(TN: I'll still refer to Giant Dragonite as Giant Dragonite even though its smaller now.)
"Easy, easy! You're going to break my waist if you squeeze any harder."
Feeling his body give off a painful cracking sound as if it could not take the pressure anymore, Silas quickly slapped Giant Dragonite to signal it to loosen its grip.
After a while, Silas finally recovered. He shot an annoyed look at the Giant Dragonite beside him.
The now small Giant Dragonite lowered its head like a child who had made a mistake, letting out soft, pitiful "woo woo" sounds from its throat.
Rubbing his sore waist with one hand, Silas used the other hand to pat Dragonite's soft, bouncy belly pouch while smiling in reassurance.
"I know you didn't mean it. You were just too happy. But until you fully learn how to control your strength, you're only allowed to hug Cyclizar, okay?"
"Draa~!"
Giant Dragonite showed a huge smile and forced itself to resist the urge to hug Silas again.
Instead it turned around, spread its arms wide, and lunged toward the Cyclizar.
Cyclizar immediately panicked.
"Cyc!" (Don't come over here!)
The two dragon Pokémon began chasing and play fighting around Silas like a pair of energetic children.
Before long they grew tired from running.
Giant Dragonite plopped down beside Silas with a heavy thud, causing the sand beneath them to sink inward. It gazed at Silas with happiness in its eyes that it simply could not hide.
Being able to meet Silas, Cyclizar, and everyone else was the happiest thing that had ever happened to it.
"Cyc!"
Cyclizar on the right pawed at Silas and received several pieces of rich Poké Poffins suitable for dragon Pokémon, which it then shared with Giant Dragonite.
"Now Giant Dragonite can freely change its body size," Silas muttered thoughtfully. "When it shrinks, its power becomes suppressed, and when it grows larger, its strength increases."
"Could it be that a smaller body simply cannot contain such an enormous amount of natural energy?"
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable the idea seemed.
After all, in the Pokémon world, most of the legendary Pokémon possessed enormous bodies.
Legendary giant birds, ancient prehistoric Pokémon, mythical Pokémon, legendary dragon Pokémon, aura Pokémon, cosmic Pokémon… almost all of them had massive physiques.
Silas seemed to recall something and reached into the waist pouch at his side, pulling out a Dragonite's Mega Stone.
"Here. Dragonite, this is a gift for you."
"Dra?!"
Giant Dragonite carefully held the stone in its palm and even stuck out its tongue to lick it. It liked the stone very much and felt an inexplicable attraction toward it.
"This is a Mega Stone made specifically for Dragonite. It can allow you to undergo another stage of evolution."
"Draa?"
Dragonite did not quite understand. Its expression was blank and confused.
"Why don't we try it?" Silas suggested while raising the Keystone on his wrist.
"Draa~!"
"Don't rush. First try to feel the power inside the Mega Stone."
After giving that reminder, Silas placed his finger gently on the Keystone.
At that moment, two heartbeats began to synchronize.
Silas felt Giant Dragonite's presence clearly.
Then he shouted loudly, "Mega Evolve, Dragonite!"
Standing on the beach and surrounded by a group of Dragonite, Giant Dragonite suddenly opened its eyes.
"DRAAA!"
It let out an excited dragon cry as if responding to Silas's call.
Then, right before the shocked expressions of the surrounding Dragonite, Giant Dragonite began another evolution.
The surrounding Dragonite were stunned.
Hold on. Be honest. Did you secretly activate some kind of cheat? Why can you evolve again?
Giant Dragonite silently protested.
I did not cheat. Don't talk nonsense. This is the power of bonds, do you understand?
The multicolored light gradually faded.
A completely new Dragonite appeared before everyone.
Giant Dragonite looked down at itself, its eyes filled with disbelief.
"Draa~"
"How did I turn into the leader's appearance?!"
Its tail had grown longer and thicker, and at the tip of the tail a shining orb appeared, glowing with a mysterious light.
The orb resembled the pearl found on Dragonair, greatly enhancing Mega Dragonite's ability to control the weather.
The pair of large wings on its head allowed Dragonite to fly both higher and faster, making it truly worthy of the title Dragonite.
"How does it feel, Mega Dragonite?"
"Draa~"
Mega Dragonite gently flapped its wings, stirring up a gust of wind filled with grains of sand. Then it lowered its head and affectionately rubbed against Silas while letting out cheerful, rumbling growls from its throat.
