Farewell

Charmander lowered her head, looking at the ground where she had stood while breathing fire just now, then raised her head to look at the Charmeleon still practicing in the distance, its Presence steady and composed.

Then, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried hard to "feel" things the way Xinhai had just described.

Her tiny chest began to rise and fall rhythmically. This time, her focus was no longer solely on mimicking the act of "breathing fire," but turned inward, sinking deeper into her body.

She tried to grasp the path of energy flowing through her body—it was a warm, lively, elusive sensation. Normally, she simply instinctively drove it toward her throat and blasted it out.

Now, she slowed the process and carefully distinguished its movements.

When she inhaled, that warm current really did seem to gather and swirl somewhere near the bottom of her chest, as though an invisible vortex were drawing in and compressing something.

Whenever she wanted to breathe fire, a force would first rise from deep within her abdomen, pushing that compressed energy upward...

"Fwoosh—!"

Charmander opened her eyes again, aimed at the open ground before her, and tried her hardest to coordinate the force rising from her abdomen with the energy compressed in her chest before blasting it out!

This time, the flames seemed slightly brighter than before, and shot out a little faster. The most obvious difference was their shape—the main flame was no longer surrounded by a somewhat scattered cluster of sparks. Instead, it was more concentrated, with far less flickering at the edges, appearing condensed and powerful.

"Vee!" Eevee's eyes lit up as she cried out in delight. "It really did get a little stronger!"

Charmander felt the difference herself. She lowered her head to look at her