As Ash's punch landed on Dayou's face, Dayou was sent flying backward, crashing into the sofa, knocking it over, and then tumbling over a dozen times before heavily slamming into the wall.
Teeth and blood splattered in the air, and the wooden wall cracked slightly where Dayou hit it, suggesting several of his bones were likely broken.
Ever since gaining Bo-do Power, Ash had always been careful to control his strength, knowing how powerful he was and that a single mistake could seriously injure someone.
This was true even without using Bo-do Power.
Only recently had he managed to control his strength with ease, no longer worrying about accidentally harming others.
However, Dayou's two short sentences immediately broke Ash's composure; he lost control of his strength and threw a rather fierce punch.
Thankfully, Ash instinctively withdrew ninety percent of his power as he threw the punch; otherwise, Dayou wouldn't have just been sent flying back to crash into the sofa and roll a dozen times—his skull would likely have exploded on the spot!
But even after that punch, Ash was still not appeased; a guy like this deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces!
"What do you take Pokémon for?! Because of your words, that Charmander stayed there for two days, not even daring to look for food, just waiting for you! He might even still be waiting for you to find him, waiting until the flame on his tail goes out!"
Dayou didn't answer Ash's words, because he had already lost consciousness from Ash's punch.
Brock and Xiao Xia also reacted at this point; it was their first time seeing Ash so enraged. They each put a hand on Ash's shoulder and said, "Don't worry about this guy for now, let's go see Charmander."
"Yes, seeing Charmander is important. If we're any later, it might be too late."
Xiao Xia and Brock's words calmed Ash down. He quickly turned to rush out of the Elf Center, but was stopped by an angry Nurse Joy.
"I think you need to give me an explanation. Why are you fighting and causing trouble in the Elf Center?"
Dayou's wailing had also drawn out Nurse Joy, who was resting. Seeing Dayou with a mouth full of blood, writhing in pain on the floor, she spoke with a hint of anger.
Someone dared to cause trouble in the Elf Center again? They must be tired of living!
Not long ago, someone caused trouble at the Elf Center in Chang Pan City, and now someone came to this roadside Elf Center to cause trouble. Did they really think their Joy Family was a soft persimmon to be squeezed at will?
"I'm sorry, Nurse Joy, my friend didn't do it on purpose." Brock quickly bowed and apologized to Nurse Joy. No matter how excessive Dayou was, beating him up like this in the Elf Center was indeed a bit disrespectful to Nurse Joy.
"Sorry, Nurse Joy, if you want to scold or punish us, please wait until we get back. Right now, we need to go outside and find the Charmander that this guy abandoned. In this rainy weather, if Charmander is still waiting for this guy, he will die!"
Ash's brief words made Nurse Joy instantly realize what had happened. She then hurried to the front desk, took out three raincoats, and handed them to Ash and the others: "Be careful on the way, it's slippery outside, pay attention to safety."
"—Thank you, Nurse Joy." Ash took the raincoats and thanked her, then, while tearing open the raincoat, he rushed out of the Elf Center. Pikachu and Ralts had already jumped onto Ash's shoulders, with Xiao Xia and Brock following closely behind.
Looking at the three people rushing out of the Elf Center into the storm, and then at the group of delinquents who had run to Dayou's side, Nurse Joy had made up her mind.
"Chansey, give this person some treatment."
Dayou and his group were notorious delinquents in this area, and they even had some background.
Having been arrogant and domineering for so long, this was probably the first time they had suffered such a major setback.
Although Nurse Joy didn't really want to bother with Dayou, if she left him alone, he might suffer some sequelae, or even become paralyzed. For a doctor, seeing such a thing happen right in front of her and not doing anything about it would somewhat challenge her professional ethics.
Even though her profession was to serve Pokémon—
On the other side, Ash and the others had already rushed out onto the road in the rain.
Even with the raincoats, the cold rainwater still slapped against their faces and any exposed parts of their bodies.
In the pouring rain, they arrived at the place where Charmander had been earlier.
As expected, Charmander was still on that rock. Even in the heavy rain, he hadn't left that rock!
At this moment, Charmander was holding a huge leaf, swaying precariously in the downpour!
How could a single leaf block a pouring rain?
