Poipole curious about the seaweed fluttered his purple body lightly through the air before quickly landing in front of the drifting waterweed. It could clearly sense the delicious poisons hidden within the strands of algae.
"Poi-pole~"
Letting out a series of bubbling giggles, Poipole reached its hand toward the waterweed.
But at that exact moment, a shadow suddenly burst out from within the algae. The creature opened its mouth and sprayed a stream of thick, purple poison directly at Poipole.
Poipole froze for a brief second. Yet before it could even react, the spray of venom had already struck its body. The purple liquid splashed onto it and then dripped to the ground, where it hissed and sizzled as it corroded the sand.
But instead of panicking, Poipole grew delighted. It reached out its little hand, dipped a finger into the poison, and placed it in its mouth for a taste. Instantly, its eyes brightened.
Yummy!
After that small taste, the way it looked at the creature before it grew even more eager and heated. Could it… maybe give a little more poison?
"This is… a Skrelp?"
Seeing the figure that had emerged, Aven was momentarily startled.
The Skrelp's entire body was brownish in color, with a purple face and purple belly. It looked very much like a tiny seahorse.
However, its whole appearance resembled something rotten—its body drooping and swaying like decaying seaweed drifting underwater. It possessed a tube-shaped snout and semi-transparent fins.
This was exactly the Poison/Water-type Skrelp from Aven's memories, known for disguising itself as dead seaweed to fool enemies who carelessly swam too close.
Moreover, Skrelp's evolution, Dragalge, was a Poison/Dragon-type Pokémon—sharing the same typing as Poipole's final evolution, Naganadel, just arranged differently!
"Skreeelp~"
After emerging, the Skrelp looked around cautiously.
Then its gaze landed on the Poipole standing before it. For some inexplicable reason, it actually felt a faint sense of closeness toward the tiny creature.
"Poi~ Poi~"
By now, Poipole had already hopped forward eagerly.
It reached out and gently patted the Skrelp's head before pulling the little algae-like Pokémon directly into a hug.
The Skrelp hesitated only for a moment before curling itself snugly around Poipole's body. The two tiny creatures looked for all the world like naturally affectionate little friends.
"Looks like the two of you get along quite well."
Aven chuckled.
Seeing the Skrelp in person sparked a thought in his mind.
Over the past while, he had indeed run into a few difficulties while raising Skrelp—mainly because he still lacked a deeper understanding of its species.
He also had yet to figure out the ideal way to help Poipole master Dragon Pulse, which was required for its evolution into Naganadel.
But this Skrelp before him… might just give him a new direction.
Skrelp evolved into Dragalge, also a Poison/Dragon Pokémon. The two species shared many similarities.
And Dragalge in particular was known for learning Dragon Pulse relatively easily. Perhaps studying Dragalge could inspire a method that would allow Poipole to successfully learn the move as well.
With this thought, Aven took out the special food he had prepared for Poipole, a food infused with powerful poisons and toxins, the kind that Poison-type Pokémon loved.
"Poi! Pole~"
Poipole laughed excitedly and offered half of the food to Skrelp, eagerly sharing the meal.
"Skreeelp…"
Skrelp hesitantly accepted the food.
But after just one bite, its eyes lit up. It immediately started devouring the rest in high spirits.
Seeing Poipole successfully win Skrelp's trust, Aven couldn't help but smile. Poipole truly was a Pokémon with extremely rich emotions.
"Kir~"
At that moment, Kirlia descended gracefully from the air.
Among all his Pokémon, it was the most sensitive to the emotional energy flowing from Skrelp.
Over this time, Kirlia had been helping Poipole train its emotional power. It had discovered that Poipole's poison would sometimes become multicolored when infused with emotional energy.
Depending on its mood, Poipole's venom would shift to different colors as well. Kirlia had been researching this phenomenon deeply, hoping it would help refine its own mastery over emotional power.
"A Magikarp and now a Skrelp… today's harvest is not bad at all."
Aven said with a small smile.
In order to establish a proper water Pokémon breeding area, he definitely needed powerful Water-types to anchor it.
After all, the size of the sea dwarfed the land, and the dangers found in the ocean were far greater. Even though Pokémon Domain's land forces were powerful, their strength at sea was still extremely lacking.
