Chapter 26

Wow, I better hope I can get this darn story on the road soon. It was a while since it was updated last time.

'I like the colour,' Charizard.

"Interrogational Hardships"

Bill didn't like the situation he was in. It was Pat standing in front of him with her Pikachu – the very same Pikachu he had met in Viridian Forest – and Charizard behind him, keeping a firm grip on his shoulders so he wouldn't run away. Bill knew Pat had the perfect advantage; they were behind the gym which was a place no one would go, and no one lived there either.

Pat looked at him and tilted her head, smirking as confidently as ever. "Charizard, lower the grip just a little," she ordered, "right down on his arms." Charizard obliged without question and let his orange clawed hands slide down to the top of Bill's upper arms. He fidgeted a little, but the flame Pokémon twisted his arms backwards, forcing him to bend over.

"I told you… He's in a bad mood, Bill," reminded Pat, her smirk slowly transforming into a smile. She clasped her hands together. "Such a shame, isn't it, Bill? Your little friend Jonathan isn't here to back you up with that "amnesia" of yours," she then teased, rising both of her index and middle fingers to form quotation marks as she said amnesia.

Bill groaned as Charizard held his arms at such uncomfortable angle. "Jon's inside the gym, I… I could just shout and he'll come," he said while gritting his teeth. Pat's Charizard didn't like Bill speaking so he twisted his arms a little more, causing him to drop on his knees.

"Enough, Charizard, we don't want to hurt him yet," she told her Pokémon. Charizard gave a quick nod and pushed Bill's arms where they were from the beginning. He then lifted him off the ground and put him down on his feet. "I wouldn't advise that, Bill," she hissed, almost spitting out his name, "Charizard doesn't like loudmouthed boys."

Bill looked straight up, only to see Charizard's draconic face loom over from behind. His lips were curled in a menacing, silent snarl, baring sharp, long fangs as he glared intensively into Bill's eyes. He exerted a nod, despite the fact that he didn't dare to look away from Charizard.

"Look at me, Bill, Charizard doesn't like being stared at. So behave," she lowly told him, staring threateningly into his eyes as he took away his stare from Charizard. A chill went down his spine. He was about to speak again, but forced his mouth shut when he reminded himself of Charizard.

"Now, started Pat, standing a bit more relaxed, "let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Bill nodded. He felt Charizard letting go of his left arm and tapping his shoulder rewardingly before he firmly grabbed his left arm again. "Good boy. So, did you go to the forest the same night Pikachu was gone?" she questioned.

Bill swallowed once, thinking if he should try a lie. But that Pikachu was standing right there, and that little rat had probably ratted him out, so to say. "Yes," he firmly answered, confirming his answer with a nod.

"What did you do there?" Pat asked after that, crossing her arms questioningly.

Bill looked down. "I… I…" He hesitated. Charizard tightened the grip on his arms. "I went to get your Pikachu, okay!" he yelled in exasperation and pain. Charizard twisted his arms again.

"What did I tell you, Bill?" Pat almost softly told him. "Charizard doesn't like loud boys." She gestured her Pokémon to loosen the twist, and he obliged. "So what were you doing there?" she asked afterwards.

Bill looked up at her. "I was going to get your Pikachu," he replied a little too fast. Pat looked down at her Pikachu, who seemed to nod at her a little timidly. "What kind of a 'thanks' is that, Pat?" he then snapped, feeling Charizard's grip tighten. He stifled the urge trying to elbow the Charizard, or stomping on his feet.

Pat, however, turned her look at Pikachu. She knelt down and whispered something to him. The Pikachu mostly responded by nodding and shaking his head. He then whispered something back to his trainer, pointing at Bill with his small paws. After the word exchange with her Pokémon, she stood up and looked at Bill.

She crossed her arms as her expression turned serious. "There was a Scyther raid in Pewter a few days ago. What do you know about that?"

Bill gulped; he didn't know what Pikachu had said to Pat. "N-not much," he simply replied.

"Pika pikachu!" the electric mouse quipped, pointing at Bill accusingly. Pat looked at the Pokémon and then let her angry gaze float over to Bill. The boy felt he was sweating bullets and instinctively tried to back away, but accidentally stepped on Charizard's foot.

Charizard roared and let go of Bill's left arm, quickly using it to grab his neck. Charizard's clawed hands were big enough to go around Bill's entire neck as he grabbed it.

"Charizard… down, boy," Pat ordered lowly, lowering her hand lowly at the fire Pokémon. "We don't want to attract any unneeded attention, do we?" The grip around his neck loosened, and the draconic Pokémon let go of it as he grabbed Bill's left arm again, pushing it to his sides. "Please avoid doing things like that, Bill, I wasn't kidding when I told you he was grouchy."

"D-didn't m-mean to," muttered Bill as he tried calming himself down. Charizard just snorted at him, sending another puff of hot smoke down his neck.

