In the photo, that one unique Butterfree stood out.
Its pink wings shimmered in the sunlight with a crystal-like brilliance—so beautiful it took your breath away.
[System Notification: First capture of a Shiny Pokémon will grant a bonus reward.]
Inside Ash's mind, the system prompted him: as long as he caught his first Shiny Pokémon, he would receive a reward.
Originally, in the main story, Ash released his Butterfree so it could go off with its mate. And that so-called mate… was this very pink Butterfree.
But this time, Ash wasn't planning to raise a Caterpie from scratch. He intended to catch this Shiny Butterfree directly.
"…Really rare."
With that thought, Ash calmly returned the phone to Yumi.
"They say the odds of encountering a Shiny are one in ten million. Just getting a photo like this is lucky enough."
He wore a look of genuine wonder at such a rare sight.
"Exactly," Yumi nodded. "This Shiny Butterfree was spotted by a drone earlier this morning. Now, half the forest's trainers are out looking for it."
In the Pokémon world, hearing about the sighting of a Shiny Pokémon was enough to get any trainer's blood pumping.
So she extended her hand again and invited, "What do you say? Want to join us in searching for the Shiny Butterfree today?"
"After that, you can come back to Viridian City with us. With a High-Rank Trainer like me leading the way, you've got nothing to worry about."
Yumi radiated mature confidence. She even casually flashed her Gym Badge at Leaf—like she was staking a claim.
That really ticked Leaf off.
But the other girl clearly had the strength to back it up, and Leaf had no way to refute her. So she could only place her hopes in Ash.
"Ash, why don't we head to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City first?" she suggested. "So many people are hunting the Shiny Butterfree—we probably won't run into it…"
Before she could finish, Ash shook his head gently.
"You never know. We were planning to explore the forest anyway. Looking for the Shiny doesn't get in the way."
He had a feeling—a strong one—that they would definitely encounter that Shiny Butterfree.
After all, even legendary Pokémon were drawn to him.
"That's great to hear," Yumi smiled brightly at his agreement.
The other two trainers had no objections. On journeys like these, it was common to form temporary teams with fellow travelers. They were used to it.
"Hmph!"
Faced with this result, Leaf could only stomp her foot in frustration. In the end, she begrudgingly followed along.
She was here to search for clues about the Power of Viridian—this wasn't the time to act on emotion.
It's not like she was afraid someone would steal Ash from her!
Definitely not!!
…
The five-person team headed deeper into Viridian Forest.
The farther they went into this ancient forest, the more extraordinary it felt.
The scenery kept shifting—what began as bright green grass gave way to dark, rich greenery. Wild Pokémon grew more numerous by the minute.
At the edges of the forest, you'd still see plenty of novice and entry-level trainers. But here, not a rookie was in sight.
The bare minimum now was junior-level trainers. Some were even High-Rank like Yumi.
The wild Pokémon in this area were just that strong. Noobies didn't want to get wrecked.
"I can hear the calls of all kinds of Pokémon in this forest," Yumi said as they walked. A native of Viridian City, she eagerly shared her knowledge.
"Chuu-chuu-chuu~ That's Pidgey."
"Chii-chii—That's Rattata."
"Fuli~ fuli~ That's…"
As she named off the wild Pokémon by sound, a sudden burst of calls echoed from nearby.
Multiple voices, perfectly in sync—it had to be a massive swarm.
The calls grew louder… until the sky filled with fluttering butterfly wings, confirming everyone's suspicions.
All five of them widened their eyes in excitement.
"Did we find it?!"
With so many trainers scouring the forest, the fact that they found the Butterfree swarm in under an hour… Their luck was off the charts!
"Look over there, top right!"
Yumi suddenly cried out, overwhelmed with joy.
She pointed with a trembling finger at the top right of the group.
One of the Butterfree was unlike the rest—its pink wings gleamed vividly.
"It's really a pink Butterfree!!"
"The photo wasn't fake!"
Everyone's expressions were filled with awe.
Ash, more convinced than ever, thought to himself: It had to be his "protagonist halo" at work. How else could they have found it so easily…
"A pink Butterfree, meow~"
While the five were fixated on the Shiny Butterfree…
…
In a bush not far away, a talking Meowth peered through binoculars, observing everything.
Next to it, a man with lavender hair looked visibly excited.
"If we catch that Shiny Butterfree, Boss Giovanni will reward us big time!"
The woman beside him, added with a grin:
"Why stop at one? Why don't we just catch the whole swarm at once?!"
"If we pull that off, we might get promoted to Rocket Admins right then and there~"
"Meowhahahahaha!"
Their over-the-top plotting echoed through the area.
If Ash had been there to hear it, he would've noticed one key detail—
Above the heads of the man, the woman, and the Meowth… floated the words: [Hidden Trait]!!
[End of Chapter]