Chapter 6: The Landlord's Foolish Son
Currently, the small team Ryū had gathered had reached a number of five. Besides Ryū himself, there were Kikō and Suzume, two Beedrill, as well as Shiro and Chairo, who would also evolve into Beedrill within a week. A small team composed of five Beedrill was still far from the concept of a Family, but it could be considered to have taken initial shape. In this primeval forest, while not an overlord of one side, they could be considered to have the qualification to occupy a small piece of territory. And Ryū was the king of this territory!
Let's look at the strength of his subordinates. Kikō, who evolved into a Beedrill, was as large as ever, 0.1 meters taller than Ryū. In Ryū's current team of five, Kikō was undoubtedly the strongest fighter! And unlike the other three who were subdued by force, Ryū had saved Kikō's life, so even if someone wanted to usurp power in the future, it would definitely not be Kikō. In fact, they would have to get past Kikō first. Therefore, the strongest Kikō was also the partner he could trust the most.
Suzume's size seemed to have shrunk proportionally, only 1.6 meters—0.2 meters shorter than Ryū. However, Suzume's appearance was more prominent. Her orange-yellow skin was bright and vibrant, her two large pink eyes were glossy, and the black markings on her body were also very pronounced. Although Ryū couldn't particularly appreciate it, judging from Kikō's occasional glances, he determined that Suzume was definitely a beauty among Beedrill. As for Shiro and Chairo, we could only see after they evolved.
"Let's go, let's go check near the lake!" Ryū waved his hand and left the big tree with Kikō and Suzume. Now that they could fly and had a team of three, he didn't dare to go high up and compete with those flying Pokémon. After all, their three Beedrill were only around level 10. But flying around the forest and scouting the terrain should be no problem.
Under Ryū's leadership, the three Beedrill flew forward at a low altitude. There was a distance from the grass below, and the dense tree canopy above blocked the sky, so the safety factor was very high.
'It's good to be able to fly,' Ryū couldn't help but sigh to himself. Thinking back to when he was a Weedle, he was weak and his movement speed was particularly slow, and he could only move around within that area. Now he could finally go a little further and see.
"Arbok!!!"
Just as Ryū and his team were about to approach the lake, a threatening Growl suddenly came from the forest nearby.
"Let's go, let's take a look," Ryū instantly became interested and quickly flew in that direction with Suzume and Kikō.
After flying about 10 meters, Ryū's expression instantly changed drastically. He saw a huge Ekans nearly 3.5 meters long cornering a Poliwag and a Sandshrew. Ekans inhabit grasslands and other areas in large numbers, always hiding deep in the grass. Its body continues to grow longer with age. In the Alliance Era, Ekans were only 2 meters long; the average length in the Monster Era is unknown. But this Ekans in front of them was clearly very threatening.
"Attack that snake!!" Without a word, Ryū led Kikō and Suzume to attack the Ekans. He didn't recognize the Sandshrew, but the Poliwag was clearly the little baby he had seen a few days ago. Although it had already left its infancy, its level was still very low, and it was obviously no match for such a huge Ekans.
Poison Sting x3! The three Beedrill simultaneously shot Poison Sting for a ranged attack. They had a natural advantage in the air and didn't need to fight the Ekans on the ground. Although Ryū knew that the Poison-type move, Poison Sting, would not be very effective against the Poison-type Ekans, he wasn't trying to kill this Ekans, but rather to first see if he could scare it away.
"Hiss!!"
The Ekans recoiled to dodge the Poison Sting attacks. It stared at the three Beedrill in mid-air with its eerie yellow eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then turned around and disappeared into the grass. The Poliwag and Sandshrew trembled as they looked at the three imposing Beedrill. They felt like they had just escaped a tiger's den only to enter a wolf's lair.
Ryū signaled Kikō and Suzume to stay put and landed alone in front of the Poliwag and Sandshrew. The Poliwag and Sandshrew were both small guys only 0.6 meters tall. In the Alliance Era, this should have reached the average height, but in this Monster Era, they were clearly just elementary school students who had just left their infancy.
"Why are you running around everywhere again?"
"...Kō dō?!"
Hearing Ryū's voice, the Poliwag was startled at first, then showed a shocked expression! He couldn't imagine that the little bug that was about the same size as him back then had now become a tall and mighty Pokémon.
"Why are you so surprised? Is this your friend?"
"Kō dō."
The Poliwag was no longer afraid and quickly introduced the Sandshrew next to him to Ryū.
"From the neighboring territory?" Ryū raised an eyebrow. He found that the Poliwag seemed a little smarter after leaving its infancy, actually starting to understand things like 'territory.' The Poliwag used to run around everywhere, completely ignoring whose territory the land under its feet belonged to.
"Kō dō."
The Poliwag nodded, then introduced himself and the Sandshrew. This introduction was quite informative. It let Ryū know a lot of real information. Around that medium-sized lake, there were a total of three major territories. One part was the territory of the Poliwag's father, a Poliwrath. This territory was basically inhabited by weak Pokémon, but it was also the most peaceful area because of this. Powerful Pokémon would be driven out by the Poliwrath before they became a sufficient threat.
Another part was the territory of the Sandshrew's father, a Sandslash. However, the Sandslash did not have the foresight to prepare for the unexpected. He didn't care about anything all day long, allowing the Pokémon in his territory to grow, and the price was that he was later killed and swallowed whole by a powerful Arbok. The Sandshrew fled all the way to this side, and that Arbok followed his scent all the way here.
The last part was the territory of a pair of Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Among the three overlords, this couple's strength was the most powerful, and this was also a relatively neutral territory. Anyone could come here to live and could also attack other Pokémon; it didn't matter as long as they didn't disturb the Nido Family.
"I said, why did you run around everywhere before and nothing happened? So, you were the landlord's silly son?!" Ryū finally understood.
At the same time, he secretly rejoiced that he was born in the Poliwrath's territory, which was why he hadn't encountered any powerful Pokémon along the way. If he had been born in the other two areas, perhaps Pokémon like Caterpie and Weedle could only become food.
'I still need to lie low here for a while, wait until I become stronger, and then go out and seize territory. For now, let's target that Arbok.'
After thinking it through, Ryū turned around and left with Suzume and Kikō. This time, the Poliwag still wanted him to stay and play, but he refused. He was still not strong enough. He still couldn't afford to play.