1,149,620 Tackles!

Mark had only one Point at the moment, and he had no plans to enhance himself.

In the world of Pokemon, Pokemon naturally had to be strengthened first. He could not possibly waste Points on the Trainer. Besides, neither Strong Body nor Poison Resistance had any use for him at the moment.

He did not plan to enhance Caterpie's Five-Dimensional Potential either.

The reason was simple.

Caterpie's five-dimensional ratings were either F or E. Its Spirit and Perception, which were rated E, could not even be enhanced. Investing Points into this Five-Dimensional Potential was clearly more trouble than it was worth, at least for him right now.

Whether F or E, they were essentially trash ratings. It was not like raising an A+ to an S. Raising F to F+ did not actually mean much.

That left him with only two enhancement options: String Shot and Tackle.

String Shot involved spitting silk from the mouth and counted as a ranged ability. In the real world, its effects obviously could not be compared to merely slowing an opponent as it did in the games. It had many possible applications and could even be used to create traps.

However, real-world bugs could no longer spit silk after pupating into butterflies. Mark could not be sure whether Caterpie would still be able to spit silk after evolving, as it could in the Pokemon games.

If Caterpie could not use String Shot after evolving in this world, putting Points into String Shot would undoubtedly be throwing them away.

Tackle, meanwhile, was the most plain and unadorned attack in the Pokemon games. The plainer an ability was, the more reliable it would be at critical moments.

Although Butterfree's Special Attack base stat far surpassed its Attack after evolving, making Tackle seem like a poor investment, he had no better choice. He could not just sit on a system that could add Points, save them up, and wait until Caterpie evolved before using them, could he?

Naturally, the sooner Points were used, the better. That would also let him understand the principles behind adding Points sooner. After thinking it over, Mark made his decision: enhance Caterpie's Tackle, and do it immediately!

"Caterpie, I'm going to enhance your Tackle!"

Mark called out to Caterpie, which had climbed onto a Fruit Tree.

While he had been checking the Trainer System Panel, he and Caterpie had continued through the forest. Caterpie had now found the ripe Fruit Tree and climbed up it.

"Caterpie?"

Caterpie, having climbed to the treetop, turned around in confusion and looked down at Mark. It saw Mark smiling at it.

In Caterpie's memories, Mark often wore a broad smile.

But the Mark in its memories smiled like an idiot. The smile Mark wore now was not stupid at all. He looked very handsome.

Bzzz—

As Caterpie wondered why Mark suddenly looked so handsome, a strange buzzing roar exploded in its mind.

Caterpie lost focus and fell from the Fruit Tree. Mark rushed forward in a single stride and caught the falling Caterpie in his arms.

"Why did Caterpie pass out after I added the Point? Its body doesn't seem to have changed either..."

Mark muttered to himself as he quickly flipped through the system panel.

Then...

Bzzz—

The same buzzing roar Caterpie had heard sounded in Mark's mind. Soon, his body swayed, and he collapsed unconscious as well...

Blue sky, white clouds, grasslands, forest...

The exact same scenery. Mark did not know when he had awakened from his unconsciousness.

He walked through the forest with Caterpie and soon found a clearing from his memories.

At the center of the clearing stood a huge, dried, rotten tree stump.

Caterpie obediently followed beside him. It seemed to notice his gaze and waved its forelegs at him a few times, looking very energetic.

Mark nodded slightly. "Caterpie, today we'll practice Tackle!"

"Caterpie! Caterpie!"

Caterpie nodded very obediently.

Mark pinched his chin lightly. "Tackle, as the name suggests, is using all the strength in your body to ram into something and seriously injure your opponent. To be honest, I don't entirely understand the exact principles either.

"But I am, after all, a test-taking student from a small town. I've accumulated some knowledge, so I can try to analyze it.

"I think that to increase Tackle's power, you need to gather the strength of your body into a whole, then concentrate that strength into a single point and use that point to attack your opponent.

"Also, when you Tackle, you need to give it your all, but you can't truly use all your strength. You need to leave some strength in reserve to react accordingly after the impact."

Caterpie raised its head and listened intently to Mark's words. It looked somewhat confused, as if it did not understand much of it.

