In the end, Julian had no idea how many punches the guy had landed on him or how many kicks he’d taken. All he knew was that his points had increased by over a hundred thousand, bringing his total to three hundred thousand points. This single round had directly matched the points Julian had painstakingly saved over three years. Truly, a horse cannot grow fat without night grazing, and a man cannot grow rich without windfall gains. But the pain was real—agonizing, all over his body. Julian even suspected that one of his ribs had been kicked broken by Hank. Hank, panting heavily, glared at Julian with a dark expression. "You were deliberately provoking me, weren’t you?" Of course, he was. But Julian had done it for the points. From Hank’s perspective, however, Julian had been trying to goad him into beating him to death. If Julian died, his grandfather and father would no longer be threatened—including his little Pokémon. If not for Hank’s sudden realization—and, admittedly, his exhaustion—he might have kept hitting him. "Is that all you’ve got? Keep going, come on, you bas****d!" Julian snarled at Hank. The hundred thousand points he’d earned were enough to make him forget the pain. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶 As for his injuries? A mere two hundred points in the shop could heal them completely. It was practically a steal. "Hmph." Though furious, Hank, now convinced he’d seen through Julian’s scheme, didn’t dare continue attacking. He was genuinely afraid he might end up killing Julian. If that happened, his merits would be severely diminished, and he might even get chewed out by his superiors. To prevent Julian from further provoking him, Hank took out a roll of tape and sealed Julian’s mouth shut. Now, Julian was effectively silenced. Julian: 'Coward.' With his mouth sealed, even if he wanted to trash talk and anger Hank again, it was no longer possible. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had come to an end just like that. But as he looked at his whopping three hundred thousand points, Julian grinned from ear to ear. The pain suddenly didn’t feel so bad anymore. Gengar, hiding in Julian’s shadow, couldn’t help but wonder if its trainer had some sort of masochistic streak. He’d just been beaten up, yet here he was, still looking so happy. Once this whole mess was over, Gengar decided, it would have to ask the ever-reliable Slowking to take their Trainer to a good hospital for a check-up. Inside Wailord’s mouth, it was impossible to tell how much time had passed. But since Wailord needed to surface for air every six hours, and it had already done so six times, they’d likely been inside for at least a full day and night. At Wailord’s current speed, they would likely be leaving the nation’s waters soon. With current human technology, there was no way to detect whether a Pokémon was hiding people inside its body. At most, it would just appear as an ordinary Pokémon on radar. "Can I make a call to my grandpa?" During a brief break for food, the tape was finally peeled off Julian’s mouth. He chose to be kidnapped because he believed he had the strength to escape safely—but his family didn’t know that. Right now, they were surely extremely worried. "You’ll get your chance to call when we reach Wyvernia," Hank said, chewing on an energy bar. They hadn’t left Drakoria’s territorial waters yet. If Julian made a call now and the signal was detected, all their efforts would be wasted. Once they arrived in Wyvernia, even if Julian didn’t want to make the call, the people there would force him to. --- Drakoria, Verdance City Jake’s eyes were bloodshot. Over the past two days, he had turned the entire city upside down multiple times—but still found nothing. At the same time, the secret tunnel beneath the grilled beef intestines restaurant had been discovered— Along with the disappearance of the boss lady. The conclusion was clear: Julian had indeed been kidnapped. As for whether the culprits were from Wyvernia, that was still under investigation. Though news of Julian’s disappearance had spread among high-ranking officials, but it was limited to those levels. No public statement had been made to avoid panic or interference. Even Julian’s mother, Tina, didn’t know about his disappearance yet, thanks to the intentional concealment by Jake and others. BANG! Jake slammed his fist on the table, roaring, "It was definitely Wyvernia! I’m going over there right now to tear them apart!" With no trace of Julian left in Verdance City, the kidnappers had likely already taken him out of the city—making the search infinitely harder. Desperate to save his son, Jake was gradually losing his grip on rationality. He was on the verge of going on a rampage. "Calm down, Jake." Dragon-type Elite Victor, who had accompanied him, stepped in to block his path. "Move!" Jake snarled, his aura erupting like a storm. The pressure around him thickened, making the air feel as heavy as mercury. Victor remained unfazed as he said firmly, "Even if Julian was taken, they won’t harm him. You know that." "As long as he’s unharmed, we can negotiate terms." "Besides, Julian seems to have some kind of connection with that First-class Legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo. If things get dire, he might even be able to summon Mewtwo for help." That last point finally made Jake’s rage and worry subside slightly. The Mewtwo that had forced even the First-class Legendary Kyogre to back down in Haitian City—Drakoria’s higher-ups had studied it thoroughly. There was no doubt: it had some deep connection to Julian. Otherwise, why would it obey Julian’s commands? And most importantly, even after Julian had commanded a First-class Legendary like Mewtwo, he suffered no visible backlash. --- Imperial Capital, Trainers Association Headquarters John was doing the same thing as Jake—wanting to storm into Wyvernia to rescue his grandson. And the one stopping him was, of course, Champion Duke. "Old Duke, don’t forget—your life was saved by my grandson! Come with me to Wyvernia. With our combined strength, we could cut through them until their streets run red with blood!" John clenched his fists tightly, his entire body radiating a murderous aura. "Take a look at this first." Duke sighed and slid an intelligence report in front of John. After scanning the report, John let out a furious roar. "Good! So it really was Wyvernia!" The intelligence revealed that Wyvernia had already gathered a large number of troops near the border with Drakoria. Their missiles were also on standby, ready to launch at any moment. Additionally, they had banned any Drakorian aircraft from entering their airspace. But that wasn’t all. Celestria was conducting military drills in international waters, led by their Champion, Karl. The moment they left international waters, they could invade Drakoria’s maritime territory at any time. Meanwhile, Babath was also stirring up trouble near Drakoria’s borders. All of this was a clear warning—Drakoria was not to act recklessly. The most dangerous thing about trainers is their destructive power in cities—because in urban areas, their opponents can’t fight freely, and the military dares not use heavy weaponry. But on the border, there were no such restrictions. If an Elite-level trainer charged in, the first thing they’d face would be a barrage of heavy artillery fire. Enough firepower could bring down even a Champion-level Pokémon, let alone an Elite-level one. In desolate areas, thermal weapons could unleash their full destructive potential. "With their current military deployment, we can’t get in," said Duke. "But don’t worry—if things escalate, I’ll have my Alakazam teleport me straight into Wyvernia’s capital." "I’ll see if they’re willing to sacrifice millions of lives… just for Julian." ***** Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :- /ReduxMagister