Axew, You Have to Work Hard to Overcome Your Fear!

Water kept dripping from Axew's body onto the ground, its tiny frame trembling nonstop with fear.

Hu Yang frowned, left the hot spring, found a towel, dried Axew off, and held it in his arms.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were afraid of water."

"Axew..." Axew clutched the towel with its little claws and replied softly.

The attentive Roserade walked over. Looking at Axew with concern, it asked, "Roserade?" (Do you need my help?)

Though they did not share a language, Hu Yang somehow understood Roserade's meaning at that moment.

He had been about to shake his head and tell Roserade to continue soaking in the hot spring, but then he remembered that a qualified Trainer also needed to handle the relationships between Pokémon well.

It was like raising children. If two kids had incompatible personalities and were always at odds with each other, it would greatly affect the atmosphere of the team.

So Hu Yang said, "Then bring Axew a carton of Moomoo Milk."

When checking into this hot spring inn, he had bought plenty of snacks, including Moomoo Milk, Lava Cookies, and so on.

Hu Yang recalled the longing in Roserade's eyes when it watched the Pokémon Contest.

After evolving from Budew into Roserade, his starter Pokémon's personality and interests had changed, just like those of most Pokémon.

When it had been a Budew, it had loved basking in the sun and had been a little fond of food.

Now that it had become a Roserade, it was no longer particularly interested in eating.

Just as its notes said: it liked clean and beautiful things.

Even its personality had become that of a caring older sister.

"Roserade!"

Roserade nodded, turned, and left.

Imitating the mothers he had seen soothing babies, Hu Yang gently patted Axew's back and comforted it. "Don't be afraid. I'm here. It's okay."

Only after drinking a carton of Moomoo Milk did Axew recover somewhat. Realizing what it had just done, it embarrassedly wriggled free of the towel.

"Axew..."

"It is very afraid of water. It may not be suited for battling as a Trainer's Pokémon. Are you going to release it?"

Gengar, who had witnessed everything and had learned about human Trainers at the Pokémon School earlier, floated beside Hu Yang and looked at Axew as it asked.

Its form was not visible to the other Pokémon, so only Hu Yang could hear those words.

Hu Yang looked at Axew, somewhat speechless. "Why would you think that?"

Gengar said, "At that school, I saw a Trainer abandon a Pokémon in the forest because it was too weak. He lied to it and told it to wait for him there."

Hu Yang: "..."

Wasn't that what had happened to Charmander?

It seemed that kind of thing happened often in this world!

He had done the same thing when playing games in his previous life.

If a Pokémon he caught had the wrong nature or terrible Individual Values, he would release it.

There was nothing much wrong with releasing a Pokémon right after catching it in a game.

But everything he was experiencing now was not a game. It was real life.

If a Pokémon was too weak, as a Trainer, instead of thinking about training it and helping it overcome its fears, someone would think about abandoning it...

Then why catch it in the first place?

That made Hu Yang think of Paul from the anime.

When it came to Pokémon, Paul's only concern was their battle ability.

He despised weak Pokémon, released Pokémon that failed to meet his expectations, and believed that forming close relationships with Pokémon would only make them lazy.

Ash's Infernape during his travels in Sinnoh had been one of the Pokémon Paul released.

But was that really a good thing?

On this point, Hu Yang appreciated Ash's training philosophy and attitude toward Pokémon much more.

Wasn't that exactly why people in that world loved the Pokémon world?

Because he had watched the anime, he could not treat Pokémon with rich emotions as mere tools for fighting.

If he had to choose, he wanted to become a Trainer like Ash rather than Paul.

More importantly, without forming bonds and close relationships with Pokémon, they could not Mega Evolve.

Gengar said nothing. It was waiting for an answer.

Hu Yang took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Maybe many people in this world would do that, but no matter what, I will never abandon any companion."

He could not change other people's views or beliefs, but he would do his best to be true to himself.

Gengar felt relieved. If it could come back to life, it would be willing to follow this human.

The next day.

Early in the morning, Hu Yang woke up and found that Cramorant was nowhere to be seen in the room.

Ever since the incident with Ho-Oh's feather, Hu Yang had deliberately kept Cramorant in its Master Ball because he worried it would cause panic outside.

They had soaked in the hot spring until very late last night, so Hu Yang had forgotten to recall it.

"Where's Cramorant?" he asked.

Gengar pointed outside. "It flew out."

Hu Yang: "..."

He realized that the idea that Cramorant sensed his intentions and acted accordingly did not seem entirely accurate.

More precisely, it only worked sometimes.

For example, these past few days, he had repeatedly thought, Cramorant absolutely must not run outside again. We don't need it bringing food home from outside anymore. Yet it had not done a damn thing.

Still, Hu Yang was not too worried about Cramorant's safety, unless it provoked several Electric-type legendary Pokémon.

After all, its type was Flying + Water-type. A fourfold weakness to Electric-type was no joke.

As for whether Cramorant would get lost... that was not something Hu Yang worried about either.

There seemed to be some sort of radar system between him and this Cramorant. No matter where he was, Cramorant could fly back to his side with perfect accuracy.

Just like that time with Ho-Oh.

"Are we doing anything today?" Gengar returned to normal, floating beside him with its arms folded as it asked lazily.

Roserade looked over as well, its gaze seeming to ask: Are we going to train together?

Hu Yang: "..."

Why did it feel like his Pokémon were even more hardworking than he was?

"No. We'll rest for a while first, then start training again when spring comes." As he spoke, Hu Yang turned his gaze toward Axew.

After what had happened last night, Axew had grown closer to him.

So he said, "First, we'll find a way to help Axew overcome its fear of water."

Upon hearing that, Roserade and Gengar immediately turned their attention to Axew.

"Axew..." Axew's expression began to worsen.

Hu Yang crouched down and picked it up. "Don't be afraid. I'll always stay with you."

"Axew..." Axew calmed down a little.

"Can you trust me?" Hu Yang asked.

"Roserade!" Roserade jumped out and cheered it on.

Seeing that, hesitation appeared in Axew's eyes.

After a long while, under its companions' encouraging gazes, Axew finally decided to give it a try.

Just then, Cramorant flew back from outside.

A wildly struggling Pikachu was clamped in its beak.

Hu Yang looked up at the sight. "..."

As Cramorant's Trainer, aside from enjoying the benefits and conveniences it brought, he naturally had to bear the corresponding responsibility.

Three minutes later.

Facing the angry Pikachu and the woman who had come looking for it, Hu Yang helplessly picked up Cramorant and said to them:

"Sorry, I'm really sorry."

The woman looked very friendly. No, more accurately, people in this world were very friendly toward ten-year-old children traveling on their own.

"It's fine. As long as everyone's okay, it was just a misunderstanding."

After the woman left.

Hu Yang and Cramorant looked at each other.

Cramorant: "Caw?"

Hu Yang: "..."

Sigh. Another worrying day.