Chapter 766: Meeting with an Awkward Dance, Encrypted Communication
"Lord Kazuya."
A voice transmitted into Kazuya's mind from a short distance away.
"Oh, come over here, Lucario."
Kazuya responded verbally.
The next moment, a black and blue figure was seen sprinting over from a distance, so fast he could even run on water, giving the humans quite a fright.
But soon their attention was drawn to the two babies in Lucario's arms.
"Natsu!"
One of the men showed a pleasantly surprised expression upon seeing the little boy, then let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Natsu of the Dragon Clan.
That was the name of the red-haired little boy.
"Uncle, I'm back~"
Natsu smiled and waved his hand, completely unaware of the gravity of the situation.
However.
When the man ran straight over and slammed his fist onto Natsu's head.
Natsu knew he was probably in for it.
"Ahhh!! That hurts!"
"Idiot! It's all because of you, you fool, almost getting everyone killed!"
"Waaah! With Granny Dragonite here, how could we get killed?!"
"Granny Dragonite already went out to find you!"
The man grabbed Natsu and gave him a good beating, and the Dratini beside him wasn't spared either, taking several slaps as well.
Natsu held his head and ran deeper into the Dragon's Den with Dratini, quickly disappearing from sight.
An elderly woman stepped forward from the group of Dragon Clan members.
She bowed to Kazuya and the four Pokémon, expressing her gratitude: "Thank you, Lords, for saving Natsu, and thank you for stepping in to save us. Truly, thank you very much."
After she finished her sentence, the others beside her also bowed one after another.
Kazuya felt it was a bit strange hearing this.
He rarely encountered situations where humans addressed Pokémon as "Lord."
This kind of title was basically used among peers of the same kind.
Even if it existed, it was basically only seen in the Magical Beast Era.
For example, Floette was addressed as "Lord" by the ministers of the Eternal Empire because of her connection to AZ.
For example, Kazuya was addressed as "Lord Alan" by the people of the Dragon Kingdom because of his connection to Liz.
But those people weren't addressing them from the bottom of their hearts.
It was hard to say how much respect was truly in their hearts.
But this group of Dragon Clan members in front of him was different.
They were genuinely incredibly grateful to Kazuya's group of four, and naturally called out the title "Lord."
It was almost as if...
They were treating Kazuya and the four Pokémon as humans.
However.
When Kazuya took a few more glances at the ages of the group of people in front of him.
He understood.
The oldest person in front of him, this female leader, looked to be only in her thirties, right in the middle-aged stage, still relatively young.
And it was currently New Magical Beast Year 50.
That is to say.
These people were all born in the New Magical Beast Era.
Since birth, they had never lived in human society, so some of the unspoken rules and common sense of the past era didn't apply to these humans today.
Just as Scizor had said before.
The theme of this era was no longer "humans and Pokémon," but "survivors and magical beasts."
The line between humans and Pokémon had blurred. Everyone was a survivor eking out an existence in this world, comrades on the same front line, which was why these people held such an attitude toward Kazuya and the others.
"It was no trouble, don't mention it. More importantly, tell me first, the 'Granny Dragonite' that child mentioned just now, is she the female Dragonite who has lived for over a thousand years?"
Kazuya frowned and hurriedly asked.
"Eh? It's said that Granny Dragonite has indeed lived for a very long time; even my grandfather had to call her Granny Dragonite. But as for exactly how long... Wait, Mr. Darkrai, you..."
The female leader answered while thinking, but before she could finish, Kazuya had already turned and ran out.
The other three Pokémon followed closely behind, disappearing from the Dragon's Den in the blink of an eye.
The female leader looked at her companions in confusion.
Ultimately, she decided to return to the clan territory first.
Without Granny Dragonite.
They couldn't run around recklessly.
Otherwise, there would be no one to protect the old and weak in the clan territory.
One must know.
Their Dragon Clan's territory was located in a valley plain.
Although surrounded by steep cliffs on all four sides, basically requiring no worry about attacks on the ground.
Attacks from the sky, however, were inevitable.
Occasionally, flying magical beasts would glide through the air, spot the people living in the valley below, and launch an attack.
Therefore.
The Dragon Clan Territory had to constantly have powerful combatants stationed there.
Unless.
Like other shelters.
They found an underground survival base that wouldn't be "refreshed" in a short period of time and migrated the entire clan there.
Outside.
With Lucario's Aura perception and Mewtwo's psychic perception.
Finding Dragonite wasn't particularly difficult.
After all, the entire Blackthorn City was filled with magical beasts, so normal Aura and normal emotions would shine brilliantly within it.
As long as she entered their perception range.
They would be able to detect her immediately.
"Lord Kazuya, no need to worry. There are no sounds of battle nearby. It seems the other party is hiding well."
Lucario spoke up.
"I know."
Kazuya nodded.
