(AN: Hypothetically, what can potentially happen to a person with perfect attendance and all notes when he is caught by his fellow undergraduates, who may not be qualified to give exams, and they may be punished in some way or form in the future due to their low performance in comparison to the first person who may or may not have set the highest standard in that regard in the entire campus? Also, the person may have been jokingly threatened to be beaten by a mob previously if he came on unplanned bunks. All this happens when there is a strict no-violence policy on the campus.)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Metapod, when he was a Caterpie, could be called a coward. He avoided battles because he knew that he was too weak. Till the day before Ash had caught him, he yearned to evolve and fly towards the horizon, free as his final stage that his other siblings had achieved.
He was the weakest of his siblings. The one who always found a way to escape and run away. He was mocked as well.
He looked forlornly when his siblings had advanced to the next stage, and some were able to evolve further and fly away with his parents. No matter how much his parents had reassured him that it was okay, he still felt empty and weak whenever he compared himself to the others.
The day that he saw his parents fly away, he decided to get strong. He had heard from some of the Pokémon in the forest that they had seen some strong Pokémon with some humans previously and were scared to approach the place of fight as the scent of powerful Pokémon was still there.
Hearing this, he had decided to do one thing. Be caught by a trainer and become as powerful as possible under them. So, he moved towards the end of the forest which was near to what they call a 'city.'
-------------------------------------------------
He waited for a long time until he saw a human come by. He started making sounds to get their attention.
"Oh, hey, a Caterpie! Go, Bulbasaur!"
Out came a Pokémon he had never seen before. It was a small, quadrupedal amphibian Pokémon that has blue-green skin with darker patches. It has red eyes with white pupils, pointed, ear-like structures on top of its head, and a short, blunt snout with a wide mouth. Small, pointed teeth are visible in the upper jaw when the mouth is open. Each of its thick legs ends with three sharp claws. On Bulbasaur's back, there was a green plant bulb.
That 'Bulbasaur' looked strong. Perfect. He had heard that the trainers fight and weaken them before they are caught. So, he will go down in a hit.
"Bulbasaur, use Tackle!"
"Bulba!"
Caterpie braced himself for the attack and was hit with pain.
He was sent flying back to the tree from where he saw them.
Caterpie was struggling to move now. That hit was strong.
"Just one hit."
The human sounded disappointed.
Nononono.
"That Caterpie's weak. It will be of no use at the next Gym. What was I thinking? Return Bulbasaur."
Caterpie struggled to pick himself up and try to call out the human's attention.
Alas, she had walked a small distance and was facing away from him, so she could not hear his cries and see his look. She walked away to another section of the forest.
Caterpie silently wallowed in regret.
-------------------------------------------------------
When he saw a bunch of humans in a weird red thing that was carrying them after recovering from his altercation, he decided to fight hard to prove himself.
He called out to get their attention.
One of the humans in the back of the thing, said, "Hey! It's a Caterpie!"
Caterpie started calling out when the thing came to a halt in front of him. From the front, came out a human who was shorter than the rest of his group and was dressed differently.
"Come out, Squirtle!"
"Squirtle!"
Squirtle has large, purplish, or reddish eyes and a slightly hooked upper lip. Each of its hands and feet has three pointed digits. The end of its long, squirrel-like tail curls inward. Its body is encased by a tough shell. This shell is brown on the top, pale yellow on the bottom, and has a thick white ridge between the two halves.
After a few moments, Caterpie used Tackle. It was about to reach Squirtle when...
"Squirtle, Water Gun!"
He was hit with a small jet of water and sent tumbling back towards the tree.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man. If he can't do it, no one can! Go...Gary!"
After a few moments waiting to see him catch that Caterpie, when he did not do so, but actually returned to the thing, one of the girls asked 'Gary', "Why did you not catch that Caterpie?"
"That Caterpie is shorter than the average ones, so it is weaker. There are better Pokémon of the same species to catch. Even if I catch him, Butterfree will be of no use in the Pewter City's Rock Gym where it would face four times the weakness and just get unnecessarily hurt, even if it would be able to use status moves. Besides, there is a better bug to catch than it. It would be far easier for my Squirtle to win the badge on his own, but for better chances at winning, I will need to have a few more water and grass types which can be found in the forest."
All the others were quiet when he gave that explanation and agreed with his assessment.
"So, drive on?"