"Either way," Pat then said, crossing her arms again, trying to get back on the subject, "Pikachu told me something different. You know, the Scyther approached me and Pikachu when they saw us. Of course I couldn't get Charizard out, but they didn't seem exactly intent on taking him back." She took a step towards Bill. "Half of Pewter was aware of the raid, and various people had been taken hostage. Yet they left as soon as the supposed leader had exchanged words with Pikachu. A shame really, he leader was a shiny Scyther, after all.

"Which brings me to the question, Bill," she then snapped, spitting out his name again. "What did they want?"

Bill looked away again in guilt. He stared feebly at the ground like a six year old kid who was being questioned if he had taken cookies out of the cookie jar. He heard a low rumble, it sounded like it had occurred close to him, but it wasn't loud. His heart skipped a beat when he realized it was Charizard's belly.

"What did they want?" repeated Pat sternly. Charizard tried to get Bill to answer by twisting his arms again.

"Your Charizard is hungry!" he squeaked, "His tummy rumbled!"

Pat remained emotionless however, and nodded at Charizard in a gesture. The Charizard quickly spun him around, forcing him to face the fearsome fire type. Charizard had reaffirmed his grip so he held Bill under his arms. Without warning, he quickly lowered his head and opened his mouth to bite down at Bill.

Bill closed his eyes as he almost wet himself at the fear of his head being bitten off. He heard a loud clamping noise, but he didn't feel anything. However, the Charizard had bitten nothing but air in front of Bill's very nose. When he felt hot air wafting his face his eyes shot open. He grew even more terrified as he saw Charizard's clenched teeth right before him, and his clear blue eyes staring deeply into his fear stricken soul.

"You're really thick, you know that?" Pat said from behind, not sounding concerned at all about Bill's condition. "When I say 'jump', you say 'how high?'. What part in that sentence isn't getting into your thick skull?"

Bill heard her, but didn't know what she meant. "Uh… nothing?" he asked uncertainly. Charizard moved his head closer to Bill's, pointing his snout down so he could press his forehead against Bill's. It didn't matter how much he tried; he couldn't look away from Charizard's threatening eyes. He gulped.

"Very funny, smartass, now answer the damn question already. What. Did. They. Want?" she asked impatiently.

Bill gulped again. He was about to ask if she could get Charizard to move away just a little, but didn't. "They… they…" he swallowed, feeling the lump in his throat disappear temporarily. "They wanted me," he finally said. Charizard moved his head away from Bill, looking down at him in confusion.

"You? What would they…?" Bill heard her stop. She thought briefly, wondering if he told the truth or not. She cast a look at Pikachu, who just looked at him. "If so, what the hell did you do in the forest? You didn't just get Pikachu, did you?"

Bill gritted his teeth. 'Stupid follow-up questions,' he thought. He moved his hand to adjust his black cap a little, but Charizard frowned at him.

'Be still, you,' he told him. Bill's eyes widened in shock, he just understood Charizard. That could only mean that the thing he didn't want to happen, had happened. He had unintentionally changed into Pokémon status when Charizard had pulled off the scare tactic.

"Shit," he said.

Pat sighed. "Shit was not answer I expected from you, Bill. What happened, really, I'm curious."

Bill felt sweaty again. He really needed to play his cards right, or he'd end up in a pokéball. Charizard tightened his grip again, not saying anything. "I… encountered them," he finally admitted. Words could not describe how happy Bill was that his cap covered his hair that would've been coloured in the type he had been in the last time, which would be red.

"And?" Pat asked, waiting for him to continue.

"Well, uh, they weren't exactly happy… and quickly figured why I was there and took me captive too," Bill told her, not able to take his eyes of Charizard. "But since it was in the middle of the night, the one watching over me fell asleep, and I was able to sneak away, freeing Pikachu."

There was a silence, and a painful one at that. Bill wondered what Pat was thinking. "Charizard, turn him around," he heard her say. Charizard did so, turning Bill around with a sudden jerk and clutched his shoulder firmly. However, Pat had her back turned to him, both of her hands behind her back as well.

"Bill," she started calmly, yet with a hint of smugness, "that doesn't make any sense. Those Scyther would never raid a city, enter a cave filled with rock Pokémon just for that. Something happened in the forest," she concluded. She turned around, looking Bill straight into his eyes, almost in the same fashion Charizard had not long ago. "I'd like you to tell me what you did," she hissed.

Bill gulped again. He realized he had done that many times now. 'I need to stop doing that,' he thought right after. "A-ask Pikachu!" he told her. He felt Charizard's grip tighten.

'Tell her!' he growled into Bill's ears.

Pikachu tugged her pants timidly though, grabbing her attention. 'He helped me…' he lowly squeaked. Bill smiled faintly, knowing that the rat was keeping his little part of the deal back then.

