After eliminating the black shadows, Yuga carefully examined the stone chamber where the black pool was located, but found nothing useful. He even lifted the lids of the coffins, only to find a few corpses whose bones had already grown mold—nothing else of value.
The exit of this stone chamber wasn't as hidden as the previous one, so Yuga easily located it and entered the next chamber.
Before leaving, however, Yuga used a small bottle to collect some of the black water from the pool, planning to have Mewtwo analyze it later to see if there was anything special about it.
The situation in the next stone chamber was the same as the previous one: a black water pool, black shadows, and coffins. The only difference was that the number of black shadows had increased by one or two compared to the last room—but they were still all wiped out by Gengar and Mismagius.
After that, Yuga passed through eight or nine more chambers with the same setup. The only change was the increasing number of black shadows and coffins.
The number of black shadows was generally proportional to the number of coffins.
After destroying all the black shadows, Yuga thought to himself: Is this place used for some kind of evil ritual? Otherwise, why would there be so many twisted beings that were neither human nor ghost?
Just like in the first stone chamber with a black water pool, Yuga continued collecting samples from each black pool in the subsequent chambers, intending to bring them all back for Mewtwo to study.
By the time he reached the tenth chamber, the situation finally changed. This room housed a massive black water pool—larger than any of the previous ones. Black mist swirled above the pool, and there was only one coffin present. Oddly, no black shadows emerged this time.
As soon as Yuga entered this chamber, the black water pool started to boil. Soon, eerie blue flames ignited on the water's surface.
Before Yuga could even express his surprise, the blue flames suddenly surged, roaring toward him and his Pokémon.
"Gengar~!"
With a flash, Gengar dashed forward, purple light gleaming in its eyes as it unleashed Psychic. All of the flames were instantly blocked by its psychic force.
Mismagius followed up with a move of its own—golden lightning crackled down and struck the black water pool, causing it to splash violently.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
A shrill scream came from within the pool, and then a Chandelure burst out of the water.
Yuga's mouth dropped open in shock—a Fire-type Pokémon had been hiding in the water? This pool really was something out of the ordinary.
"Die! Die! Die!"
To Yuga's astonishment, the Chandelure spoke! And not through telepathy. A Pokémon's telepathy and actual speech are fundamentally different—Yuga could definitely tell the difference.
Moreover, the Chandelure was speaking in an ancient dialect of the Pokémon world. Yuga could only barely grasp its meaning.
Fortunately, the language it spoke wasn't too different from the modern Pokémon language. If it had been from an even older era, Yuga might not have been able to understand a word.
Though the Chandelure had spoken, it didn't seem to be mentally sound. It kept repeating the same phrase over and over again, eyes wild with madness.
A flood of flames burst out of Chandelure's body, sweeping toward Yuga and his Pokémon. Chimecho darted forward and quickly erected a Light Screen, blocking the flames outside.
Gengar and Mismagius then launched Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball respectively. The deranged Chandelure made no effort to dodge and was struck down instantly.
However, the moment it was defeated, black smoke billowed out from Chandelure's body, and then it turned into a wisp of fire and vanished into the air.
What just happened?
Looking at the Chandelure that died so suddenly without even leaving behind a corpse, Yuga was full of question marks.
"Gengar, Mismagius, do you two know what just happened?" Yuga turned to ask them.
Gengar and Mismagius exchanged glances, then shook their heads in confusion. However, they were certain about one thing—that Chandelure was truly dead.
"What a truly bizarre place!" Yuga couldn't help but exclaim in awe.
After that, Yuga passed through another five stone chambers. In each stone chamber, there were one or two Ghost-type Pokémon, similar to the Chandelure. From Gengar and Mismagius to Drifblim, Banette, and others—it was a wide variety of Ghost-type Pokémon.
Without exception, all of these Pokémon were able to speak human language. Compared to the Chandelure, which could only utter a single phrase, the ones that appeared afterward spoke more fluently. The only thing they all had in common was that their minds were not clear.
Additionally, once defeated, each of these Pokémon would disintegrate into ash and vanish without a trace.
From the perspective of life force fluctuations, Yuga could clearly sense that they were real, living beings—not some kind of animated tools or constructs—so he couldn't understand why they would die without even leaving a single trace behind.
When entering the next stone chamber, Yuga maintained a high level of vigilance. Based on the situation in the previous chambers, although those Pokémon had unclear minds, they would immediately launch attacks as soon as an intruder stepped in.
