According to Zero's analysis, the best potential among these young Pokémon was only Pseudo-Elite level.
That's right, only.
Out in the wild, finding even a single Pokémon with Pseudo-Elite potential in an entire forest would already be considered incredibly fortunate.
Take the Piplup he had encountered in the underground cave beneath Mt. Mortar, for example.
Normally, the odds of finding a wild Pokémon hatchling with Elite-level potential were even lower than encountering a Shiny Pokémon.
Pokémon with Pseudo-Elite potential were more common, but only by a small margin. That was why most elite Trainers in the League, the backbone of its fighting force typically fielded mixed teams consisting of several Pseudo-Elite Pokémon alongside several Advance-level Pokémon.
Many Trainers even had teams made up entirely of Advance-level Pokémon.
But inside the Dragon's Den, Pseudo-Elite potential could only be considered fairly good. It was nowhere near exceptional.
Silas wasn't necessarily expecting Champion-level potential, but he felt that Elite Four-level potential should be the minimum to justify making this trip and to live up to the reputation of the Dragon's Den.
"Alright, little ones. I still have places to go, so I'll be heading off now. Maybe we'll meet again someday."
Silas smiled as he said goodbye.
The young Pokémon all cried out reluctantly.
During their brief time together, the scent surrounding this human Trainer had captivated them.
Combined with the delicious homemade snacks and the powerful Blaziken standing beside him, quite a few of them would have happily become his partners.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Silas had no intention of choosing any of them.
The little Pokémon couldn't help feeling disappointed.
Faced with so many hopeful eyes staring at him, Silas felt a headache coming on.
If he'd met any of these Pokémon in the wild, he wouldn't have minded catching a few of the ones with particularly good personalities, even if they overlapped somewhat with members of his current team.
But this was the Dragon's Den, and he was only allowed to catch a single Pokémon.
It wasn't that he didn't want them.
It was simply that Dragon-type Pokémon were too tempting.
Of course, if any of these adorable little Pokémon happened to possess Champion-level potential, then everything he had just thought could be ignored.
Even among pseudo-legendary species, the chance of producing a Champion-level offspring was extremely low.
Most would peak at either Elite Four or high Elite Four potential.
Only the most exceptional individuals among pseudo-legendaries had a chance of reaching the highest level beneath Legendary Pokémon.
While Silas was caught in this luxurious dilemma, the nearby Firebreather was practically falling apart.
Seriously?
Why were they both Trainers who had entered the Dragon's Den, yet treated so differently?
Still unwilling to give up, he approached a nearby Treecko to try once more.
Treecko gave him a cold glance before immediately firing two Leaf Blade slashes at him.
Two fresh cuts appeared across his clothes, leaving the Firebreather on the verge of tears.
These little monsters are impossible to get along with!
"Sceptile."
Dragging its long tail behind it, a green Sceptile slowly walked over.
Its expression toward the Firebreather wasn't friendly either.
"I didn't bully your kid!" the Firebreather cried out in despair.
"Sceptile."
Clearly, Sceptile didn't believe him.
Its child had nearly been frightened to tears, and he still claimed he hadn't bullied it?
A battle immediately broke out.
The Pseudo-Elite Sceptile naturally wasn't a match for the Firebreather's Elite-level Flareon, but he also didn't dare attack too heavily.
Otherwise, he had no doubt that every nearby Pokémon colony would gang up on him.
Who knew why all the Pokémon here got along so well?
It was nothing like the outside world, where different species often fought to the death simply because they weren't the same kind.
Sometimes even different groups of the same species fought each other.
Watching Silas stroll away as if nothing had happened, the Firebreather clutched his aching chest.
Silas had no idea what sort of emotional roller coaster the Firebreather was going through.
Halfway down the trail, he suddenly remembered the flower the Dragon Elder had given him and pinned it to his chest.
Even after more than a week, the flower remained as vibrant and full of life as ever.
He became even more convinced that it was no ordinary flower.
As he ventured deeper into the Dragon's Den, the Pokémon he encountered became increasingly powerful.
Not only were they larger, but the pressure they occasionally released spoke volumes about their strength.
He even spotted an Aron with Elite Four-level potential and the Hidden Ability Heavy Metal.
Its mother, an Aggron, kept her territory remarkably clean and orderly.
It almost didn't feel like the home of a wild Pokémon.
Silas had to admit he was tempted.
Aggron was an exceptionally powerful Pokémon.
It could Mega Evolve, and its combat strength was no weaker than Gigalith, the weather setter on his own team.
Combined with the Hidden Ability Heavy Metal, it was every bit the armored heavy tank.
Although its Steel/Rock typing left it with a quadruple weakness to both Fighting- and Ground-type moves, it also granted two quadruple resistances and seven regular resistances, more than making up for those flaws.
Unless it was struck by a move like Grass Knot, an Aggron working alongside Gigalith would form a defensive wall that could truly be called impregnable.
Not to mention that once everyone's strength improved further, Escavalier would perfectly cover Aggron's remaining defensive weaknesses.
Most importantly, none of those three Pokémon were passive walls.
Anyone foolish enough to think they specialized only in defense would quickly receive a brutal lesson from their overwhelming offensive power.
