Chapter 238: Manaphy Rescued

Knowing exactly what Duke was thinking, John smirked slightly. Taking advantage of his height, he tilted his head down to look at Duke, his tone laced with disdain.

"Just that little granddaughter of yours, do you really think she's worthy of my grandson?"

John's smug demeanor perfectly embodied the phrase 'a petty man intoxicated by success.'

Duke gritted his teeth as he glared at him and retorted, enunciating each word, "Why wouldn't my granddaughter be worthy of Julian? She's the top student in her freshman year at the Research Academy."

If Kyogre hadn't been nearby, Duke would've already thrown a punch at John. What was there to be so smug about? Just because you have a talented grandson? Once my granddaughter wins over your grandson, what will you have left to flaunt?

"She's not even a trainer. How could she possibly share a common language with my grandson? And having common ground is very important," John replied nonchalantly.

"Cut the crap," Duke snapped, "Just answer me: yes or no. If it's a no, then forget it."

He could see John was deliberately trying to rile him up. If he continued the conversation, the jerk would just find more ways to annoy him.

"Alright, fine, since it's your granddaughter, I'll let her interact with my grandson."

"Oh, and make sure she takes the initiative. There are too many people chasing after my grandson. If she doesn't step up, she won't stand a chance," John added as a final jab.

His grandson was excellent in every way—talented and filial. Just recently, Julian had sent him some Water Moon Grass, which helped his Metagross upgrade its potential from blue to purple. Julian had played a significant role in that.

Such an outstanding grandson, but his personality was a bit too straightforward. He didn't know how to woo girls, and that was a problem.

"Low emotional intelligence is low emotional intelligence. Stop making excuses"

Duke shot back with a scornful glare, 'Everyone knows your grandson's lack of EQ, its no secret among the aristocratic families.'

"Hmph, what do you know?, My grandson is still young. Relationships would only delay his path to becoming a Champion," John said dismissively.

While the two were bickering, Julian had already instructed Mewtwo to act. Using Teleport, they entered a hidden chamber 500 meters underground.

At this moment, 15 seconds remained until Mewtwo's disappearance.

Inside the secret chamber, Julian spotted a man wearing a Charizard mask. Most importantly, the man was holding a transparent box containing none other than the Mythical Pokémon, Manaphy.

"Weezing, Self-Destruct!"

The masked man glared at Julian with a twisted expression. He never imagined that his plan would fail because of a mere student.

Although Kyogre's Origin Pulse had destroyed a third of Haitian City and caused significant casualties, most of them were concentrated in the center of Haitian City.

The number of souls lost was still far from enough for his Chandelure to reach Champion-level.

With Mewtwo present, the pair of Weezing never even had a chance to use Self-Destruct. In an instant, they were knocked unconscious by Mewtwo's psychic power.

"Knock him out," Julian instructed.

The masked man was the primary culprit behind the Haitian City disaster. Whether he had accomplices or not would require interrogation to uncover.

Under Mewtwo's Hypnosis, the masked man didn't even have the strength to resist. His head tilted, and he collapsed to the ground.

Moments later, Mewtwo vanished as well.

Mewtwo summoned using ten fragments only existed for five minutes. Now that the time was up, it naturally disappeared—but not before subduing the masked man.

Julian glanced at his remaining Mewtwo fragments: 15 pieces left. This meant he could summon Mewtwo one more time, and future missions would also reward additional fragments.

Summoning Mewtwo for five minutes with ten fragments had now become Julian's ultimate trump card.

Just think; aside from other first-class Legendaries, what could possibly rival Mewtwo?

As Mewtwo disappeared, Julian approached the unconscious masked man and reached out to remove his mask. However, just as his fingers were about to touch it, a Chandelure phased through the wall and entered the chamber.

Its blue flames, flickering from its head and hands, glowed with an eerie brilliance.

Chandelure had just consumed the souls of tens of thousands of people. While this wasn't enough to elevate it to Champion level, its strength had nonetheless increased significantly.

Through the Probing Eyes, Julian could clearly see its level.

It was at the peak of pseudo-Champion tier.

With Mewtwo gone, the strongest Pokémon by Julian's side was Alakazam, who was only at the peak of Elite tier.

He had miscalculated. He should've brought his grandfather along.

As Julian gritted his teeth and prepared to consume another ten fragments to summon Mewtwo again, the Chandelure made an unexpected move—it didn't attack him. Instead, it grabbed the masked man and vanished on the spot.

"Entered the Spirit Realm, huh?"

Julian muttered to himself. Chandelure couldn't use Teleport, so the only plausible explanation was that it had taken the masked man into the Spirit Realm.

With the masked man gone, only two corpses remained in the hidden chamber. Julian turned toward the isolation box. Inside, Manaphy was looking at him curiously.

It wasn't afraid of Julian; after all, he had driven away the one who harmed it. To Manaphy, Julian was a good person.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to save you," Julian said softly.

He opened the box, emitting a gentle wave of Aura, and placed his hand gently on Manaphy's head.

Having been born just a few hours ago, Manaphy had been in a constant state of fear and panic. Now that it felt safe and was soothed by Julian's calming aura, its tiny body relaxed, and it fell into a deep sleep.

Julian didn't rush to bring Manaphy to Kyogre right away. After all, Kyogre had given him two hours, and only a few minutes had passed so far.

He decided to let Manaphy rest for a while.

Of course, he wouldn't admit that he wanted to bond with Manaphy after it woke up. Building a good relationship now might make it willing to help him in the future if needed.

He had no intention of capturing Manaphy and Kyogre wouldn't allow it anyway. Manaphy was destined to fulfill its duties at the Sea Temple. Making it his Pokémon would be inappropriate and disrespectful.

Meanwhile, Kyogre on the West Coast had already sensed Manaphy's presence the moment Julian opened the isolation box.

Realizing that Julian had successfully rescued Manaphy, Kyogre's regard for him increased a little.

Holding the sleeping Manaphy, Julian couldn't help but find the little creature's sleeping expression incredibly adorable.

Manaphy was a Water-type mythical Pokémon, and its appearance bore a striking resemblance to another Water-type Pokémon—Phione.

However, Phione couldn't evolve into Manaphy. The reason for their similarity was that Phione was born when Manaphy bred with a Ditto.

In this world, however, Phione didn't exist—at least not yet. After all, Manaphy had only just appeared.

Julian took nearly a hundred photos of the sleeping Manaphy from every possible angle. These photos were invaluable research material.