Chapter 029
Following a community-wide feast celebrating their successful conquest of the First Floor, Leon was relaxing in his room, contemplating whether to spend the evening developing the First Floor or using his phantom form to investigate the Second. Another option was clearing land in the north, but Mordred had convinced him in the past that he should let those entrusted to govern the land develop it. In other words, he should only clear land or construct buildings when requested and only if the asking party furnished the necessary resources and paid an 'expedition' fee.
*tok* *tok* *tok*
'Who could be knocking on my door this late?' wondered Leon, outwardly replying, "It's open..." while rising onto his nonexisting elbows to see who entered.
Though he somewhat expected it, Leon was surprised to see Miu crack his door, peering through the gap as she asked, "Lord Leon...is it okay if I come inside...?" in a meek tone.
"That's what I meant when I said it was open..." replied Leon, prompting Miu to open, step through, and quickly close the door behind her. Then, turning around and leaning against it with her hands behind her, she took a moment to steel herself, breathing in deeply and exhaling with her eyes closed before opening them to form a serious expression as she stated, "I want to enter the Tower..."
Tearing his nonexistent eyes away from Miu's subtly visible nipples, as she was only wearing her tailored purple jumpsuit, a hot pink jacket, pink-and-black knee guards, and pink, black-belted boots, Leon asked, "Have you discussed this with your Grandfather?"
Nodding, Miu replied, "We discussed it before I came here. He told me I should follow my heart and do what I believe is best..."
"Then I have no reason to restrict your access to the Tower," said Leon. "But were you wanting to go right now? You're dressed like you're ready for combat."
Pressing the tips of her pink-gloved fingers together, looking especially bashful, Miu replied, "I just wanted to take a look..."
"Then we'll go together," said Leon, rising from his bed and approaching the petite yet exceptionally well-developed blonde, asking, "You've heard about my ability to possess others, right?"
"Is Lord Leon...going to possess me...?" questioned Miu, the uneasy yet expectant look on her face causing Leon's nonexistent heart to tense as she looked up at him with her large, shimmering blue eyes.
"It's not as invasive as it sounds," assured Leon, extending his hand and resting it atop Miu's head, causing his perspective to change and a surge of power to fill her body.
"This is Lord Leon's power...?" asked Miu, eyes wide and brows raised as she looked down at her body, held up her hands, and flexed her fingers a few times, forming a fist before relaxing. Her nipples had also hardened, forming two points of tension in her skintight attire, but she either didn't notice or didn't care as she adopted a smile and said, "It's a very pleasant feeling."
"More importantly, it permits things like this," said Leon, teleporting Miu to the entrance of the Tower. The abrupt change of scenery startled her, but when she realized where they were, a look of resolution adorned her face as she held up her right fist and muttered, "I won't remain weak..." before stepping forward with firm, decisive steps...
...
..
.
After humoring and showing Miu around the First Floor for a few hours, Leon escorted her home so she could rest, briefly chatted with Hayato, and then returned to the Tower, taking advantage of his Admin privilege to move directly to the Second Floor.
"I feel like a kid in a candy store..." mused Leon, adopting a nonexistent smile as he took a deep breath and admired the scenery of the Second Floor, excited by the prospect of encountering new and diverse Pokemon. He doubted the Floor could sustain the more than one thousand Pokemon that had been introduced prior to his death, but there had to be more than Pidgeys and Caterpies roaming about.
With such thoughts in mind, Leon picked a random direction and started walking with the Assign menu's map in the periphery of his vision, helping to keep him oriented so he didn't end up walking in circles. Fortunately, he didn't have to go far before spotting his first new Pokemon, a large, green, pseudo-crescent-shaped insect known as a Metapod, the evolved form of a Caterpie.
'If only I had a Pokedex and Pokeballs...' thought Leon, observing the Metapod for several seconds before moving on. He had a slight urge to try and tame one of each type of Pokemon he encountered, but for now, he was looking for one suitable for possession. Basic details on his map could be filled out via line of sight, so if he could possess a flight-capable Pokemon, like another Pidgey, Leon could map a large area of the Second Floor in just a few hours.
*ka-thoom* *crash*
Hearing the sound of something being smashed apart by brute force, a sound he was all too familiar with, Leon ran in the direction it originated from, eventually finding himself in a clearing next to a sapphire blue river. There, what looked like a craggy, three-armed boulder was engaged in a brutal wrestling match with a humanoid figure with bluish-purple skin and bulging muscles. Leon immediately recognized the two as a Graveler and a Machoke, but while they certainly looked the part, the former's missing arm and the latter's battle-scarred body and prominent bulge, concealed beneath spandex-like shorts, made it clear they weren't the child-friendly versions he was familiar with.
Reinforcing this sentiment, the Machoke managed to slip his hands into the Graveler's mouth. The latter tried to resist, landing several weighty blows against the Machoke's body, but with one final pulling motion and a loud cry, the muscular Pokemon tore open the Graveler's mouth, ripping off its face in the process.
'Yeah, these aren't things we can 'play nice' with...' concluded Leon. The creatures before him were very clearly Pokemon, but they were also wild, potentially ferocious animals. Once the Machoke had downed its prey, it didn't hesitate to plop down and start tearing away at the Graveler's soft insides, sporting an extremely satisfied look as it enjoyed its post-triumph feast.
Leaving Leon at an even greater loss for words, a slimmer, distinctly female Machoke appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by several Machops. They were evidently the triumphant Machoke's family as he raised a hand, greeted them with a smile, and called out to them. Then, together, they devoured the unfortunate Graveler until it was little more than an emptied husk...
