After bidding farewell to Rillaboom, Julian mounted Dragonite and, based on the information he had gathered earlier, headed southwest across the Horseshoe Plains.
Along the way, he passed through places like Aspiration Hill, Deertrack Path, Windswept Run, Lake Verity, Sandgem Flats, and Obsidian Falls—all of which were part of the Obsidian Fieldlands.
Crossing through these areas took Julian a full day, and that was with Dragonite flying at full speed.
After reaching the Champion tier, Dragonite's flying speed had naturally increased by more than just one tier; fully capable of supersonic flight.
Even at this speed, it still took a full day to fly out of Obsidian Fieldlands.
Now, Julian had arrived in the Crimson Mirelands, the second major region, where below him stretched vast swamps bubbling with black ooze.
Streams of purple gas slowly rose from the surface of the swamps, and here and there, the corpses of several Flying-type Pokémon could be seen floating on the murky waters.
Most likely, they had been flying over the swamp, accidentally inhaled the purple gas, succumbed to poisoning, and then fallen into the swamp to die.
"Metagross, grab a Pokémon for me," Julian said.
Within seconds of Metagross disappearing, it returned clutching a Pseudo-Champion Garbodor. At the same time, a foul stench emanated from the Garbodor, nearly overwhelming Julian.
"Ugh—ugh—ack!"
Julian dry-heaved a few times on Dragonite's back, spitting out nothing but saliva.
Garbodor: 'Is that any way to be polite?'
Dragonite: 'Please don't throw up on me.'
"Couldn't you have caught something more normal? Why did you bring back this thing?"
Julian glared at Metagross irritably. Of all the Pokémon to catch, why did it have to bring back this walking trash heap?
Garbodor's favorite food was all kinds of trash, so its existence perfectly solved the problem of garbage disposal in human society.
If you fed it good food and drinks, Garbodor would actually grow poorly. To raise it properly, you had to let it eat all kinds of garbage and drink dark, foul-smelling water—only then would Garbodor thrive.
And if you happened to have nuclear waste and let it eat some, as long as its body could withstand it, becoming an Elite or even Pseudo-Champion wouldn't just be a dream.
But once it ate nuclear waste, it would become a walking radiation source. Any Trainer who got close would be doomed.
Because Garbodor loved eating trash, its body carried a huge amount of viruses and bacteria that the human body could hardly withstand.
As a result, Trainers who owned this Pokémon were rare—after all, raising it was just too dangerous.
But in one nation, Garbodor was very popular among the locals. They believed it ate the garbage of their Sacred River and drank the Sacred River's water, and regarded it as the incarnation of the Sacred River in the human world.
So in that country, whether locals or trainers, people took pride in owning a Garbodor.
Moreover, the mortality rate among people who owned Garbodor there was actually very low, directly refreshing other countries' understanding of Garbodor.
Of course, the viruses and bacteria on the Garbodor caught by Metagross couldn't harm Julian, but the stench was absolutely foul—almost on par with Gloom's scent.
"Change it—change it," Julian said with a grimace.
"Meta~"
Metagross: "So demanding."
Then it simply tossed the Garbodor away.
With the unpleasant fellow gone, Metagross left as well.
Julian: "Dragonite, flap your wings."
Even though the Garbodor was gone, the smell it left behind still lingered—just a bit lighter.
Julian felt like his clothes now reeked too, they were probably beyond saving.
"Aren't you two bothered by the smell?"
Julian looked curiously at Celebi and Jirachi. Why didn't they show any reaction at all?
Nebby, snuggled in his arms, was sleeping soundly—he really had to admire that.
"We just used our abilities to block out the smell," Celebi said nonchalantly.
Jirachi nodded in agreement.
Hearing that, Julian immediately grew annoyed. "Why didn't you block it for me as well?"
"You didn't say so. I thought you didn't need it," Celebi replied matter-of-factly, though the smirk on its face was far too obvious.
Looking at Celebi's smug expression, Julian said calmly, "Well then, if I don't specifically say anything about it in the future, you can forget your allowance."
"That's retaliation!"
Hearing that, Celebi immediately got angry.
"Yep, it is retaliation. And what are you going to do about it?"
Julian looked at Celebi with a completely shameless expression.
Celebi: 'Argh, so angry!'
But it really couldn't do anything about Julian. Without him, not only would there be no allowance, but Celebi wouldn't even be able to play Pokémon Glory—all because Julian held the parental account.
Watching Celebi rage helplessly, Julian finally felt a bit better.
Meanwhile, Jirachi kept muttering to itself: 'Don't see me, don't see me.'
As long as the fire didn't spread to its side, it was all good.
Before long, Metagross returned, this time bringing back a normal Pokémon.
It was a Salazzle. Its level was a bit lower than the previous Garbodor, but it was still at the peak of Elite-level.
Salazzle was still somewhat dazed. It had been minding its own business in its group when Metagross suddenly appeared. Under the Champion-level aura, it had no ability to resist and was directly dragged over in front of Julian like a chick.
"I ask, you answer. Got it?" Julian said.
Salazzle hurriedly nodded.
"Where is this place?"
Salazzle: "Sludge Mound."
"Besides Sludge Mound, have you been to any other areas?"
Salazzle shook its head in confusion.
For it, Sludge Mound was its home, and it suited it well, so it had never thought about leaving—nor had it ever wanted to.
"Who's the strongest Pokémon in Sludge Mound?"
Julian felt like he wouldn't get much useful information from this one.
Salazzle: "Garbodor."
This, Salazzle did know, so it answered quickly.
Garbodor—Julian thought of the mid-stage Pseudo-Champion Garbodor from earlier and looked at Metagross. "The Garbodor it's talking about… it wouldn't be the one from before, would it?"
Metagross nodded, indicating it was probably the same one.
Because when it had grabbed the other party earlier, that Garbodor was being attended by several Elite-level Garbodor. It was likely the leader of the Garbodor tribe.
And if it was the leader, it was undoubtedly the strongest.
So the Garbodor Salazzle mentioned was most likely that one.
Seeing Metagross nod, Julian's face darkened a bit. What a coincidence.
"Metagross, go find it and ask some questions. Don't bring it back here," Julian sighed, feeling mentally exhausted.
Metagross released its grip, and Salazzle plummeted in a free fall.
Salazzle: 'So it's use-and-throw, huh?'
"You're so picky."
Metagross shot Julian a glance before disappearing from the spot.
Julian: ￣ヘ￣
*****
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