Pokémon: Simultaneous time travel, this Ash is too versatile!

Chapter 26: The invincible Butterfree with its compound eyes, and Ash carrying Misty on his back.

[Newbie Ash: Caterpie? Why? Isn't Caterpie a relatively weak Pokémon?]

Ash couldn't quite understand the tactical suggestion. Even as a newbie, he knew that Bug-type Pokémon, especially Caterpie and Weedle, which were common in Kanto, were quite weak.

Even if it can evolve quickly, even if it evolves to its final form, it can't actually be used for very long. It grows fast, but it also becomes obsolete quickly.

[Tactical Master Ash: Caterpie is weak? Go tell me about Pride, Sash, Compound Eyes, Sleep Powder, and Tailwind.]

[Newbie Ash: Wh...what is that?]

[Champion Ash: Heh, it's just a really dirty thing... Butterfree, the final evolution of Caterpie, has an ability called Compound Eyes, which increases the accuracy of all moves by 30%. Moves like Sleep Powder don't actually have a high accuracy rate, but with Compound Eyes, the accuracy will be greatly improved.]

[Champion Ash: Butterfree's base stats aren't particularly high, but its speed is outstanding. So, if a Compound-Eyed Butterfree can use Powder first, and then use Tailwind, it can quickly set up the next Pokémon. Even if it can't use it first, with Focus Sash, it won't be one-shotted by the opponent, making it a very useful support Pokémon.]

[Newbie Ash: ...]

To be honest, I don't understand it at all. This strategy seems too profound. It sounds impressive, but I can't imagine how to put it into practice.

[Tactical Master Ash: Anyway, catch a Caterpie first, preferably one with good stats. Although the bond between a Pokémon and its trainer can break down inherent limitations, if it were that easy, it wouldn't be called a miracle between trainer and Pokémon.]

[Tactical Master Ash: After you catch Caterpie, train it into Butterfree first. Then I'll tell you how to execute Butterfree's tactics. I really enjoy using Butterfree to turn the tide of battle.]

[Newbie Ash: I understand, I'll go check out Viridian Forest then.]

……

These are some of the conversations between Ash and the group last night. The suggestion from Ash was to catch a Caterpie, specifically one with good stats.

As I said before, if you don't have a choice, then it's okay to catch a slightly weaker one. Just treat it well once it becomes your own Pokémon.

If it's the kind of behavior where you capture them one by one, only to realize their poor aptitude and then release them back into the wild, none of the Ash in that group, including the Ash in the real world, would agree with that approach.

However, Ash possesses the Eye of Insight that nurtured him. It would be a shame not to make use of this powerful ability.

If you could see a Pokémon's aptitude and potential before capturing it, you could just capture the ones with better aptitude from the start and train them carefully.

You can't just go out of your way to catch and train a bad Pokémon when you can see its aptitude and potential, just to prove that there are no useless Pokémon, only useless trainers, right? That's just making things difficult for yourself.

The Caterpie caught this time is probably one of the most promising Caterpie in Viridian Forest. Although it hasn't shown its full potential yet, Ash believes that Caterpie will definitely shine in his hands—with the help of the experts in the group.

After capturing the Caterpie, Ash released it again and sprayed it with medicine.

The damage caused by Pikachu wasn't high; it only knocked Caterpie unconscious. However, if left untreated, it would take a day or two to fully recover. Applying ointment would only take an hour or two.

In the following period, because Ash wanted to quickly train Caterpie to grow into Butterfree in a short time, he kept looking for Pokémon to battle. He even encountered some boys wearing shorts or carrying Bug Webs in the forest.

This is the rumored insect-catching expert and shorts-wearing boy who live in the forest.

These two types of people are only slightly stronger than ordinary wild Pokémon, but they can still increase Ash's and his trainers' battle experience.

Before entering Viridian Forest, Ash's only trainers were those idiots who invaded the Pokémon Center. Time passed day by day, and three days flew by.