"It doesn't change the question, Bill, what happened?" she then questioned, pointing at him.

'Crap,' thought Bill. He scanned every possibility he could to find a possible lie that would make sense and satisfy Pat. But he felt his arms being twisted again. "I struck one of them!" he blurted out, whining under the pain in his arms. He tried to fight back a little, now that he had transformed, but it was no use. Charizard was stronger than he'd thought.

"You… struck one of them…?" she doubtfully asked him. Bill nodded. She put her hands on her hips, shaking with a disbelieving smile on her face. "Heh, which mental care did you escape from? If you're lying, there's something wrong with you. If you're telling the truth, there's something more wrong with you," she concluded.

"It's called self-defence!" protested Bill as Charizard twisted his arms further.

Pat chuckled lightly. "No one strikes a Scyther when within its territory, Bill, especially not a human. It's asking to get horribly beaten up, or worse," she told him, looking at her wristwatch. She sighed. "Well, I guess that's it for now," she then said.

Bill let out a sigh of relief as Charizard loosened the grip on his shoulders. "So that means-"

"No, no, no," Pat interrupted. "I'm not letting you go, Bill. There is so much more I must ask you. It's just that I must get my last gym badge before the gym closes. Plus, I might see Jonathan there, so I can just tell him you were off to another place in this city." She picked up a pokéball and aimed at Pikachu, returning him in a red light. "Charizard will watch over you while I'm gone, so don't upset him now that I'm not there to calm him down, okay?" she finished as she wheeled around and left Bill with Charizard still holding him.

"Hey, you can't do this!" he protested, only to get no answer from her as she rounded the corner. "You can't leave me wi-"

He was cut off by Charizard put his scaly hand over Bill's mouth, shutting him up abruptly. 'No yelling,' he growled.

Bill nodded weakly, but Charizard didn't take his hand away. Bill thought about his now free left arm. He could use it to execute a reverse Mega Punch to stun Charizard briefly to get away. He hesitated the action, wondering if it would be a good idea or not. From what Jonathan had told him the night before, she had almost every badge, meaning that her Pokémon were strong. And if Charizard was her first Pokémon, it'd be stupid to attack him.

He drew a long sigh through his nostrils, as Charizard didn't want to let him speak for a while. He thought about using his free arm to remove Charizard's scaly hand from his mouth, but it'd just result to any unwanted consequences. At least the fire type wasn't hard-pawed by keeping him shut.

He suddenly felt itchy in his hair and by reflex reached up with his left hand and scratched the back of his head, reaching under his cap. Of course, that action caused Charizard to briefly tighten his grip around Bill's right arm and mouth. He groaned. However, the fire type quickly softened the grip, drawing a wondering breath.

'Huh?' he said as he took his scaly hand away from Bill's mouth, moving it slowly to his cap. Grabbing it firmly, he quickly took it off, revealing Bill's re-coloured hair caused by the type he currently was. Staring at the red hair for a while, he scoffed. 'Nice hair,' he muttered, dropping Bill's cap onto the ground.

"Thanks," replied Bill without thinking. 'Shit, shit! Why did I do that?' he angrily thought. He didn't want Charizard to know he was in Pokémon status. If he knew, he'd get a lot rougher to him.

'I like the colour,' he continued.

Bill inhaled slowly and the exhaled deeply in a relieving sigh. Charizard hadn't noticed. He figured it'd be because Pat understood her Pokémon's body language in a way so Charizard might've been used to it. Nevertheless, he knew that even though Pat would be pretty fast at getting that badge, it would take time for her to return. So he thought that he could try striking up a brief conversation with his captor. Of course he had to act he didn't really understand Charizard.

"So, uh, what do you think about what Pat's doing?" he asked, trying not to be too loud or anything. Charizard quickly forced him to turn around and grabbed him by the collar, raising his other clawed hand and stared into his eyes. Bill didn't like the piercing eyes of the Charizard; they reminded him of Firzé. Bill gulped once before trying to continue. "W-well, I mean, uh… don't you think it's, like, wrong to do this?" he managed to say, sweating bullets.

Charizard just calmly shook his draconic head. He then resumed staring into Bill's terrified eyes.

Bill tried looking away, letting a dustbin get his attention. This was getting nowhere, and Charizard was probably just doing what he was told to, and would probably not fall for any ethic chatter. He winced as he looked back at the fire Pokémon. "C-could you soften the grip a little, please? I… I don't feel-"

He was interrupted by a tightening of Charizard's grip on his collar. 'That's the point,' he just replied, baring his teeth slightly.

'You bastard,' thought Bill angrily as he clenched his left fist. Both of his arms were free from Charizard's grip, but he was still at a disadvantage. He tried another approach. "Can I at least get to sit down?" he requested. Charizard eyed him briefly before pushing him down against the closest wall, still holding onto his collar.

