Cutting Down to Size

A Bond to be Desired

For the next few days, Charizard mostly found himself relegated to the sidelines while he watched Greninja and the rest of Ash's Kalos Pokemon train. Hawlucha usually sparred with Greninja, while Talonflame and Noivern took turns battling Pikachu. Whether Ash was keeping him out of training out of spite or because he thought Charizard wouldn't be interested in obeying his orders, the fire-type had no idea. Whatever the reason, he now knew without a shadow of a doubt that gaining Ash's forgiveness was going to be a much more trying task than he could have anticipated. 

Out of all the new Pokemon on Ash's roster, Charizard had decided that Greninja intrigued him the most. Although several years his junior, he wasn't so sure that if they were to have a battle, he would be able to come out on top even with all the experience he had over him. Granted, Charizard hadn't really had a proper training session since he was a Charmander, but it was disheartening to realize just how much he had missed out on by choosing arrogance over obedience. 

But it wasn't just Greninja's strength that impressed the fire lizard. He had seen for himself the odd transformation that the frog-ninja Pokemon underwent with Ash. No one seemed to be able to explain exactly what it was, not even Greninja himself, but it was an amazing sight to behold nonetheless. 

The only question was, why did it only happen to Greninja? What made him different than anyone else on the team? Was it just a gift all of his species had been born with? 

Eventually, Charizard couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. One day, after a long day of training, the Kanto fire-type approached Greninja, determined to get some answers out of the frog-ninja Pokemon. 

"What is it, Charizard?" Greninja asked coldly, spotting him coming out of the corner of his eye. 

"How do you do it?" Charizard inquired, choosing to ignore the water-type's unfriendliness. He had gotten used to it by now, at any rate. 

"Do what?" Greninja asked curiously, completely forgetting to be cold and unforgiving. 

"That...transformation thing you can do with Ash. How do you do it?" the dragon-like Pokemon clarified. "And why does it only happen to you? Is it something all of your species is born with?" 

Greninja frowned, but not as though he were annoyed. Rather, he simply looked thoughtful. 

"I don't really know," he admitted finally. "And no, it's not something every single one of my species is born with, although as far as anyone knows, it's only my species that's able to use it." 

"So it's rare, then?" Charizard suggested. 

"Very," Greninja agreed. "From what we know, the last recorded attempt of it happening was hundreds of thousands of years ago." 

Charizard blinked, impressed. "That long ago, really?" 

"Yeah," the frog Pokemon replied, shrugging. "So naturally, no one really knows what it is. All we do know is that it requires a strong bond between trainer and Pokemon, sort of like mega evolution, but–" 

"Wait, mega evolution?" Charizard interrupted. "What's that?" 

Greninja blinked for a moment, caught off guard, before responding, "Oh, mega evolution. Well, some Pokemon that have reached their final form can undergo a special evolution–evolving one more time, so to speak. But you need a strong bond with your trainer, and two items called a key stone and a mega stone." 

"Mega evolution..." Charizard repeated to himself, recalling a strange-looking Charizard he had seen while on his way to search for Ash. "That reminds me. I saw something that looked like a black Charizard sometime after I made it to Kalos. His trainer looked to be about a few years older than Ash, and he was wearing black clothes and a blue scarf." 

"That would have been Alain and his Mega Charizard X," Greninja confirmed. "We've met him ourselves a fair few times. His Charizard is strong; I haven't been able to beat him yet. One day, though..." 

He paused for a split second, then added, "You could do it too, you know. Mega evolution. That is, if you ever manage to find a trainer worthy of developing a strong bond with you." 

With that last not-so-subtle jab, the frog-ninja Pokemon rose to his feet and went to join Talonflame and Hawlucha for dinner. However, Charizard barely heard the thinly veiled insult. Instead, his mind was fixated on something else Greninja had said to him, the phrase repeating over and over in his mind like a broken record. 

You could do it too, you know. 

Maybe he wouldn't be able to use the special transformation that Greninja had with Ash, but if he was able to mega evolve...yes, that would prove to Ash once and for all that he was serious about wanting to redeem himself. All he had to do was find himself a key stone and a mega stone. How hard could it be, really? 

AN: It's finally back! I decided I liked this version more so than the rewritten version, so I'm updating this one again. 

Now...let's go find that mega stone! Maybe he should steal Trevor's? Just kidding...sort of.