Chapter 7 - The Origin of Skyfire, Part 2
#7 of Of Dragon Descent
OF DRAGON DESCENT
Chapter 7: The Origin of Skyfire, Part 2
Pokemon Fan Fic
By: Scy Storm
ssbs.furrynet.com
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter contains some bloody scenes and some violent fighting, so if you're not into that stuff, you may not want to read it. It's not totally that bad, but I thought I'd warn you.
The crowd of Team Rocket Pokemon around look on, most with a look of bewilderment. Some with even a look of jealousy. Sneasel and Machoke look at the now evolved Charmeleon, who does not let off his angry stare. Sneasel huffs, brushing herself off with her claws. "Don't look at me like that, lizard."
Charmeleon says nothing, and instead narrows his eyes slightly, his pupils flaring up a bit more. Sneasel and Machoke look at each other, both of them snickering, then looking back toward the Meleon. "Aww, little scaredy-cat lizard getting angry again?" Machoke taunts.
Charmeleon closes his eyes, then smiling, and starting to chuckle slightly. Sneasel and Machoke fold their arms and look at him a bit confused. Charmeleon stands slowly, his laugh growing a bit louder in volume. "... Angry? Yeah... You could say that..." He says.
"Hmm. He's mad..." Sneasel says, smirking.
Machoke slams one of his fists into his open palm. "I hope he doesn't get all shaky again..." He states.
Charmeleon, eyes still closed, starts chuckling again. He soon throws his head back and laughs quite loudly, his arms dangling at his sides. Sneasel and Machoke are just getting more confused. Charmeleon lets out a sigh, cutting off his laughter, but keeping his head in the same position. "Shaky... No... Not me... Of course not... I don't shake... Shaking is bad... Hehe..."
"... What? Now you're making no sense." Sneasel says.
"Hehe... I'm not shaky... You speak of someone else, not me..." Charmeleon continues.
Machoke growls. "Oh, you'll be shaking in your scales here verrrry soon..." He says, punching his palm again and cracking his knuckles.
Charmeleon arches his head back forward, staring at the two with a very evil glare, his head tilted to the right slightly. Sneasel raises her arms and glares back at him. "I'm the one giving the evil stares here, Fire-type!"
She lunges at Charmeleon, who doesn't move. Not caring, she slashes, leaving long, clean lacerations straight across his chest. She looks up in amazement, wondering why he didn't make an attempt to dodge. Charmeleon smiles, grabbing her wrist tightly. She struggles to get back, but can't. Charmeleon proceeds to lick his own blood off Sneasel's claws, murring and letting out a small laugh afterward. Sneasel is lost for words. Charmeleon's smile fades, and he slams Sneasel's arm straight into the ground, her claws slamming straight into the hardwood floor. Sneasel tries to pull her arm out, but can't. Charmeleon assists her with a massive roundhouse kick to the face, which sends her rolling backward several feet. Machoke, surprised at his antics, snaps out of his stare and barrels toward the lizard, going for a grab with both hands. He gets the grab, as Charmeleon once again doesn't move. He starts to strangle the lizard, who nonchalantly moves his hands up to Machoke's. He squeezes down onto two of Machoke's fingers, and the snapping sound can be heard all around the training area. Machoke cries out in pain and lets go of Charmeleon, who immediately leaps into the air. After a second of wincing, Machoke looks back, and gets two slashes from Charmeleon's claws: One of which rakes his eye. Machoke staggers backward, holding his face, tripping and falling on his back. "AAAAAAH! BASTARD GOT MY EYE!" He yells.
Charmeleon lands on his feet and stands straight, starting to laugh again. Blood trickles down from his wound and begins dripping onto the floor. Sneasel moves around the wrist Charmeleon grabbed before, making sure it's okay. It's a tad sore, but should do. She gets back to her glaring battle stance before the lizard, who just looks at her, smiling evilly, his tail swishing to one direction every few seconds. Sneasel sneers. "Quit smiling at me. And I suggest you try dodging me this time, before I make you bleed to death." She says.