But saying that was one thing.
One's inner feelings couldn't be controlled.
Even knowing that Dragonite might be very strong now, and there were no sounds of fighting in the city, he still felt a sliver of worry.
Just as Kazuya was waiting for intel from Lucario or Mewtwo.
Scizor suddenly spoke up, "This way."
As soon as he finished speaking.
He immediately changed direction.
Kazuya also turned in an instant, changing his heading.
Although he didn't know what Scizor had discovered.
Kazuya trusted him.
Lucario and Mewtwo hesitated for a moment but immediately followed.
"I didn't sense any strange Aura nearby," Lucario asked, puzzled.
Range was the strong suit of Aura perception.
Normally, whatever Scizor could discover, he should have discovered a step ahead.
"It's the wind."
Kazuya muttered beside him.
As a grandmaster of wilderness survival, he keenly perceived the issue.
It was just that the Darkrai species wasn't very sensitive to the wind.
If it had been Kazuya during his sixth life as a Charizard.
He definitely would have noticed something was wrong before Scizor did.
"As expected of Master. That's right, it's the wind. The airflow direction this way is abnormal. It seems it was violently disrupted by something not too long ago," Scizor nodded with a smile.
Although he had already evolved into Scizor, he still had a pair of wings as thin as cicada wings on his back, making him relatively sensitive to air currents. Coupled with hundreds of years of wilderness survival experience, the moment Scizor passed that street just now, he immediately noticed the abnormal flow of the wind.
That kind of situation.
Usually only occurred when some creature dashed past at an extremely fast speed beforehand.
Dragonite was the representative Pokémon of the move Extreme Speed, plus that Dragonite was currently anxiously looking for Natsu and Dratini...
Therefore, there was a high probability that she was the one who disrupted the airflow.
"Impressive," Lucario couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
He truly hadn't expected Scizor to have this kind of skill.
The Mewtwo beside them also nodded silently.
He had thought Scizor was a purely combat-oriented Pokémon, not very adept at perception and tracking.
"Hmph, don't underestimate me too much," Scizor shot a glance at Lucario, seeming a bit displeased.
Everyone had their strengths.
This was even more true for Pokémon.
Every Pokémon had things they were naturally good at.
For example...
Lucario had strong perception abilities, especially his hearing and sense of smell, which were quite exaggerated.
And Mewtwo possessed immense intelligence and reaction speed.
Scizor naturally also had advantages unique to his species, such as his solid steel body and sensitivity to the wind.
"I've learned something new," Lucario cupped his fists humbly, indicating he had broadened his horizons, but his expression quickly changed. "I sense it. A panicked and anxious Aura; it should be that 'Granny Dragonite'."
He turned to look at Kazuya and pointed in a certain direction.
Kazuya immediately headed that way.
Finally.
At the top of the clock tower in the center of Blackthorn City.
He saw a massive but lighter-colored Dragonite.
She was standing at the top of the clock tower, scanning the entirety of Blackthorn City.
That was a very dangerous thing to do.
Although one could see very far from that spot, it was also very easy to be noticed by the magical beasts wandering below.
Clearly.
Because Dragonite couldn't find Natsu, she was forced to resort to this drastic measure.
And right now.
Seeing Kazuya and the four Pokémon approach.
Dragonite was clearly quite surprised.
Especially when she saw Darkrai and Mewtwo, her expression was exactly the same as Scizor and Lucario's when they first met them.
At this time, Kazuya was also carefully observing Dragonite.
Dragonite's size seemed to have shrunk quite a bit compared to when he saw her three hundred years ago. Originally over four meters tall, she was now less than four meters in height.
The color of her skin had also faded considerably, even becoming somewhat dry.
These were all obvious signs of severe physical aging.
However.
These were all within Kazuya's expectations.
So even seeing this, he didn't feel particularly heartbroken.
Being able to meet again.
Was already an unexpected joy in itself.
Before the other party could speak.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Kazuya hovered in mid-air, then started swinging his arms and shaking his butt...
"?" x2
Lucario and Mewtwo were shocked.
They didn't understand why Kazuya was suddenly doing radio calisthenics.
"?"
Scizor was also very shocked.
He knew his Master's Dragon Dance was quite strange, but because of that, it left a deep impression. He could tell at a glance that his Master was imitating the posture of using Dragon Dance.
But...
Why do this routine first thing upon meeting?
Scizor didn't understand.
He looked at Dragonite in confusion, hoping to glean some answers from her expression.
Only to see.
The Dragonite standing at the top of the clock tower suddenly broke into a smile.
She raised a hand to wipe away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes, and after covering her mouth to chuckle softly, she actually mimicked Kazuya's movements and started doing that strange Dragon Dance.
"?" x3
The three juniors were completely baffled.
What in the world are they doing?
Is this encrypted communication?
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