Swept away with the current, Tekai found himself deposited down a waterfall, and splashed into a wide, seemingly endless ocean of water.
The sound of rushing water, and droplets coming from the ceiling was a constant companion.
Cold seeped into his bones, and threatened to overwhelm him with hypothermia.
Almost instinctively, Tekai performed the Dragon Dance, and warmed himself up as Yang natured chakra spread throughout his body.
Fortunately, the water didn't weigh down his clothes, as they were made of a special material giving it a quality similar to seal skin. Tekai didn't know how the Ryu Clan did it, he was just thankful that it worked.
Looking around, Tekai could barely see 10ft in front of him. As a member of Clan Ryu, he noticed he could generally see in the dark better than the average civilian. On a moonless night, it could be said that his vision was about as good as anyone with a powerful flashlight in hand.
That being said, there was a heavy chakra fog in the air blocking his sight. Although it wasn't directly touching him, it was so heavy, it pressed upon his psyche like a genjutsu.
Majesty. Fortune. Tyranny.
These three concepts seemed to weigh heavily on Tekai as he breathed in the bone chilling air that suffused the Dragons Den.
"Karp!"
"Gil?!" Tekai called out in surprise as the golden magikarp took the lead.
Swimming after his new Pokémon companion, Tekai found he had to actively use the Dragon Dance while he swam to keep up.
For a creature that was just hatched, Gilgamesh was surprisingly agile!
When he caught up, he saw his magikarp eating on some plant, his eyes practically smiled in joy as he took several big bites.
"Sheesh buddy, you should have told me you were hungry." Tekai patted Gil on the back, and rubbed his belly.
Tekai smiled at the sight of his Pokémon enjoying his first meal.
However, the sudden sound of a splash in the water, and a distant-yet all too close-blood curdling all too human scream had him raise his hackles in alarm.
He heard the brief sound of combat, a Pokémon's cry, and then nothing.
Silence permeated the mist.
A moment later, the sound of bones crunching entered his ears, and the scent of blood tickled his nose.
It was a soft, subtle sound, and a smell he was not particularly familiar with, but his senses were no longer those of a regular human, and he recognized what his instincts were screaming at him.
To him, it was as if those bones were being crunched upon right next to him.
Finding his hands to be slightly trembling, Tekai balled them into fists, and bit his tongue.
Looking towards the direction of the murder, Tekai was going to go in the opposite direction, but Gil slowly swam towards the site of the conflict.
Tekai eyed his new companion in shock. Going ahead for some food was understandable when you had literally never eaten anything before. But chasing after a fight with an unknown foe?
"Gil are you crazy?" Tekai whispered.
A flurry of emotions seemed to hit Tekai one after another.
'Strength. Growth. Dominate. Evolve.'
Tekai wanted to smack the fish for a fool, yet ultimately held himself back.
What Gil said made some sense.
For Pokémon to evolve and grow stronger, they must fight. Like Saiyans from DBZ, a Pokémon would become a little bit stronger every time they engaged in a challenging fight.
From studying the scrolls left behind by his benefactor, Tekai knew that sharing combat experience and chakra with trained Pokémon was the fastest means for growth.
But knowing something in a book, and seeing it in real life were entirely different concepts!
He knew this was a world dominated by the supernatural, that all his training would one day lead to violence. But he had been so caught up in getting a Pokémon companion, and having fun improving himself, that the ninja aspect of his new grim reality hadn't really kicked in yet.
Taking a deep breath, Tekai silently followed after Gil. He knew from watching many nature documentaries that the three best times to kill an animal were during: feeding, mating, or in birth/adolescence.
As sickening as it was, Tekai decided to use the death of his fellow clan member, a child to ambush the creature.
Nearing the place where he had last heard the scream, Tekai came across a scene of macabre horror.
Two krabby were on an embankment, picking apart a young boy, and his charmander. Their pincers easily sliced through their flesh, and they hurriedly gorged themselves. The boy was missing half his face, and the charmander was practically a skeleton.
Tekai wanted to puke as his enhanced senses almost threatened to overwhelm him.
'Strength. Evolve. Kill!' Gil transmitted with conviction.
Tekai swallowed some acidic bile, and knew Gil to be right. Besides, if he didn't act now, the pair of krabby would have eaten their fill, and would no longer be in a prime position to be ambushed.
Centering himself, Tekai recalled the katas he had trained with Uncle a thousand times, then moved forward.
He planned to pounce on top of one, and forcefully press it down, then continue with his forward momentum, and springboard off it to assault the next krabby.
Plan in place, he acted.
Unleashing the Dragon Dance, Tekai came upon the back of one krabby, and focused all of his strength into his legs. Stomping down onto its armored shell, he was surprised to find his leg enter the top of its shell, and exit the bottom, hitting ground. His leg acted like a hole puncher, and the krabby came apart like a piece of paper.
It seemed he had underestimated his strength, as his leg was caught, and he couldn't easily springboard from his current position.
"Karp!" Gil warned.
Shaking his head to snap out of the surprisingly easy kill, Tekai leaned back, narrowly dodging a snapped claw on his chin.
At the same time, Tekai moved on instinct, and flicked his foot at his foe. As a result, he launched the corpse of the first krabby into the second one.
The shelled body flew like a soccer ball, and knocked the living krabby off balance.
As the Pokémon's blood scattered on the wind, Tekai's nose twitched and he felt his belly rumble in hunger, surprising him, and causing him to pause a second longer as he processed these new sensations.
'Pursue. Eat. Kill. Stronger!' Gil transmitted once more.
