Julian had no idea that the Coke can he casually threw away had caused panic among the three people from Babath, and that they even thought they had found a way to deal with it.
After spending most of the day exploring, Julian had already found twelve treasures using his Dowsing Machine.
At this moment, he was standing in front of a massive waterfall. The entire waterfall was about five to six hundred meters high and nearly a hundred meters wide. The sight of water falling from such a height was truly magnificent.
Under the sunlight, mist swirled in the air, forming a vibrant rainbow that spanned across.
Beneath the waterfall was a huge pool of water, resembling a small lake. The endless water from the falls crashed into it with a deafening roar.
Julian was standing in front of the pool with the Dowsing Machine in hand. The red dot on the screen indicated that the treasure was right at the bottom of the pool.
Judging by the size of the red dot, the treasure was already very close to an Ultimate-grade item.
However, there were nearly a hundred Bruxish in the pool, their bodies half exposed above the water surface, all glaring at Julian with fierce eyes.
This pool was their territory, and any foreign creature would either be driven away or killed.
Among the nearly one hundred Bruxish, one had already reached the early Elite stage.
That one was clearly the leader of the group.
If Julian wanted to retrieve the treasure at the bottom of the pool, he'd have to defeat them first
"Met—"
Just as he was about to speak, a Poké Ball at his waist suddenly shook a few times.
Then the Poké Ball containing Kartana opened on its own.
Kartana: "Let me handle this."
It had been resting and recovering from its injuries all this time. Not only had it not fought, it hadn't even had a chance to spar with Julian's other Pokémon.
Now its injuries were mostly healed.
And, the sight of so many opponents in front of it—even if only one was worth cutting down—cutting through this many enemies would surely feel satisfying.
Julian thought for a moment and nodded.
He was mainly still a bit worried about Kartana's injuries.
But considering this was its first time actively requesting a battle, as its trainer, Julian didn't want to turn it down.
"Fine, you can fight, but you have to follow my commands," Julian said.
If it were Metagross or another of his Pokémon, Julian would have let them fight freely against such opponents, he only gave commands when they were facing strong opponents.
Even with its injuries, Kartana had enough power to defeat that early-stage Elite Bruxish on its own.
So technically, Julian didn't really 'need' to command it.
But the reason he insisted on doing so was to help Kartana gradually get used to listening to his commands during battle instead of relying solely on instinct.
Kartana had grown up and reached the Elite level on its own in the wild.
Its battle experience came from countless real fights, honed step by step. While that wasn't a bad thing.
But things were different now. Kartana was no longer wild, it had been captured, and Julian was now its Trainer.
If they encountered a strong opponent and its fighting style clashed with Julian's instructions, what then?
For a Trainer, it was critical that their Pokémon followed their commands. In battle, Trainer and Pokémon were a single unit.
If a Pokémon had its own ideas and acted independently during a fight, then the battle was already lost from the start.
That's why Julian needed to gradually break Kartana's habit of fighting solo and get it accustomed to his commands.
This approach was specifically for Pokémon like Kartana—those who had grown strong in the wild before being captured.
Pokémon like Metagross or Dragonite, who were raised by humans from birth, would never disobey their Trainer's commands.
Unless, of course, the Trainer's command skills were so abysmal that the Pokémon outright refused to follow them.
Kartana hesitated.
Although it now saw Julian as a partner, the idea of being restricted during battle—of having to follow commands—made it feel confined.
"I'll only give commands occasionally, I won't be micromanaging the whole fight," Julian assured.
Kartana's independent combat skills were exceptional, better than most of Julian's other Pokémon. After all, it had done nothing but fight its entire life.
It was either in a fight or on its way to one.
And the fact it had survived this long said a lot about its strength—and its luck.
After a brief moment of thought, Kartana nodded: "Fine."
If Julian had planned to command the entire battle, Kartana wouldn't have liked it. But if he only gave occasional instructions, that was acceptable.
'I'll end this in a flash, before you even get a chance to give an order.'
With that thought, Kartana rose into the air, floating dozens of meters above the pool, looking down on the hundred or so Bruxish.
Kartana: "No one starts at the top. Not you, not me—not even gods. But the throne of heaven has been vacant long enough. From today onward… I will stand at the summit."
As it said those words, a huge wave of satisfaction surged through Kartana.
Looking at the silent Bruxish below: 'They must be stunned by my words,'Kartana concluded smugly.
Then—
WHOOSH!
All of the Bruxish, led by their early Elite-stage leader, simultaneously fired Water Guns upward.
The Water Gun of an early stage Elite, fused with nearly a hundred others, instantly surged in power to nearly match that of a late stage Elite move.
Seeing this, Julian's eyes lit up.
Fused moves weren't just about stacking power—there was a artistry to it.
The power, timing, and number of moves being fused—these factors were all crucial. A single misstep wouldn't just cause the fusion to fail; it could even weaken the original attacks.
The pond's water was crystal clear, brimming with a lot of water-type energy, it should have been a favorite place for many water-type Pokémon.
Yet, only Bruxish occupied it, and no other water-types were in sight.
Presumably they must all have been driven away by them.
And even if a powerful water-type Pokémon tried to claim this territory, the Bruxish leader's ability to fuse attacks—amplifying their combined force—made it nearly unbeatable here.
The fact that it could merge nearly a hundred Water Guns proved its absolute dominance over the group and the unwavering trust of its followers.
Facing a Water Gun with power approaching the late stage of Elite-tier, Kartana remained arrogantly unshaken, even finding time to keep up its theatrics.
Kartana: "Only the weak doubt their own strength."
With that, its blade-like left arm slashed forward in a swift motion.
