Speedy took his sweet time going over his stories. Not a surprise, the ol’ Raichu had plenty to tell to listening ears, and nowhere else to go. Sefonia sure paid attention to him, interjecting at times to ask him about his opinions, and you couldn’t just leave someone like her in the dust. What was the harm in taking his time, aside from the fact that he wasn’t actually that old?

  Well, Blitzer sure knew what the harm was. Junior was waiting for him, and he struggled to come up with an excuse to leave. Speedy asked him to join in more, even though he’d heard the stories before. Speedy having a run-in with a goon in Agate Township, way back when the Charizard was just a boy. Still remembered all the details, right down to how tight the Raichu tied the rope around their legs.

  Eventually, the stress of disappointing Junior asserted itself on his snout, and his tail flame had begun to dim. Speedy told him there was no harm in it; Blitzer could leave if he wanted to. Why wouldn’t he give him the same courtesy his son received?

  Of course, actually leaving brought a whole new worry. Now, he actually had to confront Junior. Come up with a good explanation for… everything, really. And without coming across as aggressive, or monstrous. Charmanders looked harmless in comparison, and Junior was convinced he’d burn the village down way back in the day.

  When Blitzer stepped out of the hospital, a light drizzle fell on the streets. On the bright side, at least it didn’t snow. On the dark side? It was raining, and he was outside. What a beautiful world.

  Pondering and procrastinating was a fool’s errand. Blitzer had made a promise, and he wasn’t going to let emotions get in the way. Neither Junior nor Blitzer himself would ever forgive him.

  The Charizard squeezed into a small alley, keeping his tail close. The alley ran between one of the hospital’s temporary side wings, and what smelled like a bakery. Nothing but bread was being made inside; Blitzer knew, as the scent of baked goods had little depth to it. Fully evolved, he picked up on these things without needing to think them over. Likewise, the scent of a Pikachu lingered in the alley, and it was fresh, rain be damned. He sucked in a breath.

  ‘He must be around the corner. Here goes nothing, Blitzer.’

  Mustering a neutral expression, Blitzer came out of the alley with a big step. He kept his head straight, the horns visible but not too exposed. Two upper fangs stuck out; nothing he could do much about, alas. Charizard anatomy didn’t conform to the situation. Neither did Pikachu’s: glancing leftwards to the hospital, Blitzer spotted a thunderbolt tittering under a tree. Just underneath, two ears flicked backwards against Junior’s head.

  “Why didn’t you come through the back door…?”

  The Pikachu shied away already, despite the distance between them. He sat on a little stone wall boxing in the dirt the tree had been planted in, little drops of rain scattering about as he kicked his feet back and forth. Blitzer gulped, rain streaming down his red and cream scales.

  “I didn’t know there was a back door,” the dragon puffed. ‘Hope he’s just trying to shelter from the rain! Else this’ll be even harder…’

  Junior pointed towards the backdoor, rickety and wooden. “I thought I mentioned it. There uh, there’s no sign, but… yeah.”

  Blitzer tilted his head a little as he passed a fence. ‘He’s very quiet. He was never shy growing up.’ he thought, shuddering as he sat down on the cobbles, the surface gripping onto his scales with a cold hand. Wet, and gross, sensations enhanced by the resistance his weary leg put up while sitting. He licked at his chops. ‘I’m going to need a bath after this...’

  After the Charizard curled his tail around his body, everything went quiet. It was never a good sign when no one talked. The suspense just made talking all the more painful. Junior shivered before him, half looking his way, half glancing in the opposite direction, arms covering his vitals. A shaky breath freed itself from Blitzer’s jaws.

  ‘We’re both in the same boat here, aren’t we? No… he’s doing worse than me, I can see and smell it.’ “So, uh… you wanted to talk to me, right?”

  Junior bit the corners of his mouth. “I did,” he whispered. “I… can I ask you a question? Are you actually Blitzer? From Greenfield?”

  Blitzer nodded. “Yes, I-” he paused, then clicked his tongue, the tip of his tail twitching his way. ‘I’ll need to prove it.’ “Uh. Well, you’re Junior, but your actual name is Speedy, just like your dad. But you’ve always preferred Junior. You’ve lived in Greenfield your whole life, uh, as long as I can remember, and I was adopted by mom and-” he gulped, then pinched himself in the leg.

