Charlie: A Pokemon Cinderella Story. Chapter 05 by troy168 < Submission

Keywords male 1310938, female 1192953, pokemon 215827, human 112979, fantasy 28759, lucario 13412, gardevoir 3881, mightyena 2150, delphox 1481, buneary 1345, greninja 1087, persian 679, zigzagoon 543, liepard 516, rapidash 468, zebstrika 318, gothitelle 206, fairytale 143

A Dream Meeting

The sun shines over the castle of Espérer as the maids and servants are busy cleaning the castle while Madam Nicole walks through the halls as she checks the progress of their work. Once she sees that they're doing their jobs, she makes her way to the princess's room and knocks on the door. "Come in." Said Princess Maria. Nicole then enters the room as she sees that not only is the princess is awake, but also fully clothed. While some would find this shocking, Nicole knows that she would normally wake herself up only on two separate occasions and one of them involves her parents' birthdays. Nicole then said: "My. It seems that you are already dressed up for a special occasion." And the princess replied: "Of course. Today is sure to have a lovely nice weather for the hunt." The princess then stares at Nicole as she said: "By the way… You weren't planning on waking me up with one of your tricks, are you?" And Nicole replied: "Of course not, your highness. I would have never planned on something to wake you up." And although she said that, she is actually hiding a feather up her sleeve.

At the castle's ground near the entrance, Maria, Scarlet and the four hunters are preparing their supplies, their Rapidashes and their rifles for the upcoming hunting trip. The castle is known for its hunting trips and the hunter's oath, which reads: [FOR THOSE THAT HUNTS WILD POKEMON MUST OFFER THEIR LIVES TO THE WILD]. When they go out on their hunting trips, they would go and hunt predator Pokemon in the forest as a means to help keep the prey Pokemon alive. While the group is preparing for the hunt, the king, queen, Nicole and Emily are watching them from the patio. Emily then said: "Such a lovely morning to go on a hunt. I couldn't have planned it better myself." She then leans in towards the king and queen and whispered: "If you don't mind, I would like to invite my son into this trip. It's the perfect chance for him to meet the princess." And the queen said: "Why, that sounds romantic, Emily." And the King said: "And if they managed to fall in love with each other and get married, then we will know that our princess is responsible." Emily then bows to them and said: "Very well, I will let my son know he's welcome." The queen then turns to Nicole and asks: "And do you have someone that can join in on your trip?" And Nicole replied: "I'm afraid not, your highness. I still need time to find the right man for her." And Emily replied: "Well let's hope that my son doesn't put any pressure in your plan, Madam Nicole."

Back at the castle's ground. They are finishing their preparations as Maria and Scarlet got on their Rapidashes when the two spotted someone walking up to them. It looks like a Lucario with a suit and a feather on the suit as Emily walks up to the Lucario and said: "Princess Maria. Allow me to introduce to my son, Dan. He'll be accompanying us on our trip." Dan then bows his head as he said: "It's an honour to meet you, my princess. I hope that I won't be a burden to you." And Princess Maria said: "On the contrary, it's not often that I get to ride with such company." Scarlet then jokingly said: "It's a good thing that he has nothing resembling her mother, what so ever." This causes both Dan and Emily to laugh as Scarlet nervously said: "Oh… You heard that before…?" And Emily replied: "Please. One would have to be deaf if they haven't heard it before." The princess then said: "Well, if that's all right with everyone. We would like to get going." She then looks over and sees that their hunters are ready as she said to them: "Alright everyone! Let the hunt commence!" And with that said, they proceed to head out and leave the castle's ground as they began their hunting trip while a few minutes later, a carriage that carries Nicole, Emily and Dan, follows them on their hunting trip.

At Charlie's home, Albert and his sons and pets are currently in a carriage as Albert said: "Honestly… That boy is so slow. How long does it take to fill a simple picnic basket?" And Alex then said: "Why do we always have to wait for Charlie?!" And Max said: "Let's just go without him and make him go on foot!" While it may seem unusual for the family to go on a simple picnic trip, in actuality, Albert heard from his reliable source that the princess is going on a hunting trip to a forest that's near his house. He plans on using this trip to get close to the princess and hopefully gives him a chance to show how perfect his sons are. Max then said: "Just think… Getting to meet Princess Maria in the same forest like us. I can actually feel my knees trembling." And Alex said: "Yeah. Well fantasizing isn't going to get us closer to the princess." Alex then leans forward and said: "Cesar! Let's get going!" Cesar was standing outside waiting for Charlie as he said: "But… What about Charlie? He's still preparing your basket." "We'll leave him, Cesar. He'll just have to walk to the forest." Albert said. And Cesar knows what will happen if he disobeys, so he said: "As you wish."

Charlie was busy packing the basket with fresh loaves of bread and fruits. And although it has been slow, he wanted to make sure that there was enough for everybody. Once he managed to fill the basket, he makes his way to the front lobby and exits the house through the front doors. As he locks the front doors, he said: "Finally." He then turns around and expects to see a carriage and his family waiting for him. But instead, he discovers that the carriage is not there. Confused, he looks around for the carriage until he saw that the carriage from the distance, causing Charlie to say: "Oh no. They left without me." As he sees the carriage goes farther away from him, Zeus goes up to Charlie with a worried look on his face. Charlie then sighs as he said: "Oh well… At least we can have a picnic together, Zeus." And while this did get Zeus happy, he then looks over to where the carriage was going as Charlie looks at Zeus with a confused look. But then he looks at the same thing that Zeus is looking and Charlie knew what Zeus meant. Charlie then said: "That's right… My father would punish me if I didn't bring them their picnic basket." Charlie then goes down the steps and turns to Zeus as he said: "Let's go follow their trail, Zeus." Zeus lets out an excited bark as the two proceed to follow the trail. Nearby, Cinder watches the two off as she's eating her snack while saying: "That's it, sweetie. Don't let them get you down."

While it took them a while, they managed to get to the forest where the princess is hunting. They stopped at a stream near the waterfall. As Cesar unhinged the two Zebstrikas and leads them to a grassy field, both Alex and Max are searching for any signs of either the princess or her hunting party through their telescopes. "I don't see any signs of the princess, father." Alex said. Albert is sitting inside the carriage with Jen and Ruby as he said: "Be patient, my sons. This is a big forest, after all. She'll have to come around here eventually." As the two brothers continue to search for them, Max asks: "By the way, father… Who told you that the princess would come around here?" "A most reliable source, Max." Albert said. Just then, Max heard some bird Pokemon nearby as he looks over to where the bird Pokemon is as he spots something from the distance as he said: "Oh! I think I spot someone!" "Where! I don't see her!" Alex said as he quickly turns to where Max is looking, while Albert leans out of the window and said: "Is it the princess, Max?" As Max takes a closer look at his telescope, he only saw Charlie and Zeus from the distance. This causes Max to lower his telescope as he said: "No… It's just Charlie." As Albert leans back in, Charlie and Zeus runs up to the two brothers and said: "Sorry that I'm late, but I finally managed to find you." Albert then said: "Ah, what a shame. You weren't what we're looking for." As the two disgruntled brothers continue to look at their telescopes in different directions, Charlie said: "Oh… I'm sorry. But what are you looking for?" And Max quickly said: "None of your business!"

As time passes on. Alex and Max continue to search for any signs of the princess, though Max is helping himself to a loaf of bread. Albert is sitting on the sheet that Charlie lays out as he reads a book he brought along, while Ruby lays next to him and Jen lays near the stream. And as Charlie is setting up a small campfire nearby so he can cook the family their lunch, Cesar is currently fishing on the ledge that's over the stream with Zeus laying near him. After managing to get the campfire going, he walks over to Cesar and said: "Hey, Cesar. Have any luck?" And Cesar looks at him as he said: "Unfortunately not. And here I am hoping that I can catch myself some supper." Charlie then said: "Mind if I give it a shot, Cesar?" Wanting to let him fish, Cesar passes the fish pole over to Charlie as Cesar said: "Just remember to be patient, Charlie." As Charlie remains patient as he fishes, what he doesn't know is that Jen is staring at him with a grim smile on her face. A few moments later, Charlie notices a Magikarp getting close to the fishing hook. Just as he gets ready to pull the fish out the moment it latches onto a hook, the Magikarp suddenly swims away from the hook, causing Charlie to look around in confusion, until he discovers who the culprit is.

"Jen! I saw how you scare the Magikarp away, you bad cat!" Charlie said as he spots Jen acting asleep near the stream, though it didn't fool Charlie as he saw that Jen's tail is wet, proving that it was Jen who scared the Magikarp away. After he passes the fishing rod to Cesar, he goes up to Jen as he said: "You know, we would have caught that Magikarp if it wasn't for you, Jen." Jen quickly drops her act as she faces and hisses at Charlie. "Charlie!' Max yelled as he walks over to Jen and Charlie. Max then said: "Why are you trying to attack Jen for your lousy fishing skills?!" Charlie then looks at Max and said: "But I wasn't trying to-" "I don't want to hear it! Just don't-" Max said as he cuts Charlie off. But before he can finish, Jen suddenly proceeds to run pass one of Max's legs. This causes Max to stumbly turns around and clumsy walks backward and bumps into Charlie. This causes the hat that he was wearing to fly out of Max's head and a gust of wind caught his hat, causing Max to say: "Oh no! My hat!" As his hat flies further away from Max, Max turns to Charlie and said: "Way to go, Charlie! Now you made me lose my hat!" Even though it wasn't Charlie's fault, he knew that Albert would blame him for it anyway. So Charlie proceeds to follow the hat as he said: "Hold on, I'll get it for you." But as Cesar said: "Please, wait." Max proceeds to follow Charlie as he said: "Don't wait! Just hurry up and find it!"

