Butterfree (Caterpie, Metapod)

Delicativis alisiris

Overview

There is a paradox at the heart of Alolan ecology. Virtually all pokémon on the island were introduced by humans, either by the original Polynesian settlers or the waves of colonizers and immigrants who came after them. Alola's ecology is also remarkably balanced. With the partial exceptions of gumshoos and ratic, nateo single species has come to dominate the island. Even the dozen or so apex predators mostly keep their numbers and ranges small and specialized to minimize conflict and further diversify the ecosystem. Butterfree are as good a representation as any as to how this can be true.

Butterfree were introduced to Alola by Japanese immigrants in the 1920s. They quickly carved out a niche and expanded in population… to a point. A variety of factors prevented butterfree from ever experiencing the initial explosive growth rates of some invasive species. To start with, caterpie and butterfree are picky eaters whose preferred diet mostly constitutes introduced plants, which are themselves limited by other factors. While they later became quite fond of the so-called "meadow quartet," they found competition in those spaces from ribombee and oricorio, in addition to the migratory birds in Alola that already knew how to deal with butterfree.

There has never been a serious attempt to exterminate the butterfree population. This is because they have come to fill an important ecological niche. Ribombee tend to go dormant in the wet season, allowing newly evolved butterfree to pick up the slack as the dominant pollinator. Butterfree are also widely regarded as the most beautiful of Alola's insect pokémon. The blue butterfree in particular has become a source of pride.

Due to their relative cuteness, low maintenance, battle niche and short life expectancy, butterfree are an excellent first bug-type for trainers. They are also quite gentle and surprisingly playful. This makes them a popular pet for acclimating children to pokémon.

Physiology

Caterpie and metapod are classified as pure bug-types. Butterfree is classified as a bug/flying type. There have been periodic attempt to reclassify it as either a bug/psychic or a psychic/flying type, but its powerful flight and control of wind currents as well as its distinctly insectoid anatomy have led to those proposals being rejected.

Caterpie looks like a green worm with eight distinct segments of decreasing size from head to tail. The head has two large eye-like markings. These are not actually their eyes and are used solely for intimidation. The eyes are slightly below the markings. Caterpie have a pair of legs on each segment but their first and last. Their head has a large branched antennae. They do not appear to use this antennae for sensory purposes; it contains glands that allow them to emit a horrific stench.

Metapod are shaped like green crescent moons with eyes. Once again, these are not real eyes. Metapod do not, strictly speaking, have eyes. They do have eye spots which allow them to sense ambient light levels. The shell of a metapod is extremely durable, capable of taking hits from even pikipek and other young birds. By contrast, their insides are mostly composed of a highly viscous liquid except immediately after and immediately before evolution (see Evolution).

Metapod seldom move and never eat or defecate. The most metapod can do in their own defense is secrete a sticky silk-like substance. There have even been some attempts in the scientific community to reclassify metapod as an egg rather than a pokémon, with caterpie and butterfree being technically separate species. This theory has not gained the endorsement of any major scientific organization. Metapod are typically around two feet long and weigh about five pounds.

Butterfree possess a body with two blue segments, blue feet and red feelers. Additionally, they possess a large pair of red compound eyes. Their wings are far larger than their main body and have a white coloration with various black lines marking them. Butterfree wings are remarkably water resistant and they are both strong and nimble fliers. This enables them to launch spores up to ten meters with reasonable accuracy, as well as fly relatively unencumbered in even the heaviest of rains.

Butterfree grow to a length of three feet and a weight of six pounds. Other guidebooks have reported butterfree’s weight as exceeding seventy pounds, which is obviously false. No insect of butterfree's size could fly, much less float and glide, with that weight

In captivity and the wild, butterfree can live up to fifteen months after evolving, but they typically only live for about ten (see Illness). Metapod may be immortal if not exposed to injury or water.

Behavior

All stages of the evolutionary line are almost exclusively herbivorous. They primarily seek out and eat plants with either an unpleasant taste or toxic properties. Caterpie and metapod store the spores, toxins and oils inside of themselves to create horrific smells and tastes to deter would-be predators. Butterfree are more active in seeking out specific spores, which they then store in chambers right beneath their wings. They can then emit powders with effects dependent upon their diet. Melemele butterfree typically specialize in paralytics, Akala butterfree in psychoactive powders, Ula'Ula butterfree in chemical burns and rashes, and Poni butterfree in sleep inducing spores and other depressants. In captivity their diet can be selected to alter or maximize their capabilities (see Husbandry).

Even with their foul taste butterfree still have predators. Some birds such as fearow, noctowl and skarmory have olfactory glands weak enough to eat butterfree with only mild stomach irritation. Crobat can also shrug off some of their spore attacks and ambush butterfree at night when their vision is weaker and they tend to be tired or asleep. Snorlax and toucannon sometimes prey upon metapod. Arbok prey upon metapod and caterpie. Ariados have been known to snare and hunt caterpie and butterfree and, on the rare occasion that they leave their nest, they have been known to carry back any metapod they encounter to feed upon at a later time.

