Lance rode his Gyarados, once again taking the lead.
Natsui and Sabrina still shared a ride, while the old man named Kabu sat on Clair's Gyarados.
The three Gyarados swam across the lake, passed through the sharp reefs beneath, and weathered the turbulent whirlpools before entering the Dragon's Den.
However, looking at this dark water cave, Natsui felt it didn't look like a dragon's mouth, but more like a snake's.
Kabu was extremely observant. While tightly gripping Gyarados's scales, he saw Natsui's curiosity and took the initiative to explain, "The Dragon's Den is a complex cave system formed a long, long time ago when a Dragon-type Pokémon went on a rampage. Actually, its official name within the Dragon Tamer clan is the Dragon's Cave, but those four words are long and awkward, so people, out of habit, simplified the name to Dragon's Den."
A Dragon-type Pokémon?
To be able to change the terrain and create such a large water cave, besides legendary and mythical Pokémon, Natsui couldn't think of any Dragon-type Pokémon with that kind of power.
"What kind of Pokémon was it? Was it Latias or Latios? Or some other Dragon-type?"
"I'm not too sure about that. After all, it happened several hundred years ago. But according to legend, when the first head of our Dragon Tamer clan went to stop that Dragon-type Pokémon, he obtained a Dragon Fang from it. Since then, every three years, our clan has to wash the Dragon Fang with the water from the lake, praying for the health and prosperity of all Dragon-type Pokémon in the Johto region."
At this point, Kabu turned to Clair and reminded her, "By the way, Young Miss, the Cleansing Day is in just over a month. Since you have inherited the gym, you will need to perform the cleansing ceremony."
Clair gave a light "mhm."
"I understand."
Kabu seemed very talkative, and Natsui was also curious about this matter, so he chatted with him a bit more.
Perhaps Kabu thought Natsui was a friend of Clair and Lance, or perhaps it was because of his champion status, but in any case, he held nothing back from Natsui, telling him almost everything he knew.
The two talked a lot about the Blackthorn Gym, and it was only then that Natsui learned that the mountain range they were in was extremely vast. Even the Ice Path they had crossed earlier was part of the same mountain range as the Dragon's Den.
The water rushed against the Gyarados, but it didn't affect them in the slightest.
As they talked, they had already passed through the long entrance and entered the interior of the Dragon's Den.
As they went deeper into the water cave, the light grew dimmer and visibility became lower. The group had to turn on their flashlights to navigate in the darkness.
A gust of wind blew through the cave, and for some reason, Natsui felt that this Dragon's Den was a bit eerie, as if some ghostly spirit was watching him coldly.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that it must be the wild Pokémon they had disturbed, staring intently at these uninvited guests.
The water cave was filled with forks of all sizes, leading to many unknown places. According to Kabu, even after hundreds of years, the Dragon Tamer clan had not been able to explore all of them.
After traveling a few hundred more meters, the river in the cave became even more turbulent and cold. At a fork, Lance patted his Gyarados's neck, bringing it to a stop.
There were no traces around, making it impossible to determine which path Vicious had taken.
He turned to look at Clair and Natsui, frowning. "This is the main fork. The waterways are extremely complex. The two paths, left and right, lead to different places. One wrong step and you'll get lost. We haven't seen any sign of Vicious so far. I don't know which path he took."
Looking at the two forks, Clair asked, "What do you want to do? Should we split up?"
Lance didn't answer immediately. After a few careful glances, he looked at Natsui.
"Champion, what do you think?"
Stroking his chin, Natsui pondered. "Since Vicious is heading for the Dragon's Holy Land, we should prepare for the worst. We shouldn't hold out any hope that he's lost in the maze. After all, he's an infamous Pokémon Hunter; he must have his own way of finding the right path. I think we should go directly to the Holy Land."
Clair nodded in agreement. "That's right, I think so too."
Since they were in agreement, Lance led them onward again.
The three Gyarados made their way through the water cave, turning left and right for over half an hour. Finally, they leaped down from a huge underground waterfall, landing in a cold pool and reaching the other end of the cave.
To be honest, if Natsui had been traveling through the water cave by himself, he would never have gone down such a waterfall. This could be considered the final barrier to the Dragon's Holy Land.
Walking out of the water cave, the view became bright and open.
Before Natsui was a huge valley. Sunlight shone down, and as far as the eye could see, there was green grass, beautiful flowers, and trees.
And in the most prominent spot, two or three Dragonite were lying in a flower patch, sunbathing. Beside them, a few Dragonair and Dratini were playing.
"We're here," Lance said, turning to Natsui with a hint of pride. "This is the paradise for Dragon-type Pokémon, and our Dragon Tamers' secret realm—the Dragon's Holy Land!"
Natsui looked around in surprise. "I thought the Dragon's Holy Land was in a cave. It turns out to be in a valley. Why didn't we just fly over from the sky?"
"That was the only path," Clair said, shaking her head. "The Dragon's Holy Land is protected by a mysterious power. From the sky, you would only see a barren mountain peak. It's impossible to find this place."
"I see."
That being said…
Natsui looked around again and saw swarms of Butterfree flying in the air, a few Rattata chasing each other on the grass, and in the distance, Bellossom and Skiploom were playing.
"It seems that besides Dragon-type Pokémon, there are many other types of Pokémon here too."
"Of course," Lance smiled. "Influenced by the mysterious power of the Dragon-type Pokémon, the flowers here bloom all year round, regardless of the season, which attracts many other Pokémon to live here. After all, only with a diverse range of species can a complete and healthy ecological paradise be formed."
Natsui nodded in understanding.
But even among the Dragon-types, looking around, there were only Dragonite, Kingdra, Gyarados, and their pre-evolved forms. There were no particularly rare Dragon-type Pokémon.
It seems that although it's called the Dragon's Holy Land, a grand name, it's still constrained by its region…
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