Charmander and Ekans fought to a standstill, both Pokémon sustaining injuries. Without visible health bars, Yellow could only determine the outcome by checking whether a Pokémon had fainted.
Ekans and Charmander clashed once more. This time, midway through Ekans's charge, Charmander struck its opponent's belly with an Ember.
Ekans fainted on the spot, its entire body collapsing limply to the ground.
"Damn it!" Jessie cursed in frustration, recalling Ekans into its Poké Ball, and hastily retreated in the direction Meowth had fled earlier.
"Baiyin, I'll go first—" Yellow started to give chase, but Charmander suddenly bumped into Yellow's leg.
Charmander's right arm was severely injured, the wound purplish and oozing blood continuously, while two large bite marks marred its belly.
Charmander looked up at Yellow helplessly, its lower lip protruding, its tail drooping. It was enough to break Yellow's heart; after all, Charmander was merely a young Pokémon that still depended on its Trainer.
*Stop blabbering and heal me first, you yellow-haired brat,* Charmander's expression seemed to say.
Yellow squatted down and pulled up ninety-nine Max Potions from the modification menu (*[Select 1 party Pokémon to use. Restores all HP and cures any status conditions.]*).
These items appeared simply as entries in the inventory without taking up any actual storage space.
Yellow picked up a Max Potion and sprayed it onto Charmander. Within two or three seconds, Charmander was fully healed, its cheerful expression returning.
Meanwhile, the battle on Baiyin's side had also ended, and Spearow trotted happily back to Yellow's side.
Seeing that Spearow was uninjured, Yellow patted it on the head and recalled it into a Poké Ball.
The wildfire in Viridian Forest was already spreading rapidly. Yellow quickly instructed Baiyin, "Have your Squirtle use Water Gun to suppress the flames! And please be careful!"
Baiyin nodded resolutely and dashed into the blazing fire alongside Squirtle.
"Charmander, keep an eye on James. I'm going to get help for the fire!"
Charmander hopped onto James's head and raised a claw, scaring James so badly he froze in place, too terrified to move.
"Fire! Help, fire!" Yellow shouted while running around the burning perimeter. Before long, eight or nine Trainers arrived, three of whom had Squirtles as their partner Pokémon. They all immediately joined the firefighting effort.
To Yellow's surprise, Green also tracked them down. He released his Squirtle and commanded, "Squirtle, go help them put out the fire!"
Squirtle scrambled away on its short legs.
"Yellow, what are you doing here? You didn't start this fire, did you?"
Yellow nodded sheepishly and confessed, "Well, yes, but I was trying to catch bad guys. Team Rocket was acting suspicious, so they must have been up to no good."
"Team Rocket? What's that?" Green asked, looking puzzled.
"An evil organization that does nothing good."
Green raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued.
The Squirtles transformed into diligent models of productivity, working hard to beat back the flames. In seven or eight minutes, the fire was completely extinguished.
"Thank you, everyone! Thank you so much!" Yellow expressed gratitude to the Trainers. Everyone was quite friendly and didn't pry into how the fire had started, simply dispersing to continue their respective adventures.
"Oh? This girl is pretty cute, isn't she?" Green asked, glancing at Baiyin.
Baiyin smiled and introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Baiyin."
"Green."
Green looked at the two of them knowingly and asked, "What's your relationship? Traveling as a team?"
"Yes." The two answered in unison.
"Count me in, then! Traveling alone is pretty lonely, and Squirtle can't talk, so it gets terribly dull."
*What the hell are you talking about...* Squirtle grumbled internally.
"No problem, let's take care of business first." The three of them walked over to James. They didn't recall Charmander; otherwise, James might have taken the opportunity to beat up three kids.
"James, you guys were dragging a huge burlap sack just now. What's inside? Where is your hideout?" Yellow demanded.
"Ahem, ahem." James merely coughed.
"Team Rocket? How did you figure that out?" Green stared at James and asked.
Yellow grabbed James's black cloak and gave it a fierce yank, revealing the Team Rocket uniform with its prominent "R" insignia.
James instantly blushed and protested, "Why did you just rip someone's clothes open like that? Honestly, how rude, you're making me all embarrassed."
"Tell us where they are, or I'll have Charmander scratch your face to pieces!"
James grew somewhat nervous, though he muttered to himself, "With a face as pretty as mine, could you really bring yourselves to do it?"
"Does your mirror have a beauty filter built-in? Where'd you get that kind of confidence? Charmander, scratch him."
