Charmander
Three days later, Folker was able to earn 60,000 pokedollars from challenges, coupled with Professor Oak's sponsorship, Folker now had a total of 130,000 Pokedollars. Still not enough but he chose to buy some TMs for his pokemon.
He chose to buy [Double Team] for Lucario, [Roost] for Scizor, and [Protect] for Magneton for a total of 110,000 Pokedollars. Afterwards they headed for Saffron City.
At this time, on the forest road, Folker, Farlan, and Chelsea walked beside each other with Lucario from behind.
Suddenly, Lucario closed his eyes as his ears raised up with vibrations.
"What is it, Luca?" Folker said with a solemn tone. Usually Lucario wouldn't be this wary unless there's something dangerous nearby or something else.
"Follow me. Quick!" Lucario said as it rushed forward with its upper body slightly bent forward while keeping its arms behind its back.
They followed it from behind and ran for quite a while. At this moment, Chelsea and Farlan were panting for breath with their hands on their knees while Folker was a bit sweaty but his breathing was still more calm in comparison to Chelsea and Farlan's.
In front of Lucario is a boulder with the same height as Folker. On top of the boulder is an orange reptilian pokemon with blue eyes and tail burning with weak flames.
The pokemon crouched down weakly as it looked at Folker and the rest warily. When Folker saw the pokemon, the corners of his eyes widened in shock as he exclaimed "A Charmander!?"
Charmander is one of Kanto's Royal starters. It's a popular pokemon among young trainers but only a few trainers were lucky enough to have them as starters.
"I may be a Steel type specialist but I'd surely love to have a Charmander on my team" Folker said as he grabbed a pokeball from his pocket.
"A Charmander!? Huff.. That's rare" Farlan said while panting, trying not to fall down on the ground.
When Chelsea heard Folker's words, she then looked up and saw Charmander's figure. She had the same reaction as Folker but her gaze seemed to be more focused on Charmander's tail.
"Wait! Huff.. Huff.. The flame on its tail is weak. Let me heal it first" Chelsea hurriedly said as she forced herself to approach Charmander despite panting for breath.
Folker was about to throw the pokeball to capture Charmander but he stopped when he heard Chelsea's words and just watched the healing process.
When Chelsea was about to touch Charmander's back, it let out a weak but determined warning cry.
"Let her be, little one. Don't worry, she'll heal you" Lucario assured Charmander.
Charmander actually listened to Lucario and let Chelsea touch its back. Suddenly, white soothing light emerged from Chelsea's hands.
"Whoah, Lady. What's going on here?" Farlan exclaimed as he looked at Chelsea's figure with his eyes widened in shock.
"Shhhh, don't interrupt her. She's healing Charmander. I don't know what's up with her but it appears that she has the mysterious power to heal pokemon and.. well I don't know about humans. I hadn't had the chance to ask" Folker replied.
"That's a wonderful ability" Farlan praised as he looked at Chelsea's figure.
"I know right. But don't tell anybody else about her ability. It's a bit troublesome" Folker said as he folded his arms.
"I know, you can trust me with that. But the problem is her. She should be careful when to use her powers. She's lucky that I'm someone who can be trusted but had it been any other guy, who knows what might have happened" Farlan warned.
"It could be that she knows that you can be trusted, which is why she used her ability even with you watching?" Folker guessed.
"Fair point" Farlan said with a nod as he rubbed his chin.
"What happened to you, little one?" Lucario asked as it looked at Charmander.
"Charmander, char, charmander" Charmander weakly replied.
"You're waiting for someone? Your trainer? Well, I hope he comes as soon as possible" Lucario said with a smile.
"Char"
'It already has a trainer? It seems I can't catch it' Folker thought to himself as he looked at Charmander's figure.
'Well, I'm a steel-type specialist, alright' Folker inwardly said with a shrug.
After a few minutes of healing, the flame on Charmander's tail burned brighter than before.
"You're good to go now, Charmander" Chelsea said with a smile.
"Charmander, char!"
"It said thank you" Lucario translated Charmander's words.
"Yeah, I can tell" Chelsea replied with a nod.
"In that case, let's go to the nearest Pokemon Center for rest and to stay the night" Folker said as he looked up at the sky.
Lucario and the trio walked away as they bid goodbyes to Charmander. The weather appeared to be stormy but just right before the storm made a landfall in the area, they arrived at the nearest Pokemon Center.
This Pokemon Center didn't belong to any city. Pokemon centers are usually found in cities and seldom towns. Sometimes, there are pokemon centers in dangerous areas or large areas which serve as hubs, resting places, and medical purposes for trainers.
When they entered the Pokemon Center, they had their pokemon checked up by Nurse Joy.
The plump bodied Farlan took this chance to flirt with Nurse Joy. At first, Nurse Joy was rather dismissive towards Farlan but for some reason, Nurse Joy actually appeared to be flirting back.
Folker was particularly impressed seeing Farlan in action while Chelsea flashed out a disdained expression on Farlan.
She then looked at the window and saw the stormy winds from outside. She recalled Charmander's figure and couldn't help but get worried.
"Say, do you think that Charmander met with its trainer by now?" Chelsea asked as she looked at Folker.
"Charmander may be loyal to its trainer but there's no way it would just stay there and wait this long, right?" Folker replied.
Meanwhile, on the corner of the Pokemon Center, a group of four trainers talked with each other with a loud voice.
"So what did you do with the Charmander?" one of them said as he chuckled alongside three people who appeared to be his friends.
Folker and Chelsea's attention was then turned towards the group. Even Farlan stopped flirting with Nurse Joy for a bit as he turned his gaze towards the group.