Chapter 523: Villain

At this moment, the "stupid bird" in Julian's mouth was already on the verge of collapse.

Feeling its consciousness gradually becoming blurry, Moltres glared angrily at Aso and Eguchi.

These damned humans—unable to beat it in battle, they actually resorted to dirty tricks.

"The vanilla berries are starting to take effect."

Seeing that Moltres's flight was unstable and that it occasionally shook its head, Eguchi was overjoyed, knowing that the vanilla berries had kicked in.

They had obtained ten ten-year-old vanilla berries from the Oranguru tribe.

The greatest effect of vanilla berries was that when crushed, their scent could bewitch Pokémon.

Ten-year-old berries could confuse even Elite-level Pokémon.

Since Moltres was at pseudo-Champion level, Aso and Eguchi had used seven berries.

After being crushed, the vanilla berries had no detectable scent, so there was no way to realize you had been affected. And once you did notice, it would already be too late.

Its willpower was continually weakening. Moltres even began to find these two humans somewhat friendly, and its wariness was fading.

Aso and Eguchi didn't continue attacking Moltres either.

If they attacked in this state, the pain caused by the attacks might snap it out of the vanilla berries' effect.

"Once it completely relaxes, that will be the perfect time to capture it."

Aso stared intently at the Moltres.

If a Moltres bewitched by vanilla berries were captured, it would become extremely affectionate toward its captor, not even needing to worry about it breaking out of the Pokéball using Rule Power.

Originally, the vanilla berries were meant to be used against Drakorian trainers.

But now he had used seven of them.

Still, Aso thought it was worth it—after all, trading seven vanilla berries for a legendary Moltres, and a pseudo-Champion-level one at that.

Once it was captured, even without the vanilla berries, with Moltres's strength, they'd be able to put up a fight even against Drakorian trainers.

This was more valuable than using the berries against Drakorian trainers directly.

Moltres felt its willpower sinking further and further, an inner voice whispering that this human was good, that it should draw close and obey.

Aso judged the time was right. He called out to Moltres, "Moltres, come here!"

After a brief struggle, Moltres slowly began flying toward Aso.

'It worked!'

Aso's eyes lit up with joy.

Looking at the slowly approaching Moltres, he already had a Pokéball in hand. As long as Moltres got close enough, he would capture it.

"Dumb bird!"

Just as Moltres was less than ten meters from Aso, a sudden voice rang out.

The voice, infused with psychic energy and the power of Aura, surged into Moltres's mind like a tidal wave.

The mental fog created by the Vanilla berries was instantly dispelled under the force of these two energies.

Moltres's body shuddered.

The next moment—

"Screee!"

A clear, piercing cry resounded across the sky.

Then—

Smack!

"Stop screeching, you're so loud."

Moltres looked at Julian with a wronged expression—was he addicted to hitting it?

As a legendary Pokémon, and one at pseudo-Champion level, it had absolutely no dignity left in front of Julian.

It had been slapped in the face several times today.

But thinking back, if Julian hadn't shown up in time, it really would've become a puppet to those two.

Realizing that, flames surged over Moltres's body—it was ready to burn those two bastards to ashes.

"You're burning me."

A quiet, ominous voice made Moltres immediately retract its flames.

Julian glanced at Moltres, thought for a moment, and then casually climbed onto its back.

Startled, Moltres instantly adjusted its flames to a non-lethal mode.

Its body was always engulfed in flames, just like a Rapidash.

If someone wasn't recognized by a Rapidash, they'd get burned the moment they tried to touch or ride it.

Moltres worked the same way.

If it didn't acknowledge you, not only could you not touch it, you couldn't even get within 10 meters to it.

And now, Julian was standing on its back.

Dragonite, his primary mount, immediately got upset: 'Scumbag, got a new flame and forgot your old love.'

Metagross, his secondary mount: 'So I'm number three now, huh?'

Arcanine, his only Fire-type: 'Damn it, is he really gonna take this homewrecker in?'

Moltres, surprisingly, didn't resent Julian's action—though it did think the guy had some nerve.

If it flared up now, it could burn him to ashes in an instant.

At the same time, it was moved by Julian's trust, its body trembling slightly.

'Is this... what it feels like to be trusted?'

Then Julian stepped off its wound, which he had been standing on.

Moltres: 'I take it back. I was touched for nothing.'

Turns out the trembling was just because this jerk was stepping on its injury.

Julian silently applied a potion to its wounds, then said coolly: "Just stay here and watch. I'll get revenge for you."

After all, Moltres was his partner—nearly captured and reduced to such a sorry state. He wasn't about to let this slide.

"You—you're from Drakoria! What did you do to Ishida?!"

Seeing the sudden arrival of this intruder, Aso and Eguchi naturally recognized him.

And the fact that Moltres let this guy stand on its back—clearly, their relationship wasn't ordinary.

Which could only mean one thing—they'd walked right into a trap.

"Ishida? The one who went to investigate the crater?"

"Of course that little shit is dead." Julian sneered coldly.

Then he looked at the two of them. "Don't be sad, you'll be joining him very soon."

The original plan was simple—Julian would kill Ishida, while Moltres kept Aso and Eguchi occupied in battle. Then, he'd ambush them and finish them off easily.

But this dumb bird couldn't even do that much—not only did it fail to hold them off, it nearly got itself captured instead.

To save Moltres, Julian had no choice but to reveal himself early.

Ishida was dead!

Although they had already guessed as much, but hearing it for real still left them stunned—and mostly full of despair.

"Julian, we'll give you all our treasures. Just let us go. How about it?" Aso said heavily.

Eguchi looked at Aso in disbelief, but then fell into silence.

Ishida was dead, and only the two of them were left—while Drakoria still had five trainers.

Julian was the only one who had shown himself so far. The other four could be hiding around them, waiting to strike.

In this situation, even if they got lucky and managed to take down a few of his Pokémon, they would still die in the end.

So their best option was to surrender.

"Kneel and beg. Maybe I'll consider it."

At this moment, Julian stood atop the blazing Moltres, its flames swirling around him like a mantle. Combined with his icy gaze, he looked like a demon king born of fire.

Below him, Aso and Eguchi—now weak, powerless, and filled with bitter resentment—could only glare up at him.

Right now, Julian was the perfect image of a villain.

And in terms of mount prestige, Moltres—with its natural flame effects definitely looked way more badass than Dragonite.

*****

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