As the battle began, Rattata moved swiftly like a robot.
Rattata is a very common Pokémon, not less numerous than Weedle, and is also one not favored by Trainers.
But compared to Weedle, it still has the advantage in species value.
And purely in terms of speed, Rattata is significantly faster than Weedle.
However, its shortcomings are also very apparent.
Without a Trainer's command, it battles and uses techniques in a mechanical manner.
"Stay calm, don't forget what I taught you, observe carefully, don't panic."
It was Weedle's first battle, and seeing how fast Rattata was, it got a bit flustered.
But hearing Natsuhiko's voice, it was as if it returned to training, and Natsuhiko's presence calmed it down.
Its body crouched on the ground, its small eyes tightly fixated on Rattata.
Suddenly.
The running Rattata suddenly changed direction and charged aggressively at Weedle, instantly closing the distance between the two Pokémon.
"Don't be impulsive, stay calm, stay calm..." Natsuhiko squinted his eyes.
Rattata is very fast, and Weedle's success rate in dodging purely by evasion is too low.
"Ugh!" Weedle let out a low cry, encouraging itself.
"Now!"
Just as Rattata finished its maneuver and momentarily maintained its direction, its trajectory became simple.
"Spinning Silk!"
Hiss, hiss—
A bright white silk line spewed from Weedle's mouth, predicting Rattata's direction in advance.
Snap!
The adhesive silk accurately wrapped around Rattata's feet, causing it to stumble noticeably.
But Rattata seemed unaware, stumbling once and then continuing forward.
However, compared to before, its speed was noticeably slower.
"Again!"
With Natsuhiko's command, seeing Rattata's speed decrease, the more confident Weedle spat the silk again, undoubtedly hitting Rattata successfully.
"Run."
With its speed reduced twice, Rattata was no longer a significant threat in Weedle's eyes.
Gathering its strength, Weedle started running.
The running training gave it enough awareness of its own speed, perfectly avoiding Rattata's collision.
"Poison Needle!"
A purple halo shone atop Weedle's head, and three purple-tinted poison needles shot out swiftly.
Taking advantage of Rattata's old strength being spent and new strength not yet formed, the poison needles all embedded in its hind leg.
However, what made Natsuhiko feel uncomfortable was that despite being hit, this Rattata seemed numb to pain, merely staggered slightly from the impact of the poison needles, then immediately turned its body and locked onto Weedle again.
No poisoning effect occurred, but its steps were limping.
Suddenly.
Whoosh!
Rattata's body suddenly flared with white light, its speed surged.
Electric Flash!
Rapidly closing in on Weedle.
"Continue with Spinning Silk." Natsuhiko remained calm.
If Rattata had used Electric Flash from the start with its speed, Weedle would probably have had to endure a cost to execute a technique to restrict it.
But now.
Two rounds of Spinning Silk restrained its speed, and the Poison Needle made it difficult for its hind legs to exert strength.
In this situation, Rattata truly poses little threat to Weedle.
Hiss—
The silk line completely unfurled; when it stuck to Rattata's body, its Electric Flash was forcibly stopped.
Next.
"Run, completely restrict it."
Following Natsuhiko's order, Weedle swiftly ran, spinning silk nonstop from its mouth, circling around Rattata, encasing it until it was completely wrapped up, exposing only its head and losing the ability to move.
Even though Rattata was still conscious, it was clearly unnecessary to continue the fight in this situation.
Anai, witnessing the scene, promptly declared the result.
"Congratulations, you won."
Weedle returned to Natsuhiko's shoulder, sympathetically watching the restrained, blank-eyed Rattata.
It nuzzled against Natsuhiko's neck, softly murmuring a few sounds.
They temporarily ignored others.
After Natsuhiko left with Anai.
An emotionless researcher-clad staff member standing at the edge of the battlefield transmitted the data collected on a small computer to the manager's computer.
He walked to the center of the field, in front of the immobilized Rattata, picked it up, and took it to a dark, cramped, cold room, tossing it inside.
His eyes cold, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
...
...
In the manager's office.
Lotto received information from the tech department.
Looking at the data ratings for Natsuhiko and Weedle, listed in a chart.
Trainer: Natsuhiko
Pokémon: Weedle
Body: Lower
Speed: Medium
Technique: Medium
Reaction: Lower
Momentum: Upper
Overall Rating: Medium
Power Assessment: Beginner
Evaluation: Slightly better than a wild Weedle, but that's about it; other than notable Trainer momentum, no distinguishing features.
Note: Trainer Natsuhiko has potential.
"It's truly an unremarkable Weedle, but this Trainer is somewhat interesting." Lotto toyed with the pen in his hand, not paying much attention.
Even if he hadn't seen a hundred of such Trainers, he's seen fifty.
Focusing on cultivating a Weedle as the main Pokémon for a Trainer destined means their future achievements won't be high.
"But it's sufficient for sparring practice."
After a brief remark, Lotto didn't pay it much mind.
After all, it's merely a Trainer who trains Weedles, perhaps only an outstanding bug catcher.
Pressing a special button on the phone.
"Anai, arrange a basic contract."
"Okay, Supervisor Lotto." Anai's voice came from the other end.
In the hall.
"Here's the contract, have a look. If everything's alright, you can sign it."
Anai presented the contract and said.
Natsuhiko nodded, taking the contract and began reading it carefully.
In his previous life, he'd suffered from not scrutinizing contract details, getting deceived by a company.
So this time, he read it particularly carefully.
After a moment, he finished reading the three-page contract.
Natsuhiko pursed his lips and couldn't help asking: "Everything else is fine, but what does it mean that if my Weedle evolves, the contract is automatically voided?"
Anai gave him a deep look and said: "It's as it reads. As your future colleague, I can only give you one piece of information: our club is dedicated to sparring practice for all selectable Pokémon. The last sparring partner using Weedle, his Weedle evolved yesterday, so you have the opportunity today."
Natsuhiko was enlightened.
"I see."
After pondering slightly, he asked: "If my Weedle evolves into Kakuna, but I still want to work at the club, is there any other way?"
"Possess another more outstanding Pokémon or defeat a sparring partner with a Kakuna in a battle."
Anai finished and reminded: "But that's not something easily achieved."
"Thank you, now I know."
Natsuhiko picked up the pen and wrote down his name.
"As a basic contract, your salary structure is relatively simple, a base salary plus commission, with the base salary at eight thousand League Coins per month, and the commission at twenty percent. For each point, twenty percent of the fees paid by club members for sparring will be your personal reward."
These were already written in the contract; Anai just reiterated once.
Eight thousand League Coins is already quite a decent base salary, reaching the well-off level in Goldenrod City, but for a Trainer, it's still like a drop in the ocean.
Furthermore, the cost of living in Goldenrod City is exceptionally high.
"Can I get an advance?"
Anai glanced at Natsuhiko's attire, after pondering slightly said: "Yes, but you can only advance a maximum of forty percent. Later, just take your contract to the finance department."
"Thank you." Natsuhiko replied.
"The job starts today; this is your private number plate, which is also your room's number." Anai took out a number plate from the counter.
"0451."