Looking at the fallen Tapu Bulu on the ground, Julian's eyes gleamed with a cold light, because—even while severely injured and collapsed—it still radiated a wave of intense hatred toward him through its aura.
"Kill it."
The command was directed at Metagross.
Tapu Bulu had attacked him without reason, injured many of his Pokémon—Gengar had nearly died, and Aggron was gravely wounded. Just thinking about it made Julian want to walk over and kick it a few times to vent his anger before finishing it off for good.
But he didn't dare get too close. Even though Tapu Bulu could barely move, if he got within range, there was no telling if it might launch a desperate final attack.
Island Guardian or not, it had pushed him too far, and he wasn't going to let it go.
As for what would happen to Ula'ula Island if Tapu Bulu died—Julian couldn't care less. This secret realm wasn't even within Drakoria's borders anyway.
"Meta!"
Metagross's killing intent surged, and it raised its fist to deliver a Meteor Mash directly into the gaping wound in Tapu Bulu's abdomen. One solid hit, and that bloody hole would be torn wide open.
But just as Metagross moved to deliver the final blow—
Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini suddenly appeared, pulling Tapu Bulu out of the way. Metagross's fist struck empty air.
Julian's expression darkened instantly. His voice was icy as he glared at the two new arrivals.
"Are you two trying to protect this thing?"
Metagross, Dragonite, and Moltres immediately positioned themselves in front of Julian, staring down the two Island Guardian with hostility.
Internally, Julian's heart sank. These two were also Island Guardians—they'd obviously side with Tapu Bulu. If he insisted on killing Tapu Bulu, the other two would undoubtedly intervene.
And given the current weakened state of his team, even without tapping into the island's power, Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini could easily overpower them.
'Looks like I'll have to summon Mewtwo after all.'
Julian was furious.
Tapu Lele had already begun treating Tapu Bulu's wounds, while Tapu Fini, who had been the first to interact with Julian, quickly spoke up:
"Wait! There must be some misunderstanding here!"
Among the four Island Guardians, Tapu Bulu was the most even-tempered—so why had it become so enraged, even going so far as to use the Island's Power?
After all, that wasn't something done lightly—even for a guardian, there was a cost.
Unless the island itself was in danger, they almost never called upon it.
But what shocked Tapu Fini even more was that Julian had managed to defeat Tapu Bulu while it was empowered by the Island's Power—that meant it had been at Champion-level, not just pseudo-Champion.
And if they hadn't arrived in time, Tapu Bulu might already be dead.
As soon as Tapu Fini suggested whether there had been some kind of misunderstanding, Julian grew even more furious and shouted:
"It attacked me the moment it appeared without saying a word! How the hell would I know anything?!"
Tapu Fini looked toward Tapu Bulu. Though it hadn't interacted with Julian much, it felt that while this human could be shameless at times, he wasn't truly malicious.
So it found it hard to imagine what Julian could have possibly done to make Tapu Bulu this enraged.
Thanks to Tapu Lele's healing, Tapu Bulu's injuries had stabilized to a certain extent—it could at least speak now. Julian was angry, but Tapu Bulu was even angrier.
Shrugging off Tapu Lele's support, it stood up, its voice thick with rage:
"I was asleep—only to wake up and find my island ravaged! Entire Pokémon populations gone, some slaughtered, others vanished. The island's Elite-level Pokémon? Almost all missing. And it was THIS HUMAN who did it!"
Among the four island guardians, Tapu Bulu was known to be the most responsible. But it had one flaw: it loved to sleep, often for half a year or more at a time.
It had gone to sleep after telling the humans on this island about the challenge.
And when it woke up, it found its island scarred beyond recognition—vegetation ripped apart like patches of bald scalp, ugly and desolate.
Even that might've been tolerable—vegetation could regrow over time.
But what truly enraged it was the mass death and disappearance of Pokémon across the island. Corpses littered the terrain, some species wiped out entirely, while others had simply vanished—likely captured.
The island had once housed over a dozen Elite-level Pokémon. Now, only three remained.
Elite-level Pokémon were the backbone of any ecosystem in a secret realm. If too many were captured, the entire balance of the environment would collapse.
That's why most nations had strict laws: in any domestic secret realm containing Elite-level Pokémon, capturing them was strictly prohibited, unless you had official clearance.
As the island's guardian, Tapu Bulu could instantly sense the island's condition—and it detected the missing Elite-level Pokémon and countless others inside Poké Balls near Julian.
So it assumed the genocided species were also his doing.
That was why it had been so furious and had attacked Julian without hesitation.
Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini turned their eyes to Julian. If what Tapu Bulu said was true, then Julian had clearly gone too far, and they would side with Tapu Bulu without question.
Now Julian finally understood what was going on—he'd become the scapegoat for Wyvernia and Anglia. They were the ones who'd done all this.
"It wasn't me," Julian said darkly.
Being falsely accused was something Julian would never accept. He glanced at Metagross, who nodded in understanding. Using its psychic abilities, Metagross extracted the memories stored in its supercomputer-like brain and projected them directly into the minds of the three island guardians.
The scenes began from the very first day Julian set foot on Ula'ula Island—his encounters with Wyvernia and Anglia, his battles against them, and how he had acquired their ill-gotten spoils after defeating them.
After witnessing everything, Tapu Bulu froze for a moment, then an awkward expression crept onto its face—it had indeed completely misunderstood the situation.
Now things were beyond embarrassing.
It looked at Julian, unsure what to say. After a moment of silence, it lowered its head and said:
"I was wrong. I apologize, human."
Tapu Fini chuckled awkwardly from the side, "A misunderstanding, all just a misunderstanding. Now that it's cleared up, we can let this whole thing go, right?"
But Tapu Bulu shook its head. Before the other two could say more, it spoke again, this time with a pleading tone:
"Could you... release at least half of the Elite-level Pokémon you've captured? And the ones whose entire tribes were taken? Without them, the island's ecosystem will collapse. And if that happens, the entire island—and all the Pokémon living here—will suffer."
Julian's lips curled into a faint smile.
Tapu Lele immediately sensed that this human was definitely scheming something, but there was nothing they could do—after all, they were the ones in the wrong.
If Julian decided to make some outrageous demands now, they'd have no choice but to grit their teeth and accept.
*****
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister