Revision done by  Jet_The_Swampert this chapter isn't as gruesome as the previous, so it's going to return to it's usual General category. I'm writing these chapters faster than I expected them to so I hope you all will enjoy!
RD belongs to  rainbowdragon
All other characters are © me
Pokémon belongs to Nintendo and Gamefreak
Digimon belongs to Bandai

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To Evolve
Max stared through a glass at each of his pokémon, each of them admitted into the ICU due to their injuries. To his relief, after just a couple of hours of rest, Furret woke up and was walking around again, albiet slowly.
Ivysaur and Pupitar however were another case all together. Ivysaur's body had suffered severe burns and, according to the nurse, it'd be awhile before he'd be back in fighting condition.
Pupitar, lastly, had suffered the most damage. His resilience in battle made him Max's strongest pokémon but it also meant he could withstand attacks that should have put him out of commission. The nurse located several cracks in his hard shell and found that some of his organs were on the verge of failure.
All of this news had Max in tears… He wanted to be with each of them so bad… He clenched his hands against the glass wall in frustration. "It's my fault... This wouldn't have happened if I'd declined his match... Please forgive me, everyone..."
Fang stood beside his brother, ears splayed to the side with a similar sadness. "Max, it wasn't your fault...Jesse started out all friendly, none of us could have expected he'd turn fatalistic."
"Yeah, but now all of them are in there. Pokémon battles aren't supposed to be to the death... I don't know if I can battle again..." Max shivered, falling down onto the floor with a blank expression on his face, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Max, you can't say that." Flare walked in, but the voice didn't come from him, but Charmeleon, who was standing beside him. "You have an obligation now more than ever to continue on this quest. If you give up...what would Pyre say?"
Max didn't respond to Charmeleon's scolding right away, just blankly staring into space, as if contemplating his own actions. "Pyre's gone...I killed him..." He curled up into a ball, whimpering.
"Oy!" Charmeleon cried out, running to Max's side and kneeling beside him, putting his paws on the boy's shoulders. "You didn't kill him, Max! Pyre gave his life to make sure that you can bring Jesse back to the light! We're Team Light-Bringers, aren't we?"
"But...I don't want to hurt anybody else. I don't want to put Ivysaur or any of them in harm’s way ever again!" Max cried out, then yelped when Charmeleon suddenly started dragging Max by the back of his hood. "W-what are you doing?!"
Charmeleon made sure his claws didn't rip the fabric but kept a good enough grip that any struggling on Max's part would be futile. "I'm taking you somewhere private. Somewhere where I can knock some sense into you."
Before Charmeleon dragged Max out of the room he snatched the pokéball that usually housed him and continued moving forward. It was surprisingly easy for Charmeleon to drag Max through the sand with the boy dazed and lost like he was.
"...Charmeleon, what are you doing? It's useless no matter what you do," Max muttered, tears streaming down his face, until he realized that Charmeleon had dragged him all the way to the Cianwood City Gym.
Grasping his pokéball, Charmelon grabbed Max's own hand and placed it there. "We're going to challenge the gym leader!"
THAT got Max's attention, he pulled himself to his feet and stared at the ball set in his hand. "But you're not my pokémon. You belong to Flare. It would be wrong for me to use you like that."
Already halfway through Max's bantering, Charmeleon grabbed Max by the collar. "I don't BELONG to Flare, and besides, while we were filling out the paperwork in the other room I asked him about it and he agreed."
Max tilted his head to the side. "But...he can't understand you. How'd you ever get him to agree on letting me use you in battle?"
Charmeleon grinned before letting Max go and stretched out in front of him. "When I need to be I'm good with a pen... Something I picked up watching you humans."
Max blinked, rubbing his temples. "But then why not just use that all the time, then?"
"Because!" Charmeleon flailed his arms about. "Holding those things are just weird! And my paws aren't supposed to bend like that so it's very uncomfortable." He then realized Max was looking away and growled, grabbing Max by the arm. "Come on, we're battling! And you're gonna win!"
Max grunted, letting himself be carried by Charmeleon, only because he couldn't find the strength to move on his own. "But this gym leader uses two pokémon...we need at least two to battle too."
Charmeleon nodded, pointing to Max's belt where one ball lay resting. "Right, and you have an Eevee strapped to your waist there, so we have plenty."
Max grunted, turning his head away. "You won't let me avoid this will you?" With that question, he shook Charmeleon's hand off and smacked both his cheeks and smiled softly. "This doesn't change a thing... I won't battle anymore but you're so insistent on this…"
"Whatever." Charmeleon held a claw out as he walked into the Gym ahead of Max. "Hold on to that decision until after we win this badge, then make your decision, okay?"
Both trainer and pokémon came to a stop once inside, They noted the trainer sitting under a roaring waterfall and wondered just how he wasn't getting pounded into a bloody pulp under all that pressure.
"Do we...poke him? Or..." Max asked, but his question was quickly answered when Charmeleon grabbed a statue near the front of the building and started climbing up to one of the higher levels of the stadium, blocking the source of the water coming down with it and wiped a brow. "Y-you know we could have used the levers..."
Charmeleon tilted his head, looking to either side of him to see two switches embedded in the walls and stuck his tongue out. "Whoops...I made a boo-boo..." He laughed then hopped down, landing on top of Max comically.
