Yale Province, Lake City, at home.
Julian was sprawled on the couch, with Celebi perched on his stomach. Both of them were glued to their phones.
"Top lane, your emperor has returned!"
Celebi: "And the moment you come back, you steal my top lane."
Julian controlled his Aggron, bullying the enemy top-lane Steelix under their tower—until the opposing mid-laner, Alakazam, showed up for a assist. Together, the enemy duo wiped him out in seconds.
"I’m kinda surprised you didn’t get much fatter in these past six months."
While waiting to respawn, Julian glanced at Celebi, still plump as ever, sitting on his belly. It hadn’t changed much since he left.
For over half a year, without him or Slowking keeping it in check, shouldn’t this little glutton have been stuffing itself with fried chicken and soda daily?
When he first got home, he had expected Celebi to have ballooned into a full-blown Cele-pig.
But… 'disappointingly', that wasn’t the case.
'Since when did this glutton develop self-control?'
Hearing that, Celebi immediately puffed up with pride: "Let me tell you—I’ve got a metabolism that just won’t quit! This is my peak chonk. No matter how much I eat now, I won’t get any rounder!"
"Oi, what are you even doing?! That Alakazam has ganked me three times already! If you’re not gonna help, at least take down their mid turret!"
Julian was about to keep arguing with Celebi when—boom—Alakazam deleted him again, and this time he was really annoyed.
Seriously, my first game of Pokémon Glory in months, and this is what I get?!
"Slowking! Slowking!"
Julian immediately called for backup. With Celebi as his deadweight teammate, victory was hopeless—he needed Slowking, the legendary carry.
But instead, it was Indeedee and Magearna who showed up.
Magearna was holding a tray of desserts.
During the time Julian was away, Magearna had learned a lot from Indeedee—mostly life skills, with baking being one of them.
Since his hands were full, Julian opened his mouth, and Magearna leaned in with a macaron, trying to feed him.
Indeedee: "Are you serious right now?!"
Julian immediately set his phone aside, took the macaron from Magearna, and stuffed it into his mouth. Under Magearna’s hopeful gaze, he gave an approving nod.
“Tastes amazing! Magearna, looks like you’ve been working hard during this time.”
Hearing that, Magearna’s eyes curved into happy crescents. Julian’s praise made all its efforts feel instantly worth it.
It then offered a macaron to Celebi, too.
Soon, all eight of Magearna’s macarons were devoured by Julian and Celebi.
By then, the game had ended. Staring at the enemy’s exploding crystal and his own 1/8/2 scoreline, Julian silently gave all five opponents a thumbs-up.
Meanwhile, Celebi went ahead and reported all five opponents—for intentional feeding.
After finishing all that, the two of them exited the game together.
That win had been pure luck. If they kept playing, they’d lose eight times out of ten.
'Yeah… definitely need Slowking to carry us.'
Putting his phone down, Julian asked, "Love, where’s Slowking?"
Indeedee: "Grocery shopping for dinner ingredients."
"Alright. I’m gonna check out the backyard."
With that, Julian got up from the couch, taking Celebi with him to the backyard.
After returning home, he had released all his Pokémon into the spacious rear garden.
The moment he stepped into the backyard, a blue blur came charging at him. From about seven or eight meters away, it leaped—slamming straight into Julian’s chest with enough force to knock an ordinary person flat.
“Don’t do that to other people, okay? You might seriously hurt someone.”
Julian rubbed Bagon’s head, his tone a mix of exasperation and affection.
'Hurt' was putting it lightly—with the force of that tackle, an average person might’ve died on impact.
Luckily, he had the Mega Pallet Town Physique's durability.
Looking at Bagon nuzzling into his chest nonstop, Julian seriously doubted it had listened at all, and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Pokémon: Bagon (Dragon)
Moves: Leer, Ember, Bite, Dragon Breath
Egg Moves: Outrage, Dragon Rush, Dragon Pulse, Dragon Claw, Thrash
Before the secret realm expedition, Bagon had been level 10. Now, half a year later, it had reached level 17. Admittedly, this leveling speed was a bit slow.
But Julian didn’t mind. His team was already stacked, so there was no rush for Bagon to grow that fast. For Dragon-types, laying a solid foundation mattered more than quick evolution.
Bagon wouldn’t evolve into Shelgon until level 30, and then into Salamence at 50.
While he was petting Bagon, Doublade floated over to Julian, giving off a faint, gloomy aura—almost like it was looking at a cheater.
'Ohhh, so you leave for half a year… and come back with another sword? That’s why you didn’t take me, huh?!'
And the worst part? This new sword was way stronger. It couldn’t even beat it, otherwise it would’ve already shown it who the real boss was.
Kartana: 'Trash like you could never compare to me.'
Under Doublade’s accusatory stare, Julian scratched his nose awkwardly. "Kartana was… an accident."
He then quickly glanced around—good, Kartana wasn’t nearby. Safe to talk smack.
Doublade instantly perked up: “Then say that again to Kartana’s face later.”
It wanted that bitch to know who was truly the number one sword in Julian’s hand.
Julian: "Well, you see... it's not impossible, but—you know how it is—these things aren't easy to arrange. Not that I'm saying I 'won't' do it, but still—"
Some government official from Drakoria: 'Damn, this kid dodges accountability smoother than I do.'
Scanning the backyard, Julian suddenly realized—
"Wait, where’s Moltres and Kartana?"
He didn’t see either of them, which made Julian pause for a moment.
Lucario: “The two of them went out with Salamence. Salamence said he was going to show them around.”
As Pokémon native to the secret realm, they were very curious about the outside world. Lately, they’d been frequently tagging along with Jake’s Salamence for excursions.
Julian nodded. He wasn’t worried.
A pseudo-Champion, plus two Elite-tier Pokémon? If anyone was dumb enough to mess with them, the only one getting wrecked would be the idiot who tried.
Besides, this was Lake City—the Walker family’s stronghold. There was only one Salamence in the entire city, so with it leading the group, nobody would dare cause trouble.
Plus, news of Julian taming Moltres—and killing an Elite's Pokémon from Babath—had already spread like wildfire after he left the secret realm.
Ordinary citizens might not know yet, but every major family had caught wind. The sheer envy radiating from them was palpable.
Meanwhile, a certain Pupitar was sulking in the corner. It wanted to go out too, but its bulky size made that impossible. So, it resorted to its usual coping mechanism: eating its feelings.
It had already devoured multiple batches of mineral ore this week.
Upto 30 chapters ahead on :-