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South of Lavender Town on Route 12, at a location known as Silence Bridge, Eddie waved his hand casually.
"Pupitar, use Hyper Beam to finish this!"
Pupitar let out several deep rumbling sounds as it quickly gathered terrifying energy within its body.
In front of it, a severely injured Nidorino was frantically attacking Pupitar, desperately trying to defeat it before Pupitar could complete its devastating attack.
"Nidorino, hurry up! Use Headbutt to take it down!" shouted the opposing trainer.
This was Yingyi, dressed in simple but practical clothing. He had nicknamed himself an Elite Trainer, though he currently only possessed the skills of a Peak Trainer.
He was now desperately commanding his Nidorino to attack Pupitar, but his efforts were proving futile.
This was because Pupitar had already used Iron Defense earlier in the battle. This move greatly increases the user's defensive capabilities. Since Pupitar was already naturally a very hardy Pokemon, after using this move, only a Pokemon significantly stronger than it could hope to deal meaningful damage with physical attacks. A normal Pokemon's physical attacks would barely scratch it.
Of course, special attacks were an entirely different matter.
Unfortunately for Yingyi, Nidorino's most powerful moves were primarily physical attacks.
So when Pupitar fired its terrifying beam of energy and directly knocked Nidorino away, the poor Pokemon hadn't even managed to reduce Pupitar's HP to less than half. It was truly a sad sight to behold.
"Ding! Pupitar gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 38!"
"Ding! Gabite gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 41!"
"Ding! Gastly gained experience! Level increased by 5, now at Level 25! Learned Hex!"
"Ding! You defeated Elite Trainer Yingyi and obtained the TM Fire Punch!"
A mere Level 37 Nidorino was nothing more than cannon fodder in Eddie's eyes at this point, but for the three lower-level Pokemon on his team, it served as valuable experience.
As for why Eddie had ended up battling trainers on his way to find Snorlax, it all started when this particular trainer had run up to him looking for a fight the moment he spotted Eddie.
Eddie hadn't wanted to battle initially. After all, his current objective was to locate that Snorlax blocking the route. However, he changed his mind when he realized the situation wasn't particularl urgent, and the other trainer was kindly offering free experience to his Pokemon.
Eddie remembered that Pupitar had just evolved back in Lavender Town and was now ready for battle, so he had randomly sent it out for its first real fight.
The result was that his opponent recalled Nidorino and ran away in tears toward Lavender Town.
"Hmm, with that kind of mentality, he still calls himself an Elite Trainer. What a joke," Eddie muttered.
"But it's good that he ran away directly. Now I can release Gastly and let it evolve."
Eddie watched the retreating trainer, shrugged, and released Gastly from its Pokeball.
Gastly could evolve at Level 25, and this dual-ability shiny Gastly could quickly become a valuable member of Eddie's combat team depending on the circumstances.
As soon as Gastly appeared, it began radiating a brilliant evolutionary light all over its body. It couldn't wait to evolve.
"Ding! Congratulations! Your Gastly has evolved into Haunter! Learned Shadow Punch!"
Gastly's evolution into Haunter brought significant changes to its appearance.
Unlike Gastly's simple spherical form, Haunter had a round body with a pair of hands that appeared to float separately from its main body. Three clawed fingers hovered in front of its body like those of a wandering spirit.
Haunter possessed three spike-like protrusions on both sides of its face, resembling tufts of floating hair. It had triangular white eyes with black pupils, and several sharp purple teeth were visible in its mouth.
It looked exactly like a normal Haunter, except that its tongue was blue instead of the typical red color.
"To continue evolving, I'll need to use link trade evolution. But that's simple enough - I just need to go to a Pokemon Center and trade it back and forth with Professor Oak, and it will evolve directly into Gengar."
"But there's no rush for that right now. Let me find Snorlax first. After that, I'll head to Rainbow City and arrange the trade evolution."
"Speaking of that trainer from earlier, after defeating him, I actually obtained the TM Fire Punch. It seems that defeating trainers, even weaker ones, can occasionally yield good rewards."
This realization alone could turn Eddie into a battle-obsessed trainer who searched everywhere for opponents to fight.
No wonder Gabite was so eager for battle - Eddie's example was really influencing it.
"Well, there's still a long way to go, and I remember there are quite a few trainers in this area. Let me push forward and harvest some experience for these three Pokemon."
