After the incident at the crater, the military came in and started mowing down the Paras, sealing any remaining Paras deep underneath Mount Moon. The Team Rocket grunts that were alive were taken into custody and everyone was returned back to their homes, or what was left of it. A week later Hitokage was buried, after the one-week mourning period for a chief they would read his will. Since Hitokage didn't have any biological children, the next Chief of the Charmander tribe would be declared. It was also in this one week of mourning that Carmen heard the news of Carlotta.

Carmen looked very different with a bright red tail and a horn. His hair had turned a dark red and he looked a bit bigger, not in size but in muscle mass.

When he heard the news, Carmen was quiet.

"Hey Carmy," Jenna said, hand on his arm. "You okay?"

"Where was she buried?"

"The same place she died," Jenna said.

"Show me."

Jenna was hesitant but she decided to go along. They walked alongside the cliffs, the bright stars lighting up the way, the moon shining across the jagged surface.

"The Pidgey," Jenna said. "Patricia, I think, she left after she saw Carlotta. Must have been too much for her. Poor girl."

Carmen remained quiet. Jenna thought he'd perk up when he heard that, get worked up because he was worried about Patricia but no, he was as quiet and still as a forest.

Carlotta's grave, as promised was where she had passed away. Zubair and Zinnia had helped with burying Carlotta. After they found Carmen amidst the corpses, Zubair and Zinnia left to go fight the Rockets and Jenna and the party haven't heard from them since.

They found Carlotta's grave, a dirt mound with a large stone at the head. Carved onto the stone was:

Here lies Carlotta of the Caterpie tribe who died valiantly against Team Rocket.

Carmen knelt by the grave, without a single word. He ran his hand over the mound.

And it was then Carmen made a vow.

"I'm going to kill them all," he whispered, but Jenna heard him.

"I'm going to get all those Rocket bastards if it’s the last thing I do," Carmen said. The determination showing and hardening his crimson eyes.

And Jenna couldn't do anything but watch as the man she loved change right before her eyes.

...

Patricia ran. She ran and ran, through steep slopes and craggy hills, she ran. Carlotta was dead, Sean was dead. And she couldn't do anything. She couldn't do anything at all. She was so weak, so weak and so useless. The people in her tribe were right, she was a good for nothing. Her parents, her brother and even the Chief were right about her. She was just weak and useless, good for only brewing medicine. After all, if she was just a bit stronger, she would have been able to save them, she would have saved them both.

She found herself in a grassy meadow, the moon shining on her. She turned behind her to see the jagged outcrop of Mount Moon and suddenly she collapsed on her knees. She was so tired, so exhausted. Tears started streaming down her face and she started wailing. She missed them, she missed Sean and Carlotta so much. Images of blood spilling out of Carlotta's throat, Sean being eaten alive flashed in her mind further cementing that they were... they were....

(gone)

Her stomach grumbled and she vomited onto the grass. And the tears wouldn't stop streaming down her face. Those two had made her feel like she belonged, like she wasn't just some useless person that was good for nothing. For once in her life she felt like she had found a family and it was stripped from her just like that.

Then she heard footsteps on the grass. Her ears perked up but she didn't care. She didn't care if it was a Paras or Team Rocket, let them come and kill her, she had nothing to live for.

But it wasn't that, it wasn't that at all. Instead it was her brother Paul.

"I expected to see you here," Paul said.

...

It was atop Mount Moon they were going to announce the new Chief. The Lunar Pillar glinted green in the sun. All of the charmander tribe was gathered at the top amongst them members of the Jigglypuff and Clefairy tribe, eagerly anticipating the new chief. Many of the people believed Rune was going to be the Chief, after all his family had served the Chief for many years and Rune had served Hitokage after his father had died suddenly. Although a lot of the people did not trust Rune, he seemed like the best bet.

It was the village Elder who was to announce the new chief. Though his wings lacked the luster of the Charizard and wrinkles lined his face, he was the oldest of the Charizard tribe and hence had the authority to announce the new Chief.

Amidst the crowd of charmander, Rune was right next to Carmen. He placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He was like a father to me too," Rune said. "I swear when I become Chief, I'll avenge him."

Carmen brushed off his shoulder. "I don't need you to do that for me."

Rune nodded and removed his hand.

The elder began to read from the scroll. "As soon as I became Chief, my first action was to write this will. I knew I would never marry or have children for my love although subject to controversy was of someone of another tribe and I knew I wouldn't be able to be with her."

