Sunny tested the toughness of the silk thread by pulling on it with all his strength.
No matter how hard he tried, the thread refused to break.
"This strength is enough to support my weight."
A plan slowly formed in his mind.
At the moment, Weedle only had two starting moves: Poison Sting and String Shot.
Now that he had found a way to train String Shot, the problem was Poison Sting.
As his only two survival tools in the early stages, neither move could be neglected.
Sunny had already thought of a method to train Poison Sting.
From Weedle all the way to Beedrill, the species always maintained the Bug/Poison typing. Many of its abilities relied heavily on Poison-type traits.
If that was the case, he needed to strengthen his toxins.
And the only way Sunny could think of to strengthen poison…
Was eating.
Eating poison.
In the wild, there were many kinds of Berries with incredible effects, and they were a primary food source for many Pokémon.
Some of those Berries were poisonous.
To creatures without Poison typing, they were deadly toxins.
But for poisonous creatures, they were valuable nutrition.
They could stimulate the body to produce stronger toxins.
Sunny's goal was to find poisonous Berry trees.
However, doing that required high mobility.
Which meant the String Shot move was extremely important.
---
Sunny pulled back the silk thread, pushed aside the leaves, and a beam of sunlight poured in.
He squinted.
Outside, the weather was scorching.
It was already close to afternoon, and the blazing sun hung high in the sky. Many Pokémon had retreated into their nests to avoid the harsh ultraviolet rays.
Even Pidgey and Spearow, which had been chirping all morning, had disappeared.
Sunny felt relieved.
This meant the chances of him being attacked were much lower.
Slowly, he crawled out of the small nest he had made from leaves and stretched his body.
Even though there were no signs of nearby Pokémon, Sunny remained cautious.
Looking up at the thick canopy above him, he suddenly thought of a good way to practice his String Shot accuracy.
First, he tested the maximum range.
"Hm… not bad for a baby bug."
The silk reached about 0.2 meters.
Not impressive—but acceptable for now.
Sunny nodded.
As long as he practiced diligently, both range and accuracy would improve.
He aimed at a leaf directly in front of him.
Controlling the energy within his body, he opened his mouth—
A silk thread shot forward.
Bang!
The silk hit a leaf.
Sunny's face darkened.
It hit something—but not the target.
The silk slid off and stuck to another leaf nearby.
Way off.
If this happened during a real fight, he might as well be offering himself up as lunch.
Thankfully, when he faced that Pidgey earlier, he hadn't tried to attack it.
Even though he missed, Sunny didn't feel discouraged.
Everything was difficult at the beginning.
As long as he found the right feeling, improvement would come.
He adjusted his posture.
His legs gripped the tree trunk tightly as he raised his body.
Then—
He fired again.
A milky-white strand shot out.
Smack!
This time it struck the center of the leaf 0.2 meters away.
The leaf trembled under the impact.
Sunny felt delighted.
He had found the trick.
The next few attempts also hit the target.
But he quickly warned himself.
"No."
"I can't get arrogant."
"This might just be luck."
"I need a 100% hit rate."
"If ninety-nine out of a hundred shots miss, rounding up still means death."
His expression became calm again.
For a long time afterward, Sunny practiced relentlessly.
Leaves nearby became his targets.
Even if they were partially hidden behind other leaves or extremely small, he still tried to hit them precisely.
With each strand of silk, Sunny improved a little more.
Whenever his energy dropped below half, he immediately returned to his leaf fortress to replenish it by eating.
That way, he wouldn't be caught weak if a predator suddenly appeared.
Accuracy alone wasn't enough.
He also needed distance.
What was the point of a move with a range of only 0.2 meters?
That wasn't even as long as a single step for most Pokémon.
That earlier Pidgey could have bitten him simply by stretching its neck!
So Sunny began targeting leaves farther away.
0.2 meters…
0.3 meters…
0.4 meters…
0.5 meters…
Time passed along with the soft rustling of leaves in the wind.
Sunny's String Shot range increased steadily.
His long-distance accuracy, which initially missed nine out of ten shots, gradually improved until he was hitting about two-thirds of his targets.
Finally, Sunny stopped.
Not because he was exhausted.
But because it was no longer safe to continue.
---
The sun was setting.
Predators were beginning to stir again—and at night, they would be even more dangerous.
Without the scorching sunlight, many Pokémon that had hidden all day began emerging from their dark shelters.
Zubat. Arbok. Noctowl.
Just hearing those names made Sunny nervous.
Most of them had evolved at least once and were natural predators of Bug-type Pokémon.
Even Bug-types themselves could be dangerous.
Venomoth and Ariados were also active at night.
Bug-type Pokémon didn't hesitate to prey on other Bug-types.
If anything, they were even more ruthless toward their own kind.
Sunny couldn't help feeling bitter.
Bug-types were truly near the bottom of the food chain.
Almost every predator would happily take a bite.
One day…
He would make them pay.
Especially that Pidgey.
That damned Pidgey.
---
Night gradually fell.
Moonlight illuminated the forest, but the surroundings felt eerily quiet.
Sunny carefully opened a small gap in his leaf fortress and peeked outside.
For the moment, nothing seemed to be happening.
But Sunny had watched plenty of nature documentaries in his previous life.
He knew this quiet moment was just the calm before the hunt.
Predators were observing their prey.
Soon enough, a bloody chase would begin.
Minute after minute passed.
Sunny kept watching while chewing leaves.
After eating the same flavor all day, he felt a little nauseous.
Perhaps a normal Weedle wouldn't mind.
But with a human soul, the constant taste had become unbearable.
Unfortunately, he had no choice but to endure it.
"When my divine technique is perfected," Sunny muttered, "anyone who dares stop me from eating will die."
The "divine technique," of course, referred to String Shot.
Once his shooting range reached one full meter…
That would be the moment he set out to hunt.
Just as he was thinking about this—
Something unusual suddenly happened on the forest floor.
In the next instant…
The quiet forest erupted into chaos. 🌙🐛