'Happy now?' the draconic Pokémon snorted, still staring at him. Bill just responded with a scoff.

The sudden sound of a metal lid dropping onto the ground from the nearby dustbin immediately caught the two's attention. Charizard tightened the grip on Bill's collar and snarled lowly. Bill winced again; he thought that the lid had just slid off or something, but he wasn't sure. After a painful three minutes, the fire type then turned his attention towards Bill again and snorted.

"Gee…" muttered Bill, "why the bad temper?" Charizard moved his head closer to Bill's, narrowing his eyes. Bill whined a little as he tried to back away, only realizing he was against the wall.

Charizard put his other claw at his yellow belly. 'I'm a bit hungry,' he muttered, his belly rumbling shortly after.

Bill yelped lowly, trying to back away again. "Don't eat me!" he squeaked. He didn't really know if Charizard would actually do that, but Pat had warned him of his bad temper.

Charizard regarded Bill for a moment and then suddenly smiled friendly, reaching out with his free claw to stroke his hair playfully. 'Heh, funny guy, you,' he said, 'trying to make the time go faster?' he asked, seeming a bit more friendly than before.

Bill was about to reply, but managed not to do that too hastily. "You happy now?" he then asked, trying not to reply directly to Charizard's sentence.

Charizard was about to reply when his eyes suddenly widened. Snapping his head around, he scanned the area for movement. He had a feeling he wasn't alone. 'Huh?' he hummed as he briefly let go of Bill. Pointing at him with his scaly hand, he growled. 'You stay.' Bill just sat down and stared at the draconic Pokémon.

The fire Pokémon slowly lumbered over to the dustbin which's lid had fallen off and gazed into it. Snorting, he quickly put his clawed hand into the bin and snatched onto something inside it. T Bill's surprise, what Charizard pulled out was none other than that Meowth he had seen before.

'Hey, lemme go you big meanie! I'll scratch your face off' he yowled, flailing furiously with his arms and legs trying to get a swipe at the bigger Pokémon as he was held by the neck.

'Nosy Meowth… Spying on us, no?' Charizard muttered smirking. Walking back to Bill with the scratch cat Pokémon still in his grasp, he lowered his head closer to Bill's again, pointing at the Meowth. 'He's your Pokémon?' he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Bill fidgeted a little; he knew the Meowth from before, but he wasn't sure how to answer. "Well, uh, that isn't my Pokémon. Just some stalker kitty," he confirmed.

Meowth tried squirming out of Charizard's grasp, but couldn't. 'I just want your shiiiney!' he yowled, eyes suddenly sparkling a little.

Bill frowned at the Meowth. "Well, you won't have it!" he snapped, quickly thinking over if what he had said was a smart move. His heart rate quickened as he started to feel sweaty. "He tried stealing my watch," he quickly explained.

Charizard just tilted his head, studying Bill shortly, and then shrugged. 'You sure understood him well,' he said, casting a quick look at the cream coloured Pokémon. The scratch cat Pokémon wouldn't stop squirming and he tightened his grasp around the neck to silently tell it to stop. The Meowth didn't. Grumbling, Charizard dropped the Meowth on Bill without warning.

Yowling, Meowth latched onto Bill's chest. Bill tried to get him off before he'd manage to snatch the watch again. "Argh, stop!" he snapped at the feline as he tried digging his paw into one of Bill's pockets. Bill managed to grab him by the back of his neck, pulling him away.

'Can't I just play a little with it?' the Meowth pleaded, putting his two front paws together in a begging pose.

"No!" Bill hissed, "No playing with my stuff." He quickly looked up as he heard a low, threatening growl from Charizard. Apparently he had been too loud with his scolding. The draconic Pokémon swiftly clutched a hold of Bill's collar again, pulling him closer to him.

'What did Pat say about noises?' he then said lowly, staring intensively into Bill's eyes.

Bill's heart skipped a beat. He cursed himself for being careless about being noisy. "She didn't want them, sorry," he stuttered. Charizard pulled him closer to his orange head, pressing his forehead against Bill's, snarling. Bill tried to push the head away with his free hand while he tried holding onto Meowth so he wouldn't try to pilfer his watch.

'You fell for it, idiot,' Charizard grumbled, keeping his intensive stare at Bill.

"Fell for what?" Bill asked back fearfully. Realizing his mistake, he gulped. "Crap…" Charizard had found him out, and his grip on Meowth loosened a little.

'What's this about?' he asked as he tried prying himself free from Bill's hold.

Charizard ignored him and kept looking at Bill solemnly. 'You understand me perfectly, don't you?' Bill nodded slowly in guilt. 'Why didn't you tell me sooner? We could've had a nice chat while Pat is not here.'

