Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 10: The Shock of Charmander’s Transformation

By a lake in Lavender Town.

Charmander stood at the edge of the water, opened its mouth, and gathered energy.

Two seconds later, a jet of pitch-black energy, as thick as two fists, burst forth from its mouth.

Sizzle—

The moment the energy column touched the lake, the water began to boil violently. Bubbles rose as if from molten lava, and scorching steam spread through the air, soon reaching Rio’s face a short distance away.

Rio felt no pain at all. On the contrary, his expression was one of great satisfaction and joy.

"Excellent! Now Dragon Breath’s proficiency has finally reached its cap as well," he said excitedly.

After several days of near-frenzied training, Charmander had maxed out the proficiency of all five moves it currently knew—Scratch, Growl, Ember, Smokescreen, and Dragon Breath—each at the full 30%.

A few seconds later, Charmander stopped releasing Dragon Breath and ran over to Rio with a beaming smile. Upon reaching him, it hopped right into his arms.

"Rua~"

It was like a child waiting to be praised.

Rio looked down at this little one with great affection. He gave Charmander a kiss on the head, then showered it with endless compliments.

In his view, Pokémon were just like some pets from his original world. Their minds were simple—many of their actions and efforts were only for a single word of praise from their trainer. Yet, for so many Pokémon, even that one word of praise might never come in a lifetime. That thought saddened him.

But since fate had brought him to this world, he was determined to make every one of his Pokémon feel abundant love—to heal the wounds of these children whose hearts had been scarred.

"Charmander, you’ve worked so hard with all that intense training these past few days. Let’s head to the Pokémon Center and have Nurse Joy help restore your condition. After that, we’ll go back to the Pokémon House for breakfast. Then we’ll find Team Rocket, challenge them, and get your Poké Ball back. Do you have the confidence?"

After the praise, Rio laid out their next steps.

"Rua~" Charmander responded with high spirits.

Through all their time together, it had come to accept Rio and wanted him to be its trainer. So it had to get that Poké Ball back, no matter what.

"That’s my super genius. Fantastic."

Rio affectionately patted Charmander’s little head again, then carried it toward the Pokémon Center.

At nine in the morning, Rio returned to the Pokémon House.

The Pokémon had just finished their breakfast, and Munchlax had just burst out of its locked room, wiggling its butt and striding briskly toward its eagerly awaited meal.

But just as Munchlax was about to reach the food buckets, Charmander suddenly darted out from behind Rio and planted itself right in front of Munchlax, wearing an expression that clearly said, I’m here to fight you.

This startled the surrounding volunteers and caught Mr. Fuji off guard. They all knew that the most dangerous time for Munchlax was right before a meal—anyone who got in the way of its food would have a fight on their hands.

"Charmander, what are you doing? Get out of the way!" one volunteer scolded.

"Rio, take Charmander away!" another volunteer called out.

But neither Charmander nor Rio moved. One continued standing in front of Munchlax; the other stood still, watching calmly.

"Rio, what is Charmander doing?" Mr. Fuji came up beside Rio, urging him to take Charmander away.

Rio smiled and said in a low voice: "Grandpa Fuji, do you remember how I said I was going to help Charmander overcome its slump? Now it’s time for it to accomplish its goal. Please don’t stop it."

Mr. Fuji was taken aback. He immediately recalled Rio’s earlier plan to use Munchlax as Charmander’s motivational target. He hesitated: "But does Charmander really have the..."

Before Mr. Fuji could finish, Rio cut him off: "Don’t worry, Grandpa Fuji. It has the strength now. Otherwise, how could it help bring Rina back from Team Rocket?"

Hearing Rio’s confident words, Mr. Fuji turned to look at Charmander and Munchlax.

By now, Munchlax was thoroughly displeased with this creature blocking its meal. It roared at Charmander:

"Ka~" — Looking for a beating? Get lost, or I’ll crush you!

Charmander stood its ground and roared back with composure:

"Rua~" — Bring it on. Let’s see who ends up on the ground today.

"Ka~" — You’re asking for it, you little waste!

Munchlax let out an angry cry and immediately used Tackle, launching its round, rotund body like a cannonball straight at Charmander.

Charmander, facing the charging Munchlax, showed no fear at all. It extended its claws, ready to use Scratch.

Seeing this, the volunteers and Mr. Fuji watched with concern. Some volunteers had already braced themselves to catch Charmander after it was sent flying.

But the outcome surprised everyone.

The moment Munchlax’s Tackle collided with Charmander’s Scratch—

"Ka~!"

It was Munchlax that let out a pained cry. It was sent staggering back several meters by that single claw swipe, leaving a large gash across its belly.

"Th-this..." Mr. Fuji’s eyes went wide with disbelief. He couldn’t believe Charmander had actually done that.

But it wasn’t over. The next moment, he saw Charmander immediately follow up with Dragon Breath.

A column of pitch-black energy, as thick as two fists, erupted from Charmander’s mouth, sending the enraged, injured Munchlax flying straight out of the Pokémon House.

Seeing this, Mr. Fuji quickly called out: "Charmander, stop! You win! Munchlax loses!"

Charmander paid him no heed—until, a second later, Rio’s voice reached its ears:

"Alright, Charmander, that’s enough. You’ve won. You’ve proven your talent and your strength."

At those words, Charmander immediately stopped the Dragon Breath. Then it raised its chin proudly at the surrounding volunteers, as if to say: See that? This is my true power.

The volunteers, watching Charmander win so easily, were left with their mouths hanging open, utterly speechless. They couldn’t believe that this was the same Charmander that had been lying in a corner, wasting away, just a week ago.

Then they turned to look at Rio, whose expression remained calm.

Only one thought ran through their minds:

"How on earth did this guy do it?"

In just one week, he had transformed a Charmander that wouldn’t even eat into a powerhouse that could take down the Pokémon House’s little tyrant in two moves.

They had all thought he was crazy—getting himself beaten up by Munchlax just to protect one meal for Charmander.

Well, it turned out they were the crazy ones.

"Damn. Rio really got his money’s worth out of that beating. If I’d known getting pummeled by Munchlax could make Charmander snap out of it and accept a trainer, I’d have let Munchlax cripple me ages ago," one volunteer thought enviously.

He noticed that the way Charmander looked at Rio clearly showed it already regarded him as its trainer.