Julian didn't have to wait long at the entrance of the secret realm. After about ten minutes, a Pidgeot appeared in the sky and quickly swooped down, landing firmly on the ground.
Pidgeot is one of the most popular Pokémon for Trainers to rent or raise because it's ideal for travel, escape, and pursuit.
It's affordable, and there are plenty of Pidgey available as a starting point.
Many Trainers who don't specialize in Flying or Normal-types usually choose to rent Pokémon long-term. The rented Pokémon don't count toward a Trainer's official roster slot and aren't meant for battles.
Julian was surprised to see that the visitor was his head teacher, Frank.
Frank looked disheveled, with his clothes torn from battle.
As an Elite Trainer, he'd clearly faced an equally skilled opponent.
It made sense for Frank, as an Elite-level Trainer, to be among the first to reach Yuan County, he was likely fighting the Elite trainer of Z organization.
Frank glanced at the sleeping Pokémon and the restrained members of Team Z, all subdued by Alakazam.
He hadn't realized that Julian was the one who'd stopped everything.
Feeling proud, he said, "Julian, you did well. The Trainer Association will recognize your efforts and reward you accordingly. Thanks to you, Yuan County and its two million residents are safe."
Julian was taken aback, unused to hearing his usually strict teacher sound so expressive.
"Teacher Frank, I'll leave them in your hands."
Julian intended to hand over the criminals and depart, as Lucario and Slowking were still waiting for him in Yuan County.
Despite their strength, the chaos in the county made the situation unpredictable.
"Solrock, restrain these people"
Frank commanded, releasing his own Pokémon.
Julian looked at it with his Probing eyes.
Level 76—a mid-Elite Pokémon, though it wasn't clear if this was his teacher's trump card.
Solrock, a rare Rock/Psychic-type Pokémon, only found in some specific high-level secret realms.
Solrock used its Psychic abilities to control the captives. Alakazam then released its psychic hold and returned to Julian's Poké Ball in a flash of red light.
Frank, aware that Alakazam was Julian's bodyguard, didn't question it.
"Teacher, I'll head back now"
Julian said, recalling Metagross and Steelix.
"Yes, return to school. If anyone questions you, just tell the truth," Frank replied.
Julian nodded and mounted his Dragonite, taking off toward Yuan County.
"Temporary Mission Released: Rescue Yuan County. "
"Mission rewards: Depend on the final results."
"Temporary Mission Completed."
"Rewards: Rare Candies X3 (usable below level 60), one Elite Experience Card (level 80), Mewtwo Fragments X2, plus 1,000 points."
In mid-air, Julian almost slipped off Dragonite, startled by the system's announcement.
"Did you just lose connection?"
Julian was quite speechless. He had wondered why the system hadn't assigned him a mission during such a critical event, as it usually did.
Only after he'd completed his support did the system release the mission and immediately delivered the rewards too.
Julian had always assumed the system was just a program, nothing more—certainly not intelligent.
Now, though, it seemed the system could actually respond on its own.
"System, are you male or female?"
"System, why did I come to this world?"
"System, why didn't you speak before?"
He fired off a series of questions, but the system remained silent. If not for its earlier response, Julian would've thought he'd imagined it.
"Fine, an arrogant system, it is than," he muttered, letting it go.
Julian was thrilled with the mission rewards. Rare Candy was nice, but the Elite experience card was the real prize, and this one was at the Elite peak.
Previously, when he used an Elite initial experience card on Metagross, it managed to hold off nearly 20,000 Pokémon with Light Screen.
And Alakazam, as a peak Elite, had directly hypnotized the entire horde of 20,000 in just over a minute.
That demonstrated the true strength of the Elite class.
If Metagross used this Elite peak experience card, it would rival Alakazam's strength.
Julian had still been a little distressed about using the Elite experience card before, but now that he had been rewarded with an Elite peak experience card, he was quite happy.
As for the Mewtwo fragments and points, he'd think about them later.
As he flew over Yuan County, Julian used his Aura powers to locate Lucario.
There were still plenty of Flying Pokémon in the area. Even though he'd destroyed the machine, the residual effects hadn't worn off yet.
However, the root cause had been solved, and the Flying-type Pokémon here had no follow-up support, and he believed that without further interference, they'd be brought under control soon.
When he finally found Lucario, he noticed Luis, Hugo, Ian, and several other special class students gathered nearby, including Dalton from the Fighting class.
"Boss Walker!" Dalton was the first to spot Julian and eagerly waved.
Julian jumped off Dragonite and checked on Lucario and Slowking. Both were a bit scratched up, but nothing serious.
However, what really caught his attention was Lucario holding a little girl's hand.
"Brother Walker, you're amazing, really amazing!"
Luis came over, pushing past Dalton to look at Julian with admiration.
"Brother Walker, Metagross dropping from the sky and setting up Light Screen to block nearly 20,000 rioting Pokémon—it was incredible! That's got to be in this year's top ten Pokémon moments," he gushed.
Clearly, Luis had watched the live broadcast by Pidgeot.
The other special class student, were equally impressed, also having seen it.
"Boss Walker, let's take a selfie!"
Dalton stood beside Julian, snapping a picture before he could even respond.
"Julian, Did Metagross broke through to Elite?"
The people around were also looking at Julian curiously. They were not novices. A pseudo-Elite Metagross wouldn't have been able to shield against such a massive horde.
But Metagross had only recently reached pseudo-Elite.
As for Alakazam, they didn't ask.
Coming from noble families, they, too, had protective Pokémon around.
"No, it just used some special methods," Julian explained.