Charmander's Problem

"Here, you must be hungry. Eat this!"

Chen Shi took out some premium all-purpose Pokémon food and handed it to Charmander.

Charmander was already starving. It grabbed the food and began wolfing it down.

"Bel~"

(I'm willing, too.)

Suddenly, a mechanical voice sounded beside Chen Shi.

He turned to look and saw Beldum.

It had woken up some time ago, but had stayed quiet rather than interrupt its Pokémon Trainer's interaction with Charmander.

While Charmander was eating, it finally floated over to make its feelings known.

Chen Shi stroked its metallic body, a twinge of guilt rising in his heart.

"Sorry, Beldum. I didn't notice you just now."

"Bel~"

Beldum narrowed its eye, indicating that it didn't mind.

Chen Shi smiled. "You want to battle, too?"

"Bel~"

Beldum nodded.

Back when it lived among its own kind, it had known it was different from the others.

It wasn't just the color of its body. It was different in every way.

It was bigger and smarter than the others.

Beldum had watched the Metagross leader battle the Aggron leader. That earth-shattering scene remained vivid in its memory.

A single shock wave would have been enough to kill it dozens of times over. It had been profoundly shaken.

It wanted to be as powerful as the Metagross leader, too. It didn't want to remain a weak little Beldum.

That was why it had agreed when Steven offered to take it away and find it a Pokémon Trainer.

Many people had visited the Metagross colony before, hoping to catch it, but it had always felt they were missing something, so it hadn't gone with any of them.

Yet when Steven brought it to the boy standing before it now, a voice had somehow risen in its heart.

He's the one!

And so Beldum had accepted Chen Shi as its Pokémon Trainer without hesitation.

Chen Shi took Beldum over to the window and pointed at Togetic and Florges, who were training hard below.

"Do you see them?"

"If you want to battle, you'll have to train consistently every day and fight all kinds of powerful opponents."

"Does that scare you?"

"Bel~"

Beldum glanced down, then slowly shook its head.

It had never feared hardship or pain.

It only wanted to grow stronger-as strong as the Metagross leader, or even stronger.

"Good."

Chen Shi smiled in satisfaction. Pseudo-Legendaries weren't called Pseudo-Legendaries merely because of their impressive base stat total of 600.

It was also because almost all these Pokémon had a drive to grow stronger. It was written into their genes.

Pokémon like these were very easy to raise.

All you needed to do was put together proper training plans, provide enough resources for their growth, and look after their mental well-being.

They would rarely let you down.

Metagross, Tyranitar, Garchomp-weren't all these Pokémon renowned for their ferocity?

Only Dragonite and Goodra were somewhat unusual, with their remarkably gentle temperaments.

But push them too far, and they could kill you in no time just the same.

Chen Shi patted Beldum. "Your goal right now is to eat."

"You're about to evolve. Once you become a Metang, I'll put together a training plan for you."

"Bel~"

Beldum readily agreed.

Chen Shi walked over to Charmander and carefully examined its body.

There had to be a reason why Charmander still hadn't evolved despite being over level thirty, and why it couldn't produce flames.

There were several possible causes, but as long as it wasn't a congenital genetic defect, he was confident he could cure Charmander.

Yet after examining it for quite some time, he still couldn't find anything wrong.

Chen Shi's brows furrowed slightly. That shouldn't be possible.

Seeing its Trainer frown, Charmander grew increasingly uneasy.

Could I really be incurable?

"Stay still. I'll use my psychic powers to check you in a moment. Remember not to resist."

"Char~"

Charmander immediately agreed, closing its eyes and letting its new Pokémon Trainer examine it.

Then Chen Shi released his psychic powers and carefully probed Charmander's body.

The result, however, took him completely by surprise.

This little guy's body is full of freaking Dragon-type energy! Its original Fire-type energy is being completely suppressed.

It would be a miracle if you could breathe fire like this.

No wonder it hadn't evolved even at such a high level. It had too little energy of its own type to support evolution.

After some thought, Chen Shi decided to have his grandparents take a look.

After all, what if he had gotten it wrong?

There was no shame in asking family for help. Having an elder at home was like having a treasure, after all.

"Don't worry. I've figured out the cause. You'll be fine."

"I'll take you to my grandparents and have them examine you."

Delight immediately lit up Charmander's eyes. It nodded vigorously and followed Chen Shi downstairs.

"Grandpa, Grandma, could you take a look at this little one?"

Chen Shi found his grandparents downstairs and gently nudged Charmander forward.

At his words, the two elders looked at the scrawny Charmander, their brows furrowing slightly.

Grandpa Chen immediately drew Charmander closer and began examining it.

"The flame on this Charmander's tail is so weak, yet its vital signs don't seem to have any major problems."

"There must be something wrong with its internal Fire-type energy."

"And its strength has already reached the middle of the advanced tier, hasn't it? Yet it still hasn't evolved."

Chen Shi couldn't help marveling at the value of experience. His grandfather had spotted the problem at a glance.

"Grandpa, it inherited three whole Dragon-type moves."

"The Dragon-type energy inside it is frighteningly high. Its Fire-type energy is being suppressed, so it can't even use Ember."

His grandfather shook his head. "Its Dragon-type energy isn't the only thing that's frighteningly high."

"Its talent is, too."

"It's on par with your Swampert when it was young."

"Oh?" Grandma Chen's interest was piqued.

She and her husband had put an enormous amount of effort into giving Chen Shi's Swampert such extraordinary talent.

Yet this Charmander could actually rival Swampert.

"Shi, where did you find this Charmander?"

Chen Shi didn't hide anything in response to his grandmother's question and told her what had happened in the Black Market.

After hearing his account, neither elder passed judgment on whether their grandson had done the right thing.

This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Strength was reason enough, and the bigger fist was always right.

Chen Shi asked again, "Grandpa, how should we treat Charmander's condition?"

Charmander also looked at the old man expectantly.

From what he's saying, the problem with my body should be treatable.

After some thought, Grandpa Chen replied, "It's quite simple. Just have it use Dragon-type moves more often to release the Dragon-type energy inside its body."

"Then supplement that with Fire-type resources to strengthen Charmander's Fire-type energy."

"But you absolutely mustn't rush the process. Its body is in terrible shape right now. Build up its health first."

"Once Charmander returns to normal, it'll probably evolve right away."

"An imperfect evolution like that would cost Charmander a great deal of its potential."

Chen Shi agreed that his grandfather made sense, then stroked Charmander's head.

"Charmander, you'll need to focus on getting healthy now."

"Once you've recovered, you can evolve and grow stronger."

"Char~!"

Charmander clenched its little fists, its gaze gradually filling with resolve.

Charmander