Cherreads

Chapter 94 - Chapter 94 – Family Under Stormy Skies

[Butterfree]

[Type: Bug + Flying]

[Gender: Female]

[Potential: 69.96%]

[Level: 12.01%]

[Abilities: Compound Eyes / 0.21%] [Hidden Ability: Tinted Lens / 0.21%]

[Known Moves: (Confusion / 3.14%) (String Shot / 5.15%) (Gust / 1.13%) (Bug Bite / 1.29%) (Supersonic / 0.91%) (Poison Powder / 0.93%) (Stun Spore / 0.92%) (Sleep Powder / 1.05%)]

Caterpie had evolved into Butterfree, and its potential had increased to 69.96%.

"…Huh?" Reiji froze when he saw Butterfree's stats.

That number was going to drive his OCD crazy. He badly wanted to erase the decimal and round it up with a nice zero — that would be satisfying.

But sadly, the proficiency panel wasn't something you could edit. You could only look — which was extremely frustrating.

Still, the evolution was great news. Even if it hadn't broken 70%, 69.96% was very close. And now that it was Level 12, too… yeah, that Beedrill honey was seriously potent. Both level and potential had gone up by a lot. If only he had more of that honey…

Especially for Bug-types like Caterpie, now that it had evolved into Butterfree, it finally had a decent way to defend itself. Its main food source had also changed from leaves to flower nectar.

As expected, its Ability had changed too — from Shed Skin to Compound Eyes and Tinted Lens.

But the most important thing was the new moves. Compared to its time as a Caterpie, this Butterfree was like a whole new Pokémon.

Butterfree's wings were coated with powder scales — the source of its three powder moves: Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, and Poison Powder. These were its main weapons.

The scales also made the wings water-resistant. No matter how heavy the rain, Butterfree would still be fluttering around gathering nectar.

Besides the powders, it had two STAB moves:

Gust (Flying-type, 40 power)

Bug Bite (Bug-type, 60 power)

And it also had Supersonic, a pretty useful Normal-type disruption move.

[Supersonic: Emits a special soundwave that causes the opponent to become confused.]

After reviewing the panel, Reiji closed it and reached out to gently pet Butterfree's soft, sticky-sweet blue head.

This evolution had been a big surprise — and the proficiency panel was the icing on the cake.

With Butterfree on his team, his chances of surviving this deserted island adventure had definitely improved.

"Did you save us, Butterfree?" Reiji was already getting ready to shower it with praise.

"Muyiiyii~!" Butterfree nodded eagerly. If it hadn't arrived when it did, Reiji would've been pinched in half by that Krabby.

"Really? You're amazing, Butterfree! You hungry? I'll cook up something nice for you," Reiji said, rubbing Butterfree's head even more affectionately. The more he looked at this Pokémon, the more he liked it. He could barely stop himself from hugging it to death.

"Muyiiyii~!" Butterfree nodded frantically. It had been starving, and would've woken Reiji up itself if Poliwag hadn't stopped it.

"I'll start cooking now. Food's coming soon," Reiji said as he set Butterfree down — and didn't forget to check on his other MVP, Poliwag.

He crouched and stroked the Poliwag by his feet, gently asking, "Poliwag, are you hurt?"

"Yoyo," Poliwag shook its head, saying it was fine — just really hungry.

"Let me see." Reiji picked it up and looked it over thoroughly. There were no external wounds, but its tail had some blood on it.

Probably recoil damage from slapping Krabby's hard shell too many times.

A few uses of Refresh during dinner should patch it right up.

After checking on Poliwag, Reiji glanced over at the water bucket where Magikarp and Wishiwashi were peeking out — which reminded him of the other little guy: Krabby.

"Poliwag, where's Krabby? Did you see him?" Reiji asked as he searched around for the little crab.

"Yoyo," Poliwag held its breath and waddled over to the pile of knocked-out Krabby. It dragged the little one out with its mouth, then quickly jumped into the bucket to rinse its mouth — just in case any lingering powder knocked it out too.

"Krabby?" Reiji saw the powder on the small crab's shell and immediately switched to caution mode.

