The lava must have suddenly lost its activity, leaving the Volcarona and Larvesta living within it no time to react.
Only this Volcarona survived.
Feeling sentimental upon returning here, the sadness in the eyes of the Volcarona grew deeper.
Suddenly.
Natsuhiko stopped in a certain corner.
After hesitating a little, he threw out a Pokeball.
In the red light appeared an Excadrill, the one he caught underground back then.
"Dig here, go down, be gentle," Natsuhiko instructed.
The Excadrill nodded, easily breaking through the soft rock layer and gradually digging downward.
Dragapult glanced over with a curious look at Natsuhiko's strange actions.
But Natsuhiko did not explain anything; he simply stared intently at the spot where the Excadrill was digging. His psychic powers extended downward along the tunnel the Excadrill was opening.
As rock debris flew out bit by bit from the hole dug by the Excadrill, Natsuhiko stood with his arms crossed, silently waiting.
"Crack—"
A very faint sound caught Natsuhiko's attention, and his eyes lit up.
He found it.
"Bring it up."
Soon, the Excadrill popped its head out, holding in its hand a jet-black oval object.
"Baluya?"
Seeing this object, Dragapult was familiar with it and recognized it at a glance; this is a...
Pokemon Egg!
However, it was a dead egg.
Or rather, it was a... Fossil Egg.
Carefully, Natsuhiko took the Fossil Egg from the Excadrill's hand.
He examined it from top to bottom thoroughly.
No damage, the eggshell was intact, and this was the only Pokemon Egg found by the Excadrill while digging, relatively well-preserved.
Since entering the inner space of this extinct volcano, observing the remnants of Volcarona and Larvesta, he had been following these traces, searching for the activity remains of the Fire God Insect and Volcarona, looking for the place where they placed their Pokemon Eggs.
From the Shroomish group he encountered not long ago, it was evident that Wild Pokémon protect their eggs well; all Pokemon Eggs would be placed in a fixed and safe location.
He wanted to see if he could find a Volcarona's Pokemon Egg, even if it was already dead and fossilized.
In the end, he was lucky to find this fossilized Pokemon Egg.
Bringing the Fossil Egg to the Volcarona.
Under its gaze, Natsuhiko solemnly said, "I can revive it."
If he hadn't found this Fossil Egg, Natsuhiko could have said he could take the Volcarona out to find the Larvesta and Volcarona living in the Pokemon Realm.
But since he found it, he could skip that step.
After all, Larvesta and Volcarona are not that common Pokémon.
Besides, he already has a Dragapult fossil to revive, and having one more or less is the same.
"Baluya—"
Dragapult chimed in timely.
Indicating it also had a kin that needed revival, and Natsuhiko could make it happen.
Up to this point, the eyes of the Volcarona finally sparkled with a glimmer of hope, the hope of survival.
Even if it's just a little bit.
But it's still a lifeline.
Feeling that the faint life energy flow of the Volcarona finally stopped dissipating, Natsuhiko and Dragapult breathed a long sigh of relief.
At last.
No materials or effort wasted.
The Volcarona slowly closed its eyes.
"Barria."
'It's too tired.'
Fell into a deep sleep.
As they watched, the Volcarona's wings slowly curled up, its body huddled into a ball, and a large amount of silk thread was drawn out from its body. In the blink of an eye, the Volcarona wrapped itself into a cocoon again.
Looking at the Volcarona, now turned into a white cocoon, then looking at the Fossil Egg in his hand.
Natsuhiko twitched the corner of his mouth.
"So... after all that effort, we ended up with a Pokemon Egg 'incubator'?"
Emitting a warm glow, the cocoon.
Though the Volcarona had to fall into a sleep of unknown duration due to the massive depletion of life energy, its trait effect was still active.
It seems... its temporary role is just to help incubate the Pokemon Egg?
Natsuhiko looked at Dragapult.
Dragapult raised its head high, almost whistling.
Fortunately, there's still a Fossil Egg to gamble some luck on.