Chapter 227: A Chance to Defy Fate
Luckily, while Lorelei was reckless, she wasn't stupid.
When Will pointed at the Lapras's flipper, she immediately understood what he wanted to do.
"Piplup, you're so smart! Lapras, get in the Poké Ball, quick! We'll take you to the Pokémon Center."
"Meee~"
Lapras didn't resist.
She touched the Poké Ball with her head, was drawn inside, and captured instantly.
"Piplup."
Lorelei clutched the Poké Ball and looked at the little penguin beside her.
"Mhm."
Will nodded.
The two little ones then sprinted toward Four Island's town.
They ran without stopping. But it wasn't a short distance, and both of them had short legs and terrible stamina.
After running and stopping, it took them over an hour to reach the Pokémon Center.
"Auntie Joy!"
Lorelei burst into the Pokémon Center, shouting.
Before she could even hold up the Poké Ball, Nurse Joy scooped her up.
"You child, why are you always running off? You didn't even come home for lunch! You worried your mother sick."
Nurse Joy scolded her, then her eyes narrowed as she spotted the Poké Ball in Lorelei's hand.
"Lorelei, has your mom not spanked you recently?"
"Auntie! Please, help Lapras!"
Lorelei couldn't wait and just shouted at her.
"Lapras? You stand right there and don't move. Chansey, you watch her and Piplup. These two are not well-behaved at all."
Nurse Joy put Lorelei down and took the Poké Ball from her, all while instructing her assistant, Chansey, to keep an eye on them.
"Sigh."
Will sighed helplessly.
He'd been cleaning up this little girl's messes this whole time, and in the end, he still had to get scolded with her.
And when they got home... he'd probably get a spanking, too.
What a miserable life. He'd already lived this kind of childhood; he didn't want to go through it again. Back in the day, that Iris girl was a handful, but she was nothing compared to Lorelei.
Ten minutes passed.
'Killing intent!'
Will's eyes shot wide open. He looked toward the entrance, his face filled with terror.
Without a second word, he bolted for the men's restroom.
Nurse Joy didn't return. Instead, Lorelei's mom, who had gotten the message, arrived to find her kid.
"Piplup?"
Lorelei watched him run off, confused, then put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "He really likes to run around."
"Oh? Is that so? Are you talking about yourself?"
Her mother's voice came from behind.
Lorelei's face froze.
She turned around and looked up. Her mother was holding a small switch and, without a word, brought it down.
Smack!
The next second:
"Waaah!! Mom, don't hit me!"
Lorelei's cries echoed through the Pokémon Center.
Smack!
"Piplup, you traitor!!"
Smack!
"Waaah, somebody save me..."
Smack!
"Hahaha, this is the first time I've seen little Lorelei get chased around the Pokémon Center."
"Well, she has her own Pokémon now. It's going to be a lot livelier around here."
"I see the makings of a great person in that kid."
The adults in the Pokémon Center just laughed as they watched Lorelei's mom chase her around.
No one minded the noise. In the peaceful and quiet Four Island, they all enjoyed a little excitement like this.
"Phew."
Will peeked his head out of the men's room and sighed in relief.
But his face quickly fell. That spanking was inevitable. He could run, but he couldn't hide forever.
After a little while, the chaos only stopped when Nurse Joy came out holding the Poké Ball.
Will also snuck out from behind the huge Chansey and rejoined Lorelei.
"Mom, look! It's Piplup! Hit him!"
Lorelei picked up the little penguin and held him up to her mother.
"Piiplup~"
Will immediately hammed it up, trying to look cute for her mom.
"You little thing."
Lorelei's mom just tapped Will on the head with her finger, took him into her arms, and didn't hit him.
Lorelei stared blankly as Will made a face at her. Her spirit was broken.
"Lorelei is only eight. She might not be able to care for two Pokémon. You'll need to watch her closely."
Nurse Joy handed the Poké Ball to Lorelei's mom.
"Mm, I know."
Lorelei's mom nodded, took the Poké Ball, and clipped it to her waist.
Then, she carried the little penguin in one arm and dragged her daughter home by the ear with the other.
Back home.
Will and Lorelei both thought her mom would be furious.
But instead, her mom's attention was completely stolen by the little Lapras.
"Your father and I met because of a Lapras," she said, stroking the Lapras's neck, lost in nostalgia. "We had a battle. Whoever won got to catch it. I lost."
