Initial Pokemon, Caterpie

After a few minutes, Mark rubbed his head and sat back up from the grass, then carefully examined his reflection in the puddle beside him.

He looked sixteen or seventeen, about 1.8 meters tall. After fixing his hair and washing his face, he was fairly handsome, with a well-proportioned, sturdy body. It was just that his tattered clothes made him look rather scruffy.

"Is this my body...?"

He had basically figured out what had happened.

All he could say was that the Trainer System's consciousness-loading speed had been far too slow.

It had taken more than a decade to go from 0.001% to 99.999%.

He had grown from a baby into a young man before his consciousness had finally finished loading. As a result, he had spent those ten-odd years of loading like an idiot.

He had lived in a daze in a nearby village.

He did not know the village's name. He only remembered its rough layout and size; it was probably a small village with two or three hundred households.

His parents seemed to have both died when he was very young, leaving him to wander around the village alone.

In his memories, a few elderly villagers sometimes pitied him and gave him food. More often, though, he had filled his stomach by picking up potato peels, rotten vegetable leaves, and the like. Occasionally, he went out into the wild to eat wild fruits and mushrooms. If he was desperately hungry, he even chewed on grass...

In short, survival had not been easy, yet he had endured as tenaciously as a weed. As for this Caterpie that had stayed by his side, it seemed to have begun following him sometime in the past few years.

Yes, this Caterpie had followed him for several years. In some fan novels about Pokemon, Bug-type Pokemon were synonymous with short lives, dying after only a few years. But in the official setting, as well as this world he had transmigrated into, Bug-type Pokemon were clearly not so short-lived.

And that made sense. Pokemon's earliest translated name had been Pocket Monsters—monsters in one's pocket. They were fairies, supernatural creatures. Even some insects in the real world could live for several years, so Bug-type Pokemon naturally could not be so short-lived.

As for why this particular Caterpie had stayed by his side, Mark could not find an answer in his muddled memories. He only remembered that, from some unknown point onward, the Caterpie had always accompanied him, wandering through the village and forest with him.

When he slept, Caterpie nestled against him.

They often rummaged through the village garbage heap together for edible food, then ate the garbage together.

Sometimes, Caterpie found sweet wild fruits and shared them with him. In return, whenever Caterpie encountered danger—such as attacks from bird Pokemon like Spearow and Pidgey—he stepped forward. He would probably just let out a couple of incoherent cries and scare those bird Pokemon away...

Mark looked at the Caterpie beside him once more.

After merging with those memories, the way he looked at Caterpie had completely changed.

Caterpie was not merely a Caterpie. It was also his relative and family in this world.

"Cater?"

Caterpie tilted its head and looked at Mark in confusion.

Ever since more than ten minutes ago, Mark had been acting strangely.

Mark's scent was still the same, but it had never seen the expression on his face before. And earlier, Mark had muttered something to himself. The old Mark could not speak.

What was going on?

Caterpie did not ponder it for long. The red Y-shaped antenna on its head trembled slightly as it caught a sweet fragrance.

The Y-shaped antenna atop Caterpie's head could not only release an irritating smell to drive off natural enemies; it was also Caterpie's sensory organ.

"Cater, Cater!"

Caterpie revealed an excited expression. Its four round forelimbs waved constantly as it shared its discovery with Mark.

Watching Caterpie's movements, Mark guessed, "Are you saying you found food?"

"Cater!"

Caterpie nodded repeatedly and quickly crawled toward the forest. Mark followed after it.

Caterpie occasionally looked back to see whether Mark was keeping up. When it saw that Mark was still following behind, it gradually sped up.

As he traveled with Caterpie, Mark opened the Trainer System's game panel in his mind once again.

Mark

Class: Spirit Master

Experience: 1%

Points: 1

Spirit: Caterpie

I didn't think much about it just now. Are these Points skill points? Or are they used to level up?

As Mark pondered, he mentally tapped the panel and suddenly discovered something.

When he mentally tapped himself or Caterpie, a secondary menu appeared, displaying more information.

Mark

Spirit Talent: None

Trainer Skills: None

Special Talents: Robust Health (+), Poison Resistance (+)

He did not have a single Spirit Master talent or Trainer Skill, but he did possess two special talents.

When he continued to mentally tap those two talents, further explanations appeared.

Robust Health: A strong, healthy body with a constitution far surpassing others of the same kind. (Can be enhanced)

Poison Resistance: Possesses a certain resistance to toxins, reducing toxin damage received. (Can be enhanced)

Mark guessed that these two talents were innate to this body.

Being able to grow up robustly like a weed without anyone raising him and while mentally impaired, the Robust Health talent had played a crucial role.

As for Poison Resistance, if his muddled memories were correct, he had certainly eaten plenty of garbage from the village, unknown wild fruits, Poison Mushrooms, and the like. It was highly possible that he had consumed so much poisonous food that he had developed an acquired poison-resistance talent.

Without examining his own panel further, Mark opened Caterpie's panel.

Caterpie

Five-Dimensional Potential:

Power: F (+) Constitution: F- (+) Agility: F+ (+) Spirit: E Perception: E+

Ability: Not awakened

Special Talent: Evolution

Skills: Tackle (+), String Shot (+)

If I remember Pokemon games correctly, there are six stats: HP, Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, and Speed. This Spirit Master game panel turned them into five dimensions?

Power should be strength, Constitution is physical fitness, then Agility. Spirit... should be mental power, probably related to a Pokemon's Special Attack. Finally, Perception has no representation in Pokemon games, but in the real world, it seems quite useful. It could detect danger and such.

As for Caterpie's Ability, the panel says it hasn't awakened.

If I remember correctly, Caterpie has two possible Abilities in Pokemon games: Shield Dust and Run Away. Every Caterpie awakens one of them.

The former prevents the additional effects of moves from triggering when it is attacked. For example, Flamethrower has a chance to inflict the Burn condition, but a Pokemon with Shield Dust will not be burned. As for Run Away, as the name suggests, it guarantees a successful escape during battles in the wild...

So... in the real world, Pokemon Abilities do not awaken naturally?

Mark muttered to himself, but he did not dwell on Caterpie's Ability for long. He continued to look at the last two sections of the system panel: special talents and skills.

It looks like this game panel considers Pokemon evolution a special talent.

Tackle and String Shot have not changed much. In Pokemon games, every Caterpie naturally knows both Tackle and String Shot.

Mark continued to mentally touch the skills Tackle and String Shot, and their detailed information appeared before him.

Tackle: Charges into the opponent with the body to attack. (Can be enhanced)

String Shot: Spits silk to bind the target. (Can be enhanced)

After staring at the game panel for a while, Mark lightly pinched his chin and said, "Some abilities have a (+) after them. It looks like tapping that (+) will consume Points to enhance the ability.

"I have one starting Point. This Point can enhance Caterpie's Five-Dimensional Potential, enhance its skills, or even enhance myself.

"So this Point..."