This time, when Collin emerged from his chrysalis, he felt sleeker. He had grown larger than the caterpillar, but his frame was thinner now. His head and body were all one section and he was all around much narrower. His exoskeleton now had a sheen to it and was split into small scales. He still had six legs that were now less lengthy in proportion with his body and all about the same size. His legs were flat and wide along the length and ended in two split claws that were meant for gripping more than clipping.
He looked into himself and aside from his instincts, there were three separate pulses that surrounded his life pulse: The water strider, the caterpillar, and the fish. They were each distinct and pulsed actively in a way that made him more in tune with his body and how it worked.
Collin peered at his reflection in the water. He looked like some combination of bug and fish. He was still much smaller than the fish he encountered yesterday but he was easily larger than any caterpillar now. His head was composed of antennae, pincers, and four eyes like usual, but now much larger and it was less rotund and more arrow-shaped. As he breathed, Collin saw gills on either side of his head flap. When he paid attention, he could feel them there. He hoped they worked since he was still able to breathe air. It felt like they would.
Collin looked to the edge of the water where he had been attempting to reach the shore for so long, then looked back to the gills in his reflection. If they worked, he could make it to shore with ease.
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Collin climbed over the edge of a hyacinth making sure to maintain a firm grip. It was a relief to find he retained the caterpillar's extra grip ability. Carefully, he lowered his head in the water until it was fully submerged. It was hard to force himself to take a breath underwater after his last experience, but he managed to push through and breathe in. He choked and pulled his head out of the water with a hacking cough.
It didn't work.
He felt like he was missing a piece of the puzzle. He tuned into the pulse of the fish and searched his instinctual understanding of the gills. He dipped his head back into the water and this time flexed his gills before breathing in. It worked!
Where breathing normal air felt like a sucking action, this was more akin to squeezing the air out of the water and pumping it into himself. It took more concentration, but after a few minutes of practice, it came naturally.
Thrilled with the results, Collin did a little tapping dance and chirped in excitement. The chirp came out as more of a croak and ollin blinked. It was strange getting used to himself going through so many changes, but overall, he found the process exciting.
Maybe eating that fish wasn't so bad after all. It may have changed him drastically, but there only seemed to be benefits with no drawbacks as compared to the caterpillar making him lose the ability to walk on water.
A dragonfly flew overhead and reminded him of a longing within himself. That longing gave his growing hunger direction. Collin made it his goal to eat a dragonfly before his hunger forced him to eat something else.