Under Tetsuya's coaxing, Weedle took a bite of Oddish's leaf and instantly revealed an expression of enjoyment. Compared to ordinary leaves, this taste was simply like nectar♥.
After one bite, it could not stop!
Weedle ate heartily, using Bug Bite, devouring the entire Oddish without leaving even scraps behind…
Tetsuya was also quite helpless. He had not even told it to eat the lower half of Oddish, yet he could not help but admire this Weedle's appetite.
---◓---
After eating one Oddish, Weedle immediately became full of energy!
Weedle continued with its previous training, repeating the cycle five times in a day. During this period, another Oddish passed by and was captured by Weedle, becoming its dinner.
After a day of training and eating two Oddish, Tetsuya vaguely noticed a faint white light emitting from Weedle's body, but Weedle was suppressing its own body.
Tetsuya naturally saw through the situation. This Weedle was actually suppressing its own Evolution. No wonder it had already learned Bug Bite yet had still not evolved into Kakuna.
Generally, when Pokémon exhibited such a phenomenon, it was due to fear of Evolution.
Some Pokémon became beautiful after evolving, such as Feebas evolving into Milotic. Some Pokémon experienced drastic changes in power, such as Magikarp evolving into Gyarados. But some Pokémon became extremely… ugly, after evolving, such as Palpitoad evolving into Seismitoad. There were also Pokémon that refused to evolve because they would become heavy after Evolution.
These Pokémon feared Evolution because they had seen the awkward state of their evolved forms.
Now that Weedle had shown such a condition, it must also have some fear of Evolution. He still had not figured out the reason why this Weedle refused to evolve, so he could not make any rash conclusions. Only after understanding the reason could he guide it properly.
Weedle had to evolve. What he needed was Beedrill, not such a small Bug.
---◓---
Weedle continued training for three more days and also killed six Oddish. Weedle only had three moves in total, but under such training, it had already dominated them to near perfection.
During this time, the light of Evolution appeared more and more frequently, and each time Weedle resisted, it had to exert all its might!
Tetsuya was now also deeply worried. It seemed this issue had to be resolved as soon as possible.
After three or four more days passed, the remaining eight Pokémon should also be handed over to Raven. It would not do to let them remain in Poké Balls in a half-dead state.
Arriving at the Shadow Team's stationed area once again, what surprised him was that the items exchanged from Spearow were actually more valuable than those from Beedrill.
After inquiring, he learned that Flying-types and Water-type Pokémon could be exchanged for twice as many items as other types of the same level. It seemed this was also a strategy by the Shadow Team to prevent people from escaping Shadow Island.
But he had truly suffered a loss. He had originally thought that Beedrill, being a final Evolution, could be exchanged for more items, but it turned out to be worth only half of Spearow…
This time, he directly registered and stored four Beedrill and one Spearow. One of the Spearow was exchanged for one hundred bottles of milk. There were too many things in his backpack now, so he could only come back next time to collect the supplies.
Tetsuya returned along the same path. Now he had to deal with Weedle's Evolution problem.
Since he had not yet figured out the reason for Weedle's resistance to Evolution, he needed to find a Beedrill group. He would train nearby and let it witness the process of Weedle evolving into Kakuna and Kakuna evolving into Beedrill.
At that time, as long as he observed Weedle's reaction, he should be able to roughly guess the reason.
Not far from a large tree where a Beedrill group was stationed, Tetsuya had already prepared to set up camp. He would likely stay here for several days.
The training continued as usual. Since this was still the outermost area of the forest with abundant sunlight, Grass-type Pokémon such as Oddish, Exeggcute, Bellsprout, and Sunkern could be seen everywhere, so there was no need to worry about Weedle's food.
Weedle carried out its special training, while Tetsuya kept watching the Beedrill group not far away.
On the evening of the second day, the Beedrill returned from foraging in the forest with several Weedle. When they reached the base of the tree, the bodies of two Weedle suddenly emitted light.
Tetsuya quickly called out to Weedle: "Weedle, look quickly! Those two Weedle over there have evolved."
Weedle glanced once and immediately turned its head away, revealing a very disgusted expression.
Since Weedle resisted Evolution, it was understandable that it would dislike the form of Kakuna. However, over the past few days, the intensity of training had increased, and Weedle's tendency to evolve had become more obvious. One day, it would inevitably lose control. He would not foolishly prepare an Everstone for it.
What Tetsuya needed was strong combat power. Pokémon that acted "cute" and "charming" were already beyond what he could accept, unless they possessed extremely strong combat power, like Ash's Pikachu.
---◓---
With several days of training, Weedle's body remained constantly wriggling, and its physical condition had improved significantly. Now it could even rely on its own strength to leap fifty centimeters high, and the horn on its head had become a useful weapon.
When searching for dinner just now, it happened to see a Hoppip. Since Hoppip could fly, Weedle normally had absolutely no ability to catch it.
Just as Hoppip was drinking water by the stream, Weedle quietly approached…
Suddenly, it leaped up, its entire body darting forward, and the horn on its head pierced into Hoppip's body!
What excited Tetsuya even more was that the toxicity of Weedle's small horn was also fairly decent. After being hit, Hoppip instantly fell into a state of Poisoning and quickly died.
Pokémon such as Oddish and Bellsprout both carried poison. Long-term consumption by Weedle was very effective in enhancing its toxicity. Of course, if Tetsuya could catch Gloom or Weepinbell, it would be even better. Although in terms of taste they were completely inferior to Oddish, in terms of enhancing toxicity and bodily growth, the effect would be multiplied.
Another morning arrived, the sun had just risen, shining warmly on the body. Bathed in sunlight, within the Beedrill group not far away, a Kakuna's body began to glow with white light.
This time, there was no need for Tetsuya to call out. Weedle stared fixedly at this "sacred" Evolution. Kakuna gradually shed its yellow, ugly shell, and then a Beedrill flew out, flapping its wings freely under the sunlight, practicing the thrusting of its twin stingers.
Weedle's gaze did not shift for even a moment!
Tears glimmered in its eyes, filled with longing and expectation…
With this, Tetsuya could almost guess the reason why Weedle refused to evolve. As long as he could resolve this mental barrier, Evolution would be right before his eyes.
Tetsuya was just about to speak, when he suddenly smelled a faint fragrance, refreshing and intoxicating…