Chapter 40. Return to Silver Mountain
After a whirlwind of events, Ryū first took Ryuuki to change clothes. He made her wear the thick, bulky clothes that Liz used to wear as a child, ensuring she was well-protected from the cold outside. Ryū only nodded in satisfaction once Ryuuki's movements became a little awkward from the thick clothes.
He then coiled Ryuuki onto his head and flew out of the Royal Palace. Hestia thought Ryū was flying to Pokémon Academy by himself, so she wasn't surprised. After all, with Ryū's current size, a carriage couldn't fit him anymore.
But Hestia seemed to have forgotten. Ryū wasn't an obedient Pokémon who would go to school. He was a problem child who had been fighting since the first day of school until he dropped out.
In the sky, Ryuuki stretched out her 2 small hands, grabbing the feathers beside Ryū's head, kicking her legs excitedly. "Wow! We're flying!" Children are fearless. Even though they were flying dozens of meters in the air, she wasn't scared at all.
"Don't move around, be careful or I'll throw you down," Ryū shook his head.
"Aran, Aran, where are we going? Not to the Academy?" Ryuuki watched as Ryū flew her over the Pokémon Academy, leaving the Royal Dragon Kingdom's Royal Capital, and couldn't help but feel curious. Since she had grown up, Ryuuki had only left the Royal Capital a few times. When she did leave, it was usually under the escort of many Pokémon Masters, heading to other towns within the Royal Dragon Kingdom. The experience of coming out alone with a Pokémon like this was unprecedented.
But Ryuuki wasn't scared at all. She trusted Ryū implicitly.
Ryū didn't answer Ryuuki; even if he did, the little girl wouldn't understand. He estimated that Ryuuki had probably never been to Mt. Silver. After all, it was still the territory of Pokémon, and only Trainers dared to venture in to explore. Moreover, Mt. Silver was the only place where the citizens of the Royal Dragon and Gaia Kingdoms would meet.
Once they met, there would basically be some disputes and conflicts, so it was absolutely impossible for a child like Ryuuki to be allowed to go there.
About half an hour passed. Ryū finally arrived outside Mt. Silver with Ryuuki. "My butt hurts from sitting." After getting off Ryū, Ryuuki rubbed her butt.
"Stop complaining, today you'll have your own Pokémon," Ryū entered the forest a step ahead of the little one. Although Dragonair could now fly, it didn't mean he had lost the ability to move on the ground. The speed was definitely not as fast as in the sky or water, but compared to his previous Dratini period, it was already a huge change.
"Aran wait for me, are we going into the forest? Teacher said the forest is very dangerous, there are Pokémon everywhere." Seeing Ryū move, Ryuuki quickly followed. At the same time, she looked cautiously into the depths of the forest.
The fearless little brat finally knew to start being afraid.
Swish, swish.
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the nearby bushes. Immediately after, an angry Rattata darted out. The Rattata had been sleeping soundly. But then a sound here woke him up, and without a word, he rushed over, ready to teach a lesson to the guy who disturbed his sweet dream.
"Ratta!"
"Ah! Big mouse!" The rushing Rattata startled Ryuuki, but the Rattata himself was also startled by Ryū next to Liz. Ryū's appearance, compared to a dragon, actually resembled a snake more. And snakes are the natural enemies of rats.
'Oh dear, I, the little mouse, might be finished today.' The moment the Rattata saw Ryū, the soul of the entire mouse was scared away.
"Aran!" Ryuuki was also a little scared and quickly hugged Ryū next to her. She wasn't truly emotionless, at least not in front of Ryū. Ryuuki was just a little poker-faced, her expressions not very rich, but she wasn't stupid at all. On the contrary, Ryū had already noticed that this little girl was very smart.
She was so bold the first time she met Ryū because Ryuuki knew very well that a Pokémon that could appear in the Royal Palace would definitely not threaten her safety. But now it was different. This was the forest, the wild. The Pokémon appearing here were wild Pokémon, who would attack and even kill her.
And for Ryuuki, a little girl only 1.25 meters tall, the Rattata, which had an average height of 0.6 meters in the Monster Era, was indeed a very huge mouse. Frankly speaking, a Rattata that had just left its juvenile stage could easily bite Ryuuki's body in half with one bite.
"Ying~ [Go away.]" Ryū had no intention of attacking such a weakling. He just glanced at the Rattata.
The Rattata froze for a moment, then scurried into the bushes, peeing his pants, and hid. He was going to move! He was never coming here again!
Ryū watched the Rattata leave and continued deeper with Liz. You couldn't say that Pokémon like Rattata were weak. At least in this Monster Era, even just possessing a Rattata could make one a highly regarded Trainer. But Ryū didn't think much of it. For Liz and Ryuuki's Pokémon, he had more suitable choices and goals. Rattata didn't even make the shortlist.
"Phew, you scared me, Aran is so amazing." Ryuuki watched the Rattata run away, let out a sigh of relief, and followed closely by Ryū's side.
Next, some similar situations occurred. Most wild Pokémon have strong territorial instincts. Feeling the intrusion of foreign creatures, they would inevitably rush over to take a look. After being scared a few times, Ryuuki gradually calmed down. Because she found that with Ryū by her side, those wild Pokémon didn't dare to be presumptuous; they would basically just take a look and immediately turn around and run away.
Gradually, Ryuuki's mindset changed. "With me and Aran, we're invincible." Ryuuki walked ahead of Ryū with her head held high, chest puffed out. She was like a proud little hen, patrolling her territory.
"...I remember it was this way." Ryū rolled his eyes while looking around. Because he had memories from his first life, Ryū wasn't completely unfamiliar with the terrain and layout of this area. But 20 years had passed since the Mt. Silver in his memory. There were many changes he didn't know about. So he still needed to spend more effort searching.
'Could it be dead already? Or did it move deeper? But it should have left a few offspring...' Ryū crawled slowly through the forest, his eyes fixed on the surrounding trees. He was looking for a kind of Pokémon called Scyther. He remembered that in his previous life, when he evolved into a Beedrill and mapped the area, he had seen a Scyther tribe in this region.
That Scyther tribe was quite formidable. They occupied a considerably large area on the outer perimeter, a range equivalent to Ryū's territory plus the territory of a Poliwrath. But 20 years later, that Scyther tribe seemed to have disappeared. He didn't know if they had migrated or been wiped out.
"What a pity." Ryū sighed after searching for a while and not finding anything. In the Kanto and Johto Regions, there were actually quite a few Pokémon worth training. But not many could be found in the outer area of Mt. Silver.
Ryū's primary targets in his mind were only 3 or 4 types. Scyther was one of them. It had a base stat total of 500, with a good distribution, high attack speed, and the ability to fly, making it versatile for offense and defense, usable as soon as it's caught.
Moreover, Ryū had to consider some practical issues. For example, evolution conditions. Even if Ryū knew the evolution conditions for some Pokémon, he couldn't help them evolve. Because he didn't know where to get those evolution items, and the Royal Dragon Kingdom might not have them.
Therefore, the Pokémon he wanted to catch had to be of 2 types. One, Pokémon that could evolve to their final stage by increasing their level. For this type, it didn't matter how weak they were in the early stages; if the final stage could hold its own, they could still be his top choice.
The other type was Pokémon that were still worth training and had great potential even without evolving. This type was very rare. Scyther was the latter type.