" I'm sorry, Austin, but I need Charmander to go through this. Please forgive me." She turned towards the Medicham. "Use Confusion on Charmander."

Unfortunately or not, Charmander was anything but unconscious. Realizing that his fire attacks were only tiring out, and his metal-claw attack wasn't going to help him again, he would have to resort to techniques that were, more effective. He knew that perfectly, but resorting to dragon-based moves would only prove the blonde-girl right, and that was a blow on his pride that Charmander would not take. No, he would have to keep on trying. After all, he was a Charmander, and there must be something that he could-

Austin's agonized screams reverberated through the entire grassland. Screams from the one voice that Charmander never, ever, ever, expected to hear. A voice that had been for him when no one else had ever.

"I also think that you are a very dedicated pokémon, with great inner strength… I'd like you… to be a part of my team."

"I understand that you are not like any other Charmander… but that doesn't matter. After all, you are special."

His trainer had told him that his lack of fire-ability didn't matter, as long as he was the best in what he could do. Yet, a part of Charmander had always held out an immutable belief that he was, after all, was said and done, a Charmander. After all, he looked like one and talked like one.

"… I will always be there for you, and look out for you. You can trust me on that."

Charmander had adored his trainer for those words, and now the same person was in agony, only because he had chosen to stick to defy the attack on his pride instead of using attacks, that he inherently knew, were much more powerful and had a greater chance of getting that Garchomp hurt.

And something inside Charmander inherently changed which caused the surrounding temperature to increase.

His tail flame suddenly sprouted out, almost in defiance, now burning several times more powerfully than normal, as his entire body seemed to glow with a strange, primal power. His eyes darkened as draconic energy flooded inside his maw, his claws glowing whiter than silver, and elongating—a clear application of dragon claw in effect.

Pride be damned if he had to choose between that and his trainer. There was no choice in the first place.

And Charmander gave in to his draconic power.

"Whoa…" Cynthia muttered to herself. "Using the drought ability like that, to fuel his inner flames which was used to fuel his draconic moves. I could never even begin to fathom that such a thing could even happen. Think of what he could do with this ability knocked in, and a dragon rush attack used in combination."

She looked up at Garchomp who still didn't seem to care at all.

And Charmander attacked.

His limbs were now strangely a lot faster, his claws extended, his eyes filled with icy fire, and his entire physical form strangely engulfed in draconic energies, Charmander was a sight to behold. With the draconic energy swirling around him, Charmander looked way taller than he was. His maw opened as he threw out a powerful dragon pulse towards Garchomp, something that Garchomp neutralized midway with his dragon pulse. That, however, didn't seem to make the little lizard pause in his tracks.

Is this…? Cynthia thought… Am I witnessing some kind of transition state between two forms?

Charmander strangely seemed indifferent to Garchomp. His motivations had changed, as had the meaning and the final objective of the battle. His enemy wasn't the frighteningly powerful Garchomp standing there, but the blonde-haired girl who commanded it. The same blonde-haired girl who had held his trainer captive and was causing him pain. He leaped off the ground- a good twenty feet up in the air, as Cynthia watched with unending awe at his mode of attack. For a powerful Gabite to do that was one thing, their fins alongside their body anatomy were built for it. But for a Charmander to do the same was-

Inexplicably mind-boggling.

Charmander, still high up in the air, belched out a powerful dragon-breath attack, right at Cynthia, only for Garchomp to suddenly appear in front of her, and with perfect execution of Dual Chop, sent out two crisscrossed waves towards Charmander, not only deflecting the attack but hitting him straight in the face.

Only if that were all. Garchomp teleported, appearing right in the air in front of Charmander, before slamming a powerful dragon pulse in the face, the sheer power of the attack sending Charmander, engulfed in a mixture of his draconic energy, and the sheer power of the dragon pulse, flying into the waters of the flowing waters of the sea, where he fell with a crash.

"Charmander!" Austin yelled, knowing very well that the flowing waters could have an adverse effect on his tail flame. What happened though… was nothing like he had expected.

With a reverberated roar, a being of liquid light jumped up from the waters, his entire body shining brightly, as it slowly condensed, morphing constantly between Charmander's form and a much larger form.

Charmander was evolving.

Is he…. Austin stared in awe. Beside him, Cynthia was watching the event as well, surprise and awe in her eyes and a little smile on her face.

After several moments of constant metamorphosis of the condensed energy state, Charmander's form seemed to finally arrive at a final state. His head, initially round, now had a single horn protruded out of it backward as was true for Charmeleon in general. His bulk had been magnified, now reaching a respectable five feet, taller than Austin himself. That meant a mammoth of a Charmeleon, since most of them reached four feet at most, with Charizard ranging from five to six feet in height. However, the change in bulk and height weren't the only differences.

His body had morphed as well. From his elbows, protruded backward were two long, fin-like protrusions, which could act as makeshift blades by the looks of it, just like Gabite. His maw looked much larger, with larger frontal jaws and with two pairs of fangs protruding out of his maw on either side, one pair close to the opening and the other towards the cheek. His tail flame, now burned more powerfully, though it had gained an icy blue color. His traditional brick red body color had been replaced by bluish-black, though the underbelly remained a lighter shade of cream. The claws on his fore and hind limbs looked much more enlarged and screamed danger to anyone who had offended it even by mistake, a natural fact considering that Charmeleon was by nature, an aggressive species.

Austin pulled out his Pokedex, as Dexter orated its knowledge of the specimen standing in front of him after a momentary scan.

Charmeleon. The evolved form of Charmander. Charmeleon mercilessly destroys its foes using its sharp claws. If it encounters a strong foe, it turns aggressive. In this excited state, the flame at the tip of its tail flares with a bluish-white color.

This Charmeleon is male. Current Move set: Dragon claw, dragon breath, dragon rage, thunder punch, fire burst, embers, Dig, metal claw, dual chop, and flamethrower. Ability: Drought, Tough claws.

And then Dexter went all crazy once again.

Odd specimen. Checking for newer cross-breeds. Match not found. Error. Error. Checking database server…. Body-color mismatched. Body-proportions mismatched. Monster-gene active. Confirmed. Inner Flame is sub-par. Genetic-typing: Dragon, Fire. Genetic ability mismatched. Please report to authorities.

"That was… interesting," Cynthia muttered before something else attracted her attention. Specifically, a one-in-the-world kind of cross-breed between a Gabite and a Charmeleon was glaring at her, the hatred swirling in his eyes more than enough to make her take a step back.

With an ear-splitting roar, Charmeleon leaped off the ground, using mobility that betrayed its large bulk as it reached thirty feet into the air, before changing direction, as he swooped towards the blonde-haired trainer, his claws glowing like silver, and his eyes burning with vengeance, only to-

Stop midway, managing to use the claws on his legs to resist its momentum, as Austin stepped in front of her, making Charmeleon somehow stop himself bare inches close to his own body.

If only that was enough.

He had underestimated the changes in his own body. With shocking realization, he found a single claw of his arm, now dug inside Austin's chest, all the way through his jacket and shirt, causing bright-red blood to ooze out of the clothing. His eyes widened with shock, he slowly pulled the claw out, seeing a miniature part of it now colored with a sticky, bright-red liquid.

His trainer's blood.