Charlie continues to search for Max's hat in the forest, Max is right behind him as he impatiently said: "Well? Did you find it yet?" And Charlie turns around and said: "Hold on, I'm still looking." And as Charlie turns back and continues his search, Max said: "Well you better not lose it. That's my favourite hat." Charlie continues his search until he discovers Max's hat is stuck on a tree branch. Determined to get the hat back for Max, Charlie decided to climb up the tree. Just as he grabs on to the thick branch that has Max's hat and places his legs on the lower thicker branch for support, Max was following Charlie until he saw where Charlie is as he said: "What do you think you're doing, Charlie?! Get back down here!" Charlie then looks at Max and said: "Do you want your hat back or not, Max?" And Max replied: "Well, yeah. But there has to be a better way than doing this." "Trust me, Max. I'll be fine." Charlie said as he carefully makes his way towards Max's hat as Max said: "Well… Just be careful. And don't tear the silk." Charlie then manages to get close and carefully grabs the hat and removes it from the branch without leaving a tear on the hat. Charlie then said: "I got your hat back, Max!" But as Max said: "Good. Now hurry and get back down, before-" The branch that Charlie was standing on broke off, causing Charlie to lose his grip on the branch he was holding on and fall to the ground, while Max covers his eyes with his elbow.

After hearing the sounds of someone crashing on the ground, Max removes his elbows from his eyes and hopes that it wasn't severe. And it's only Charlie suffering a minor pain on his behind, while his hat is on the ground and remains unharmed. This causes Max to laughed as he said: "Nice landing, Charlie!" Max then picks up the hat and wipes the dirt from the bottom of the hat, before placing it back on his head as he said: "Consider this payback for making me lose my hat." But suddenly, a sound of thunder is heard which catches the two's attention as they look up. They both then saw that the clouds are covering the sun as rain begins to pour from the skies. As Charlie gets up from the ground, Max backs up to him as he said: "Um… Charlie… Is it possible to make the sun come back?" And Charlie replied: "The last time I checked, I don't exactly have any means of changing the weather." The rain starts to pour heavier as the two bumbles up close to each other as they start to get wet. In an attempt to avoid getting even more wet, the two hurry and goes under the tree roots and remain there as the rain continues to pour down. As it continues, Charlie said: "We'll have to wait until it clears up." While Max gets angry as he said: "This is all your fault, Charlie."

Back at the camp. With the rain put out the fire and limiting the vision, Albert, Alex and Ruby quickly enter the carriage as Cesar manages to calm the two Zebstrikas down after they heard some thunderstorms, while Zeus hides underneath the carriage to avoid the rain. But as they wait, they became worried as Jen, Max and Charlie haven't returned yet. And while Jen would usually go on her own when it comes to outdoor trips, she always comes back to them when it's time to leave. But the fact that Jen hasn't returned yet is quite worrisome to Albert. That and the fact that Max hasn't come back is quite troubling. As Alex starts to worry as well, Albert looks at Cesar and said: "Cesar. Where have you last seen my son?" And Cesar replied: "He went with Charlie to go retrieve the hat that he lost, sir. I'm pretty sure that they're fine." But Albert has this strong feeling that there's something wrong as he then tells Cesar: "I don't think so. Something must have gone wrong. I want you to go out and find both Jen and Max at once." Cesar then immediately said: "Right away." And just as he rushes to find them, Albert said: "And hurry!" And as Cesar heads off, Zeus proceeds to go out there and help Cesar out with his searches as well as to find Charlie.

Back at the tree. Both Charlie and Max are still waiting for the rain to stop pouring so that they can get back to the carriage. But as Charlie is waiting patiently, Max, on the other hand, is not so patient as he gets angry and said: "Okay, Charlie! You had your fun now, but now it's time for you to stop this rain now!" And Charlie said: "I told you before, I don't have the means of stopping the rain." This is something that Max does not want to hear as he angrily said: "You are so useless! I don't want to stay under this tree forever! I want to go back to where my father is!" And as Charlie asks: "Right now?" And Max angrily said: "Yes, right now! Now go out there and find Cesar so he can carry me back to the carriage, cause I'm not going to walk in the rain!" Even though Charlie knows that staying under the tree is a smarter idea, it was also a smarter idea to not get on Max's bad side as Max yells to Charlie: "Go!" Charlie then proceeds to exit the tree, before turning around and said: "Okay. But promise me that you stay here until I come back with Cesar, okay?" And Max just said: "Yeah, yeah. Just ask father to save some fruits for me." And with that, Charlie then proceeds to run down the dirt path as Max watches him until he disappears from Max's visions from all of the rain's going on.

