One Love, One Heart

Chapter 39: Edge of Desire

Ash and Pikachu were nearly home by the dusk hour. Most of their walk back was spent gazing at the necklace Ash had paid for. The pair still couldn't believe how lovely the piece of jewelry was. "This is so cool, Pikachu," Ash focused his eyes on the sapphire centerpiece.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed that it was nothing like anything the mouse had ever seen.

Suddenly, while the pair was distracted, Ash tripped over somewhere and fell over with Pikachu. The boy held his head as he clenched his teeth in pain, "What happened?"

"Chu," Pikachu looked at him, annoyed. He wished Ash had been paying more attention to where he was stepping.

"Sorry, Pikachu," Ash sincerely apologized. He picked and dusted himself up when he noticed the thing they tripped over. The boy was astonished, "Huh?" The trainer walked over to it.

Pikachu ran closer to examine it. "Pika? Pikachu was also puzzled.

"What's a Pokéball doing in the middle of the road like this?" Ash picked up the red and white orb. Pikachu scratched its face as it struggled to find an explanation. "Maybe someone dropped it, but how wouldn't they notice?" Ash wondered. He held the Pokéball out, "Let's see if there is anything inside." Pikachu took a step back as Ash extended his arm.

The ball released a bright light, confirming there was a Pokémon inside. Pikachu and Ash eyed with anticipation as to what it would reveal. When the light faded, they became even more astonished. The Fire-type roared as it spread its wings proudly, and the flame on its tail lightened the road.

"Charizard?!" Ash screamed. The trainer had so many questions.

"Pika!" Pikachu gasped over the unexpected sight.

In Charizard's excitement, the Fire Pokémon fired a Flamethrower at Ash as a warm greeting. He smiled with delight at its master. "Good to see you, too," Ash's eyes were wide after receiving the attack, and he puffed some smoke through his weak smile. He resembled burned toast after that Flamethrower.

"Pikachu pi," Pikachu tenderly greeted Charizard when he approached his teammate. Charizard nodded with a smile when he greeted back at Pikachu.

Then Charizard assessed the situation and became as confused as they were. The dragon-like Pokémon didn't recall being summoned by Ash, so he wasn't sure how he ended up in Pallet Town. "Charizard, do you know why your Pokéball was in the middle of the road? I thought you were in Charicific Valley," Ash questioned as he brushed off the smoke from his clothes.

Charizard nodded sideways with no answer to Ash's question. Ash put his hand on his chin as he tried to think of an explanation. "This is so weird," he pondered. Pikachu and Charizard looked at each other, then at Ash, as they tried to solve the mystery. Charizard only recalled being in the Charicific Valley one moment and the next moment standing before Ash and Pikachu. Ash moved his arms to his sides, "We can call Liza when we get home and see if she knows anything." Pikachu and Charizard agreed. Liza seemed like the only person who might have an answer.

After successfully rescheduling their trip back to Hoenn, May and Misty were on their walk back to Pallet Town. They were close to arriving at Ash's home when they suddenly spotted a Flamethrower visible in the sky. Misty and May stopped to wonder about it when they saw it. "Misty, did you see that?" May didn't expect to see a Flamethrower fire into the night like that.

"I saw it. It looked like it was coming from Ash's house," Misty became perplexed by the sight.

"Let's hurry to see what's up," May told the gym leader.

"Right," Misty sternly nodded. The girls hoped it wasn't anything serious.

Once closer to Ash's home, they saw Flamethrower fire to the sky again. It looked like the fire move came from the home's backyard. Misty and May looked at each other with nods. They proceeded to walk to the back of the house.