Julian, who had been regarded as the world's savior, was currently sitting leisurely on Arcanine's back as they made their way toward a spot in the back mountain. In his hand was a piece of fruit that Love had carefully peeled for him.
After finishing the fruit in just a few bites, only the core remained. He looked around before casually tossing it at a Beedrill that happened to be flying past.
Thunk!
The core struck Beedrill squarely on the forehead.
"Bzzz! Bzzz!"
Beedrill's wings buzzed furiously as it angrily searched for whoever had ambushed it. And soon, its gaze locked onto Julian.
And indeed, this human was the culprit.
Because the human was brazenly curling his finger at it in a taunting gesture.
The Beedrill line was famously not to be trifled with in the wild. It had merely come out for a casual flight, only to be bullied by this human.
If word of this got out, not only would its own kind laugh at it, but even the surrounding Pokémon would think it was an easy target.
"Bzzz—"
With that thought, Beedrill beat its wings and charged straight toward Julian, thrusting its long stinger at him.
"Oh? It actually came."
Julian looked at the Beedrill flying toward him in surprise. It really did seem quite angry.
"It was just a fruit core. Do you really have to be this petty?" Julian muttered.
'Human, die!'
Beedrill's stinger came thrusting straight toward Julian's waist.
"Scram!"
The moment the human spoke, Beedrill seemed to witness something utterly terrifying, and its charging body instantly froze.
The next second, it turned tail and fled.
Beedrill: 'Time to bail, time to bail. This human is not to be messed with.'
"What a weakling. Couldn't even take a scare."
Julian snorted smugly before pulling out a handful of peanuts from his pocket.
The shells, of course, were tossed straight onto the ground. Who cares about manners—these things weren't edible anyway. Besides, this entire back mountain was his property.
So even if he littered, he was littering in his own home, no one had the right to say anything.
About half an hour later, Julian arrived at the temple located deep within the back mountain.
This temple had been built by the slumbering Regigigas. And to prevent anyone with ill intentions from disturbing it, numerous visible guards were stationed around the temple, while the hidden security was handled by the Steel Guards.
And because of the temple, the Steel Guards' headquarters had been relocated underground.
Without any obstruction, Julian entered the temple. Inside, he saw Regigigas seated in deep slumber upon a large stone chair, flanked by the three Legendary Titans standing guard like sentinels.
The moment Julian stepped into the temple, the seemingly dormant Regis had, in fact, already awakened. However, upon seeing that it was Julian, they slowly closed their eyes once more.
"Regigigas, wake up."
Julian called out to Regigigas, his voice carrying a kind of strange power that resonated directly into the mind of the slumbering giant.
A dozen or so seconds later, Regigigas slowly opened its eyes. After a brief moment of grogginess, it looked toward Julian.
"Julian, why have you awakened me? Is something the matter?"
"There will likely be a major battle in some time, and I'll need your help. So I had to wake you up in advance. My apologies," Julian said with a hint of guilt.
If Regigigas didn't have the Slow Start ability, he wouldn't have needed to wake it in advance—he could have just called upon it when the battle began.
But with Slow Start, if he woke it only when the battle actually started, it wouldn't even be able to bring out half of its true strength, making it nothing more than a sitting target.
Regigigas turned its gaze toward the northwest, as if sensing something. It nodded and said, "Though I can't guarantee success, I will help you. This is also my duty."
After leaving behind a sufficient supply of Regigigas's exclusive Pokéblocks, Julian waved farewell and left.
But just as he stepped out of the temple, a rainbow-colored deer suddenly appeared before him.
"Xerneas."
Seeing the creature, Julian's expression immediately darkened. After all, this guy had drained five hundred years of his lifespan.
At first, he hadn't cared much. After all, there were other treasures that could increase one's lifespan. However, when Julian later tried to use one of those treasures to extend his life, he discovered that it had absolutely no effect.
Unwilling to accept that, Julian sought out several more types of treasures, but none of them worked.
Only then did he become certain that it wasn't the treasures that had failed, but that something had happened to his body.
And the culprit was, in all likelihood, Xerneas.
As the God of Life who governed the vitality of all living things, if it could strip away his lifespan, then it could also prevent him from restoring it.
After figuring out the cause, Julian had almost wanted to take Zekrom and Reshiram with him and march straight over to settle the score.
But in the end, he didn't go. Not because he feared the Twin Dragons couldn't defeat it—what a joke, two peak First-class Legendaries couldn't beat a late-stage First-class Legendary?
It was because he feared that even if he beat it, Xerneas would rather die than submit, and if that happened, the grudge would be sealed forever. That's why Julian wanted to wait until he had a foolproof plan before confronting Xerneas.
"What are you here for?"
His tone was far from friendly.
Xerneas, however, paid no mind to it and looked at Julian calmly. "A crisis is approaching this world. All living things will suffer devastation. Julian—"
"What does that have to do with me?"
Before Xerneas could finish, Julian coldly cut it off.
Just then, a series of heavy footsteps approached. Regigigas had already walked up behind Julian and naturally noticed Xerneas as well.
Not all First-class Legendaries knew each other. In fact, most of them didn't know one another personally. However, the moment they met, they instinctively knew each other's identity.
Regigigas saw Xerneas, and instantly recognized it, but judging from Julian's obvious hostility toward it...
Regigigas curiously asked, "Are you the enemy this time?"
As it spoke, it didn't forget to stuff more Pokéblocks into its mouth.
Xerneas shook its head, "I am not your enemy, it's the same one from before."
"And just because you say you aren't, that makes it true?"
Julian rolled his eyes. This guy sure had some nerve—or maybe it was just getting scared now that it saw he had backup and immediately decided to back down.
Hearing Julian's tone, Regigigas cast a skeptical glance at Xerneas, as if asking, 'Did you just lie to me?'
"Julian, what you face is not merely Hoopa. We need to cooperate."
Xerneas looked at the silent Julian, thinking that this human truly held grudges. Wasn't it just taking five hundred years of his lifespan and stripping his ability to use life-extending treasures?
Such a trivial matter, was it really worth holding a grudge this deep?
If Julian knew what Xerneas was thinking at this moment, he would absolutely saw its antlers off, turn them into velvet antler slices, and brew them into liquor—just to see if parts from its own body couldn't extend his lifespan too.
But right now its antlers had already hardened, well they could still be cut off and made into ornaments.
Xerneas had no idea what was going through Julian's mind, but it suddenly felt that the way Julian was staring at its antlers was a little unsettling.
*****
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