Nothing Greater: Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Recovery
"So you just left him there?"
Zenith answered his mate's question, "Yeah; I don't think he'll be bothering us again. If anything, he should have found out that he's not a match for me. So even when he does recover, surely his sense (if he has any) will keep him away."
Drek winced as Seria tended to the wound on the back of his head. She had been trying to clean it with water ever since they got inside, but the water was stinging almost as badly as the wound itself, so it was a slow process. He said, "Yeah, you should have seen it. Zenith put him in his place without so much as a scratch. Thael on the other hand... I don't think I've seen a Pokemon that roughed up before. I still don't know how you made such easy work out of him. That one attack nearly drained everything I had."
"Well, dealing with smoke a lot is something I've gotten used to just because of who I am. He relied way too much on his sight, and because of that, I was able to use the darkness to my advantage and weaken him. He also appeared to need time to get that attack of his ready, else he would have done it a lot more, so I figured it drained him some as well."
"That makes sense, but how did you take the same attack I did? I got hit with that thing and was almost down for the count, but you just stood there and took it without so much as a flinch."
"It did drain me some. But I think with you it was more your size, and that's why you were thrown back. I figured if I could absorb some damage and appear unfazed by it, then he would lose some of his fighting spirit."
"That makes sense I guess.. ouch!"
Seria said, "Sorry, I'm almost done."
Zenith said, "There is one thing that I'm curious about though."
Drek continued, "Oh? What's that?"
"When he tried to attack you that second time, you not only stopped his attack, but you went right through it and hit him. I know that you had mentioned this 'blue fire' to me before when you were fighting that Onix a couple months ago, but I thought you had to be mistaken. But now I've seen it for my own eyes and I am curious about how strong it was. Not even my own flamethrower could pierce through his attack like yours did. How did you do it?"
So much had happened that he had completely forgotten that he had breathed that blue fire again. He tried to remember how he had conjured up the attack, but everything had happened so fast that he wasn't sure himself. All he could remember was that he knew Charc was in danger, and he had to do something, and when he opened his mouth, that's what came out.
He said back, "I wish I knew. It just sort of... happened. I can't explain it."
"Hmm, that's very strange. It would be useful to know how to use it though, because it was indeed a powerful attack."
"Yeah... hopefully I'll be able to figure it out soon. Ow! Are you done yet?"
She pat him on both of his shoulders and said, "Yeah, that's as good as it's gonna get, so you're all done."
"Good, cause having to sit through that was worse than being in that battle."
"Oh come on, you're just being a baby. Agro and Charc were much better than you were."
She stuck her tongue out at him and then took her place seated by his side as they continued their discussion.
Drek said, "Speaking of Agro, how's he doing?"
Agro had been asleep in his part of the cave since his wounds were treated. Cara answered him, "He's doing better. He was exhausted by the time he got back here as you know, and once he had calmed himself down, he was literally falling asleep as I was cleaning his cuts. He'll be a little bruised up tomorrow, but he should be fine. Thankfully it seems like all four of you got out of that without anything serious."
Zenith said, "That's great news. However, there is one thing that's troubling me about all of this."
Drek responded, "Oh? What's that?"
"Well, it had to have taken Agro a good while to get back to us based on how far away it was and how the blood was dried on his cuts. And then it took us a little while to get there ourselves and find the place. But when we got there, Charc was still fine. How could so much time have passed without anything more happening to him? Charc, I know you might still be a little scared over what happened, but can you tell us what happened to you?"
He had been seated between Seria and Darius for the entire conversation, and all eyes turned to him. Only he knew the answer to Zenith's question, because he was the only one there with Thael. He said, "I'm not too scared to talk about it. Daddy promised me that that bad Pokemon wouldn't hurt me anymore."
Drek exchanged a nervous look with Zenith. He had used the word "daddy" again, and he was wondering if he should say something about it. Zenith lightly shook his head, and he gathered that now was not the time or the place for that. A lot had happened to all of them today, and he would bring it up another day.
