Three hours later, Ace returned to the outskirts of the Dragon's Den because he had already reached its deepest part.
Of course, he also saw the situation in the deepest part. After much deliberation, he decided to come back first to rest and challenge it after recuperating.
"Salamence, Garchomp, and Noivern... three Dragon-type Pokémon gathered together. Is it going to be a three-on-three in the end?"
Ace leaned against the rock wall to rest, feeling a slight headache.
After defeating Dragonite, there were no more Dragon-type Pokémon on the path ahead.
In the deepest part of the Dragon's Den, three Dragon-type Pokémon guarded a stone platform, and on the platform, a Key Stone was embedded.
If his guess was correct, that Key Stone was the gift the elder spoke of.
However, as Ace approached, all three Dragon-type Pokémon stood up, their gazes fixed on Ace. Without a doubt, to obtain the Key Stone, he first had to defeat those three Dragon-type Pokémon.
"All three can fly, and Garchomp can even burrow. So, if we face them, Chansey will use Gravity to seal their flying ability, Crobat will roam and look for opportunities while guarding against Noivern's Supersonic, and Lapras will provide Ice-type output."
Ace quickly came up with a temporary lineup, but its practicality would depend on the actual battle results.
After resting for a while, Ace and his Pokémon had lunch. Then, Ace re-entered the Dragon's Den, heading towards its depths.
Once again, he stood before the three Dragon-type Pokémon. The three Dragon-type Pokémon twitched their bodies, then stood up and collectively walked towards Ace.
"Crobat, Chansey, Lapras, I'm counting on you."
Three Poké Balls opened, and Crobat, Chansey, and Lapras burst out. Chansey took the lead, and Gravity swiftly descended. The advancing steps of the three Dragon-type Pokémon halted at that moment.
"Lapras, Blizzard!"
"Crobat, Air Slash!"
Seeing Chansey restrict the three Dragon-type Pokémon, Ace immediately launched an attack.
Facing the howling Blizzard and the accompanying Air Slash, the three Dragon-type Pokémon simultaneously opened their mouths, and three streams of Flamethrower erupted, colliding with the Blizzard.
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, the momentum of the Blizzard was halted. The three Flamethrower streams twisted into one, slowly advancing and overpowering Lapras and the others!
"Chansey! Ice Punch! Lapras, empower Chansey!"
Seeing that a frontal assault was ineffective, Ace immediately changed his strategy. Chansey gathered cold energy on its right fist. Lapras instantly stopped its Blizzard, and cold energy rapidly converged, gathering onto Chansey's right fist!
"Bang!"
The Flamethrower heavily struck Lapras. Lapras immediately showed a pained expression, but fortunately, it inherently possessed the Water typing, giving it high resistance to Fire attacks. It endured the attack of the three Flamethrowers.
Crobat flew high, a Supersonic wave rushing towards the three Dragon-type Pokémon, attempting to interfere with them as much as possible.
But Noivern turned around, let out a sharp shriek, its ears glowing white, and visible white sound waves assaulted Crobat.
"Boomburst... Crobat, evad..."
Ace wanted Crobat to evade as much as possible, but it was too late. Crobat's Supersonic was simply insignificant under Noivern's Boomburst. It was crushed in an instant, and the Boomburst heavily struck Crobat.
Crobat was immediately blown away, falling helplessly downwards.
"Come back, Crobat."
Ace reluctantly recalled Crobat. On the other side, Chansey moved.
Gathering the cold energy of two Pokémon, Chansey's Ice Punch became incredibly formidable. As Chansey threw a punch, a thin layer of ice formed on the surrounding rock walls.
"Bang!"
Garchomp suddenly slammed the ground, and a large number of stone spikes shot towards Chansey. Chansey's path forward was instantly blocked. Left with no choice, Chansey could only use Ice Punch to shatter the stone spikes one by one, but this also gave the three Dragon-type Pokémon time to recover, allowing them to evade Chansey's Ice Punch.
"Come back, Chansey. Use Soft-Boiled to heal Lapras."
Upon seeing this, Ace immediately called Chansey back. Just from the initial contact, Crobat was defeated, Lapras was injured. Relying solely on Chansey, no matter how extraordinary it was, fighting against three inherently powerful Dragon-type Pokémon didn't give it very high odds of winning.
Chansey took a back jump, returning to Ace's side. An energy egg shot out, shattered on Lapras's body, and Lapras's injuries instantly healed.
The three Dragon-type Pokémon simultaneously opened their mouths again, Dragon Pulses rapidly converged, then abruptly shot towards Chansey and Lapras.
Chansey stomped its foot, charging straight up, gathering cold energy in both hands. Its two Ice Punches slammed heavily into two of the Dragon Pulses.
Although it shattered two, the remaining one struck Chansey.
Chansey landed, retreating several steps before stopping. It glanced at the graze on its abdomen, completely unfazed.
This minor damage was merely a drop in the bucket for its terrifying HP.
"Alright, Chansey."
Chansey was about to charge again, but Ace stopped it.
"We lost. We'll fight again next time."
Ace quickly accepted reality and also discovered a problem within his Pokémon team.
Chansey was annoyed. If it was a one-on-one battle, it definitely wouldn't lose.
But in a one-against-three, Chansey was bound to be at a disadvantage. Although it could rely on its recovery ability to wear them down, it was uncertain who would wear down whom.
The cooperation between these three Dragon-type Pokémon was excellent, and their battle experience was abundant. Continuing the fight was simply unnecessary.
Recalling Chansey and Lapras, Ace turned and walked away, without a hint of lingering.
The three Dragon-type Pokémon exchanged glances, then returned and lay back down by the stone platform, resting quietly.
Ace, meanwhile, returned to the outskirts of the Dragon's Den. He began to ponder. The recent battle made Ace realize a problem he had consistently overlooked.
That was, within his Pokémon team, his other Pokémon were gradually unable to keep up with Chansey's increasing strength!
Chansey's strength lay in its terrifying physical prowess, which had been genetically modified by Team Rocket.
Coupled with its mutated Huge Power ability, Chansey's physical attack was utterly terrifying. Basically, even opponents ten levels higher than Chansey might not be able to withstand one of Chansey's punches.
This immense power meant that Chansey was only suited for solo combat. If cooperation was required, unless other Pokémon fully supported Chansey, they simply couldn't keep up with Chansey's pace.
This was a problem, a very serious problem.
Namely, in formal battles, Chansey's cooperation with other Pokémon did not result in a synergistic effect where one plus one was greater than three. Instead, the cooperation of other Pokémon would hinder Chansey's performance!