“Coconut Egg!”
The three heads of the Coconut Egg Tree glowed blue with their eyes, unleashing an invisible psychic force that bound the Scyther.
Scyther: “Σ(△|||)喳！！？”
There were no Psychic-type Pokémon in Viridian Forest, and Scyther had never been bound by psychic power before. It didn't know what happened, but its body was no longer under its control.
“Smash it!” Gary commanded, and the Coconut Egg Tree used its psychic power to manipulate Scyther, repeatedly smashing it against the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
After several smashes, coupled with the drain of the Leech Seed, Scyther was instantly reduced to a spent force.
The samurai boy’s scalp tingled.
He could see that Gary hadn't used his full strength in their battle.
“Trainers from Pallet Town are terrifying, one after another…” The samurai boy felt a sense of dread creeping into his heart.
Although he had lost to two trainers from Pallet Town before, it wasn't a complete defeat.
Compared to Gary, however, those two trainers were not in the same league.
“喳…!” Despite being repeatedly smashed, Scyther didn't fall. It lay on the ground, barely alive.
“Good resilience. Come on in.” Gary thought it was enough. There was no need to completely defeat the Pokémon before catching it. Draining it to a certain state was acceptable for catching.
Whoosh!
Gary threw a Poké Ball.
The Poké Ball hit Scyther's head accurately. It opened, shooting out a red beam that enveloped the Scyther and drew it inside.
The Poké Ball landed on the ground, shaking slightly three times before stopping.
“So...so amazing.” The samurai boy stuttered in shock.
Scyther had always been a Pokémon he longed for, but he couldn't even defeat it himself.
To think that Gary, with just a slight effort, easily captured it. The samurai boy declared Gary to be the strongest rookie trainer he had ever seen.
Gary walked over and picked up the Poké Ball, checking Scyther's stats.
【Pokémon: Scyther ♂】
【Type: Bug, Flying】
【Level: 15】
【Potential: Gym】
【Ability: Technician (Increases the power of moves with 60 or less base power by 50% when attacking.)】
【Moves: Leer, Quick Attack, Fury Cutter, Faint Attack, Aerial Ace.】
【Friendship: 115 (Max: 255)】
Not bad, Technician ability.
Gary was very satisfied with the ability.
If it had been a different ability, he would have had to think about where to find an Ability Capsule.
Ability Capsules allow Pokémon with their first and second abilities to switch back and forth between them.
In this timeline, Ability Capsules had not yet been developed. They weren't even invented until Generation VIII, and even then, they were extremely rare.
If this Scyther had a different ability, Gary would have had a headache.
“Here, this is your reward.” After putting away the Poké Ball, Gary took out a wad of cash and handed it to the samurai boy.
“Oh… thank you!” The samurai boy thanked him quickly and took the cash Gary offered.
Even though it was a twenty thousand dollar bill, it was the first time the samurai boy had ever seen one. He immediately held it and counted it.
“By the way, I haven't had the pleasure of learning your name.” After counting the money, the samurai boy remembered that he didn't know Gary's name yet.
“I'm Gary.”
Gary didn't hide it.
This guy would meet Ash later. Maybe the samurai boy would tell Ash about this, which would be a good motivation for Ash.
After all, Gary didn't dare imagine how powerful he would be by the time of the Indigo League, based on his current progress.
......!
Leaving Scyther's territory.
Gary said goodbye to the samurai boy and rode his bike towards the route to Pewter City.
Viridian Forest was huge. It took Ash two weeks to reach Pewter City when he first arrived.
Even though Gary rode faster and didn't encounter many problems on the way, it would still take at least three or four days to reach Pewter City.
As it was getting late, Gary cleared a patch of ground by the side of the road, setting up a simple camp and preparing food for his four Pokémon.
“Here, these are Protein Power. They can help you grow a lot.” Gary, of course, wanted to use the best resources for his Pokémon. Protein Power was the go-to.
Caterpie and Scyther, these two wild Pokémon, had never eaten the fine food made specifically for Pokémon by humans. Just two portions of special Bug-type Pokémon food, plus Protein Power.
In an instant, Caterpie and Scyther recognized Gary as their trainer.
This kind of all-inclusive life was just too good.
Pokémon are not stupid, they can distinguish between good and bad. As long as the trainer is not weak, most wild Pokémon are willing to follow their trainer.
“Everyone, get some good rest tonight. I'll start training you tomorrow.” After dinner, Gary reminded his Pokémon.
Previously, with so few Pokémon, it was a hassle to train them individually.
But now, with four Pokémon, he needed to start special training. And he would also need to challenge the Pewter City Gym soon, so he had to level up his four Pokémon.
Especially Squirtle, he would be relying on him to defeat the Pewter City Gym.
Of course, Coconut Egg Tree could also fight the Pewter City Gym, but for now, Gary wanted to focus on leveling up Squirtle and evolving him into Blastoise as soon as possible.
Gary came up with the following training plan for his four Pokémon.
Scyther and Squirtle would practice together, mainly with Squirtle attacking Scyther with Water Gun, and Scyther using its Scythe to block the Water Gun. This trained the reaction speed of both Pokémon.
Coconut Egg Tree and Caterpie would practice together. The training method would be for Coconut Egg Tree to bask in the sun more often, and to occasionally use its hypnosis on Caterpie to improve its psychic ability control.
As for why it needed to bask in the sun more often, Coconut Egg Tree's head count was far more than just three. It could grow up to six heads. Each additional head would enhance its psychic power.
The three-headed Coconut Egg Tree was far from its strongest form.
Caterpie didn't need any training for now. It just needed to receive Coconut Egg Tree's hypnosis.
Caterpie's evolution cycle was short. Gary's Caterpie was already level 8, and it should have already evolved into Metapod by now.
The reason it hadn't evolved was due to its Shiny nature. The golden Caterpie was too eye-catching, making it easy for Pidgey and Spearow to attack.
So, this Caterpie was very cautious every time it went out to forage, and rarely foraged, resulting in insufficient energy for it to successfully evolve into Butterfree during its Metapod stage.
Metapod doesn't eat anything when it hasn't evolved into Butterfree. It survives entirely on the energy Caterpie accumulated in its body, until it evolves.
If it hasn't eaten enough energy during its Caterpie stage and rashly evolves into Metapod, it will eventually lead to a failed metamorphosis and death.