Chapter 88: You Can Know His Face, But Not His Heart
"Their growth rate is a little faster than I thought. It seems they went through a lot of hardship after I first enrolled them in the academy. I just don't know their exact strength," Will nodded to himself as he watched Charizard and the others approach.
The scene that followed was a gratifying one. As Charizard's group arrived, the other Pokémon gathered on the plains automatically parted, clearing a path for them. Clearly, they had become the new bosses of this academy.
"Roar-char?"
"Gligar."
"Roar."
When the group arrived a short distance from Will, they stopped and began to loudly discuss who this strange new creature was. They felt he was somewhat familiar, but they had never seen this form before. Yet, Iris was being so affectionate with him, which left them unsure of what to think.
"...Roar."
In the end, it was Iris's Gyarados who guessed Will's true identity. Not because it was familiar with Will, but because it was familiar with Iris. The only one who would let Iris fuss over them like this, besides itself and Nattie, was Will. Even Charizard and Scorp often couldn't stand Iris's antics and would run far away to avoid playing with her.
"Roar-char?!"
Charizard's jaw dropped in surprise. He turned his head to get a better look.
"What? You don't even recognize your Big Bro anymore? You've gotten arrogant, haven't you?" Will said, putting Iris down. He crossed his arms, put on a stern face, and frowned down at the Charizard.
The feeling of authority immediately reminded Charizard of how he had felt facing Will when he was just a little Charmander.
"Roar-char~"
Confirming it was Will, Charizard swaggered forward with a comical gait and gave him a big hug.
"Alright, alright. You're a big dragon now, stop asking for hugs," Will said, pretending to be annoyed, but in reality, a crooked smile had already spread across his face. The real Smirking Dragon King.
Will had originally thought that, like Ash's, this Charizard would become arrogant after evolving. He was all prepared to beat him up and help him recognize his place as a "little brother." But to his surprise, the Charizard had the exact same personality as when he was a child; he hadn't changed at all.
"Roar-char~"
Charizard flexed in front of Will, then kicked off the ground and flew into the sky, soaring proudly. Will watched him with a smile. He knew Charizard was showing off his flying ability, wanting to display his growth in front of the Big Bro he worshipped.
"That kid has wanted to fly ever since he was little," Will murmured. He watched Charizard land and fly back to him, looking at him with an expectant expression.
"Amazing, amazing~ You did great~" Will reached out a hand and rubbed Charizard's head.
The Charizard now stood at 3.4 meters, not short at all, double its Pokédex value. But in front of Will, it only came up to his stomach. And because their color schemes were so similar—both with cream-colored bellies and blue-green wings—they looked like a father and son. A few hundred years ago, humans might have actually believed Dragonite and Charizard were the same species.
"Perfect. While we still have time, all of you attack me together. I want to test your current level," Will said, beckoning to Liz and Iris's Pokémon.
The others exchanged a look and, without wasting time, immediately attacked. They also wanted to see just what level their Big Bro had reached in the two years he had been gone. Had they closed the distance between them?
Five minutes later, Charizard and the others were all lying on the ground, having thoroughly recognized their place as underlings. If Will hadn't deliberately held back to assess their strengths and weaknesses, they wouldn't have even lasted five minutes. A single Surf or Hurricane could have probably cleared the field.
"Golbat..." The watching Golbat shook its head, completely unsurprised. Having followed Will all the way from Mt. Silver, it knew better than anyone just how powerful he now was.
"Hmm, I didn't expect the strongest to be Scorp. You can know a Gligar's face, but not its heart," Will said, raising an eyebrow at the pile of defeated Pokémon.
The two Gyarados were around the same level. Perhaps because they were too busy being in love, their levels weren't high, only Lv. 32, even lower than Golbat's. Nattie the Xatu was the lowest, only Lv. 30. This didn't surprise Will; the Pokémon had never seemed very motivated.
Charizard, whom he had the highest hopes for, was Lv. 37. He had probably just evolved recently. This level was neither high nor low. You needed to be around Lv. 40 to even qualify for the battlefield; Charizard wasn't there yet.
Finally, there was the unexpected Scorp. His level was a high 40, in a league of its own.