Tekai shook his head, and ran at the krabby.
It was now trying to retreat, and slip back into the water. The krabby blew bubbles at Tekai as he grew near.
Several of the round orbs collided with a hanging stalactite, breaking it into pieces.
Tekai widened his eyes at the unexpected power of the slow moving bubbles, and cautiously rolled under some that he had initially planned on running through.
Sliding forward, Tekai sprang forth in a lunge, and caught the pincers aiming at his face.
"Come on!" Tekai shouted as he exerted his power to the limit.
A moment later, the soft pop of its arms coming off, and a sudden loss of force holding him in place had Tekai fall flat on his ass.
The krabby glared hatefully at him, and continued to retreat, however, Gil had been busy, and had dragged over some kelp-like plants, tangling the krabby up.
Tekai was taking deep, bellowing breaths as he stood to his feet. He felt his hands shake, not in fear, but in excitement. Winning at a ranked match in a video game was exhilarating, but this was a rush like nothing he had felt before!
Looking down, he saw the reflection of a madman in the stream, and quickly composed himself.
Letting out a deep breath, Tekai scanned his surroundings, to see if his commotion had drawn in another ambusher.
Noticing the reflection of something moving in the water, Tekai took the pincers, and tossed them at the object.
Whatever it was seemed to be satisfied with his offer, and chased after it.
'Feast. Feast. Feast!' Gil transmitted through their bond.
Tekai felt his stomach growl like never before, and he looked at the still struggling, fearful krabby. He then looked at the corpse of the boy and his companion.
Frowning, he refused to eat anything that had tasted human flesh, much less something that still had human blood in its system.
But if he was to thrive in this world, his companion had to get stronger…
And it wasn't like he could just bond with another Pokémon. According to the scrolls, it took a certain amount of chakra and control to be able to meld with more than one. Typically Genin had 1, Chunin 2, Special Jounin 3, Jonin 4, Elite Jounin 5, and kage 6.
So while he could stick to a moral code, he would have to be more flexible if he wanted to evolve this magikarp into a gyarados one day.
"It's all yours buddy." Tekai gave the go ahead.
He then reached down to the still caught crabby, and he swiftly stuck his fingers into its eyes, and kept pushing deeper till it stopped moving.
Tekai then pried the hard parts off, and began to pop white krabby flesh into Gil's wide open mouth.
'Tasty. Tasty!' Gil emoted as he swam in circles.
Tekai tried to smile, but the corpses of the boy and charmander were weighing on him heavily.
Sighing, he eventually decided to do what was expected of him.
"O ancestors on high, watch over the soul of our kin. From water we rise, to water we fall." Tekai clasped his hands in prayer, and then he lowered the pair of bodies into the seemingly bottomless lake that was the Dragons Den.
Taking a moment to collect himself, and allow Gil to finish eating, Tekai jumped in the water.
"Karp." Gil approached from the side, and spat out a pure, blue orb of chakra the size of a grape. Within its center, a barely percentage green chakra energy floated about, and vaguely reminded Tekai of the core of a plum.
Tekai recognized this from a drawing he once saw. It was a way for trainers and Pokémon to grow stronger together. It was the chakra that a Pokémon could not fully digest after a kill.
He never really thought much about it, but with the addition of Pokémon to the world, this type of training really would incentivize the worst sorts of people.
Mustering up a smile, Tekai patted Gil on the crown of his head, and accepted the orb with his hand.
Hesitating for a moment, Tekai shoved it in his mouth, and swallowed it.
A small burst of chakra flooded his systems, and he felt that all the energy he had expended on the fight had been restored.
Furthermore, he felt as if he had grown minutely.
This was his first taste of an 'experience' orb, and already, he could see how this could become addictive.
'Forward. More. More!' Gil greedily flapped Tekai with his tail fin, and swam deeper into the cavern.
Tekai hated to admit it, but this baby Pokémon had a better killer instinct than he did.
While he wanted to feel some kind of way and mourn over the boy and his charmander, Tekai always knew, deep down, that this is what feudal life was about.
One day, perhaps even today, that could be him.
To prevent that, he had to get even stronger.
"Wait for me, Gil!"
Jumping off the embankment, Tekai caught up to the golden magikarp, and the pair began to search for their next target.
He wondered if EV's (effort values) were a thing in this world. That the 'experience' orbs obtained from certain types of Pokémon were better than others. Like maybe a geodudes orb might increase his defense, whereas a machop might increase his attacking power. Did special attack correlate too how strong a ninjutsu would be?
This was something worth looking into, because as figuratively hungry for these chakra orbs as he was, he noticed that consuming the orb had left him experiencing a 'sated' sensation.
Could it be possible that there was a limit to how many of these orbs the human body could accept, or that only so many could be absorbed at one time?
Because if this was the case, then it would be important to identify which Pokémon would be worth hunting.
He could min-max his gains, and go all in on things like speed, or attack if he wanted to be a physical fighter, or special attack should he want stronger jutsu.
This was really something worth investigating. Because if this was true, then he could find a way to cherry pick the best Pokémon to farm 'exp' orbs from, and tailor fit his own build, and his future teams build around a certain path for battle.
Tekai hadn't read any scrolls theorizing this concept, and he was starting to really get excited. He had a few ideas on how to train a Pokémon through tried and true tropes. But this one mechanic-if true-could put him above all the rest of the trainers out there.
Having tasted the fruits of what an 'easy' advancement, he was hungering for more.
Researching new ways to interact with his Pokémon was so exciting!