FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 12

She awoke with a huge headache, more massive than she had ever had in her life. She groaned out loudly in pain as the back of her head throbbed with her heart. She managed to open her eyes, and the first thing that she noticed was that it was nighttime. The memories of how she got there flooded back into her thoughts. How long had she been passed out? Was she still in the same place? Wait... where was her brother?

She tried to get up, but she was still too crippled from her headache to do so. She brought her claw to the back of her head and felt something sticky. She rubbed it before bringing her claw back in front of her to see what the strange substance was. Her black claw was painted almost solid red when she looked at it. She had seen the red fluid before in her life. One time when she and her brother were still little and living with their parents, she had been running and she had fallen on a rock. Drek had carried her home quickly as she cried, and her mom had inspected her injury before finding a large leaf and pressing it on her wound. She had to leave it on for a while until the red stuff stopped coming out, but once that happened she seemed fine.

She had a place on her knee where the color of her skin was slightly different from the rest, but that had disappeared (as she found out) when she evolved. She didn't have any leaves with her, but she knew that she had to stop the flow of the crimson fluid somehow. She brought her non-dominant claw up to the back of her head where it was hurting the most and held it there. She tried getting up again, this time she was successful, but still a little bit shaky. She surveyed the area around her. It was the same place where she had been knocked out, because the giant crater from where the huge rock pokemon had first come out of the ground was right in front of her. However, there were no signs of either the rock type or her brother.

It was hard for her to see much of anything since the only light she had to go by was her own tail flame (which had diminished in intensity greatly from her recent encounter) and the small bits of light that shone from the moon overhead. However, even with the limited lighting, she knew that she was alone. What was she supposed to do? She had no idea where her brother was, and she wouldn't even begin to know where to look. Well... she had an idea, but she knew she wasn't strong enough to take on that giant pokemon by herself. She had to go get him, but she wouldn't casually stroll into a winless situation. Should she just wait where she was for him to come back? Would he even come back? She couldn't just wait around here. What if that rock pokemon came back? She would be completely defenseless if she stayed there.

She had to keep moving. It was the only option for her at this point. She turned in the direction of where they had seen the three charizards earlier, and on the dark horizon, there shone a small orangish tint of light around the base of the same mountain that they had watched the fire dragons fly over earlier. Maybe she could get help. Surely one other fire type would be willing to help her find her brother. What if he weren't ok though... She shook her head violently bringing more pain into her mind. No, he was fine. She refused to even consider that thought again. She would find him, and the two of them would be fine together.

She stared at the inviting horizon and slowly began walking toward it. Even though it was night, she didn't feel very tired; maybe it was the adrenaline rush that she felt from her brother's being in danger. The back of her head was just hurting constantly, but as long as she kept her claw there, her instincts told her that she would be fine in due time.

She walked toward the source of the orange glow all night and all the next day until she was too tired to go on. She kept telling herself over and over while she walked that all she had to do was get to Charizard Valley and then she would get help and her brother would be located and all would be fine. She refused to even consider the thought that maybe he wouldn't be found, or worse, that he would be found but he wouldn't be alive.

It took her another full day of walking before she reached the base of the mountain. All she had to do was get to the other side of it and she just knew that she would make it, but she didn't have the strength to get there before she rested. She went to sleep in a small cave on the side of the mountain and told herself that she would get there when she woke up if it was the last thing she did.

She woke up uncharacteristically later than usual. She stretched as was her custom before she prepared herself to get up. However, before she could even begin to get up, a shooting pain erupted in her lower belly and she cried out loudly in pain. The sharp aching shot through her lower body, crippling her and making it impossible for her to move. Her voice ricocheted sonorously off the cave walls and carried out into the open.

After a little bit, the pain was gone, leaving her panting and shaking as sweat beaded all over her body. What the hell was that? She had definitely never experienced that before, and she wasn't too keen on experiencing it again if she could avoid it. Before she could think too much about it though, the pain returned again, and she again cried out in agony as she felt as though she were being split in two. Why was she feeling like this? What had she done to deserve it? She could only tell herself over and over to just let it end. Just let the pain stop and let her continue her journey so that she could reach Charizard Valley and locate her brother.

