Chapter 18 Target: Beedrill
Xia Mu only had one week left.
He had to do everything in his power to make his Pokémon strong enough.
This was why he didn't choose Ghost or Dark types.
Firstly, there weren't any on Cinnabar Island.
Secondly, Bug types grew faster and were the preferred choice.
Frankly, training Growlithe and Riolu was already a headache for him; training higher-level Pokémon at the same time would be incredibly stressful.
Of course, Xia Mu would consider catching a Gastly Pokémon later.
After all, Gengar had the potential to reach the Champion tier.
...
In the forest.
Xia Mu set off in the same direction as yesterday, following a different river towards Cinnabar Lake.
Cinnabar island wasn't small; although the forest wasn't as large as the forests on land, even after ten days of exploration, Xia Mu had only traversed half the area.
Following the river was also to allow his red Gyarados to relax and, incidentally, to battle and gain experience points along the way.
Riolu and Growlithe, just like yesterday, attacked and defeated any high-level wild Pokémon they encountered, gaining experience points.
It's worth mentioning that their strength improvement wasn't small.
This wasn't just because their levels were getting higher, but also because they had maxed out their Effort Values (EVs).
After venturing deeper, about an hour later, Lake Crescent appeared ahead.
All three Pokémon had leveled up by one.
Xia Mu attributed this rapid leveling to the level 40 Fearow from yesterday.
At least Riolu and the red Gyarados must have done so; otherwise, how could they have leveled up so quickly just by fighting wild Pokémon in their mid-teens?
A red Gyarados is possible, after all, it's the lowest level, only a little over level 20.
The higher the level, the harder it is to level up.
Otherwise, Riolu would have helped Magikarp evolve yesterday, and after so much grinding, it wouldn't have only gained 1 level.
Growlithe probably already accumulated a lot yesterday, but missed out on the experience points from Fearow.
Otherwise, Growlithe should have gained 1 level yesterday as well.
It seems that, like being near death in the game, it was excluded from the shared experience points.
"It's really hard to find. If all else fails, I'll have to go deeper into the forest to search." Xia Mu muttered to himself.
Along the way, there were indeed quite a few Weedles in the trees and bushes by the river, but judging from their appearance and nature, they were of low quality.
He did encounter a few Caterpie with good potential, and a huge Arbok with an excellent nature and ability.
However, Xia Mu wasn't interested in Arbok.
Normally, he could catch it and raise it to have a Poison-type Pokémon to use.
After all, Poison-type Pokémon, when trained properly, can be formidable in pure battle mode.
Although Arbok isn't particularly strong, with its base stats being rather poorly average, it's undeniable that as the first proper Poison-type Pokémon in Generation I, its strategy was once incredibly frustrating.
For example, Xia Mu once tried a strategy where the first move was Intimidate to lower the opponent's Attack, followed by Leer of the Serpent to paralyze them, and then Toxic Spikes to inflict status ailments. One Poison, two Toxic, and it was impossible for the opponent to KO Arbok in one fell swoop unless they launched a direct assault, which was almost impossible.
Because if you really wanted to use this annoying strategy, you would definitely carry a Focus Sash as a precaution, so that even if you took a fatal blow, you would survive with just 1 HP left.
Even if you were unlucky enough to be attacked twice and forced to retreat, you would still have successfully used Toxic Spikes, which would then lead to an even more grueling poison-based battle, leaving the opponent speechless and questioning their existence.
Of course, against ordinary opponents, with a bit of luck, Arbok can easily take on three opponents at once.
Once Orochi's Leer paralyzes the opponent, rendering them unable to move, Arbok reigns supreme.
Poisoning is Arbok's strength; adding Protect or Substitute further weakens the opponent, making it even harder to counter.
Xia Mu remembers that this strategy was later slightly modified and became standard for other Poison-type Pokémon, as later Pokémon had better base stats and abilities.
...
Getting back to the point.
Right now, Xia Mu won't be catching any ordinary Pokémon; that would make his time even more precious.
After resting for a while by Cinnabar Lake Xia Mu fed the three little ones Energy Cubes, then rode a red Gyarados, searching for the location of a Beedrill swarm in the dense forest.
Of course, the search areas were different each time, otherwise, the Beedrill he encountered would definitely be ones he had seen before.
Xia Mu was very lucky.
Led by the red Gyarados, he found a Beedrill nest in just over ten minutes.
Because of the approaching formidable foe, the Beedrill swarmed, numbering twenty or thirty, along with numerous Weedles and Kakuna hidden in the trees and bushes.
A fierce battle was inevitable.
This was the cruelty of nature, the survival of the fittest.
It wasn't something Xia Mu could simply decide to avoid.
Wild Beedrill are extremely terrifying; they move in packs and don't offer to leave unattended.
Once they target you as a threat, the swarm will definitely riot and attack.
The Pokédex Xia Mu received from his father advised that if you encounter Beedrill in the wild and lack the ability to defend yourself, you must flee quickly, or your life will be in danger. If there's a pond or similar place, you can use the water to escape.
But hiding was out of the question.
Xia Mu was looking for a swarm of Beedrill, the more the better, so he could pick them off at his leisure.
Faced with the Beedrill swarm's provocation, Xia Mu didn't hesitate to send Growlithe to the front, Riolu to assist, and Gyarados to control the situation.
Before acquiring the red Gyarados, Xia Mu always actively commanded the two little ones to attack. Now, with the red Gyarados, not only was his safety greatly guaranteed, but Growlithe and Riolu could also unleash their full potential more boldly.
A fierce battle ensued.
Facing an attack from twenty or thirty Beedrill, Growlithe not only had a tyrannical advantage but also a level advantage.
A level 36 Growlithe had already reached the level of a high-elite.
The regional overlords of the forest were only around this level, with the highest being around level 40.
At least Xia Mu had never encountered one in the forties.
Of course, excluding the Dragonite from the day before yesterday, which wasn't a Pokémon from Cinnabar Island.
Speaking of which, level 58 was indeed the highest level Xia Mu had seen since arriving in this world.
But level 58 wasn't considered high for Dragonite, since Dragonair needed to reach level 55 in the game to evolve into Dragonite, which was the requirement for pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
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(End of this chapter)