At least it hadn't completely lost its head—it avoided using its still-injured right arm.
A crescent-shaped air blade tore through the space in front of it.
SHIIING—!
The Air Cutter collided with the Water Gun.
For a brief moment, the attacks held each other at bay, until the Air Cutterwas shattered by the Water Gun.
Kartana blinked: "...Huh."
Kartana was stunned, this wasn't the outcome it had expected.
Fortunately, its reflexes were sharp. It twisted midair, narrowly dodging the remaining force of the Water Gun.
After dodging the Water Gun by turning sideways, Kartana was a bit confused, this wasn't going how it had imagined.
Shouldn't it have been able to slash through the Water Gun with a single strike after delivering a cool one-liner? It had even prepared the line.
Kartana: "Pathetic."
But now, there was no chance to say it. Worse yet, the second Water Gun from Bruxish came rushing at it, this time with even greater force than the first.
Given Kartana's speed and the fact that it was still dozens of meters in the air, dodging this attack would have been effortless.
Yet, this stubborn guy still wanted to take it head-on.
Seeing this, Julian couldn't help but shout, "Dodge it!"
This kind of fighting habit was unacceptable, and it stemmed from Kartana's untamed, self-taught fighting style.
'Dodge?'
'Fine, if you say so.'
The Water Gun missed.
"Clear out the small fry first, use Fury Cutter!" Julian commanded.
The reason why the early-stage Elite-level Bruxish could threaten Kartana was entirely due to its move fusion.
So the solution to breaking through the opponent was simple: just take out its underlings first.
Among its minions, the strongest were the three pseudo-Elite-level Bruxish, while the rest were all Advanced-level or below.
Seeing Kartana trying to attack its underlings, the Elite-level Bruxish leader burst out of the water, its mouth wide open as ten pitch-black sets of teeths materialized around it.
Bruxish's teeth were sharp enough to crush Cloyster shells, a testament to their lethality.
Noticing Kartana's injured right arm, it aimed the Crunch directly at it.
But Kartana was far too fast. Its paper-thin body slipped through the closing jaws with a whoosh, darting past the attack.
In the next instant, Kartana was already in front of the Bruxish swarm.
Though it didn't use its right arm, its left arm and legs transformed into razor-sharp blades, and with every flash of light, a dozen Bruxish fell.
They weren't killed, just knocked out.
It wasn't that Kartana didn't want to kill them, but rather, it deemed these weaklings unworthy of dying under its blade.
Only the Bruxish leader deserved that honor.
Under the relentless Fury Cutters, Kartana became a harvesting machine, and within a few seconds, dozens of Bruxish lost their ability to fight.
Seeing this the Bruxish leader unleashed a powerful Psychic surge.
Instantly, an immense force of restraint interrupted Kartana's Fury Cutters.
As a side note, Bruxish was a Water/Psychic-type.
During Kartana's momentary pause, the Bruxish leader let out a sharp cry.
Then, an extremely piercing sound erupted from Bruxish's mouth.
Metagross immediately shielded Julian with its Psychic power.
Sound-based moves were moves that didn't distinguish between friend and foe, and they had a large range.
Using Screech against Kartana wasn't a problem, but the Bruxish leader still had its underlings around it, who would also be affected by it.
However, when Julian noticed the faint psychic fluctuations exuding from the Bruxish swarm, he understood what was going on.
They were using psychic energy to block the sound, just like Metagross was protecting him.
Screech sharply lowers the target's defense.
And as the name suggests, it was ear-splittingly loud and extremely harsh.
Even someone as strong-willed as Kartana, when it heard Screech, instinctively raised its arms to cover its ears.
Seizing the moment, Bruxish's eyes flashed, and it leaped out of the water again, its tail whipping up a swirling current behind it.
Wild Pokémon that reached a certain level had a lot of combat experience, especially those that have naturally grown to the Elite-level.
Without this ample combat experience, they wouldn't have survived this long.
Instead of releasing the Aqua Tail, Bruxish kept it coiled in the water, then twisted its body in a crescent motion—
WHOOSH!
The Aqua Tail tore free from the water surface in an instant, its sheer force making the air crackle.
With this amount of power and Kartana whose defense had already been lowered by Screech and its still existing injuries, a direct hit might not knock it out, but winning later would become much harder.
And because of being disoriented by Screech, it was too late for Kartana to dodge or counterattack at this time.
At this critical moment, Julian's voice cut through:
"Detect!"
Detect was similar to Protect, and if used repeatedly, it becomes unreliable.
If a Pokémon uses Detect first, then tries to use Protect later, even if it's the first time using Protect, but since it had used Detect before, its success rate drops as though it were the second attempt.
There was no "BUG in the system" here.
The Aqua Tail was blocked by Detect.
The Bruxish leader's confidence was shaken, it had failed to take down the opponent with its surefire attack.
And now, mid-air and unable to act, it was wide open.
Julian didn't even need to give the order. Faced with an Opponent wide open, Kartana's left arm gleamed with a holy light as it swung down—
Sacred Sword!
A radiant blade arced through the air, descending like divine judgment.
With a sharp cry, Bruxish was sent crashing into the water by the force of Sacred Sword, the impact carving a deep crater into the surface of water before waves exploded outward in all directions.
Before long, the Bruxish leader floated back up—eyes rolled back, completely knocked out.
Kartana pointed at it with its right arm and scoffed, "I didn't even use my full strength, and you already fell."
Then, with its usual cool demeanor, it flew back to Julian and demanded, "Why didn't you let me cut its head off?"
Julian flicked it on the forehead in exasperation. "Stop being so bloodthirsty."
