"Lodestone... You actually managed to synthesize this theoretically precious metal."
Feng Che smiled, genuinely pleased. If his Corviknight absorbed this piece of Lodestone, it would gain the ability to manipulate gravity as freely as that Alolan Golem.
"Thanks, Second Elder. I'll gladly take this trophy off your hands."
Feng Che happily swept the Lodestone into his storage ring. The display nearly made the Second Elder grind his silver teeth to dust.
"Hmph! Don't celebrate too early. You have no idea what you're about to face," the Second Elder snapped, his mood utterly ruined as he stared at the smiling youth, his previous two Pokémon having both been eradicated.
"Go, Drampa!"
With a low, rumbling bellow, Drampa manipulated currents of gale-force wind to descend into the valley. The terrain had just been blanketed in lush greenery by Gigantamax Venusaur's manipulation of natural energy.
"Excellent job. Come on back, Venusaur."
Feng Che recalled Venusaur in front of everyone, though he actually transferred it back into his internal Garden of Life.
"Shaymin, Venusaur expended a massive amount of natural energy. Help me check its condition," Feng Che requested internally.
Before returning, Venusaur had funneled its residual natural energy deep into the earth in accordance with Feng Che's instructions. This energy would ensure the soil of the Dragon's Den became extraordinarily fertile. Furthermore, the massive iron vein uncovered beneath the den would serve as the primary economic foundation for the Dragon Clan's future.
"Your ultimate reliance is this Drampa, a Pokémon that has broken through to the Champion rank," Feng Che observed, before his tone shifted sharply. "But what made you ever under the illusion that I didn't have a Champion-level Pokémon on me?"
"Come out, Gengar!"
Jie-jie-jie!
Gengar erupted from his shadow with a sinister cackle. This portly Gengar was Feng Che's true, definitive ace. The moment it materialized, the suffocating pressure of a Champion-rank Pokémon exploded across the terrain.
As Gengar stepped into the Dragon's Den, the temperature throughout the valley plummeted by dozens of degrees within a fraction of a second. The gathered crowd felt a phantom grip tighten around their throats under the weight of Gengar's terrifying aura.
"A Champion-level Gengar... Elite Four Feng Che, you hid your true strength incredibly deeply," the Second Elder growled, his face darkening as the words were forced out from between his clenched teeth.
"Likewise, Second Elder. You hid yours just as well. Otherwise, the clan wouldn't be finding out only now that your Drampa possesses Champion-level strength," Feng Che replied smoothly with a smile.
"Seeing the Second Elder's face turn that sickly shade of ash-grey feels absolutely fantastic."
"Right? His faction has been incredibly overbearing and arrogant for years. It's about time they got taken down a peg."
"The Second Elder has completely lost his edge. He's finished in this match."
Many of the clan members who had long despised the Second Elder's faction wasted no time kicking him while he was down, entirely confident that the old man's defeat was a foregone conclusion. A Champion-level Gengar possessed immense combat capability, and to make matters worse for the old man, his Drampa had specifically awakened Psychic-type traits, leaving it highly vulnerable to Ghost-type assaults.
His face iron-black, the Second Elder rhythmically tapped his cane against the rocky floor.
[All units, hear my command. If I fall in this battle...] [Flee immediately. Scatter and save as many of our people as possible.] [Head straight to the icy caverns and break the seal on Kyurem. Since I have lost, I will ensure everyone else is buried alongside me!]
The Second Elder relayed his instructions entirely via Morse code through the taps of his cane. Beyond his own inner circle, several other clan members well-versed in tactical communications picked up the transmission immediately.
"The Second Elder is getting cold feet! They're preparing to run!"
"Hmph! Like it's that easy. Did they bother asking us before trying to tuck tail and flee?"
"According to our clan laws, these traitors deserve nothing short of execution!"
The crowd erupted in righteous indignation. Meanwhile, Du Long curled himself into a tight ball, doing everything he could to minimize his presence. He knew with absolute certainty that the moment his grandfather fell, he would become the primary target of everyone's wrath.
"Drampa, use Confusion!"
Suddenly, a massive cluster of bent spoons materialized and hovered around Drampa's form. The peculiar visual made Feng Che suspect that this Drampa had been injected with the cells of a completely foreign Legendary Pokémon.
"Feng Che, your intuition is spot on. This Drampa's body contains the genetic tissue of a Legendary entity," Mewtwo chimed in, sounding highly amused. "Though I seriously doubt you've ever even heard of this particular deity."
"Let me guess... Could those cells belong to Ultra Necrozma?" Feng Che replied playfully.
"How on earth do you know that?!" Mewtwo blurted out, sounding as if it had just seen a ghost.
"How could I not? When it comes to the Legendary Pokémon of our world, I know them inside and out," Feng Che answered lazily.
"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!"
Gengar snapped his thick, stubby fingers with a sharp crack. Instantly, the sky above the Dragon's Den was populated by an countless multitude of Shadow Balls, their dark surfaces crackling with ominous, pitch-black static electricity.
"Use Psychic!"
Drampa snapped open its perennially closed eyes. Its pupils gleamed with the blinding brilliance of a star-filled sky. A colossal wave of telekinetic energy erupted from its eyes, freezing the oncoming barrage of Shadow Balls dead in their tracks at a distance.
A moment later, the dark spheres were violently imploded by the overwhelming psychic pressure, shattering into a massive, expanding shroud of dense black fog.
Cough, cough, cough!
Numerous clan members were instantly swallowed by the thick darkness. This was precisely the escape window the Second Elder had deliberately engineered for his loyalists.
"Now's our chance! Move out!"
Du Long's eyes lit up. He immediately led a large contingent of their forces, attempting to slip away under the cover of the black fog.
"大Feng Che, should we intercept them?" Mewtwo reported, alerting him to Du Long's covert retreat.
"No, I created this opening on purpose. Only when the Second Elder believes his lineage has a fighting chance to survive will he refrain from fighting me to the death. Intercept the escapees and confine them nearby. Once I break the Second Elder and he starts delivering his final, desperate boasts, release them right in front of him," Feng Che explained with a smirk.
"I've always loved offering people a glimmer of hope, only to shatter it instantly and watch them plummet into absolute despair." Feng Che's lips curled into the classic expression of a sly little fox.
"Haha! That's a brilliant plan. I love it. I'll execute it exactly as you said," Mewtwo chuckled, utilizing Teleport to subtly trap and lock down the fleeing faction members before they could clear the perimeter.
Excellent. Du Long is sharp enough to take the bait, the Second Elder thought triumphantly. As long as he escapes and delivers our research data to the underground syndicates, we will have a golden opportunity to rise from the ashes. Team Plasma, in particular, desperately needs the raw materials we possess to satisfy Ghetsis's ambitions.
"Now, brat, look upon the true majesty of a Drampa infused with the cells of Ultra Necrozma!"
The Second Elder had combed through countless ancient texts to finally discover that the ruins his team had breached years ago contained the dormant remains of an Ultra Necrozma that had lost its solar light. Even after a millennium, the cellular tissue had miraculously retained its bio-activity.
"Drampa, use Psychic!"
A colossal manifestation of telekinetic energy coalesced into three pairs of shimmering wings behind Drampa. Though the species was naturally incapable of true flight, the psychic construct launched its massive form high into the sky. As it soared into the upper reaches of the cavern, six distinct wings unfurled from its back, accompanied by the ethereal, translucent phantoms of two additional dragon heads materializing over its shoulders.