Charmeleon's head hurt.

Well, all of him was hurting, to be more specific. His head was just the only body part that seemed to be working.

He had spent enough time in the Pokémon Center to recognize the white walls, soft bed, and painted ceiling, but never like this. The closest thing he could compare it to was when he was paralyzed by that stupid Pikachu, but he could feel that static coursing through his body when that had happened, as he struggled to move his limbs.

Here, it was as if they weren't even there. His arms, legs, and tail weren't responding to him. It was like every ounce of energy had been sucked out of them. Even the image of that Gengar he had battled, constantly laughing in his face, which would normally really get his fire going, only served to make his head pound more.

"This sucks," he grumbled to himself. The only action Charmeleon could manage was turning his head on his pillow so he could look left and right. On the right there were nothing but empty beds, but on his left he could see Glaceon and Absol lying on beds, identical to his. Of the two, Absol seemed to be in worse condition, with several bandages. For whatever reason, Glaceon didn't seem to have a scratch on her. Did that mean they had won?

His voice was a little raspy from how long he'd been inside his Pokéball, and passed out in the Pokémon Center, but he eventually got it to work. "Hey. Hey, Glaceon? Are you awake like me?"

"No."

"Oh, ok." Charmeleon let his head fall back to the pillow. A couple of seconds later he bolted up. Or he would have, had anything below his neck wanted to listen to him. He turned his head to glare at his teammate.

"Hey!" he shouted indignantly. Glaceon cracked one eye open to glare right back at him.

"How am I supposed to get any rest, when you're right next to me?! Even when you're sleeping, you're loud and annoying! You've been muttering and mumbling nonsense for a while now."

"Well, that's news to me," Charmeleon replied crossly. "Anyways, you seem alright, so tell me what happened. Did we win?"

"I might look alright, but I don't feel alright," Glaceon corrected him, eyes glancing down at her body. Charmeleon realized that like him, she hadn't moved at all either. It seemed to take all of her concentration and effort just to get a twitch out of one of her legs. "The Pokémon that I battled laid some kind of curse on me. I felt fine, and in an instant, everything went dark."

That sounded an awful like the Pokémon that had made a fool of him. "Was it a Gengar? That's the Pokémon I battled. It did something similar to me."

Glaceon blinked twice in surprise. "Yes, it was. I could have sworn that I was able to take it out, after you weakened it, of course," the Ice-type hastily added after she saw the irritation on Charmeleon's face that he didn't bother disguising. "Somehow, it was able to drag me down with it.

Charmeleon started to slowly piece together the battle in his mind. "I'm certain I went first, because the battlefield didn't show any signs of being used. You said you fought the same Pokémon, so you went second?"

"That sounds right," Glaceon agreed, keeping her voice low so she didn't wake Absol. "But technically Gengar could have been called back and Absol could have battled in between us."

Only one way to find out about that, and Charmeleon never really had much patience to begin with. "Absol, are you awake? We have some questions to ask you!"

"Seriously!" Glaceon whispered furiously at him. Charmeleon ignored her.

Absol stirred slightly, and while it seemed the Dark-type had much greater control over his body than either he or Glaceon did, it was clear that Absol was feeling very weak.

"We all fought in the same battle, Absol," Charmeleon said, getting straight to the point. "We have some questions."

"Don't include me in this," Glaceon muttered.

"If you remember," Charmeleon finished over her.

Absol's response was brief, but it wasn't a no. "I rarely forget things."

A Pokémon of few words, their newest teammate was. Most of the time Absol sat to the side and well… Charmeleon didn't know what he actually did. It looked like he was thinking or meditating. At first, they had thought he was a daydreamer, but Absol never let anything slip by him. He could remember the most random parts of a conversation, even if he usually didn't participate.

"We both battled and lost to a Pokémon called Gengar," Charneleon said, hating the sound of the words. "Did you battle a Gengar too?"

