[ Some hours later ]

Austin woke up from a troubled sleep, the contusions on his cheeks and abdomen feeling suspiciously benign, almost as if the entire pain had vanished. A little more widening of his eyes got him staring at the somewhat unfamiliar green tent all around him, followed by the realization that he was, once again, wrapped up in bandages all over, though this time, it seemed to be limited to his chest-region and on his trousers, though there were a couple of band-aids on either cheek to cover up the bruises as well.

Crap. Not again.

He turned towards his side to see a wide assortment of potion jars, leaves, and berries on the makeshift wooden platform, with several bowls and pestles on it as well. Someone had not only bandaged him but also treated him back to health. He was just entertaining that line of thought when the covers of the tent on the left were lifted, and Cynthia stepped in.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, her countenance filled with concern.

"I'll survive." Austin returned. A part of him couldn't help but feel slightly… annoyed at the way Cynthia had treated both him and Charmander back then. Of course, he hadn't hesitated to protect her at the cost of his own life, but that didn't mean that he wasn't annoyed by her actions. Whatever her intentions had been, she had been quite cruel to Charmander, and a slight miss from his position could have cost her, her own life.

"Garchomp told me how you were attacked by the territorial Shiftry," Cynthia muttered, sitting on the floor beside Austin to prepare some antidotes for him. "The injuries you had, it was…"

"As you predicted?" Austin interrupted.

"I was going to say horrible. I never expected that to happen." She scowled.

"I seem to remember telling you not to do that," Austin grunted back, before looking away. "Your treatment towards Charmander was… wrong."

Cynthia looked up but didn't retort back. "I didn't expect him to attack me like that. It was simply a way to get him to shed his fear of-"

"He did." Austin interrupted again. "I'm not questioning your intentions, Cynthia." -said the girl inwardly gasped at the cold tone her friend was using—"I'm simply questioning the execution of it all. Your Garchomp, she could have killed Charmander."

"She didn't."

"Doesn't matter. Charmander could have died out of excess usage of his inner flame."

"He wouldn't." Cynthia challenged.

"And how do you know that?"

Cynthia was now losing it. "Because I have trained a Charizard from a Charmander too. Just so you know, as you keep pointing out, I am The Sinnoh Champion, and that means I have a lot of experience under my belt, which includes training the Charmander species. Their tail flame wouldn't go off just out of over-usage of fire-type attacks, or throwing them into a water body."

"But-"

"Unless you plan to poison Charmander and then keep him frozen with continuous ice beams on his body for hours, he is not going to die because of his tail flame going off."

Austin opened his mouth to retort, but then looked away. Of course, as a Champion, Cynthia probably knew more about training pokémon than him ten times over. But in his heart, he still felt that Charmeleon was with him the longest, he knew him the best. And risking him was not an option. But Cynthia was also his friend, wasn't she? And he valued his friend's opinions greatly. But choosing one among them was not something he wanted to do. Not now. Not ever.

But does that make her blameless?

Silence pervaded the two for minutes.

"Austin ?"

No reply came to the question.

"I know you are going through a lot of stuff with the passing of Raticate and I am sorry for whatever happened but I did what I thought was necessary."

Still no reply.

Cynthia looked away, silently working on the antidote she was preparing. "You should ingest this concoction. It will treat your injuries faster. I'll… I'll be outside, training your pokémon."

She waited for a couple of seconds, before she decided that she wouldn't be receiving any reply, and got up to get out of the tent. She had just crossed the threshold when Austin began speaking.

"You know… Charmeleon thought of himself as a monster. He believed himself responsible for my injury and blamed himself and his evolution. It took me a long time to convince him that your intentions were for his betterment and that it was just a part of his growing up."

Cynthia turned around, only for her hopes to fall to dust again. Austin hadn't turned back, but that hadn't stopped him from replying.

"When I found him as a Charmander back then, he was there, sitting on the rock on Route 24, his tail flame flickering dangerously, with a single leaf over him, in the middle of a thunderstorm. A flock of Spearow was attacking him from all sides, tearing into his flesh, and yet, he did nothing." Austin paused. "I and my friends got rid of the Spearow and tried to bring him down from the rock. Charmander fought us. Do you know why?"

He turned around to face her. "Because his trainer told him that he would be back with medical supplies to treat him. The same trainer, who had simply treated with callously all the time he had been with him, and then deserted him in the middle of nowhere… just like that."

Cynthia simply stood like a statue, not sure what to say.

"He somehow managed to somehow stick through and survive the night before and if I hadn't dragged him to the Pokémon center, he would have died."

"I—I didn't-"

"Of course, you didn't," Austin replied in an emotionless tone. "When Charmander finally gave himself a chance with me as his trainer… he was so scared. He thought that I'd discover how… weak, he was, and desert him. That I'd call him useless and dump him in the middle of nowhere as Damien did. Of course… I never made him feel that he was any different than any other Charmander, and tried to give him a feeling of normalcy."

He paused, looking squarely at her face. "Maybe that was… wrong. Maybe I was being over-protective with him, and maybe you are right. However… that doesn't justify your behavior with him. You may have had experiences with raising a Charizard, but your Charizard wasn't my Charmeleon."

Cynthia opened her mouth, but no words came.

Austin looked away. "Maybe I am being incredibly naïve. I wouldn't know if I was. I'm not an experienced trainer, or even an Ace… and certainly not someone of your position and power, but… I do know my pokémon better than you, or Steven, or anyone else in the world can." He paused.

"Austin, I-"

But Austin wasn't done speaking. "The same holds for you. I know that I saved your life back at the ship, and sometime… anyway, what I want to say is, I didn't do it because you are a Champion and I need something in return. When I tried to help you on the ship, it was because you were my friend, and a Champion… someone far more important than myself to the world. I didn't do it with any reciprocation in mind."

"Austin-"

"The same is true for now as well. I took the attack head-on because you were my friend. Because I knew that your intentions were for Charmander's good. Because I…." He paused, unsure of what to say.

"I know that," Cynthia muttered, her voice low.

"I didn't do it for any kind of reciprocation. All this…" He pointed towards the bandages all over himself. "I am grateful that you treated me and healed me, but trust me, if you try to do something like that…. one more time? I won't care that you are a Champion, or what monsters are part of your team." He paused as his eyes turned crimson meanwhile Cynthia felt pressure crash on her shoulders.

"You and I… will come to blows."

Cynthia looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock. But Austin had already turned away.

"I'm sorry for my weakness and my frail self. I will be ready for whatever instruction you have for me and my team come early morning."

The Sinnoh Champion did her utmost to hold back the lone tear that threatened to fall off her left eye, as she turned around and sped away.