Chapter 14: Risk and Reward

It had already been a few months since I had my Tuna dinner. I'd only just reached level 24 and I have yet to evolve.

I thought about what could have delayed or stopped me from evolving and the only thing I could conclude was that I hadn't evolved because Dragon types grow slower and evolve later in both the game and in the anime. Meaning I would probably evolve at around level 30 since Charmander is not a 2-step evolution but a 3-step one, although there are 3 step pokemon that do evolve at high levels...

I sweatdropped at the thought of being a 3-step evolution and having to wait till level 50 or so...just to evolve.

(A/N: I'm looking at you Deino...)

It was just another day in this twilight zone as I neared a group of shrimp-like pokemon and yet, as soon as I arrived at where they were, I noticed the signature of a mid-sized pokemon entering my range and moving towards this group as well...

It had the same chemical and vibrational signature as the sea lion that entered the cave previously. I grinned, this was going to be payback. I managed to calm the shrimp as I hid behind them before the seal approached from the opposite side. From my small size, It probably hadn't noticed me yet,

Name: Baal

Race: Salamandra Aquadraconis

Bloodlines: None

Characteristic: Remarkably Alert to Sound

Level: 24

Stats

Attack: 40

Defence: 33

Special: 36

Speed: 45

Total Current Energy:

570 Elemental Aura (PP)

Other Energies N/A

...

Mastery:

Water Gun- Shallow Intermediate

Thunder Fang- Abyssal Novice

Dragon Breath- Abyssal Novice

Fishious Rend- Abyssal Novice

Ember - Abyssal Novice

Dragon Claw- Deep Novice

Aqua Tail - Deep Novice

Plasma Fists- Deep Novice

I started charging My Thunder fang as he has yet to notice me and slightly elevated myself in the water, this was so that I could clamp down on his neck. As soon as my fangs started crackling, I darted in his direction immediately.

I dashed through the group of shrimp and he reacted slowly, only managing to turn his body slightly so that I couldn't effectively reach his neck...Unfortunately, I didn't manage to clamp down and remove his spine so I quickly adjusted myself and bit down on his tail...It was an air-breathing pokemon, if I could disable its ability to swim then it would eventually drown.

I now opened my eyes to give me more coverage in this fight and saw it flailing about screaming as the electricity started to diffuse into its flesh. I kept my jaws clamped and continued sending electricity into its flesh until it finally realised what I was doing... Not a very smart one are you?

I let go as soon as it realised what I was doing, after retreating a bit, I noticed that its tail was bleeding and flapping weakly...I could wait it out and enjoy seeing what would happen. Would it bleed to death first or would its tail give out on it? On the other hand, I could kill it quickly and consume it faster. I decided on killing it faster. I moved away from it and immediately used a water gun!

Now, you may be thinking why would I do that, well if it can't swim properly then gets blasted by water to the face...What's to say that the water isn't going to get in through an aperture? I aimed to continually blast it with a water gun until its lungs filled with water!

It didn't even last for a couple of minutes before the light in its eyes started dimming and soon enough, it did die.

After an hour of consuming a sea lion meal and consuming all of the shrimp that was in that area, I felt weird energy start saturating all of the cells in my body and soon, a blue started wrapping me...

....

Spherical light covered Baal as his body started growing and morphing into a more draconic form with spikes forming on his shoulders, armour plating formed on his knees. This provided more defence to his gills before two spouts of blue fire began being emitted out of both sides of his jaw with two horns beginning to form on his head. Suddenly the light burst and a roar was heard,

"Charmeleon!"

[Congratulations to the host for evolving into their Teenage form. The name: Charmeleon has been registered for this species' teenage form.]

Baal's eyes gained clarity once more as he understood what the system had just declared, "Wait system what do you mean by this species' teenage form?"

[The Aquadraconis species grows slowly, the phenomena you call evolution is simply the use of a quantity of experience and energy to accelerate their growth through metamorphosis. This means you could still have a Charizard that is level 17 yet it would be extremely old and frail as it hasn't evolved even once yet.]

"Wait so you're saying that there isn't actually such thing as evolution? We just use energy to accelerate our growth?" Baal questioned, "What's the difference then between why some pokemon need up to level 50 to 'evolve' compared to bugs who can evolve at level 10?"

[Apart from the specific influence of pokemon types on their experience gain, some organisms have a very long lifespan, especially pokemon like Deino. It requires nearly 50 years to fully produce another head and then another 10 to grow fully.]

"So does the evolution level translate into the time in years that it would take to grow?"

