Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Chapter 864: Chapter 1081: Dead

This extremely dangerous tactic wasn't something Julian came up with—it was Gengar's own suggestion, given how the battle was progressing.

Severely countered by Liligant, Gengar's chances of victory were diminishing with each passing moment.

And with moves like Synthesis and Ingrain, Liligant could continuously restore its stamina, extending its endurance to a degree that would make even Gengar despair.

But what about Gengar? It was a typical high Special Attack, high Speed Pokémon—a classic fragile, glass-cannon mage.

If Liligant didn't have its King form, Gengar would have had no problem dealing with it.

But it did.

This was Gengar's first battle since becoming a Champion, and its opponent was not just strong but also rendered its style completely useless. But losing such a meaningful fight would be a terrible shame.

So Gengar decided to take a risky gamble. Julian naturally refused, but Gengar's unwavering determination shook his resolve.

In the end, Gengar insisted it would be fine, and only then did Julian agree.

Gengar might usually be carefree, love playing pranks, and seem indifferent to everything, but its drive for victory was no less intense than that of Julian's other Pokémon.

Or perhaps all of Julian's Pokémon wished to use their own victories to respond to his expectations.

After Mega Gengar and Lilligant entered the interdimensional space. Everything around suddenly became eerily silent, leaving only the pitted, crack-riddled ground as proof they had been fighting there moments ago.

Julian stood in place. Even though Gengar had said it would be all right, he couldn't help but worry.

Three minutes passed, and neither Mega Gengar nor Liligant had emerged. Julian immediately began to regret agreeing to Gengar's risky plan.

What if it had overplayed its hand this time?

He kept glancing around, but there was nothing to see.

"Julian, Gengar will be fine. It'll come out soon."

"Yeah, Julian. Gengar's so strong—it'll definitely be okay."

The two little ones, seeing Julian's worry, quickly tried to comfort him.

"Cos~"

Even Nebby, who had just woken up in his arms and didn't know what had happened while it was asleep, could sense Julian's current mood and couldn't help but make a sound of comfort.

"Yeah..."

Julian nodded.

In the grip of anxious worry, time passed abnormally slowly, and another two minutes went by.

To Julian, those two minutes felt like an hour.

Then came a ripple of spatial distortion, and with two soft thuds, he saw Gengar and Liligant fell out of the interdimensional space.

"Gengar!"

Julian immediately rushed over. Gengar had already reverted from its Mega Evolution form.

Seeing Gengar lying completely still, Julian was slightly startled. He didn't even glance at Liligant, who lay equally motionless nearby—he wouldn't have batted an eye even if it were dead.

He quickly helped Gengar up.

Celebi looked at Gengar's tightly closed eyes and reached out to check its breathing. Its expression immediately changed drastically as it wailed, "Julian! Julian! Gengar... it's not breathing!"

"What?!"

Julian's face turned pale. He immediately checked as well and, finding no breath, pressed his ear against Gengar's chest.

"There's no heartbeat either."

Saying that, Julian stood up and shouted toward Metagross, "Metagross, get ready with Thunder Punch. We need to perform CPR on Gengar."

Metagross didn't move. It couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge these two idiots.

One was pretending to be dead, the other clearly knew it was an act and played along anyway—and badly, at that.

No heartbeat, really?

Do Ghost-type Pokémon even have hearts? Gengar certainly didn't.

Even breathing was optional for it.

"Metagross, if you're not moving... does that mean Gengar is already beyond saving?"

Julian's face was a mask of "grief"—though the acting was painfully obvious.

But Celebi and Jirachi, the two gullible ones, had actually fallen for it.

They immediately threw themselves onto Gengar's body. Celebi sobbed, "Gengar, how could you die like this? I still wanted to play more pranks with you!"

"Don't worry—one day, I'll create a world that belongs only to you."

Jirachi also wailed, "Waaah, Gengar, my best buddy! I'll never forget you. Go in peace—I'll live on for the both of us. I'll take care of Julian!"

The two little ones lay on top of Gengar, crying miserably, snot and tears smearing all over Gengar.

"Gengar, if you have any last wishes, make sure to visit me in my dreams tonight," Celebi said sorrowfully.

"Gen~"

Gengar: "I wish you'd come down and keep me company."

Celebi instinctively nodded. "Okay—wait, what?!"

Looking at Gengar, who had clearly just "died," suddenly open its eyes and stare straight at it—like a ghost unwilling to rest in peace—

Celebi immediately let out a piercing shriek.

"GHOST!!!"

It instantly launched itself into the air like a spring-loaded projectile, practically teleporting behind Julian in an instant.

"J-J-Julian—Gengar—Gengar is—"

Its teeth were chattering, words coming out incoherently, a trembling finger pointing at Gengar, and its little face pale with fright.

Julian said disdainfully, "You're scared just like that? Didn't you always say you were brave? Look at Jirachi—totally fine. Learn from it instead of just talking big all day."

Looking at Jirachi still standing in front of Gengar, Julian felt a bit gratified. Sure enough, in terms of courage, Jirachi was much braver than Celebi.

THUD!

Then came the awkward part. Jirachi's eyes spiraled, and it collapsed straight to the ground.

Julian: (⊙v⊙)

'What the heck?'

Seeing this, Celebi immediately burst into tears. "Waaah! Julian, Gengar just said it wanted me to go down and keep it company. I ran away—so it must have dragged Jirachi down instead!"

"Boo-hoo-hoo, Jirachi, my brother! I've failed you!"

Julian walked over to Jirachi and took a deep breath.

This thing was literally a First-class Legendary. A First-class Legendary—and it fainted just from being scared.

Even if he had raised it poorly, it shouldn't be this useless, right? Was this guy born with some kind of ancient useless physique or what?

"Julian, how's Jirachi?"

Celebi actually dared to come closer, which surprised Julian a little.

His face turned solemn as he said sorrowfully, "It's… no longer breathing."

"Waaah, Jirachi, my good brother! Go in peace—the stash you hid in the left bedside cabinet, I'll keep it safe for you."

"The figurines you bought, Old Ken's discount coupons, your in-game currency and rare skins in Pokémon Glory, and those cola cans—"

Slurp.

As it talked, Celebi actually began drooling.

Suddenly, it realized that it didn't feel quite as sad anymore. In fact, it even felt a tiny bit... excited inside?

SLAP!

Celebi slapped itself across the face.

'I'm really not a good thing. How could I have such thoughts?'

'Jirachi is my sworn brother, my flesh and blood, my best friend…'

*****

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