Watching Dragonite become completely immobilized as several Dratini and Dragonair wrapped themselves around its body, Silas couldn't help but laugh.
This was probably the only place in the world where such a sight could be seen.
A gentle breeze drifted across the island.
Compared to the environment outside, the island was like an entirely different world.
Standing on the island and looking outward, Silas saw a violent storm raging beyond its borders. Fist-sized hailstones roared through the sky alongside torrential rain.
Massive bolts of lightning crashed continuously, weaving giant electric nets across the heavens.
The sea churned violently as countless whirlpools hid beneath the waves. Even Water-type Pokémon would hesitate to live in such terrifying conditions.
Yet everything stopped abruptly at a certain invisible boundary.
An unseen line divided the archipelago from the surrounding ocean into two completely different worlds.
On one side, howling winds, thunder, and lightning.
On the other, perfect peace and tranquility.
Silas couldn't help marveling at the incredible power of Pokémon.
"The island beneath our feet is home to more than four hundred members of the Dragonite evolutionary line. Together, they make up over half of the world's population of the species." (Author's Note 1)
The Dragon Elder spoke proudly as she introduced the island.
"This is the sanctuary our clan established for Dragon-type Pokémon. When it was first discovered, not a single Pokémon lived here."
Dragon's Den was the final line of defense for the Dragon Clan?
That was only what outsiders believed.
In reality, the hidden Dragon Archipelago deep within the sea was what the clan had always protected.
Dragon's Den itself was merely an advanced outpost.
Even so, the number of Dragon-type Pokémon living there was already astonishing, which was why so many Trainers dreamed of entering it.
"More than four hundred..."
Silas murmured in amazement.
The true population of Dragonite, Kanto's pseudo-legendary Pokémon, had always been a mystery.
Today, he finally had an answer.
Nearly a thousand worldwide.
Compared to common Pokémon, that number was incredibly small.
To put it into perspective, even a modest forest in Kanto could easily contain more Caterpie than that.
But these were Dragonite.
Kanto's pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
Even among all pseudo-legendaries, Dragonite was universally acknowledged as one of the strongest species.
More than four hundred gathered together even with many of them still being Dratini and Dragonair, possessed enough strength to effortlessly destroy an entire city.
Several young Dratini peeked curiously from behind their parents, secretly watching Silas.
It was their first time seeing a human besides the Dragon Elder and a handful of others.
"Mi?"
"Mi~"
The little Dratini stared curiously at the Poké Balls hanging from Silas's belt, whispering among themselves.
Unlike the Dreepy from earlier, however, none of them approached him directly.
Compared to the outgoing and energetic Dreepy, Dratini were famously timid and shy, so their behavior was perfectly normal.
"Dragonite, stay here and enjoy yourself. I'll take him to look around elsewhere."
The Dragon Elder gave her Dragonite a few instructions before walking toward the eastern side of the island.
Silas quickly followed behind her.
Meanwhile, two Dreepy and one Dragapult floated leisurely above his head.
"As the Dragonite maintain the weather barrier around the islands, this island serves as the central hub. The islands inhabited by the other Dragon-type Pokémon are scattered throughout the surrounding area.
"If you've decided to use your opportunity to try capturing a Dreepy, then I'll take you to the island where they live.
"But before that, I have to tell you that raising a Dreepy is far more difficult than raising most pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
"You can think of them as another version of Hydreigon."
Along the way, the Dragon Elder patiently explained everything she knew about the Dreepy evolutionary line.
Since this was Silas's first time learning about them, he listened carefully.
Before long, he understood exactly why she had said that.
One thing had to be understood first.
Dragon-type Pokémon were universally recognized as both incredibly powerful and incredibly weak.
Powerful because their final evolutions generally possessed battle capabilities far beyond ordinary Pokémon.
Weak because, before reaching their final evolution, many of them couldn't even defeat common Pokémon.
This was directly related to their extremely long growth periods.
When many Dragon-types were still in their first stage at Level 30 or higher, a Pidgey had already evolved into Pidgeot.
No matter how gifted Dragon-types were, that gap wasn't easy to overcome.
The Gible Egg Silas had obtained from Dragon's Den was actually an exception.
The Garchomp evolutionary line had one of the fastest evolution curves among Dragon-types.
Gible evolved into Gabite at around Level 24.
Gabite evolved into Garchomp at around Level 48.
Although that was roughly ten levels later than most ordinary Pokémon, it was remarkably early compared to many Dragon-types that didn't reach their second stage until around Level 40.
By Dragon-type standards, the Garchomp line developed very quickly.
The Dreepy line, however, was the exact opposite. Dreepy evolved into Drakloak at around Level 50. Drakloak evolved into Dragapult at around Level 60.
Their evolution requirements were every bit as demanding as those of the Hydreigon line.
No wonder every Drakloak Silas had seen earlier was at least Pseudo-Elite level, while every Dragapult had reached at least the Elite level.
