[The shell didn't even crack. Definitely an Iron Shell — that thing's built like a tank.]
[You scared me half to death. Thought we were about to set up a gravestone here.]
[So what are those things in the trees? They look a lot like the Iron Shell.]
Just then, a familiar burst of laughter echoed through the forest.
"Ahahahahahaha!"
"Who's there?"
The young Samurai immediately drew his blade, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes.
The only answer came in the form of a woman's voice:
"Since you've asked so sincerely!"
"We'll be gracious enough to tell you!"
That voice!
Ash spun around. In a clearing not far away, that iconic Meowth-shaped hot air balloon rose into the sky once more. Jessie and James leaped down from it in their trademark dramatic poses.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
As they made their entrance, the viewers in the livestream were quick to react:
[Classic villains, right on schedule. I've got their whole speech memorized at this point.]
[Hahaha, how do they always show up with such impeccable timing?]
[Coming to get wrecked every episode without fail. Now that's dedication.]
[Pikachu: You two again? Can't you ever try something new?]
Ash frowned at them. "Team Rocket, it's you again! What are you scheming this time?"
Jessie tossed her hair back and pointed at the Pikachu in Ash's arms. "Enough talk! Hand over that rare Pikachu right now! We've brought our latest capture equipment this time!"
James chimed in, "That's right, there's no escaping us today!"
Behind them, an enormous mech suit rose up from the ground. The two leaped backward and climbed into the cockpit.
"Pikachu is ours!"
The two sides squared off, tension crackling in the air, a battle seemingly seconds away.
But then, without warning...
Buzzzzz...
That familiar, unsettling sound rang out again, and this time it was louder, and much closer.
"What is that noise?" Jessie muttered, frowning.
Before any of them could react, a massive swarm of Beedrill burst from the trees. They blotted out the sky like a living storm cloud rolling in.
"It's a Beedrill swarm!" Ash shouted.
"What?! Where did all these Beedrill come from?!"
Jessie's face went pale. She clearly hadn't anticipated this.
The mech Team Rocket had arrived in was instantly surrounded by the Beedrill charging at the front of the swarm.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't wreck our machine!" James screamed.
Countless stingers drove into the machine's exterior, and several Beedrill forced their way directly into the cockpit.
"Ow, ow, ow! These bugs are vicious!"
Meowth, stung all over, let out a string of agonized wails. "Run for it, meowth!"
The livestream erupted with laughter.
[Beedrill: Every last one of you is trash. All of you, back off!]
[Team Rocket: We really can't catch a break. Where did all these Beedrill even come from?!]
[Karma's a thing. That's what you get for snatching Pokémon all day.]
Chaos broke out across the clearing.
All three members of Team Rocket tucked their heads down and bolted, stumbling and scrambling into the trees without even finishing their motto. The Beedrill swarm gave chase, following close behind.
But several Beedrill stayed behind, locking onto Ash and his companions.
"Watch out!"
One Beedrill dove straight at Ash, its stinger gleaming as it closed in fast.
"Pika!"
Pikachu tried to unleash a bolt of electricity but was a split second too slow. There wasn't enough time!
In that razor-thin moment, a green figure leaped up and threw itself in front of Ash.
It was Metapod.
It used its own hardened body to take the full force of the Beedrill's attack head-on.
"Metapod!"
Ash cried out in shock.
Even with its impressive defense, Metapod wasn't invincible. The Beedrill's stinger hit hard, and coming on top of its earlier injuries, Metapod's body began to shudder violently. It had clearly pushed past its limits.
"Me..."
And then, something extraordinary happened.
Metapod's body suddenly began to radiate a dazzling, multicolored light. Brighter and more intense than anything before.
[Wait, that light... is that...?]
[No way?? Evolution? Again??]
[Two evolutions back-to-back in consecutive episodes? The production team is going all out!]
[The shell is cracking!]
[What form is this?! It's stunning!]
In the blaze of light, cracks began to spread across Metapod's hard outer shell.
Crack... crack...
The fissures multiplied, and the glow blazed even brighter.
Then, a brilliant pillar of prismatic light erupted straight into the sky.
The old shell shattered completely. Countless shimmering flakes drifted through the air like glowing snow, painting the scene with something straight out of a fairy tale.