Cesar and Zeus are running down the dirt path as Zeus tries to capture their scent, while Cesar said: "Max! Charlie! Boys! Where are you?!" Cesar's voice goes unheard as Zeus continues to try and find any scent he can find as Cesar looks at Zeus and said: "I'm worried, boy. All of this rain is probably blocking out my voice, as well as theirs. And with all of this rain going on, all of their tracks must have washed away at this point. But we have to keep looking for them, boy." The two then continue their search down the pathway as the rain continues to pour down on the two. Unbeknownst to the two, however, Charlie is at the different dirt path as he is running to the carriage to get Cesar. And due to the rain, neither they or Charlie could hear the other's footsteps on the ground.

This is just beyond angry. After all, she was supposed to be relaxing with her master by the stream and makes Charlie's life more of a mess. Instead, she has to deal with not only the rain which ruined her coat but also a sudden pain in one of her paws whenever she moves. Just who does Charlie think he is to challenge her. As far as she knew, there are two types of people in the world. Those that take orders and those that give orders. And as far as she knew, Charlie is one of those that take it. Why he wears the same clothing as those who give orders is bathering, but her master has managed to see through that and put that boy in the right position. But right now, she needs to get back to the carriage so that she can get back to the warmth she knows as well as to figure out what caused the pain on one of her paws. Now if only she knew where she is going through all of this lousy weather. But as Jen continues to travel on the dirt pathway while suffering a bit of pain, she came across someone she doesn't want to meet. But as fate would have it, she has just found Charlie coming up to her.

Great… Now she'll have to deal with him after she ruined his fun. And as Charlie spots Jen and said: "Oh, it's you." His expression soon changes to worry as he then said: "Hold on... Are you hurt, Jen?" What?! Hurt?! How does he know that she's hurt? There's no way that she will let him get near her. But as Charlie tries to get close, Jen hisses at him as she jumps back a bit while getting one of her claws ready. But Charlie then said: "Yeah. There's a cut on your paw, Jen." Hearing that confuses Jen as she looks at her paw, only to see that she did do got a cut on her paw.  And before Jen could even react, she hears Charlie ripping his shirt as he said: "Hold on, let me take care of that wound." But as Charlie gets close to Jen, she hisses at him to stay away. But he would not go away as he gets close to Jen and carefully wraps the ripped cloth around her paw. And for as much as she wants to take a swipe at Charlie, for some reason, she doesn't. After he manages to tighten the cloth over her paw to cover the cut, he said: "Okay… I believe that I managed to cover the wound." Jen then places the bandaged paw on the ground and while it stings, it doesn't hurt as before. But having Charlie taking care of her paw is something bewildering and she won't have it. And before Charlie could say something, Jen runs off down the dirt pathway. And as Charlie sees her running away, he proceeds down the dirt pathway to go get help for Max.

At the carriage. Albert, Ruby and Albert are still waiting in the carriage as they wait for any signs of Cesar with Max and Jen. Just as Albert fills their cups with tea to help calm their nerves, Charlie manages to find the carriage and proceeds to head towards it. Once Charlie gets up to the carriage, Albert spotted him as he said: "Charlie? What are you doing here? And where's Max?" Charlie then explains: "He's in the woods, under the tree." But before Charlie could continue, Alex said: "And who gave you permission to go and abandon him, you coward." But Charlie then said: "Max was the one that told me to go find Cesar for him." And Albert said: "Cesar went looking for my son a long time ago. If you hurry, you might catch up to him." "So don't just stand there! Hurry up and go!" Alex said as Charlie proceeds to head back to the tree, where Max is, as he hopes that Cesar finds him in time. Meanwhile, Cesar and Zeus are still looking for the boys, until Zeus spots a fallen branch on the ground. And after sniffing said branch, Zeus manages to find Charlie's scent. Zeus then starts to bark as Cesar said: "You managed to find their scent? Lead the way, boy." As Zeus follows the scent to the tree, Cesar follows Zeus as they reach a tree. "Cesar! Zeus! I'm glad that I found you!" Said a familiar voice, as both Zeus and Cesar turns around and saw Charlie running towards him as he then said: "Max is under that tree!" As Cesar looks under the tree, he saw nobody as he said: "I'm afraid he's not there." As Charlie manages to get to Cesar and Zeus and saw that it was empty, Charlie said: "Huh? But he was supposed to stay here. I only left to come to find you, Cesar." And Cesar said: "He must have stormed off on his own." And as Charlie said: "We have to find him." Cesar: "Yes, we must.hurry. He doesn't know his way around the forest."

