"Sister Wan~" Su Wen’s voice turned unusually gentle the moment the call connected, with a hint of fttery in his tone.
"What’s up? You’ve called me like 17 or 18 times while I was away, and your messages were so long I didn’t even bother reading them," came the voice on the other end, carrying a sense of decisiveness that clearly belonged to a strong-willed girl.
Su Wen thought for a moment before asking, "Is Uncle Zhou home? I want to learn martial arts from him."
Zhou Wan sounded surprised. "You weren’t interested in martial arts before. I had to drag you to practice for a month back then. What’s changed now?"
Su Wen felt a bit awkward. "Well, times are different now, Sister Wan. I need to toughen up this little body of mine."
But in his heart, Su Wen was wailing, "If it weren’t for Charmander, I’d never touch martial arts in my life."
Zhou Wan let out an ambiguous ugh on the other end. "Hehe, my dad dropped me off and then left for some business. You’ll just have to train with me."
Su Wen was stunned. He instantly realized why his dad had been grinning so weirdly yesterday—he must have known Uncle Zhou would be busy, leaving Su Wen with no choice but to train with Zhou Wan.
Licking his dry lips, Su Wen steeled himself and replied before Zhou Wan could get impatient, "Alright, Sister Wan, I’ll come over this afternoon."
Zhou Wan responded, "I’ll be at the gym in the afternoon. Come by the training field at 6:30 tonight, and don’t forget to bring your Charmander. I want to see it."
"Sister Wan, what’s your starter Pokémon?" Su Wen wasn’t surprised that Zhou Wan knew about Charmander. His dad must have bragged to Uncle Zhou about it, considering it was a Pokémon he’d earned through the recognition of a Heavenly King-level Charizard.
Before hanging up, Zhou Wan dropped a line, "You’ll find out when you get here."
Looking at Charmander, who was still training, Su Wen stepped forward and pyfully squished its cheeks. "Charmander, oh Charmander, I’ve sacrificed so much for you."
⊙(?◇?)？ Charmander had no idea what its trainer was talking about, tilting its head in confusion.
At 6:30 PM, Su Wen arrived at the training field of Zhou Wan’s family gym. The students had all left, leaving only Zhou Wan, dressed in loose white training clothes, her hair tied into a ponytail, sitting cross-legged on the floor, waiting for Su Wen.
Beside her, also sitting calmly, was a Pokémon Su Wen recognized instantly.
"Farfetch’d!"
But this Farfetch’d was different from the ones commonly found in Xia Kingdom. Xia Kingdom’s Farfetch’d had brownish-gray feathers covering their bodies, with cream-colored chests and bellies, and triangur serrated patterns separating their bellies and beaks. Their feet were yellow, and they had three tufts of hair on their heads. A bck "V" shaped mark on their foreheads and a leek carried in one wing were their defining features.
This Farfetch’d, however, was more robust, with darker feathers, sharper eyes, and a "V" shaped mark that looked more like eyebrows. The leek it carried was thicker and sturdier, resembling a long spear slung over its shoulder.
This was an Engnd-exclusive Farfetch’d! No wonder Zhou Wan had taken so long to find her starter Pokémon.
Charmander, in an unfamiliar pce, timidly stuck close to Su Wen, clutching the hem of his shirt with one little cw.
"Change into these."
Zhou Wan tossed a clean set of training clothes she’d prepared earlier to Su Wen, who fumbled to catch them.
After changing, Su Wen adjusted his belt and asked, "Sister Wan, where did you find this Engnd Farfetch’d? It’s not easy to catch one."
Countries were always wary of each other, making it difficult for Pokémon from Engnd to circute in Xia Kingdom, just as Xia Kingdom controlled the outflow of its Pokémon to prevent other countries from studying them.
Catching this Farfetch’d was no less challenging than Su Wen catching Charmander. But with so many Fighting-type Pokémon in Xia Kingdom, and Uncle Zhou being a Gym-level Fighting-type trainer, why had Zhou Wan specifically chosen Farfetch’d?
