“Alright, alright, let’s go. Indeedee will handle the rest, no problem.”
Yu Feng stood up, no longer observing Charmander, and turned to walk towards the Pokémon Center. He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would be unable to resist doing something bad.
However, Yu Feng still gave Indeedee a few instructions before he left, as the sky really didn’t look good at the moment.
“Ai Wan!”
Indeedee bowed slightly to Yu Feng’s retreating back, indicating that it would absolutely carry out Yu Feng’s will.
Ash and the others looked at each other. There was nothing they could do; Yu Feng said he could resolve the matter, so it was better if they didn’t interfere.
Not long after they started walking, the sky began to turn gloomy. Xiao Xia, with her sharp eyes, spotted a Pokémon Center standing by the side of the road.
“This is great! Now we’re very close to Route 24.”
Ash had temporarily forgotten about the Charmander from earlier. After all, Yu Feng said he had a way to solve it, so Ash would just wait and see.
Not long after Ash finished speaking, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky. Before they could react, it turned into a downpour.
“What are you all still chatting about? We’re going to get soaked!”
Yu Teng Sheng Dai took the lead and ran towards the Pokémon Center. She didn’t want to be drenched by the pouring rain.
Ash and the others also reacted, realizing they really needed to find shelter quickly. They followed Yu Teng Sheng Dai, running towards the Pokémon Center… Charmander, having retrieved a large leaf from somewhere, used it to shield the flame on its tail. It did so because it knew that if the flame on its tail went out, it would never see its Trainer again.
Indeedee, hiding in the shadows, took a sip of black tea. It had originally been prepared for Yu Feng, but since he didn’t need it to go over now, Indeedee enjoyed it itself.
A small rain shelter had been set up above its head at some point. It wasn't that Indeedee hadn't invited Charmander to take shelter, but the Pokémon was very stubborn. It had picked a leaf barely large enough to cover its body and was now lying there, not moving at all.
Indeedee had been looking after Yu Feng for four or five years. This Charmander was even more difficult than Yu Feng was when he was a child. When Yu Feng was little, he at least knew what he could and couldn’t do after being persuaded.
(Yu Feng: Achoo!)
However, the Psychic glow in Indeedee’s eyes never faded, for it was Yu Feng’s assigned task, and it had to be done perfectly.
Charmander itself didn't notice that although the wind was strong, there were surprisingly few raindrops, and even if there were any, they didn't drift towards the flame on its tail… “Here, hot soup for you.”
“Brock, what’s wrong?”
Xiao Xia walked up to everyone with hot soup, distributing it bowl by bowl.
Everyone thanked Xiao Xia for helping with the meal, except for Brock, who looked out the window with a worried expression.
“Charmander’s owner, I wonder if he’ll be able to find this Pokémon. What if it wasn’t abandoned?”
Brock still felt that leaving Charmander alone wasn’t a good idea.
“I think it must be his owner, and something happened. After all, if it were abandoned, it wouldn’t wait there so faithfully, would it?”
Ash, on the other hand, thought Yu Feng’s claim that Charmander was abandoned was an exaggeration. After all, if it were abandoned and still waited there, Charmander would be too loyal.
Yu Feng merely smiled without a word, for not everyone knew the current situation.
Just then, a group of people who looked like hooligans, chatting nearby, caught everyone’s attention.
“How about that? It’s just that simple.”
A blue-haired man sat proudly on the sofa, surveying his friends around him. The table in front of him was filled with Poké Balls; a rough count showed about twenty of them.
It seemed he was showing off his day’s haul to them.
“Amazing! As expected of Da You Ge.”
A slick young man praised Da You’s haul.
“But Da You Ge, you don’t have a Charmander, do you?”
Just then, a hooligan with an earring asked this question, for some unknown reason.
Da You squinted at him, seemingly annoyed by his question, so his expression wasn’t very good. Still, he answered the hooligan’s question: “Of course I do, but my Charmander is too weak. It can’t even beat a Poliwag; it’s really bad.”
As he spoke, Da You spread his hands, indicating that Charmander’s strength was truly poor.
“That person is so annoying.”
Xiao Xia disliked people who only cared about Pokémon battles. What was so strange about Charmander not being able to defeat a Poliwag?
“Charmander is indeed afraid of Water-type Pokémon, but if trained properly, it can definitely become stronger.”
Brock began to educate Ash, but he also casually mentioned that any Pokémon could be trained to become stronger.
After all, type advantage was also a great joy of Pokémon; one couldn't just give up battling because of a type disadvantage.
At this moment, they didn’t know that this annoying person in front of them was the real culprit who abandoned Charmander. They only thought he was a Trainer complaining that his Pokémon was relatively weak.
“So, what happened to that Charmander?”
But as if they were specifically telling Ash and the others, the hooligan again asked about Charmander’s whereabouts.
“Ah, I threw it into the mountains.”
Da You said something that could infuriate any normal person, as if it were nothing.
This one sentence immediately made Ash and the others realize who the Charmander in the mountains was waiting for—it was none other than the person in front of them. And from his words, it seemed he had deliberately abandoned Charmander.
Then, everyone looked at Yu Feng in shock, seemingly surprised why he knew from the beginning that Charmander had been abandoned.
Yu Feng simply replied with the word “secret” and said no more.
“He’s so stupid. I threw him away several times, and he still followed me back. Finally, I told him, ‘You wait for me here obediently, and I’ll come back,’ and only then did he not follow.”
At this point, Da You glanced sideways at his companions’ reactions. Seeing their curious expressions, he continued with great satisfaction.
“He even foolishly wagged his Tail Whip to see me off, hahaha.”
Da You spoke of abandoning a Pokémon with complete indifference, even treating it as a joke. It seemed he felt no guilt whatsoever about abandoning a Pokémon.
The surrounding subordinates, seeing Da You laugh, also joined in the laughter, not knowing what they were laughing at.
Brock’s expression towards this group of people had now turned unfriendly. God knew how one could see anger in a squinting eye.
But honestly, to provoke a good-natured person like Brock, this Da You’s ability was quite extraordinary.
Brock clapped his hands on the table and calmly walked towards Da You.