The ten Trainers couldn't hide the excitement on their faces.
Beyond this entrance lay the Dragon's Den, the largest sanctuary in the Pokémon world and home to the greatest concentration of Dragon-type Pokémon.
"Very well. You may enter now."
Clair said calmly.
The Trainers paid little attention to her tone. The moment they heard those words, they immediately had their Pokémon carry them into the Dragon's Den.
Silas did the same, though he didn't forget to wave goodbye to Clair first.
"Rooaar!"
The Dragonite beneath Clair waved one of its claws at Silas.
It was looking forward to seeing which Dragon-type hatchling this newly acquainted human would bring back. Maybe it could even borrow the little one to play with.
As Silas and the other nine outside Trainers disappeared into the cave, more and more Dragon Tamers dressed in traditional attire gradually emerged around the lake.
"Rise, Dragons!"
A ceremonial chant echoed across the lake.
Somewhere in the distance, the faint roars of dragons answered in unison.
Inside the Dragon's Den.
The ten Trainers landed on the ground and exchanged glances.
"I hope everyone succeeds in catching the Pokémon they're after. I'll be on my way first."
A Trainer dressed as a Firebreather was the first to leave the group alone.
With a Elite-level Typhlosion and Flareon, he ranked among the strongest of the ten competitors.
At every stage of a battle, Fire-types were known for their incredible offensive power.
He had every confidence in himself.
"Good luck, everyone."
"May fortune favor you."
The remaining nine Trainers exchanged brief words of encouragement before splitting up.
Everyone except the three siblings who had all made it into the top ten.
Even traveling together, however, only guaranteed their personal safety. At the very least, they wouldn't accidentally wander into the territory of an overwhelmingly powerful Pokémon with no way to defend themselves.
As for actually catching Pokémon, the saying "strength in numbers" simply didn't apply here.
Inside the Dragon's Den, humans were the ones outnumbered.
Looking at the now-empty passage ahead, Silas subconsciously rubbed his nose.
"They all left in such a hurry."
As expected of experienced Trainers. Every one of them acted decisively.
"Blaziken, come on out."
He casually tossed a Poké Ball, and the tall Blaziken appeared beside him.
"I'll be counting on you for a while."
Silas smiled.
Blaziken silently nodded, its eyes glowing with a soft yet brilliant blue light.
Silas had no intention of rushing straight to the deepest part of the Dragon's Den in search of his ideal partner.
The Dragon Clan had given them plenty of time to explore, enough for him to thoroughly search the entire Dragon's Den at his own pace.
If the outer areas happened to contain Pokémon with Champion-level potential, such as Charizard or Kingdra, he certainly wouldn't mind adding them to his list of candidates.
After all, they could be considered honorary dragons.
What? Someone says they don't count?
Then that person must be wrong, because Dragon Tamers say they do.
Blaziken's Aura spread outward like invisible waves, sweeping through the surrounding area.
Under its Aura perception, almost no Pokémon could remain hidden.
"There's a Charizard colony to the northeast, though their overall strength isn't particularly impressive.
"To their southeast is a group of Kangaskhan.
"The western area has dense Water-type energy. Poliwag and Wooper live there."
In only three or four minutes, Blaziken had already mapped out the nearby Pokémon populations.
"As expected. The Pokémon living on the outermost layer are pretty common."
Silas nodded.
The Dragon's Den wasn't inhabited solely by Dragon-type Pokémon.
Since Pokémon breeding depended on Egg Groups rather than species, many Pokémon could produce offspring with Dragon-types.
Because Dragon-types were naturally powerful, these mixed-blood descendants usually possessed above-average talent and strength.
Of course, that was only compared to the average of their own species. The improvement wasn't dramatic, usually just somewhat stronger than normal members of the same species.
Even so, these non-Dragon Pokémon carrying Dragon bloodlines were highly desirable to many Trainers.
Before Pidgeot had absorbed the Sacred Fire, it had belonged to this category.
"Let's keep moving and see what we find."
After thinking it over, Silas followed the Dragon Clan's trail deeper into the Dragon's Den.
It was obvious that the Pokémon living along the outermost edge wouldn't meet his expectations.
Otherwise, they wouldn't still be living here.
Whether true Dragon-types or non-Dragon Pokémon with Dragon bloodlines, they were all incredibly proud.
If they possessed the strength to live deeper inside, most of them would fight to claim territory for their own clans.
There were exceptions, but they were extremely rare.
Blaziken remained silent, walking beside Silas with its eyes still glowing blue.
The information gathered through Aura constantly flowed into its mind before being organized and relayed back to Silas.
Scraggy, Helioptile, Treecko, Slowpoke.
All sorts of Pokémon could be found throughout the Dragon's Den.
Honestly, Silas was a little speechless.
No matter the world, dragons always seemed to share one particular personality trait and the dragons of the Pokémon world were no exception.