Even Lilligant, Froslass, and Garchomp despite all being King-level Pokémon, would lose most of their fighting capability in the sea. They might not even be able to defeat a advanced-level water Pokémon.
This made raising strong Water-type Pokémon not just useful, but absolutely essential. And with the need to guard long stretches of coastline, as well as Aven's long-term goal of exploring the deeper seas, the more powerful Pokémon he had, the better.
With this in mind, he stood up, ready to retrieve more food to attract additional Water-type Pokémon for possible capture.
But just then, a fast-moving figure suddenly appeared on the distant ocean surface, its arrival accompanied by a powerful and pressing aura.
When the figure drew near enough, Aven finally recognized it—it was Empoleon.
"Empooo~ Empooo!"
After reaching the shore, Empoleon immediately called out anxiously to Aven.
"Hm? You're saying… you found a sunken ship out at sea?"
Through telepathy, Aven quickly understood Empoleon's message, and a look of surprise flashed across his face.
"Empooo! Empooo!"
Empoleon nodded vigorously, pointing its steel wings toward the distant sea.
"All right. I understand. I'll notify Kale immediately."
A strange glint flickered through Aven's eyes.
The seas were extremely dangerous at this era. Because of the sheer number of water Pokémon lurking within, maritime trade in this world was terribly underdeveloped.
Even fishermen who ventured out for a living would often encounter life-threatening dangers. Unless they had no other choice, few ordinary people dared to sail far from shore.
But judging from Empoleon's detection, this sunken ship was anything but ordinary. Not only was the vessel huge, but it seemed to be carrying many items—and shockingly, the ship looked fairly new.
Empoleon hadn't investigated further. Upon discovering it, it had rushed back at full speed to report to Aven and Kale so the group could examine it together.
…
Before long, Kale arrived, bringing with him two simple fishing boats and the full troop of Bibarel.
"Your Highness Aven, I brought the two boats and the Bibarel group as requested."
Kale reported respectfully.
"Good. Then let's depart immediately."
Aven nodded.
Soon, the boats, escorted by a large number of Bibarel, set out grandly toward the area Empoleon had indicated.
"Lilli~ Lilli~"
Lilligant stood at the bow, guiding their path by sensing the life energy around them, helping the boats avoid large clusters of Water-type Pokémon.
"Kir~lia…"
Kirlia remained at Aven's side the entire time.
Truth be told, the little Pokémon was quite frightened of the vast open sea.
If danger appeared, even with Teleport, it wouldn't know where to land safely. And if it accidentally teleported into the water, it might face immediate peril. It couldn't help feeling insecure.
"Poi~ Poi~!"
In contrast, the simple-minded Poipole was having the time of its life.
At the moment, Skrelp was wrapped around its body, and the two little Pokémon were happily playing together.
"Lass~"
Compared to Lilligant, Froslass remained perfectly calm.
Floating gracefully on Aven's other side, it was fully prepared—should danger arise, it would simply freeze the entire sea surface!
Although Ice-type Pokémon were generally weaker in the ocean compared to Water-types, they still had more than enough combat power to protect themselves when needed.
And so, the fishing boat sailed smoothly across the ocean. Before long, they reached the area where Tentacruel and the others were waiting. After regrouping, they headed together toward the location of the shipwreck.
"Is this where the ship sank?"
"This is already extremely far from Marina City. Ordinary fishing boats could never reach this distance."
Kale swept his gaze around the vast expanse of ocean.
That meant the origin of the sunken ship must be unusual—possibly even a merchant vessel from another continent.
"Indeed. Those sorcerers we encountered earlier were also from other regions."
Aven nodded.
…
While the two spoke, the Bibarel had already plunged into the sea. Their job was to scout the sunken ship's condition first.
Aven still couldn't dive underwater himself, but through telepathy he could clearly see everything the Bibarel saw.
Splash, splash, splash—
One by one, the Bibarel dive into the water and swam rapidly toward the sunken ship.
After some time, they began resurfacing one after another. Through their senses, Aven finally obtained a full view of the wreck.
It was a massive ship. Although constructed from wood, the material did not resemble ordinary timber at all—it had the hardness and weight of iron.
(End of Chapter)