  ‘Calm down! Don’t get all stuttery!’

  “Uh, Nero and Nera, the Nido’s in the house on the hill. You were friends with the other kids, especially Corst and Sweitelle. You let me hang out around you, but you never really trusted me? And uh, then in those last few weeks, I found and introduced the Oshawott kid to you guys. His name is George. Remember George?”

  The Pikachu nodded, his ears tilting slightly up, water dripping from the tips. “A little, yeah. Not by much, because we never got to hang out much. Before, y’know… the day the Soldiers came.”

  “Y-yeah,” Blitzer replied, a growl spilling from his jaws by accident. His inner flames went cold in an instant. “Ah! S-sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I apologise.”

  “You don’t need to,” Junior replied, his voice on the verge of a whisper. His chest rose and sank faster. “It’s,” he paused for a moment, “just a thing you do now, right?”

  “Mhm,” Blitzer cautiously hummed. “B-believe me, it scares me too, sometimes. Even when I don’t want it to happen, I still sound growly, only because my voice has gotten so much deeper.”

  Junior rubbed his wet paws against each other. “You know, you were always talking about how much you wanted to evolve. You kept fantasizing about it out loud, like there would be no downsides. But now you’re… scared. You look scared of yourself.”

  The Charizard gulped. ‘Well, I’m not the only one here who’s scared of me…’ “That’s because I didn’t know any better. My mom and dad didn’t know much about Charizard, only what they’ve read in books and the like. So they told me the stories, and they sounded really cool, so I repeated them to myself. Began to imagine what it’s like, and all. I thought I’d turn into this big, loveable hero that everyone looked up to.” He shook his head. “You know, harmless thoughts, annoying at worst.”

  The rain picked up a little. Junior looked up to the sky for a moment, before groaning. “Everyone’s like that when they’re young, I guess. I mean, my dad sure loved hearing what I had to say about Raichu. I thought he was the greatest Pokemon in the world! And I wanted to be like him,” he explained. “Looking back, I did go hard on you for doing the same.”

  “Egh.” Blitzer groaned. “Yeah, you did. And it’s not just about evolving, either. You’d always have something to say if I messed up. Always told on me when I broke a rule, too. Why me?” the Charizard asked.

  The Pikachu raised an eye at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, remember the times playing hide and seek, and I would hide in or behind Lance’s shed? You always told him, so he’d drag me by the tail after. Or me accidentally pushing someone too hard during play fights. Or being too jumpy, or loud…”

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  The Charizard’s facial expression soured. “I-I mean, they weren’t good things, but you did them too! Sweitelle did, Corst did, we all did! But why pick on me for it?”

  Junior flinched, hearing the way Blitzer’s voice cracked under the pressure. For a brief moment, they were back in Greenfield, sitting on the bank of the stream while bathing their feet within.

  “I-I… Blitzer? Um. Do you mind if I’m honest with you?”

  Blitzer stuck his tongue in his cheek for a moment, then ran it across his upper teeth. “Yeah? I won’t get mad, or anything like that.” ‘And wasn’t the whole point of us talking to be honest with each other? You know, like we should have been?’

  The Pikachu breathed in deep, rubbing his paws together for warmth, what little warmth there was to be gained in the rain. Given how soaked his fur was, the fact it stood upright in places made Blitzer worried. One little spark from those cheeks, and there’d be a problem for Junior. Let alone what would happen if the Charizard reached out. What would a static shock do with water running all over him? Douse his flame?

  Blitzer looked over his back one last time. No one had been eavesdropping. He sighed. ‘Alright, fire away, Junior.’

  After struggling to warm up, the Pikachu sighed, then looked Blitzer in the eyes. “Well, we were a peaceful village, y’know. Even though we were right on a pretty busy road, we didn’t get newcomers that often. Y’know, Agate Township’s never been the prettiest place to live, and uh. I guess no one wanted to move there, and the people there were stuck.”

  “Mhm.” Blitzer nodded. ‘That’s a lot of words to say Agate’s a dump.’ “So… what does that have to do with me, exactly?”

  “That’s what I was getting to,”Junior continued, one ear flicked backwards. He was keeping his feet real close together, as if he were trying to make himself smaller. “Greenfield never had newcomers. But then, one day, Nero and Ne- I mean, your parents found you in the woods. They said you were abandoned, so they took you in. But do you remember what happened after that? Uh, were you old enough to remember, back then?”

