Everyone was wondering what John would choose—his grandson or his Pokémon.
Andrew looked at John and continued, "Julian definitely wouldn't want his grandfather to abandon him."
But John remained unusually calm and said indifferently, "Andrew, don't bother with these little tricks. I won't hand over my Pokémon."
He would never give up his Pokémon.
He wasn't just Julian's grandfather—he was also one of Drakoria's Champions.
John understood perfectly well that compromising wouldn't guarantee Julian's safety. Handing over his Pokémon would only make things worse down the line.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the call, Stephen was glaring at Julian and snarled, "Hurry up and beg your grandfather! Act pitiful—or I'll really chop off your hand!"
Julian pretended to be frightened and nodded obediently.
Seeing John's unwavering resolve, Andrew was a bit disappointed but not entirely surprised. If he were in John's position, he wouldn't have agreed either.
Even if someone threatened his whole family, he wouldn't hand over his Pokémon.
"Listen to your grandson again—maybe you'll change your mind," Andrew said, putting the phone back on speaker.
On the other end, Stephen gave Julian a look, signaling he could speak.
Julian took a deep breath and shouted, "Grandpa, kill them all! I'll be fine!"
"This bas***d!"
Enraged, Stephen punched Julian in the stomach with considerable force, but Julian barely flinched.
Julian's gaze turned icy as he stared at Stephen. "Do you really think you've got me cornered?"
In Wyvernia, there was only one Champion—Andrew—and he was currently at the border in a standoff with John. That meant, within Wyvernia right now, a pseudo-champion was the most powerful entity.
And Julian was that entity.
"What… what do you mean?!"
Stephen was startled by Julian's chilling glare and instinctively took a step back. Realizing his reaction, he flushed with anger, thinking Julian was just bluffing.
"What do I mean?"
Julian didn't answer—instead, he suddenly kicked a nearby Wyvernian soldier, sending him flying dozens of meters. The sheer force of the blow killed the soldier instantly.
"H-how is that possible?!"
The sudden move left Stephen utterly stunned. He'd clearly had Julian injected with a muscle relaxant—how could he still have the strength to even move?
Not only that, but he had just kicked a soldier to death. That level of power was beyond human.
"Gengar."
After sending the soldier flying, Julian called out softly.
A white Gengar materialized, its hand reaching for Julian's face. With a ripple of distortion, the Ditto that had been disguising Julian's face was peeled off and crushed to death in Gengar's grip.
"Shoot! Cripple him!"
Stephen reacted quickly. Even though he couldn't figure out how Gengar had been hiding in Julian's shadow without absorbing any surrounding heat—or how it had even slipped past the military base's detection devices—he still clung to the idea of capturing Julian alive.
At the same time, Stephen released his own Pokémon: a Zebstrika and a Raichu—both at the late-stage Pseudo-Champion level.
"A mere Gengar won't be enough to protect you," Stephen sneered.
He had assumed all of Julian's Pokémon were sealed in his backpack, but it seemed one Gengar had stayed hidden.
But it didn't matter.
A Gengar that wasn't even at the peak of Elite-level stood no chance against his two late-stage Pseudo-Champion Pokémon—especially not in a heavily guarded military base filled with soldiers, weapons, and other trainers.
"Who said there's only one?" Julian shook his head.
Gengar deflected all the incoming bullets—then opened its mouth wide—dropping a stream of saliva-covered Poké Balls onto the ground.
Seeing this, Stephen's calm expression finally cracked.
Originally, these Poké Balls had been locked—but Gengar's nimble tongue had already unlocked them while they were hidden in its mouth.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
As the balls opened, one after another, Julian's full team emerged:
Metagross, Moltres, Lucario, Dragonite, Aggron, Kartana, Arcanine, Steelix, Melmetal—and, of course, Gengar.
Ten of Julian's Pokémon, each at Elite-level or higher, stood before him. Including Moltres, a Pseudo-Champion.
The atmosphere instantly froze.
Stephen stared at the Pokémon lineup in disbelief, then frantically opened his own backpack.
When he saw the Poké Balls still inside, his first reaction was confusion—but then, as if struck by a realization, he popped one open.
Empty.
He grabbed a second one.
Still empty.
He didn't even need to open the rest—they were obviously all empty.
'It's over. The plan has failed.'
The scheme to use Julian as leverage, to force his Pokémon into obedience—maybe even get Metagross to split itself so they could obtain that rare silver Beldum.
But now, everything had turned into a pipe dream.
Selina and Hank were equally horrified. Selina, in particular, was stunned—she had personally taken the Poké Balls from Julian's belt. How could they have been swapped?
And the backpack had never left her possession…
Wait—
'The sewer.'
She remembered—when she'd been bitten by a Rattata on the shoulder, the backpack containing Julian's Poké Balls had briefly left her line of sight.
Was that when it happened?
But how had he pulled it off?
Her eyes landed on the Gengar standing beside Julian, and suddenly, she understood.
"You… you let yourself get caught on purpose. Gengar was hiding in your shadow from the very beginning?" Selina asked, her face pale.
"Not too stupid, at least. Otherwise, the moment you made your move, Gengar would've killed you already," Julian nodded.
From the start, he had deliberately played along to uncover the mastermind behind the scheme—never expecting the "fish" he hooked would be so big that they'd drag him out of the country.
"Kill them all."
After enduring days of captivity, this was the moment he'd been waiting for.
At his command, nine of his Pokémon instantly sprang into action. Lucario stayed by Julian's side to protect him while Metagross and Moltres engaged Stephen's two Pseudo-Champion-level Pokémon.
"Metagross—Mega Evolve!"
It was a life-or-death battle now—he had no time for hesitation.
Under Mega Evolution, Metagross's level jumped from 79 to a temporary 81—breaking into the early Pseudo-Champion tier.
"Sound the alarm! Everyone, kill that man and his Pokémon!"
Despite his shock, Stephen remained composed, barking orders with cold precision.
The military base's alarms blared as waves of Wyvernian soldiers rushed toward Julian, weapons and Pokémon at the ready.
Fortunately for Julian, he was deep inside the base—which meant large-scale heavy weapons couldn't be used without risking heavy causalities.
The base housed roughly 5,000 soldiers, all of them trainers, though most were low-level. Only five were at the Elite tier, each commanding a thousand men.
But they couldn't all swarm him at once. Worse for them, Julian was positioned near vital equipment and classified data, forcing them to fight cautiously to avoid collateral damage.
Julian, however, had no such concerns.
*****
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