Story Notes:
Well, this is my first time delving into the world of Pokémon fanfiction so I hope the story is decent. I also would like to note that I wrote in 2nd person "you" style and that the character portrayed is female (even if you can't tell at first) so if you find that uncomfortable just replace the "you"s with "I"s or "she"s.Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.Spoilers: Possible spoilers for the game Pokémon Fire Red / Leaf Green version.
All's Well That Ends Well?
"How could you be so irresponsible?!"
You let out a sigh, waiting for Nurse Joy's tirade to end.
"It's bad enough when a trainer brings in one pokémon in critical condition, but four?! How could you have let that happen?! Aren't you supposed to be the Pokémon League Champion of the Kanto region?! You should know better than that!" You wiped away the stray droplet of spittle that had landed on your cheek. "You should be ashamed of yourself! How did they get so beaten up anyway?"
You stared at the pretty-eyed nurse, taking a moment to admire her immaculate hairstyle, before releasing another tired sigh. "It's sort of a long story. I guess... I just bit off more than I could chew."
Joy seemed dissatisfied with your answer but didn't bother to press on for a more detailed explanation. Instead, she reluctantly handed back four pokéballs containing your now fully-healed pokémon team.
You smiled as you took them, holding the red and white orbs close to your heart. You were relieved to know that they were all going to be okay. You could hardly wait to speak to them and congratulate them for putting up such a good fight.
Nurse Joy smiled at your display of affection briefly, but quickly put on her stern face. "I'll let you off the hook this time, but come back with your pokémon in that condition again and I'll make sure that your pokémon license is revoked! Understand?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. I hope I see you again, but not anytime soon, you hear?"
You grinned, waving back nonchalantly until the cool air of nighttime embraced you in its arms. You shivered lightly, the only sign you gave of acknowledging the cold. You continued onward, whistling a cheery tune as you searched out a suitable place to stay for the night. Camping was nice and all, but you were sick of waking up with caterpies nesting in your hair and pidgey droppings on your sleeping bag.
You grinned from ear to ear when you spotted a hotel; it was classy-looking, probably at least a four-star hotel. Just the thought of a warm, cozy bed and soft, silky sheets was enough to make you drool appreciatively. When was the last time you had fallen asleep in a real bed? "Too long" you answered yourself aloud, "Much too long indeed."
You entered the building, whistling in admiration at the display of a lobby full of crystal chandeliers and furniture that was more suited for looking at than sitting on. Not wanting to look any more out of place than you already were, you stopped staring like an idiot and casually made your way towards the front desk, ringing the bell on the counter despite the fact that there was already a man waiting patiently to serve customers.
"May I help you, madam?" the man asked in a nasally voice as he pulled the bell out of your reach. Such a kill joy.
You gave the man a quick glance, trying to spot imperfections on him that you could make fun of once he was out of ear-shot. Oily black hair slicked back with gel, a large upturned nose, old-fashioned bifocals, and a purple polyester suit; it wasn't too hard to spot any shortcomings in the man's appearance. Then again, you were quite an excellent specimen of bitch when you wanted to be.
"Madam," he repeated, his tone laced with impatience, "May I help you?"
You blinked, shaking your head to escape your thoughts. "Yeah, I'd like to rent a room for the night."
"You wouldn't happen to be a pokémon trainer, would you?"
Hmm? What could have possibly given him that idea? Maybe he was a good guesser. Or maybe it had something to do with the four pokéballs snuggled securely on your belt. Whatever; you weren't much of a stickler for details.
"I'm afraid that this hotel is strictly for humans only; no pokémon allowed. We didn't get our high-class reputation by allowing dirty little pokémon to run rampant through the building." The man waved his hand dismissively. "Run along now; I have real customers to attend to."
You let out a sigh in exhaustion. "What a shame," you said with a frown, your eyebrows furrowed, "I guess I'll just have to spend this big-ass sack of money somewhere else..." you finished while pulling out your Pokémon League winnings for further emphasis. You mentally grinned at the wide-eyed expression of the oily-haired man as he stared at your money. "I guess I'll just have to camp outside again..."
You slowly started to walk away from the counter and towards the exit, counting backward with each step you took.
Five, four, three, two-
"Wait!"
You grinned; hook, line, and sinker.
"I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement" he coaxed, a fake smile finding its way on his face as you walked back towards the counter. "I'm sure that I could rent you a room; a nice room, one of our bests; as long as you promise to keep your... creatures contained within their cages."
"Pokéballs" you corrected.
"Yes, yes, of course. So, do we have a deal?" he questioned, still offering his fake smile while he extended his hand out towards you.
You tapped your chin carefully, making it appear as if you were actually putting any thought into accepting the offer. "Alright" you answered with a (fake) smile of your own, shaking the man's hand with more force and enthusiasm than necessary. "We have ourselves a deal!"