Absol tried to shake his head, but winced in pain. "No. The Pokémon I battled was called Spiritomb. A collection of one-hundred and eight malevolent spirits bound to a stone for their misdeeds. It was a difficult opponent, one that I could not defeat."

Having said his piece, Absol returned to lying down with his eyes closed, though Charmeleon knew the Dark-type was still listening.

"So we lost," Charmeleon concluded bitterly. To top it off, Glaceon did more than him as well.

His teammate looked at him with concern that he didn't want. "It happens, Charmeleon. You can learn a lot from a defeat."

He was glad that his face still worked, at least, and turned his expression into a condescending sneer. "You sound like a loser."

Glaceon's eyes hardened like when she turned water into ice, and turned her head away without another word.

Sometimes he really wished he had a teammate that would rise to his instigation and retaliate by fighting. It would take his mind off of the memory he hated the most.

The worst part was, he had so many good memories to pick from and remember! But somehow, he always slipped into his darkest moment.

Losing a battle, especially in this manner, where he was toyed with the entire time, basically guaranteed it to come to the forefront of his mind.

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"I used to be quite the trainer back in the day, I'll have you know. I was more than a match for Agatha of the Elite Four, even! That was before I dedicated my life to understanding the mysteries of Pokémon, however, and decided to leave the training to youngsters like you. Now, go on. Whichever of these three Pokémon you pick, will be your lifelong friend. Choose one!"

Charmander was mostly tuning out Professor Oak's voice, in favor of trying to look presentable for the wide-eyed human in front of him. He was in the middle, so he had to push and shove to make sure Bulbasaur and Squirtle didn't squeeze him out of the picture. The new trainer gave him and Bulbasaur a cursory glance before turning his eyes to the Pokémon that he clearly had been enamored with from the beginning.

"I'll make sure that I'll do better than you both!" the boy declared. "With Squirtle by my side!"

Charmander couldn't help but slump backwards as the Water-type to his left jumped off the table to be with his new trainer. Oak gave the boy a Pokédex and a handful of Pokéballs before sending him on his way with a wave and a smile, which he quickly turned on the two Pokémon that had not been chosen.

"There will be plenty of trainers who come by the lab, so don't worry. I know you will both find trainers that are perfect for you soon enough," Oak encouraged.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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If Charmeleon could clench his fists, he would have. Oak's words rang true enough for Bulbasaur, who a girl chose the next time around, and then for the Squirtle that replaced the first one after that, but no amount of words from the Pokémon professor could make him feel any better as the rejections continued to come in. Every single one sapped his spirit, until the Fire-type himself didn't believe that he would be selected at all.

The worst of them came when two boys who had declared themselves rivals came to the lab. Surely with two trainers there, he was destined to be selected.

The reality was even worse than it was previously, with the first boy picking Squirtle and the second picking Bulbasaur to gain an advantage on him immediately after. Even Oak didn't have any more platitudes to offer after the most disappointing day in Charmeleon's life.

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"The closest gyms to Pallet Town specialize in Ground and Rock-type Pokémon," Oak said, trying to give Charmander reasons and excuses for why he wasn't wanted. "It makes sense trainers would prioritize Grass and Water-types over Fire-types. Especially since there are so many strong Fire-types native to Kanto…"

Oak sighed and pulled a hand over his face when he realized his words were falling on deaf, downcast ears. "Perhaps it's time for something different," he finally said, which got Charmander to look up at him. "I have a good friend in Sinnoh who would be willing to take care of you for a little bit. There aren't as many Fire-types native to that region as there are in this one; many trainers who raise a Fire-type get it from outside the region anyways. I think you would do well there."

The professor waited for Charmander to agree before returning the Fire-type to his Pokeball, but Charmander didn't have much optimism. Was a change of scenery really going to make a difference in his fortunes, when the problem was clearly with him?

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Of course, it somehow turned out that going to a different region really did change everything. There, he found a trainer that actually wanted him, and he finally was able to go on an adventure.