Charmeleon blinks, and then nods, his smile fading, and his expression growing stern. Sneasel, tired of his glare upon her, mounts her attack, speeding toward the lizard with great speed. She slashes, many times, each slash cutting through the air with great velocity, causing sounds that echo across the walls of the arena. After what seems like a thousand slashes, she stops, a bit short of breath. Both of them still remain in their original spots: Charmeleon had not moved back an inch. Moreover, he shows absolutely no injury, aside from the previous slash across his chest. Sneasel goes a bit wide-eyed. Charmeleon just looks at her a moment, his expression unchanged. "... Missed me." He says, his voice deep and serious.
Sneasel gasps, but before she can even react, her neck is grasped by Charmeleon's paw. She brings her claws up and tries to slash his arm away, but he is squeezing too hard. Her air supply is quickly diminishing, cutting off her use of body functions. Charmeleon hears some scuffling behind him, and a voice yells out. "SNEASEL! Damnit, stop, you're killing her!" It says.
Charmeleon pays no attention, but does loosen his grip slightly, if only to keep her alive. He brings up his other paw and clenches it tightly, using it to wail away on the helpless Dark-type. She whimpers and cries out through her constricted airway as she's beaten. The Pokemon around the room look on, stunned, none wanting to do anything. Charmeleon stops his attack soon enough, releasing the grip on Sneasel's neck. She falls to the ground, coughing heavily, oxygen coming back to her. She can feel a searing pain shoot through her as the result of Charmeleon's beating. As her coughing fades, she looks up toward him, blood running down her chin. He takes a deep breath, his eyes flaring red as he glares at her. She can do nothing but go wide-eyed in horror as the lizard blasts an intense blast of fire at her, point-blank. Machoke looks on through one eye. "Crap!" He yells.
Sneasel goes flying back several yards into a crowd of Rocket Pokemon, who dodge out of the way. The fire slams her into some exercise equipment and fades. She falls unconscious immediately. Charmeleon takes another breath and grins evilly at the downed Sneasel. Machoke stands straight, one fist clenched, his other hand against his bleeding face. He glares at the lizard. "Damn you..."
Charmeleon turns his glance toward the Fighting-type. "I'm sorry... Did I cut you? I do that... On occasion..."
Machoke growls, taking his hand of his face and clenching it into a bloody fist. His one raked eye is shut, as his face seems to be turning red with anger. "You're going to pay for this with your life, Meleon..." He says through his teeth.
Charmeleon smirks, then lets his smirk fade, intentions running through his mind. He perks his eyes suddenly, hearing a blast. He leaps into the air and narrowly dodges a Hyper Beam. Machoke is not as lucky, and he's slammed straight into a wall. Charmeleon lands, and nonchalantly turns around, spotting an Absol who has stepped out from the crowd. He gathers back his energy from the Hyper Beam discharge. Charmeleon just crosses his arms and stares blankly. "..... Are you the new hero?" He says.
Absol shakes his head around a bit as his energy returns. "That Sneasel you just took out happened to be my mate..." He says.
Charmeleon recognizes his voice as being the one who yelled out for her earlier. He snickers, his stare unblinking. "Isn't that a pity... I do apologize.... Well. Maybe I don't... But you know how it is..."
Absol starts walking forward. "I am sick... and tired... of watching this go on. Prepare to get impaled, lizard." He says, narrowing a gaze.
Charmeleon chuckles, and beckons him forward. "Try me..."
