Chapter 79: The Clan in the Valley
"Roar," the Kangaskhan said, pointing towards the deeper part of Mt. Silver and making a few gestures.
When Will heard what she said, his composure vanished. His eyes widened and he shot up to his full height. The Kangaskhan had said that her clan, in the central region of Mt. Silver, often fought with others, and that near their territory was a clan of Pokémon just like Will. Because the two clans fought so often, the Kangaskhan clan knew that to fight a Pokémon like him, you had to use Ice-type moves.
There was a Dragonite clan in the center of Mt. Silver?!
The shock in Will's heart was indescribable. He had always thought that the Dragonite clan should live on an isolated island in the boundless ocean, or perhaps even in the sea itself. After all, the Pokédex mentioned that "somewhere in the vast ocean, there seems to be an island inhabited only by Dragonite," and also that "it is said to fly over the vast ocean to rescue people who are drowning." Even the giant ancient Dragonite in the anime had come from the direction of the sea and returned to it.
So, Will had never imagined that he could find other members of the Dragonite line in Mt. Silver. But now, it all made sense. Pokémon didn't truly understand type matchups, and this Kangaskhan was no exception. She had simply memorized that you had to use Ice-type moves to fight a Dragonair.
"...I want to go to the center of Mt. Silver for a look. Could I trouble you to lead the way?" Will hesitated for a moment, but decided to ask. He wanted to see what a Dragonite clan from the Era of Primal Beasts looked like. But with his current strength, getting to the center of the mountain would be extremely difficult, so he asked the Kangaskhan, ostensibly to guide him, but in reality, wanting her as a bodyguard.
"Roar!" The Kangaskhan felt guilty towards Will, so she agreed without hesitation.
"Scyther!"
"Zubat!"
"No, you all stay here. I'll go by myself."
Once the decision was made, he was ready to go. Will twisted his body, felt that his injuries had mostly recovered, and then set off with the Kangaskhan towards the center of Mt. Silver.
Along the way, Will also learned a lot about the central region from her. First, the territories. The outer ring of Mt. Silver had hundreds of territories, and the middle ring had dozens. But the central region had only six. Three on land, two in the sky, and one underground.
The three on land were: the Kangaskhan clan, the Rhydon clan, and the Dragonite clan. Although the Dragonite clan could fly, they spent more of their time on land, so their territory was also on the ground. The Kangaskhan clan had learned their Rock-type moves from fighting the Rhydon clan, and their Ice-type moves from fighting the Dragonite clan.
The rulers of the sky were divided between day and night. The daytime rulers often switched between the Pidgeot and Fearow clans. The rulers of the night were the Crobat clan. At night, their only enemies were the few Ghost-type Pokémon in Mt. Silver and an extremely small Honchkrow clan. They were practically unrivaled, so the night sky was their domain.
The ruler of the underground, however, was terrifying. As everyone knew, the true wealth of the Mt. Silver range was the countless mineral resources within the mountain itself. There were innumerable tunnels and caves, mostly occupied by Rock and Ground-type Pokémon. Will had never set foot there. This underground ruler had no clan, just a single individual, but it ruled an underground territory larger than Mt. Silver itself.
Based on the Kangaskhan's description, Will deduced this Pokémon was... Tyranitar. The Godzilla of the Pokémon world. The "late bloomer" of the second generation. The lord of the sandstorm. One of only two pseudo-legendaries without the Dragon type. The only Pokémon in existence with the Rock/Dark type combination. These were just its most famous attributes; a deeper dive would reveal much more.
However, Will didn't think he would ever meet this Pokémon in this life, so he had no plans to learn more about it. He asked more about the Dragonite and Crobat clans. The former was obvious. As for the latter, he felt it might have something to do with his Zubat, though it was more likely that it didn't. The Zubat line was full of potential, but they were also very numerous. You could find them in almost any cave in Kanto and Johto. The Zubat population on Mt. Silver alone was probably in the five or six hundreds.
