The Tale of a Charmander (A Pokemon Story) Chapter 4; Blazing Sand

Sapphire and I stepped through another gate. This one read; Beach. I had a love/hate relationship with beaches. I hated the water, as simply dipping my tail in it would kill me. To be honest, it scared me. However, I loved the sand. It was so warm and felt great against my body. Of course, I didn't tell Sapphire this though when she asked me if I wanted to visit the Beach. Being afraid of water wasn't a very manly fear, so instead, I simply replied;

"Yeah, the beach sounds great!"

What did they call it? Aqua- Aquaphobia? Yeah, not a very scary sounding threat. To most people anyways. I looked at the ground as I walked. I felt embarrassed to call myself tough, being afraid of the one thing that keeps all creatures alive. Sapphire must have seen this on my face, as a few moments later, she asked me;

"Are you okay, Char?"

Her voice was soft and full of worry. I'd never heard anyone talk to me like that before. It instantly made me feel a little better.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I said, never looking her in the eyes.

"You can tell me if something's wrong, you know."

I considered it for a moment, but decided against it. No way was I going to ruin Sapphire's day with some pathetic fear of water.

"Really, Sapph, I'm fine." I said, looking up and smiling a little.

A look of mixed amusement and confusion spread across her face.

"Sapph?" she teased.

I re-fixated my gaze upon the ground and felt my face grow hot for the second time today.

Why am I blushing so much?

It was infuriating. No matter what you tried, you could never keep a masculine image up around Sapphire. Or at least I couldn't. Thankfully, she didn't catch my blush, and once again, I thanked my lucky stars.

We stepped onto the warm sand. As it sifted through my toes, I scanned the beach, looking at all the Pokemon. There must have been a hundred of them.

"I know what you're thinking," Sapphire said, glancing at me. "There are going to be Pokemon looking at you because you're a fire type in a water type habitat."

My eyes almost popped out of my head in alarm. I had never once thought of that. I suddenly felt like all eyes were on me. I wasn't typically afraid of crowds, but this was unsettling. Sapphire wasn't done talking though.

"Well, don't worry about it." she said. "The Beach, like the Meadow, is a welcome area to all types. I mean, unless you can't stand water, who wouldn't want to spend time on the beach?"

She knows. No, wait, how could she? I never told her anything. She was just making a statement.

Her statement hurt. I felt absolutely terrible knowing that out of more than a hundred Pokémon on this beach, I was the only wimp. I couldn't keep up the act of hiding my fear any longer, so I focused on the sand. It was soft and comforting, but it didn't cheer me up. Sapphire turned to say something but then saw the look on my face. If she wasn't sure that something was wrong before, she certainly was now. Instead of asking me about it though, she turned to look at the ground. She wore an expression of guilt on her face.

"It was something I said, wasn't it?" she mumbled.

I didn't respond. I didn't want to make her feel like it was her fault that I felt awful, but truthfully... it was. She had made me feel wimpy without even realizing it. I wasn't sure whether to be mad at her or myself.

Myself. Definitely myself. It's my fear. She just pointed it out without knowing.

"Char?" she said, awaiting a response.

"I'm just... I'm afraid of..."

I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Water?" she whispered.

I nodded slowly. I didn't want to look at Sapphire. I didn't need to see her face to know she was disappointed. But, then she laughed.

"Well, it was stupid of me to think you would like the water anyway! You're a Charmander! That tail is about as waterproof as a sponge!"

I laughed. She really did understand.

Maybe this day isn't going to be so bad after all.

Minutes later, Sapphire and I sat on the sand, not too far from the water, watching the waves lap the shore.

"Hey Sapphire?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"You said humans never returned to the kingdom when they were driven out because of the forest's density. Well, what about about the ocean? How did the humans never find this place with their boats?"

"You can't see it, but a couple of miles out, there are rock formations too jagged and clustered for any human ship to sail around. They stretch around the whole kingdom."

"That's pretty lucky, having all those rocks placed precisely where you want them."

"Well, it had less to do with luck, more to do with work. You see, once the humans were driven out, all the strong Pokémon of the kingdom - like the Machoke and Gurdurr - carried big rocks out to sea by riding on the backs of Lapras. When the rocks were in place, many rock type Pokémon were then carried to the rocks, where they used Rock Polish to carve them into jagged spikes, and just like that, the ocean problem was eliminated."

Amazed once again by the creativity of the Pokémon of the Kingdom of Peace, I stared out at the glimmering water, so clear that you could likely see the bottom for miles. It was so pretty, I almost wished I could swim in it. As I turned to speak to Sapphire, I noticed she was looking equally mesmerized by it's beauty. Laughing, I elbowed her and said;

"You want to go swimming, don't you?"

