Three days passed quickly. In that time, Eichi had already adapted to life in the Pokémon world.
He no longer felt shocked when meeting Pokémon. He had also gotten to know his classmates, teachers, and neighbors. During these three days, he had been planning one thing: catching his first Pokémon.
Eichi knew that with his family's condition, his first Pokémon had to be easy to raise. Otherwise, he could not afford it.
Among Pokémon, Bug-type and Grass-type were the easiest to care for.
In the Kanto Region, only a few of those were realistic choices, so he couldn't be picky. To save money for this, he had lived frugally. He often went into the forest to pick Berries and sell them. Sometimes, he worked part-time helping neighbors for a small payment.
In total, he had saved twenty thousand pokédollars. At the shop, one Poké Ball cost 500 pokédollars, just like in the games.
A standard red-and-white Poké Ball could be used for up to twenty years unless broken, so 500p was very cheap.
But Potions cost 300p each, and after a few uses, they were gone. That was only the cheapest type, others were more expensive.
A normal family earned only about four or five thousand pokédollars a month. Most families could raise only one Pokémon, and some had none at all.
So raising one Pokémon was possible, but more than that was too much. Becoming a Trainer was even harder. Eichi decided to leave those worries for later.
Right now, he had to focus on catching his first Pokémon.
He went to the town shop and bought two Poké Balls, a bug-catching net, some Pokémon food, and trap tools.
It cost him 3,000p. His heart ached because this was the money earned with hard work.
Back when he followed the Bug Catchers around town, the place he most visited was the Viridian Forest.
Of course, he only stayed at the edge. The outskirts had only weak Pokémon, so as long as you were careful, there was little danger.
But the deeper parts of the forest were different. Strong Pokémon and whole groups lived there. Without trained pokémon, no one dared go there.
Every time Eichi saw Trainers walk deep into Viridian Forest, he felt jealous. They were strong, they could travel anywhere, challenge strong Pokémon, and catch the ones they liked. That was part of why Eichi dreamed of becoming a Trainer.
The Bug Catchers in town usually caught Pokémon at the forest's edge. Caterpie and Weedle were the most common and very easy to catch.
Thinking of soon catching his own Pokémon made Eichi very excited.
In his past life, he had dreamed of having one. Now that his dream was about to come true, how could he not be excited?
He wondered which Pokémon his first partner would be.
"Hoo."
Eichi took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He quickened his pace and stepped into the Viridian Forest.
As soon as he entered, his eyes felt itchy. He rubbed them hard and kept moving, not thinking much of it.
No one saw the faint green light flash in his eyes before returning to normal.
Inside the forest, the air carried the fragrance of grass. It was refreshing and peaceful.
Warm sunlight poured down, and dense trees rose tall before him.
The smell of grass and earth filled the air. In his previous world, he had never seen such a sight.
Although the original Eichi had seen it countless times, it was still his first real experience with this.
Ahead, he could faintly hear Pokémon cries and see their shadows.
Now, he had to decide what to catch. The easiest were Caterpie and Weedle.
These two were the most common and the simplest to catch.
Before evolving into Butterfree or Beedrill, their battle strength was so weak that it could almost be ignored.
Even a normal child could sometimes fight them off. That was why Bug Catchers used Caterpie and Weedle the most.
Other Pokémon were a little harder to catch compared to those two.
To prepare, Eichi had asked Bug Catchers in town for advice. They said you could dig a simple trap in the grass.
Then use Pokémon food to lure one inside, and throw a Poké Ball to catch it. Most weak Pokémon could be caught right away.
Only a few might break free, but even then, they usually couldn't run far.
With a few tries, you could succeed, as long as the target was weak enough.
Eichi found a hidden patch of grass. He dug a small hole and set a trap. Then he placed some food inside that would strongly attract Pokémon.
He crouched in another patch of grass to wait. While waiting, he remembered last night's talk with his father.
At dinner, his father had suddenly asked, "You'll go catch a Pokémon tomorrow, right?"
Eichi nodded. His father continued, "Since you were a child, I could see how much you loved Pokémon. Now you're old enough to own one. Be careful tomorrow. If you can't catch one, it's fine. I can ask someone to get one for you."
Then he pulled some money from his pocket and handed it to Eichi. "You can't catch a Pokémon without money. Take this."
…
Suddenly, a sound pulled Eichi back to the present. He peeked through the grass and saw a Pidgey.
Pidgey looked like a small bird. Its feathers were plain.
The feathers on its belly and the tips of its wings were white. The rest of its body was brown.
It had black eyes surrounded by dark circles.
It looked at his trap with interest, then fluttered down, destroyed it, and devoured the food.
Eichi's heart leapt. He carefully took a Poké Ball from his pocket.
While Pidgey wasn't looking, he aimed and threw.
But just before it hit, Pidgey sensed something. It struck the Poké Ball away with its wings, then flew off in panic.
Seeing this, Eichi muttered, "Not good," and rushed after it. But soon Pidgey disappeared from sight.
Back at the trap, he checked and sighed in relief. "At least the tools aren't broken."
He set it up again and waited patiently.
Soon, there was more movement. A Bug-type Pokémon crawled into the trap and got stuck.
It was a Caterpie. Its body looked like a worm, with a Y-shaped red antenna on its head.
It had two pairs of prolegs. Its back was green, its belly was white.
On its sides were yellow ring spots.
This time, Eichi rushed over and touched it with a Poké Ball. A white light flashed, and Caterpie was pulled inside.
The Poké Ball shook in his hand.
The front button flashed once, twice, three times…
"Ding."
The sound came, and the ball went still. That meant the capture was successful.
Eichi released Caterpie to observe it carefully. But soon, his brow furrowed.