However, this time, things seemed a little different. After entering the stone chamber, it was incredibly quiet—no Pokémon jumped out to attack him.
This stone chamber was arranged similarly to the previous ones: a large pool of black water and a stone coffin placed next to it. However, this chamber was exceptionally clean and tidy—hardly a speck of dust, and there was no scent of decay at all. It was as if someone regularly cleaned the place.
Moreover, the stone coffin here was much more exquisite than those in the other chambers. Yuga thought to himself: the one buried here must have been someone of higher status.
Just as Yuga was full of suspicion, the lid of the stone coffin slowly opened, and a burst of cold air emerged from within.
A Froslass floated out from the stone coffin.
"To think someone would actually enter this place."
A slightly enchanting voice came from Froslass's mouth. It was a female voice and was still spoken in the ancient tongue.
Seeing Yuga looking at her with alert eyes, Froslass covered her mouth and laughed lightly. She tried to float forward but was blocked by Gengar and Mismagius.
...
[ Froslass ]
Type: Ice, Ghost
Ability: Cursed Body
Gender: Female
Potential: Blue
Level: 81
Moves: Powder Snow, Double Team, Ice Shard, Icy Wind, Dragon Breath, Blizzard, Hail, Ominous Wind, Will-O-Wisp, Attract, Shadow Ball, Destiny Bond, Ice Beam, Psychic, Captivate, Fake Tears, Signal Beam.
...
A Champion level Pokémon with blue potential! And what's more, she was clearly sane and capable of human speech.
There aren't many Pokémon with blue potential who can reach the Champion level—this Froslass was clearly extraordinary.
Because she was wary of Gengar and Mismagius, Froslass backed off slightly but still spoke to Yuga in her alluring voice: "Where are you from, and what is your name?"
Unfortunately, she was just a Pokémon. No matter how enchanting her voice might be, it had no effect on Yuga.
Yuga asked in return, "And who are you? Why are you able to speak the human language?"
Froslass didn't answer Yuga's question. Instead, she remarked with curiosity, "The way you speak is a little strange."
Yuga thought to himself: Of course you'd think it's strange—we're not even from the same era.
Judging by the ancient tongue, Yuga speculated that even though the owner of this underground palace came from the past, it couldn't have been that far back—at most four or five hundred years. After all, when he first went to Arus, he couldn't even understand what they were saying.
The Arus Empire dates back over a thousand years.
Even though the way Froslass and the others spoke sounded awkward to Yuga, he could still mostly understand their meaning. Likewise, Froslass could roughly understand what Yuga was saying.
"Oh my, why so tense?" Perhaps because she hadn't had anyone to talk to in so long, Froslass had become a bit of a chatterbox and began speaking to herself without waiting for a response.
"I'm called Pearl, what's your name?"
"Oh, right, I'm King Robi's queen. You must be really curious why I can speak human language, right? That's because I used to be human too!"
...
"Is the Doro Empire still around now? How much time has passed?"
The Froslass continued to ramble on without pause, but from her words, Yuga was able to roughly deduce the origin of this underground palace.
The Doro Empire was a nation from over four hundred years ago and was also the last feudal empire on the Hoenn Region. The Pokémon League was established after overthrowing the Doro Empire's rule.
Many of the current nobility in the Pokémon world are descendants of those who remained after the fall of the Doro Empire—such as the Genos family, which controls the White Light Intelligence Agency—and include some other prestigious and influential clans.
Of course, the old nobility that survived were those who contributed to the fall of the Doro Empire. However, there aren't many old nobles left these days; most have already transitioned with the times and evolved into large financial conglomerates.
Although Yuga wouldn't call himself deeply knowledgeable about Hoenn's history, he did know a bit about the Doro Empire, the so-called "last feudal empire"—thanks to his usual love of reading.
As for this "King Robi" the Froslass mentioned, he was a well-known historical figure: the younger brother of the last emperor of the Doro Empire.
The Doro Empire was able to leave such a vivid mark in the later stages of its history largely due to King Robi's contributions.
The last emperor of the Doro Empire was foolish and incompetent, leading to widespread rebellions throughout the empire. King Robi attempted to save the crumbling empire and personally led troops to suppress the uprisings across the land—but ultimately failed.
