Adaptation (Please Bookmark)

Three days passed quickly, and during that time, Eichi had already adapted to life in the Pokémon World.

He no longer made a fuss whenever he encountered Pokémon. At the same time, he had gotten to know all his classmates, teachers, and neighbors. Over those three days, he had also been planning something: catching his first Pokémon.

Eichi understood that, given his family's circumstances, his first Pokémon had to be easy to raise. Otherwise, he simply could not afford it.

Among Pokémon, Bug-types and Grass-types were the easiest to raise.

After looking things over, there were only a few Pokémon to choose from in the Kanto Region. There was no room to be picky!

To catch Pokémon, he had previously lived frugally, often going into the forest to pick Berries and sell them for money. Sometimes, he also took odd jobs helping his neighbors for a little payment.

In the end, he had only 20,000 yuan on him. At the store, a Poké Ball cost 500 yuan, which was the same price as in the games.

An ordinary Red and White Poké Ball could last twenty years without external damage, so 500 yuan was actually very cheap.

But other things, such as Potions, cost 300 yuan each. They were used up after only a few uses. And that was just the cheapest kind of Potion; the others were even more expensive.

An ordinary family only earned four or five thousand yuan a month. Most families could raise at most one Pokémon, while some did not even have one.

A family could still manage to raise one Pokémon, but any more than that was impossible. Becoming a Trainer was even further out of reach. Eichi decided to leave those troubling matters for later.

What he needed to consider now was how to catch his first Pokémon.

Eichi went to the town store and bought two Poké Balls, a Bug Net, some Pokémon Food, and Trap Items.

Those purchases cost him 3,000 yuan. He had prepared a little extra just in case. After buying them, his heart bled—this was all money his former self had earned through hard work.

He had often run around with the Bug Catchers in town before, and the place he had visited most was Viridian Forest.

Of course, they had only ever stayed around the outskirts and never dared venture deeper. The Pokémon on the outskirts were all relatively weak, and as long as one was careful, there was no need to worry about danger.

But the depths of the forest were different. All kinds of powerful Pokémon and Pokémon groups lived there. Without the strength of a powerful Trainer, no one would dare go in.

Whenever Eichi saw Trainers entering the depths of Viridian Forest, he felt incredibly envious. He envied their strength, which allowed them to travel wherever they wanted.

They were not afraid of dangerous forests. They could venture deep within, challenge powerful Pokémon, and catch Pokémon they liked. Those were all reasons Eichi wanted to become a Trainer.

The Bug Catchers in town had all caught their Pokémon on the outskirts of Viridian Forest. Common Pokémon like Caterpie and Weedle were very easy to catch.

Thinking that he would soon catch a Pokémon of his own, Eichi became especially excited.

When he watched Pokémon in his previous life, he had dreamed of one day having a Pokémon of his own. Now that dream was about to come true. How could he not be excited?

Excitedly, he wondered who his first Pokémon would be.

"Phew."

Eichi took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He quickened his pace and stepped into Viridian Forest.

The moment he entered Viridian Forest, his eyes felt a little itchy. He rubbed them hard, then continued onward without giving it much thought.

But no one saw the green light flash through Eichi's eyes before they quickly returned to normal.

As soon as he entered Viridian Forest, he could sense a faint fragrance of fresh grass in the air, leaving him refreshed and relaxed.

Warm sunlight spread over every inch of the ground. Lush trees stood before him.

The scent of grass and earth rushed toward him. In his previous life, when would he ever have had the chance to see such scenery?

Although his former self had seen it countless times, this was his first time seeing it.

Ahead, he could faintly hear Pokémon and glimpse their figures.

Now Eichi had to consider what Pokémon to catch. The easiest ones to catch were Caterpie and Weedle.

These two Pokémon were the most common, and also the easiest to catch.

Before evolving into Butterfree and Beedrill, their fighting strength was so weak it could practically be ignored.

An ordinary child could probably defeat them, which was why Caterpie and Weedle were the Pokémon Bug Catchers used most often.

The other Pokémon were a little harder to catch than Caterpie and Weedle.

To catch Pokémon, Eichi had asked the Bug Catchers in town. He had heard that one could set up a simple trap in the grass.

Use Pokémon Food to lure nearby Pokémon into the trap, then directly catch them with a Poké Ball. In any case, ordinary Pokémon had a high chance of being caught immediately.

Only a small number would break free. Of course, even if they did, there was no need to worry, because most of them could not run very fast.

After trying a few more times, he would probably succeed. Naturally, that was only if the Pokémon he was trying to catch was relatively weak.

Eichi found a concealed patch of grass and dug a small pit. He set up the trap and placed some highly tempting food for Pokémon inside.

Then he slipped into a nearby patch of grass and waited quietly. As he crouched there, Eichi recalled the conversation he had had with his father the previous night.

During dinner last night, his father, sitting at the table, suddenly asked Eichi, "You're going to catch a Pokémon tomorrow, right?"

Eichi nodded. His father continued, "Ever since you were little, I could tell that you really liked Pokémon. Now you're old enough to have one. Remember to stay safe tomorrow. It's fine if you can't catch one. I can find someone to get you a Pokémon."

After saying that, he took a stack of money from his pocket and handed it to Eichi. "How can you catch Pokémon without money? Take this."

Suddenly, a disturbance pulled Eichi back from his thoughts. He parted a gap in the grass and looked over. It was a Pidgey.

Pidgey looked like a small bird. Its feather colors were quite plain.

The feathers on its belly and at the tips of its wings were white, while the rest were brown.

There was black coloring around its black eyes.

Its beak and claws were purple.

It had three tufts of feathers on top of its head. The tufts on either side were white, making it look somewhat serious.

The Pidgey fluttered over, destroyed the trap in one go, then ravenously began enjoying the food.

Eichi's heart leaped with joy when he saw it. He quietly took a Poké Ball from his pocket.

While Pidgey had not noticed him, he immediately aimed and threw the Poké Ball in his hand.

Just as it was about to hit, Pidgey suddenly sensed something approaching. It immediately knocked the Poké Ball away with its wing, then flew off in panic.

The moment Eichi saw Pidgey knock away the Poké Ball with its wing, he thought, Oh no, and rushed out to chase after it. But Pidgey quickly disappeared from sight.

He returned to the trap, examined it, and said, "Luckily, the items aren't broken."

Eichi set it up again, then returned to wait patiently.

Before long, there was another movement. A Bug-type Pokémon had crawled into the trap, and it looked like it could not get out.

It was a Caterpie. Caterpie resembled a caterpillar, and its most distinctive feature was the Y-shaped red antenna on its head.

It had two pairs of abdominal legs. Its back was green, while its belly was white.

There were yellow ring-shaped markings along both sides of its body.

This time, Eichi hurried over and tapped Caterpie with a Poké Ball. A flash of white light passed, and Caterpie was drawn into the Poké Ball.

The Poké Ball in his hand shook without stopping.

The button on the front flashed again and again, until the third time.

"Ding."

The Poké Ball stopped shaking, indicating that the capture had succeeded.

Eichi excitedly released Caterpie and observed it carefully. But before long, he frowned.