Why did Charlie help her? What's the point of helping her if she's been cruel to him? What is he thinking about helping her? Those questions have been running through her head multiple times as she continues to travel through the forest as she can't help but admit that she is lost in a foggy field. But as she continues to wander, she discovers Max walking down the dirt pathway.  This got Jen excited as she believes that Max will lead her back to the carriage and would also take care of the cut on her paw. But instead, she heard Max saying: "I can't believe that Charlie abandoned me. I bet that he didn't want to go find Cesar in the first place. I want to go find father and tell him about his true motive." But just as Max is getting frustrated as he walks pass Jen, he starts to get scared as he said: "But… What if he did get Cesar and brought him over. I should've waited under the tree like he said, cause now I'm lost and scared." The fact that Max ignored her is shocking to her, but she also shocked over where he's going as she quickly runs over and grabs his pants and starts pulling on it to get him to stop. But that only causes Max to look behind him and said: "What do you want Jen?! And why are you pulling on my suit! Don't you know how-" But when he looks back forward and looked down where he was about to walk, the fog clears up as it reveals a steep cliff. As it turns out, Max was blindly walking towards the cliff until Jen manages to stop him from getting any serious injuries. Jen was hoping that Max would apologize and even praise her for her quick thinking…

...But instead, Max drops to his knees as he said: "Father…" What is wrong with that boy… But then, Max notices something from far below as Jen looks down at the cliff. There, she spots several men near the forest as Max said: "Huh? Who are they? They look like a hunting party… But only the royal family is allowed to hunt in these areas… Are they poachers? Or…" Max tries to get a closer look through the fog as Jen manages to get a closer look as she spots a carriage near the hunting party. And on the carriage has a logo on it and from the looks of said logo, the logo itself is royal. Max eventually sees the logo as he said: "Oh! That must be we're the royal hunting army's at!" Jen looks at him with confusion as he stands up and said: "And that must mean that's where Princess Maria is! Oh boy, it's time to meet my soon to be bribe. Oh, Alex is so going to be jealous." Jen then sees Max going down the hill from the side as she starts to wonder about herself. Her master and her family are known to give orders… Yet when she thinks about it, her family also takes orders from her master as well. And it seems that he wasn't worried about her well being, but rather trying to be the next prince. She never wants to admit it, but she does fear for the worst. What if her master had made the wrong decision by making Charlie the one that takes orders…

Meanwhile. With the weather stop pouring rain, Maria, Scarlet and the hunters are currently staying near a cave as the fog surrounds their campsite. While they have gone on some unsuccessful hunts before, having to deal with the earlier rain manages to put a damper on their moods as Maria looks at the sky and said: "Remind me, who said that this is a beautiful weather to go on a hunt?" While in the cave, Emily and Nicole are sitting near a campfire that Scarlet has made as Emily said: "Perhaps the skies cried tears of joy for us. Or perhaps it cries for happiness for the past, or maybe the future." Scarlet then look in the cave and said: "You wouldn't be talking about the princess's marriage, are you Dutchess Emily?" And Emily said: "Of course. For if the girl doesn't keep breaking the hearts of the kingdom's men, there won't be a heart left for the princess to claim." Soon, Maria notices Dan approaching her with two cups of hot tea in his hands as he said: "Am I interrupting you, your highness?" And Maria quickly said: "No, not at all." Emily then said: "We all agree that the princess should find a suitable spouse soon. And while Madam Nicole my disagree, in my humble opinion, she wouldn't have to search too far." And as Scarlet looks at the two, she said: "Well, I gotta say… These two do look like a nice couple." And Emily then said: "Yes. A perfect match. I'm sure that the princess's marriage to Dan would bring great prosperity to the whole kingdom." This causes Dan to feel embarrassed as he said: "Oh, mother. You're embarrassing us."

"Your highness! We spotted something from the fields!" One of the hunters said as Maria turned her attention to the fields. She then spots a shadowy figure moving across the large grasses as she said: "Scarlet. Did you saw what we saw?" "I sure did, Maria. A Zigzagoon chasing a Buneary." Scarlet said as she gets ready. This got the group excited as Emily's Houndooms proceeds to chase the Zigzagoon, while Maria said: "Scarlet, you take point! The rest of us will follow you! Let's go, guys!" The group then gets on their Rapidashes as Scarlet rides off first. While the others don't see that far in the fog, Scarlet can as she sees through the fog like it wasn't there. As Dan sees them off, Emily walks up to her son as she said: "Soon, you will be able to enter into the royal family." And Dan then said: "Perhaps. But a part of me is wishing that she stays with me while the others go on their hunt." Meanwhile, in the cave. Nicole has been observing the group while drinking her tea. While Dutchess Emily doesn't want to admit, but it's pretty clear that she doesn't have an interest in Emily's son. But if I were to find the perfect spouse for Maria, then I will need to find someone that manages to capture her heart.

