Pokemon: Spiritual Master-Chapter 692: Applin and the Exaggerated Skwovet (Two-in-One - )

Chapter 692: Applin and the Exaggerated Skwovet (Two-in-One Chapter)

Outside Split-Decision Ruins.

More accurately, outside the ruins of Split-Decision Ruins.

The injured Dragonite sat happily on a rock, accepting Johan’s careful treatment, raising its hand when told to raise it, lowering its head when told to lower it.

These past few days, everyone had been testing the results of their previous training and efforts.

Tinkaton, Urshifu, Ceruledge, and Tyranitar had thoroughly beaten Glastrier.

Gengar had beaten Spectrier and was even riding it now.

Only it, Snivy, and Ninetales hadn’t fought.

Ninetales hadn’t participated partly because there wasn’t a suitable opponent, and partly because among Johan’s Pokémon, Ninetales was relatively the least battle-oriented.

Moreover, in Crown Tundra, Ninetales received such massive environmental bonuses that its actual strength was definitely higher than usual.

As for Snivy, needless to say, it wasn’t yet time for it to battle legendary Pokémon.

Originally there was still it.

Now it was good—after having a satisfying battle with Regidrago, although the fight was quite brutal and its injuries weren’t light, at least it had "tested" the results of its previous training one by one. The direction and goals going forward would be much clearer.

At the same time, it had verified its current strength, which was quite satisfactory.

Thinking of this, Dragonite couldn’t help flapping its small wings twice.

"Draaa~(ˊˋ)"

Then it grimaced in pain.

Johan said irritably: "Don’t move around, rest properly!"

If it weren’t for Dragonite’s preference for one-on-one battles with Dragon-types, facing Regidrago, his Pokémon could have swarmed it and the opponent would have been down long ago.

But this was also good—Dragonite wanted to test its strength, and Johan wanted to as well.

Of course, what was even better was destroying this "prison" called "Split-Decision Ruins."

After simply treating Dragonite’s injuries and feeding it some energy cubes and food to restore its condition, having Gengar brew Dragonite a cup of "Energy Root tea," he took out two Poké Balls.

"Draaa!!"

Under Gengar’s mischievous smile, after drinking the Energy Root tea, Dragonite’s entire face twisted and scrunched up.

So bitter!

At the same time, Johan threw out Regieleki’s Poké Ball.

Red light flashed.

The small Electric Regi appeared before them.

As soon as it appeared, it saw Split-Decision Ruins reduced to a pile of rubble, and even its signal lights stuttered.

?

My "home" is gone?

However, Regieleki, which had been stuck earlier, was no longer stuck after seeing this scene.

Obviously, because one of the dual threads had been cut off, it had returned to single-threaded operation.

"Regieleki." Johan’s voice came from behind it.

"Regi?"

Regieleki slowly turned around and saw a familiar, gentle, sunny face with a smile.

He reached out his hand toward Regieleki and asked softly:

"Will you live with us from now on?"

Regieleki looked up, noticing the gazes turning toward it, the expectant eyes, the trusting smiles.

It felt its body tingling.

Strange to say.

As a Pokémon composed purely of electric crystals, it couldn’t be electrocuted, so it had never experienced this feeling before.

This was an unprecedented sensation.

But it enjoyed it.

"Regi!"

After hearing this sentence, Johan could clearly feel that Regieleki had a sense of... breathing a long sigh of relief.

Anyway, its "home" was gone.

Moreover, it had been hesitating before about whether "duty" was more important, or the happiness of being with Johan and the others.

Regieleki nodded heavily and grabbed Johan’s hand.

Its expression was firm and serious.

This was a new "mission"—protecting Johan!

Johan’s heart also relaxed slightly.

He had almost let an opportunity slip away.

So sometimes, being appropriately selfish... wasn’t a bad thing.

"There’s also this guy."

After comforting Regieleki, Johan still had a Regidrago in his Heavy Ball.

After brief consideration, he still opened the Heavy Ball and released Regidrago.

"Regi..."

