Chapter 3 - The Mark Of Courage (Revised)
#3 of A Charizard Menace
"Kaly? What happened?" I asked and she pointed her finger behind me as I look behind.
"Who are you?" An enormous Charizard behind me start to ask. "And what are you doing with my daughter?"
"Your daughter?" I asked back.
"Yes my daughter." He said.
"Dad!" Kailina yelled.
"Kailina, Long time no see and who might this be..." He said.
"He's my...um." She said.
"Well" He said.
"He's my trainer but also my mate" she said.
"You have a mate? A human..." He asked.
"Yea and kids too... Kronic, Ashley come out and meet your grandfather..." She yelled.
Two charmander come out and started to walk toward Kailina's father.
"Hi kids..." He said.
"Hi grandpa..." The kids yelled.
"Kronic's colour seems to be a bit odd, doesn't it?" He said.
"They are hybrids dad..." She explained.
"They are what?" He asked.
"They are hybrids. They're just like us but they have both our powers and the ability to communicate with human." She explained again.
"Kaly I don't know what happened here but I intend to get some answers" I said.
"Well first of all, I'm Lord Jason Kidd. Kailina's Father and one of the Council of twelve in our race. Unlike most Charizard we can teleport to any Charizard in the vicinity." He said.
"Hold on a sec...The Council Of Twelve you said" I asked.
"Yes, we take care of all sorts of things in our race and you are???" He asked me.
"I'm Mark Wong... Please to meet you, mi Lord" I said.
He gasped and took a step back when I tell him my name.
"So you're the one mentioned in the prophecy then" He said after a few seconds.
"Prophecy?" I asked him.
"Kailina, you didn't tell him???" He asked Kailina.
"I don't want to lose him, dad..." She said.
"You know there's no other way..." He said.
"Well, what's the prophecy's about." I asked.
"You sure you want to know?" He asked.
"Yes" I said.
"It goes like this" He said and began to read the prophecy.
"A BATTLE FOR JUSTICE SOON WILL ARRIVE AND A SACRIFICE WILL BE MADE,
WHEN THE "MARK" OF COURAGE WAS A LOST TO THE HUMAN WORLD.
AND THE REINCARNATION WILL BE FULFILL IN THE POKEMON WORLD."
"Soon Mark there will be a battle for justice. A sacrifice you will make. In your one of your hand you hold the fate in the race of Charizard; on the other hand you hold your life. You'll have to choose wisely." He said.
"What should I do?" I asked.
"This you must ask yourselves." He said.
"Dear just wait until it come then you'll know what to do" Kailina said.
A shadow came so quickly that we didn't even notice grabbed Ashley away and she scream for my name. "Dad... Help me!!!!!" Ashley yelled. "ASHLEY!!!!!!!" I yelled back.
"I know what to do now." I said.
"I too shall assist you in your campaign" He said.
"I don't know what I should do now, I mean I can't just grow wings and fly into the sky like you guys and look for them, right?" I asked.
"Are you sure?" He said.
Lord Jason then murmuring something in his mouth and a lightning struck me. I can feel the energy flowing through me and something inside me is changing. I'm slightly getting hotter and a little bit painful. And when the lightning is done with me, I was steaming and I fall to my knee.
"Dad, what did you do to him?" She yelled.
"I just gave him most of our power." He said.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"It means he can breathe fire just like us, but since I can't change his physical appearance yet and let him have wings and tail, so I let him have Agility and Metal Claw." He said.
"What do you mean yet, is this included in the prophecy?" I said while panting.
"Precisely" He said.
"But how can that help, I can't even find them." I said.
"The team who took your daughter was called Team Rocket. Their team leader is Giovanni. He is a cruel man who likes to do all kinds of experiment on pokemon. So we need to save Ashley before it's too late." He said.
"It's useless. I don't even know how to attack." I said.
"We'll have to train you then." Kailina and her father said.
After a few hours of training and understanding the responsibility to have such abilities. I'm ready to face Team Rocket. Lord Jason takes me in and teleported me to the lab that they take pokemon for experiment in the region. The laboratory is larger than I thought and heavily guarded. We tried to sneak in but it seems there's no way that we can sneak in.
"My Lord, what will you have me do???" I asked.