Bill's eyes widened, not in fear, but in realization that Charizard had just figured out him being able to understand Pokémon, and not actually being one. "I guess, but in case you wondered, I don't want to be some kind of translator for your trainer," he then told Charizard. Charizard moved his head away from Bill's not taking his stare off him.

'I guess Pat will like this little piece of information, though. It's still questionable why you understand Pokémon to begin with,' Charizard said, letting go of Bill's collar.

Bill fidgeted a little, looking slightly away from Charizard, and looked at the Meowth who was currently pouting. "I don't know why… really," he muttered. Meowth shot him a glare and tried to wiggle free from the grip.

'Bah! Only Pokémon understands other Pokémon, you twat! Now gimme that shiny thing!' the scratch cat Pokémon hissed, clawing Bill's arm angrily as he tried getting off.

Bill let go of the Meowth, but tried to make sure the scratch cat Pokémon didn't try to loot his pockets. "D-don't be r-ridiculous," he stuttered, feeling even more sweaty all of a sudden. He raised one hand and wiped his forehead, realizing that he was sweating bullets.

Charizard smirked confidentially. 'You seem nervous,' he just said, switching his attention towards the Meowth. 'You! Get over here, furball,' he sternly ordered the feline. The Meowth frowned at the Charizard, but figured he had no other choice but to comply. Trotting over to the bigger Pokémon, he cast one last glance back at Bill, who slowly tried to get up.

"Y-you can't be serious," he said defiantly, "m-me? A-a Pokémon? I've heard a lot of-"

'Shut it, you!' snapped Charizard, stepping forward powerfully. Bill felt a sudden panic flooding his mind as he backed into the wall. Where was that voice when he needed it? He feebly raised his fists as a final solution. Charizard smiled. 'Really, now? I'm just going to make sure you don't run away, boy. Just following orders, you know, so lower those fists before I have to hurt you,' he advised, cracking a grin.

Bill tried studying the Charizard. There was no doubt he was a fire Pokémon, and his fire abilities was more superior to Bill's. Ice wouldn't be a great idea either, he figured, as Charizard would just melt the ice without any problems. Maybe electric would work, but that was his physically weakest type, but fastest.

Bill didn't have much more time to think as Charizard approached him and grabbed one of his fists, twisting and pushing it down. He could see the fire type's impatience in his eyes as he felt a slight pain in his trapped fist. 'Don't make me retort to any unneeded violence,' he lowly threatened, hot air coming from his mouth that washed over Bill's face. The Meowth looked around restlessly, trying to find a way to get close up to Bill and snatch his stop watch.

By pure desperation, Bill instinctively charged up a Mega Punch in his free fist, and unleashed it too early at Charizard's stomach to stun him. However, due to him not charging it up fully, only a rough third of the power was unleashed and didn't seem to affect Charizard that much. But it was enough to make him wince, which was bad.

Charizard growled and retaliated by swiftly grabbing Bill by the neck firmly, baring his teeth. He pressed him against the wall and made sure he still had Bill's other hand twisted so he wouldn't try punching again. 'Idiot,' he growled, tightening the grip around his neck. The Meowth carefully approached Bill, taking advantage of Charizard's attention of Bill.

'Well, that wasn't good,' he thought bitterly, vainly trying to pry Charizard's grip from him. But the fire type's grip was firm, showing no signs of even loosening the grip, and with only one hand to use, it wouldn't work anyway. He tried calming down despite the circumstances and concentrated no lightning, trying to change into that type.

'You stupid little human… or Pokémon if you really turn out to be one…' snarled Charizard, narrowing his eyes a little. He turned to the Meowth, and caught the feline trying to sneak past him. 'Get back, furball, or better yet, get out of here before I roast you,' he threatened. The Meowth looked feebly up at the Charizard, backing away slowly before running off. When he turned back to Bill he noticed something strange.

'Eh?' His eyes showed a confused look as e noticed Bill's hair having turned a more yellowy blond.

Bill tried to hold back his confident grin, but couldn't. Charizard's confused state had proved that he had noted his hair colour change, and that he was in his electric status. He concentrated his electric energy inside him and channelled it out at random, hoping to zap the Charizard enough so the Pokémon's muscles would become numb.

His body shot out yellow electricity at various directions, most of it hitting Charizard. The fire type gritted his teeth as he held onto Bill persistently. After the attack had ended, the Charizard was twitching briefly, keeping his glare at the human boy. His grip was slowly loosening around Bill's neck can fist.

Bill grinned. Apparently the Charizard was weak to electric damage, and that was good. But the Pokémon still refused to let go. Bill tried to pry off the grip around his trapped hand, and groaned as Charizard managed to pull it away from him. He started to wonder how much longer the Pokémon would keep twitching because of the electricity.

