I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 50 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
When Paul first caught Chimchar, what he valued was the terrifying Blaze Ability that Chimchar could unleash; under that Blaze Ability, Chimchar could use power far exceeding its own level.
At that time, Chimchar, who was still a Normal-rank Pokémon, faced a group of Zangoose and defeated them all in the blink of an eye!
And the rank of that group of Zangoose was... Advanced-rank, and all of them were above Advanced High-rank.
This made Paul see Chimchar's potential and decided to catch him, intending to unearth his power.
However, several months have passed, and not only has Chimchar's power not been unearthed at all, but his rank increase has also been extremely slow.
To this day, no matter how much Chimchar was pushed to the brink, he was never able to use that Super Blazefire Ability, and his progress in rank was also far below the Pokémon he currently owned.
In this situation, Paul felt that Chimchar no longer held any meaning in his possession.
Although he cursed Chimchar as useless on the battleground, that remark was actually also for himself; he, who couldn't unearth a Pokémon's power, was just as useless.
At this rate, it would be unknown how long it would take to go to the Battle Frontier and defeat Noland.
He couldn't waste time on Chimchar, who simply couldn't unearth power; he needed to find other Pokémon with strong talents, so he chose to release Chimchar right there.
He wouldn't do something like fostering Chimchar with his brother; that was completely meaningless and only delayed both parties. Releasing Chimchar now was better for everyone.
"I've made it very clear. I don't need you, and you don't need me. I'm not the one who can unleash that power within you. It's that simple. Go wherever you want."
Paul said, turning around and preparing to leave without looking back.
"Stop!" A loud voice rang out behind Paul. Paul turned his head and saw Ash's angry face, and Pikachu's face, full of rage but looking not very intimidating.
Upon seeing Ash, Paul seemed to show some interest. He turned around, hands in his pockets, and spoke with a mix of interest and inquiry: "You're that Kanto Supernova? I know you. You defeated an Elite candidate within half a year of your debut, and not long ago, you almost fought Elite Four Lorelei to a draw."
"But your battle style is just that. It's all based on pure passion. If your Pokémon weren't strong enough, you wouldn't have been able to defeat that Elite candidate at all."
Ash: ...Do I even know you? Although we've met a few times, we haven't even greeted each other, have we? What's with this condescending tone of evaluation? Anyone who didn't know would think you're the Champion!
"How I battle is my business. I don't need your guidance either. We're both the same age; you're not qualified to guide me. If you want to guide me, defeat me first... Speaking of which, I'm the one who should be asking you, what did you do to Chimchar!!"
Ash retorted Paul unceremoniously, then turned to question him.
Everyone has different opinions on battle styles, which naturally shows in battles. But Paul's behavior completely defied logic.
"What did I do to Chimchar? I just released him because I felt it wasn't a good fit. Releasing Pokémon isn't uncommon. As long as you don't abandon them without a word, but instead properly state that you're not a good match and clearly inform the other party, then it doesn't violate the League's regulations."
Paul explained with a calm expression and a cold voice.
The League has very strict regulations regarding abandoning Pokémon, but if it's a release, as long as the reason is reasonable, the Pokémon is clearly explained, and there's no excessive entanglement, then it's considered a peaceful separation.
The League won't penalize this, as you can't force two utterly incompatible Pokémon and Trainers to stay together; that would only lead to significant problems.
People like Da You are the real problem. He never clearly explained it to Charmander and tried to abandon Charmander secretly. When he found he couldn't abandon him secretly, he used a lie to leave Charmander behind.
If it weren't for Ash's appearance, Charmander would have died that night.
Such a person would definitely be sanctioned by the League, but Paul would not. He has clearly stated that he and Chimchar are not a good fit and has explained it clearly to Chimchar.
Even if reported to the League, Paul would be the one in the right. At most, his reason might be a bit inhumane, but this cannot be used as a legal basis to punish Paul.
"Leaving aside your reason for releasing Chimchar, weren't Chimchar's injuries sustained fighting for you? Why didn't you even take him to a free Pokémon Center?"
Paul: ...Paul glanced at the heavily injured Chimchar, a flicker of unknown emotion in his eyes, then his cold expression masked his feelings again: "No need. These injuries are nothing to this guy. He'll recover quickly. Going to a Pokémon Center is just a waste of time."
"Are you saying... Chimchar has always been in this state under your care, is that right?!" Ash clenched his fists, forcibly suppressing the anger that was about to erupt from his heart, and questioned Paul, his voice laden with suppressed fury.
"You don't understand this guy, but I'm not in a position to say such things right now anyway. In short, I have no obligation to answer your questions, and you have no standing to interrogate me. Before this, Chimchar was my Pokémon, and I could do whatever I wanted. Now, he has been released by me and is a wild Pokémon."
"If you really care about him that much, what you should be doing now is taking him to a Pokémon Center... I originally thought you'd be an interesting opponent, but after meeting you, you're only this much."
Paul shook his head with a hint of disappointment, then turned to leave once more.
This time, Ash didn't call out to him but went to Chimchar's side.
Chimchar watched Paul's retreating steps, his expression revealing endless sorrow, but he didn't try to follow him. Paul had already made it very clear; what good would it do even if he insisted on staying by Paul's side?
As long as he couldn't create his own value, being abandoned was only a matter of time. To put it bluntly, he wasn't strong enough... Just as Chimchar was feeling dejected, a warm power suddenly flowed into his body. That warm current made his body feel an unprecedented comfort; the pain on his body's surface and the internal hidden injuries were slowly being healed by that warm current.