Charc continued, "After he took me to the top of the mountain and inside his cave, he asked me a lot of questions and told me some things about him."
Zenith was skeptical and inquired further, "You two just talked? Then why were you so scared when we showed up? It looked like he was about to hurt you."
"Well, he said that he heard you land and start coming inside, so he told me that he was done with me and was going to eat me, and that's when you came in."
"Hmmm, he said he was 'done with you'? What did you two talk about?"
"I don't remember all of it because I was nervous, but first he looked at me for a bit and said that he had never seen a yellow Charmander before. He asked if I knew why I was that color and I told him no. He then asked if I knew what kind of Pokemon he was. I said that I haven't seen any other Pokemon in my life other than you guys.
"He said he was a 'hair a dackle" or something like that; I can't remember exactly what kind of Pokemon he was. He also asked me questions about this place, like how long I had lived here, how many others lived here, how big it was, and some other things. He also mentioned that he had some friends that I would meet if I stayed with him longer. And that's all that I can remember."
The last part made Zenith a little uncomfortable. What did he mean by "friends"? Would there be more of his kind showing up soon? If so, how many would there be? It was definitely an unsettling thought, but surely if Thael had arrived first, then he would be either the leader or the strongest one of them. So, if he were able to beat down Thael that easily, then surely others wouldn't be a problem, or at the very least, they would stay away entirely.
He didn't want to worry the rest of the group with anything, so he kept it to himself for the time being and said, "Interesting. Well, the important thing is that he's not a threat anymore, and we can go on with our lives with all of this behind us."
They all nodded and Seria said, "Speaking of putting this behind us, I think we've had enough scares and adventures for one day. It's starting to get dark, so let's head back home so that Agro can get the rest he needs and we can get some sleep ourselves."
They agreed that that was probably the best thing to do, and the three of them stood up and started to leave. As they were leaving, Zenith whispered to Drek as he walked past, "Let me talk to you in private outside before you go." He nodded in acknowledgment and he waited until they got outside.
He called out, "Go on ahead, I'll catch up to you." Seria turned around and gave him a questioning look which he returned with a shoulder shrug, and her eyes went over to Zenith who was coming toward him. She understood and turned around, continuing back toward their home with Charc. Zenith motioned for Drek to follow him, and he did in silence until he stopped, facing Thael's mountain.
A few moments passed as the two of them simply stared off into the distance, reflecting on the past events of the day. The sun had painted the horizon orange and red with its sunset and there was a nice breeze that made their tail flames dance in the air in synchronicity. If he could, Drek would have stayed there for the entire night just thinking. A lot had happened to him, and this moment of silence was exactly what he needed to calm himself. He wasn't sure how he could be more at peace with everything... that is until Zenith broke the silence.
"I don't think this is over."
Drek said in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"
"You heard Charc. He said that Thael mentioned friends. And the fact that he said Charc would meet them suggested that they were coming here."
He hadn't really thought about that. It was something that his mind sort of glossed over earlier. In hindsight, it was a very important piece of information and he wasn't sure how he could easily forget it, but now that Zenith had brought it up, he was imagining a myriad of Thaels in the sky causing chaos for all those around.
He said, "So... what are we supposed to do?"
"Well, I have an idea, and it's the reason I asked to talk to you in private. I'm confident in my strength and my fighting abilities, but I don't think I would stand a chance if I were outnumbered. You and I are the only ones who have an idea of what we're up against if Thael seeks revenge."
"But what if we stop him before that happens? Then we wouldn't have to worry about it."
"It's not my decision or yours to decide whether a Pokemon should live or die unless there is no alternative. I don't believe in preemptive attack. I will only act if there is sound evidence for it. That doesn't mean that I think we should just wait around for something to happen though. This is a real threat, not just to you or me, but to our families... to the entire Valley. We have to prepare for it."
"So what did you have in mind for that?"
