Chapter 522: Trap

"Then be careful."

Faced with Ishida's suggestion, Aso agreed.

Among the three of them, only Ishida was the most suitable to investigate the volcano crater.

Eguchi had lost an arm and his strength had dropped. If he went to the crater and it turned out the one fighting Moltres really was a trainer, he would be in serious danger.

Aso was the strongest of the three, but if he went to investigate, Eguchi and Ishida together wouldn't stand a chance at stopping Moltres.

So, Ishida was the best choice to investigate the volcano.

The group split into two teams.

Ishida headed for the crater, while Aso and Eguchi went after Moltres.

The two of them mounted their Flying-type Pokémon, determined to intercept Moltres before it could leave the island.

Moltres wasn't flying particularly fast. Noticing people catching up from behind—and just like Julian had said, it was two people.

It suddenly halted mid-flight, a fierce gleam in its eyes as it looked back at Aso and Eguchi.

Last time, all three of them had ambushed it, and although it had taken out over a dozen of their Pokémon, it had still let them escape.

Now there were only two of them, and this time, it had backup.

"Screech!"

Although Moltres was confident it could take them on, it still pretended to be heavily injured.

It acted like it had stopped only because it was about to be overtaken.

Aso rode atop his Hydreigon, while Eguchi rode his Pidgeot.

Hydreigon licked its lips as it stared at Moltres, recalling the delicious taste of its blood.

It wondered if Moltres's flesh would be just as flavorful as its blood.

Moltres glared furiously at Hydreigon—the wounds on its back had been caused by it.

"Moltres, you can't escape. Submit and become my Pokémon," Aso said coldly.

Once he captured Moltres, he was confident he could earn its recognition. That way, it wouldn't destroy the Poké Ball using the power of rules.

Moltres: 'Where is that confidence coming from?'

Without hesitation, it unleashed a scorching blast of fire.

"Hydreigon, dodge!"

The level gap between Hydreigon and Moltres was significant.

Moltres was a pseudo-Champion, while Hydreigon was only at the late stage of Elite.

In a head-to-head clash, Hydreigon would almost certainly lose.

For now, the goal was to hold off Moltres until Ishida arrived.

Also, during the fight, Moltres's existing wounds would worsen, weakening it further.

Aso released another Pokémon—Flygon—mounting it. This allowed Hydreigon to fight at full strength.

Meanwhile, Eguchi's three Pokémon—Skarmory, Bronzong, and Magnezone—moved in to support Hydreigon.

Among these three Pokémon, only Skarmory was at the mid-Elite level, while the other two were at the early stage of Elite.

Despite the gap in strength, their coordinated attacks managed to suppress Moltres for the moment.

Of course, that was also because Moltres was deliberately going easy on them.

---

Meanwhile, Ishida and his Pokémon, Sawk, had already arrived near the volcano's crater.

Stopping at a safe distance, Ishida pulled out a pair of binoculars and scanned the area.

Aside from the obvious signs of battle near the crater, a human figure soon appeared in his view.

"Julian... from Drakroia."

Ishida instantly recognized the figure, his pupils narrowing slightly.

Earlier, they had found a soda can with Drakorian characters near a tree, which proved that trainers from Drakoria were also on this island.

But until now, they hadn't seen them with their own eyes.

And now, it was confirmed that Drakorian trainers 'were' on this island.

But—

"Why is he alone?"

A doubt rose in Ishida's mind. There were supposed to be five trainers from Drakoria who entered the secret realm together.

Had something happened to the other four? Or were they simply operating separately?

His thoughts were quickly diverted by the Pokémon lying beside Julian.

"Metagross, Aggron, Dragonite, and Melmetal... All four are severely injured."

Lying beside Julian, these four Pokémon were covered in soot and burn marks, accompanied by Julian's pained and distressed expression.

It clearly showed the four Pokémon were in bad shape.

Julian must've been the one fighting Moltres just now.

No wonder he was hailed as the strongest of Drakoria's younger generation. With just four Pokémon, he had 'driven Moltres away'.

And without losing a single one of them.

Looking at the weakened Pokémon around Julian…

A bold idea suddenly sprang up in Ishida's mind—but he immediately suppressed it.

Julian's main team definitely wasn't limited to just these four. Even though his strongest Metagross was heavily injured and his Elite-tier Dragonite was down…

These people still had no idea that Julian's Metagross was already Elite-tier. They thought he only had one Elite-level Pokémon—Dragonite.

But even with two of his strongest Pokémon out of commission, Julian still had Lucario, Steelix, Arcanine, and Gengar.

Those four were unaccounted for—perhaps injured, or perhaps unharmed, simply waiting in their Poké Balls.

Precisely because of the threat of those four, Ishida didn't dare act rashly.

"Better regroup with Aso and Eguchi," Ishida muttered softly.

He gave up on that tempting thought. The situation had been investigated clearly, and just as he was about to leave—

Sawk beside him suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Ishida's heart dropped. Just as he was about to reach for his Poké Balls, his body froze completely.

Looking up at Julian, who had suddenly appeared before him, his expression turned bitter.

"It was all a trap..."

Thanks to Metagross's psychic control, he could still speak—though that was the only movement allowed.

"Didn't expect you to resist the temptation," Julian said with a hint of admiration.

If it had been another trainer, seeing his four "heavily injured" Pokémon, they definitely would have acted recklessly.

Only those who could suppress their greed grew stronger.

Originally, he wanted to lure him up, but since he was about to leave, Julian had no choice but to act.

"Gehehehe!"

Gengar materialized in front of Julian.

The sudden collapse of Sawk was, of course, its doing.

"Metagross," Julian called.

Metagross stepped in front of Ishida, and under his horrified gaze, placed a claw against his forehead.

Don't get it wrong—he wasn't killed right away.

What was done to him was far more painful than death.

Metagross's psychic power scoured Ishida's mind, absorbing every last memory. Only then did it end him—body and soul devoured, leaving "no chance for reincarnation."

Julian returned Sawk to its Pokéball, and at the same time locked all eight of Ishida's Pokéballs.

As for Ishida's backpack, it likely contained treasures gathered in the secret realm, but Julian didn't bother checking.

He simply stored the backpack into the system space—after all, even if there were some good things inside, they wouldn't outnumber his own.

"Let's go. That stupid bird's still waiting."

Julian mounted Dragonite and flew toward Moltres's location.

*****

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