Ash and Misty stood there, completely transfixed.
The light faded.
A great, magnificent butterfly Pokémon floated silently in the air. Its wings were a deep, vivid blue, its body a blend of purple and blue, with bold black patterns traced across its wings. Its large, gentle eyes seemed to take in the world with quiet wonder.
It beat its wings slowly, sending a soft breeze drifting through the clearing.
"Butterfree..."
It called out in a clear, melodic voice.
[It evolved!!]
[From a cocoon into a butterfly?! That is absolutely beautiful!]
[The evolution effects in this show are a solid ten out of ten.]
[Only the second Pokémon to evolve, and it's already this strong! Ash's luck is something else.]
[Metapod: I endured everything, suffered in silence, all for this one moment of flight.]
Ash's Pokédex chimed in right on cue.
"Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon. The scales on its wings repel water, allowing it to fly even in the rain. It is fond of flower nectar and can often be found fluttering through fields in search of blooms."
Ash stared at Butterfree, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Metapod... you evolved! You can fly now!"
Butterfree turned and looked at him gently, nuzzling against his cheek.
"But~"
But the danger hadn't passed.
The remaining Beedrill, far from retreating at the sight of Butterfree, grew even more aggressive and charged forward.
"They're coming again!!"
Misty shrank back, already halfway to turning around and making a run for it.
But then Butterfree snapped its wings open wide with a powerful beat.
A shimmering cascade of luminescent powder scattered from its wings, drifting through the air like snowflakes toward the Beedrill swarm.
Whoosh...
The moment the Beedrill made contact with the powder, their movements grew sluggish. Their eyes went glassy and unfocused.
One by one, the Beedrill began to yawn, their will to fight dissolving entirely. They drifted lazily to the ground or meandered off into the distance.
"Amazing!"
Misty couldn't help but exclaim.
Then Butterfree beat its wings again. A dense burst of incredibly sticky silk threads shot out, wrapping the still-struggling Team Rocket trio and their mech together into one neat bundle.
"Hey! Why are we getting tied up too?!"
Jessie flailed helplessly.
"Pikachu!"
Ash called out. Pikachu understood immediately. A brilliant surge of electricity flashed through the air.
The mech exploded, and Team Rocket shot off into the distance like a comet streaking across the horizon. Their voices carried back faintly in chorus:
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaain!!"
The battle was over.
The forest settled back into calm.
The young Samurai stepped out from behind the trees. He stared up at Butterfree hovering in the sky, his expression filled with awe.
Then he looked over at Ash. His gaze grew complex, and after a long moment, it softened into something that looked like genuine respect.
He walked up to Ash and bowed deeply.
"Ash, I concede."
Ash quickly reached out and straightened him up. "Why? We haven't even finished our battle."
The Samurai stood up and met his eyes squarely.
"You're not just strong. You care about your Pokémon deeply. When I saw you throw yourself in front of danger to protect Metapod earlier, I knew it wasn't your skill I was losing to. It was the kind of trainer you were."
"The fact that your Metapod evolved into a Butterfree this powerful... it's because of the trust between you, isn't it?"
Ash scratched the back of his head and laughed a little sheepishly. "It's nothing special. We just kept working hard together."
The Samurai smiled, reached into his jacket, and held out a folded map.
"Here, take this. It's a map of Viridian Forest that I drew myself. I hope it helps you find your way out and get to Pewter City."
Ash took the map like he'd just received a treasure. "Thank you so much!"
"Farewell."
The Samurai turned and walked away, his silhouette disappearing quietly among the trees without a backward glance.
[That Samurai actually had some class. He knows how to lose gracefully.]
[Is this what they call mutual respect between rivals?]
[Ash finally got the recognition he deserved. He's not that clueless rookie anymore.]
[That map came at the perfect time. Otherwise they'd still be wandering around lost next year.]
[Butterfree is officially on the team! The squad is seriously stacked now!]
Misty looked at the map and let out a long, relieved sigh.
"Finally. Now we can actually head to Pewter City."
Ash clenched his fist and looked ahead, his eyes bright with anticipation.
"Let's go! Onward to the Gym!"
"Pika pika!"
"Butterfree!"
Trainer and Pokémon together, bathed in warm sunlight, set off on the next leg of their journey.
