Daemon and Kirlia ran over to the front desk of Pokémon Centre.
Calm down.
The psychic fairy could not help but sigh at the excitement oozing out from her partner. She knew how much Daemon wanted a Charizard...the black-haired boy had posters of it in his room and a Charmander plushie.
It was among the Pokémon he wanted for his team, but knowing how difficult it was to get one, Daemon had never even entertained the idea. And yet, with a twist of fate, the very thing he had wanted...it was in his palms...in a pokeball...
"Nurse Joy." Daemon ran to the pink-haired nurse who currently had no other trainer she was attending to.
"Daemon." Helena looked at the flustered boy. "Everything alright?"
"It is seriously injured."
Nurse Joy took the two pokeballs from his hands and handed them to her Chansey, who took them to a nearby room.
"Daemon!" Misty ran over, nodded to the nurse and then looked at the boy. "How is it?"
"Chansey took it away."
"And how are you? You looked like you would break his head."
"Trust me, I was close." Daemon rubbed his head in frustration when he was reminded of Charmander's tear-filled face.
The pink-haired nurse finally interrupted. "Okay, hold up! What happened?" She looked at the two trainers and then towards Kirlia, who had been studying healing from her Chansey.
"Kir Kirlia." The psychic fairy gave her a thumbs up, assuring her nothing too bad had happened.
Helena sighed in relief before turning back to the two trainers. "Care to explain, still?"
"Do you know Cross?" Misty started, and the nurse nodded. She continued. "He challenged Daemon to a Pokémon battle. Long story short, Cross lost and released his Charmander. He abused it, making Daemon angry...kinda led to a fight...nothing physical."
Helena looked at Misty, then at Daemon, then at Kirlia and then back to the raven-haired boy.
"One of those pokeball had a Charmander in it?"
"Yes."
Blink
"You know what...I am not even surprised." She sighed and sat down in her chair. "Why are you going around catching other trainers' Pokémon?"
"Not my fault that they are not taking good care of their Pokémon." Daemon rolled his eyes, and when the pink-haired nurse asked for a proper explanation, he told her everything.
Helena immediately opened her computer, looked through the camera recordings, and once she had verified everything, anger filled her eyes. However, she was a professional.
She did not lash out but left a note on the trainer profile of Cross Thompson, something that would stick with the boy for as long as he was in Kanto and cause a lot of trouble.
Her job was taking care of Pokémon, and what she hated the most was trainers who abused them.
"You should relax, Charmander will be fine." Nurse Joy turned back to the boy. "I will go check on Charmander and make sure your Deino is not causing a ruckus."
"I..." Daemon started but nodded when he felt Kirlia grab his hand.
Along with Misty, the group found empty seats.
I am going back.
Kirlia informed Daemon, and the black-haired boy returned her to the pokeball. He knew she was bothered by the fingers other trainers were pointing at her with.
Daemon relaxed into the couch and covered his face with the black cap the golden-haired woman had left him with.
"Have you checked its Pokedex entry?" Misty asked. Now that the fire-type was being taken care of by Nurse Joy, her anger had calmed down, and her 'trainer' side was resurfacing.
Daemon removed the cap from his face and thought about it before shaking his head. "Now that you said it..."
He tapped the side of his glasses, but decided otherwise when the orange-haired girl huddled close to him and took out the old Pokedex he had before the Smeargle trade.
"Hey, that's rude. You are not supposed to look at the stats of other trainers' Pokémon."
"I..."
"I am just teasing you." Daemon chuckled and then rubbed his arm, which Misty just punched lightly. "That's assault."
"Whatever." She just rolled her eyes and pointed at the pokedex. "Fire it up."
He wanted to make a counter remark but decided against it due to his own impatience.
-0-
[Charmander is a bipedal, reptilian Pokémon. Most of its body is colored orange, while its underbelly is light yellow, and it has blue eyes. It has a flame at the end of its tail, which is said to signify its health.
Gender: Male
Type: Fire
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Quick Attack, Dragon Dance, Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, Ember, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Blast Burn, Flare Blitz, Flame Charge, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Brick Break, Counter]
-0-
"W-What is this?" Misty asked with her wide eyes glued to the screen.
Daemon sighed when he saw the number as well as the quality of TMs Cross had dumped into Charmander.
When he chose TMs for his starter, she was already well-trained and close to her evolution. Moreover, these TMs were something that was 'natural' for her to learn.
However, this case was totally different.
Charmander was little over a month old...just a MONTH.
It meant the fire-type was still a baby, and Cross had dumped high-powered TMs in him without giving any training.
