"Charmander?"
Damian sat with his legs crossed, casually grabbing a berry from the table and taking a bite. Juice trickled down the corner of his mouth as he said indifferently, "Oh, you mean that trash?"
"I left it on that big rock at the East Intersection. I lied and told it to wait for me there, and the idiot actually believed me and stayed."
He laughed so hard he doubled over, as if he had told the funniest joke in the world.
"I don't want that one anymore; it's total garbage."
As soon as he finished speaking, the group of teenage followers around him erupted into a commotion.
"What? Damian, wasn't... wasn't that the rare Pokemon your Second Uncle went through so much trouble to get for you?" A tall, thin boy widened his eyes, his voice cracking.
"Yeah, yeah! We struggle just to catch a Rattata, and you're looking down on a Charmander, Damian?" Another short, chubby boy looked on in disbelief, his tone a mix of envy and a hint of subtle dissatisfaction.
"Exactly," a freckled boy leaned in and added in a low voice, "I saw that Charmander the other day. It's a size larger than the average Charmander I've seen in the pokédex, and the flame on its tail was particularly bright... You're really giving up something that good?"
Only after enjoying the shocked gazes of the crowd did Damian sneer and toss the fruit core onto the ground.
"What the hell do you know? That's just puffiness! It looks good but it's useless," he said with pure disdain.
"My Second Uncle was probably fooled by its size too."
"Hmph, that Charmander is absolute trash. It couldn't even beat a random Poliwag we encountered on the road. It's a total embarrassment!"
He became more agitated as he spoke, as if recalling a shameful memory.
"I wanted to get rid of it, but the piece of trash kept following me like a lost puppy. It was so clingy I couldn't drive it away."
"So, I had no choice but to trick it into staying on that rock."
Damian shrugged with an expression that said "I had no choice," but his eyes were full of malicious mirth.
"Now it's finally quiet. It was so annoying. Don't mention that trash anymore; it's a mood killer."
Just as he finished speaking.
[Ding! Quest Triggered: Teach the Unscrupulous Trainer Damian a Lesson. Objective: Use the abandoned Charmander to defeat Damian and give him the punishment he deserves.]
[Quest Reward: Charmander Cleansing Potion — After use, it can cleanse any innate or acquired defects and psychological states, returning the Charmander to a perfect, healthy state.]
The cold system notification rang out in Roy's mind.
Roy's gaze turned slightly cold as he quickly calculated a plan to teach him a lesson.
Using the "trash" he had abandoned to defeat him in return—there was no better way to slap him in the face.
As for the "deserved punishment"... However, before Roy could speak, there was a loud "bang" from beside him!
Misty, her sense of justice exploding, stood up abruptly with a face full of rage. Her violent movement caused her chair to scrape against the floor with a harsh, screeching sound.
"You bastard!!"
Fuming, Misty pointed at Damian's nose, her voice rising in anger: "Fire-type Pokemon are weak against Water-types! It's basic type knowledge that it would lose! That's perfectly normal!"
"And you abandoned your partner just because of that?"
"And even used such a low-down trick to deceive it! You're scum! No, you're worse than scum!"
Although there were Pokemon she didn't like, she still had a basic level of respect and care for all Pokemon.
Damian's behavior had completely crossed her line.
The hall instantly fell silent, and everyone's gaze shifted to Misty and Roy's table.
Being scolded in public, Damian was first stunned, then his face darkened.
He slowly turned his head and looked Misty up and down.
"Who the hell are you?" Damian picked his ear, his attitude extremely arrogant.
"It's my Pokemon; I'll do whatever I want with it. What business is it of yours?"
"What, do you have a thing for that trash? Heh, figures. Trash belongs with trash; it's only natural."
"You! You're making me so mad!" Misty rolled up her sleeves and walked out from the table.
"What? You want to fight?" Seeing this, Damian stood up abruptly. He was half a head taller than Misty and tried to use his height to intimidate her.
"Let me tell you, the weak deserve to be beaten! Even if you're a woman, if you mess with me, I'll hit you all the same!"
He shouted fiercely, but when his gaze caught Roy slowly standing up behind Misty—calm-faced but tall and clearly not someone to be trifled with—his momentum unconsciously weakened.
He took a small step back, his bravado fading as he fumbled at his waist, grabbing a poké ball and holding it out in front of him as if it could provide some sense of security.
"Stop it!!"
Just then, Nurse Joy and Delia, who had finished the registration, hurried out from behind the service counter.
Nurse Joy frowned deeply and stepped quickly between Misty and Damian, while Delia nervously stood beside Roy and Misty.
"Private duels between Trainers are strictly prohibited inside the Pokémon Center!" Nurse Joy's gaze swept sternly over Damian. "Otherwise, I have the right to revoke your access to the center's services and notify Officer Jenny."
Seeing the situation, Damian took the opportunity to back down, but he didn't stop his verbal abuse: "Hmph! Consider yourself lucky! If we were in the wild, I'd definitely 'teach you a lesson'!"
He deliberately emphasized the words "teach you a lesson" and then waved his hand to his followers.
"Let's go. It's bad luck just looking at these busybodies!"
With that, he led his rowdy followers and swaggered out of the Pokémon Center.