If not for Julian's silent command to spare Bruxish, Kartana's Sacred Swordwouldn't have been a blunt strike—it would've cut through the Bruxish directly.
But Julian had no real grudges against the Bruxish, so killing it was unnecessary, and it would've weighed on his conscience.
Kartana crossed its arms: "My blade must draw blood."
"Yeah, yeah. How about this—tonight's hot pot. You help Slowking slice the beef and lamb," Julian said dismissively.
Kartana's sword skills were excellent, even better than Doublade's.
Putting that precision to work slicing meat for dinner was perfect. Plus, with its mastery, assisting Slowking in the kitchen would speed things up considerably.
Kartana stiffened: "...You insult me."
"It's not like this is your first time, but if you don't help, Slowking will take longer to cook, and dinner will be delayed. Do you really wanna eat late?" Julian shrugged.
The moment its dinner schedule was threatened, Kartana paused—then nodded stiffly: "...Fine. But this is the second and last time. A third is out of the question."
"Sure, sure. No third time," Julian nodded, knowing full well there definitely would be.
Before long, the leader of the Bruxish woke up, and its underlings immediately surrounded it. The fall of their leader had filled them with immense fear just moments ago.
Now that it was awake, they finally felt at ease.
However—
The Bruxish leader swam to the shore and said to Julian, "What do you want?"
Its tone was relatively polite, considering it was the defeated party. Moreover, it had realized that it couldn't even defeat the injured Kartana.
And beside Kartana stood another Pokémon with an even more powerful aura.
How could it afford to have a bad attitude?
"I want to go to the bottom of the pool. I hope you won't interfere," Julian said.
If he didn't beat them into submission, there was no way he could reach the bottom of the pool.
But even after defeating them, there was no guarantee they wouldn't try something once he entered the water.
After all, underwater was where they could truly unleash their strength.
The Bruxish nodded, secretly letting out a huge sigh of relief.
As the defeated party, it had assumed it would be forced to leave the pool. But now, the other party merely wanted to go to the bottom—in its eyes, that wasn't even a real demand.
But what was there to see at the bottom? Could there be some kind of treasure?
The Bruxish leader wasn't stupid. As an Elite-level Pokémon, its intelligence was on par with a human's. After a moment's thought, it concluded that there might indeed be treasure at the bottom.
But it also doubted this possibility. After all, its kind had lived in this pool for many years, and it was familiar with every corner of it.
Meanwhile, Julian had already sent out Slowking, instructing it to take the Dowsing Machine with it.
As Slowking dove into the pool, the Bruxish group began to stir—an outsider was invading their territory!
However, their commotion died down quickly after the leader shouted a few commands.
"By the way, how deep is this pool?" Julian asked.
Bruxish Leader: "The deepest part is about thirty meters."
Thirty meters wasn't that deep, but if the treasure was buried far underground, extracting it would require considerable effort.
While Slowking was underwater, Julian walked over to a rock by the pool and said to Kartana, "Flatten this."
With a flash of blade light, the rock was cleanly sliced into a smooth, perfectly sized stone stool.
Sitting on the rock, Julian pulled out his gaming console from his system space. If not for the fact that the secret realm had no signal, he would've already played a few rounds of Pokémon Gloryto pass the time.
Because the energy concentration in secret realms was much higher than in the outside world, even if signal towers were built, the signals would be severely disrupted.
And the higher the level of the secret realm, the worse the interference.
Moreover, these signal towers would inevitably be destroyed by the wild Pokémon in the realm—unless someone was stationed there to guard them permanently.
So, all the countries simply gave up on the idea of building signal towers.
Julian was currently playing a fighting game, and the character he had picked just happened to be a swordsman.
Kartana stood beside him, watching the screen with great interest as the two characters battled.
Julian shouted, "Watch my ultimate move—Blade Storm!"
On the screen, countless swords suddenly appeared around the swordsman, forming a tornado that swept the opponent into it.
Kartana: "That move is so cool! I want to learn it!"
Julian: "I'll teach it to you when you defeat Metagross."
For this kind of battle-obsessed, chūnibyō-spirited Pokémon, outright refusal wouldn't work—you had to redirect its enthusiasm in another way.
'Defeat Metagross?' Kartana turned its gaze toward the lazy, sunbathing Metagross sprawled beside Julian, eyes filled with fighting spirit. It raised its arm and declared, "Once my injuries heal, your spot will be mine!"
Over the past few days, Kartana had learned that Metagross was the undisputed leader of Julian's team.
As a hot-blooded and slightly delusional battle-loving Pokémon, how could it settle for being second best?
Kartana: "A true warrior born under heaven cannot endure living in another's shadow forever!"
Metagross didn't respond, merely giving Julian a sidelong glance that seemed to say: 'Aren't you going to do something about this?'
After beating another opponent in the game, Julian patted Metagross's head and said, "It's genderless, just like you."
This reminded him of something, and he turned to Kartana. "Hey, how do your kind reproduce, anyway?"
Many genderless Pokémon reproduced by splitting. In the games, they could lay eggs by pairing with Ditto, but that wasn't how it worked in reality.
Pokémon like Metagross, Magnezone, and Klingklang all reproduced by splitting off parts of themselves.
Among the known genderless Pokémon, quite a few were Steel-types.
Kartana shook its head—it had no idea.
From the moment it was born, it had never seen its parents. It had grown up entirely on its own.
Most Pokémon, after reproducing, would take care of their young until they were strong enough to survive in the wild. Only then would they send them off.
Only a very small number of Pokémon would hide their eggs in some secret location and then simply leave.
These newborn Pokémon would never see their parents, and whether they survived or not depended entirely on luck.