Regidrago’s size had returned to about two meters. Its condition wasn’t good either. Although it had regained consciousness, it was obviously worse off than Dragonite.

At this moment, it looked at the rubble before it with a bewildered, somewhat clear confusion.

Johan was also somewhat troubled about how to handle Regidrago.

Although destroying Split-Decision Ruins wasn’t his doing, he had indeed thought about destroying these ruins and hadn’t stopped Regidrago.

"Regi——"

At this time, Regieleki stepped forward, waving its arms and flashing its signal lights.

"You’ll do it?"

Facing Regieleki’s request, Johan couldn’t help showing some skepticism.

Could the single-minded Regieleki actually comfort Regidrago?

But considering that perhaps communication between single-minded beings was more direct, after thinking about it, he still nodded.

Taking out a box of energy cubes.

"Comfort it well."

Patting Regieleki’s shoulder, he walked toward Flint and Gengar, who were searching through the rubble nearby.

"It doesn’t make sense. According to big sis’s experience, any ruin should have some good stuff more or less..."

Flint muttered while searching.

He was the most diligent searcher.

Because compared to Johan, who occasionally had some savings, Flint was truly... penniless, not having many coins when he felt his pockets.

For such a poor Elite Four member to exist was quite rare.

This was why so many top trainers mostly had side businesses.

Without substantial family wealth or income, even Elite Four members would find it difficult to continue cultivating Pokémon with increasingly high demands.

The second most diligent was Tyranitar.

"Bangi..."

While searching, Tyranitar casually picked up rocks and tossed them into its mouth, chewing a few times before swallowing.

The current Tyranitar was no longer the Larvitar that could be satisfied with any random rocks. It was analyzing through eating whether these rocks contained nutritional elements, and where it might be worth digging deeper.

If it could find some mineral-rich ores, that would be best. Even if not... it could just treat it as a random snack.

"Did you find any good stuff?" Johan asked casually while turning over a rock.

"Bangi."

Tyranitar shook its head.

However, Tinkaton, carrying its hammer like a detector, had found a few rocks with decent metal elements while sweeping over the rubble.

For treasure hunting, our old Johan’s big family were all professionals.

"It’s fine, forget it if we can’t find anything."

Johan actually felt that a ruin like a "prison" wouldn’t have good stuff anyway.

Of course, that’s what he said, but searching was still necessary.

Flint was poor, but was he, Johan, rich?

Something was better than nothing.

After searching for a while.

"Regi——"

Suddenly a deep voice appeared behind Johan.

Turning around.

It was the Electric Regi Regieleki and the Dragon Regi Regidrago.

Johan smiled slightly.

It seemed Regieleki had successfully "comforted" Regidrago?

He just didn’t know where it wanted to go next.

But then Regidrago staggered past Johan, swaying as it came to an unremarkable pile of rubble and pointed.

Hmm?

Johan was stunned, then immediately reacted.

"You mean there’s really good stuff down there?"

Had he been wrong? This wasn’t just a "prison" but actually guarded something?

"Drago."

Regidrago nodded its dark red head, its signal lights flashing slightly faster.

"Tyranitar."

Johan didn’t doubt it and immediately called to Tyranitar, who was turning over debris nearby.

"Bangi!"

Tyranitar immediately understood, excitedly trotting over. Then, accompanied by flying dust and debris, the large Tyranitar quickly disappeared into the rubble.

Soon after.

A blue-purple crystal about the size of a basketball, covered in dust, was thrown up among the debris.

This is...

Johan stepped forward and just picked up the crystal when Dragonite nearby flew over.

"Draaa~!"

"Dragon Orb?" Johan said with some amazement.

"Draaa~Draaa~! ˙(`)˙"

Dragonite’s reaction confirmed Johan’s guess from the side.

"Dragon Orb" was precisely the material Regigigas had once used when creating Regidrago.

It was a crystal formed by extremely high-concentration Dragon-type energy, not something that could be produced overnight. If you really calculated it, the time might be measured in millennia.

"Based on this position corresponding to the previous ruin’s location..."

