Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Chapter 843: Chapter 1060: New SpeciesChapter 844: Chapter 1061: Deal

"Cos~"

Nebby in Julian's arms opened its eyes and looked around. Seeing nothing but sand all around, it gazed curiously at Julian as if asking, 'Where is this?'

"This is a desert," Julian said.

Having been born only recently, this was Nebby's first time seeing a desert. It couldn't help but fly out of Julian's arms, scooping up a handful of sand and watching it slip through, its eyes filled with wonder.

It tried grabbing the sand several more times, but the result was always the same. Its curious expression soon turned into one of frustration. In its tiny mind, it was puzzled—why couldn't it hold onto the sand?

"Jirachi, look at Nebby—it looks so stupid," Celebi said with a smile.

"And what gives you the right to say that? You cried the first time you ate fried chicken," Julian retorted with a hint of disdain.

Hearing that, Jirachi immediately perked up and asked, "Celebi, why did you cry?"

"Because it was just too delicious!"

Celebi didn't seem annoyed at all. Instead, it said with a hint of pride, "A true gourmet should shed tears when tasting truly exquisite food."

"Jirachi, you still have a long way to go in this regard."

Jirachi, being easily swayed, found Celebi's words rather convincing and nodded in agreement.

But then it seemed a bit troubled and said, "Celebi, every time I eat something delicious, I find it incredibly tasty, but I never feel like crying. Why is that?"

Celebi's eyes rolled as it thought for a moment. Then it hammered its right fist into its left palm and said in an extremely certain tone:

"That must be because you haven't eaten enough good food yet. How about this—once we're out of this secret realm, I'll take you to a few places you've never been before. They are my personal secret spots."

Jirachi nodded excitedly, completely unaware that Celebi was just leading it on. It even felt a bit slighted that, as brothers, Celebi had been keeping such secrets from it.

"But you have to treat me, okay?"

Celebi finally showed its true colors.

It spent money as soon as it got it, so its allowance was never enough, while Jirachi, on the other hand, tended to save a bit.

Now, Celebi had set its sights on Jirachi's little savings.

"Mm, I'll treat you."

Jirachi agreed readily.

Julian shook his head as he listened. Celebi really was something—always tricking its good buddy out of money. And Jirachi too, after being fooled so many times, still never learned its lesson.

"You truly are my good brother! Your seven hundred bucks should be enough for us to have a good meal."

Celebi hooked an arm around Jirachi's neck, looking all buddy-buddy.

"Mhm."

Jirachi nodded, seemingly not catching the problem in Celebi's words.

"Celebi, how did you know Jirachi has seven hundred bucks?"

Julian asked with feigned surprise.

With Julian's reminder, Jirachi finally reacted.

"Yeah—Celebi, how did you know I have seven hundred bucks?"

That was its secret stash, carefully hidden away. How did Celebi know about it?

Celebi's expression stiffened. Perched on Julian's head, it shot him a resentful glare.

This blockhead was definitely doing this on purpose.

As for how it knew—of course, it had stumbled upon Jirachi's hiding spot. But why hadn't Celebi just taken the money secretly?

Celebi's logic was simple: if it stole the money, Jirachi would just find a new hiding spot next time, and Celebi would lose track of it.

So getting Jirachi to treat it to a meal was the smarter choice. Celebi considered itself quite clever in that regard.

"Jirachi, don't you remember? You told me last time," Celebi explained.

"Ah? I told you?"

Jirachi looked surprised. It hadn't even told Julian about its secret stash—why would it have told Celebi? And why couldn't it remember?

"You told me when you were half-asleep. Maybe you just forgot," Celebi said.

"Mm, that's possible."

Things said while half-asleep—forgetting them did seem normal.

Seeing that Jirachi had been fooled again, Celebi let out a quiet sigh of relief, then retaliated by tugging Julian's hair.

This blockhead definitely did it on purpose.

'Seven hundred—hidden behind the bedside cabinet, right?' Julian sneered inwardly.

"Jirachi, Celebi already knows where you keep your money. You'd better be careful—don't let your hard-saved little stash suddenly disappear one day."

As soon as Celebi heard this, it exploded.

