Larvesta sprang up from the ground in an instant. Its mouth opened, and strands of white-red silk shot out rapidly. With several swift sounds, the threads latched onto the ceiling, while the other ends wrapped precisely around Deino's body.
"Lar!"
Before Deino could even react, it was already bound tightly by layers upon layers of silk and hoisted into the air, hanging upside down as it struggled frantically.
"Dei! Roooar!"
Clearly not expecting this chubby bug to have such a trick, Deino roared angrily, thrashing its body and opening its mouth to bite at the silk, trying to tear itself free.
Seeing this, Larvesta spat out another strand of silk, this time wrapping it neatly around Deino's mouth, silencing it completely.
Deino tried to mobilize the energy within its body to break free, but no matter how hard it struggled, it could not tear through the silk.
The gap in strength between the two Pokémon was obvious.
Larvesta's thread had been reinforced with Bug-type energy, making it extremely tough, while the energy within Deino was still far inferior in comparison.
The reason Larvesta had suffered earlier was simply because it had been showing off and had not expected Deino to suddenly attack. Otherwise, it would never have been hit so easily.
Now that it was serious, Deino stood no chance against Larvesta. In terms of strength, the difference between them was still quite large.
With no way out, Deino could only kick its limbs helplessly, dangling in the air like a tied-up rice dumpling. The sight was both ridiculous and amusing.
Watching Deino struggle futilely, Larvesta jumped back onto the table, raised its head proudly, and chirped loudly, as if declaring its authority.
"Newcomer, now you know who you are dealing with. In this house, you listen to me!"
Theo watched the chaotic yet hilarious scene and shook his head helplessly.
"Alright, alright, Larvesta, put it down. Stop messing around."
Although somewhat reluctant, Larvesta obediently retracted its silk.
With a thud, Deino dropped back onto the table, looking slightly dazed from the fall.
It shook its head and glared fiercely at Larvesta, clearly unconvinced, letting out low growls of dissatisfaction.
Theo knew it was time for him, the so-called caretaker, to step in.
With a thought, a green glowing energy orb appeared in his hand. It was a intermediate level energy orb.
A faint aura of life energy instantly filled the air.
Deino, which had been brimming with anger just moments ago, suddenly sniffed the air. Its entire demeanor changed as all its attention was drawn to the green energy cluster.
Its throat made a low gulping sound, clearly tempted.
Theo smiled and brought the energy orb closer to its mouth.
Deino swallowed it in one bite without hesitation.
Then it closed its eyes, lifted its small head slightly, and slowly chewed, its face filled with pure enjoyment, completely forgetting the frustration from earlier.
Taking advantage of the moment, Theo reached out and gently brushed aside the bangs covering its eyes.
For the first time, he clearly saw Deino's full appearance.
Its crimson eyes were slightly narrowed, filled with satisfaction. The fierce aura had softened, replaced by a somewhat naive and even adorable expression.
Deino seemed to sense something and suddenly opened its eyes.
The moment it realized its bangs had been lifted, it reacted like a startled cat, leaping backward abruptly and shaking its head to let its bangs fall back down, covering its eyes again.
At the same time, it let out a few low growls at Theo, clearly disliking having its eyes exposed.
Theo did not force it. Instead, another intermediate level energy orb appeared in his hand, which he waved lightly in front of it.
Deino's attention was instantly drawn again.
A conflicted whimper came from its throat as it struggled between dignity and food.
In the end, the temptation of food won.
After hesitating for a long while, Deino slowly approached Theo.
It rubbed its head lightly against Theo's palm, lifting its bangs in the process, revealing those crimson eyes again as it stared eagerly at the energy orb in his hand.
Theo smiled.
This little guy was quite pragmatic.
He did not immediately give it the energy orb. Instead, he pointed to the Pokémon around them and spoke gently.
"Tastes good, right? As long as you behave, you will have this every day. Now, let me introduce your new companions."
"This is Larvesta. It was just playing with you earlier. That one is Milotic, the big sister of the group. And that big metal one is Metagross, ranked third."
"The second is Tyrantrum. You have already met it, so I will not say much. And finally, these two Vulpix are Ice and Fire, the little ones. Go ahead and get to know each other."
Larvesta had been nodding along with Theo at first, but when it heard this ranking, its large head tilted in confusion.
Big sister was Milotic, second was Tyrantrum, third was Metagross… then what about itself?
That did not make sense.
Immediately, Larvesta began chirping loudly in protest, signaling that Theo had made a mistake. It quickly turned to Deino and reintroduced itself, declaring that it was actually the number one in the group.
Deino nodded repeatedly, though its eyes never left the energy orb in Theo's hand.
Seeing Deino agree with it, Larvesta immediately rushed over, snatched the energy orb from Theo, and stuffed it into Deino's mouth.
At the same time, it raised its head proudly, showing off to Milotic and Metagross, as if to say that it was now the boss.
This chaotic introduction gradually settled into a warm and amusing atmosphere.
Watching the Pokémon slowly grow familiar with each other, Theo began to consider giving Deino an additional welcome gift.
With a thought, the system interface appeared again. This time, he selected two TM learning machines: Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse.
Both were powerful long-range energy attacks.
Deino's current move set was mostly focused on close combat, and its proficiency was already quite high. It was time for it to begin learning how to control long-range energy-based attacks.
"Deino, come here."
Theo beckoned.
Deino had been circling around the two little Vulpix, seemingly plotting something, but upon hearing Theo's voice, it immediately ran over, sniffing at his hands, clearly still thinking about the energy orbs.
He could not give it more energy orbs just yet. It needed time to digest what it had already consumed.
Instead, Theo took out two glowing white learning machines.
The small white orbs floated in his palm, radiating a gentle yet pure energy.
"Watch carefully."
As he spoke, Theo gently pressed the two white orbs onto Deino's forehead.
They instantly merged into its body.
Deino shuddered slightly and instinctively closed its eyes.
In the next moment, knowledge flooded into its mind.
How to mobilize Dark-type energy and release it in the form of expanding shockwaves, forming Dark Pulse.
How to condense Dragon-type energy, compressing it into powerful waves before unleashing it as Dragon Pulse.
The principles, the techniques, the control of energy, all of it was imprinted directly into its consciousness.
…
(End of Chapter)