For Pokémon that grew up without any parental care, the mortality rate exceeded 90%.
As a result, such species were often extremely rare, practically pushing themselves toward extinction.
Kartana was one of them.
He had already been in this secret realm for over a month, and besides Kartana, Julian hadn't seen any other Ultra Beasts. That showed just how few of them there really were.
If it wasn't for Kartana mentioning that it had seen others of its kind in this secret realm, Julian would've almost assumed that it was the only Ultra Beast here.
As for Kartana not knowing how its species reproduced, Julian didn't find it suspicious.
Some genderless Pokémon only learned how they reproduced after reaching a certain age.
And Kartana was only thirty years old.
Reaching mid-Elite level strength by the age of thirty, all on its own in the wild, was like a regular person starting from nothing and achieving financial freedom by thirty. The difficulty was unimaginable.
Among all of Julian's Pokémon, if ranked by age, Kartana was the second oldest. The oldest, of course, was Celebi—who had lived for centuries.
"Meta~."
Metagross, who had been dozing, suddenly opened its eyes.
At the same time, Kartana, who had been watching Julian play his game, also suddenly turned its head to look behind them.
Noticing the odd behavior of both Pokémon, Julian put down his game console, casually pressing the pause button. "What's wrong? Something coming this way?"
Aside from being the Bruxish's territory, this pool was also the only water source in the area, attracting many wild Pokémon to drink daily.
Earlier, the battle had scared off any Pokémon that wanted to come close.
Now that the fighting had stopped. Naturally, some thirsty wild Pokémon couldn't resist and began to approach.
Julian glanced at the approaching Pokémon—none of them were particularly high-leveled, and none had Cyan-grade potential.
He looked down, shrugged and unpaused his game, continuing to play.
Seemingly sensing that Julian and his Pokémon posed no threat, some bolder wild Pokémon even approached him after drinking.
The boldest of them all was a Rowlet—it actually tried to land on Julian's head! But Metagross quickly chased it away.
Julian: "I hate birds with no sense of personal space."
The main reason, though, was concern that the Rowlet might pose a threat to Julian.
This particular Rowlet was already over level ten, and once a Pokémon passes level ten, it can start to pose a real threat to humans.
If this Rowlet had landed on Julian's head and used Peck, it could have easily cracked his skull open.
You can hang around nearby, but don't get too close to me.
Otherwise, I'll feel unsafe.
Who knew if it was just being friendly or if it was sent by another trainer to assassinate him?
In a secret realm, you could never let your guard down. Just because a Pokémon looked cute didn't mean it wasn't dangerous—sometimes, carelessness came at a price you couldn't afford.
About half an hour later, Slowking emerged from the water.
Its sudden appearance startled a few nearby Pokémon.
"SlowKing, what did you find?"
Julian quickly walked over.
"Slow~"
Slowking removed the crown on its head and pulled out a dark blue orb the size of a marble from inside.
Julian examined it closely, but he couldn't recall seeing anything like this in any database—it was likely a unique treasure exclusive to this secret realm.
He activated his Probing Eyes to inspect it.
[Water Orb: Permanently raises a Water-type Pokémon's potential from Cyan-grade to Blue-grade (100% success rate). Useless on Pokémon already at Blue-grade or above.]
[Note: Similar orbs exist for Fire, Electric, Grass, etc., with the same effect.]
So, it was a treasure that improved potential—and a guaranteed one at that. However, it only worked on Cyan-grade Pokémon and was type-restricted.
For Julian, it was useless. He only had one Water-type Pokémon—Slowking—and its potential was already Blue.
In other words, even if he gave the Orb to Slowking, it would be useless.
However, out in the real world, this Orb could easily be traded for a Cyan-grade Pokémon or even a pseudo-legendary.
Raising a Pokémon's potential had always been one of the biggest bottlenecks limiting a trainer's progress.
Countless Cyan-grade Pokémon were stuck at the pseudo-Elite peak solely due to their potential.
That's why any item that could raise potential—whether potion or treasures—was astronomically more valuable than other resources.
And the higher a Pokémon's potential, the harder it was to improve further.
Most of the time, even if you had money and influence, it was incredibly hard to get your hands on items that can raise a Pokémon's potential beyond the Cyan-grade.
And right now, Julian was holding an Orb that could 100% guarantee elevating a Cyan-grade Water-type Pokémon to Blue-grade.
Blue-grade potential meant a Pokémon could reach the pseudo-Champion level.
In some small or mid-sized countries, a trainer with that kind of power would basically be a king—untouchable.
Even in Drakoria, a major country, there were only about twenty to thirty trainers at the pseudo-Champion level.
"Here, Slowking, you keep it."
Julian handed the Water Orb back to Slowking. Since it was useless to him, he might as well let Slowking hang onto it.
Anyone watching this from the outside would be absolutely furious.
A treasure this invaluable—something practically legendary—and Julian just casually said it was useless and didn't even bother to store it carefully. Instead, he gave it to his Pokémon to hold.
"Slow~"
Slowking nodded and tucked the Orb back into its crown.
Without the crown, Slowking looked plain dopey.
With the crown on, though, it carried a bit of an air of majesty—still dopey, but now with presence.
By this time, the sky had begun to darken. The surrounding was pretty nice: a waterfall, a pool of water, and a large open field nearby. At night, you could lie down and look up at the stars.
"Let's rest here tonight," Julian said.
His Pokémon nodded in agreement.
"Slowking, we're having hot pot for dinner!"
With that, Julian pulled out a portable stove, foldable tables and chairs, a portable power source, and all kinds of ingredients and seasonings from his system space.
