Chapter 609: The Insolent Charizards
Arcanine stared intently at the wild Pokémon standing alongside the Dragon Clan.
The sight of Pokémon from different species living together harmoniously, jointly defending the very same piece of land...
While it appeared somewhat bizarre and utopian.
It was undeniably happening right before his eyes.
Arcanine had also once envisioned creating such a place.
But he couldn't do it.
Therefore.
Even during a certain period in the past.
When his Arcanine clan had the capability to seize the position of volcanic Overlord from the Charizard clan, he didn't take that step.
He believed his capabilities weren't worthy of that seat.
But this Charizard standing before him...
Arcanine lowered his head, a faint smile touching his lips, and asked:
"...If we go to war with the fire dragon clan in the future, whose side will you take?"
"Why must we necessarily help either of you?"
Kazuya retorted with a question.
The Charizard clan hadn't provoked them.
Kazuya hadn't even personally witnessed anything regarding the Charizard clan; everything he knew was based on hearsay.
How could he possibly lead the Dragon Clan to help the various grassland tribes fight the Charizard clan?
Were the lives of the Dragon Clan members not lives?
Until the Charizard clan actively positioned themselves as enemies.
Kazuya wouldn't drag the Dragon Clan onto the war chariot of the grassland tribes.
"Fair enough."
Arcanine nodded, turning around as if preparing to leave.
"Let's go."
"Ah? But we haven't confirmed whether he's safe yet..."
The other Pokémon pointed at Kazuya with hesitation.
This guy shared the exact same origin as the fire dragon clan. Were they really going to let him continue to grow unchecked?
"He doesn't need our confirmation."
Arcanine glanced back at the Alpha, then looked toward the diverse group of Pokémon that had spontaneously gathered together.
"The grassland has already accepted him."
"Flor."
Florges nodded, seconding Arcanine's statement.
As for whether she truly thought so in her heart.
That wasn't important.
"If any of you are still dissatisfied with him, you can lead your own clans to wage war against him later."
After saying this, Arcanine bounded away.
His meaning was crystal clear.
He didn't believe the Dragon Clan would stand in opposition to the grassland, so he wouldn't assist the other grassland Alphas in dealing with the Dragon Clan either.
If they wanted to deal with him, they had to do it themselves.
In that case, it would merely be an internal conflict among the grassland tribes, entirely unrelated to the fire dragon lineage.
Watching Arcanine depart.
The other Alphas exchanged bewildered looks. In the end, the vast majority chose to leave as well.
Unless absolutely necessary.
Who actually wanted to fight?
Surviving in the wild was incredibly difficult.
Getting injured meant you could face your demise at any moment.
Since Arcanine believed this Charizard wasn't an issue, they certainly weren't going to redundantly initiate an attack.
At this moment.
Only Feraligatr and Florges remained.
"Fight them?"
Feraligatr scratched his head, pointing at the hundreds of Pokémon opposite them.
Florges looked at him as if he were an idiot. This species was truly lucky.
Being born in a massive pond without natural predators meant that even if they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed, they could still safely grow this large.
Florges turned and cast a few lingering glances at Floette, who had landed on Kazuya's head.
Seeing her "high status" and how well she seemed to get along with those dragons...
She felt a profound sense of relief wash over her.
She turned and left.
Now, only one Feraligatr remained on the scene.
Hundreds of Pokémon stared him down, making the big guy's face flush red. He embarrassedly rubbed his rough cheeks.
"...What the heck are you blushing for?"
An irk mark popped on Kazuya's forehead.
He had just been secretly guessing whether this guy was some dark, ambitious schemer plotting to unify the grassland.
Now it seemed.
He had overestimated the intelligence of Pokémon.
This Feraligatr's brain circuits were just wired differently. In short, he was just dumb.
Right at this moment.
"Roar!"
A startled roar came from his little brother beside him. Charizard hurriedly patted Kazuya's shoulder and pointed toward the sky.
Kazuya looked up, his brow involuntarily twitching.
On the horizon.
Unexpectedly, over a dozen Charizards were flying directly toward them.
It was a good thing the other Alpha Pokémon had already left; otherwise, they would undoubtedly suspect that Kazuya had colluded with the volcano Charizard clan to ambush them here.
As for Feraligatr...
He couldn't think that far ahead.
"Gatr!"
Feraligatr spotted the Charizards in the sky.
His fists clenched, his eyes narrowed.
He was already prepared for battle.
"A coincidence?"
Kazuya muttered.
One thing was for sure.
This group of Charizards definitely hadn't sneakily followed Arcanine and the others here.
The grassland sky was vast and boundless.
And the appearance of Charizards was extremely conspicuous against the sky.
If they had been trailing them.
Arcanine and the others couldn't possibly have missed them.
Furthermore.
If this group of Charizards truly intended to attack Arcanine's group.
They shouldn't have sent such a meager force.
Without the Overlord Charizard stepping in.
Who could subdue the Alpha Arcanine?
Not to mention there were so many other grassland Alphas present.
Although he had never fought them.
Kazuya estimated that these grassland Alphas were all at least around Lv. 70.
This was a highly formidable force.
Even without Arcanine.
It wouldn't be easy for the Charizard clan to take them down.
The aura of these dozen or so Charizards didn't seem very powerful.
Judging by their physical characteristics, they were all young, with most hovering around Lv. 45.