"Well, tomorrow, I'm going to go to all the families in the Valley and explain the situation. I'm going to rally as many Charizards as I can, and everyone who agrees to help, I'll run some training sessions every day to get them in tiptop fighting condition."
"That sounds like a good idea to me, but what are you telling me for? I'm not a Charizard, so I don't think I would be able to help out. In fact, I'd probably slow down your classes just because I'm not as strong as everyone else."
"Nothing against your size, but you might be right. However, that blue fire attack you have is probably the strongest weapon we have. You saw what it did to Thael."
"But I don't know how I did it. It just sort of... happened."
"That's true, but if we can figure out how to unlock that power, it could be extremely useful. Who knows, maybe the rest of us have that power too, and if you can figure out how to use it, then maybe we can learn it as well. We'd be unstoppable if anything were to happen."
He considered the possibility of it. It would definitely be something to keep him occupied during the days, and being outside learning to fight was a much better use of his time than thinking about the past all the time. He still was a little unnerved about being the only Charmeleon in the group, but hopefully he wouldn't impede the classes just because he hadn't evolved yet.
He said, "Alright. When do we start?"
Zenith smiled and said, "That's what I wanted to hear. I'll go talk to everyone tomorrow, and we'll start the following day. Go home and get your rest, and take care of that head injury of yours, and meet me and the others at the center of the Valley when the sun's above the lava pool."
"I'll be there."
"Good, now go on home. I think you had a little issue to discuss with Charc, 'daddy'." He winked and turned away from him and headed back to his own cave, leaving him alone for a moment. His mind raced on all the things he was going to learn in just two days, and he couldn't wait for it. If Zenith were as good a teacher as he was as fighter, then he had nothing to worry about if he wanted to learn combat skills. He took one last look at the mountain in the distance as the sun disappeared below the horizon before making his own way back to his home to have a nice little chat with his son before getting some well-deserved rest.
He got back home just as the darkness painted the Valley in a midnight blue. When he got inside, Charc and Seria were eating their dinner as was their custom when it got dark. They both smiled at him when he entered, and they motioned for him to join them. He sat down with them and the three of them ate quickly and happily together.
When they were done, Seria asked Drek, "So what was that about?"
"Huh? What was what about?"
"Your little talk with Zenith earlier."
"Oh, uh..." He darted his eyes once to Charc. He wasn't sure how he would react to the plan, so he made sure she got his gesture before he continued, "It was nothing important. I'll fill you in a little later."
She understood and said, "Ah, ok then. So to bed then?"
"In a bit. We need to discuss a little something first if you remember from earlier today."
With all that had happened, she had forgotten the reason they went over to talk in the first place. She wasn't sure that this was the best time for this conversation, but compared to Agro, Charc seemed to escape with next to no injuries. She couldn't really think of another reason not to talk about it now other than because the day was so busy. Also, if they put it off, they might forget about it until it was brought up in a public setting.
Drek continued without waiting for her to respond, "Hey Charc, let me see those cuts on your stomach. I wanna make sure they're alright."
He said, "They don't hurt anymore." and he demonstrated by poking one of them which caused him to flinch slightly. He continued, "Well, they don't hurt if I don't touch them at least."
Drek chuckled and moved in to look at them closer. He figured they'd heal in a couple of days, so he wasn't worried. He was just looking for something to break the ice and lead into the conversation. He continued, "And is your tail sore at all from being carried earlier?"
He shook his head and said, "Nope. It's fine." He waved it around behind him and brought it around his front to prove it.
Drek said, "That's good. Now Charc, we need to talk about something."
"What's that?"
"Well, it's about you calling us 'mommy' and 'daddy'. I need you to promise me that you won't use those words anymore."
"Why? I thought you said they weren't bad words."
"Ha, no they're not bad words. I wish I could explain why, but you're too young to understand right now."
He protested, "I'm not too little! I can run faster than Agro can and I'm braver than he is. I was the one who went up the mountain first!"