"Blockhead, what do you mean by that? Am I that kind of Pokémon? Jirachi is my brother—how could I ever take my brother's money?"

"Yeah, Julian—Celebi isn't that kind of Pokémon."

This time Jirachi also stood on Celebi's side.

"Mm, that's good. I was just saying."

Julian nodded.

'Once we're out of this secret realm, I'll make sure to take your little stash. Let's see how buddy-buddy you two still are then.'

"Jirachi, don't listen to this blockhead. He's just jealous of how close we are and trying to drive a wedge between us. He's a petty person."

Celebi whispered as it flew up to Jirachi.

"Mhm, I believe you, Celebi."

Jirachi nodded, but then looked at Celebi uncertainly and added in a low tone, "Just… don't ask me where I hide my money while I'm asleep again, okay?"

Jirachi had already made up its mind to move its stash—maybe behind the left bedside cabinet this time.

"Mm-hm, there won't be a next time."

Celebi patted its chest in assurance.

'You can change the spot all you want—I'll still figure it out. Probably behind the left bedside cabinet.'

The two little ones smiled at each other, looking like the best of friends, though each had their own thoughts.

"Tyr~"

Tyranitar suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Julian asked, his attention snapping back. He'd been so focused on the two little ones that he hadn't noticed anything.

"Tyr~"

Tyranitar pointed ahead.

Only then did Julian notice that about hundred meters in front, pairs of eyes were watching them.

"An undiscovered Pokémon?"

Julian's eyes lit up slightly.

Previously, everything he had found in the Primal Secret Realm had been regional variants—different from those outside but not entirely new species.

But now he'd stumbled upon a genuinely brand-new species.

"Silicobra? It really does look quite silly."

Looking at the information displayed by his Probing Eyes, Julian couldn't help but find the name oddly amusing.

Silicobra looked like a little snake carrying a bundle on its back. With its drooping eyelids, large nostrils, and tear-like eye patterns, it looked like a total pushover.

"This snake looks so punchable. I really want to give it a hit."

Celebi looked at the little creatures ahead and felt its fists itching, really wanting to punch them and make them cry.

*****

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"Why aren't these guys afraid of Tyranitar?"

As Tyranitar continued to move forward, the distance between them had now narrowed to less than fifty meters. The Silicobra were far lower in level than Tyranitar, with none among them even reaching the Elite-level.

In the world of Pokémon, level suppression was almost impossible to resist.

Yet now these Silicobra were standing their ground against Tyranitar's Pseudo-Champion aura, each of them displaying a mix of fear and determination—two extremely contradictory emotions.

Julian patted Tyranitar, signaling it to rein in its aura. Otherwise, these Silicobra would not only be harmed by Tyranitar's presence—their strength might even regress.

He was quite curious about why these Silicobra were blocking Tyranitar's path.

Although there were red dots on the Dowsing Machine, they were relatively far away from him, so they likely had nothing to do with the Silicobra. It probably wasn't about protecting some treasure.

As Tyranitar restrained its aura, the Silicobra visibly relaxed, though they still lined up in a row, blocking Tyranitar's way.

"We mean no harm," Julian said, releasing his aura.

An invisible wave of positive aura from within him enveloped the Silicobra, soothing their tense, guarded hearts.

Under the influence of his aura, the expressions of the Silicobra did change slightly, but they still refused to let Julian pass, only deepening his curiosity.

He could sense that, aside from tension and fear, these Silicobra were also feeling concern.

The first two emotions were directed at him, but the latter—the concern—was clearly not caused by him.

Just as Julian was about to call upon Celebi, the nature spirit and holder of the "Face-Face no mi," he heard a pained cry.

The next moment, the Silicobra hesitated briefly before clearing a path.

With a few Silicobra leading the way, Julian and Tyranitar arrived behind a sand dune, where they saw a Pokémon lying on the sandy ground.

It had a long wound on its body, likely several days old. The bleeding had stopped, but the blood it had shed earlier had stained the sand beneath it red.

This was a Sandaconda, the evolved form of Silicobra, a Pokémon that resembled a large, spiral-shaped snake.

However, this Sandaconda wasn't coiled into a spiral. Instead, it lay stretched out, likely due to its injury.

