Astonishing Caterpie

"Poliwag, get ready. If the capture fails, rush in with Chain Slap..."

"Yo," Poliwag nodded gently, staring intently at the Poké Ball flickering red and swaying on the grass.

Bang--

The moment the Poké Ball opened, Poliwag charged forward, raising its tail and slapping the bewildered Caterpie.

Slap, slap, slap, slap--

Before Caterpie could even react, Poliwag's rapid slaps knocked it unconscious.

Yu Hai picked up the failed Poké Ball and threw another one at the unconscious Caterpie.

The previous capture failure was likely because Caterpie wasn't unconscious.

He didn't believe he'd fail again this time.

Amazing jumping ability, incredible HP, able to resist Poliwag's Hypnosis, and even break free from a Poké Ball's restraint.

This Caterpie truly was full of surprises. Four shocking moments all involving one Caterpie, making him wonder what kind of Caterpie it would turn out to be.

The Poké Ball's red light flickered, and after a few shakes, it finally calmed down with a "thud."

This "thud" also signaled to Yu Hai that the capture of Caterpie was successful.

He quickly stepped forward, picked up the Poké Ball from the ground, and opened Caterpie's proficiency panel.

[Caterpie]
[Type: Bug]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 58%]
[Level: 4.14%]
[Ability: Scale Powder/0.71%] [Hidden Ability: Run Away/2.23%]
[Learned Moves: (Psychic/0.54%) (Body Slam/0.61%) (String Shot/3.25%)]

"Holy crap, five, fifty, eight potential, and Psychic too, this, this, this..."

After reading Caterpie's proficiency panel, Yu Hai was utterly stunned.

While this Caterpie's proficiency panel wasn't exactly luxurious, its 58% potential still shocked him.

This was the highest potential Pokémon he had encountered so far, and having Psychic as an Egg Move was simply incredible.

Psychic was a basic move among Psychic-type attacks. As long as one knew Psychic, learning other Psychic-type moves would be much easier.

The reason Caterpie could jump so far was likely due to Psychic's enhancement. Its resistance to Hypnosis was also much higher than other Caterpies, also due to Psychic.

Its thick HP and ability to break free from the Poké Ball's restraint were also astonishing behaviors, all attributed to Psychic.

Although this Caterpie hadn't reached his desired potential of over sixty, it was very close.

Just after exclaiming, and after the shock subsided, Yu Hai calmed down. He tightly gripped the Poké Ball and looked around, finding nothing suspicious, before he secretly let out a sigh of relief.

His cautious demeanor wasn't because he feared being discovered for having a Caterpie with Psychic, but rather to check if this Caterpie had a Butterfree parent.

How could such an incredible Caterpie appear alone? He couldn't be blamed for being overly suspicious. Think about how a mother dog reacts when her puppies are approached, and you'll understand what true protectiveness is.

Unfamiliar Two-legged Beasts cannot touch the cubs, not even get close, or they'll be bitten by the dog. He had been bitten before.

Yu Hai looked left and right for a long time, and finding no Butterfree attempting to ambush him, he finally felt truly relieved.

There were now two possibilities: either Caterpie was playful and ran off to play by itself.

Or, Caterpie had no parents and was alone from the moment it hatched.

Compared to the first scenario, he hoped for the second.

Why? If this Caterpie had a Butterfree parent, it would undoubtedly be an Elite Four-level Butterfree.

Without a parent of at least level sixty, it would be impossible to produce a Caterpie with fifty-eight potential.

Based on his previous deductions, reaching eighty was Champion level, so Elite Four should be around sixty.

In that case, there would be many cheap Elite Four trainers. Top-tier Elite Four trainers, those who could touch the threshold of Champion, he only knew of a few in his past life, and true Champions were even rarer.

Looking down at the Poké Ball in his hand, if cultivated properly, this Caterpie could lead him to the throne of an Elite Four. It would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted.

But he had just set a rule for himself and immediately broken it, feeling like he was deceiving himself, his heart uneasy, and completely uncomfortable.

He might be pointed at and called shameless.

Before, when he couldn't have something and drooled over it, he only thought of Pseudo-Legendaries and Starters. Now that he had his little sweet Caterpie, he didn't want the Starters anymore. He was truly a scumbag.

Cough, well, he needed to think carefully. There was no rush to make a decision now. He still needed to continue improving the shelter.

"Yo yo?" Poliwag saw Yu Hai fluctuate between excitement, vigilance, happiness, wiping sweat, and guilt. It truly couldn't understand; humans were so complicated.

"Alright, Poliwag, I still have things to do. Go take a bath yourself..."

Yu Hai, acting like a thief with a guilty conscience, shrunk the Poké Ball and casually put it in his pocket before returning to the tree hollow. He picked up the broken piece of wood that had been knocked off by Water Gun earlier.

He would reattach these fragments from the top of the tree hollow to disguise the fallen tree trunk, restoring the irregular break when the trunk collapsed.

First, he continued by climbing the ladder and using the flat pan to hammer in the nails. Once all the tree trunk fragments were secured, the initial camouflage was complete.

Then, he returned to the campfire and brought embers into the tree hollow, letting the small fire dry out the damp walls and ground.

After finishing all this, he needed to further camouflage the tree trunk. This involved finding some woody climbing plants, similar to ivy, nearby.

He transplanted the plant roots to the corners of the tree trunk walls. Once these plants grew and covered the entire trunk, it would be truly perfect camouflage.

To make the camouflage even more flawless, he decided not to touch the giant fallen tree trunk on the beach. He would just let the leaves on the trunk wither naturally.

If there was just a tree trunk base here, without the fallen trunk and crown, anyone could tell something was wrong.

Even if he didn't think of it that way, being cautious was a good thing.

To move into his new home as soon as possible, he used an empty bucket to fetch sea sand from the beach, leveling the uneven ground inside the tree hollow.

He didn't lay it on too thick; that would be too much effort. Just a simple layer of dry sea sand would suffice to prevent moisture.

He also used his folding knife to shave down some of the protruding tree roots that were too high.

After leveling the ground with sea sand, Yu Hai left the tree hollow. Seeing the sun setting over the sea, he called to his Poliwag to catch tonight's dinner.

"Poliwag, go catch dinner..."

He wasn't planning to eat the Caterpie inside the Poké Ball. Although it hadn't met the capture standard he'd set, the significance of capturing it outweighed eating it.

"Yoyo?" Poliwag, flipping its belly in the water bucket, looked confused.

Didn't he just catch a Caterpie before? Why catch another one?

"Hurry up and follow," Yu Hai urged when Poliwag was slow to respond. He had no idea what Poliwag was confused about...

I heard that whether or not you're recommended for promotion depends on yesterday's readership. I want readership... Thank you to reader 2021020920375215732960 for five hundred book coins [Uh, this book friend, aren't you considering changing your name?]. Thank you to Rui Hu Yi for one hundred book coins, and thank you all for your many votes... I want readership, I want readership, readership is really important. If I get promoted through this trial, I'll owe you all two extra chapters. When it's officially on shelves, I'll