Fortunately, after traveling a considerable distance and reaching roughly the middle section of the Dragon's Den, the number of Pokémon species decreased significantly.
Most of the remaining populations consisted of starter Pokémon and other particularly powerful species.
Take the starters, for example.
Tracing their ancestry back far enough, species such as Garchomp, Haxorus, and Druddigon could all have been ancestors somewhere along their evolutionary lineage.
They all belonged to the Monster Egg Group.
Watching a Chikorita leisurely stroll past him, Silas barely resisted the urge to pet it.
He might not find Meganium's design particularly appealing, but that didn't change the fact that Chikorita was absolutely adorable.
Perhaps because they rarely encountered humans in the Dragon's Den and hadn't experienced humanity's "sinister ways," every young Pokémon here was remarkably friendly.
Especially after Silas took out a large assortment of homemade snacks specially prepared for young Pokémon.
The delicious aroma immediately drew every nearby baby Pokémon toward him.
Before long, he was completely surrounded.
Not far away, the Firebreather who had departed first stared blankly at the premium Pokémon treats in his own hands before looking at the bustling crowd around Silas.
No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong.
His snacks were the highest-quality products available on the market, yet the young Pokémon in the Dragon's Den hardly paid them any attention.
Well not exactly.
More accurately, they only took a few polite bites.
After all, the Blackthorn Dragon Clan spared no expense when raising these little ones.
Every single one of them was a precious treasure.
While they weren't fed luxury treats every single day, they still received them regularly.
Raised with great care by the Dragon Tamers, these young Pokémon had much more refined tastes than their wild counterparts.
The reason Silas was so popular was simple.
The Pokémon snacks he carried were all homemade.
Specially crafted to suit each member of his team's individual preferences, they instantly awakened the appetites of every youngster in the Dragon's Den.
"Chiko!"
One Chikorita swung the long leaf on its head, aggressively chasing away the other young Pokémon.
Its fierce expression clearly declared that it had discovered the snacks first.
Now that's an interesting personality.
Silas's eyes lit up slightly.
Normally, Chikorita were known for their exceptionally gentle temperaments. This one was clearly an outlier among its species.
He had to admit, a personality like that was much better suited for battle.
If it were living in the wild, plenty of Trainers would probably be interested in catching a Chikorita like this.
"Totodile!"
At the same time, a nearby Totodile paid the Chikorita no attention whatsoever.
With a forceful shove from its sturdy body, the seemingly fierce Chikorita was knocked aside.
Before Chikorita could angrily retaliate, another Totodile from the same group suddenly lunged forward and clamped its jaws tightly onto the first Totodile's tail.
"Tototo!"
The two Totodile instantly tumbled into a full-blown wrestling match.
"Chiko! Chikorita!"
Chikorita quickly scrambled back to its feet and walked over, seemingly trying to stop the two Pokémon from fighting.
Instead, the Totodile that had attacked first became even more excited.
"It's saying, 'Stop fighting. At this rate, nothing's going to happen.'"
Blaziken translated with a thoroughly confused expression.
It was the first time it had ever heard someone trying to break up a fight like that.
Silas couldn't help laughing.
The funniest part was that the Chikorita was male, while the two Totodile rolling around on the ground were both female.
He had somehow ended up witnessing a melodramatic love triangle in real time.
"Nido!"
"Squirtle!"
"Cynda!"
While the three Pokémon were busy fighting, the other baby Pokémon silently and efficiently divided up the snacks in Silas's hands among themselves.
Judging from how practiced they were, this clearly wasn't the first time they'd done something like this.
They're much friendlier toward people than wild Pokémon and every one of them has such a distinct personality.
Silas smiled to himself.
Only Pokémon that never had to worry about food could afford to be this lively and carefree.
Having a strong personality wasn't necessarily a bad thing either.
The real problem was when a Pokémon became so self-centered that it completely ignored its Trainer's commands.
The parents of the young Pokémon lounged lazily around the area, scattered in different directions.
Every so often, one of them would glance toward Silas.
Having witnessed the Dragon Ceremony more than once, they naturally knew why he had come.
As long as he didn't do anything to harm their children, the parents couldn't be bothered to interfere.
After all, when they had been young themselves, many of them had dreamed of leaving with a human Trainer to see the outside world. Any Trainer recognized by the Dragon Clan was considered an excellent choice.
Unfortunately the adult Pokémon silently sighed as they looked toward the deeper regions of the Dragon's Den.
Compared to the powerful Pokémon living farther inside, they simply weren't outstanding enough.
Exceptional Trainers rarely set their sights on Pokémon like them.
Even though most of them could eventually reach the Pseudo-Elite level.
As long as they hadn't reached the Elite level, however, the appeal of Dragon-type Pokémon was simply too overwhelming.
After spending some time playing with all the nearby baby Pokémon or more accurately, waiting for Zero to finish evaluating their potential, Silas finally stood up and prepared to continue deeper into the Dragon's Den.
...
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