...
"Bulbasaur!"
Kenji, bless his goddamn heart, practically flew two or three steps to Bulbasaur's side. Natsu, not one to be outdone, sprinted like a motherfucking madman straight into the chaos of Weedle and Bulbasaur's roughhousing.
Bulbasaur, the poor bastard, was flat on the ground, eyes squeezed shut. Meanwhile, Weedle just stood there, staring blankly at Bulbasaur, looking a little bit like, "Oh, shit. Did I do that?"
"What the fuck happened?" Natsu growled, his voice deeper than a well-digger's ass.
"Woo." Weedle, seeing Natsu approaching, swayed his tiny body, trying to explain something, but, God damn it, he just couldn't get it out.
"Dan Na!"
Bulbasaur's eyes popped open, the initial searing pain thankfully subsiding. Kenji and Natsu let out a collective sigh of relief, like two idiots who just dodged a bullet, seeing Bulbasaur bounce back so quickly.
"Seriously, what in the actual fuck just happened?!"
Weedle and Bulbasaur looked at each other, and you know what? There wasn't a single goddamn ounce of bad blood between the two Pokémon despite the shitshow that just went down.
"Dan Na!"
"Woo!"
Then, like a couple of mime artists on crack, the two Pokémon acted out the whole damn thing for Natsu and Kenji.
Turns out...
While Weedle and Bulbasaur were just dicking around, Bulbasaur had pulled out his Vine Whip and, like a total show-off, bit into it to prove to Weedle how tough his Vine Whip was. What a fucking egomaniac.
And Weedle, being the curious little shit he is, was totally fascinated by Bulbasaur's Vine Whip that could just sprout from his body. So, of course, he just had to try it too. He took a goddamn bite.
Now, Bulbasaur didn't give two shits about this, obviously. He was, after all, supremely confident in the durability of his Vine Whip.
But wouldn't you fucking know it, as Weedle was sinking his teeth into Bulbasaur's Vine Whip, he suddenly remembered Natsu's ass training him to bite tree trunks. And just like that, a surge of energy, like a fucking lightning bolt, shot through Weedle's tiny body.
Maybe it was all that accumulated training experience, or maybe it was because Weedle ate a fucking Pokéblock today that just happened to kickstart his potential. Whatever it was, Weedle suddenly, out of nowhere, comprehended Bug-type's move, Bug Bite!
And the results? Fucking predictable.
Bulbasaur's Vine Whip took a goddamn Bug Bite in Weedle's mouth. Natsu and Kenji just stood there, dumbfounded, like two deer in headlights, watching a green halo shine from Weedle's gaping maw.
Bug Bite is a skill Weedle can only learn in the game once he hits Level 9, but normally, a Weedle at Level 7 evolves into a Kakuna. To learn Bug Bite, you either have to prevent Weedle's evolution or use a goddamn Technical Machine.
But fuck the game, right? In the real world, there's no such thing as leveling up or automatic abilities learning, and no Technical Machines either. If a Pokémon wants to learn a move, the little bastard has to meet a certain fucking amount of time, understand it, or go through targeted, continuous training until he masters it.
Weedle had been training his little ass off for some time under Natsu's meticulous arrangement. But Natsu, being the calculating genius he is, figured it would take at least a week, even with the Pokéblock's help. He never in a million fucking years expected Weedle to just suddenly grasp it while playing with Bulbasaur.
It was clear as day: even though Natsu's Weedle seemed ordinary in every other aspect, he must have been a cut above the rest when it came to comprehension. Of course, Natsu's early training and foresight also played a fucking key role. But there was no denying that Weedle might just have a natural goddamn knack for this.
"Woo." Weedle stared blankly at Natsu, still completely clueless about what the fuck was going on, and even blaming his male self for hurting Bulbasaur. It wasn't until Natsu picked him up that the little guy finally snapped out of it.
"Is this what the book means by Pokémon understanding moves?" Kenji mumbled, totally bewildered.
Kenji wasn't angry, not even a little bit. It's totally normal for Pokémon to play together and accidentally let a move slip. A little bit of friction is par for the course, and Bulbasaur was just in pain, not actually hurt.
