Chapter 82: With You and I Together, We're Invincible (Part 3)
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, Will and Golbat had been in Dragonite Valley for two months. The world had passed from autumn back into winter. Will had originally thought he could return to his cave before winter, but the joy and progress of learning new skills had made him stay a little longer.
In these two months, Will had devoted himself wholeheartedly to his training, successively mastering four new moves: Fire Spin, Surf, Dragon Dance, and Dragon Pulse.
He didn't have to think much about his choice of skills. Apart from Fire Spin at the beginning, which he chose after witnessing its power and versatility, he prioritized Water and Dragon-type moves purely because he possessed the Mystic Water and the Dragon Fang. It was a matter of cost-effectiveness. The excellent setup move Dragon Dance was also a must-have. While such buffing moves aren't always impressive in the anime, they hold a very high status in the competitive scene of the games, and their practical effects in reality would only be more pronounced.
Although Dragon Dance is a move a Dragonair can learn naturally by reaching Lv. 60, what's wrong with mastering it early? Who knew how long it would take to reach Lv. 60.
By the small lake in Dragonite Valley, Will glanced at Golbat playing with two other Dragonair in the distance, then looked down at his own reflection in the water and mumbled, "It's about time I left."
"Ying?!" a surprised cry came from beside him.
"You again," Will said, turning his head to find that a Dragonair had somehow snuck up behind him. It looked like she had been planning to startle him but had stopped after hearing his words.
This was the same graceful female Dragonair who had immediately taken a liking to him when he first arrived. Although Will was face-blind, from the looks he got from the other female Dragonite, Dragonair, and Dratini, he could guess that he was quite the handsome one. And this one had fallen for him at first sight. No, that's not right. It was lust at first sight.
In any case, for the past two months, this Dragonair had often stuck by his side to play with him. Although their activities just looked like ordinary children playing, the mentality of most Pokémon was like that of human children, and playing together was one way they expressed affection.
Furthermore, she often performed a certain action, just like now. Will flicked his tail, knocking away the female's tail that was trying to intertwine with his. Times had changed. After living with the Dragonite clan, he now knew that intertwining tails was a Dragonair's way of courting. The thought of how many people and Pokémon he had wrapped his own tail around in the past gave him a headache. Thank goodness they didn't know what it meant, or the social embarrassment would have been fatal.
"Ying..." the female Dragonair slumped down, dejected. She didn't understand. In the past two months, she must have tried to court him at least a hundred times, if not eight hundred. Why wouldn't he submit to her? Could this iron-hearted male dragon not feel her passionate heart? If she failed this time, would she ever have a chance to see him again?
"As long as we're alive, we'll see each other again. I'm leaving."
"Ying."
"Goodbye."
Will bid farewell to the Dragonair, called over Golbat, and went to find the Dragonite Chief. He had learned four new skills and gained a level in the valley; it would be rude to leave without saying thanks.
The Dragonite Chief was very understanding about his departure. He had never forgotten that Will had said he would return to that human's side. He only instructed Will to be careful in the future and then led the other clan members to see him off. The Shiny Dragonite was the one to escort him back. It was very reluctant to see him go, even crying for him at the thought of the hard life he was returning to.
As they neared the cave, the Shiny Dragonite gave Will a hug and then left, saying he should come back to visit if he had the chance. But Will guessed that he probably wouldn't be staying on Mt. Silver for much longer. He was now Lv. 48, not far from the Lv. 55 required for evolution. In as little as half a year, or a year at most, he would evolve into a Dragonite and return to the Dragonite Kingdom.
Back at the cave, Will and Golbat didn't see the Scyther crew; they must have gone out to train. He didn't wait around and took Golbat out to level up. With his current level and deep movepool, he could start challenging the Alphas of the middle ring.
And by a strange coincidence, the first Alpha he set his sights on was a Beedrill Alpha, not far from his cave. When he and Golbat arrived near the Beedrill's territory, he found that his Scyther friends were already there, and they were in the middle of a battle with the Beedrill.
"This is a losing fight," Will said, shaking his head after a glance.