Johan looked at Regidrago. "You condensed this?"

"Drago."

Regidrago nodded.

It had been sealed here for thousands of years. With its strength, although sleeping, the Dragon-type energy it unconsciously leaked and released had accumulated over millennia, so condensing a few "Dragon Orbs" of this size wasn’t surprising.

After all, in terms of Dragon-type energy intensity and concentration, how many Dragon-type Pokémon in the entire Pokémon world could compare to Regidrago?

This was a Pokémon created from pure "Dragon Orb" plus Regigigas’s creative power.

It’s just that even with thousands of years, the "Dragon Orbs" Regidrago had condensed seemed insignificant compared to its entire body size, let alone being used to create its complete form.

But while the appeal to Regidrago wasn’t great, the attraction to other Dragon-type Pokémon... was obvious.

You could tell from Dragonite’s eyes.

Soon.

Tyranitar dug up another "Dragon Orb" of the same size and a smaller, fist-sized "Dragon Orb."

"Bangi~"

Tyranitar climbed out, patting the dust off its body.

Too bad they were all "Dragon Orbs." Why weren’t they "Earth Orbs" or something? Tyranitar immediately lost some interest.

Equally uninterested was Flint.

"Dragon Orbs," these precious items exclusive to Dragon-type Pokémon, no matter how precious, were useless to him—he played with Fire-types.

However, while giving up on continued searching, Flint made a discovery.

"Teacher Johan! Some ’apples’ are coming!"

Looking in the direction of the sound.

Three Applin were hiding in apples, slowly and carefully approaching. Sensing Johan and Flint’s gazes, they immediately retracted into their bodies, disguising themselves as apples.

Seeing this scene, Johan smiled.

This disguise could only fool Flint.

Even now, with this slow approach, even Flint couldn’t be fooled.

But thinking about it, it made sense—the "Dragon Orbs" had attracted these Dragon-type Pokémon Applin, and even attracted many wild Dragon-type Pokémon from Three-Point Pass.

It’s just that other Dragon-type Pokémon were relatively powerful and were wary of existences that could destroy "Split-Decision Ruins," not daring to approach.

Or rather, they had already approached but after sensing Regidrago and Regieleki’s unreserved ancient powerful aura, they consciously retreated.

Only these three somewhat naive, weak Applin remained, with no real concept of power, instinctively following their instincts toward the "Dragon Orbs."

Their levels, Johan guessed, probably didn’t exceed level ten.

Looking at those three little ones, Johan smiled and shook his head.

He originally wasn’t planning to bother with them.

But suddenly he thought.

"These three little ones... might be worth ’kidnapping.’" Johan murmured.

Applin, Grass and Dragon-type Apple Core Pokémon, were among the few Pokémon in the Pokémon world with three evolution branches.

And this was only what was currently known.

The last Pokémon with three evolution branches was first-generation Eevee.

Later, Eevee was gradually researched and more evolution branches were discovered, like Umbreon, Espeon, Leafeon, Glaceon, etc.

Before Johan came to the Pokémon world, there were supposedly rumors of "Dragoneon" about to appear, though he didn’t know if it was true.

Other Pokémon generally had only two evolution branches, like Poliwhirl, Kirlia, Snorunt, etc.

Applin itself wasn’t strong in battle, but Johan was quite optimistic about its "Ripen" ability. If raised on his small island, it could probably increase production considerably.

Combined with Calyrex’s aura, the island going into overproduction was already foreseeable.

But aside from Applin’s "Ripen" ability, its evolutions were equally useful.

Applin’s three evolution forms were: using "Tart Apple" to evolve into Flapple, using "Sweet Apple" to evolve into Appletun, and using "Syrupy Apple" to evolve into Dipplin.

Additionally, after learning the move Dragon Cheer, Dipplin could evolve into Hydrapple.

Going from "worm" to "snake" was also progress.

Flapple, a Pokémon that used strong acid as its means. It was said its acidity was so strong it could easily corrode even metal to scraps.

But if the acid’s strength could be controlled well, it would also make excellent seasoning—apple acid sauce!