How did Daemon know Cross had never trained the Charmander?
Similar to how [Psybeam] was the progression of [Confusion], [Ember's] stronger version was an [Incinerate], followed by [Flamethrower].
However, Charmander, despite knowing [Flamethrower], still knew [Ember]. It showed the level the fire-type was still at. He was still too weak...not ready to bear the burden of these moves...
Daemon was once again reminded of how big a mistake he was about to make and thanked the golden-haired woman for opening his eyes.
Kirlia was still ready for those TMs thanks to the training she had been through, unlike Charmander. She only needed to make sure she understood the intricacies of those moves, something that would come naturally if they spent enough time on each of them.
"Cross is such an idiot." Misty scoffed from the side. "[Dragon Dance], [Dragon Claw] and [Dragon Tail] are egg moves Charmander inherited from its parents. Why did he not focus on training them?"
Daemon had thought of the same and remembered Cross saying something about Charmander's parent being a dragon.
"On the flip side, it's still not too bad." Daemon looked at the TMs.
Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Blast Burn, Flare Blitz, Flame Charge, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Brick Break, Counter
Having researched TMs in the last two days, Daemon came up with an idea of what could be done to fix a glaring problem. It was going to be a lot more difficult to fix than Kirlia's case, but all hope was not lost. This might even be a blessing in disguise.
"That's one hell of a catch." Misty leaned back, her eyes showed a hint of jealousy, but she quickly hid it away.
"Yeah, one hell of a catch," Daemon replied with a grin.
"What are your plans for tomorrow?"
"I am leaving Pewter. I was going to look for a third Pokémon, but that's sorted out now." He pointed at the Pokédex with a smile. "Now I can spend much more time on training my team. You?"
"Honestly? No plans." Misty sighed and stared at the roof. "I am spending this year travelling. Unlike trainers challenging the circuit, I have no obligations to reach somewhere. The only goal I have is to catch my final three water-types." She pointed at the two luxury balls on her waist and the third around her neck.
"Rich," Daemon commented, since those particular Pokeballs were very expensive.
"Coming from a guy who uses Ultra Balls." Misty rolled her eyes before she stared into his eyes. "What happened to you?"
The black-haired boy gave her a reassuring smile. "Just spent too much time on the computer and not enough sleep."
"This does not look like a work of just two days." She frowned.
"Trust me, I am fine."
Misty wanted to say something, but decided not to. Daemon was clearly trying to avoid the conversation, and she was not close enough to him to probe. However, the dark circles as well as the slight redness in his eyes made her worry for the boy's mental health.
But she could just not say anything either... that's just how she was. "If you even need to talk, you can always contact me."
"Will do." He gave her a thumbs-up. "How's Ash?"
Misty groaned. "Still the same."
"Have some faith in him."
The orange-haired girl shook her head. "He lost his fight against Brock, just like I said he would. Who uses [Thundershock] against an Onix?" She let out a sigh. "He asked for my help after, and now I am helping him train his Pokémon so they can counter rock-type or at least put up a good fight."
"Brock...as in Flint's son?"
"Yes, he works as a gym trainer now."
Brock was a famous trainer, among the few who had recently won a conference while representing the Kanto Region.
"And how's the training going?"
"We are starting tomorrow; Ash's next challenge is in a week."
"Good luck with that."
"Thanks, I will need it if I am going to teach anything to that boy." Misty sighed before turning to Daemon. "And you are travelling alone?"
"Yeah." Daemon nodded. "Most trainers want to rush to the next gym as soon as possible. I, on the other hand, want to spend my time going through every route; at least the parts a new trainer is allowed to visit."
Daemon understood the benefits of travelling in a group; however, he did not know anyone besides Ash and Misty. The latter two were going to spend another week and then some in Pewter, time he did not want to waste.
Even then, he very much liked Misty, but Ash...the boy had too much energy and was the type to get in trouble more often than not.
And you don't? One month and you have had two encounters with Team Rocket, more than him, I suppose.
'Alright, mom, I get it.'
*SLAP*
Daemon successfully hid a wince from the mental slap. 'Stop doing that.'
No.
"I should head back if I want to wake up on time for tomorrow." Misty let out a yawn.
"Good night."
"Text me if you need help with Charmander."
"Will do." Daemon watched her leave. Had she not been staying in Pewter with Ash, he would have asked her to travel together. She seemed like a good company.
I am better.
Daemon rolled his eyes and turned back to the pokedex. He went through Charmander's entry once again—age, parental heritage, and everything else that was important.
Finally, after an hour or so, he received a text on his pokedex.
Nurse Joy had called for him.