It was a good thing he didn't see your fingers crossed behind your back.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
"Thirty-six D, thirty-six D, thirty-six D, thirty- ah! There it is!" you exclaimed, interrupting your chant in favor of slipping the key card through the appropriate slot. The moment you heard the tell-tale click of the door unlocking, you stepped in, just barely closing the door behind you as you rushed towards the bed and collapsed on it. It had been much too long since you had slept in a real bed and not one of those crappy air mattresses that deflated while you slept so that you woke up with sharp rocks digging into your back. A real, honest-to-God bed!
The urge to just fall asleep where you were was overwhelming, but you resisted. There was still one more thing you had to do before you fell asleep.
Groping over your belt lazily, you quickly pulled away three pokéballs, releasing Charizard, Gengar, and Raichu into the room without a second thought. You contemplated releasing Gyrados from his pokéball too, just to piss off the hotel management, but eventually decided against it; you weren't in the mood to hand over all your money to the hotel in order for renovations to fix all the damage your giant pokémon would surely cause; you doubted he'd even fit in the room. One night in a hotel room was expensive enough, thank you very much!
"Ten thousand yen... For that sort of price, I'd expect more than a mint on my pillow in the morning. Hell, I should get a mint-flavored man on my pillow in the morning for ten thousand yen!"
Charizard snorted indignantly at you as he flopped down on the couch and quickly claimed the TV remote as his own. After all, he was the alpha-male of the team, and everyone knew that the alpha-male (no matter whether he was human or pokémon) always had control of the remote. Always. It was an unwritten law.
You frowned. For a moment you considered chucking your satchel at Charizard's big fatty-fat head but realized that the action would take too much effort on your part. Instead, you settled for quietly muttering several obscenities under your breath before finally replying with a proper response. "Oh, don't give me that crap. As if you've never dreamed about female charizards of various flavors lying on your pillows."
Charizard grunted, turning on the television and flipping through the stations so fast you doubted he even knew what any of the shows were about.
"No," you started, opening a single eye to stare at the back of Charizard's head, "That isn't any different at all. Girls usually like being around members of the opposite gender just as much as guys do. Well, unless they're gay, but you get my point."
Charizard continued to flip through the channels, ignoring you in favor of giving his undivided attention to the boob tube.
"...Are you gay, Charizard?"
Charizard's tail twitched, but he showed no other signs of paying you any mind.
"You know, it's okay if you're gay. I won't think any less of you or treat you any differently. Well, I might take you out shopping with me a little more often but other than that everything will still be the same. I love you for you, not who you do."
Charizard, meanwhile, turned up the volume on the television. Typical male response.
You soon grew bored from Charizard's lack of responsiveness and directed your attention towards Gengar and Raichu. Judging by the way Raichu was hopping from expensive piece of furniture to even-more-expensive piece of furniture, you were guessing the two were playing an exciting game of The Floor is Lava. Gengar, on the other hand, just floated back and forth in midair. It was obvious who the victor of the game would be, but you still watched the two in amusement with tired eyes.
You continued to watch the two for five more minutes, chuckling when Raichu almost knocked down a lamp. Once again you were tempted to just close your eyes and let sleep take hold of you, but you resisted; there was something you had to do first.
With a sigh, you pulled yourself off the bed, took your wallet out of your satchel, placed your key card inside your pants pocket, and walked towards the door. "I have to go to the store now," you called to your pokémon, "I'll be back in about a half an hour. The hotel staff thinks I'm keeping you in your pokéballs so behave yourselves; we don't need any snippety hotel managers kicking us out of the building, okay?"
Your pokémon turned to you, smiling and nodding their heads like perfect little angels. You could almost imagine the halos floating over their heads.
"Good."
You left the room, locking the door behind you. It was nice to know that you could trust your pokémon enough to leave them out on their own.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
"I'm back!" you called happily, a huge grin plastered on your face as you stepped inside the hotel room, a large brown paper bag in your hands.
Your smile immediately disappeared, however, the moment you caught sight of the disaster zone that was once known as your ten thousand yen hotel room. The sight made you want to cry. The couch was torn up into pieces, a lamp lay shattered on the floor, the covers of the bed were disheveled and tangled as if someone had rolled around in them, and the kitchen sink was on fire.
And, to add the icing to the cake, it appeared that your pokémon had found the mini bar, judging by the empty bottles of Oran Berry Wine lying on the floor and the drunken blushes on their faces. Didn't they realize that the price of the wine would be added to your bill?! Those irresponsible bastards! Why, if they didn't have awesome superhuman powers that could easily crush your puny body you'd probably bash their rotten faces in!
You tapped your foot impatiently against the plush carpeted floor, gaining three lazy-eyed stares from your pokémon. "Anyone care to explain themselves?"
All you gained in response was a hiccup from Raichu and an obnoxiously loud belch from Charizard. This caused Gengar, the most sober of the three, to start giggling so hard you feared all that time you had spent house-training him was for naught. Luckily, Gengar managed not to make a mess on the carpet while you barely managed to resist the urge to jump on and break your pokémon's spines.
