Chapter 2: Conquer the Younger Brother
"Kō dō~"
The Poliwag heard Ryū's words and happily twirled around before affectionately rubbing against the Weedle. Ryū looked at the tiny Pokémon wandering alone in the large forest and felt a bit worried. "Why are you here? Where are your mom and dad? Be careful not to get caught and eaten by other Pokémon!"
This concern was only because the Poliwag had just served as a cushion for him. Otherwise, Ryū wouldn't care about its life or death; he was barely surviving himself.
"Kō dō~"
The Poliwag explained to Ryū. "Oh, your parents took you to find food. You're a lucky kid. Hurry back now. I need to keep hiding. Don't wander off alone in the future." Ryū stopped worrying once he knew the Poliwag's parents were nearby.
"Kō dō."
"No."
"Kō dō?"
"There's no reason."
Ryū refused the Poliwag's invitation. How could he, a Weedle, join the Poliwag family? The Poliwag's parents were most likely Poliwhirl. The probability of them being Politoed or Poliwrath was low, as the former requires a King's Rock for a Link Trade, and the latter requires a Water Stone. Achieving these conditions in the wild isn't easy. But no matter which one, they are frogs. According to the food chain, frogs eat insects. Ryū had never seen a Pokémon eat another Pokémon in the anime, but he couldn't be sure of the situation here.
"Kō dō."
The Poliwag nodded and ran off. After a while, however, it came running back, holding a large pile of berries with its tail. It placed the berries, which formed a small mountain, in front of the bush where Ryū was hiding.
"Guā!!!"
A powerful cry echoed from a distance. As soon as the Poliwag heard the sound, it quickly ran back towards its parents. After the Poliwag left, Ryū peeked out. He glanced in the direction the Poliwag had gone and then looked at the pile of berries in front of him. He felt a little touched by the kind act.
This baby Poliwag is truly kind. Ryū emerged from the bush and frantically ate the various berries. There were sweet, sour, and astringent ones, and every combination in between. He loved them all, wildly eating everything he could. Just as he was finishing up, a scarred Weedle crawled out of a nearby bush. It looked like it had been attacked by other Pokémon. This Weedle was quite large, more than 1.5 times Ryū's size.
"Buzz..." (Help me...)
The Weedle saw Ryū and a light appeared in its eyes as it cried for help. It was lying on the ground, unable to crawl. If Ryū stood by, the Weedle would surely die.
Ryū reluctantly looked at the few remaining berries, gritted his teeth, and carried them over to the Weedle. He remembered that these berries could restore stamina. The Weedle gave Ryū a grateful look and weakly lifted its head to eat them. Ryū was worried that the Weedle would steal his other berries after it recovered, so he continued to eat the rest until he was full. He had to be careful; after all, this Weedle looked stronger than him.
However, Ryū was mistaken about one thing: Pokémon are not as evil as humans. How could they repay kindness with enmity towards their benefactor? After the Weedle found a bush to curl up and sleep, Ryū also found a safe place to hide and sleep.
When he woke up, his face showed surprise. The Weedle was lying right next to him, which gave Ryū a big fright. But seeing that the other Pokémon wasn't hostile, he breathed a sigh of relief. After observing for a while, he realized that the Weedle might have been protecting him while he was sleeping.
"I slept too soundly; I didn't even notice it approaching," he thought. "What's your name?" he asked. He figured wild Pokémon probably didn't have names, but he asked anyway. After all, it was his first time being a Pokémon, and he didn't know if they had their own names.
"Buzz~" (No name.)
"Then why don't you stick with me from now on?" Ryū wasn't surprised by the answer and extended an invitation.
"Buzz~"
The Weedle nodded, its expression showing happiness. It then moved the horn on its head toward Ryū. It had always acted alone and felt lonely. Now, with a companion, it was very happy.
"Then we need to have names. You can call me Ryū, and you'll be called Kikō." Ryū looked at the Weedle in front of him, roughly understood its meaning, and also moved his horn forward. He gave it the name because its body color was lighter than that of a typical Weedle. The touching of their horns was how Weedle express friendliness.
"Buzz~" (Okay.)
"Can you climb trees?" Ryū asked. He thought that with its build, it should be able to climb trees. Sure enough, Kikō nodded and looked at Ryū with a puzzled expression, remembering that it could climb trees since birth.
"Let's go, we'll finish those berries, then go up the tree. You carry me; I don't have enough strength."
"Buzz~" (Okay.)
Kikō nodded. Next, Ryū led Kikō to clean up the unfinished berries that the Poliwag had brought. After that, they continued to challenge that tree. This time, Ryū climbed in front, and Kikō pushed him from behind, which saved him a lot of effort. Finally, Ryū reached the top of the tree trunk and witnessed the glory of the tree.
