"Exeggutor!"
The eyes on Exeggutor's three heads flared a brilliant blue. An invisible wave of psychic energy burst outward, slamming into Scyther and locking its limbs in place.
"Scyther?!"
Scyther's eyes widened in panic. There were no wild Psychic-type Pokémon in Viridian Forest. This was the first time in its life it had ever experienced Confusion. It had no idea what was happening or why its body suddenly refused to obey its commands.
"Smash it," Gary ordered calmly.
Exeggutor didn't hesitate. Using Confusion, it hoisted the paralyzed Scyther into the air and slammed it brutally into the forest floor.
Bang!
It lifted the Bug-type again.
Bang!
And again.
Bang!
Combined with the continuous energy drain from Leech Seed, three consecutive telekinetic impacts were more than enough. Scyther hit the dirt for the final time and stayed down, utterly exhausted.
Standing a safe distance away, Samurai felt his scalp prickle.
He realized now that Gary hadn't used even a fraction of his actual strength during their battle. If Exeggutor had fought Pinsir… Samurai swallowed hard.
"Why is every Trainer from Pallet Town more terrifying than the last…?" Samurai murmured, genuinely traumatized.
Losing to Orange and Yellow had stung, but it hadn't been a crushing defeat. They had felt like peers.
But the boy standing in front of him now? Gary was in an entirely different league.
"Scyth…"
Despite the beating, Scyther hadn't entirely lost consciousness. It lay on the ground, chest heaving, mandibles twitching as it tried to force itself back up.
"Good perseverance," Gary noted with approval. "Come in."
He didn't need to completely knock the Pokémon out. Weakening it to this extent and breaking its momentum was more than enough for a successful capture.
Whoosh!
Gary threw the Poké Ball. It struck Scyther cleanly on the head, bursting open and drawing the weakened Bug-type inside in a flash of red light.
The Poké Ball dropped to the forest floor.
It rocked once. Twice. Three times.
Click.
The light faded.
"Wow… so strong," Samurai stuttered, still staring at the Poké Ball.
Scyther had always been his dream Pokémon. He had spent weeks watching it from afar, knowing he wasn't strong enough to catch it himself. And yet Gary had barely lifted a finger to take it down. In Samurai's eyes, Gary was unquestionably the strongest rookie Trainer he had ever seen.
Gary walked forward, picked up the Poké Ball, and activated the Eye of Insight.
[Pokémon: Scyther ♂]
[Type: Bug / Flying]
[Level: 15]
[Potential: Gym-tier]
[Ability: Technician (Increases the power of moves with a base power of 60 or less by 50%.)]
[Moves: Leer, Quick Attack, Fury Cutter, False Swipe, Wing Attack]
[Friendship: 115 (maximum 255)]
Technician.
Gary nodded, thoroughly satisfied. This was exactly the ability he wanted.
If Scyther had possessed Swarm instead, Gary would have had to figure out how to obtain an Ability Capsule. And in this timeline, Ability Capsules were exceptionally rare—nearing the status of experimental technology. Tracking one down would have been a massive headache.
Technician meant this Scyther was already perfectly optimized for its eventual evolution into Scizor.
Gary pocketed the Poké Ball and turned back to Samurai.
"Here. Your payment."
He pulled a stack of crisp banknotes from his wallet and handed them over.
"Oh… thank you!" Samurai said, accepting the money with wide eyes.
Twenty thousand Poké Dollar. He had never held this much money at once. He immediately began counting it, his hands shaking slightly.
"By the way," Samurai said, looking up halfway through his counting. "I never asked for your name."
"Gary."
He saw no reason to hide it. Samurai would inevitably run into Ash soon. If he mentioned this encounter, it would only serve to motivate Ash further. And considering the pace Gary was currently setting, Ash was going to need all the motivation he could get if he wanted to even stand a chance at the Indigo Plateau Conference.
Gary left Scyther's territory shortly after, saying goodbye to Samurai and returning to the main path.
Viridian Forest was massive. In the original timeline, it had taken Ash nearly two weeks to navigate through it and reach Pewter City.
Even with a high-end bicycle and a clear sense of direction, Gary estimated it would take him at least three or four days to cross the expanse.
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows through the canopy, Gary found a small clearing just off the main road. He set up a simple camp, started a small fire, and prepared dinner for his team.
He released all four of his Pokémon.
"Here. Eat up."
Gary distributed the food evenly. He didn't skimp on quality—he had purchased premium energy blocks tailored specifically to each Pokémon's typing.
For Caterpie and Scyther, this was a revelation.
As wild Pokémon, they had spent their lives foraging for whatever berries or leaves they could find. They had never tasted nutrient-dense, scientifically formulated Pokémon food, let alone premium energy blocks.
After just a few bites, both Bug-types looked at Gary with newfound reverence.
If this was what life as a captured Pokémon was like—free food, safe shelter, and a strong leader—they were entirely on board. Pokémon were highly intelligent. They could distinguish between a good situation and a bad one. As long as a Trainer proved their competence, most wild Pokémon were more than willing to follow them.
"Eat well and get plenty of rest," Gary told them as they finished. "Starting tomorrow, the real training begins."
Before, when he only had Squirtle, training had been simple.
But now he had a full team of four, and he needed to prepare them for the Pewter City Gym. Brock specialized in Rock-types. Squirtle would naturally take the lead there, but the entire team needed to level up.
Gary had already structured a training regimen in his head.
Squirtle and Scyther would spar against each other. Squirtle would practice firing rapid Water Guns, and Scyther would use its scythes to deflect or dodge them. This would train Squirtle's firing rate and Scyther's reaction speed simultaneously.
Exeggutor and Caterpie would pair up. Exeggutor's primary task was simple: absorb sunlight. Exeggutor could grow up to six heads in total, and with each new head, its psychic power multiplied. A three-headed Exeggutor was far from its final form. While sunbathing, Exeggutor would periodically use Hypnosis on Caterpie to practice its telepathic control.
As for Caterpie itself—it didn't need physical training yet. It just needed to sleep and process energy.
Gary's Caterpie was already Level 9. By normal biological standards, it should have evolved into Metapod days ago.
The reason it hadn't was entirely due to its Shiny coloration.
A bright golden Caterpie was basically a glowing neon sign for predators like Pidgeotto and Spearow. Because of this, Caterpie had been forced to live in constant fear, hiding more often than it foraged. As a result, it simply hadn't accumulated enough nutritional energy to sustain a metamorphosis.
Once a Caterpie evolved into a Metapod, it stopped eating entirely. It survived solely on the energy it had stored during its larval stage until it finally emerged as a Butterfree.
If a Caterpie evolved without enough stored energy, the metamorphosis would fail, and the Metapod would die inside its shell.