(AN: I AM BAAACKKKK... For a few days only. After that, exams. What a letdown. With only 2 hours of sleep in the last 40 hours, I present to you this chapter!)
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CRACKKKK...
The clash of Beedrill's stinger and Metapod's newly learnt Iron Defense resulted in both the stinger and the cocoon cracking.
After the stinger had hit his body, Metapod immediately used a stabilised Bug Bite attack on the stinger, cracking it further while both of them flew back from the impact.
"BEEEE..."
The attacking Beedrill's pained screams broke Yellow out of her mind, and the other Pokémon just stopped at the scream. She paled at seeing so many Beedrill at once.
"METAPOD!"
Hearing Ash's concerned shout near her, she turned her head to see him cradling Metapod's cracked body in his arms with tears falling out of his eyes on Metapod.
"I am sorry I am sorry I am sorry..."
"Meetttaaaa..."
Hearing the panicked voices of Ash and his Pokémon, she was horrified, thinking that they had nearly sacrificed themselves to protect her. She wanted to help them; she could heal Metapod, but...
No. Shaking herself out from her uncle's words to never use that ability in front of others, she leaned her body to move to Metapod's prone body. It did not matter that they would freak out after seeing her use that ability. She did not want anybody else to lose somebody dear to them ever again. Especially the ones who saved her.
The Beedrill started moving towards them with their stingers poised to attack them as retaliation for their comrade's condition. This action caused the other Pokémon to start attacking them to protect themselves and as a return favour for hurting one of their own.
Yellow barely reached Metapod when she started using her healing powers on him to heal him while closing her eyes to bear with the pain in her limbs. Ash noticed the viridian colour on her hand when he saw her reaching out to Metapod, who was using Iron Defense to stall for time to keep living longer. The green colored power mixed with the blue colour of his aura, which he was unconsciously using on Metapod to strengthen him.
Now, as we know that Metapod generally remains motionless, rebuilding its cells for its evolution, something happened then. Ash's aura rejuvenated Metapod's cells, Yellow's healing powers healed the damage caused to the cellular structure, binding them with an increase in cellular mitosis, and Metapod's use of Iron Defense to strengthen his body resulted in him meeting all the conditions for evolution.
Ash, Yellow, Ronin, and all of the Pokémon in the clearing were stunned and distracted by Metapod's body glowing in a bluish-white light that bathed the entire clearing in light. The cracks in the shell spread from top to bottom on the facial side. A body with the same glow as the light came out of the crack, with the glowing shell folding backwards. The glowing body expanded and contracted at places to form a different body with the shell dissolving into a shining liquid, which stretched out to form two wide and slim wings. The glow stopped to show the world the Pokémon that formed.
The Pokémon had two body segments and four light blue legs. The upper pair of its legs resembles small, three-fingered hands, while the lower pair resembles long, digit-less feet. It had two black antennae, a light blue snout with two fangs underneath, and large, red compound eyes. Its two pairs of wings were white with black venation. The two oval scales on its lower wings were white.
The Pokédex beeped.
"Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon. A Bug/Flying dual-type. The wings of Butterfree are coated with poisonous scales that easily fall off continuously as it flies. If inhaled, it results in several status conditions. Using this powder, it will defend Caterpie from bird Pokémon. This powder also repels water, enabling it to fly and gather honey even in the rain. Butterfree can use its sensitive antenna to detect the odours of blooming flowers six miles (ten kilometres) from its nest in search of nectar, which it carries with the hairs of its legs. Butterfree are found in temperate forests and jungles. It tends to accidentally scatter highly toxic dust while sleeping.
This Butterfree is Male with the ability Compound Eyes and has learnt the following new moves: Gust, Confusion, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, and Stun Spore."
"FREE!"
"Butterfree..."
Ash, Yellow, and his Pokémon were stunned and in awe of the new appearance of their friend.
Butterfree looked at the Beedrill, who, after recovering from the light of evolution, started to continue with their attack on the group. With a glint in his eyes, he flapped his wings to let out a small, blue-colored cloud of powder, upon which he used Gust to spread out among the Beedrill.
The Beedrill tried to stop and get away from the blue powder, but the Gust and Compound Eyes-boosted powder hit all of them, making them fall asleep while being blown away from the group.
The group watched in silence as the bodies of asleep Beedrill fell on the ground.