"Relax, just call me Jason like everyone else. Now we need a diversion." He said.
"No prob-" I said but he cut me off.
"Not you. I'm the diversion and you're going for Ashley. Understood!?" He said.
"Why..." I asked.
"Remember! The prophecy..." He said.
"Yea, thanks" I said.
"No problem. And now it's time to show them what we got." He said.
Lord Jason blasts a dragon rage to the iron door and it explodes into many pieces. "Now Mark. Now's the time!!!" I rush out the bushes and into the lab. The lab was huge. I search through each room to see if Ashley is inside but nothing. "There must be an underground lab in here somewhere; maybe I can just reach for the switch..." I accidentally bump into a shelf and a door open between the walls. "Lucky me!!!" I follow the stairs and found Ashley was on an experimentation table and a few scientists there.
** Back in Mark's House **
Henry walk over to me and asked.
"Hey, you okay???" Henry said.
Kailina nodded.
"But you don't look fine to me... Look, I developed a serum for myself so that I can understand pokemon language just like Mark, you want to help me with it?" He said.
Kailina nodded and helped Henry inject the serum into his hand.
"Now Let's try this. Kaly. Please speak to me." He said.
"Hello Henry!" She said.
"Yes! It worked. It took me months to develop the serum. Okay now, tell me Kaly, what's happening. I haven't seen Mark in quite a while, where is he?" He said.
"My father gave him the power of Charizard and they're off to save Ashley from Team Rocket." She said,
"What!!!" Henry yelled.
"Yes. Mark is the one who mentioned in the prophecy. He will need to choose between his life and the fate in the race of Charizard. He'll defiantly choose the fate of our race instead of his life... I don't want to lose him..." She said while crying.
"Read me the prophecy, I'll see if I can find something useful in it" Henry said
"A BATTLE FOR JUSTICE SOON WILL ARRIVE AND A SACRIFICE WILL BE MADE,
WHEN THE "MARK" OF COURAGE WAS A LOST TO THE HUMAN WORLD.
AND THE REINCARNATION WILL BE FULFILL IN THE POKEMON WORLD."
"Okay... See, there's a way to save him..." Henry said.
"How?" She asked.
"Remember the prophecy. It mentioned . That's the line which shows a way to save him." Henry explained.
"I don't understand the words very well." She said.
"Okay listen, you mentioned a word Reincarnation right?" Henry asked.
"Yes, but how does it help?" She replied.
"Reincarnation means Reborn or you can say Relive." Henry said.
"Really?" She said.
"But..." Henry said.
"But what..." She asked.
"Mark's parents won't like this one bit." Henry said.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because it can only be done in the pokemon world means he'll turn into a Charizard if the ritual is performed." Henry explained.
"Yes Mr. David might not like it." She said.
"Hey Henry, who're you talking to." My dad asked.
"Oh Hi Mr. Wong, I'm just talking to Kaly." Henry said
"I thought you can't speak pokemon." My dad asked.
"Yes I can't but until now. I developed serum that allows me to speak pokemon language just like Mark, but the serum will not work on other people because I calculate the amount of the serum accurately just for my body requirement, since I don't know your body requirement I can't let you use the serum. It may kill you." Henry explained.
"It's okay, I'm fine with that, so what are you chatting about..." My dad asked.
"You will not like this..." Henry said.
"Why..." My dad asked.
"Because Ashley had been captured by Team Rocket and Mark went to save her and according to the prophecy in the Charizard's race. Mark will have to choose between his life and the fate in the race of Charizard." Henry said.
"I hoped this day would never come." My dad said.
"You mean you knew about this." Henry said.
"Yes but only the prophecy part, I'm a mythologist. I study about prophecy, myths and legends. When Mark is adopted,The doctor show me the mark on his chest when he's born. I knew it's the mark of courage. I hoped this day would never come." My dad explained.
"But there's a way to-" Henry said.
"To save Mark. I too know, but if the ritual have to perform he'll become a pokemon hybrid just like Kronic and Ashley." My dad cut henry off.
"You mean..." Henry siad.
"Yes. He will become a pokemon and he can speak human too." My dad said.
"That I don't know" Henry said.
"Mr. David, do you think that Mark will ever sacrifice in the battle. I hope not." Kailina asked.