Absol wastes little time and goes for Charmeleon, waving his head and slashing at him with the scythe on his head. Charmeleon grabs the blade. Absol blinks, and tries to pull away from the lizard's grip, but can't. Charmeleon proceeds to shift his grip and turn around, straining himself in an effort of strength. It pulls off, and he lifts Absol clean over his head and slams him hard onto his back. Absol cries out in pain as his spine collides with the hardwood floor. He rolls back to his feet as Charmeleon backs away slightly, and dives. Charmeleon drops to his back and kicks hard at the Absol's chest as he flies by, causing him to hit the ground and roll. Charmeleon kicks back to his feet and looks over his shoulder toward Absol, who gets back to his feet awkwardly. "Grrr... Damnit, you're fast..." Absol says.
Charmeleon turns around. "Or you're just unskilled..."
Absol growls. "I'll show you unskilled!"
Before he can do anything, a high, raspy voice rings out from out of nowhere. "Don't bother."
Charmeleon perks one eye. Absol looks around. Suddenly, a flash of silver is seen near him, and Absol falls unconscious. Several of the surrounding Pokemon gasp and back away. Out from the shadow there comes a black & gray-armored Scyther, his eyes gleaming red. Charmeleon looks around at the rest of the Pokemon, who are obviously afraid of the large mantis. "Hmm... Nice intrusion... Been there long?" He says.
Scyther sneers. "Long enough."
Charmeleon shrugs, crossing his arms, and giving Scyther his unblinking stare. "Enjoy the show? I think it was good..."
Scyther blinks, continuing to approach Charmeleon. "To be honest, that was impressive. But it will be for naught."
A few of the Rocket Pokemon nearby start cheering. "Take him out, Caex!" A few of them say.
Caex stops and looks around. "Be silent, you imbeciles! If you were of any worth, you'd have already attacked the damn lizard!"
The Pokemon around the room silence themselves, a few huffing and turning to leave. Caex looks back toward Charmeleon, who still hasn't blinked, and just stares at Caex with an empty expression. Caex flashes him an evil glare, and after a moment, Charmeleon finally speaks. "..... So, you're weak to fire, too..."
Caex shakes his head. "I fear not the power of flame. No matter which vessel it comes from."
Charmeleon says nothing again for a few seconds, then finally blinking once. "So then... You going to... 'take me out?'"
Caex smirks. "Gladly."
An instant after uttering the word, Caex dissipates, only a part of his image faintly imposed into the air, which fades. Charmeleon uncrosses his arms, his forearms covered in his own blood. He makes no move to look around for the Scyther's position. Eventually he drops to his stomach, a flash of silver dashing the air near where his head was, Caex suddenly standing there. Charmeleon kicks his back feet upward on top of the blade, doing an odd backflip. As he does, he fires a blast of fire point-blank against Caex's chest. He comes to a stand on top of the scythe, turning his head, and noticing Caex shows little to no wear from the blast. Caex flings his scythe downward, causing Charmeleon to begin falling. Before he can fall mere inches, the same blade comes firing downward sideways, slamming the lizard to the floor. He makes an attempt to sit up and struggle out, but Caex holds him firmly down. Caex smiles wickedly, turning his blade back vertically, slicing forward once, lacerating Charmeleon's stomach. Charmeleon cries out as his flesh is seared, blood beginning to seep onto the floor. He growls, gripping Caex's blade in his hands and lifting it off of him. Caex raises his other blade for a strike, but Charmeleon sees it, sitting up and dodging as it comes down for his neck. He falls sideways and makes an awkward roll away from the Scyther's blades, getting to his feet, nearly slipping off them as his own blood trickles down his legs onto the floor. Caex stands back straight, his evil smile still planted firmly across his insectoid muzzle. "This is called killing you slowly."
Charmeleon growls again, but suddenly stops, his expression changing drastically. No longer looking angry, his face changes, giving off a look of bewilderment. His eyes go a bit wide, and he brings one of his paws to his head, his eyes planted firmly on the Scyther. Caex raises a brow, wondering what is up with the sudden change of attitude. Charmeleon then lets a smile go across his face, and he begins laughing, slow at first, soon picking up to almost a maniacal pace. Caex sneers. "What the hell are you laughing at!?"
