Chapter 121: Too Fast to See!
Walking through the forest, Will felt his heart at ease. In the past, when he was training in Mt. Silver, he had to maintain a state of high alert every single second. But this was completely different.
"Meow-meow~"
Sprigatito, from his backpack, was singing the sea shanty she had learned from Tom and Corphish. Will strolled forward at a leisurely pace. He felt like he was just a father taking his child on an outing.
"As long as I keep heading north through the forest, I should be able to find Azalea Town," Will muttered, looking down at the map in his hand.
Rustle, rustle.
A sound came from the grass, and five Sentret ran out. The moment they saw Will, all five immediately held hands and stood up on their tails to make themselves look taller, trying to scare him off. But given the height of an Era of Leagues Sentret, even standing on their tails, they only came up to his stomach. It wasn't very intimidating.
"Hey, just passing through," Will grinned and continued forward, Sprigatito on his back.
The five Sentret weren't trying to cause trouble. They had only run out to scare him off because he had entered their territory. In the Era of Primal Beasts, Will would have just ignored them, or maybe even beaten them up. The highest level a Sentret reaches is only Lv. 15 before evolving into Furret, so he wouldn't have lost.
But now, in the Era of Leagues, and after meeting so many good people and Pokémon, his temper had mellowed a lot.
Seeing that Will was so easygoing, the five Sentret sighed in relief. But just as he passed, they spotted the baby Sprigatito in his backpack.
"Ret?" one of the Sentret ran forward and tugged on Will's tail.
"What? You want to fight me?" Will turned, a hopeful look on his face.
"Ret!" The Sentret quickly shook its head. It didn't want to fight this big guy; that would hurt.
"Ret!" The other four Sentret ran into the bushes and quickly returned, this time, each of them was holding a small handful of berries of different colors.
"Ret~"
"For the baby? Haha, thank you, but we don't have the hands to carry them. You can take them back. Just give her two."
Will was surprised for a moment, then smiled and accepted two of the berries. He passed one to Sprigatito and then waved goodbye to the Sentret and left.
"Meow," Sprigatito held the berry, her chin up proudly.
"Yes, yes, you're the cutest. Everyone likes you," Will said, replying to her as he scanned the forest environment.
"Meow?"
"I don't like you. I only like obedient little cats."
"Meow!"
"I'm not seeing it."
Will walked over to a tree, his expression turning serious. There were scratches on the bark, and he could tell they were man-made. He looked around at the other trees and quickly found more marks.
If I follow these marks, I should be able to get to Azalea Town.
Azalea Town was a town located deep in the forest, and its people relied on the forest for their livelihood. To prevent people from getting lost, the elders of the past would carve marks on the trees as signposts.
At this moment, Sprigatito was still "meowing" nonstop, as if she would keep arguing until he admitted he liked her. But Will wasn't falling for it.
"Hiiiisss!" An angry sound echoed from above their heads.
Will looked up. A giant Ariados was standing on a web above them, cursing.
"See? You kept making noise and woke him up. Are you still going to say you're an obedient cat?"
"Meow..." Sprigatito immediately apologized, little pearls already forming in the corners of her eyes.
"Hisss," the Ariados looked at the baby Sprigatito and decided not to hold a grudge. It waved its arms, signaling for them to get out of its territory.
Will gave a casual wave and left. He had already been preparing for a fight. The Pokémon of the League Era were just too friendly. In the Era of Primal Beasts, never mind waking one up, just passing through its territory would have gotten them eaten.
However, this thought had barely formed when Will was proven wrong. After walking another few dozen steps, they ran into another Ariados. This one, however, was not a good guy. This one was a mugger.
"Hiiiisss!" The Ariados hissed at Will, its expression threatening. Its attitude became even more brazen when it saw the small burden on his back. It told Will to leave the green box and the backpack and get lost.
"...You've got some nerve."
Will was stunned for a moment. He figured it was about time he got some exercise. He had been in this third life for almost half a month and had barely fought at all. Although a Grovyle was at an absolute type disadvantage against an Ariados, Will didn't think he would lose.
