Dragapult and Drakloak

Misty Mountain, in the little house at the summit.

After Arcanine led the way inside,

Li Wei, Lucario, and Metagross followed close behind, entering the somewhat dilapidated house.

"Luca?"

Lucario looked a little taken aback.

The house was small enough for Lucario's Aura to cover it easily.

"What's wrong?"

Lucario exclaimed in surprise, "Luca! Luca!"

(I can't find them! My Aura can't detect them!)

Li Wei was baffled. "Could they be somewhere else?"

Li Wei glanced at the Scan radar. The green dots hadn't disappeared.

The red dot representing Li Wei almost completely overlapped with the green dots, which meant they hadn't come to the wrong place.

Li Wei ventured a guess. "Maybe you only saw them here back then because they happened to be passing through?"

If they didn't live here, Li Wei would have to take Lucario outside to search for them.

"Metang!" Metagross pointed at Arcanine, who was sniffing around, then at the stairways on either side.

The meaning was clear: look around.

"Awooo!!!"

(Arcanine says their scent is still here.)

"You're right. Let's look around!"

After entering the two-story house, Li Wei could tell that no one had visited in a long time.

White sheets covered the furniture and decorations, cobwebs filled the stairways and corners, and a thick layer of dust coated the banisters.

"Let's move!"

Li Wei paired up with Lucario, while Arcanine and Metagross searched on their own, combing through the two-story house.

The kitchen, the bedroom, the walk-in closet and its wardrobes...

Li Wei even opened the refrigerator, which had been without power for ages. It was empty, with no horrifying chunks of dismembered corpses inside.

And so ended the career of the great detective Li Wei before it could even begin.

Judging by its design and condition, Li Wei figured the refrigerator was older than he was.

"Metang!"

Standing in the upstairs hallway, Li Wei and Lucario looked toward Metagross.

(Metagross says something's strange!)

Metagross seemed to have found something in the downstairs living room.

Li Wei and Lucario exchanged a glance.

"Let's go!"

Strangely, though, Lucario still couldn't sense any presence in the house besides their own.

Li Wei, Lucario, and Arcanine arrived in the living room one after another, looking at an old television whose white sheet had already been pulled off.

It was an outdated black-and-white television with a screen only fourteen inches wide. Nothing about it seemed unusual.

Li Wei tried pressing a button. It didn't turn on.

That was only natural. There was no electricity here in the first place.

"What's strange about it?"

"Metang! Metang!"

Hearing Metagross's words, Lucario's expression went through so many changes that it was hard to describe.

Arcanine also tilted its head and froze.

Li Wei was baffled too. "What do you mean?"

(This television doesn't have long to live.)

Lucario translated Metagross's words for Li Wei.

???

Excuse me?

Li Wei had good reason to suspect Metagross was messing with him.

Then Metagross demonstrated what it meant to Li Wei. Its metal arm gleamed—Hammer Arm!

Li Wei witnessed the classic television repair technique:

Give it a hard smack at a forty-five-degree angle.

That was fine when a human did it, but not Metagross.

It was already too late for Li Wei to stop it.

Sparks flew and electricity crackled.

Bang-

The old television was obliterated.

Metagross really hadn't been wrong.

That television truly hadn't had long to live.

The explosion stirred up dust, filling the air with a thick cloud.

Lucario immediately used Protect, shielding Li Wei.

At the same time, an excited voice reached him through Lucario's Telepathy. (They're here!)

"..."

Holy shit, that actually worked?!

How did they hide inside there?!

There were so many things to question that Li Wei didn't know where to start.

As the dust cleared, two figures emerged, floating in the air: Dragapult and Drakloak!

The one in front was over three meters long, with a slender body that was purple above and blue below, a translucent white tail tip, and a yellow chest and belly.

Its most distinctive features were its triangular head, resembling a B-2 stealth bomber, and a pair of narrow, smug-looking eyes.

Everyone knew the ones with narrowed eyes were monsters.

Two Dreepy also lived in the launchers on its head, ready to be fired at the speed of sound as Dragon Darts.

Behind Dragapult, a Drakloak hovered sideways, half hidden from view. Including its tail, it was about 1.8 meters long.

Drakloak's overall coloring was similar to Dragapult's, but its head looked more like a supersonic fighter jet, with a Dreepy perched on top.

Appraisal Eye revealed their information.

They were a mother-and-son pair of pseudo-legendary Pokémon. Dragapult warily kept Drakloak half concealed behind her.

Dragapult's strength was rated at advanced Gym level, on par with Lucario.

"Grrru..."

Dragapult seemed to be getting on in years. Her body was still in decent shape, but Li Wei could sense her age in her eyes.

Drakloak's eyes, on the other hand, held the clear, innocent stupidity of a college student as he looked at them curiously.

"Drooo?"

The Dreepy on Drakloak's head blinked too, even raising its little claws excitedly. "Dree!"

Unlike the wary Dragapult, Drakloak actually seemed pleased that the television had been destroyed.

"Dragapult, I'm sorry we destroyed your television. I can compensate you for it."

"Grrru, grrru."

As Dragapult spoke, Li Wei felt her age even more keenly.

(She says there's no need. You just need to leave.)

Although Dragapult had told them to leave, Li Wei was rather thick-skinned and stayed put for the moment.

Li Wei considered the situation. The fact that Dragapult appeared on the radar meant she had no Trainer.

He had already searched the house. There was no food, no electricity, and nothing valuable...

So why was Dragapult staying here?

While Li Wei pondered this, the highly curious Drakloak approached him and looked up.

Drakloak was over 1.8 meters long, but nearly half of that was his tail.

The Dreepy on Drakloak's head was even more curious. It flew straight onto Li Wei's shoulders and settled there like a scarf.

Li Wei raised a hand to stroke it. "Hello there."

Dreepy's body temperature was low, cool against his skin, and he could clearly feel the texture of its scales.

Once the Dreepy on his head was gone, Drakloak lost his curiosity and grew a little flustered.

Li Wei knew a great deal about the Dragapult evolutionary line. After all, he had just taken Blue's Pokémon Breeding class.

Unlike Dragapult, the ever-so-loving mother Pokémon who regularly fired her two Dreepy like missiles,

Drakloak couldn't do without the Dreepy on his head. Without it, he would become angry and panicked.

"You can borrow this for now."

Li Wei took the black Rayquaza's Dragon Scale from his backpack and gently placed it on Drakloak's head.

"Drooo~~"

Drakloak visibly relaxed.

"Grrru!"

Dragapult's voice grew a little more urgent, until she spotted the black Dragon Scale on Drakloak's head...