Lazarus carefully controls the drones flying inside the cave, making sure not to crash them into the walls.
The drones send night vision footage of the cave's interior back to the group.
"I'll have my Excadrill keep watch outside just in case," Jacob says as he commands his Excadrill, 'Quarry, patrol the perimeter for signs of any wild pokémon.'
Seth nods, also mentally commanding his pokémon, 'Rex, go inside and watch out for any pokémon, alert me if you find anything, don't engage.'
David also does the same with his Luxray, commanding it to follow Seth's Houndoom inside the cave.
The drones fly through the tunnels down into the cave with the Houndoom and Luxray following closely behind them.
Minutes later, they reach the end of the tunnel. Revealing a huge underground chamber in the cavern.
Lazarus looks at the drone footage, "I didn't think there would be an entire cave system down here. But it makes sense, these places are great spots for nesting."
Drone footage reveals the ceiling stretching up to nearly 50 meters high, and walls layered with volcanic rocks formed through centuries of volcanic activity.
Sharp and long stalactites hang from the ceiling, and the floor is uneven and covered with cracked stone.
The Houndoom and the Luxray descend into the chamber.
"There must be some wild pokémon here, keep an eye out for them," Seth says to the group, looking at the multi-monitor feeds from the drones and the pokémon.
"I found some," Lazarus remarks as he looks at a nest of grey, bat-like pokémon hanging from the ceiling, "But they are nothing to worry about."
"Zubats?" Seth asks.
"Yes," Lazarus replies.
"Um guys," Jacob feels a tug in his mind, "Quarry just warned me of something."
Seth and David turn to look at the camera footage from the Excadrill.
The footage shows a flock of orange and black bird pokémon in the distance.
"Finally! Something other than dead pokémon." Jacob studies this and says, "This flock probably came here from the inner region in search of easy food."
"How many?" Seth turns to ask Lazarus.
"Four Fletchinders led by a Talonflame." Lazarus replies, "The Fletchinders won't be a problem.
But I am not sure about the Talonflame. This one is bigger than the average Talonflame, it might present a challenge."
Jacob smiles, "It doesn't matter, Quarry can take them all."
Seth commands his Houndoom to go back outside, "I am sending Rex back up there, just in case."
—
Outside the cave entrance, Excadrill flaunts its massive steel claws in warning as it warily watches the flock of flying pokémon circling the gray sky above its head.
After a minute of flying around, one of the bigger Fletchinder lets out a shrill cry and dives claws-first at the Excadrill.
'Use X-Scissor," Excadrill hears its trainer's voice inside its head.
Excadrill crosses its claws into an X shape, and the moment the aerial pokémon comes close, Excadrill slashes at it with full force.
The Fletchinder cries a high-pitched scream as Excadrill's claws tear through the Fletchinder's body, cutting through the bones, separating its wings from its body.
Fletchinder's bloodied corpse falls to the ground, dying the soil red.
Seeing one of its flock mates die, the Talonflame shrieks in rage before all the flying pokémon descend to attack the Excadrill.
Talonflame hardens its wings, and charges at the Excadrill along with the other remaining Fletchinders.
'Dig.'
Excadrill obeys its trainer's command, using its massive arms to drill into the soil underneath
Excadrill barely manages to avoid Talonflame's attack by burrowing into the ground.
Seeing Excadrill escape inside the hole, Talonflame unleashes a torrent of hot hot flames inside the hole Excadrill made.
Excadrill changes the trajectory of its digging and comes out of the ground, meters away from the Talonflame, near a small Fletchinder, and uses its gigantic claws to slash at it, but the Fletchinder manages to dodge at the last second.
Talonflame covers this short distance between them in a matter of seconds using an an ability that lets it dash at the enemy at high speeds.
Talonflame's hardened body collides with Excadrill right in the chest, knocking it back.
Excadrill feels a hint of pain as it gets back up from the ground.
'Get away from the Talonflame, jump, and use Drill-Run on the Fletchinders.'
Excadrill jumps into the air, dodging another Flamethrower by the Talonflame and folds itself into a huge Drill by putting its drill-like arms together above its head.
Excadrill spins in the air and slams into a Fletchinder drilling through its body, leaving bloodied feathers and dead flesh to fall to the ground.
'Metal Claw, on descent.'
A Fletchinder shoots a Flamethrower at Excadrill from below. But Excadrill remain's mostly unharmed.
Excadrill unfolds itself, and hardens its claws, then slashes at another Fletchinder while free-falling to the ground.
Excadrill's attack tears through its enemy's flesh and bones, killing it instantly.
The moment Excadrill lands on the ground, it is again hit by the Talonflame, same way as before, hardened wings colliding with its body.
'Dig underneath,'
Instead of getting back up on its feet, Excadrill drills into the ground to hide.
Talonflame flies above the hole, preparing for another Flamethrower, when suddenly Seth's Houndoom comes out of the cave entrance and shoots a Flamethrower of its own at the Talonflame.
Talonflame absorbs Houndoom's Flamethrower and charges towards the newest arrival.
Mid-flight, Excadrill pops out of the ground in front of the Talonflame and uses Metal Claw on Talonflame's neck, beheading it cleanly.
—
Jacob grins as he looks at the aftermath of the battle, "And this is what happens when you fuck with us."
"Does Quarry have any injuries," Seth asks.
"No, he is mostly fine," Jacob can sense the wellbeing of his pokémon through the psychic link.
Lazarus wasn't paying the fight any attention, something much more important has his attention, "Hey guys we found some tunnels connected to this cavern."
David looks at the feed from the drones, there are dozens of tunnels connected to the cavern going down even deeper into the earth.
"Can we even cover them all," David asks.
Lazarus reassures David, "Yeah, we have enough drones,"
He then sends a minimum of one drone each into the tunnels.
After flying for a couple of minutes, most drones hit a dead end, finding nothing at the end of most tunnels.
However, one of the drones finds another chamber. A little smaller than the one before.
"This one looks different. There is something over there," Lazarus mutters as he flies the drone closer to the end of a small pool of lava.
Jacob asks, "Did we find our mystery pokémon?"
Lazarus replies, "Only one way to find out."
As the drone approaches the end of the tunnel, the footage reveals a huge red-winged pokémon lying coiled, sleeping at the edge of the lava pool, in the deepest part of the cavern.
The pokémon is bigger than almost any pokémon these guys have ever seen, it is bigger than three of their armored vehicle combined.
The pokémon's draconic body covered in dark blue dragon scales, with three flat, fin-like horns protruding from each side of its head.
Even through the screen, they can sense the oppressive presence of the dragon.
No one says anything for a while, too shocked to do so, until David breaks the silence.
"Holy shit! It's a Salamence," He let's out a gasp, amazed and terrified.
Seth is the first to get his bearing back and quickly issues an order, "David, call back your Luxray. Lazarus, take a video of everything, and then pull the drones out of there as fast as you can without waking up the Salamence."
"What do you think it's doing out here?" Jacob asks, his previous bravado is all gone now, he loves his pokémon too much to make them fight against one of the most ferocious pokémon species in existence.
David leans closer to the monitor, "It looks injured. Some of its dragon scales are missing. "
"Either way, it's not our business," Seth says, "Lazarus, are you done?"
"Yes," Lazarus replies. And thank god for silent drones.'
"Alright, good. Get them out now," Seth nods as he gives another order. "Everyone, let's pack up here. We're going back to the outpost."
—
"We have reviewed the footage. It's hibernating, missing a significant number of its dragon scales, and probably protecting an egg," Lazarus says to the holographic projection of his father.
"Injured or not, a dragon is still a dragon. I will contact the league after this. They will send a team to take care of the problem," Arthur replies with a firm voice. "Now I want you to pack your stuff and get the fuck out there."
"You want us to evacuate?" Lazarus asks with a frown, "Right now?"
"Yeah, there is a chance it might wake up. However tiny it might be."
Seth who was quietly listening until now, speaks up, "Sir, can not evacuate right now. It's night time and there is an ash cloud approaching, leaving now might put us in even more danger.
We are not equipped to fight the pokémon we will meet along the way, especially at night."
Arthur Hawke's hologram stares right into Seth's eyes, "You took my son near that thing. Why?"
Seth nervously responds, "I apologize, sir, I have no excu-"
Lazarus interjects, "It's not his fault, I asked him to take me."
Arthur Hawke looks at his son, "I don't care. I hired him to protect you, not to take you Dragon hunting. You are not a pokémon trainer. You shouldn't have been anywhere near that place.
I told you not to involve yourself into this matter but you still did. We will talk about this after you get back to the city. Until then, stay where you are, and don't move a muscle. I'll send someone to get you back."
Lazarus sighs, "I understand, but we didn't think it was going to be a Drago-"
Before Lazarus can finish his sentence, the hologram turns off.
"Damn it, the connection cut off again," Lazarus throws his hands in the air in frustration.
"It's probably the ash cloud," Seth says.
Lazarus nods and looks at him before saying, "Hey, look…I am sorry about what Dad said."
Seth sighs, "It's alright. Don't worry about it. I can take a little scolding. And he is right, I shouldn't have taken you there."
"I'll make sure you don't lose the job," Lazarus says. "But for now, let's go to the barbecue before Jacob eats everything."
They both laugh before making their way out of the control room.