Swimming back to the island happily. Not having to ride May's slowpoke Blastoise felt incredibly comfortable.
As he swam to the beach, Riku recalled Lapras, wanting to give the three birds and the Red Shrimp a surprise. But when he returned to the small wooden house and saw the four Pokémon crying out for food, he was instantly helpless.
"Stop crying about being hungry. First, tell me, did you train as instructed?"
Riku had been very busy these days, leaving after just giving brief instructions in the morning. Although he could tell through the system that the three birds and the Red Shrimp hadn't trained, Riku still wanted to ask to see if these four were being honest.
Thump thump thump...
The four quickly nodded, and the Red Shrimp even patted its chest loudly.
"Master, don't worry. As soon as you left the island, we started training. You just came back after we rested for a few minutes. Otherwise, would we be this hungry?"
Even without the system, Riku could tell these four were lying through their teeth just by the sneaky glances they exchanged.
Normally, Riku would definitely scold them and increase their training. But today he was in a good mood, so he didn't bother too much.
"Lapras, come on out!"
With a flip of his hand, he summoned Lapras and said with a smile, "Everyone listen up. From today on, our big family will have a new member. Lapras! Everyone clap!"
The imagined applause didn't sound. Instead, Lapras looked terrified, even disbelievingly blinking its eyes wildly.
It almost peed its pants, okay?!
What kind of terrifying place was this? A den of Legendary Pokémon? The three legendary birds and the Lord of the Land were all here?
Lapras had guessed before that Riku was not simple—possibly some terrifying existence. Now, he actually directly brought it to meet the three legendary beasts and the Lord of the Land. How could mere terror describe this?
Riku smiled. "From now on, we're all family. Lapras is quite strong, so I'll have it take care of you."
Me, take care of them? Those are Legendary Pokémon!
He caught me to bring me back, could it be that he wants to see me die?!
"Lapras, is that okay?" Riku turned to look at Lapras.
"In the future, I'll definitely have to trouble you to take them to grind some battle experience. I hereby announce that from now on, you are the boss of the four of them, and Feebas too!"
What the—!!
Lapras cursed with the only human profanity it knew.
This wasn't sending it to its death; this was throwing it into the eighteenth level of hell for repeated torture!
Although a Champion-level Lapras was quite powerful in the Pokémon world, in front of Legendary Pokémon, it was nothing!
It had never imagined it would have such a glorious moment—the boss of the three legendary birds and the Lord of the Land... it wouldn't even dare to dream such an outrageous dream.
"What do you say?" Riku turned around again. Under his high pressure and piercing gaze, the three legendary birds and Groudon exchanged a look and then pretended to be very friendly. They even patted Lapras affectionately and agreed.
After that, Riku went to cook with satisfaction.
As soon as Riku entered the small wooden house and the sound of stir-frying came from the iron pot, the three legendary birds and Groudon suddenly faced Lapras, immediately revealing their ferocious and cruel fangs.
"Little sis, you're something else! You actually dared to agree and even want to be our boss?"
"Who do you think you are? Believe it or not, one Thunderbolt from me will send you to the afterlife!"
"Do we need to use such a high-level move? One Ice Beam from me can turn you into a permanent ice sculpture."
"Hehehe, why not let me just roast you and eat you? Lapras is quite rare, maybe it's delicious."
"Fight fight fight, what's there to fight over? In my opinion, just let me slap you to death."
Lapras, as a Water/Ice-type Pokémon, was so frightened by the intimidation and threats of the four Legendary Pokémon that it actually broke out in a sweat.
Lapras said, feeling wronged, anxiously, "Lord of the Land, three legendary birds, I didn't say those words..."
"What the—!" Groudon was furious.
"You actually want to push the responsibility onto Master?"
"No way! I must teach you a lesson today!"
Lapras was so scared it quickly shrank back, while the three legendary birds played the peacemaker.
"Forget it, forget it, why bother arguing so much with a child? Besides, Master seems to like this thing quite a bit. If we beat it up, Master might make us skip a meal."
What!
Beat me up, and we only skip one meal?
Although I'm several dimensions weaker than Legendary Pokémon, I'm not that worthless, am I?
The three legendary birds, probably getting addicted to playing the peacemaker, persuaded Groudon and then flew in front of Lapras, surrounding it.
"Lapras, it's not that we're being unreasonable, but there's an undeniable gap between your status and strength and ours. You can understand our doubts and displeasure, right?"
Lapras nodded quickly.
Whatever the three legendary birds said was the truth. Don't look at them being quite friendly now—who knew if they would suddenly give it a hard time if it said the wrong thing later?
Lapras didn't have the confidence to withstand the attacks of Legendary Pokémon.
The three legendary birds secretly chuckled. "It's good that you understand. We're not unwelcome to your joining."
"It's just that all the heavy work in the future will have to be done by you, little sis."
"Also, you must never tell Master the secret that we are Legendary Pokémon."
"Otherwise, killing you would be considered light punishment!"
Lapras was taken aback and quickly nodded.
Although it didn't know what it meant, Lapras would do whatever the three legendary birds and the Lord of the Land wanted it to do at this moment without hesitation.
There was no way.
In the Pokémon world, Legendary Pokémon were peak of the mountain!
What could a mere ordinary Champion-level Pokémon like it do to resist?
"Dinner's ready!" Just then, Riku called out from the small wooden house.
The three legendary birds and the Lord of the Land immediately restrained their ferocious expressions and pretended to be well-behaved.
Their quick change of face filled Lapras with endless emotion.
With such quick changes, if they weren't Legendary Pokémon, who would be?
---Support with power stones