A brown, segmented caterpillar nosed its way out of the grass. It had a sharp stinger on its tail and a Y-shaped antenna poking up from its head.
"A Weedle!"
Ash's eyes lit up, and he reached for his Pokédex.
"BUG! BUG! BUG! BUG!!"
A sharp, piercing shriek shattered the forest's tranquility.
Misty shot backward like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly leaping behind Ash and grabbing his shirt with both hands, trembling uncontrollably.
"Don't come near me!! Get away!!"
Ash looked helplessly at the poor Weedle, which had curled into a frightened ball.
"What are you scared of? It's just a Weedle! And I want to catch one anyway!"
"Catch it?!" Misty's eyes went wide. "You're seriously going to add another one of those disgusting things to your team? Don't you already have one... bug in your party?"
"One more won't hurt! Go, Pidgey!"
Ignoring Misty's protests, Ash threw his Poké Ball without a second thought.
A flash of light, and Pidgey burst free, soaring in a wide circle overhead and letting out a bold, clear cry.
"Pidgey!"
The Weedle attempted to fight back with its Poison Sting, but Pidgey was far too fast. It dove sharply, and the wind pressure from its wings sent the Weedle tumbling across the ground.
"Now's the chance! Poké Ball, go!!"
Ash seized the moment and hurled his Poké Ball.
Thwack!
The ball struck Weedle dead-on, drawing it inside.
The Poké Ball rocked back and forth on the ground.
Then Weedle burst free in a flash of red light. Capture failed!
The comment section erupted.
[Misty's bug phobia is permanently hardwired in, lmao.]
[Pidgey is pretty solid here. Flying-type beats Bug-type, just pulled it out and got straight to work.]
[Another Bug-type? Ash, are you literally the Bug-type's father? Your team is turning into an ant farm.]
[Please stop, Misty is going to lose her mind.]
[Ash: I will collect every bug and summon the Dragon!]
"Aww, it didn't work."
Just as Ash pulled out a fresh Poké Ball and prepared to have Pidgey wear the Weedle down further, a sharp whistling cut through the air.
A wooden sword, trailing a fierce gust of wind, struck the Poké Ball clean out of Ash's hand and sent it spinning into the bushes.
"Huh?!"
Ash froze.
From between the trees ahead, a boy stepped slowly into view.
He wore a strange samurai outfit, a wide-brimmed straw hat on his head, a mask over his face, and a wooden sword gripped in one hand. His entire presence radiated a cold, threatening energy.
"Hmph."
The samurai boy let out a sharp snort and leveled his wooden sword at Ash.
"Trainer from Pallet Town. Don't move."
Ash blinked. "Who are you?"
The samurai boy settled into a fighting stance and spoke in a low, measured tone.
"I am the samurai of this Viridian Forest. Every trainer who comes from Pallet Town must face me in battle."
Misty leaned out from behind Ash, looked the boy up and down, and couldn't help herself.
"Wow... that outfit is seriously retro. Did you time-travel from feudal Japan or something?"
The live chat was equally brutal.
[A random armored samurai just showed up out of nowhere. The vibe shift is insane.]
[How many trainers are just living in this forest??]
[Okay but that sword throw was actually sick. This guy might be legit.]
[Wait, what?]
[Misty never misses with the roasts, lmaooo.]
Ash, however, looked thrilled. He clenched his fist, and his eyes burned with excitement.
"A battle? I'm going to be a Pokémon Master. You don't scare me one bit!"
A flicker of something like approval crossed the samurai boy's eyes. "Good. Then we settle this right here."
[Ash: Come at me!]
[Let's go, let's go! I want to see a real fight!]
[Samurai's got serious swagger. Hope he lasts more than a couple of turns.]
[Isn't Pikachu basically starving at this point? How's he supposed to battle?]
"If you want a fight, I'll give you one! Go, Pidgey!"
Ash sent out the same Pidgey that had just been in action.
"Hmph. You're really leading with a common bird?"
The samurai boy shook his head, then drew a Poké Ball from his belt and snapped it forward with practiced precision.
"Let's go, Pinsir!"
A burst of red light, and a massive Bug-type Pokémon materialized on the battlefield.
It had two enormous pincers, a sturdy brownish body, and raw, intimidating power.
"Pinsir!"
It let out a guttural roar and swung its great claws through the air, the whoosh alone enough to send a chill down your spine.
[Holy crap, that thing is terrifying!]
