However.
Just as Baimu was pursuing Kenichi, a sudden cry from Chansey echoed behind them.
"Lucky!"
Suddenly, an evil wind roared, as if something was tearing through the air at a frightening speed.
Baimu turned his head slightly and immediately saw the Mightyena, which should have been asleep, approaching at an incredible speed. It was panting heavily with its tongue flailing, its face mixed with pain and ferocity, indicating that it was in extreme discomfort.
Yet, for some reason, the crimson in its eyes vanished, leaving only clarity after rationality returned.
Has the drug effect worn off?
Baimu could only think so and cursed his rotten luck.
"Hahahaha, heaven is helping me! Quickly, bite him to death for me!" Ken, who was running ahead, discovered the approaching Mightyena and shouted excitedly.
"Awooo!!"
Mightyena howled in response, despite being tormented painfully by the drug's aftereffects, but at this moment it only wished to get rid of Baimu as soon as possible.
Even if it meant collapsing here completely!
Finally.
The distance between the man and the dog closed to two meters, a distance at which Mightyena could pounce.
Without hesitation, it let out a low growl and leapt forward!
Whoosh!
The dark light on its claws flashed and then quickly dimmed, an indicator of attribute energy depletion. But to deal with an ordinary human, even just physical strength was enough!
Its ferocious bloody mouth opened wide, fixing its eyes on the man who solemnly turned to face it, locking onto his throat.
Unexpectedly, the man suddenly shouted and voluntarily extended his arm toward its sharp teeth.
"Do what you believe is right—!!"
Mightyena snapped its jaws shut fiercely, causing blood to spurt from the man's arm!
Tear him apart, tear him—
Huh?
Mightyena was stunned because it found it had lost the ability to control its body, not from exhaustion, but because a pale blue energy had immobilized every inch, every muscle of its body!
Then, it heard the disbelieving voice of the Trainer.
"How can this be? This is an Evil Attribute Pokémon!?"
What is this?
Mightyena's mind went blank.
——
"Only Pokémon that can fight are valuable!"
"What's the use of skills that only restore energy and heal minor injuries? Do I lack those cheap healing potions?"
"Useless! Attack it, you useless creature! How will you level up if you don't fight other Pokémon? Useless!"
"So low level yet so expensive, I really don't know why I bought it!"
Degradation, reproach, insults...
Even beatings.
These words, coupled with physical pain, and those familiar yet strange faces etched deeply into Chansey's mind.
In fact.
It couldn't understand the meaning of these words.
The notion that Pokémon unable to fight have no reason to exist; spending a fortune just to bring back an ordinary healing potion; a waste that can only eat and doesn't know how to create value.
To Chansey, all of these were too complex, far less straightforward than the malicious intents those people displayed.
Therefore.
In the end, what it remembered was only that "fighting" was a terrifying thing.
Selling after selling, back and forth it went.
Chansey no longer knew how many people it had seen or how many times it had been pushed onto the battlefield, how many hits it had taken. Humans, various Pokémon had all attacked it.
And the number of times it dared to fight back—zero.
The fear of attacking others couldn't be dispelled. It could dodge others' attacks and try to sing them to sleep, but to attack voluntarily, even just a touch, it dared not.
Because it hurt.
Having been hit so many times, it knew too well how painful it was to be struck by a move, and it was truly frightened and panicky because of this.
Why must it attack other Pokémon or humans?
This wasn't some tenet Chansey adhered to; it just found it incomprehensible, incomprehensible. Even as it gradually began to understand human society and the words they spoke.
Hiding in the beast cage, it often reminisced about some pleasant past moments.
Such as that one time it was sold, becoming a playmate for a girl who looked as cute as a doll, where everyone happily played together, without battles or the need to hurt anyone.
That period was really calm, really joyful.
Unfortunately, in the end, it was still pushed onto the battlefield.
The reason was the girl's good friend wanted a Pokémon battle, and Chansey thought the girl would refuse, but unexpectedly, she agreed.
And in the end, unable to take the initiative to attack the opponent, it lost that battle, which was actually without much suspense.
That day, for the first time, Chansey realized how terrifying an angry girl was when she lost face in front of her friend. That twisted, red face eventually resulted in punches and kicks.
Not very strong, not very painful, but Chansey was very sad, thinking it was its own fault.
If it could attack, would the girl not be sad anymore?
Unfortunately.
The next day before it could apologize, it was sent back.
Back in the beast cage once more, despite the brief time they spent together, Chansey's impression of the girl remained very deep, still feeling a bit happy reminiscing about it occasionally.
Regrettably, its future was bleak and uncertain.
Where would it go from here?
Chansey looked around at the pitch-black surroundings, letting out a soft sigh, "Lucky..."
"Did you hear something?"
"Hear what?"
A sudden conversation interrupted its thoughts, causing it to lift its head. Soon, it heard footsteps approaching, a voice inquiring about the price, followed by the black curtain in front being lifted, revealing a somewhat indifferent face.