Chapter 33. The beginning of the war
In the blink of an eye, Ryū had been at Pokémon Academy for a month. He had completely adapted to being a Dratini and its daily routine. His speed in water was incredibly fast; even ordinary Water-type Pokémon couldn't swim as fast as him. Of course, this was only the smallest part of the changes. The bigger changes were evident from the panel.
[Dratini]
[Potential]: Blue
[Level]: Lv. 25
[Attribute]: Dragon
[Ability]: Shed Skin
[Height]: 3.7 m
[Weight]: 7 kg
[Skills]: Hone Claws (Inherited), Wrap, Glare, Twister, Thunder Wave, Dragon Tail, Agility, Slam
The speed of level increase was the only thing Ryū was dissatisfied with. He had underestimated the difficulty of growing a Dragon-type Pokémon. It could be said that for every level up, the experience bar basically doubled, which was simply exaggerated. In this month, for about 7 or 8 days, Ryū would bring Ryuuki with him when leveling up, using the little girl's Draco Power to strengthen his combat power and accelerate his growth. Yet, even so, his level had only just reached Lv. 25.
The closer he got to the Lv. 30 threshold, the more anxious Ryū became, unable to calm down. His Shed Skin speed became more and more frequent. Now he basically Shed Skin 5 times in 2 days, which made him extremely annoyed and just wanted to evolve into a Dragonair quickly. At that time, he would not only have the ability of flying, but the frequency of Shed Skin would also greatly decrease. From that period onward, he would be much more comfortable.
Aside from the speed of level increase, Ryū was very satisfied with all other aspects. Especially his height and weight, which had exceeded the Pokédex values by more than 2 and a half times—a sign of good health. Of course, it was precisely because he was too healthy and ate too nutritiously that his Shed Skin frequency increased significantly.
Arriving at Pokémon Academy again, Ryū wriggled his long body across the plain. Things were different now. Many of the Pokémon he had beaten came to greet him. These were Pokémon he had defeated head-on, and they were quite impressed with Ryū. They didn't hold a grudge because they were beaten. But these Pokémon could not become his subordinates. Because they were not of the same species, they could not completely hold admiration and recognition for the stronger one in their hearts.
As for Ryū's territory, it was still the small lake in the corner, unchanged. The lakes on the plain were occupied by several sub-adult Pokémon above Lv. 30, so he temporarily couldn't defeat them. Now, among the Pokémon below Lv. 30 in the academy, there was basically no one who was his opponent. He had become the undisputed leader of the junior group.
However, probably due to his physique, the scholars in the academy had classified him into the 'youth group.' According to his level, he could indeed enter the youth group. But according to the growth stage of the Dragonite line, he was still a true member of the junior group; he needed to evolve into a Dragonair to be in the youth group. But he knew this, and the Pokémon scholars did not. Ryū was the first Dratini the scholars had ever seen; they had never seen this kind of Pokémon before. Naturally, they wouldn't know that Ryū was currently only in the first stage.
Moreover, Ryū felt that this was not necessarily a bad thing. This misunderstanding could allow him to enter the sub-adult group earlier, to battle against more suitable and powerful Pokémon, and thus gain more experience. It is estimated that many people were now beginning to doubt whether Ryū was a Pokémon without an evolutionary form because of his large size and lack of evolution. Perhaps many people had already started to feel sad for Liz. They believed that Pokémon without an evolutionary form were Pokémon with limited potential and would not be very strong in the future.
However, Liz and Ryuuki didn't take these rumors to heart at all. Rather, they wished that Ryū had no evolutionary form. They had seen how some Pokémon were quite cute originally, but their appearance after evolution was simply indescribable. If Ryū were to become ugly after evolving, they would rather he maintain his current form. Liz even had a dream of Ryū evolving, which she herself called a nightmare. As Ryū grew larger and larger, she often felt a sense of gain and loss because of this matter.
This was inevitable. In any case, Ryū would definitely not stop on his path to becoming stronger because of something like appearance. If it were the Alliance Era, he would consider it. But this was the Pokémon Era. War hadn't come yet, but that didn't mean it wouldn't. As the Queen's Pokémon, being too weak would be inappropriate; he had many things to consider. Moreover, the strength of many Pokémon is basically exchanged for their appearance. The Dragonite line is already quite good. Dratini is full of cuteness. Dragonair's cuteness will decrease a bit, but it looks more beautiful and elegant, even with a hint of sacredness. And Dragonite... it's silly and cute, and its appearance cannot be said to be low either.
"Starting today, I'll challenge those sub-adult Pokémon. I'll start with a few weaker ones to test the waters." It was another ordinary day of battles. He felt that he was already getting tired of days filled with battles. If he could, he hoped that in his next life, he could be born in the Alliance Era and live a life where he could slack off.
...
Returning home in the evening, Liz didn't wait at the door to greet him immediately, which made Ryū realize that something might have happened. He shook off Hestia, who was about to take him to eat, and went to the office hall alone. He crashed open the door of the office hall. As soon as Ryū entered, he saw Liz frowning, her face filled with heavy, unresolved worry.
"Aran, you're back." Liz knew it was Ryū who had returned without even looking up. In the entire palace, only Ryū and Hestia when she was angry dared to open the door like that. Seeing her precious Aran return, Liz's expression improved slightly.
"What's wrong? You look like you ate a bitter melon." Ryū climbed up to Liz's side. He swam up along her long legs, wrapping most of his body around her, and finally poked his head out from the side of her neck to look at the desk. On the desk was a letter. There weren't many words on it, but unfortunately, Ryū didn't recognize a single one. He didn't know if it was because the script of the Pokémon Era was more ancient, or because the Pokémon world had its own unique script. In any case, he didn't understand it at all. Not only was this not Chinese, it was not any language he had seen on Earth.
"It's nothing, Aran doesn't need to know." Liz could understand Ryū's meaning. She didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but now she could sense the meaning of his words in her heart. Liz didn't know why either. The Pokémon scholars said it meant that her tacit understanding and feelings with Aran had deepened.
"What do you mean I don't need to know? Tell me quickly." Ryū became annoyed, widened his eyes, and scratched Liz's belly with his tail. "Ahahaha, stop, I can't take it anymore, I'll tell you." Liz quickly laughed and reached out to pat away Ryū's tail, looking at the letter on the desk with a complex expression.
"Last month, our Royal Dragon Kingdom people and the Gaia Kingdom people met in a valley, and some conflict arose because of a field of wild herbs."
"At first, I didn't pay attention, and I didn't think there would be any future interaction with this Gaia Kingdom."
"But I was wrong. The new King of this Gaia Kingdom is very ambitious. He wants to cross the Silver Mountain Range and annex the entire Royal Dragon Kingdom, repeatedly sending small teams to infiltrate our territory to gather intelligence."
"War may be about to break out."