"
"If you want, you can call the mission off, I can just call someone else to do it," Oak responded.
"Please, who else can do this, the only one that could is Blue, and he isn't even in Kanto, I think la-Bzzz- I talked to him, and he was making plans to go to-Bzzz-"
"I suppose you're right, however, I just wish he would, after all, he also has his own son and daughter, he only came for Gary's birth, then he went out again,"
"Well, that's just him, you can't even be su-Bzzz- but in the end, he's just Blue," he said, "Though have you found out about who the-Bzzz- person is?"
Oak shrugged helplessly, "Unfortunately, no, he just said that there was one person he fought that he didn't beat, and he wanted to get a rematch, but he's been looking for a there no sign of him,"
"Shame, but enough about that there a re-Bzzz- I called," he said as Oak then heard a little roar from his partner, a Charizard, the one he gave to him personally.
"Oh? Is that your Charizard, he sounds as energetic as ever, has your special training finally pushed you further," Oak asked with enthusiasm.
"You bet. We've been training hard and finally broke through our bottleneck, and we're going to keep getting stronger!" He said the Charizard on the other side roared excitedly.
"But that's not why I wanted to talk to you," he said, stopping the excited sounds, "I have something, I'm sending it through the teleporter you should get it soon,"
Oak nodded and rolled his chair over to the teleporter on his desk as it flared to life and started to spin, then, as the light particles began to form there, an Egg was left.
As Oak grabbed it, he felt it was warm, probably born a few days ago at most, as he inspected it, he heard Ash's father speak again.
"You see, that Egg is Charizard's," he revealed, making Oak almost stumble over, but he grabbed the Egg and quickly understood, throwing some papers off his desk, he grabbed a nearby incubator and put it in safely.
"You could have started with that," Oak mumbled.
"Well, it's kinda obvious if you think about it," he said, chuckling as the sounds of his Charizard laughing were also heard.
"Well, ok, I get it in hindsight, it makes sense, however, what is the reason you're sending me this?" Oak said he could guess what it was for, but he wanted to hear it from him.
"You sure you're not starting to get dementia?" He joked, "I want you to give it to my son as his starter,"
Oak nodded he didn't even look surprised, Blue said once Gary turned 8 or 9, he would get his Blastoise to make an Egg, but this was different.
"You do realize that it's going to take 10 years before Ash can go on a journey," Oak said, placing the Egg on a shelf.
Ash's father chuckled, "Trust me when I say this: it's going to work out, you'll see,"
Oak didn't know how to respond to that, so he sighed helplessly, "Very well, I'll see what I can do, and if it hatches, I suppose I'll keep it in reserves, but I think having a 10-year-old Charmander will be strange,"
"It's fine, Like I said, it will work out, speaking of which, this Charmander and Ash were born around the same time, so in a way, I guess you could call them brothers~"
—-
{4 years later}
Oak was walking back from the library, at this point, Ash went in, and he said that he was getting some books for a surprise for Delia, not knowing the real reason.
This was the time when Ash got the Aura book, and at this point, he was reading it and got to the end looking at it, and he started using his Aura in the book, as he did, the Book gave him the hidden information left by Sir Aaron.
However, what Ash didn't notice was that when he did this, his Aura also pulsed and was sent out all through Pallet. No one noticed it since no one in pallet town could sense Aura, but as the energy went out, it hit the Egg, which had been lying dormant for all those years.
As Oak walked into his lab, he walked past the Egg, which he started to believe was a dud, After 4 years and no movement, it was hard to stay hopeful.
But this time, when he walked by, he saw the Egg, shaking a little, Oak was about to dismiss it until he remembered this was the Egg Ash's father gave to him 4 years ago.
He ran back and looked at it. At this point, his memory was starting to deteriorate, but he could still remember things such as the importance of this Egg. He stayed there for a bit, but it didn't shake again, but he at least knew it was alive.
Oak sighed and placed the Egg back on the shelf. He sat down to work, but he was conflicted about it, but he decided to put that thought to the back of his head, right now he had something important to do: prepare his school for the next batch of kids, this was the one where Ash and Gary would be joining.
But as he sat on his desk his brother, the mailman of Pallet town, delivered a letter for him, he looked at it as soon as his brother left and immediately fell silent seeing who it was from, his old 'friend' Giovanni.
Saying he wanted to talk, he didn't know what he wanted, but he grabbed his coat and Dragonite's Pokeball to go and see him,
—-
{3 more years later}
Oak was sitting at his desk; he was in his lab after a day of teaching all the kids. He wouldn't ever say this in front of them, but at first, integrating so many kids from different places made him nervous, especially on the first day, but things were working out.