"Well," she started, "to be honest, yeah, I kind of do."

"Go ahead." I said, smiling warmly.

"Really? You won't be lonely?"

"Not at all. I get to relax on this comfy sand while you have fun in the water. It's not loneliness, it's self indulgence."

Sapphire rolled her eyes and ran to the water, grinning wildly. I relaxed my head on the sand and closed my eyes.

This is the life.

I felt a jolt of pain in my side as something fell over me. I opened my eyes and sprung to my feet, looking down at whatever had kicked me. It was another Charmander. As it got to it's feet and turned to face me, I saw that it was a girl. She had the orange Charmander body and cream belly as well. Her eyes were emerald green, however. She was barely shorter than I was, but she would likely have to stand on her toes to reach my height.

"What'd you do that for?!" I yelled, clenching my fists.

She had struck my side really hard.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," she said in shock, hands against her open mouth, "I didn't see you against the sand!"

"How could you miss me? I'm not invisible, you know!"

"I wasn't looking at the ground, I was counting the clouds! I'm really sorry. Are you okay?"

"Counting clouds?" I asked, anger being replaced with curiosity.

"Yeah," she said, blushing a little, "It's just something I do when I walk along the beach. It's one of the best places to look at the clouds. Really though, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said, "It hurts a little, but I'll live."

"That's good, I guess. I'm Blaze, by the way."

She extended her paw for me to shake.

"I'm Char," I said, taking her paw and shaking it firmly, "Nice to meet you."

Then the conversation grew silent. We simply looked at the ground. She was really quite cute. When our eyes met, she darted hers away.

By the looks of things, she's pretty shy. Not at all like-

"Hey Blaze!" shouted Sapphire, appearing behind me. 

"Well, speak of the devil." I muttered.

"Hey Sapph! Hey Will!"

"Will?" I said, looking at the Pokémon she was standing beside.

He was a Wartortle who had the muscles of a Machop and the entitled look of a ruler. He instantly reminded me of the King. He wore a smug expression over his deep blue face and his equally blue eyes glinted in the sunlight.

"Oh, Char, this is Will," said Sapphire, suddenly remembering I was here. "Will, this is Char. I also see you've already met Blaze."

"Nice to meet you Will." I said, holding my paw out for him to shake.

However, he folded his arms and frowned at me.

"It's William to you."

"Come on, Will, be nice." said Sapphire, turning toward him.

Instead, though, he simply looked at me, displeased.

"What is he doing here?" he asked Sapphire, still watching me.

"Will, you know the beach is open for every-"

"I meant," said Will, cutting Sapphire off, "what is he doing here, in the kingdom?"

"Yeah," added Blaze, in a more friendly tone, "I've never seen you around before."

"He's a Pokémon in search of a home," Sapphire answered, "My father has let him stay for a while."

"A wanderer?" said Will in shock, "Oh great! Because we needed more of those around!"

"Will!" yelled Sapphire.

"I'm just kidding!" he said defensively, "Jeesh!"

I was beginning to not like this Pokémon. He was only out for trouble. I set my jaw and decided to stay quiet. If I said anything now, it would most likely be some snappy comeback, and I didn't want to start a fight.

"Well, I have places to be and things to do," said Will. "Catch you later Sapphire. You too Blaze."

As he walked away, he brushed past me, but stopped just long enough for me to hear him say;

"Stay away from Sapphire, you pathetic salamander, or you'll wish you'd never found this place."

I narrowed my eyes. I could feel my jaw muscles clenching harder than ever.

I can't stand that guy.

I turned to look at Sapphire, and saw her eyes locked on Will. She appeared as if in a trance. I snapped my fingers and she blinked a couple times, then carried on the conversation as if nothing had happened.

"Well, the sun's going down. I'm heading back to the castle Char. Come find me when you're done here. You know the way, right?"

I nodded as she waved goodbye to Blaze and I and walked off.

"Shouldn't there be someone protecting her?" I asked Blaze, watching Sapphire walk back to town.

"Oh, don't worry about Sapphire," she reassured, "She can take care of herself."

She then turned to face me.

"Um, Char?" she began, "Exactly how long are you going to be in the Kingdom of Peace?"

"For the next two days, unless I can impress the King." I replied.

"Do you know how you're going to do that?"

"To be honest... no, I don't."

"Well, I hope you figure it out. I wouldn't be very happy if you left."

She then hopped on her toes and kissed me quickly on the cheek. She took a few steps back, blushing all the time, and then ran away. I simply stood, rooted to the spot, the sun setting behind my back.