General King Kai's central citadel stood at the very heart of Poacher's Island, perched atop a towering, jagged mountain. Here, he had established a "Dragon's Nest," housing thousands of Pokémon plundered from across the globe. Among them, the population of Druddigon was the most staggering.
Suddenly, a sharp blast erupted from the loudspeakers Kai had rigged throughout the nest. Thousands of Druddigon, appearing like primitive gargoyles, instantly raised their heads. Led by a massive, emerald-hued Druddigon, they swarmed out of their caves like a pack of hyenas, charging into the distance. Their razor-sharp fangs snapped at the air; wherever they passed, not a single blade of grass remained. Any wild Pokémon too slow to escape was reduced to a pile of white bones in seconds.
"Go, my Dragon Army," Kai sneered. "Devour every trainer who dares invade my island." He then turned his gaze toward the Dark Stone, which was still pulsing with stolen electricity. "Zekrom... answer my call. Fight for me!"
The Evolution Trap
Meanwhile, the battle between Feng Che and Hanzo Shura reached a fever pitch. Hanzo's Naganadel raised its needle-like tail, firing high-pressure jets of venom that struck like arrows. Feng Che dodged the aerial bombardment from the back of his Corviknight.
Naganadel opened its primary maw, unleashing a spray of Pin Missiles while beating its wings to create a gale that propelled the toxic needles downward. Incineroar, in its gargantuan Magma Giant form, remained tactically fluid. As the needles rained down, Incineroar dissolved its physical form into a puddle of living lava, leaping across the terrain with uncanny agility.
The toxins that missed their mark caused a series of explosions around the ruins of the Poison Fortress. Any Poison-type Pokémon caught in the crossfire were riddled with needles and dissolved into black sludge.
Suddenly, a powerful suction force emanated from Naganadel's tail. It began vacuuming up the black toxic remains from the battlefield. Feng Che noticed a dozen violet-red cocoons forming on Naganadel's back, connected to the host by thick, black pulsating threads. Naganadel was siphoning energy from the environment and its own body, pumping it into these cocoons.
"Just a little longer, and my Poipole will evolve," Hanzo Shura laughed manically. He had patched together an ancient cultivation technique to force a mass evolution, dreaming of a "Naganadel Army."
"Hanzo has no idea," Feng Che muttered. "He's forcing a growth spurt that turns the host into a battery."
In a natural colony, only one Naganadel exists; a Poipole only evolves when the leader dies. By forcing a dozen evolutions at once, Hanzo was essentially feeding the host Naganadel to the cocoons. Feng Che could see his own Poipole and Ditto greedily hijacking the energy flow, out-competing the others for nutrients.
Naganadel began to wither visibly. Its once-swollen abdomen, large as a boulder, shriveled as it desperately hunted for more Pokémon to consume.
"Naganadel! Keep attacking!" Hanzo shouted, but the dragon was no longer listening. It was acting on pure survival instinct, flying across the forest and devouring anything in its path to fuel the parasites on its back. Eventually, its body tilted sharply, and it plummeted from the sky.
The New King
Hanzo Shura scrambled off the crashing dragon, calling out his Crobat to stay airborne. The host Naganadel was now nothing but skin and bone, its breathing shallow. Suddenly, the giant cocoons on its back split open.
A dozen Naganadel, their bodies encrusted with violet crystals, burst forth. The original host was instantly devoured by the largest of the new arrivals until only a discarded dragon-skin remained. Feng Che recognized the leader immediately—it was his Ditto (transformed) and his newly evolved Naganadel standing at the forefront.
"A loss of one Peak-Elite Naganadel for a dozen Elite-level ones... a fair trade," Hanzo reasoned, still believing himself to be in control. "Naganadel! Attack!"
But the army stood still, staring at him with cold, predatory eyes. They began to circle him, closing in with menacing clicks.
"What is this? Why aren't they obeying?!" Hanzo panicked.
The circle parted, and Feng Che walked calmly through the ranks of the poison dragons. He reached up and stroked the head of the lead Naganadel. The beast lowered its head submissively, letting out a purr of contentment. During the evolution, Feng Che's Poipole had out-competed the others, absorbing the lion's share of the "Dragon Scale" energy and establishing itself as the undisputed Alpha.
"Naganadel, it was hard on you," Feng Che whispered.
"You... you did this!" Hanzo Shura roared, his face contorted with rage as he clenched his fists. "Give them back! Give me back my dragons!"