Chapter 135: The Descendants of Scorp
The crowd of people following them grew larger and larger. But at a certain point, they seemed to reach a boundary. Roadblocks had been set up on the path, forbidding humans from going any further.
Just like that, the people were all blocked.
However, after the humans disappeared, they were replaced by a new escort: a swarm of Gligar.
I see... Will thought, looking at the Gligar on the trees on both sides of the river, understanding the situation.
The outer half of the island was an area where humans could freely move and sightsee. It was also the area where they could capture Gligar. If a Gligar wanted to enter human society and leave this island, it only needed to step into the human-accessible area, and a trainer wanting to catch it would naturally come along.
But the inner area belonged entirely to the Gligar. Humans were forbidden to set foot in it. This was likely one of the Johto League's methods of protecting the Gligar, a primitive form of a nature preserve.
"Gli?"
"Gligar!"
"Gli."
The reactions of the surrounding Gligar were almost identical to the humans' outside. They followed along curiously, discussing the newcomers amongst themselves. But unlike the humans, the Gligar would proactively try to communicate with them.
"Gli?"
"Meow."
"La-praas."
Lapras and Sprigatito did all the talking. Will yawned, having no desire to participate. The content of their conversation was just too boring. It went something like this:
Gligar: "Is it fun outside?"
Sprigatito: "It's fun."
Lapras: "It's scary."
Gligar: "What's it like?"
Sprigatito: "There are grasslands, the ocean, and lots of other Pokémon!"
And so on. It was like children who had never left home, talking to the kids outside through a window. Yet, Sprigatito's simple description was actually making many of the Gligar want to go out and see the world for themselves.
"We should be getting close," Will muttered, looking at the sloping riverbank ahead. A thousand years ago, there was a beautiful lake in the center of this island. He just didn't know if it was still here.
About five minutes later, he found that the lake was not only still here, but it had changed quite a bit. They left the river and entered the lake. Lapras's speed immediately slowed, and she floated quietly on the surface.
"La-praas~" she called, turning her head to look back at Will.
But Will was staring in a daze at a giant rock in the middle of the lake. A crude, simple drawing had been carved onto it. It looked like... a woman and several small Pokémon. The small Pokémon looked like a Magikarp, a Gligar, a Charmander, and a Zubat. And they were all sheltered behind a giant Dragonite.
"Lapras, go to the rock," Will said, stroking her neck, his eyes fixed on the monument.
He was certain that the last time he had come here with Scorp to get the Razor Fang, this rock hadn't existed. And the lake hadn't been this big, either. It was now two or three times the size he remembered.
Scorp came back here, Will guessed after seeing the drawing on the rock.
After Liz had reached the end of her life, Scorp must have returned to this island alone and became the new Alpha. He must have led a group of Gligar to move this giant rock to the center of the lake and personally carved this picture onto it.
"La-praas?" Lapras followed his instructions and approached the rock, looking up at the drawing, though she couldn't make anything of it.
"Meow," Sprigatito's attention wasn't on the rock at all; it was captivated by the large number of Gligar surrounding the lake.
"Gliscor!"
Just then, a wild and domineering cry came from the small waterfall on the other side of the lake. The next moment, a giant Gliscor flew out from under the waterfall and landed on top of the rock, looking down at the three Pokémon below.
"A descendant of Scorp?" Will asked, looking up at the Gliscor.
It was nearly four meters long; in the Era of Primal Beasts, that would have been an average height. But in this Era of Leagues, it must have received the "Alpha" designation. The twin stingers on its tail were short; it seemed to be a female.
A granddaughter or great-granddaughter? Will mused.
The lifespan of the Gliscor species likely wasn't very long. Even if his Scorp had reached the level of an Elite Four's or even a Champion's Pokémon, he would have only lived for a few hundred years. If his descendants never left this island, their strength probably wouldn't even exceed Lv. 50, and their lifespans would be even shorter. A thousand years... granddaughter or great-granddaughter was a conservative estimate.
"Gliscor?" the Alpha's attitude was neutral. She was just asking what their business was here. Although she was the boss of this island, there were other Pokémon living here now, but they wouldn't dare to venture into this central lake. This was the exclusive territory of the Gligar clan.
"An old friend used to live here. I was just passing by to take a look and rest for a bit."
"Gliscor."
Hearing this, the Alpha nodded and immediately flew away. She didn't seem to have any suspicions. A Pokémon's intuition is very accurate; she could tell that Will wasn't lying, so she didn't mind them staying for a while. Besides, she felt that the way Will was looking at her was strange. Although it made her feel uncomfortable, she wasn't angry or repulsed. Still, the feeling made her quickly fly back into the waterfall.
"Let's go. To the shore. We'll eat first," Will said.
"La-praas~" Lapras nodded eagerly. She was already starving.
"GLISCOR!!"
Just as they reached the shore, the Alpha's voice sounded again from within the waterfall cave. The noise was huge. A human hearing it would have thought she had been angered by something. But that wasn't the case. She was ordering her subordinates to bring some food to entertain the guests.
"Gligar." xN
Many Gligar immediately sprang into action. They brought all sorts of food from various parts of their territory and delivered it to Will's group. It wasn't just berries, but also a large amount of human food, clearly left behind by tourists. The Gligar clan had a habit of stockpiling food, so their territory was full of strange human snacks.
"Thank you," Will said to the Gligar. These pink, tongue-lolling little creatures were quite cute in their own right. And now, thinking that they were likely the descendants of his old friend, he felt even more fond of them.
"Meow?" Sprigatito pounced on a bag of spicy chips, tilting her head curiously. The stimulating smell was new to her, and she was about to take a bite out of the plastic bag.
Smack.
Will slapped her head and snatched the chips away, tossing them back to a nearby Gligar.
"You're not allowed to eat that."
"Meow?!" Sprigatito protested, demanding to know why the Gligar could eat it and she couldn't.
"It's not tasty. It will make your tongue hurt."
"Meow?" Sprigatito looked at him suspiciously, but after a few seconds, she nodded in belief. Will would definitely do what was best for her; he would never harm her.
"You finish the cat food from the academy first."
Will took out the canned cat food from his backpack. He could tell at a glance that most of the human food was cheap junk. That was normal. The tourists were just enjoying the feeling of feeding wild Gligar; they weren't going to spend a lot of money to give away their best food.
In any case, this kind of food was not good for a Sprigatito that had just left its infant stage. Until she reached her final evolution and her body had fully stabilized, he would definitely not let her eat this stuff.
"Lapras, you eat these," Will said, picking out some of the more nutritious berries from the pile and tossing them to her. Lapras, who had always lived in the sea, had never eaten a berry before. The novel taste immediately captivated her, and she turned into a little foodie.
As for Will himself, he just casually gnawed on a few berries until he was full.
After eating, he wasn't so polite with Scorp's descendants. Bored, he casually picked up a Gligar cub whose tongue was hanging out and started to play with it.
Sprigatito, seeing this, was so angry she lost her appetite. She pounced, wanting to duel the Gligar cub, but was suppressed by Will's hand.
After the meal, the once-lively area around the lake gradually quieted down. The Gligar, full and satisfied, each found a comfortable spot to curl up for an afternoon nap.
"Full tummies. Let's take a nap here too. The environment here is really nice," Will said, deciding to sleep with the others. With a Gligar cub in his left arm and Sprigatito in his right, he lay down on the ground, ready to doze off.
"La-praas..."
But the Lapras couldn't sleep. She wanted to be with her family too.
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