Julian felt a bit exhausted. This dog had gotten smarter—becoming more and more difficult to fool.
In the past, just saying "dog park" would've gotten its full agreement. Now it even haggled with him.
After getting Julian's approval—or rather, Arcanine's approval—Moltres finally swallowed the Blaze Stone.
Once it was down, Moltres shot a smug glance at Arcanine, as if saying, 'So what if you came first? Ever heard of ditching the old for the new?'
But Arcanine didn't even look at it. Its mind was completely filled with images of frolicking in the dog park after leaving the secret realm.
"Try using Flamethrower."
Julian pointed at the ground ahead, signaling Moltres to use Flamethrower.
The Blaze Stone could double the power of Flamethrower.
Scorching-hot flames burst out with a deep red glow. Waves of heat almost roasted Julian on the spot—he was just three seconds away from being cooked if Metagross hadn't quickly used psychic energy to block the heat.
When Julian had fought Moltres earlier, its Flamethrower definitely didn't have this kind of power.
With this kind of heat, even Burn Upmight not be able to match it.
As the Flamethrower struck the ground Julian had indicated, the surface instantly melted into fiery red, boiling lava.
Moltres usually lived in volcanic magma, absorbing its heat, so its flame temperature was already higher than most Fire-type Pokémon.
If Arcanine hadn't eaten the Fire-type Ultimate Treasure—Flame Crystal—it wouldn't even come close to matching Moltres' flame temperature.
Now that Moltres had eaten the Blaze Stone, even though the treasure only increased Flamethrower's power, the boost to Moltres' strength was still enormous.
This version of Flamethrower now had power comparable to Burn Up.
If Flamethrower was considered a basic attack, then Burn Up was a super move.
And while Burn Up had drawbacks—Flamethrower didn't.
That said, the increased power of Flamethrower also meant it now consumed more stamina.
Fortunately, Moltres could still adjust the power of its Flamethrower—the lower limit was still its previous strength, while the upper limit could now reach double the output.
Looking at the molten ground, Moltres's eyes lit up with delight.
It hadn't expected the stone's effect to be even greater than imagined.
Meanwhile, Gengar, following Julian's orders, had gone to intercept the trainers coming to investigate his earlier battle with Aso and Eguchi.
Four Trainers had come in total—two from Pannar, and the other two from different small countries, each of which only had one slot.
Four people, three countries—they weren't a team, but had come from three separate directions.
But none of them dared to get any closer.
Because the aftermath of the battle was simply too overwhelming. Even from a distance, shielded by trees, the residual shockwaves still reached them.
Just how strong were the Pokémon fighting?
Most likely, they weren't just Elite-level, they had to be at least pseudo-Champion or even Champion-tier.
After all, the shockwaves from a battle between Elite-level Pokémon shouldn't have such a terrifying range and force.
All four of them were curious and had thoughts of picking up loot, but in the end, the instinct to stay alive won out, so they all stopped in their tracks.
Then, as the battle ended and silence lingered, they cautiously began moving again.
But the moment they did, Gengar hit them with Hypnosis, knocking them out cold before dragging their unconscious bodies to Julian.
Julian first used his Dowsing Machine to check whether they had any good items on them. The result: only six red dots appeared across the four of them, and they were all pretty small.
Julian instantly lost interest in robbing them. With red dots that small, the items couldn't be worth much—he wouldn't even pick them up if they were lying on the ground.
He then used psychic to wake them up.
The two Trainers from Pannar, along with the Trainers from small countries A and B slowly regained consciousness.
The moment they opened their eyes—a pale, ghostly face greeted them.
All four's eyeballs rolled back, on the verge of passing out again.
But then a voice rang in their ears, and a stabbing sensation hit their minds, shaking their consciousness awake.
"Gengar, knock it off."
Julian pushed Gengar's head aside and walked over to the four.
Just now, his voice carried a bit of psychic energy, forcing the four to wake up—as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on them while they were asleep.
Just as he got to them, Arcanine curiously walked over and shoved Julian aside.
Its big dog head leaned in, curiously examining the four.
Julian: "One after another… sigh."
Life was hard, and Julian could only sigh.
Meanwhile, the newly recruited Moltres, eager to prove itself, shoved Arcanine aside.
