When Julian was wandering through the Group's HQ, the employees had already spread news of his presence in group chats. After being forwarded across various groups, everyone in the company knew the young master of the Walker Group was here.
Now that Julian had shown up at the battle arena and was standing at one end of the field, it was obvious he intended to battle.
Releasing his level 40 Shelgon, Julian glanced at the growing crowd and said, "Anyone with a Pokémon above level 40 can come up."
"If you beat my Shelgon, I'll put in a word with my uncle to get you a promotion—raise your salary, so you can marry a beautiful heiress."
The last remark drew laughter from the crowd.
Everyone here knew Julian—though mostly from the internet. Seeing him in person, they were surprised to find him far more approachable than expected.
Soon, someone stepped onto the opposite side of the field, looking visibly excited.
After all, those who got to battle Julian weren't ordinary trainers—his usual opponents were at least Elite-level.
The challenger sent out a level 50 Sandslash. From its expression and presence, it was clear this Pokémon had seen plenty of real battles.
A few minutes later, Sandslash collapsed, while Shelgon stood completely unharmed on the field.
A 10-level difference meant nothing to Shelgon—though its opponent had far more combat experience. Shelgon's victory came purely from overwhelming strength.
A classic case of brute force overcoming skill.
Of course, that wasn't always a good approach—if it faced an opponent with equal strength but better experience, that so-called "brute force" would become a joke.
The battles continued, one after another, as the Walker Group employees became stepping stones for Shelgon's experience, steadily building up its combat instinct.
"Wow! How many has it beaten now, twenty-five?"
"This Shelgon's stamina is insane!"
"At this rate, it could probably take on five or six more!"
The employees watching were all amazed, staring at Shelgon on the field. It had already defeated 25 Pokémon in a row, all above level 40—including a pseudo-Elite trainer (albeit an early-stage one). Despite the 20+ level gap, even that opponent fell to Shelgon's Dragon Claw.
Its ability to battle beyond its rank genuinely shocked them.
With each match—and each victory—Shelgon's fighting spirit burned even brighter.
It slammed a claw against the ground and roared: "I'll take on ten at once!"
Julian: '...This one's getting full of itself.'
But then again, all his Pokémon were like this—arrogant to the core, looking down on any opponent of the same level.
Beating opponents of the same level was expected. Defeating higher-level opponents was standard. And triumphing over an entire tier above? That was something to be proud of.
Its senior, Dragonite, had defeated Elite-level Pokémon even when it was only at the pseudo-Elite level. And Shelgon absolutely idolized Dragonite.
As for Metagross—the undisputed leader of the team—Dragonite's words summed it up best: "That guy's a monster. Don't even bother comparing yourself to it."
'I am just a 'normal' Pokémon; how can I possibly measure up to a monster?' So, taking Dragonite's advice to heart, Shelgon never saw Metagross as its target to catch up to.
To the outside world, all of Julian's Pokémon were the very definition of "unreasonable."
But within the team, they all agreed: Metagross was the real unnatural one.
After defeating five more Pokémon, Shelgon's stamina had dropped to around 20%, its breathing labored and its body littered with minor injuries.
Julian recalled it and sent out Aegislash instead.
---
Pokémon: Aegislash (Steel/Ghost)
Level: 57
Potential: Blue
Ability: Stance Change
Held Item: Focus Sash
Gender: Male
Moves: Fury Cutter, Tackle, Shadow Sneak, Autotomize, Aerial Ace, Metal Sound, Slash, Night Slash, Retaliate, Iron Defense, Power Trick, Sacred Sword, Head Smash, King's Shield
TMs: Solar Blade, Protect, Swords Dance, Psycho Cut, Close Combat, Iron Head, Reversal, Brutal Swing, Shadow claw, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Air Slash, Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon
Egg Moves: Wide Guard, Destiny Bond, Block
---
Doublade could evolve into Aegislash using a Dusk Stone—no level requirement needed. Julian had deliberately delayed its evolution to allow it to build a stronger foundation.
Due to its typing, Julian had originally trained Aegislash (while it was still a Doublade) as a future core team member. However, after capturing Kartana and Moltres—two ready-made powerhouses—his core team quickly exceeded six slots.
Inevitably, his focus shifted more toward his main team, and Aegislash's training fell slightly by the wayside. There was no longer any urgency to develop it into a frontline fighter, so its growth slowed.
Of course, Aegislash wasn't the only one. Garchomp and Shelgon's training had also slowed down for the same reason.
Tyranitar, on the other hand, received more attention because Julian wanted it to form an "impenetrable wall" duo with Aggron.
In that sense, Julian really hadn't been entirely fair to Aegislash and the others.
But this was an unavoidable reality of a trainer's journey—as their team expanded, some degree of preferential treatment was inevitable.
Julian's "neglect" never meant he was withholding resources—it was really just a matter of limited mental bandwidth.
After all, Julian's time and energy weren't infinite—there was no way to give every single Pokémon the same amount of attention and care.
If it was an ordinary trainer with limited resources, they'd have already abandoned a few Pokémon and focused all their resources on the ones with the best potential.
Some extreme trainers would even outright discard their weaker Pokémon.
Aegislash was a Pokémon exclusive to the royal family of Gallia—no trainer outside the royal bloodline had ever owned one before, so Julian having an Aegislash made him the sole exception. And obtaining Aegislash had been entirely accidental in the first place.
At level 57, Aegislash was already in the late-stage Advanced-level. Although the Walker Group had plenty of employees, few non-professional trainers had Pokémon at that level.
So, Julian gathered nearly a hundred sparring partners from the battle arena.
These partners ranged from Ordinary to Advanced and even pseudo-Elite levels.
He skipped straight to the pseudo-Elite-level opponents—as Advanced-level trainers wouldn't have posed much of a challenge.
One of the pseudo-Elite sparring partners was visibly excited by the opportunity.
A few minutes later, his Pokémon lay defeated—but the excitement on his face didn't fade at all.
Getting to battle Julian at all was already a big deal for them. If you were hoping to win? Well, that was a dream for when you went to sleep.
Aegislash went on to defeat over twenty pseudo-Elite-level Pokémon in a row and even leveled up once—much to Julian's mild surprise.
After all, Shelgon had fought over thirty battles earlier and hadn't gained a single level.
Of course, this also had a lot to do with the inherent difficulty of raising Dragon-type Pokémon.
*****
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