Chapter 426: Raising Many Dreepy

Dreepy Meshia opened its eyes and looked up.

Then hurriedly closed them again.

It figured it must still be dreaming—otherwise how could it suddenly see so many terrifying fellows?

But no matter how it opened and closed its eyes, the many giant beasts led by Bastiodon were staring at it with "hideous" faces, making its little heart tremble.

It felt like it was about to be eaten by these big guys!

"Hii… ya?"

Dreepy Meshia tried to call for All Baimu, but the latter was in the kitchen happily cooking lunch with Happiny, so not only did it fail to summon him, it woke up the Dreepy little brother behind it instead.

Thus, one trembling Dreepy Meshia became two trembling Dreepy Meshia.

Of course.

The one that could travel ten thousand miles to find its brother was slightly braver, barely pinning the other beneath itself, striking a pose that said, "If you want to eat my brother, eat me first."

"Gugho?"

Bastiodon was a bit puzzled by the two's behavior. Thinking it over carefully, it immediately understood they were most likely scared by the Hydreigon, so it raised its head and roared at it, "Gugho!"

"Sha-sang?"

Hydreigon looked at the former in disbelief—

Saying these two little guys were scared by it?! Even an Ace can't speak against its conscience like that!

Doesn't it know what it looks like itself?

Hydreigon was so angry it gnashed its teeth, but seeing the two Dreepy Meshia were truly terrified beyond words, it had no choice but to flap its wings and head to the kitchen to complain to the trainer.

Seeing it leave, Bastiodon once again revealed a kindly yet hideous smile and leaned closer.

Dreepy Meshia, whose eyelids had cracked open just a sliver, caught sight of those silver-white steel teeth and sharp horns. Its expression turned terrified at a speed visible to the naked eye, and with a sudden shriek it vanished on the spot along with its brother.

"Hii ya—"

*Snap! *

A soft sound.

The shiny Milotic on the other side looked down at its chest in confusion as two Dreepy Meshia materialized, spreading out like flatbreads on its fine, dense tail scales, then sliding down onto the bed dizzy and disoriented.

The culprit Bastiodon fell silent, then suddenly looked at the shiny Milotic and pointed at itself.

"Gugho?"

Am I that scary?

The shiny Milotic's face showed a troubled look. It really didn't like to lie, but if it nodded, it would surely hurt the feelings of its good big brother Bastiodon, who thought himself brimming with亲和力.

And seeing its expression, how could Bastiodon not understand that it had overestimated itself?

"……"

To be honest.

Bastiodon was a bit打击ed. This feeling was the first of its kind since leaving Iron Town, no easier than having just gained a large patch of territory only to leave it.

The big monster walked off黯然神伤, and before leaving instructed Milotic to take good care of these two new little ones.

Milotic watched its good big brother go, then looked down at the two Dreepy Meshia on the bed. Though it said nothing, it couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

Beyond guilt, a feeling called感慨 arose in its heart.

Once upon a time it had been an absolute rookie on the team; now it could give introductions to new companions.

Time is truly terrifying.

Milotic bent down and blew bubbles at the two Dreepy Meshia, stimulating them awake like washing their faces.

On the little sofa, the Mawile watching a TV drama glanced over, curled its lip, and looked away.

Looks like it won't be needed.

"Hii ya?"

Dreepy Meshia slowly opened its eyes, only to find those two terrifying fellows gone, with only the prettiest one left behind.

Mm.

Even by Dreepy Meshia's aesthetic standards, Milotic was extremely beautiful.

It breathed a sigh of relief.

"Milo~"

Milotic smiled and greeted the two Dreepy Meshia. Though not exaggeratedly enough to make flowers bloom, it still successfully won the latter two's goodwill.

Especially the Dreepy little brother, who raised his brows and immediately flew around it in circles, showing no trace of his earlier timid appearance.

Dreepy Meshia watched its carefree little brother and got a headache.

"Milo!"

Milotic quite liked this lively little fellow—having energy meant it could quickly become a fighting force in the trainer's hands, unlike when it first arrived and made the trainer and companions worry so much.

And at this moment.

All Baimu's shout came from outside the bedroom.

"Time to eat!"

Dreepy Meshia immediately saw Corsola pop out from the head of the bed and drift outward.

"Hii ya?"

It stared wide-eyed, completely unaware of when Corsola had been there.

On the sofa, Mawile turned off its phone, and Porygon2 also poked out from inside, glanced at the two Dreepy Meshia from the corner of its eye, and flew out one after the other.

Milotic gently sniffed the wonderful aroma of food in the air, and cheerfully led the two Dreepy Meshia out for lunch.