"Drive on."
With that they went away in red thing, none of them noticed that Caterpie was awake and had listened to them with water in his eyes and body dripping little-by-little on the ground.
-----------------------------------------------
After a few hours, another human came along. This person had blue hair and some kind of glasses on his head.
Caterpie called out again to draw their attention to him. This time he was prepared. He stood on the ground in front of the boy glaring at him.
"Is that bug glaring at me?! How dare it! Charmander!"
He called out a Pokémon from their ball. Charmander was a bipedal, reptilian Pokémon with a primarily orange body and blue eyes. Its underside from the chest down and the soles of its feet are cream-colored. It has two small fangs visible in its upper jaw and two smaller fangs in its lower jaw. A fire burns at the tip of its slender tail.
"Char!"
Caterpie had thought of a strategy this time. It was a problem if his opponent was faster than him which would let them hit him faster and he would not be able to retaliate.
What was his solution to that glaring weakness?
String Shot.
He was ready as he ever could have been. He was prepared to prove his worth and be accepted. He was...
"Use Ember and finish off that bug!"
He was not prepared for the ember that burned his String Shot and derailed all of his expectations. The burning pain from the attack connecting with him prevented him from having any thoughts as he squirmed, screamed, and rolled in the dirt in desperation to put out the flame.
His pain and screams did not allow him to concentrate on the human's laugh or the concerned cries of the Charmander.
After a few moments, the burning sensation had faded but the hurt and pain was still there.
He heard them argue a little bit.
"I said finish it off, you damned lizard!"
Was he going to die here?
No. Please no.
He did not want to die here.
He was scared and he did the only thing that he was able to do, release the stench from his proboscis as a final plea and act of defiance of death.
"AAGH!"
"Char!"
Both of them were covering their noses now, but the human ran up to him and kicked him away from them towards the bushes.
The pain prevented him from emitting the stench.
"Ha...ha...ha...Damn that pathetic bug. Who cares about that weak worm anyway?! You! You are not getting any food today for your disobedience, you hear me!"
Returning the distraught Charmander, the boy left huffing angrily.
When he was sure that they had left, Caterpie only had one thought before he fell unconscious from his injuries.
'I am weak.'
--------------------------------------------------
It was nearly evening by the time Caterpie came to from losing consciousness. He was still hurting in places but it he felt better from before. He was tired and hungry. He started eating grass to satiate his hunger and get some strength back. With more the energy he got, he started to eat faster. It was a miracle that he had not been eaten by any birds of prey even after he had lost consciousness.
After regaining the necessary strength, he started to move slowly towards and up the tree in order to get a better view, elevation, and hide among the leaves. It was already nighttime, and he was still hurt in some places that will take probably an entire night of rest to heal. Being hurt, he had to go slowly while pain flared up from time-to-time.
After hours, he had reached a suitable height on the tree and fell asleep on a branch from the mental and physical fatigue while praying to anybody heard him.
'Please...please give me another chance to prove my worth.'
-----------------------------------------------------
The morning came and shone through the small gaps in the tree canopies. One such small ray of sunshine landed on the eye of a sleeping Caterpie that started to squint and squirm on the branch, while lying precariously on the edge. Squirming a little bit more, Caterpie lost his balance and fell down.
He had forgotten to secure and arrange a safe spot for sleeping as he had fallen asleep immediately after he got a moment to rest the previous night. He had woken up from the sensation of falling and immediately closed his eyes to brace for impact in any way or form, when he felt his body hitting something flesh and lost his balance and fell down.
He heard the sound of a crash and looked in that direction.
A human was rubbing their head while sitting on the forest floor with some kind of contraption that looked like it had been made with extremely straight branches which were colored red like that big object the previous day. This was not only smaller than the one he had seen the previous day, but also a lot slimmer. Really slim. Instead of the four big round things, this one had two which were smaller and slimmer in looks and they were spinning in place.
Had-had this human saved him from falling? Was he worth something to this one unlike the previous ones?!
In happiness he started running towards the fallen human. He finally found a person who cared for him! He could now get stronger to achieve his dream! He...
Pointing angrily at the Caterpie who was coming towards her, the human snarled in pure contempt, "You! You are the disgusting bug that attacked me! How dare you!"
He stopped in his tracks hurt with his expectations and will breaking a little.
The human had gotten up and had started to come towards it.