While the rest of the group and the Butterfree were looking at the falling Beedrill bodies, Ronin was looking at the Butterfree with wide eyes. He had been in the Viridian Forest for a long time, so he had seen a fair share of Butterfree, but he could say with certainty that this Butterfree was more special than the others he had seen. The Butterfree was a little bit bigger than the others. He was not able to see it before, but he was now able to see it. The wings on Butterfree looked normal at first glance, but when he looked at them from this angle, the wings looked stronger with a faint silvery shine to them, with faint tints of blue and viridian on the black venations. The Gust also looked stronger than what he had seen from the others.
'If I had this Butterfree, I would be...'
Shaking the thoughts from his head to prevent further dishonouring himself, he looked at the group who were now surrounding and probably congratulating him on his evolution if the pattern on the wings was anything to go by. Suddenly, the trainer of the group of Pokémon separated himself from the others and went back to the tree where he was cradling his Butterfree, then Metapod, when he was injured by the Beedrill. Confused, he looked at the tree when the trainer reached it.
The sight made him kick himself mentally and be glad that he had discarded the name of Samurai. He had completely forgotten about the prone body of the girl in the other trainer's care. He was frozen to his spot as he saw the still unnamed trainer from Pallet Town reach for the shivering girl and hug her while caressing her head and speaking some words to her that seemed to stop her shivering. She must have been scared by the entire ordeal with the criminals and the Beedrill.
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After assuring her that it would be okay, Yellow looked at Ash with fear in her eyes. Remembering the glow of her hands, he thought about his ability and his initial thoughts about it. He was going to ask her about that, but seeing her face, he decided not to ask about it.
Softening his face, he said to her, "You must have been scared to see Metapod like that after he was hit by the Beedrill, right? With you reaching out your hand as well, that must have helped him to get the push required to evolve into Butterfree. Thank you, Yellow, for being here with us. I will ensure that you are not hurt anymore, okay?"
By this time, Yellow had stopped shaking and was looking at him with wide eyes before closing them and leaning against him with a faint smile on her face as if relieved.
Cough...cough...
Aaand the moment got ruined by Ronin's fake coughs.
"As much as I like to see you two like that, won't it be better if you do that after we get out of here, before the Beedrill come back to?"
Blushing with embarrassment at that statement, Ash leaned Yellow against the tree and called back most of his Pokémon before taking the backpack. After doing so, he scooped up Yellow in his arms again and nodded at Ronin to show the way out.
Shaking his head after looking at them for some time in silence with a few twitches in his body and gritting his teeth, he led them out of that clearing in silence.
It was minutes before the entire Beedrill swarm woke up from their sleep. Looking around the clearing for any sign of the humans and the other Pokémon, they could not find them anymore. Dejected, they went back to their nest to protect it from intruders.
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After a few hours of silently following Ronin through the paths of Viridian Forest with no signs of exit in sight, Ash, Yellow, Pikachu, and Eevee looked skeptically at Ronin and prepared for any form of ambush. It was near sunset, and the trees were casting long shadows on the path so much that visibility was an issue because of how dark it was. They were seriously doubting that he was leading them towards the end of the forest.
Crunch...crunch...snap...crunch...crunch...snap...
The sounds of walking in the forest were now echoing in their ears, with how quiet it was now. Suddenly, Ronin stopped in his tracks.
All of them tensed with Ash holding Yellow tighter in his arms.
Pointing in the front direction with his hand, Ronin said, "Go that way. The end of the forest near Pewter City lies in that direction. You should be able to see it from here."
Craning their heads a little sideways, they saw that there was orange light coming from an opening in the forest in the direction Ronin was pointing.
Turning back towards them, he spoke in a fake voice of authority, "Alas, our paths diverge here. My path ends here, while yours begins from there. My battle with you has shown me that I have yet to train my Pokémon properly. I will stay in my cabin that I have built in the forest to heal my Pokémon and train. I am still weak for now, but after sufficient training, we will go on our journey and get stronger as well. We might even meet each other someday. And when that happens, we will have a rematch, and I shall prove the honour of my team to you then. Mark my words. You may have won the first match, but it was the first and the last time you will ever defeat me. Farewell to thee, young unknown trainers. May we meet again in the future."
Saying those words, Ronin walked around them and went deep into the forest.
Waiting for his back to disappear into the darkness of the silent forest, they stayed at that spot for some time. After seeing him go, they turned back to the so-called exit of the forest. With a comfortable silence among them, they started moving towards the exit with excitement, nervousness, and anticipation of what it would bring for them in their hearts.
With them stepping through the path in the forest, their bodies vanished in the light to the silent forms of the different Pokémon who were looking at them with gleaming eyes from the shadows of the trees and the shrubs, hiding, waiting, and looking like the silent watchers of the forest who saw and heard everything that were, are, and will ever be spoken in this forest.