Aoki Chishiro let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"So let's skip the polite compliments. This should count as, six Pokémon traded for half of one?"
"Haha..."
Silas scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
Looking purely at the battlefield, Aoki's Pokémon had barely managed to inflict any meaningful damage.
The most heavily injured member of Silas's team was Gigalith, and even it only had a few patches of corrosive damage on its rocky body.
For a Rock-type like Gigalith, those injuries were little more than cosmetic repairs.
"Forget it. I was just unlucky enough to run into you."
Aoki recovered from the loss remarkably quickly.
After recalling all six of his Pokémon, he smiled and extended his hand.
"Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Aoki Chishiro, from Viridian City, Kanto."
"Huh?!"
Silas froze in surprise.
"Looks like your intelligence gathering wasn't very thorough."
Aoki chuckled.
Generally speaking, a Trainer's hometown often gave clues about the type they specialized in.
For example, people from Cinnabar Island often specialized in Fire-types because of the volcano, while Trainers from Vermilion City tended to favor Water-types or Electric-types due to the harbor and nearby Power Plant.
Knowing an opponent's hometown before a battle could sometimes help with tactical decisions.
That was why Aoki had teased him.
Of course, in reality, the influence wasn't that significant. Most Trainers didn't pay much attention to where their opponents came from.
Even Trainers who started their journey in Cerulean City could specialize in Fire-, Electric-, or even Grass-type Pokémon.
That didn't change the fact that the Cerulean Gym remained Kanto's premier Water-type Gym.
After learning they both came from Viridian City, the conversation between them immediately became much smoother.
Once they exchanged contact information, Silas discovered that the two of them had actually crossed paths before.
"I never expected you to be Uncle Fatty's son."
Silas sighed in amazement.
Aoki laughed.
"I still remember the year I came home on vacation. The first time you ate at my family's all-you-can-eat restaurant, you practically emptied the place. My old man's heart nearly broke watching you."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Silas nearly choked from embarrassment.
That was definitely one of his darkest memories.
Back then, Pidgeot had only recently evolved into Pidgeotto, and Silas had just finished several missions, leaving his pockets stuffed with what he considered a small fortune.
Feeling unusually wealthy, he'd splurged 13,000 Poké Dollars on an all-you-can-eat meal.
At the time, that was an enormous amount of money for him, roughly a week's worth of earnings.
Since he'd spent that much, he naturally intended to get every Poké Dollar's worth.
Both he and Pidgeotto were still growing then, so together they devoured nearly five times the amount a normal person and Pokémon would eat.
If Uncle Fatty, the restaurant owner, hadn't kindly driven him home afterward, Silas probably wouldn't have been able to move until the middle of the night.
He had simply eaten far too much.
Uncle Fatty hadn't actually been upset about the cost. That amount of food barely mattered to him.
He had simply felt sorry for Silas, who had grown up in an orphanage.
After that meal, the two gradually became close.
Silas visited the restaurant once every month, and Uncle Fatty always gave him generous discounts.
He'd often heard Uncle Fatty mention that he had a son traveling as a Pokémon Trainer, and that he was quite talented.
But Silas had never imagined that son would turn out to be today's opponent.
In fact, when Silas returned to Viridian City last year, Uncle Fatty had even suggested asking his son to mentor him.
"Looks like my old man is going to kick me when I get home."
Aoki knew perfectly well how his adoptive father liked to brag about him.
To be fair, having a Elite-level Pokémon Trainer? No.
Having an Elite-level Pokémon at twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old was already an incredible achievement. It was only natural that Uncle Fatty was proud.
Unfortunately he had chosen the wrong person to boast to.
The two continued chatting and laughing amid the battlefield's scattered rubble, paying little attention to the passing time.
Mostly because their battle had ended so quickly.
The fights around them were still raging, making it inconvenient to leave.
About fifteen minutes later, after the sounds of nearby battles finally died down, Aoki brushed the dust off his clothes and stood.
"Well then, I'm off."
"Next time you're back home, come eat at my family's restaurant."
"And don't forget to catch yourself a Dragon-type Pokémon. My old man and I want to see what you've got."
He waved without turning around before disappearing into the maze of stone pillars.
"Don't worry, that'll be easy."
Silas replied with a grin.
