To get the Seven-Colored Crystal Stone off that Elite Trainer Level Hydreigon, improving the Pokémon's strength was extremely important.
Thankfully.
After a month of settling in, plus these past few days of continuous high-intensity battles, the Pokémon had been digesting and learning very quickly, and were already not far from Elite Candidate Level.
"Then you have to be careful of that bad guy, okay? It might not have gone far yet." Ono didn't forget to remind him.
Natsuhiko had already walked some distance away and just waved his hand with his back to her.
Sitting on the ground together with Kommo-o, watching Natsuhiko's departing back, Ono propped up her chin.
"Awu, do you think there really is an outside world? Aweng said someone the same as me appeared."
"Groar——" Kommo-o let out a soft roar, hesitating before nodding.
Ono's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
What would the outside world be like?
"Then we have to hurry up and train. Aweng said only by defeating the bad guy and getting the seven-colored stone will we have a chance to leave."
Ono stood up, full of enthusiasm.
"Groar!!"
Kommo-o was also full of enthusiasm.
It had been dissatisfied with that tyrannical Hydreigon for a long time.
At the same time.
It could also clearly feel that.
Ever since it had eaten those tasty little cubes from Natsuhiko over the past few days, the power that had lain dormant in its body for so long seemed to have started to stir again.
...
...
Following the tunnel Ono pointed out all the way.
When he reached the end.
And stepped onto the surface again, he was still within the Rock Area.
Looking up.
He easily found the basin Ono had mentioned, the one shaped like a "bowl."
There were many Wild Pokémon nearby.
Most were relatively gentle Rock-type Pokémon, and since he hadn't used any Sweet Fragrance honey, they were still quite well-behaved.
Natsuhiko released his Pokémon again.
Seeing that Natsuhiko was fine, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Eevee even directly jumped into Natsuhiko's arms, its head gently nudging his chest.
After calming the Pokémon, Natsuhiko said to the side, "Dragapult, that Hydreigon from just now—can you handle it?"
The invisible Dragapult slowly revealed itself.
"Balua."
It looked at Natsuhiko doubtfully, but still nodded without hesitation.
"Relax, I'm not asking you to make a move; I just want to get a sense of that Hydreigon's strength." Natsuhiko explained with a smile.
Dragapult suddenly understood, then softly said a few more words.
"Balua——"
Although Hydreigon had made Dragapult feel a bit threatened.
That was because Dragon-type Pokémon inherently had a mutually restraining relationship with each other, plus Hydreigon's Dark Type restrained the Ghost Type.
According to Dragapult.
It might get injured, but Hydreigon would definitely lose, and it would be a loss without suspense.
Hearing this, Natsuhiko more or less had a sense of things.
Hydreigon still had a type advantage over Dragapult, yet Dragapult said "might get injured"—meaning it might not even get hurt.
That showed the gap in strength between Hydreigon and Dragapult was still quite large.
This allowed Natsuhiko to relax slightly.
At the very least.
There was still a chance they could fight it.
If that Hydreigon's strength was about the same as Dragapult's, Natsuhiko felt he could give up on it in the short term.
Because even if his main force Pokémon all reached Elite Candidate Level, Natsuhiko still didn't think they could be a match for Dragapult.
Sometimes Natsuhiko even wondered if Dragapult had already surpassed the scope of Elite Trainer Level.
It was just that he wasn't very familiar with that tier yet, so he couldn't judge.
But since Dragapult could easily crush Hydreigon, Natsuhiko felt that if he and his Pokémon worked hard, there might be a fight to be had.
Going down along the jagged stone slope, he came to the basin.
"Jya——"
Upon entering the basin, Aegislash squinted its eyes in comfort.
The body that, after being coated, had already completely fused with the film and didn't show much change on the surface suddenly had a layer of silvery-white flowing light flicker across it.
Noticing the change in Aegislash, Natsuhiko narrowed his eyes slightly.
Aegislash's coating was no ordinary metal paint.
It was a special Metal Film Regigigas had searched for in order to create Registeel, buried deep in the earth and forged by nature's compression and hammering, blending the power of nature and Regigigas—a "Metal Film."
And here, it actually reacted.
As expected.
This Rock Area was hiding something good.
"Hudi."
Alakazam pointed to a corner of the basin, where a dozen or so Pokémon were residing.
They watched Natsuhiko's group of outsiders warily, but did not take the initiative to attack.
Bastiodon!
A very gentle Rock- and Steel-type Pokémon that liked living in groups, and took especially good care of its Shieldon offspring.
In the Pokemon Realm it counted as an already extinct Pokémon species, similar to the Tyrantrum Natsuhiko had once captured.
Speaking of which.
Bastiodon was a "dragon" too, right?
That thought flashed through his mind out of nowhere, and Natsuhiko couldn't help but laugh.
Then he waved his hand.
"It's fine; since they're not initiating an attack, we don't need to mind them."
As long as you didn't deliberately provoke Bastiodon or pose a threat to their Shieldon children, Bastiodon would rarely attack on its own.
Hearing Natsuhiko say that, Alakazam relaxed a little.
Rumble——
Suddenly.
As Natsuhiko and the others moved closer to the center of the basin, the ground began to shake violently.