Chapter 7: Leveling Up
In the following few days, Ryū successively brought Shiro and Chairo back. Both Weedle had become Beedrill, measuring between 1.5 and 1.6 meters. But their respective characteristics were also very distinct. Shiro's yellow body was lighter, and correspondingly, his two large white stingers and wings were a shining white. Moreover, Shiro's hand stingers and tail stinger were very large, even bigger than Kikō's. Chairo's body was coffee-colored. According to Suzume's reaction, Chairo looked quite handsome among the Beedrill population.
And during these days, Ryū mainly did one thing: map exploration. Not just beside the lake, but also in more distant areas. For example, on the other side of the Poliwrath's territory, it bordered two other territories, whose overlords were Fearow and Infernape respectively. These two were both Pokémon with very fiery temperaments. Ryū took a look from afar and left, having no intention of going up to test their skill level and temper. At the same time, he gave up the idea of expanding his territory towards those two sides. Leaving Infernape aside, Fearow was practically a natural enemy to their Beedrill—very difficult to deal with unless their numbers were quite large. Moreover, Fearow had the great title of a "Shanzhai Version of Ho-Oh."
Besides this, Ryū also specifically took the four Beedrill to search for some berries with special effects. Berries like Leppa Berry and Oran Berry definitely needed to be collected in large quantities. These two types of berries were among the few that had the effect of restoring HP without any significant side effects, and the vast majority of Pokémon did not reject their taste. In addition, small quantities of Cheri Berry, Chesto Berry, Pecha Berry, and others were necessary for storage. The purpose of doing all this was, of course, for leveling up!
The way most wild Pokémon level up is simply by continuously eating. They won't specifically seek out others to fight for the sake of leveling up. Or rather, they themselves don't have the concept of leveling up. Especially in this Monster Era, battles between wild Pokémon either result in death or severe injury, and there are no medical facilities like Pokémon Centers for recovery. Once severely injured, their survival rate would be greatly reduced. Therefore, generally speaking, the vast majority of Pokémon are unwilling to fight with Pokémon of similar or greater strength. This was also the reason why that Ekans chose to leave after seeing their three Beedrill. Even if he defeated the three Beedrill, the injuries sustained would likely leave him unable to hunt the Poliwag and Sandshrew.
But Ryū certainly had other ideas. Ordinary eating is too slow for growth; battling other Pokémon is undoubtedly a faster way to level up. But he needed to find a way to deal with the injuries sustained after battle and any lingering negative status conditions. This is where these magical berries came in handy.
"Alright, that's about enough. Let's go show ourselves in the territory of that Arbok next door so the Pokémon in the territory recognize us later." Ryū looked at the large amount of berries piled up on the nearby trees and nodded with satisfaction.
Currently, Ryū and the others considered the dozen or so trees near their spawn point as their territory. They only had five Beedrill right now and didn't need a huge territory. Furthermore, the true head of this area was that Poliwrath, and being too high-profile might attract him, leading to them being driven out.
"Shiro, Chairo, you two stay here and guard the home, protect our berries." Ryū turned to look at the two weaker Beedrill. Shiro and Chairo evolved nearly a week later than the three of them, so their levels were naturally a bit lower. Ryū, Kikō, and Suzume had already reached level 13, while Shiro and Chairo were only level 10. However, guarding these dozen or so trees was more than enough. As the Poliwag said before, there were no powerful Pokémon in this forest at all. The slightly more dangerous ones were just Pokémon like Pidgeotto, Venonat, and Pikachu, at most around level 10 or so. Pokémon above level 20 were almost nowhere to be seen; all of them would be driven out by Poliwrath. In this situation, there was no need to worry about Shiro and Chairo being unable to guard these berries.
"Buzz~" x2
Shiro and Chairo nodded. Now that they had evolved from Weedle to Beedrill, their intelligence had also increased slightly. They could now roughly understand what Ryū meant by some slightly more complex words. Seeing this, Ryū took Kikō and Suzume and turned to leave, heading in a certain direction.
Although it was more convenient to level up nearby, fighting between Pokémon was prohibited within Poliwrath's territory. Unless... the target was completely eaten after being defeated. As long as they weren't discovered by other Pokémon, there would be no problem; otherwise, they would be driven out by Poliwrath. Before, he and Suzume didn't know there was such a rule here, which was why Suzume ate that Caterpie. Now that they were living under someone else's protection, it was better to follow the rules here. Besides, Ryū strongly approved of Poliwrath's rule. As a fan of Pokémon, he still felt that the world's atmosphere should be more beautiful, and fighting and killing were undesirable.
Flying all the way, at Beedrill's flying speed, they reached the adjacent area in less than 10 minutes. Or rather, Poliwrath's territory itself wasn't very large. Shortly after entering this area, Ryū and the others spotted a target that looked quite good: a 2.5-meter Pinsir perched on a tree! In the past, he was also called Kabuto. According to the rules in this forest, the height and weight of basically all Pokémon were between 1.5 and 2 times that of the Alliance Era, and this Pinsir was no exception.
"Kero~"
Because Beedrill's wings vibrate rapidly during flight, producing a distinct sound, the Pinsir noticed Ryū's three Pokémon immediately. He forcefully clamped his two horns on his head, attempting to scare Ryū and the others away. But Ryū had already set his sights on him.
After hesitating, the Pinsir prepared to retreat and leave, giving this tree to the three Beedrill. But Ryū wasn't here to seize territory; he was just here for a fight, so naturally, he couldn't let the Pinsir go and immediately launched an attack! As for predation... No creature would want to prey on a Pokémon like Pinsir; this is a Pokémon that even a starving Fearow wouldn't want to eat.
Fury Cutter. This was the first time Ryū had used this move in actual combat; before, he had only practiced skills against the air or large trees. Simply put, it involved swinging his two hand stingers very quickly to attack. Seeing that he couldn't dodge, the Pinsir could only attack. A faint light shone on his teeth, and then he pounced towards Ryū.
'Bug Bite...' Ryū recognized the skill at a glance. After all, he also had this skill.
"Kikō, Suzume, let's go together, surround and kick him; this guy's level isn't low!" At Ryū's call, the three Beedrill carried out a righteous group beating on the Pinsir.