Mark and Caterpie's Decision!

Beside Mark, Caterpie stared unblinkingly at the Butterfree dancing gracefully through the air, its expression utterly entranced.

This was a longing rooted in its blood and genes.

The more beautiful the Butterfree, the stronger its attraction to Caterpie.

Caterpie imagined itself evolving into Kakuna, then emerging from its cocoon as a Butterfree.

Until Mark spoke.

Caterpie snapped out of it. It first looked at Mark, then at the Butterfree on the battlefield again, disbelief appearing on its face.

This was the Caterpie Leader?

That ugly Caterpie Leader that had studied with it every night these past few days?

Why was it so beautiful?

Would it become this beautiful someday too?

As it pondered, the battlefield changed. The dancing butterfly scattered Shield Dust that gleamed with crystalline light. As the powder fell, several Ekans and Arbok shuddered repeatedly, their movements slowing as though they had been paralyzed.

Butterfree had used Stun Spore.

Then, a storm and a piercing shriek descended at once.

Butterfree's head emitted a sharp buzzing sound. Some Ekans seemed affected by it and began violently attacking everything around them. It was the move Supersonic, which had thrown some of the Ekans into confusion.

At the same time, Butterfree's wings whipped up a fierce gale. It used Gust, further scattering the already chaotic Ekans group.

It appeared that Butterfree was suppressing the Ekans group all by itself, but the situation soon changed abruptly. The dancing Butterfree suddenly stopped in midair.

More accurately, it had been frozen in midair.

The massive Arbok Leader raised its body. The savage, terrifying markings on its belly flashed violently as it used Arbok's signature move, Glare.

Reality was not a turn-based Pokemon game where one had to wait a turn after using a move.

Arbok pressed its advantage. A huge mass of sticky blackish-purple liquid sprayed from its mouth toward Butterfree. It was Sludge Bomb.

At the critical moment, a faint pink energy appeared and deflected the Sludge Bomb aimed at Butterfree. It was Telekinesis, used by Butterfree.

Unfortunately, Sludge Bomb's blast radius was simply too large. Although Butterfree did not take the explosion head-on, it was still caught in it. Its wings were damaged by the corrosive sludge, becoming even more tattered.

Fortunately, Butterfree quickly broke free from Glare. It then used Quiver Dance once more, dancing through the air at an even faster speed as the rainbow glow surrounding it grew brighter and brighter.

In Pokemon games, each use of Quiver Dance increased a Pokemon's Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed.

In some respects, Quiver Dance could be called the strongest move Bug-type Pokemon possessed.

As long as one could keep stacking Quiver Dance buffs, even the strongest opponent could be one-shot.

Of course, the real world was not a game. It could not possibly be exactly the same as a turn-based game.

Still, there was no questioning Quiver Dance's power. It remained an incredibly powerful strategy for continuously stacking buffs.

But...

Mark watched the battlefield with a grave expression. Aside from its damaged wings, Butterfree looked utterly exhausted, and its mental state was poor as well. He seriously doubted whether its Quiver Dance buffs could continue stacking, whether it might suddenly be unable to hold on any longer, like a brilliant firework, fall from the battlefield, and be torn to pieces by those Arbok and Ekans.

People were not made of stone. Over the past dozen or so days, Mark had developed some feelings for the Caterpie Leader.

He did not want to watch the Caterpie Leader die like this.

Then, just as Mark was considering taking advantage of the chaos to save the Caterpie Leader that had evolved into Butterfree, a voice abruptly appeared in his mind.

"You came."

It was not only Mark. The Caterpie beside him also heard the voice in its mind.

Mark realized something and looked at Butterfree on the battlefield before responding to the voice in his mind. "Is this Telekinesis?"

"Yes, Trainer. Thank you for training my mind through mathematics these past few days. Otherwise, I would not have been able to grasp this power so quickly after evolving.

"It is just a pity. If I had met you sooner, this power would have become even stronger.

"Trainer, may I make a request?

"Can you and your Caterpie partner take these children away from here?

"I may not be able to hold on much longer. These children are far too panicked. Without someone to lead them, they will not get very far.

"I will do my best to hold back these Ekans and Arbok here. Take them somewhere safe, make them forget about this territory, and do not let them run back here in a daze."

Butterfree's voice, transmitted through Telekinesis, was very pleasant—an ethereal, melodious female voice. Yet the contents of her words were very heavy.

"Alright. I'll do my best."

Mark took a deep breath, nodded gently, and agreed to Butterfree's request for him to help the Caterpie Group evacuate.

Though he wanted Butterfree to escape more than anything, he respected her decision.

Moreover, this was the best solution to the current situation: trading her own sacrifice for a chance for tens of thousands of Caterpie to survive.

As for him and Caterpie facing these Arbok and Ekans head-on, Mark was not that arrogant.

Although it had seemed reckless when he led Caterpie and the Caterpie Group through Combat Training before, that was based on the Caterpie Group not being particularly threatening.

Most Caterpie only knew Tackle and String Shot, and they moved slowly. Even if his Caterpie fell during Combat Training, Mark was confident he could get it out safely.

But against this vicious Ekans group, even if Caterpie could carve through the Caterpie Group with ease, he had no confidence.

If it got frozen by the Arbok Leader's Glare, it could easily be taken out in one combo.

He truly was not certain he could save an injured, unconscious Caterpie from the snake group.

With that in mind, Mark planned to follow Butterfree's request and lead away the panicked Caterpie on the other side of the battlefield.

