Forest Ruins.
Qing Wu and his group arrived at the very center of the Forest Ruins, where they saw a towering Lucario statue standing over a hundred meters tall.
Beside the Lucario statue was a pit ten meters wide, from which came the foul stench unique to Poison Pokémon.
Qing Wu took a Glow Stick from his Wristband. After lighting it, he tossed it into the deep pit.
By the light of the Glow Stick, Qing Wu saw that the pit also contained a stairway-like passage.
"Wait." Qing Wu took five Gas Masks from his Wristband and gestured for everyone to put them on.
"Drapion should have crawled out of this pit. It's existed for so long that the air inside could be extremely poisonous, so everyone must be careful. Salazzle, you go down first and use your flames to scout the way." Qing Wu spoke to Salazzle.
Two flames rose from Salazzle's cannon-like hands, and Salazzle stepped onto the stairs in the pit.
Salazzle's flames illuminated one side of the pit. Qing Wu could see that the stairs were arranged in a spiral, with an unknown number of steps. The ancients must have specially ordered their construction.
Alip released Charizard, while Ailian released Houndoom. With these three Fire Pokémon, the entire pit immediately became as bright as day.
Qing Wu and the others followed the spiral stairs downward. The entire pit was extremely quiet. Qing Wu picked up a stone and threw it down. It took a long time before they heard it hit the ground.
There was some green moss on the steps, giving off a faint green glow. This was probably the only food Drapion had while imprisoned underground.
Suddenly, Qing Wu heard a sharp rustling sound.
"Wait. There seems to be some movement ahead. I'll have