Appletun was similar to Flapple, except it produced "Sweet Syrup," which could be used both as an item to attract wild Pokémon and as sweet sauce to enhance food flavor.

Moreover, the skin formed on Appletun’s back from Sweet Syrup accumulation, after naturally falling off, was not only crispy but sweet—a food loved by many children and Pokémon that could easily become a delicacy with slight processing.

Dipplin needn’t be mentioned either—the honey it produced was no less than Appletun’s "Sweet Syrup."

After solidifying, its defensive power was quite strong.

More importantly.

Whether Dipplin or Hydrapple, on the surface they seemed like individual entities, but actually within one small apple lived many auxiliary individuals.

Dipplin actually had two syrup serpents inside, while Hydrapple’s apple contained an exaggerated seven!

When Hydrapple was angry or fighting, five heads would appear from within the apple, like the legendary "Yamata-no-Orochi," just missing three heads.

Although these syrup serpents all had their own will and often made Hydrapple’s movements look somewhat strange and uncoordinated.

But when they truly worked together in perfect harmony, they would display tremendous power!

Like Hydrapple’s signature move "Syrup Bomb," a Dragon-type move with power of 60, already considerable.

According to the Pokédex, when using this move, there was a 30% chance the move’s power would double, reaching a terrifying 120!

Because that 30% chance was actually when one main syrup serpent launched an attack with assistance from the other auxiliary syrup serpents.

Lance would definitely love this kind of "gambling for burst" idealistic Dragon-type Pokémon.

The only drawback might be that it couldn’t fly.

Ahem.

Johan collected his thoughts.

Whether Hydrapple or Dipplin, having many syrup serpents also meant faster reproduction.

After all, each syrup serpent was a separate individual, not truly sharing one body.

Having one Hydrapple meant inevitably having a large Applin colony.

So many advantages.

Plus being a Grass-type Pokémon whose main food was apples—this "low consumption" food—if Johan said he wasn’t tempted, that would be false.

So.

After just brief consideration, Johan immediately said:

"Ninetales, freeze them. Gengar, pack them up. We’re taking them home."

"Oowoo~"

Ninetales didn’t know what Johan wanted to do but obediently complied.

It breathed out cold air.

Instantly, the three Applin disguised as apples were frozen into three ice sculptures.

With Ninetales’s current control over Ice-type power, freezing without harming them was simple. After thawing and eating something to warm up, they could recover.

"Ka-kaah~"

Gengar, riding on Spectrier’s back, waved its hand and tossed the three frozen Applin into its shadow.

"Eh?"

Flint looked puzzled. "Teacher Johan, why are you catching three ’apples’? To take home and make apple pie?"

"With your intelligence, it’s hard for me to explain everything to you at once," Johan said casually.

Flint: "..."

He looked at Infernape, his eyes asking—is Teacher Johan looking down on me?

Infernape grabbed his head and twisted his gaze back.

Don’t look at me, I don’t want to say more either.

"Look around more, see if there are other Applin," Johan called out.

These weak Dragon-type Pokémon were destined to be the weakest, bottom-tier creatures in Three-Point Pass, which was full of Dragon-type Pokémon. Without protection, they might be eaten as real apples someday.

Pokémon like Noibat and Noivern often mistook Applin for apples and ate them.

Taking them away was actually a form of protection.

When they returned to the small island, if they really didn’t want to stay, he could send them back.

At Johan’s indication, everyone searched for a while. Using the "Dragon Orbs," they quickly found three more naive Applin and packed them all up.

Six Applin, with the highest level not exceeding fifteen and the lowest probably around seven or eight.

He didn’t know how many among them had the "Ripen" ability.

Originally, Johan had also wanted to see if he could find some berry saplings here to transplant back to his small island, which could save him some effort.

But later he discovered that the trees here were either mature berry trees or saplings that could grow smoothly without his intervention, and there weren’t many of them, so he didn’t act.

After all, many Dragon-type Pokémon lived here, and this was also one of their important food sources.

