The banquet ended. Liz carried Will back to her private chambers. However, the mont they got into bed, Will began to feel uncomfortable all over. He knew what was happening: he was about to molt again.
"How can it be so soon?! Is it because I'm getting too much nutrition?"
Will rembered that he had just finished molting that very morning. For a wild Dratini, molting once a day was already quite fast. He hadn't expected his own rate to be even faster, needing to molt again in the evening.
Or perhaps, this was actually the normal speed for a Dratini in the Era of Primal Beasts, and the molting frequency had simply slowed down in the later Era of Leagues. This wasn't impossible. As ti went on and the eras progressed, the survival pressure on Pokémon gradually decreased, and their natural growth abilities also declined. After all, they no longer needed to fight tooth and nail for survival, so the "get stronger" genes in their very being naturally weakened over ti. One only needed to compare the ancient, giant Dragonite from the lighthouse with the chubby, two-ter-tall Dragonite of the future to see the difference.
So, perhaps in this era, molting twice a day was the normal frequency for a Dratini. If that was the case, however, Will had no idea how big he would eventually beco.
"Lan, what's wrong?"
Liz, now changed into her nightgown, looked strangely at Will. Although she couldn't understand what he was saying, she could sense that he seed uncomfortable.
No, I have to find a way to make Liz help molt. Otherwise, how am I supposed to live if I have to go through this twice a day?
Will's large, watery eyes darted back and forth. Then, he began to rub his body forcefully against the bed. Soon, a crumpled, translucent white piece of skin was rubbed off.
"Are you molting again?"
Seeing this, Liz imdiately understood what was happening.
"w~"
Will burrowed into Liz's arms, nuzzled against her, and looked up with wide eyes, deliberately making a soft, aningless sound.
Dammit, I can't believe I have to resort to putting on the cute act, Will thought, feeling a deep sense of sha. It was his first ti ever doing sothing like this, but he was surprised to find how proficient he was at it, as if he were a natural-born genius of cuteness.
"No, Lan. You have to do it yourself."
Liz could see that Will was asking for her help to molt. But she rembered the words of the beast scholars and still turned her head, refusing his request.
"w~ w~"
Will increased the intensity. This ti, he gathered the moisture in his body and made it well up in his eyes, while simultaneously letting out a sowhat pitiful-sounding wail.
"Oh... what should I do..."
Stared at by such a pair of teary, glistening eyes, Liz's resolve began to waver dramatically.
"w~"
Seeing his chance, Will wailed even louder, rolling all over the bed in an apparent fit of agony.
"Is... is it really that painful? I guess I have to try."
Startled by Will's actions, Liz quickly gathered him into her arms. Then, she carefully and gently peeled off a small piece of the shed skin. She waited for a mont, and seeing that Will had no violent reaction, she continued.
"w~"
The sound Will made this ti was different from before; it was a sound of comfort.
This is surprisingly stress-relieving, Liz thought. She let out a sigh of relief and sped up the peeling process. At the sa ti, she gradually beca addicted to the feeling. Looking at the piece of skin in her hand, she kneaded it a little and found that it had a wonderful texture and was very resilient. She realized at once that the skin Will shed was a very high-quality material. However, such a small piece wasn't enough to make anything with for now. She decided to collect it all and see what she could make in the future.
With Liz's help, Will completed his molt in less than five minutes. He didn't have to expend any effort at all; he just had to lie there and be serviced by Liz.
"Cuteness Technique, acquired!" Will thought, contentedly flicking the tip of his tail.
Although this "Cuteness Technique" didn't appear on his status screen and was useless against other Pokémon, it was a superweapon against the "two-legged beasts," especially the older female ones.
"Alright, you can sleep soundly now, right?" Liz couldn't help but smile, seeing how comfortable Will looked. She then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into her embrace, which could still just barely be called generous. The two of them leaned on each other and gradually fell asleep.
The days passed, and a week went by in the blink of an eye.
One morning, before Will had even opened his eyes, he felt his head being propped up.
"Lan, ti for breakfast. Open wide~" Liz's gentle voice sounded by his ear.
Without even lifting his eyelids, Will obediently opened his mouth and waited to be fed. The next mont, a bottle nipple was placed in his mouth, and he began to suckle greedily.
After finishing his breakfast, he rolled over, intending to sleep a little longer against Liz, but she clearly had other plans.
"No more sleeping. You're not a baby anymore. It's ti to go to kindergarten."
Liz picked up Will, who was now 2.5 ters long, and gave him a little shake.
That's right. Will's length had already reached 2.5 ters, making him longer than a future Dragonite, which only stood 2.2 ters tall. This wasn't actually that surprising. After all, even a Dratini from the Era of Leagues had an average length of 1.8 ters, not much different from the significantly smaller Dragonite. In the current Era of Primal Beasts, it was normal for Will's length to far exceed that of his future descendants. And since he had only just left his infant stage, he was only going to get longer.
Everyone, including Liz, was amazed by his growth rate. Many mbers of the Dragonite Clan who had been uncertain about his potential were now convinced that he would grow up to be a powerful and majestic primal beast.
"Kindergarten? Are you kidding ? I'm a Pokémon, and you want to go to kindergarten?"
Will opened his eyes and first checked his status screen.
[Dratini]
Potential: Blue
Level: 5
Type: Dragon
Ability: Shed Skin
Height: 2.5m
Weight: 4.3kg
Moves: Focus Energy (Inherited), Wrap, Leer, Twister
Will looked at his status and compared it to his ti as a Weedle. He realized his progress had been faster in his previous life. By this point back then, he should have already evolved into a Kakuna. In this life, he had just left his infant stage and only now had a little bit of fighting ability. This was despite having consud huge amounts of super-nutritious Moomoo Milk. The gap was still significant. If he hadn't been picked up by Liz at the beginning and had to grow up in the wild eating plankton or tiny fish, the gap would have been even larger, ridiculously so.
But this didn't surprise him. Bug-type Pokémon just grew fast; that was their greatest advantage over other types. If a Bug-type grew as slowly as a Dragon-type, it would be completely unfair. Not only would they be weaker in the long run, but their lifespans were also far shorter. The only advantage they might have could be sumd up in one derogatory word: "cheap."
"Alright, let's go. There are lots of other little friends at the kindergarten. You have to get along with everyone, okay?"
"???"
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