"Haha, well Agro's too young to understand this too. I promise you will know why when you get older, but for now I need you to promise me that you won't call us 'mommy' or 'daddy' anymore. Can you promise me that?"
He reached out a claw and scratched Charc's head before patting him on the head. He circled his claw around his face and ended by poking him in the nose. Charc giggled and said, "Okay; I promise."
"Alright, now give us both a hug and get to bed. We've got more boring adult stuff to talk about."
He gave both of them a tight squeeze and then he went to his usual spot in the cave, settling down until he was comfortable, and he closed his eyes as he tried to go to sleep. Drek motioned for Seria to follow him, and he walked outside with her in tow. When he was out of earshot of the cave, he said to her, "I don't wanna worry Charc any, so let's keep this a secret between you and me."
"What is it?"
"Zenith told me that he doesn't think we've heard the last of Thael."
"What? How can he think that."
"He mentioned friends coming, so Zenith thinks he'll rally them together whenever they show up and try and get his vengeance."
"Well what can we do? Just wait for something to happen?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Zenith wants to train as many Chars as he can in combat and skills so that we can be ready if such a thing happens."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Well, then we'll all be better fighters regardless. It can't hurt; it can only help us."
"I see. Well, when does all this happen?"
"He wants to explain what's going on to everyone tomorrow, and then we start the next day."
"So what do you want to tell Charc? He'll ask why you're disappearing every day."
"I'm not sure. He's been through so much today that I don't want to scare him so that he's too afraid to have fun and live like a kid his age should. I say put off telling him as long as we can in the very least. If he does ask, then we don't necessarily have to lie, but we can just withhold the information. Like we can just say that Zenith is teaching us to fight so we can get stronger. We don't have to specifically say that Thael might return with a small army."
"I guess that will work. I just hope that for your sake... well... for all our sakes really that he doesn't come back."
"I hope we can avoid the confrontation all together as well. Only time will tell. Anyway, I think we should get some sleep as well. I've only got one day to recover before training starts."
She nodded in response and hugged him. He wasn't expecting a hug so he was a little caught off guard, but after a moment, he returned it. She said in a low whisper into his ear, "Please be careful. I've almost lost you before; I don't know what I would do if I lost you for real." He felt a drop of water splash on his shoulder, and he embraced her even more tightly. She broke the hug and wiped her eyes before she put on a smile and said, "Let's get to bed."
They both went back inside to hear a snoring Charmander greet them. They chuckled silently to themselves and stepped lightly so as not to rouse him from his slumber. Taking their usual spots, they curled up and tried to go to sleep. Drek was concentrating on the near silence as he tried to calm his mind and drift off to sleep. A very faint, high-pitched sound found its way into his ears, but he dismissed it as nothing and quickly found himself breathing in time with the other two before he relaxed completely and fell asleep.
* * *
Back on the mountain where Thael was, he had gotten himself out into the open air. The pain he was in was agonizing and unlike any he had ever felt before in his entire life. When the other three had left him there to suffer, that's exactly what he did for a good while. The pain was so intense that all he could do was roll around on the ground, desperately trying to keep anything from making his left wing hurt.
He wasn't sure how many hours he had been there, but each second felt like a minute, each minute felt like an hour, and each hour felt like another eternity that he had to endure. He eventually just lay still, trying to keep his wing from moving at all which seemed to help him cope with the pain. It eventually lessened to a dull throb, but it was still very prevalent. He knew that he would die if he just stayed where he was, so he summoned up the strength to at least get outside.
Getting to his feet was the hardest part, but by carefully using his tail for balance, he was able to right himself without too much pain (at least nothing as intense as when his wing was broken or the time afterward). Once on his feet, he slowly and carefully stepped so as not to jar his upper body in any way. It was a slow walk, but he finally made it outside to see that it was nighttime. His anger welled up as he saw the Valley where he knew that Charizard was, and if he were able to fly, he would seek him out right now and tear the flesh off his body.