It was extremely satisfied with this new form.
After all, its tribe leader had always been the one it admired the most.
Now its body had become the same size as the leader, making it the strongest within the group. It felt as though it now had the responsibility to protect everyone.
Dragonite had shrunk its body yet completed Mega Evolution. Unfortunately, they could not properly test how much its strength had improved yet, but they could test one thing.
Its speed.
"You two really want to compete?" Silas asked.
"Cyc!"
"Draa!"
The two dragon Pokémon looked eager to try. When they glanced at each other, sparks seemed to flash in their eyes.
"Alright then. Stand at the same starting line. Whoever reaches the ranch first wins."
The two dragon Pokémon took their positions.
Silas activated Dragonite's Mega Evolution while Cyclizar entered its Lightning Mode and transformed into Miraidon.
"Three… two… one… start!"
The moment Silas finished the final syllable, the two Pokémon vanished instantly like streaks of light.
Only two lingering trails of radiance remained in the sky, proving just how terrifyingly fast they were.
"Let's go too. We should hurry and catch up with them."
Silas climbed onto the back of the male Dragonite and followed behind the two racing dragon Pokémon.
Compared to the pair in front, the speed of an ordinary Dragonite was clearly much slower.
By the time Silas arrived at the ranch, Giant Dragonite and Cyclizar had already been waiting on the beach for quite a while.
The two dragon Pokémon circled around him and complained that he was too slow.
"It's not that we're slow. It's that you two are way too fast," Silas replied while leading them toward the ranch. "So who won in the end?"
"Cyc!" (It was me! I was just a tiny bit faster than Dragonite.)
"Draa!" (No way. I was clearly faster than you!)
Judging from their argument, the two of them had probably arrived at almost exactly the same time.
The quarrel between the two lively dragons continued endlessly.
Was this the competitive instinct unique to dragon Pokémon? It was actually quite interesting.
"Draa~" (Silas should ride me when going out in the future. I'll definitely be faster than that ugly lizard.)
"Cyc!" (As if! You big stomach dragon!)
"…."
Silas's ears were filled with their constant bickering.
After all, speed was the advantage they were most proud of.
"Alright, alright. You two need to stop arguing."
Using one hand on each head, Silas pressed them apart as they tried to glare face to face.
"Next time we'll organize an official race. Then you can compete properly."
Only after being scolded did Cyclizar and Dragonite finally calm down.
Both of them secretly swore in their hearts that they would surpass the other next time, especially Cyclizar, who suddenly felt a lot more pressure.
When they entered the ranch, Dragonite immediately let out a series of surprised exclamations, looking like a country visitor seeing a grand estate for the first time.
It touched this and knocked on that.
The ranch felt both familiar and unfamiliar to it.
It was familiar because it had heard about the place again and again from others, and it had imagined it many times.
It felt unfamiliar because this was the first time it had ever come here in person, and everything around it attracted its curiosity.
Especially when it saw the welcoming ceremony that the Pokémon had prepared, drool uncontrollably began to drip from the corner of its mouth.
"Morpe?"
Morpeko tilted its head in confusion.
(Big Sister Cinccino, didn't you say the dragon was extremely huge?)
The other Pokémon all turned to look at Cinccino.
They had prepared a mountain of food because they heard that a gigantic Dragonite was coming.
At that moment Cinccino looked extremely wronged.
Where did the enormous dragon go? Why did it suddenly turn into this small one standing in front of them?
"Cin! Cin!"
Feeling aggrieved, it grabbed Silas's hair and tugged at it, demanding an explanation.
With no other choice, Silas had to ask Giant Dragonite to demonstrate its magical ability to grow larger and smaller.
Only then did the Pokémon believe that the one standing before them was indeed the gigantic Dragonite they had heard about.
The welcome ceremony was finally able to proceed smoothly.
At the banquet there were now four well known gluttons.
Originally there were only Lazy Mareep and Morpeko, but now they had added the giant Dragonite and the shiny Dratini.
The shiny Dratini originally had a slender body, but after eating it now looked like a thick baguette. Its body had become much rounder.
Silas smiled as he fed it a special digestive tablet.
"Be good now. Eat a little dirt and it'll help you digest."
(End of Chapter)