WARNING: Contains graphic material briefly in the beginning.

She could smell the horrid burning flesh, long hear the echoing screams, and couldn’t scratch out the image of a body in flames and skin melting off until muscle and then bone started to show. His eyeballs were beginning to almost pop out, if only because the skin around it was melting back. At some parts, some of his skin was blackening and then fully becoming burnt.

Even as she lay on the ground in pain from the beating, Ash was able to easily see the whole thing being done, and even almost in slow motion.

She knew this was her chance. She could use this to run away from there, with Maximus and Pikachu. But her entire body was screeching in pain and she couldn’t get rid of the image of the man burning alive.

Fortunately, her pokémon were loyal and smart, and Maximus bent down and quickly scooped her up, with her Pikachu climbing onto Maximus’ back and keeping a tight hold around the fiery pokémon’s neck. Without another pause, Maximus started to run and get out of there.

Dazed, Ash wondered why Maximus hadn’t started to fly them away.

 ~*~*~

Siebold looked up and saw gray skies. It was probably going to rain soon, by his estimation. He would have to hurry up to his home, especially if he did not want the ingredients for his tortellini soup to go to waste in the rain.

 Just then, he saw a billow of smoke coming from an alley, and he curiously moved closer and peeked into it. There was an enormous Charizard inside, hunching over itself and its wings clearly mangled and injured. He scowled to himself, knowing that whoever had done such a thing to the poor pokémon was a disgusting creature. If it had been its owner, then Siebold would be sure to report this person…

Cautiously making his way into the alley, he made sure to kick a small piece of rock to announce his presence into the alley. Immediately, the Charizard snapped its head towards Siebold’s direction, snarling menacingly at him.

“It’s okay,” he tried to soothe it, though his hands being full of groceries was impeding his ability to show the Charizard he meant no harm. He slowly put his bags to the floor and held up his hands. “I mean you no harm.”

The Charizard was still in an aggressive stance, watching him closely.

“Let me help you,” Siebold said then. “You are hurt. I promise I only wish to help.”

It grunted and shifted, and suddenly was standing at its full impressive height, more than towering over Siebold and its head almost out of the alley. But Siebold caught sight of what it held in its arms, and he had the sinking feeling that the owner wasn’t the cause of the Charizard’s injuries, but was the poor girl in its arms.

“T-that girl –”

It roared then, holding the girl protectively closer and beginning to get ready to breathe fire.

“Wait!” Siebold hurriedly said. “I won’t hurt her, I swear! She needs help too, doesn’t she? I can help her.”

It stopped its attack and glared down at him, scrutinizing him almost. But it settled down and suddenly a Pikachu popped up over the Charizard’s shoulder.

“Pika Pika!” the electric mouse scrambled down the Charizard and rushed to him, tugging at his pants.

He hesitantly followed it to the Charizard, who stiffened upon him coming closer. But Siebold was safely by its side and managed to have a clearer view of the girl.

“Is she your owner?”

Both pokémon gave an affirmative answer, and he wondered what had happened to these three that they had ended up here and in this condition.

“Can you walk?” he addressed the Charizard, who nodded. “Then carry her and follow me to my home. I can help you there.”

He had a feeling that he wouldn’t have been allowed to carry the girl anyway.

He turned and went back to his groceries, picking them up and heading home quickly. He was very aware of the loud footsteps behind him, signaling the heavy gait of the Charizard following him closely. It made him hurry faster to his home, where he quickly put the groceries onto the table and went back out of the villa to where the Charizard and Pikachu waited in his courtyard. He carefully took the girl from her protector, who obviously was reluctant to let go.

“Do either of you have a pokéball?” he asked them after he’d settled the girl in a comfortable place, and the Pikachu came over to him and held up a pokéball and then pointed to Charizard. Then it pointed to itself and shook its head.

“So this one belongs to that Charizard and you don’t have one?” he came to the conclusion.

Pikachu nodded, so Siebold turned to the Charizard. “I can fix up your Mistress here, but there’s only so much I can do for you. The little injuries I can make sure to fix with a Hyper Potion and a Burn Heal, but your wings…I will need to take you to the Pokémon Center.”

