[Rude awakenings ITT]

[rivalkidneypunch]

It took two days of rest before Char woke up, an action which he regretted immediately. Every last part of him ached. No, ached was too gentle of a word. Every last part of him felt like an Onix was attempting to tap-dance on it. He was positively exhausted; even just trying to think about moving seemed like a chore. He felt wretched and miserable and sick. In fact, he would have been entirely content to just curl up in a ball and never move again. He'd never felt this roughed up. He'd never felt this weary.

But he'd also never felt this hungry. Even in his wild days, when he'd been absolutely inept at foraging and even worse at hunting, he couldn't remember it being this bad. He was absolutely starving. That alone was enough to force him out... of... a bed that distinctly was not his.

Where... was this? Biting back a groan, Char forced himself upright, slid off the bed. There were two beds in the room, though the other was empty. Judging from the... weird... machine... doohickeys... this was... a hospital? No, that was dumb. Char was a Pokemon: this had to be a Pokemon Center. Funny, though... he didn't think they treated Pokemon in their human forms. How'd he wind up here, anyway? It was safe to say he'd been injured -- the nonstop aching in a billion different places definitely wasn't a case of growing pains -- but... how?

Char moved to the door, peeking outside. Moving was hard. His body protested every single little movement. He felt... strangely heavy. Nobody around. ...Good. Char never much cared for Pokemon Centers -- no way he was sticking around here.

He barely managed to take a step before his wings caught in the doorframe. The newly-grown limbs would have been sensitive enough without the abuse they'd suffered; the collision sent a red-hot jab of pain rocketing down his spine. Char hissed and backed up, biting back a swear. Stupid wi...

Stupid wings?!

Char twisted in a frantic circle, trying to get a look at them. Those... those were wings, alright. On his body. Attached to him. His wings. That he had. Because he had wings. Why were there wings? Frantically, Char looked down at his hands. Long, thin arms. Battered, sliced up, bruised, but still unmistakably orange. They rose up to the top of his head. Two horns. Not one. Sticking out of him like antennae. Underneath that, some kind of freaky swan neck. Way too long. No wonder he'd felt so heavy... he was huge. He hadn't even noticed his own height at first -- he'd assumed he was human, but... no. He was just giant. And orange. And there were wings.

...Char needed to sit down. So he did. On the floor. He was positively dizzy with shock. This... was he hallucinating? High out of his mind? He had to be, because suddenly he was a Charizard and that made no sense because why was he a Charizard oh god this was not something he could just undo oh god. Frantically, he tried making the switch back to his human form, hoping that it would all go away and he'd be back to normal.

Those wings were still there. Offensive, mangled, alien objects, protruding from his skin like leeches. Looking at them made him feel vaguely sick. So he didn't. Maybe if... if he just pretended they didn't exist, he... oh god, he needed to figure out what had happened. Char tried to fold them against his back, but they wouldn't respond. Maybe they were too smashed up to move. Maybe he just couldn't figure out how to move muscles he'd apparently grown overnight.

...He sucked it up and forced his way through the doorway anyhow, pulling them through with brute force. Doing his best to tune out the screaming pain that stupid move brought on. He was quite sure he was going to faint. Maybe he should sit down again.

Char pressed on, keeping a hand against the hallway for support and trying to pretend his legs weren't shaking. The last he could recall, he'd been looking for Sharks to rough up. Did they do this? No, that was crazy. They were just a bunch of punks. Nowhere near tough enough to hurt him like this. He'd never evolve for something like that. Never. ...Oh. He'd made it out to the lobby. Several waiting trainers and a few Pokemon stared. For half a second, he desperately looked for Green's face in that crowd. Stupid. What the hell was he hoping to find? Green wasn't here. Even if he was... he'd be looking for a Charmeleon.

One of the helper Chanseys had noticed him. She waddled up, chiding him in Pokemon-speak. "Mr. Kerosene...? What are you doing out of bed? You shouldn't have transformed, you've messed up your bandages. Come on, let's go back to your room. You can't leave yet, we haven't been able to contact your trainer."

He opened his mouth to speak -- tell her not to call him Kerosene -- Who'd even told her to call him that, anyway? -- didn't need to contact his trainer, he could take care of himself -- but all that came out was a hoarse little rasp. His voice was raw, like he'd been screaming nonstop for a day or two, and his neck throbbed. Bruised, bitten. But what part of him wasn't? He could have laughed. Instead, he just ignored the Chansey, brushed right past her. There was always a PC in Pokemon Center lobbies. Char logged onto the school network, frantically typing out a hasty message:

What the hell happened?

