Lucas shot to his feet. His drowsy brain instantly cleared.
His Dragonite, Delibird, Victini, and Terapagos all turned with him toward the direction of the explosion.
"What's going on?"
Lucas frowned, various guesses flashing through his mind.
Enemy invasion?
Poachers attacking?
But compared to the cause of the explosion, what puzzled Lucas more right now was the reaction of the Dragonite clan around him.
The Dragonite were one thing, but the Dragonair were still lazily floating on the lake. Even the Dratini — who should have been more timid — showed no intention of hiding in the water.
— It was as if they were already completely used to this sound and didn't even bother lifting an eyebrow.
From this, the cause of the explosion became quite intriguing.
Still, Lucas decided to go take a look at the explosion site.
Not just because of his connection with the giant Dragonite — he personally couldn't bear to see anything happen to this paradise belonging to the Dragonites.
The explosion site wasn't far from the lake where the Dragonite clan lived.
Calling his three small Pokémon and mounting his Dragonite, Lucas quickly arrived at the area.
Because they arrived so quickly, thick smoke from the earlier explosion was still rolling, making it impossible to see what had happened below.
Just as Lucas was about to have his Dragonite descend for a closer look —
A sudden gust of wind rose from below and instantly blew the smoke away.
Lucas and his Dragonite were also caught in the wind's range. Any other flying Pokémon would have immediately lost balance and risked falling.
But Lucas's Dragonite did nothing special. A stream of air blew in front of it, perfectly canceling out the wind that would have affected its flight balance.
Thanks to this, Lucas could now clearly see the situation below.
— However, what he saw with his own eyes was completely different from what he had guessed.
"Hm?"
He let out a short, nasal sound of confusion. He hadn't expected it to be like this at all.
Below, on a solid patch of rock and soil with no vegetation, about ten Dragonite had gathered.
Looking closely, the shiny green Dragonite that had been eyeing his "little cabbage" was also in the line.
And in the center of their encirclement stood a Dragonite with an imposing aura and visible signs of age, standing with its hands behind its back.
That was probably the clan leader of the Dragonite group living on this island — the same one that had invited Lucas's Dragonite earlier.
There was no sign of any outsider.
But judging by the formation, it was clear these ten Dragonite had surrounded the clan leader. The earlier explosion had most likely been caused by them.
Were they dissatisfied that the clan leader had given Lucas's Dragonite the qualification to run for leader and had decided to rebel?
A slightly unreliable guess flashed through Lucas's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
— Because it didn't look like that at all.
Below, the Dragonite quickly organized an attack. Ten beams of blue-purple-red light transformed into soaring energy dragons and charged at the clan leader together.
Their momentum looked anything but merciful. They were clearly aiming to seriously injure the clan leader.
But the clan leader remained completely calm. It slightly raised its head, and a terrifying roar that shook the entire island's forest erupted.
"Roar ang——!"
Under the intense sound waves, those mighty Dragon Pulses shattered like fragile glass upon contact, falling apart completely.
The ten Dragonite surrounding the clan leader were also forced to retreat several steps, trying to resist the impact of the sound waves.
Even from a distance, Lucas and his companions felt a slight effect.
But at this moment they had no time to worry about the sound waves — they were carefully observing.
Soon, Lucas noticed something.
"It's not just pure sound-wave intimidation. There's also an invisible strong wind mixed in—"
Feeling the cool sensation brushing past his fingertips, Lucas analyzed thoughtfully.
Still, this clan leader was incredibly strong.
It kept talking about being old and planning to retire.
But judging by this single roar, it was probably already far stronger than those young Dragonite.
Directly shattering a large number of moves aimed at it was simply outrageous.
Lucas had seen a similar scene not long ago during his vacation in the Alola region.
— Only the form was slightly different.
Those Totem Pokémon not only had a visible glowing aura around them, but their bodies were also one or even several sizes larger than their normal counterparts.
More importantly, when they roared like the clan leader had, it was to summon their kin — not purely for intimidation like this, closer to some kind of intangible "pressure" or "Dragon Might."
So under completely different conditions, Lucas really couldn't conclude that the clan leader was a Totem Pokémon.
Not to mention this place was near the Galar Sea, quite far from the tropical Alola Sea.
Totem Pokémon, a specialty of Alola, couldn't appear here.
At this moment, the clan leader's roar had completely stopped.
Except for a few Dragonite still stunned in place, the others quickly recovered from their dizziness, shook their heads, and then charged at the clan leader again.
This time, they chose close-quarters combat!
And among them, a very conspicuous deep-green figure charged ahead and reached the clan leader first.
A Dragon Claw that had been charging for a long time sliced through the air and struck straight at the clan leader!
The clan leader merely glanced at it, twisted its body, and its tail whipped out like a long lash with a sharp whooshing sound, sending the shiny Dragonite flying!
The other attacking Dragonite met similar fates — either crushed by overwhelming power or hit with technique that completely outclassed them.
In no time, the ground was filled with round-bellied, fat Dragonite lying on their backs. Even those that had recovered from dizziness took a heavy hit.
".Hiss."
Watching this scene with his own eyes, Lucas couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
This clan leader really had some skills!
First, a technique combining sound waves and wind currents, similar to a "Totem aura" or "Conqueror's Haki."
In terms of physical ability and combat technique, it completely dominated these Dragonite.
You're this vigorous even in old age, and you're still talking about retiring?
Lucas was deeply puzzled.
He had his Dragonite land. Finally on solid ground, Lucas first glanced at the wild Dragonite lying around, groaning in pain and looking rather undignified.
Then his gaze fell on the clan leader, who didn't seem surprised by their arrival.
"Aowu——" (This is daily combat training——)
The clan leader called out, trying to explain to Lucas.
