Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Chapter 1104: Chapter 1321: Battle EndsChapter 1105: Chapter 1322: Arcanine

Julian had suppressed the levels of these three Pokémon from the Champion tier to Pseudo-Champion, but this wasn't just a simple suppression of their strength—it was an all-around suppression, which naturally included their physical attributes as well.

Pierce's three Regis were already quite powerful to begin with, and each of them had used an Ultimate treasure.

With all three attacks striking Zeraora simultaneously, it was only natural that it hurt.

And Zeraora wasn't a Steel-type Pokémon, so its own defenses weren't particularly high to begin with.

"Mage!"

Seeing the pained expression on Zeraora's face, Magearna let out a soft cry, and a glow radiated from its body, linking it with Zeraora.

The moment the connection formed, Zeraora immediately felt half of its pain disappear.

[Pain Split: Combines the user's HP and the target's HP, then evenly redistributes them between both sides.]

Simply put, this move was about sharing the damage.

Under the effect of Pain Split, half of the damage dealt to Zeraora by the three Regis was transferred to Magearna.

Magearna was both a Steel-type and Fairy-type Pokémon, so its defenses were naturally much higher than Zeraora's.

This amount of damage was completely within its ability to endure.

"Zera~"

Zeraora nodded toward Magearna.

Even without Pain Split, those three attacks wouldn't have knocked it down, but pain was still pain and it wasn't a masochist like Kingambit.

It certainly didn't enjoy being hurt.

Meanwhile, Regice, having been struck by Zeraora's Plasma Fists, had collapsed to the ground and was now struggling desperately to stand back up.

A flicker of surprise crossed Zeraora's eyes—the opponent actually hadn't been one-shotted by its attack.

"Sal!"

A Dragon Pulse suddenly shot forth, striking Regice just as it managed to stand, knocking it down once more.

This time, it did not rise again.

"Zera!"

Zeraora looked at the kill-stealing Salamence with clear annoyance.

Salamence bared its teeth in a grin—the thrill of stealing a kill was truly satisfying.

Pierce recalled the defeated Regice and said helplessly, "No point continuing—I surrender."

Regice had already been defeated. So how were the remaining two Regis supposed to fight Julian's three Pokémon?

His opponent's overall strength had already been superior to begin with, and now they also held a numerical advantage.

The outcome was obvious.

There was no point continuing the battle.

It was just a pity that he hadn't even gotten the chance to use the three Regis' combined move. But even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered much, because the combined move could only target a single Pokémon.

And once the combined move was used, the three Regis would be completely drained of strength. And at that point, defeat would be inevitable.

Pierce conceded, and with that, the battle was over.

"Mage..."

Magearna looked at Registeel with clear reluctance. It hadn't even defeated its opponent yet, and the opponent's trainer had already surrendered.

How spineless.

Its gaze toward Pierce now carried a hint of disdain.

Zeraora and Salamence also felt unsatisfied. They had finally found opponents worth fighting, only for the battle to end before they could fully enjoy it.

"Alright, alright. Next time, I'll let you have a one-on-one match with it," Julian said, walking up to Magearna with some amusement as he looked at its puffed-up, indignant expression.

A sulking Magearna was quite a rare sight.

"Mage~"

Magearna shook its head. It had already experienced what battling felt like, so if it wasn't necessary, it would rather not fight anymore.

Its battlefield wasn't here—it was with Slowking-sensei.

After checking the time and seeing that it was already close to eleven o'clock, Magearna suddenly cried out, and then hurriedly ran toward the house.

It needed to start preparing lunch.

Today, Slowking had gone out to teach a class, and Love had accompanied Tina to the shopping mall.

Cooking on its own wasn't a first for Magearna. Even when Slowking and Love were home sometimes, they would still let Magearna cook by itself for the family.

Watching Magearna hurry off, Julian called out, "Magearna, make extra for lunch—Pierce will be eating here too!"

"Mage!"

Magearna's response echoed back from the distance.

Since it was already mealtime, Julian naturally intended to keep Pierce for lunch.

"Tonight we'll go out somewhere and have a proper meal while catching up. For lunch, eat at my place first. You haven't tasted Magearna's cooking yet, so this is a good opportunity."

Pierce nodded. The military had given him a year to challenge the Gyms, and now he had already finished challenging them all, with three months still remaining.

Naturally, he planned to spend that time traveling, seeing different places, and catching up with friends.

Otherwise, once he returned to duty, who knew when he'd get another vacation.

From beginning to end, the battle had lasted a little over half an hour.

"Not bad," Julian patted Pierce on the shoulder. "At this rate, in ten years at the shortest—or who knows exactly how long—you could become a Champion."

