What initial Pokémon to choose? Ye Chuan had once troubled over this for a full three minutes one night.
Sure enough, it's this one.
Pressing the button on the Poké Ball in his hand, with a "buzz"—
A figure appeared on the table, resembling a small, orange, standing dinosaur with sharp teeth and claws. On its tail, a tuft of flame flickered slightly.
Charmander.
"Ah Ye, so you chose Charmander," An Shiyu said, looking at it while holding Rowlet.
"Ga."
Charmander suddenly let out a threatening growl at An Shiyu, the flame on its tail blazing fiercely.
Charmander's actions caught the staff present off guard. They only saw it open its mouth, and sparks shot out, heading towards An Shiyu!
"Careful!"
Ye Chuan reached out and pulled An Shiyu into his arms. Then, he looked at the incredibly agitated Charmander, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes: "This is?"
"Stop that Charmander!"
A staff member was about to take out a Poké Ball, but Ye Chuan stopped him:
"Wait."
Amidst everyone's confused gazes, Ye Chuan took a step forward, walking towards the red-eyed Charmander.
"Wait, don't go over there!" a staff member hurriedly called out to stop him.
Seeing Ye Chuan approach, Charmander roared fiercely and once again spat flames at him, this time with much greater intensity than before.
"Danger!"
Ye Chuan calmly tilted his head slightly, the flames brushing past his cheek, bringing a wave of heat. Then, he turned his head, having already reached Charmander.
"Scared?"
Ye Chuan placed his hand on Charmander's head. The latter's originally tense body relaxed for some unknown reason, and it looked at him with a strange gaze: "Ga?"
"It calmed down?" The staff and An Shiyu were both stunned by this scene.
"You're not the Charmander I originally reserved, but I quite like you," Ye Chuan said, glancing at the mole under Charmander's eye and gently stroking its head.
An Shiyu and the others came over: "Are you alright, Ah Ye?"
"I'm fine."
At this moment, two staff members ran in: "What happened in the room just now?!"
After explaining what had happened, the Pokémon Center staff immediately began investigating the cause. Just twenty minutes later, a staff member came over to speak with Ye Chuan:
"We are truly sorry. This was our Pokémon Center's fault. We mixed up the Charmander you reserved. We will offer you some compensation as emotional distress fees."
"No need, there wasn't any loss after all," Ye Chuan said, shaking his head in refusal, then picked up the Poké Ball in his hand: "This Charmander, it's not from the breeding center, is it?"
"That's right. Someone at the breeding center reported that this Charmander was actually born from the center's Charizard and a wild Salamence. We don't know why it was mixed up during delivery to you, which is why this accident happened," the staff member explained.
Ye Chuan shrunk the Poké Ball and put it in his pocket: "Then I'll take this one."
"But..." The staff member showed a troubled expression: "You can exchange it for another one, without any additional cost."
Ye Chuan could understand the staff member's appearance. After all, for Pokémon adopted from the Pokémon Center, if something happened later with a non-officially bred one like this, the Pokémon Center would also bear joint responsibility.
Ye Chuan stated that he would be responsible for any subsequent issues and that the Pokémon Center did not need to bear any additional responsibility. The staff member then breathed a sigh of relief and turned to help him register.
An Shiyu was a bit curious as to why Ye Chuan chose this Charmander: "Wouldn't it be better to exchange it for another one?"
"Maybe it was love at first sight," Ye Chuan said, then looked at An Shiyu: "As for you, how come you weren't scared at all when that happened just now?"
"Because Ah Ye protected me properly, so I wasn't scared at all," An Shiyu suddenly remembered being held in Ye Chuan's arms. She lowered her head, her slender white fingers twirling as she was about to say something, but when she looked up, she found that Ye Chuan had walked away: "Eh, wait for me!"
Ye Chuan, on the other hand, went to the information registration counter on the other side, received a card number, and after waiting for a short while, it was finally his turn to register his information.
"Name: Ye Chuan, Trainee Trainer, initial Pokémon is Charmander. All your information has been registered." The staff member handed over a metal card with Ye Chuan's ID photo on it and a Poké Ball logo on the back. This was the Trainer League Card.
Official Pokémon Trainers all need to register their information at the Pokémon Center or the Trainer League. This is equivalent to an identification card. At the same time, with this card, they can also receive discounts and preferential benefits at various Pokémon-related facilities based on their trainer level.
Having received his initial Pokémon and registered as a Trainee Trainer, today's tasks were considered complete.
Walking home, An Shiyu looked at the League Card in her hand and muttered slightly, "It would have been better if the photo was a bit cuter."
"You think so too, right?" she said, looking at Ye Chuan beside her.
"Shiyu, you're always very cute, so there's no need," Ye Chuan glanced at her League Card and then smiled.
An Shiyu's face immediately flushed red: "Y-you praise me like this, but I don't have anything to give you!"
"I didn't want anything," Ye Chuan shook his head, then looked at An Shiyu with a strange expression: "Why is your face so red?"
An Shiyu turned her head away, muttering, "It's all your fault for saying such embarrassing things."
"Is that so..." Ye Chuan looked at An Shiyu, his eyes smiling:
"But everything I said is the truth."
An Shiyu's face turned even redder, and her small fists began to pound Ye Chuan's arm:
"That's why I'm telling you to stop saying it!"
"Alright."
After the two parted ways and returned to their respective homes, Ye Chuan sat on the sofa. He took out the Poké Ball, and with a flash of white light, Charmander reappeared—
"Ga."
Seeing the unfamiliar environment, Charmander immediately looked wary, but upon seeing Ye Chuan, its emotions clearly stabilized a lot, and it didn't suddenly attack.
"This is your new home, Charmander," Ye Chuan said.
Charmander obviously wasn't very interested and directly turned around, running downstairs.
Seeing Charmander run away, Ye Chuan simply said softly, "It seems it's still not completely relaxed. I wonder what it experienced when it was young."
After saying that, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a faint blue light covered Ye Chuan's pupils. From his perspective, the scene began to turn a translucent blue, and Charmander's deep blue figure also appeared in his eyes.
Aura.
This was the special power he possessed. Besides the telepathy and the ability to see through objects that he used daily, there seemed to be other ways to use it that he hadn't yet discovered.
This existence, explained in academia as mental power or even soul power, was not deeply understood due to the small number of users. Because of this, Ye Chuan didn't want to expose his ability and hadn't told anyone about the power he possessed.
Coming downstairs, Ye Chuan easily found Charmander hiding in the trash can.