Maybe Damon arrived early. There was no crowd cheering for anyone at the moment in front of the lab.
Not wasting any time, Damon instead went ahead onto Route One. Once out of Pallet Town, he summoned the Charmander.
[Charmander]
From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out.
The Pokédex gave its designated description before Damon looked at the 2.5-foot creature with awe in his eyes.
"Okay, Charmander, you'll be my partner from now on!"
"Char!"
The Charmander raised its tiny hands in excitement, rejoicing alongside Damon.
"Now let's see. Should I give you a name?" Damon thought as he put a hand under his chin, thinking of something good.
'Something nice… and fitting.' Damon wasn't some protagonist with a terrible naming sense, nor was he Chinese enough to name it Little White or Little Black.
"Hm… how about Ember? Nah, that's feminine. You're a boy, right?"
"Char!"
The Charmander nodded before Damon continued thinking.
"Blaze! It's simple and fits you. So how about Blaze?"
"Char! Charmander!"
Blaze rejoiced at getting a new name, circling Damon with a bright smile on his face.
Damon watched Blaze with a smile before they started walking down Route One. Damon had already bought an atlas of the Kanto region, not to mention that Viridian City was actually quite close to Pallet Town.
Walking along the road, Damon looked around at the wild Pokémon with excitement. "Should I try catching one now?"
Looking at the variety of wild Pokémon in sight, Damon thought.
Rattata, Spearow, Sandshrew—a lot of Pokémon were present in the vicinity of Pallet Town.
"Let's look for an easy target to start with."
Damon's eyes scanned the field as he searched for an opponent for his first fight.
Pokémon near the town were all weak, so any of them could work, but Damon didn't just want to fight—he wanted to catch one as well.
"Hm, got you!"
Spotting a Pidgey in the distance pecking at the ground, Damon chose his first target and pointed at it.
"Blaze! Use Ember!" Damon ordered immediately as his Charmander rushed forward, releasing the attack.
The sudden fire attack came as a complete surprise to the little Pidgey, which sensed the incoming flames too late.
Pidgey: the fuck?!
The Pokémon didn't even get a chance to evade. The flames landed cleanly, knocking it out in a single move.
"What? That was too easy…"
Damon stared in surprise as the Pidgey lay fainted on the grass, its feathers scorched.
Taking out a Poké Ball, Damon threw it at the fainted Pidgey. A red light engulfed the bird, pulling it inside before the ball closed and began to blink faintly.
The Poké Ball finally stopped moving.
"Oh yeah!"
Rushing over, Damon picked it up and posed, looking proudly at Charmander.
"We got our first Pokémon! Way to go, Blaze!"
"Char! Char!"
Blaze was just as excited, stepping forward with a cheerful cry.
"Didn't know you were this strong," Damon said as he patted Charmander's head. The Pidgey was obviously weak—probably only level two or three.
Blaze, on the other hand, was at least level five, and a Fire type no less.
"…You're strong, buddy," Damon muttered, thinking for a moment before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a candy wrapped in blue paper. "But do you want to be stronger?"
He offered the candy to the orange Pokémon.
"Char!"
Eating it, Blaze let out a pleased exclamation, licking his mouth.
"Char! Char!"
"You liked it?" Damon felt relieved seeing Blaze's reaction. Taking out three more candies, he handed them over, watching as Blaze devoured the rare candies one by one.
"Charmander!"
Blaze looked delighted as he finished, and Damon smiled.
"I'm glad you like it, buddy. But tell me—do you feel anything else?"
"Char?"
Blaze tilted his head at the question before frowning.
"Do you feel stronger, by any chance?"
Blaze frowned harder, then closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his expression shifted to shock before bursting into excitement.
"Char! Charmander! Mander Char!"
Damon didn't understand Pokémon language, but Blaze's excitement and nodding made it clear enough.
"You feel stronger, don't you?" Damon said with a smile, lifting Charmander into his arms.
"Char."
"Well, that's great news, buddy."
A red light flashed as Blaze disappeared into his Poké Ball.
"Because this is how you'll grow stronger from now on."
Damon muttered to himself as he resumed his journey toward Viridian City.
'The rare candies worked…'
A smile spread across Damon's face as he realized the implications. Rare Candies—the fictional consumables that raised a Pokémon's level by one—worked perfectly.
With these, he could instantly level up his Pokémon without battling.
Ignoring material requirements, experience, or skill-based growth, Damon could evolve and strengthen his Pokémon to their maximum stats within minutes.
"The true joy of being a trainer is to train them yourself… grow them yourself," Damon muttered, recalling what the books in this world preached. "But if you can cheat your way to the top… then why not?"
Yeah. Why not?
This world had Legendaries and all kinds of Pokémon—some kind, some dangerous.
Organizations like Team Rocket ran rampant. In such a world, if he could secure strong and reliable Pokémon to protect himself and gain power, why shouldn't he?
With that thought, Damon decided he would raise Blaze to Charizard as soon as possible, reaching max level at record speed.
His hand itched, wanting to feed dozens of candies at once and obtain a Charizard immediately, but his rational mind stopped him.
Getting strong Pokémon would only take minutes—but then what?
He couldn't just raise a level 100 Charizard and be done with it. He needed to feed it. And to feed it, he needed money. A lot of money.
Damon frowned. He was an orphan—he had no one to rely on.
Through scholarships and savings, he had a few thousand in his possession, but would that be enough to feed a giant Pokémon? No.
First, he needed a steady stream of income before raising large Pokémon.
"Don't know how Ash and the others did it… but I have to be careful with money."
Brock was a Gym Leader, his family ran a Gym. Misty had her sisters and their Gym. They had backing.
"How do trainers even earn money?" Damon muttered. Battling other trainers and earning prize money was one way. Another was sponsorships or becoming famous enough for advertisements.
"Money… money… money."
Even in this world, money was unavoidable.
He sighed, thinking of possible ways to earn it. Taking money out of his phone?
He had hundreds of thousands of Poké Dollars in-game, but he couldn't just materialize them without worrying about counterfeit issues.
With another sigh, Damon continued walking, enjoying the scenery. He took in the beauty of the Pokémon world until his gaze landed on a stream of water in the distance.
"Should I get a Water type while I'm at it?"