Although he had held back, the fact that Pierce had managed to fight him for half an hour already proved that his strength was considerable.

Hearing Julian's words, Pierce chuckled and said, "What kind of thing is that to say—'who knows exactly how long'?"

"Then I'll take that back. At the longest, eleven years—and you'll definitely break through and become a Champion," Julian immediately corrected himself.

The gap between Peak Pseudo-Champion and Champion was enormous.

On Drakoria's Elite rankings, the top ten were all Peak Pseudo-Champions. Some of them had remained at that level for decades without breaking through to Champion.

So the vast majority of Peak Pseudo-Champions spent their entire lives stuck at that stage.

Which one of them hadn't been a dazzling genius in their youth, praised as a prodigy? Yet most of them ultimately remained trapped at the Peak Pseudo-Champion level for life.

"That's more like it," Pierce nodded in satisfaction.

He wasn't even a late-stage Pseudo-Champion yet. So becoming a Champion was still far too distant for him.

Right now, he should be thinking about how to reach the late-stage of Pseudo-Champion level first.

As the two chatted, they arrived at Julian's home.

Magearna was busy in the kitchen, but still poured Pierce a cup of tea.

"Magearna, this tea is amazing!"

Pierce wasn't much of a coffee fan—he preferred tea.

So the moment he tasted it, his eyes immediately lit up.

The tea itself was a type of treasure, something even the finest teas available on the market couldn't compare to.

Combined with Magearna's exceptional tea-brewing skills, the taste became even better.

"Mage~"

Magearna now felt that this human wasn't so bad after all—at the very least, he had good taste.

In a good mood, it returned to the kitchen and continued preparing lunch.

"Hoo..."

Watching Magearna leave, Pierce couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

Then, looking at Julian with a degree of admiration, he said, "You're really something. Having Slowking wasn't enough—you went and raised another little steward as well."

Just now, the look Magearna had given him carried an immense amount of pressure.

"I dare you to say that in front of Slowking."

Julian cast him a sideways glance, reached out to pour himself a cup of tea, and conveniently topped off Pierce's cup as well.

"Wait until I finish drinking before refilling it. Otherwise the flavor changes," Pierce hurriedly said.

Drinking tea involved far more attention to detail than drinking coffee.

As for all those intricacies and customs, Julian didn't understand them at all.

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

patreon.com/ReduxMagister

While eating the lunch Magearna had prepared, Pierce showered it with praise once again.

Compared to praise from Julian, its trainer, praise from a guest like Pierce made Magearna even happier.

By now, it no longer held a grudge against Pierce. In fact, it even thought he was a pretty decent person—at the very least, his ability to appreciate food was quite good.

After lunch, Julian took Pierce for a walk around the backyard.

Since the two of them had explored a Top-tier secret realm together before, many of Julian's Pokémon knew Pierce. Of course, those that had joined later didn't recognize him.

"This Larvitar is absolutely incredible!"

Pierce's eyes lit up as he looked at the Totem Larvitar.

With a size like that, it already surpassed most Tyranitars. And when it eventually evolved into a Tyranitar, it would probably be taller than even its father by a good margin.

As a Rock-type trainer, Pierce naturally couldn't resist the allure of this Larvitar.

Outstanding Pokémon were the ultimate temptations for any trainer, and very few trainers could resist such allure.

"Want it?" Julian asked.

Hearing that, Pierce's eyes grew even brighter. Eagerly, he asked, "You'd be willing to give it to me?"

"Of course—not."

Julian deliberately dragged out the last words and replied in a teasing tone.

He planned to raise Larvitar himself, so there was no way he would give it away.

He hadn't even given it to Jade when she asked for it.

Besides, he had been personally taking care of Larvitar since it hatched, and it had long since recognized him as its trainer.

Even if he gave it to someone else, there was no guarantee Larvitar would even accept them.

A trainer selected outstanding Pokémon, and outstanding Pokémon naturally hoped their trainer was equally exceptional.

It was a two-way relationship—only when an exceptional trainer was paired with an equally exceptional Pokémon could their full potential be brought out.

Not to mention a Pseudo-legendary hatchling like Larvitar. Its birth circumstances had alone determined that it needed an exceptionally capable trainer.

It wasn't that Pierce wasn't good enough, but compared to Julian, he certainly fell short.

Just the resources Larvitar currently required would probably be difficult for someone of Pierce's income to provide. He would have to lower the standard by an entire tier.

And that wasn't even considering the resources Larvitar would need after evolving.

"Even if you really gave it to me, I couldn't afford to raise it."