Admittedly, his speech when he said this might become a normal back when he let the first wave in was a lie. He wasn't planning on doing this again, but now, seeing it, he was starting to consider it.
Especially considering how well they were all getting along, especially Ash, that kid was special somehow, it was strange, he was easy to get along with; infact he was probably more popular in Pallet than Gary at this point,
As he thought about Ash, his eyes drifted over to an Egg he had for a while, he was using as a paperweight over the years, and his memory was getting worse, he didn't remember how he got this Egg, he just remembered it had something to do with Ash.
Oak shrugged as he didn't think about it right now, infact all the kids were going off to their end-of-year celebration, and they were planning on doing karaoke,
Oak shook his head and thought about how nice it would be to have his youth again, he brought his cup of coffee to his mouth and took a sip, as he did, suddenly, out of his window, he saw the sky light up as he saw three beams of energy crashing,
Oak's face fell as he put his coffee down and ran out of his lab, slamming the door behind him and running to the scene, as he closed the door, he didn't see that the energy from the clash hit the lab and suddenly the Egg started to shake again, this time more than once, a lot more, but still didn't crack.
—
{1 year later}
Oak was sitting in his lab, it was the day Ash returned from Alola, somehow he felt that Ash was more confident, but he didn't pay any mind to it he was just happy the exchange went off without a hitch, from what his cousin said Ash was Ash unsurprisingly.
But as he sat down, he looked at the Egg, and something different was happening, ever since Ash returned to Pallet town, the Egg started moving again. Oak had forgotten a lot about this Egg; it's been 8 years, and his memory has been going downhill.
And after the incident with Lugiatwo and Ho-Ohtwo, the league has been on him, trying to make him figure out what was going on with those things.
At this point, all he remembered was that this Egg had something to do with Ash, infact he forgot what kind of Egg it was,
As he thought that, suddenly, a crack appeared on the Egg. Finally, Oak's eyes lit up, and he got closer, watching the Egg hatch, as he did, the cracks grew more and more on the shell until, finally, a small orange lizard opened its little head out and let out a little growl.
Oak was pleasantly surprised. He went over to the nursery, where there were more Eggs, and grabbed a formula for Charmander as he gave it to the little lizard, and he happily started eating it.
As soon as Charmander finished it, Charmander got tired and curled up to take a little nap, Oak took that chase and finally grabbed a Pokeball and pressed it against the Charmander, catching it.
Oak didn't remember why this Charmander was so important and what it had to do with Ash, but he shrugged, grabbing a notecard, saying that this Charmander was related to Ash, and put it under the Pokeball for later.
As he did that, he finally put the Pokeball on the shelf where he kept the other starters, and he left it there, eventually forgetting completely as the day before Ash started his journey, he ended up giving it away to someone else.
—-
{Present day}
Charizard was falling to the floor of the Valley, after the clash, no other Charizard dared to move, but as they all thought Charizard was just going to fall, the king reached out his hand and grabbed Charizard by the hand as he fell back, stopping him from falling to the floor.
"Char…Charizard, [Very impressive... I might even say you're a rare genius, ....Hmph, what a fascinating fellow]" the King said as he flew down and brought Charizard down to where Ash and the others were.
Charizard was still conscious he could move his arms, just not any other part of his body, he didn't want to be here, he didn't think he deserved it, he failed, he lost, he didn't want to look at Ash.
As Charizard was left on the ground, Ash started walking forward, still clutching his chest. Charizard wanted to run, he didn't want to see Ash mad at him, at his failures, he wanted to fly away, but his body didn't listen to him.
Charizard felt tears welling up in his eyes as Ash was closer, with what little strength he had, he raised his hand and covered his eyes as tears started to fall.
Charizard spoke up in a shaky voice, "Char….Charizard[I'm sorry…..for disappointing you. I know you need nothing less than the strongest. I've let you down. Please forgive me!]"
Charizard felt his tears flowing; he thought he must look so pathetic, he kept talking as if pleading, "Char…Char…Char…[Please, I promise, I'll never lose again….Just please don't abandon me…please don't leave me alone…]"
Charizard was shaking he was bracing himself for Ash to yell at him, thoughts of what happened with Cross flashed in his head, he would take anything: if Ash punched him, if he spit on him, if he called him a failure, he would take it as long as he didn't get abandoned.
But that never came. Instead, he felt a hand go on his stomach, and a soothing feeling flow through his body,
As Charizard moved his hand from his eyes, he saw Ash smiling at him as there was a faint blue energy coming from his hand, as he was using Aura to heal him.