Charmeleon doesn't answer, and just keeps laughing, though his jests are beginning to go down. Not one Pokemon in the room isn't confused. Caex hisses annoyingly. "Time to die!"
Caex crosses his scythes before him, and in no time, speeds in front of Charmeleon, cross-slashing. Charmeleon jumps upward and out of the way, spinning and smashing his flaming tail across Caex's face. Caex backs up slightly. Charmeleon lands and immediately springs forward in a skull bash, nearly knocking the Scyther off his feet. Caex slashes upward, but Charmeleon moves to the side, his breath erupting in a blast of flame. Caex moves his scythes up to shield as the flame totally engulfs him. After a moment, he slashes to the sides, a whirlwind blowing out around him and taking away the flame, though it's already done its share of damage. Caex looks forward, and gets a surprise. Charmeleon is now completely surrounded in a torrential aura of flame. A shadowy silhouette of the lizard can be seen, with his eyes glowing a bright green. Caex growls, and jumps forward to slash. Before his blade can even penetrate the flame aura, he feels a searing heat envelope his arm, and he's forced to stop his slash and pull back, wide-eyed. Charmeleon's eyes narrow. "YOU... CANNOT... KILL ME!" He says, his voice deep and bellowing, completely different than before.
Before Caex can make any reaction short of changing his expression to worried, streams of flame erupt from the aura around Charmeleon. They all converse and surround the Scyther, who feels the same searing heat as before, and can make no movements other than turn his head and look around in horror. The aura around Charmeleon completely fades, all of its power becoming the flaming pillars surrounding Caex. Seconds later, they converge, and Caex is right at the contact point. The Scyther's soul-piercing shriek fills the room, as the new blast of flame convulses and explodes, a ring of flame blasting outward and billowing through the audience of Rocket Pokemon. A bright orange flash lights the room, fading quickly. The double-doors to the room fly open, several Rockets coming in. "What the fuck is going on in here!?" One yells out.
Devastation rids the room. The floor and the walls are either a bit charred or just ashy, a huge charred point is evident on the area where the pillar of fire exploded. Several of the Pokemon around the room begin standing, shaking themselves off, while the weaker remain out cold. The crowd of grunts looks on in astonishment. "Hey, move your asses!" Says a voice.
Brian pushes through the group, going wide-eyed upon seeing the room. He takes particular notice to the bleeding Charmeleon, standing, and breathing heavily. "... Charmander? How'd he evolve?"
Charmeleon stops breathing a moment, blinking a few times, and falling to his knees. Brian rushes forward and grabs him, quickly getting blood on his hands. "Oh no..."
He pulls a Pokeball out and recalls Charmeleon, turning and bolting out the doors.
END OF FLASHBACK
The elevator doors open, and Draco and Jules step out and begin walking toward the large event room. Jules hasn't said much, and is just lost in thought. Draco's story is done, and he just remains speechless, letting Jules ponder. As they reach the big room, they notice everyone there has pretty much filed out. Jules finally speaks. "... So that's what happened?"
"... Yes, that was the first time he snapped..." Draco replied.
"Wow... And that just kept going on?"
"Occasionally. His attitude completely changed after he evolved from Charmander, and so did all his fighting tactics. He became an emotionless beast in one day. It just got worse when he became a Charizard, when I was finally able to give him the name I intended for him..."
"Skyfire..."
"After he became a Charizard, he would snap into a frenzy almost at the drop of a hat... I can't bring him anywhere anymore..."
"..... I have one question, though."
"What is that?"
"If you weren't there, how do you know how the fights went down?"
"Well, Skyfire told me how it happened."
Before Jules could answer that comment, they're interrupted. "Hey, you guys coming?"
They look out toward the entrance of the room, where they spot the sailor they met when they entered the boat. Jules and Draco glance at each other and shrug, walking toward him, following him on route to the boat's exit.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Pokemon and Cities/Locations all Copyright © Nintendo & Game Freak
Characters/Locations used without permission
~ Scy