Adhering to the principle of not wasting anything found, Aoki successfully pried off the blue stone from the statue.
After scanning with the chip, it was confirmed to be a fragment of the Blue Sky Slate.
It was a bit smaller than the piece he had previously pried off the Rayquaza statue, but there was only so much of the Blue Sky Slate in total, and for Aoki to encounter two pieces within a few days was incredibly lucky.
After checking and not finding anything else, Aoki left contentedly.
Since he knew this was a space left behind by ancient people, Aoki stopped thinking about it further.
He had initially thought he might unearth a terrifying legendary beast in some corner of the space, leading to an earth-shattering battle.
As he left, he once again scoured the Ghost-type treasures within the Dragon Tomb. His biggest gain was finding a naturally formed Reaper Cloth in a rock crevice.
This item is very attractive to Ghost-type Pokémon and can also evolve Dusclops into Dusknoir when held, making it a very rare item.
Aoki had once asked Phoebe for one, as one of her main battle Pokémon was a Dusknoir, but she told Aoki that she didn't have any extra Reaper Cloths; her Dusknoir had evolved thanks to her grandparents.
Now, he had found a Reaper Cloth in this place, which was extremely rich in Ghost-type energy.
When held by ordinary Ghost-type Pokémon, it can not only help them regulate the Ghost-type energy within their bodies but also help them conceal their forms better.
For Gengar in its current state, it was extremely useful.
Aoki immediately gave it to Gengar, telling it to stay in the shadows and compress its internal energy to solidify its foundation.
Stepping out of the Dragon Tomb, he recalled his Pokémon, summoned Gardevoir, and returned to the Dragon Valley after multiple Teleportations.
This departure had taken quite some time, especially inside the Dragon Tomb where, without sunlight, time seemed to pass unnoticed.
Collecting those materials also took a lot of time.
Drake, seeing Aoki appear, frowned slightly. "You've been gone so long. Did you enter the Dragon Tomb?"
Drake's senses were very sharp.
Aoki had no intention of hiding it and nodded gently. "I was a bit curious, so…"
"You must have seen the array inside. You didn't damage it, did you?" Drake asked immediately, not caring why Aoki had gone in.
Aoki immediately shook his head. "No, I just collected a lot of Ghost-type materials."
Hearing Aoki say no, Drake visibly breathed a sigh of relief, then patted Aoki's shoulder and said, "I know you must have many questions after seeing the array, but there are some things I'm not very clear about either. However, that array concerns all life within this entire space.
Do you know why this space has existed for so long, with so many Dragon-type Pokémon living here, and the energy within the entire space hasn't dried up?"
"Could it be… because of…" Aoki was a bit surprised. It seemed his teacher had also done some research.
Drake nodded and said, "That's right, it's because of that thing. According to my old friend, a long, long time ago, that place wasn't a Dragon Tomb at all. Instead, it was a place even more important than the Dragon Valley, with many powerful individuals guarding it.
But when the first group of strong individuals died, and the second group replaced them and slowly aged and died, gradually, that place became the Dragon Tomb.
All Dragon-type Pokémon, after death, also guard that place."
So that was it.
In that case, Aoki understood.
"It's good that you didn't cause any damage.
However, the Dragon Tomb should also have guardians. I told you not to go in because I was afraid you might try to research or modify the array, which would cause the guardians to appear, and then I wouldn't be able to stop them.
Come on, your Shelgon should have absorbed enough by now. Let's go see him." Drake patted Aoki's shoulder.
Then the two walked towards the Dragon Pool inside the temple. Along the way, Drake told Aoki many legends about this space.
Some he had investigated out of curiosity, and some his old friend had told him.
...
Arriving at the Dragon Pool again.
They found that the water level of the special liquid in the Dragon Pool had visibly dropped.
Originally, it only reached Shelgon's eyes, but now it was almost at the bottom of his white bone armor.
"What a good boy, this Shelgon's potential is very strong!" Excitement flashed in Drake's eyes. Shelgon's absorption ability was much stronger than he had imagined.
The more it absorbed, the denser its Dragon-type bloodline was, and the more these liquids were needed to unlock its sealed potential.
Sensing Aoki and Drake approaching, the closed-eyed Shelgon slowly opened its eyes. A hint of confusion flashed in its eyes when it looked at Aoki, as if it had blacked out and couldn't remember what had happened.
But it quickly remembered everything.
Splash splash—
It moved its four limbs, walking towards Aoki, its moving limbs causing the liquid to splash around.
Aoki's face showed a smile as he watched Shelgon walk step by step to his side.
He lightly patted the bone armor on its back and praised, "Well done, Shelgon!"
Although it didn't know exactly what it had done well, Aoki was clearly very happy, so Shelgon was also very happy.
Because after Aoki scanned Shelgon's data with his system, he found that although its aptitude was still blue, it was much denser than before.
"He has only absorbed the dragon blood now and hasn't fully digested it. Later, he will need to calm down and slowly absorb it," Drake said.
Aoki nodded.
The two left the temple with their Pokémon and came to the valley.
Seeing so many Shelgon, Bagon, and Salamence in the valley, Aoki's Shelgon's eyes sparkled with excitement and surprise.
From birth until now, it was the first time it had seen so many of its kind.
After getting Aoki's permission, it started running towards a group of Shelgon.
After the guidance from Kommo-o, Shelgon's emotional knot was almost completely untied. Although its training was still diligent, it no longer had the same obsession as before.
Aoki and Drake exchanged a smile, seeing satisfaction in each other's eyes.
Aoki was satisfied with Shelgon's growth, while Drake was satisfied with Aoki's growth.
The two found a place to sit down. Today, they would let Shelgon play to its heart's content. From birth until now, Shelgon had never been so happy.
"Aoki, in the future, you must take my place and protect this area well," Drake thought silently.
...
Ten days passed in a flash.
Except for the first day when Shelgon played with its kind, for the next nine days, Shelgon obediently lay in a corner, closing its eyes to digest and integrate the "dragon blood" it had absorbed earlier.
But on this day, Aoki and Drake's communicators rang simultaneously, receiving a message from the League.
They were in different spaces, and for a special message to be sent to both their communicators like this, it meant the League had truly encountered something very important.
Seeing the two words on the communicator, both Aoki and Drake's expressions turned somewhat grim.
The two short words, however, contained too much meaning.
"Return immediately!"