The dull, white walls now beheld such scene: Charizard slowly woke to reality outside of his Pokéball, his large body standing between me and Sycamore. The latter smiled.
"Darling, I compliment you on your..." he lifted an eyebrow "...quick strategizing! But what do you plan to do now? Have your Pokémon attack me?" He teased confidently, cleverly choosing to keep his distance from Charizard and me though.
"If I have to..." I replied, standing against him.
Charizard looked form one face to the other, trying to understand the context of the argument.
Sycamore closed his eyes and chuckled silently, calmly, enjoying a joke only he knew of yet... His presumption annoyed me!
"What's so funny?!!" I inquired angrily, albeit scared of the answer.
"Nothing yet, but this just might become terribly amusing for me, and quite the disappointment for you!" he answered raising his eyes and enjoying the remaining of his obscure laugh "I wonder if you'd forgive me for letting you first try and see for yourself, dear..."
Whatever he tried to insinuate, it pissed me beyond composure. Could Charizard really, really not do anything against him?! I frowned and stepped forward, ignoring my trembling voice as I called:
"Charizard..."
"However..." Sycamore loudly interrupted, his smile coming undone and his eyebrows tensing "I would hardly encourage such impudence and disrespect as this one you so unconscionably direct me. Once you've proven yourself capable of it, I won't be so generous!"
He talked like a parent... As if disobedience both saddened and disappointed him, coming in the form of a pointless caprice only meant to injure his authority and pride. In other times, I would have fallen for it – instilled guilt often clouded the objective behind my actions... But this time it only angered me further!
"The jest is that if you are, your Pokémon isn't!" He explained to my half-comprehension. I looked at Charizard, hoping to verify it.
"Charmander has been my pet, but that is little surprise to you..." His confident smile returned as he reminisced "What I have failed to tell you is that he was Team Flare's pet before that! Trained and raised by them in their headquarters." he revealed, marking every expression on my face and drinking from the despair in it "In fact, all of them have! It was Lysandre who retrieved the three starters from Kanto, it was him who had them trained and brought to me as a welcoming gift to the children executing our research..."
He laughed of my vague, distant and despairing expression as I processed the information.
"Charizard wouldn't attack any of his former masters if his life depended on it... Especially not me!"
And to seal his confidence in Charizard's powerlessness against him, Sycamore stretched out and rubbed the monster's neck. He stood there, watching frozen as we discussed. His pupils never shifted and never moved, like an obedient guard dog I suddenly didn't know. ...But I knew him alright: I could see how heavy the muscles in his face fell over his eyes... how tense and confused he really was!
I was his trainer, after all. He couldn't go completely without being aware of me... maybe he'd even listen to me, provided Sycamore didn't give the contrary order. I decided to try it:
"Charizard, back off!!" I screamed, enraged by the Professor's conceited touch, and proceeded to jump back just as my Pokémon promptly did – he landed a few steps away from Sycamore, who stood with his hand stretched, slightly puzzled, but not yet impressed...
"Good boy...!" I praised, keeping my eyes on sneaky Sycamore and focusing on my short breath: I only then realized how nervous I got, scared Charizard would let me down.
...But though he obeyed me, jumping back and eyeing Sycamore like the hidden threat he was, I could clearly see the limits in his confused, struggling pupils – the seams of his obedience glowing and aching like inflamed tendons: I could order him around the room and call him back and forth as much as I pleased... But if I should ask him to hurt the Professor, I would be disappointed. I clenched my knuckles, trying to think of a way out.
"Exceptionally trained!" Sycamore remarked, paying me a compliment "I should not have expected less of you! You and your Pokémon have grown so much stronger in the last month alone..."
His smile looked mild and composed again, like the old Professor I knew...
"You have so much potential!" he approached in brave steps with his hands casually shoved in his pockets. Charizard opened his arms and legs, assuming a protective stance over me. That didn't stop Sycamore from advancing... "I wish you would realize what a sadness it would be... putting it to waste like that!"
Charizard moved his wings back and forth once in a pretty nervous warning to keep Sycamore away.
"...risking your life out there so recklessly!" he added, sighing and enjoying his devious smile.
Charizard's stance broke immediately then – he looked back at me, confused.
"It would be a pity if you died..." Sycamore sighed once more, stopping before us.
"No..." I shook my head, knowing where he was going with it "No, Charizard: It's safe to go! We can do it... No one will die!"
The Pokémon looked ahead again, but his confidence was shaken.
"Safe to go?! How can you say that, darling, when the fight has hardly begun and you've already ended up here, so utterly defenseless?" Sycamore cynically cried, feigning worry.
"I ended up here because you sent Team Flare after me!!!" I pointed out in my rage.
"...Because it was the best for you!" he quickly interposed, retaining his composure and smile. "Because if you get caught out there, you will get seriously hurt."
"That is hardly a reason to lock me up and try to hold me here against my will!!"
Charizard groaned and looked back at Sycamore.
The Professor's smile stretched as he amused himself in the challenge of making that look any less reproachable.