Caterpie are diurnal foragers. They have a highly developed sense of smell and will walk for up to three hundred feet to find the optimal plant in range. This may not sound like a long distance, but for a small and slow-moving insect it definitely is. Once a caterpie finds their desired tree it will climb into it and eat leaves until it is forced out by a competitor or predator, the tree dies or stops producing leaves, or a better foraging opportunity presents itself. When a caterpie exits a tree they produce a silk line and slowly lower themselves to the ground. A captive caterpie that is provided leaves at regular time and in adequate supply will still seek to climb on objects around it such as walls, lamps or their trainer.

Metapod have no behaviors worth noting.

Butterfree are diurnal, but they are most active whenever it is raining to take advantage of weather that grounds other birds. They also serve as pollinators, seeking out nectar and other sweet substances and then moving from plant to plant. Most smoothie stores in their range tend to have at least one resident butterfree camped out nearby hoping to pilfer leftovers or steal from customers. When dormant they perch and sleep in the canopies of tall trees. They sleep with their wings fully extended at their sides to make them appear larger to any would-be attackers.

Husbandry

Caterpie primarily eat leaves, although some nutritional supplements can be mixed in. Battling trainers should conduct further research with a more specialized guide and alter their caterpie's diet to include more foul-tasting leaves. All bug catching stores and some general pokémon supplies stores will keep these leaves in stock. Caterpie being raised as pets, especially for small children, should be fed a standard leaf mix available at all Pokémon Centers and supply stores. This prevents them from gaining a particularly foul scent.

Metapod do not consume food.

Butterfree diets are more difficult to replicate in captivity. Some mix of fruit, flowers, and nectar is advisable. Detailed specialist guides can outline combinations that have been shown to work well for butterfree aimed at battling. A simple assortment of fresh or live flowers, honey and nectar will usually do the trick. Sugar water and fruit juices make for good rewards.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Caterpie cannot be housebroken. Butterfree can be, although it requires a fair bit of effort and will likely require a more experienced bug trainer to assist in the process. Caterpie waste is a dense soild; butterfree waste is a thin, almost colorless liquid.

It is recommended that trainers bond with their caterpie before it evolves into metapod. This can be accomplished by supervising it while it forages in nature, holding leaves and making the caterpie crawl over you to get them or providing it a climbing perch where its leaves are regularly provided with the trainer standing or sitting nearby it. All of these activities get caterpie to associate their trainer with food.

Butterfree will frequently perch on their trainers' head or outstretched arm when allowed to do so. As a word of caution, they are surprisingly heavy. A gentle flick of the arm or head will usually be enough to convince them to leave. They are remarkably intelligent and enjoy toys such as balls, puzzles containing nectar, fans, surfaces with strange textures, fog machines, and strobe lights. It is good for butterfree's enrichment to allow them to go outside on rainy days. Few of their predators fly in the rain, making it one of the few times they can safely remain unsupervised. Butterfree are smart enough to be taught to respond to even fairly complex verbal commands with time.

Caterpie show no particular aversion to being held inside a pokéball. Metapod should be transferred inside of a pokéball but should otherwise be left alone and outside of their ball. Butterfree resent being held in all but the most comfortable pokéballs during the day, although it is sometimes necessary to keep them from flying off. They show no particular aversion to their ball at night, and some butterfree seem to prefer it as a means of keeping them safe from real or imagined predators.

Illness

Unfortunately, time is something butterfree have in short supply. In their native range, caterpie typically hatch in early spring, evolve a few weeks later, evolve again two to six weeks after that, lay eggs in the fall and die off in the winter. Migration is largely impossible as they are outcompeted by faster and more aggressive butterfly and moth species to the south of them.

In Alola there is no particular reason that they need to die off in the winter. However, butterfree macroevolution has done little to select against age-related diseases beyond eight months. As such, butterfree typically succumb to organ failure or cancer between nine and twelve months of age. Some butterfree have been documented as living a few months longer, but none have ever lived to see sixteen month.

Some injuries affecting caterpie, metapod and butterfree can be cured. Veterinarians at Pokémon Centers will fix up the simple ones for free. Most serious injuries or those related to illness rather than battle wounds are not covered for the simple reason that they would give the butterfree another year of life at most. Some private sector veterinarians may be willing to cure serious butterfree illnesses. But butterfree trainers must consider if it is worth paying large amounts of money to keep their pokémon alive for another few months.

Evolution

A well-fed caterpie will grow rapidly over the course of roughly six weeks. They do not grow linearly; they periodically shed their skin and crawl out. Over the next twelve hours they grow in size and develop another exoskeleton. This process will be repeated roughly ten times before caterpie are able to evolve.

In the wild caterpie climb up to an inaccessible or hidden spot in a tree, tie a thick silk line, and form a thick exoskeleton cocoon around themselves. In captivity caterpie should be provided a safe place to rest at least once a week to see if they will evolve. Once evolution occurs, the metapod should be left undisturbed in the same place for a week. They should never be battled with. If a metapod evolves inside of a Pokémon Center room, the trainer will be allowed to stay there for the full week.