Looking at the sand Larvitar was playing with, Pierce realized that if he wasn't mistaken, it was Star Sand, a Rock-type treasure that could improve the physique of Rock-type Pokémon.

Simply put, Star Sand was the product of meteorites being ground into powder.

Considering how many meteorites burned up in the atmosphere every day and how few actually made it to the ground, one could imagine how rare this material was.

Without exaggeration, creating a sandpit of this size would cost at least tens of billions.

And this wasn't the only sandpit like this—there were three in total.

The other two weren't made of Star Sand, but they were certainly no less valuable.

The second was sand ground from raw diamond ore.

And the third was sand ground from Elemental Stones.

Just like humans couldn't live on a single type of food forever, Pokémon were no different.

So when it came to Larvitar's daily diet, Julian naturally didn't stick to just one variety.

The three types of sand before his eyes were only part of it—Larvitar also needed to eat an appropriate amount of Pokéblocks.

"The honest truth," Julian nodded.

To be blunt, just the yearly expenses required to raise Larvitar would probably consume most of Pierce's available funds—but if he spent that much on Larvitar, what about his other Pokémon?

So if Julian really gave Larvitar to him, he genuinely wouldn't be able to afford raising it properly.

Surely he couldn't drastically reduce the resources allocated to all his other Pokémon just for Larvitar, could he?

And if he didn't do that, then the only option would be lowering Larvitar's resource allocation—and not by just one level, but by several.

Only because the Walkers possessed such immense wealth and resources could Larvitar receive this kind of treatment. Otherwise, even trainers born into major families generally couldn't afford to raise it this way.

It could be said that Larvitar's current treatment was even better than what Metagross had received at the beginning.

After all, back then Julian had only just started his journey. And although the Walker family had already been a top-tier clan, they weren't yet dominant on a global scale.

His grandfather had only been a Steel-type Pseudo-Champion, while his father had merely been an Elite-level trainer.

But now, he was the world's strongest trainer, and the Walker Group's assets were also ranked first in the world.

With the family stronger and wealthier, of course they couldn't "skimp" on the child.

"Damn rich bastard," Pierce said with a bit of irritation.

"Can't help it. Being born in the right family is a skill in itself," Julian flashed a grin.

Seeing Julian actually looking proud of himself made Pierce feel even worse.

He then suddenly thought that if he ever had a child in the future, that child would probably count as having been born into a pretty good family too.

"Arf~"

Arcanine ran over and greeted Pierce with its tongue hanging out.

"Hey there, Arcanine."

Pierce was quite familiar with Arcanine. Back when they had been in the secret realm, Arcanine had repeatedly rejected Ember's advances, causing Ember to openly declare that it would remain a bachelor dog for life.

And as it turned out, it seemed to have come true—not only did Arcanine not have a mate, but its trainer was still single too.

Arcanine nodded, then just stared at Pierce.

Pierce felt a bit uneasy under its gaze and asked curiously, "Is something the matter?"

Arcanine didn't answer.

It continued staring at him for a few more seconds before sighing, shaking its head, and walking away.

This only left Pierce even more baffled.

"What did Arcanine mean by that?" he asked Julian.

Julian hesitated for a moment and asked, "You really want know?"

"No."

Pierce immediately shook his head.

He could tell from Julian's expression that whatever Arcanine was trying to convey was definitely nothing good, so he'd rather just not hear it.

But Julian went ahead and said it anyway.

"Doggo just came over to see how you're doing after all these years apart, wondering why you haven't made any progress at all."

"You were a Pseudo-Champion before, and you're still a Pseudo-Champion now."

The moment he heard that, Pierce felt a mouthful of blood rise in his chest—it was suffocating.

Was this dog poisonous or what?

He had been at the early-stage of Pseudo-Champion before, and now he was at the mid-stage.

Only a few years had passed, and that kind of improvement was already incredible, alright?

Did it really think everyone was a freak like Julian, who could become a Champion in just a few years?

"Doggo wasn't trying to look down on you," Julian continued. "It was just confused—three years ago, after it was resurrected, its level was reset, and three years later, it has become a Champion again."

"But you're still a Pseudo-Champion. So it couldn't quite figure it out."

"A dog's brain isn't that big to begin with, Pierce. Don't take it personally."

"Doggo really wasn't looking down on you."

Julian's words were like knives repeatedly stabbing into Pierce's heart.

And Pierce was absolutely certain Julian was doing it on purpose.

Could he at least try to hide that grin on his face while saying it?

It was seriously rude.

If he weren't completely incapable of beating Julian in a fight, he would have challenged him to a real-life duel on the spot and shown him the power of military combat techniques.

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

patreon.com/ReduxMagister