That said, the pain of being rejected never had left Charmeleon, even after evolving. If anything, it only drove him more.

He knew firsthand what being second-best got you. What happened to runners up. The consequences of not being good enough.

They got you left behind.

That's what Glaceon would never understand, even if he explained it. Charmeleon had sworn to himself that he would burn through whatever came in his way; any opponent, any fear or obstacle that was holding him back, so he would never experience that awful feeling of being passed over ever again.

Charmeleon had even promised himself that he would step over his own team, if that's what it took. He wouldn't settle for anything less than being number one, and if Glaceon wasn't taking this seriously, or wasn't strong enough, then he would gladly take her place as the leader of the team. All he needed was one slip up from her, and the top spot would be his.

Clearly, he still had a long way to go, because Glaceon performed better than him in this most recent battle. If he could just get out of this bed first, he could get straight back to training, and maybe that would give him a leg up. He managed to move his leg an inch to the right when the door opened, and his trainer walked in.

"Nurse Joy saw you guys moving a little, so she said I could come in to see you," Luna started without preamble. While Charmeleon and his teammates offered greetings, their trainer quickly noticed that they hadn't really moved at all from their positions on the bed.

"I guess that's what being hit by a ghostly curse does to you," Luna mumbled to herself before sitting on one of the open beds, feet dangling from the side, in a position that she could be seen by all of her Pokémon. Charmeleon watched his trainer open and close her mouth several times, apparently having something to say but unable to find the words to express it. She eventually huffed in frustration.

"I'm not good at this whole giving a speech thing," Luna eventually said. "What I want to say is that I'm sorry. I didn't lead you three very well in that battle, and I'm probably the most to blame for our defeat."

Now Charmeleon was utterly confused. Why was she apologizing? He was the one that had looked like a fool!

"What are you talking about?" he asked aloud, to which Glaceon quickly shushed him.

"I'm not really explaining myself very well here, am I?" Luna continued. "Let me start over. And, we might as well include everyone in the conversation. She flicked her wrist and brought out Bellossom and Vivillon, which Charmeleon had mixed feelings about. Bellossom, he could understand, but he severely doubted if Vivillon would ever be even a competent battler. The Bug-type simply didn't have the personality for it.

"First off," Luna began, once Bellossom and Vivillon had finished their greetings, "The battle we just had wasn't against any run-of-the-mill trainer. Even though it wasn't in her gym, that was Fantina, the Hearthome City gym leader, who's an expert on Ghost-type Pokémon."

"Were they scary?" Bellossom directed at him. No doubt she wanted more details for one of her ghost stories.

"They were more annoying than anything," Charmeleon finally muttered back.

"I've had a bunch of time to reflect on how things I went, and i want to talk things over with you all, because I had my own vision on how the battle was supposed to go, and I feel like part of the problem was that I didn't convey to you three what I thought was going to happen."

Luna waited for Charmeleon and the rest of his teammates to give her a sign to go ahead before she started. "Essentially, I wanted to get the battle to a point where Absol could fight the last Ghost-type one-on-one. I've been very impressed with his strength and skill, and I assumed because of that, and because he had a type advantage, he would be able to defeat any Ghost-type Fantina had waiting for us at the end. That was the first in several mistakes that were made, by me, because Absol ended up fighting a Pokémon he didn't have any advantage over. One that I should have expected, in all honesty."

"You may not like the way this sounds, but I really didn't need anything from you two," Luna admitted, turning her gaze on Charmeleon and Glaceon, "Except getting us to that point, where Absol would be able to take over and finish the battle."

"But we couldn't get it to that point," Glaceon murmured.

"Of course, things went haywire pretty quickly. Charmeleon went up against a Gengar first, which was another mistake."

For all Luna's apologizing, that certainly sounded like a personal criticism towards his performance. Not that Charmeleon disagreed about Gengar embarrassing him. "Why was it a mistake?"

