After leaving Mt.
Pyre, there were basically no Ghost-type Pokémon or Trainers in the Hoenn region, which made Roy, who spent his days dealing with Ghost-type Pokémon, feel a bit unaccustomed to it.
His next stop was Lilycove City.
The journey from Lilycove City in the east of Hoenn to Rustboro City in the west of Hoenn would take nearly two months, and he certainly wouldn’t be foolish enough to walk to Rustboro City.
He was due to report to the academy the day after tomorrow, not next year; if he just walked there like that, he wouldn’t even reach Rustboro City by next month.
When he left, he had asked Yuki, and she suggested just taking a direct shuttle bus to Lilycove City, which would only cost a few hundred Pokedollars.
Just as Roy was thinking, a strange noise suddenly came from the bushes by the roadside, and immediately after, a boy wearing a blue bandana and carrying a bug-catching net jumped out of the bushes, blocked Roy’s path, pointed at him, and said:
“I want to duel you.
If you lose, hand over your Pokémon to me!”
The classic Bug Catcher roadblock scenario.
Without waiting for Roy to refuse, the Bug Catcher threw out a Pokémon with a segmented body, yellowish-brown in color, and a small horn on its head.
A Weedle.
Yes, it was a Weedle thrown by a Bug Catcher.
He hadn’t captured the Weedle with a Poké Ball at all; he couldn’t afford a Poké Ball, and as for how he even caught the Weedle, it was a mystery.
However, judging from the tattered collar on the Weedle’s neck, it was clearly not following the Bug Catcher willingly.
He was just bullying the Weedle because it was weak.
If it had evolved into a Beedrill, it would definitely have been chasing the Bug Catcher and stinging him.
“Weedle, use Poison Sting.”
The Bug Catcher commanded, but the Weedle on the ground didn’t react at all.
Judging from its state, the Weedle’s body was covered in scars, looking like it was on its last breath, as if it would collapse to the ground the next second.
System scan
Pokémon: Weedle
Level: 15
Gender: Male
Ability: Shield Dust (Protected by scales, it is not affected by the additional effects of moves.)
Moves: Poison Sting, String Shot, Bug Bite
Held Item: None
Egg Moves: None
Individual Values: 13
Move Tutor/TM: None
Is this it?
Roy didn’t even need to send out a Pokémon; he felt he could handle this himself.
“Trash, use your move now!”
The Bug Catcher cursed at the wilted Weedle, completely ignoring its current lethargic state.
Although he didn’t recognize the Pokémon on Roy’s shoulder, judging by the flame on its head, it was at least a Fire-type Pokémon, which was definitely much stronger than his Weedle.
At the very worst, he could safely run away.
Thinking of this, the Bug Catcher gripped a bag of yellow powder in his hand.
He was even fantasizing about taking the opponent’s Litwick to participate in the Hoenn League competition after defeating Roy.
But in reality, he had never won against a passing Trainer; the opponent would basically defeat his Pokémon in one hit.
Then he would run away in a panic, endlessly repeating the cycle.
As for raising Pokémon?
That didn’t exist.
To Bug Catchers like them, there was no concept of raising Pokémon; in their eyes, making Pokémon fight was raising them.
Post-battle medical treatment?
That existed even less.
Pokémon Centers didn’t offer free treatment to just anyone; a standard treatment cost 500 Pokedollars.
With those 500 Pokedollars, they could eat and drink to their heart’s content for a while, so why spend it on a Pokémon like a Weedle?
Even if the Weedle died…
They could just go catch another one, right?
There were so many Weedle in the forest anyway.
Then they would just keep fighting until it was beaten to death, and the cycle would repeat.
Not all Bug Catchers are named Giovanni.
Those with good luck might have their Weedle or Caterpie evolve into Kakuna or Metapod, and after waiting for a period of time, evolve again into Beedrill or Butterfree.
But that was their limit.
Once evolved, the Butterfree would try every means to escape its Trainer and return to the forest.
The Beedrill would mostly attack its owner immediately, which is why Beedrill became the Pokémon with the highest rate of injuring people.
So it’s not without reason that Pokémon despise humans.
Seeing that the Weedle still didn’t move, the Bug Catcher angrily pulled out a remote control and slammed the red button in the middle.
“Eeya!”
A surge of electricity came from the collar on the Weedle’s neck, and the pain from the Thunder Shock caused a pained expression on the Weedle’s face.
Roy even smelled a faint burnt odor in the air.
The Bug Catcher was still muttering, “Let’s see if you’ll listen next time!”
Seeing this scene, the pleasure Roy felt from crushing Bug Catchers in the game was gone; now, he had the urge to send the guy to the afterlife.
He looked at the Litwick on his shoulder and used telepathy to give the Bug Catcher a lesson.
Litwick, also unable to stand the Bug Catcher’s atrocities, transformed the Will-O-Wisp on its head into a ghastly face and flew toward the Bug Catcher.
The Bug Catcher, still thinking about how to trick Roy, was startled by the sudden ghostly shadow.
“Ghost…
a ghost!”
The Bug Catcher had never seen such a scene.
He was scared out of his wits and, without even caring about the Weedle, ran into the depths of the forest alone.
While fleeing, a key and a bag of yellow powder fell from the Bug Catcher.
Picking up the yellow powder labeled Stun Spore, he figured the other guy must have intended to use it on him; he didn’t know whether to call the guy ignorant or fearless.
In fact, it was also due to the low popularity of Ghost-type Pokémon, which led to many people in the world like this Bug Catcher who didn’t even know about Ghost-type Pokémon, thinking they were the embodiment of ghosts.
Popularity value 0 -> 1
The mechanical voice sounded in his ear again.
Roy hurriedly opened the system panel and found that the popularity value number on the system had indeed changed from 0 to 1 point; clearly, it was a contribution from the Bug Catcher just now.
Can this count as popularity?
Roy stroked his chin and paced to the front of the Weedle abandoned by the Bug Catcher, but the other party had no reaction; if its tail hadn’t twitched from time to time, he would have almost thought the Weedle was already dead.
The Weedle’s black bean-like eyes were already numb.
The recent Thunder Shock had taken away its last bit of strength.
Even seeing Roy walk over, it remained indifferent; in fact, it was already at the end of its rope, with not a shred of energy left in its body.
If Roy wanted to, he could almost end the Weedle’s life with one punch.
Roy’s figure almost completely obscured the Weedle.
The Weedle couldn’t see Roy’s expression clearly, nor did it know if the other party wanted to kill it, but it was already prepared to accept the outcome of its death.
After all, death might be a relief for it now, thinking of its short insect life and the various pains it had experienced after being accidentally caught by the Bug Catcher.
It was a pity that it had no way to take revenge personally.