You let out a sigh, pushing back any homicidal tendencies with the force of sheer will power alone. After all, you'd already gotten an earful from Nurse Joy and you weren't in any rush to face her wrath again. ...Nor were you in the mood to deal with Officer Jenny. Nor jail. And yet, the thought of wringing one of their necks was still quite tempting...
Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat when necessary.
"Be reasonable," you spoke aloud to yourself, "It's not like they trashed the room out of spite or anything. They were just... curious." You massaged your temples, trying to fight away the incoming migraine but failing miserably. "Just look at the bright side; at least things can't get any worse than this, right?"
Almost as if to prove you wrong, Charizard promptly lifted his head just in time to vomit on your shoes.
Well, you thought, at least I wasn't wearing sandals.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
It was dark out and you had just finished getting everything together; you put the couch back together with duct tape, tried to put the lamp back together with duct tape, made the bed, extinguished the fire in the kitchen sink, and disposed of the wine bottles by stashing them under the bed where you hoped the cleaning service wouldn't find them. Your pokémon, meanwhile, were drugged to the brink of unconsciousness with aspirin and resting on what remained of the couch.
You smiled fondly at the sight. For a bunch of little monsters, they certainly looked peaceful while they were sleeping.
Well, your mother had always told you that appearances could be deceiving,
You continued to watch them, finally deciding to go to bed only once you stifled a yawn. With a tired sigh, you began to remove your clothing until you were down to your undergarments before pulling an oversized T-shirt out of your satchel. You frowned at the piece of cloth; you really needed to buy yourself some real pajamas. Still, it was all you had so you quickly slid on the shirt before pouncing ungracefully into bed.
"Goodnight" you called out to your pokémon, earning a particularly loud snore from Charizard in response. You rolled your eyes, hoping that wasn't any indication of what you should expect for the rest of the night.
Whether Charizard continued to snore or not, you never found out; you fell asleep the moment your head hit the pillow.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
You awoke in a cold sweat.
You placed your hand against your forehead as your mind was assaulted by disturbing images; images full of death, destruction, and a pair of glowing blue eyes. You shook your head, trying to shake those thoughts away, but it did nothing other than add to the pain of your migraine.
You were tempted to turn on the lights; you didn't like sitting in the dark right after a nightmare; but you refrained yourself from doing so. Instead, you crawled out of bed and grabbed your satchel. You dug through the bag, searching until your hand came in contact with what you had been searching for; the Master Ball.
Despite the life inside, it was still cold to the touch and caused you to shiver. You turned it several times in your hand, inspecting it from all sides as if to make sure there was no way for the pokémon within to escape. Your uneasiness was justified; Mewtwo had made an attempt on your life at least three or four times. You had been able to forget about the creature for the time being but your nightmare had finally reminded you of his presence. Unfortunately.
You wondered if you could sell the pokémon to someone, or just leave it in its pokéball for the rest of your life, but that was unfair to Mewtwo. After all, you were the one who intruded within its home and challenged it to a battle. You were the one who caught Mewtwo with a Master Ball even though it was clear that you had lost the battle. It wasn't fair at all; it wasn't fair to Mewtwo and it wasn't fair to you either.
"I should... I should release it" you mumbled quietly to yourself, still staring carefully at the ball in your hand. "Yeah," you said louder, more determined, "That's what I'll do. I'll take Mewtwo back to Cerulean Cave tomorrow and release it. Then Mewtwo can go back to doing whatever it is that Mewtwos do and I can continue on with my life without fear of dieing from guilt or the paws of a vengeful pokémon." You nodded your head. "It's a plan."
You carefully set the Master Ball back into your knapsack and zipped the bag up in hopes that the action would keep any more nightmares at bay. Still, the action did little to ease you. Within the shadows and darkness of the night, that bed didn't look quite as comfortable as a cozy, half-destroyed couch with three pokémon peacefully lying across its cushions. You smiled at the sight; Gengar was resting on the far left side of the couch, Raichu curled up by his side, while Charizard's body took up over half of the piece of furniture.
Quietly, you tiptoed across the carpeted floor towards the couch, being extra mindful that you didn't make a sound as you moved. The moment you reached your destination you gently prodded Charizard's side with your right index finger.
He didn't move an inch.
You prodded him again, this time a tad harder, yet the behemoth made no movement other than a twitch of his tail and a light smacking of his lizard lips. You prodded him once more, this time using the sharp bone of your elbow to hit him square in the face. The love tap was enough to jar Charizard awake, causing the dragon to growl irritably and rub at his snout in an attempt to soothe the pain away.
You rolled your eyes; if he could handle a Future Sight attack from a powerful psychic pokémon then he should have no trouble dealing with a light smack from a human.
"Scoot over" you commanded, your voice a whisper.
Charizard stared at you with narrowed eyes, snorted out a puff of smoke, then allowed his eyelids to droop in order to fall back asleep.