Meanwhile, Max is getting excited as he walks down the hill as the rain manages to stop pouring as he said: "Oh man… Just imagine the look on Alex's face when I managed to meet the princess first. Oh… I can already see the reaction on his face." Just as he is getting excited about beating his brother on meeting the princess first, he then stops in his tracks as he then said: "And the princess… Just imagine me and her together…" Max then starts to fantasies about meeting the princess as the fantasy princess said: "Don't be scared. You'll be safe with us. In fact, I'm actually glad that I found you. Would you like to come back to the castle with me, my prince?" Fantasy Max starts to blush as he then fantasies about fantasy Max carrying the fantasy princess as the real Max said: "Man… It would be a wonderful dream to have. But I must hurry or I'll lose the chance to meet the princess." Max then continues down in his search for the princess.

Meanwhile, Cesar, Charlie and Zeus are still looking for Max as Cesar shouts out: "Max! Max! Where are you?!" While the rain did stop, the fog is making things hard to see for the three. Charlie then said: "How can we ever find his trail with all of this fog…" And Cesar then said: "I do hope that Max hasn't had a run-in with an Ursaring." And Charlie then said: "Please don't mention Ursarings, Cesar…" Cesar then looks at the fog as he then said: "Still… We mustn't walk off the beaten path. With all of this fog, we could get lost in the forest." And Charlie then said: "But we can't just do nothing and wait until the fog clears up, while Max is lost in the forest." Just as the three are still searching, Charlie spots Jen running up to him. Charlie then said: "Jen! How's your paw? And did you see Max?" While Jen doesn't say much, she nods her head before turning around and starts to run off as Charlie said: "Got it! I'll follow you then!" Charlie then proceeds to follow Jen with Zeus following Charlie, while Cesar said: "Wait, Charlie! Don't run off! You'll get lost in the forest! Let me come with you!" Cesar then tries to follow the three, but he then trips on one of the roots and he fell on the dirt ground. This causes Zeus to turn around and look at Cesar, while Charlie continues to follow Jen.

Back at the hunt. While the Zigzagoon was chasing a Buneary for its lunch, it spotted Emily's Houndooms and is now fleeing through the high grass as it abandons the prey. As the hunt continues, the hunters are getting their rifles ready as Maria said: "That's it, you two! Flush it out! Yeah, you can do it!" The large grass soon runs out as it reveals the Zigzagoon, causing  Maria and Scarlet to grab their rifles while one of the hunters fired their rifles at the Zigzagoon. While the shot misses, the other hunter fires their rifle, just as the Zigzagoon hides in a large batch of large grass. And as the two Houndooms got close and start barking at it, one of the two hunters that fired their rifles said: "Did we hit the Zigzagoon?" And after Scarlet checks the surrounding area, she said: "I'm afraid that you two missed your shots." Maria then said: "Then we'll have to check the surrounding area. Scarlet will take point, the two of you will come with us if we spotted something. And you two will have to reload your gun." "Yes, your highness." The hunters said as the two began to reload, while Maria, Scarlet and the two hunters got off their Rapidashes and grab their rifles.

Max continues to walk down the hill as he hears two gunshots, then he hears some Houndooms barking as he said: "Oh, the hunting party must be close. I better be careful or they'll think that I'm a living target for them…" But just as he's carefully going down the hill, a Zigzagoon came through from the other side of the large grass as Max said: "What the?!" As the Zigzagoon rushes past Max, he quickly gets out of the way. But he ends up tripping backwards and starts sliding down the hill. Back with the hunters. Scarlet is scanning the area when she spots something sliding down the large grassy hill. She then said: "I spotted something big going down the hill." This causes Maria to say: "It must be an Ursaring! I never got the chance to hunt one before!" Scarlet then takes the lead, while Maria and the two hunters follow behind her with their rifles armed. On the other side, Max was getting up from stumbling backwards as he was suffering from the pains that he got. But then, he spotted the hunting party with a Grenjinja at the front as he quickly realizes that he has become their next target, and if he tries to say something, he'll get shot.

