Caterpie King (Part 2)

On Caterpie's Spirit Control Panel, an ability called Caterpie King appeared after Heart-to-Heart (Mark). It kept flickering, and the frequency of its flickering constantly changed.

Before the Arbok Leader fell, the Caterpie King entry mostly flickered out, disappearing for about a second before appearing for 0.2 or 0.3 seconds.

After the Arbok Leader fell, the flickering of the Caterpie King entry completely reversed. It appeared for a second, then disappeared for around 0.2 seconds.

As the Caterpie on the battlefield advanced triumphantly, the Caterpie King ability remained visible for longer and longer.

Then Mark suddenly discovered that he could touch it with his mind and open it.

Caterpie King: When all Caterpie believe you are their king, you are the Caterpie King. Within the Caterpie Territory, all Five-Dimensional Potential will increase slightly, and the body size limit will increase.

There was not much information about Caterpie King, only a two-sentence description, but its effects were simple and brutal.

All potential increased by one tier, while its body could continue growing further.

In other words, as long as his Caterpie could maintain its status as Caterpie King, it would receive all-around growth.

If this ability were converted into Points, increasing Strength, Constitution, and Agility Potential would require 3 Points.

Reaching E-rank in Mentality would require at least 2 Points.

Perception had already reached D-rank under the effects of the Run Away trait. Adding Points to it would probably require 3 Points or even more.

In other words, this Caterpie King was worth at least 6 Points, and that did not even include the increased body size limit.

Previously, under the effects of the Wiki Berry and its position as Caterpie Leader, that Caterpie Leader had grown to around 1.3 meters.

His Caterpie had likewise broken through its physical limits with the Wiki Berry's help, and it had gained the even more impressive title of Caterpie King. What would Caterpie's future size limit be? 1.5 meters, or perhaps 1.8 meters?

Deep in thought, Mark suddenly sensed something and looked up, meeting Caterpie's gaze ahead.

The nearby Ekans had basically been driven away. Logically, the Caterpie should have continued pursuing and expelling them, but they did not move.

Because his Caterpie was waiting for him.

That was right. This territorial war between the Caterpie and Ekans was not over yet. There would be time to consider the things on the Trainer Panel after the war ended.

With that thought, Mark quickly caught up to Caterpie.

Seeing Mark follow, Caterpie immediately turned its head back.

In an instant, as Caterpie turned its head, the halted Caterpie Group reacted in a chain reaction, once again spreading forward like an endless flood...

The battle that followed could no longer really be called a battle.

With the Arbok Leader's death, the Ekans Group seemed to have lost its spiritual pillar and did nothing but flee.

All the Caterpie had to do was find the Ekans that fled in the wrong direction and ran into dead ends, then drive them west or south.

Around several dozen minutes later, the Caterpie reclaimed their home and continued driving the Ekans a considerable distance westward.

After that, the Caterpie voluntarily sprayed foul liquid over the reclaimed territory, covering the acidic, rotten saliva the Ekans had previously sprayed and marking the territory anew.

The Caterpie were not very intelligent. Their territory-marking behavior was simply instinctive.

In fact, most Caterpie did not even remember where their territory actually was. They merely distinguished their own territory by scent.

And so, the Caterpie Territory expanded.

The Caterpie continued spraying foul liquid. They did not even realize when they had gone beyond the bounds of their own territory; they just kept marking territory, marking more territory.

If the original Caterpie Territory had been the size of a coin, then that coin was now the size of a tennis ball, having expanded by an entire circle.

Near evening, the Caterpie had nearly squeezed every last drop of foul liquid from their antennae before reluctantly returning toward the center of their territory.

Under Butterfree's guidance, Mark led several Leader's Guard and some Caterpie to clean up the battlefield.

Caterpie had no habit of dealing with the corpses of their own kind.

When the corpse of one of their kind appeared, Caterpie would feel sad, but they would not do anything with it.

To Caterpie, a dead companion was simply a dead companion. It did not hold any particularly special meaning.

But to Mark, simply leaving the bodies there clearly did not seem appropriate.

Not only did Mark gather the Caterpie corpses, he also collected the Ekans corpses left on the battlefield. In the end, he piled the Caterpie corpses together and gathered the Ekans and other Pokémon corpses into another pile.

As the sky gradually darkened, Mark led the Caterpie in gathering a large amount of dry firewood and clearing an open space.

Before long, two enormous bonfires blazed fiercely.

Caterpie were born afraid of fire and would normally keep far away from bonfires.

But upon seeing the corpses of their companions burning in the flames, many Caterpie gathered close and watched their burning kin.

Mark looked at the flames before him and said, "If Caterpie corpses appear in the future, do not just leave them behind for birds or other Pokémon to eat. Bury them within the Caterpie Territory. Although they are dead in a sense, they will still remain by the Caterpie Group's side. As for the Ekans burning on the other bonfire, return the ashes left after they burn to their habitat as well."

Not far away, Butterfree stared at Mark in utter confusion, unable to understand why Mark would go to such lengths for this.

Caterpie, however, nodded directly in agreement. "Hiss!"

In truth, Caterpie did not really understand the meaning of what Mark was doing either, but it trusted Mark unconditionally.

"Hiss!" "Hiss." "Hiss!" "Hiss." "Hiss!"

Following the Caterpie King's declaration, the other Caterpie who had been standing around blankly joined in agreement. They too unconditionally supported their king's views.

The Caterpie's cries rose and fell, becoming increasingly chaotic and louder.

Clearly, burning the Caterpie corpses was a very solemn matter, yet these Caterpie somehow cried out with a fervent, passionate feeling, as if something joyful had happened.

Mark shook his head helplessly, but then he suddenly noticed something.

Amid the Caterpie's cries, his Caterpie suddenly began dancing beside the bonfire.

Caterpie's dance seemed to contain some strange rhythm. Though it was a dance performed by a large bug, it did not look comical or discordant in the slightest. Instead, it gave off an ethereal and graceful feeling.

As Caterpie danced, the Caterpie around it that had been hissing noisily gradually quieted down and focused on their king's dance.

"Quiver Dance?"

Mark fell into thought, then shook his head.

He had seen Butterfree use Quiver Dance on the battlefield before. Compared to the dance Caterpie was performing now, it was not merely somewhat different—it was completely different.

"What kind of dance is this?"

Mark tried hard to search his memories, but he had no impression of such a dance at all. In the end, he looked toward Butterfree in the distance.

"Trainer, I don't know either."

Butterfree shook its head. Like Mark, it had never seen this dance before...