With a swift swipe of its claws, Charmander instantly left three bloody gashes across James's right cheek.
"Aah!" James screamed.
"Talk now! Or I'll give your left cheek the same treatment!" Yellow threatened.
As if completely fearless, James offered a disdainful smile and said, "Fine! Now they're symmetrical, just like the autumn makeup trend! I will never betray my teammates! For Team Rocket! For a wonderful tomorrow!"
"This guy is such a psycho, Sword-boy," Green remarked, rolling his eyes.
James glared fiercely at Green. "It's James!"
"Being a psycho is one thing, but getting abandoned by your teammates and still standing here trying to be deeply emotional is something else. Jessie and Meowth ran off ages ago. Charmander, keep scratching his right cheek. Don't stop until there's no skin left untouched, then roast him with Ember. You talk so greasy, your body must be just as oily!"
Before Charmander could even raise its paw, James shrieked, "Wait! I'll take you there!"
For James, his face was still the top priority.
The three of them followed James as he led the way. After walking for five minutes, they arrived at a hollowed-out tree trunk. It was pitch black inside, illuminated only by the flames on Charmander's tail, and a small pile of wood was burning in the center of the tree hollow.
Jessie and Meowth were sitting facing each other. The moment they saw Yellow and the others, they froze, then hastily moved to cover the burlap sack back up. But all three had already seen it: an old man with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth was tied up inside.
James executed a textbook sliding tackle across the floor toward Jessie and Meowth. No one stopped him, and he successfully reunited with them.
"You idiot, James! Why did you lead three brats right here, meow?!" Meowth hissed.
Trusting James, Jessie offered an explanation: "Although James is as stupid as a pig, he's as loyal as an ox. There must be a reason for this."
Tears instantly welled up in James's eyes as he wailed, "They forced me! They scratched my face all up!"
"Utterly useless, meow," Meowth said with a face full of contempt.
Jessie shook her head helplessly as well.
"Goodness me, that Meowth can talk," Baiyin exclaimed in astonishment. Green wore an equally shocked expression, having never seen a Pokémon with such a high level of literacy.
"Sword-boy! Who is in that sack? You've kidnapped someone, I'm calling the police!" Green declared righteously.
"It's James, James," Yellow whispered, correcting him.
"Well, things have come to this, there's no other choice! You can battle, right, Meowth?" Jessie looked at Meowth with eyes full of anticipation.
Meowth startled, slowly stood up, and stammered, "Even though I'm a Pokémon, my combat abilities are pretty weak, meow. If push comes to shove, we should probably just retreat, Jessie."
Jessie stood up as well, looking reluctant. "But if we fail to deliver this time, both missions we took on this month will have failed—and it's only the second day of the month!"
"Boss!" Meowth suddenly cried, tears brimming in its eyes.
*Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, is here?!* Yellow and the other two spun around simultaneously, but saw no one.
When they turned back around, Jessie and their group had already fled, leaving only retreating figures in the distance.
"Aren't we going to chase them?" Green asked.
"No. If we wrap things up now, our journey will lose a lot of fun."
Green patted Yellow on the shoulder, laughing as he scolded, "You punk, when did you get so full of scheming thoughts?"
"Was I that innocent before?" Yellow asked, having no idea what the previous owner of this body had been like.
Green nodded and declared loudly, "A super-duper mega idiot!"
Yellow didn't respond, while Green muttered to himself, "Why didn't they come after me this time? It's making me feel all itchy."
The three of them walked over to the burlap sack and untied it, revealing a skinny old man with a head of white hair, a very receding hairline, and a bald patch on top that looked like a salt flat.
"Grandpa, wake up. Wake up." Yellow called out to no avail, then gently patted the old man's face. Still nothing.
Green wound up his arm, preparing to slap him awake, but right then the old man bolted upright, startling Green into reflexively patting his own hair to make sure it was still there.
"What the ***************! You *********! Go *******!" (*Cybertronian language, unsuitable for translation.*)
Yellow's past life had been defined by a straightforward and sharp tongue, and now vulgar automated curses flooded Yellow's mind like a built-in defense mechanism.
*Inner monologue: Damn it! You old bastard, you piece of trash, who the hell are you cursing at?*
Still, Yellow managed to hold it in, simply covering Charmander's ears so the young Pokémon wouldn't pick up bad habits and struggle to communicate with others later.
After a long stream of cursing, the old man finally calmed down and asked, "Who are you people?"