But seeing Weedle comprehend a move while just screwing around? That was a little beyond his comprehension, even for him.
He'd just watched Natsu training Weedle on those Bug Bite moves. So why, for the love of all that is holy, did Weedle just suddenly get it?
"Don't you dare be nervous, you little shit! You've learned a new move! That means our training has paid off, and all your hard work has finally amounted to something!" Natsu stroked Weedle's back, his voice surprisingly gentle as he comforted the little guy.
This wasn't just a reward for Weedle's hard work; it was a testament to Natsu's own goddamn training methods. It gave him even more confidence that he could train and develop male Weedle his own fucking way.
"Woo!"
Weedle's tiny eyes lit up like Christmas lights. So this was the feeling of understanding a move? It was fucking magical, truly extraordinary. The overall feeling was, in a word, goddamn amazing.
"Alright, go apologize to Bulbasaur, and then we're going to have a special training session on Bug Bite so you can use it flexibly in battle as soon as possible, you little rascal!" Natsu gently put Weedle back on the ground.
This sudden insight just reinforced Natsu's confidence. There are no trash Pokémon, only trash Trainers, dammit! If Weedle can keep this level of comprehension, it might not be super obvious in his current stage, but after he evolves into a male Beedrill, Natsu is confident he can cultivate a powerful finisher in battle, a fucking harvest machine!
"Wooo!" Weedle nodded obediently, then crawled his ass over to Bulbasaur, apologizing with emphatic little movements.
And Bulbasaur isn't some goddamn idiot Pokémon; he understood perfectly.
Seeing the two Pokémon happily playing again, Natsu couldn't help but crack a smile. This newfound awareness was incredibly important to him.
Meanwhile, Kenji finally recovered from his stupor. He looked at Weedle playing with Bulbasaur, then at the even more confident Natsu beside him.
"Is this… a Trainer?"
This time, Kenji was absolutely, 100% sure about Natsu. Seeing a Pokémon understand a move was a first for him, and it carried a completely different meaning than the simple descriptions he'd read in books.
To confidently use a Weedle, a Pokémon usually invisible to Trainers, as a Starter Pokémon, and to train and cultivate him so well… it felt totally different from those Trainers who start with powerful Pokémon and endless resources.
"Did you have something to say just now?" Natsu asked, snapping Kenji out of his thoughts.
The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation when Weedle's unexpected growl on Bulbasaur had rudely interrupted them.
Hearing Natsu's question, Kenji suddenly reacted, his expression a little complicated. He finally said, "Next week, our school is having an adventure to the dense forest outside Saffron City. For security reasons, the school is allowing us to invite a Trainer to come with us, so I…"
"You want to invite me?" Natsu's eyes flickered. It wasn't like the club didn't offer this kind of service, but sparring rates were usually through the roof.
"Yes," Kenji nodded. He'd hesitated earlier, but all those doubts had vanished the moment male Weedle comprehended Bug Bite.
"Why not invite a stronger Trainer? Wouldn't that be safer?" Natsu was fully aware of his own strength, or lack thereof, compared to some of the heavy hitters out there.
"The school decided that to give us more contact with wild situations and wild Pokémon, we can't invite Trainers who are too strong or have more than two Pokémon to accompany us," Kenji explained. Then he added, "Don't worry, the wild Pokémon in the dense forest aren't strong, and the school will be doing one last sweep before our event. It's just for us, a group of sophomores new to Pokémon, to get a better understanding of them. A fight might not even happen!"
Just a fucking cash grab, huh?
And there's still a whole week to go.
Natsu mulled it over for a moment. Whether it was from the perspective of cold, hard cash or Weedle's training, he had no reason to refuse.
"Yeah, I'll do it. I promise you."
What he needed most right now was money, plain and simple. He'd just blown his entire goddamn advance salary in one go, and seeing the extra kick that Pokéblocks gave Weedle, he needed more money, and fast. Out-of-office jobs just happened to be the quickest way to rake in some serious dough.
"Then I'll come find you when the time comes!" Kenji was practically vibrating with excitement. For students like him, there was nothing more thrilling and fun than an adventure.
"Alright."
...
(End of this chapter)