In the living room.

All Baimu had already arranged everything.

"Yo! You're up!"

He held two food bowls, somewhat surprised to see the Dreepy that had woken up — he'd expected them to sleep for nearly twelve hours like yesterday before waking.

The two Dreepy timidly hid behind Milotic, not daring to look at Boldore and Hydreigon.

"Happy~"

Happiny went over and gently reached out to hold the two's hands.

As the Pokémon most adept at caring for other Pokémon, it might not have Milotic's stunning appearance, but it was enough to win most Pokémon's goodwill.

The Dreepy were no exception — dazed and confused, they were led to the set-out food bowls, the enticing aroma of the food shooting straight up their nostrils.

"Hiiya?"

"Hiiya!"

Unlike those hastily prepared Pokémon foods from yesterday, what lay before them now was the genuine glowing dish — the kind you couldn't even get in Kalos.

The Dreepy was still somewhat reserved, but its younger sibling was already drooling all over the food.

The only thing keeping this little fellow from diving in was the stares from Boldore and Hydreigon beside them.

Fortunately, in order to communicate with this younger Dreepy, Baimu smoothly stepped in front of it, blocking the gazes of the two fierce-looking big fellows.

"No need to wait, go ahead and eat. Once you're done, we'll discuss your situation."

He smiled and pushed the food bowls toward the two.

"Hiiya!"

The younger Dreepy cried out in delight, its goodwill toward this stranger spiking dramatically. Without hesitation, it buried its entire head in the food — and it was lucky it was a Ghost-type Pokémon that didn't need to breathe, otherwise it would have suffocated for sure in that posture.

The Dreepy, however, noticed what Baimu had said.

It realized it couldn't understand the other's meaning again. Yesterday it could even read this human's gaze, but today it was completely in the dark.

Why?

The Dreepy ate with a worried heart.

Then the other Pokémon also began eating. Milotic ate while raising its head to look at the trainer and the two Dreepy — it had assumed they were new companions.

But now it seemed the trainer was still in the recruiting stage?

Probably hadn't even caught them yet.

Milotic wondered whether to give the trainer a hand — after all, he seemed quite taken with these two little fellows.

Hmm.

Perhaps it was overthinking; the trainer probably already had a plan.

Milotic looked at the other companions around it and found their eyes all seemed to say the same thing — they probably shared the same thought.

Except for Luvdisc.

As a firsthand witness of the Spirit World journey, it knew very well that compared to these two Dreepy, the trainer was probably more troubled by that bigger one — whatever it was called, Dragapult.

When the fight started, that thing's expression clearly wasn't friendly.

But this had little to do with it.

It couldn't make Dragapult obediently listen anyway — better to let the trainer worry about it himself.

Luvdisc's smoke-like tentacles extended and retracted, and the food in the bowl vanished in an instant. Satisfied, it headed back to the bedroom to slack off, casting a subtle glance at Hydreigon before leaving.

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Since snitching, it hadn't been gnawed on again — this should have been a happy thing, so why did it instead feel a little desolate?

Absolutely crazy!

Luvdisc once suspected it had been infected by Hydreigon, otherwise it wouldn't think such strange things, and decided to reward last night's diligent self with quality sleep.

But what it didn't know was that after it entered the bedroom, Hydreigon, who was eating with crunch crunch sounds, bared its fangs.

The trainer hadn't skimped on buying it chew toys and such—

Honestly, none of them were as satisfying as Luvdisc.

But the trainer wouldn't let it gnaw anymore, so Hydreigon had been holding it in until now — should it sneak a bite some night?

No no no.

If Luvdisc found out, that guy would snitch!

Hydreigon hung its head in thought, then suddenly looked at Milotic nearby — it remembered this colleague seemed to have learned a Hypnosis move?

Hmm...

Perhaps it could plan something.

As an ordinary trainer.

Baimu couldn't keep an eye on all his Pokémon every moment, so naturally he didn't know the little schemes running through Hydreigon's mind at this moment.

And just as Luvdisc had thought, he was worrying about the Dragapult problem.

A Pokémon harboring deep hostility toward humans.

Miss Qiao Yin had told him yesterday, and also suspected this fellow had once been abandoned by humans — such things were very common. If a Pokémon's battling ability wasn't ideal, in the eyes of some utilitarian trainers, no matter how rare it was, it would be abandoned.

Moreover, according to Baimu's online research last night, he found that in the Galar region, Dreepy didn't seem to be very rare — the kind of Pokémon you might run into if you were willing to wander around a cemetery at midnight.

A gathering of problem Pokémon.

Baimu sighed, but also thought perhaps he could practice Dragon Heart.

