I collected my bearings and turned back to the other side of the room.
The yellow Charmander was chasing the red Charmander around. It was clearly faster, and was running on all fours while the red Charmander was running on two stumpy legs.
"Hey!" Both the lizards perked their heads up at my voice. However, the yellow Charmander saw that the red Charmander was distracted and used the opportunity to pounce. The two lizards rolled across the floor as they grappled each other. Neither had the strength to tear through the others scales yet. Their muscles were not strong enough, and their claws were not very sharp. Both had scales that had a high tensile strength. The yellow Charmander growled as it tried to bite the other.
This would be a lot of work.
I moved forward to pull the two apart. The yellow Charmander growled as I picked it up by its underbelly, copying Oak's technique. The red Charmander looked up at me but didn't move.
"Okay first things first. I need to give you two names. I can't call you both Charmander."
The red Charmander snorted, smoke coming out of its nose.
I shook my head. Naming had been different in the games. It had been less personal, so I had just named them whatever came to mind at the moment. Other times I would have naming schemes, and name every pokemon after something from a certain show or franchise. But these were living breathing creatures.
I also feel like just naming after Greek Gods or something was a bit much. It was confusing. I know what the Greek Gods were named, and I knew what they were supposed to do. But I don't remember where I learned that. I feel like all my memories are there, they're just locked away. So my mind still goes to the things it normally would go to in these situations, just without telling me why. It's frustrating. I would get to the bottom of this.
But first, names.
I looked down at the yellow Charmander in my arms. It was squirming every way it could to try and get out of my grip. "Okay I know I didn't want to go the Greek God route, but Oak says Starfallen Charizard are the Kings of the Sky Jungle. Zeus was the King of the Sky. What do you think?"
The yellow Charmander didn't even look at me. Instead it was now gnawing on its own arm.
Awesome.
I turned to the red Charmander. "Okay well I feel like Hepheastes was kind of the God of Fire. But I feel like you're more of an Ares. Do you want to be a God of War?"
The red Charmander looked at me and crossed its arms. Its tail flame grew as it stared me down. It stomped its feet twice.
"What… What is that supposed to mean? Don't look at me like that." I moved the yellow Charmander over to just my left arm. I mimed with my hand. "Okay. Okay. Let's do it like this. Hey Yellow, you pay attention too." I bobbed my hand up and down. "Nod for yes." I shook my hand side to side. "Shake for no. Got it?"
The red Charmander burped a wave of flames.
"Hold on are you even…"
…
"God damn it Oak. You senile old fucker."
The red Charmander was a girl. The yellow Charmander was a boy. That fucking Professor was also using this as a test to see if different variants would be attracted to one another. If they could breed. That asshole.
I honestly wasn't sure if this would make things easier or worse for me. On one hand, Starfallen Charizard seem to be an apex species here. Kings of an entire area. They would be highly territorial, and incredibly aggressive. There was only one thing that could circumvent such aggression. But standard Charizard were nothing to scoff at either.
So if Oak had given me two males, they might have constantly been competing with one another. For training, it might have been fantastic for short term results. Long term, the infighting would likely distract them too much to get any real results.
So was the yellow Charmander just trying to woo the red Charmander by attacking it? Do they start doing that sort of thing this early?
"You horny little fucker." The yellow Charmander simply stuck its tongue out at me.
Okay. I very much doubt that Charmander would be able to mate in the first place. I'd have to do more research, but my best guess is they wouldn't be able to mate until they evolved at least once.
Goddamnit this is not a problem I wanted to have to deal with.
I looked down at the yellow Charmander. "Alright Yellow. Keep your grubby paws to yourself." The red Charmander started walking over to one of the tables. "Hey don't ignore me. This applies to you too."
Shit. I can't call them yellow and red. I'm already calling myself Red, for reasons I don't quite understand yet.
This is why naming things after colors is stupid.
"You know what, I'm killing two birds with one stone. Hey yellow, I hereby dub you Zuko. He used lightning bending a bit I think? Fuck if I know. That feels right. But who knows? Memories are stupid. Who needs em am I right? And you. Red little fucker. You are now Azula."
Neither Charmander acknowledged my presence the tiniest bit. Zuko was chewing on one of his claws. Azula had begun to tear apart one of the chairs. She shook back and forth as she tried to rip the armrest off.
"And you see, you're siblings now. In name, and in blood. We're a family. So you two aren't allowed to fuck. Okay?"
I walked over to Azula and peeled her from the chair. She grumbled at me but didn't try to bite me. Cool. Progress.
"By the way Azula I expect you to be able to produce blue flames eventually. Otherwise you're a failure. Fun fact."
Azula had already started making her way back to the chair. She proceeded to start tearing out the cushioning.
I facepalmed.
"And you. Zuko. Oak says you're apparently pure electric typing now. We'll have to test if you have any latent talent for fire. Your species is barely cataloged."
Zuko had fallen asleep in my arms. There was a bubble of snot coming from his nose that expanded and contracted with every breath.
I turned my head, looking between each Charmander with increasing exasperation.
This will be a lot of work.