"It has been a long time, Axel.", came a booming voice from the outside.
Suddenly a big blueish Pokemon came flying down towards them. Blue was interested in this Salamence. His Salamence was also a champion-rank Pokemon. He was being competitive and wanted to see how good this one was.
"Thanks, Salamence. It is nice to meet you again. I came here to have a talk with your boss.", said Axel as he happily talked with the boss of this place.
"Oh, I know. I got the message from the leader. If you want to meet him urgently, then you can go. We will not stop you.", said Salamence.
Blue was surprised to see Salamence's behavior. Dragon-type Pokemons were very arrogant and they have their ego. But the leader of this dragon's den followed Lucario's orders with a happy expression.
"If you have come here then, can you show me the progress of your Bagon? I want to see how much it has grown.", said the leader.
In the meantime, the other members of the tribe also came to talk with Axel and Blue. Axel had made a good impression on them and they were happy to see a new face once in a while.
There were a number of Bagon, Shelgon, and Salamence. This might be the first time Blue had seen such a high number of dragon Pokemon tribes. He had seen other Salamence tribes but they were very small consisting of only 5-10 Pokemons with one leader. But here, there were 100s of them in here. The place was also very big. Blue just cannot see the end of it.
"Of course, can I call out all of my Pokemons here?", asked Axel.
Salamence had no problem with it and he called out all of his Pokemons.
The one who was very excited to come out was Charizard.
Just as it came out, it gave a loud roar to announce its presence.
ROOOOARR
The roar was so high and rough that the winds started to come out blowing Axel's hair. The ground shook and small Pokemons had to close their eyes in defense.
"Oh, you have got a powerful Charizard. I can tell that it is well-trained.", said Salamence.
"Father, can I fight with this dork?"
"Dork? Who are you calling a dork?", snapped Salamence.
But Charizard was not looking at Salamence. It was looking at Axel.
"Father, is this dork deaf too?"
Salamence could not take all the insults and was ready to pounce.
"Slow down, big guy. Why are you angry at a kid? If you want to fight, I have got someone just right for you.", said Blue.
Salamence's concentration was now on Blue. It was interested in Blue the moment it saw it. It could be that Blue was not a normal trainer. He looked exceptionally strong.
"We have got the time for all of it. But first, Salamence, do you want to take the test again?", asked the leader of Axel's Salamence.
Axel looked at Salamence if it wanted to do the test again.
ROOOARR
It roared saying that it was always ready.
The leader was happy to see its confidence. It had all the nature and behavior of a good dragon-type Pokemon and it was very happy that Salamence was with Axel.
"Ok, so let's begin.", said the leader while all the Pokemons made some space for Salamence and the leader.
The test was divided into 2 parts. First of all, Axel's Salamence had to bear the aura and pressure of the leader as much as it could, and then for the second test, Axel's Salamence would use one attack against the leader. The test was very simple and Salamence had impressed the leader before in the test. The leader wanted to see how powerful it had become now.
"Are you ready, kid?", asked the leader.
ROOARRR
Salamence immediately used 'Defense curl' and 'Iron defense' to increase its defense by a good margin. Personally, Axel felt that those 2 moves were not needed. Those 2 moves didn't increase special defense. Just the defense of the user and aura attack were mainly special in nature. Of course, those 2 moves would have an overall effect on increasing its overall defense but it would not be very helpful.
BANG!!!
The ground cracked with the pressure and Salamence's body also went down but it didn't crash to the ground. It held itself in. Since it had mastered its ability and hidden ability and its ridges were perfect before the evolution, its defense was very high and it could take a lot of hits compared to other Salamence.
With every 20 seconds, the leader increased the pressure and Salamence could hold out for 80 seconds which was a big jump in its power.
"Take some rest and we will continue the next phase of the test. You have improved a lot and your foundation is solid. You might be one of the most talented Salamence that I have ever seen.", commented the leader.
Axel and Salamence had really worked hard on themselves. So, when the leader said some good words, they were not surprised or happy. They just felt that they deserved it.
Salamence was given some time to rest and get ready. For this round, the leader would judge its attack power.