He turned and started to run in fear. Alas, the human had caught up to him and hit him with something hard that sent him flying and he nearly fell unconscious from the crash he had with the tree and falling down.
He was barely able to stand, when he saw the human spit at him and said, "Being one of the most disgusting things in the world, you would do everyone a service by just staying away from everyone and never showing your existence to anybody! Get lost, you unwanted bug!"
(AN: I am sorry about it, but I cannot imagine her having a different reaction. So, forgive me.)
The human left after picking up her things, not knowing that she had just shattered something very important for the 'disgusting' bug.
Caterpie fell unconscious again with his will and resolve to live broken into countless fragments as he thought about all of his previous experiences with everyone and thought, 'I am not wanted by anybody.'
----------------------------------------------------------
Caterpie had come to again, but he looked at the top of the trees in a daze with soulless eyes of a broken being. He climbed the tree again but this time with no purpose. There was nothing left in him.
Rejected by his family, his siblings, and the humans, he felt as if he was nonexistent. Remembering the previous human's words, he felt as if they were telling the truth. There was no point in his existence. Maybe, everybody will be happy if he did not exist at all. He started eating a big leaf. If he was going to die, then he would rather go out not feeling hungry. After that he would throw himself off from the highest branch he could find. He gave out a cry of grief and pain from his experience and started to eat the leaf.
After a few moments of eating, he felt something hit him at the back of his head. The unexpected sensation shocked him, and he was sucked inside something. He felt his body shrinking and saw that he was encased in something comfortable. He was able to look out from a hole that he saw that he was seeing the forest.
He felt the ball rolling and opening to let him out in his original size. Looking around, he saw that there was a human and a Pokémon, who he had never seen before whom the human called Pikachu. He was going to get beaten up again, wasn't he? This time, he will definitely die as well. So, he resigned himself to his fate.
When the inevitable hit did not come, he looked at the human again, but this time carefully. The human, introducing himself as Ash, said that he had be caught by him and he wanted to train him.
Huh, so he was dreaming from having hit his head hard enough. He wished that he did not wake up from it. As this was a dream, he was going to fully utilize the time to experience being trained and depended upon even if it was false.
He started biting down on the wood piece he had been given to learn a move. After some time, he had started getting tired from only using his mouth. He was called back to his ball afterwards and he fell asleep in the dark. He finally made friends even if they were part of a dream.
The next time he woke up, it would be back on the ground, all alone.
----------------------------------------------------
He was called out again. He opened his eyes to be greeted with only the trees and the plants surrounding him.
They were there as well, but there was a stench that was not his?
He heard his name being called out by the human, Ash who had caught him.
He saw another human laying near him, who he had not seen before. His 'trainer' said that they were going to save her life, and he needed his help then.
He? A merely weak Caterpie who always ran away from everything? The one who was not needed and mocked by his siblings? He was going to help save somebody's life?! It was impossible, even in his dreams, but did he want to disappoint the person who believed in him?
So, he started helping him out.
The more the time passed, the more he realized that it was not a dream. His trainer's actions during the application of his String Shot to help stabilize her could not have been imagined or dreamt by him at all.
He had stayed by his trainer, Ash' side for the entire part of the day. Keeping watch while he walked, rested, and performed something to keep the other human alive. He helped again to cover her limbs in his String Shot to help her stay comfortable for some reason. The other human's face always relaxed when he used his attack to secure their limbs and a bit of their torso. Whatever he was doing was important to keep them comfortable.
He was thanked for the first time in his relatively short life by his trainer, Ash. For the first time, he felt something warm inside him, but did not know what it was. It felt good for some reason.
When Ash had said that the other person was a victim of deliberate foul play by other humans after they started taking rest from helping the Doduo, he kind of knew what he was saying as he thought back to his previous encounters.
After that moment, he had been personally called to join his trainer along with his Pikachu and a Pidgeotto to find some berries. While on this mini adventure, they had come across, some of the berry trees that grew, and his String Shot was used to secure the berries.
It was then that they had come across the remains of a human that had died here previously. He was looking at Ash to get his praise upon securing the berries, but he saw his contort into something. Following his instincts, he covered Ash's mouth with String Shot before he screamed. It was the correct choice after all. He saw Ash get back his bearings after some time. It would seem that he had never seen a dead body before.
