Ash was sitting down, lying against Charizard, who was resting and about to take a nap, everyone else was doing their own thing, he had a spoon in his mouth from breakfast as he looked at the map on his dex.
Then he finally found what he was looking for; he leaned his head back, the spoon still in his mouth, "Hey, Charizard,"
"Char?" Charizard said, opening one eye and yawning
"You wanna go check out this place where there are a bunch of Charizards?" Ash asked, showing Charizard his map
Charizard froze for a moment, a place with a bunch of Charizard, he was Curious, he had never actually seen another Charizard personally, now that he thought about it, he also was interested to see how he compared, that this might be his shot to prove himself.
"Char!" Charizard gave a nod and puffed out a small ember of flames from his nose,
Ash nodded as he took the spoon out of his mouth and pulled his Pokeball out, "Alright then, you get some rest then. I'll let you out when we get there, alright"
Charizard nodded and went back into his ball, barely hiding his excitement. Ash got up and stretched his back. Once he did, he felt something squishy holding onto him.
Turning around, he saw that Chikorita was holding onto his back, nuzzling the crook of his neck. He couldn't help but sigh. He hoped that because Chikorita didn't almost freeze to death, she wouldn't have that major crush on him, but it seemed like saving her from Raikou also did the trick.
Ash sighed as he pulled Chikorita off him but that only made her cling to his wrist instead, he tried a few more things and tried to put her in her ball and failed, only to get a few chuckles from his friends.
"Looks like Chikorita likes you very, very, very much~," Brock said, teasing.
Misty nodded, "I'll say, I thought if anyone was going to get a Pokemon to like them like that, it would be Yellow,"
Ash sighed as he managed to rip Chikorita off his face, and he gave a deadpan look at them, "You're enjoying this too much, aren't you,"
"Noooo~" x2, they said in unison
Ash sighed as he put Chikorita over his shoulder instead, "Well, I guess it's the consequences of my own actions, any way you guys ready to move, we're taking a detour,"
Yellow looked over from where she was sitting, "Really? Where are we going?"
Ash smiled and pointed up, "We are going to Charicific Valley!"
".....Eh?" x2 Brock and Misty said
—------
A bit later, the gang was climbing the mountain. Ash was leading the way, and Yellow was equally as excited, walking next to him.
However, Brock and Misty both knew about the news about Charicific Valley that normal people weren't allowed to go there sure, Ash had a Charizard, but there was no reason to believe they would give them special treatment just because Ash has a Charizard.
They were trying to talk Ash out of continuing, half knowing it wasn't going to work and the other half hoping, "Ash, come on, there are better things to do, I mean, don't you want to get all your badges, and also go see Kurt!" Misty said
"Azalea Town's Gym is closed down for a bit, and Kurt is probably helping find the problem," Ash said, not even stopping.
Brock came up too, "Well, what about training, you could use that extra time to train your other Pokemon, maybe find one you like and catch?"
"I have a training schedule for all my Pokemon, and they're all on track. Besides, I only plan on catching maybe 4 more Pokemon here in Johto, maybe not even that, honestly." Ash said nonchalantly.
"Well…." Brock was trying to figure out a way he could stop Ash, "What if I challenge you to a Pokemon battle, if you win, we can go, but if I-"
"You know I hear the ranger stationed here is pretty hot," Ash interrupted Brock.
Brock's face hardened as he stood next to Ash, putting his arm around his shoulder, "You're right we need to go forward to see just what this Valley has in store!"
Misty slapped her face and dragged her hand; she didn't even know why she tried at this point, "You guys are going to be the death of me, I swear…"
As soon as she said that, a woman with long green hair, wearing a red crop top and shorts that seemed to look like a modified version of the standard uniform the rangers wear, jumped down from the side of the mountain, sliding down and stood in front of them blocking their path
"Stop right there, this area is a protected area, normal people are not allowed to enter!" she said, furrowing as if getting ready for the worst,
Brock ran up and fell to his knees, grabbing her hand in a flash that was even faster than Pikachu could move, "Hello, my lady! You see, I came here because I require someone as beautiful as you to protect my heart instead!"
Misty walked over, grabbed his ear, and pulled him away, "Some things never change, I swear…"
The girl looked confused, "Uhh…" she didn't know how to proceed, "So you lot wouldn't happen to be poachers, right?"
Ash walked up this time, "No, we aren't, we came here because I have a Charizard, and I would like to test him against the other Charizard in this valley, rumors say this is where the strongest Charizard come from,"
The girl smirked and put her hands on her waist, pointing her nose up, "Well, you've got that right, the Charizard here became some of the strongest, infact some of our proudest Charizard went on to become Champion Lance's Charizard!"