The Charizard grunted and shifted restlessly, and he assumed that meant it wasn’t happy with that suggestion.

“There’s only so much I can do for your wings,” he murmured, eying the torn up wings sadly. “Nurse Joy can do more for you. I do not wish for your wings to become permanently crippled.”

It was quiet a moment, before the Pikachu came up to it and said something. The Charizard huffed, but used its snout to push Siebold in the direction of the girl in his villa, and then moving around him to use the same snout to push the pokéball’s button, leading to it returning into it. The Pikachu then came up to him and held up the pokéball, and Siebold carefully took it.

“Rest well,” he said softly. “You have protected your mistress well.”

He had a feeling the Charizard and the Pikachu were the cause of great help of getting away from this girl’s drastic situation.

Once he came back inside, the Pikachu followed behind him and watched as he got his supplies together. He would have to work on the girl first, as humans were built more fragile than pokémon and the pokéball would already be helping the Charizard to heal a bit. He hesitated before grabbing his camera. If this was an assault of some kind, it was best he took pictures as evidence against the culprits.

“After I’ve done what I can, I think I should take her to the hospital,” he told the Pikachu.

He was surprised when the Pikachu vehemently shook its head and protested.

“Pika Pika! Pikachu!”

Siebold immediately grew an uneasy feeling. “Okay. I guess I won’t.”

It seemed he would have to wait until the girl woke up for him to find out anything.

He was quick to take the pictures, before he began cleaning her wounds. Whoever did this to her was thorough in their beating. Much of her skin was discolored, and there was blood everywhere it seemed. Her hair was matted to her forehead and the sides of her face, but as he cleared dirt, blood and sweat from her, he could clearly see she was quite young but also very pretty.

“What is your name, I wonder?” Siebold murmured, pushing her hair out of her face. “And what happened to you and your pokémon?”

But no answer came to him, and she stayed silent in her unconsciousness.

He did what he could for her wounds, disinfecting after he’d finished cleaning them. Then he dressed them in bandages, before contemplating her clothes. Or lack thereof.

She was wearing a simple nightshift, so he wondered what in the world had happened for her to end up outside, in the cold, in only that? It was filthy now too, so it would be his best bet to change her into something warmer and would cover her more.

Quickly, he found pajamas belonging to Valerie, from whenever the female gym leader unexpectedly dropped by and always ended up leaving her things behind after every stay. She always was rather whimsical, but it befitted her favored pokémon type...

“I’m going to change her into something warmer,” he informed the Pikachu, showing it the pajamas.

It wrinkled its nose, but nodded its okay, so Siebold did his best to quickly but respectfully take her slip off and put on the pajamas. Afterwards, he tucked her into bed, making sure the blanket covered her and would keep her warm. He could hear the pit patter of the rain, and knew it had started raining as he’d predicted.

“Let us get you and your friend some food. I’m afraid my ballroom is the only place big enough for him, so he’ll have to stay there for now, especially with the rain,” he told the Pikachu, quickly deducing from its tail that it was a male. It was just a guess, but he thought the Charizard was one as well.

He’d have to get started on that soup too, especially now that he had a guest.

 ~*~*~

He’d just finished making the soup when he heard some loud thumps, and thought maybe his guest was up now. Her Pikachu was currently sleeping, as was the Charizard, who had stayed out of the pokéball for the time being. His villa was large, but wasn’t large enough to truly accommodate the Charizard’s unusual size. It was luck that his ballroom was large enough for it, although it was unfortunately far from where the girl was being kept.

Siebold quickly scooped some soup into a bowl, hoping the girl would like to eat. It would also help warm her enough, and she’d looked cold back out there and in her nightshift. Heading to her room, he was surprised to find she wasn’t on the bed and cautiously went inside.

He sighed, seeing the girl curled up in the corner.

“Hello,” he said kindly, and she lifted her head quickly, watching him with wide eyes. “Are you hungry?”

She watched him warily, but he held up the bowl. Reaching slowly to the side, he turned on the lights. Cleaned up and underneath the lights, Siebold was painfully reminded just how young she looked.

“I found your Charizard and your Pikachu,” he started quietly, thinking that maybe the mention of her faithful pokémon could lower her guard. “They were protectively standing guard over you, but allowed me to lead them here, to where I could help you.”