Zhou Wan patted Farfetch’d’s back. "Because this little guy is the only one who resonates with me."
Su Wen suddenly understood.
The reason Zhou Li had become such an exceptional Fighting-type trainer was due to his unique ability: he could rapidly impart his martial arts experience to Pokémon that resonated with him.
Thus, Fighting-type Pokémon became Zhou Li’s first choice when capturing new Pokémon.
As Zhou Li’s daughter, Zhou Wan had naturally inherited this ability. However, her resonance ability paled in comparison to her father’s. None of the gym’s Pokémon, including the starter Pokémon, could resonate with her.
After a long heart-to-heart with her father, Zhou Wan had even given up on capturing a Machop, which she’d originally considered.
Zhou Li and Zhou Wan’s resonance ability was somewhat simir to a part of Su Wen’s Aura ability. However, their ability was far more limited, only allowing them to impart martial arts experience. Su Wen felt that he could potentially transfer everything he mastered to his Pokémon through Aura.
In other words, if Su Wen thoroughly understood the mechanics of ?Fmethrower and could use it himself, he could teach Charmander to use ?Fmethrower quickly through Aura, even if he couldn’t perform it himself.
"What about you? Why the sudden interest in martial arts? Does it have something to do with your Charmander?"
Zhou Wan had tried to pet Charmander, but it dodged her hand, leaving her to awkwardly retract it.
Su Wen scratched his head. "Actually, I’ve awakened an ability simir to yours, Sister Wan."
"Oh?" Zhou Wan looked at Su Wen as if he were a fascinating new creature, sizing him up before sighing. "Did you awaken it after catching Charmander? You might want to consider switching to a Fighting-type starter Pokémon. That would help you the most."
Zhou Wan clearly assumed Su Wen’s ability worked the same way as hers. Charmander, who’d been hiding behind Su Wen, seemed to understand her meaning, peeking out half its head to gre at Zhou Wan.
"Char char!" (╬￣皿￣) Charmander waved its cws in protest.
Su Wen chuckled and reassured it, "Of course, my Charmander is the best."
Zhou Wan stood up, flicking her ponytail behind her. "School starts in a week, and we won’t have much time to train after that. Let’s make the most of the time we have now. Charmander and Farfetch’d will join us too."
Since Su Wen had some basics, Zhou Wan decided to jump straight into advanced training. And she wasn’t about to let Charmander off the hook either, especially since it had refused to let her pet it.
A sly smile pyed on Zhou Wan’s lips, sending shivers down Su Wen and Charmander’s spines. Charmander, in particur, hadn’t expected to be roped into training.
What happened to Su Wen handling the martial arts while Charmander focused on training?
Charmander didn’t dare challenge Zhou Wan, so it could only look pleadingly at Su Wen. Su Wen, however, raised Charmander’s hand and stifled a ugh. "It’s fine, let’s do it. Double the training, double the fun!"
Although Su Wen had originally pnned to start combat training after Charmander reached Tier 1, seeing that Zhou Wan’s Farfetch’d was only at the peak of Tier 0, he figured it wouldn’t hurt for Charmander to start now. After all, under his care, Charmander’s growth had been steady.
"Char!" 〒▽〒
In the end, Charmander had no choice but to join Su Wen in training under Zhou Wan’s intimidating presence.
While Su Wen endured a beating, Charmander and Farfetch’d’s training was much gentler, focusing on the basics.
It had to be said, Zhou Wan had truly absorbed her father’s training methods over the years.
"Sister Wan! Take it easy!" Su Wen thought to himself, Next time, I’m dragging Chen You into this mess with me. After all these years, the taste of these fists hasn’t changed a bit.
Meanwhile, in a dark, distant pce, Chen You sneezed. "Achoo!"
Wiping his nose, Chen You muttered to himself, "Probably Su Wen talking about me. He’s definitely up to no good. I’ll just wait until school starts to go back."