But Arcanine wasn't having it. This side piece just joined and already wants to take over?
It immediately started barking furiously at Moltres.
Moltres, refusing to back down, squawked back, "Before, I had to respect you because you had a trainer. But now he's my trainer too—why should I be scared of you?"
The two started chirping and barking at each other in their own languages.
Julian: 'I'm too tired to deal with this.'
He turned back to the four trainers—only to find them staring blankly, completely dazed.
And who could blame them?
First, they were scared out of their wits by a white Gengar, then a giant dog head popped up, and now—a frickin' Moltres was right in front of them, squabbling with the dog.
The four of them pinched themselves to make sure they weren't hallucinating.
Nope. That Pokémon currently arguing with Arcanine—was definitely a legendary.
One of them muttered under their breath:
"Damn… so uncivilized."
One of the Pannar trainers, a woman with intermediate psychic abilities, actually understood the exchange between Moltres and Arcanine.
In an instant, her entire worldview had collapsed.
A legendary Pokémon, a being of myth and power—actually yelling vulgarities like that?
Julian, sensing her psychic energy, immediately realized that she must have understood them.
He covered his face—how utterly embarrassing, and in front of trainers from other nations too.
Without a word, he pulled out their Poké Balls and recalled both of them on the spot.
Only then did the four Trainers snap back to their senses.
And then, they were all stunned again—Moltres had actually been captured by someone!
"You're… a Drakorian trainer?"
The Trainer from Country A recognized Julian, and the tension in his heart eased up quite a bit.
After all, Drakoria had a great reputation internationally—unlike Babath or Wyvernia, which were infamous for bullying the weak and fearing the strong. If he'd ended up in the hands of Trainers from those countries, he'd be screwed.
"Big Bro!!"
The most thrilled, of course, were the two Trainers from Pannar.
They'd run into their biggest ally—instantly, they stood up straighter and more confident.
Drakoria was famously generous to its little brothers.
There was even that one time when Drakoria accidentally dropped a nuclear warhead near Pannar's border. When Pannar tried to return it, Drakoria just waved it off and said, "Keep it, little bro. Consider it a gift."
That's the kind of big bro energy Drakoria was known for.
The Trainers from Country A and B looked enviously at the two from Pannar. Running into Drakoria in a secret realm? Incredible luck.
Of course, becoming Drakoria's little brother wasn't easy—you couldn't be two-faced about it. Loyalty mattered.
According to Tapu Lele, there were originally twenty-five Trainers on Alaka Island. Eleven had died early on, and now another three from Babath had just died. That meant only eleven Trainers remained.
Right now, four were standing in front of him. Including himself, that meant there were six others still somewhere on the island.
Julian asked the four about their knowledge of the island and whether they had encountered trainers from other nations.
The four didn't know much about the island's layout. Even though they'd been here for almost two months, their lack of strength had prevented them from fully exploring it.
They had run into other foreign Trainers, but neither side made a move, and both had withdrawn peacefully.
"Honorable sir from Drakoria, this is all we know…" said the Trainer from Small Country A, trembling slightly. At first, he had felt relieved knowing Julian was from Drakoria, but then he noticed two corpses lying not far away.
Along with several Pokémon carcasses.
The decapitated head of a Flygon, its lifeless eyes staring straight at them, sent a chill down his spine.
That was enough to change his perception of Julian—if they didn't cooperate, this man might just kill them on the spot.
The other three also noticed the dead trainers and Pokémon. Even the two Trainers from Pannar began to worry that their "big brother" might silence them.
Julian easily picked up on their fearful auras, and judging by where they were looking, he could guess what was running through their minds.
"Alright, you can leave, and take those corpses with you."
Julian waved his hand dismissively, gesturing at the Pokémon remains.
"R-Really? T-Thank you, noble sir from Drakoria!"
The Trainer from Small Country B was overjoyed.
The two Pannar Trainers also looked at Julian with gratitude, reassured that their "big brother" was still as generous as ever—though they were a little annoyed that these two outsiders were benefiting as well.
Julian had no interest in the corpses of Elite-tier Pokémon, but on the outside, they could fetch a hefty price.
The flesh, bones, organs, and other parts of Elite-tier Pokémon could all be processed into medicine, and certain body parts, if consumed by Pokémon of the same type, could enhance their abilities.