Will and the Kangaskhan chatted as they traveled. Along the way, he witnessed some truly absurdly powerful Pokémon. For example, a 3-meter-tall Sandslash that shattered a Nidoking's horn with one swipe, and a 4.7-meter-tall Machamp that used a seven-meter-long tree as a weapon.
Seeing that creature, Will once again lamented how limited humanity's research on Pokémon still was, even in the Era of Leagues. In this era, there was no such thing as trading via computer, yet wild Machop could still evolve into their third stage, Machamp.
And the most exaggerated thing he saw was, without a doubt, a nearly 27-meter-long Steelix. When Will saw it, he felt like an earthworm looking at a python. The Steelix was sleeping at the time; otherwise, they would have had to take a detour or risk being killed.
I've really underestimated how terrifying this central region is, Will thought.
He had originally thought that with his and his crew's strength, they could probably survive here. But now it seemed he was far too naive. If even these monsters couldn't claim a spot as one of the rulers, then coming here would be like a lamb walking into a tiger's den. No wonder Mt. Silver was the most difficult area in the Kanto region in the games. And no wonder that even after a thousand years, it remained a core location for the two regions and the site of the Pokémon League headquarters. This mountain was filled with natural guardians. Will estimated that this Steelix alone could probably scatter the entire Beast-Caller army of either kingdom. He didn't know the average level of the Land Kingdom's army, but in the Dragonite Kingdom's, the average Pokémon level was around 43. The Pokémon of the top generals were at most Lv. 50.
And the level of this Steelix... just from the way the Kangaskhan tiptoed past it, it had to be at least Lv. 60.
Will and the Kangaskhan had set out at dawn and had walked until the afternoon without even stopping for lunch. It wasn't that the journey was that long, but the Kangaskhan, concerned for her baby and the dangers of the forest, moved very slowly.
Finally, as the sun began to set, she stopped.
"Roar," she said, pointing to a small hill in front of them, then turning to leave. She meant that the Dragonite clan's territory was just over the hill. She couldn't go any further and had to return to her own clan. At the same time, she also said that if the Dragonites didn't welcome Will, he could go to the Kangaskhan clan's territory, which was in the forest to the south.
"Am I here?" Will watched the Kangaskhan leave, then cautiously flew to the top of the hill and looked over to the other side.
The next moment, his eyes lit up. On the other side of the hill was a sizable valley plain, with a winding river running through it. The entire valley was surrounded on all sides by small hills, like a city wall blocking out all danger. The plain itself looked incredibly peaceful. Will could see a few small Dratini rolling around in the grass.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would have imagined that in a place as dangerous as Mt. Silver, there could be such a paradise?
"A paradise built by the Dragonite themselves?" Will looked at the hills; they didn't seem to be naturally formed. He guessed that the Dragonite clan had meticulously crafted this territory for themselves.
He then began to carefully observe the clan in the valley. It was truly large. There were at least seven or eight Dragonite, and the number of Dragonair and Dratini combined was over forty.
Although the number seemed large, almost contradicting the "rare" impression that pseudo-legendaries give most fans, it all depends on the era. In the future Era of Leagues, with specialized breeding facilities like the Dragon Holy Land or Meteor Falls, the numbers of both starters and pseudo-legendaries increased greatly. The reason they were rare for ordinary trainers was because they were difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to raise, not because the species itself was truly that scarce. A pseudo-legendary is only "rare" to the common person. In the Masters Eight Tournament, 12 out of the 64 Pokémon were pseudo-legendaries, which proves the point. The Pokémon League doesn't stop ordinary trainers from owning them; it's just that ordinary trainers really can't afford them.
But in the current Era of Primal Beasts, pseudo-legendaries were truly, genuinely rare. This "rare" had no exaggeration. They grew too slowly. Without the protection of their elders, they would never survive to reach their powerful final stage. Will himself, who fought and trained every day, was still a long way from becoming a Dragonite after a year. What more needs to be said for other wild Dragonair and Dratini, who generally survive by hiding at the bottom of the water and growing naturally by eating plankton and small shrimp? The slowness of that process needs no further explanation.
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