Then, he released all his Pokémon.
The moment Julian's team appeared—especially Aggron with its fearsome appearance—the wild Pokémon nearby scattered in terror.
From the water, the Bruxish leader stared at the powerful Pokémon lined up on the shore. Even though some of them were a lower level than it, it had a gut feeling that any one of them could wipe the floor with it.
Bruxish Leader: 'Wait... I might be able to take on that one.'
It was eyeing Gabite.
Gabite was still stuck at level 47, not yet reaching level 48, when it would evolve into Garchomp.
It had been stuck at that level for over half a year. Despite plenty of resources and battles, it just wouldn't evolve.
While Dragon-type pseudo-legendaries were known for slow growth, being stuck on a single level for this long was unusual.
If not for the Probing Eyes confirming that Gabite was perfectly healthy, Julian would've thought it was sick.
He had even gone to consult his teacher, Wade, about it.
According to Wade, Gabite needed a special trigger to evolve—and that trigger might not be battle-related.
Maybe tasting its favorite food, witnessing something joyful, or meeting a special someone—any of these could be the key.
As long as Gabite was healthy, Julian wasn't in a rush for Gabite to evolve.
But Gabite didn't see it that way.
As a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary, pride was etched into its bones. Watching Julian's other Pokémon grow stronger and stronger—while it remained stuck in place, even failing to reach its final evolution—was unbearable.
The moment it was released, Gabite dashed straight into the nearby forest without a word.
Dragonite, the "big brother" among the Dragon-types, looked at Julian.
"Let it go," Julian said calmly.
Gabite was just venting its frustration by seeking out opponents.
It had been trying to force itself to evolve through battle, but that method had never worked. It was now stuck in a mental loop of frustration and impatience.
Julian had tried talking to it, encouraging it—but nothing worked.
Evolution had become a knot in Gabite's heart.
At this point, no words could change anything. Only evolution would resolve it.
"Metagross, keep an eye on it," Julian added.
Gabite's level wasn't that high, and the forest wasn't exactly safe. If it wandered too far and Julian couldn't reach it in time, that would be a problem.
"Meta~"
Metagross nodded.
Kartana: "Its desire to grow stronger is intense."
Julian replied flatly, "I know."
Kartana: "Aren't you going to help it?"
Julian: "It needs a trigger. And that trigger hasn't arrived yet."
Who knew what that trigger was? These kinds of things couldn't be forced. All he could do was wait.
Kartana gave a half-understanding nod.
For a Pokémon like it, whose head was full of dramatic battle fantasies and sword-swinging, the idea of a "fateful trigger" was almost too abstract to grasp.
"Slow~"
Slowking: Kartana, come help me slice the meat—and cut the bones too. I'm making a bone broth base.
Kartana (grumbling): "My blades will weep…"
Slowking: "You won't get dinner until you're done."
Kartana: "On my way! I fought today—I'm starving. Can I get extra portions?"
Roughly ten kilometers from where Julian was having hot pot, Gabite stood triumphantly atop a pseudo-Elite Gumshoos, its foot pressing down on the unconscious opponent.
Despite being the victor, there was no joy on its face—only intense frustration.
'Why... why isn't it working?!'
"Raargh!"
Gabite let out a furious roar.
The roar was so loud it jolted the unconscious Gumshoos awake.
Trembling, Gumshoos stared up at the seething Gabite, not daring to make a sound—terrified that any noise would get it noticed and beaten up again.
But Gabite clearly noticed that the Gumshoos was awake. It lowered its head and growled: "Why are you so weak?"
Gumshoos: ⊙﹏⊙∥
'Excuse me?!' It wasn't weak! It was a pseudo-Elite, for Arceus' sake!
While not quite at the Elite level, but even in Top-tier secret realms, there weren't that many Elites around. A Pokémon reaching pseudo-Elite level was already impressive for most wild Pokémon.
It was the leader of its group, and yet not only had it been defeated and stepped on—it was now being called weak too.
Its dignity was obliterated.
Thankfully, the battle had scared off all the nearby wild Pokémon, so no one else saw this.
Seeing Gabite's disgusted expression, Gumshoos was furious but didn't dare say anything.
This was the first time it had seen a mere Advanced-level Pokémon defeat a pseudo-Elite.
But this Gabite looked unfamiliar, definitely not from around here.
Seeing that it was almost time, Gabite finally lifted its foot off Gumshoos, ready to head back for dinner.
"Hmmmm..."
But before it could go far, a voice called out from behind.
Gumshoos' face lit up with tearful relief as it scrambled toward the newcomer—a towering Drampa—whimpering and pointing accusingly at Gabite.
Gabite turned, sizing up Drampa, seeing that it was with Gumshoos, and assumed that it was here to retaliate.
And judging by Gumshoos's tone, this Drampa was probably stronger than it.
Gabite, who hadn't had a good fight yet, walked back again.
Gumshoos panicked and quickly hid behind Drampa. ""Wh-what are you doing?!""
Seeing how cowardly it was acting, Gabite scoffed. "I'm not interested in you."
Then, pointing at Drampa, it said, "You. You're stronger than this trash. Fight me."
Gumshoos: '...Trash? Me?!'
But Drampa shook its head and refused. It was the kind of Pokémon that didn't like to fight.
But Gabite wasn't about to give up. "If you won't fight me, then I'll just keep beating up this trash instead."
Gumshoos: [ ?_?? ]
'Why am I always the one getting hurt?!'
Under Gumshoos's pleading gaze, Drampa finally nodded after a pause. "Fine, I'll fight you. But first... come with me somewhere."
Gabite frowned.
Drampa added, "Don't worry, it's not far from here."
