As Owen and Eevee drew closer, they froze.
The Buneary was indeed showing signs of heatstroke. Its face had shifted from a flushed red to a sickly pale hue, and it was drenched in sweat. However, Owen noticed something else—there were visible wounds on its body.
"Bite marks..."
Based on the injuries' shape, Owen deduced that a Pokémon like an Ekans might have bitten it.
"I think it encountered an enemy. It probably collapsed here due to a combination of exhaustion and the intense heat while trying to escape."
"Vee!!" Eevee chirped in agreement. She immediately began dragging the Buneary toward a patch of shade under a nearby tree.
What to do for heatstroke? Move the patient to a cool, ventilated, and shaded area immediately! Eevee had reacted even faster than Owen. Her series of practiced movements left him momentarily stunned.
"You really have been watching survival... no, wait, have you been watching first-aid shows too?"
Eevee nodded solemnly, then looked at Owen and asked him to help the little rabbit.
Owen was speechless. Facing an Eevee like this, what else was there to say? He might as well just stand back and cheer for her.
He followed Eevee's lead, quickly pulling water and medicine from his backpack. He cleaned the Buneary's wounds and applied a cool compress to bring down its temperature. As he worked, Owen watched the Buneary's painful struggling and felt a pang of pity.
It reminded him of Eevee when she was first born; sometimes, Pokémon raised by humans really were much luckier than those in the wild.
Fortunately, a Pokémon's constitution is naturally resilient. After the basic treatment, the Buneary soon began to recover. Its eyes fluttered open weakly as it looked around, its complexion finally returning to a healthier color.
However, the moment it saw Owen and Eevee, it began to struggle again, its expression full of panic.
Seeing this, Eevee immediately began to explain. As the two Pokémon conversed, Owen could only stand by and watch blankly.
"Vee..."
Under Eevee's friendly approach, the Buneary's expression gradually softened. It finally let down its guard and looked at them with gratitude, realizing it was Eevee who had saved it.
It knew right from wrong; Owen liked that. But they had to keep moving and couldn't stay for long.
"Alright, let's leave the rest to the Ranger uncle following us. We need to get back on the trail," Owen said to Eevee.
They had done more than enough for this newborn Buneary. They couldn't stay to look after it indefinitely; that was the Ranger's job. Owen was certain that the Ranger trailing them had already noticed the situation.
"Vee~" Eevee nodded and explained the situation to the Buneary once more. However, things didn't go as smoothly as Owen had imagined.
Just as they turned to leave, a brown silhouette blurred past. Eevee, instantly alert, used Quick Attack to intercept the incoming strike.
Seeing the unmasked fury radiating from the newcomer, Owen's expression shifted rapidly.
"The move Rage? No, it doesn't look like it..."
"Wait, this Pokémon is..."
The attacker looked very similar to the Buneary but was a size larger—standing just over a meter tall. Its red eyes were overflowing with accumulated resentment.
A Lopunny...
Could this be the Buneary's mother?
Before Owen could think further, the Lopunny attacked again. It seemed to have mistaken Owen and Eevee for enemies who had harmed the Buneary.
With a powerful leap, the Lopunny landed between Eevee and the Buneary. It unleashed a move completely different from the previous energy-laden strike! Driven by a burst of protective emotion, the Lopunny channeled its feelings into power, whipping its ears at Eevee. The move's power was considerable.
Eevee was reluctant to fight the Lopunny. After a brief resistance, she retreated to Owen's side.
"Vee!" Eevee barked, looking at the rabbit crossly.
Seeing the Lopunny's behavior, Owen was now certain it was related to the Buneary. At this moment, both Owen and Eevee felt an immense sense of injustice.
"Vee?" The Buneary, too, realized something was wrong. It tried its best to stand up, wanting to block the Lopunny and explain the truth.
However, the Lopunny didn't give it the chance. After letting out another threatening cry at Owen and Eevee, it stepped back, scooped up the Buneary, and bounded away with incredible speed. It seemed terrified that something else might happen to its young.
"Seriously..." Owen shook his head as he watched the Lopunny vanish into the trees. "Talk about being overprotective."
"Vee!!" Eevee nodded dejectedly.
The incident left Eevee feeling quite down. To help someone only to be treated like an enemy instead of receiving thanks—no one would be happy about that.
"Eevee..." Owen noticed her dejection. He felt a pang in his heart, then smiled and picked her up. "Cheer up. That Buneary will explain everything to its mother. In the end, they'll be very, very grateful to you. Trust me."
"Vee?..." Hearing Owen say this, Eevee looked up, feeling slightly better.
Owen ruffled the fur on Eevee's head, feeling it was necessary to instill a healthy worldview in her. If he let her turn "edgy" or "dark" from this, it wouldn't be good...
A dark evolution... Eevee-mon? Digivolve to Skull-Eevee?
"Let's keep moving," Owen said, trying his best to distract her so she wouldn't dwell on what happened.
But as they left the area, Owen became lost in thought again.
In that brief skirmish, the two moves the Lopunny used were quite interesting. He was deeply curious about the first attack, the one filled with fire. It likely wasn't Rage, but the move Frustration.
In the games, this move is described as a full-power attack born from dissatisfaction—the lower the friendship with the trainer, the higher the power. But in reality, it was clearly a specific application of emotional energy.
When speaking of "rage energy," one usually thinks of the move Rage or the Enraged status. Undoubtedly, from a power-boosting perspective, this was a positive state.
As for the Pokémon best at utilizing this anger, it was likely Primeape—especially those with the Anger Point ability.
It was said that Primeape lived in a state of near-constant, inexplicable fury. They would stay angry even inside a Poké Ball. There were even documented cases of Primeapes dying from sheer rage... it was truly difficult to comprehend.
Perhaps that's the literal definition of 'dying of anger'.
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