"Let's go take a look."
Gary wasn't the type to shy away from the unusual. He gestured to Squirtle, and together the two crept toward the disturbance.
From his height advantage, Gary could see what lay behind the tall grass clearly enough. A small mound of leaves and weeds sat bunched together on the forest floor, loose foliage drifting lazily around it. It didn't look natural at all.
"What Pokémon is that…?"
Gary knew something was hiding underneath, but he couldn't immediately think of a Kanto-native Pokémon that camouflaged itself this way. The only thing that came to mind was Wormadam from the Sinnoh Region, which wrapped itself in plant matter to fool predators.
He didn't waste time guessing.
"Squirtle, hit that pile with Water Gun."
"Squirtle!"
Squirtle puffed up its cheeks and fired. The jet of water struck the leaf mound dead-on, scattering it instantly and revealing the Pokémon hidden beneath.
"Exeggcute!"
Six pale pink eggs tumbled into view. Five of them had visible cracks running across their shells, and each wore a different expression. One was smiling. Four were furious. And the last one—the most damaged of the group, its yolk partially visible through a gaping fracture—looked deeply sad.
The single uncracked egg sat in the center, expression neutral.
Gary activated the Eye of Insight.
[Pokémon: Exeggcute]
[Type: Grass / Psychic]
[Level: 10]
[Potential: Gym-tier]
[Ability: Chlorophyll (Speed increases in sunlight.)]
[Moves: Absorb, Hypnosis, Reflect, Leech Seed]
[Intimacy: 121 (maximum 255)]
Gary's eyes widened slightly.
Gym-tier potential. Out here, in a roadside forest between Pallet Town and Viridian City—that was genuinely impressive.
Exeggcute was an excellent Grass-type Pokémon, and its secondary Psychic typing made it especially valuable. It evolved into Exeggutor through the use of a Leaf Stone, and Exeggutor's base stats totalled 530—five points higher than Venusaur. The Psychic attribute on top of that made it a rare and highly versatile battler.
Better yet, because Exeggcute evolved through an Evolution Stone, the quality of the stone used directly influenced the potential of the evolved form. High-quality Leaf Stones were expensive, but Gary was Professor Oak's grandson. That was a problem money could solve.
The decision was instant.
He was catching this Exeggcute.
"Exeggcute!"
The six eggs scrambled in panic. It was already dusk, and as a Grass-type, Exeggcute's combat power dropped significantly after sunset. That was exactly why it had buried itself under leaves and weeds—it had sensed the sun fading and tried to hide before nightfall.
It hadn't expected to be found.
"Water Gun!" Gary commanded without hesitation.
"Squirtle!"
After an entire afternoon of battling wild Pidgey, Squirtle was in peak condition. It fired another clean Water Gun.
In the same instant, a transparent, rainbow-tinted barrier materialized in front of Exeggcute—Reflect. But the barrier did nothing. The Water Gun passed straight through and struck Exeggcute head-on.
Gary nodded.
Reflect only defended against physical attacks. Water Gun was a special attack. The move was completely useless here.
Of course, a wild Exeggcute wouldn't understand the difference. In this forest, most Pokémon attacked physically, and Reflect had probably saved its life many times. But against Squirtle's special moves, the technique was worthless.
"Good. Keep firing."
Exeggcute didn't understand why its barrier had failed. Stubbornly, it raised Reflect again—and again, the Water Gun punched straight through.
Two direct hits. Exeggcute's strength visibly dropped.
"Exeggcute!"
Realizing it couldn't keep defending, the six eggs shifted tactics. Emerald-green seeds burst from their bodies, arcing toward Squirtle.
Leech Seed.
"Rapid Spin—deflect them!" Gary called out immediately.
Squirtle withdrew into its shell and began spinning. The seeds bounced harmlessly off the whirling shell, scattering into the grass. Without slowing down, Squirtle shot forward and slammed into Exeggcute's Reflect barrier, shattering it on impact.
"Hold that position—Water Gun, now!"
Still spinning, Squirtle angled its shell and fired Water Gun from within. The rotation accelerated the stream, turning it into something closer to a water blade. The pressurized jet hammered into Exeggcute repeatedly, sending the cluster of eggs tumbling several meters backward.
Exeggcute hit the ground hard. All six pairs of eyes spun in dizzy circles.
It had lost the ability to fight.
"Go—Poké Ball!"
Gary threw. The ball struck Exeggcute cleanly and sucked it inside in a flash of red light.
The Poké Ball landed softly on the grass.
It rocked once.
Twice.
Then went still.
[Ding! Mission completed. Rewards have been stored in the space backpack.]
"Yes."
Gary exhaled. A grin spread across his face despite himself. This was his first wild capture through battle, and the satisfaction was genuine.
"Squirtle! Squirtle!"
Squirtle waved its little arms in celebration. It had spent the entire afternoon battling without knowing what Gary was actually looking for. Now it finally had a result.
"Squirtle!"
The little Water-type trotted over, picked up the Poké Ball from the grass, carried it back and placed it carefully in Gary's hand.
"Thank you."
Gary patted Squirtle's head, then held up the Poké Ball and checked Exeggcute's data one more time.
[Pokémon: Exeggcute]
[Type: Grass / Psychic]
[Level: 10]
[Potential: Gym-tier]
[Ability: Chlorophyll (Speed increases in sunlight.)]
[Moves: Absorb, Hypnosis, Reflect, Leech Seed]
[Intimacy: 121 (maximum 255)]
"Chlorophyll. Good."
Gary was satisfied. If Exeggcute had the Harvest ability instead, it would have been a problem.
Harvest gave a fifty percent chance to regenerate a held berry after use. In the games, it was a powerful competitive tool. In the real world, though, it was almost useless in battle. Its only practical application was agriculture—Pokémon with Harvest were highly sought after by orchard owners and fruit farmers because they could coax trees into producing far more fruit than normal.
For a battler, Harvest was dead weight.
Chlorophyll, on the other hand, was perfect. Speed in sunlight. That synergized beautifully with Exeggutor's offensive potential.
Then—
[Ding! New Task Released: Green Champion Team]
[Objective: Capture and train the following six Pokémon — Blastoise, Pidgeot, Alakazam, Rhydon, Arcanine, Exeggutor.]
[Rewards: High-level Rare Candy ×10 (for Pokémon below Level 70, level +1), Intermediate Rare Candy ×10 (for Pokémon below Level 50, level +1), Bronze Crown ×1, Silver Crown ×1, Gold Bottle Cap ×1 (for Pokémon below Legendary potential, potential +1)]
Gary stared at the notification.
"Green Champion Team…"
The name struck him immediately. This was the team of Champion Green from THE ORIGIN—the canonical adaptation where Green was the protagonist, the one who defeated the Elite Four and claimed the title.
And Green was Gary.
The same character, reimagined as a Champion.
"The rewards are incredible," Gary murmured, scanning the list again. "And all six of those Pokémon are genuinely worth raising."