[Correct, you would have gained this specific form after 28 years of living]

"Sigh, okay just pull up my stats, I'm going to need a lot of rest to digest that information," Baal growled before a beep was heard,

Name: Baal

Race: Salamandra Aquadraconis (Teen)

Bloodlines: None

Characteristic: Remarkably Alert to Sound

Level: 28

Stats

Attack: 53

Defence: 46

Special: 51

Speed: 62

Total Current Energy:

1,560 Elemental Aura (PP)

Other Energies N/A

...

Mastery:

Water Gun- Deep Intermediate

Dragon Breath- Shallow Intermediate

Fishious Rend- Shallow Intermediate

Ember - Shallow Intermediate

Thunder Fang- Abyssal Novice

Dragon Claw- Abyssal Novice

Aqua Tail - Abyssal Novice

Plasma Fists- Abyssal Novice

"It would seem that every facet of my abilities and stats gained a qualitative improvement. I could probably have a go at finding some stronger prey to battle against or else I'm going to take forever to evolve again..." Baal said, "but before that, system please pull up the list of bloodlines equal to or under 1,500 PP"

[Host has been restricted to Abilities compatible with this world, bloodlines from other worlds have been locked, Abilities available:

- Defiant

-Vital Spirit

-Beast Boost

-Dragons Maw

-Huge Power

-Bulletproof

-Ironfist

-Immunity

-Motor Drive

-Rough Skin

-Strong Jaw

-Sap Sipper

-Grim Roar

-Ancient Soul

-Antibody

-Buoyant

-Crash Proof

-Dragon Conqueror....

Baal thought about any dangers that he would face in this biome before concluding what abilities he would need, they were all of different costs so he took a while thinking of a good combo that he could spend his points on. Since he out speeds anything near him and has moxie, he doesn't need any more attack or speed but thinks he needs something to improve his Enhancement inclination or provide him certain immunities or improve his transmutation ability.

After a while, he decided on three items with the help of his coupons, Dragon Conqueror, Sponge and Vital Spirit.

[Dragon Conqueror: The user is not affected by Special Attacks from Dragon moves. Dragon types cannot escape from battle.]

[Vital Spirit: The user is unaffected by moves that would otherwise incapacitate him. Reduces the effect of poison slightly.]

[Sponge: Every time the user is hit by a water type move, defence and special defence increase by one stage.]

"System show me my abilities page"

Characteristic: Remarkably Alert to Sound

Abilities:

Tough Claws

Moxie

Pressure (Locked)

Dragon Conqueror

Vital Spirit

Sponge

Dragon conqueror was the most expensive of them all and if he hadn't used his 10% coupon, he would've never been able to buy it. He then also used the 3% coupon on Sponge.

....

with my majority physically focused abilities, I thought it could help with the rate at which I could improve my Enhancement, once I've maxed it, I would be to focus on Transmutation. I'm effectively immune to Dragon Manipulators which will definitely be the overlords of the land and sky, especially if Tyrantrum is the overlord of this era. Sponge allowed him to become bulkier and defended him against any overlords of the sea - Gyrados and Carracosta specifically.

I then continued hunting for a while longer before I felt another large-sized pokemon moving into my sensory range... Fuck this feels like a Carracosta and I didn't know they could swim this fast!

I went deeper out of this carracosta's way. Fortunately, it didn't notice me and I simply followed it through the edge of my map. After a while, I saw it clamp its jaws down on an overly large relicanth before it decided to return to the surface.

I slowly followed it back to what I would assume is its community. It slowly emerged from the water and I slowly surfaced as well from a distance away as I saw their small little group. They all yapped happily as bright expressions filled their faces as they ate their catch for today. How cute...but they'd taste better cooked.

It contained 5 Carracostas with 11 Tirtougas surrounding them as they all had a large pile of relicanth and other fish within their small circle. It would seem that these Carracostas and Tirtougas were related. Beyond the beach was a lush field of grass and small amounts of trees but if you looked further back there seemed to be a forest.

Soon after, I returned to under the water as I planned to wait until these carracostas went hunting and then feed on all of the Tirtougas before they come back. With my moves, I should be able to roast and eat all of them rather quickly before I escape. I could not go up against the carracostas at my current level as Tirtougas evolve at level 37 so they're probably 10 levels above me.

I moved further down the coast and got out of the water there as a massive forest greeted me, I grinned as I started climbing the tree and swinging towards the Carracosta community. This forest formed a crescent shape around the beach area that this community inhabited. I soon noticed them again in my sensory range and simply laid on a tree branch that was far away enough for them to not sense me.

Soon enough, the next morning came and the Carracostas went out hunting and left what looks like the weakest carracosta to protect them. It looked very old and didn't seem to be above level 35...

Raiden's face tensed before he shook himself out of it, "Fuck, it's now or never! I can take him! If he hits me with a water type move, I'll just get stronger and if I can kill all the tirtougas before him then Moxie will activate. I've got this!"