"Bastard! Garbage! Scum!" Misty cursed at Damian's retreating back three times, not just because she was insulted, but because she felt immense anger and heartache for that Charmander waiting in deception.
"Alright, calm down." Roy walked over to Misty and naturally placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
Feeling the warm, steady pressure on her shoulder, Misty's raging anger miraculously calmed down a bit.
"Don't worry, he will get the punishment he deserves. I promise."
"Now, what we need to do is find that Charmander."
Roy's words seemed to have a magical effect, and Misty's agitated emotions quickly settled.
"Yeah..." Misty responded softly, lowering her head, her previously aggressive demeanor vanishing.
Nurse Joy looked at the three of them, especially Roy, her eyes filled with appreciation and a hint of gratitude. "Thank you for standing up."
"If every Trainer were as responsible as you, there wouldn't be so many psychologically scarred Pokemon around here..."
Roy noticed the key information and immediately followed up, "Nurse Joy, are you saying there are many abandoned Pokemon around here?"
"Yes," Nurse Joy nodded helplessly, lowering her voice.
"To a large extent, the atmosphere has been ruined by people like that Damian."
"Many young Trainers blindly imitate him. Once a Pokemon performs poorly in battle or gets a little injured, they abandon it immediately."
"Some are even left in the wild in a critically injured state after a battle, completely ignored."
She looked out at the forest through the window, her eyes full of pity. "Our center's Chansey and nurses have to patrol the nearby forest every few days. Every time, we bring back several injured, weak, or even dying abandoned Pokemon."
"Physical injuries are manageable, but the psychological damage some Pokemon suffer... it might take a very long time to heal, or even leave a shadow forever."
Nurse Joy's words made the atmosphere in the room quite heavy.
Misty clenched her fists again, and Delia also showed an expression of pity.
Roy nodded, indicating he understood. He glanced in the direction Damian had left, his eyes turning cold.
"Pikachu," Roy called out softly.
"Pika?"
Pikachu immediately scurried from Roy's feet to his shoulder, rubbing its small head against Roy's cheek.
Roy whispered a few instructions into Pikachu's ear and quietly tucked the pokédex from his pocket into Pikachu's small paws.
Listening, Pikachu's dark, beady eyes flashed with cleverness and excitement. It nodded its small head vigorously and patted its chest, looking serious as if to say, "Leave it to me."
Then, with a flash of yellow light, Pikachu nimbly jumped off Roy's shoulder and slipped out of the Pokémon Center's door swiftly and covertly, chasing after the direction Damian had gone.
Roy withdrew his gaze, took Pidgeotto's poké ball from Nurse Joy, and then looked at Misty and Delia. "There's no time to lose; we need to find that Charmander as soon as possible. Looking at the weather, it might rain tonight."
"Right! Let's go!" Misty responded immediately. Thinking that the Charmander might still be foolishly waiting, she was anxious.
Delia also nodded. "Yes, the sooner we find it, the sooner we can be at ease. Nurse Joy, we'll leave our Pokemon in your care."
"Don't worry, I wish you success," Nurse Joy said with a gentle blessing... The three of them left the Pokémon Center and headed towards the "East Intersection" Damian had mentioned.
The path through the forest was not easy to walk, and the sky gradually darkened. Dark clouds began to gather, and the air was thick with moisture.
Sure enough, before they had gone far, pitter-patter raindrops began to fall, quickly growing heavier and turning into a torrential downpour in the blink of an eye.
Large raindrops pelted the leaves and the ground with a rhythmic drumming sound, and visibility dropped rapidly. A white mist rose in the forest, and the path became muddy.
"It's raining! It's raining so hard!" Misty exclaimed.
"Roy, the rain is too heavy. Should we take shelter first?" Delia also said loudly, the rain blurring her vision.
Roy wiped the rain from his face, his sharp gaze scanning the surroundings.
The torrential rain and the darkness severely obstructed their vision, but he had his Aura Power.
He took a deep breath, and his invisible Aura spread out in all directions.
At that moment, the Pidgeotto he had released returned and reported its findings.
"Follow me!" Roy rushed in one direction without hesitation.
With the Aura tracking Pidgeotto's lead, although the three were soaked to the bone, their speed through the muddy forest did not slow down at all.
After bypassing a few large trees and pushing through a thicket of bushes, a small clearing in the forest suddenly appeared before them.
In the center of the clearing stood a large, grayish-brown rock with a relatively flat top.
And on top of that rock, a small orange-red figure was curled up.
It had its back to the direction Roy and the others were coming from, facing the intersection, its small body trembling slightly in the freezing rain.
It was using its two small paws to hold up a leaf it had found from somewhere—one that seemed far too large for its body—trying to cover its head.
The leaf was already riddled with holes from the rain and could hardly block any water.
The flame on its tail was burning stubbornly in the downpour, but the light was exceptionally weak, flickering as if it might go out at any moment.
The flame is a symbol of a Charmander's vitality and health; this weak flame showed that its physical strength was nearing its limit.
Yet it remained stubbornly perched on the rock, its eyes staring unblinkingly at the intersection, waiting for the "Trainer" who had given it a promise but would never return.