  The Charizard anxiously tilted his head, nudging the tip of his tail closer to his belly. “No? I think I was as big as my forearm now, back then,” he said, holding said forearm up. “All I know was seeing my… biological dad’s face hover over me, then my actual mom and dad found me. What of it?”

  Junior grimaced. “So you don’t know the Dusknoir moved in not long after.”

  “What?” Blitzer shuddered. “Hein? You’re telling me Hein moved in right after I came?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “But that can’t be true, my parents told me he’s always lived there!” Blitzer clenched his fists. “L-look, I know that old ghost is anyone but someone you’d want to meet, he’s given me more than enough bad vibes to last a lifetime. Trust me, even after I ran away, I somehow had run-ins with him. I get it. But why would my parents lie to me about him?”

  The Pikachu shook his head. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know them. But it’s true. He emerged into the town square a day after. Demanded the right to live there, no questions asked. Everybody knew who he was, we’ve all heard the stories before. ‘The Lone Eye’? None of us had ever seen a ghost, let alone a Dusknoir. But we all knew right away. This was him. And well, my dad said the whole village was terrified. Agreed to let him stay in that abandoned inn.”

  Blitzer blinked at him. “Abandoned? That café was never abandoned, was it?”

  Junior glanced beside him. “W-well yeah, we never saw it that way again. Apparently, ghosts can run a café really well. Dad told me he was really good at it, said he got morbidly curious right after it opened. According to him, Hein’s a real good host, despite the uh.” He pictured out a face on his belly, using his paws. “You know.”

  ‘Really?’ Blitzer thought to himself on repeat, his posture slouching over. ‘No one ever told me. Not my parents, or anyone else. But why? And-’ He perked up all of a sudden, mouth ajar. ‘Hang on a second, what does this have to do with me?’ “Okay, uh, I… never knew that, but why are you bringing this up to me? I’m not Hein! I never asked to be associated with him!”

  “Yeah, but, apparently Hein wanted to be associated with you,” Junior retorted. “That’s why he moved in the day after.”

  “What?!” Blitzer gritted his teeth. “What makes you say that?” ‘Please don’t tell me.’

  “Uhh.” Junior bit his lip. “Well, why else would he move in right after you?”

  Blitzer’s eyes narrowed. “...That’s it? You don’t have any other proof?”

  The Pikachu folded his arms. “It’s a pretty bad coincidence though, right? We went from no newcomers, to two completely foreign Pokemon coming in. Fire types don’t live in Agate, for starters. But ghosts?”

  “H-hold on a second!” Blitzer now stood up, his wings partially unfurled. “That’s not fair! You treated me poorly just because of… somebody else in the village? Who isn’t me, and were scared of? What kind of sense does that make? And why me? Just because I was new?”

  “I-I didn’t know how to handle it, okay?!” Junior shuffled away from the dragon towering over himl. “A-and it didn’t end there! I mean,” he held his tongue for a bit, “you were always super energetic and jumpy about… about everything! When we played, when we had schoolwork, or had to help pluck berries, when we got grounded, you always acted careless about it. You’d often be the first to shout something when we were talking, too. You didn’t let others get a word in.”

  The frustrations on the Charizard’s face kept asserting themselves as he sat back down. At first, he scowled. But as Junior continued to list off all the things he’d done wrong, he had but a frown left. By the time the Pikachu finished, he was looking away. They weren’t in Northpoint, behind the hospital. They were by the stream behind Speedy’s house, and he was staring into the trees.

  “But you never told me,” he said, soft and growless. “You never told me to calm down. I… the whole time, I thought you were just shy. And all the others, too.”

  Junior shook his head, spatters of rain scattering to the winds. “And you’re of fire. There’s almost no firelings in the Agate Province. So… no one really knew what it would mean, when you’d run around, play with us, indoors or in the woods, with your tail on fire. I thought we’d all die in a forest fire if you kept at it long enough.”

  Blitzer glanced at the flame flickering beside him. As the rain fell into the fire, each drop sizzled and stung like a Caterpie’s bite. Yet the fire burned on regardless. He sighed.