Hearing this, Gabite reluctantly agreed.
But it's like when a human says "I'm almost there", they might've just left their house.
And when a Pokémon says "It's not far", their definition of "not far" could mean dozens of kilometers.
After walking nearly twenty kilometers and still not reaching the destination, Gabite—already hot-tempered—snapped. It stormed up to Drampa, claws twitching.
"YOU'RE MESSING WITH ME!!"
It raised its claws to attack.
But Drampa calmly said, "We're almost there."
Gabite's claw stopped just short of Drampa's face—no more than a finger's width away.
Gabite stared at Drampa. It wasn't the words that made it stop, but the fact that Drampa didn't even flinch.
No resistance. No fear. Just quiet patience.
That made Gabite lose interest. It lowered its arm, turned around, and began stomping away, uninterested in whatever destination Drampa had in mind.
Drampa: "You've come this far. Won't you at least look?"
---
Meanwhile, Back at Camp...
Julian had finished eating hot pot. Bored, he leaned against Arcanine while Slowking cleaned up the table—not that Julian had any intention of helping.
"Meta~"
Metagross floated over to Julian and relayed its observation.
Hearing that, Julian's face darkened: "Gabite left with another Pokémon?"
He had been wondering why Gabite was taking so long—even during its usual battle binges, it never stayed out this late.
It had already been nearly two whole hours.
And now he heard that it had been lured away by some rando?!
But Metagross said it hadn't sensed any hostility from the Pokémon that approached Gabite, so it didn't intervene.
Still, why did Gabite just run off with some stranger?
Julian stood abruptly, irritation flashing across his face. "Let's go find it."
He wanted to see for himself what kind of Pokémon dared to "abduct" his partner.
"Arf!"
Arcanine barked, saying it wanted to go too.
Julian returned Arcanine and Aggron to their Poké Balls, then set off with them and Metagross, leaving the others behind to rest.
Using Teleport, Metagross brought Julian to where Gabite was supposed to be.
"…Where's Gabite?"
But Julian didn't see Gabite—until Metagross pointed above them with its arm.
Julian looked up and saw that above his head was a treehouse-like structure, complete with a ladder leading up to it.
---
Inside the treehouse, Gabite was curiously looking around.
The whole place was set up like a human-style bar—complete with tables, chairs, a counter, and even a "bartender." But instead of alcohol, the drinks served here were smoothies made from various Berries.
Drampa sat at the counter and gestured for Gabite to join.
Driven by curiosity, Gabite temporarily forgot about the fight and sat down at the bar beside Drampa.
Drampa placed a few berries on the counter. "One drink for him."
Interestingly, the currency here was Berries.
The treehouse owner and bartender, an Oranguru, nodded and selected several different berries from a basket. It crushed them in a specific order, strained the juice, and poured it into a hollowed-out coconut shell.
A hollow reed served as the straw, adorned with a tiny flower, completing the presentation.
Placing the juice in front of Gabite, Oranguru said, "Please enjoy."
Gabite eyed the drink suspiciously before taking a cautious sip.
Then—
Gabite: ヾ(￣▽￣)?
It was delicious.
The flavor of the juice wasn't any worse than the stuff Slowking made, and the Berries used here were all unique to this secret realm.
So naturally, the juice had a special taste Gabite had never experienced before.
It was instantly captivated by the fresh flavor.
Seeing Gabite's satisfied expression, Drampa ordered a drink for itself too.
While Oranguru was preparing the drink, Drampa spoke softly: "I don't know what's troubling you... but if it's not a threat, why not take a moment to rest?"
Drampa: "Living is about taking it easy, don't burden yourself too much."
Looking at Drampa, who seemed intent on giving it advice, Gabite said nothing and simply continued sipping its juice.
As for what Drampa said, it didn't agree with it at all.
This was just laziness—of course life would be easy if you just lay flat and did nothing.
But while Drampa could lie flat, it couldn't.
Although everyone in Julian's team got along very well, in reality, there was serious internal competition.
Among the first echelon, except for Metagross whose status and strength were unshakable, who didn't want to be the team's number two?
Dragonite was only in second place because it got lucky and reached the Elite level first, but once Lucario, Aggron, Melmetal, and the others broke through to the Elite level, whether Dragonite could keep its second place was still a question.
Despite Dragonite's goofy appearance, it was secretly anxious and trained hard in private.
And now, with the addition of the Elite-level Kartana.
Dragonite was even more on edge.
When dealing with powerful opponents, Julian naturally used his main team.
For weaker foes or training opportunities, he mostly relied on the second-tier team.
But there weren't many members in the second-tier team, just Gabite, Doublade, and Bagon.
Others, like Celebi and Magearna, rarely appeared due to their special status.
As the leader of the second-tier team, Gabite was far from satisfied with its current strength; it didn't want to stay in the second-tier, it wanted to join the first echelon.
But right now it couldn't even evolve, let alone enter the first echelon.
In Gabite's eyes, what Drampa said was nothing but empty talk.
Everyone's circumstances were different—how could the same approach work for all?
Even Slowking's counseling hadn't work on it, let alone Drampa.
Meanwhile, Drampa was feeling rather pleased with itself; seeing Gabite stay silent, it assumed its words had gotten through.
From Gabite's earlier conversation with Gumshoos, it had already noticed that this kid had a strong obsession with becoming stronger.
In its view, becoming stronger wasn't that important—living comfortably was what mattered.
So it had brought Gabite to this little tavern, hoping to change its mindset.
Drampa was naturally sociable, enjoying conversations with both humans and Pokémon. It was a gentle creature by nature, so of course it disliked fighting and the pursuit of strength.