Comments

[monotreme-101.livejournal.com]

Lots of stuff has happened.

Where are you?

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

In the city. Tell me what happened.

[monotreme-101.livejournal.com]

First of all, I offered to share lunch with you the other day and you wound up beating the snot outa me. We trashed the caffeteria... I was trying mostly just to get you to calm down or just plain tire you out but you weren't having it. I figured you maybe had some kinda... mind control thing going on. Like the floro sprouts or whatever it was that made some Pokemon get all weird and aggressive during that one huge storm a few months back.

Then I hear all this talk of a charizard picking fights and hurting people but I was kinda recovering from my own damage so didn't hear about it till too late n was no help to anybody. Forest near school got set on fire pretty bad... but I don't know whether the two are related or whatever.

So you're in the city - You OK, man? If you're banged up or whatever I could bring my bike down n get you back to school faster?

[Le Private!]

[icequeen-aran.livejournal.com]

Where are you?

[Also Private!]

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

...Pokemon Center.

[Very private]

[icequeen-aran.livejournal.com]

What is the last thing you remember...?

[rivalrazorleaf]

[P-p-permission for action post with pudding cups?]

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

[yplz.]

[rivalrazorleaf]

[Aww yeah. Bulba had just been out of the room for a few minutes. He had bullied his way into staying. There wasn't anyway he was getting kicked out until he knew Char was okay. He was hungry and that vending machine down the hall had pudding cups of all things. He went back into Char's room and was back out in a flash because sdgsdfhf where did he go.]

Char?

[He followed the trail of bandage pieces to the lobby!]

Char!

whoop I can spell

[ghostly-nyx.livejournal.com]

No idea. Where've you been the last couple days? Some Charizard wanderin' around pickin' fights for no good reason. Thought you would'a been all over that.

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

A... Charizard.

[Oh god.]

Pickin' fights. Pickin' fights with who?

[Oh god.]

Did he hurt you?

[ghostly-nyx.livejournal.com]

I dunno who all, really. Looks like he got Max pretty good, and set half the damn forest on fire.

Eh... y'know. Nothin' I can't handle. Burn here or there, but... I got him good. Dumbass tried to fight me in a room he couldn't even move in right. Didn't stand a chance.
[She's pretty happy with herself. Yeah, nobody's ever accused her of being the brightest.]

[Private but hackable!]

[umbreon-blacky.livejournal.com]

If you're in the same hospital as me I swear I will pull the plug on any system you're hooked up to

You tell me.

[Private but hackable!]

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

[Somehow not the response he'd expected.]

What's your problem?

Re: [Private but hackable!]

[umbreon-blacky.livejournal.com]

...You don't remember anything, hm? That's strange. I remembered. Perhaps it wasn't you after all, but...

As everyone else has said, there was a rampaging Charizard in the school. I seem to recall that Samus thought it was you.

[tank-rockarms.livejournal.com]

Hey, Char. Where the heck have you been? I guess there was some sorta gang infestation while I was gone? People talked about that. I won the Orange Star Strongest Man contest. I got attacked by some crazy charizard on crack. I did 20 reps at 1400 yesterday for squats. I ain't seen Bulba since I got back, neither, which is weird 'cause that kid is usually good about doin' his weight training.

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

Bulba's here.

[fffffgh why is this so hard.]

Uh. Max. About that crazy Charizard on crack.

[tank-rockarms.livejournal.com]

Oh okay, good. Where's here?

Yeah, that thing was crazy. You're related to those things right? They all that crazy? The thing threw a trashcan at me through a window, tried to burn me like four or five times, bit my leg (I got a bunch of stitches now), and the damn charizard even tried to bite my neck. I never knew pokemon to try and kill a guy before.

I roughed it up some, rammed it into a wall and punched it in the jaw a few times, then picked the thing up and tossed it outside like a wet rag. That was on fire. I think maybe slowpoke helped some 'cause I found him after the fight was over and there was a little water, but not a lot, just a little, mostly on what was left of my shirt, where that damn charizard was jabbin' me with it's tail.

Goddamnit just talkin' about it made me all angry again.

[toyboxarmy.livejournal.com]

[NOT TALKING TO YOU]

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

[Well it's nice to know some good came out of this situation]

[rockinthrutime.livejournal.com]

You've woken up.

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately.

[rockinthrutime.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're safe.

[yellow-binesi.livejournal.com]

[blazinglizard.livejournal.com]

Fuckin' the town up, apparently.