Chapter 593: The Truculent Goomy-kun
When a giant orange flying dragon like Kazuya appeared over the swamp, it naturally caught the attention of many Flying-type Poison Pokémon—species like Beedrill, Venomoth, and Dustox.
However, even if they noticed him, they didn't dare fly up to attack. Even though the flower-topped dragon in the sky appeared to be alone.
After all, the vast majority of Pokémon were different from Kazuya. He could comprehensively judge an individual's approximate level and strength through their life aura, Aura intensity, physique, and appearance. But wild Pokémon didn't understand such nuances. They only looked at size.
Charizard itself belonged to the category of larger physiques. Add to that the Alpha designation, and even if his level wasn't high, his size was certainly not small. Just like in the swamp at this moment, many Level 50+ Pokémon saw Kazuya and immediately chose to hide rather than act as the "tall nail" that gets hammered down.
"Flo-ette!"
At this time, Floette tapped Kazuya's nostril with her Eternal Flower and quickly pointed in a certain direction below.
"Hm?"
Kazuya glanced in that direction and couldn't help but frown. A dozen ten-meter-long Arbok were hunting down a tiny mite-kun. Upon closer inspection, the Pokémon being hunted was a Goomy-kun only 0.6 meters tall.
A Goomy-kun of this size was, without a doubt, still a baby. Simply put, Floette's maternal instincts were overflowing, and she wanted to save that Goomy-kun.
"Roar!!"
Kazuya didn't hesitate. He spat out bursts of black-purple flames. These flames didn't shoot directly at the Arbok but hovered on the path they were using to pursue. These weren't an offensive move but a trigger-based one (Will-O-Wisp). If the Arbok continued their pursuit, they would inevitably touch these black-purple flames and enter a burned state.
The Arbok didn't understand what this move was. However, the danger perceived by their instincts made them stop immediately. They looked up, staring solemnly at Kazuya in the sky.
"These guys aren't afraid of me at all; they've got quite the nerve," Kazuya grinned, lightly flapping his wings.
The dozen or so Arbok below were much stronger than the Seviper clan that had been forced to flee to the northern grassland. Not only was each Arbok over ten meters long, but their strength was consistently above Lv. 40.
If Kazuya went down there, this group of Arbok would definitely swarm him, coiling around him like octopus tentacles, tearing several holes in his body to inject massive amounts of toxin. One could imagine he would die a very miserable death.
"Flo-ette."
Floette didn't care about these snakes at all; she only cared about the fleeing baby-kun. Kazuya didn't blame her for meddling. To put it bluntly, if Floette didn't have this personality prone to overflowing maternal instincts, he and brother-kun would have died in the southern grassland long ago. Therefore, Kazuya didn't find this trait of hers to be a burden.
"That little-thing-kun can't get away. These Arbok have no intention of letting him go."
Kazuya looked down. The Arbok didn't plan to confront him; instead, they chose to bypass the black-purple flames and continue their pursuit of Goomy-kun. This was the nature of Arbok. No, more accurately, it was the nature of most snake Pokémon: sinister and cunning, yet extremely vengeful and persistent. Their Pokédex entry clearly states: "To intimidate foes, it spreads its chest and makes a scary face. It never gives up on a chase."
"Flo-ette!"
Floette was angry. She swung her Eternal Flower with force. A sky full of black falling petals, condensed from Grass-type energy, drifted down like snow (Petal Blizzard). Any Arbok that touched these flowers felt as if they had slammed into a knife.
"Ar-bok!!"
The Arbok were angry too. They hadn't intended to waste time with Kazuya and Floette. Who would have thought these two, who didn't know the meaning of death, would insist on opposing them?
Pfft!
Pfft!
Massive Sludge Bombs were spat from the Arbok's mouths, shooting toward the sky. Kazuya's wings flapped forward rapidly. A surging gale blew out (Gust/Hurricane), blowing all the sludge back, causing bursts of explosions around the Arbok.
Boom—!
Explosions rang out continuously in the swamp. Puddles of green mud splashed everywhere, obscuring the Arbok's vision. By the time the situation stabilized, Kazuya and Floette were nowhere to be found. The Arbok looked at each other, each fuming with rage and lashing out at their surroundings.
On the other side, Kazuya looked at the scarred Goomy-kun in his hand and shook his head with a sigh. For a noble pseudo-legendary lineage to fall to such a pitiful state... it wasn't surprising. It took far too long for these late-blooming Pokémon to make a name for themselves in this era.
Many weak pseudo-legendary clans might be wiped out before a single member ever reached the final evolutionary stage. Just like the previous Hakamo-o clan; if they hadn't allied with the Bastiodons, they probably would have been exterminated by the Rampardos. It was only recently that a Kommo-o finally appeared in their group.
