Chapter Twelve: Earnest Amu

The outskirts of the forest near Maple Leaf Town...

"Garlic! Use Mud Bomb!"

Under Amu's command, Bulbasaur stomped its front paw. The sepals on its back glimmered with a dark purple light, and then toxic energy gathered into a viscous cloud.

"Bulba!" With Bulbasaur’s roar, the poison energy formed a cloud of “mud mist” which sprayed from its bud, surging toward the nearby Butterfree.

At that moment, dark green bug-type energy formed a pair of sharp jaws around Butterfree's mouth. It was about to bite Bulbasaur, but after getting plastered by Mud Bomb, it was knocked to the ground, let out two faint cries, and passed out.

"Oh! Butterfree..." The young trainer beside them exclaimed.

Misty announced, "Butterfree is unable to battle. Amu wins."

Before the young trainer could recall Butterfree, Amu handed him a bottle of spray. "You can use this to treat it first."

"This is... thank you, big brother!" The young trainer was quite polite, then ran off, shouting, "Big brother, your Bulbasaur is amazing! I’ll head back to town first..."

Judging by his age, he was likely a child from a nearby village, probably under sixteen, not an official trainer. After applying medicine to Butterfree, he picked it up and hurried toward Maple Leaf Town, likely intending to visit the Pokémon Center.

"Wait..." Amu wanted to ask him something, but didn’t get the chance.

"This is the third one today, isn’t it? Another bug-type, as expected. Looks like we’re almost at Maple Leaf Town," Misty said.

Around the small towns, there were often youngsters below trainer age practicing with Pokémon, mostly “Bug Catchers.”

Sometimes, they’d challenge passing trainers, and for beginners—especially grass-type beginners—it could be quite a challenge. Despite being just little kids, bug-types evolve quickly and counter grass-types, so novice trainers easily embarrass themselves against Bug Catchers.

But with Bulbasaur, things were different. While its grass-type was countered by bugs, its poison-type gave it extra resistance, essentially balancing things out.

...

Counting from the day he left Pallet Town, Amu had been traveling for seven days. He met Misty two nights ago, and now they were approaching Maple Leaf Town.

Over these days, Amu had fully explored all the inherited moves of both Exeggcute and Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur had grown to around level 10—two days ago, it awakened Leech Seed at level 9, but hadn’t yet learned Razor Leaf at level 12.

In the beginning, Pokémon trained rapidly, slowing down around level 20. After that, real training was tested.

Generally, wild Pokémon captured by trainers were often in their teens for levels.

But starters, cultivated by the League and given to new trainers, were just past infancy when received, so their levels were low and ideal for training and bonding.

"Wait for me a moment. We’ll definitely reach Maple Leaf Town today, but I want to record the battle first..." Amu said, feeding Bulbasaur a previously prepared Pokéblock to restore its energy, while jotting down notes in his diary.

"You’re quite diligent... Your opponent was just a kid!" Misty teased, though a little impressed.

When Amu cared about something, he could focus deeply—like his previous studies in pharmacology, his current trainer skills, or the time before crossing over when he practiced stone-skipping until he mastered seventeen consecutive skips after losing a contest...

[League Year 200, March 18 (continued).

Today, near Maple Leaf Town, I met the third Bug Catcher.

Sure enough, those who haven’t started their journey favor bug-types!

This time, Garlic’s opponent was a Butterfree, estimated at level 12, the highest among recent battles.

Judging from the thickness of its antennae and wing patterns, its individual value is low, so its battle power is about 4600–4700.

Bulbasaur, at level 10, has theoretical battle power of 3500, but it knows several strong attack moves and has been specially trained in unconventional combat, so its actual capability can’t be measured just by “battle power.”

Although Butterfree had a type advantage, Garlic managed to withstand a Gust, and when Butterfree was preparing to use Bug Bite, finished it off with a poison-type Mud Bomb.]

Amu recorded the battle process and briefly analyzed his victory.

"But Garlic is really impressive. Even though the opponent was a kid, Butterfree is a dual bug and flying-type Pokémon; flying-types should counter Bulbasaur. And that Butterfree, by League standards, should have much higher battle power than Garlic, right?" Misty said, reaching over to pat Garlic’s head.

"Yes, but it’s not as big a gap as you think. Plus, that Butterfree’s flying-type moves that counter Bulbasaur seem limited to just Gust, which isn’t very powerful and has scattered offensive potential," Amu pointed out objectively.

Garlic not only had high individual values, but Amu had also gradually trained up its growth values—even if not much yet, there was a 1–2% increase.

"And Garlic inherited so many moves..." Misty hadn’t realized Amu’s advantage in inherited skills.

Indeed, Mud Bomb had just played a key role. Otherwise, if Bulbasaur relied only on natural growth, it wouldn’t have any effective moves against Butterfree.

Butterfree’s flying and bug-types both gave it extra resistance to grass-type, so grass moves could barely harm it.

Of course, in this world, type advantages only applied to energy interactions; any “physical impact” from moves was treated as normal-type power.

...

Amu closed his diary and sighed. "Honestly, it’s not that special. The biggest reason is that the opponent was just a child, not a real trainer... We still have plenty of room to improve." He encouraged Garlic as well.

Exactly. With all factors combined, this reversal of type and battle power was merely “possible,” nothing more.

The decisive moment came when Bulbasaur held out against a Gust, and Butterfree, getting anxious, tried to finish the fight with Bug Bite.

But for Butterfree, Bug Bite wasn’t so easy to use.

This world is real, not a game—selecting a move and rolling for accuracy or evasion doesn’t decide the outcome...

There’s the “dodge quickly” trick, ranged attacks require considering “beam clash” and cancellation, melee attacks depend on whether you can get close!

Bug Bite is a close-range move, but Butterfree’s small body... As it tried to approach, Bulbasaur’s patiently prepared Mud Bomb took it out.

After several battles with Bug Catchers, Amu increasingly understood the importance of timing when using moves. As a trainer, knowing how to mentally calculate your Pokémon’s move preparation time is basic—even though faster isn’t always better...

Amu reflected on his progress. While his record looked good—a reverse-type win over a Butterfree with 30% higher battle power—if such a feat happened in elite or even tournament-level battles, it would be a classic match. Yet, Amu didn’t think it was especially noteworthy.

He credited his training of Bulbasaur to two points: fully developing all inherited moves, and precisely training Bulbasaur’s flexible battle techniques during moments of inspiration.

Then Amu gathered his team and Garlic for a tactical review, before heading toward Maple Leaf Town with Misty.

Maple Leaf Town was much larger than Pallet Town, and since it bordered Red Leaf Mountain, it had a modest tourism industry.

Amu wasn’t here for sightseeing. After days in sleeping bags and tents, he wanted to rest and replenish supplies. Also... “Leaf Stones” were occasionally produced here!

"I hope there’s a Leaf Stone for sale in town..." Amu wished aloud.

"Huh? Leaf Stones aren’t cheap! We’d be better off trying our luck at Red Leaf Mountain," Misty said, eyeing Amu’s gear—it didn’t look like he had much money.

"I don’t have money now, but if there’s a Leaf Stone, I could work here for half a month... If you need to hurry to Viridian City, you don’t have to wait for me."

Misty: ???

Half a month? Do you have a misunderstanding about the price of a Leaf Stone?