"I have merely taken the liberty to pull you off a fight. Charizard..."
He called, and the Pokémon's ears twitched, ready to listen. Sycamore smiled cunningly...
"...when you are pulled back from battle before you get hurt, that is your master demonstrating her love and responsibility over you, in spite of how much you wish to continue..."
"NO! No, he's lying... that's not what he's doing at all!!" I pleaded, realizing how effective the speech was promising to be...
But Charizard wouldn't stop to listen to me this time:
"How could you ever resent her for that?" he narrowed his eyes "How ungrateful would you have to be, when she knows better than you? This is merely the same case..."
"No..." I started, clenching my fists and shaking.
"I know better!" he concluded in his sung voice.
"NO, I am not a Pokémon, you can't control me!!!" I screamed, losing it.
Charizard looked back at me, full of apprehension. In giving release to my rage, I only proved myself impulsive and unreliable.
"We know what is best for her, buddy." He winked charmingly, treating it as a won battle "So let me handle it like a good boy, okay?!" He held Charizard's large head between his hands, caressing him.
My Pokémon was lost!
"Now now..." he sighed, and lowered his eyes to me: they were empty and intensely decided upon nothing good... "Be a good boy and stand aside, will you?"
And, with Charizard complying, he slowly walked up to me. I walked back in the same rhythm, trying to at least buy myself enough time to read the resolution in his eyes – of what he was going to do to me.
Charizard also sensed the malice - the danger, even - in his way of walking towards me: His eyes were troubled, cowardly moving from me to a distant corner of the room: they begged me I wouldn't punish him for loving Sycamore. They begged me I wouldn't expect too much of him... expect him to fight for me...
A battle lost to Sycamore, who smiled in renewed confidence: he would not be bothered in that room with me for the rest of the day, while the world crumbled – Charizard's coward eyes still watched from afar, pitying my position in his silent submission.
...That I wouldn't ask him to fight.
That was it! Charizard wouldn't fight Sycamore or any of the Team Flare admins – that's what his despondent eyes told me. And why would they be despondent, unless he loved me and answered to me just as well?! He was torn... But so long as I didn't ask him to battle...
I ran to the side, escaping Sycamore's grasp and jumping on Charizard's neck. Charizard staggered, confused, and the Professor gave out a small laugh, untroubled by my attempt.
"We have been through this, dear..." he chuckled.
"Charizard..." I held on to his wings, supporting myself on his back. Sycamore watched and waited for the order with a peaceful smile, almost looking forward to proving me powerless...
"Get the hell out of this place!!" I surprised both.
In a violent huff, Charizard immediately beat his wings, pushing Sycamore back by the mere power of the wind he produced. It suddenly seemed like he was anxious for me to give an order he could obey...
As the Professor struggled to keep his balance, Charizard bent forward, roared like an enraged beast, and charged ahead with his mighty strong legs.
I closed my eyes and encircled his neck tighter inside my arms as he smashed against the door, bringing it down with ease and not stopping for a second of hesitation as he ran freely inside the large, grunt-filled bunker of Team Flare.
"Secure her!!" Sycamore screamed from the door, utterly distressed.
Red glowing suits appeared from everywhere, running in our direction. Charizard looked at his sides, examining them like a cold strategist. He wasn't fast – his size alone and having me on his back didn't help much on that! – but his intimidating figure made up for it: the grunts ran next to us, planning a very careful approach.
"Don't let them get close!" I ordered, and Charizard immediately started firing his flamethrower at the floor before him – the flames making a trail around us as he ran, and not the bravest grunt daring approach us.
I closed my eyes – the heat was unbearable, but Charizard made sure he ran fast enough for me not to get burned. His enraged pupils would occasionally move my way, probably seeking praise... But no, that was not Charizard's style: it was only his pride overflowing as he stood up to Team Flare.
"I can see it, pal..." I smiled at him, hugging his neck as I rocked with his violent movement "I can see how strong you are!!"
Could he see me, too?!
***
Together, we hit the street with ease: Though Sycamore exerted some sort of authority upon the grunts, they still answered primarily to their own safety in face of the apocalypse Lysandre promised them: Seeing as no one was capable of stopping Charizard, they decided to hurriedly open the bunker doors before my Pokémon could cause it any damage and compromise its ultimate-weapon-proof properties.
The light by the end of the tunnel came in the form of Charizard crashing and destroying a cupboard that blocked our way by the end of an obscure passage – broken shards of porcelain and wood chips rained upon me as I held on to his neck, my scared scream muffled by the song of destruction. When I opened my eyes... we were at Lysandre's café.
"That's why he wanted to keep me here..." I mused aloud, making sense out of every little strange behavior Professor Sycamore had shown me throughout those last few months, and today in particular.
Charizard reacted to my sullenness – he had been standing there over the mess of destroyed kitchenware waiting for a new order. I didn't know where to go, but it would follow as usual: we would get as far from Sycamore as we could, in case he was coming after us.
"Let's go, boy!"