Standing in the Dragon's Sacred Land, Clair cautiously surveyed her surroundings. Seeing that everything was as usual and that Vicious was indeed nowhere in sight, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good, it looks like we made the right choice. That Pokémon hunter hasn't reached this place yet!"
Lance nodded. "But we still can't let our guard down. In any case, let's head to the shrine first, find the head elder, and explain the situation to him."
The head elder? Who was that?
With questions on his mind, Xia You followed Lance and Chloe toward the center of the valley.
Along the way, the Pokémon living there cast curious glances at them. Perhaps because they often dealt with Dragon Tamers, they were not full of wariness and hostility toward humans like other wild Pokémon. Instead, a few bold ones even greeted them in a friendly manner!
They walked all the way to a pond deep in the valley, where Xia You saw another shrine beneath a few solitary large trees.
Lance pointed. "We're here. This is the Dragon Shrine."
Xia You looked toward the shrine. It resembled a small temple, overgrown with vines and flowers. On either side stood a stone pillar covered in inscriptions, giving it an air of mystery.
But like the shrine itself, these two stone pillars had long been marked by the passage of time, weathered by wind and rain. There was no telling how long they had stood there.
What caught Xia You's eye most, however, was a flame blazing in a stone basin inside the shrine.
There was clearly no fuel, yet the flame still burned fiercely, never going out!
Noticing Xia You's gaze, Lance smiled. "Back then, after battling that Dragon-type Pokémon, our Dragon Tamer clan built this small temple to pray for