The pain finally stopped for the second time, and she realized that her voice was hurting from how loudly she had screamed, and she had tears rolling down her face. She hadn't cried since the day that her brother evolved. She had cried multiple times when the two of them were little, but as she got older, she just didn't feel a need to whenever she got hurt or scared. This was different though. This was the most painful thing she had ever felt in her life, and it wasn't like she had cried on purpose; the tears just started coming out naturally, adding to the sweat that was now soaking the rest of her body.

She panted heavily as she tried to brace herself in case another wave of pain came, but she didn't know if she could handle a third surge of pain. She needed someone to help her through whatever was happening... anyone.

"Whoa! Hang on, I'm here for you!"

She turned her head toward the source of the noise. Rushing toward her was another charmeleon.

"Drek?" she said weakly as he got closer. She guessed that he didn't hear her because he didn't respond. As he got closer, she realized that it wasn't Drek, much to her sadness, but whoever it was, it was someone who could help her, and she would take any aid that she could get at this point. He got next to her and grabbed her claw, comforting.

"Just stick it out and it'll be over shortly; trust me."

She had no clue what was going on with her body, but whoever this new charmeleon was, he seemed to know, and given her state, all she could do was take his word for it. Just then, another agonizing wave of pain shot through her body.

She cried out again, grabbing his claw with a death grip. She felt something move down in her lower belly, seeming as though it were trying to get out of her. Maybe if she could get that out, then the pain would stop. She was willing to do anything to stop the crippling pain, and if getting whatever it was out of her would stop those pains, then she was all for it. She pushed with her muscles as hard as she could to get the foreign object to come out of her. Her lower body erupted in more pain as she looked down to see something slowly popping out. She gave one final push, and the object came out fully and landed on her tail before rolling off and settling down on the cave floor.

She breathed out heavily, and then collapsed her body, panting as sweat and tears rolled off of her, dampening the ground around her. The other charmeleon rubbed her cheek softly with his claws, trying to offer her any comforting gesture he could. She accepted the touch graciously, and after she found her voice, she pointed to the object on the ground and inquired hoarsely, "What... was... that?'

"You mean you don't know!?"

Why should she know? She had definitely never seen one before, and she had no clue how it had gotten into her in the first place. All that she cared about was that it was out of her now and that pain had gone away finally. She shook her head in response.

"I can't believe you don't know what it is... It's an egg."

An egg? How in the hell did an egg get inside of her? Her parents had told her and Drek before that their happiest day was the day that they were hatched. So she knew that she had come from an egg at some point, but why did she have one now? Wait... Did that mean that she was a mother now? No! This couldn't happen now. She wasn't prepared for this! She didn't have time to take care of a baby; she had to find Drek first, and she needed to find some help. Wait... who was this strange charmeleon? Maybe he could help her.

"Who are you?"

"Name's Darius. And you are?"

"Seria... How'd you find me here?"

"I was out exploring and I heard some screaming so I thought I'd see what was wrong."

"How did you know what was happening to me?"

"I have a little brother, and I was there when my mom had him."

Wait... he had a family? Was he from Charizard Valley? Was it really that close?

"Do you live in Charizard Valley?"

"Uh huh, don't you?"

"No... my brother and I are from very far away, and we've been trying to get to Charizard Valley basically all our lives."

"Well, you're almost there... Where is your brother?"

She relayed the story of how she and Drek got separated to him. She began her tale the day that they were attacked the giant rock pokemon. She wasn't too heavy on the details because she was more concerned about getting help sooner than later, and she could always be more specific at a later time. For now, she just wanted to get the point across that she needed someone to help her.

After he had heard her, he spoke up enthusiastically, "Don't worry, I'll go home and get help. You stay here."

Did he just tell her to stay behind? Not a chance. "No, I'm going with you."

He had already started to head out of the cave to go back when what she said registered in his mind. He stopped in mid step and turned back toward her before retorting, "Oh no you're not; you just laid an egg. You're in no condition to move."

