I gotta say, this story manages to touch on three things that rarely gets talk about much in the Pokemon franchise: first of all is that Pokemon might possibly die during battles, intentional or not, that they will force themselves to finish said battles, giving it their all in the process, and that the emotional pain from losing a Pokemon will take a long time to recover. After all, a bond between a Trainer and their Pokemon might be similar to friendship, partners or even family of choice, but a bond between a Trainer and their starter are one of a kind or even a parent/child relationship.
The way you managed it is wonderful. And since I like to put myself in the setting of whatever story I'm reading, I actually felt the emotions in the story, starting from pride of getting to fight the Champion with Charizard, to the 5 stages of grief when it died, and the sad fondness of the memories with Charizard while scattering the ashes.

Wow. That was fantastic! Really, really intense.

Well OW that hurt. Did you heart that crack in a distance? THAT WAS MY HEART.

ungnfdh fuuuuck this wa g

That was absolutely beautiful.
I can't get over how magnificently written this story is, from the awesome fight scene to the heart-wrenching grief and sadness. I think the second-person view makes this story especially deep and emotional. You are truly a master at playing with people's emotions.
...I think I have to go get a new tissue box now.

Very evocative. The second-person leaves enough open to interpretation for any reader to fill in the blanks (like Charizard's name) while twisting the final battle that every Pokemon fan (well, of Gen 1 and its remakes, anyway) remembers into a heartbreaking (but believable) direction.
One other Pokemon story, "Acrophobic," touched on a silent but omnipresent horror of the Pokemon universe: the imbalance of power between Pokemon and their trainers that makes horrifying abuse by well-intentioned actors possible. This story takes that idea and milks it for maximum guilt potential, but not at the expense of beautiful moments or welcome humor ("Blissey!" *WHAP!*).
Bravo.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go read something happy now...

That is terribly terribly sad. I really can't stop crying.

.BEAUTIFUL.

*sobs*

I love you so much, It hurts. It was hilarious, and wonderful, and heartwrenching. The fight scene was very well-written. I just love you and this fanfic so much.

Oh...wow. This was just brilliant and hearbreaking and realistic. The second person POV made everything much more effective. This was just so tearjerkingly sad... Hope to read more from you soon!

God, I haven't used this name in a long time.

I first read this story in 2006, and every so often I come back and read it again. This time, reading through, I didn't even notice the rewriting; I can only assume that this means you did it right. Good prose, like good design, is invisible.

But I did miss "flew unchallenged across the heavenly sky". Sharply, if I admit it. It's one of the phrases that's stuck with me all these years, and I hope this can persuade you to put it back.

I really like this story. You definitely have the right touch with writing these sad stories. The protagonist's feelings throughout the story are beautifully-rendered, and all believable, in light of the circumstances. I also liked the way you managed to reveal bits and pieces of the Charizard's personality by way of the various anecdotes scattered throughout the story. It really seems like the protagonist and the Charizard had been close.

One other aspect of the story that I really enjoyed had to do with the people who tried to cheer up the protagonist. I liked the bit of commentary you put in, about how the paparazzi was harassing the protagonist without a thought to how upset xe was about Charizard dying; as well as the facts of how well-meaning people still failed to cheer up the trainer.

I guess I'm a bit surprised that the Charizard could die from a Stun Spore attack, simply because you'd think he would have encountered far worse if he's been fighting for so long. It did seem like you had an explanation to give (the Venusaur produced more than the usual amount of Stun Spores, and the Charizard breathed them in) but it still strikes me as being a bit odd.

Interestingly, when I was browsing a Pokemon fanfiction forum earlier I encountered a fic told from the perspective of a pokemon that had recently died for its owner, and it seemed like it could almost be a sequel to this story, given how vague a lot of the details were.

This was greatly written, brought tears to my eyes )

I love this. It's so real and everything about it flows wonderfully. You've taken this idea that has been done (over- mostly) and turned it into something unique and bittersweet. Even the way it's presented (in second person) is something new. I also have to give congrats on the battle; it's so very hard to make them work and yet you did. It was great, and I'll definitely go and check out your profile. Excellent job.