When Caterpie Learned Baby-Doll Eyes

The Caterpie Leader struggled to support its body, trying to rise from its limp state. Unfortunately, it had no strength left. Even after exhausting all its strength, it only managed to lift its head slightly.

Then, less than two breaths later, its head fell back down again.

Everything was over...

The Caterpie Leader knew that its position would be taken away. After that, it might be killed, or perhaps driven from this territory. It would evolve into Kakuna, then into Butterfree, and fly south...

The Caterpie Leader lay limply on the ground in despair, awaiting judgment from fate.

Yet after quite a while, the other Caterpie still made no move. It only heard that Caterpie's heavy breathing gradually weaken, followed by a rustling crawling sound. It seemed to have left.

It just left like that?

It forced its eyes open and looked around. There was nothing moving in its blurry vision. That Caterpie really did seem to have left.

Could it be that the Caterpie would not take away its position as leader?

Or was that Caterpie planning to rest for a while before coming back to claim the leader's position?

The Caterpie Leader's thoughts were a mess.

Then, as the Caterpie Leader continued thinking, the rustling sound came again...

It heard the Caterpie crawling, and beyond that, it heard human footsteps and voices.

"Looks like it was hurt pretty badly. No idea how long it'll take to recover. Forget it, I'll use the Tackle Training Method on this Caterpie Leader first..."

The human voice drew closer and closer, and a warm palm came to rest on its head.

Something seemed to pass through that human's palm and into its mind.

It tried to resist this unfamiliar energy, only to find it impossibly slippery. In the blink of an eye, it bypassed its resistance and rushed deep into its mind.

The Caterpie Leader saw a flash of white light in its mind.

A figure appeared within the white light. It was the human who had been traveling with that outsider Caterpie these past few days.

The human said, "Next, I'll teach you some Tackle techniques. I'll also teach you some of Caterpie's weak points. I hope that in the next battle, you can lead the Caterpie Group and target those weaknesses properly. Oh, and I saw the trap you made earlier. It gave me an idea for a little trick, so I'll teach you that too."

"?"

The Caterpie Leader stared blankly at the figure in its mind.

It could understand human language.

But what the human had just told it was completely wrong. Wasn't that human the Caterpie's partner? Why would he tell it about their weaknesses and ask it to lead the Caterpie Group against them?

Had it misunderstood?

Or was it hallucinating?

That Caterpie had seemed to hit its head many times. It still felt a little dizzy...

As the Caterpie Leader continued to ponder, the figure before it gradually vanished, and it entered a strange illusion.

The it in the illusion was still itself, but its body was no longer under its control.

After that, the Caterpie Leader found its body charging into a wooden stake, striking it again and again...

It witnessed a Tackle like a cannonball (Power-Up Tackle), a Tackle that broke through tangled silk threads (Adamant Penetrating Strike), and also the attacks that had defeated it—the Caterpie's Tackle (Instant Strike) + Tackle (Seven-Hit Combo) *7...

Mark withdrew his hand.

Just like the Leader's Guard before, the Caterpie Leader's body trembled slightly for a while before settling down. It looked like it had fallen asleep too.

Mark said thoughtfully, "From what I can tell, the Caterpie Leader is a little smarter than the Leader's Guard and those ordinary Caterpie. About as smart as you."

"Hiss!"

Caterpie nodded repeatedly. It had also thought the Caterpie Leader was rather clever—perhaps even a little smarter than itself.

Thump!

Caterpie's forehead throbbed with pain as it kept nodding. Mark had flicked it on the head.

"Hiss?"

Mark looked at Caterpie's aggrieved expression. "Do you know why I flicked your head?"

Caterpie covered its head and shook it, looking at Mark in confusion. Then it suddenly thought of something and looked at the unconscious Caterpie Leader.

"Hiss, hiss, hisss."

It had misjudged the Caterpie Leader's strength and attacked it too many times, leaving the Caterpie Leader badly injured.

As a result, it would take some time for the Caterpie Leader to recover.

And that would slow down its training progress. In Mark's words, it would also slow down the rate at which it gained that Experience Bar thing...

Thump!

Caterpie was flicked on the head again.

Mark said with a cold expression, "Misjudging the Caterpie Leader's strength and hitting it a little too hard was indeed a mistake, but I wouldn't flick you over something like that. Think again. What else did you do wrong?"

"Hiss..."

Caterpie thought for a while, then shook its head. Other than hitting the Caterpie Leader a little too hard, it did not think there had been anything lacking in its performance lately.

Mark glared at Caterpie and said, "When you were facing the Spike Catapult Trap, we entered the Heart-to-Heart state as our gazes met and communicated.

Why were you so determined to use the Composite Tackle technique, Tackle: Infinite Instant Strike? Didn't you know that if it failed, even the best possible outcome would be being severely injured by the trap?"

"Cater, cater, caterpie."

Caterpie kept explaining, feeling extremely wronged.

First, it believed it could succeed. Second, Mark had already agreed at the time.

"Was that agreement? The trap had already been triggered. Was I supposed to keep explaining things to you in that Heart-to-Heart state and try to persuade you? What if that Heart-to-Heart state suddenly vanished and time returned to normal? You'd have been turned into a pincushion on the spot..."

As Mark spoke, his face reddened, and he looked furious.

It was the first time Caterpie had seen Mark make such a frightening expression. It took several steps back in a row, but suddenly sensed something very warm.

"Cater, cater?"

Was Mark worried about it? Did he care about it?

Caterpie asked Mark, only to see his expression grow even more irritated.

So it quickly moved close to Mark and affectionately rubbed its head against his pant leg.

"Get lost!"

Mark kicked Caterpie away from his pant leg, but the kicked-away Caterpie nimbly bounced back up, climbed onto his shoulder, and affectionately rubbed its head and body against his neck.

Mark pushed Caterpie away several times, but it always hurried back over. In the end, he gave up.

With a stern expression, Mark said, "Just this once. There won't be a next time. You may feel that the Composite Tackle technique can succeed, but that feeling might not be accurate. From now on, when facing genuine danger, you must choose a safer approach. Understand?"

"Cater!"

Caterpie was still affectionately rubbing against his neck.

Mark pushed Caterpie a little farther away again and said with a look of disgust, "Enough. That won't work on me. I really don't know what kind of personality you have. If you're brave, then a few days ago, when you faced the Caterpie Group, you didn't even dare fight back. But if you're timid, then one choice meant suffering at most a minor injury, while the other risked death—and you chose the latter."

Mark glanced sideways at Caterpie and saw it wearing an incomparably blissful expression.

Clearly, everything he had just said to Caterpie had been wasted.

Mark let out a soft sigh. Just as he was about to put Caterpie down and give it a proper lecture, he suddenly noticed something.

He crouched down and picked up a thumb-sized blue fruit shaped like an orange from the ground.

"This fruit's appearance... an Oran Berry?"

Mark brought the fruit to his nose and sniffed it, then placed it against the red antenna on Caterpie's forehead and had Caterpie help inspect it...