"Don't worry Kaly. If he does sacrificed, His mother and me will understand and attend the ritual, but his mother may need a period of time to take this." My dad said.
"Thank you, Mr. David, for so understanding." She said.
"This is no problem but there's one more thing." My dad said.
"What?" She asked.
"Kaly, you need to be there when he sacrificed, you and only you can bring his corpse to the ritual shire. That is the vital part of the ritual. Without you the ritual won't work." My dad explained.
"Okay." She said.
"Is Mark fighting alone?" My dad asked.
"No, my father is with him. And he gave him most of our power to help him in the battle." Kailina said.
"The last thing I know about Charizard is that they can't do that." Henry said.
"Yes but my father is one of the Council of Twelve." Kailina said.
"The Council Of Twelve?" Henry asked.
"They have mystical powers that normally Charizard wouldn't have." My dad explained.
"That explained much... I do hope they are Okay..." Henry said.
**Back in Team Rocket's Lab**
"Stop right there and release my daughter" The scientist was shocked when I yelled at them.
"We can't, Giovanni will kill all of us if we release her." They said.
"If you don't do it now, I'll burn you all down into hell." I yelled.
"And how do you plan to do that the last thing I remember, Human don't breathe fire." They said.
"Yes, but I'm no ordinary human." I said then use a flamethrower to melt down one of the machine. "You have 10 seconds...One...Two...Nine..." I yelled.
"Hahahaha.... It's a lucky day for me isn't it?" Giovanni yelled from a high ledge. "I have two hybrids for a day."
"Leave my daughter out of this, this is between you and me! Giovanni..." I yelled.
"Oh but I don't play gentleman remember..." He said.
"You Sneaking little Bastard!" I yelled.
I then shoot fire spin all over the lab and I grabbed the unconscious Ashley out the scene. After a few minutes of running, I decided to use agility to dash out of the building. When I reached outside, I saw Lord Jason, Henry and Kailina was there waiting for me.
"Here my lord, keep my daughter save. I have some unfinished business to take care off." I said.
"What do you mean? Ashley is saved, lets get out of here." Lord Jason said.
"No, this is between me and Giovanni." I said.
"I'm coming with you dear. Don't try to persuade me. It won't work." Kailina said.
"Fine. Henry get Lord Jason and Ashley out of there" I said to Henry.
"Okay" He said.
"Okay dear let's go in and let that bastard have his lesson." Kailina said.
"Gladly" I replied.
We then run inside, before we even reach the door. Giovanni is already outside. He use a gun and shot me with it. It hit directly to my heart. Before I was shot I shot the Fire blast attack towards Giovanni and had a direct hit. Giovanni is finished. I then fall on the ground. Kailina holding me in her arm.
"De...ar...."i whispered.
"Yes honey save your strength. I'll bring you to my dad." Kailina said.
"It's....no...use....I...will be... (urgh)...dead in a while." I whispered.
"No, you're not! Don't talk to me like that" She said.
Henry and Hei Bai teleported to the scene wanted to help but its too late.
"No...Mark! Don't die!" Henry said.
"It's in the prophecy Henry. It's a process I must go through in my life." I said.
"But you're so young." He said.
"Bye.. Kailina...I love yo..." I lose my last breath when I'm trying to said the last word.
"NO!!!!!! MARK!!!!" Kailina yelled.
"Kaly, you need to bring him to the ritual shire. You'll fly there and I'll inform Lord Jason and the others." Henry said.
Kailina took off into the air doesn't have to be told twice.
"I will save you, Mark! I promise..." Kailina said.
After half and hour of flying, Kailina reached the Ritual Shire in The Chaminon Valley. Kailina place me at some sort of rock but it's flat. Then twelve Charizards flew into the sky and started to circle around my dead body. Suddenly they stop and shouted "Dragon's Heart" and fire a bright red flame thrower at my body and I started glowing in Red.
"Is Mark going to be alright honey?" My mom asked my dad.
"Everything will be fine but there's a side effect of this ritual." My dad said.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Mark will become a Charizard." My dad explained.
"It's fine with me as long as he lived. What ever Mark look like, he will always be my son." She said.
"You take it better than I expected." My dad said
"Yea... I hope it'll work." She said.