There was only one leading Charizard who looked slightly older; he was likely taking the youngsters out for a stroll.
The facts proved.
This group of Charizards had genuinely just stumbled upon them by chance.
When they saw so many Pokémon gathered below, these dozen Charizards were also quite startled.
And when they saw there were two other Charizards among them.
Their eyes filled with astonishment. They dove straight down, acting just like newborn calves unafraid of tigers.
The posture of these dozen Charizards.
Left the Dragon Clan members and the Pokémon living in the safe zone completely baffled, unsure of how to react for a moment.
After all.
This group of Charizards looked exactly like their Big Brother.
And they didn't seem like they were coming specifically to pick a fight.
So they probably...
Weren't enemies, right?
Even Charizard (brother-kun) himself was struck with confusion.
This was his first time seeing others of his kind.
He didn't know what the best course of action was, so he looked helplessly at his older brother.
Seeing this, Kazuya couldn't help but sigh.
If even his own people hesitated out of confusion due to physical resemblance, he couldn't blame the grassland Alphas for being wary of him, a Charizard.
But this was actually perfect.
He would use this opportunity.
To make everyone understand not to lower their guard just because they see a Charizard.
He had no relationship with them whatsoever.
"Prepare for battle."
Kazuya's single sentence.
Instantly shifted the attitude of every Pokémon present.
They looked at the Charizards in the sky, fully prepared to launch an attack at a moment's notice, their eyes brimming with vigilance.
The dozen Charizards completely ignored this.
Thud!
They crashed onto the ground like boulders, kicking up clouds of dust and wild grass.
They even trampled numerous black flowers.
"Flo-ette..."
Floette pursed her lips, looking somewhat angry.
But considering these Charizards probably didn't know what this ring of black flowers signified, she didn't say anything.
These Charizards looked up at the towering Kazuya, their eyes full of wonder.
One of the Charizards stepped forward and reached a hand toward Kazuya.
It was unclear what he intended to do.
But judging by his expression and behavior, he clearly didn't look like a dragon that had received a proper education; it was highly unlikely he was about to do anything polite.
Sensing something was off, brother-kun frowned, stepping forward to shove this Charizard away.
Seeing this, Kazuya didn't intervene.
It was the perfect opportunity for his little brother to test his mettle against the other party.
As a dragon cub raised by Kazuya.
Brother-kun possessed basic manners.
He knew that upon meeting someone for the first time, you shouldn't touch them without permission to avoid misunderstandings and hostility.
Therefore.
In his eyes.
This Charizard was incredibly rude.
"Roar? Roar..."
That Charizard looked down at brother-kun, then let out a disdainful laugh.
He reached out and swatted brother-kun aside.
The force was so immense.
That even though brother-kun had braced himself for a struggle, he was completely unable to resist the opponent.
And that wasn't all.
This Charizard seemed intent on toying with the "weakling" brother-kun. After shoving him, before brother-kun could even regain his footing, he whipped him on the butt with a Dragon Tail, sending brother-kun tumbling face-first into the dirt.
The sheer practiced ease of this behavior made it so that even Kazuya didn't react in time. It was glaringly obvious that this group of Charizards frequently treated other Pokémon this way on a daily basis.
Brother-kun lay on the ground, shaking his head.
Floette flew over to help him brush the wild grass off his head, then turned to look at Kazuya.
She refused to believe Kazuya could just stand by indifferently while his little brother was bullied.
The gazes of the other Dragon Clan members also locked onto their Big Brother.
They were waiting for a signal.
"Roar roar..."
The Charizard couldn't help but clutch his belly, laughing uproariously.
Even the group of Charizards behind him wore mocking sneers.
However, the very next moment, they couldn't laugh anymore.
Kazuya shot out a hand, gripping the long neck of the Charizard in front of him, lifting him clean off the ground.
"Roar!"
This Charizard thrashed wildly.
He even tried to wash Kazuya's face with a Flamethrower.
Yet, he simply couldn't break free from Kazuya's dragon claw.
Before Kazuya.
He was no different from how brother-kun had been before him.
Both were at a level where resistance was utterly futile.
"You're pretty arrogant, aren't you?"
Kazuya frowned, looking at the incessantly thrashing Charizard in his grasp.
First, he trampled the black flowers.
He could tolerate that; there was an excuse.
It wasn't a major issue.
But attacking his little brother right in front of him.
That, Kazuya absolutely could not tolerate.
If one of their own beat up his little brother, fine.
Getting thrashed meant he was just too weak.
But an outsider wild dragon thought he had the right to lay hands on Kazuya's family on his turf?
Kazuya raised his right hand.
A massive boulder with a three-meter diameter materialized out of thin air within his palm.
Then, he gripped it tightly and smashed it directly into the Charizard held in his left hand.
CRUNCH!
Rock Slide.
It's super effective!
Under the 4x damage multiplier.
This Charizard was instantly one-shot.
Kazuya casually tossed the entire dragon's body outside the safe zone.
"Do you see this line? Once you cross it, you must obey my rules."
Kazuya pointed at the black flower boundary below, addressing the dozen Charizards opposite him.
He finally understood.
Florges and the Cyclizar were absolutely right.
This group of Charizards were nothing more than a bunch of thugs blinded by strength and status. They were arrogant, reckless, and rapidly devolving into uncivilized beasts.
And toward beasts.
Kazuya had never shown mercy.
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