Nearby, Jen has managed to lead Charlie to where Max is. As Charlie sees Max trembling in fear, he also saw the hunting party aiming their rifles at Max as Charlie said: "Oh no! They're going to shoot my brother!" This causes Charlie to quickly rushes to Max's aid. At the hunting group, they aimed their rifles at their mysterious target as they wait for Scarlet to make the first shot. But before Scarlet could make a shot, they heard an unidentified voice, saying: "Hold your fire! That's my brother you're aiming at!" While this confuses Scarlet, Maria and the hunters, Scarlet then sees a clouded boy figure running up to their mysterious target. But Scarlet took a closer look and realize that their target is another boy in a suit as one of the clouded boys got close to him. This causes her to signal to the others to lower their rifles, while Scarlet said: "It looks like what the boy is saying is true." This causes Maria to say: "Let's go check and see if they need our help. You two stay here, just in case there's trouble nearby." "Of course, your highness." One of the hunters said as both Scarlet and Maria go to the two.

Back at the bottom of the hill. Charlie manages to get close to Max, who is trembling in fear from nearly getting shot. Charlie then said: "There you are. We've been looking all over for you. We were worried that something bad has happened to you." Max then said: "Worried… Bad happening to me… Are you kidding… They almost mistook me for an Ursaring! I was so scared!" What they haven't noticed is that the princess and the Greninja are near them as they check upon them. And as Charlie said: "There, there. Everything is going to be fine." Max then said: "How could they believe that I'm some Ursaring! Didn't they notice the suit I was wearing!" The princess and Greninja looked at each other and nodded as they believe that they're going to be fine. The two began to walk away as Max grabs Charlie and said: "This whole mess is all your fault!" And as Charlie said: "But you were supposed to stay under the tree until I got Cesar for you." Max then said: "Shut up! I forbid you from speaking to me that way! You should've been the one that got lost in the forest, not me! At least I would've gone to save you, Charlie!" This causes Charlie to feel saddened as he said: "You know that's not nice to say those things, Max."

Back with the hunters. After letting the hunters know of their situation, they proceed to place their rifles in the hosters on their Rapidashes. And while they're getting ready to saddle up, they've been hearing the conversation between the two boys as Maria then heard one of the boys saying: "Shut up, Charlie! And don't even talk back to me!" Hearing that name before, Maria said: "Did he said, Charlie?" She then heard the boy saying: "And look at my suit! I can't let the princess see me in this! Hurry up and clean it!" Maria then turns around and sees that the boy that saved his life is tending to the other boy's suit. This disgusted her as she gets on her Rapidash. She then heard the boy in the suit saying: "Just you wait till father hears about this! I know that you'll get punished for sure!" What is wrong with that boy? He just saved that boy's life and you mistreat him like he's some old paper. She then heard the boy in the suit saying: "Hurry up! I'm cold, wet and hungry!" But just as the boy was cleaning the other boy's suit, he then notices Maria as she recognized the boy. It was in fact, the same boy she met at the Flower Festival. The same boy that she met while she was in disguised. So you're Charlie.

Wow… She's even more beautiful than I can imagine. As the two stared at each other, the sun pierced through the fog as the two managed to get a perfect view of each other and are smitten by each other. The moment that they don't want to ever forget. He is the most charming boy that I have ever met. "Is there something wrong, Maria?" Scarlet asks as she notices Maria's daydreaming. While Charlie said: "You're the most beautiful girl that I have ever met. This… This isn't a dream… You're… You're right in front of me." As she sees Charlie smiling at her, she smiles back as she said: "I'm glad that you told me your real name, Charlie." This alerts the boy in the suit as he said: "Huh? Did you hear that?" Just as the fog reappears, Max notices that Charlie was distracted as he said: "Hey! Are you even paying attention!" Max then turns around as he said: "Did you see the princess?" But Max sees that there's nobody there as he said: "Huh? There's nobody there." She was right there and she even looks into my eyes. She even knew my name. It's going to be one of those moments where it feels like a dream, but I know that it's real. "Max! It's good that we found you!" Cesar said as he rushes up to him with Zeus and Jen following him. This causes Max to say: "About time you showed up! What took you so long!" As Cesar said: "T-The rain washed away your trail." But Max said: "Just hurry up and carry me back to father! This terrible ordeal has left me all too tired to walk!" Cesar then said: "Yes sir." As he proceeds to lift Max and carries him on his back, while Jen and Zeus look at the dazed Charlie as he still remembers the wonderful moment he saw.