"Regi——"

"Regi——"

When they finished their business, Regieleki and Regidrago had also finished their "chat."

Johan didn’t know what they had talked about, but anyway...

Regidrago and Regieleki began silently following behind him.

Like two door gods, left and right guardians.

As if under Regieleki’s "persuasion," Regidrago’s "program" had input the command "protect Johan."

Actually.

The calmed-down Regidrago had sensed the aura of their "creator" Regigigas on Johan and regarded him as Regigigas’s messenger.

Learning of this situation, Johan felt...

"Perhaps Regigigas could help him solve this ’trouble.’"

First contact the League, and if that didn’t work, seek "help" from Regigigas. Johan had a plan in mind.

Afterward.

After simply cleaning up the rubble and confirming nothing was missed and no wild Pokémon were affected by the ruin’s collapse, Johan and Flint left.

They passed through "Giant’s Foot" and flew over "Rock Peak Ruins," which might house Regirock.

Already having two "bottomless pits" in Regieleki and Regidrago, Johan had no intention of collecting all five Regis like some "collector."

When playing games, Johan had very typical "collector tendencies."

Whenever there was a new Pokémon game, he absolutely had to collect all Pokémon for a complete Pokédex.

Not only that, all Pokémon had to be shiny—heaven knew how much time he spent breeding eggs for this.

But the real Pokémon world... gave him a solid reality check, then added two more kicks.

Complete Pokédex?

Not happening.

Let alone Regis, these high-consumption Pokémon.

So even though Tyranitar repeatedly expressed wanting to dig underground, Johan gave negative answers.

Just like that, at around 2 PM, Johan and Flint arrived at the southernmost end of the Galar region, also Crown Tundra’s relatively mildest climate area—Ballimere Lake.

This was the best habitat for most Pokémon in Crown Tundra, and also their food source.

From far away, they could see that giant tree located on the hill in the center of Ballimere Lake!

Its height was at least over twenty meters, the entire tree covered with lush red leaves, looking like a giant ball at first glance.

As gentle breeze passed, stirring up waves of leaves, it was quite beautiful.

According to Calyrex, this red giant tree had existed here for an extremely long time, so long that even it found it difficult to calculate.

This tree had nurtured countless Pokémon in these plains, hills, and mountains, being one of the most iconic plants in this area.

From far away, they could see many wild Pokémon active and playing nearby.

Altaria floating in the sky like white clouds, leading several Swablu drifting leisurely.

Flocks of Wooloo and Dubwool eating grass in the bushes.

Cottonee and Whimsicott swaying in the wind, their bodies fluffy like catkins.

Joltik crawling up and down thick branches, carefully watching their surroundings.

And in the surrounding Ballimere Lake, a Drednaw leisurely climbed up the hill, found a sunny warm spot, and lay down.

Occasionally, a Cramorant or two would dive into the water, stupidly mistaking Arrokuda for food, then getting slapped away and continuing to fly as if nothing happened.

This vibrant scene made Johan take a deep breath.

Wasn’t this scene exactly what he hoped his small island would look like in the future?

"What a wonderful place..." Johan sighed.

Because Crown Tundra’s continuous, extremely cold snowfields blocked access, few humans could reach here. The natural environment remained undamaged, allowing the wild Pokémon here to live quite comfortably.

"I wonder if the World Tree branches won’t grow on the island, but if I cut a section from this tree’s branches and take it back, could it grow on the island?" Johan thought.

Nearby, Gengar’s eyes were already gleaming.

Such a large area with so many rich resources and wild Pokémon just waiting for the great Gengar to lead them—it was already rubbing its hands together, hoping night would come quickly.

Urshifu also put its hands together, bowing slightly while muttering thanks for nature’s upcoming gifts...

"Teacher Johan, look quickly!"

Flint suddenly tugged at his clothes, pointing at a faint figure in the giant tree.

"Moltres." Johan wasn’t surprised; he had noticed it too.

Calyrex had also said that the three legendary birds of Galar might return to Crown Tundra during their migration every few decades.