“Maximus and Pikachu are here?” she asked, her voice sounding hoarse.

He disappointedly thought that he’d forgotten she might want some water to soothe her throat and her thirst. How silly, especially as a water trainer…

“I have food here, but I forgot the water. If you’d like to follow me, I can bring you to the kitchen, where you can eat and drink and also see Pikachu,” Siebold offered. “Maximus is your Charizard?” at her nod, he continued. “Then he is in my ballroom, sleeping and resting.”

She tried to speak, but nothing came out. But she licked her lips and tried again.

“I’ll come with you,” she said, and then attempted to stand up on wobbly legs.

Frowning to himself, he put aside the bowl in his hands and decided he could pick that one up later and just get her a new one from the kitchen. He traveled to her side and helped steady her, noting her going stiff at his touch. He had her lean against him, using him as a support, and then led the way back to his kitchen, where she could clearly see her Pikachu contentedly asleep by where he had eaten.

In his large and elaborate kitchen, he helped her to the table and prepared another bowl and set it in front of her, before getting some water. He had planned on making crème brulée, but he hadn’t the time after finishing the soup, but perhaps she’d like it now…

“This is my recipe for a rustic Italian tortellini soup,” he placed the water near her, and gestured at the bowl of soup. “I hope you enjoy.”

She gave him a shy smile that made him pause and even feel odd, but also made him smile back as well.

“I shall be making crème brulée for dessert,” he decided finally, and thought she might like something sweet to cheer her up.

“Are you a chef?” she asked hesitantly.

He was taken aback by the fact she didn’t know who he was, but thought it was a nice change. And he did like being known for his culinary skills as well.

“Yes, you could say that,” he nodded at her. “I love cooking. To me, cooking is like an art. I see art as fleeting and intangible at times, just as in cooking, the food disappears quickly and a testament to the taste that was cultivated in making it.”

She looked at him in wonderment, and he felt pleased.

“Would you like to help me cook the crème brulée?” he suddenly offered, getting the idea then.

She looked surprised, before giving another shy smile and nodding.

“Very well. I shall wait, for you must eat up first,” he returned her smile again, and went to get himself his own bowl of the soup.

As he sat opposite her, he remembered he’d been remised in his manners.

“My name is Siebold,” he introduced himself.

She stayed quiet a bit, before she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Ash,” she said quietly. “My name’s Ash. Thank you…thank you for helping us.”

And Siebold had the feeling that he did, indeed, do them a huge help in taking them in.

He surreptitiously watched her after that, delighted at how she seemed to inhale his soup and seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps she was just really hungry, but the look on her face told him that she truly liked it. He also began to eat his food, smiling to himself at another success.

If he could bring enjoyment like that to her through his soup, he hoped he could bring a measure of healing through their crème brulée.

As he found out though, she was a very good cook in her own right. He wanted to ask her all sorts of questions, particularly where she’d learned to cook, but wasn’t sure if he was going to be too invasive. She seemed skittish and from what he guessed so far, she and her pokémon had barely escaped from a dangerous situation.

He was hoping to earn a little small bit of trust through making this dessert with her. A lot can be said in cooking and cooking together.

Siebold had considered her injuries, and was glad that making this particular dessert didn’t require too much strain on the body. She had no problems moving around too much, and he was glad that she seemed to have no broken bones. He would still like to have her checked out, but considering her pokémon’s adamancy against bringing her to a hospital, he had to stay away from that option.

Perhaps she was a runaway? What if she had a bad home life? Or maybe her injuries had come from home, and she’d run away as a result. There was nothing to say that her injuries came an outside source, and that maybe her family might have –

“When will it be done?” Ash asked curiously, curled up in front of the stove.

He glanced at the timer. “Soon, I should think. We can enjoy it in a few minutes, it looks like.”

Siebold looked down at her and felt like he needed to ask those questions, even if they would be invasive. He wanted to help her, but he knew nothing of what happened.

“What happened to you?” he asked suddenly, making her flinch.

She looked up at him from her spot on the floor, and he looked straight into her eyes and could see the pain and fear in them.

