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Snap!
The Poké Ball hit Pidgeotto's head, opening with a bang, and Pidgeotto immediately turned into a red light and was sucked into the Poké Ball.
With a plop, the Poké Ball landed on the ground and began to shake. The red light on the Poké Ball continuously flickered. Pikachu, Caterpie, and Misty all nervously watched the shaking Poké Ball, as if their hearts were shaking along with it.
Ding!
After shaking for a moment, it finally made a sound. The red light dissipated, and the Poké Ball stopped shaking, successfully catching Pidgeotto.
"Yay! Caterpie, that was brilliant!" Ash exclaimed excitedly.
He was genuinely happy, thinking to himself. In the anime, Ash didn't understand type matchups at first and often made mistakes with reverse-type battles, but in later seasons, he slowly learned about them.
But he still didn't dwell on type matchups; as long as he was happy, that was enough. Indeed, most trainers in this world focused on type advantages.
Reverse-type battles were truly difficult, but winning them felt incredibly satisfying.
Mao Mao~~~
Caterpie also squinted its eyes. If its mouth wasn't shaped like a gas mask, one might have seen its smile. Pikachu was also very excited, coming over to Caterpie and happily patting it.
As for Caterpie itself, it had probably never been this happy in its life. It was inherently weak, and when they encountered Flying-types, they only ever ran away, never imagining they could defeat them.
"See! I told you, even if there's no type advantage, you can still win. You can't judge any Pokémon by its appearance."
"Yes, yes, Professor Ash!" Misty replied, looking as if she had been enlightened.
But in her heart, she truly agreed with Ash's words. Not only had Caterpie defeated its opponent, but it was a Pidgeotto that was much higher level and had a type advantage over it.
Misty knew that she really couldn't keep looking at things through colored glasses just because she didn't like them.
"Do you want to try? Caterpie really wants your encouragement!" Ash seized the opportunity to say.
"Ah! I..." Misty was still hesitant. After all, she had been afraid of bugs since she was little, and it wasn't something she could just stop being afraid of.
"Just try it! If you can't, don't force it," Ash said with a smile, picking up Caterpie and bringing it closer to Misty.
Misty listened to Ash's words and looked at Caterpie's expectant eyes. Its round, black eyeballs seemed as clear as amber, and slowly, it didn't seem so scary anymore.
She cautiously reached out her hand, gradually approaching. Caterpie watched the hand drawing closer and gently nudged its head forward. Misty instinctively started to pull back, but her hand had already made contact.
She felt Caterpie's skin—a somewhat soft shell with green fuzz on its surface, feeling like a blanket, not as difficult to accept as she had imagined.
"See, isn't this nice?" Ash said with a smile, watching the scene.
"Yes! Ah!!!"
Just as Misty was about to speak, Caterpie suddenly closed its eyes, and a blue-white light instantly enveloped its body. Misty gasped in surprise and quickly pulled her hand back, while Ash also looked on in astonishment.
"Is this... evolution?"
Ash placed Caterpie on the ground, looking at the light before him. He hadn't expected his first Pokémon to evolve so quickly.
This was his first time witnessing a Pokémon evolve firsthand, and it was his own Pokémon. It felt completely different from seeing evolution in a game; this was the evolution of true life.
Caterpie is a very weak Pokémon, so to quickly adapt to the harsh wilderness, their evolution cycle is very short; they evolve rapidly in a short period.
Wild Caterpie typically evolve quickly, and those caught by trainers evolve even faster through training and battle.
Pidgey, for example, needs to reach level 18 to evolve into Pidgeotto in the games, and then level 36 to evolve further.
Caterpie, also a three-stage evolution, only needs to reach level 10 to evolve into its third stage because it is so weak.
That's why its evolution cycle is so short; they must quickly gain strength to protect themselves so their group can survive in the wild.
The stronger the Pokémon, the longer and more difficult its evolution cycle and process naturally become. This is the law of nature, the evolution system it has developed.
Clearly, the gap between Caterpie and Pidgeotto was enormous. Currently, Caterpie, according to game calculations, was below level 7, while Pidgeotto was level 18 or above.
Crossing such a high level, even if Caterpie was only level 2-3, the experience it gained was enough to meet the evolution requirements.
Watching the radiant glow, Caterpie's outline began to change, gradually taking on a crescent shape. As the light slowly faded, a green figure emerged.
Its body was crescent-shaped, with bulging eyes on either side that looked rather lazy. Its entire body was encased in green, crystal-textured armor—this was Caterpie's evolved form, Metapod.
"It evolved into Metapod!" Misty exclaimed in surprise.
"It must be because it defeated Pidgeotto! You worked hard, Caterpie—no... Metapod. You'll truly shine soon!" Ash gently stroked the Metapod before him. Metapod seemed unable to make a sound now.
But it squinted its eyes as if smiling. Wild Metapod only take a week to evolve, and with proper training, the process can be even faster.
"That's right!" After praising Metapod, Ash quickly got up and walked to the tree where Pidgeotto's Poké Ball lay.
He had overlooked it due to Caterpie's evolution, but now he remembered. Ash quickly picked up the Poké Ball and immediately opened it.
Bang!
A blue light flashed, and Pidgeotto's figure darted out of the Poké Ball, landing on the ground. It was still tangled in some silk threads, which made it uncomfortable, and without arms, it couldn't struggle free.
"Let me help you! Please take care of me from now on, Pidgeotto," Ash said, squatting down and greeting Pidgeotto while helping it remove the silk threads. Pidgeotto's impression of Ash improved due to his actions.
BEEP!