The Sandaconda before them had the strength of an early-stage Elite-level Pokémon—likely the leader of this Silicobra tribe.

"It's hurt really badly…"

Jirachi looked at the wound on its back. Even though it had stopped bleeding, the wound remained gruesomely large, with patches of pale bone visible.

So these Silicobra had blocked their path to protect their leader. However, it seemed this Sandaconda was on the brink of death.

While Pokémon had strong self-healing abilities, not all injuries could be healed naturally. The wound on this Sandaconda's back was no longer something it could recover from on its own.

The flesh around the wound was purplish, and many areas had already begun to rot. It appeared the Sandaconda was also poisoned, likely the result of a battle with a Poison-type Pokémon.

The Sandaconda gazed at Julian, its once resigned eyes now flickering with a faint glimmer of hope. With great effort, it shifted its body.

Julian didn't react. With Tyranitar and Metagross by his side, he wasn't worried about what the weakened Sandaconda could do.

After a few more feeble movements, the Sandaconda opened its mouth and spat out a sand-like substance, pushing it toward Julian with its head.

"For me?" Julian asked tentatively.

"San…"

The Sandaconda nodded.

Julian used his Probing Eyes to examine the jelly-like sand.

[Scorching Sand: After consuming vast amounts of sand, a Sandaconda has an extremely low chance of forming Scorching Sand within its body. The more sand it consumes, the larger the Scorching Sand becomes. When used, it can slightly enhance Ground-type potential.]

[Note: This item has no effect on Sandaconda or Silicobra.]

Both Sandaconda and Silicobra specialized in consuming sand, using it for attacks, and relying on it as a food source.

Scorching Sand was a rare byproduct of consuming large amounts of sand—similar to how not every cow produced bezoars.

This treasure, however, was useless to Sandaconda and Silicobra themselves.

Clearly, the Sandaconda hoped to trade the Scorching Sand for a chance to survive.

"Alright—deal."

Julian released Steelix, which promptly swallowed the Scorching Sand.

Given Steelix's deep reserves, the boost from Scorching Sand was extremely minimal—it would take hundreds of pounds of the stuff to make a noticeable difference. Still, something was better than nothing.

Julian walked toward the Sandaconda, and several Silicobra moved to block him, but a sharp hiss from their leader made them retreat.

Julian took out a bottle of Antidote and dripped it onto the wound, then produced ten bottles of Potion.

"Celebi, give it a Heal Pulse."

With the combined effects of the Antidote, Potions, and Heal Pulse, the Sandaconda's injuries were mostly healed. Its body, which had been too injured to coil, now spiraled tightly into its signature shape.

"Deal completed," Julian said calmly.

Truth be told, even without the Scorching Sand, Julian would have helped the Sandaconda.

It wasn't about being overly kind or ignoring the law of nature—it was simply that, having encountered it, he chose to lend a hand.

He had the ability to do so, and it was effortless for him. He couldn't bring himself to watch the Sandaconda die.

When it came to Pokémon, Julian's heart was actually rather soft.

"San~"

The Sandaconda expressed its gratitude.

It had only wanted to try its luck, but Julian had actually agreed—and the treatment had worked this well. It was almost completely recovered now.

Trading something like Scorching Sand, which was completely useless to it, for this kind of return made the Sandaconda feel a bit embarrassed.

It hissed a few commands to the surrounding Silicobras, essentially instructing them to bring some delicious treats for Julian and his team.

Before long, several Silicobras returned carrying Sand Berries—a specialty of the Holm of Trials. Outside this place, you simply couldn't find them.

[Sand Berry: One of the favorite Berries of Ground-type Pokémon.]

The description was simple.

Seeing Steelix already drooling, Julian signaled that all the Berries were for it.

Watching Steelix gulp down several Berries in one bite and still look unsatisfied, a flicker of pain crossed the Sandaconda's eyes.

After all, Sand Berries were scarce in yield, and the Holm of Trials was home to many Ground-type Pokémon. With demand far outstripping supply, the Sand Berries had become exceptionally precious.

In this place, many Pokémon would fight to the death over just a single Sand Berry.

*****

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