Chapter 471: Aerodactyl and Carbink
"Don't know, never seen it before, but seem to have heard Rangers from other cities mention it."
Monet shook her head.
"I know."
Cynthia suddenly spoke, the aftermath of shock still remaining in her eyes.
"That's the Sunlight Tree. After the top of the tree absorbs sunlight, it's conducted to the roots through the trunk, making the stem and roots emit strong light like the sun. But I read about this in a fantasy novel; I didn't expect such a tree to actually exist."
"I'm afraid there are quite a few Pokémon species here that have continued from ancient times to today, which means, this tree... might be tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years old?"
The words Will spoke made it hard for even himself to comprehend.
Lived for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years...
Isn't it possible that the age of this tree is even older than the Tree of Beginning?
Even much older than many Mythical and Legendary Pokémon.
Truly exaggerated.
Click.
Monet's group beside had already taken out their cameras and started recording everything in front of them.
"This is also my first time seeing a real underground world. According to past handling cases, in order not to disturb the Pokémon here, the Kalos League will not make it public, but will protect it like a hidden nature reserve. You might not be able to enter here in the future."
Monet turned to look at Will and Cynthia.
The meaning is very simple.
Take a good look around here taking advantage of this opportunity.
In the future.
This place will be a special zone that only Pokémon League Professors, higher-ups, and Rangers can visit.
"Not necessarily."
Cynthia curved the corners of her mouth, shaking her head confidently.
She hasn't become a higher-up of the Pokémon League now.
Is because Cynthia is still a minor, and she doesn't want to throw herself into work so early.
Otherwise.
With her current resume and combat record.
Joining the Pokémon League and taking up an official position is not a problem.
If she doesn't want to take the normal path of climbing up step by step from the bottom, she can also take the path of challenging Gym Leaders or the Elite Four.
But the latter for Cynthia.
Might be even worse than starting from the bottom.
After all, although a Gym Leader's work is considered fairly leisurely, most of the time it is confined to one city.
And although the Elite Four can run around everywhere, the work is relatively busy and dangerous.
Conversely.
If Cynthia can become a freelance Ranger, then she can explore wherever she wants; even for this kind of ancient ruin, she can come in with an application.
It's just that the threshold for a freelance Ranger is also high.
Requires a considerable degree of understanding of knowledge in different fields such as Pokémon, ordinary animals and plants, geography, weather, etc., and also requires strong enough strength to be competent for this job.
Even Cynthia needs to spend a few years studying to participate in the assessment.
"That's true, with your strength, you'll probably become the new Elite Four in a few years."
Monet froze for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
She always inadvertently forgets.
This young blonde girl in front of her is an elite trainer qualified to be specifically invited to participate by the Pokémon League.
"It's Aerodactyl!"
A Ranger behind Monet suddenly spoke.
Everyone glanced at the direction he was facing.
Then looked backward.
Only to see on the mountaintop of the mountain they were on, over a dozen Aerodactyl were glaring at them like tigers watching their prey.
[Aerodactyl, a Rock and Flying-type Pokémon. It has a vicious temperament and was a ferocious Pokémon in ancient times.]
[There were even victims during the investigation; it is now generally considered the king of the ancient skies.]
[Most ancient Pokémon have added the Rock typing because of the "fossil resurrection technology", but Aerodactyl seems to inherently possess the Rock typing.]
The voice of the Pokédex sounded in Cynthia's hand.
Even for her, it was the first time seeing a Pokémon like Aerodactyl, and so many of them at that. The excitement in her heart was no less than seeing a Legendary Pokémon for the first time.
Will raised his eyes sizing up these Aerodactyl.
Body length 1.8 meters, consistent with the Pokédex values.
This body length is not considered long even placed in the magical beast era.
Not to mention placed in the ancient times with an even harsher environment.
Presumably in the long years.
Even if these ancient Pokémon hid in this underground world, they didn't escape the changes caused by the genes being affected by environmental changes; their body size has shrunk compared to the past.
The scale of this underground world is not large.
From the position where Will and the others are, looking around, they can even see the rock wall at the "end".
Then the number of Pokémon living here presumably won't be too many either.
Perhaps this Aerodactyl clan in front of them is the only one in this underground world.
The sudden drop in survival pressure.
Caused the genes in these Pokémon's bodies to gradually degenerate, and body size shrinking became inevitable.
As for [the king of the ancient skies].
This title is not entirely empty.
The Aerodactyl living in ancient times.
According to his and Platali's theory, should be the Mega version of Aerodactyl.
A base stat total as high as 615 shows their potential is extremely impressive, and the precise distribution of physical attack and speed is truly excellent.
Moreover.