Unfortunately, Lucas couldn't understand its words.
What was fortunate was that Lucas could roughly guess what the clan leader was doing. Not understanding the language didn't matter.
From the fact that it had accepted the challenge from the wild Dragonite alone, then knocked them all down without delivering any finishing blows, it was clear.
It wasn't testing or training them — it was conducting the Dragonite clan leader selection.
Considering that back at the lake living area, the Dragonite, Dragonair, and Dratini had shown no surprise at all — as if this was completely normal — Lucas leaned even more toward the first answer.
The truth was very close to Lucas's guess. The clan leader was indeed acting as a "coach," training these battle-hungry Dragonite who wanted to compete for the clan leader position.
The first requirement to become clan leader was to be able to command respect.
Never mind personality and wisdom — at the very least, your combat strength should be the strongest in the group.
It hoped that one day, one of these clan members would be able to defeat it and inherit the position of clan leader.
"Relax a little. You'll be healed soon."
After basic treatment, Lucas gave a signal to the side.
"Huan huan~"
Comfey let out a cute cry. Its Floral Healing and Aromatherapy — already perfected through practice — worked together to quickly treat the wild Dragonite in front of it.
Not gonna lie, this treatment felt really good.
The only regret for this wild Dragonite was that while Comfey was using its moves, there was a constant faint, indescribable feeling that kept it from fully relaxing — it felt a bit awkward.
— After all, "Floral Healing" was a Fairy-type move.
This wild Dragonite soon became lively again. Lucas moved on to the next Dragonite.
The moment their eyes met, Lucas's smile faded slightly, but his actions remained professional.
"Sit still. Don't move."
After a "warning," Lucas placed his hands on the shiny Dragonite — which didn't dare move at all — and began pressing and checking.
Of course, he wasn't giving the shiny Dragonite a massage. He was simply confirming the location of its less obvious "internal injuries."
This way Comfey could treat it more accurately and efficiently.
After all, ten healthy adult Dragonite in their prime were quite a lot of work to treat.
But the more he pressed, the stranger Lucas's expression became.
He looked up at the shiny Dragonite, which seemed completely frozen, and frowned.
"Why are you so nervous?"
The shiny Dragonite's belly — which should have been soft like a normal Dragonite's — was now as hard as iron.
The clan leader had just whipped it hard right there with its tail. To properly check for internal injuries, the shiny Dragonite couldn't stay tense like this.
Shiny Dragonite: "."
You think I want to be nervous?!
It first glanced at Lucas's Dragonite — the reason it refused to show any weakness and forced itself to sit up despite the pain — then looked at the clan leader silently watching from behind Lucas.
The shiny Dragonite wanted to pull a disgusted face at Lucas but couldn't.
It considered itself a strong male dragon. It absolutely couldn't lose face in front of the elegant little female dragon it had taken a liking to.
But it also couldn't refuse Lucas and Comfey's treatment while still trying to maintain its pride. It was suffocating!
Fortunately, as time passed, Lucas — relying on his (probably) excellent medical skills — roughly figured out which areas Comfey needed to focus on.
As the healing light spots fell on the shiny Dragonite, its injuries began to recover.
Watching this scene, the clan leader nodded in satisfaction.
Normally after "training," it would just let these thick-skinned little guys lie there for a while. They would slowly recover on their own and be back to full strength after eating some energy.
But it had to admit — this was pretty good.
With Comfey's treatment speeding up recovery, they could probably go another round of "beating — I mean, training" today without any problem.
The clan leader thought with great satisfaction.
The wild Dragonite that had just recovered not long ago suddenly felt a chill down their backs.
Soon, that bad premonition became reality.
Right in front of Lucas and his companions, the fully recovered wild Dragonite got beaten up again and were once more lying on the ground, half-dead and wailing.
Lucas & Comfey: "."
So what was all our earlier effort for? Was it all for nothing?
Still, there were gains.
Because they were watching from up close, Lucas discovered something different about the clan leader through their actual battle.
— It was almost like a low-spec — no, more like a battle-specialized version of a "Totem aura" holder.
Its overwhelming physical capabilities showed no signs of old age. These young Dragonite were being completely dominated.
To put it bluntly, for a wild Pokémon without systematic training, the clan leader was unbelievably strong.
And from the looks of it, it had lived on this Dragonite Island for a long time, rarely leaving. It only sparred with its own kind in a controlled manner. Logically, the clan leader's strength shouldn't be this high.
Most clan leaders of Pokémon groups could handle young challengers, but not to the point of fighting ten at once like this.
Could the clan leader's strength be related to the "magical power" on this island that the giant Dragonite mentioned?
It was also to get this answer that Lucas had accepted the clan leader's request to treat the wild Dragonite together with Comfey.
It said that if he did, it would tell him the answer.
Otherwise, Lucas could also let his Dragonite participate in the clan leader election. If it won, he would still get the answer.
Since Lucas had no intention of letting his Dragonite run for leader in the first place, he naturally chose the option of helping treat the wild Dragonite.
The second round of treatment was already putting some pressure on Comfey.
Fortunately, Victini had rested enough and could assist. With its help, Comfey's healing speed became noticeably faster than before.
Soon, ten lively wild Dragonite were lined up in front of the clan leader again.
Seeing this.
The clan leader had no intention of beating them a third time. It turned to look at Lucas.
Lucas immediately understood and called the Moltres over.
The clan leader let out a series of low roars, and the Moltres translated them for Lucas in real time.
The clan leader explained it this way:
— As long as you win the election and become the leader of this Dragonite group, becoming the clan leader and Dragon Overlord!
You would gain the qualification to go to that place and come into contact with the magical power.
In that case, Lucas's Dragonite would at least receive the same power boost as itself.
If luck was good, it might even obtain even more mysterious powers and benefits.
…