As for a pseudo-legendary like Goodra, it was even worse. They were the bottom tier among pseudo-legendaries. From a gaming perspective, ever since Goodra and Kommo-o debuted, they had been competing for the title of "weakest pseudo-legendary." Eventually, considering base stat distribution, attribute strengths/weaknesses, move pool depth, and evolution levels, Goodra took the title of weakest, with Kommo-o sitting at second to last.
It's worth mentioning that Goodra's first stage, Goomy, is even called the "weakest Dragon-type Pokémon." And their level requirement for reaching the final stage is a full 5 levels higher than that of Kommo-o! In reality, how long would it take to bridge those 5 levels? In this Ancient Era, the difficulty for a Sliggoo to climb to the top was significantly higher than for a Hakamo-o.
Unless... the Goomy-kun of the Ancient Era evolved not into the form of the League Era, but into the Hisuian form. Then the situation might improve slightly. After all, the Hisuian Goodra is a Steel/Dragon type, benefiting from a great attribute combination and a more efficient base stat distribution. Hisuian Goodra finally sat above Kommo-o. But that was about it.
In Kazuya's hand...
"Flo-ette~"
Floette was using Wish to heal the unconscious Goomy-kun. The little-thing-kun's complexion improved significantly, and it squirmed in Kazuya's hand like a ball of sticky rice. Goomy's body was almost entirely water, covered in a layer of slimy liquid. If it lost this mucous membrane, it would be unable to breathe and die. This peculiar body structure made Kazuya feel like this little-fellow-kun was like one of those jelly slug toys from his childhood.
"Nene..."
Goomy-kun let out a faint murmur. Its two bead-like eyes twitched and then gradually opened.
"I assume it's awake now?" Kazuya squinted at the center of his palm. Goomy-kun was tiny to begin with, and its eyes were like two little beans; he couldn't even tell if it was looking or blinking.
"Nene!"
The moment Goomy-kun opened its eyes and saw Kazuya, its first reaction wasn't fear, but to launch an attack! It used Absorb! Kazuya felt the dust on his palm being sucked away.
"This child is quite grateful; he knows how to help me clean the dirt off my hand," Kazuya nodded with a smile.
"Flo-ette?" Floette had a confused expression. She didn't think a Goomy-kun this small understood such things. She leaned in with her flower, preparing to take a closer look at this little-thing-kun.
Next moment...
Thud!
Goomy-kun used Tackle on the approaching Floette!
"...Flo-ette?" Floette was bumped, and she reached out to scratch her cheek. It didn't hurt. It actually felt a bit itchy. But... did this child just attack her?
Floette looked at Kazuya in confusion. Kazuya's brows were furrowed. He could see it now. Goomy-kun was clearly attacking them. If he hadn't sensed a violent Aura in its heart, he would have thought it was asking for a hug.
"Nene!" Goomy-kun shouted at them, its attitude very poor.
"Listen, you little-thing-kun, do you realize we saved you?"
"Nene!"
"Let's just dump him," Kazuya said expressionlessly to Floette. This was basically a truculent brat. It wouldn't listen to a word he said and only saw him as a villain like those Arbok.
"Flo-ette!" Floette shook her head vigorously. She believed she could teach this child. She gently shook her black flower in front of Goomy-kun.
Yellow powder-like stars drifted down. That was Sleep Powder. A Floette of the League Era couldn't learn Sleep Powder, but a Grass-type Floette of the Ancient Era could. Under the effect of the powder, Goomy-kun groggily closed its eyes.
"I feel like this is going to be a very troublesome brat-kun," Kazuya glanced at it and shook his head helplessly.
"Flo-ette~" Floette looked at Kazuya with a smile.
"You really have a lot of confidence in me," Kazuya grinned.
"Flo-ette." Floette nodded.
After Kazuya flew them back to the grassland, the Arbok that had been pursuing had also returned to their territory: a massive purple poisonous pool bubbling with gas. Around the pool, at least a hundred Arbok were densely distributed.
Among them, one Arbok was actually fifty meters long. It was the new Overlord of this swamp region!
"Ar-bok..." A dark hiss sounded from the Overlord Arbok's mouth. Upon learning that another Goomy-kun had escaped, he raged through the toxin-filled mud pool. With a casual flick of his tail, a dozen nearby Arbok were sent flying.
"Ar-bok——!!"
A roar suddenly erupted. A hundred Arbok dared not hesitate, hurriedly scattering in all directions. They were determined to completely erase every threatening species in this swamp.
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