"You don't understand this guy, but I don't have the authority to talk about it now. Anyway, I have no obligation to answer your questions, and you have no standing to question me. Before this, Chimchar was my Pokemon, and I could do whatever I wanted with it. But now, I've released it, and it belongs to the wild."
"If you really care about it that much, the thing you should do now is take it to a Pokemon Center... I thought you'd be an interesting opponent, but it turns out that's all there is to it." Paul shook his head, somewhat disappointed, and then turned to leave once more.
This time, Ash didn't stop him but instead went to Chimchar's side.
Chimchar watched Paul leaving, an endless sadness in its expression, but it didn't follow him again because Paul had made it clear: What difference would it make to stay with Paul even if it insisted?
As long as it couldn't create its own value, being abandoned was just a matter of time. To put it bluntly, it just wasn't strong enough...
As Chimchar was feeling dejected, a warm power suddenly coursed through its body, bringing an unprecedented sense of comfort. The pain on its body and hidden injuries were slowly being healed by that warm flow.
Chimchar looked up, its lively eyes gazing at the human beside it. This warmth was being transmitted from this human, and even though it was their first meeting, this human gave Chimchar a heartfelt sense of closeness.
Moreover, this warm flow in its body was the work of this human, was he healing it?
"It's okay, Chimchar, you'll recover soon." Ash, seeing Chimchar looking at him, thought it was worried about its condition, so he gently reassured it.
Chimchar's condition was indeed not optimistic. Besides the injuries from today's battle, there were hidden injuries inside its body. Mostly unnoticed, but they would emerge once the body reached its limit state.
This indirectly resulted in Chimchar finding it difficult to make progress during training.
Those injuries were not caused all at once but accumulated over time, just as Paul said, getting hurt might have become a daily routine for Chimchar.
And every time it got hurt, Paul might not have taken Chimchar to a Pokemon Center for treatment. Ash couldn't understand why Paul would do such a thing, which completely harmed the Pokemon's life!
Though not as malicious as Damian, what Paul did made Ash very angry, how could there be such people in the world?!
Even the Team Rocket trio treats their Pokemon better than he does!!
"Ash, what happened? Where's Paul?" While Ash was healing Chimchar, Misty and the others arrived, though a bit late as Paul was already out of sight.
"He's gone."
"Gone? What about Chimchar..." Brock looked around, seeing no sign of Paul, then turned his gaze to Chimchar, his words faltering.
"That guy abandoned it." Ash's voice was void of emotion, yet it made Brock and the others' expressions change drastically.
Abandoned? Could that guy really do such a thing?
"To be precise, he released it. In his words, they weren't suitable... But I know, that guy just disliked Chimchar's weakness. From the first meeting, I felt something off with him, but I didn't expect our ideals to differ so much!" Ash took a deep breath, suppressing his anger within.
Now, Chimchar's condition wasn't right, and the instigator wasn't there. Being angry served no purpose; the most important thing was to help Chimchar recover.
The Power of Viridian didn't possess the advanced technology that the Pokemon Center had to restore heavily injured Pokemon quickly, but its healing abilities were far stronger, capable of directly curing even deeply buried injuries.
Ash was now working to completely remove all Chimchar's hidden injuries, which was why it took a bit longer.
Otherwise, given Chimchar's current level, Ash wouldn't even need a minute to restore it, but now it had been almost three minutes, and his Power of Viridian was still being output.
"What exactly happened? Ash, why did you suddenly come out? Why did Paul abandon..." Brock spoke halfway but stopped when he saw the deep loss on Chimchar's face.
To continue talking about abandonment would just be rubbing salt into Chimchar's wound.
"While I was eating, this little one's emotions were inadvertently communicated to me through Aura. It was an unconscious action on its part. It wanted Paul's approval, felt disappointed for not meeting Paul's goals, and resolved to work harder..."
"Seeing Paul's behavior, he clearly hadn't understood Chimchar's feelings, so I decided to talk to him, but as soon as I came out, that guy just..."
He hadn't had a chance to persuade Paul, to explain Chimchar's resolutions and its disheartened spirit, before Paul went and abandoned Chimchar.
Plans couldn't catch up with changes. He could only heal Chimchar first, the rest would have to wait.
"That guy, despite his strength, I didn't imagine he could be so inhumane!" Gary punched the air, his face showing his anger.
He once saw that guy as a rival, but with such a character, Paul wasn't worthy to be his rival!
Poor performance in Pokemon battles, isn't that more the Trainer's issue? Who makes an Advanced Level Pokemon fight against Elite Level ones?!
Moreover, having an Advanced Junior facing an Elite Peak, even Ash might have struggled with that!
To blame the failure on Pokemon, he'd never seen someone so shameless!
"Forget it, you can't reason with a person like that with words. I'll show him in an official match, through battle, the proper way to train and treat Pokemon!" Ash said firmly while moving his hand away.
He realized words wouldn't change Paul's mind; he had to wake Paul up through battle!
The fight would convey everything that needed to be said.
Then, Ash turned to Chimchar with a gentle expression and said, "Chimchar, you're almost fully healed inside. The pain that's been bothering you will be gone. Where will you go next?"
"Hoo..." Ash's words first brought a joyful expression to Chimchar. It felt unprecedented ease inside, like shedding a heavy burden, plus Ash said it wouldn't have to endure the recurrent pains in the future.
Although this was their first meeting, Ash had gained full trust from Chimchar.
But Ash's next words brought a look of confusion over Chimchar. Where would it go from here?
The world is vast, yet there seems to be no place for it to belong.
"If you don't mind... would you become my Pokemon?" Ash paused, then extended his hand to Chimchar, offering an olive branch.
It wasn't just Chimchar's potential; its grateful nature and determination for its Trainer endeared it to Ash. Paul may not want it, but Ash did!
Paul had no idea what kind of being he was abandoning.
"Groo?" Seeing the hand in front of him, Chimchar displayed an expression of disbelief. It couldn't believe that right after being abandoned, someone else was willing to accept it.
Plus, it felt a good vibe from this person, and his attitude and actions were far superior to Paul's by a hundredfold.
But... did it really have the right to become this person's Pokemon?