"Determined to die?" Natsuhiko said in a deep voice.
"Baluya..." Dragapult gently nuzzled Natsuhiko's cheek.
Enough, it's enough now.
Yet, Natsuhiko's face remained stern.
Having come this far, why not go a little crazier.
Natsuhiko steeled his heart.
He opened his backpack.
Preparing to take out the Original Groudon Shell Fragments.
Since it originally could sustain the slumber of Volcarona, it showed that Volcarona had already absorbed quite a bit of its energy, and like Chimchar, it had a certain level of compatibility.
But when he took it out, he was stunned.
In his hand, he saw an enlarged red rock, the size of a washbasin, with golden lines merging into one complete streak.
Those palm-sized, basketball-sized, stick-like pieces were all gone, fused into one.
"Does this thing... actually have a self-repair feature? If all fragments are gathered, wouldn't it form an Original Groudon?"
Of course, it's just talk.
These fragments were merely fallen from Groudon, the real Groudon was still sound asleep.
But having merged into one piece, it did go beyond Natsuhiko's expectations.
No time to think more.
Natsuhiko directly pressed this large chunk onto Volcarona.
The intense energy wildly poured into Volcarona's body.
The impact of this energy forcefully awakened Volcarona from unconsciousness.
"Chuur~" Volcarona called out softly.
Regained consciousness.
Natsuhiko and Dragapult shared a look of joy.
Dragapult moved closer to Larvesta.
"Baluya—"
It began using itself as an example to comfort Larvesta.
But it had little effect.
After all, Volcarona was not like Dragapult; the experience was akin to that of Dragapult back then.
Dragapult's long passage through time was in a daze, although its time was longer than that of Volcarona, what it experienced was far less than Volcarona.
Seeing Dragapult's somewhat anxious expression, Natsuhiko stepped forward, gently pushing it away, staring into Volcarona's sapphire-like eyes.
He said solemnly, "Do you miss your companions?"
Volcarona looked at Natsuhiko; although it didn't speak, the gleaming eyes said it all.
"Where were you born?" Natsuhiko asked again.
Since this Volcarona appeared, it certainly didn't just pop out of a rock; it should at least have parents, right?
From its birth and experiences, perhaps something could be found.
Upon hearing this, Volcarona's gaze slowly shifted, landing on a distant mountain.
Lush and green, full of dense vegetation.
An extinct volcano?
Volcarona most likely was born in the volcano.
But clearly that mountain wasn't a volcano, so it was highly possible to be an extinct volcano.
"Dragapult, let's go!"
Without saying much, he lifted Volcarona and sat upon Dragapult's back.
It didn't need any Life Energy now; pouring more would be like inflating a leaky balloon, the more you inject, the more it leaks out.
With energy supplied by the Original Groudon Shell Fragments, Volcarona wouldn't die shortly.
How fast can Dragapult go at full speed?
Natsuhiko witnessed it today.
In just a few minutes, they arrived at the mountain Volcarona mentioned.
Upon getting closer, Natsuhiko became more certain of his suspicion; this indeed was an extinct volcano.
Landing on the crater.
The soil and rocks formed from the solidification of lava in an extinct volcano are rich in minerals and nutrients, hence the vegetation here was exceptionally lush, with many wild Pokémon living about.
But with the aura exuded by Dragapult and Volcarona, no wild Pokémon dared come forth, they all shunned the place.
Following Volcarona's guidance, Natsuhiko followed a direct path downward entering the volcano's interior.
An ordinary extinct volcano.
It only seems "dead" on the surface; inside, there's still some magma, just not as active.
But this volcano was truly dead to an extreme; all the magma had solidified into blocks of black, mineral-rich stone.
If these stones were excavated, they would surely be a favorite food for many Rock-type Pokémon.
Seeing this, Natsuhiko vaguely understood the reason.
Inside this volcano, there must have been a rather small Volcarona group, maybe with less than ten, surviving off the heat and nutrients of the magma.
This was Groudon's alternate space, the existence of this magma might have been due to Groudon's presence.
But one day, Groudon fell asleep.
Thus, vast areas of magma inside this alternate space gradually entered dormancy, eventually drying up, or just at the surface layer, while deeper underground where Natsuhiko had been in the alternate space, there was still magma.
But that was enough to lead the Volcarona group depending on this volcano, this magma, to walk toward extinction.
In the end, the only one left was this Volcarona in front of them.
Perhaps, the light and heat it emitted all its life were for searching for companions, which had become its sole motivation to survive.
Standing on stones formed by not entirely solidified magma, under Volcarona's despairing gaze, Natsuhiko began strolling through the confined space inside the extinct volcano.
Actually.
From certain places, traces of activities by Volcarona and Larvesta could still be seen.