From amidst the crowd, Aylin had a knowing smile on her face, a single tear running down her cheek.

"And there have been many revisions, countless of people have come and gone in my life, all deserving a position as head of the tribe. All have gained my trust and have been put under the scrutinizing eye of myself and the people of this wonderful tribe."

"And taking all that into consideration I've decided that Carmen will be the next Chief of the tribe," the Elder said. Amidst the tribe there was uneasy mumbling.

"What?" Rune growled. He stomped on over, to the Elder, tearing through the tribe. "You must be getting blind in your old age. It should have been me."

He yanked the scroll from the Elder's hand and skimmed through it. "No this is impossible. This must be a prank scroll. Master always had a twisted sense of humor."

"Rune lay off," Seth said.

"But it should've been me!" Rune growled. "Not that blustering idiot."

"I'm going to have to take you away," Seth said.

"It was mine," Rune growled. "MINE!"

Seth was dragged away by Seth and a few other Charizard as he screamed bloody murder at Carmen. Meanwhile, Carmen, ignoring him was carried away by the rest of the tribe as they celebrated the appointment of a new Chief.

Jenna, meanwhile was concerned. On another occasion she'd be happy that Carmen was Chief, it had always been his dream to prove himself to the tribe and earning Chief Hitokage's trust wasn't an easy feat. On the other hand, after Hitokage and Carlotta's deaths she knew deep down in her heart this wasn't the Carmen she knew.

After the coronation ceremony, the Chief would give his first order to the tribe to cement his chieftainship and then he would be the official Chief of the charmander tribe.

Before she could follow the crowd of cheering charmander she heard somebody clear her throat. She turned to see Aylin and was taken aback.

"M-Master Aylin," Jenna said.

"Please, drop the titles," Aylin said. "You're from the Jigglypuff tribe, correct?"

Jenna nodded. "Yes."

"Your father was one of our own," Aylin said. "A good dancer and a good man. It's a shame the war took him away from us."

Jenna looked down sadly. Her father was a kind man who had the gentlest of smiles and the biggest of hearts. Jenna almost couldn't believe it when the soldier came and told her mother the bad news.

"What did you call me for, Master Aylin?"

"You love Carmen, don't you?"

Jenna was taken aback, her face flushed. "I wouldn't say love."

"You can't fool this old lady," Aylin said. "I see the way you look at him. I can tell that you love him, the same way you can see that he's clearly going through a rough time."

Jenna was speechless. Aylin was right. Carmen was carrying around a lot of pain and it was obvious. And Jenna would do anything, anything to help him through that.

"Yes, Carmen is going through a rough time," Aylin said. "And much like his master, he's too stubborn to let anybody in. That's why you need to be patient and stand by him. Lend him your strength and make sure he doesn't fall too far into his grief."

Aylin held Jenna's arm and placed a silver stone in her hand. A stone that shone a bright silver like the moon.

Jenna was surprised. "I can't... I'm not..."

"Take it," Aylin insisted. "It will grant you the strength needed to protect the ones you love."

Jenna was hesitant but Aylin insisted.

"Now let your magic course into it," Aylin said. Jenna closed her hands and from it emanated a white light. Magic in its purest form, untainted by the elements coursed through the stone making it glow as bright as the moon. Jenna was wrapped in a silver light as bright as the moon and then the light disappeared. The moon stone lost its bright allure, it was now just a plain rock like the ones lying around in the cave.

Jenna felt different. She felt more powerful. Power coursed through her body like a lake, calmly. She pulled out her water gun from the holster and fired it, a powerful burst of water reduced an unsuspecting rock to dust. She grinned.

"Congratulations Jenna," Aylin said. "You are now a Wigglytuff."

...

"What do you want with me?" Patricia asked her brother. There wasn't the usual stutter. After seeing Carlotta's dead body and Sean dying, she wouldn't, didn't want to hear another word from her brother's mouth about how useless she was. No, she wouldn't hear it. Not after all she'd been through.

"That look," Paul said. "You've grown."

Patricia was taken aback by the compliment. Her brother never complimented her. Instead of compliments all she was treated to was barrages of you're useless and incompetent. But a compliment? Never.

"I can see you want strength," Paul said. "And I can give it to you."

Attached to a belt by his hip, Paul brought up a small red feather. A feather plucked from the head of a Pidgeotto. Patricia also noticed the same red feather attached to the leather armlet.

"I can give you this Pidgeotto feather..."

"But?"

Paul was quite for a moment. he wasn't used to being interrupted especially by Patricia of all people.