The emperor of Doro Empire was killed by rebel forces, and King Robi, along with a unit of his army, disappeared without a trace on the battlefield.
King Robi's whereabouts have remained a historical mystery ever since. And now, this Froslass claims to be King Robi's consort—and that this underground palace is actually King Robi's tomb.
According to historical records, King Robi's consort was no ordinary woman. She followed him through countless battles across the land and was a highly respected female general.
The Froslass kept chattering away about the history of the Doro Empire. Seeing Yuga frown, she suddenly asked, "You don't believe what I'm saying, do you?"
Yuga nodded. "If you were really King Robi's consort, then how did you turn into a Froslass?"
The Froslass was stunned by Yuga's question. Then, her eyes suddenly turned blood red.
"Yes… Froslass… Froslass… How did I become a Froslass?"
Yuga's question seemed to flip a hidden switch. The Froslass began muttering to herself, and then her expression suddenly turned manic.
"It was the general… That's right! It was the general… The general turned me into this!"
Her face grew increasingly twisted. The "general" she referred to was her husband—King Robi.
Yuga hadn't expected that a casual question would send the previously calm Froslass into a frenzy. He had only wanted to get a bit more information!
If everything the Froslass said was true, then the black shadow and Ghost-type Pokémon Yuga had encountered earlier were a much bigger problem, and the very purpose of this underground tomb was something worth investigating deeply.
"General! General! General..."
The crazed Froslass began attacking Yuga and his Gengar team. With a sudden gust, a bone-chilling wind started sweeping through the stone chamber.
Under the assault of this wind, the chamber began to freeze rapidly, and Yuga trembled from the cold.
"Mismagius~"
Mismagius flew forward and launched Mystical Fire—crimson flames surged forward like a tidal wave. Every shard of ice evaporated into mist under the licking tongues of fire.
Gengar's Dark Pulse pierced through the mist and struck the Froslass, slamming her against the wall behind.
But the Froslass seemed oblivious to pain. As she rose into the air again, she kept muttering to herself and used the move Ominous Wind.
Chimecho, enveloped in psychic energy, used Psycho Boost and rammed into the Froslass, knocking her back into the wall once more.
Froslass's Ominous Wind was interrupted, but she immediately switched to Blizzard. Chimecho, who hadn't yet retreated, was instantly engulfed in snow and wind.
The stimulated Froslass seemed to have resolved to go all out. The howling blizzard instantly froze the stone chamber, and Yuga had no choice but to quickly send out Charizard.
"Roooar~"
Charizard let out a loud howl, and the flame on its tail flared intensely. The surrounding temperature immediately rose significantly.
"Charizard, Flamethrower!" Yuga shouted loudly.
"Charizard~"
Following Yuga's command, Charizard unleashed a Flamethrower toward the center of the blizzard. The crimson fire pierced through the snowy barrier like a sharp sword and struck the Froslass directly.
At the moment she was hit, a flash of black light flickered in Froslass's eyes—and then she collapsed.
The moment Froslass fell, the blizzard came to an abrupt halt. Then Yuga noticed that Chimecho had also collapsed.
It turned out that just before being defeated, Froslass had used the move Destiny Bond!
"General... General..."
The fallen Froslass let out a low moan before transforming into a wisp of white cold air and vanishing. In that fleeting moment, Yuga seemed to glimpse a female general clad in armor, looking utterly worn and disheveled.
Yuga quickly rushed forward to check on Chimecho and found that it had only fainted and was otherwise fine. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
After giving Chimecho some basic treatment, Yuga returned it to its Poké Ball and began inspecting the stone chamber.
Inside the stone coffin, Yuga discovered a skeleton clad in armor. Unlike the previous skeletons that had already grown moldy, this one was pure white and immaculate, untouched by even a speck of dust.
In addition to that, there was also a chunk of Never-Melt Ice over a meter long. It was likely placed there by Froslass to transform the place into her dwelling; otherwise, as an Ice-type Pokémon, she probably wouldn't have been able to stay there long-term.
Yuga didn't touch the Never-Melt Ice. Even though its quality was extremely high and it would be considered a rare treasure outside, Yuga had no shortage of such items. In the end, he decided to let it remain and continue accompanying the female general.
By now, Yuga suspected this place was far more than just the tomb of King Robi—perhaps King Robi had done some rather unspeakable things here.
However, he had yet to find the actual resting place of King Robi, so it was too early to draw any conclusions.