He let a loud, high-pitched roar echo from his mouth to let some of his frustration out. The sound carried for miles and miles, and he let it continue until his lungs were completely empty. When it was over, he stomped his leg onto the rock and winced out as a sharp jolt of pain shot through his wing. He knew that he was in trouble, and his fate rested in the hands of others that he couldn't even see yet. He was going to have to wait until tomorrow for his help to come, but he would do it if he had to. Whenever they showed up, he knew that they would help him recover if for no other reason than because they were indebted to him; and once he was healed, they would all band together and take down the Pokemon responsible for it.
He looked toward the East as the full moon shined brightly. Soon, he thought; soon he would be able to look in that direction and see his saving grace. He had originally planned to fly out to meet them, but now his plans were derailed and he would have to figure out something else. He knew that they would appear tomorrow. They had to. They weren't more than two days behind him when he arrived to find a suitable home for all of them.
They would be there sometime during the next day, and he had to be there to show them where to go, and to get the help he needed. He looked down and knew that he had to somehow get down to the base. He didn't know how long it would take him to make the downward climb, but he had to start now for fear that it would take too long. Taking a deep breath, he angled himself so that his left wing was turned away from the mountain so that he wouldn't accidentally scrape it against rocks.
Because of his talons, he was able to grip the rough stone surface fairly well, and that saved him from slipping too much or falling. Every time that he did slip though, he was reminded of how bad his injury was, and he cursed both the one responsible for it and himself for being so weak. His descent was arduous and took hours upon hours, but he knew his life depended on it which fueled his determination.
The morning sunlight was creeping over the horizon as he reached the same area where he first confronted the two Charmanders. From this point, he was still high enough so that he could see slightly beyond the Valley, and after looking over the side to see how much more he had to go, he decided to stop and rest until he saw what he was waiting for.
As the sun got higher, he saw the morning rituals in the Valley, and every Pokemon that he saw, he loathed because of how happy and content they were. He watched some of them leave their homes alone or with others as the rest stayed behind. He saw them come back to their homes carrying what he could only guess was food. And then he saw the one thing that made his blood boil. He saw the Charizard who had made him suffer so much.
He was still quite a ways away and he didn't have a clear views of him, but he knew that was the one. He just knew it. The way he was walking around, and the manner he was presenting himself was evidence enough for him. He wanted to break both of his wings so that he could feel double the pain that he was feeling. He wanted to grab him by his tail and hold him up for everyone to see as he cried out in pain just to humiliate him further.
It took all of his willpower not to roar out in frustration. He would have loved to go do all of that right now, but he couldn't in his condition. Whatever the cost though, whenever he recovered, he would exact his revenge. His eyes were drawn from him up above the Valley, and he saw something that made all of his anger virtually disappear. The figure that he saw was quickly joined by another of the same, and then a third and a fourth.
They were on a path around the Valley, and he quickly figured where they would be so that he could rendezvous with them. His eyes focused on a fairly open clearing in the rocky surface, and he figured that would be his best chance of meeting up with them or at the very least the best place that they would notice him. He took a deep breath again and prepared to climb down the rest of the mountain. He went a little faster for this part of the descent because he knew he was pressed for time. The increased pace made his wing hurt more than earlier, but he grimaced and sucked it up as he neared the ground.
After an hour or so, his talons made contact with fairly level stone. He was absolutely exhausted from the battle from the day before, being up all night, and all the energy he exerted getting to where he was now. His head hurt and his vision was going blurry, but he was focused on making it to that one spot. He slowly stumbled the rest of the way until he figured he was close enough that they wouldn't miss him.
When he finally got there, he wanted to let a roar out as he triumphed over the odds. However, when he opened his mouth to do it, nothing came out, and his vision went completely black as he fell forward on his stomach. He lay passed out on the rocky surface for a good while before his saving grace arrived, and upon seeing him, they rushed over to aid their fallen comrade.