With everyone pitching in, they finally managed to haul Charizard back to the villa.
Charizard had already regained consciousness, but after taking such a brutal beating both physically and emotionally, he seemed to have shut himself off. He simply kept his eyes closed and played dead.
"Charizard, hang in there. I'll take care of your injuries."
Ash knelt on the ground in a fluster, rubbing Charizard down to get his circulation going and help with the bruising.
Before long, though, Ash's own hands began showing signs of frostbite, turning bright red.
Shellder's Ice Beam had been extremely cold. Although the ice encasing Charizard had already been broken away, a great deal of lingering cold remained trapped in his skin.
Ash might have been a superhuman rookie, but he had already spent several hours straight rubbing Charizard down. No matter how tough he was, even he was starting to reach his limit.
"Pika, pika..."
Pikachu watched him anxiously, trying to convince Ash not to push himself so hard.
Pokémon were naturally resilient. As long as the frostbite didn't get any worse, Charizard should recover without too much trouble.
"Pikachu, I'm fine. I'm Charizard's Trainer. Taking care of his injuries is my responsibility."
Even so, Ash shook his head and continued treating Charizard's frostbite, enduring the pain in his own hands.
Meanwhile, on the villa's second floor, Caster, Misty, and Brock stood quietly together in front of a glass window, looking down at Ash.
Misty looked doubtful. "Caster, do you really think Charizard will listen to Ash after this?"
Before the practice battle had even begun, Caster had secretly filled Misty and Brock in on his plan. The two of them knew exactly what he was trying to do, and they fully supported it.
After all, an unruly Charizard was the biggest wild card in their travels.
When Charizard was in a good mood, he could be an enormous help against outside threats. But when he was in a bad mood, he could cause just as much trouble for the group. Neither Misty nor Brock said it aloud, but they both wanted this unpredictable problem dealt with.
"It should work... probably."
Caster smiled, though even he wasn't one hundred percent certain.
He had recreated the events of the anime almost step for step.
If everything went smoothly, Ash would spend the entire night warming Charizard up, tending to his frostbite, and talking about his dream of fighting side by side with him someday and winning battle after battle together.
Charizard, already depressed after being dealt such a crushing physical and emotional blow, would be moved by Ash's words and actions. Then he would remember the days before he evolved, finally accept Ash in his heart, and gradually become obedient from then on.
"Look! Just now, when Ash wasn't paying attention, Charizard opened his eyes and snuck a few glances at him. The look in Charizard's eyes is completely different from before!"
Brock suddenly exclaimed, then said excitedly, "Caster's plan might really work!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself! It's only ten o'clock. There's still a whole night ahead of us!"
Caster smiled. If this really worked, he'd have done Ash one hell of a favor.
As for Ritchie, Caster could only say sorry.
"Oh, right! Misty, take this blanket down to Ash. Have him cover Charizard with it to keep him warm."
Caster picked up a thick blanket and handed it to Misty. Then he pointed at the food on the table and said to Brock, "Brock, bring Ash something warm to drink and some food! He hasn't had so much as a sip of water for hours, ever since Charizard got hurt. Even he can't keep this up!"
Seeing Caster assign everything so neatly, Misty pouted.
"Caster, why don't you go yourself?"
"Me? Right now, I'm the big bad guy in Charizard's eyes."
Caster smiled, folded his arms, and looked down at Ash from above.
"If I suddenly start fussing over him too, wouldn't that ruin the whole act? If everything we've done so far goes to waste, that'd be a shame."
Hearing this, Misty and Brock were deeply moved. In their minds, Caster was quickly becoming a noble, upright, selfless hero, and their admiration for him only grew.
Watching the two of them leave, Caster returned to the window and looked down at Ash again, his gaze thoughtful.
Ash had been the protagonist Caster had followed for more than a decade. He genuinely hoped Ash could mature a little faster instead of stumbling around as recklessly as he had in the original series.
If circumstances allowed, Caster was also looking forward to someday having an all-out battle against the ace Pokémon Ash would raise throughout his travels.
Pikachu, Charizard, Snorlax, Sceptile, Infernape, Greninja...
As for Ash's current team, Caster honestly didn't think much of it.
After all, Ash's strongest Pokémon at the moment was Charizard, and even Shellder, the newest member of Caster's team, was more than capable of crushing him.
The gap between their strengths was simply too large.
In the backyard.
With Misty and Brock helping out, Ash finally finished treating Charizard's frostbite.
He was completely exhausted, but somehow he still couldn't sleep.
Remembering the crushing defeat earlier that day, Ash leaned back against Charizard and gazed up at the stars.
"Charizard, I know you think I'm not good enough as a Trainer, so you don't respect me..."
...
"I also know you don't like fighting opponents who are too weak..."
"But my dream is that someday, you and I can fight side by side and defeat powerful opponents together..."
Ash's words were completely sincere.
At the same time, deep down, Ash also knew that he was still pretty inexperienced.
His ability as a Trainer simply wasn't good enough to match Charizard's strength. That was the fundamental reason Charizard refused to obey him.
But Ash really did love Charizard!
Hearing this, Charizard, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them once again and secretly glanced at Ash, countless thoughts running through his mind.
Ash might be kind of a doofus, but Charizard could feel how sincere he was.
Without realizing it, memories from the past began surfacing in Charizard's mind.
He remembered the first time he had met Ash. Back then, Damian had abandoned him for being weak, leaving him to wait helplessly on a rock until his life was hanging by a thread.
Ash had gone through all kinds of trouble to save his life and rushed him to a Pokémon Center for emergency treatment.
After that came memories of how he had traveled and grown alongside Ash.
The problem was simply that Charizard had grown too quickly while Ash failed to keep pace, which eventually led Charizard to disobey him.
But now, putting himself in Ash's shoes, Charizard suddenly felt like he had been acting like a real jerk.
Damian had abandoned him for being weak, while Ash had accepted him anyway and raised him.
Now that Charizard had become strong, he had turned around and started looking down on his own Trainer for being weak?
How was that any different from what Damian had done to him?
At that thought, Charizard was overwhelmed with shame, and hot tears welled in his eyes.
At the same time, a powerful surge of energy rose from deep within his body.
He wanted to fight for Ash!!!
"Rrroar..."
Charizard looked at the idiot who had fallen asleep beside him without even a blanket and sighed. He spread one wing over Ash to keep him from getting cold during the night.
On the villa's third floor, Caster and the others were still awake.
But the moment the three of them saw Charizard cover Ash with his wing, they knew the plan had most likely succeeded.
...
At the same time, Misty and Brock found themselves genuinely admiring Caster.
"All right! Everyone, get some sleep!"
Caster smiled and waved, telling everyone they could finally rest easy.
The next day.
The sun was already high in the sky, but everyone was still sleeping in.
BOOM!
Without warning, a violent explosion erupted from the backyard downstairs, shaking the entire villa.
"What happened? Was that an earthquake?"
"Doesn't feel like one. It sounded like something exploded in the backyard."
"The backyard? Ash and Charizard are still out there! What if something happened to them?"
Caster and the others hurried downstairs to see what was going on, only to find Ash and Charizard standing side by side, both looking thrilled.
Meanwhile, a huge hole had somehow appeared in the backyard wall.
"Ash, what just happened?"
Brock hurriedly asked.
"Something great!"
Ash strode forward proudly.
"Charizard finally understands how I feel, and he's willing to listen to me now! And that's not all. Charizard even learned a new move!"
"I just checked it with the Pokédex. It's a Dragon-type move called Dragon Rage. Apparently, it has incredible destructive power..."