After all, if Dragapult had been abandoned, then knowing its past experiences and untangling its old heartknot would be very important.

Dragon Heart happened to possess the ability to explore the general memories of Dragon-type Pokémon.

But... abandoned?

If he hadn't seen Dragapult's panel, he might have been a little more convinced.

【Pokémon: Dragapult】

【Type: Dragon + Ghost】

【Gender: Male】

【Height: 301cm/52kg】

【Ability: Clear Body】

【Level: 69】

【Moves: Quick Attack/Dragon Breath/Outrage/Lock-On/Payback】

【Agility/Extreme Speed/Dragon Dance/Phantom Force/Dragon Pulse】

【Dragon Dive/Dragon Darts/Shadow Sneak/Trailblaze/Hydro Pump】

Fifteen moves, plus the ability stat panel All Baimu saw with its offenses and speed stretched to extremes — he'd believe it had chugged Effort-Drop items in the game.

Its combat power was absolutely rock-solid.

If a Pokémon like this had been abandoned, it could only have been before it grew strong.

And from the level it wasn't hard to tell this guy had already been a Dragapult for some time — where were its partners?

All Baimu looked at the Dreepy brother burying its head in food, and a basic answer formed in his mind.

The Dreepy line was a very special existence among many Pokémon.

In raising the next generation they were somewhat similar to Kangaskhan, yet the situation was vastly different.

This also included the reason why trainers in the Galar region didn't breed this Pokémon.

There were two reasons.

One: the growth cycle of Dreepy wasn't much shorter than that of Jangmo-o — he recalled it was only about three or four levels apart in the game.

Two: raise one and you have to raise many, unless you don't evolve them.

Under the anime background, once a Dreepy evolved into a Drakloak, it would go off to a graveyard on its own to find a Dreepy to carry on its head and raise — this was also a major origin of its reputation as a nanny Pokémon.

That's right — evolution wouldn't suddenly cause a Drakloak to sprout an extra Dreepy on its head; the same went for Dragapult.

"Partners" all had to be found by themselves.

And once a partner happened to evolve, it had to go find a new partner, and the evolved partner also had to find a new partner — back and forth, and what started as an intention to raise just one ended up forcing you to raise a whole group.

So what if you didn't find partners?

Naturally, you couldn't.

According to reliable research, Drakloak or Dragapult that had a little Dreepy as a partner were completely different, physically and mentally, from those that didn't.

So for most trainers, the Dreepy family was a Pokémon that was relatively troublesome and demanding to raise — only hotheads or those with deep pockets would touch them.

All Baimu did have deep pockets, but he wasn't a hothead.

Such was fate, and there was nothing he could do about it. Fortunately, heaven had eyes — not only had it sent him a Dragapult, it had even found a matching Dreepy for him.

Next he just had to successfully coax the Dragapult into surrendering, and lure the two Dreepy into his ranks.

Wait, no.

It was first to lure these two Dreepy into the team.

All Baimu looked at the Dreepy he was most familiar with. As the only female among the three Dreepy, to distinguish her from the other one, he called her Dreepy Sister.

Conversely, the other was Dreepy Brother.

An acquaintance was definitely easier to work on. Plus Dreepy Brother acted like Dreepy Sister was his mainstay — so as long as he won over Dreepy Sister, Dreepy Brother shouldn't be much of a problem.

The thing was… he'd have to give Furong a heads-up.

After all, the Dreepy were brought by her. Even if she probably wouldn't object to him catching Dreepy, the proper courtesy still had to be paid.

So he sent Furong a message, asking for her address and saying he wanted to discuss the matter of the Dreepy.

He'd originally figured she probably wouldn't reply, and planned to go ask in Queen Boni's room.

But unexpectedly, she replied before long.

【Baimu-dear, just handle it yourself.】

"…Huh?"

All Baimu was taken aback — why did it feel like Furong was acting like a hands-off boss?

He was about to reply again, but Dreepy Brother had already finished its food and was squealing around him wanting another bowl — though judging by its belly, it probably couldn't fit much more in.

Dreepy Sister had also pretty much cleaned her plate, behaving a touch more reserved.

Seeing this, All Baimu asked: "Since you've finished eating, what are you two planning to do?"

Dreepy Brother didn't understand at all — after making enough of a fuss, it flopped onto his head for a little nap. Dreepy Sister, meanwhile, looked puzzled, seeming to half-understand.

Porygon2 couldn't stand watching and hurriedly took up the role of translator.

The other instantly understood, glanced at the brother lying on All Baimu's head, thought for a few seconds, then flew onto its brother's body and stacked up again.

Its attitude was perfectly clear.