She glanced down at the orange object that was lying next to her tail. Sure that stupid thing had taken a lot out of her, but the story that she told him about how she got to be there had given her some time to recover her strength. She wasn't in perfect shape to move, but she was not about to stay behind when she was so close to both Charizard Valley and rescuing her brother.

"I'm perfectly fine. He's my brother after all, and I'm not about to wait around wondering about him."

Darius knew at this point it was futile to argue with her. He had a little brother himself, and he knew how strong a sibling bond was. And plus, the more time they stood there debating it, the longer that her brother would go without being found. He admitted defeat and sighed before he responded to her.

"Alright, follow me. I'll take you back to my family, and my parents will surely help you out."

"Just lead the way."

She got up and started to follow him out before she realized that she left the egg sitting on the ground. She would have to get used to that thing even if she didn't want to. She bent down and scooped it up in her arms before trotting after him. She followed him for about half an hour before she saw it. She stopped dead in her tracks as she finally laid her eyes on the magical place that she had spent nearly her entire life trying to get to.

It wasn't exactly as she had imagined it, but there were still some similarities. The valley looked like any other valley that they had seen, except in the very center was a giant pool of lava. Aside from that, there were charmanders, charmeleons, and charizards.... everywhere. There had to be hundreds of them scattered about. It was a sight that she had dreamed about, and the only thing missing was that her brother wasn't beside her to share in the experience. She had to find him... She just had to. But she wasn't going to accomplish that by standing there, staring at the place before her, no matter how glorious it was to see after such a long wait.

She continued to follow behind Darius as he got inside the valley and headed for a small cave not too far from where they were currently. At least she thought it was a small cave. The closer they got, the more she realized that it was actually quite massive, much bigger than their old cave when she lived with her parents so long ago. They passed a couple of small charmanders chasing each other, and she was reminded of how she and her brother used to play tag when they were little.

He always seemed to win, but it was always fun regardless. Oh, she wished that he were with her right now. She hoped that Darius' parents would be able to help, and soon. It had been three full days since that event happened, and every second that ticked away was another moment that he undoubtedly needed help. Finally, they reached the giant cave that they were sprinting toward and Darius yelled out, "Dad! Come out here quick! It's an emergency!"

Not more than a moment later, two charizards stepped out of the cave's interior with concerned looks on their faces. They looked at her holding the egg and then back at Darius before asking, "What's wrong? And who's this?"

Before he could respond, Seria spoke up to clear up the confusion, "Please help. My brother and I were attacked by an enormous rock pokemon. I was able to get away, but I've lost him..."

The male charizard spoke, "Onixes. We better hurry; they're dangerous." He pointed to her and said, "Climb on my back and show me where. Dar, you stay behind with your mom. Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

"Ok dad."

"Oh, and let her hold onto your egg until you return." He had directed the question at her and had tilted his head in the direction of the other charizard next to him. She guessed that it was Darius' mom, but she would confirm that at another time. She walked forward and handed off her egg before climbing onto the strong male's back. He turned his head back to her before saying, "Hold on tight."

She gripped his neck and shortly afterwards, he beat his wings powerfully as he leaped into the air. It had been so long since she had been in the air, she almost forgot what it felt like. Her dad used to give her and her brother flying rides. He only did it twice, but it was still something that she had remembered all of her life. The sound of rushing air was almost all that she could hear, so she shouted directions to him as he flew.

She was amazed at how fast flying was compared to their walking. Within a short minute, they were already passing over the cave where she laid the egg when it had taken her and Darius a full half hour to cover that distance on foot. That said, it took only about an hour for them to arrive at the spot that she remembered all too well. She was able to pick it out from the massive crater in the ground, and when she glanced back toward the valley, it was roughly the same distance away. The strong charizard landed next to the crater and she climbed off of his back immediately.

He said, "Alright, tell me everything you can."

"Well," she ran over to the rock that she had hit her head on. She could tell it was the same rock because there was still some of that red fluid still staining its naturally grey hue. "I got knocked against here and passed out. But the last thing I remember was seeing both of them go over the side right there." She pointed to the place that she last saw her brother, and then went back over to his side, awaiting what he was going to say.