  “I never started any fire, even accidentally. My dad taught me to be mindful very early on. And even then, my tail can’t accidentally spread fire to anything, unless I really concentrate on it.” He tilted his head away. “But I guess that doesn’t change anything for you, does it.”

  The Pikachu’s ears went flat. “Not back then, no… but I guess we never had any accidents with fire, did we? Just Miss Eldegoss accidentally setting her counter on fire when cooking pancakes that one time.”

  Blitzer nodded. “Mhm. Can I ask you something?”

  “S-sure?” Junior tilted his head. “Go ahead.”

  The Charizard rested his claws on his legs. “You had all these ideas in your mind of who I am. That I was a foreigner, that I was with Hein, that I’d start fires and that I’d shut everyone down. We weren’t friends, even though I really wanted to be. But despite all of that… you would still let me hang out with you and the others. Why?”

  Junior blinked at him as he slowly lowered his paws, then shuddered. One large drop fell from the branches above, landing square on the Pikachu’s forehead. He groaned, his eyes dawdling to the uneven cobbles below.

  “Because, well, even though I had all these reasons for not liking you much, I… a-and even though we had a hard time getting used to you, even I couldn’t tell myself that you meant any harm. You kept showering us with all sorts of compliments. Ideas. Good times. Joy… I-I guess you could call it love, but y’know, uh. Not in a romantic way.”

  Clenching his teeth, the Charizard nodded. “Mhm!” ‘Gods, never in a romantic way! Screw the Soldiers, mom and dad would’ve punted me into the sun if I tried dating anybody.’

  Perking his ears back up, the Pikachu sat up straight. Larger and larger drops kept dripping into his fur, but he didn’t seem bothered by it now. “Looking back, I really let my worst side get the better of me. A-and it took a while for me to confront that.”

  Blitzer nudged the tip of his tail closer to Junior, lest the cold seep deeper within. “What changed? Did you uh, have a lot of time to think?”

  “Something like that,” the Pikachu replied, biting his lip. “But also that Oshawott you found. George, was it? I still don’t know where he came from, and I don’t know why I started seeing things differently with him, but that’s what happened. Maybe seeing another foreign kid around made me realise how stupid I was being.” He now pinched himself in the chest. “But I realised what the issue was before that horrible day. I never got to tell you until now, but… I’m sorry. I really am.”

  Blitzer dropped his claws between his legs, then wove the digits from each between one another. Had he ever told Junior about George’s true background? Has anyone else? Back then, he’d said George was from the north. It was as plain of a lie as they came, all to hide info you never quite knew the reaction to. Said info now made Blitzer contemplate the state of the world. How common was knowledge about George, now that the world was half dead and he had gone missing?

  The thoughts ended with the Charizard flinching. Once again, asking himself questions he didn’t want to know the answer to.

  “Hey, Blitzer?”

  The Charizard perked back up, some rain water falling off his body. Junior was staring right at him. “I know this might be awkward, but I want to start anew with you. And not treat you poorly anymore.” He gulped, before extending a paw. “Do you want to be friends?”

  Wordlessly, Blitzer reached out with one of his claws, accepting the gesture for what it was worth. “I do, yes. That’s all I ever wanted,” he huffed, then exhaled. “Do you want a hug?”

  “Ah…” The Pikachu was taken aback by the offer, hopping off the wall after a few seconds passed. He climbed up Blitzer’s leg, then slowly made his way up until he reached the dragon’s chest, before leaning up against him. Blitzer, smirking a little, placed a claw on his back. It didn’t take long for Junior to shut his eyes, as if he’d fallen asleep.

  “This… this is nice.”

  “Does your dad give you these often?”

  “No. He’s not a hugger.”

  “Oh. That uh, that sucks.”

  “It’s okay.” Junior breathed in, then out. “Your scales are smooth.”

  Blitzer broke into a chuckle. “I’d say your fur is soft, but no. You’re wet.”

  Junior pulled his head away, one eye raised while shooting Blitzer a baffled look. “Gee, I wonder how that happened.”

  “Why don’t we go inside?” the Charizard suggested. “Someplace warmer than this. It’s still winter. Don’t want to catch a cold.”

  “Yeah. Give me a nice fire in the hearth. Or that tail of yours.”

  Feeling relieved, Blitzer stood up, then hobbled his way past the tree and towards the hospital’s backdoor, Junior resting in his arms. They had been through more than enough rain already.