Chapter 41: One of the Dragonite Clan's Aces
"Lan, where are you going?" Iris's voice called out from behind him.
"Keep up," Will said without turning back, using his tail to hook the pocket of the little girl's clothes and lead her along.
Since he couldn't find the Scyther right away, he had no choice but to switch targets. And he had already chosen his next candidate: the Pokémon he had seen the moment he opened his eyes in this life—Magikarp.
To be more specific, Magikarp's evolved form: Gyarados.
The Pokémon Gyarados needs no introduction. Even people who don't know much about Pokémon have probably heard its name. Evolving a Magikarp into a Gyarados isn't difficult; it just needs to reach around Lv. 20. For a Magikarp with almost no offensive power, evolving through solo battles is indeed hard. They basically have to rely on natural growth. But if Will were to take a Magikarp along to his group battles, the process would not be difficult at all.
If there was one difficulty, it was that Gyarados has a violent temperament and is not suitable for a novice Trainer to raise.
"As a member of the Dragonite Clan, how could you not have a Gyarados, right?" Will muttered to himself as he headed towards the lake from his memory.
Gyarados was a staple ace for the future Champion of both Kanto and Johto, Lance. It also held a crucial position on the team of the Blackthorn Gym Leader, Clair. In the games, out of the 14 versions Lance appeared in, Gyarados was on his team in 12 of them, only absent in Black 2 and White 2. To put it bluntly, Gyarados had become one of the essential aces for members of the Dragonite Clan, its status second only to their symbol, Dragonite.
Therefore, the potential of Gyarados needed no further explanation. However, although its name contained the character for "dragon," it did not have the Dragon type. Its types were Water and Flying. Though a flying Gyarados did appear in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, in other games, the anime, and the manga, it was generally considered unable to fly. The only Flying-type move it could learn was Hurricane. It was a Pokémon that didn't quite live up to its name.
"Lan, Lan, look! That Pokémon is so cute!" Iris's voice sounded by his ear.
"Hm?" Will shifted his gaze and hesitated.
It was a Marill. Marill itself wasn't very famous, but its evolution, Azumarill, had quite the reputation: "The Dragon Slayer." Marill was on Will's list of backup Pokémon.
Forget it.
After a moment's hesitation, Will decided to pass on it for now. Azumarill's reputation was significant, but not that exaggerated, and its strength was highly dependent on having the "Huge Power" ability. And if its opponent wasn't a Dragon-type, its effectiveness was very limited. In Will's opinion, it wasn't a particularly worthwhile Pokémon to raise. At least, with other, better options available, he wouldn't choose to bring one back for Liz or Iris.
They continued forward, arriving at the lake without any trouble.
"Wait here," Will said, stuffing Iris into a nearby bush with his tail. He looked around to make sure no other Pokémon would appear anytime soon, then dove headfirst into the lake.
Gyarados are not common, but Magikarp are everywhere. It's said that in ancient times, Magikarp were very powerful. For some reason, they traded their strength for vitality and reproductive ability. The Magikarp of today are weak, but they reproduce at an astonishing rate and can survive in any quality of water. They are basically the cockroaches of the aquatic world, even described in the Pokédex as "so numerous you get sick of seeing them."
So, even in this small lake, one could find plenty of Magikarp. In fact, it was easier to find them in a place like this. In the open sea, they were just food for other Pokémon. But in this lake, they were at least near the top of the food chain.
Will scanned the water and spotted about a dozen Magikarp.
"You two will do," he quickly decided on his targets.
The two Magikarp were 2.1 meters and 2 meters long, respectively. This length was more than double the value listed in the Pokédex, which meant their levels were already quite high, and they might not be far from evolving.
Will had no intention of communicating with them. Magikarp were too dumb. It wasn't just their strength that had degenerated, but their intelligence as well. Only after evolving did their intelligence improve slightly. Will felt that talking to them would be pointless. It was better to just knock them out first and then tame them through feeding.
No sooner said than done. Will shot forward and hit them with two Dragon Tails, knocking both Magikarp out instantly. He then coiled his tail around them and flew out of the lake.
"Lan!"
Seeing Will emerge, Iris quickly ran over. She soon noticed the two large red fish held in his tail, but she wasn't particularly curious. She just figured he was hungry and wanted to eat some fish. She had, however, never seen such large fish before.
"Get on. Time to go," Will said, lowering his head.
"Are we leaving already?" Iris understood his meaning. She awkwardly climbed onto his head in her puffy clothes and grabbed the feathery wings on either side.
"Catching two today is more than enough," Will said, taking off and flying towards the capital.
Originally, he had planned to catch them one by one, with a Scyther being today's goal. But since he couldn't find a Scyther, catching Magikarp was just as good. He had to catch them sooner or later anyway. This way, he could catch two at once, one for Liz and one for Iris.
As for the "feeding," that had to be done by Liz and Iris personally. If it were other Pokémon, Will could use communication to get them to accept Liz and Iris as their Trainers. But that wouldn't work with Magikarp. Their intelligence was too low for a conversation to be meaningful. It would take a Magikarp many days to even remember who was feeding it and grow fond of them. If Will did the feeding, the Magikarp would become attached to him, not Liz and Iris. When they evolved into Gyarados, with their famously violent tempers, there was no way they would listen to the girls.
Will did not want to come back from fighting on the front lines only to find that Liz and Iris had been beaten up by their own Gyarados. That would be a real mess.
Another half hour passed, and Will returned to the palace with Iris. He first dropped the two still-unconscious Magikarp into the backyard pond. A maid working in the yard looked at him, completely bewildered, wondering what kind of trouble the young master was getting into now.
"Wait here," Will said, placing Iris next to the pond.
He himself flew up to the window of the second-floor study.
Knock, knock.
Liz, inside the study, heard the knocking and turned her head in confusion.
"Lan?!"
Startled by the large face outside her window, Liz quickly opened it. "Shouldn't you be at school? Did you skip again? Lan, you're not being a good boy. Do you want to be..."
"What school? Get over here," Will interrupted her lecturing and unceremoniously wrapped his tail around her, pulling her out of the study.
"Lan~" Liz sighed helplessly.
She finally understood now: this was the feeling of powerlessness Lan must have felt when he was little, being carried around by them.
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