"Wow, really?" Yellow asked, "Mr. Lance got his Charizard here."
"Yep, along with any Eggs the Blackthorn clan uses, they all come from here. We have a partnership with their clan, and we breed the best Charizard right here!"
"Speaking of which, sorry I got carried away I just take pride in my work," she said, scratching her head, "I'm Liza, the ranger stationed to protect this area and a proud Charizard Trainer!"
"I'm Ash, and lover boy over there is Brock, the girl pulling his ear off is Misty, and Yellow is right here,"
"Nice to meet you all, and I knew I smelled the unmistakable scent of a Charizard on you," Liza said as she leaned in and took a sniff.
That made most of them stop in their tracks seeing Liza just so casually lean into Ash, Brock was let go by Misty, and he fell to the ground in despair,
"It should have been me, not him; it's not fair…" Brock said, which he was promptly ignored
Liza took a step back, "I see, this is the smell of a young Charizard, if I had to guess, probably not even 3 years out of the Egg,"
"Yep, so then can we enter the valley as long as we promise we aren't here to poach?" Ash asked
Liza sighed, "Well, usually no, but since you have a Charizard, I suppose I can allow it... very well,"
Misty could not believe it was that easy; she was here expecting that they were going to get arrested, going to go and have to plead their case, but nope, Here's Ash with a few nice words just winning her over, life isn't fair.
"So how do we get there," Yellow asked as they looked to where the road cut off. They couldn't keep going on foot.
"It's simple," Liza said as she took a step away from them and walked up to the edge of the cliff before yelling into the Valley, "Charla!!!"
It took a few moments, but then, from the sky, another Charizard flew down, it was bigger than Ash's Charizard because she was older, she had long lashes and a pink bow on her head, and she had a basket attached to her filled with rocks.
Liza nodded at Charla as she started dumping out the rocks from the basket and turned to the rest of them, "We'll be flying up, you guys can hop in, but Ash, how about you fly on your own,"
Ash smiled and pulled out Charizard's Pokeball, throwing him out, as soon as he stamped out, he stretched his arms and let out a puff of fire from his nostrils.
Liza walked up and started inspecting him, living one wing, then his left arm, then opening his jaw, inspecting everything about him, "Oh yeah, based on the size of his teeth, I can tell this is a young Charizard just like I thought,"
Liza jumped down and inspected him some more, "Though I got to say this is impressive, his scales are a nice glossy, almost metallic color, and they have a very nice color, I can tell this guy is pretty strong, especially for his age,"
Charizard was more confused about the sudden girl inspecting him that literally forced his mouth open, but didn't say anything since he was promised more Charizard. And right now, he saw the first Charizard other than him, and it was a girl looking at him with curiosity.
Liza stopped and nodded, "Alright, on my first glance, you impressed me!" she said, giving a thumbs up,
The three hopped in the basket already as Ash was mounting Charizard, "Alright lead the way then if you're so impressed,"
Liza nodded and hoped on Charla, "Alright then, follow me!" With that, Charla flapped into the air, and Charizard followed behind,
Brock, Misty, and Yellow were in the basket when they saw a radio attached to the basket that connected with Liza, and out of it, Liza spoke, "Alright then, so can you 3 tell me about your friend there? Don't want to find out he just bought a Charizard from some poachers."
"No, Ash has had Charizard since forever," Yellow said,
"He showed us a picture of when he found the poor thing abandoned by its previous trainer," Brock said more seriously
"That's awful; I'm glad to see that he's fine. I hope they worked out any problems Charizard may have gotten; it would have been really bad if being abandoned caused Charizard some trauma," Liza said
"Wait, that can happen?" Misty asked
"Well, not with fully evolved Charizard, so your friend should be fine, as long as he treats him well and helps him become strong, it should be good,"
"Oh, definitely. Ash treats Charizard super well, and he's really strong, too!" Yellow said, nodding happily even though Liza couldn't see them
"That's good, speaking of which, how strong do you think he is?"
"Well, he won the Indigo League, and Charizard is definitely his strongest," Brock said
"Wait, really, man, I have to stay up to date on these things I wanted to watch that even live," Liza grunted, "I guess I'll go watch the Vod later, anyway, hold on, we're almost here!"
With that, Liza put the radio down, and Charla began to descend, landing on the edge of another cliff, soon after, Ash and Charizard came in and landed next to them.