You frowned at the overgrown orange lizard and flicked his nostril with enough force to cause him to open his eyes and glare at you. You were so used to that look of his that it didn't even faze you anymore. "Either you make some room on the couch by scooting over, or I'll make some room on the couch by returning you to your pokéball. The choice is yours."
You couldn't help but grin to yourself when he reluctantly scooted deeper within the confines of the couch cushion, making just enough room for you to cuddle up against the fire dragon's belly.
You sighed contently as you nestled up against Charizard; his scales were smooth and his body was warm. Charizard's large body encircling your own made you feel so small. It was sort of nostalgic; you felt just like a little girl again, resting comfortably within the safe confines of your mother's arms. The thought was comforting and brought a tired smile to your face; maybe you should go back to Pallet Town and pay your mother a visit...
Your vision soon became blurry and your eyelids grew heavy. Sleep came to you so quickly that you hardly even noticed the faint red glow of your gengar's eyes as he used his Hypnosis on you.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
Charizard grunted as bright rays of sunlight tickled his eyelids, urging them to open and his body to awaken. Being the stubborn fellow that he was, Charizard simply buried his face into the hard and lumpy pillow at his front.
It took a moment for Charizard's half-asleep mind to realize that pillows were usually neither hard nor lumpy.
Reluctantly, he opened a single eyelid only to realize that his head was buried in his trainer's hair, thin strands tickling at his nostrils and smelling of the generic brand of soap shampoo that she used whenever the chance to wash would arise.
Feeling lazy, Charizard didn't even bother to move your hair out of the way; the smell had a sort of calming effect on him, not to mention it was much less obnoxious than all the fruity and flowery scents most human girls used. He didn't mind the smell of soap because it wasn't so strong that it covered up his trainer's scent. Honestly, how could any pokémon relax when the scent of their trainer was hidden? Smells were a way to identify different people, different pokémon, and the way that they were feeling; masking one's scent was the pokémon equivalent of hiding away from the world.
Humans were such odd creatures, always hiding their true selves from those around them. They were always afraid of what others might think of them. Charizard really couldn't understand how humans worked. In his opinion, people should be more like pokémon. Pokémon were so much simpler; they didn't have to hide who they were. Pokémon could just be themselves and be accepted as such.
Charizard sighed and curled up around the girl resting so comfortably against his belly. It was funny how things changed; when he was but a small charmander, he would often rest in his trainer's lap for warmth and protection. Things changed, however, when he evolved into a charmeleon. He was too big to fit on his trainer's lap so he had to settle for leaning against the girl's shoulder when they sat around the campfire, or lying by her side when they slept out among the stars at night. Now that he was a charizard, however, he was big enough that his trainer could perfectly fit in his lap. Having her resting in his lap was odd at first, but at the same time it felt right, as if this was what he was supposed to do. After all, his trainer had taken care of him since he was an infant; it was only right that he returned the favor now that he was capable of doing so.
While his trainer was the leader of the group, she was still just a girl; that made him the alpha-male of the pack. It was his duty to protect her, guide her, and keep her happy. But protect her especially; from human and pokémon alike.
Men were the worst. Charizard could hardly hold back a snort as he thought of the shameless way certain men would stare at his trainer, eyeing her hungrily like she was a piece of meat. It wasn't a very common occurrence but that didn't make it any less frustrating when some Casanova-wannabe tried to turn on the charm. But no matter what it always ended the same way; Charizard would snarl viciously at them and they'd run away with their tails between their legs while his trainer remained none-the-wiser.
There were rare moments; moments so rare that they were hardly even worth mentioning; when Charizard felt guilty for scaring off all those people. He had driven off many potential friends and mates, had done so since his days as a charmeleon, and he knew that it was all thanks to him that she had little to no contact with people other than what was absolutely necessary. Still, even as a child she had no friends, only a rival, so it wasn't as if she was the most social person around.
Charizard could still remember the many nights when his trainer confided in him, telling him that she preferred pokémon over most people, that as long as she had her pokémon team then she wouldn't need anybody else, and that they were the best friends she had ever hoped to have.
Charizard paused in his train of thought, taking a moment to breathe in his trainer's scent.
Still, even though he had his brief moments of guilt, Charizard had no regrets. She had said that Gyrados, Raichu, Gengar, and his self were the most important people in her life. (He mentally chuckled at this; even though they were pokémon, she still considered them people.) Well, she and the rest of the gang were all that mattered to Charizard. They were a family, the five of them; as long as they had each other they didn't need anyone else.
Charizard's eyes smiled as he stared down fondly at his trainer, his leader, his mother, his sister, his teammate, and most importantly his friend.
With this thought in mind, he leaned over the girl so that his face hovered over her own and breathed out deeply right by her nose, intent on sharing his morning breath with his favorite victim.