"Come on, bud, everyone loses sometimes. It's ok to lose, and it's ok to cry," Ash said as he fell down as next to Charizard,
Charizard looked at Ash, accepting him. He felt tears coming from his eyes, but he didn't get his hopes up yet, "Char….Charizard…[Please, don't abandon me...I'll be better… I'll train every day, no I'll skip food and sleep to keep training…]"
Ash put a hand on his chest, "Come on, I'm not going to abandon you, and you don't need to do any of that, you're perfect just the way you are, so go ahead and let it out, bud, I'll be right here when you're done."
Charizard couldn't hold them back as the tears started to flow. He was so scared, but he didn't have to be anymore, he didn't know what to say, so he just kept crying.
From over to the side, everyone was watching the scene. Misty was about to ask something, but Liza put her hand on her lip, stopping her from crying as she was wiping her eyes with some tissues.
Yellow was also watching with tears in her eyes at the beautiful moment, as she was Chuchu was in the back dragging Pikachu's body from the water after he was thrown away from Misty's shaking.
—-
A while later, after everything calmed down, it was a few hours later, the Gang was invited by Liza to stay at her house here in the Valley since it was late, Charizard stayed out thinking about stuff, as he was sitting on a ledge, Ash walked out holding a bowl of food for him.
He offered it to Charizard, and he took it and started to slowly eat it. Ash sat down next to him as they looked out to the Valley, for a moment, they didn't say anything.
Then Ash looked at Charizard, "You want to stay here in the Valley for a bit, don't you,"
Charizard didn't even try to defend himself; he was talking all that about not wanting to be abandoned, and yet here he was suggesting that Ash leave him for a bit, but he wanted to. King Charizard told him that he would teach him some stuff, and Charizard wanted to beat the king more than anything.
Ash gave Charizard a pat on the back, "You can think about it, if you want to stay, of course, I'll let you, and hey, I have Abra, so it's not like I'm leaving you behind,"
With that, Ash walked back in, letting Charizard think about what he wanted, he never really thought about that, he always did what he thought Ash wanted, but now he knows what Ash wants is for Charizard to do what he wants.
—-
The next morning, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Yellow were standing at the gate, ready to head out, Liza and Charla were there, ready to see them off, they were just waiting on Charizard.
After a moment, Charizard flew down, behind him, the King Charizard flew down and stood back, waiting for his decision.
Charizard walked up to Ash and took a breath, giving Ash a bow, "Char... Char-Charizard [Ash…I'm sorry, I want to stay here, at least for a little, I want to become stronger. I know you said I don't have to, but I want to, I want to be the strongest to thank you because you saved me.]"
Ash patted his head, "Dude, I told you, it's alright, of course you can stay here, after all, i think you might have some fangirls now~"
Ash gave a cheeky smirk as he pointed to the side, as Charizard looked over to the other side of the mountain, some female Charizard were giggling and waving at him.
"I guess running the pockets of most of the Charizard in this valley gave you some still credit, my guy~," Ash said as he gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Charla somehow felt jealous, as she stood next to Charizard and shot a small glare at the female Charizard, she tried to justify it, thinking it was because Charizard was here for training, and then he didn't need distractions.
Ash smiled as he gave another pat to Charizard, "Good luck, and no matter what, just remember I'm proud of you,"
Charizard felt a lump in his throat when he heard that, he gave a quiet nod as he fought back the urge to cry.
Ash gave a smile, going back to his goofy personality, "Besides, it seems like you're going to have quite a lot of company," he said, his eyes drifting to Charla and then quickly shifting to the other Charizard.
Charizard gave a small blush, and Ash smirked as he walked away, "I expect a shiny when I come back~"
That made Charizard blush deep red, as he looked back with slight fear and saw most of the female Charizard looking at him like a predator looking at their prey.
Ash walked up to Liza, "Take care of him, alright, I'll be back to get him soon,"
Liza smiled as she gave him a pat on his shoulder, "Don't worry, I will, and you know, if I do say so myself, you're one damn good Charizard trainer."
Ash smiled, "Thanks, but right now, I'm just a trainer,"
Then he looked back at his friends, grabbing Pikachu on his shoulder, "You guys ready for our next journey,"
Brock looked a little defeated since he tried hitting on Liza a few more times and failed. He nodded, "Yeah, let's go,"
Misty and Yellow also nodded as they all started to walk down, and Abra appeared on Ash's shoulder, with a final look back, they saw Charizard waving at them,
They gave a wave back as Abra finally teleported out,
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone