At this moment, inside Dragon Valley, Shiko was gripping Charizard's Mega Stone in his hand.
He didn't know why, but as he sensed the ancient genetic aura surging within it, he could clearly perceive a faint resonance stirring in his heart.
However, that resonance was nowhere near enough to let him undergo Mega Evolution.
Or rather, at this stage, it wasn't enough for him to transform his own form.
Shiko examined the Mega Stone for a while. After thinking it over, he put it away.
He didn't need it right now.
But who could guarantee that one day in the future, it wouldn't come in handy?
Inside the valley, countless Dragon-type Pokémon began bustling about feverishly.
Following Shiko's instructions, they had all been mobilized, searching throughout the valley for Dragon Gems.
All the Dragon Gems Himeko had given Shiko had already been completely absorbed.
Exactly fifteen.
They raised his mastery of the attribute law inside his body by 1.5%.
Besides that, in the nests of those Elite Four-level Dragon-type Pokémon, he also found some Dragon Gems.
No more, no less—ten in total.
After absorbing them, he gained another 1%.
In addition, from the weak wild Dragon-type Pokémon, Shiko obtained a batch of Dragon-type energy crystal fragments that those Elite Four-level Dragon-type Pokémon hadn't taken.
After absorbing that large pile of crystal shards, he gained another full 1.5% increase.
Now, the Dragon-type attribute law within his body had reached the peak—99%.
Only 1% remained!
That last 1%…
Within a month, it should be no problem to gather enough!
…
One week later.
In Shiko's hands were already three type-boosting gems.
They were gathered through the diligent searching of the wild Pokémon in the valley.
Shiko was very satisfied with this result.
Three in one week—at that efficiency, a month would be around twelve.
That was more than enough for him to complete his goal.
Tch.
One hundred percent mastery of the Dragon-type law.
Shiko felt a bit emotional.
He still didn't know what kind of change would happen to him after he reached that level of mastery.
At the same time…
Outside the valley, a three-person squad arrived at the valley entrance.
From the way they looked, they were all eighteen or nineteen—still a bit youthful, the immaturity not fully gone.
The Poké Balls hanging at their waists proved their identity: they were all Trainers.
"Stop! The area ahead has been sealed off! Without documents and approval, entry is forbidden!"
At the valley entrance, Military personnel stationed here for observation and guard duty stopped the three of them.
The one walking at the front had a chestnut-colored frizzy perm, and both cheeks were densely freckled.
"Documents? I've got them!"
The frizzy-haired youth grinned and pulled out a document from his pocket.
It indeed bore an official Military stamp.
Only—
That stamp was from the Southern Military Division.
The guards looked at each other.
After exchanging glances, they handed the document back.
"Sorry."
"This is the jurisdiction of our Northern Military Division."
"Your document has no authority here."
The guards spoke with stern expressions.
"No authority?"
"What does that mean?"
"Aren't the four Military divisions one unified body?"
"Fine. Then I'll call the Military's Elite Four and have him talk to you personally."
After being refused, the frizzy-haired youth's face immediately turned ugly. He pulled out his phone, ready to make the call.
"Hey—wait, wait, wait!"
The moment they heard the words "the Military's Elite Four," the guards tensed up.
Even though they belonged to the Northern Military Division, Elite Four from other divisions still weren't people like them could afford to offend.
After weighing it, they hurriedly stopped him.
"Y-you three… what exactly are you going in for?"
Noticing that these three young people seemed to have quite an extraordinary background and status, the guards' tone and wording changed.
They became a bit more respectful.
"What else could it be? Coming to Dragon Valley is obviously to catch wild Pokémon!"
The frizzy-haired youth snorted.
Catching Pokémon?
If that was the case, letting them in didn't seem like it would be a problem.
"Good. That's more like it."
The frizzy-haired youth nodded.
Hands clasped behind his back, he swaggered in with big, arrogant strides.
Watching the three disappear into the valley, the guards began whispering among themselves.
"Should we report this up the chain?"
"Are you stupid? Report my ass!"
"If these guys really have huge connections behind them, reporting is pointless anyway!"
"And if they don't, and we let them in, then that's dereliction of duty!"
"No matter which it is, it doesn't benefit us!"
"So we'll just act like this never happened."
Hearing that, everyone present nodded.
It really did make sense.
"But what if they run into trouble inside?"
Someone pressed again.
"Relax. The chaos in there has already settled down."
"Those Elite Four-level Pokémon all got beaten into a miserable state!"
"Without a month, they basically won't recover."
"Besides, even if something happens to them, they went in on their own."
"It won't be on us."
Once that analysis came out, everyone there showed knowing smiles.
…
Inside the valley, the three advanced along a narrow, rugged path.
"Roki-nii-san, is it really okay for us to do this?"
"Yeah… I keep feeling uneasy. If they really investigate, won't we be exposed?"
The two young people behind the frizzy-haired youth looked nervous and uneasy.
"What are you afraid of?"
Roki smiled, revealing two rows of gleaming teeth.
"Relax. They won't report it, because reporting doesn't benefit them in any way."
Roki looked confident.
"Besides, this is Dragon Valley—a gathering place for Dragon-type Pokémon!"
"Not everyone gets the chance to come here and catch wild Pokémon!"
"I got inside information: the unrest here ended long ago. It's only still sealed for certain reasons."
"So right now, we're getting in first and taking the advantage!"
"Don't forget—one month from now, we still have to compete with the Military for the qualification to enter Mt. Silver!"
"If we don't seize the time to make ourselves stronger, are we just going to let this opportunity slip away for nothing?"
Roki fired off a long string of points, one after another.
Every point hit the key.
The two behind him fell silent.
They mulled over what Roki had said, then quietly nodded.
That was the logic.
After all, the temptation of Dragon-type Pokémon was simply too strong.
If their luck was good and they really managed to catch a powerful Pokémon with high potential, then their future would be bright.
The two looked at the slender back ahead and felt a surge of emotion.
So this was the frightening new S+-rated genius rookie Trainer, publicly recognized by the principals of all Pokémon universities as a once-in-a-century talent.
Just this level of composure and boldness was beyond what ordinary people could ever reach.
Amazing.
"Roki-nii-san, we'll try our luck catching Pokémon around here. What about you?"
As they entered the outer region of the valley, they could already see plenty of wild Pokémon traces in the surrounding woodland, grassland, and streams.
They decided to stop here and catch wild Pokémon.
"I'm going deeper to take a look."
Roki spoke, his gaze turning toward the valley's depths—the towering, majestic mountain peaks.
The further in one went, the higher the potential and level of the wild Pokémon.
Since he had finally come here, he naturally wanted to do everything he could to catch the strongest Pokémon possible.
And as a genius Trainer, Roki naturally had his own pride.
"Alright! Then be careful!"
Nodding, the three split into two groups and headed in completely different directions.
Roki passed through a narrow mountain crevice, and the view opened up again.
Here, he found quite a few wild Dragon-type Pokémon.
Compared to the weak Dragon-type Pokémon on the outskirts, the Pokémon here were basically professional-level as a baseline, with a huge number of elite-level ones as well.
However, their behavior left Roki completely baffled.
They didn't look relaxed at all, the way wild Pokémon normally should.
One by one, they kept their heads lowered, repeatedly scanning and checking the ground beneath their feet, as if seriously searching for something.
Some Pokémon even used moves directly on the ground, blasting the uneven earth again and again into deep holes.
Then they used sharp claws to search inside those pits.
Even stranger, these Pokémon didn't seem to care at all about Roki's arrival.
After giving him a quick glance, they immediately withdrew their gaze again and returned to what they were doing.
Roki was full of doubts.
He couldn't understand what was going on here at all.
It was the complete opposite of what he had imagined.
Roki stopped and observed seriously for a while.
Suddenly, he noticed a Pokémon in this rocky mountain area.
From a pit in front of it, it dug out a sparkling blue gemstone.
A Dragon Gem.
An extremely rare and valuable item!
Its market price was in the tens of millions!
And recently, because of what happened in Dragon Valley, Dragon Gems had almost completely disappeared from circulation in the market.
So this time, besides wanting to catch a Dragon-type Pokémon, one of Roki's main goals was also to find a precious Dragon Gem here and use it on his own Pokémon.
Could it be that so many Pokémon were gathered here for the purpose of searching for gems?
That didn't make sense.
Pokémon generally wouldn't do something like this.
Roki frowned.
Just as he was about to go after that Flapple that had obtained the Dragon Gem, he saw that it actually grabbed the gem and shot off, flying toward a nearby mountain peak.
Huh?
What was this?
Roki froze.
Then, without any hesitation, he followed.
He stayed not far behind Flapple, carefully hiding his presence.
A dozen seconds later, he reached the mountain's peak.
On a flat stretch of ground, he saw an incomparably huge, burly figure.
Flapple flapped its wings and drew close to the figure's side.
Then, with a manner that was both cautious and devout, it presented the gem.
Th-this…
Was this Pokémon one of the rulers of the entire valley?
Roki couldn't help thinking to himself.
Staring at that somewhat blurry outline of a back, he rapidly searched his mind for a Pokémon that matched that silhouette.
That kind of massive build…
Tyrantrum?
No. Not that big.
Tyranitar?
No. That's not a Dragon-type Pokémon.
Then…?
What Pokémon was this thing!?
In his mind, Roki practically flipped through the entire Pokédex.
And then he made a shocking discovery.
Among all known Pokémon, there wasn't a single one that overlapped with the back silhouette in front of him.
My god.
What now?
What Pokémon is this thing!?
(End of Chapter)
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