And just as Ash and the others arrived, several uninvited guests appeared around Charmander.
It was the old villain—a flock of Spearow!
Four or five Spearow surrounded Charmander, their fierce eyes glaring menacingly. In this heavy rain, they should theoretically be seeking shelter. Even if they were bullying other Pokémon, they should wait until the rain stopped.
But there was Pokémon food in front of Charmander; that was their primary target, with Charmander being the secondary target.
The five Spearow were clearly divided: two attacked the already weakened Charmander, while the remaining three slowly devoured the food in front of Charmander.
They occasionally swapped roles, satisfying both their enjoyment of bullying Pokémon and their hunger.
"Get lost!!" Ash roared in anger at the sight, but his Growl didn't scare the Spearow; instead, it made several Spearow turn their fierce gaze towards him.
The next second, five Spearow rushed towards Ash. Ash led the charge, swinging a hand chop that collided with the sharp beak of the Spearow in front. In an instant, the Spearow was sent flying back as quickly as it had flown in, perhaps even faster!
After knocking away the leading Spearow, Ash looked at the remaining Spearow with a fierce glint in his eyes. Spearow are not unintelligent; upon seeing their companion dealt with so easily, they quickly assessed the difference in strength between them and immediately turned and fled!
Before leaving, they didn't forget to pull along their unconscious companion who had been knocked flying by Ash.
After driving away the Spearow, Ash and his two companions quickly came before Charmander. At this moment, the flame on Charmander's tail was almost too faint to see.
Brock estimated that if Ash hadn't noticed Charmander that morning and given him some food, Charmander's stamina wouldn't have allowed him to last until now.
Perhaps he would have already lost the last bit of flame in this pouring rain and returned to the heavens.
"What should we do, Ash? From the look of this flame, Charmander won't be able to make it back to the Elf Center." Xiao Xia said anxiously, while using her raincoat to shield the flame on Charmander's tail, trying her best to keep it from getting wet.
But this action was just a drop in the bucket for Charmander; the flame was still gradually shrinking. Unless there was some way to quickly raise Charmander's body temperature.
Ash gritted his teeth, his face also showing anxiety.
"Wait—that's right, I have this! This should work!" Just as Brock and Xiao Xia were about to take Charmander away regardless of the consequences, Ash suddenly let out a cry of surprise.
The next second, a dazzling seven-colored light rose in the dim, rainy sky.
rainbow wing!!
The rainbow wing, a divine artifact left behind by the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh.
According to the experts in the group chat, besides being a key to challenge Ho-Oh, the rainbow wing also had various other uses and was considered the top-tier held item for Pokémon.
Previously, Ash hadn't had a Pokémon that perfectly suited the rainbow wing for use; it was basically rotated between Pidgeotto and Butterfree.
Because both of them had the Flying-type attribute, the rainbow wing provided some amplification to their power. Their rapid increase in level was also not unrelated to the rainbow wing.
Ash suddenly thought that the rainbow wing might help Charmander's current situation, so he quickly released Pidgeotto and took the rainbow wing from Pidgeotto's body.
This was also the origin of that colorful rainbow light just now.
"What—what is this?" Brock saw the rainbow wing for the first time. Although Ash would rotate the rainbow wing between Pidgeotto and Butterfree, Brock had never noticed this.
Ash and Xiao Xia had also not mentioned anything about Ho-Oh to Brock. It wasn't that they were deliberately hiding it from Brock, after all, Brock was traveling with them, and their time together had made them very familiar with Brock's personality.
The reason they hadn't told Brock about their encounter with Ho-Oh was simply—they forgot.
Now, seeing Brock's bewildered expression, Ash and Xiao Xia suddenly remembered that Brock seemed to be unaware of their encounter with Ho-Oh.
"This is Ho-Oh's feather. It has very powerful life force. Putting it on Charmander should help." Ash said, placing the rainbow wing on Charmander's body.
The light of the rainbow wing seemed to become even more dazzling, and the small flame on Charmander's tail, which Xiao Xia was shielding, burned more brightly at this moment, at least it no longer looked like it would go out at any moment.
"It worked! Let's go, Xiao Xia, Brock, let's hurry back to the Elf Center!" Seeing that the rainbow wing had an effect, Ash's face lit up with Joy, but he didn't forget the main task.
