Chapter 302: The Frog Stalking Behind
The next day.
When Will woke up in the morning, his companions were already gone.
Only the puppy in his arms was still sound asleep.
Will grinned.
He ran to the lake to drink some water and dug Buizel out of the lake.
Then he took his little brother down the mountain.
Leveling up was on the agenda for today too.
And he had to bring Buizel along to level up.
They went all the way to the vicinity of the waterfall and continued today's boring training.
Occasionally, when Will got tired.
He would lie down and direct Buizel to battle other Pokémon.
With Will directing and picking opponents, Buizel's progress was quite good.
Around noon.
Will planned to pick some berries to eat casually, not intending to return to the mountaintop plateau.
"Buizel, let's go eat."
"Bui."
Buizel quickly popped its head out of the lake, following closely behind Will.
"Hmm, I remember there's a Nanab Berry tree ahead. Let's eat that today."
Will thought for a moment and headed in a certain direction.
However.
When Will arrived under the Nanab Berry tree, he found another Pokémon.
Croagunk.
Brock's signature Pokémon in Sinnoh, often appearing when Brock hit on beautiful women. They were widely distributed and common in this world.
Due to their strange cries and comical appearance, they were quite popular.
Moreover.
The poison secreted from Croagunk's fingertips could be diluted into medicine, used as a remedy for back pain.
Therefore.
Croagunk was also the mascot of pharmaceutical companies, widely popular.
The difference between male and female Croagunk lay in the bandages on their bodies.
Males had bandages on their bellies.
Females had bandages on their chests.
The one Will saw now was a male Croagunk.
He was looking up quietly at the Nanab Berries on the tree, motionless.
At most.
The poison sacs on his cheeks would bulge occasionally.
"Hey, want some?"
Will walked over and patted Croagunk on the shoulder, acting like an extrovert with no boundaries.
"...Gunk."
Croagunk puffed his poison sacs.
"?"
A question mark popped up over Will's head.
Since coming to this world, this was the first time he couldn't understand a Pokémon.
Croagunk's speech wasn't like the cryptic dialogue of Slowpoke and Psyduck, which was basically another language.
Croagunk still spoke Pokémon language.
Just...
A dialect?
Anyway, Will couldn't understand.
He could only judge through Aura perception that this Croagunk was hungry and in a bad mood.
"Bui?"
Buizel peeked half its head out from behind Will, quietly looking at Croagunk.
Croagunk turned to meet its gaze.
For just one second.
Buizel quickly looked away.
It felt like staring at Croagunk any longer would lead to something bad.
"Buizel, you go up and pick them; I'll catch them below."
"Bui."
Buizel nodded.
It climbed the tree quickly.
Pick.
Throw.
Will below just needed to reach out and catch.
This required quick reactions.
That's why he let Buizel pick the berries while he caught them below.
Five minutes later.
The three little ones sat together under the tree.
"Here."
Will shared some Nanab Berries with the Croagunk opposite.
"Gunk."
Croagunk took them and started eating.
Saying something incomprehensible.
But Will guessed it meant "Thanks."
After the meal.
"We're leaving. If you have nowhere to go, just stay around here. Don't cross the river over there."
Will stood up holding Buizel and advised Croagunk.
The Mightyena clan was okay.
They kept these Pokémon in their territory just for the puppies to train against.
Many Pokémon could grow up and get stronger safely in this territory.
Until they reached a certain level and were driven down the mountain.
But the Persian clan next door was different.
They were raising food and playthings.
"Gunk."
Croagunk stood there staring at Will.
Will didn't understand him either.
He grabbed Buizel and turned to leave.
After walking a dozen steps.
Buizel looked back and was startled.
It quickly tugged Will's tail and pointed behind them.
Will looked back.
Croagunk was following them, four or five meters away.
Will and Buizel sped up; Croagunk sped up.
They stopped; Croagunk stopped.
Honestly.
Croagunk looked a bit comical when running.
"What do you want?!"
"Bui?!"
Will and Buizel stopped, turned around, and questioned the stalking frog.
"Gunk."
Meaning unclear.
Will glanced at him, sensing no malice from Croagunk.
So he let him be.
They returned to the waterfall with Croagunk following.
Croagunk looked around, assessing the environment, seeming to think it was nice.
He found a clean rock by the lake and fell asleep on it.
"Bui?"
"Ignore him."
Five days passed.