Then why would the other humans try to kill him before? Were they different from his trainer? He did not know, but there were other things to be worried about now. After Ash had somewhat stabilized himself, Caterpie had wrapped up the body in String Shot. They slowly carried the two wrapped up things back to the camp where they made the next necessary preparations.
Completing the necessary preparations, they had taken the body to the spot where he saw the other human for first time. After all things had been arranged, he was ordered to use the stench that he used to escape from predators. Upon doing so, he had asked Pikachu what that was about. He had told him that they were using his natural safety mechanism to hide their smells so that they would not be tracked down by the person who did that to the human girl. This way they were safe from the attacker by hiding all their tracks. He was also praised by him.
After Pikachu had left, Caterpie still couldn't believe what he had heard. His underhanded method of escape was useful? He actually saved someone by using something that he had used to escape from predators like a coward?
Caterpie went to sleep that night feeling happy. The countless fragments of his resolve and will had started coming back together little piece by piece.
--------------------------------------------------------
The next day, he had woken up to see them go through some morning routine. His trainer had asked for his help in securing the limbs of the girl after Ash had given her a bath in the river. After some time, breakfast had been cooked and served for all by Ash while Chansey was busy looking after the girl called Yellow.
When they were going to start eating, he, along with the others, were looking at his trainer try to explain and feed the girl. During that, he heard a small screech of panic. Looking in that direction, he saw that a brown furred Pokémon, who must have sneaked up on them, was surprised being confronted by Pidgeotto and Spearow.
His shock upon seeing them turned to concern and shame when he felt that he was unable to detect the intruder beforehand, who attacked his trainer as well. He ganged up on the intruder with the others to subdue them. It worked.
After the intruder had been caught, nearly mummified with String Shot, freed, and fed along with them, did their actual training began.
It was hard. The increased gravity made it harder for all of them to move around. His frail body was slowly but surely moving. It was a sobering thought for him that he knew how to move while being hurt being so used to it for the past days.
His training was tough on him but fulfilling. He learned new moves which he had never seen any member of his family do so before. The Bug Bite attack had hm clenching his sore mouth, but he was able to use it to some extent. He even started learning new variants of his String Shot attack! It was hard on his body, but the increase in his appetite and the less soring of his body meant that he was improving in his strength!
Pikachu was also helping him train on a move called Electroweb when he was not fighting with Eevee who was previously the intruder, but now a colleague of this group. It was hard using that move, but he persevered and refused to give up. When he was resting after the training and eating his food, he suddenly felt something inside of him, like an instinct that was telling him to do something when he felt his resolve and will harden a little.
He followed them and covered his entire body in String Shot.
For a few moments that felt long, he felt his body dissolving after the string Shot had hardened. He was scared but decided to follow through with it. His sense of vision, taste, feel, and smell were temporarily taken away and felt them get rearranged in some places of the hardened String Shot.
Instinctively, he felt himself get stronger and change shape. He wanted to open his eyes, but his sight was just taken, but he still did so to check if he will never be able to see again. It was hard, as if something was preventing him from opening them. With the new strength, it was hard for him, but he was finally able to open them.
"Meta..."
Blinking, he thought that came out wrong.
"Metapod!"
He wanted to turn his head to the side from where he heard his trainer's voice. He was unable to turn. He started panicking. Did-did he just get stuck in place?!
Something grabbed and lifted him. When he was turned around, he saw his trainer smile and say, "You evolved, Metapod!"
Wait. He evolved? He evolved!
Widening his eyes, he realized that he was at the stage his siblings had been before they evolved into their final forms. He was also stronger than them when they were at this stage. His was going to feel happy for some time more, but it was all dashed when he remembered that at this stage, they were unable to move.
His short despair deepened further when he was told by his trainer that his current stage was known to take time to develop themselves for their next stage which they did not have the luxury to get as they might confront the attacker any moment, and he would be a liability. The despair gave way to hope when he was told they would have to train to make him mobile.
So, the training with String shots and other attacks that he could perform began. His newly learnt move enabled him to take less damage, which would be better for him to perform Tackle and not get hurt much in the process. His other moves had stabilized a lot like the Electroweb, but the Bug Bite was hard to perform now.
He even broke up the fights between the others which made him an unofficial mediator. He felt important that he was doing so to maintain order.
Their training continued for a few days more, before they moved out.
