"Champion Omar, how is the situation at the Top-tier secret realm? With you not being there, could anything go wrong?" Julian asked curiously.
After all, Pannar only had a single Champion. Right now their domestic Top-tier secret realm was in the middle of a Pokémon riot—yet instead of standing guard there, Omar had come personally to receive him.
"The outbreaks in the secret realm enter a lull period for four or five days every month. During this period, the Pokémon inside won’t come out." Omar explained.
The riot had already been dragged for nearly a year now. Although the issue hadn’t been resolved yet, they had identified certain patterns.
It just so happened that this was the lull period, which was why Omar had come to receive Julian. Otherwise, there’s no way he would have left the site.
Julian nodded. "Have you figured out the cause of the riot?"
There were many possible reasons for a secret realm riot, but the main three were fairly well known:
1. The secret realm’s environment had shifted, becoming unsuitable for the Pokémon living inside.
2. A riot deliberately triggered by humans.
3. The secret realm itself was on the verge of collapse—though this could be ruled out, as such collapses usually gave early warnings.
"Not yet. I’ve personally gone in to investigate. Neither the environment nor the temperature or terrain inside the secret realm has changed, and I didn’t find any signs of human interference either," Omar shook his head, a troubled expression on his face.
If they could identify the cause of the riot, the problem would be much easier to resolve. But without understanding the root cause, they could only resort to forceful suppression.
Pannar only had three Top-tier secret realms in total. Forcibly suppressing one essentially meant losing a Top-tier secret realm altogether.
This would undermine the very foundation of Pannar’s strength, so they only did it as a last resort.
"Champion Omar, where are we heading now?"
Julian suddenly realized he hadn’t asked their destination since getting into the car.
"First, we’ll go to the state guesthouse," Ambassador David answered on behalf of Omar.
"Not straight to the secret realm?" Julian was slightly taken aback.
"We’ll go tomorrow. Julian, you should rest well today. There are still two days left before the lull period ends," Omar said.
He was quite pleased with Julian’s proactive attitude.
When he first learned that Drakoria wasn’t sending an older, experienced trainer but rather the young Julian, Omar had been very surprised.
He had heard of Julian before but didn’t know much about him.
After finding out that Julian was the one coming to support Pannar, he had asked some friends in Drakoria to gather information about Julian—assessing both his strength and character.
Ever since becoming a trainer, with his status as the Walker family heir and his silver Metagross, Julian found it impossible to stay low-key.
Coupled with all the notable deeds he had accomplished in Drakoria over the years, there was no need for in-depth investigation—a simple online search would reveal extensive information about him. The Trainers Association's Official Website even had detailed records of Julian’s profile.
As for his character? Well, you could just look at how netizens judged him.
Male netizens: "A rich second-generation who doesn’t indulge in women."
Female netizens: "Mr. Walker never gives us a chance!"
So, overall, Julian’s character seemed fairly decent.
With strong capabilities and a reliable character, Omar felt reassured. If Julian had turned out to have a rotten personality, it would have been a headache.
Dinner naturally featured some of Pannar’s local delicacies, and the flavors were quite exceptional.
Slowking even slipped away to the kitchen to learn—it had already mastered the eight major culinary styles of Drakoria. Now, with this rare trip abroad, the ever-diligent Slowking naturally wanted to explore Pannar’s cuisine.
Its cooking skills were actually superior to those of the Pannar chefs preparing Julian’s meal, but it humbly positioned itself as an apprentice, learning alongside them.
'A true master always carries the heart of an apprentice.'
Celebi happily munched on Pannar-style fried chicken legs. The taste was indeed different from what you’d find in Drakoria—the curry flavor was quite pronounced, but it was delicious.
Celebi was a glutton, and Julian was no different.
This led to a rather awkward situation: the speed at which dishes were served couldn’t keep up with how quickly Julian and Celebi were devouring them.
Watching Julian eat heartily and noticing Omar’s slightly stunned expression, Ambassador David could only scream internally: 'Julian, we’re in Pannar—please mind your image!'
The meal lasted about an hour.
After finishing, Julian said to Omar, "Let’s go get some exercise."
Omar was momentarily puzzled but then seemed to realize something and smiled. "Sure."
With that, the two headed toward the training grounds at the state guesthouse.
Back in Drakoria, Julian never needed to prove his strength to anyone. But now that he was abroad, even though the Pannar Champion seemed confident in him, there was likely still some underlying doubts.
So Julian needed to flex his muscles a bit, to put Omar at ease. Otherwise, when tomorrow came, his plans might not proceed smoothly.
Ambassador David and several other Pannar officials followed behind them.
Soon Julian and Omar took their positions on opposite sides of the battlefield.
As the protective barrier around the arena activated, one senior official couldn’t help wearing a pained expression. "How much does it cost to run this barrier per minute?"
For a typical Elite-level battle, the cost of operating the protective barrier—depending on how destructive the aftershocks were—could easily reach around 100 million per minute.
For a Pseudo-Champion level battle, the cost hovered around 500 million.
As for a Champion-level battle, simply activating the protective barrier without any action already burned through 2 billion per minute. If they actually started battling and the aftershocks grew intense, the cost could skyrocket into the tens of billions.
So yes, saying that a Champion-level fight costs "hundreds of millions per second" was no exaggeration at all.
If they didn’t activate the barrier? Then under the aftershocks of their battle, the entire capital would be reduced to rubble.
But this battle was also necessary.
Even if Julian hadn’t requested it, the officials would have arranged one anyway. Sometimes, "flexing your muscles" was just part of diplomacy.
---
Pokémon: Blaziken (Fire/Fighting)
Level: 93
Potential: Purple
Ability: Blaze
Held Item: Focus Sash
Gender: Male
Moves: Double Kick, Fire Punch, Brave Bird, Flamethrower, Feather Dance, Scratch, Growl, Ember, Slash, Bounce, Quick Attack, Flame Charge, Detect, Focus Energy, Blaze Kick, Reversal, Flare Blitz, Sand Attack, Aerial Ace
TMs: Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Protect, Fire Spin, Fire Blast, Payback, Brick Break, Low Kick, Heat Wave, Superpower, Sunny Day, Earthquake, Blast Burn, Hyper Beam
Egg Moves: Counter, Feint, Close Combat, Bulk Up
Note: Due to consuming a Blaze Stone, the power of Flamethrower is doubled.
---
This Blaziken was an early-stage Champion level Pokémon, further strengthened by the Fire-type treasure, the Blaze Stone.
According to publicly available information, Omar had two Champion-level Pokémon, both at the early-stage, with Blaziken being his strongest.
After all, Blaziken wasn’t far from reaching the mid-stage Champion level.
Of course, gaining that level might require years of training.
*****
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