As they went deeper, they encountered no further resistance.

And that made sense: in such a resource-lacking cave, housing even a single Elite-level Crobat was already a miracle.

If there had been more than one...

Then everyone might as well go back home to mom.

Being a Trainer is way too hard.

In the deepest part of Connecting Cave's central area, Cain finally discovered the reason why these Golbat were so strong.

The entire center of the cave was filled with a massive amount of Poison-type energy.

It was incredibly dense.

Although it didn't reach the level of Ghost energy concentration found on Trial Island, where Mismagius was born...

They were different categories altogether.

But with this level of density, it was understandable that it could support a large number of Zubat and Golbat.

What wasn't clear was where all this Poison-type energy came from.

The purplish fog in the air made visibility extremely poor. Even with torches, you could barely make out the surroundings.

Slowking deployed a psychic barrier to shield Cain and his team from the toxins.

Except for two Pokémon.

Drapion and Gengar.

Both were gleefully gliding through the poisonous energy.

That's because this energy was extremely beneficial to them.

If they lived here for a while, given their natural talent, they could likely reach Elite level too.

Both had Dark Blue grade quality, while that earlier Crobat was only Light Blue.

"Kekeke~!" Gengar floated over to Cain and let out a squeal.

"Oh? You say there's something over there?" Cain instantly understood what he meant, and his eyes lit up.

If Gengar had found something, then they wouldn't need to keep searching blindly, nor risk running into surprises.

It also meant there shouldn't be any danger.

Cain followed Gengar toward the center of the cave.

They found what looked like a pool.

It seemed to have been built artificially.

There were many hand-placed blocks surrounding it.

But the key feature was the stone pillar in the center of the pool.

A pillar engraved with countless strange symbols, and on it... a Pokémon was chained!

A Pokémon that was still alive!

Upon seeing the Pokémon, Cain blurted out without thinking: "A Pillar of the Imprisoned Dragon?"

A Pillar of the Imprisoned Dragon!

And why did he call it that?

Because on that pillar, a dragon was bound.

Not a pure-blood dragon...

But still a Dragon-type Pokémon.

Dragalge!

A Pokémon registered in the Kalos region.

The evolved form of Skrelp.

A Poison and Dragon-type hybrid.

Only now, this Dragalge was in a miserable state.

Its presence was faint, nearly lifeless—so weak that you couldn't even tell its actual strength.

The chains binding it looked specially designed, with barbs that pierced directly into its body.

Those barbs were draining something from it and channeling it into the pool below.

It was clear that this was the source of the Poison-type energy in the cave.

Supporting so many Poison-type Pokémon by itself... just how powerful had it once been?

And what kind of person could have chained it here?

It was obvious this Dragalge had been bound for a long time.

Perhaps sensing Cain's presence, Dragalge, whose eyes had been closed, slowly opened them with a slight flutter of its eyelids.

Through its gaze, the erosion of time could be felt.

Cain stood still, merely locking eyes with it.

As the only registered Pokémon so far with the Poison + Dragon combination, its typing was quite effective.

It had no glaring weaknesses and held a massive advantage against Grass-types (4x effectiveness).

Moreover, being part Dragon-type, it likely had strong physical endurance and close-combat ability.

At first glance, Dragalge looks like a long strand of seaweed.

Hence the name.

Though, to be honest, it doesn't have a great reputation.

It has a temperamental nature and tends to spray venom at anything that approaches. It hides among seaweed and launches deadly poison attacks.

It's said that waters where Dragalge resides never return ships.

That says a lot about its difficult temperament.

But right now, this Dragalge showed no sign of aggression. Its gaze was hollow, expressionless.

A Dragalge whose will and pride had been completely worn away by time. All it wanted now was for its suffering to end.

Whoever chained it here had drained its energy and abandoned it, leaving it to benefit the wild Pokémon.

Most likely, that previous Crobat had reached Elite level thanks to the energy from this Dragalge.

Cain activated his system to scan it.

Pokémon: Dragalge (Light Green) – Status: Extremely Weakened

Gender: Male

Level: 60 (originally level 78)

Type: Poison + Dragon

Ability: Adaptability

Held Item: None

Egg Moves: Toxic Spikes, Haze, Acid Armor, Venom Drench

Basic Moves: Twister, Dragon Tail, Tackle, Smokescreen, Water Gun, Feint Attack, Tail Whip, Bubble, Acid, Camouflage, Poison Tail, Double Team, Toxic, Sludge Bomb, Hydro Pump, Dragon Tail

Learned Moves: Draco Meteor, Icy Wind, Gunk Shot, Snore, Bounce, Dragon Pulse, Iron Tail, Aqua Tail, Outrage, Water Pulse

TM Moves: None

Seeing these stats, Cain remained silent for a long time.

A Pokémon that had once reached level 78—Elite Four level—was now chained here, silently crying out with no one to hear it.

A former titan, now reduced to a prisoner dragon.

Just the fact that it had learned Draco Meteor and Outrage proved that its Dragon heritage was exceptionally strong.

But now, due to energy loss and level regression, its grade had dropped to Light Green. Who knew what grade it had once possessed?

Moreover, its ability was Adaptability.

Combined with the move Camouflage, and with proper training, this becomes an almost godlike ability.

Because Adaptability doubles the power of moves that match the user's type.

In other words, while same-type moves usually get a 50% bonus, Adaptability boosts that to 100%.

With Poison and Dragon moves, Dragalge could unleash overwhelming power.

(End of Chapter)