This attack by Arbok was only meant to expand its territory, so once they put enough distance between them, the Ekans would stop pursuing them.

However, just as Mark was about to move.

Another voice appeared in his mind. It came from Caterpie.

"Why should we give our territory to these Ekans? This territory belongs to the Caterpie!"

Caterpie's voice was like that of a young child. It seemed Butterfree's Telekinesis had linked the thoughts of all three of them, allowing them to communicate like this.

"Because we cannot deal with these Ekans. Stop standing there and come with me to lead those Caterpie away. You do not want to watch all the Caterpie here die, do you?"

Mark tapped Caterpie on the head.

He had thought Caterpie would obediently follow behind him and circle around the side of the battlefield to reach the Caterpie Group. Instead, Caterpie remained where it was, staring fixedly at the Arbok Leader and the Ekans group, its eyes filled with fighting spirit.

There was not much anger in Caterpie's gaze. Its eyes were clear, faintly revealing a desire for training and becoming stronger.

"Master, I remember you once said that we should not shrink back because an opponent is powerful. I think I can try to drive them away, and I can train myself through this Ekans group too..."

Caterpie's voice appeared in his mind once again.

His Caterpie had always been like this. Sometimes it was timid, yet at other times it was astonishingly bold.

Mark looked at the Butterfree struggling to hold on in the battlefield, then at Caterpie, brimming with fighting spirit. Finally, he opened the Trainer Panel and looked at his Robust Health and Poison Resistance talents.

Mark took a deep breath, scanned his surroundings, and picked up a fairly handy wooden stick.

Mark looked at Caterpie. "Alright, I agree to your training request. But before you begin, I need to test whether we can retreat safely.

"I'm going to test it in the center of the battlefield. If I ask you for help, or if you see me lose consciousness, immediately use Tackle—Instant Strike—repeatedly to take me somewhere relatively safe. Give me some Wiki Berries, then follow Butterfree's request and help those Caterpie escape as quickly as possible.

"Other than that, no matter what happens, wait here for me. If I can return safely, I will allow you to train against these Arbok and Ekans."

As he spoke, Mark gripped the stick and charged toward the Arbok Leader, leaving Caterpie behind with a helpless expression.

Caterpie had just been filled with fighting spirit, looking as though it feared neither heaven nor earth. Yet when it saw Mark rush into the battlefield, it instantly lost its nerve, its eyes filled with regret.

Unfortunately, Mark had already charged in. No matter how much it regretted it now, it was useless.

"Do not cover for me. I'm only testing my body's limits."

He transmitted the message to Butterfree through his thoughts.

Mark accelerated further with the stick in hand.

To be safe, he had to test whether he could rescue Caterpie and retreat safely if Caterpie was seriously injured.

So, Mark decided to take some attacks and test what his body could withstand, so he would know what to expect.

As he thought, Mark ran and leaped repeatedly into the center of the battlefield. Seeing that the Ekans did not seem to notice him, he swiftly rushed behind the Arbok Leader and brought the stick down on its tail.

The Arbok Leader let out a pained hiss and instantly turned to hit Mark with Glare.

Perhaps because his body was not that of a Pokemon, or perhaps because his will was strong, Mark found that he had not been frozen as completely as he had imagined. Goosebumps rose all over his body, making him feel sluggish and unresponsive, but it was not too severe.

Then Arbok's bloody maw bit toward him.

With his physical capabilities, he could have barely dodged it. But in the interest of testing, Mark did not evade completely. He let it Bite his arm, then jabbed his wooden stick into the Arbok Leader's mouth and quickly pulled out his arm before escaping the battlefield.

The Arbok Leader furiously pursued him for nearly thirty meters before finally giving up. Mark also let out a breath of relief.

Through the test, Mark found that the nearby Ekans group was neither very fast nor agile. In some ways, their reactions were even slower than those of the Caterpie Group.

They darted forward quickly when attacking, but their attacks had obvious windups and were easy to predict.

The Ekans Leader was fairly fast, but it likely could not catch him in a long-distance pursuit.

As for the venom injected by the Arbok Leader's Bite, it was not much of a threat under his Poison Resistance talent. It merely caused some stinging pain and numbness.

In other words, if Caterpie was seriously injured, he would most likely be able to escape with it.

By the time he finished thinking, Mark had returned to where Caterpie was.

Time was of the essence, so Mark did not waste words.

He first punched Caterpie on the head, where it wore an expression of worry and remorse, then took the Pokeball from his pocket and pressed it against Caterpie's head.

With a flash of red light, Caterpie entered the Pokeball.

The Pokeball shook slightly twice, then became still.

Mark pressed the button and released Caterpie from the Pokeball. It looked blankly at the Pokeball in Mark's hand, unable to understand why he had suddenly used it on it when it normally could not be used for another two days.

"There is already a Heart-to-Heart bond between us. The Pokeball does not actually have much effect through the Life Magnetic Field, so I used it on you directly.

"As for the test I just performed, that was the worst-case scenario.

"From now on, I'll stay near the edge of the battlefield. If I see that you cannot fight anymore, I'll put you back in the Pokeball and quickly flee the battlefield. Unless the Pokeball cannot retrieve you, or you are too far away, I will not get too close to the battlefield.

"So next, you can undergo Combat Training with these Arbok and Ekans!"

Mark patted Caterpie as he spoke, then sent a message to the Butterfree still struggling to hold on in the battlefield.

From here on, he and Caterpie would bring up the rear. The evacuation of the Caterpie Group would depend on Butterfree herself...

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