The top-end power of this Beedrill clan wasn't very strong, but their strength was in their vast numbers, making the clan as a whole quite formidable. The Alpha was probably only Lv. 45, one of the weakest in the middle ring. But they had a dozen other Beedrill between Lv. 40 and 45, which was terrifying.
On the Scyther's side, there were seven of them. Besides the six old Scyther he knew, there was also a younger-looking one, probably only in its thirties level-wise. The current situation was that one high-level Beedrill was fighting one old Scyther, while the other six high-level Beedrill, including the Alpha, were ganging up on his friend. Surrounding them was a circle of fifty or so Beedrill in their twenties and thirties, watching menacingly.
Will was quite impressed by his old friend. His level had actually reached 48, the same as his own. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to hold off six Beedrill at once. For a Scyther of his age to raise his level so quickly, he must have been training incredibly hard these past few months.
[Thunderbolt]
Against a swarm of Flying-type Pokémon, there was no better move than this. No wonder Ash's Pikachu spammed Thunderbolt all the time. One shock could hit a whole group, racking up tons of EXP. It was a guaranteed good time.
"Scyther?"
"Hey, long time no see. Let's deal with these guys first. Remember? With you and I together..."
"Scyther (We're invincible)."
The old Alpha smiled and nodded, wasting no more words. With their current rapport, everything was understood.
"BZZZ!" xN
Seeing a new enemy join the fight, the other Beedrill stopped watching and charged forward all at once.
"What the hell?! Are these Beedrill insane?! They have no martial ethics! Fly higher!"
Will was startled to see fifty or sixty Beedrill rushing at them. He quickly shielded Golbat and whipped his long tail high into the air.
[Surf]
A seven-meter-high wave erupted from beneath him, and under his control, it crashed outwards in all directions. It was an indiscriminate, undirected area-of-effect attack. If the Scyther hadn't flown high in advance at his warning, they would have been hit by it too.
"Bzzz!"
Many of the lower-level Beedrill were one-shotted by the move. A large-scale AoE attack like this was exactly what the Scyther crew lacked. If his friend had such a move, with his level, he wouldn't have had to fear these Beedrill either.
"Use Astonish to join the fight," Will said to Golbat behind him. With so much experience on the table, he might as well let Golbat get a piece of the action.
"Golbat," Golbat nodded, and an invisible shriek began to pour from its mouth. In reality, a sound wave move like this was also quite formidable. It was fast, had a wide range, and was colorless and formless, making it hard to dodge. It wouldn't do much damage to the Beedrill, but it counted as participating in the battle.
By the time the battle was over and the Beedrill were scattered on the ground with swirly eyes, Golbat's level had jumped three times, to Lv. 23. If it had been able to contribute more to the fight, its share of the experience would have been even greater. But Will was very satisfied with this. There would be plenty of opportunities to let Golbat leech experience in the future.
"Scyther," the old Alpha said after the battle, welcoming Will's return.
"What's with these Beedrill? Do the ones in the middle ring have no sense of honor?" Will asked after a casual greeting.
Ever since he had come to the middle ring, he had found that most Pokémon species fought with honor. Except for a few whose racial instinct was to swarm and gang up, most would seek out an evenly matched opponent for a 1v1 duel between true warriors. For example, when the Kangaskhan and Dragonite clans fought, although it might look like a chaotic melee, each Pokémon had actually found an opponent of equal strength to fight one-on-one.
"Scyther, scyther~" the old Alpha shook its head, indicating it didn't really know either. As far as it remembered, starting about twenty years ago, the Beedrill swarms in Mt. Silver had all changed their fighting style. Compared to the less efficient 1v1s of the past, they were now much more proficient at ganging up on others, especially lone Pokémon that wandered into their territory.
Twenty years ago.
Will remembered that was the time of his first life. A cold sweat trickled down his forehead. He turned to the younger-looking Scyther and asked, "What's the deal with this one?"
"Scyther," the old Alpha explained. They had been out looking for opponents when they found this Scyther, which had mistakenly wandered into the Beedrill's territory, so they had decided to rescue it.
"Scyther," the younger one said, thanking Will and the others before turning to leave. It seemed to intend to continue on its own, which baffled the old veterans, who thought the youth of today were truly audacious.
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