"Boo-boo? You never make comments like that." Max laughed, pushing Charmeleon off of him and noted the trainer who was previously sitting underneath the raging waters was looking around before nodding his approval.
"You know...the water is still flowing in this building. But that's fine, it'll make for a fine arena for our battle. Don't worry about the water flooding the place there's a drain right beneath me. Anyways! My name is Chuck and I'm the gym leader of this establishment!" Chuck patted his chest and grinned.
Max realized that the water was indeed flowing in a way that practically created a wall of cascading water around them. He wasn't going to get out of here ‘til that statue was moved and now the gauntlet had been thrown by the leader himself. "Two on two? I'll start off with-"
Max again never finished his sentence as Charmeleon plucked Eevee's ball from the strap on his belt and tossed it into the air. "Eevee?!" He issued as a question but Chuck nodded in agreement.
"Alright, an Eevee! Then I'll use this guy!" Chuck tossed a pokéball into the air as well and revealed a Primape which just pounded it's fists together in anticipation for battle.
Max looked at his Eevee. She looked pretty spunky for such a little one, heck, she even proved eager to the challenge. "Alright... Eevee, how about we start things off with a Swift attack!"
Eevee nodded, she ran headlong into battle, batting her tail at the Primape in front of her and unleashing a wave of stars that slammed into its torso.
"You've got spunk, I'll give you that! Low Kick let's go!" Chuck shouted, while at the same time Max was yelling 'jump over and evade!'
At this point it looked like a dance rather than a battle, Primape lifted its leg to sweep under Eevee's legs, but every time, Eevee managed to leap over his leg and even surprised both Max and Chuck when he was in the middle of giving her the command for tackle she had already slammed into Primapes body, knocking him to the floor while she rolled just an inch from the towering wall of water gushing around them.
"Look at that," Charmeleon pointed out, sniffing at the battlefield. "You're getting closer to reaching Jesse's level than you thought. Eevee already knows what you're going to say before you say it. Maybe tutoring from your dear uncle?"
Max shook his head. "I don't see how... John said that it's only when a pokémon and his trainer understand one another completely that being able to battle without having to speak out a command would be fully functional."
Charmeleon shook his head. "Wanna know the difference between John and Jesse's cases from yours?"
Max nodded, but he turned his attention back to the battle where Eevee was just bouncing above the Primape to avoid his grasp. "But let's wait till after this. Eevee, use Swift! Now!"
Eevee nodded, making a spin dash type of motion as stars started blasting into Primape's face rapidly before the fighting type went down for good.
Charmeleon held a paw up into the air. "Primape is unable to battle! Eevee wins!" He roared out, though likely the only one who could understand him was Max and a grin spread across his face as Eevee leapt into Max's waiting arms, licking his cheek cutely. "The difference is that you don't want your pokémon to get hurt. You care more than most would, I think...and your pokémon understand that from you and can anticipate the moves that you want them to make. Well...Eevee can, anyway."
Max laughed, scratching behind Eevee's ears as she gave him a much needed licking, then called her into her ball. "Charmeleon, do you really think I can beat Jesse?"
The flame lizard jumped into the fray, claws glinting in the stadium lights above. "Not in your current state, no. So the only natural solution would for you to evolve. Not just physically, but mentally. Evolve everything that you're all about and make yourself a better you while your pokémon continue to grow in the same fashion."
Max nodded slowly, pondering that for a moment before wiping off a stray tear out of his eye. "Guess there's not much else I can do then, huh? Fine, I'll evolve and match Jesse's power and bring him back. Let's bring him to the light!"
Max proclaimed with a new courage. Just then as well, Charmeleon started to glow, on both of his paws he grew the same digital hazard marks that Max had in his guilmon form as well as one developing on his snout. "Well Max, How about we finish this up quick then?"
In the middle of their discussion, Chuck had already called out his Poliwrath. And in no time at all, Both Charmeleon and the water-type pokémon went at each other.
Back at the pokémon center, Fang was keeping his eyes up on the pokémon in the ICU. He perked his ears when he heard the door slide open, Max and Charmeleon stepping back in, the marks on the lizard’s body having disappeared as he laid against his trainer on the couch and promptly fell asleep. "Max...what happened?"
Max took a deep breath, wiping sweat off his brow and taking out the Storm Badge with a grin. "I won another badge...and Charmeleon taught me a pretty invaluable lesson today. I won't give up even when the going gets tough. I'll keep on evolving…and we won't let them win…"
"That's great news! I have some good news of my own!" Fang excitedly pointed out, bringing Max to the glass window. "Pupitar is stable, his wounds should mend within a day of rest or so, but he won't be doing any battling for at least a week. Ivysaur's going to be just fine too. Nurse Joy gave us some lotion to rub on his body to ease and heal the burns. Tomorrow night we'll be able to check them out and continue on our journey."
Max's smile couldn't be wider at that point as it reached ear to ear and he hugged Fang tightly. "That's great! I'm relieved to hear that everything is going to be alright..." He then sat back against a nearby chair and looked up to the roof. "We'll make Pyre proud. I won't let his sacrifice be for nothing..." Max kept his gaze up at the roof a few moments longer then nodded off, feeling drained after having two straight pokémon battles in one day.
To be continued…