Chapter 124:
Looking at the image of the Weedle on the screen, Ryō Fū's eyes flashed with nostalgia, and he couldn't help but smile. "This was my first battle with Weedle.
Interestingly, back then, we hadn't yet gotten used to each other, so our first battle ended in a crushing defeat."
Ryō Fū asked, "Is this what it wanted?"
Hayashi Kaede didn't say anything, simply nodding and motioning for him to continue watching.
On the screen, after defeating the first Caterpie, the Weedle's body began to rapidly expand, though it hadn't evolved yet.
A second opponent, a Bulbasaur, appeared before it.
The scene brought back long-lost memories for Ryō Fū, and his expression grew distant.
He recalled that time, due to a flawed capture method, the Weedle had disobeyed him for a long time.
In his youth, he was impatient, so he chose to battle the Weedle right then and there.
Ultimately, after withstanding a Poison Sting and being rushed to the hospital, he successfully won the Weedle's loyalty.
From then on, the coordination between Weedle and himself grew increasingly perfect, defeating every Trainer who stood in their way.
From wild Caterpie, to Rattata on the streets, to the Bulbasaur at school.
That Bulbasaur was the first formidable foe Weedle encountered.
Ryō Fū clearly remembered
its Chlorophyll ability.
Therefore, its Trainer would always choose a sunny day to challenge them.
Consequently, he and Weedle challenged each other many times, but to no avail.
However, it was during these challenges that Weedle experienced remarkable growth, eventually mastering the Bite technique and defeating the ever-elusive Bulbasaur.
Later, they seemed invincible until Weedle evolved into Beedrill, and they faced their first official match.
It was the Junior Cup, hosted by the League.
It was aimed at Trainers who had acquired their Pokémon within a year.
The prize was incredibly generous: a pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg and a million PokéDollars. Filled with youthful ambition, after defeating every opponent in school, he resolutely embarked on the path of competition, believing that, against him and Beedrill, all other Trainers in the world were no match.
As it turned out, at that time...
His vision couldn't sustain the path he and Beedrill continued on.
After overcoming numerous obstacles and reaching the top 32, he and Beedrill faced an incredibly powerful Charizard.
Ryō Fū found it unbelievable.
After only having a Pokémon for a year, he had already raised a Charmander into a Charizard!
Undoubtedly, under Charizard's powerful flames, Beedrill was powerless, repeatedly driven back.
But Beedrill refused to yield, charging forward again and again with its stingers, only to suffer a burn to its eye and be defeated.
That was their first crushing defeat!
Against the formidable Charizard, he and Beedrill tried every trick in the book but couldn't inflict even a scratch.
After the defeat, his confidence was shattered, and for a time, he and Beedrill fell into despair. He didn't even notice Beedrill's eye injury in time. After the tournament, Beedrill told him its vision seemed to be blurring...
He frantically sought medical help.
At this moment, the image in Hayashi Kaede's hands had already reached this scene.
This time, Beedrill, in its battle with Charizard, was agile, almost prescient, easily dodging its flames and using its twin stingers to inflict wounds on Charizard's body.
Ultimately, it emerged victorious.
"That period is the time I regret the most in my life, seriously..."
Seeing this, Ryō Fū's face showed a look of relief, joy, or perhaps a wry smile. "If I had taken it for treatment sooner, its eye definitely wouldn't have been damaged."
"..."
Hayashi Kaede offered his assessment without hesitation. "Well, judging by this, you certainly weren't a very competent Trainer back then."
"Ah..."
Ryō Fū sighed, not objecting.
The image within the clouds shifted again.
The scene within it grew larger, surrounded by a dense crowd whose faces were too numerous to discern. The battlefield also expanded, almost as large as two or three football fields combined.
Beedrill's aura grew immensely powerful, its twin stingers covered in mottled scars, resembling a battle-hardened veteran.
Its Trainer, standing behind it, wore a confident smile.
Opposing it stood a Gallade.
Gallade's Trainer was a young man in his twenties, his expression relaxed and natural.
Hayashi Kaede knew him, and perhaps most of the region's League knew him.
He was the current Champion of the Regional League, a title he had held for ten consecutive years.
The two Pokémon quickly clashed.
Stingers and blades gleamed; the two engaged in a fierce battle, the shimmering sound of metal clashing, and the surrounding spectators cheered.
The Pokémon, which had been unstoppable in previous battles, challenging powerful foes one after another, seemed to stagnate this time. Perhaps this was its peak battle, and the opponent's combat experience and Trainer were no less impressive.
The two Pokémon were locked in a stalemate.
However, it was clear that during the collision,
The expression on Beedrill's face grew more and more agitated and excited, like a natural-born warrior. The wind from its stingers grew fiercer, and it seemed ready to fight to the death.
"Sure enough... it still longs for battle."
Looking at the Beedrill in the image, Ryō Fū breathed a sigh of relief.
During the ten years of recuperation, he gradually used up all the prize money he had earned from competitions. Beedrill had asked him countless times to compete again.
But because of its injuries, he never let Beedrill return to the battlefield.
Even if he occasionally took on challenges for appearances, he would just let his other Pokémon battle...
So over the years.
Beedrill hadn't actually been happy.
Perhaps because it was Beedrill's dream, the match it lost in reality, it held the upper hand here, and with a final combo, it took down the Gallade.
Ryō Fū, who thought the dream would end here, muttered to himself, "So this is what it wanted?"
And at this moment,
The image in the colorful mist in Hayashi Kaede's hands shifted again...
it transformed back into a Weedle, and standing before it was its Trainer, Ryō Fū.
Seeing this, Ryō Fū was a little surprised. "This... this is from when I was battling with Weedle..."