Croagunk seemed to plan on living by the waterfall.
Will and Buizel got used to his presence.
These days.
Croagunk followed them around, occasionally helping to find food.
However, Will didn't treat him as a minion.
He really couldn't understand Croagunk.
Even conversation was difficult.
All he could be sure of was that there were no Croagunk on this mountain before.
This Croagunk probably came from another mountain.
It was normal.
Lone wolf Pokémon without a clan.
Basically wandered wherever they ended up.
They weren't fixed in one place.
Some Pokémon might be born in the southernmost part of Unova and die in the northernmost part.
Another few days passed.
Will gradually began to notice something wrong.
There were many unfamiliar faces on this mountain, probably Pokémon from other mountains.
"Croagunk, where are you from?"
"Gunk."
Croagunk pointed in a direction.
Will followed his gaze.
South.
Near the center of Mt. Silver.
So it probably wasn't caused by humans.
"Did something happen over there?"
"Gunk."
Croagunk waved his hand casually.
Over these days.
Will and Buizel gradually came to understand the basic meaning of Croagunk's words.
Although.
They didn't know why they could understand.
Croagunk said.
On the mountain where he lived, a large group of Pokémon suddenly ran down.
Many Pokémon living at the foot of the mountain were startled and fled to the surrounding mountains.
Croagunk was the first to run to this mountain.
"Bui?"
"A clan was driven out."
Will guessed.
There must have been a war between dominant clans on the neighboring mountain.
The defeated clan was driven out.
They made too much noise coming down the mountain.
Maybe even hunted other weak Pokémon extensively on the way, scaring the remaining Pokémon and causing them to flee in all directions.
The reason for doing so was simple.
To destroy the ecological environment of that mountain, giving the dominant clan there a headache for a while.
"Bui?"
"Doesn't concern us much. Even if they come here, they have to pass through the Persian clan's territory. That's a..."
Will paused mid-sentence, then stroked his chin. "That's a good thing."
It was indeed a good thing.
A defeated and migrating clan was in a stage of severely weakened vitality.
They definitely wouldn't be a match for the Persian clan.
But having been a dominant clan on the neighboring mountain, they could definitely cause huge casualties to the Persian clan.
This gave Will an idea.
He ran back to the clan without a word and found Wolf Mom.
Will first told Wolf Mom what Croagunk said, then revealed his plan.
He planned to lure that clan into the Persian clan's territory.
Make the Persian clan and that clan go to war.
No matter which one remained.
The Mightyena clan would then take the initiative, wipe out the remaining clan, and completely become the sole dominant clan of this mountain.
"Wolf Mom, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Who knows when we'll encounter another migrating clan like this."
Will lay on Wolf Mom, whispering in her ear. "Do you plan to let the Mightyena clan go to full-scale war with the Persian clan in the future? That would cost many lives."
He was really worrying his heart out for the wolf clan's great cause.
"Bui bui~"
Buizel ran to Wolf Mom, massaging her with its little hands, echoing Will's words.
"Besides, how can we allow others to snore beside our bed? Think about how arrogant the Persian clan was a few days ago, coming to our territory to kill our puppies. Are we going to let them be?"
"Bui bui~"
Wolf Mom glanced at the two little ones and couldn't help rolling her eyes.
These two didn't look like good eggs.
Faces full of treacherous intent.
Honestly.
Wolf Mom's character was relatively upright; she disdained using such means to defeat the Persian clan.
But similarly, she was relatively soft-hearted.
She didn't want more casualties in her clan.
This made Wolf Mom slightly conflicted.
But only "slightly."
In her eyes, the clan's interests were higher.
"Woof awooo?"
Wolf Mom asked Will what he planned to do.
This meant she agreed to the plan.
But how to do it.
That was troublesome.
Luring that clan into the Persian clan's territory was easy.
But making the two clans go to war wasn't.
The main reason was that they had no "hatred" between them, and if their strength was evenly matched, they likely wouldn't fight even if they met.
Even if they met, that migrating clan would probably back down and leave.
"Leave it to me."
Will grinned.
"Woof awooo."
Wolf Mom glanced at him.
She called ten Mightyena and had them follow Will.
These ten weren't the ones who acted with Will before, but ten other, stronger Mightyena.
Average level around Lv. 50.
They would be responsible for protecting Will as he went down the mountain to find the migrating clan.
Will started immediately without a word.
This was his first time going down the mountain.
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