Creak—
As the tavern door was pushed open.
The Pokémon inside instinctively glanced toward the entrance and, upon seeing that it was a human, a Tsareena who had been sipping juice suddenly lunged at Julian.
However, as soon as it moved, Gabite immediately slammed it to the ground.
These Pokémon knew Drampa, and while Gabite had a decent impression of it, if any of them dared harm its trainer, it wouldn't hold back.
This secret realm had never been visited by humans before, so the Pokémon here had no idea that creatures like them even existed.
But ever since humans started showing up, some Pokémon had been hunted or captured, naturally giving rise to emotions like anger and hatred toward them.
Tsareena was one of them—its companion had been taken by humans.
So when it saw Julian, another human, it attacked.
The other Pokémon didn't attack Julian, and nor did they dare to.
Couldn't they see Gabite glaring at them fiercely? Not to mention the terrifying Metagross standing beside Julian, whose mere presence made their souls tremble.
In such a situation, starting a fight here would be suicidal.
"Let it go," Julian said.
Gabite immediately released Tsareena, who didn't attack again but continued staring at Julian with anger.
Julian could more or less guess the reason and said, "I'm not the one who wronged you. If you want revenge, go after the real culprits. Taking it out on a random stranger like me is just a sign of weakness."
"But honestly, you should give up on revenge. Otherwise, you might end up losing yourself too."
With strength only at the Advanced-level, the idea of revenge was simply a joke.
After speaking, Julian took a seat at the bar and glanced at Drampa beside him, "Your philosophy doesn't suit Gabite."
Sure enough, no matter the species, as long as there was intelligence, there would always be those who embraced the idea of laziness.
This Drampa was one who didn't want to work hard itself and even tried to drag others down with it.
Drampa was a Normal/Dragon type, but its base stats didn't even reach 500, and it didn't like fighting, so Julian didn't even have the desire to capture it.
Also, its appearance wasn't Julian's type.
Being spoken to like this by Julian, Drampa was a little dissatisfied—what was wrong with its way? Wasn't it acceptable?
Eat well, drink well, and live happily—wasn't that the way of life?
If it wasn't for Metagross watching it, Drampa would have argued back.
Oranguru took the initiative to mix a glass of juice for Julian.
But Julian didn't drink it, because while the berries Oranguru used were safe for Pokémon, but if a human ate them, although it wouldn't be fatal, diarrhea would be inevitable.
"Use these instead."
Julian took out ten berries from the system space; these were berries humans could safely eat.
Then he took out another five berries as a service fee and handed them to Oranguru.
Oranguru looked curiously at the fifteen berries Julian had taken out; these kinds of berries didn't exist in this secret realm.
Picking up one of the fee berries, Oranguru took a bite, and its face immediately lit up with delight.
While Oranguru was making juice for Julian, Julian took the opportunity to look around the small tavern.
He felt that this Oranguru really knew how to enjoy life, truly worthy of being called a high-IQ Pokémon.
This guy's intelligence could rival that of Slowking; sometimes, if you wandered along the coast, you could even see it competing with a Slowking to see who was smarter.
Taking a sip of the freshly made juice, Julian had to admit, it really tasted quite good.
He then released Arcanine and handed Oranguru a few more berries, requesting a drink for his fiery companion as well.
He didn't let Aggron out, though-because its sheer weight would've collapsed the entire treehouse.
Patting Aggron's Poké Ball, which was expressing its dissatisfaction, Julian then took out a hundred berries, indicating that he wanted to pack some juices to take away.
He planned to give each of his Pokémon a cup.
Any leftover berries would be considered part of the payment, and if it wasn't enough, he would make it up later.
Seeing Julian appreciate its juice so much, Oranguru was naturally very happy, and besides, many of the berries Julian took out were ones it had never seen before.
It needed to first taste them to know their flavors and then match them with other berries for blending.
At the same time, it also specially took out some of its treasured berries to mix into the blend, making the juice taste even better.
Meanwhile, Gabite sat to Julian's right, continuing to drink the juice it hadn't finished earlier, its expression looking a bit sullen—clearly, it was still brooding over its inability to evolve.
Julian had no intention of comforting it either.
They were all grown-up Pokémon; comforting couldn't truly solve the problem.
However, Julian had a feeling, that before they left this secret realm, Gabite would probably manage to evolve.
Returning to the lakeside campsite with the berry juices from the treehouse tavern, Julian found his Pokémon had already finished dinner.
"I brought you guys some drinks this time."
Julian raised the berry juice in his hand.
The Pokémon happily gathered around.
Slowking, puzzled, asked: "Where did you get that?"
'Could there actually be delivery service in the secret realm?'
Julian: "There's an Oranguru who really knows how to have fun—it opened a little bar. These were made by it."
Actually, there really was alcohol being sold there too, but it wasn't suitable for humans to drink.
"Slowking, this juice tastes just as good as the ones you make," Julian added without thinking.
"Meta~"
Metagross: You should stop talking now.
Julian stiffened for a moment, mentally slapping himself hard, and sure enough, when he glanced at Slowking, its gaze had already turned unfriendly.
Normally, Slowking's eyes were clear, carrying a mix of foolishness and hidden wisdom.
But now—those eyes had turned downright petty.
Especially after it gently took a sip of Oranguru's juice, its expression darkened instantly
Julian hurried to patch things up: "Slowking, this juice is way worse than yours! Totally not on the same level!"
Unfortunately, Slowking had no interest in listening to him. It firmly placed the barely-touched cup of juice back into Julian's hands.
'It's over, it's over.'
Julian looked absolutely hopeless. Slowking was 'really' mad this time.
