Pokémon: I have no choice but to do this old thing?

"Beep...click".

In the Spirit Center, only the regular electronic sounds of medical instruments echoed in the silence. After a long wait, the waveforms that symbolized signs of life finally resumed their steady and regular fluctuations.

"Vital signs are stable!"

Miss Joy's tired but relieved voice echoed in the emergency room as she gently wiped the sweat from her brow. On the hospital bed, Zhang Jianying's face remained pale, but the fluctuating curves on the monitors were finally no longer worrying.

"This child is incredibly lucky."

She turned to the lucky egg beside her, "Its life energy has been drained to a critical level. If we had waited another ten minutes..."

"Aww!"

Before the words were finished, a suppressed and hoarse growl came from the shadows in the corner of the emergency room.

The baby dragon was curled up behind the medical equipment, its blood-red patterns on its blue body gleaming ominously under the cold light.

It huddled itself tightly in the corner, its eyes fixed on every white figure that approached the hospital bed. These figures stirred up its deepest, most terrifying memories—the researchers in white coats in the laboratory.

Those memories caused the crimson patterns on its body to rise and fall slightly with its rapid breathing.

As the Lucky Egg took a friendly step closer, it suddenly roared from deep in its throat, stretched its neck forward, and spat out a string of scattered, dim sparks.

"Let it stay there."

Miss Joy sighed softly, "From the moment it arrived, it refused all treatment and wouldn't allow us to get within three meters of the bed. Any attempt to approach would provoke a strong aggressive reaction from it."

Outside the ward, through a transparent observation window, three other Pokémon were pressed tightly against the glass.

Kirlia's skirt fell limply, her brain stinging as if pricked by needles from overdrawing her superpowers, but she still forced herself to concentrate, using her weak psychic energy to scan the life fluctuations in the ward.

The forest tortoise's thick forelimbs still bore deep claw marks from its battle with the base guards, and several ferocious cracks on its heavy shell were a shocking sight.

Gastly's body was several times more transparent than usual, and purple ghostly energy was slowly dissipating from his body uncontrollably.

"You must continue your treatment as well."

Miss Joy walked out of the emergency room, her tone gentle yet firm.

Kirlia slowly, but with unwavering resolve, shook her head.

It pressed a slightly trembling hand against the cold glass, and an unusually persistent telepathic connection entered Joey's mind: "We're not going anywhere until he wakes up."

"But your injuries can't be delayed any longer..."

"We can wait."

Kirlia's senses carried an almost obsessive resolve: "Save him first. This is our mutual decision."

Miss Joy was about to offer some more advice when she was interrupted by a series of clear and steady footsteps coming from the end of the corridor.

"Just do as they say."

Cynthia was already standing not far away.

She was dressed in simple casual clothes, the hem of her black trench coat swaying gently, but her usually calm and elegant face was now shrouded in a subtle worry.

"Your Excellency the Champion!"

Miss Joey quickly bowed in greeting.

Cynthia nodded slightly, but her gaze pierced through the observation window, landing on the face of the unconscious boy in the ward. "I have given special approval to use the Alliance's strategic reserve of Vitality Blocks, which are expected to be delivered by special plane by the evening."

She spoke softly, "As for these children... I understand their feelings. Let them stay here."

She slowly walked up to Kirlia and crouched down, bringing herself to eye level with the Pokémon.

"I understand how you feel."

Her fingertips gently brushed across Kirullian's forehead, where her hair was damp with anxiety. "But please promise me that once he is out of danger and awakens, you must receive treatment immediately and unconditionally."

Kirlia raised its weary eyes and gazed intently at the strongest warrior in the Sinnoh region. After a long while, it slowly and solemnly nodded.

A commotion broke out in the ward.

It turned out to be the same intern nurse from before. Feeling sorry for the baby dragon, she tried to approach it again, wanting to do some basic examinations and apply medicine to the seemingly wounded creature in the corner.

However, as soon as she reached out her hand, the baby dragon roared fiercely as if its tail had been stepped on.

It slammed its head against the other's hand, and despite being so weak that it staggered and almost fell, it stubbornly dragged itself back to the bedside, baring its still-childish teeth.

"It doesn't trust us, or rather, it doesn't trust any human being."

Miss Joy explained helplessly to Cynthia, "Ever since the rescue team brought them here, it has refused to be separated from its trainer and will not allow any strangers to come near it."

Cynthia looked thoughtfully at Babydra's wary posture, then suddenly took out a champion badge, symbolizing the highest prestige of the Sinnoh League, from the inside pocket of her trench coat.

Under Baby Dragon's watchful gaze, she slowly stepped forward, not entering the ward, but simply placing the badge gently on the ground by the door.

"This is a promise."

Her voice reached Baby Dragon's ears clearly, calm and powerful: "In the name of the League Champion, I hereby assure you that I will not allow anyone to harm your trainer in the slightest here."

Baby Dragon stared intently at the badge that shimmered under the light, then raised its eyes to scrutinize Cynthia's clear and determined gray eyes.

Its tense body finally relaxed a little. It slowly retreated into the shadows directly beneath the hospital bed, hiding itself once more.

"Let it be alone for a while."

Cynthia whispered to Miss Joy, "Some wounds are etched into the soul and require more than just medicine and treatment; they also need time and a sense of security."

At the other end of the corridor, Wusong strode over, tablet in hand, his face unusually grave. "Miss Cynthia, the preliminary data analysis report on the base's remaining forces is out."

He adjusted his glasses. "It's confirmed that the Dark Star Organization primarily conducted forced fusion of traits and emotional stripping experiments at that base. And this baby dragon... is one of the very few individuals that survived those brutal experiments."

Cynthia's eyes suddenly turned icy: "Continue."

"They attempted to forcibly integrate the genetic sequence of the 'flying skin' trait into the 'hard head' trait of the baby dragon itself, and combined it with special mental interference technology."

"Their goal is not to increase their strength, but to completely eradicate normal emotions such as pain and fear from Pokémon, transforming them into biological weapons that only know how to obey killing commands and never retreat."

Wu Song's fingertips slid rapidly across the screen, bringing up complex charts. "The experiment caused severe mutations at the mental level, leading the test subjects into an extremely unstable state."

"Its 'flight skin' characteristics also exhibited uncontrollable defects. In their final evaluation report, it was marked as an uncontrollable failure because it could not achieve the design goal of being imperceptible."

Outside the glass window, Kirullian's body trembled slightly, unable to contain herself. She transmitted everything Wusong had said to every companion in the ward through telepathy.

The forest turtle let out a low, angry growl, and the ghostly energy around Gastly surged, flashing with a dangerous purple light.

In the shadows beneath the hospital bed, Baby Dragon curled up even tighter, burying his head deep into his abdomen, as if this would completely shut out the words that evoked painful memories.

"Furthermore, there are indications that they likely have informants within the league."

Wu Song lowered his voice even further.

"Although the operation was successful, the evacuation of the enemy's key personnel was too clean and efficient. I suspect..."

Cynthia raised her hand, using a simple gesture to stop him from speaking further. "This matter is of great importance; we'll discuss it later."

Her gaze returned to the sleeping boy in the ward. "The top priority now is to ensure the safety and well-being of all survivors, whether they are humans or Pokémon."