Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Card Captor Ashura: The Complete Series ❯ CCA Special: Charlotte's vignette ( Chapter 201 )

Charlotte's vignette

Just a little spiel on her duty as a Chosen and the Fire Guardian, a little of her past, and I really tried to write this well, so bear with me. Vagueness is probably meant to be that way.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. But I hardly mention pokemon in this. Oh well, it belongs to Nintendo. And the Triple Guardianship, Charlotte, Eterneon, etc, belong to me.

 

You know me as the Fire Guardian. The first of the triple guardianship, the one who's died the most in battle…because the ice guardian seems to inflict harm on herself whenever Thunder forgets her…

 

Which, fortunately, isn't all that often. Otherwise we'd really be in trouble.

We're a balance. The three of us - fire, ice, and thunder. I'm the oldest.

I'm supposed to act mature all the time.

That's so annoying! Anyways, Lance acts more mature than I do most of the time. What can I say, I get excited and raring to go most of the time, hey, I'm fire, so don't give me that weird look!

Fire-blooded, fire/light magic, that's me!

My emotions run like fire too. Well, okay, after the seventh or so rebirth they stopped. I kept my heart sealed with light. It also calmed me down. So I guess it was a good thing.

I suppose you want to hear about my past now. No long, boring lecture on duty, ne?

Here goes…

 

I was born to a married couple. My father was named Charles, my mother named Madeline.

I can't say I had a typical childhood. I may not look it now, when I manifest what I will, but the first time, I was weak and sickly, with pale hair and eyes, more wraithlike than human. Didn't fit the prophecy at all. Strange…

That is, until I become the Mistress of Revealing Light, but that's later on.

 

My parents lived in Saffron City, on the bottom of the social ladder, or pretty close to it.

I went to school. Nobody noticed me. But I was so weak that my parents wouldn't let me go on my pokemon journey until I was fifteen.

That was when my mother died. Cancer did her in; it had been eating away at her for at least seven years, before the final blow finally came. I'm surprised she lasted that long, she was a very weak-willed woman, easily taken advantage of. Still… she wasn't a very good mother. Too strict, she was old-school style, physical punishment and all that.

My father was a traveling pokemon salesman. He died when I was six. Attacked by wild pokemon, stupid, too stingy to use the Repel he was selling to keep away the venomous bugs.

My mother had a hard time taking care of us. Without any financial support from my father, she got a job as a waitress. I was only eight then, and I was left alone.

I buried myself in books and wished to be left alone.

And that was how I first discovered my power. A strange, glowing golden book in the library, that no one else could see. When I opened it, spirits surrounded me, hailing me as their mistress. They were faithful, now they reside as my Sun cards.

They kept me alive, because I would surely have gone mad without companionship.

Then, I wandered along, drifting. I set out on my pokemon journey, Charmander as my starter pokemon. I caught only fire and flying type pokemon. Pidgeot, Ninetails, Rapidash, Arcanine, Flareon…

Fire keeps me alive.

 

Fire burns brightly, like the sunshine. The prophecy says something about that. Still, I have to stay, to keep hope burning. After all, Honou represents hope, does he not?

 

Getting off topic, so I'll get back to where I was.

People have asked me if I have rivals.

Rivals? Hardly. What are the powers of a mere mortal against one of the Chosen? And yet, there was one, she was trying to destroy my happiness, so I ruined hers.

 

Rachel. She was a flaming brand, like a star, she had her moments of glory, and she gained the Ruby City gym position easily enough. But she burnt with a fire, a consuming fire that would slowly eat away at her from within. For she did not pursue the eternal fire of the sun, choosing the temporary fire of the world. Still, she defeated me once, and I paid her back in kind. The last battle, her Charizard versus my Eterneon, proved that light would endure after fire fell, which gave me confidence, since fire and light are my powers.

 

I flew through the Cosmos League, my fire types destroying any opposition. I gained the championship, and created my signature badge. The Solar System badge, which only two trainers have… the other two guardians… A badge of black crystal with slots to fit the nine League badges inside, as proof of mastery…perfectly made.

 

I was in my early twenties, quite ready for adventure, when I was summoned. Ice had awakened, and Thunder would awaken soon. The legendaries found us; taught us the words of the prophecy, showed us the roles we had to play.

So we played our parts to perfection. The three of us, different and yet alike, all living in the world, but not of it, ethereal and illusionary, like mist.

 

Death is not an ending. That much I have learned. Through battles, friendships, hope, despair, life, sorrow, joy, and time itself, death never defeats the enduring spirits.

 

Thunder and Ice, they will be together forever, even when the legend of the three is forgotten. But I am alone, a single light in the dark, a flame in a world of silence.

 

I do not mind. I only need my pokemon, after all.

 

Our pokemon stay with us, they are reincarnated with us, our love and companionship is eternal. Forever. Together. The cards stay in our hearts. The spirits we have created, our friends, they live in our hearts. The companions we have lost, whisper in our souls from time to time…

 

Sometimes, duty is harsh. It requires sacrifice. Sometimes, both Fire and Ice must be sacrificed for Thunder to defeat the darkness.

 

But I trust in him.

 

After all, if your soul brother were Chosen, would you not trust him? Ice loves him, sometimes he remembers, and sometimes he forgets, but she never does. She will always be waiting for him to return to her side.

And in the end, he will always return, because they are soul mates, meant to be together, so irrevocably bonded through love and magic…together for eternity.

 

I envy Ice sometimes. She has water, dragon, ice, and darkness under her command, while I have only fire and light. But she can tame the darkness, and I cannot, while water is my downfall. I never loved water… except while in the service of the Star Dragon. But water would consume me, putting out my flames, and I would never rise again. I have no great love for it. In fact, I fear it. But I do not fear the guardian, for we are comrades in arms.

 

Rebirth for me is like a phoenix, rising from the ashes, retaining little from its previous life. But the memories return when time wills, and who am I to argue against time?

 

The sun is setting. My magic wanes with the sun, and it is time I retired. I close my eyes, spread my wings, and blow a kiss to the setting sun. Then, the night steals in, and I return to my home, to the waiting pokemon, anxious for their dinners.

 

But I have hope. Like the cycle of life, light will always triumph over darkness in the end. Believe that, and the battle is already won. No matter the sacrifice, the cost, the lives lost, the guardians fallen, the final battle cannot ensure that light will fall.

 

For what is shadow, but another form of light?

 

End Charlotte's vignette.

If you think she sounds schizophrenic, then she might be.

 

Completed 3/21/04