The rainbow wing could at most only allow Charmander to recover a little and prevent his condition from worsening. To fully restore Charmander, he still needed to recover at the Elf Center.
Along the way, Xiao Xia used her raincoat to shield the flame behind Charmander, while Brock tried his best to shield Charmander's body. Ash held the rainbow wing firmly against Charmander's body.
Ralts, on Ash's shoulder, used Confusion to deflect the raindrops that were about to fall on Ash, though she herself became soaking wet.
As they ran, in about less than thirty minutes, they returned to the Elf Center. Just as Ash was about to take the rainbow wing away, the rainbow wing disappeared directly, adhering to Charmander's surface!
Ash was stunned for a moment, then his Aura Power spread out. Under the detection of Aura, there was an existence within Charmander's body that was not quite in sync with his Aura. That should be the rainbow wing that had just disappeared.
Seeing the rainbow wing merge into Charmander's body, Ash didn't feel sorry for the rainbow wing, nor did he have time to wonder why the rainbow wing would merge with Charmander. In short, this state was the best it could be.
With the rainbow wing functioning inside Charmander's body, coupled with the treatment at the Elf Center, Charmander should be able to recover completely without any sequelae.
Upon arriving at the Elf Center, Nurse Joy was already waiting at the main entrance. Dayou and his group were nowhere to be seen, perhaps they had run away, fearing Ash would beat them up again upon his return.
In any case, not seeing them upon return also made Ash feel less angry. Otherwise, given Charmander's current condition, Ash would have loved to drag Dayou back and beat him up again!
"Please, Nurse Joy."
"Yes, leave it to me."
Nurse Joy took Charmander and then entered the operating room with Chansey.
As a roadside Elf Center, this place was actually quite simple, even the building was made of wood, but the equipment inside was not lacking at all, possessing all the emergency equipment found in all Elf Centers.
Only the wealthy Joy Family could achieve such a feat.
After a period of anxious waiting, Nurse Joy emerged from the operating room. Facing the slightly anxious gazes of Ash and the others, Nurse Joy's tense face broke into a smile: "Everyone, rest assured, Charmander is safe and sound."
"That's great!!"
As it was already late, the once crowded lobby was now only occupied by them. Nurse Joy made a 'shush' gesture, signaling everyone to be quiet.
After all, many people staying overnight at the Elf Center were already asleep.
Upon seeing Ash and the others cover their mouths, Nurse Joy then smiled and said, "This treatment was so smooth that I can hardly believe it. The Charmander that was brought in initially was in quite a terrible condition, but there was a miraculous power inside him that stabilized his condition."
"With subsequent treatment from the instruments, and that power within Charmander's body, his condition improved rapidly. I even feel that even if left alone, Charmander should be able to fully recover due to that power within him.
I've been a doctor for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such a situation."
Nurse Joy sighed, her heart still shocked by the miraculous scene that had just occurred with Charmander.
As she said, having been a doctor for so many years and having seen so many cases within the doctor Family, this was the first time she had encountered a situation like Charmander's.
Logically speaking, in such pouring rain, Charmander's weakened physical condition should have worsened. Furthermore, this Charmander was low-level, so the rain's impact on him would be even greater.
Under these circumstances, Charmander's physical condition remained stable and was even continuously recovering. Either this Charmander's physique far surpassed that of an ordinary Charmander, or there was something special inside this Charmander's body—
However, these were not things Nurse Joy needed to investigate. Although she was curious, she was just a doctor. Charmander's recovery was more important than anything else.
And upon hearing Nurse Joy's words, Ash and the others' expressions also relaxed, and they let out a huge sigh of relief.
The reason for Charmander's condition was probably only known to them.
The effect of the rainbow wing was stronger than imagined. The feather left by Ho-Oh not only enhanced the power of Fire-type Pokémon but also possessed immense life force, which allowed Charmander to overcome the difficulties so smoothly.
"Ash, did you actively fuse the rainbow wing into Charmander's body?" Xiao Xia whispered after Nurse Joy left.
Ash shook his head: "It wasn't me, the rainbow wing fused on its own. I don't know what happened; Butterfree and Pidgeotto never had this kind of situation."