He realized that there were Bug-type Pokémon on almost every tree in this forest. For example, there was a fat Caterpie on the adjacent tree. On their tree, there was another Weedle about the same size as Kikō.
"Buzz~" (Ryū, should we fight it?)
After Kikō got onto the tree trunk, it also saw the nearby Weedle. The other Weedle was staring at them vigilantly. Ryū thought for a moment, looked at Kikō, and then looked at the other Weedle. He then carefully observed the situation on the large trees around them. He roughly understood what was going on: territorial awareness. One insect occupied a tree, treating the tree and its berries as its own property.
What Kikō meant was asking Ryū if they should seize the other Pokémon's territory.
"No rush, let's observe first," Ryū pondered and shook his head. These small Pokémon like Caterpie and Weedle don't have very high intelligence yet. They lack the concept and awareness of teamwork and only want to enjoy everything by themselves. Only when they evolve into Butterfree and Beedrill do they gain the concept of a colony. However, Ryū didn't have to wait until the Beedrill stage to form his own force. He could form a small Weedle team now.
With this thought, Ryū crawled toward the unfamiliar Weedle.
"Hello."
"Buzz~" (Leave!)
Ryū was stunned for a moment when he heard the other Pokémon's voice. The voice sounded like a female's to his ears. "We can cooperate and occupy all the large trees in this area."
"Buzz!" (Leave!)
Ryū felt that the Weedle was too nervous to communicate properly. So, he decided to team up with Kikō to teach her a lesson and make her calm down.
"Ptooey!"
Ryū shot a long, thin thread of silk, trapping the Weedle. The other Pokémon immediately used String Shot and shot it towards Ryū, but he simply retreated a bit and dodged it. On the other side, Kikō had already rushed up and bit the Weedle on the head.
"Bug Bite... Kikō's level isn't low. Why hasn't it evolved yet?" Ryū was a little surprised to see Kikō use this move. Weedle can only learn a total of 3 moves: the naturally learned Poison Sting and String Shot, and the later-learned Bug Bite, which is learned around level 9. Generally, Weedle are ready to evolve once they reach this level.
The other Weedle was clearly not as high-level as Kikō. Being fought two-on-one, she was quickly defeated. Finally, she lay on the branch in despair, quietly waiting for the two of her kind to come and kick her off the tree or eat her.
"Can you listen to me properly now?" Ryū had no intention of eating her; he just approached to talk.
"Buzz~" (What do you want to say?)
"Join our team, and in the future... there will be lots and lots of berries! And you won't be bullied by other members of your kind!" Ryū decided to use a simpler explanation.
"Buzz~" (Really?)
The Weedle's eyes lit up, and it seemed to be almost drooling.
"Really," Ryū nodded. The Weedle immediately stopped resisting and nodded, indicating her willingness to join Ryū's small team.
"Then let's reintroduce ourselves. My name is Ryū, this is Kikō. You need a name, too. I'll give you one."
"Buzz~" (Mm!)
"You'll be called... Suzume." Ryū stared at this female Weedle for a moment and found that her two small eyes and the small horn on her head were quite delicate. He thought she was probably pretty among the Weedle population, so he gave her the name 'Suzume.'
"Buzz~" (Okay~)
Suzume nodded, then came forward and pressed her horn close to the two of them. Ryū and Kikō both lowered their heads and touched horns with her. The three of them were now a small group of companions.
"We'll stay on this tree for the next few days. Eat as much as you can. Finish all the Leppa Berries on this tree! Don't waste your appetite on leaves; eat more berries! Once they're gone, we'll go seize other insects' territory."
"Okay!" x2
Under Ryū's leadership, the three insects frantically ate the Leppa Berries on the tree. The number of Leppa Berries was very large. It would take at least 10 days for three small insects of their size to finish them all.
And changes happened quickly. That night, waves of white light emanated from Kikō's body. Suzume was startled and hid behind the smaller Ryū, while after the white light on Kikō dissipated, it turned into a pupa: a Kakuna.
Kakuna is a pale yellow, pupa-shaped Pokémon with a rounded head and black triangular eyes, and it has sickle-shaped arms in the middle of its body. Although in the game, Kakuna only has the defensive move Harden and seems to have no offensive power, this is not the case. Even as a pupa, it can still move its body slightly. If an enemy attacks, it will extend its Poison Sting to counterattack.
"Kikō?" Suzume looked at the large yellow mass in front of her with some uncertainty.
"Yes, that's Kikō."
Compared to Suzume, Ryū felt more shock. A typical Kakuna is only 0.6 meters tall, but Kikō was already 0.5 meters tall when it was a Weedle. After evolving, Kikō was a full meter tall! This wasn't a Kakuna; this was clearly a giant cone!
'What kind of forest is this?' Ryū turned his head blankly to look at the vast forest. He found that all the Pokémon in this forest had builds that exceeded his understanding.