Eddie wasn't in any particular hurry. Seeing that defeating trainers could yield relatively good rewards, plus it would help level up his three comparatively "weaker" Pokemon - Haunter, Gabite, and Pupitar - Eddie's next task became very straightforward.
"Ding! Pupitar gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 39!"
"Ding! Gabite gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 42!"
"Ding! Haunter gained experience! Level increased by 3, now at Level 28!"
"Ding! You obtained Ultra Ball x1!"
"Ding! Haunter gained experience! Level increased by 2, now at Level 30! Learned Night Shade!"
"Ding! You obtained TM Ice Punch!"
"Ding! Charizard gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 45!"
"Ding! Greninja gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 44!"
"Ding! Sceptile gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 44!"
"Ding! Haunter gained experience! Level increased by 2, now at Level 32!"
"Ding! Pupitar gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 40!"
"Ding! You obtained Super Rod!"
In this manner, within just one hour, Eddie had battled every trainer along Silence Bridge. He collected numerous valuable items along with some completely useless ones.
Of course, the most important gain was the experience accumulation, which allowed Eddie's strongest main team members to level up. As for Lucario, it was unfortunately still just short of reaching the next level.
This was perfectly normal, however. After all, the higher the level, the more experience points were required for advancement.
"What am I supposed to do with this Super Rod? If I want to catch Pokemon from the water, I can just have Greninja dive in and bring them out directly."
"Oh well, I can play with it occasionally when I'm bored, or maybe give it directly to Yellow. I remember she really enjoys fishing."
Eddie considered this and happily decided to save it as a gift.
"I think I'm almost there - at the junction between Route 12 and Route 11."
Eddie remembered clearly that the Snorlax blocking the path in both the games and manga was sleeping right at that location.
However, in the manga, Ash should have already caught that Snorlax by this point in the timeline. But Eddie couldn't be certain whether Ash had actually captured it yet, so he had come here to investigate.
"Oh, it's really still here! It seems Ash hasn't arrived yet. Well then, I won't be polite about this."
Eddie looked at the massive Snorlax blocking the route ahead and happily decided to intercept what should have been Ash's Pokemon.
He couldn't help but wonder what Ash's team lineup would look like in the future without this particular Pokemon.
"Wait, why do I feel like this Snorlax is somewhat... off?"
Eddie stared at the Snorlax before him and frowned deeply.
This feeling wasn't just Eddie's imagination - this Snorlax truly was different. In fact, any normal person would notice it immediately upon first glance.
How could one tell?
First of all, anyone with functioning eyes would immediately notice that this Snorlax's skin color was distinctly wrong.
"If I remember correctly, a normal Snorlax has skin that's close to teal or navy blue, except for its white belly. But this one is obviously much darker blue."
Eddie gazed at this dark blue Snorlax and fell into deep contemplation.
Since its skin color differed from that of normal Snorlax, there could only be one possibility.
"Wait... this Snorlax, which should have been a normal Pokemon, has somehow become a shiny Pokemon."
"And this aura is extraordinary. Even while it's just resting, the presence of this peak-level Pokemon occasionally radiates outward. No wonder no one has been able to drive it away."
Eddie's mouth twitched slightly at this realization. The strongest trainers in this region were only Advanced-level trainers. When facing this Peak-level Snorlax, they were naturally helpless.
This was also the primary reason why this Snorlax could sleep here so peacefully.
After all, it was using Rest, causing its HP to constantly recover. Combined with its naturally massive health pool and high level, the situation became nearly impossible.
An Advanced-level trainer might be able to break through its defenses, but any damage dealt would probably be recovered by the Snorlax in the next second.
Simply put, the rate at which trainers could deal damage wasn't as fast as Snorlax's recovery rate, making it naturally impossible to defeat this massive roadblock.
Name: Snorlax (Shiny)
Type: Normal
Abilities: Thick Fat (When a Pokemon with this ability is attacked by Ice-type or Fire-type moves, the opponent's Attack or Special Attack is halved in damage calculation) + Immunity (Pokemon with this ability cannot be poisoned or badly poisoned, and any existing poison condition is cured upon gaining this ability)
Level: 40 (Peak)
Potential: Champion
Held Items: Snorlium Z + Leftovers
Moves: Lick, Tackle... Metronome, High Horsepower, Counter
"..."