He motioned for her to get back on his back, which she did, and then he walked over to where she had indicated, looking down over the side. There was a lot of disturbed rock down the side, no doubt caused by the onix sliding down. It was a long way down, but that didn't make much of a difference to him since he could just glide down there.

He beat his wings again slowly and let himself down the side, scanning the sides of the rock surface. He followed the signs of disturbance all the way down the cliff until he was back on solid ground. He glanced around for any sort of clue that would aid him in locating the lost charmeleon. He didn't have to look very hard before he found what he was looking for. A carved out path led away from the scene ending in another massive crater similar to the one above. He had no choice but to go in after it.

"Keep watch behind me. This could get dangerous, but if we don't go in, the trail runs cold."

She nodded in response, and she gasped slightly as he jumped down into the giant hole, landing with a stomach-lurching thud. Even with their tail flames, the lighting was terrible, and she was wondering how they would be able to follow the underground path safely. As if reading her mind, he unleashed a giant column of fire from his mouth, observing the path and studying it for anything peculiar.

Not seeing anything troubling, he started walking down the tunnel. He wasn't sure how long the tunnel spanned, but it was the only way that they would be able to locate her brother. Remembering what he had told her, she glanced behind her every now and then to make sure there was nothing following. She didn't know how much good it was doing though, because she didn't have much lighting to work with as they had now gotten away from the entrance of the tunnel, and the only source of visibility for her at least were the two dancing flames behind them.

Every now and then, he would let loose another jet of fire to light his way and make sure he weren't about to walk directly into the onix's face. He was confident in his fighting abilities, but even he would never dare take on an onix underground. That was suicide even for a water pokemon, and his fighting style focused so much on being able to fly around and outpace his opponent that he would be at an even bigger disadvantage, not to mention the charmeleon on his back that he had to watch over as well.

The minutes dragged on, and she began to grow nervous. It seemed as though the farther that he walked, the more trapped they became. She was reminded of the past when she and her brother would go exploring the land around when they had lived with their parents. They had found a secret cave all on their own, and he had somehow convinced her to follow him inside. The cave was very deep, and not too long after they had entered it, they couldn't see the entrance anymore, but they kept on walking.

That day was the first day that she remembered being so scared that she cried. She didn't know what made her so scared back then, but she did remember that the two of them never went back inside that cave again. She wasn't about to cry again; she had passed that phase long ago, but that still didn't change the fact that she was uneasy about being where she was. As if the tunnel knew that she was distressed, all of a sudden, a beam of light could be seen ahead. They had finally reached the end, and not a moment too soon.

When they reached the exit, he flapped his wings and carried them back up to the surface. Upon landing, pure terror is all that could describe her state. There before them were not one, but two onixes. He lowered his back, never taking his eyes off the two rock types. She took the cue and slid off of him, backing away slowly as he raised up and took a battle stance.

The two massive rock pokemon turned their giant heads and eyed the fire types, and before anything could be done, Seria yelled, "What did you do with my brother!?"

Much to her surprise, one of the onixes spoke back to her in a very sonorous voice. "Wait, we don't want to fight."

Don't want to fight? After what one of them had done to her and her brother? There was going to need to be some explaining after that.

"Then where is my brother?!"

The other onix whom she hadn't seen before just a couple seconds ago answered her, "If you mean that other charmeleon, don't worry, he's here."

Wait... he was there? Had he been with them this whole three days? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

"Why did you attack us."

The onix who had separated them just a few days ago lowered his head almost as though he were apologizing. He spoke up without raising up, "I am sorry for what I did that day. Your brother you said? He's in there resting right now."

She threw all caution to the wind and sprinted to where the onix had indicated. She ran inside the cave that was clearly dug out by them, and there lying against the wall was the familiar silhouette of her charmeleon brother. His head was turned away from her, as he either slept or stared at the back of the cave.

"Brother!"

If he were asleep, he woke up in a heartbeat because his body jumped in surprise, and he turned his head to see her standing in the cave entrance. He couldn't believe it. How had she found him? He wished that he could have run over to hug her, but he knew that he couldn't. She didn't wait for him as she sprinted to his body and nearly tackled him as she embraced him.