“You’ll get hurt, if I tell you,” she surprisingly whispered. “They’ll find you and hurt you for helping me.”

He frowned. “Who is ‘they’? I’ll be fine, ma colombe. I can take care of myself. I just want to make sure you are safe and I do not accidentally allow you back into harm’s way.”

She clutched her arms around herself and blinked her eyes, staring at the oven for a moment. When she spoke, she did so very softly, and Siebold strained to hear her.

“I ran from home,” so she was a runaway. “My mother had been lying to me about letting me go on a pokémon journey when I would be old enough, and Maximus flew me all the way to Saffron City.”

That took Siebold completely aback. Kanto? She was from that far away? At least he was glad that his thoughts about her home life didn’t seem to come out true.

“There was a free show and they let me in with Pikachu. It was great until the show ended and they were letting some people go see a tour of the back. I got to go, but…”

Siebold suddenly felt a sense of trepidation, and he watched her carefully. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her arm.

“They were mean people. They tricked us all and kidnapped us. And then we were all being taken away and they were selling us and doing all bunch of horrible things to everyone!” she cried out, and Siebold lost his breath.

If he was hearing right, he had just saved and helped a victim of one of those traffickers.

He knelt down and pushed his blond hair from his face as he gently took one of her hands. And that’s when she burst out and told him everything that had happened to her, and he cringed and yet also felt fury against these monsters.

“Ma petite colombe, I promise you are safe right now. However, I must tell you that you are in Kalos,” he reluctantly revealed, and she stared at him in shock.

Then she really started crying and was trying to stop herself, frantically rubbing at her eyes.

“B-but I’m so far away from home! H-How will I ever get back? I don’t think M-Maximus can make it all the way back to Kanto,” Ash sobbed.

Siebold used his sleeve to wipe her tears, giving her a gentle smile after.

“I will do what I can to help you. For now, you must rest and recover, as do your pokémon,” at that, he remembered and hesitated. “I must…show you Maximus now, in fact.”

Even if the great fire-type was sleeping, he needed to let her know about Maximus’ wings. She didn’t seem like she knew…

After taking out the crème brulée from the oven, glad it finished right then, he put it on top of the stove and let it cool off. Then he grabbed her hand and slowly led her to where Maximus slept. As she laid eyes on her beloved Charizard, she gasped and her hands flew up to her mouth.

“H-his wings!” she reached out towards the Charizard, before her hand dropped to her side. She blinked back tears. “What happened?”

Siebold sighed. “I’m not sure. I believe the traffickers that held you had done that. Most likely to keep him from flying off, especially with one of their captures.”

“They knew he was mine,” Ash whispered. “They…Tobias didn’t want me to just run off.”

Siebold wished he could find this Tobias. This man had no business being out in the world. He needed to be found and locked away.

He watched silently as Ash walked towards Maximus, and settled herself against his large body, her small arms reaching as much as she could around the Charizard.

 ~*~*~

Siebold led her back to the kitchen, knowing that Maximus would probably not be happy seeing his charge upset over his injured state. He silently cut pieces of the dessert, and then turned on the TV. At this point, news of the traffickers were on the television, making Ash stiffen up. However, there was even more surprising news of Team Rocket being involved with them, though he hadn’t thought the criminal organization had anything to do with the traffickers. But then he was further surprised by just how exactly Team Rocket was involved with the traffickers.

“Thieves or vigilantes? In a surprising move, Team Rocket has been steadily hunting down these group of traffickers, brutally making examples of them. Just recently, a group of victims and traffickers were extracted from a site in Vermilion, where sources say Team Rocket infiltrated and then interrupted a slave auction in an unnamed warehouse. They then rescued the victims, before taking the higher-ranks of the traffickers and setting them alight, burning them alive.

“Rumors have even surfaced that the leader of Team Rocket had been there and had exacted that deed himself, though this has yet to be confirmed. Miriam Hall, you’ve been vocal about the focus on the Teams, and how the focus should instead be focused on these traffickers. What is your opinion about this sudden change in this story?”