"You fight with aggression and emotion. Too much of it, at times," Luna told him bluntly, which had the Fire-type sputtering.

"That's-"

"Totally true!" Bellossom interjected before Charmeleon could defend himself.

"One-hundred percent," Glaceon added.

"Is that what you all really think?!" Charmeleon asked the whole room.

Even though Vivillon's nod was rather hesitant, and Absol barely gave any indication that he was listening, even they both agreed.

"Anyways," Luna said, raising her voice so it cut over Charmeleon's grumbling. "It's not a bad thing, Charmeleon. I want you to fight with a lot of passion. All it means is that in a battle like this, where all we know about the opponent is that they are powerful, and the battle isn't going to be decided until towards the end, you just shouldn't be the first one sent out. By the time I could get a read on what Fantina's game plan was, you were already cursed and trapped."

Charmeleon could tolerate that, as long as his role wasn't diminished. There wasn't any way he was going to be left out of battles, that was for sure.

Luna had closed her eyes, clearly reliving every single decision she made in that battle. "So Charmeleon went down, though Gengar weakened itself to do so, and I was able to learn enough so Glaceon could defeat Gengar, which is where I made another critical mistake, forgetting about a move called Destiny Bond. Basically, the Pokémon prepares a spell that if it goes down, it takes down the opponent with it. I should have expected it, with all the moves that she had been going for, but I didn't."

Their trainer opened her eyes, ang gave them a wry smile. "Whatever chance we had in the battle disappeared after that. Absol beating two completely healthy Pokémon from a gym leader on his own was asking too much."

There was a moment of silence before Bellossom finally broke it. "So, what happens now?"

Luna pulled her legs up so she was cross-legged on the table. "I don't think I'm going to challenge Fantina again, even if she does return sometime soon. The better option, I think, is to head towards Veilstone, and then Pastoria, beat those gyms, and return to make Hearthome our fifth. I'll be a much more experienced trainer by then, and I'll have figured something out to counter Fantina's battle style."

Charmeleon noticed that Luna was carefully placing all the blame and need for improvement on herself, which he wasn't about to accept. If Charmeleon had it his way, they'd march right back to the gym and demand a rematch, and he would make sure that Gengar would always remember the beatdown he unleashed on it, even in the Ghost-type's next life. The only thing good about waiting was that there would be no way he hadn't evolved by then.

Evolving would make him untouchable, surely. He'd love to see Gengar try to laugh at a Charizard. His dreams of being the number one Pokémon on this team as well would be fulfilled by evolving as well; his power would be so overwhelming that Luna would have to concede that he was the strongest Pokémon there was. Regardless of the opponent, he'd never get overlooked. There would never be a point where he wouldn't be at Luna's side.

Charmeleon's fantasy was interrupted by everyone looking toward him and clearing their throats. Not having been paying much attention, Charmeleon was a bit confused. All he had heard was a couple of moves being thrown around like Taunt and Shadow Ball. "What?"

"You're the only one who has not given his opinion," Absol rumbled.

"Ah, sure. Whatever you just said, I'm sure it's fine." He could feel Glaceon's glare on the back of his head, but their trainer accepted his words with a nod.

Luna jumped off the table. "We're going to be here for a while, all the way through the contest, and through this tag battle tournament that I signed up for in the lobby, so get plenty of rest. We'll resume training only after you're ready." She was about to recall Bellossom and Vivillon when his Grass-type furiously waved her hands so that she wouldn't be sent back to her Pokeball.

"Wait! I want to explore the city! Vivillon, you should come too!"

Vivillon was looking much happier to be recalled, but he agreed after some hesitation. "Well, if you think it's going to be okay…"

Glaceon immediately started to lecture him as soon as their trainer and two other teammates had waved goodbye. "Don't you have any respect at all? We were having an important talk about strategy just now!"

Charmeleon ignored her. His goals hadn't changed any, after all. He wanted to evolve, and get to the point that he could blitz through anything.

That was the kind of strategy that he liked.