Their incredibly high evolution levels explained everything.
Furthermore, just like the Hydreigon line, both Dreepy and Drakloak suffered from significant drawbacks before evolving into Dragapult.
Dreepy's combat ability in its base form was extremely weak.
Aside from inherited Egg Moves, the only standard moves it naturally learned were Quick Attack, Astonish, Bite, and Double Hit.
Every other move had to be taught by other Pokémon.
In the wild, they usually learned from their parents and other members of the colony.
That wasn't much of a problem.
Silas was quite confident in his ability to teach moves.
He could probably even work as an instructor at a Pokémon Academy.
After all, one of his partners was Gallade, the so-called "Master of Martial Arts," a Pokémon famous for mastering an astonishing variety of moves.
Teaching Dreepy wouldn't be difficult.
Drakloak, however, was another matter.
According to the Dragon Elder, Drakloak's species classification was the Caretaker Pokémon.
Simply put, they were Pokémon that felt compelled to care for young Pokémon.
The reason every Drakloak Silas had seen carried a Dreepy on its head was because doing so kept them emotionally stable.
Otherwise Drakloak would become extremely agitated and could easily go berserk.
There had even been cases where Drakloak had carried off the young of other Dragon-type Pokémon and placed them on its head instead.
Fortunately, its combat strength during this stage wasn't a problem.
After all, it evolved at around Level 50, making it at least Pseudo-Elite level by default. By then, it had already mastered most of the moves it had trained with as a Dreepy.
Its speed was even capable of reaching nearly one-sixth the speed of sound, making it extraordinarily fast.
The real issue was that Drakloak's mental state had a tremendous influence on its behavior.
Moreover, this effectively meant that while it was a Drakloak, it couldn't participate in official League battles.
After all, carrying another Pokémon on its head amounted to a two-on-one battle.
That was against the rules.
"I see..."
Silas couldn't help frowning.
To be honest, that was a rather troublesome issue.
The Dragon Elder nodded helplessly.
That was precisely why she had struggled to find Trainers willing or capable of raising Dreepy.
The challenges were simply too great.
Weaker Trainers couldn't solve those problems.
Stronger Trainers could simply choose another Dragon-type Pokémon that was easier to raise.
It was much like Hydreigon.
Despite being Unova's pseudo-legendary Pokémon, the number of Trainers willing to raise one was surprisingly small.
"However, Dragapult does possess an exclusive move," the Dragon Elder added.
"You mean the ability where it launches Dreepy at supersonic speed?
"But wouldn't that also be unusable in official League battles?"
Silas remembered that detail clearly.
It was simply too memorable to forget.
"Hahaha! That move is called Dragon Darts. Under normal circumstances, its method of attacking really is rather unique," the Dragon Elder laughed.
"But even if there isn't a Dreepy inside its launchers, Dragapult can still use Dragon Darts.
"Otherwise, when facing truly powerful opponents, even Ghost-type Dreepy wouldn't necessarily return unharmed after being fired.
"As parents, Dragapult would never be so irresponsible."
The Dragapult floating above Silas's head swished its transparent tail unhappily.
As if it wanted to launch them.
It was those little troublemakers who insisted on being fired all day long.
"So it's similar to Feather Dance in principle? I understand."
Silas quickly grasped how the move worked.
"So..."
The Dragon Elder smiled.
"Have you made your decision?"
As they talked, they had already crossed the island and arrived at the opposite shoreline.
The Dragon Elder looked toward Silas.
"Of course."
Silas raised an eyebrow.
"I've decided."
"I'm choosing Dreepy."
There wasn't the slightest hesitation in his voice.
The combination of Dragon and Ghost typing was simply too appealing.
As for all the problems each evolutionary stage faced.
Silas was confident he could solve them.
Otherwise, the Dragon Elder wouldn't have gone out of her way to recommend them in the first place.
"Excellent!"
The Dragon Elder was genuinely delighted by his choice.
If worst came to worst, when Dreepy evolved into Drakloak, she could simply let him borrow another Dreepy from Dragon's Den.
Once the stage was over, he could return it.
Compared to a rampaging Drakloak, temporarily being unable to participate in official battles was hardly an issue.
"Let's go."
The Dragon Elder led Silas onto a small wooden raft waiting by the shore.
"Prinplup, I'll leave it to you."
"Prin!"
The Prinplup swimming in the sea immediately surfaced and expertly fastened the tow rope from the front of the raft around itself.
After confirming that its Trainer was seated safely, it took a deep breath and dove beneath the waves, pulling the raft forward.
Author's Note 1:
The inspiration for this location came from the Dragonite Island featured in the Pokémon Journeys anime, though I modified it quite a bit.
I wanted to clarify this in advance in case readers unfamiliar with the anime wondered how there could possibly be so many pseudo-legendary Pokémon gathered in one place.
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