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

In the early morning in Pallet Town, sunlight filters through the gaps in the lush canopy of trees in the backyard of the research institute, casting dappled, dancing spots of light on the ground.

The air is filled with a mixture of grass, soil, and a faint scent of cup noodle seasoning, creating the unique "academic atmosphere" of Dr. Oki's research institute.

In a corner of this academic sanctuary, a scene utterly different from tranquility and peace is unfolding.

"Whoa—!!"

A defeated dragon roar shattered the morning tranquility, startling several Bobo birds that were preening their feathers on a branch.

The sound came from a baby dragon that should have exuded domineering power, but now seemed somewhat exasperated. It was using its crest to repeatedly ram the weathered, massive training stake in front of it.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With a deep and persistent voice, Baby Dragon was defying fate like a stubborn child who refused to believe in anything.

"Baby Dragon, calm down."

Zhang Jianying, sporting dark circles under his eyes, tried to approach, saying, "Didn't we agree that today we'd practice energy perception first, not a headbutt endurance test?"

Baby Dragon: Awooo! Leave me alone!

The baby dragon head didn't turn back; instead, it rammed even harder.

It held the Everstone tightly in its arms, the stone's surface glowing slightly from the violent movement, trying to soothe the restless energy flow within it.

Zhang Jianying felt her migraine was about to flare up again.

He glanced at the data view, and sure enough, the warning symbol representing energy blockage was flashing again next to Baby Dragon's status bar.

"When will this ever end?" he lamented inwardly.

His time in Pallet Town was less about immersing himself in training and more about hosting a super-long family sitcom, starring the four main characters of his family, with new episodes every day and no two episodes ever repeating.

It also presents a comprehensive challenge to his energy, physical strength, and blood pressure as the head of the family.

"Looks like we've run into some trouble."

Professor Oak appeared in the backyard at some point, holding a cup of noodles.

He crouched down and carefully observed the baby dragon's condition: "Energy blockage is indeed troublesome, but from another perspective, it is also a good opportunity to understand its energy flow."

The doctor took a simple energy detector out of his white coat pocket and gently scanned the baby dragon.

"Hmm, the energy nodes here are severely clogged. However, the Everstone's stabilizing effect is quite good."

He turned to Zhang Jianying and said, "Try to feel the energy flow in these areas with your hands."

Following instructions, Zhang Jianying gently placed his hands on the baby dragon's back and head. The instant he made contact, he could clearly feel the restless pulsation of energy beneath its skin.

"Can you feel it?"

The doctor slurped his noodles. "The energy blockages in these places are like streams blocked by rocks. Come on, little one, try to guide the energy around these blockages."

With Professor Oak's patient guidance, the baby dragon gradually calmed down.

Holding the Everstone, it became aware for the first time of the clear path of energy flow within its body.

"Very good, maintain this state." Professor Oak nodded approvingly. "Remember this feeling; when the energy starts to stir, recall this state of calm."

Just as Zhang Jianying was about to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing that Baby Dragon was getting on track, Professor Oak pulled him to the kitchen.

"Come on, take this opportunity to teach you how to prepare food suitable for different Pokémon." The professor pointed to the various berries and supplements on the table. "Especially for your little guy, dietary adjustments are crucial."

Just as Zhang Jianying was studying diligently, the day's "battle" began at breakfast.

The research institute's kitchen/dining room, or rather, the place where Dr. Oak could barely eat while piling up his materials.

Zhang Jianying was pouring the Pokémon food, prepared according to Professor Oak's instructions, into four food bowls.

The largest portion is given to the Forest Tortoise, which is a mixture of specially prepared mineral powder and fresh grass leaves. Kirlia's food also includes guazi, which helps to concentrate mental energy.

Gastly's energy cube glows with an eerie purple light. Babydra, on the other hand, is a specially formulated, easily absorbed, and gently energy-conducting liquid nutrient paste.

"Dinner's ready!"

"Ugh! ψ(｀∇´)ψ"

The forest turtle is always the most enthusiastic about eating.

It walked with steps that made the floor tremble slightly as it approached its enormous food bowl, which was comparable to a bathtub, and began to eat slowly and deliberately, its eyes filled with respect for the food and anticipation for the new day.

The bushes on its carapace stretched out in the morning light, exuding a refreshing and invigorating fragrance.

Gastly transformed into a streak of purple lightning, darting to its food bowl with a "whoosh," emitting a series of unintelligible "caw caws," as if appraising the chef's skills for the day.

Finally, it opened its mouth wide and swallowed the food and the shadow in one gulp. One of the energy cubes inside was visibly missing.

It let out a satisfied burp, releasing a string of tiny purple bubbles.

What kind of new way of eating is this? Zhang Jianying's lips twitched.

The real eye of the storm, however, was with the two sisters.

When Baby Dragon saw the mushy, unappetizing nutritional paste in its food bowl, and then glanced at the brightly colored, even somewhat exquisitely arranged slices of melon in Kirlia's food bowl next to it, it immediately became unhappy.

It scratched at its food box with its paws in disgust, making a grumbling sound, and then its eyes involuntarily drifted toward the mountain of fresh grass piled up over the forest tortoise.

"Aww! I want to eat that!" Baby Dragon pointed at the forest turtle's food.

The forest tortoise raised its head, looked gently at the baby dragon, then at its food, and without hesitation, gently nudged a small pile of the freshest, juiciest grass with its nose, pushing it towards the baby dragon with an affectionate hum. "Mmm~ Here you go."

"No, baby dragon, your stomach can only handle nutritional paste right now."