Their resting place during the journey was this giant tree on the giant tree hill.

"No, look at the opposite side of Moltres!"

On the opposite side of Moltres, on the giant tree’s branches, stood a group of... Skwovet and Greedent.

As everyone knew, Skwovet and Greedent were very common Pokémon with large populations in the Galar region, almost equivalent to Rattata and Raticate in the Kanto region.

Of course, Greedent and Skwovet looked much better than Rattata and Raticate.

And this group of supposedly "weak" Skwovet and Greedent, when facing Moltres, a legendary Pokémon... weren’t afraid at all!

No, not just unafraid.

Even more, Moltres was circling around the big tree, looking somewhat wary and forced to not approach easily.

Good heavens.

Both Johan and Flint couldn’t help exclaiming "good heavens" in their hearts.

This was truly ordinary Pokémon confronting a legendary Pokémon head-on!

Although it was a legendary without so-called "divine authority"—that is, without the ability to control nature’s great power—it was still a legendary.

Actually, Johan and Flint could see that this group of Skwovet and Greedent, mainly the Skwovet, had average levels that probably weren’t low.

Most importantly was undoubtedly the leading Skwovet.

With its two bright, sharp front teeth and fierce expression, it was one of the main reasons Moltres was wary.

"Ka-kaah~"

Eye-opening hey~

Gengar said happily, unconsciously glancing at Flint with an obvious look.

This group of Skwovet made Moltres afraid to approach, yet someone got caught by Moltres.

But Flint obviously couldn’t read the "deep meaning" in Gengar’s eyes, making the ghost immediately lose interest.

However, Johan saw some clues.

"Although Skwovet is strong, it probably wouldn’t be Moltres’s match. What really makes Moltres hesitate..."

He said, and Flint looked over.

"...is probably this giant tree."

A fight would be simple enough, but the commotion and damage caused by battle... would inevitably affect this giant tree.

And although Moltres had a violent personality, it seemed to have some feelings for this giant tree and didn’t want to damage it.

According to Calyrex, the three legendary birds of Galar returned periodically. Could this giant tree be where they were originally nurtured?

Or perhaps...

This giant tree was actually the "will" of this plain, even the entire region, manifested? A representative?

Of course.

The leading Skwovet’s strength was necessarily a very important factor, otherwise Moltres wouldn’t need to worry about damaging the giant tree.

Listening to Johan’s explanation, Flint showed understanding.

"But for a wild Skwovet to grow to a level that even makes Moltres wary is really rare," Flint said.

Johan agreed, nodding: "This group of Skwovet and Greedent have probably lived here for a long time. Rich resources created their strength."

Johan emphasized the words "rich resources."

Obviously, the "rich resources" he mentioned referred to this giant tree’s fruit.

If this giant tree really was a representative of this region’s earth’s will, then its fruit was probably the essence of this entire region.

He just didn’t know what kind of tree this actually was to be so magical.

This made him marvel at nature’s magnificence and mystery.

Even if it weren’t the Pokémon world, nature was already full of mystery, let alone the Pokémon world with its mysterious colors and special abilities.

He remembered that in the game "Pokémon Sword/Shield" DLC "Crown Tundra," this giant tree was also home to a level 80 Skwovet that could Dynamax...

You should know that level 80+ was the level of peak Red’s main Pokémon.

Of course, in the real Pokémon world, level couldn’t completely represent strength.

After circling the giant tree for a while and finding it really couldn’t deal with this group of Skwovet, Moltres cried out several times, then... produced several quite rare, high-quality berries from somewhere.

It offered them over.

Seeing this, the leading Skwovet immediately put away its fierce expression, showed a smile, and waved at Moltres as if being politely courteous.

Then it quickly stored those precious berries in its tail.

Moltres rolled its eyes in annoyance but didn’t lose its temper.

But with this, it gained permission to rest within the dense canopy.

This scene made Johan’s cheek twitch slightly, as if seeing a... Skwovet version of Gengar.

Flint nearby opened his mouth wide, moved it, and finally only managed:

"Ah, ah?"

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