Back at the hunting party camp. The three are still at the cave when they heard the sounds of gallops nearby. Emily, Dan and Nicole get up and leave the cave as they see Maria, Scarlet and the hunters returning from seeing the Zigzagoon. As the hunters and Scarlet dismount from their Rapidashes, Maria remained on hers as she was staring at the skies. As Nicole took notice, Dan said: "So… Was the hunt successful, your highness?" Emily said: "Come now, Dan. You know very well that Maria and her hunters are excellent marksmen. They are more than capable of dealing with a Zigzagoon. In fact, they probably have lots of games right now." But Scarlet then said: "Actually, we didn't get anything today. It looks like this hunt is a failure. Guess it wasn't our day today." Dan then said: "I see… I guess that you must be disappointed then." But Maria then said: "Oh, not at all. You see, I've actually managed to spot the most precious creature that I have ever met." This surprises Dan and catches Nicole's attention as Dan said: "The most… precious?" Maria then said: "Yes… And the most charming." As Dan then said: "I see…" Maria looks back at the sky while the sun breaks through the clouds. It looks like someone has managed to capture the princess's heart. This could be a lead that I may explore.

Back home, Cesar drives the carriages as he stops the Zebstrikas in their place. As Albert exits the carriage, he brings the terrified Max towards him as Albert said: "Oh, you poor boy. I can see why you are terrified." As Max said: "It was awful…" Albert then said: "Try not to think about it." But Max then said: "I can't, father. I still think about that moment. It was the worst day of my life." Alex then leaves the carriage as he said: "Well at least you managed to find the princess. I, on the other hand, got stuck in the carriage from the heavy rainstorm. And I didn't even get to see the princess." But Albert then said: "That's enough, Alex. Let just all go inside and calm ourselves from this terrible day by having some hot tea." As Alex said: "Yes, father." Ruby also leaves the carriage as they all enter their home.

As Cesar goes to disconnect the Zebstrikas from the carriage for today, he looked over and saw Charlie and Zeus running towards the house after Albert leaves Charlie again. As Charlie goes up to Cesar, Cesar notices that he hasn't lost his smile as he said: "Oh, Charlie. I see that you still have a smile on your face." Charlie then said: "What makes you say that?" Cesar then said: "Oh, let's just say that for all the years that I worked with your family, I notice the most is whenever you saw something amazing, you would keep your smile for the rest of the day." Charlie then said: "I see… Well, to tell you the truth. I've actually managed to see Princess Maria." This causes Cesar to say: "Really? Do you mean that rather odd girl that you invited over? I believe that her name was Nicole, was it?" This causes Charlie to remember a mental image of Maria the Liar. Charlie then shakes his head as he said: "Oh no. That's not the princess. She's actually Maria. Well… To be more precise, she's known as Maria the Liar. And I can be certain that Maria the Liar is not Princess Maria. I was even surprised that the princess would know my name."

Cesar then said: "I see…" Cesar then proceeds to grab the rope from the two Zebstrikas as he then said: "But are you sure that this Maria is not the same as the princess." Charlie then thinks to himself as he said: "You know… I did tell my name to Maria the Liar… And yet the princess knows my name... " Is Maria the Liar actually Princess Maria… I want to say no… But… After that wonderful moment… Cesar then proceeds to lead the two Zebstrikas back to the stables as he then said: "Well, I'll leave you to your wonderful dream then. Charlie breaks his thought process as he then said: "Oh… Okay then." He then turns to Zeus and goes on his knees and said: "Well, at least I can tell you about the wonderful moment that I have, Zeus." As Zeus lets out an excited bark, Charlie chuckles until he notices Jen leaving the carriage with the cloth on her paw still. As it turns out, Jen was with the family as she hears the story about how Max was almost shot. But there was no mention of Charlie saving him from his doom. She thought that they would be grateful to him for saving his life, but instead, she felt a sense of disinterest in the air. And when she let Ruby know about it, Ruby said that she can't believe that she let a common fool in noble's clothing help her out. This convinces her that her master has made the wrong choice. Charlie is clearly someone who can both give and take orders at the same time. And by showing how strong and courageous he is, it manages to win Jen's trust in him.

As Charlie looks at Jen, he asks: "Does your paw still hurts? If you want, I can help patch you new cloth." Look at him, still worried about her. In fact, she doesn't even feel the pain anymore. And just to show him how grateful she is, she proceeds to run up to Charlie and tackle him to the ground, which shocks Charlie as he said: "Whoa!" As he hits the ground, Jen proceeds to hug her, before proceeding to lick his face. This causes Charlie to laugh as he said: "H-Hey… T-That tickles." Though this only convinces Jen to continue licking him as Zeus joins in and lick his face from the other side. This causes Charlie to say: "N-Not you too, Zeus…" The two then proceed to keep licking Charlie's face as they bond over the new friendship together. Nearby, Cinder is watching this happening as she smiles while saying: "It looks like Charlie has met the princess and has made a new friend. I'm glad that he's happy."

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Inkbunny

Charlie: A Pokemon Cinderella Story. Chapter 05

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