Nidoking and Nidoqueen were known as a cssic couple in the Pokémon world, symbolizing love and loyalty. A Nidoking would only ever love one Nidoqueen in its lifetime, and the reverse was true as well.

  If one partner dies ets captured, the other would choose to live alone for the rest of its life.

  Because of this, jewelry pieces representing love ofteured Nidoking and Nidoqueen, and they teo sell better than other items.

  The Nidoking and Nidoqueen roared loudly, with a Nidoran hiding behind them—it was clearly their child.

  Nidoqueen was also unique among Pokémon in that its offspring didn't always follow the mother's species.

  While most Pokémon ied their mother's species and gained certain moves from the father, a Nidoqueen's offspring could be either Nidoran♀ or Nidoran♂.

  This exception might be due to the fact that Nidoqueen' were 100% female, and Nidoking' 100% male.

  (T/N: This is a true fact, that all other female Pokémon except Pokémon with single genders in their species, give births to the same kind no matter who the father Pokémon is)

  Seeing its parents knocked out by that big-bellied Pokémon, the little Nidoran froze in shock, looking uedly cute with its wide-eyed, stunned expression.

  Julian walked up to it aly poked it. Its eyes widened in surprise, and then, tilting its head, it fainted frht.

  "Do I really look that scary?"

  Julian asked Metagross and Dragonite beside him.

  The two Pokémon shook their heads in unison.

  To them, their trainer was the most handsome in the world.

  "Sure enough, it was you two made it faint" Julian remarked.

  After walking another dozeers, they reached a dead end, with the Dowsing Mae showing that the red dot was still about three hundred meters ahead.

  "Lairon," Julian called.

  "use Dig, forward"

  Julia out Lairon, as the cave was too cramped for Steelix's rge size.

  The mountain was mostly posed of granite, which wasn't very hard; under Lairon's sharp cws, the rock crumbled like tofu.

  Lairon was a digging pro, and Julian knew a thing or two about mining as well.

  "Alright, Lairon, that should be enough"

  They were just teimeters away from the red dot on the ser.

  Not wanting to risk Lairon actally damaging the treasure with its cws, Julian decided to dig manually.

  He took out a pickaxe and struck the rock, causing a rge k to break away.

  With his superhuman strength, he could easily lift objects weighing a ton without breaking a sweat.

  After all, it was firmed that Ash picked up a for real.

  After a few strikes, Julian saw the treasure. Carefully, he used a small chisel to free it from the surrounding rock.

  The treasure was about the size of an apple, entirely yellow, with an unremarkable exterior. It looked so ordinary that if it were lying on the side of the road, no one would likely pick it up.

  However, in his hand, it felt unusually heavy—this small object weighed over fifty pounds.

  This item was a Hollow Stone, a rare treasure for Rock-type Pokémoe its hollow interior, it was filled with trated Rock-type energy.

  (T/N: I didn't find it, should be AU)

  When ed, it could enhance a Rock-type Pokémon's core energy and boost the power of its Rock-type moves.

  Si did any energy, Lairon showed no particur i in it.

  "Here, eat this," Julian offered.

  Lairon was the only Rock-type Pokémon he had, so it was the natural choice.

  Lairon swallowed the Hollow Stone obediently in one gulp, without even chewing. Given Lairon's size, the apple-sized stone was ioo small.

  With Lairon's strong digestive abilities, Julian wasn't worried about the unchewed Hollow Stone causing any trouble.

  "Lairon!~"

  Lairon soon looked tent and fortable, leveling up from 32 to 33.

  The energy from the Hollow Stone would likely raise Lairon to around level 36 over the course of a week.

  So Julian recalled it into its Poké Ball to let it digest at its own pace.

  If the Hollow Stone had been three times rger, it would have provided enough energy for Lairon to evolve into its final form, Aggron, while resting.

  With the treasure in hand, Julian started heading back.

  On his way out, the previously fainted Nidoking and Nidoqueen had woken up but didn't attack this time.

  They weren't foolish—they khey couldn't match Julian's Dragonite, and since Julian hadn't harmed them, a sed fight would only mean another defeat.

  The little Nidoran had also just woken up, but when Julian turned bad smiled at it, it fainted again.

  Julian: ┓( - )r

  "Am I really that scary?"

  Dragonite gave a goofy grin, while Metagross, though expressionless, radiated a kind of happy Aura.

  Julia a bit angry. He was tempted to pick up Nidoran and show it his face up close—he might not be overwhelmingly handsome, but he certainly thought he had a refined look!

  Oside the cave, Julian pulled out his map. He noticed a rge blue area on it—a ke that took up nearly a quarter of the map.

  With such a rge area, the number of Water-type Pokémon living in the ke was bound to be massive.

  Acc to the data, ae Gyarados and ae Dewgong were both known to inhabit this ke.

  The Dewgong was gentle and wouldn't attaless provoked.

  But the Gyarados was different—it would un attack immediately if aered its territory, and it was mid-level Elite tier too.

  Elite-level Pokémon within advanced secret realms served as the bae of those realms. And the Drakorian Trainer Association also monitored the popution of Elite Pokémon in these realms.

  Ohey exceeded a certain number, capture slots would be sold, ae-level Trainers would pete for them.

  If a Trainer caught ae Pokémon without a slot, thus disrupting the ecosystem, they would face penalties, and the Pokémon would be released bato the same pce.

  This ke gave birth to two Elite Pokémon indig its immense size—and also hi the presenany treasures.

  Otherwise, without abundant resources, even a wild Pokémon with qualification would struggle to reach the Elite tier on its own.

  Perhaps, the true treasure of this advanced secret realm was somewhere within the depths of this vast ke.