Ch. 221I Just Don't Want to Walk by Myself
Chapter Summary: “I Just Don’t Want to Walk by Myself”
Key Plot Points and Events
- Heiduo leads his Pokémon through an intense morning training session. The group runs varying distances according to their abilities, followed by move practice.
- Several Pokémon struggle with the workout:
- Marshtomp is exhausted and falls behind.
- Golden Sparkle, the Charmander, resents the training but continues.
- Grovyle is pushed especially hard because Heiduo has high expectations for it.
- Garchomp, Electivire, Scizor, Arbok, and Beedrill demonstrate greater stamina due to their established training routines.
- Heiduo explains that physical conditioning and repeated move practice can increase Pokémon levels and move proficiency.
- After training, Heiduo spends hours bathing his Pokémon, with Charmander particularly resisting the water.
- At lunchtime, Heiduo discovers that Umbreon is missing and briefly fears that its depression has caused it to run away.
- Umbreon reveals that it has learned Minimize, shrinking to a mouse-sized form for up to thirty minutes. However, its weight remains unchanged, nearly injuring Heiduo when he tries to pick it up.
- Umbreon proposes clearing out Heiduo’s books to make room for itself, but they compromise by discarding Umbreon’s outdated clothes instead. Umbreon also agrees to control its diet and exercise.
- That afternoon, Heiduo visits the Celadon Game Corner, hoping to access Team Rocket records. He realizes infiltration is too difficult and considers waiting for a future crisis involving Mewtwo.
- He calls Red for information and learns that Red is in Diglett’s Cave, where he has just encountered a middle-aged man collecting fossils—strongly implying that Red has met Giovanni. Heiduo hangs up quickly after realizing the timing may affect major events.
Character Developments
- Heiduo continues to develop as a demanding but responsible trainer. Although he pushes his Pokémon intensely, he also worries about their well-being and recognizes his debt to Umbreon.
- Umbreon shows resourcefulness and a more positive, practical attitude. Rather than disappearing because of its depression, it secretly experiments with Minimize and proposes solutions to its size and weight problems.
- Marshtomp, Grovyle, and Charmander are portrayed as struggling with Heiduo’s demanding training, emphasizing their need to grow stronger.
- The veteran Pokémon—Garchomp, Electivire, Scizor, Arbok, and Beedrill—show the benefits of consistent training and experience.
- Red remains energetic and curious, innocently stumbling into an important encounter with Giovanni while Heiduo realizes the potential consequences.
Significant Themes
- Discipline and growth: Training requires endurance, repeated practice, and pushing beyond one’s limits.
- Responsibility toward companions: Heiduo’s harsh methods are balanced by genuine concern for his Pokémon, especially Umbreon.
- Adaptation and problem-solving: Umbreon’s Minimize ability and their compromise over space and clothing show both Pokémon and trainer adjusting to changing circumstances.
- The burden of strength: Stronger Pokémon can endure more, but maintaining a large team creates logistical and personal difficulties.
- Fate and timing: Heiduo is aware of major events unfolding in the Pokémon world and struggles to intervene without causing harmful changes.
Important Character Interactions
- Heiduo encourages and supervises the exhausted Pokémon during training.
- A friendly old man praises Heiduo’s early-morning efforts, reinforcing Heiduo’s confidence in his path.
- Heiduo bathes the Pokémon, particularly scolding Charmander for resisting.
- Heiduo and Umbreon negotiate over books, clothes, diet, and living space, revealing their familiar, argumentative relationship.
- Heiduo phones Red and accidentally learns that Red has encountered Giovanni in Diglett’s Cave, leaving Heiduo alarmed by the possibility that his interference—or lack of it—could affect the story’s future.