Chapter 4: The Unicorn Beetle's Strengthening Route
Ryū did not watch Suzume eat the Caterpie. The mere thought of that scene was gruesome, and he did not dare to look.
'I might know what the heck this world is,' Ryū thought, standing alone on a branch and gazing thoughtfully at a nearby lake.
Based on his observations over the past few days, he discovered that this Pokémon world was very different from the one he knew. In short, it was a "dark version" of the Pokémon world. Not only did the Pokémon eat each other, but each of them had physiques far exceeding the average listed in the Pokédex.
The forest itself was incredibly lush, as if he were in ancient times. He didn't have much of a concept before, but now comparing things to his own height, he found that the shortest nearby tree was over 10 meters tall with a diameter of over 5 meters. This might not seem like much in his previous world, but this was the world of Pokémon. In the anime, the trees that appeared were generally not tall—at most about 5 or 6 meters, and many were only 3 or 4.
Based on these signs, an idea popped into Ryū's mind. Was it possible that the Pokémon world he had arrived in was the one he knew, just not the peaceful and tranquil Alliance Era, but the war-torn Monster Era? Or even a more ancient era? The Chaos Era before that was absolutely impossible. Based on what he had seen so far, Ryū thought the possibility of it being the Monster Era was greater. After all, he had seen Berries like Leppa Berry in the game's Pokédex before; they were Berries that had always existed since the Alliance Era, and their appearance hadn't changed at all. It wasn't likely they had looked exactly the same hundreds of millions of years ago in ancient times.
'If it's the Monster Era, then everything makes sense.'
Ryū withdrew his gaze and looked behind him. Suzume had finished eating and was lying on the branch with her eyes closed, seemingly planning to take a nap. Seeing this, Ryū ate berries on the tree until he was full, then found two leaves to cover himself and went to sleep. The life of a Pokémon was so boring: eat, sleep, then eat after sleeping, always on the path of vigorous growth.
But when Ryū woke up again, he felt like the sky had fallen. Suzume had actually evolved into a Kakuna! This also meant that his three-bug team had once again become a one-bug team.
Just as Ryū was hesitating whether to go and subdue a subordinate by himself, a thin Weedle suddenly climbed up, panting. When it climbed up and saw there was already a Weedle and a Kakuna on the trunk, it was startled. It didn't have the strength to go back down for the time being, and jumping down directly would kill it. Having no other option, the thin Weedle had to assume a battle stance, intending to scare Ryū away. But its body was trembling, and it seemed very scared.
'Its height is only 0.35, it must be stunted growth in the Monster Era.' Ryū had been in this world for a week, and this was the first time he had seen a Weedle thinner than himself.
'Even a mosquito is meat!' Ryū looked at this weak Weedle and revealed a wicked smile.
A minute later, Ryū gained another scarred subordinate, named Shiro! The reason was that this weak Weedle had a big, hard horn on its head, but this horn was pure white!
After some investigation and questioning, Ryū found that Shiro's poison content was very low, which might be related to it having mainly eaten ordinary shrub leaves before. Although shrub leaves were easy to eat and found everywhere, the trace amounts of toxins they contained were not as much as those in tree leaves, which didn't have a good effect on accumulating Poison-type energy within the Weedle. This point also made Ryū suddenly realize something. No wonder the Weedle's Pokédex entry and instinct were to eat leaves. It turned out to be for absorbing the trace toxins within the leaves to enhance the power of Poison-type attacks. Although eating berries was more nutritious and could speed up physical growth, it was not very conducive to the development of the Poison type.
Before, Shiro was thin and lacked stamina, unable to climb trees, so it could only eat shrub leaves below, like Ryū did before, to survive.
"Feel free to eat the berries on this tree!"
"Buzz! (Thank you, Ryū!)"
As soon as Shiro heard what Ryū said, tears of gratitude flowed down its face. It ate a sweet and juicy Leppa Berry while shedding tears. In its understanding, it couldn't yet comprehend the concept of companions, only knowing that this was Ryū's territory, but Ryū was willing to share the food with it. So it was very grateful to Ryū. From now on, whoever Ryū told it to attack, it would attack!
Ryū didn't pay attention to Shiro's gratitude. Instead, he was planning the configuration of his future team in his mind. Now he already knew the two paths for strengthening a Weedle. One was eating berries. Taking this path was like a Body Cultivator in fantasy novels; their physique would grow incredibly strong, they would have great strength in the future, physical attack skills would be higher, and they would be more resistant to attacks. The other path was to rely on instinct to devour leaves, or even poisonous creatures. This was like a Magic Cultivator in fantasy novels; accumulating Poison-type energy within the body to enhance Poison-type damage.
For a Pokémon surviving in the wild, the former path was clearly more suitable for survival. Most Pokémon judge an opponent's strength by its size; the larger your size, the more likely you are to scare the opponent away. This is especially true for Beedrill, which excels in physical attack and speed. Beedrill as a Pokémon is definitely not weak; its base stat distribution is considered unconventional. If you wanted a Beedrill to develop in a balanced way, that would be putting the cart before the horse. The reason why wild Beedrill are not strong in individual combat is partly because they cannot make more intelligent combat decisions without a Trainer's command, and another point is probably because they ate too many leaves as growth material in the past and went down the wrong path.
'From now on, everyone will eat berries!'
Ryū had already made up his mind. He wanted to lead his subordinates to become the overlords of this forest, monopolize a large area of berries, and cultivate a tribe of muscular Beedrill! Having finished thinking, he had used a lot of brainpower.
'I'll eat, eat, eat, eat!'
After eating, Ryū lay down and slept with Shiro and Suzume, who had turned into a Kakuna. After waking up, it was already evening. Suzume and Shiro were still sleeping. Ryū felt like he had grown a bit taller, and something inside him seemed about to gush out.
"Let's check the stats."
[Weedle]
[Potential]: White
[Level]: Lv. 8
[Type]: Bug/Poison
[Ability]: Run Away
[Height]: 0.45m
[Weight]: 4.5kg
[Skills]: Poison Sting, String Shot
"Hmm, I really am a chubby bug."
Ryū first looked at his height and weight and nodded with satisfaction. He had finally somewhat made up for his innate deficiencies; not quite reaching the average line, but not far off either.
"Does this feeling mean I'm about to evolve? Not yet, Shiro is too weak. A single bug can't possibly protect me."
Ryū suppressed the surging feeling within his body. This feeling wasn't intense yet and could still be suppressed. He decided to accumulate more and strive to evolve after reaching the average line. This way, after getting through the Kakuna stage, he would be able to reach the average level of a Beedrill.