"My plan is like this—" Julian whispered into Moltres’s ear. Moltres had already withdrawn its intense heat. Otherwise, Julian truly wouldn’t have dared to get so close. Even so, the bird still felt like a hot water bottle—its body temperature was extremely high. Arcanine also curiously leaned its head in to listen, but Julian shoved it away. With two walking furnaces beside him and being on a volcano no less, if it weren’t for Julian’s strong physique, any ordinary person would’ve passed out from heatstroke by now. After listening to Julian’s plan, Moltres' eyes lit up with excitement, though it also shot him a wary glance. 'Humans really were treacherous creatures.' 'Especially this one—strong, shameless, and devious.' Thinking this, Moltres stopped holding a grudge over Julian injuring it and stealing its treasure. After all, it also wanted to live to see the sun tomorrow. "Got it?" Moltres nodded. The plan was underhanded but simple—of course it understood. "Then what are you waiting for? Go!" Julian gave Moltres another slap to the head after saying that—he was worried this dumb bird might mess up the plan. Not that it mattered—with or without Moltres, those three idiots from Babath were as good as dead. Julian had declared it. Even if a first-class legendary showed up, it wouldn't be enough to save them. Shooting Julian a resentful look, Moltres spread its wings and took off. Stupid or not, the bird’s flight was undeniably graceful. Arcanine bared its teeth at Moltres’s retreating figure. It felt its position as the team’s only Fire-type was under threat. “Arf~” Arcanine: "I won’t allow you to bring in a mistress!" In its eyes, Moltres was exactly that—a mistress. Julian gave Arcanine a light smack—since it was his own Pokémon, he couldn’t bring himself to slap it as hard as he had Moltres, but he still scolded it grumpily: “I don’t want a dumb bird like that. One dumb dog is enough.” Better to keep the number of low-IQ Pokémon to a minimum. Besides, even if he wanted to capture Moltres, Tapu Lele would never allow it. This volcano still needed Moltres. Meanwhile, at the base of the volcano, the three Trainers from the Babath—Aso, Ishida, and Eguchi—were hiding behind a rock. "The sounds of battle stopped a while ago, and that cry earlier was definitely from Moltres,” Eguchi said. Compared to before, his left arm was now missing, while Aso and Ishida had varying degrees of burns. Of course, these injuries were all caused by Moltres. In addition, more than half of their Pokémon had died or been badly injured. Thankfully, their main team members were still alive. Eguchi clutched his severed arm. If not for the ample medical supplies they had brought, he’d already be dead. If this had happened before the appearance of Pokémon and secret realms, then losing an arm meant it was simply gone for good. But now, there was a rare treasure—Heavy Water—capable of regenerating lost limbs and organs. Of course, such an item was extremely rare. As a prodigy trainer of Babath, Eguchi would naturally have his arm restored if he made it out of the secret realm alive. The country would spare no expense for him. "I wonder which Pokémon was fighting Moltres just now," he said. "It could have also been another trainer," Aso replied. Since the three of them had been able to battle Moltres, it wasn’t unthinkable that other Trainers could too. Besides, they were already certain there were Trainers from Drakoria on this island—for all they knew, it could have been one of them fighting the legendary bird. If it were Trainers from other countries, their Pokémon would have fled at the sight of Moltres—let alone try to fight it. Everyone wanted to capture Moltres, but without the strength to back it up, you were just looking for death. As they were talking, a sharp cry suddenly echoed across the sky. "Screeee—!" The sound rang clear, yet carried a hint of exhaustion. “That’s Moltres’s cry.” They knew its voice all too well—that was unmistakably Moltres. This confirmed that the battle atop the volcano had indeed involved the firebird. “We wounded it earlier. Even for a Moltres, those injuries wouldn’t heal so fast. Now it’s just been through another battle—this is our chance,” Eguchi said, eyes burning with hatred. He had to settle the score of his severed arm. “Let’s have our Pokémon check the situation first,” Aso said. In a place like a secret realm, temptations were everywhere. If you couldn’t stay rational, you wouldn’t survive long. As soon as he finished speaking, Moltres appeared in the sky above them. Its wings flapped slowly, and with each motion, blood spilled and fell to the ground. A few drops landed near them, sizzling as they struck the ground. “It’s hurt—the bleeding’s even worse than before,” Ishida’s face twisted into a grin. They could even see that its flight was unstable… But the three of them didn’t realize that as Moltres flew over their heads, it glanced at them out of the corner of its eye. Moltres: 'Just you wait, you little shits. You’ll all be dead soon.' To make its injuries appear more convincing, it had actually torn open the wound on its back again—wounds that had nearly healed thanks to Julian’s potion. Good thing Julian didn’t see this. Otherwise, he might’ve changed his mind from calling it a dumb bird to a conniving wolf bird. "Where’s it going? Why isn’t it returning to the volcano to heal?" Eguchi muttered in confusion. It was common knowledge that Moltres would return to the volcano and immerse itself in magma to recover when wounded. But now, this heavily injured Moltres wasn't returning to the volcano—it was flying somewhere else. That was very suspicious. "Its hiding spot has been exposed. It must be trying to relocate," Aso said. Then his expression suddenly changed. "Damn it—we can’t let it leave this island!" This island had only one volcano. If Moltres wanted another volcano to heal in, it would have to leave the island. And once it left, they’d lose their chance forever. After all, to leave the island themselves, they needed to defeat the island’s guardian—no easy feat. Originally, if Moltres remained on the island, they’d still have time to investigate whether it had been battling a wild Pokémon or a trainer. But now, with Moltres preparing to leave, they no longer had that luxury. The three were now faced with two choices: First option: All three could act together to try and capture this heavily injured Moltres—given its current state, it definitely wasn’t their match. Second option: First confirm whether Moltres had been battling a trainer or a wild Pokémon. If it was a trainer, rushing in to capture Moltres now might mean doing someone else’s dirty work—letting them reap the rewards. Of course, there was also the possibility that the trainer who fought Moltres was already dead. But any investigation would take time—and that time was enough for Moltres to escape the island. Thus, they were caught in a dilemma. “I’ll go investigate. You two try to hold Moltres back,” Ishida said. All three of them were needed to defeat Moltres, but just two could still manage to stall it. ***** Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :- /ReduxMagister