“I’ve said it before –our focus was entirely too much on those Teams. It’s incredibly ironic and ridiculous now that one of those Teams, that a criminal group, had to be the ones to take matters into their own hands. I applaud them. In fact, I would rather put my full support behind a bunch of criminal vigilantes that are actually doing something about this situation, than our lackluster law force who has done nothing so far to fix this horrible problem.”

Siebold had no idea why the change of heart, but he wished Team Rocket would completely and quickly eliminate this group of people. Normally, he (and he suspected many of the other gym leaders and the Elite Four, not just of his region even) hadn’t thought too much on the ongoing situation about these traffickers or really put in any input or help, especially since the traffickers and their activities went under the radar (more so when the spotlight was usually on the Teams in the first place).

He glanced at the quiet girl near him, spooning a piece of the dessert and morosely eating it.

He suppose, when confronted of it and experiencing firsthand the tragedy of a victim that had actually managed to escape the hold of those traffickers, made things be put into perspective. It made him disgusted at himself and the others, at how blasé they’d been about the situation, and how much the focus on the Teams had obstructed their view of other illegal and inhumane things that had been going on from right under their nose.

And the fact was, who knew who was part of those traffickers, if Pikachu and Ash were so reticent to reach out to others?

He wanted to help her, but he wasn’t sure how. There weren’t anyone he was sure of, and he had become suspicious of places like hospitals and the police station, if Ash’s hesitance and refusal were anything to go by. Who to trust, who to keep away? Where to go?

“You’ll be fine here,” he reassured her. At the least, she could stay at his home. “I will make sure no harm comes before you here.”

Ash was startled at his words, before she hesitantly gave a grateful smile. He was lucky enough she managed to trust him, and he would do all he could to help her. His eyes were suddenly drawn in the direction where he knew Maximus was.

The Charizard had saved her, and he could feel how attached and loved the pokémon was by Ash. They had such a strong bond already, without even going on a journey together…

“Ash, how would you like to learn about Mega Evolution?”

And as she looked at him curiously, he knew he’d made the right choice to find a way to help Maximus get even stronger than he already was, in order to protect her.

~*~*~

It was a week later that Siebold had a meeting with the other Kalos Elite and Diantha. There was going to be something about restricting the number of challengers per week, to allow them and their pokémon adequate rest and their own downtime, and he was quite glad for it. Usually, there wasn’t many challengers in the first place, but recently however, there seemed to be a huge surge of them and they all wanted to battle at the same time, same day, or at least the same week. They were even considering adapting to Kanto’s usual method of challengers only coming from a League winner, rather than any who had successfully obtained all the badges…

“I believe we should try out the restrictions first, before we decide using the Indigo standard,” Wikstrom solemnly suggested.

“If we do, we could at least have had tried to accommodate the challengers, before we give it up and let them battle it out for a spot to challenge us,” Drasna agreed.

Siebold stayed quiet, though he admitted that he mostly wasn’t too concerned about this. He had left Ash alone at his home, even with just her pokémon, and he was worried about her. He hadn’t left her alone before, and he was unsure and worried what would happen while he was gone. What if one of those traffickers had managed to –

“Siebold, what do you think?” Diantha asked him.

Siebold hid his flinch and looked at the Champion with a steady gaze. “I agree with the others, if only to show we made an effort for the challengers. Many of them come to us, even when they are clearly not ready, so fighting against a League winner would give us the most prepared opponent possible. Eventually the Indigo standard should be put in place and our time will not be wasted with arrogant and immature challengers.”

Malva laughed lightly. “Well said, Siebold! I agree –I hate it when some of these brats strut in and waste my time. If we can cut that number of challengers in half, I’d still be happy.”

Diantha sighed, but smiled slightly at her colleagues. “Very well. I will address the situation and our decision to the Kalos League Board.”

With the meeting over, everyone was getting ready to leave. Siebold hesitated, wondering if maybe…Of all the people, he could trust these four, couldn’t he? They were his friends and colleagues, and they’d known each other for a very long time…

“Would you all like to come over for dinner?” Siebold asked quietly. And then, hesitatingly, he added, “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

The other four exchanged looks, before Diantha turned to him.

“Of course, Siebold. I would love to.”

And the others echoed their agreement, and he hoped that Ash would be okay meeting the others.