As she jumped violently awake, elbowing him in the jaw while gasping for breath so hard that tears filled her eyes, Charizard couldn't help but think that there was no possible way he could care for this girl any more than he already did.Chapter End Notes:I'd just like to thank everyone that has read and reviewed this story; thanks for being so supportive! ^_^ Also, since no one voted against the second person perspective, I'm keeping the story as is. Thanks again
You let out a sigh, waiting for Nurse Joy's tirade to end.
"It's bad enough when a trainer brings in one pokémon in critical condition, but four?! How could you have let that happen?! Aren't you supposed to be the Pokémon League Champion of the Kanto region?! You should know better than that!" You wiped away the stray droplet of spittle that had landed on your cheek. "You should be ashamed of yourself! How did they get so beaten up anyway?"
You stared at the pretty-eyed nurse, taking a moment to admire her immaculate hairstyle, before releasing another tired sigh. "It's sort of a long story. I guess... I just bit off more than I could chew."
Joy seemed dissatisfied with your answer but didn't bother to press on for a more detailed explanation. Instead, she reluctantly handed back four pokéballs containing your now fully-healed pokémon team.
You smiled as you took them, holding the red and white orbs close to your heart. You were relieved to know that they were all going to be okay. You could hardly wait to speak to them and congratulate them for putting up such a good fight.
Nurse Joy smiled at your display of affection briefly, but quickly put on her stern face. "I'll let you off the hook this time, but come back with your pokémon in that condition again and I'll make sure that your pokémon license is revoked! Understand?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. I hope I see you again, but not anytime soon, you hear?"
You grinned, waving back nonchalantly until the cool air of nighttime embraced you in its arms. You shivered lightly, the only sign you gave of acknowledging the cold. You continued onward, whistling a cheery tune as you searched out a suitable place to stay for the night. Camping was nice and all, but you were sick of waking up with caterpies nesting in your hair and pidgey droppings on your sleeping bag.
You grinned from ear to ear when you spotted a hotel; it was classy-looking, probably at least a four-star hotel. Just the thought of a warm, cozy bed and soft, silky sheets was enough to make you drool appreciatively. When was the last time you had fallen asleep in a real bed? "Too long" you answered yourself aloud, "Much too long indeed."
You entered the building, whistling in admiration at the display of a lobby full of crystal chandeliers and furniture that was more suited for looking at than sitting on. Not wanting to look any more out of place than you already were, you stopped staring like an idiot and casually made your way towards the front desk, ringing the bell on the counter despite the fact that there was already a man waiting patiently to serve customers.
"May I help you, madam?" the man asked in a nasally voice as he pulled the bell out of your reach. Such a kill joy.
You gave the man a quick glance, trying to spot imperfections on him that you could make fun of once he was out of ear-shot. Oily black hair slicked back with gel, a large upturned nose, old-fashioned bifocals, and a purple polyester suit; it wasn't too hard to spot any shortcomings in the man's appearance. Then again, you were quite an excellent specimen of bitch when you wanted to be.
"Madam," he repeated, his tone laced with impatience, "May I help you?"
You blinked, shaking your head to escape your thoughts. "Yeah, I'd like to rent a room for the night."
"You wouldn't happen to be a pokémon trainer, would you?"
Hmm? What could have possibly given him that idea? Maybe he was a good guesser. Or maybe it had something to do with the four pokéballs snuggled securely on your belt. Whatever; you weren't much of a stickler for details.
"I'm afraid that this hotel is strictly for humans only; no pokémon allowed. We didn't get our high-class reputation by allowing dirty little pokémon to run rampant through the building." The man waved his hand dismissively. "Run along now; I have real customers to attend to."
You let out a sigh in exhaustion. "What a shame," you said with a frown, your eyebrows furrowed, "I guess I'll just have to spend this big-ass sack of money somewhere else..." you finished while pulling out your Pokémon League winnings for further emphasis. You mentally grinned at the wide-eyed expression of the oily-haired man as he stared at your money. "I guess I'll just have to camp outside again..."
You slowly started to walk away from the counter and towards the exit, counting backward with each step you took.
Five, four, three, two-
"Wait!"
You grinned; hook, line, and sinker.
"I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement" he coaxed, a fake smile finding its way on his face as you walked back towards the counter. "I'm sure that I could rent you a room; a nice room, one of our bests; as long as you promise to keep your... creatures contained within their cages."
"Pokéballs" you corrected.
"Yes, yes, of course. So, do we have a deal?" he questioned, still offering his fake smile while he extended his hand out towards you.
You tapped your chin carefully, making it appear as if you were actually putting any thought into accepting the offer. "Alright" you answered with a (fake) smile of your own, shaking the man's hand with more force and enthusiasm than necessary. "We have ourselves a deal!"
It was a good thing he didn't see your fingers crossed behind your back.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
"Thirty-six D, thirty-six D, thirty-six D, thirty- ah! There it is!" you exclaimed, interrupting your chant in favor of slipping the key card through the appropriate slot. The moment you heard the tell-tale click of the door unlocking, you stepped in, just barely closing the door behind you as you rushed towards the bed and collapsed on it. It had been much too long since you had slept in a real bed and not one of those crappy air mattresses that deflated while you slept so that you woke up with sharp rocks digging into your back. A real, honest-to-God bed!