...
..
.
After hours of searching the Second Floor, Leon learned several things. First and foremost, only Pokemon from the first generation appeared to inhabit the Floor. Secondly, while most Pokemon looked as he expected them to, that was only true for the predominately male species. Females appeared to be rare, and, rather than ordinary Pokemon, they reminded Leon of a somewhat cursed YouTube video he had witnessed in his past. He couldn't remember the video's name, but there was a character named Professor Harkness and a very aggressive, speech-capable Vulpix...
Stumbling across a Drowzee as he was making his way back to the exit portal, Leon's nonexistent expression darkened as he saw the tapir-like creature walking around with a dick longer than his stubby legs, grinning like a pervert as it dragged an unconscious Bellsprout behind it...
'And there goes what little excitement I had remaining...' thought Leon, pulling a spear out of his Storage and surprising the Drowzee by impaling it through the back. For all he knew, the Drowzee was simply carrying the Bellsprout back to its lair to consume it in a safer environment, but Leon's 'instincts' told him that wasn't the case.
Fortunately, unlike when Pokemon killed one other, the Drowzee burst into Mana like a normal monster when Leon killed it, providing him a First-Time Kill Reward of 2 Mana and dropping what looked like a Pokeball.
"Seriously...?" uttered Leon, picking the object up and placing it into his Storage to confirm that it was, in fact, a Pokeball.
"Man, Wil is going to have a field day with this thing..." said Leon, pulling out the Pokeball and turning his attention to the unconscious Bellsprout. It wasn't the strongest Pokemon, and its final evolution was problematic, but as it was already knocked out, Leon bent down and tapped the white button on the front of the Pokeball against the Bellsprout's head.
Matching Leon's expectations, a red light enveloped the Bellsprout before it disappeared completely, drawn into the Pokeball. The ball then started to tremble and vibrate a bit before settling down, leading Leon to believe his experiment was a success, but then it exploded, causing a phantom pain to shoot through his hand as the Bellsprout emerged, flailing its leaf-like arms in clear dissatisfaction.
'That explains why Trainers don't hold Pokeballs and how they're used up in the games...' thought Leon, feeling fortunate that he didn't have a hand to injure. As for the Bellsprout, it looked around for a bit, clearly searching for the person who had tried to capture it before darting away faster than one would expect from its tiny, root-like legs.
Following the Bellsprout with his eyes, Leon waited until it was long gone before exhaling a weary, exasperated sigh. He had been looking forward to capturing and training his own Pokemon, but the thought of his future Charizard having a massive cock or a meaty, eerily humanoid vagina and possibly tits left him feeling despondent. He could probably tolerate an Umbreon or something like an Arcanine, as he was accustomed to seeing dogs and cats running around, but if he caught someone walking their pet Drowzee without pants or an apron on, he'd likely censure and ask them if there was something wrong with their head...
Discarding such thoughts by shaking his head, Leon decided to follow the direction the Bellsprout had fled. Now that he knew Pokemon could drop items like Pokeballs when defeated, he decided to try hunting some of the more aggressive species. There was a cave full of blood-sucking Zubats nearby, so if he didn't find anything while stalking the Bellsprout, he could always head there, seal the cave's mouth using cubic-meter stone blocks, and build a fire to smoke them out or asphyxiate them once he confirmed there were no other Pokemon inside...
...
..
.
After Leon gathered everyone in the Frontier Expedition Squad to explain what he had discovered, Mordred asked, "So, to recount, our objectives are to search for the Floor Guardian and, in the process, take note of the types of Pokemon present and whether they're hostile?"
"Ideally, we'd also capture, train, and domesticate certain types," replied Leon, explaining, "Pokemon killed by other Pokemon leave behind corpses that can be processed for food and resources. And if we locate a cow-like Pokemon with udders or a pink, egg-shaped Pokemon, the former can be used to produce dairy products while the latter should be able to heal and treat wounds."
"Anything else we should watch out for...?" asked Mordred.
Nodding in affirmation, an action made perceptible by his mechanical body, Leon explained, "We should be cautious around dark forests and caves. Not just because there are blood-sucking bats called Zubats and Crowbats but because ghost-type Pokemon can be found near them. I attempted to stab one with my spear, but my attack passed through its body. If I remember correctly, they should be weak to other ghosts and dark-type Pokemon. Elemental attacks should also be effective, so we should try catching and training something capable of breathing fire or producing electricity before going near such places."
"You're telling me there are g-g-g-ghosts!?" asked Gakuto, his usually healthy brown complexion paling.
"Why wouldn't there be?" asked Mordred, pointing out, "The First Floor had that zombie-infested cemetery. And everyone here is effectively a spirit. It's only natural there are ghosts about."
"What I want to know is what she's doing here..." said Kisara, directing a half-lidded, cross-armed gaze at Miu.
Answering in Leon's and Miu's stead, Mordred declared, "Miu is now a member of the Frontier Expedition Squad. Whether she has what it takes to join the Crimson Valkyries remains to be seen, but that isn't important. The more personnel we have, the quicker our exploration will go. Do you have a problem with that?"
"So long as she doesn't receive special treatment, I couldn't care less..." contended Kisara, but the look on her face made it apparent she wasn't happy, not because she still held a grudge against Miu, but because she felt like the latter would surpass her in an instant. Miu didn't understand this, however, so her expression saddened as she lowered her head and slumped her shoulders, internally questioning whether she had any right to be there...
...
..
.