So, Salamence went for its most powerful attack. It was 'Thrash'. But there was more. It first used 'Dragon dance' to increase its attack and speed and it used it 2 times. That was the limit of Salamence right now.
After using it, it gave a huge roar as its whole body was now surrounded by white light. Then it went ahead and rammed its head on the leader's body. The leader was a champion rank Pokemon. So, it had received no damage but the leader was surprised by the attack power of this Salamence. It was only an uncommon rank Pokemon but the power of that attack was very high.
'Thrash' had leveled up to level 45. When it leveled up to 45, the system said that the user could let go and use full power. Axel didn't understand what it really meant but after training it for some time, he knew how powerful the move had become.
Now, when a Pokemon uses the move 'Thrash', it would not stop until it gets confused. This was the main disadvantage of the move but the power of the move would be higher than other physical type moves.
When the description said that the user could let go, it meant that the user didn't need to worry about their own health and injury while using this move. So, when Salamence went for the second time, it used its full power, without caring anything about the defense.
Even if the Pokemon is raged while using this move, its basic instinct would still not let it use the move at full power cause it would be worried about hurting itself. But such was not the case with Salamence.
BANG!!
The power of this attack was almost twice that of the first one and this time Salamence was also very hurt. So, it didn't continue. It came out of its rage phase.
Meanwhile, the leader was stupefied with the power of the attack. This was the power that an uncommon rank Pokemon should have. If Salamence were to fight with a nondragon type Pokemon, it would be easily able to crush a rare rank Pokemon and might even be able to fight an elemental rank Pokemon to a tie.
Since Salamence was hurt, the leader told the tribe members to take care of Salamence and heal it.
"Your Salamence would take a day to be fully healed. Till that time, why don't you stay with us and you can move out tomorrow.", suggested the leader.
Axel and Blue had no problem spending one day in this place.
Blue was very much interested in how their tribe came to be and had many questions. Lucky for him, this leader likes to boast its accomplishments. So, the leader started to explain all the things.
"Axel, when I was observing your Salamence, I could tell that it would learn 'Draco meteor'. If you are interested, I can teach your Salamence this move.", said the leader.
"I have no problem with it but I cannot leave Salamence here with you. How much time would it take for it to learn the move?"
"With how talented your Salamence is, it would take 5-7 days. It might even learn it in less number of days.", said the leader.
If it was a week, Axel had no problem with it. Salamence was just an uncommon rank Pokemon and it was very young right now. So, leaving it here to train was not a wise choice. Axel needed to personally look after it till it could handle itself.
Yet, from the inside, Axel was salivating at the proposal. Draco meteor was already a very powerful move but not many dragon-type Pokemons could learn it. If they knew the move as an egg move, then they could improve on it but most of the time, the dragon-type Pokemons could not learn it.
But the leader was saying that Salamence could do it.
"I have a proposal for you. If you are interested, then I will tell it to you.", said the leader.
"There is no harm in hearing it. So, what is it?"
"I am the leader of this tribe but I am getting old now. I believe that my life would end after a few more decades. For an old man like me, my goal right now is to find a good successor."
"Wait, hold on...", said Axel.
"If I am right on what you are going to tell me then I would have to decline. You are a powerful Salamence but if you want my Salamence to be the next leader, then just forget. I cannot let it be here all its life."
"No, you thought wrong. Of course, I know that you will not let your Salamence be here all its life. Let me continue my story. As an old dragon, I want to have a successor. It is not like there are no talented and hard-working Salamence in my tribe.
There actually are some of them that could hold my position in the future. But there are very few of them that are as good as your Salamence. Actually, there is only one of them and with my experience, your Salamence is even better than her."
"I already told you my stance.", said Axel again.
"I know. I am not telling your Salamence to be the leader of my tribe. I cannot ask you to do that. But I want it to be the guardian of my tribe. The future guardian to be specific."
"What is a guardian?"
"Just as the name applies, the guardian is the one that protects the tribe in the time of need."
"But my Salamence wouldn't always be here. It will in other places of the world.", said Axel.
"That is why he would be called the guardian and don't worry where he would be. I have the means to teleport him and aware him of the danger in his time of need.
I also want to propose a marriage between your Salamence and the future leader of the tribe. The leader needs an heir and what better to have the heir than your Salamence."