As Charmander's claws dug into the wooden target, Su Wen's consciousness was, for the first time, actively pushed out by Charmander.
This indicated an extremely significant fluctuation in Charmander's mental state.
Staring at the three claw marks on the wooden target, Charmander and Su Wen looked at each other, speechless.
"Char~~"
Curious, Charmander urged Su Wen to connect their Aura again. This feeling of sudden enlightenment was instantly addictive.
If you could get it for free, who would want to work hard?
Su Wen gave a sheepish laugh. "Ahem, that's the only move I know."
(￣□￣;)
Charmander's round eyes darted back and forth before it looked at Su Wen with a probing gaze. "Char, char~" (＞w?*)?
Su Wen's eyes widened as he pointed at himself. "You want me to hurry up and learn more?"
Hiss. For a moment, Su Wen could see his future flash before his eyes.
While all other trainers were training their Pokémon, he would be the one being trained by his Pokémon...
No! Absolutely not!
But seeing the look in Charmander's eyes—four parts pleading, three parts expectant, and three parts menacing—Su Wen knew he couldn't refuse.
If he refused Charmander, its training would come to a halt, unless he changed his mind right now and decided to become a Pokémon Breeder.
That… his mother would probably be very happy about that.
Gritting his back teeth, Su Wen said, a metaphorical toothache setting in, "Fine, but Charmander, you have to train seriously too, okay?"
At the same time, Su Wen made a firm decision. In the future, when he caught new Pokémon, he had to be very careful about using this function of his Aura.
It was manageable with just one Charmander. But once he had five or six, if every single one of them demanded he practice alongside them, his life would be over.
After some negotiation with Charmander, they finally reached an agreement. From now on, when Charmander practiced its skills, Su Wen had to learn alongside it. However, all the martial arts practice was left to Su Wen, with Charmander supervising from the side.
In exchange, Charmander's training regimen had to be completely arranged by Su Wen, with no complaints or picky behavior allowed.
"Wen, time to get ready for dinner!" Wang Xuan called from the entrance to the Back Garden. Only then did Su Wen realize that it was already dinnertime.
As usual, he first prepared food for the family's Pokémon. By the time he was done, Wang Xuan and Indeedee had dinner just about ready.
During the meal, both Su Wen and Su Chuan were silent, each lost in their own thoughts. The usually warm and lively dinner suddenly turned into a moment of shared silence.
Indeedee seemed to sense the strange atmosphere at the table. Its two ponytails drooped as it quietly sipped its milk, not daring to speak. Only Charmander, carefree as ever, wagged its tail and wolfed down its food.
Wang Xuan gently tapped the table. "What's wrong with you two? One big, one small, both not saying a word. Are you trying to reenact The Silence of the Lambs? If the food's not good, you can just say so."
Seeing his wife was getting angry, Su Chuan quickly put on a placating smile. "No, no, your cooking is the best, dear. Honey, after dinner, I have something to discuss with you."
Su Wen just scratched his head. "I was just wondering when Uncle Zhou and Wan-jie will be back."
Uncle Zhou was Su Chuan's good friend, Zhou Li, who was also a Gym-level Trainer.
A month and a half ago, Zhou Li had taken his daughter, Zhou Wan, and left Cloud City to find a suitable starter Pokémon for her. Su Wen had lost contact with Zhou Wan since then.
It was precisely for this reason that Zhou Li hadn't been summoned by Cloud City's Special Dispatch Order when the Secret Realm appeared.
And now, Su Wen wanted to learn fighting techniques from Zhou Li, so he was silently trying to recall when the father and daughter had left.
Su Chuan thought for a moment. "Last week, your Uncle Zhou told me he'd be back soon. It should be within the next few days."
"What's Wan-jie's starter Pokémon?" Su Wen asked.
Su Chuan smiled. "Why don't you just ask her yourself when she gets back? What, you miss that girl?"
Su Wen couldn't help but shiver. Miss Zhou Wan? He'd rather not. That violent maniac.
Growing up, Zhou Wan had always been the "big sister" to Su Wen and Chen You, a title she had earned with her own two fists.
On the streets of Cloud City, if you asked who was boss among the kids in the trainer circle, you'd find almost none who didn't submit to Zhou Wan.
"No, no, no, I just want to learn some fighting techniques from Uncle Zhou," Su Wen said, waving his hands frantically.
"Is that so," Su Chuan seemed to have thought of something. He didn't ask why Su Wen wanted to learn to fight, but he almost burst out laughing. "Then you can go find him when he gets back."
Wang Xuan, however, frowned. "You child, you didn't stick with learning martial arts when you were little. Why the sudden interest now?"
Su Wen clenched his fist. "Isn't it to build up some masculinity?"
Once the topic was broached, the atmosphere at dinner lightened up. Indeedee perked up and even proactively washed an apple for Su Wen after they finished eating.
After dinner, Su Wen took Charmander back to his room, while Wang Xuan, after clearing the table, went to her room with Su Chuan.
After a tender moment, lying in Su Chuan's arms, she asked, "Chuan, what did you want to discuss with me?"
Su Chuan hemmed and hawed for a long time before finally steeling himself. "Honey, I want to go out on a training journey."
The trip to the Secret Realm had made Su Chuan realize that his title as the strongest Gym-level Trainer was, in fact, nothing special.
The so-called strongest Elite Four member, Long Xu, could only flee pathetically from the attacks of that white dragon, Reshiram. What right did he have to think he could protect his wife and son?
Therefore, he had to go out and find an opportunity to become stronger.
However, the storm he had imagined never came. Wang Xuan simply said gently, "Mm, okay."
Su Chuan was surprised. "Honey, you're not against it?"
Wang Xuan poked Su Chuan's forehead. "Am I that unreasonable in your eyes? You're a trainer. You gave up on exploring to stay in Cloud City for my sake back then, right? You must have your own reasons for wanting to set out again."
After a slight pause, Wang Xuan said with emotion, "Wen is so sensible now, I don't have anything to worry about. How could I continue to hold you back?"
Su Chuan was stunned. "Wait, honey, are you saying you want to go on a journey with me?"
Wang Xuan's meaning was clear: the two of them were planning to leave Su Wen at home, turning him into a stay-at-home child.
Wang Xuan shot Su Chuan a look. "What? Did you perhaps make plans with some female trainer?" A murderous intent was hidden in her words, scaring Su Chuan into quickly agreeing.
After their discussion, they decided that once Su Wen started school and was settled, they would leave Cloud City to find an opportunity for their Slaking to break through to the Elite Four level.
Su Wen never would have imagined that before he was even an adult, his parents had already decided he was capable of living on his own.
In the following days, Su Wen and Charmander trained steadily. Charmander's strength grew at a perceptible pace, but there was still no news of Zhou Li and Zhou Wan's return.
A week before school started, Charmander was already approaching the peak of the initial stage and had learned a new move, 'Smokescreen'. It was then that a message from Zhou Wan finally came.
"Just got home. Call if you need something."
The simple and blunt style was very Zhou Wan. Su Wen nodded and dialed her number.