"Son, is that a meteorite in Dragonite's arms?"
On the way back, Jake rode his Skarmory while Julian rode his Dragonite, flying side by side. Jake noticed the rock Dragonite was holding—it looked strikingly like a meteorite.
Some meteorites contained undiscovered metallic elements, which could be highly beneficial to Pokémon like Aggron that fed on metals.
This was why the Walker family was so keen on collecting meteorites.
Seeing the rock in Dragonite's hands, which looked so much like a meteorite, Jake naturally assumed it was one.
"Mhm, I took it from a Wyvernian military base. There's actually a lifeform inside it," Julian explained.
He didn't mention that the lifeform inside was Jirachi.
After all, this Pokémon hadn't been discovered by humans yet. Even if he told Jake, he wouldn't know what it was—and then Julian would have to explain how he knew its name.
"A lifeform?!"
Jake was stunned, immediately realizing that whatever was inside that meteorite was likely something extraordinary.
"Are you sure it's safe for you to just carry it around like this?" Jake asked, a bit worried.
With an unknown lifeform inside, who knew when it might emerge? Its strength, its intentions—friend or foe? There were too many uncertainties.
If it turned out to be a powerful Pokémon with hostility toward humans, Julian would be the first one in danger.
"It's fine, Dad. My Aura tells me whatever's inside is friendly," Julian reassured him.
"Oh, by the way—if someone offered you a wish, anything at all, but only one… what would you wish for?"
The sudden question—random yet something everyone had probably fantasized about—caught Jake off guard. Without hesitation, he blurted out:
"Of course I'd wish to be the strongest Trainer in the world!"
"Though immortality sounds pretty good too."
"Or becoming a god of the whole world—that'd work."
"Or maybe… fishing up Kyogre."
Ah, the ultimate dream of every angler on the planet.
Jake's wishes were so straightforward that it was clear he'd pondered them all before.
"I'm telling Mom later that none of your wishes involved her—even fishing made the cut," Julian said dryly.
Jake had been lost in the delightful dilemma of too many dreams and too few wishes—until his son's deadpan voice snapped him back to reality.
"Oh right! Call your mother—now!" Jake jolted, suddenly remembering that his wife was probably still worried sick at home.
"Uh-huh."
Julian nodded and dialed his mother's number.
About ten minutes later, Julian hung up the phone, looking thoroughly dejected.
Jake leaned in close, looking all sly and mischievous. "Got scolded, didn't you?"
Julian nodded.
On the phone, Tina and Indeedee had taken turns lecturing him—though it started with concern over whether he was hurt. The moment they confirmed he was fine, the reprimands began.
"Serves you right. Who told you to take such a risk?" Jake gloated, but then his expression turned deadly serious. "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again. If you slip up even once, there'll be no room for regrets."
"Mm."
Julian nodded again.
Originally, he'd just wanted to uncover the mastermind—whether it was some family from Drakoria. Turns out, it was Wyvernia behind it all.
Still, this trip wasn't for nothing. He'd gotten a slumbering Jirachi out of it. That alone made all the danger worth it.
"If you'd died, your mom would've divorced me on the spot—wouldn't even let me have a chance to have another kid," Jake muttered.
Truth was, he'd been scared half to death by Julian's actions too. Good thing nothing bad happened in the end, but there was no way he'd let this happen again.
About ten minutes later, Julian and Jake arrived at the Blue House.
Pierce, Ember, and the other two were already waiting for them. The moment they saw Julian and Jake approach, they hurried over.
"You okay?" Pierce asked.
Julian had gone up against two early-stage Champion-level Pokémon alone—of course they'd been worried. Seeing him return unharmed finally lifted a weight off their chests.
"Of course I'm fine," Julian said, as if it was only natural.
"Fine my ass. If I hadn't shown up when I did, you wouldn't even be standing here right now," Jake snapped.
What kind of lunatic, barely at Pseudo-Champion level, takes on two genuine Champion-level Pokémon alone?
By the time Jake arrived, Julian was already getting pummeled into the ground. A few seconds later, and he might've been a goner.
Julian: 'If you'd been three seconds later, I would've summoned Mewtwo.'
All things considered, his dad really had come at the perfect time—so perfectly that Julian even suspected he'd timed it on purpose. Just when he was about to call out Mewtwo, his dad had swooped in.
Sure, he'd saved the Mewtwo fragments—but a tiny part of Julian still felt a bit disappointed that he didn't get to summon it.
After all, that was a First-class Legendary—having one as his Pokémon for five whole minutes? That would've been pure bragging rights.
"So, what's Wyvernia's move now?"
Julian surveyed the wreckage of the Blue House—likely collateral damage from their battle.
With William dead, how would Wyvernia respond? Would they surrender? Or would they send another family with Champion-level Pokémon?
Conservative estimates suggested Wyvernia had around twenty Champion-level Pokémon in total. Most were distributed among its noble families, with a handful held by the government—all inherited from their ancestors.
Using their ancestors' Pokémon to shield the nation from disaster wasn't really an issue—but now, with William's tragic example right in front of them, most noble families immediately abandoned that idea.
Even the Lancaster family, Wyvernia's largest clan, only had a handful of Champion-level Pokémon. Now, with one dead and another taken as spoils of war, losing two at once had struck right at the heart of their strength.
If they sent more Champion-level Pokémon after Jake and Julian, forget whether they could even win—just the act of retaliating would provoke John into really dropping all pretenses of restraint.
"Wyvernia has already decided to cooperate with us," Pierce said.
He was from the military, so he'd received the news early.
"'Cooperate'? Just call it what it is—they surrendered."
Rowan rolled his eyes. Pierce was way too polite, sugarcoating their surrender as 'cooperation'.
"By the way, anyone interested in Wyvernia's Top-tier Secret Realms? How about we team up again and take a stroll through one?" Asher suddenly suggested.
Now that Wyvernia had surrendered, trainers from Drakoria could freely enter its Top-tier Secret Realms or Ancient Ruins—provided they had their own government's approval, of course.
With their status, though, getting in wouldn't be a problem.
And compared to the Top-tier Secret Realms back home, which were hard to access even for them, the ones in Wyvernia were suddenly much more accessible—so naturally, they wanted to go check them out and see if they could find any good opportunities for themselves.
*****
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