The resurrected Aerodactyl lost the [Dragon] typing, replacing it with a [Flying] typing that only exists in name.
As for why it wasn't the [Rock] typing that was substituted.
Not mentioning that resurrected ancient Pokémon all have the Rock typing added to them.
Just saying that Mega Aerodactyl has rocks growing on its body.
This indicates that Aerodactyl in ancient times might have possessed the Rock typing. The official setting also mentions [Some scholars advocate that this appearance is the true Aerodactyl].
And although Aerodactyl possesses the Flying typing, there is only one Flying-type move it can learn through natural growth.
Even counting those learned actively, it's only three.
Flying really doesn't seem like a typing Aerodactyl inherently brought with it.
It's not that if you grow wings or can fly, you must be a Flying-type Pokémon.
For example, many Bug-type and Dragon-type Pokémon don't have the Flying typing but can still fly.
The reason why humans classified the resurrected Aerodactyl as [Flying-type].
Might be because they tested the type matchup relationships.
In the accumulation of long years.
Aerodactyl, having not flown into the sky for too long, might have lost its resistance to natural lightning and natural ice and snow. Humans discovered this point, so they classified it as a Flying-type Pokémon.
According to this theory.
Then the Mega Aerodactyl in ancient times was a Rock and Dragon typing, much stronger than the current Rock and Flying typing.
Various signs indicate.
Ancient Aerodactyl might be several times stronger than modern Aerodactyl.
Modern Aerodactyl is already quite powerful.
Ancient times naturally go without saying.
The king of the skies.
This title being called out is not without reason.
In ancient times.
Without accident, the ruler of the skies was Mega Aerodactyl, and the ruler of the land was Tyrantrum in another posture.
What is unknown now is...
Whether these Aerodactyl in front of them, suspected to have survived from ancient times to today, are Rock and Dragon, or Rock and Flying.
Will guessed it's probably leaning towards the latter.
Just like Mega Sceptile losing the Dragon typing over the long years, Aerodactyl probably couldn't escape the polishing of time either.
Especially since this is an underground world.
The Aerodactyl here might not even know what lightning and ice and snow are.
"We seem to have intruded into their territory, let's leave first."
Will spoke, looking at the hostility in the Aerodactyls' eyes.
This hostility wasn't directed at him.
The effect of the Dragon Stone was still steady.
"Let's go!"
Monet made the decision very decisively.
She led everyone to turn around and leave, heading towards the primeval forest at the foot of the mountain.
Fortunately.
The Aerodactyls seemed to give Will face, not chasing after them, letting them dive into the forest.
"Wow, the bushes here are almost as tall as me."
A female Forest Guard fiddled with the bush beside her.
If this thing was thrown on the surface, it could probably let a Caterpie or Weedle eat for a long, long time.
Suddenly.
That bush trembled.
That Ranger was startled and shivered, taking two steps back, her right hand resting on the Capture Styler on her left wrist.
Every Ranger is equipped with a Capture Styler.
This thing is equivalent to a special temporary Poké Ball.
They can capture wild Pokémon to use for themselves, and it's only temporary; after a period of time, the Capture Styler will lose its effect.
This is not a mandatory capture.
But a kind of request for help.
When the line of the Capture Styler wraps around a Pokémon, it's equivalent to the Ranger sending a distress signal to this Pokémon.
If this wild Pokémon is willing to help him, it will respond to this temporary capture.
Similarly, if unwilling, it won't be captured, just the body will stiffen for a moment.
This is beneficial for Rangers working in some special environmental occasions, especially for those freelance Rangers.
Right now.
This Ranger immediately prepared to release the Capture Styler, not wanting to capture the Pokémon that might rush out of the bush.
But wanting to use the stiffened state applied by the Capture Styler to give herself time to make other reactions.
Pop!
A rabbit-like Pokémon buried in the soil bounced out.
"Mishi?"
"Carbink?"
This is a Carbink with a size of half a meter, considered relatively large among the Carbink race.
Carbink are like real ores.
The gap between individuals is truly not small.
Some Carbink are one meter tall after passing infancy, while some might only be a dozen centimeters tall.
The number of diamonds inlaid on the body also varies, some more and some less.
But it's not that the more diamonds a Carbink has, the more popular it is with Pokémon Connoisseurs.
This also depends on the specific distribution and diamond quality.
"Cute."
Cynthia smiled and stepped forward, tentatively reaching out her hand towards Carbink.
"Mishi."
Carbink exchanged glances with Cynthia, not dodging.
This meaning is probably feeling that Cynthia wouldn't hurt him.
Cynthia's hand covered Carbink's "rabbit ears"; she gently stroked, feeling the specific texture.
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