--------------------------------------------------------------
When he had been called out by Ash after they left their camp in the morning, his tone and face made it clear that he was called out for something important.
Whatever happened next was a blur to him, as he had fished out a dead body that was apparently some family member of the girl they had rescued before. Seeing her beg, cry, and refuse her family member's death while being comforted by Ash, something inside of him stirred and he felt something that he did not like at all.
Shame. A huge amount of shame engulfed his being.
He thought back to what he was going to do before he was caught by Ash and only felt guilt and shame for thinking about doing so. What would his siblings think when they found him dead and without being hunted by the Flying-types? Would they grieve his death or accept it as normal if they found his body? Would Mama and Papa grieve for him too if they found out about it? Would his new-found friends also grieve the same way if he died? He shuddered when he imagined his parents and friends going through the same thing as the girl.
Before he was returned after they had stayed in silence to respect the buried dead, he looked at the tear-streaked face of Yellow and decided that he would not let anyone die and he would survive along with the rest as best as he could.
--------------------------------------------------------
He was called out again, and this time for a battle against a trainer, who used another Metapod?
Blinking for a few moments, he concentrated on the match. He could now compare himself to another one of his species to see how far he has come in his training. The battle will help in determining how far he has come. The battle will be fierce. The battle will be good. The battle...
The battle was a disappointment.
He never felt so disappointed upon seeing another Metapod. The other one was so, so weak and vulnerable. Were his family the same during their stage as a Metapod? Would he have been the same if he was not caught and trained by Ash?
He did not like the thought of being so weak.
The match had ended with him being the winner. When the respective trainers were about to talk about something, he heard screams coming from a direction. Some people had come out of the bushes who turned out to be criminals and they were about to attack his friends.
Unforgiveable.
Upon being told to attack them, he gladly obliged by using Electroweb on the criminals and the others sent them flying.
He longingly looked at that wondering when he would be able to protect somebody like them.
Then the Beedrill came.
The urgency of the situation had all of them using attacks, and he was given the task to make all of them slower while Ash carried him to the rest of the group where they were defending themselves.
He wanted to help more!
He prayed to get stronger to protect everyone.
After they had reached the rest of the group, he saw a Beedrill coming to attack Ash from behind.
He was scared. He was unable to move properly, and he could not properly participate in combat like the others. He was going to see his trainer die at this rate!
...Die?
Did he not promise to himself that he would not let anybody else die on him?
He moved and jumped out of Ash's hands to get in between him and the attacking Beedrill.
He knew he was weak. The others were stronger than him and will always be. He knew that. He accepted it no matter how vexing it was. It was confirmed and talked by the others.
But...
He was accepted by his new friends when others did not.
He helped to save somebody's life as a pathetic weakling.
Running away from danger and small things like a coward.
He was weak back then, but now. Wasn't he supposed to be stronger from then?
Did he not train hard to get stronger to prove himself to others?
Others?
For a brief moment during his jump towards the Beedrill, he remembered something from before.
The moment when he had seen his parents and other siblings fly off, he was fascinated by their ability to look so... free. He had wanted to feel that sensation of flying freely in the air, unbound from the start.
So driven he was in his attempts to get that, he forgot about the feeling he got from that moment and shackled himself to the expectations of others to prove his worth, unlike his current friends and his trainer Ash. They only wanted him to be the best he could be in terms of how he wanted to be. They had only helped him to get stronger like a family.
He had found a new family who will always took care of him when he was at his lowest.
Now.
Now was the time to repay them for their help.
He steeled his resolve and used Harden while also focusing on the feeling of the way that Pikachu and Eevee had shown him.
Just before the moment of impact with the Beedrill's stinger, he only had one thought in him.
'Mom, Dad, I hope you are proud of me.'
The stinger connected with the silver-colored body of hardened resolve and will with defiant eyes.
CRACKKKK...
--------------------------------------------------
(AN: I know that I was supposed to give this chapter two days ago, but I was busy with assignment and studying for exam. I was just going to give it that day thinking that this one will be short, but it somehow became nearly 10 times bigger than what I had originally planned for when I went with the flow of writing this chapter. So, sorry for the late update.
I MIGHT be able to publish new chapters for the next two days, and definitely not on the third day. So, there might be short hiatus for this week, before I am able to start publishing again from Thursday. So, sorry in advance. On that note,
How was the chapter?)