For example, a Poison-type Pokémon could devour high-grade poison sacs to strengthen their toxins.
Dragon-types could absorb the blood of their kind to purify and strengthen their own lineage.
So these Pokémon corpses were like treasure to the four.
While collecting the bodies, the group finally saw who the two human corpses were.
'Oh… they're from Babath.'
Well, that's fine then.
Babath's reputation on the international stage was notoriously bad.
They relied on having a powerful "big brother" and their own considerable strength, bullying many other countries along the way. There was no shortage of nations who had been mistreated by them.
The four trainers left with their loot, and Julian summoned Moltres, hopping onto its back without a second thought.
He ignored the frantic shaking of Dragonite's Poké Ball.
Dragonite: 'My status as the primary mount is under threat...'
In terms of sheer style points, Moltres was undeniably cooler—after all, it was a legendary Pokémon, wreathed in flames, special effects maxed out.
In the outside world, Moltres was even nicknamed the "Phoenix".
Metagross floated behind Julian, staring at him silently.
After flying for a while, Julian finally couldn't take it anymore. He turned his head and snapped at Metagross: "Why the hell are you staring at me like that?!"
That judgmental gaze was like needles on his back, making him deeply uncomfortable.
Metagross: "The new bird gets all the love, while the old dragon weeps unnoticed."
The Poké Ball on his waist containing Dragonite shook violently in agreement—it was the old dragon.
"Moltres is new. Let it handle the grunt work of carrying me," Julian explained.
Besides looking cool, riding Moltres was also a way to bond and build trust with it.
To be honest, catching Moltres had been completely unexpected.
He'd already chosen Dragon as his secondary type, so going forward, he had planned to only take in Steel- or Dragon-type Pokémon.
But when a pseudo-Champion Moltres literally threw itself at him… well, no trainer in their right mind would refuse.
Not him, not his grandpa John, not even Duke—nobody.
Seriously, what kind of idiot says no to a legendary Pokémon?
Julian directed Moltres to fly over to the pond—the same one where the Bruxish had been.
The environment there was quite good, and after everything he'd done today, he decided to just set up camp there again.
The Bruxish leader had assumed that Julian had left for good, and that its territory was back under its control.
But barely a few days later, he was back.
And he came back riding a freaking Moltres—radiating the oppressive aura of a pseudo-Champion, which instantly scared all its little underlings back into the water.
'Nope nope nope, not messing with that.'
The Bruxish leader had seen Moltres before, since the fiery bird liked to wander all around the island. But it had never expected this guy to actually 'tame' Moltres.
If it knew that Moltres had basically 'offered itself', it would probably be so shocked its jaw would fall off.
Back by the pond, there were still traces of his previous campsite. Even the old tent he'd left behind was still there.
Although, it had now become tattered and broken—probably messed up by some wild Pokémon.
Moltres strutted around on its slender legs, taking in the surroundings with curiosity. When it spotted the waterfall, a look of realization appeared in its eyes—so 'this' was the place.
Since it usually soared high in the sky and rarely landed, it wasn't all that familiar with the terrain on the ground.
Julian pulled out an ice-cold cola and took a long sip. He hadn't had a single drink of water since earlier.
Slowking: 'So why don't you just drink water...?'
Noticing Moltres eyeing his soda with interest, Julian shook his head. "This stuff isn't for birds. And besides, you don't really 'need' to drink."
Technically, Moltres did need water—just extremely rarely. It could go years, even decades, without a single sip.
After finishing the can, Julian casually crumpled it and tossed it aside.
Finishing a can of cola and then crushing it before tossing it away—that's just basic respect for soda etiquette.
Moltres, like an overgrown, fiery Husky, walked over to inspect the flattened can, poking at it with its beak.
To a Pokémon raised in a secret realm, human-world items always held a strong sense of novelty and fascination.
Julian wasn't even surprised anymore.
Back when Steelix and Gible first left the secret realm for the outside world, they'd spent days acting like wide-eyed toddlers.
Gible had once nearly stuck its entire head into a toilet bowl, trying to drink from it. Thankfully, Julian caught it in time—otherwise, the poor thing would've been forever unclean.
That incident had since become what Gabite now considered the biggest shame of its life.
If Julian wasn't its trainer, it would've committed murder to erase the evidence.