“Yuck! A Caterpie!!!”
Within the Viridian Forest, Misty’s screams didn’t stop. After all, she was a girl, so her fear of bugs was understandable, even if it was a Pokémon. Besides, a Caterpie was a big bug, and that was even more terrifying for a girl…
Ash patted her shoulder comfortingly, saying, “It’s okay. I’m here. I understand your fear of bugs, but it’s a Pokémon, you know.”
“But it’s such a big bug!”
“You’re a Water-type Trainer. Don’t tell me you’ve never used bugs when feeding your Pokémon.”
Over the years, Ash had come to understand the Pokémon world. There were humans, Pokémon, and animals, but the animals here were a little bit pitiful. They were mostly herbivores and were essentially food for humans and Pokémon. After asking Professor Oak, he learned that there were carnivores in the Pokémon world, but compared to Pokémon, these carnivores weren’t a match. As a result, the aggressive carnivores were quickly eliminated by Pokémon, while the herbivores survived. It’s just that now, they were the food for both humans and Pokémon…
“Alright, don’t be afraid, Weedle use Poison Sting!”
“Weedle!”
With a Poison Sting attack from Weedle, the Caterpie, which had no fighting ability whatsoever, immediately fell. Ash also took out some honey and fed it to Weedle.
“Weedle!” Weedle happily ate the honey. Then, it was enveloped in an evolutionary glow. Ash seemed to have known this was going to happen, “Sure enough, I’ve raised it for so long, and it hadn’t evolved. What it lacked was this first victory. Let’s see what kind of existence you’ll become.”
As the evolutionary glow faded, Ash’s Weedle evolved into a Kakuna, and this Kakuna had a steel-like color to its shell.
“Very good indeed. Now, Kakuna, just keep accumulating your strength.”
“Kaku!”
Seeing Misty still looking a bit afraid, Ash patted Kakuna’s head and returned it to its Poké Ball.
“Alright, don’t be afraid.”
Seeing Ash put Kakuna away, Misty walked out from behind the Chansey and apologized, “Sorry, but I’m really afraid of bugs.”
“It’s okay, everyone has things they’re afraid of. Nobody is perfect, right?”
Hearing Ash’s understanding, Misty felt relieved and said, “Thanks.”
Then, the two continued their journey, and along the way, Ash caught a Pidgeotto. After all, having a Flying-type Pokémon meant it could do a lot of things.
“Pidgeotto, what kind of bugs do you like?”
“Pidgey!”
“He says he likes bitter ones, meow. Oh my god, your taste buds are so weird!” Meowth was shocked when it heard this, because it didn’t like bitter things at all.
“Pidgey!” Pidgeotto, seeing Meowth question its taste, didn’t hesitate to respond.
“What meow?! You’re saying you like that bitter taste?! Even the fruits?! How strange are you, meow!”
After recording Pidgeotto’s taste, Ash said to Pikachu beside him, “It looks like I need to prepare an extra bitter one. But Pidgeotto, your taste buds are really unique. The Pidgeys and Pidgeots I know don’t like bitter things.”
“Pika…” Pikachu sighed, indicating its agreement with Meowth’s sentiment. Sour and sweet were better…
Watching Ash’s actions, Misty understood a bit why Ash’s Pokémon were so attached to him.
“No wonder Ash’s Pokémon are so attached to him.”
However, a warm scene is often interrupted, so…
“We meet again, little punk!”
As soon as he heard this voice, Ash knew he was being targeted.
“Who are you guys?” Misty didn’t know who they were and asked aloud.
With Misty’s question, Team Rocket’s Jessie, James, and Meowth appeared with their introductions.
“You’ve asked with a sincere heart,”
“So we shall grant you a generous answer!”
“To protect the world from destruction,”
“To unite all peoples within our nation,”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love,”
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jessie!”
“James!”
“We are the rocket gang that’s blasting off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now, or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth, that’s right!”
Misty, after learning they were Team Rocket, asked, “Team Rocket? You’re here to steal Pokémon?”
Jessie looked at Misty and said, “We’re not after you, we’re after little punk…”
Whoosh!
As he threw off his red jacket, the black tracksuit underneath was revealed, as were Ash’s sharp, defined muscles and eight-pack abs.
“I’ve been putting up with you for so long, you call me little punk, huh? Take a good look at these muscles I’ve been working on for years, then say it again!”
After being called a little punk twice, Ash was furious. After all, after his reincarnation, he had been very strict with himself. Knowing that he was going to travel, he specifically trained for a long time to deal with unexpected situations. The result was that Ash’s body now looked normal with a jacket on, but once he took it off, his well-trained physique would make a lot of adults feel inferior.
Jessie and Misty were startled by Ash’s sudden action, but after seeing his near-perfect physique and then his Red-style handsome face, both of them turned their heads in embarrassment.
Jessie said a little shyly, “Well, I admit you’re a lot stronger than a little punk. But that doesn’t mean…”
Rip!
With a swipe from Meowth, a deep gash was made across Jessie’s face.
“What are you doing, Meowth! You scratched my beautiful face!”
“You idiot meow! This isn’t the time to be daydreaming meow! We’re here to catch Pikachu meow!”
“That’s right! Capture that powerful Pikachu…”
“Enough with the gibberish. Pikachu, Thunderbolt!!!”
“Pika~chu!!!”
Upon hearing Ash and Pikachu’s voices, the three members of Team Rocket knew they were doomed. When they turned around, they saw a huge yellow beam of light.
“Oh no…” *3
Boom!
With a Thunderbolt that blasted into the sky, the three members of Team Rocket were sent flying.
“What a terrible feeling!” *3
Ash put on the jacket that Latias had handed him and muttered, “What a waste of time. We could’ve been out of the forest already.”
Then, Ash looked at Misty and said, “Let’s go. Don’t you hate bugs? There are a lot of bugs in Viridian Forest.”
Misty was startled for a moment, but then she realized that Ash was taking care of her because she was afraid of bugs. “Okay…Ash, thank you.”
“It’s okay. Taking care of my companions is what I should be doing. Let’s go, everyone!”
Then, Ash, with Latias on his left, Chansey on his right, Pikachu on his shoulder, and Misty walking beside him, quickly headed deeper into the forest.