[Those pincers look like they could snap bone. I don't even want to think about getting grabbed by those.]
[A Bug-type can look THIS cool?! I take everything back.]
[This thing is on a completely different level from Caterpie. Not even close.]
[Doesn't matter, we've got the type advantage!]
"Pidgey, use Tackle!"
Ash struck first.
Pidgey beat its wings and launched itself like a cannonball toward Pinsir.
Pinsir, however, didn't flinch. It watched the incoming opponent with cold, steady eyes.
The moment Pidgey was almost upon it, Pinsir snapped its massive horn claws shut in one brutal motion.
Crack!
Pidgey's wing was caught clean between the pincers.
"What?!" Ash's jaw dropped.
Pinsir wrenched hard, and with terrifying strength, sent Pidgey flying through the air like a ragdoll.
Slam!
Pidgey crashed into a tree trunk and slumped to the ground, eyes spiraling into dizzy swirls, completely out of the fight.
"Pidgey!!"
Ash shouted in disbelief.
The samurai boy stared at him coldly.
"Hmph. So this is a Pallet Town trainer. Pathetic. You can't even dodge an attack that straightforward."
[It got one-shot?!]
[The damage, the grab, the throw... Pinsir is built different.]
[Ash is throwing again, Pidgey just got folded.]
[Pidgey: I can't take this anymore. I'm done.]
[That Pinsir has definitely been trained. That pincer grab was way too clean.]
Ash bit his lip and recalled Pidgey.
"That's not over yet! Your turn! Go, Metapod!"
A flash of light, and the green, thick-shelled Metapod appeared on the ground.
It sat perfectly still. Like a rock.
[Last episode's evolution shell is finally here!]
[You're seriously sending a Cocoon to fight? Are you kidding?]
[Ash, did you run out of options? You're throwing a cocoon into a battle?]
[What does this thing even do besides Harden? Five cents says it gets one-shotted.]
[Metapod: I'm just sitting here quietly. Why is everyone trying to fight me?]
The samurai boy looked at Metapod, and a faint sneer crossed his face.
"Metapod? The one that only knows how to harden? A Pokémon that does nothing but defend is completely useless against an opponent that attacks."
"Don't underestimate it!"
Ash shouted back, his gaze firm and unwavering. "It worked incredibly hard to evolve to this point! It has a willpower I can't even fully understand!"
"Pretty words. Pinsir, show it what that's worth! Use Vise Grip!"
Pinsir charged, its enormous claws aimed directly at Metapod, snapping shut with crushing force.
"Metapod, dodge it!" Ash called out on instinct.
But Metapod couldn't move.
The pincers were closing in, about to crush that hard green shell.
"Harden!"
Ash bellowed.
Metapod's body instantly took on a metallic sheen, its hardness skyrocketed in an instant.
Clang!
Pinsir's claws slammed into Metapod's shell and rang out like steel on steel.
Not even a scratch.
Metapod sat there like an immovable boulder, completely unfazed no matter how hard Pinsir pushed.
"What?!" The samurai boy went rigid.
"Now! Metapod, use Tackle!"
Ash seized the opening.
Metapod lurched forward and drove its rock-hard head straight into Pinsir's stomach.
"Pinsir!"
Pinsir never expected the "rock" to hit back. Caught completely off-guard, it stumbled backward under the impact and finally toppled over, writhing on the ground in pain.
Pinsir was down. Unable to battle!
The comment section lost its mind.
[Wait... it actually WON?!]
[Won purely by being harder than everything else. Is Metapod literally made of iron?]
[Pinsir: My pincers might be broken. What is this thing made of?!]
[Didn't expect the shell to be THAT tanky. That defense is actually insane.]
The samurai boy stared at his fallen Pinsir in disbelief, then set his jaw.
"Fine. If that's how it is, then I'll answer in kind. Go, Metapod!"
He flung another Poké Ball.
A flash of light, and a second Metapod appeared on the field.
And then.
Two Metapod stood facing each other.
Two pairs of eyes. Four antennae. Two hard shells.
The silence that followed was profoundly awkward.
[LMAOOO this is some surrealist comedy. What IS this?]
[Two rocks headbutting each other?]
[Rename this: The Hardening Contest. Whoever gets hardest wins.]
[Misty's face is literally me right now. Is this supposed to be a battle?!]
[Even Pikachu is confused. Pika: Are you two competing to see who's harder?]
[Can we get a normal battle please? I'm falling asleep.]