After nearly ten minutes of careful consideration, Silas finally gritted his teeth and decided against catching the Aron.
A part of him still wanted to gamble.
Compared to the excellent Aron he could almost certainly recruit, he'd rather take a chance on obtaining an almost perfect Dragon-type Pokémon.
The deciding factor, however, was the Aron's personality.
It was simply too lazy.
Life inside the Dragon's Den was peaceful, and its powerful mother had always protected it well.
That sort of temperament wasn't well suited to the demanding training and constant battles expected of a Trainer's Pokémon.
"Roar..."
Aggron watched Silas's departing figure and let out a low growl.
It had noticed his undisguised interest long ago.
Unlike the other Pokémon parents he'd encountered earlier, Aggron had no desire to let Aron leave the Dragon's Den.
After all, wasn't life here perfectly comfortable?
If Silas had insisted on catching Aron, Aggron would have fought with every ounce of its strength to stop him.
Not that it believed it could defeat the Blaziken standing beside him.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario never came to pass.
Aggron quickly relaxed before leading its child on another patrol of their territory.
When it noticed that part of the mountainside had become barren due to landslides, it enthusiastically ran off to begin another landscaping project.
Hauling soil.
Uprooting dead trees.
Planting new ones.
Despite its fearsome appearance, Aggron had completely mastered the art of ecological restoration.
Far away, as Silas continued walking through the vast Dragon's Den, he almost felt as though he were outside in the natural world.
The ecosystem here was simply too perfect.
"Boss, there's an unfamiliar Pokémon over there. It's huge and incredibly strong."
Blaziken, who had been continuously maintaining Aura surveillance, suddenly called out to Silas.
"Hm?"
Silas, who had been wandering aimlessly, immediately looked up.
He glanced back toward Aggron's territory.
That's not normal, he concluded.
With an Aggron powerful enough to stand at the peak of the Pseudo-Elite level and even contend against some Elite-level Pokémon guarding the area, ordinary Pokémon would never choose to settle nearby.
More importantly, Blaziken had said it didn't recognize the Pokémon.
Ever since Blaziken awakened its Aura, Silas had spent tremendous time and resources helping it become familiar with the Aura signatures of almost every known Pokémon species, allowing its Aura perception to become even more effective.
The last time something like this had happened was when they encountered Ursaluna, and later that Urshifu.
"So it's another Pokémon we've never seen before!"
Silas's eyes sparkled with excitement.
As a Trainer, this was exactly the kind of Pokémon he loved discovering.
A Dragon.
Powerful.
Unknown.
It was practically perfect.
"Come on. Let's go say hello."
Without the slightest hesitation, Silas followed Blaziken toward the direction it had indicated.
Far away, Aggron slowly raised its head.
That one, as if recalling something unpleasant, a trace of fear flashed through its eyes.
Jogging across the rocky terrain, Silas soon arrived at the mysterious Pokémon's home.
It was a dark, seemingly bottomless cave.
"This place..."
Silas narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the surroundings.
Something wasn't right.
The depth of the footprints outside the cave didn't match the height of the cave entrance.
If his calculations were correct, the Pokémon living inside stood nearly two meters tall but weighed only around twenty kilograms. More importantly, its body wasn't particularly thin.
There weren't many Pokémon that fit those measurements.
He ran his hand across the nearby rock wall before smiling knowingly.
The two completely different types of feeding marks on the rocks had already exposed the identity of the cave's occupant.
"As expected of the Dragon's Den. Even this kind of Dragon-type Pokémon lives here."
Silas let out an impressed sigh.
"Prinplup, use Soak inside the cave!"
Now that he knew what species lived inside, naturally he had a way to lure it out.
Prinplup spread its wings as the red recall light faded away.
Clear streams of water gathered around its body before instantly scattering into countless droplets that sprayed deep into the cave.
"ROAR!!"
An angry roar echoed from the depths of the cavern.
Apparently, the Dragon-type Pokémon inside hadn't expected the visitor outside to fight so shamelessly.
A silver-gray blur shot toward Silas at astonishing speed.
"Blaziken!"
Without waiting for a command, flames instantly ignited around Blaziken's wrists as it charged forward to intercept.
Boom!
The two collided with a heavy impact.
Blaziken flipped gracefully backward before landing in front of Silas once again.
The silver-gray figure also came fully into view.
The best description was a steel beast standing upright on two legs.
Its entire body was composed of silver-gray metallic armor.
Its head and torso were clearly connected, with distinct body segments throughout.
A single large protrusion extended from its back like a solid tail.
Curved metallic lines decorated its body, while its hands, lower abdomen, and feet were covered with darker-colored metal plating.
To put it more simply, Silas felt it resembled a bipedal Gigalith, albeit with a completely different composition and typing.
It was Duraludon, the Steel/Dragon-type Pokémon originating from the distant Galar region.
But that alone wasn't enough to convey how formidable the species was.
To put it more directly, because Duraludon fed primarily on rocks and minerals and shared similar habitats, its natural rival in the wild was often Tyranitar, Johto's famous pseudo-legendary known as the Desert Tyrant.
According to League records, battles between these two species could frequently be seen among the mountains of Galar.
Their victories and defeats were almost perfectly even.
That alone spoke volumes about Duraludon's incredible strength.
...
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