Meeting someone he knew while competing in Johto truly was a strange coincidence.
"Come to think of it, even though they're adopted, the two of them really are close."
He murmured to himself.
Uncle Fatty, the restaurant owner, had always remained a lifelong bachelor.
Aoki had been adopted from the Viridian City Orphanage.
That wasn't unusual.
Because Viridian City bordered Viridian Forest, it had one of the largest orphan populations in the world.
Many local families without children chose to adopt from there.
Back when Silas was still living in the orphanage, plenty of families had wanted to adopt him as well.
Even then, he had already shown extraordinary talent in Pokémon-related studies, far surpassing children his own age.
If people were going to adopt a child, why not adopt the most gifted one?
Silas had turned every one of them down.
His reason was simple.
He wasn't used to the idea.
Neither the League nor the orphanage director could force him.
After all, adoption was meant to give children a family they wanted, not one they were pressured into joining.
With those thoughts behind him, Silas looked toward his recovering partners.
"You've all recovered, right?"
"You'll have to put in some serious work tonight."
He smiled.
"Piiidgeot!"
Pidgeot landed confidently, flapping its wings while proudly thumping its broad chest.
Leave it to me! I'll make sure we bring back an outstanding new teammate!
Although it was called the Dragon Den, much of it was actually open to the sky.
Otherwise, most Flying Dragon-type Pokémon wouldn't be able to live there comfortably.
So Pidgeot wasn't worried about being unable to show off its strength.
The rest of the team voiced their confidence as well.
Togekiss even floated through the air, proudly declaring that any Dragon-type Pokémon that challenged them would be defeated.
P.S. Elite Four-level and above excluded.
Unlike battle-crazed Pokémon, Togekiss knew its limits.
It had no interest in challenging opponents far stronger than itself.
An elegant Pokémon like it preferred staying at a distance and firing off Air Slash.
Silas rolled his eyes, grabbed one of its tiny paws, and pulled it back down.
"This lazy habit of yours isn't going away anytime soon, is it?"
After confirming that even Gigalith, the one with the most severe injuries had almost completely recovered, he recalled all of his Pokémon and left the battlefield.
Back at the drawing area, several victorious Trainers had already gathered.
"Looks like this so-called genius isn't all that impressive. It took him this long to beat someone even with a two-on-one advantage against an Elite-level Pokémon."
Several people silently reached that conclusion.
It sounded reasonable.
Unfortunately, it wasn't based on enough evidence.
Silas paid no attention to their glances.
Instead, he walked straight over to Clair and began chatting with her.
Rather than idle conversation, he was taking the opportunity to learn more detailed information about Dragon-type Pokémon—their habits, behaviors, and characteristics.
That knowledge would be invaluable once he entered the Dragon Den.
Clair held nothing back, sharing many details known only within the Clan of Dragons.
However, when Silas asked what the flower the Dragon Elder had given him was for, Clair merely smiled mysteriously.
"You'll find out once you enter the Dragon Den."
"My advice?"
"Wear it on your head."
Wear a flower on his head?
Silas wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea.
Still, ignoring Clair's advice didn't seem like the wisest choice.
After thinking it over, he decided to pin the flower to his clothes instead.
"The Dragon's Den can roughly be divided into three regions. The deeper you go, the stronger and more talented the Pokémon become.
"If you're hoping to catch a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary, you'll have to venture into the deepest area. Otherwise, a Charizard would actually be a pretty good choice."
Clair patiently explained everything she knew about the Dragon's Den.
The other Trainers nearby quietly pricked up their ears, secretly grateful that Silas was around.
From their conversation, it was obvious Silas probably had some insider information. But so what?
Surely nobody actually believed they would fail to catch a Dragon-type Pokémon simply because someone else caught one first right?
In the end, it all came down to strength.
"Since Dragonite serves as the guardian of the Dragon's Den, the deepest region is home to a large population of Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite.
"As for Garchomp, I think there are only three clans, but they're incredibly powerful. Their overall strength is second only to the Dragonite clan.
"There are more Salamence clans, probably three or four, but they're heavily suppressed by the Garchomp clans.
"There are also plenty of Haxorus, though they're relatively mild-tempered. Most of the time they stay within their own territory and won't attack unless someone invades it.
