Aggron looked nervously at Julian. Upon hearing that it had completed the task within four minutes, it let out a sigh of relief—today’s meal was secured.
But… why did its trainer’s expression still look displeased? It had finished within the time limit.
Using his psychic abilities to levitate himself, Julian floated up to eye level with Aggron. Despite its massive size, the steel behemoth instinctively turned its head away, looking a little guilty for some reason.
"My expectation was actually three minutes. And you—took four," Julian lightly patted Aggron’s giant head.
He didn’t dare use too much force—if he did, the one hurting would be himself.
"You’re already a Pseudo-Champion. And yet, it took you four whole minutes just to deal with a bunch of Duraludon?" Julian glared at Aggron in disappointment.
Aggron gave him an aggrieved look.
"You said five minutes! If you'd said three, I could've done it in three!"
"Talking back now, huh?" Julian narrowed his eyes.
Aggron immediately shut up, putting on a pitiful expression like a bullied wife.
As for the fifty-five Duraludon, all of them were now lying flat on the ground. Although they had numbers, against a monstrous tank like Aggron, they never stood a chance.
Their attacks couldn't even scratch Aggron's absurd defense. Even the mid-stage Elite Duraludon leader's strongest strikes felt like tickles to the steel colossus.
If they couldn’t even break through its defense, how were they supposed to win?
Julian proceeded to capture every single Duraludon—except the leader, which he deliberately left alone, waiting for it to wake up.
Aggron had considered that this one might become a future teammate, so it had held back. Combined with Steel-type Pokémon's natural resilience, the Duraludon leader regained consciousness in about five or six minutes.
When it opened its eyes—
'Oh great. All my people are gone.'
And right in front of that human, there was a pile of Poké Balls—no more, no less, exactly fifty-four.
It briefly considered resisting—until a massive shadow loomed over it. It looked up—
Great. That monster was standing right there.
'…Alright, I give up.'
Julian watched as the Duraludon plopped down on the ground with a "do whatever you want" attitude.
He walked over and asked, "Are there other Duraludon tribes in this ruin?"
Duraludon was a newly discovered Pokémon species—currently found only in this Ruin. In the future, people might uncover more in other Ruins or newly emerged Secret Realms—but for now, this was the only known place.
Naturally, Julian wanted to capture every single Duraludon in this Ruin. That way, the Walker family could monopolize this powerful Steel/Dragon dual-type Pokémon.
Such a large Ruin—it was unlikely that there would be only this one Duraludon tribe.
Duraludon: "I won’t tell you."
It put on a defiant front.
But its reaction confirmed that there were indeed other Duraludon tribes within this Ruin.
Julian smiled, then pointed at the fifty-four Poké Balls beside him.
"You don’t want anything to happen to your people, do you?"
Duraludon was furious. It stood up abruptly from the ground—but in the next second, Aggron placed a hand on its shoulder and gently pressed down.
With a bit of force, Duraludon was back in a seated position.
Seeing that Duraludon still refused to talk, Julian called out:
A Poké Ball opened, and the sleek, blade-like Pokémon emerged.
Kartana looked at Duraludon and asked: "You want me to cut its head off?"
'What kind of brutality is this?! It just popped out and immediately wants to cut off my head?! And why is it so tiny?!'
But the sharp, deadly aura radiating from Kartana made Duraludon take it seriously—it really might be capable of taking its head off.
Duraludon: "T-There are three more tribes! East, west, and south of the city!"
'I’m not a traitor. I’m just looking out for my people.' Duraludon told itself.
Julian gave Kartana a look, and the Ultra Beast reluctantly withdrew its blade from Duraludon’s neck.
Duraludon let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Julian was currently at the north end of the city—which meant the Duraludon tribes were distributed across all four directions: north, south, east, and west.
He took out a Poké Ball and captured the Duraludon in front of him. It didn’t resist.
After that, Julian went to the east, south and west respectively, and took a while to find the three Duraludon tribes.
In the east, he found a tribe of 30 Duraludon, with a mid-stage Elite as their leader. Lucario dealt with them all in three and a half minutes.
In the south, the tribe had 56 Duraludon, led by a late-stage Elite. Kartana sliced through them in four minutes.
Now, Julian had arrived at the western side. This tribe had only 20 Duraludon, but their leader turned out to be a peak Elite-level Pokémon. More surprisingly, Julian discovered a shiny Duraludon among them.
Normal Duraludon were primarily silver-white, with dark purple hands and underbelly. But this one’s body was a pale blue, and its hands and belly were a soft lavender.
It was an early-stage Elite, with Blue-grade potential.
Though the tribe was small, the quality was clearly exceptional.
"Dragonite," Julian called out.
Pokémon: Dragonite (Dragon/Flying)
Moves: Hurricane, Wing Attack, Roost, Wrap, Leer, Dragon Tail, Twister, Thunder Wave, Aqua Tail, Dragon Rush, Safeguard, Slam, Rain Dance, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Agility
TMs: Protect, Thunderbolt, Hyper Beam, Icy Wind, Hydro Pump, Flamethrower, Substitute, Iron Tail, Breaking Swipe, Ice Punch, Wide Guard, Dragon Claw, Ice Beam, Draco Meteor, Mega Punch, Dragon Pulse, Earthquake, Superpower, Giga Impact, Outrage, Heat Wave, Focus Punch, Fire Blast
Egg Moves: Extreme Speed, Dragon Breath, Dragon Dance, Outrage
Note: Soaked in Dragon Pool—Dragon-type moves deal 25% more damage.
Dragonite with its late-stage Elite strength had no trouble dealing with even Pseudo-Champions.
Seven minutes later, all twenty Duraludon were knocked flat by Dragonite.
After capturing all of them, Julian attached the Poké Ball containing the shiny Duraludon to his waist.
Although it was only an early-stage Elite and couldn't compare in level to the other four Duraludon leaders, this one was shiny and had Blue-grade potential.
Levels could always be raised slowly, but a shiny form—either you're born with it, or you're not. That’s not something training can change.
In total, Julian had now captured 161 Duraludon.
He had also questioned the leaders of the other three tribes using the same tactic, asking whether there were any other Duraludon tribes around.
All three gave the same answer: aside from the four known tribes, they didn’t know of any others.
Now, all four Duraludon leaders felt terribly guilty—each thought it was their fault the other three tribes got captured by Julian.
In other words, it was very likely that this Ruin had no more Duraludon tribes left.
Duraludon were pack Pokémon; lone individuals were almost nonexistent.
So essentially, Julian had swiped clean the entire Duraludon species in this Ruin.
Upto 30 chapters ahead on :-