Ash wasn't about to back down on principle.
"Metapod, Harden!"
The samurai boy shot back just as fast. "Mine too, Harden!"
"Harden again!"
"Keep Hardening!"
Both Metapod glowed in alternating pulses, layer after layer of hardness stacking up between them.
"Pod."
"Pod."
Those two completely flat, emotionless calls were the only sounds in the entire forest. The birds had gone quiet.
Misty stood off to the side, jaw hanging open, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"...What kind of battle even is this? You two are just..."
Pikachu tilted its head, utterly baffled, clearly unable to figure out what exactly was happening in front of it.
"Pika?"
As the bizarre stalemate dragged on, a deeply unsettling sound drifted in from somewhere in the distance.
Bzzzzzzzz.
At first it was faint. Then it swelled, growing louder and louder until it was deafening, as though a swarm of bombers was bearing down on them.
Misty's face drained of color. "Wh... what is that sound?"
Ash spun around, and his stomach dropped.
Pouring out of the treeline in the distance was a churning black mass, rolling toward them like a storm cloud.
No. It wasn't a cloud.
It was an enormous swarm of Beedrill, every one of them striped yellow and black, their massive stingers glinting in the light.
"What are all those Beedrill doing here?"
The samurai boy's expression had already shifted completely.
"You tried to catch a Weedle earlier! You've enraged the Beedrill colony!"
"RUN!!"
All three of them turned and bolted.
The comments flooded in instantly.
[OH MY GOD that swarm is absolutely horrifying!]
[My trypophobia is screaming. Those are ALL stingers!]
[Can Pikachu just electrocute them all? Oh wait, Pikachu's basically starving to death.]
The Beedrill swarm moved terrifyingly fast, closing the gap in seconds.
In the chaos, one massive Beedrill swept down from above, its sharp claws snatching Metapod clean off the ground.
"METAPOD!!"
Ash whipped around in horror, watching helplessly as his Pokémon was carried away.
"Leave it for now! Keep running!"
The samurai boy grabbed Ash by the arm. "They swarm in a colony. Once you're targeted, there's no shaking them! You go back now, you're dead!"
Ash stared after his Metapod, his chest hollow, but he knew the samurai was right.
"Move!"
The three of them sprinted through the dense forest, ducking and weaving between the trees, until the samurai led them to a small, well-hidden wooden cabin where they finally threw themselves inside.
"Hah... hah..."
The three collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.
After a brief silence, Ash lowered his head. Both hands gripped his knees. His voice cracked.
"It's my fault. I ran away and left it behind..."
The samurai boy hung his head too, his expression heavy with guilt. "I'm sorry. I'm the one who forced that battle. If I hadn't stopped you, you'd have been out of the forest long before this happened."
Misty let out a long sigh and glanced toward the window, where the sky was already going dark.
"Okay. Blaming each other isn't going to fix anything."
"It's too dangerous to go back at night. Let's rest up and go look for it at first light."
The chat was still talking.
[At least Ash feels the weight of responsibility toward his Pokémon, even if it took a minute.]
[Honestly, the samurai's not bad. At least he owns it.]
[It's that hard — it'll be fine, right?]
[Please let the bug be alright...]
Night fell.
The forest filled with the distant cries of wild Pokémon, making everything feel just a little more eerie.
Ash sat alone by the window, staring out into the dark tangle of trees, his eyes steady and burning with quiet resolve.
"Metapod... hang on. I'm coming for you. I promise."
Moonlight fell softly across his face — so different from the harsh afternoon light that had been beating down when the swarm hit.
[You've got this!!]
[Please bring it home!!]
[Metapod: Please hurry. I literally cannot move.]
---
The next morning, early.
All three of them headed straight back to where the battle had taken place.
The air still carried the faint trace of yesterday's fight. The ground was marked with obvious signs of the struggle.
Ash swept frantically through the area, calling out with barely contained panic.
"Metapod! Metapod!"
Finally, they found it, nestled in the branches of a tree.
It was an enormous tree, its limbs heavy with dozens of deep-yellow cocoon-like Pokémon hanging in clusters.
Metapod rested quietly among them. There were a few scratches on its shell, but the hard casing hadn't cracked.
"Metapod!"
Ash rushed forward and gathered it up gently in his arms.
Metapod made a small, tired sound, like it was answering him.
The chat let out one big breath.
[Oh thank goodness, it's okay!!]
[I knew that shell wasn't going to give out on us!]