The screen slowly faded to black, leaving behind only those hopeful, retreating silhouettes.
[That episode had my blood pumping the whole way through!]
[Getting lost, the battle, then the evolution. The pacing on this show is just perfect.]
[Butterfree is so gorgeous. I want one too!]
[Next episode must be Pewter City, right? What Gym is that again?]
---
Dan the Demon King looked at the flood of comments scrolling across the screen and sighed with feeling.
"And it's over again. Twenty minutes goes by way too fast."
"Please just drop the next episode already."
---
Back to Kairos.
With the fourth episode of the anime now live and no pressing issues in the second world, the time had come to move on to the fourth world.
He ducked into a narrow side alley, stopped, and glanced in both directions.
Once he was satisfied no one was around and there were no surveillance cameras in sight, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Transit Scroll to activate it.
A soft glow enveloped him in an instant.
In his mind, that familiar mechanical voice rang out.
"Transit commencing. Please prepare yourself, Host."
His vision went black. The familiar spinning sensation swept over him.
When Kairos opened his eyes again, the world around him had changed completely.
He found himself standing at the entrance to an exceptionally busy commercial street.
Towering buildings rose on all sides. Massive LED screens mounted on the exterior walls of the surrounding structures cycled through advertisement after advertisement.
Neon lights blinked and glittered, splashing the entire street in vivid color that made it as bright as midday. The relentless noise of bumper-to-bumper traffic filled the air, along with the faint mingled smell of car exhaust and deep-fried chicken.
Kairos paused, taken aback.
The sense of familiarity was almost overwhelming.
The glass-and-steel buildings with their sleek modern facades, the varied and contemporary styles of the people passing by, even the particular texture of the air — it all felt almost identical to the Earth he had known before his very first crossing.
Could this be Earth?
A flicker of doubt crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. If the Transit Scroll had brought him here, it definitely wasn't the Earth he'd originally come from.
He started walking, making his way to the display window of a nearby shop running a promotional sale.
In the bright reflection of the glass, he examined his appearance carefully.
The same familiar face looked back at him. Same build, same everything. He was still unmistakably himself.
So in this world, his physical appearance hadn't changed.
Kairos reached out mentally to the System, hoping to get some context on his identity in this new world. An established identity was always the most important thing to sort out after a crossing.
The System's response came quickly.
"Fourth World detected as a standard parallel-universe type world."
"Host identity set as a non-existent individual. Unlike previous worlds, Host has not taken over any original inhabitant's identity. Instead, you are simply an additional body that has appeared in this world. The System has arranged valid legal identification on your behalf and has issued starting funds of one thousand Fourth World currency units."
Kairos found the explanation surprisingly refreshing.
A non-existent individual.
In other words, he was a ghost in this world's system. He had legitimate credentials and could move about freely, but he had no past, no family, and no social connections.
Honestly, that seemed like the better deal.
Whenever he wanted, he could walk away without leaving a trace.
As for the thousand in currency, while it didn't sound like much, it was more than enough for Kairos to work with as seed money. What he needed most right now wasn't cash; it was information and connections.
He slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the thickness of a wad of paper bills and the firm edge of a card.
He pulled them out. Sure enough, it was the thousand in cash and a crisp, brand-new ID card, exactly as the System had described.
He tucked the money back into his pocket and looked around.
His gaze swept through the crowd. It didn't take long before he spotted a sign not far ahead, glowing with a steady blue light: "Lightning Cyber Café."
In this era, internet cafés were still one of the fastest and most direct ways to get your hands on information.
Kairos turned up his collar, crossed the street, and walked straight toward the café.
He pushed open the heavy glass door and stepped inside. Through the haze of cigarette smoke, rows of computer screens cast a pale blue glow into the dim room.
He went up to the front desk, pulled out his ID, and laid it on the counter.
"A private room, please."
The guy at the desk was busy staring down at his own screen, mid-game. Without looking up, he jabbed a finger in the direction of a QR code on the counter.
Kairos scanned it, paid, and took the room key. He followed the signs up to a small private room on the second floor.
The door closed behind him and the noise from outside dropped away almost entirely.
He settled into the chair in front of the computer, pressed the power button, and waited for the screen to come on.