Without even waiting for Itsuki to agree, the samurai boy immediately threw his Poké Ball.
"Come out, Pinsir!"
The Poké Ball opened.
A fierce-looking Pokémon resembling a stag beetle, with two enormous pointed horns, appeared before Itsuki.
The Pokédex announced:
"Beep! Pinsir, the Stag Beetle Pokémon. Bug-type. It possesses two incredibly powerful horns. Once it catches prey between them, it will never let go unless it tears its opponent apart."
"Seriously, what am I supposed to do with you?"
Itsuki sighed and glanced over his four Pokémon.
"Squirtle, I'm counting on you."
In terms of type matchups, both the Grass-type Bulbasaur and the Psychic-type Kirlia would be at a disadvantage against the Bug-type Pinsir.
Only Eevee and Squirtle had neutral type matchups against it.
"Squirtle! Squirtle!"
Squirtle jumped into the center of the battlefield, its eyes burning with fighting spirit.
However, just as Itsuki expected a closely matched battle, Squirtle defeated Pinsir cleanly with only a handful of moves.
"What!?"
The samurai boy stared in disbelief.
"My Pinsir was defeated that quickly!?"
"There's nothing strange about that."
Itsuki sighed.
"It's just that your... Pinsir is still too low-level. If you get the chance, I'd suggest spending more time training it."
The samurai boy's face turned red as he clenched his fists.
"Damn it! Don't get so cocky just yet! Take a look at my second Pokémon!"
"Come out, Caterpie!"
A flash of red light appeared as the samurai boy sent out his second Pokémon.
'Ah, so it's a baby Rayquaza!'
Caterpie was a typical Bug-type Pokémon.
Its back was green, while its underside was white.
Its most distinctive feature was the red, Y-shaped antenna on its head.
The Pokédex announced:
"Beep! Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. Bug-type. It uses the suction cups on its feet to climb trees and feed on its favorite leaves."
Itsuki couldn't be bothered to switch Pokémon.
He continued using Squirtle.
With just a few straightforward moves, Squirtle easily defeated Caterpie as well.
Seeing the unwilling expression on the samurai boy's face, Itsuki was about to leave.
However, as though suddenly remembering something, he stopped in his tracks.
He turned around and spoke.
"Oh, right! I came from Pallet Town. If you're still upset about losing, you'd better hurry up and get stronger."
"Then you can give those rookie trainers coming after me a proper beating!"
The samurai boy muttered to himself.
"Pallet Town? Rookie trainers?"
"That's right."
Itsuki nodded lightly.
A delighted smile spread across his face, as though a mischievous scheme had just succeeded.
"We trainers from Pallet Town are all incredibly strong. I doubt you'd stand a chance against any of us, no matter who you encounter."
"Damn it! Don't get too full of yourself!"
The samurai boy's eyes burned with determination.
Watching Itsuki's figure gradually disappear into the distance, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Remember my words!"
"I don't care how strong you trainers from Pallet Town are!"
"Next time, I'll definitely show you what I'm capable of!!"
Northwest of Pewter City, beside an unnamed volcano.
After leaving Viridian Forest, Itsuki had spent two entire days wandering around this enormous volcano.
However, after hearing that Charmander had been spotted in the area, he temporarily changed his plans and made catching one his top priority.
The reason for his urgency wasn't simply that Charmander's final evolution, Charizard, was incredibly powerful.
More importantly, Charizard looked unbelievably cool!
Ever since his previous life, it had been one of Itsuki's favorite Pokémon.
Unfortunately, despite searching more than half the volcano, he hadn't found a single trace of Charmander.
All he'd encountered were a few Diglett, Zubat, Geodude, and Cubone.
As the sky gradually darkened once again and night threatened to envelop the land, Itsuki put down his backpack and prepared to set up camp.
Just then, Eevee, who had gone ahead to scout the area, suddenly came rushing back.
Upon spotting Itsuki, Eevee hurried over and cried out anxiously several times.
Although Itsuki couldn't understand exactly what Eevee was saying, remembering the task he'd assigned it immediately lifted his spirits.
"You found Charmander!?"
Eevee nodded and turned around, signaling for Itsuki to follow.
Without wasting another moment, Itsuki grabbed his backpack and hurried after Eevee.
After crossing a vast stretch of rocky terrain, he finally spotted dozens of glowing lights within a narrow mountain crevice.
The lights were particularly noticeable in the darkness.
When he got closer, he finally saw what they were.
It was an entire colony of Charmander and Charmeleon!
And when Itsuki looked up, he could even vaguely make out several Charizard soaring through the clouds overhead.
Those mysterious lights were none other than the flames burning continuously at the tips of their tails—the flames of life.
'After all that searching...'
'Charmander, I've finally found you!'
'But now comes the difficult part.'
'How am I supposed to catch one without alerting the Charmeleon and Charizard?'
After all, Charmander were relatively mild-tempered compared to the other members of their evolutionary family.
Charmeleon and Charizard, on the other hand, certainly wouldn't allow Itsuki to stroll into their territory and openly capture one of their younger members.