Chapter 15: Giant Beedrill Leader
Liz returned to the Beedrill tribe as if she had returned to her own home. In the past few days, Liz's tree-climbing skill, which she already possessed, had become even more proficient. After skillfully climbing the tree, she expertly picked an Oran Berry that she loved to eat and threw it into her mouth. Ryū didn't bother with this girl and went out with Kikō and Suzume.
With him being a level 29 Beedrill, plus two Beedrill younger brothers who had reached level 23, beating Arbok violently was definitely not a problem. Today, he was going to make this territory change hands.
"Kikō~ No matter what you're going to do, you have to work hard~"
Just as Ryū was setting off with his two younger brothers, Liz stood on the tree trunk and waved at Ryū. Ryū didn't turn around and waved casually.
A quarter of an hour later, Ryū arrived at Arbok's territory with Kikō and Suzume. At this moment, Arbok didn't know what was happening and stood on the ground glaring at Ryū's three Beedrill. He probably thought Ryū and the others were like a few days ago. If it were a few days ago, then the three Beedrill of Ryū combined would indeed not be Arbok's opponent, and they would only end up being eaten obediently. But today is different from the past. Arbok had no idea what he was about to face at this moment.
"Beat him!"
With a command from Ryū, the three Beedrill rushed forward together. Kikō and Suzume assisted from the side, constantly using String Shot and Poison Sting to affect Arbok's movements. Ryū stacked buffs alone in the back, and then looked for a key opportunity to launch a Sucker Punch to deal a critical hit to Arbok.
This battle lasted a long time. Because Ryū had been avoiding direct combat with Arbok, Arbok later sensed something was wrong and kept running, while the three Beedrill chased and attacked. Running and fighting at the same time, the battlefield shifted from Arbok's territory to Poliwrath's territory, even attracting Poliwrath. Originally, when Poliwrath saw Arbok intruding, he intended to attack. But after seeing Ryū and the others, he roughly understood that this was a territory dispute. Given that Ryū had helped Poliwag before, Poliwrath chose to turn a blind eye to the fact that this war involved his territory.
Half an hour later, Arbok fell to the ground unwillingly.
'Hmm? Such a big change in the panel?'
Ryū thought he would at most level up after defeating Arbok. But what he didn't expect was that the change after defeating Arbok would be so great.
[Beedrill (Head)]
[Potential]: Blue
[Level]: Lv. 30
[Attribute]: Bug/Poison
[Ability]: Swarm
[Height]: 3m
[Weight]: 120kg
[Skills]: Fury Attack, Bug Bite, Poison Sting, String Shot, Harden, Fury Cutter, Hone Claws, Focus Energy, Venoshock, Pursuit, Toxic Spikes
Not only did a prominent [Head] mark appear on the panel, but the most crucial thing was that Ryū's height and weight had significantly increased. This change was quite obvious, so much so that Kikō and Suzume next to him couldn't help but stare at Ryū in a daze, seemingly not yet reacting to Ryū's change.
'Isn't this the setting from the Arceus version?'
Ryū recalled something. He remembered that in the game [Pokémon Legends: Arceus], some Boss Pokémon with a Head mark would appear in the wild, and these Pokémon were often much larger than others of the same species.
"Ryū, so big!"
"Ryū, so strong!"
Kikō and Suzume on the side couldn't help but exclaim, with a lot of adoration in their eyes as they looked at Ryū. This feeling was as if a leader's aura suddenly appeared on Ryū, and under the enhancement of this aura, Kikō and the others' reverence for Ryū was amplified.
"Let's go back first."
Ryū frowned and glanced at his body. He decided to go back to his territory first.
'Will other Pokémon also have special individuals like the Head?'
'Why not before?'
'Is it because I truly became the master of a territory?'
Ryū kept thinking about what was going on along the way. After all, the 'Head' mark is very important, and it can greatly increase his height and weight, which is essentially a significant increase in his survival ability in disguise. If possible, he still hopes to keep this mark as stable as possible.
Returning to the territory, "Kikō?! Why did you suddenly become so big!"
Liz climbed down from the tree and stood in front of Ryū with wide eyes. Can Magical Beasts grow so exaggeratedly in such a short time? Then humans are absolutely impossible to be enemies with Magical Beasts.
"..."
Ryū didn't answer Liz because he himself wasn't quite sure what was going on. Now that he thought about it, he realized that whether it was Arbok or Poliwrath, or the Fearow and Infernape he had seen before, the sizes of these territory masters were quite large. Before, he thought they were just stronger, and it was very normal for Pokémon in the Monster Era to far exceed what was recorded in the Pokédex. So he didn't think much about it at the time. Now it seems that there really is a 'Head' setting in the wild Pokémon population.
"Oh my god, Kikō, you look super powerful now."
Liz circled around Ryū several times, her two big eyes sparkling as if she wanted to see flowers.
"...Hmm?"
Just as Ryū was about to speak, he suddenly smelled a strange odor. Along with the strange smell came black, pungent, choking smoke.
"Rattata!"
Raticate, the number one lackey of the Beedrill species, immediately ran over with his two little wives. Not only that, but a large number of other Pokémon followed behind Raticate. Pokémon that would normally prey on each other and compete for survival resources were now ignoring each other, just running towards this direction with their heads down.
"What?! How can there be a fire in the forest? Is there a stupid Fire-type Pokémon?!"
Ryū immediately became agitated when he heard what Raticate said. A forest fire, for them, the Pokémon who live in the forest, is a natural disaster. It's even more terrifying than encountering a storm or earthquake.
'It should be okay, Water-type Pokémon should be able to solve it...'
Ryū felt a little panicked. After all, it was the first time he had experienced such a thing as a Pokémon. But according to the actual situation, the number of Water-type Pokémon in the forest is greater than the number of Fire-type Pokémon, not to mention there are some Rock-type and Ground-type Pokémon, so extinguishing the fire should not be a problem. However, judging from the current situation, it seems that the specific situation is more complicated than he imagined! The Pokémon had no intention of extinguishing the fire, but instead fled deeper into the forest in a state of distress.
'It seems like something is driving them.'
Ryū turned his gaze to the direction the Pokémon came from. He seemed... to see the figure of a human?
"It's the Silph Tribe people! They set the forest on fire! This is too much! Without the forest, how can everyone survive?! Kikō, quickly take everyone and run!"
Liz recognized the identity of those people at a glance and anxiously bounced around, urging Ryū to take everyone and leave quickly.