Mark said, "All right, don't worry too much if you can't figure it out. No matter how much you think about it, it's better to practice it yourself. I'll demonstrate first, then you can imitate my movements once."

Bang!

Bang!

Mark and Caterpie rammed into the stump one after the other.

Mark murmured softly, "My demonstration just now wasn't quite right. It seems we'll have to slowly figure out this Tackle together..."

"Caterpie! Caterpie!"

Mark smiled. "Then let's keep going!"

The man and the Caterpie repeatedly rammed into the stump.

From sunrise to sunset, the man and Caterpie finally lay exhausted on the clearing beside the stump...

"Caterpie, we'll continue tomorrow!"

"Caterpie!"

The moon set, the sun rose, and another day arrived.

Mark and Caterpie continued practicing Tackle by repeatedly striking the stump.

One day...

Then another day...

One day, a torrential downpour arrived, but neither the man nor the Caterpie missed a session. They continued ramming into the stump amid the heavy rain.

Before they knew it, the weather turned colder. The forest's trees began to wither, and golden leaves drifted down without end.

The weather continued to grow colder. Fine snow fell from the sky, but the man and Caterpie still did not stop.

As Caterpie's Tackle grew more and more proficient, Mark no longer demonstrated it. He simply accompanied Caterpie in its practice and gave it guidance from the side.

Then spring came, and all things revived.

Summer arrived. The rainstorms that summer were unusually frequent.

Autumn quietly arrived once more.

The seasons turned, and time passed.

The scenery around them constantly changed. The only things that remained unchanged were Mark and Caterpie, endlessly practicing Tackle.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Rhythmic impacts rang out continuously.

In the clearing, Mark still wore the same thoughtful expression. He lightly pinched his chin as he analyzed the shortcomings in Caterpie's recent Tackles.

By all rights, Caterpie should have continued striking the stump without pause, but it suddenly froze and stopped.

"Caterpie! Caterpie!"

Caterpie jumped about excitedly, as though it had discovered something. It looked incredibly thrilled.

Mark turned to look at Caterpie just as Caterpie charged at the stump once more!

Caterpie gathered the strength of its entire body into a single whole, then focused that unified strength into one point. A strange warm current surged from every muscle and through its blood...

Boom!!

This was a completely different Tackle. Like a vicious cannonball, Caterpie slammed fiercely into the stump. Countless splinters of dead wood scattered through the air as dust billowed outward...

The dense cloud of wood dust obscured Mark's vision. He tried hard to see Caterpie, which had completed that Tackle, but his mind began to grow hazy. A dizzy sensation came over him, and his vision became increasingly blurred.

Then Mark woke up.

Not only Mark, but Caterpie, which he held in his arms, woke up as well.

Mark's mouth hung half-open. The memories of practicing Tackle felt like a dream, yet they were unusually clear—clearer even than Mark's own memories. He clearly remembered the time that had passed in those memories, and even the exact number of Tackles he and Caterpie had performed.

He and Caterpie had practiced together for three years, five months, and twenty-seven days, performing a total of 1,149,620 Tackles!

Caterpie wriggled out of Mark's arms.

Those memories of over three years of Tackling were not remembered by Mark alone. Caterpie remembered them clearly as well.

However, unlike Mark, Caterpie was clearly unable to make sense of the situation.

Hadn't it just been climbing a tree to pick fruit?

Why did it suddenly have memories of practicing Tackle with its master for such a long, long time?

Had it been a dream?

But what was that faint warm current emerging within its body?

Caterpie tilted its head. It stared blankly at the Fruit Tree ahead, then rubbed its head with its forelegs, but it still could not make sense of the situation.

Forget it. It would just give it a try.

Caterpie took a few steps back, then began gathering strength. Recalling the key points of Tackle, it gathered the strength of its body into a whole, then focused that unified power into one point on its body. That warm current appeared again at that moment...

Whoosh—

Like an emerald-green cannonball, Caterpie shot forward and viciously Tackled the Fruit Tree ahead!

Boom!!

With a violent crash, the unknown Fruit Tree, as thick as a bucket, snapped in two!

Caterpie stood beside the broken tree and rubbed its head with its Feet. Perhaps due to the recoil from the Tackle, its head felt a little dizzy. Other than that, it still could not make sense of the situation. Its mind felt like a complete mess...