"You must prove your strength to me," Paul said. "Defeat the trainers on Nugget Bridge then we may speak."

And she would. No more was Patricia plagued by despair but by determination. She would prove her strength to her brother and she would get the feather no matter the cost. Because the feather meant more power and more power meant that nobody had to die again.

...

The appointment of a new Chief was celebrated by beer and meat. All the charmander men gathered, parading their chief around while the Clefairy and Charmander women danced to the loud music. A few Zubat and Geodude were also gathered because the Chief of the Charmander was usually the Chief of the entire mountain.

The festivities carried on to the night, Jenna handing out drinks to the jovial men of the tribe. She noticed Carmen sitting in a corner, smiling weakly at a joke one of the Charizard was telling him. He barely touched his drink and the food on his plate was being taken by the other charmander. Her heart ached a little, knowing the pain he was going through.

Meanwhile, Martin was busy dancing with the other girls. His face red as he stumbled atop the stage, spilling beer everywhere. Jenna would have a word with him later.

The party continued on until the late night until Seth walked up on stage and made an announcement.

"Chief Carmen will now carry out his first instruction to solidify his rule," Seth said.

Technically this wouldn't be his first instruction. Apparently his first instruction was the removal of Rune as advisor but this was done secretly. Jenna only knew about it through the gossip of the Clefairy housewives.

Carmen walked up on stage. Seth raised his hand to quiet down the excited crowds. Martin was still drunkenly singing the song of the Charmander tribe but a quick stare from Jenna made his mouth snap shut.

Normally the Chief gave a long speech, expressing his honor at inheriting the position, good words about the previous Chief but not Carmen. In classic Carmen fashion, he was blunt and to the point.

"Seth will be appointed temporary Chief of the tribe," Carmen said, Seth was about to interject but Carmen raised a hand to stop him. "I'm going to get revenge on Team Rocket for my master. The previous Chief. It is a journey I will be participating in alone and if I see anyone of you try to intervene you will be banished."

There was uneasy mumbling amongst the tribe.

"Do I make myself clear?" Carmen growled.

The tribe uneasily agreed.

Carmen left the tent the agreements took place in, the tribe staring at him both in awe and surprise. No Chief had ever done something like that and Chief Carmen's first command would go down in tribe history. But Jenna didn't care about that. She cared about Carmen. She ran after him, running past a drunk Martin and an uneasy crowd.

Carmen was about to leave the mountains. Jenna ran toward him, calling after him.

"Carmy," she called. "Carmy wait."

"What do you want?" Carmen said. "Here to sing and stop me again."

Those words hurt Jenna. It was like a poison sting to the heart but Jenna ignored the pain. "This isn't like you Carmen. What happened to getting the gym badges? What happened to becoming champion?"

And what happened to that? Jenna remembered as children how Carmen would go on and on about that. How he would talk about his plan to take on the gyms, to fight the Elite 4. Carmen lived for that dream, it was all he could talk about and Jenna would laugh at how dorky he was, would smile when she saw him smile and would fall in love with the passion she saw in those bright orange eyes of his.

"I don't care about becoming Champion," Carmen growled. Those words hurt Jenna more than it hurt Carmen. "Not anymore. I'm going to make Team Rocket pay for what they did to Hitokage." Carmen clenched his fists. "I'm going to make them suffer."

And there was this hardness in his eyes, this coldness that said that he would do much much worse than make him suffer.

"So, if you care about me," Carmen said. "You'll join me. Or are you going to stop me from saving one of my friends?"

Jenna was taken aback by that statement. Angry even. It wasn't her fault Sean had died but deep down she thought that maybe it was. And even if she was, she would more than make up for it.

"I'll join you," Jenna said.

"Good," Carmen said. He walked off.

"Wait," Jenna said. "Let me go get Martin."

"That useless old man?" Carmen said.

"He's not useless."

Carmen sighed. "Whatever, make it quick."

Jenna was joining Carmen but not for the reason he thought. She didn't give two shits about Team Rocket. She was going along because the only way to win badges for Carmen was to be in his party. She would get the badges for Carmen and do her level best to convince him to not abandon his dream to become Champion. She loved him and she didn't want to see him like this. This was how she would be there for him like Aylin said.

Dragging Martin away from the Clefairy girl he was hitting up, she stomped towards Carmen.

"Ready?" Carmen asked.

Jenna nodded. "Ready."

And she was ready. She loved Carmen and she would do whatever it took to see him smile again.

To be continued...