"Poliwag, be prepared. If you fail to subdue them, rush forward and attack them with a series of slaps..."
"Yo," the Poliwag nodded slightly, staring at the Pokeball that was flashing red and swaying on the grass.
Bang——
The moment the Pokeball was opened, the Poliwag rushed forward, raised its tail, and smacked the Caterpie, who looked confused.
Bang bang bang, bang bang bang——
Before the Caterpie could react, the Poliwag stunned it with a slap.
Ryan picked up the Pokeball that failed to capture it and threw it at the unconscious Caterpie again.
The previous failure to capture it was probably because the Caterpie wasn't fully knocked out.
He didn't believe he would fail this time.
Amazing jumping ability, astonishing durability, resistance to the hypnosis from Poliwags, and the ability to break from the Pokeball.
This Caterpie was truly remarkable. All these surprises in just one Caterpie! Ryan eagerly wondered what kind of Caterpie this would become.
The Pokeball flashed red, shook a few times, and with a "dong," it calmed down.
This sound reminded Ryan that the Caterpie was successfully captured.
He hurried forward, reached out to pick up the Pokeball from the ground, and opened the Caterpie's proficiency panel.
[Caterpie]
[Type: Bug]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 58%]
[Level: 4.14%]
[Traits: Shed Skin/0.71%] [Hidden Trait: Run Away/2.23%]
[Move Mastery: (Confusion/0.54%) (Tackle/0.61%) (String Shot/3.25%)]
"Wow, fifty-eight percent potential and Confusion! This...this..."
After seeing the Caterpie's proficiency panel, Ryan was stunned.
The proficiency panel wasn't particularly luxurious, but the fifty-eight percent potential was still astonishing to him.
This was the Pokémon with the highest potential he had ever encountered, and the fact that it inherited the move Confusion was simply incredible.
Confusion is one of the basic Psychic-type moves. Knowing Confusion makes it much easier to learn other Psychic-type moves.
The reason the Caterpie could jump so far was clear now: it was due to the influence of Confusion. Its resistance to hypnosis was also enhanced because of this move.
The thick health bar, breaking from the Pokeball—all these extraordinary feats were because of Confusion.
Though the Caterpie didn't reach the sixty percent potential he was aiming for, it was very close.
After swearing in disbelief, Ryan calmed himself. He tightly held the Pokeball, looked around cautiously, and after not noticing anything unusual, breathed a sigh of relief.
His caution wasn't because he was worried about being discovered, but because he wondered if this Caterpie had a parent who was a Butterfree.
How could such an exceptional Caterpie be alone? Ryan's suspicion was understandable. It was like how fiercely a mother dog would protect her puppies.
He had been bitten before for just getting too close to puppies, so he was on high alert for any sign of Butterfree nearby.
After searching the area for a while and not seeing any sign of a Butterfree, Ryan finally relaxed.
There were two possible scenarios. First, the Caterpie could have been playing and wandered off on its own.
Second, the Caterpie had no parents and was a lone hatchling.
Between these two, Ryan preferred the second situation.
If this Caterpie had a Butterfree parent, it would likely be a Butterfree of an exceptionally high level.
Without a level sixty parent, it would have been impossible for this Caterpie to have such high potential.
Based on his previous calculations, if a Pokémon reached level eighty, it would be a champion, and reaching level sixty meant it was already an Elite-tier.
That would mean that there were several powerful trainers capable of producing Pokémon with such potential, though in his past life, Ryan had only known a few, and even fewer who became true champions.
Ryan looked down at the Pokeball in his hand. If trained properly, this Caterpie could lead him to the throne of an Elite-tier trainer. To say he wasn't tempted would be a lie.
But the rule he had set for himself earlier—that he would only capture Pokémon with over sixty potential—was now wavering. He felt slightly uneasy, even a bit deceitful.
It felt like someone might call him shameless for drooling over the quasi-legendary or Starter Pokémon before, but now being content with capturing a Caterpie. He thought to himself, "What a hypocrite."
Still, he wasn't rushing to make any decisions yet. There was more work to be done on his shelter.
"Yo yo?" Poliwag looked at Ryan, puzzled by his many emotions—excitement, guilt, relief, and more. The complexity of human emotions was hard to understand for the Poliwag.
"Alright, Poliwag, I'm busy right now. Go take a bath by yourself..." Ryan, trying to shake off his guilt, shrank the Pokeball and put it into his pocket as if nothing had happened. He returned to the tree hole to fix the trunk damaged by the Water Gun attack.
He hammered the broken pieces back into place, securing the tree hole's structure.
Afterward, he lit a small fire inside to dry the walls and floor of the damp cave.
His next task was finding some vines to further camouflage the tree trunk, allowing the tree to grow and cover his shelter naturally.
Not wanting to move the large fallen trunk near the shore, he decided to leave it there and wait for its leaves to wither, making the camouflage more believable.
Careful as ever, Ryan smoothed the uneven ground inside the tree hole using sand from the beach and leveled out some exposed roots.
As he watched the sunset, he called out to the Poliwag to help catch their dinner.
"Time to get dinner, Poliwag..."
He wasn't planning to eat the Caterpie inside the Pokeball. Although it didn't meet his original standard, its significance was far greater than that of mere food.
"Yo yo?" The Poliwag, confused, tilted its head as if to ask, "Didn't we already catch a Caterpie? Why catch more?"
"Hurry up, let's go," Ryan urged, noticing the Poliwag's hesitation. He had no idea what was puzzling it...
After they finished their day's work and ate dinner together, Ryan laid back, staring at the Pokeball containing the Caterpie. He had made his decision.
He would keep this Caterpie as his second partner, despite its strong-willed nature. Training it wouldn't be easy, but he was determined to try.
Since there was no professional breeder around, Ryan knew he had to rely on himself to tame this Pokémon.
"Poliwag, get ready for bed. Let's test if our new home is comfortable tonight..." Ryan said as he set up their bedding in the tree house.
"Yo?"