Liza smiled as she sent a signal with Charla, and as soon as she did, the large doors started opening, from the side 2, Charizard were pushing on some levers to open the door for them.
There, when the door opened, they saw tons of Charizards, some battling, some sleeping, some preparing some food or trading with other Charizards, it was like an entire village.
Liza smiled and looked back at them, "Charicific Valley is home to lots of Charizards, and although all of them are strong, not all of them are battlers,"
She pointed to a group of Charizards that weren't using their wings and had sashes around them, "Those are hunter and gatherer Charizards, they go out and collect all the food for the Charizard,"
Then she pointed to another squad of Charizards with a pink sash, "And those over there are part of the nursery, they tend to the Eggs and baby Charmander when they hatch,"
She stood in front of them with her hands behind her back, "There are more roles, but all you need to know right now is that the Charizard with no sash at all are the warrior Charizard, they're the ones you're looking for,"
Charizard looked excited; this was his chance he was waiting for, he looked at Charla and Liza and spoke, "Charizard! [Who is the strongest I want to challenge that one!]"
Liza knew how to speak the Charizard language, so Charla and Liza looked at each other, "Well, no, the strongest Charizard here is the king Charizard, but you can't just challenge him he needs to challenge you, and you're new here so he probably doesn't even know about you,"
"Besides, even if he did, the king Charizard can probably be easily put in the top 10 strongest Charizard in the world," Liza continued, "How about we find an opponent you can actually fight,"
Charizard puffed out the flames as he looked frustrated, he knew that is what he needed to do: beat the king, and then he would prove himself, it was perfect, he just needed to find out how,
As they walked, another bigger Charizard with a cocky expression walked up, shooting Charla a flirty wink which she did not appreciate, then his eyes landed on Charizard, and he heard everything.
The big Charizard walked up looking cocky, "Char-Charizard~ [Oh so little baby wants to fight the king, well keep dreaming, I'm going to be the future king that is my title to take~]"
Charla rolled her eyes, "Char…[Stop it you're not impressing anyone especially not me…]"
"Char~ [Charla baby, come on, you know you want me, you can be my first of many mates for when I become the king~]"
"Char-Char, [Yeah, I told you once, and I'll tell you a thousand more, I'm not interested]"
This whole time, Ash and Yellow were eating popcorn and watching the drama going on, this was getting good, Liza looked at them, reached out, grabbed some, and joined them in watching this, Brock and Misty were left out since they were the only ones who couldn't understand them.
The big Charizard rolled his eyes, clearly not getting the hint, "Charizard, [Come on babe, you know you'll be mine soon enough~]"
"Char…[Yeah, try saying that when you can beat me]" Charla jabbed back
Charizard looked annoyed, less about the big Charizard trying to get with Charla, more that he was being annoyed,
The big Charizard looked annoyed and saw Charizard as a smaller Charizard that he could use to alleviate some anger and probe himself, "Charizard~[Well, looks like the little baby is angry, is he your boyfriend~]"
Charla didn't even flinch, "Char, [Just met the guy, but even I can tell from the 10 minutes I've known him, he's better than you]"
The big Charizard looked annoyed, "Char! [Altight then, little baby, I challenge you to a match let's see what you're really made of!]"
Charla looked like she was going to step in, but Charizard beat her to it, "Charizard! [I accept, how are we doing this?]"
The big Charizard smirked, "Char! [Alright, regular battle, no special tricks, I'll even let you have the first hit~]"
The big Charizard leaned his head down, smirking, and closed his eyes, he was known as the Charizard with the toughest scales in all the valley, and he was confident Charizard couldn't even hurt him
Charizard didn't even try to stop him; he just woke up and winded up his fist, and as soon as he shot, it glowed with purple and yellow energy using a move he made with Ash, [Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist (Thunder Punch + Iron Dragon's Claw)].
Charizard shot it forward and hit the big Charizard across the face so hard that after the first punch, the big Charizard was out cold, crashing into a stone behind him.
The Valley was silent that Charizard was known for being cocky with the strength to back it up, but here a young Charizard they never met took him out in one shot.
Charizard looked back at Charla, "Char…[You said if I want to fight the king, I need to get his attention and interest, right?]"
Charla nodded, still surprised that Charizard had just done that, but she didn't realize what he was implying.
Charizard flew up and stomped down on one of the extended rocks and roared into the valley, "Charizard!!! [From this point forward, I declare war on Charicific Valley!!!]"
From the bottom, Ash, Yellow, and Liza looked at each other, "Ehh?"x3