The urge to just fall asleep where you were was overwhelming, but you resisted. There was still one more thing you had to do before you fell asleep.
Groping over your belt lazily, you quickly pulled away three pokéballs, releasing Charizard, Gengar, and Raichu into the room without a second thought. You contemplated releasing Gyrados from his pokéball too, just to piss off the hotel management, but eventually decided against it; you weren't in the mood to hand over all your money to the hotel in order for renovations to fix all the damage your giant pokémon would surely cause; you doubted he'd even fit in the room. One night in a hotel room was expensive enough, thank you very much!
"Ten thousand yen... For that sort of price, I'd expect more than a mint on my pillow in the morning. Hell, I should get a mint-flavored man on my pillow in the morning for ten thousand yen!"
Charizard snorted indignantly at you as he flopped down on the couch and quickly claimed the TV remote as his own. After all, he was the alpha-male of the team, and everyone knew that the alpha-male (no matter whether he was human or pokémon) always had control of the remote. Always. It was an unwritten law.
You frowned. For a moment you considered chucking your satchel at Charizard's big fatty-fat head but realized that the action would take too much effort on your part. Instead, you settled for quietly muttering several obscenities under your breath before finally replying with a proper response. "Oh, don't give me that crap. As if you've never dreamed about female charizards of various flavors lying on your pillows."
Charizard grunted, turning on the television and flipping through the stations so fast you doubted he even knew what any of the shows were about.
"No," you started, opening a single eye to stare at the back of Charizard's head, "That isn't any different at all. Girls usually like being around members of the opposite gender just as much as guys do. Well, unless they're gay, but you get my point."
Charizard continued to flip through the channels, ignoring you in favor of giving his undivided attention to the boob tube.
"...Are you gay, Charizard?"
Charizard's tail twitched, but he showed no other signs of paying you any mind.
"You know, it's okay if you're gay. I won't think any less of you or treat you any differently. Well, I might take you out shopping with me a little more often but other than that everything will still be the same. I love you for you, not who you do."
Charizard, meanwhile, turned up the volume on the television. Typical male response.
You soon grew bored from Charizard's lack of responsiveness and directed your attention towards Gengar and Raichu. Judging by the way Raichu was hopping from expensive piece of furniture to even-more-expensive piece of furniture, you were guessing the two were playing an exciting game of The Floor is Lava. Gengar, on the other hand, just floated back and forth in midair. It was obvious who the victor of the game would be, but you still watched the two in amusement with tired eyes.
You continued to watch the two for five more minutes, chuckling when Raichu almost knocked down a lamp. Once again you were tempted to just close your eyes and let sleep take hold of you, but you resisted; there was something you had to do first.
With a sigh, you pulled yourself off the bed, took your wallet out of your satchel, placed your key card inside your pants pocket, and walked towards the door. "I have to go to the store now," you called to your pokémon, "I'll be back in about a half an hour. The hotel staff thinks I'm keeping you in your pokéballs so behave yourselves; we don't need any snippety hotel managers kicking us out of the building, okay?"
Your pokémon turned to you, smiling and nodding their heads like perfect little angels. You could almost imagine the halos floating over their heads.
"Good."
You left the room, locking the door behind you. It was nice to know that you could trust your pokémon enough to leave them out on their own.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
"I'm back!" you called happily, a huge grin plastered on your face as you stepped inside the hotel room, a large brown paper bag in your hands.
Your smile immediately disappeared, however, the moment you caught sight of the disaster zone that was once known as your ten thousand yen hotel room. The sight made you want to cry. The couch was torn up into pieces, a lamp lay shattered on the floor, the covers of the bed were disheveled and tangled as if someone had rolled around in them, and the kitchen sink was on fire.
And, to add the icing to the cake, it appeared that your pokémon had found the mini bar, judging by the empty bottles of Oran Berry Wine lying on the floor and the drunken blushes on their faces. Didn't they realize that the price of the wine would be added to your bill?! Those irresponsible bastards! Why, if they didn't have awesome superhuman powers that could easily crush your puny body you'd probably bash their rotten faces in!
You tapped your foot impatiently against the plush carpeted floor, gaining three lazy-eyed stares from your pokémon. "Anyone care to explain themselves?"
All you gained in response was a hiccup from Raichu and an obnoxiously loud belch from Charizard. This caused Gengar, the most sober of the three, to start giggling so hard you feared all that time you had spent house-training him was for naught. Luckily, Gengar managed not to make a mess on the carpet while you barely managed to resist the urge to jump on and break your pokémon's spines.
You let out a sigh, pushing back any homicidal tendencies with the force of sheer will power alone. After all, you'd already gotten an earful from Nurse Joy and you weren't in any rush to face her wrath again. ...Nor were you in the mood to deal with Officer Jenny. Nor jail. And yet, the thought of wringing one of their necks was still quite tempting...
Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat when necessary.
"Be reasonable," you spoke aloud to yourself, "It's not like they trashed the room out of spite or anything. They were just... curious." You massaged your temples, trying to fight away the incoming migraine but failing miserably. "Just look at the bright side; at least things can't get any worse than this, right?"
Almost as if to prove you wrong, Charizard promptly lifted his head just in time to vomit on your shoes.
Well, you thought, at least I wasn't wearing sandals.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
It was dark out and you had just finished getting everything together; you put the couch back together with duct tape, tried to put the lamp back together with duct tape, made the bed, extinguished the fire in the kitchen sink, and disposed of the wine bottles by stashing them under the bed where you hoped the cleaning service wouldn't find them. Your pokémon, meanwhile, were drugged to the brink of unconsciousness with aspirin and resting on what remained of the couch.
You smiled fondly at the sight. For a bunch of little monsters, they certainly looked peaceful while they were sleeping.
Well, your mother had always told you that appearances could be deceiving,
You continued to watch them, finally deciding to go to bed only once you stifled a yawn. With a tired sigh, you began to remove your clothing until you were down to your undergarments before pulling an oversized T-shirt out of your satchel. You frowned at the piece of cloth; you really needed to buy yourself some real pajamas. Still, it was all you had so you quickly slid on the shirt before pouncing ungracefully into bed.
"Goodnight" you called out to your pokémon, earning a particularly loud snore from Charizard in response. You rolled your eyes, hoping that wasn't any indication of what you should expect for the rest of the night.
Whether Charizard continued to snore or not, you never found out; you fell asleep the moment your head hit the pillow.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
You awoke in a cold sweat.
You placed your hand against your forehead as your mind was assaulted by disturbing images; images full of death, destruction, and a pair of glowing blue eyes. You shook your head, trying to shake those thoughts away, but it did nothing other than add to the pain of your migraine.
You were tempted to turn on the lights; you didn't like sitting in the dark right after a nightmare; but you refrained yourself from doing so. Instead, you crawled out of bed and grabbed your satchel. You dug through the bag, searching until your hand came in contact with what you had been searching for; the Master Ball.
Despite the life inside, it was still cold to the touch and caused you to shiver. You turned it several times in your hand, inspecting it from all sides as if to make sure there was no way for the pokémon within to escape. Your uneasiness was justified; Mewtwo had made an attempt on your life at least three or four times. You had been able to forget about the creature for the time being but your nightmare had finally reminded you of his presence. Unfortunately.
You wondered if you could sell the pokémon to someone, or just leave it in its pokéball for the rest of your life, but that was unfair to Mewtwo. After all, you were the one who intruded within its home and challenged it to a battle. You were the one who caught Mewtwo with a Master Ball even though it was clear that you had lost the battle. It wasn't fair at all; it wasn't fair to Mewtwo and it wasn't fair to you either.
"I should... I should release it" you mumbled quietly to yourself, still staring carefully at the ball in your hand. "Yeah," you said louder, more determined, "That's what I'll do. I'll take Mewtwo back to Cerulean Cave tomorrow and release it. Then Mewtwo can go back to doing whatever it is that Mewtwos do and I can continue on with my life without fear of dieing from guilt or the paws of a vengeful pokémon." You nodded your head. "It's a plan."
You carefully set the Master Ball back into your knapsack and zipped the bag up in hopes that the action would keep any more nightmares at bay. Still, the action did little to ease you. Within the shadows and darkness of the night, that bed didn't look quite as comfortable as a cozy, half-destroyed couch with three pokémon peacefully lying across its cushions. You smiled at the sight; Gengar was resting on the far left side of the couch, Raichu curled up by his side, while Charizard's body took up over half of the piece of furniture.
Quietly, you tiptoed across the carpeted floor towards the couch, being extra mindful that you didn't make a sound as you moved. The moment you reached your destination you gently prodded Charizard's side with your right index finger.
He didn't move an inch.
You prodded him again, this time a tad harder, yet the behemoth made no movement other than a twitch of his tail and a light smacking of his lizard lips. You prodded him once more, this time using the sharp bone of your elbow to hit him square in the face. The love tap was enough to jar Charizard awake, causing the dragon to growl irritably and rub at his snout in an attempt to soothe the pain away.
You rolled your eyes; if he could handle a Future Sight attack from a powerful psychic pokémon then he should have no trouble dealing with a light smack from a human.
"Scoot over" you commanded, your voice a whisper.
Charizard stared at you with narrowed eyes, snorted out a puff of smoke, then allowed his eyelids to droop in order to fall back asleep.
You frowned at the overgrown orange lizard and flicked his nostril with enough force to cause him to open his eyes and glare at you. You were so used to that look of his that it didn't even faze you anymore. "Either you make some room on the couch by scooting over, or I'll make some room on the couch by returning you to your pokéball. The choice is yours."
