Once Whitey woke up, Arthur took him to a neighboring tree and successfully "persuaded" another Weedle to join their growing ranks.
He named this one Brownie, as its hide was a much deeper, earthier shade of brown than the others. Brownie stood at about 0.4 meters—taller than Whitey, but still smaller than Goldie had been.
Arthur was beginning to notice a pattern: physical size was a direct indicator of level. The larger the Weedle, the closer it was to the brink of evolution.
If I evolve into a Kakuna now, the bigger ones will likely follow suit soon after. We'd all be immobile at the same time, turning us into a buffet for any passing bird.
Since Whitey and Brownie were still relatively small and far from their limit, Arthur decided they would be his primary sentries.
I can't hold it back anymore... It's time.
The pressure inside his body was becoming unbearable. He didn't have time to recruit more help; he had to prioritize security.
Arthur led Whitey and Brownie to a thick, sturdy branch and directed them to gather a massive pile of leaves.
After gorging himself on a final, massive feast of berries, he burrowed deep into the center of the leafy mound.
"Whitey, Brownie, I'm evolving. Stay on this tree and don't let anything get close to this pile."
As the words left his mind, his body was engulfed in a brilliant white light. The world dissolved into a blur of heat and shifting form.
When the light faded, the yellowish caterpillar had vanished, replaced by a hard, pale-yellow pupa.
Thanks to the camouflage of the leaves, the transformation went unnoticed by the forest's predators. Whitey and Brownie stared at the leaf pile, sensing their leader's presence inside.
They shared a look, ate a few berries, and curled up around the mound to sleep.
Time slowed down. The world became a muffled symphony of sounds. Encased in his shell, Arthur lost his sight, but his hearing became hyper-acute.
He heard the rhythmic crunching of berries as his subordinates ate. He heard the heavy, four-legged padding of some unknown beast passing below.
He heard the sharp clack of talons as a bird rested momentarily in the canopy above.
"Poli~?"
A familiar, high-pitched chirp drifted through the air.
Ah... he's back. That kid just doesn't listen, Arthur thought through a haze of semi-consciousness. He knew the Poliwag had wandered back to find him.
But Arthur was trapped in a furnace of metabolic change; he was too heavy, too hot, and too tired to respond. He drifted back into a deep slumber.
Arthur lost all track of days. In the beginning, he checked his status out of habit:
[Kakuna]
Potential: Green
Level: 9
Type: Bug / Poison
Ability: Shed Skin
Height: 0.9m
Weight: 18kg
Moves: Harden
Evolution raised my potential to Green. My size is nearly double the standard average. Good...
Maintaining a coherent train of thought was the only thing keeping him sane in the dark. But as the days bled together and the internal heat intensified, his consciousness flickered. He spent his time in a cycle of waking up in a daze and falling back into the void.
Finally, a familiar sensation returned—a violent, explosive pressure from within. His brain jolted awake.
Another flash of white light tore through the darkness.
Suddenly, Arthur felt incredibly light. He had limbs again—four of them—and he felt new appendages on his back that he could flex and twitch.
CRACK!
Arthur stood up abruptly, bursting through the leaf pile and scattering debris everywhere.
Status screen!
[Beedrill]
Potential: Blue
Level: 10
Type: Bug / Poison
Ability: Swarm
Height: 1.8m
Weight: 55kg
Moves: Twineedle, Bug Bite, Poison Sting, String Shot, Harden
"Blue potential... and these stats are insane."
Arthur looked down at his new body and laughed. In his past life, he had been about 1.8 meters tall. Returning to this specific eye level felt like putting on a favorite pair of old shoes.
In the modern era, a Beedrill averaged only 1 meter in height. Arthur was nearly twice that size. In the wild, he was now a titan of his species—though in this primeval forest, he suspected he was only just hitting the "average" for a mature predator.
"Whitey! Brownie!"
He turned to look for his subordinates. Instead of Weedles, he found two large, metallic-yellow cocoons watching him silently.
Though their forms had changed, Arthur recognized them instantly. He reached out to touch them, feeling the heat radiating from their shells. They had only just evolved into Kakunas recently.
Whitey and Brownie's eyes flickered with visible awe. To them, Arthur looked magnificent—a sleek, armored warrior of the skies.
"Stay here and finish your growth. I'm going to find the others."
Arthur tapped their shells with his massive, pointed white stingers. He stepped to the edge of the branch, facing a new challenge. He couldn't crawl down anymore.
"Alright... how do I fly?"
He flexed his back muscles, and his two pairs of translucent wings hummed. He lifted off the branch, wobbling precariously as he fought for balance.
The flight instinct was there, buried under his human memories, but it was shallow.
It took about five minutes of trial and error before he stabilized. He practiced hovering and banking, gradually digging the ancestral memories of the Beedrill out of his mind. Once he felt steady, he dove toward the tree where he had left Goldie.
Goldie was gone.
Anxiety flared in Arthur's chest. Had he been hunted? He flew toward Bella's tree, his wings buzzing with renewed speed.
He landed and let out a sigh of relief. Goldie hadn't been eaten—he had evolved. Having reached his final form first, Goldie had sought out Bella to protect her during her own vulnerable stage.
Now, standing before Arthur were two more massive Beedrills. The "Muscle Bee" squad was officially airborne.