"OWWWWW"

She recoiled off of him in surprise. She looked as he clutched his left leg very painfully. It wasn't until then that she realized that it was bent in a weird way. No wonder he hadn't left this place. Before he really had a chance to recover, Darius' dad had gone into the cave and was now standing over Seria, surveying the damage. He said, startling her because she didn't know he was behind her, "Broken leg. Don't worry, we'll get you healed up soon enough. Help get him on my back and we'll take him back and get him looked at."

He was still clutching his leg securely, unable to speak through his gritted teeth as he tried to deal with the intense pain. She bent down and picked him up as gently as she could and managed to drape him carefully over the charizard's back.

"Turn him over so that he can hang on, and then you get behind him so that you can hold onto him."

She did as she was told, careful not to touch his malformed leg. Once he was lying on his stomach, she hopped on herself and pressed her weight against his back, pinning him in between their bodies. Once they were securely on board, Darius' dad walked out of the cave and pounded his wings one last time and took off into the air.

Drek's body had gone into shock from the pain during the flight, and he was now sleeping as the warm air rushed passed. He took a little more time in flying this time so as not to jar the injured charmeleon on his back. She spent the entire flight clutching onto him, not ever wanting to let him go, and just hoping that he would be alright once they had gotten back.

They finally got back to Darius' cave, and he landed softly on the ground and called inside for help. Darius' mom (at least Seria still assumed it was his mom) came out and asked what she needed to do.

"He's got a broken leg. Get him inside and I'll start making something to straighten it out for him."

Seria crawled off and watched as her passed out brother was slowly lifted and carried into the cave. She followed closely behind and watched intently as he was gently laid against the wall of the cave, much like in the position he was inside the onix cave. He still slept, and after he was propped up, she stared at his disfigured leg with growing concern. It was so unnatural looking, and she didn't know what could be done to fix it. Darius' dad came back inside and headed straight for him. He had some supplies in his arms, but she couldn't really make out what they were. He knelt down, setting the supplies on the ground, and inspected the bent leg a little more closely. After he had studied it, he gently grabbed ahold of it and said under his breath, "I really hope he doesn't wake up from this..."

A loud cracking sound was heard that chilled her blood and echoed painfully off the cave walls. The next sound she heard was a heavy sigh of relief that came from Darius' dad. He moved slightly to the side, and she saw that his leg was now straight like it used to be. Before she could look for much longer, her view was obstructed again as he went back to work on doctoring the massive injury. After some time, he backed away and wiped his claws on his belly. Now surrounding her brother's leg was some sort of green and brown covering. She couldn't tell what it was made out of, and she didn't get much of a chance to inspect it as he spoke up.

"Don't worry, that's just there to help his leg heal. He should be fine soon enough. So, now that all the danger's out of the way, why don't you tell us how you got here?"

She hadn't noticed because she was too busy watching her brother, but Darius, his mother, and a little charmander that she guessed to be his brother had come into the cave. She looked at the family situated in front of her, and she start off very simply, "My name's Seria."

Darius' dad spoke up for them, "My name is Zenith, this is my mate Cara, I think you've already met our oldest son Darius, and this is our other son Agro. So now that we've been introduced, how did you get so far away from the valley?"

"Well... me and my brother aren't from here. We've been traveling for basically all of our lives trying to get here."

Agro asked, "Where are your mommy and daddy?"

She looked down at the ground before responding, "They died when we were very little. We still don't know what happened to them. We just woke up one morning and we were on our own..."

Zenith responded, "Wait, so you two have been traveling alone?"

"Yeah. We've been traveling for about nine months now. Our parents had told us about Chaizard Valley before, and so we went searching for it. We didn't know that it would be so far away, and after we traveled for so long, we were starting to doubt if it were even real or not."

"You two are lucky to be alive, and don't you worry, we'll make sure that you are both taken care of."

"Thank you..." She glanced back over at her brother. "Are you sure he'll be alright?"

