Chapter 37: Megan And Magikarp
Megan Stuart was originally an ordinary girl who lived in a small town full of sunflowers.
Until the age of four, when the flames of war swept through her hometown, young Megan personally witnessed her parents lose their lives in the conflict.
She and her brother were reduced to slaves in the enemy country, growing up in cages that held monsters, their lives thereafter as lowly and insignificant as flowers in mud.
Megan was assigned the task of caring for the monsters forcibly captured to work for the royal city, while her brother became a groom watching over the stables.
Megan was initially filled with fear of monsters.
Until she saw those monsters being beaten by the overseers until they were bruised and battered for refusing to work.
Megan only felt that they were very pitiful.
And when Megan heard Prince Lei Wen say: Magikarp are monsters with extremely tenacious vitality, able to survive easily even in the dirtiest ponds, a feeling of shared suffering immediately surged in her heart.
Yes! Those years of life in prison, for her and her brother, were they not also “the dirtiest ponds”?
However, that kind of life had now ended.
She and her brother had met Prince Lei Wen, not only gaining their own wooden house but also having their slave status abolished.
His Highness also said that next year they would be allocated a piece of land, and then she and her brother could plant a large field of sunflowers in front of their home, just like their parents.
Even if life is difficult, one must live on tenaciously—this was the spirit Megan learned from Magikarp.
“Fish, oh fish! Stay here with my brother and me and get through this winter!”
In the wooden house, Megan squatted by the water trough, looking at the Magikarp that had surfaced, looking up at her, and said softly.
This water trough was made by her brother from a giant tree, hollowed out in the middle and filled with water, becoming a massive trough.
Six Magikarp lined up, looking at Megan.
Megan reached out and gently stroked their heads, just as she had comforted injured monsters in the prison before.
“Magikarp, don’t worry, our lives will all get better slowly!”
Ripples spread across the water, and Magikarp leaped out, splashing water, as if gently responding to the girl’s words.
At this moment, the wooden door was pushed open, and Megan turned to look, seeing her brother Chris walk in from outside.
The young man was about sixteen years old. Although still young, his experiences over the years made him appear quite mature.
Seeing his sister tending to the monsters, Chris instructed:
“A blizzard is coming. Try not to go outside these days, keep warm. Medicinal herbs are limited in the territory now, it would be bad if anyone got sick.”
“Yes!” Megan nodded quickly. Seeing her brother about to leave, she asked again, “Brother, where are you going?”
“The stables have just been completed. I’m going to take those two Explosion Head Water Buffalos there.”
Explosion Head Water Buffalos can both haul goods and help with tilling, and they are very important existences within the territory; no loss can be incurred.
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Lei Wen, having failed to find Poffin, had no choice but to return to the tent. The Snivy had disappeared again, which left Lei Wen very helpless.
Just then, Poffin’s cries were heard from outside.
“Lili!”
Lei Wen looked up and saw them, each carrying a pile of mountain goods like chestnuts, pinecones, and berries, running into the tent.
Lei Wen was slightly stunned and couldn’t help but ask, “What is this?”
“Lili!”
This was food they had stored, specifically for eating in winter!
According to their observation, Lei Wen didn’t seem to have the habit of storing food.
One of the Poffin looked at Lei Wen.
If Lei Wen went hungry in the winter, they wouldn’t mind sharing some of these fruits with him.
But…
Lei Wen and that Dratini seemed to eat a lot.
Looking at the pile of food before them, the Poffin couldn’t help but start to worry again.
Wouldn’t this food be insufficient later?
Then wouldn’t they go hungry?
The more the Poffin thought about it, the more panicked they became.
No, they had to go find more food!
So, after hastily hiding the food, these Poffins turned and ran out again.
Lei Wen was bewildered.
As far as he knew, Poffin’s Ability wasn’t Pickup either?
Perhaps it’s just the habit of these “Poffin” Pokémon to store food in advance, Lei Wen couldn’t help but wonder.
However, thinking about these things now was useless. Before the blizzard arrived, they should train more and strive to become stronger!
“Wrap, Leer, Twister, Thunder Wave…”
Recalling the moves Dratini currently knew, Lei Wen began to ponder how to further improve Dratini’s strength.
Dratini had no legs; to train its speed, it could only fly at full power.
As for training Dratini’s strength…
Lei Wen looked at the Dratini before him, long and soft-bodied, seemingly not very aggressive.
Besides using special moves like Twister and Thunder Wave, the only part that could be used for attack was its tail.
“Hmm, I can start special training for Dragon Tail.”
In addition, Dratini’s special training could gradually be intensified.
When Lei Wen had just transmigrated, Dratini was skinny due to the change in temperature and environment, as well as the long journey.
Now, after his careful care and nurturing during this period, Dratini had gained some weight.
Ancient equipment was limited, and unlike the future, various mechanical aids could not be used for special training. Therefore, they could only use purely natural things as substitutes.
“Hmm… Besides training its tail, Dratini can now do weighted flight.”
Lei Wen went outside, found several stones, and tied them to Dratini with a rope.
Although this method of special training was very common in the future, in this era where humans had limited development of Pokémon, it was already thousands of years ahead of them.
At first, Dratini was very unaccustomed to it, but in order to become stronger quickly and not die here, it still forced itself to carry the stones for weighted training.
Watching Dratini fly continuously, Lei Wen’s heart slowly relaxed.
Fortunately, his Dratini was not the type of pampered dragon that would give up due to training being too tiring or painful.
After a moment of thought, Lei Wen found a piece of wood and planned to have Dratini hit the wood with its tail to train its tail strength.
In addition, Lei Wen had more fish brought over. While Dratini was undergoing special training, he deboned and removed the spines from these fish, then shaped the fish meat into balls and steamed them in a pot.
Although he was a lord and had maids around, a Trainer making food for Pokémon with their own hands could make them closer.
When it came to becoming stronger, Lei Wen had nothing more to do for Dratini besides creating special training plans.
The only thing he could do was make fish balls with deboned and spine-free fish meat for it, and help massage its muscles after training to relieve fatigue.
But for Dratini, these were already enough.
After a day of special training ended, Dratini lay lazily on Lei Wen’s lap, eating the fish balls Lei Wen personally made, while enjoying Lei Wen’s massage service.
Outside the tent, the wind howled coldly, and snow flew.
Inside the tent, however, it was warm as spring thanks to the charcoal fire.
Eating delicious food, with the person it liked most by its side.
This was Dratini’s favorite time.