'Wow, you really lost everything. You lost yourself right into the marriage,' Will thought, sitting on the side and shaking his head.
For him, as long as he wasn't the one getting hit, it was fine.
To think that he, an old man who's lived for fifty years, had to get beaten by a thirty-year-old woman. How embarrassing would that be?
Wait? If I count it that way... and if Meowscarada is still alive, doesn't that make her over a hundred years older than me?!
Will's eyebrow twitched.
What is it like to have a daughter a hundred years older than yourself?
No, no, I can't just count the days I've lived. I have to count from my Weedle year all the way to now.
Yes! I'm an old ancestor who has lived for over a thousand years!
Will nodded to himself, satisfied.
"Piplup, you be nice to Lapras, okay?"
Lorelei's mom gently patted the little penguin. She had no idea what he was thinking, shaking and nodding his head like that.
"Oh~" Will waved a flipper dismissively.
Lorelei was the one who needed to get along with Lapras. He wasn't the one who had to command it in battle.
"Meee~"
Lapras immediately leaned over, pressing its large head against Will and shoving the poor penguin deep into the sofa cushions.
"Agh! Are you trying to crush me!?"
Smack, smack.
Will quickly patted Lapras's face, then squirmed out of the sofa.
If his Aura Power hadn't sensed that Lapras meant no harm, he would have thought she was starting some kind of "battle for the heir's favor."
"Meee."
Lapras apologized, embarrassed.
Because of what happened today, she thought Will was very strong and mature, which made her feel safe. So she had subconsciously treated him like an adult and used too much force.
But now, it seemed this Piplup was just a kid, even younger than her.
"Where's Dad?"
Lorelei asked.
"Still on Two Island. He'll be back in a couple of days."
As soon as her mom said that, Will's big eyes immediately started darting around.
He had let Lorelei take the fall for him today. She would definitely try to kick him off the bed tonight.
With that in mind, Will immediately hugged Lorelei's mom's leg and started acting cute.
"Piplup, Piplup~"
"Oh? Does Piplup want to sleep with Mom tonight?"
"Piplup."
"Good boy."
A gratified smile appeared on her mom's face. She rubbed Will's round head and cuddled him.
"Hmph! You traitor! I knew you were no good!"
Lorelei's plan for revenge was foiled, and she was furious.
"Nyah-nyah~"
Will shot her a taunting look.
No matter how much Lorelei raged, the end result was Will being carried into her mom's room. Lorelei's protests were shut down with one hand. In the end, she could only go bond with the new family member, Lapras.
And so, the quiet little family gained a new member.
Time passed slowly. But in the blink of an eye, a month had gone by.
Will finally, truly understood what "White" potential meant.
Even though he maintained an "old man's" training schedule of two or three battles a day... that was still over fifty battles in a month.
And his current level... was only Lv. 17.
Lapras, on the other hand. A month ago, she was Lv. 15. With the same lazy training schedule, and while being commanded by a rookie like Lorelei...
Now, she was already Lv. 28.
Will figured... this little Lapras's talent, while still in the normal "Purple" range, was probably a bit higher than her peers.
To use specific numbers: if a normal Lapras has a talent of 535, this one was probably 555.
As expected of Lorelei's future ace. She had to have something special to outshine powerful teammates like Cloyster and Slowbro.
At the same time, it confirmed one thing: He had truly lost the ability to evolve.
A normal Piplup evolves into Prinplup at Lv. 16.
But he was Lv. 17, and not only had he not evolved, he hadn't even felt the "pre-evolution warmth" in his body.
But he already knew this, so he wasn't too depressed.
Even though his progress this life was slow, the accumulation of his past lives was enough to let him defy fate.
Take moves, for example.
Piplup's move pool is very shallow, mostly Water and Ice moves, with no real high-damage options.
But Will had the Mystic Water and Aura Power. The former boosted Water-type moves by 20%. The latter could greatly enhance all of Will's abilities.
Plus, he had the divine skill, Extreme Speed.
This meant that while Will's move pool wasn't deep, it didn't lack punch.
Also, the speed at which Will learned moves was not affected by his potential. Because many of the moves Piplup could learn were moves he already knew. He just didn't have enough energy to use them yet.
For instance, by Lv. 16, he had already "learned" Agility, Protect, Water Pulse, and Brine. At that level, you'd be hard-pressed to find any Pokémon that knew more moves.
As for everything else... it would depend on this life's biggest variable—Aura Power.