The Charizard stopped twitching and clutched onto Bill's hand and neck harder, eye widening in fury as he snarled. 'Nice try, you little pest,' he growled, opening his mouth and inhaling deeply. Bill started to feel panic as he had a hard time trying to breathe normally. Burning fire started to develop inside Charizard's maw as it turned painfully hot near Bill's face.

"That's enough!"

Charizard suppressed the Flamethrower he was charging up and swallowed it, coughing up a puff of smoke afterwards. Both he and Bill looked at the direction of the voice and saw Pat. Bill wasn't sure if he should've been happy or worried that she was here. She calmly walked up to the two, releasing her Pikachu from her pokéball. The small yellow Pokémon appeared with a bright white light, looking at Bill and Charizard.

"A lot sure has happened while I was gone," she stated, seeing how Charizard was restraining Bill differently than he had before she left. "Charizard, did he try to run?" she asked her fire Pokémon.

Charizard glanced at her, and then stared right into Bill's eyes. 'You tell her,' he growled lowly to Bill. He just looked at the Pokémon, pretending not to understand him. Charizard squeezed a little on his hand, "I'll crush your hand if you don't," he warned, snarling as he began to slowly tighten the hold around Bill's hand.

"Charizard? What's this about?" asked Pat, wondering why Charizard was doing what he did.

Bill groaned as he felt pain through his right hand as the draconic Pokémon slowly tightened the squeeze. It felt like his fingers were about to impale his palm, and further pressure would lead to his fingers being broken, to start with. "I… I…" he stuttered, feeling the grip around his neck loosen slightly. Apparently Charizard wanted to make sure he could talk.

"You what?" Pat tapped her foot impatiently. "You got blonde hair now?" she asked, cracking a slight grin. But Pikachu looked at Bill with a worry in his brown eyes, letting his worried look slide over to Charizard.

'You figured him out, didn't you, Charizard?' the electric mouse Pokémon meekly asked.

Charizard's attention went directly to Pikachu. 'Y…you knew?' he said as he stared dumbfounded at Pikachu. The mouse nodded. 'Then why-'

Pikachu held up a small paw to interrupt. 'He saved me, you know,' he muttered. Charizard just snorted and looked back at Bill, narrowing his eyes.

"Hey," said Pat, looking at her two Pokémon, "what are you guys talking about?" she asked.

Charizard looked at her shortly, and then back to Bill, grinning. 'I give you three seconds to tell her, and if you don't…' He squeezed Bill's hand a little bit more before loosening the squeeze.

"I… I'm a…" He hesitated; he wondered how Pat would react if she got to know. He suddenly felt Charizard's grip on his hand tighten painfully, causing him to yelp. "A Pokémon, damnit! I'm a Pokémon!" he finally admitted, cringing to the pain of Charizard's attempt to crush his right hand. The draconic Pokémon suddenly let go of his hand and patted him on his head, smiling.

'Good boy,' he taunted, keeping his grip around Bill's neck as firm as ever. Pikachu's shoulders slumped as he sighed.

Pat just looked confused. "Are you nuts or something?" she exclaimed.

Charizard looked at her, and then looked back at Bill. 'Convince her, kid,' he demanded.

Bill remained silent, not knowing how to convince her.

The fire type slapped hard across the cheek with his clawed hand, snarling. 'Show an attack!' he growled.

"Charizard, are you implying he's a Pokémon? Why would…" Pat started, pausing for a moment. "Wait a minute… now I get it. That's how you manage to save Pikachu, and it means you beat the Scyther?" she questioned, a smile slowly curling up on her lips. "And they wanted revenge on you, and followed you to Mt Moon, where you fought them off as well." She grinned, picking up a pokéball.

Bill didn't say anything. He didn't want to explain the events in the Viridian Forest and the Mt Moon encounter, so it'd be better if she just assumed things for now.

"My, my, you must be pretty strong," she concluded, tossing the black/yellow and white spherical object. "Fighting off a Scyther swarm is something even Charizard has trouble with," she told him. Charizard just snorted at her, looking back at Bill.

'I don't think you're that strong,' he muttered, snorting at Bill as well.

Bill looked at the differently coloured pokéball, trying to ignore Charizard. "Why's your pokéball black and yellow instead of red on the top?" he asked, fearing the worst.

Pat smiled, tossing the spherical object in the air once more. Catching it, she said, "This is an Ultra ball, much stronger than the usual pokéball."

Bill gulped, and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do. Both of his hands were free, though the right one still ached after having been nearly crushed by Charizard, but he tried to think a way out of this. 'Maybe a Blackout Blast…´ he thought, but he then spotted Pat pulling her arm back to throw the Ultra ball at Bill to catch him.

Bill quickly concentrated some of his electric powers and used a weakly charged Thunder Punch with his left hand to swat the Ultra ball away from him. As he knocked the ball away, he felt a light pain in his left hand as the blow had hurt it slightly. But Charizard growled and pushed him up against the wall.

