"Buzz buzz buzz!"
After performing Quiver Dance, Butterfree rapidly flapped its wings, continuously producing sound waves through the wing vibrations, using Bug Buzz to attack in the thousand-year-old Gengar's direction.
"Damn it, these annoying sound waves are so loud!"
The thousand-year-old Gengar said displeasedly, plugging his ears before immediately diving into the nearby shadows to avoid the Bug Buzz attack.
A refreshing breeze blew over, rustling the leaves of the surrounding trees and making the shadows eerily connect, gradually forming a massive dark shadow.
"Butterfree, you need to constantly watch for changes in the shadows below. That Gengar guy might be hiding in the corner shadows somewhere."
Ash quickly reminded, telling Butterfree to be careful of the thousand-year-old Gengar's sneak attacks.
After hearing Ash's reminder, Butterfree immediately raised its guard, not forgetting to flap its wings and scatter Stun Spore downward to limit the thousand-year-old Gengar's opportunities for surprise attacks.
"This Butterfree has indeed grown quite a bit. Even without Ash giving commands, it can use corresponding moves based on its own judgment."
Red couldn't help but comment with admiration. Fortunately, Ash nearby didn't hear clearly, otherwise he would inevitably complain to Red.
"It's just too young still..."
Suddenly, the shadow beneath Butterfree released a strange light beam, hitting Butterfree's body from behind, and then Butterfree was forced into a confused state.
"Take this punch to wake up!"
Seeing Butterfree fall into confusion, the thousand-year-old Gengar decisively emerged from the shadows, throwing a close-range right punch using Shadow Punch to hit Butterfree in the face, knocking Butterfree's entire body to the ground.
"Butterfree, are you alright!"
"Ash, the training isn't over yet. Look, even Pikachu is still persevering."
Red stopped Ash, who wanted to rush forward and embrace Butterfree, signaling for Ash to silently stand back and watch.
As an older brother, Red naturally wanted to improve the strength of Ash's current team faster. Although the current training might be somewhat harsh, it was all so that Ash could shine brilliantly at the upcoming Indigo League.
After all, in Red's view, the top sixteen didn't belong to Ash's position, and naturally the top thirty-two didn't belong to Gary either. They both should have been able to achieve higher positions, but unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.
Not far away, Ash's Pikachu was also struggling to dodge continuous attacks from Red's Pikachu. Unlike Ash's Pikachu's slightly panicked state, Red's Pikachu had no reservations, completely immersed in the pleasure of battle.
Although it would inevitably hurt his precious little brother, Red's Pikachu also understood that this real combat was the best way to improve Ash's Pikachu's strength.
However, Red's Pikachu didn't choose to train Ash's Pikachu's electrical current intensity but instead focused on training its close combat abilities, having Ash's Pikachu practice tail strength more, since the tail could be advantageous for various offensive techniques.
"Yawn..."
Ash involuntarily yawned. Due to being too excited last night, both Ash and Pikachu hadn't gotten enough sleep, naturally making them drowsy.
Ash's Pikachu, due to the training intensity, instinctively released adrenaline, allowing it to shake off the drowsiness.
Under Ash's slightly drowsy gaze, today's morning training had to continue. Red didn't want Ash to waste these two months of training time.
"I'm really looking forward to the Indigo League in two months. I wonder how many opponents like Dragon Tamer Lance who are fairly outstanding there will be. I hope this year's Indigo League won't be so disappointing..."
After speaking, Red looked up toward Pallet Town's direction, falling into a moment of contemplation.
Pallet Town
Three weeks until the Indigo League
During these few weeks, Red had been actively accompanying each Pokémon in strengthened targeted training to prepare for the Indigo League three weeks away.
Although he had absolute confidence in this year's Indigo League championship, the daily morning training still couldn't be interrupted. After all, in Red's philosophy, there was no strongest strength, only stronger strength.
Moreover, in Red's heart, there was still an opponent he had always wanted to surpass.
During this period, Red also took time to accompany Ash's trio to the legendary location of the surfing Pikachu rumors, treating it as a way to help Ash's trio relax.
On that day, Red's Pikachu also successfully learned the Surf move, which made the playful Ash and his Pikachu quite envious.
Gary and Leaf had also disappeared recently, seemingly each hiding in their own exclusive training grounds, secretly conducting intensive training to prepare for the Indigo League three weeks away.
But unfortunately, that foolish Team Rocket was being quite annoying...
"Hey, Ash, get up quickly! The sun's about to burn your butt!"
After finishing morning training, Red returned home, took a shower, and habitually knocked on Ash's bedroom door, urging the sleep-loving Ash to get up quickly.
Since the last morning training session with Ash, Red had instructed the thousand-year-old Gengar and Pikachu to assist Ash, helping Ash's Pikachu and Butterfree master new moves.
Through this period of 'forced' training, Pikachu had also mastered the Electro Ball move with his brother's help, while Butterfree had learned the conditions for using Shadow Ball under the thousand-year-old Gengar's training.
Butterfree had also vaguely figured out the technique of the Psychic move during this training period, though it still needed to strengthen its mental power training.
However, after the targeted training for Pikachu and Butterfree ended, Ash fell back into an embarrassing state of laziness. Even Red, who had been constantly urging him, was getting somewhat impatient and decided to let Ash cool down for a while.
Unexpectedly, this cooling down period lasted two weeks, and even now Ash hadn't done much proper targeted training.
"Mime mime!"
Just as Red was about to open Ash's door, the nearby Mr. Mime, who was cleaning, appeared in Red's line of sight.
"Mr. Mime, is this kid Ash still sleeping?" Red asked.
"Mime mime!"
After hearing Red's words, Mr. Mime pointed helplessly toward the living room downstairs, where excited shouting from Ash and Brock could be faintly heard.
"I see, this kid has been getting too comfortable lately," Red said helplessly.
'He's not foolishly watching battle videos of that muscle-bound Bruno, is he?'
At this moment, Ash and Brock were gathered around the living room TV, watching previous battle videos of Bruno fighting opponents.
Just as Red was about to stop Ash's behavior, he noticed that Misty had already angrily walked over, snatched the remote control from the table, and decisively turned off the TV.
"What are you doing, Misty!" Ash said anxiously.
"Now isn't the time to be watching TV, is it? You keep saying you don't need Red's help and can train independently, but you still haven't done anything until now!" Misty complained.
This statement almost broke Ash's composure, but fortunately Ash quickly thought of a countermeasure to avoid being looked down upon by Misty again.