"Alright, I'm counting on you, Poké Ball!"
With that, Ash immediately threw the Poké Ball in his hand at the pink Butterfree, turning it into a red beam of light and drawing it into the ball.
After a brief shake, the pink Butterfree was successfully captured. Excited, Ash ran over and raised the Poké Ball high in the air.
"I caught the pink Butterfree!"
Right after that, Ash released the pink Butterfree, which quickly flew to Butterfree's side and nuzzled against its chest.
"You two can live in this courtyard from now on. I guarantee you'll feel comfortable with the environment here," Professor Oak promised, adding feed for the two Butterfree to the list.
"I'm so jealous of Ash, he actually caught such a beautiful Butterfree~" Misty said enviously. Although she was afraid of Bug-type Pokémon, as a girl she still found the pink Butterfree adorable.
"What a perfect ending..." Red sighed.
Now that Butterfree had returned, it greatly increased Ash's combat strength. After all, Butterfree had once been stimulated by Red's mental power, and having lived in the wild for so long, its strength was naturally superior to that of ordinary Butterfree.
...
The next day
"Wake up, Ash! Didn't you promise me you'd go for morning training today!"
At six in the morning, Red woke up on time, finished washing up, and walked to Ash's door, gently knocking a few times to signal him to get up.
Yesterday, because of Butterfree's return, an overexcited Ash had boldly promised Red that he would train with him on time the next morning, with the newly returned Butterfree as the sparring focus.
"Yeees..."
After a moment, Ash's sleepy response came faintly from inside the room, clearly not fully awake from his dreams.
"Mr. Mime, please go wake Ash up. Have him come downstairs for breakfast soon."
Red instructed Mr. Mime, who had just come upstairs to clean. Under Mr. Mime's slightly timid gaze, Red turned and walked toward the stairs.
Out of curiosity, Red subconsciously glanced back, wanting to see what method Mr. Mime would use to wake Ash up—only to find that Mr. Mime had already skillfully brought over a vacuum cleaner, preparing to give Ash a face-cleaning session.
"Same old routine as always~"
With that, Red went downstairs, greeted Delia who was preparing breakfast, then sat at the table, chewing bread and drinking warm milk.
After eating his fill and listening to Delia's reminders, Red finally saw Ash come down reluctantly from upstairs. The Pikachu on his shoulder clearly hadn't woken up yet, yawning from time to time.
"Alright, stop dragging your feet. You're the one who promised to do morning training with me."
Red looked at Ash and Pikachu speechlessly. Were they really that tired?
But it wasn't entirely Ash's fault. After all, because of Butterfree's return yesterday, both Ash and Pikachu had been so excited that they stayed up until midnight before finally falling asleep.
After some time
Red used Teleport to bring Ash and Pikachu to one of his usual training grounds. This was the place where he had trained Kabutops and Omastar a few days ago, but today's main characters weren't them.
"Come out, Gengar and Pikachu!"
With that, Red threw out two Poké Balls, releasing Thousand-Year Gengar and Pikachu.
"Oh? Why is Ash showing up in the boss's morning training?"
The moment Thousand-Year Gengar appeared, it turned its head, saw Ash, and stared at him in surprise while teasing.
"What do you mean by that? That sounded kind of targeted at me, Gengar!" Ash retorted.
"Not really. It's just that in my impression, all you do is eat and sleep. You barely participate in Pokémon training. Otherwise, how could your Pokémon be this weak?" Thousand-Year Gengar continued to mock, showing no mercy at all.
"Damn it!"
The drowsiness Ash still had was instantly burned away by Gengar's teasing, igniting his fighting spirit and making him eager to start training immediately.
"How was that, boss? My provocation worked pretty well, right?" Thousand-Year Gengar said smugly to Red.
"Alright, I'll explain this morning's training. The trainees are Pikachu and Butterfree, so the sparring partners I arranged are also Pikachu and Gengar."
Red explained to the confused Ash and Pikachu.
"As the older brother, Pikachu naturally knows how to train his younger sibling. And Thousand-Year Gengar can also help train Butterfree's mental strength, improving its overall power."
Butterfree could learn Shadow Ball, and Red had instructed Thousand-Year Gengar to personally demonstrate and teach it, indirectly boosting Butterfree's strength.
As the stone Red tossed hit the ground, the training officially began.
"Pika—chu!"
Red's Pikachu immediately unleashed high-voltage electricity, using Thunderbolt against Ash's Pikachu.
Seeing this, Ash's Pikachu quickly countered with its own Thunderbolt. The two electric currents collided midair, causing a violent explosion in an instant.
Red's Pikachu turned into a blur and slammed into Ash's Pikachu at lightning speed, the impact forcing it to stumble back several steps.
"Don't get distracted in battle. When I was surviving in the wild, fights weren't this restrained," Red's Pikachu scolded, reminding Ash's Pikachu to be more focused. If it weren't sparring with his younger brother, he would have already used harsher moves.
"Got it!"
Ash's Pikachu scratched its face awkwardly, yet felt an inexplicable admiration for the situation—after all, its sparring partner was its own older brother.
Even though Red didn't send out Pidgeot or Scizor to train it, Ash's Pikachu truly preferred having its older brother by its side.
"The fight over there is pretty intense~" Thousand-Year Gengar joked, condensing a Shadow Ball in its hands and launching it toward Butterfree.
Butterfree's eyes glowed with a brilliant blue light as it used Confusion to control the incoming Shadow Ball, only to realize the move was too powerful to block.
Changing tactics, Butterfree fired a rainbow-colored beam from its eyes, using Psybeam to confront the incoming Shadow Ball. The two moves collided and exploded instantly.
Seeing this, Butterfree flapped its wings and gracefully performed a mysterious and beautiful dance, boosting its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed.
"So it's Quiver Dance. Looks like this guy has improved quite a bit," Red said with slight surprise, not expecting Butterfree to have mastered this move.
"Hey, what kind of move is Quiver Dance?" Ash asked, completely confused, turning to Red with a puzzled look.
"Quiver Dance is a Bug-type move. It raises the user's Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by one stage. Currently, only about fifteen Pokémon are known to learn it," Red explained.