Metapod evolve under very harsh or persistent rain. In nature they can sometimes lie dormant for the entire dry season. If natural rain is unavailable one to three weeks after metapod evolves in captivity, it is best to seek out a sprinkler room used to care for amphibians and water-types. Some of the largest Pokémon Centers have them. Failing that, most fish or herpetology specializing stores will typically have such a room available for a fee.

Inside of the metapod the caterpie’s organs and flesh steadily dissolve into a thick green goo. As evolution progresses, the goo steadily reforms into a miniature butterfree. When the process is complete, the new butterfly will break out of the metapod shell and fly away. Butterfree grow from their initial size to their final size over the course of two to three weeks.

Battle

Caterpie are not natural battlers and actively avoid conflict whenever possible. In the wild their primary defense mechanism is to be so foul tasting and smelling that almost nothing wants to eat them. In captivity this makes them hard to coax into fights beyond forcing them onto a battlefield and hoping they reflexively defend themselves. Caterpie are typically too nervous or unintelligent to be properly trained. Their self defense mechanisms amount to (weak) bites, (weak) full body tackles, discharges from its scent glands, and silk tripwires it uses to bind or trap opponents. It should be noted that caterpie will simply run away from a sufficiently bound foe rather than taking the opportunity to damage them further. It is recommended that if caterpie must be used in battle at all they be used to tie up a particularly tricky opponent and then be withdrawn or forfeited to give another more combative 'mon an opening.

Metapod should not be battled with. The slabs of their exoskeleton are incredibly durable and can take hits from pikipek and rattata. However, they are poorly built for handling impacts and will frequently burst and lose their inner liquid. These injuries are fatal.

Many an aspiring youngster or bug catcher has dreamed of shocking the world stage with their butterfree, something they believe to be criminally underrated. Most trainer's first abject humiliation comes from a butterfree. Flying projectile users are incredibly good counters for melee fighters. Butterfree have access to moderately powerful psychic attacks and delicate but powerful wings. Those traits in tandem allow them to strike with gusts of wind or carry spores to hit their target with surprising accuracy. From there it's only a matter of time before they finish their helpless opponent off.

More clever trainers will note that butterfree would be a perfect addition to rain teams because they are capable fliers, the rain weakens fire attacks, and the weather allows for more powerful hurricane attacks. Even if there isn’t rain on the field, butterfree's aim allows it to usually land hurricanes.

Butterfree is not the strongest of pokémon. Or the fastest. Or the most durable. There's a reason that their main defense in the wild is being inedible. A well-used butterfree might remain viable towards the end of an island challenge, but on the world stage it's hopelessly outmatched as a rain flier by pokémon such as swanna and pelipper. Its role as a status spreader is better left to bulky grass-types.

Acquisition

Caterpie are most common in meadows, temperate forests and near large man-made gardens or orchards. All stages of the evolutionary line can be captured, trained, adopted or purchased with a Class I license. Many trainers are tempted to go straight for capturing butterfree as there are no higher license requirements for doing so. This is usually inadvisable. To start with, butterfree are free-spirited, intelligent, and hate confinement. By the time a trainer gets a butterfree to cooperate it will either be mostly obsolete in battle or on death's door. Butterfree tend to reflexively trust trainers who cared for them and fed them as a caterpie and watched over them as a metapod.

Metapod can, technically, be captured. This ensures that a butterfree is obtained while they're still young and the capture process is much easier. However, the butterfree will not recognize their trainer and all the usual problems of establishing dominance will apply.

Most shelters simply release butterfree. They don't like being held indoors and tend to fare well upon reintroduction to the wild.

Butterfree, especially those of alternate colorations, can usually be purchased from breeders in major cities or near flower meadows. However, they will often charge a price that may not be worth paying to have a low-power pokémon for a few months. Caterpie are frequently sold in pet stores, but there's no particular reason to pay to buy one when they're already quite common and easy to capture in the wild. Captive-born caterpie will be slightly more used to humans, but caterpie adjust to new circumstances quite quickly as it is.

Breeding

Butterfree find mates during the summer and fall months. After a courtship ritual involving elaborate flight patterns and one party providing the other with flowers or honey, they will consummate the relationship. Roughly three weeks later, the female will lay their eggs in leaves near the canopy of a tree, typically during or after rainstorms. They do not continue to watch these eggs after they are laid and show no particular loyalty to their offspring. In captivity butterfree are somewhat more maternal and have been known to roost over their nest during their day and seek out and provide food to their offspring once they hatch. The reason for this difference is unknown.

Butterfree can be bred in captivity. Provide the butterfree a mid-sized real or artificial tree in an indoor environment. Make sure the environment is kept relatively moist. Have enough leaves in supply to feed the caterpie once they hatch. Butterfree are often bred for their color schemes; several Alolan breeders specialize in blue-winged butterfree.

Relatives

Butterfree technically have no subspecies. However, they do have alternate color schemes. Color morphs do not have any major physiological differences. The most common alternate color schemes are blue, yellow, pink, orange, and dark green butterfree. Botanical gardens, zoos, and the royal aviary frequently have summer exhibits displaying butterfree of many different colors. These butterfree enjoy no substantial benefits in combat, but they do cost more to obtain and are almost exclusively found in captivity.