Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Seeing that its Trainer still hadn't praised it for being awesome, Moltres looked a little disappointed. It thought to itself—'Was my performance not good enough?'

The more it thought about it, the more it felt that might actually be the case.

Taking down Shaymin hadn't been easy. It had even gotten blinded by Flash—if not for all the high-end items and training it had received after joining Julian, its overall strength wouldn't have improved so much, and it probably would have been defeated by that smoke-absorbing shockwave at the end.

'If this had been the old me from the secret realm, I probably would've lost.'

Realizing its own shortcomings, Moltres finally understood why its trainer hadn't called it awesome—because it hadn't been awesome enough.

'I'll do better next time. I'll train harder.'

Fired up, Moltres let out a loud, triumphant cry—only for Julian to immediately clamp its beak shut.

"Stop screeching. You're giving me a headache."

Julian snapped, glaring at the legendary bird. 'What the hell's wrong with this dumb bird—did it go nuts after the battle?'

And what was with this sudden burst of fighting spirit? The battle was already over!

Meanwhile, Elliot had already walked up to Julian, smiling as he said, "Truly, heroes emerge from the young. I'm getting old—your Moltres is better trained than my Shaymin."

With that, he handed Julian the National Grass-Type Gym Badge.

Hearing the praise, Moltres puffed up proudly, tilting its head slightly to peer down at Elliot with approval. 'This old man has excellent taste.'

Julian accepted the badge with both hands and humbly replied, "Shaymin was really strong too—Moltres only had the advantage due to the type matchup."

Normally, Julian wouldn't bother being this modest, but Elliot was someone his grandfather, John, had specifically told him to treat with respect.

Given Elliot's age, there was a high chance that his grandfather had either been helped or mentored by him when he was younger.

After all, there weren't many people his grandfather would go out of his way to emphasize like this.

And from the fact that Elliot called his grandfather "Little John," it was clear the two shared a long-standing relationship.

Elliot smiled again and asked, "Why not stay for dinner tonight? I have a granddaughter who's quite the admirer of yours."

Not even Elliot was immune to such temptations.

A young man like Julian—exceptionally talented, arguably the best in all of Drakoria, and with a solid character—was exactly the kind of person any family would want their daughter to get close to. Even if nothing romantic came of it, forming a connection would be beneficial.

Besides, Elliot had heard rumors about the granddaughter of Champion Duke being involved with Julian. If his granddaughter could "steal" Julian away, he'd never let Champion Duke hear the end of it.

"Sure," Julian didn't refuse.

He didn't want to turn down Elliot's offer—and honestly, he'd been through this kind of situation so many times by now, he was used to it.

That evening, Julian had expected Elliot to invite a large group of people, but to his surprise, only two guests joined—a man and a young woman.

The man appeared to be in his fifties, introduced as Elliot's youngest son. Which meant Elliot had him in his sixties—not that it was unusual these days, with the average lifespan now reaching 120.

The woman, meanwhile, was the man's daughter.

"This is my youngest son, Raymond Larch, a mid-stage Elite Trainer."

As he said the last few words, Elliot's face twisted into a look of disappointment. "A good-for-nothing who wastes his time fishing. If you don't reach late-stage Elite-tier by the end of this year, I'll break your damn legs."

"If your mother could still have kids, this Gym Leader position would never have been considered for you."

'Ah, fishing—the classic hobby of middle-aged men.' Julian's own father had the same pastime.

That said, a mid-stage Elite Trainer taking over a National Gym was pushing it—at least late-stage Elite was expected.

Watching his son awkwardly shrink under his glare, Elliot sighed.

He had four sons in total. The eldest had no talent for being a Trainer. The second went into business. And, the third became a researcher.

Only the youngest had some Trainer talent. And while that talent would be considered quite decent among regular folks, in a prestigious family like the Larchs—who managed a National-level Gym—it was just barely passable.

"And this is my—"

"Grandpa, let me do it!"

Before Elliot could finish, the girl—who looked just a few years older than Julian—cut in excitedly: "I'm Raina Larch! Don't worry, I'm not expecting anything to happen between us. But if you do happen to like me, we can get our marriage certificate first thing tomorrow morning!"

Julian: ⊙﹏⊙∥

'What kind of opening line is that?! How am I supposed to respond?!'

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Look how uncomfortable you've made him!" Raymond scolded his daughter before turning to Julian. "Don't mind her. We spoiled her rotten growing up."

Julian shook his head.

Then Raymond casually added, "Ranran, didn't you say "Rillaboom vs Tyranitar 2" just came out? Why don't you two go catch it after dinner? No need to rush back—our family is very open-minded."

Julian: ⊙o⊙

Julian suddenly felt like this wasn't dinner—it was a setup to eat him alive.

He was genuinely rattled by this father-daughter duo.

"So, Julian, interested in the movie?" Raina asked eagerly.

Julian quickly shook his head.

To him, this woman now looked less like a cute girl and more like a Tyranitar with its jaws wide open, ready to swallow him whole.

"No interested, huh?"

Raina looked a bit disappointed, then immediately followed up: "Then how about an amusement park tomorrow?"

Julian shook his head again.

"Not even the amusement park? Then how about karaoke tonight? I'm a great singer!"

Julian shook his head for the third time.

Raina's expression crumpled, her eyes shimmering with exaggerated hurt, as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Fine… Then at least agree to be a guest on my show! You've rejected me three times already—surely you can't say no to this?"

Julian hesitated. At this point, it felt like saying no again would really be too heartless—especially since Elliot had ties to his grandfather.

"What kind of show?" he asked cautiously.

"A variety program! It's called "Rising Star!" We invite different guests every episode—it's super popular! You've really never heard of it?"

Julian shook his head. He rarely watched TV or variety shows. His free time was spent gaming, scrolling through short videos, or hanging out with his Pokémon.

"So… will you do it?" Raina asked eagerly.

After a brief pause, Julian nodded. 'Might as well. It's just one show.'

"YES!"

Raina leapt from her chair in triumph.

…Something didn't feel right.

Looking at her, Julian suddenly froze for a second.

'Wait… Did she just manipulate me?'

Her whole strategy—first the movie, then the amusement park, then karaoke—was all a setup. She knew he'd refuse those, so she pivoted to her real goal: getting him on her show.

Now that he thought about it… yeah. That had to be it.

As the saying goes: 'The prettier the woman, the deadlier the deception.'

Overjoyed, Raina immediately posted the news in her work group chat—along with a photo of Julian at her family's dinner table for proof.

*****

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