First Battle (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

When he got up the next morning, Eichi took a look at Weedle.

It seemed to have grown a little. Eichi thought he might be seeing things.

He got out of bed, brought over the scale, and weighed Weedle. He measured its height as well.

When it had just hatched, Weedle had been 0.27 meters tall and weighed 2.8 kg.

Now it was 0.3 meters tall and weighed 3.1 kg. It was growing quite quickly.

Weedle's official height was 0.3 meters, and its official weight was 3.2 kg.

He had originally thought it would take another two days to reach this point, but it had somehow shortened that by two days.

Though puzzled, Eichi did not dwell on it. He simply assumed it was because Weedle had good talent and he had been feeding it well.

After school that afternoon, he returned to the Small Woods.

He set down his backpack and stretched his body.

Then he began training with Weedle. Now that it had grown taller, Weedle seemed full of energy.

As soon as they started running, Weedle raced ahead of Eichi, while Eichi followed slowly behind it.

After three laps, Weedle was not as tired as it had been yesterday. It still seemed to have some energy left.

Eichi immediately had Weedle run another lap.

After finishing this lap, Weedle finally began to tire.

He took out some honey water for Weedle to drink and let it rest for a while.

Once it had rested, he had Weedle resume its skill training.

First was the String Shot skill. Yesterday, Weedle could use String Shot at most ten times, with a range of within five meters.

Today, it had improved considerably. It could use String Shot thirteen times, with a range of within six meters.

After letting Weedle rest, they moved on to practicing Bug Bite.

Yesterday, Bug Bite could only leave shallow tooth marks on a small wooden stick. Today, it could almost bite straight through the entire stick.

Last was the Poison Sting skill. Eichi had Weedle use Poison Sting on a small tree.

As it used Poison Sting, Weedle's skill activation speed had clearly improved compared to yesterday.

The moment it heard a command, it carried it out immediately.

Weedle swiftly used Poison Sting on the small tree. At the spot where it struck,

there was a hole around three centimeters wide, with purple liquid flowing around it.

Soon, all the leaves on the small tree withered, and its roots began to rot.

Seeing the power of Poison Sting, Eichi nodded and made a mental note.

He needed to buy more Antidote Spray. It would not be good if he accidentally poisoned someone else's Pokémon to death in future battles.

He recorded all the data he had just gathered.

Then he had Weedle continue using Poison Sting on the small tree to see how many times it could use the move.

The final result was eight times. It could not manage any more than that, which was two more uses than yesterday.

Overall, Weedle's improvement had somewhat exceeded Eichi's expectations.

It seemed his original plan would no longer work.

He decided to train Weedle at twice yesterday's training volume.

Of course, Eichi was not going to merely watch from the sidelines. He would train alongside Weedle.

In his previous life, everything Eichi had practiced had been flashy but impractical. He had never learned real martial arts suited for actual combat.

He had learned freestyle fighting for half a year, though. Now he needed to pick it up again and practice. It might come in handy someday.

Learning martial arts had its benefits. At the very least, it could make one's body especially well-balanced.

His limbs would not become stiff, and his reaction speed would improve as well.

Soon, the day passed.

That evening, Eichi prepared some nutritious and tasty food for Weedle as usual.

Weedle suffered happily.

After dinner, Eichi gave Weedle a massage as usual. Before long, Weedle fell asleep just like yesterday.

The next day, Eichi added accuracy training on top of yesterday's regimen.

He took out a bag of discarded bottle caps and pulled one from inside.

He said to Weedle, "When I throw this bottle cap in a moment, use String Shot to knock it down immediately."

"Shuu, shuu!"

Weedle nodded.

Alright. The first time Eichi threw it, he did not throw very fast. Weedle easily knocked the bottle cap down with a web formed from String Shot.

The second time, Eichi visibly increased his speed. Weedle could still knock it down.

Then Eichi threw it with all his strength. This time, Weedle failed to knock it down.

Eichi nodded and shouted, "Continue!"

Then he threw it again at the same speed. After several throws, Weedle failed to hit it every time.

First, Weedle might not have been using String Shot quickly enough. Second, Eichi had thrown it too fast for Weedle to react in time.

He recorded all of this. It still needed more training.

On the third day, Eichi continued taking Weedle through the same training.

After three days of training, Eichi felt that Weedle's training intensity was sufficient.

Eichi decided it was time to let Weedle begin actual combat.

That night, beside his desk, Eichi carefully summarized the training data from the past three days.

Weedle was now 0.35 meters tall and weighed 3.4 kg, already far surpassing an ordinary Weedle.

Moreover, Weedle could now use the three skills String Shot, Bug Bite, and Poison Sting very proficiently.

It could use String Shot sixteen times. Bug Bite could be used as long as Weedle still had stamina. Poison Sting could be used ten times.

He also had Weedle ram into trees when it had nothing else to do, improving its physical defense.

Money was now flowing away every day, and he had begun feeding Weedle Pokémon food—the most expensive kind, at that.

Eichi only had a little over one thousand left on him now.

He would be spending even more in the future, so he had to find a way to make some money.

The part-time jobs available to him would not earn much at all.

The best way to make money now was to go to Viridian Forest and look for rare berries and medicinal herbs.

It just so happened that he could take Weedle out for some actual combat tomorrow.

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, dawn arrived.

After getting up, Eichi prepared everything and set off.

Eichi first went to the shop and bought two bottles of Antidote Spray, spending 400 yuan.

Looking at his rapidly shrinking wallet, Eichi felt a headache coming on.

He comforted himself that he would soon be able to make money.

Eichi revisited an old place. On the way to Viridian Forest, he ran into his former Bug Catcher companions.

After greeting them warmly, they parted ways, and Eichi continued onward.

Walking along a secluded path, Eichi soon encountered a wild Caterpie.

Eichi released Weedle.

"Come out, Weedle!"

In a flash of white light, Weedle jumped out.

The Caterpie opposite them was still confused, not knowing what Eichi intended to do.

Eichi said, "While it's distracted, Weedle, use Bug Bite!"

Upon hearing the command, Weedle immediately darted forward.

It bit down on Caterpie's body.

Before Caterpie could react, the bite knocked it out of the fight.

"Nicely done, Weedle." Eichi praised Weedle.

Weedle was delighted. It had won its very first battle.

Its confidence immediately soared.

Eichi walked over to the defeated Caterpie, took a Potion from his backpack, and sprayed it on Caterpie.

Caterpie slowly recovered. Eichi took out some Pokémon food from his backpack, poured some out for Caterpie, and said, "Eat."

Caterpie happily began eating. Although it had been beaten up for no apparent reason, having food to eat made Caterpie very happy.