After being knocked out once, he was taking no chances. He poured water over it using a plastic basin to wash the powder off, then placed it in another tub to let it wake up naturally.

Next, he pulled out Poké Balls and captured the three Krabby that had ambushed them. Time to check their stats.

[Krabby]

[Type: Water]

[Gender: Female]

[Potential: 22%]

[Level: 11.63%]

[Ability: Shell Armor / 4.62%]

[Known Moves: (Leer / 0.93%) (Water Gun / 3.51%) (Harden / 3.87%) (Metal Claw / 2.34%) (Dig / 2.98%)]

[Krabby]

[Type: Water]

[Gender: Female]

[Potential: 25%]

[Level: 12.33%]

[Krabby]

[Type: Water]

[Gender: Female]

[Potential: 19%]

[Level: 11.39%]

That was enough. All three were female, with mediocre potential, standard abilities and moves, and no signs of Egg Moves.

Apparently, he'd caught the entire harem of the Krabby boss. No wonder it might come for revenge — he'd taken all its wives.

And it seemed Krabby were polygamous. The stronger the crab, the more mates. Poor little Krabby didn't have any — no wonder it was so downcast.

After checking the three Krabby, Reiji boiled water and cooked them.

Then he brought up the stat panels for the two Carvanha he caught today, and the Magikarp.

"…Right, the Magikarp…" Reiji muttered. When he reached the shore, the Magikarp had already flopped away, leaving only his fishing rod on the sand. He reeled that in and returned to the treehouse.

[Carvanha]

[Type: Water + Dark]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 25%]

[Level: 8.92%]

[Ability: Rough Skin / 4.55%]

[Known Moves: (Leer / 1.11%) (Bite / 3.13%) (Rage / 2.34%)]

[Carvanha]

[Type: Water + Dark]

[Gender: Female]

[Potential: 23%]

[Level: 9.62%]

Nothing impressive here either. Both Carvanha had ordinary potential, moves, and abilities. They were food.

Still, Caterpie had evolved today — worth celebrating. And he had to properly thank his MVPs: Poliwag and Krabby.

Might as well use this as a chance to introduce Krabby to Butterfree, too.

Dinner was ready soon, and now that Butterfree was back, the dining group grew by one.

Around a square patch of tattered cloth serving as their table sat Reiji, Poliwag, Krabby, and Butterfree — each facing a different side.

Reiji, Poliwag, and Butterfree ate Krabby meat. Little Krabby ate Carvanha.

Earlier, Reiji had asked if it wanted to go inside a Poké Ball to avoid dinner.

But Krabby shook its head. It had no fondness for those toxic kin. Even if Reiji wanted to eat it, it wouldn't resist.

It was ready to die when they met — everything it had now belonged to Reiji and Poliwag. They'd given it a reason to live.

They'd taught it that life wasn't only about fighting, stealing food, claiming territory, or breeding rights.

Life could mean sitting around a meal with friends, sharing joy and warmth.

If Reiji didn't care, he'd have handed it over to the boss to vent his anger — not protected it.

If Poliwag didn't care, it wouldn't have yelled at it so fiercely. Reiji was Poliwag's everything, and Krabby had failed to protect him — it had let its big bro down.

"Butterfree, this is our new teammate — Krabby," Reiji said, noticing Krabby wasn't bothered by them eating its species. He introduced it to Butterfree.

"Muyiiyii~," Butterfree chirped to Krabby in greeting.

Though it still had a Krabby claw in its mouth, and was drooling while staring at Krabby's own pincers, it still welcomed the newcomer. Somehow, that felt weird.

Wait… it finally remembered that time Reiji had scared it using Caterpie's head.

Blushing slightly, it stuck out its tongue awkwardly. Without noticing, it had already become part of this family — and developed a pretty thick skin.

Back when it was fighting over honey, it had no mercy for its own kind either. Food was food. It was a true foodie at heart.

So now, trying to act all brotherly felt a bit… double-faced. It was embarrassed.