You couldn't help but grin to yourself when he reluctantly scooted deeper within the confines of the couch cushion, making just enough room for you to cuddle up against the fire dragon's belly.
You sighed contently as you nestled up against Charizard; his scales were smooth and his body was warm. Charizard's large body encircling your own made you feel so small. It was sort of nostalgic; you felt just like a little girl again, resting comfortably within the safe confines of your mother's arms. The thought was comforting and brought a tired smile to your face; maybe you should go back to Pallet Town and pay your mother a visit...
Your vision soon became blurry and your eyelids grew heavy. Sleep came to you so quickly that you hardly even noticed the faint red glow of your gengar's eyes as he used his Hypnosis on you.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
Charizard grunted as bright rays of sunlight tickled his eyelids, urging them to open and his body to awaken. Being the stubborn fellow that he was, Charizard simply buried his face into the hard and lumpy pillow at his front.
It took a moment for Charizard's half-asleep mind to realize that pillows were usually neither hard nor lumpy.
Reluctantly, he opened a single eyelid only to realize that his head was buried in his trainer's hair, thin strands tickling at his nostrils and smelling of the generic brand of soap shampoo that she used whenever the chance to wash would arise.
Feeling lazy, Charizard didn't even bother to move your hair out of the way; the smell had a sort of calming effect on him, not to mention it was much less obnoxious than all the fruity and flowery scents most human girls used. He didn't mind the smell of soap because it wasn't so strong that it covered up his trainer's scent. Honestly, how could any pokémon relax when the scent of their trainer was hidden? Smells were a way to identify different people, different pokémon, and the way that they were feeling; masking one's scent was the pokémon equivalent of hiding away from the world.
Humans were such odd creatures, always hiding their true selves from those around them. They were always afraid of what others might think of them. Charizard really couldn't understand how humans worked. In his opinion, people should be more like pokémon. Pokémon were so much simpler; they didn't have to hide who they were. Pokémon could just be themselves and be accepted as such.
Charizard sighed and curled up around the girl resting so comfortably against his belly. It was funny how things changed; when he was but a small charmander, he would often rest in his trainer's lap for warmth and protection. Things changed, however, when he evolved into a charmeleon. He was too big to fit on his trainer's lap so he had to settle for leaning against the girl's shoulder when they sat around the campfire, or lying by her side when they slept out among the stars at night. Now that he was a charizard, however, he was big enough that his trainer could perfectly fit in his lap. Having her resting in his lap was odd at first, but at the same time it felt right, as if this was what he was supposed to do. After all, his trainer had taken care of him since he was an infant; it was only right that he returned the favor now that he was capable of doing so.
While his trainer was the leader of the group, she was still just a girl; that made him the alpha-male of the pack. It was his duty to protect her, guide her, and keep her happy. But protect her especially; from human and pokémon alike.
Men were the worst. Charizard could hardly hold back a snort as he thought of the shameless way certain men would stare at his trainer, eyeing her hungrily like she was a piece of meat. It wasn't a very common occurrence but that didn't make it any less frustrating when some Casanova-wannabe tried to turn on the charm. But no matter what it always ended the same way; Charizard would snarl viciously at them and they'd run away with their tails between their legs while his trainer remained none-the-wiser.
There were rare moments; moments so rare that they were hardly even worth mentioning; when Charizard felt guilty for scaring off all those people. He had driven off many potential friends and mates, had done so since his days as a charmeleon, and he knew that it was all thanks to him that she had little to no contact with people other than what was absolutely necessary. Still, even as a child she had no friends, only a rival, so it wasn't as if she was the most social person around.
Charizard could still remember the many nights when his trainer confided in him, telling him that she preferred pokémon over most people, that as long as she had her pokémon team then she wouldn't need anybody else, and that they were the best friends she had ever hoped to have.
Charizard paused in his train of thought, taking a moment to breathe in his trainer's scent.
Still, even though he had his brief moments of guilt, Charizard had no regrets. She had said that Gyrados, Raichu, Gengar, and his self were the most important people in her life. (He mentally chuckled at this; even though they were pokémon, she still considered them people.) Well, she and the rest of the gang were all that mattered to Charizard. They were a family, the five of them; as long as they had each other they didn't need anyone else.
Charizard's eyes smiled as he stared down fondly at his trainer, his leader, his mother, his sister, his teammate, and most importantly his friend.
With this thought in mind, he leaned over the girl so that his face hovered over her own and breathed out deeply right by her nose, intent on sharing his morning breath with his favorite victim.
As she jumped violently awake, elbowing him in the jaw while gasping for breath so hard that tears filled her eyes, Charizard couldn't help but think that there was no possible way he could care for this girl any more than he already did.Chapter End Notes:I'd just like to thank everyone that has read and reviewed this story; thanks for being so supportive! ^_^ Also, since no one voted against the second person perspective, I'm keeping the story as is. Thanks again