As if on cue, Drek stirred against the wall. All five heads turned toward him as he slowly came to. Seria went over to his side, waiting for him to fully awaken. She had to know if he was alright from his own mouth. He shook his head trying to clear his mind, and then he focused on his sister's face and smiled broadly.

"Ser!"

"Brother!"

They hugged each other tightly, and this time she was careful to avoid his injured leg. After what seemed like a blissful eternity, they separated, and she bounced up and down, happy that he was ok.

"What happened brother?"

He tried to prop himself up better and noticed the strange thing on his leg. "Uh... what's this?"

Zenith answered him, "That'll help your leg heal."

He jumped in response. He didn't know that they weren't alone, and he didn't expect to see more fire types. He had to ask, "Wait... where am I?" Surely he still wasn't in that cave from earlier.

Seria said, "We brought you back to their home so that you can get better."

"And who's 'they'?"

"I'll introduce you later. Now how did you get hurt?"

He prepped himself to tell his long story by pushing himself up a little bit so that he was sitting up.

"Well, after I saw you get hurt, I tried attacking that pokemon again. I hit him in the face, and he got mad and rushed me. I couldn't get out of the way in time, and he crashed into me and we fell over the side of the cliff. When we finally landed on the ground again, he fell on top of my leg, and that was some of the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. While I was crying out in pain, he towered over me and yelled at me, 'That'll teach you to steal our egg you thief!'

"It was hard for me to talk with the pain, but I managed to convince him that he had made a mistake and that I was just traveling through with my sister. He scooped me up and brought me back to his home to make sure that I was telling the truth. He left me there for the rest of the day in pain until he eventually came back with a large grey egg in his mouth. Apparently their egg was stolen from them and he jumped to the conclusion that since we were the only pokemon in the area, that we had taken it, and he overreacted.

"He never told me where he found the egg, but he apologized repeatedly for his behavior. I asked about you, and he went back to where he first attacked us and he said that you were gone. He felt absolutely terrible about what he had done, and he and his partner spent the next couple of days taking as good a care of me as they could.

"He went out searching for you multiple times, but he could never find any trace of where you had gone. He was extremely broken up about it, but I wasn't too worried actually, because I knew which way you would have headed since we were so close, so I was just waiting until I got better before I would go looking for you. I didn't dream that you would come get me honestly."

She nuzzled his cheek with her own, "Of course I would come find you. You found me when I got captured, so I had to do the same for you."

"Well, I'm glad you did, because every second I spent in there was terrible."

She nuzzled him again before she remembered something, "Oh... speaking of eggs..."

Cara spoke up, "Yes, yours is right over there."

"Wait... 'yours'? When did this happen?"

"Uh... earlier today... It's a long story, but that's how Darius found me and how I was able to get help in coming to rescue you."

He glanced over into the corner of the cave and sure enough, there was an orange egg sitting there. He couldn't believe it. Now they had to take care of an egg? They didn't know how to do that... How did she even get an egg anyway? Nothing seemed to make sense... Everything was happening so fast that he couldn't process it. Just earlier that day, all he could think about was his agonizing pain in that cave, and now he was... wait, where was he exactly?

"So where are we?"

"We're in Charizard Valley silly"

Wait... what?! They had finally made it? Gah, all this important information was too much to process at once. He just needed to take a break and let it all soak in before he could cope with it. He couldn't believe that they were finally here, and that they made it together... in a sense. Everything that they had worked for was finally there. What would they do now? Most of their life had been about traveling together, and now that they had reached their final destination, they weren't about to go anywhere.

The rest of the day passed with the six of them talking and getting to know each other even better. Zenith and his family were extremely nice to them, and they even offered to build them a home near there's so that they could have a pseudo family nearby. They jumped at the gracious offer, because they wanted someone close whom they knew, and neither of them knew anything about what needed to be done about taking care of their new egg that they still don't know how they got. Even if they weren't ready for such a responsibility, it was just another experience that the two would have together, and they would do everything in their power to ensure that they were doing it well, and if that meant enlisting help from a kind family that had the experience they lacked, then that's what they would do.