Everyoched as Metagross brought Pidgeot, clutched tightly by its neck, before Julian. Their minds momentarily went bnk.

  A Pokémon of the Elite level was defeated—just like that.

  Seriously, just like that?

  This left Taylor with the delusion that even 'she' might have stood a ce.

  "Meta!~"

  Metagross tossed the half-scious Pidgeot onto the ground. The moment it nded and struggled to rise, Aggron stomped down on it with a massive foot.

  With a loud crack, the sound of bones breaking echoed, apanied by the Pidgeot's agonized screeches.

  Given Aggron's curre, if it hadn't held back a bit, this siomp could have been fatal.

  However, with that orike, Pidgeot was rendered pletely uo fight. The pain woke it up fully, but it was too weak to resist. It could only gre at Julian with cold, furious eyes.

  "Julian, what will you do with this Pidgeot?" Taylor asked curiously.

  "Kill it"

  The answer shocked everyone around him. They couldn't believe their ears, w if they had misheard.

  Kill it?

  This wasn't just some pseudo-Elite Pokémon like the Golem earlier—it was ae-tier Pidgeot.

  Even the barely-scious Golem, having just regained awareness, fainted again the moment it heard Julian's words.

  Golem: 'Clearly, I woke up at the wrong time'

  "Mr. Julian, although it killed Dan, if you are doing this because of that—"

  The captain stepped forward. He, too, wao see the Pidgeot dead, but logically speaking, a live Elite level Pokémon held far greater value.

  The rarity of suon didn't o be expined.

  Killing it like that would be the biggest waste.

  Baker's eyes reddened with envy.

  'Damn it! You wouldn't let me capture the pseudo-Elite Golem, and now you want to kill ae level Pidgeot? Just like that?'

  "This Pidgeot has killed many people, a typical Elite trainer wouldn't be able to suppress it," Julian said calmly.

  Pokémon that had killed were notoriously vicious. Even if you were slightly strohahey wouldn't submit. They would only obey if you were vastly superior in strength.

  And eveaming suon would be extremely challenging.

  Keeping a killer Pokémon was akin to holding onto a tig time bomb—ohat could go off at any moment, potentially killing its own trainer.

  Julian's values differed greatly from those around him.

  His upbringing shaped his perspective.

  To him, Elite level Pokémon weren't particurly rare, so killing one didn't mean much.

  But to ordinary people, the stro Pokémon they might enter in their lifetime seudo-Elite o best.

  "Metagross"

  Julian anded, preparing to let it finish the job.

  The others wao say something, but none dared speak up.

  "Pii…"

  Sensing Julian's killing i and notig Metagross's raised cws, Pidgeot finally panicked, g out in distress.

  "Luca!~"

  Just as Metagross was about to strike, Lucario suddenly stepped in front of it.

  "Luca, Luca!~"

  Fag Metagross's puzzled expression, Lucario quickly expio both it and Julian.

  "Oh?"

  Julian walked up to the Pidgeot and pced his haly on its abdomen.

  With Metagross standing by, the Pidgeot didn't dare resist. It knew full well that if it weren't for Lucario's intervention, it would already be dead.

  "It really is pregnant"

  Julian murmured after a moment, withdrawing his hand.

  He sensed a sed Aura within Pidgeot's body. It was faint, overshadowed by Pidgeot's own strong Aura, which was why he hadn't noticed it earlier.

  If not for Lucario's sharp dete, Pidgeot would undoubtedly have met its end.

  In human society, if a woman oh row was discovered to be carrying a child, her sentence would be uted to life impriso until after the child's birth.

  This policy had exteo Pokémon as well.

  "You're lucky"

  Julian said quietly.

  Knowing the Pidgeot regnant, Julian abandoned his iion to kill it.

  "Pii…"

  Realizing her life—and her child's—had been spared, the Pidgeot looked gratefully at Lucario.

  Pidgeot: 'When my baby is born, I'll make you the godfather'

  Lucario: 'This bas***d repaying gratitude with revenge'

  Juliarieved ay Poké Ball and captured the Pidgeot, who didn't resist at all.

  Watg this, Baker smirked in disdain.

  'Hah. Talking about killing it, but in the end, he just captured it. Hypocrite.'

  "It's pregnant"

  Julian expined while attag the Poké Ball to his belt.

  The group nodded in uanding. It made sense now why Lucario had stopped Metagross—it roteg a life.

  Julian didn't pn to keep the Pidgeot. Even though she was Elite level, she wasn't the kind of Pokémon he preferred. Once he reached the capital, he inteo hand her over to the local Trainer Association for proper handling.

  Walking over to the Golem, Julian gave it a light kick. "Take yroup and leave this area."

  The Golem, who had beeending to be unscious, instantly opes eyes, scrambled to its feet, and nodded frantically.

  Even if this area erfect for the Golem—with plenty of rocks and the dark, damp enviro of the tunnels—it was far too dangerous for them now.

  The Golem roared a and to its , leading those who were awake into the forest. Those still unscious were left behind for the time being.

  During the migration, the weaker members of the group who couldn't keep up were naturally left behind.

  The Golem departed, but left over fifty unscious Geodudes behind.

  These Geodudes appeared to be the weakest members of the entire group.

  "Mr. Julian, leave these to us. You head back to the train," the captain said.

  Julian nodded. Sineone else was taking care of the matter, he was happy to let them ha.

  "Let's go"

  He said to Chase, recalling his Aggron and Lucario into their Poké Balls but keepiagross by his side.

  It would take about ten mio return to the train, and he couldn't guarahat no wild Pokémon would appear during the trip. Haviagross out for prote was still necessary.

  "Whiiversity are you attending now?" Julian asked.

  Julian was naturally a reserved person. During his senior year of school, he hadn't made many friends. After graduating, he'd only stayed in touch with a few, like Will.

  Even though Chase had been on the same school team as him, she had only been a substitute, and they weren't particurly close.

  He had her taformation, but after addihey hadn't exged a single message.

  "South Lake Uy," Chase replied.

  If he remembered correctly, South Lake Uy was raoward the bottom of the first-tier uies.

  Although it wasn't among the top schools, it was still far superior to any sed-tier uy.

  tally, the train's stop was South Lake City, which expined why Chase and her group were on the same train as Julian.

  "It 't pare to Imperial Uy"

  Chase said with a hint of embarrassment.

  The differeweewo was indeed signifit—one was at the bottom of the first tier, while the other was at the very top.

  The gap was especially evident after Imperial Uy retly cimed first pce again in the Hundred Schools League, further solidifying its reputation and outshining Shu Uy.