Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Chapter 1016: Chapter 1233: Trust Me

Now that Arcanine had been defeated, it naturally didn't continue blocking Julian from letting his Pokémon soak in the Terraflux Magma.

For one, Metagross had already beaten it into submission; for another, the magma no longer had any effect on it.

If it still had any benefit, it definitely wouldn't have agreed so easily.

Still… losing meant it couldn't get that chew toy.

Thinking about it, Arcanine felt a bit disappointed.

"Here."

Julian still tossed the chew toy over to it.

The thing was cheap anyway, and he quite liked this Arcanine. If a King-form Pokémon wasn't impossible to capture, he might've tried to catch it.

They returned to the Terraflux Magma. Fortunately, Julian had already asked Deoxys to protect the magma earlier—otherwise, that tenfold Flare Blitz would've likely destroyed it.

"Go in and give it a try," Julian said, pointing at the magma.

Moltres immediately plunged straight in. It was no stranger to magma at all, as it was a Pokémon that lived in volcanic magma to begin with.

Arcanine, however, was somewhat hesitant. Although it was also a Fire-type Pokémon, soaking in magma was a first for it. The bubbling molten surface looked dangerously intense.

What if this burned off its fur? Wouldn't it turn into a hairless dog? That would be ugly as hell…

It stood there, reluctant to move. But unbeknownst to it, the golden Arcanine had already appeared behind it—and suddenly bit its hind leg.

Startled by the pain, Arcanine instinctively ran forward—only to realize there was nothing beneath its feet.

Looking down, it saw itself suspended midair. Then—

Splash!

It fell straight into the magma.

"You bastard—just you wait!"

Even while falling, it didn't forget to curse.

"Cowardly dog," the golden Arcanine mocked.

Julian used his Probing Eyes to constantly observe both Moltres and Arcanine.

At first, Arcanine panicked after falling into the magma, frantically paddling with a doggy paddle.

But soon, it realized the magma's energy was flowing into its body—and immediately began absorbing it.

Five hours later, Arcanine felt its body reach saturation. It could no longer absorb more, and the temperature was becoming unbearable.

So it quickly climbed back out of the magma.

Moltres, on the other hand, lasted ten hours before finally coming out of the Terraflux Magma.

In terms of both strength and heat resistance, it clearly surpassed Arcanine in this aspect.

Arcanine could only endure five hours, and it would need at least ten more hours to fully absorb and digest the energy.

Moltres, however, required around fifteen hours to completely process it.

But once they finished absorbing the Terraflux Magma's energy, future soaking sessions would last longer, while the digestion time would gradually decrease.

Julian estimated that for Moltres, factoring in the absorption and digestion time, it would probably take around eight months.

As for Arcanine, due to its slightly lower strength, it would probably take around a year.

That meant neither of them could stay by his side—and the Terraflux Magma couldn't be taken away.

"You two stay here. Once you've fully absorbed the magma's energy, come find me," Julian said to Arcanine and Moltres.

The moment he said that, Arcanine immediately panicked.

"I'm going with you, Master! I won't soak anymore—give it all to that stupid bird!"

No way it was leaving its trainer alone—especially not for a whole year.

Who knew if, after a year, its "playboy" trainer might have already caught another dog?

And that little "licking dog" back at the café had already been waiting for a chance to be caught.

No matter how valuable the Terraflux Magma was, it wasn't worth being separated from its trainer.

"I'm going too."

Moltres immediately spoke up as well—its thoughts weren't much different.

Julian had expected these reactions.

Arcanine had been with him ever since it was a Growlithe, and canine Pokémon had an exceptionally high level of loyalty to their trainers.

As for Moltres, ever since joining him, its strength had skyrocketed as if strapped to a rocket. Soaking in the Terraflux Magma would certainly be beneficial for Moltres, but it wasn't absolutely necessary for it.

"Alright, listen. I promise you—while you're here, I won't catch any new Pokémon," Julian said, rolling his eyes.

Did they really think he didn't know what was going through their heads?

Honestly, he didn't even have that many Pokémon—only twenty-five in total.

Even a typical Elite Trainer would easily have forty or fifty Pokémon, though of course, their core battling roster was more or less fixed.

As for Champion-level trainers, they had even larger numbers of Pokémon.

Many powerful trainers, when they found their main team hard to push further, liked to "train alts." With experience from raising their main team, starting a new one meant leveling up much faster.

As for Julian, the last "alt" he had trained was Pawniard before it evolved into Bisharp.

Even the recently obtained Zeraora was already at the Elite level—it didn't count as an "alt" at all.

"Arf~"

Arcanine: "Then swear it—if you catch a new Pokémon, you'll never win a ranked match for the rest of your life."

'Damn…'

Julian stared at his dog in shock. How could such a normally simple-minded creature utter something this vicious?

Moltres nodded along as well.

Clearly, it didn't trust its trainer much either.

Julian felt a bit wronged—was his credibility really that low?

But seeing the firm expressions of both Arcanine and Moltres, he could only sigh.

"Fine. I swear—if I catch a new Pokémon within this year, I'll never win another ranked match in my life."

Hearing that, both Celebi and Jirachi exchanged a glance. They had already decided—they would keep a close eye on Julian this year.

Not so much for Arcanine and Moltres' sake, but because they really wanted to see what would happen if he broke the oath.

Even after hearing the vow, Arcanine still looked a bit suspicious, clearly worried that Julian might trick it.

"Alright, trust me."

Julian reached out and started vigorously rubbing Arcanine's big head.

Maximum dog-head rubbing!

He rubbed until the dog's tongue lolled out in bliss, the matter finally settled once the comfortable rub session was over.

Then he turned and started rubbing Moltres's long neck. Who had just been feeling jealous, immediately closed its eyes in comfort.

"Slowking, make something good for dinner tonight," Julian said.

The Poké Ball at his waist shook lightly in response.

That night, at the shores of the Tranquility Cove, Julian, all his Pokémon, and even the golden Arcanine held a grand feast.

As for why not at the Molten Arena—that place was basically hell. Who could even host a dinner there?

The golden Arcanine tasted Pokéblocks for the first time, and its eyes went completely wide.

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

patreon.com/ReduxMagister