He must have been secretly putting in the work. Does he want to earn the Razor Fang from the Gliscor Alpha through his own strength? Will looked down at the defeated Gligar. No one would have thought that the Gligar who had immediately moved in for the promise of room and board actually had so much backbone.
"Not too bad," Will said. Overall, he was satisfied. After all, at the old academy, they would have probably only reached level 30 in two years. But with the revised training policy that the Dragonite Kingdom had implemented two years ago, the frequency of battle training from the army to the academy had increased, and the Pokémon's leveling speed had naturally followed.
Will's requirements for them weren't very high. When the great war came, it would be enough if they could reach around Lv. 45. At that point, with these few little ones guarding Liz on the battlefield, they would be an iron wall.
"Alright, that's enough. I didn't hit you that hard," Will said, looking at the bodies playing dead on the ground.
[Brine]
He casually flicked a small splash of water from his hand. The cold water hit their bodies, and Charizard and the others jolted awake.
"Scorp, tomorrow I'm taking you to Jubilance Town to find the Scyther Chief and get the Razor Fang."
"Gligar!" Scorp shook his head and patted his chest.
Just as Will had thought, Scorp didn't want to rely on his power to get the item. He wanted to take it with his own strength.
...? Will frowned. What had happened to Scorp in the last two years to make him change so much? A leopard can't change its spots, and that saying applied to Pokémon too. If a Pokémon's personality changed so drastically, then something major must have happened to it.
Ash's Charizard, before going to the Charicific Valley, had been incredibly arrogant, disobedient in battles, and lazy in training. It was only after being unable to defeat even the weakest female Charizard in the valley and soaking in the water for a day and a night that it had a complete awakening and began to strive to become stronger, eventually becoming the powerhouse that could take down an Articuno.
Something like that might have happened to Scorp.
Will didn't press the issue, deciding to talk about it later that night. For the rest of the time at the academy, he taught Charizard and the others new skills, while also trying to figure out how to recall the moves inherited in his Dragonite genes.
As evening approached, Will flew home with Charizard and the others. The two Gyarados, meanwhile, decided to stay at the academy lake, beginning a life of boarding school. The sight of several Pokémon flying through the sky together naturally attracted the attention of the capital's residents. They were used to it by now, but this time, the one in the lead was clearly a different, much larger creature. Everyone realized it was Lord Lan.
For a time, the capital became lively again, the residents finally having some new gossip to talk about at the dinner table.
Will didn't pay much attention to them. Having just returned, he suddenly found he had a lot to do and felt overwhelmed, not knowing where to start.
Recall moves.
Take Scorp to get the Razor Fang.
Understand the current situation between the two kingdoms.
These were all things he needed to do.
"I can only take it one step at a time," Will sighed to himself, deciding to start with the most important thing. While there was still time before dinner, he would go to Liz's study and see if he could get some information from her.
"Lan~"
He hadn't even reached the palace when Liz's voice called out. Looking down, he saw her standing in the palace courtyard, waving at them in the sky. For Will, being welcomed home by Liz was a long-missed experience.
He hadn't even landed when Liz was already walking quickly towards him.
"Lan~"
When Will touched down, Liz smoothly fell into his embrace, carefully savoring the unique warmth and sense of security that came from him.
"Auntie! I'm staying at the palace tonight!"
Iris, completely ignoring the atmosphere, ran over and hugged Liz's leg, swinging back and forth. Ever since Will had left, her mother had taken her back home. Now, of course, she wanted to return to her former happy life. Living in the palace with such a large group of Pokémon would definitely be amazing!
"We'll have to ask your mother about that," Liz said, reaching out a hand to stroke Iris's head.
Suddenly, she froze. She looked up at Will, who was hugging her, then down at Iris, who was hugging her leg, and fell into a deep thought that no one else could understand.
"Auntie~" Iris didn't notice the change in Liz and was still acting cute.
"You can."
"Huh?"
Iris had thought she would have to plead for a while longer. Liz's sudden agreement actually left her a little disoriented. But after a moment, she grabbed Nattie and ran into the palace, afraid Liz would change her mind.
"Liz?" Will asked, looking at her in confusion. As he understood it, Liz would usually respect Iris's mother's opinion. Why had she suddenly made the decision herself to let her stay?
But Liz didn't hear him. Her gaze was fixed on the street outside the palace, her eyes firm, as if she had made some kind of decision.
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