Although Eddie had suspected this Snorlax was abnormal, he hadn't expected it to be this extraordinary.
"I expected the dual abilities, but Champion potential, built-in held items including Snorlium Z and Leftovers, plus that obvious egg move Counter..."
Eddie's mouth continued twitching as he involuntarily took several steps backward upon seeing this Snorlax.
He was now seriously considering simply leaving and returning to capture it when he became stronger.
After all, this Snorlax was truly remarkable - no, it should be said that it was somewhat terrifying.
Normal Snorlax was already an excellent tank Pokemon, excelling in HP with decent Attack and Special Defense stats.
It wasn't afraid of special attacks, and its offensive capabilities weren't weak either. Although it was vulnerable to physical attacks, its excellent HP could obviously offset this disadvantage.
Additionally, Snorlax could use the move Rest. When the power difference wasn't too great, few Pokemon could defeat Snorlax except for Fighting-types, because it was simply too bulky.
Normal Snorlax was already like this, which was why Eddie wanted to capture one.
But this abnormal shiny Snorlax before him was even more terrifying, and the items and egg moves it possessed could directly intimidate many opponents.
Not to mention the built-in Snorlium Z. If Eddie hadn't noticed that this abnormal Snorlax hadn't learned Giga Impact yet, he would have turned around and left immediately.
Giga Impact was the base move required for Snorlax to use its exclusive Z-Move. Without learning this technique, it couldn't use the Z-Move.
As for non-Champion-level Pokemon, except for rare individuals like Eddie who possessed the Power of Viridian, they basically couldn't use Z-Moves at all.
"But this Snorlax is too abnormal. If it knew Giga Impact right now, who could guarantee it wouldn't rely on its massive HP and Rest to use it recklessly?"
This was what Eddie feared most. After all, no one knew whether a Pokemon with Snorlium Z truly possessed such capabilities.
Fortunately, this Snorlax hadn't learned Giga Impact yet, so Eddie didn't leave immediately.
Of course, this was only the first terrifying aspect of this Snorlax.
The second terrifying aspect was that it also carried Leftovers as a held item. This was no less frightening than having its own Snorlium Z.
Leftovers: The Pokemon holding this item recovers 1/16 of its maximum HP at the end of each turn (after both sides have acted).
"Snorlax already has massive HP, and this item restores 1/16 HP every turn. How are we supposed to fight this?!"
Because of this item, even a Level 50 Pokemon, as long as it wasn't Fighting-type, might not be able to deal damage faster than Snorlax's HP recovery rate, let alone a Level 45 Pokemon.
The third point was its abilities - both perfectly strengthened its tank-like body.
"Any strategy of slowly poisoning Snorlax can be thrown in the trash. The Thick Fat ability also makes it resistant to Fire and Ice attacks."
If Eddie's Charizard and Greninja faced this Snorlax, their combat effectiveness would be reduced by half.
"Finally, there's that Counter egg move. I'm too exhausted to complain..."
Eddie had covered his face by now. He didn't know how to deal with this Snorlax.
Counter: Returns double the physical damage received from the opponent.
Snorlax's only weakness was its relatively low physical defense, but due to its constitution, this weakness was perfectly offset.
Even if it was offset, it couldn't hide Snorlax's vulnerability to physical attacks, and Eddie could slowly defeat it with powerful physical moves.
Even if Snorlax recovered quickly, Eddie's own Pokemon weren't weak. As long as Eddie maintained continuous offensive pressure, this Snorlax would still have a chance of being captured by him.
However, the existence of this move prevented Eddie from using this strategy to capture Snorlax.
Snorlax was extremely bulky and recovered quickly, so it could withstand many high-powered physical attacks, but Eddie's Pokemon couldn't.
Not to mention double damage - even regular damage might knock his Pokemon out immediately, and the doubled damage would guarantee that Eddie's Pokemon would definitely faint.
"So, forget about whether to capture it or not - it's still unclear whether I can even win the battle..."
There were two choices: leave immediately and return to challenge it when he became stronger, or attempt to capture Snorlax now.
But if he chose the latter option, only one question remained before Eddie: what method should he use to capture this Snorlax?
Eddie sat down on the belly of this extraordinarily powerful Snorlax, contemplating life like a philosopher.