"Hisss..." The Ariados's red face darkened. It jumped down from its web, landed on the ground, and waved at Will. It was telling him to put the "child" aside so it wouldn't get hurt in the crossfire.
"You stay here and watch closely," Will said, placing Sprigatito under a tree, along with the green box.
"Meow~"
"Don't call me Mom. I'm a male. From now on, you'll call me Master!"
"Meow~"
Sprigatito looked on with an expectant face as Will walked away. In her eyes, no one was a match for him.
"Alright, let's go," Will said, beckoning to the Ariados.
Its level was at least 22, a full 6 levels higher than his own. At this level, an Ariados already had a deep movepool. Its Poison/Bug typing had a 4x resistance to his Grass-type moves, while he was 2x weak to both Poison and Bug. If this were a normal Grovyle, even with rich battle experience, this would be a fatal encounter.
But, as it happened, Will was not a normal Grovyle.
Hisss! The Ariados attacked first, spitting a stream of white silk.
Just as I thought. The opening move for wild bugs is either Poison Sting or String Shot. Hasn't changed in a thousand years.
[Razor Leaf].
Unsurprised, Will plucked a leaf from his arm and threw it, slicing the silk threads. The Ariados jumped away to dodge the leaf, landing on its own web. But when it looked back...
Will had already vanished into a green blur, leaping between the trees to close the distance, leaving only a white arc of light from [Quick Attack] in his wake.
"Ari-dos?!" The Ariados was shocked by his speed! Before it could even react, Will's attack had arrived.
[Slam]!
Will leaped in front of it, grabbed the Ariados, and slammed it hard onto the ground. But he wasn't done. The moment the Ariados got up, it was immediately hit by a [Focus Energy]-boosted [Take Down] and knocked flat again. The combo was so fast the Ariados couldn't even react.
"Dos..." When it climbed up from the ground this time, Will's figure was gone again. The Ariados looked around frantically, trying to find the green shadow.
"Meow-meow~" Sprigatito's excited cheering came from nearby.
It looked at the cat, then followed her adoring gaze... to the space right above its own head!
Thwack!
Just as the Ariados looked up, Will's critical-hit [Slam] came crashing down. The Ariados's head took the full blow, its eyes rolled back, and it fainted.
"Hm? Just evolved?" Will said, looking at the fainted Pokémon and rolling his sore ankle.
He hadn't even used his ultimate weapon, Extreme Speed, in this entire fight. As he had determined on the reef, his current body couldn't really handle the strain. His victory was due to his Grovyle's racial traits and the move Quick Attack.
"Its highly developed thigh muscles give it astounding explosive power and jumping ability. No Pokémon, no matter how fast, can catch a Grovyle in a forest."
This was a natural advantage unique to the Grovyle line. The boost it received from fighting in a forest was no less than a cavalry soldier in the Era of Primal Beasts swapping his horse for a Rapidash.
"I wonder how my speed compares to other Grovyle," Will mused. He couldn't confirm if his base Speed stat had been enhanced, since he had never met another one. But judging from the Ariados's reaction, his speed was undoubtedly absurd.
"How about that? Was your Master impressive or what?"
"Meow!" So fast I couldn't even see you!
Sprigatito was so excited she almost jumped out of the backpack, but she was quickly pushed back down by Will's hand.
"Stay put. We should be at Azalea Town soon. Be careful, or a bad guy will snatch you," Will said. He picked up the green box, shouldered his backpack, and continued following the marks on the trees.
After walking for about five minutes, he heard the sound of Pokémon, and a lot of them.
"Slooow~"
"Slow~poke~"
Numerous, meaningless cries rang out.
"Slowpoke?"
Although they were both Pokémon, Will couldn't understand what they were saying. He moved towards the sound, and soon, he walked out of the forest... no, he was still in the forest, but he had walked into a small town within it.
Before him was a well. And surrounding the well was a huge group of pink Pokémon. At a rough glance, there were at least thirty of them.
"That's a lot of Slowpoke!"
Even Will was shocked by this number. Say what you will about Slowpoke, but it was a fairly rare Pokémon. Especially in the Era of Primal Beasts, they had almost been eaten to extinction.
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