"Impressive," admitted Pat, catching the Ultra ball on its rebound, "even though I understand your determination on keeping your little secret, you could turn out being much, much stronger with proper training from me. What do you say?" she suggested.

Bill just gritted his teeth.

"Of course I need to catch you first, and with that you need to be weakened. So, Charizard, knock him out!" she ordered.

Charizard reared his head back for a Headbutt attack that would be powerful enough to knock Bill unconscious, but Bill knew that it had gone too far. He quickly pulled back his fist and managed to punch Charizard's throat as it was exposed as he was preparing his Headbutt. Charizard dropped Bill and coughed at the sudden hit, clutching his throat.

Bill backed away from the Charizard before he had time to recover and charged up his Blackout Blast, his hands glowing a blackish aura. He knew that he had to hit Pat with it, but he had to trick Charizard. Thinking of which, Charizard had recovered and glared at Bill with murder in his eyes.

'You little…' he growled.

"Interesting attack you're charging there, Bill, care to tell me what it is?" Pat asked, crossing her arms confidently as she studied the attack.

Bill glanced at her, waiting for the Blackout Blast to become fully charged. He put his hands together and stuck out his index and middle fingers, forming it like a gun. Charizard took a few steps towards him, aware of the attack Bill was charging up. 'That won't do much to me,' he taunted, raising his clawed hands.

"I know, but on her it will!" exclaimed Bill as he turned and fired off the round blast at Pat. The blackish projectile struck her and she was knocked into the wall, unconscious.

'Pat!' both Charizard and Pikachu shouted, the latter running up to her and check if she was okay. Charizard turned to Bill and rushed forward, grabbing him by the neck again. 'What did you do to her?' he snarled, moving up his other clawed hand near Bill's face.

"She'll be okay," he replied, trying to pry the grip off him. "I just erased her memory… of me being a Pokémon, that's all!"

Charizard clutched Bill's whole face with his claws, slowly squeezing. 'You little shit, it won't help you anyway. When she wakes up, I'll just force you to tell her what you are!' He squeezed harder with his both claws. 'But the act you just performed… it's enough for me to just crush you little face!' He squeezed harder, cutting Bill's air supply off so he couldn't scream.

'Don't,' said Pikachu, 'she wants to catch him, not you to kill him.' Charizard looked at him, and grumbled something about Bill being lucky. He loosened the grip on his face, but still held on to it to make sure he wouldn't try any further tricks. He led Bill towards the wall again, pushing him up against it. He loosened the grip around his neck, allowing him to breathe freely.

"Your hand stinks," muttered Bill, sounding a bit muffled as part of Charizard's scaly hand covered his mouth. Charizard just lightly rammed his head into the wall as a gesture to shut up. Bill sighed through his nostrils. He sensed a kind of a déjà vu, having blasted a trainer and a trainer's Pokémon being pissed off about it, just great.

'SHIINEEY!' a yowl pierced the air as something cream coloured jumped onto Charizard's head, clutching onto it. The sudden attack had caused the fire type to let go of Bill. The Pokémon that had assaulted Charizard was none other than the scratch cat Pokémon Meowth, who clutched onto the fire type's head as hard as he could.

'I'll get him off ya!' said Pikachu as he charged up some electricity in his small red pouches on his cheeks, shooting it towards the fire type. Unfortunately for him, the Meowth jumped off and the attack struck Charizard.

Bill took the opportunity and ran away from the Pokémon while the fire type started yelling at the Pikachu for frying him with the Thundershock attack. Making it out from the back alley, he found himself in front of the gym again. He figured that whether the two Pokémon would give chase after him or not, it'd be a good idea to rush over to the PokéCentre to rest after this escapade.

--

After Bill had arrived at the centre, he had walked into his room. He lay down on his bed and drew a long sigh. Having already turned back into human, he felt he needed a nap after all this, but he started thinking about taking a shower. He sighed again and wondered what happened with the Meowth. It was thanks to that furball he made it out there without being caught again when Pat had recovered. Despite the feline's desire to have his Stop Watch, he kinda felt sorry about him.

Sitting up on his bed, he figured he'd take a shower anyways. Walking into the bathroom, he undressed and walked into the shower room, turning on the water. It was cold at first, but even though he just adjusted the temperature by one millimetre, it turned scalding hot. Grumbling he figured he had to take a colder shower for now, and slowly build up the temperature as he showered.

He heard the main door slam shut as he showered. He wondered if it was Jonathan coming back. He quickly finished up his shower and got dressed. He opened the door and saw Jonathan sitting on his bed, holding his head as if he had a headache.

"Huh?" the younger teen said as he noticed Bill, "weren't you at the library?" he asked.