"What's wrong, Krabby? Not happy with the food?" Reiji noticed its strange mood and tapped its shell.

"Ku-chi, ku-chi…" Krabby couldn't meet his eyes. It glanced at Poliwag, then lowered its head to nibble on its fish.

"Poliwag?" Reiji immediately picked up on the glance and questioned Poliwag. "Did you say something to stress Krabby out?"

"Yoyo!" Poliwag shook its head fast — being misunderstood here would be bad.

It quickly hopped over and patted Krabby's big claw with its tail. "Yoyo. C'mon, man, I was kinda harsh. Don't take it personally."

"Just train harder, get stronger — then stronger again — and protect Reiji properly. Oh, and don't piss off lil' sis Butterfree. You have to call her big sis. She'll mess you up."

Poliwag whispered all this into Krabby's ear.

Butterfree watched this and lost her appetite — her smug expression said she knew they were talking about her.

"Ku-chi, ku-chi…" Krabby took the advice seriously and clipped off a chunk of its fish, placing it in front of Butterfree as a greeting.

"Ku-chi, ku-chi. I'm new here. I've got a lot to learn. Please take care of me, big sis…"

"Muyiiyii~," Butterfree was instantly delighted. She side-eyed Poliwag and gave a pleased nod. Now that's more like it.

This little bro knew how to talk. She was feeling very pampered. From now on, Krabby was under her protection.

"Yoyo!" Poliwag, for some reason, was really annoyed at her smug little face.

"All right, eat up," Reiji said. He couldn't understand their chatter — Pokémon language was basically Morse code to him.

"Poliwag, remember to use Refresh a few more times on your tail injury."

"Yoyo," Poliwag had almost forgotten. It immediately cast Refresh to heal up.

[Poliwag]

[Type: Water]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 33.72%]

[Level: 15.42%]

[Ability: Damp / 1.13%] [Hidden Ability: Swift Swim / 2.53%]

[Known Moves: (Mind Reader / 0.21%) (Ice Ball / 0.31%) (Refresh / 3.11%) (Hypnosis / 0.82%) (Double Slap / 7.32%) (Water Gun / 9.96%) (Water Sport / 3.21%)]

It seemed there was no need to wait for tomorrow — Poliwag had already reached Level 15. Ten more levels and it would evolve at 25.

Water Gun was nearly at 10% mastery, and Double Slap had broken 7%. Refresh had just gone up from the healing earlier too.

After checking Poliwag's panel, Reiji opened Krabby's next.

[Krabby]

[Type: Water]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 56%]

[Level: 7.69%]

[Ability: Hyper Cutter / 0.62%] [Hidden Ability: Sheer Force / 0.53%]

[Known Moves: (Hammer Arm / 0.22%) (Leer / 0.43%) (Water Gun / 3.91%) (Harden / 5.14%) (Metal Claw / 0.84%)]

The little guy had gotten a lot of experience from the afternoon's battles and was nearly at Level 8.

Its Water Gun proficiency had nearly doubled, and it even learned a new move — Metal Claw — likely picked up during a clash with another Krabby.

Its Harden was unusually high — over 5%. Probably from constantly being bullied in the past. That was a rough life.

After closing the panel, Reiji noticed the three were now happily chatting together. He let them be.

As for the two "useless" fish — Magikarp and Wishiwashi — they were still munching on grass.

After dinner, he treated his foot injury. It had started bleeding again from all the movement and was already scabbing over.

Seeing that, Butterfree remembered how Reiji had gotten that injury — stealing berries to cure her fever.

She immediately flew over. "Muyiiyii~…"

"It's okay, it's healing," Reiji said with a wry smile. "You were worth it. If it were just a regular Caterpie, I wouldn't have bothered."

BOOM… BOOM…

Suddenly, blue lightning flashed across the night sky.

Reiji looked up. "Looks like it's gonna rain tonight."

He returned the silly ones to their Poké Balls and called out to the others.

"Poliwag, Butterfree, Krabby — time to get inside, it's gonna pour."

"Yoyo…"

"Ku-chi…"

"Muyiiyii~…"

[End of chapter]

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