Zhang Jianying decisively refused, glancing at the forest tortoise at the same time. The tortoise nodded its large head understandingly and brushed the grass leaves back.

Baby Dragon glared angrily at Zhang Jianying, then looked at the damned nutritional paste, and finally, its gaze fell on Kirulian, who was elegantly enjoying the melons as if attending a tea party.

Kirlia sat quietly in the chair, her skirt draped naturally, and used her Nen to precisely put each bite of food into her mouth, chewing with elegant and refined movements.

Sensing the dragon's burning gaze, it slowly raised its crimson eyes and calmly looked back.

No words, no expression.

But it was precisely this extreme tranquility that deeply stung Baby Dragon's simple and brutal nerves.

Why does it get to eat so well?! Why does it even pretend to eat like that?!

"Woohoo!"

Baby Dragon lowered its head, and in a fit of pique, scooped up a clawful of nutritional paste and stuffed it into its mouth. Then... it choked on the bland, sticky texture, its eyes rolling back in its head, and it coughed violently, spraying the paste everywhere.

"Ugh!"

Zhang Jianying reluctantly went to find a towel.

Kirlia waved her hand slightly, and the psychic field around her rippled slightly.

All the nutrient paste particles flying towards it mysteriously froze in mid-air, then gathered into a small ball and were precisely thrown into the trash can.

After doing all this, it continued to enjoy its breakfast slowly, as if everything that had just happened was merely brushing away a speck of dust.

The baby dragon was so angry at the sight that it almost fainted, and its coughing intensified. It felt that Kirlia's silent cleaning action was more insulting than any mockery!

While patting Baby Dragon's back, Zhang Jianying watched the silent tension simmering on the breakfast table: "What a mess! It's just breakfast, how can it taste like gunpowder?"

……

After a "warm" breakfast, Zhang Jianying led the team to the open space in the backyard for their routine training.

"Alright, baby dragon, let's continue with the energy coordination exercises."

Zhang Jianying tried to make her voice sound encouraging, "Try to recall how you felt when Dr. Oak gave you guidance this morning, and use the Everstone to guide and soothe those unruly energies in your body."

Baby Dragon hugged the Everstone, took a deep breath, closed its eyes, and tried to do as Zhang Jianying said.

Although it briefly got the hang of it under Professor Oak's guidance in the morning, for a Dragon-type Pokémon that is used to solving problems with Tackle and Roar, calmly experiencing this operation is still no less difficult than teaching Groudon to fly.

It held its breath for five minutes, until its face turned red and its neck bulged, but the energy within its body was still surging wildly like a headless fly. It had completely forgotten the feeling of having successfully found it earlier.

The Everstone's light flickered steadily, extinguishing fires wherever they "started," but it couldn't stop the arsonist from constantly creating new fires.

"Woo... Awooo..."

Baby Dragon let out a restless whimper from its throat, and it looked like it was about to enter the "headbutt to relieve all worries" mode again.

"Heh!"

Gastly, watching its little sister about to go berserk, seemed to have a lightbulb going off in its head. It transformed into a purple figure and silently merged into the Beast Dragon's shadow.

"Heh heh heh~"

A sinister, eerie laugh came from the depths of the shadows.

The baby dragon's scales trembled, and it suddenly opened its eyes, looking warily at its feet.

The shadow rippled like boiling water, and Gastly's enormous head suddenly burst out of the shadow, almost face to face with BabyDragon. It stuck out its long, wet tongue and made an extremely exaggerated face! Then, with a "slurp," it gave BabyDragon a lick.

"Awooo!!!"

The baby dragon was so frightened that it jumped three feet high, almost dropping the Everstone it was holding. After the fright, it went berserk and, without thinking, unleashed a burst of dragon breath, or rather, a burst of furious dragon breath, at Gastly.

Gastly had anticipated its reaction, and with a loud laugh, it dispersed with a "poof," transforming into a wisp of purple smoke. It easily dodged the attack, and while it was still reassembling in mid-air, it deliberately reassembled into a funny face emoji of someone clutching their stomach and laughing hysterically.

"Ghostly!!!"

Zhang Jianying's blood pressure soared. "How many times have I told you! Don't scare the baby dragon during its training!"

"Hehehe~ Let's lighten the mood a bit, look how hard it's been holding it in~"

Gastly twisted and turned in the air without a care in the world, yelling its explanation as it went, completely disregarding whether the trainer could understand its nonsense.

It felt that its actions were entirely to help its sister relieve stress and were an expression of kindness.

The enraged baby dragon had long forgotten about the Everstone and energy guidance. At this moment, it had only one thought: grab the stinky second brother and then use its hardest head to smash him into the sky!

As a result, the training ground instantly transformed into a racing track.

Baby Dragon, its short legs throbbing and its rage meter fully charged, chased after Gastly, which nimbly darted through the air and kept emitting mocking laughter, frantically spewing small flames and sporadic dragon breath.

Gastly, like a cat toy, would sometimes fly high, sometimes swoop down, sometimes disappear into the shadows of the forest turtles, and sometimes pop out from Zhang Jianying's trouser leg, having a great time.

"Waaaah! Don't run! Be careful not to bump into something!"

The forest tortoise frantically moved its massive body, trying to act as a mobile roadblock to stop the farce.

But its thick shell is destined to get a few more new scratches today, accidentally inflicted by its own grumpy younger sister.

Zhang Jianying sighed deeply.

He looked at Gastly, the instigator, and then at the baby dragon that had been easily detonated.

Finally, our gaze fell upon Kirlia, who remained detached, re-entering meditation in a brightly lit place, radiating an aura of "pressure."

This family is beyond saving, it's really doomed...