"Viridian Power..." Red said in a low voice, releasing his Viridian Power to heal the injuries of the Pokémon who had battled, restoring their stamina.
Among them, Zapdos recovered its stamina the fastest, since Zapdos hadn't really taken much damage from opponents. Most of it was recoil damage from its own Brave Bird attacks.
"Viridian Power really is a miraculous ability..." Professor Oak said with admiration.
Within moments, all the Pokémon present had recovered their full stamina, no longer showing their previous battle-worn state.
"Pika..."
Pikachu nervously glanced at the Omastar beside Red, fearful of its sharp teeth. After all, during the recent battle, Pikachu had truly sensed that Omastar had a slight desire to bite it.
Although Omastar had immediately restrained its inner urge to bite after realizing it, the brief moment of killing intent it revealed still made Pikachu, as its opponent, feel afraid.
Fortunately, the effect of Viridian Power timely dispelled the fear in Pikachu's heart, otherwise it would inevitably cause considerable psychological trauma in future interactions with Omastar.
Seeming to notice Pikachu's inner timidity, Omastar, after getting Red's permission through eye contact, adorably approached and extended its tentacles to actively make friends with Pikachu, hoping Pikachu wouldn't let this battle hurt their relationship.
After thinking for a while, seeing Omastar's sincere apology, Pikachu reluctantly forgave it. After all, Pikachu itself wasn't a Pokémon that held grudges and was very easy to get along with.
"You worked hard, Nidoking. Let's work even harder at the upcoming Indigo League."
Seeing Nidoking hanging its head in guilt, Gary went over to comfort it, stroking Nidoking's cheek and telling it not to blame itself anymore.
"Roar!"
After receiving Gary's encouragement, Nidoking immediately tensed the muscles in both arms, looking at the proud Zapdos with fighting spirit in its eyes, secretly vowing that next time it would definitely trample this legendary 'Thunder God' underfoot.
Zapdos, sensing Nidoking's inner thoughts, could only chuckle helplessly and didn't pay much attention, continuing to nuzzle Red's cheek affectionately, enjoying Red's petting.
"Venusaur, this isn't your fault. If my commanding ability could be as excellent as Red's, the battle situation might not have been such a one-sided crush."
Leaf soothed Venusaur's emotions apologetically.
Venusaur also immediately shook its head, indicating that Leaf shouldn't blame herself too much.
"Alright, alright, you're all rising stars of Pallet Town. Why worry about today's battle? Your real battle stage should be the Indigo League in two months. Don't fall into confusion after this battle with Red."
Professor Oak said helplessly. Why did they have to compare themselves to Red for no reason? This was just asking for trouble!
"Pika pi!"
To express its apology, Omastar invited Pikachu to play together, and Pikachu joyfully let Omastar lift it high in the air.
Just as Pikachu was enjoying the fun, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in Pikachu's line of sight. Pikachu instinctively rubbed its eyes, thinking it had seen wrong.
"Pika!"
Realizing it wasn't an illusion, Pikachu immediately excitedly raised both hands and shouted, not forgetting to have Ash look up at the sky.
'This psychic power? Could it be...'
Red slowly looked up at the sky and discovered two Butterfree had arrived above the garden. One was an ordinary-colored male Butterfree with slightly good development, wearing a decorative yellow scarf.
The male Butterfree was currently looking down at Ash and Pikachu with tears of joy in its eyes, its gaze revealing longing as if telling countless stories.
"So it's this little one. No wonder the psychic power felt familiar..." Red said with slight surprise, not expecting Butterfree to return to Pallet Town with its mate and come to Professor Oak's lab to find Ash and Pikachu.
But thinking about it carefully, when Red had originally helped develop Butterfree's psychic powers, he had deeply imprinted the route to Pallet Town in Butterfree's mind, making it subconsciously become one of Butterfree's instincts.
"Butterfree!"
Ash looked up at the Butterfree in the sky with delighted surprise, excitedly waving his hands. Tears had already slipped from his eyes, clearly very excited about Butterfree's return.
Butterfree was the first Pokémon Ash had captured and the first he had raised to its final evolutionary form. It held extraordinary significance in Ash's trainer career.
Because he firmly believed Butterfree would return someday, Ash had always kept Butterfree's Poké Ball.
Originally, Ash had been slightly negative due to Pikachu's crushing defeat earlier, but at this moment, he was completely thrown into a state of utter excitement by Butterfree's return.
Butterfree excitedly flapped its wings and flew down toward Ash below, within moments throwing itself into Ash's embrace. Together with Ash, it shed tears of joy, both feeling each other's warmth.
"Butterfree, I missed you so much!" Ash said joyfully, tears uncontrollably streaming from his eyes.
Originally Butterfree had wanted to comfort Ash, but like Ash, it couldn't stabilize its emotions and stop crying.
Seeing this scene, the pink Butterfree tactfully remained hovering above for a short while, letting its mate properly feel the warmth of its former trainer.
After witnessing the hatching and growth of their offspring together, both Butterfree had developed the idea of returning.
To accompany its mate, and because it couldn't find its former trainer, the pink Butterfree decisively chose to come to Professor Oak's research lab together with Ash's Butterfree.
"Pika pi!"
At this time, Pikachu also came over to Ash's shoulder, sharing in the joy of Butterfree's return together with Ash.
When they were forced to part with Butterfree back then, Pikachu had also been sad for quite a while, since Butterfree was also one of Pikachu's earliest companions, and the two often shared their dreams together during nighttime.
"Bonds, this precious thing, won't fade away with the passage of time..." Red murmured, as Zapdos, Kabutops, and Omastar beside him immediately came closer to Red's side.
A moment later, Ash and Butterfree simultaneously soothed each other's emotions. After wiping away its tears, Butterfree anxiously flapped its wings back and forth in front of Ash, occasionally turning its head to point at the pink Butterfree above, then pointing at the Poké Balls at Ash's waist.
Because the pink Butterfree had been directly released by its original trainer, it was now a wild Pokémon that could be captured by any Poké Ball.
"Is it really okay, Butterfree?"
Ash also understood Butterfree's intention, but to respect the pink Butterfree's wishes, Ash still looked up at the pink Butterfree in the sky.
The pink Butterfree hesitated for a moment, but in order to live together with Butterfree at Professor Oak's research lab, it still looked at Ash with determined eyes and slowly nodded.