Inside the training room, Charmander was still tirelessly practicing Ember.
It had been five days since he defeated Shadow, and Gu Yuan had successfully completed Quest One, earning thirty points.
During this period of growth, Charmander also learned two new moves: Dragon Breath and Fire Fang.
Dragon Breath had a base power of 60 and carried a chance to paralyze the opponent.
Fire Fang had a base power of 65 and could cause the opponent to flinch or be burned.
At the moment, Gu Yuan was working on Quest Four, raising any one of Charmander's moves to Advanced proficiency.
Dragon Breath and Fire Fang were immediately ruled out; Charmander's proficiency with those two was still at the Beginner level, far from Advanced.
Gu Yuan figured it would be better to save his quest points for when Charmander reached the Junior Rank, so wasting them now was out of the question.
That left only Ember, Growl, and Bite.
After some thought, Gu Yuan decided to have Charmander focus entirely on Ember.
As a Fire-type Pokémon, Charmander had the highest affinity with Ember, so training it would be easier than the others.
On top of that, Ember also had a chance to burn the target, its only drawback being its low power.
But Gu Yuan underestimated how hard it would be to raise a move to Advanced proficiency. In the five days that passed, Charmander's Ember hadn't improved at all.
It was worth noting that, if you went by level, Charmander was already at level 19, just one step away from the Junior Rank.
Going by the game's logic, Charmander should already have evolved at this point, yet nothing had happened.
Gu Yuan only understood the reason after hearing Shadow's explanation.
Unlike in the games, Pokémon evolution was a truly mysterious phenomenon. Countless researchers had tried to unravel the secret, but none succeeded.
To evolve, it wasn't enough for a Pokémon's strength to reach the standard; they also needed to seize the moment themselves.
Once evolved, their stats improved across the board, and they naturally became stronger than their unevolved counterparts.
But this didn't mean not evolving left them hopelessly behind. With their own effort and their trainer's support, even an unevolved Pokémon could defeat its evolved form, it just required a lot more work.
The prime example, of course, was none other than Ash Ketchum's Pikachu. At times, Pikachu could topple gods and legendaries; other times, it lost to a rookie's starter. Nobody knew how Ash raised it, but that unpredictability was exactly what made it legendary.
There were also special cases like Growlithe, which many trainers delayed evolving so it could learn rare moves like Extreme Speed before evolving it to Arcanine. Some trainers even bought Everstones to prevent their Growlithe from accidentally evolving with a Fire Stone.
These weren't things that Gu Yuan, someone with only one Pokémon, needed to consider just yet. For him, evolution was better, but ultimately, it depended on what his Pokémon wanted.
Luckily, Charmander wanted to evolve into Charizard as soon as possible.
He had seen the little Pokémon's eyes glow after showing him a video of a Charizard flying, and since then, Charmander had been eager to feel what it was like to soar in the sky.
"Alright, Charmander, let's rest a bit before continuing."
Seeing his partner's exhaustion, Gu Yuan called a halt. He pulled out a potion he had prepared earlier and let Charmander drink it before quietly making his plans.
Mastery could come slowly. His idea was to save quest points for when Charmander evolved, then use them to help break through the final barrier into the Junior Rank.
With both evolution and a breakthrough at once, Charmander would surely adapt quickly to its new strength, and maybe even go further.
Charmander nestled against Gu Yuan's arm, like a child begging for affection.
By age, he really was still a child, yet he had already worked so hard that Gu Yuan couldn't ask for more.
Once he recovered his energy, Charmander climbed out of Gu Yuan's arms. The fiery determination of a Fire-type Pokémon burned stronger than ever, driving him to push past this hurdle.
He unleashed another blazing Ember toward the target dummy.
This time, the power behind the Ember was far greater than before, but still not enough to reach Advanced proficiency.
At that moment, Charmander heard a strange voice echo in his mind, calling to him.
Guided by the voice, Charmander closed his eyes.
A brilliant white light surrounded him.
He was evolving.
Gu Yuan had seen scenes like this countless times in the anime, so of course, he knew what was happening.
Suppressing his excitement, Gu Yuan forced himself to stay calm. Evolution was a critical process, if interrupted, the consequences could be disastrous. At best, the Pokémon could be injured and never evolve again. At worst, it could cost them their life.
That's why trainers always tried to give their Pokémon a quiet, safe environment to evolve.
Fortunately, after these days together, Gu Yuan had confirmed that this place was indeed Shadow's private base. Besides the cook, only he and Shadow lived here.
No one would disturb them.
Even so, as Charmander's silhouette shifted within the white glow, Gu Yuan was still awestruck.
The light soon faded, revealing Charmeleon standing proudly before him.
A horn-like bump now grew from Charmeleon's head, one day, when it became a Charizard, that would develop into twin dragon horns. Its mouth had become sharper, almost beak-like.
Its limbs and tail had grown longer and more battle-ready, the flame on its tail burning as fiercely as ever.
Its scales were no longer orange, but of a vivid red.
According to the records, Charmeleon's temperament grew much fiercer after evolving. This was a test for trainers: if they couldn't keep it obedient now, then by the time it evolved into Charizard, it might refuse to obey the trainer altogether, just like Ash's Charizard.
That was what worried Gu Yuan. After all, his time with Charmander had been short.
"Congratulations on evolving into Charmeleon."
Even so, Gu Yuan smiled as he reached out his hand.
Just like the first time they met, Charmeleon froze for a moment before carefully placing its claw into Gu Yuan's palm, afraid of hurting him.
A warm smile appeared on Charmeleon's face, unchanged by evolution.
Clearly, their bond had survived untouched.