Bill remembered that Pat had told Jonathan that he had walked off somewhere. "Yeah, but I got bored and figured I needed a rest," he lied. Telling him about the encounter behind the gym would not be a good idea at all, since he'd just make scene about it. "How did the gym battle go, by the way?" h proceeded to ask.

Jonathan sighed, looking away. "Lost again," he muttered lowly. "Twice," he added. He fell back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He lay there for a few minutes while Bill walked to his own bed, lying down on it as well. "I don't know what's up with Ivysaur. Sometimes he just looks at me… like I was about to abandon him or something… it's kinda depressing," he said lowly, still staring up at the ceiling.

"Well I don't know what it is," Bill muttered, staring up at the roof as well. The ceiling was white and blended well with the wintergreen walls. He sighed as he thought of the issue with Ivysaur. Though, as he already was tired, he slowly drifted into sleep, and so did Jonathan.

--

When Bill woke up again, it was beginning to get dark outside. He looked over at Jonathan. The younger teen had already changed to his pyjamas and had gone to sleep. Bill still felt tired, and wondered if he should go back to sleep right away. He felt a sudden sting in his bladder as he felt he needed to visit the men's room, and quickly, but tiredly, hurried to the bathroom.

When he was finished with his business in the bathroom, he spotted something from the outside of the window above his bed. The shade resembled the very familiar scratch cat Pokémon he had met a few times this day. The Meowth was leaning against the window, staring into Bill's eyes. The feline's eyes looked very begging, and considering he had saved him from Charizard and Pikachu, Bill figured that he could let the Pokémon in.

Opening the window, he let in the Meowth. Jonathan was sleeping deeply anyway, so he wouldn't mind if Bill just let in the Pokémon for a quick chat. The feline jumped inside and sat down on a chair.

"Hey," said Bill, looking at Meowth, "I guess I should thank you for earlier."

The Pokémon looked at him, tilting his big head as his gaze stayed on Bill's pocket where his Stop Watch was. "Meeeooowth," the Pokémon yowled, standing on his two hind legs.

Bill chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Heh, I can't understand you now, but please keep it down, will ya? My friend's sleeping, and I don't think he'd like me letting in you," he told the Pokémon, gesturing him to keep it low.

Meowth frowned and crossed his arms. "Meoo," he muttered, scratching his ear a little.

Bill approached Meowth, smiling. "You don't believe me not understanding you, don't you?" Meowth shook his head stubbornly. "Look, I can't enter Pokémon status in here, it's like asking for getting caught," he then said.

Meowth rolled his eyes and jumped down from the chair, trotting up to Bill. He rubbed his furry body against Bill's legs, purring a little as he did so. Bill knelt down and petted him a little on his big head.

"How did you manage to get away from Charizard and Pikachu?" Bill asked while petting the feline. Meowth stood up and made a running gesture, explaining that he ran away from them. The scratch cat Pokémon then looked up at the pocket were, eyes sparkling. Bill sighed. "You really want that watch, don't you?" Meowth nodded, still looking into Bill's eyes with his own begging ones.

"Mrreow!" yowled the feline, sitting down.

"Okay, but just play a little with it, okay?" he told him, picking up the Stop Watch. Instantly, the Meowth's eyes shone up as he pounced onto Bill, grabbing the Stop Watch. Meowth clutched his paws around the silvery object and caressed it slightly against his cream coloured cheek, purring as he did so. The chain was stretched out between the watch and Bill's pocket, and Meowth briefly looked at it from time to time.

"Meow… th," the feline muttered as he fiddled carefully with the watch, looking curiously at the buttons and the tip of the chain. He lifted the watch up and let the moonlight reflect upon the silvery smooth exterior, becoming almost completely hypnotized by the shiny thing.

Bill tugged the chain lightly, gesturing he wanted the watch back. "Don't push any buttons, Meowth," he warned the feline tiredly. Meowth just tugged back with an annoyed look on is big face, he wanted to play with the shiny thing a little bit more. Bill just sighed. He looked over at Jonathan, who still slept in his bed. He was probably worn out after losing so many matches due to Ivysaur refusing to cooperate.

He started thinking about the grass type. Ivysaur was playing some game, Bill was aware of that, but what kind of game? Could it be something about what Jonathan had told Bill the other day?

His thoughts were interrupted by another tug from the Meowth. "Damnit, stop that," he scolded at the feline, who just frowned at him. Bill ripped the watch from Meowth grasp and pocketed it determinedly. Meowth stood up on his hind legs and stared down Bill, unsheathing his claws.

"Mrrreow!" he hissed, pouncing at Bill. But Bill grabbed him by the neck and stood up, grumbling.

"That's it, be a bad kitty then," he said irately as he carried the struggling feline to the window, tossing him out and closing it afterwards. Meowth quickly pounced up in front of the window and looked inside. Bill just shook his head, climbing up to his bed and going to sleep.

To be continued…