"As for Pokémon like Hydreigon, they do exist as well, but they're usually solitary rather than living in groups. That's just the nature of Dragon-types."
It was perfectly normal for Garchomp and Salamence to fight.
After all, both species preyed on bird Pokémon.
More specifically, Pokémon like Pidgeotto and Fearow.
A Pidgeot was simply too fast. Even for Dragon-types, hunting one wasn't easy.
Competition over prey was natural, even though food was plentiful within the Dragon's Den.
More often than not, their battles were about asserting dominance rather than securing food.
Judging from Clair's description, Garchomp seemed to hold the upper hand despite being at a type disadvantage.
Silas silently raised Garchomp's priority to match Dragonite's, placing both above Salamence.
As for powerful Dragon-types like Haxorus and Hydreigon, he wasn't especially interested.
Still, if nothing else worked out, he wouldn't mind trying to catch an Axew.
At the very least, Haxorus possessed incredible offensive power, and its pure Dragon typing meant it wasn't burdened with awkward secondary weaknesses.
Clair had no idea what Silas was thinking.
To her, every Dragon-type Pokémon was equally lovable.
Of course, considering how difficult Dragon-types were to raise, even she had no intention of catching every one she encountered. Trying to train that many Dragon-types would drive anyone crazy.
Clap! Clap!
After checking the time and counting the remaining Trainers, Clair suddenly slapped her hands together.
"Oh, honestly. Talking with you made me completely lose track of time."
She shot Silas a mildly reproachful look.
Silas simply shrugged.
You're blaming me for that?
Seeing his reaction, Clair rolled her eyes before turning to the eleven remaining Trainers.
"Next, Dragonite will determine which Trainer is unfortunately eliminated."
"Roo."
The chubby Dragonite beside her smiled innocently before pointing a claw at an inconspicuous young man wearing glasses.
"Figures. It's me."
The bespectacled Trainer didn't protest. He merely sighed.
His strength truly ranked among the weakest remaining competitors.
His only Elite-level Pokémon was a Cacturne, which wasn't exactly known for having a favorable matchup in most situations.
The only reason he'd won the previous round was because luck had paired him against a Water-type specialist.
Although his opponent's Elite-level Blastoise was powerful, it had been completely shut down by Cacturne's Water Absorb Ability.
Looking back, maybe losing earlier would've been better.
At least then he wouldn't have experienced this crushing disappointment.
Clair offered a few words of comfort.
"Don't worry. Even though you've been eliminated, the Blackthorn Clan will provide generous compensation."
The man smiled bitterly and nodded.
"Then I'll take my leave."
A guaranteed, valuable reward versus the uncertain chance of obtaining a Dragon-type Pokémon.
It was hard to say which was truly more worthwhile.
Still, anyone would rather gamble on the latter.
After all, fortune favors the bold.
Soon, the bespectacled Trainer departed the valley under the escort of one of the Dragon Tamers.
"Congratulations to the remaining ten Trainers on earning the right to enter the Dragon's Den.
"Before we go in, there are several rules you must remember.
"First, you may not use coercive methods outside of a proper capture battle to force a Pokémon into submission. Nor may you use technological devices to attack them. Should such actions result in injury or death, the Blackthorn Clan will bear no responsibility.
"Second, while attempting to capture a Pokémon, every Trainer must...."
With everything settled, Clair pulled out a long scroll and began reading aloud.
The rules went on for nearly ten minutes, leaving even Silas feeling sleepy.
In short, there was only one real principle:
Capture Pokémon through proper means.
Battle them fairly.
Win their acknowledgment.
Lure them with food if you wanted.
But forget about overwhelming them with numbers or relying on dirty tricks.
Judging by the expressions of the other nine Trainers, however, each of them probably had their own ideas.
Seeing this, Clair could only sigh softly.
"I can only ask you all to take care of yourselves. The Blackthorn Clan are merely the guardians of the Dragon's Den, not its owners. There are many things even we cannot control.
"Now then follow me."
With that, she mounted Dragonite once more and flew toward the distant sky.
This time, none of the remaining ten Trainers held anything back.
Each summoned their fastest Flying-type Pokémon and followed after her.
Moments later, they arrived before a gigantic stone dragon's head, half-submerged beneath the water.
This was the entrance to the Dragon's Den
the sacred homeland of Dragon-type Pokémon.
...
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