Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth
Chapter 561: This Method Does Not Work

Find the Volkarian trainers first, then team up with them to deal with the Celestrians and the Gallian trainers—that idea naturally carried the lowest risk.

However, Melemele Island was massive, covered in dense jungle, and full of mountains and rivers. Who knew where those five were?

Finding them would definitely take some time, and there was no guarantee they’d even succeed.

And in the process of searching, they might stumble across the Gallian or Celestrian trainers first—or worse, get discovered by them. That was a very real possibility.

They also had to consider the possibility that the Volkarian team had already been taken out.

So overall, while Ember’s suggestion carried the least risk, it was also riddled with multiple unfavorable factors.

“How about setting up bait to lure them over?” Pierce suggested.

“Bait? You or me?”

Ember rolled her eyes at Pierce, thinking his idea was even worse than hers.

To use bait effectively, you at least had to know that the Gallian or Celestrian teams were in a specific area. Otherwise, even with bait, it wouldn’t matter—if they weren’t nearby, who would you be baiting?

“Of course not one of us,” Pierce shook his head.

Then his eyes landed on Moltres, who was currently poking at the sand with its beak.

For a legendary Pokémon, that was seriously beneath its status.

“Julian, you’ve turned this Moltres into an idiot.”

Ember looked at Julian with an expression that screamed "what a waste." A perfectly good Fire-type pseudo-Champion, and look how fast it had turned into this after following Julian for just a short time.

“You’re just jealous,” Julian replied calmly.

“Moltres has more than enough presence—actually, it’s overkill. If it were to fly around this island, it would attract more than just the Celestrians and Gallian trainers,” Asher said with a wry smile, clearly not on board with Pierce’s idea.

There weren’t many trainers who could resist the allure of a Moltres—especially since everyone who entered this secret realm was among the top talents of their respective countries.

Every single one of them was proud, ambitious, and highly skilled.

If they saw a Moltres and just let it go, they’d feel like they were failing in their duties as trainers.

And if they realized they couldn’t win? Well, then they could just run.

When searching for opportunities or treasures in the wild or in secret realms, the most crucial skill for a trainer was top-tier escape ability.

After all, as long as you were alive, anything was possible.

So whether it was school teachers or family elders, from the day you became a trainer, the first thing drilled into you was survival skills.

Every trainer must have at least one Flying-type Pokémon capable of carrying them and another with Self-Destruct or Explosion—those were non-negotiable.

If you wanted to be even more prepared, you’d also have a Pokémon that could Teleport. But there was one major condition—you had to be physically strong enough to withstand the side effects of teleportation.

And trainers capable of that were one in a million.

Julian could manage it thanks to his Mega Pallet Town Physique, and Duke, with his advanced psychic powers, could reduce the side effects to a minimum.

“Asher, you’re forgetting something—it’s already been over five months since we entered this secret realm. If the Celestrians and Gallian trainers still haven’t beaten the island guardian…”

“That means they’ve been stuck on this island for more than five months. How many other trainers do you think are still alive here? Probably all the others are already dead.”

Rowan took a coconut from Slowking—on top of it was a tiny decorative umbrella—and suddenly felt a little frustrated.

He had a Slowking too, but how come his wasn’t nearly as thoughtful or good at taking care of him?

Hearing Rowan’s words, Asher froze for a moment before nodding in agreement. That did make sense.

Given the Celestrians’ style, if a trainer wasn’t from one of their allied nations, they’d basically be eliminated. And even if you were part of their alliance, if you had something they wanted, the outcome wouldn’t be much better.

Of course, it wasn’t just the Celestrians. Drakoria could be pretty ruthless too.

As the planet’s two superpowers, if they weren’t ruthless, how else could they maintain authority over their smaller allies?

“Meta~”

Metagross had been quietly listening to their conversation this whole time. Seeing that Julian still hadn’t brought it up, it finally couldn’t help but remind him.

Julian’s expression remained calm. “Metagross, I remember. I just wanted to see if the four of them had any better ideas.”

Metagross: 'Are you sure you didn’t forget?'

The four of them stared at Julian intently.

Unfazed, Julian continued: “When I killed those trainers from Babath, I searched their memories. There was a method in there on how to contact the Celestrians.”

If this Top-tier secret realm hadn’t been split into four islands, each with its own guardian, the Babath team would’ve already linked up with the Celestrians long ago.

“What method?” Pierce asked urgently.

“At eight o'clock in the evening, have a Pokémon shoot a Flamethrower into the sky. If the Celestrians see it, they’ll respond with a Fire Blast.”

“That way, both sides can confirm each other’s location,” Julian explained.

It was actually a decent plan.

But Pierce shook his head. “Timing-wise, it’s too late. The chance the Celestrians will fall for it now is pretty slim.”

He was referring to how long they’d been in the secret realm—over five months. Why would the Babath team wait until now to use that method? Plus, the Celestrians surely knew they weren’t even on the same island.

Now that they had arrived at Melemele Island, that meant the Babath team had supposedly defeated the guardian of their original island.

Was that likely? Almost zero chance.

Because even the Celestrians hadn’t beaten their island’s guardian yet. If the Babath team had managed to defeat theirs, wouldn’t that mean their trainers were stronger than the Celestrians’? That was just absurd.

Besides, the tactic of using Psychic-types to extract memories was hardly a secret anymore.

So if a Flamethrower suddenly lights up in the sky at 8 p.m., the first thing the Celestrian trainers would think wouldn’t be “oh, the Babath team is here,” but that they’ve been wiped out and their contact method had been discovered by the enemy.

They’d instantly realize it's a trap.

Hell, they might even counter-lure Julian’s group instead.

Which meant, for this plan to work, all five Celestrian trainers would have to be complete idiots—otherwise, the flaws were just too obvious.

“Pierce’s concerns are exactly what I was thinking, which is why I didn’t bring it up earlier,” Julian declared with a solemn nod.

In return, he was met with looks of disdain from Ember, Asher, and the others… including Metagross.

Gengar, standing beside Julian, covered its mouth and snickered. Julian yanked it over for a rough headlock.

“Gengar, don’t stay with this guy. Come with me instead,” Ember said with a smile.

But as Gengar wriggled out of Julian’s grasp, it completely ignored Ember and instead pulled a can of cola from its belly and offered it to Julian with a flattering grin.

Julian, pleased with Gengar’s good sense, was just about to take the can—when a voice rang in his ear.

“Slow!”

Slowking: “Still drinking?!”

Julian: ⊙ｏ⊙

Gengar: “Ghehehe.”

*****

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