During these three days, the two rested whenever they were tired, ate some fast food, reminisced about the food at the Pokémon Center, talked about future plans and the direction of Pokémon breeding, and occasionally battled with wild trainers in the forest. While traveling, they also took the opportunity to find Pokémon along the way to train Pikachu and Caterpie's skills and increase their battle experience.

In short, these three days were incredibly fulfilling for Ash, but not so easy for Misty.

Xia, who already has a phobia of insects, has become almost numb in the past three days.

The thing she regretted most in her life was leaving her bicycle in Viridian City and then choosing to walk to Pewter City with Ash.

Originally, she was looking forward to enjoying the scenery along the way and having a good time on her trip, but now, she's not enjoying anything at all! Every minute and every second in Viridian Forest is torture for Misty! She's even gotten used to Ash's Caterpie.

Besides being bothered by bugs every day, Misty also gives Ash some pointers during battles. Ash is quite curious about why Misty, who looks about the same age as him, knows so much and has much better command skills than him.

Although he was a novice, he felt his command skills were improving rapidly every day thanks to the constant guidance from the experts in the group. However, compared to Xiaoxia, he was still lacking... Just how strong were Xiaoxia's command skills? This was a question buried in Xiaozhi's mind.

"...How much longer until we reach Pewter City, Ash?" Misty asked Ash listlessly. It was already the fourth day, nearing noon, and she felt like her feet were about to be blistered.

"Let me see... we're already halfway there, a little faster than I expected," Ash said, somewhat surprised, after comparing the map.

If he had been traveling at a constant pace, it would be normal to have covered half the distance. However, he had been battling wild Pokémon and other trainers in the past few days, which should have slowed down his progress. As a result, his speed was about the same as if he had been walking all along.

Xiaoxia rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Of course! Didn't you see I wasn't even holding onto your clothes while walking? To get out of Viridian Forest faster, I even temporarily overcame my fear of bugs!"

"Overcome...overcome where? When you see the caterpillar approaching you, don't you still squeal? The caterpillar clearly likes you, and you're really hurting his feelings~"

"Don't joke around. I didn't run away just because he was within a meter of me, which is already a favor because he's our partner! Get closer? Do you want me dead?" Xiaoxia's lips twitched as she replied.

"Well, by the time you can accept him, he'll probably have evolved. I feel like Caterpie will evolve in the next day or two. He's accumulated enough experience, it's just a matter of when he'll emerge from his cocoon... Do you have a problem with your legs?" Ash said, glancing at Misty unintentionally. He noticed that Misty was walking with a slight limp, so he asked with some concern.

"What do you mean you have a problem with your legs? Can't you talk properly? My feet just hurt a little. Do you think everyone is like you, with a physique like a monster, whose body and mind never get tired?" Xiaoxia stopped and rubbed her toes through her shoes.

If I keep walking like this, my feet will definitely get blisters; I need to rest for a bit...

Before Xiaoxia could even say she wanted to rest, Xiaozhi had already half-squatted down in front of her: "Come on up."

"Come up...what do you mean, come up here?"

“I’ll carry you. Don’t you want to leave Viridian Forest as soon as possible? At this rate, even if you rest, your leg won’t get better anytime soon. That means we’ll probably have to wait two or three days to leave Viridian Forest. I might as well carry you.”

"But...this...that..." Xiaoxia's fair face flushed slightly, whether from exhaustion or embarrassment at what Xiaozhi had said, it was hard to tell.

"Stop being so fussy... Are you worried that you're too heavy and will crush me? It's okay, even if you weigh 200 pounds, I'll still..."

"Who are you calling two hundred pounds! I don't even weigh ninety pounds!!" Xiao Zhi's words were cut off by Xiao Xia's irritable voice before he could finish speaking.

Immediately afterwards, Xiaozhi felt a soft, warm body pressing down on him from behind. Just as Xiaoxia had said, she was really light.

(End of this chapter)