10 p.m., and Ember's Charizard still hadn't returned. The chances of something going wrong were high. Seeing Ember sitting with her knees hugged to her chest, Julian walked over to her.
Ember thought Julian was going to comfort her and said calmly, "You don't need to comfort me. I believe Charizard will be fine."
Even though Charizard wasn't as strong as Blaziken, it was still a mid-tier Elite Pokémon. With that kind of strength, as long as it didn't do anything reckless in this Top-tier secret realm, there was a good chance it would be okay.
Not to mention, it was a Flying-type Pokémon.
Flying-types had a much better ability to escape danger compared to most other types.
After all, if you can't win, you can fly away.
Of course, if the opponent could fly too, that would be another story.
"I'm not here to talk about that. We talked it over—you're on first night watch. Wake Asher in two hours so he can take over."
With that, Julian dove straight into his tent.
Charizard wasn't his Pokémon, so even if he was a bit concerned, it wasn't enough to keep him up at night. Besides, Julian didn't think anything major would happen to it.
Watching him disappear into the tent, Ember, who had been worried about Charizard just a moment ago, instantly felt her concern replaced by frustration.
"Jerk! I hope you stay single forever!"
This kind of emotionally clueless guy—Ember had never met anyone like him in her life.
"Being single isn't so bad."
Julian muttered to himself inside the tent.
There were plenty of professional trainers who never got married, and not a small number either. The two main reasons were:
First, being a professional trainer was an extremely dangerous job—exploring the wild, secret realms, carrying out missions, and all kinds of accidents. One careless moment and you might not come back. On the flip side, it could also bring in a lot of money and high social status.
Some women ruled out professional trainers as marriage partners right away—afraid that one day, they'd be left raising a child alone.
Second, with the presence of Pokémon, even without a partner or children, you could still spend your whole life with your Pokémon. As long as it wasn't a Bug-type, taking care of you in old age wasn't an issue.
Compared to a wife who might argue and fight, a Pokémon always listened to you. You were its one and only.
A big part of getting married was finding a companion and continuing the bloodline. Some would say the latter was more important.
If you didn't care about having descendants, your desire to marry would naturally be much lower.
As for people who said marriage was to fulfill physical needs—well, that was just shallow. Physical needs didn't necessarily require marriage, right? You've got your left and right hand.
Inside the tent, Julian had already turned off the light and fell asleep shortly after.
Lying beside him was Metagross. Seeing that Julian had dozed off, it slowly closed its eyes as well, though a faint wave of psychic energy continued to radiate from its body.
This wave of psychic power extended to about 300 meters around them—not too large, but enough.
If any danger appeared within that range, Metagross would sense it immediately.
Relying solely on the person keeping watch to ensure safety would be irresponsible.
There were five people, each taking a two-hour shift, with Julian on the last one. That meant everyone could get about eight hours of sleep—enough to keep them alert during the day.
At eight o'clock in the morning, after a good breakfast, the five of them packed up and prepared to set out.
Charizard still hadn't returned after the entire night.
So their main goal today was to search for Charizard and, along the way, explore more of this secret realm.
Since they had already come across regional forms of Pokémon like Exeggutor and Rattata, Julian was pretty sure this secret realm was over 90% likely to be based on the Alola region from the anime.
In Alola, besides the regional forms of Pokémon, the most significant features were the Ultra Beasts—both of which were unique to that region.
Compared to the regional variants, Julian was far more interested in the Ultra Beasts. Regional forms were just visual and typing changes—the base stats remained the same.
Ultra Beasts, on the other hand, were true powerhouses, each one a symbol of strength, living in the Ultra Space. They were some of the wildest designs in the entire setting.
Julian wondered if this secret realm really had any Ultra Beasts.
Among them, Kartana and Celesteela both had Steel typings. If Julian happened to encounter either of them, he absolutely intended to capture them.
Since Charizard had flown east yesterday, the group naturally headed in that direction to search.
Everyone rode their own Flying-type Pokémon through the sky. Ember only had Charizard as her Flying-type, so she shared Dragonite with Asher for now.
As they flew, the group spotted a few unfamiliar Pokémon species they'd never seen before and casually captured them. After leaving the secret realm, these Pokémon would definitely have research value.
"More Exeggutors down below."
Julian was flying side by side with Rowan when he glanced down and saw a group of more than ten Exeggutors walking through the forest. Their ten-meter-tall bodies and the distinct "Egg-egg!" cries made them easy to spot.
But Rowan didn't respond. Instead, he kept glancing behind them.
Julian looked back too—and saw that Rowan was watching Asher and Ember.
The two of them were riding Dragonite together, Ember in front, Asher behind.
Asher's Dragonite wasn't as well-developed as Julian's—it was about average height for its species, so it was a tight fit with two people riding it.
"Jealous, are we!!"
Julian said with a mischievous grin.
Originally, Ember had wanted to ride on Julian's Dragonite, and Julian had been about to agree—but Dragonite refused.
Not because it was proud or picky, but because, before entering the secret realm, Nicole had specifically told Dragonite to keep an eye on Julian—to prevent a certain woman from getting too close.
Given Nicole's status, it was easy for her to find out whether any women from Drakoria had entered this Top-tier secret realm.
Nicole had a good relationship with Julian's Pokémon. She often brought them little snacks, so for such a simple request, Dragonite naturally agreed.
"Scram."
Rowan glared at Julian in annoyance. What kind of nonsense was he talking?
"Then why do you keep turning around to look? Don't tell me—you like Ember?" Julian suddenly looked as if he had figured it all out.
Ember was indeed attractive—sexy, mature, and with an alluring charm that could be downright dangerous for men.
"I'm worried that idiot Asher might get seduced. Ember is not someone to take lightly."
"Oh? Tell me more, so I know to watch out too,"
Julian said, intrigued. Though he'd been traveling with the group for a while now, he knew almost nothing about their pasts.
But Ember, Rowan, and Asher had known each other for many years.
"You don't need to watch out."
"If you were actually into her, you would've been wrapped around her finger a long time ago."
Ember had always shown interest in Julian, but unfortunately for her, he never gave this "older woman" any chance. Naturally, she wasn't going to keep throwing herself at him if he didn't respond.
Julian: "Makes sense."
'…But why does it sound kinda rude?'
*****
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