Chimchar looked up, his bright eyes gazing at the human beside him. This warm current within his body was being transmitted from this human. They had clearly just met for the first time, yet this human gave him a sense of heartfelt closeness.
Moreover, the warm current in his body was also this human's doing. Was this human healing him?
"It's okay, Chimchar, you'll recover soon." Ash saw Chimchar looking at him and thought Chimchar was worried about his physical condition, so he gently comforted him.
Chimchar's internal condition was indeed not optimistic. Besides the injuries from today's battle, there were also some hidden injuries within his body. Normally, they weren't an issue, but once his body entered an extreme state, they would erupt.
The indirect result of this was that Chimchar would find it very difficult to make progress during training.
Those injuries weren't caused all at once, but accumulated over time, just as Paul said; getting injured might have already become commonplace for Chimchar.
And each time he was injured, Paul might not have taken Chimchar to a Pokémon Center for treatment. Ash didn't know why Paul would do that; such behavior was completely harming a Pokémon's life!
Although not as malicious as Da You, his actions still made Ash feel extremely angry. How could there be such a person in the world?!
Even the Team Rocket Trio's attitude towards Pokémon was better than his!!
"Ash, what's going on? Where's Paul?" Just as Ash was treating Chimchar, Misty and the others also arrived late, but they were a bit too late; Paul was already nowhere to be seen.
"He left."
"Left? Then Chimchar..." Brock looked around, unable to see Paul anywhere, then turned his gaze to Chimchar, hesitating to speak.
"He was abandoned by that guy." Ash's voice was devoid of emotion, but it made Brock and the others' expressions change drastically.
Abandoned? Was that guy really the kind of person who would do something like that?
"To be precise, he was released by him. In his words, it was because they weren't a good fit... But I know that guy just despised Chimchar for being weak. When we first met, I already felt a bit at odds with him; I never thought our philosophies would differ so greatly!" Ash took a deep breath, suppressing his anger deep in his heart.
Chimchar's condition wasn't good right now, and the culprit was no longer here. Getting angry was useless; the most important thing was to help Chimchar recover first.
Viridian Power doesn't have the black technology power of a Pokémon Center, which can restore severely injured Pokémon in a very short time, but Viridian Power's healing ability is more potent, able to directly eradicate even hidden injuries buried deep within the body.
Ash was currently completely removing all the injuries within Chimchar's body, so it would take a bit more time.
Otherwise, with Chimchar's current rank, Ash wouldn't even need a minute to restore him to his original state, but now almost three minutes have passed, and his Viridian Power is still being continuously output.
"What exactly happened? Ash, why did you suddenly run out? Why did Paul aban..." Brock stopped halfway, seeing the deep look of loss on Chimchar's face, and quickly shut his mouth.
Continuing to say "abandon" now would just be rubbing salt in Chimchar's wounds, wouldn't it?
"While I was eating, this little guy's feelings were transmitted to me through Aura. This should have been an unconscious act on his part. He wanted to gain Paul's approval, and he felt lost for not being able to achieve Paul's goal, and also his determination to work even harder..."
"I saw Paul's appearance and realized he probably didn't understand Chimchar's feelings at all, so I decided to go out and talk to him. But as soon as I got out, that guy just..."
He hadn't even had time to persuade Paul, to tell Paul about Chimchar's determination for him, about his dejected spirit because of him, but Paul just abandoned Chimchar.
As the saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes. He can only treat Chimchar first for now; future matters can be dealt with later.
"That guy, he's clearly so strong, yet I never thought he'd be so inhumane!" Gary slammed his fist into the air, saying with some anger on his face.
He actually considered that kind of guy a rival; such character doesn't deserve to be a rival to him, Master Gary!
Isn't it his own problem if a Pokémon doesn't perform well? Who the hell makes an Advanced-rank Pokémon fight an Superior-rank one!
And it's an Advanced Low-rank against an Superior Peak-rank. Ash himself might not even be able to handle that!
How can such a failure be blamed on the Pokémon? He's never seen such a shameless person!
"Forget it, that kind of guy can't be reasoned with. When we meet in an official match, I'll definitely use a battle to show him the true way to train and treat Pokémon!" Ash said resolutely while moving his hand away.
He realized that words couldn't move Paul. To make Paul wake up, he had to thoroughly defeat him in a battle!
Battle will tell the other party everything.
Afterward, Ash said to Chimchar with a gentle expression: "Chimchar, your internal injuries have mostly recovered. Those pains that bothered you will never appear again. Where will you go next?"
"Hoo..." Ash's words initially made Chimchar show joy. He now felt an unprecedented lightness inside, like taking off dozens of pounds of weight compared to before, and Ash also said that in the future, those occasional pains would no longer appear.
Despite it being their first meeting, Ash's credibility score was already maxed out for him.
However, Ash's next sentence made him look confused. Where would he go next?
The world was vast, but there seemed to be no place for him to belong.
"If you don't mind... would you be willing to become my Pokémon?" Ash paused, then extended his hand towards Chimchar, offering him an olive branch.
Not only his aptitude, but Chimchar's grateful nature and his determination to consider his Trainer's needs made Ash greatly admire him. The Pokémon Paul didn't want, he would take!
That guy had no idea what kind of being he had abandoned.
"Giggle?" Looking at the hand in front of him, Chimchar's face showed an expression of disbelief. He seemed unable to believe that he had just been abandoned, and then someone immediately chose to accept him.
Moreover, he had a very good feeling about this person, and his attitude and actions towards him were a hundred times better than Paul's.
But... did he truly deserve to be this person's Pokémon?