"Metagross..."
He shot a pleading look at Metagross.
Metagross slightly turned its head away, pretending not to see anything.
'Every man for himself.'
'You brought this on yourself with your big mouth. I can't help, even if I wanted to.'
Dragonite, meanwhile, took a sip of the juice, and its eyes lit up—'Hey, this is pretty good!'
Then a voice whispered in its ear:
Slowking: "How's the taste compared to mine?"
Dragonite: "About the same."
The moment the words left its mouth, Dragonite froze—that voice just now seemed to be Slowking's.
It turned its head stiffly—just in time to see Slowking already standing behind Melmetal.
Slowking: "How's the taste compared to mine?"
Melmetal: "Feels about the same."
Immediately, Melmetal also froze stiff, just like Dragonite.
'Very good.' Slowking clenched its fists. No need to ask anyone else—its eyes were now blazing with competitive fury.
"Gen~"
Gengar floated over, happily sipping on the juice. Its blissful expression radiating pure joy, seeing that Slowking turned his gaze directly to Julian.
Meanwhile, Julian was still rejoicing that the idiots Dragonite and Melmetal had also gotten themselves into trouble—at least he wouldn't suffer alone.
But then Slowking's gaze suddenly locked onto him again.
Julian swore—even facing the first-class legendary Kyogre in Haidian City, he hadn't panicked this much.
But right now—
'What do I do? Should I summon Mewtwo for backup?!'
Metagross supported Julian to stop him from collapsing from weak knees.
Watching Slowking march toward him step by step, that damn oppressive feeling grew stronger and stronger.
"Lucario, save me!"
Julian shouted toward Lucario who was closest to him, since he couldn't count on the Metagross behind him at all.
Lucario's perked-up ears twitched slightly, then suddenly both ears folded down, covering its earholes.
Lucario: 'I have temporarily lost my hearing.'
Julian's face turned dark immediately, and he quickly turned to Arcanine, "Doggo!"
Arcanine sat cheerfully wagging its tail, clearly with no intention of coming over. If anything, it looked like it was thoroughly enjoying the show.
"You Bas***d!"
Julian was utterly desperate, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Kartana.
'Right—Kartana just joined the team, and it's a proud swordsman! Surely it wouldn't be afraid of Slowking!'
"Kartana!"
To his surprise, Kartana really did start flying in his direction.
For a moment, Julian felt like he was seeing a hero descending on rainbow clouds.
However, the next second, the said "hero" stopped right in front of Slowking.
Kartana: "This juice is way worse than what you make."
After saying that, it even tossed the coconut shell that held the juice right in front of Slowking—but no juice spilled out, obviously it had finished drinking it all.
Slowking gave Kartana a brief glance, unmoved.
Julian was utterly hopeless now, even the light of hope in his eyes dimmed.
Muttering under his breath: "Bootlicker… absolute bootlicker…"
'Where's that unyielding swordsman's pride? That "break before bending" spirit?'
'Since when did you turn into this?!'
Even Arcanine, watching from the side, felt this behavior was impressively skilled.
Arcanine: 'Is this guy… one of my kind?'
By now, Slowking had already walked up to Julian. It didn't say anything, just stared at him.
Julian kept swallowing nervously.
Slowking: "Where's that bar? Take me there."
"Arf!"
Arcanine: "I know where it is."
Slowking: "Lead the way."
Before leaving, Arcanine even shot a smug look at Kartana, as if saying, 'If you're going to suck up, at least learn from me.'
Kartana nodded thoughtfully.
Watching Slowking leave, Julian felt his legs regain their strength.
Dragonite and Melmetal exchanged a glance, seeing the same relief in each other's eyes—luckily compared to the big fish (Julian), they were just small fry.
Julian turned around and smacked Metagross's forehead, fuming: "You traitor!"
'Damn it, that really hurt my hand.'
"And you, Lucario—don't think I didn't see you fold your ears!"
Looking at this group of Pokémon who all abandoned him at the critical moment, Julian trembled with anger, especially Kartana.
Turns out, all that so-called swordsman's pride Kartana talked about, it was all just spineless nonsense.
"Let's go, hurry to the bar!"
Slowking had gone to find Oranguru, and Arcanine went along too.
---
Julian wasn't worried about Slowking 'doing' anything to Oranguru—he was more afraid that Arcanine, trying to suck up to Slowking, might burn down the treehouse bar in one big fire.
Not bothering to pack anything, Julian hurried off toward the bar with his Pokémon.
The Pokémon were also curious—what kind of guy could make juice that rivaled Slowking's?
When Julian arrived, he was relieved to see the bar still standing.
Arcanine was lying under the tree by the bar.
The moment it spotted Julian, it trotted over cheerfully.
'This damn dog, acting like it doesn't remember what it just did, huh?!'
Julian angrily ruffled the dog's head hard a few times before asking, "Where's Slowking?"
Arcanine glanced up at the bar nestled in the tree.
After listening carefully for a while, Julian didn't hear any sounds of a fight going on inside. He finally took a deep breath to steady himself, and climbed up the ladder into the bar.
Inside, Oranguru was sitting at the counter, while Slowking was using its tools to make berry juice for it.
Taking a sip, Oranguru's eyes widened in shock.
'This juice… is incredible-even better than mine!'
The reason Julian's Pokémon felt that Oranguru's juice was on par with Slowking's was mainly because the berries Oranguru used were ones they had never tasted before. The freshness factor added a lot to the experience.
Of course, Oranguru really was skilled at making juice—that was undeniable.
Standing at the entrance of the bar, Julian hesitated to go in.
All he could think about was how to make things right with Slowking.