Chapter 7: Grinding Levels
Over the next few days, Will brought Frost and Rusty back into the fold. The two former Weedle had both evolved into Beedrill, with heights of 1.5m and 1.6m, respectively. Their individual characteristics were also very distinct.
Frost's yellow exoskeleton was a paler shade, which made his two large, white stingers and his wings seem to shine brightly. His hand and tail stingers were also massive, even larger than Wally's.
Rusty's exoskeleton, on the other hand, was a coffee-brown color. Judging by Milly's reactions, Rusty was considered quite the handsome one among Beedrill.
During this time, Will focused primarily on one task: mapping the area. He didn't just scout the area around the lake, but also places further away. For example, on the other side of the Poliwrath's territory, it bordered two other domains, whose respective bosses were a Fearow and a Primeape. Both were known to be extremely hot-tempered Pokémon. Will took one look from a distance and left immediately, with no intention of testing their strength or their tempers. He also gave up any idea of expanding his territory in their direction. Primeape aside, Fearow were the natural enemies of Beedrill and incredibly difficult to deal with unless they had overwhelming numbers. Besides, Fearow had earned the great title of "the poor man's Ho-Oh."
In addition to scouting, Will specifically led his four Beedrill to find and gather berries with special effects. Tangleberries and Oran Berries were two types they had to collect in large quantities. Among the many types of berries, these two were some of the few that could restore HP with no side effects, and the vast majority of Pokémon did not dislike their taste. Beyond those, Cheri Berries, Chesto Berries, Pecha Berries, and Rawst Berries were also necessary to collect and store in small amounts.
The purpose of all this, of course, was to grind levels!
The vast majority of wild Pokémon only leveled up by constantly eating. They wouldn't go out of their way to pick fights just to get stronger. In fact, they didn't even have the concept of "leveling up." Especially in this Era of Primal Beasts, a battle between wild Pokémon often resulted in death or crippling injury, and there were no Pokémon Centers to heal them. If they were seriously injured in a fight, their chances of survival would plummet.
Therefore, as a rule, most Pokémon were unwilling to fight others of similar or greater strength. This was why the Ekans had chosen to leave after seeing his group of three Beedrill. Even if it had won, the injuries it sustained would have likely made it impossible to hunt the Poliwag and Sandshrew.
But Will, of course, had other ideas. Leveling up just by eating was far too slow. Without a doubt, battling other Pokémon was the fastest way to get stronger. But he needed a way to deal with post-battle injuries and lingering status effects. This was where these amazing berries came in.
"Alright, that should be enough. Let's go. We'll head over to that Arbok's territory and make an appearance. We can't have the Pokémon in our future domain not recognizing us."
Will looked at the massive piles of berries stacked on the nearby trees and nodded with satisfaction. For now, their territory only consisted of the dozen or so trees around their birthplace. With only five Beedrill, they didn't need a huge amount of land. Besides, the real boss of this area was the Poliwrath. Being too high-profile might attract its attention and get them driven out.
"Frost, Rusty, you two stay behind and guard the base. Protect our berries."
Will turned to his two weaker Beedrill. Frost and Rusty had evolved nearly a week later than the other three, so their levels were naturally a bit lower. Will, Wally, and Milly had all reached Lv. 13, while Frost and Rusty were only Lv. 10. Still, that was more than enough to guard a dozen trees. As the Poliwag had said, there were no truly powerful Pokémon in this part of the forest. The more dangerous ones were Pokémon like Pidgeotto, Venonat, or Pikachu, and they were at most in the mid-teens level-wise. Pokémon above level 20 were practically nonexistent, as they would all be driven out by the Poliwrath. Under these circumstances, he didn't have to worry about Frost and Rusty being unable to protect their stash.
"Bzz~" x2
Frost and Rusty nodded. Now that they had evolved from Weedle to Beedrill, their intelligence had improved. They could now roughly understand Will's more complex sentences.
Seeing this, Will turned with Wally and Milly and flew off in a specific direction.
Although it would be more convenient to grind for levels nearby, fighting was forbidden within the Poliwrath's territory. Unless... you completely devoured your opponent after defeating them. As long as no other Pokémon found out, there would be no problem. Otherwise, the Poliwrath would chase them out. He and Milly hadn't known about this rule before, which is why Milly had eaten that Caterpie. But now that they were living under someone else's protection, it was best to follow the rules.
Besides, Will actually approved of the Poliwrath's policy. As a fan of Pokémon, he still felt the world should be a more beautiful place. Constant killing and fighting was not the way.
They flew on. With a Beedrill's flight speed, it took them less than ten minutes to reach the neighboring territory. In truth, the Poliwrath's domain wasn't very large to begin with.
Shortly after entering the new area, they spotted an excellent target. A Pinsir, 2.5 meters tall, was resting on a tree!
Based on the rules of this forest, where most Pokémon were 1.5 to 2 times their normal size, this Pinsir was no exception.
"Pin-sir!"
The high-speed vibration of the Beedrills' wings made a distinct buzzing sound, so the Pinsir noticed the three of them immediately. It flexed the massive horns on its head, attempting to intimidate them and scare them off.
But Will had already set his sights on it.
The Pinsir hesitated, then prepared to retreat and leave the tree to the three Beedrill. But Will hadn't come to claim territory; he had come for a fight. He certainly wasn't going to let the Pinsir go and initiated an attack at once!
As for eating it... no sane creature would want to hunt a Pinsir. It was the kind of Pokémon a Fearow would rather starve to death than try to eat.
Fury Cutter.
This was the first time Will had used the move in a real battle. Before, he had only practiced his skills on the air or on trees. In simple terms, it involved swinging his two hand-stingers with incredible speed.
Seeing that he couldn't dodge, the Pinsir had no choice but to attack. A faint light gleamed on its pincers, and it lunged towards Will.
Bug Bite... Will instantly recognized the move. After all, he had it too.
"Wally, Milly, let's go! Swarm him! This guy's level isn't low!"
At Will's call, the three Beedrill commenced a jumping group beatdown on the Pinsir.