Three days later, the assessment officer sent by the Association arrived at the Walker residence in Lake City. Jake personally received him, and judging by their conversation, the two seemed to have a decent relationship.

"Julian, come here. This is Scott Wilson—you can call him Uncle Scott."

Scott was ranked 50th on the Elite leaderboard—not particularly high, but not low either, squarely in the middle. He looked about the same age as Jake, and the two did have a decent relationship since they were university classmates.

However, Julian had never met him before.

"Uncle Scott."

Julian obediently greeted him.

Scott sized Julian up, then said with a hint of frustration, “Jake, it was already bad enough that I could never measure up to you in this lifetime. But now even your son completely outclasses mine?"

“You really ended up with all the good stuff, didn’t you?”

Ever since Julian rose to fame, he had become the "golden child" other parents compared their own children to.

“Hahaha! Of course he's amazing. He inherited my talent, after all,” Jake boasted loudly.

His words made both Julian and Scott roll their eyes.

Sure, Jake was talented, but he was nowhere near as monstrous as Julian. At Julian’s age, Jake had only just broken through to the Elite-level, and his combat prowess couldn’t even compare.

"The Association sending you is a bit underwhelming, don’t you think?" Jake remarked.

Julian was already a pseudo-Champion, while Scott was just an Elite.

"It’s just a formality," Scott shrugged.

Julian’s strength was more than enough to qualify as a national-level Gym Leader. The Association sending Scott was merely going through the motions.

"Nephew Julian, you’d better go easy on me later. Your uncle still has some pride, you know?"

Scott smiled wryly. As a trainer of Jake’s generation, it was downright embarrassing to be fighting his son—especially since the said son was stronger than him.

He had initially refused this assignment, but the Trainer Association determined he was the only suitable candidate.

After all, if they sent a pseudo-Champion, they’d likely be from Julian’s grandfather’s generation. Winning wouldn’t be impressive, and losing would be downright humiliating.

So they settled on Scott—ranked 50th on the Elite ranking, neither too strong nor too weak.

"I’ll be counting on Uncle Scott’s guidance later," Julian replied politely.

But Jake, standing nearby, cut in: "Julian, don’t take your Uncle Scott’s modesty at face value—he’s plenty strong. Don’t hold back."

"Oh, shut up!"

Scott shot Jake an annoyed glare. This guy just wanted to see him embarrassed.

---

Inside the National Steel-type Gym, Julian and Scott stood at opposite ends of the battlefield.

The protective barrier activated, recording systems went live, and a dozen or so observers lined the edges of the arena.

Aside from Jake, there were five young members sent by the Trainer Association—all around twenty-five years old—along with representatives from prominent local families in Lake City.

This was Julian’s official challenge to inherit the National Steel-type Gym, and by tradition, the Walker family had invited local dignitaries to witness the match.

Among them was Luke, the city-level Steel-type Gym Leader of Lake City. He had close ties with the Walker family and was personally acquainted with Julian.

The five young delegates from the Association, on the other hand, were all prodigies within the organization—each hailing from elite backgrounds, their families holding high-ranking positions. Naturally, they were all children of Elite-level trainers.

Two women and three men, their expressions varied.

The name "Julian" had been drilled into their ears to the point of exhaustion—their elders never stopped singing his praises.

“I really want to see just how much stronger he is than me,” sneered Grant, glaring defiantly at Julian on the battlefield.

“Just make sure you don’t get too discouraged when the time comes,” remarked Luna, one of the female members.

She had never battled Julian herself, but she had witnessed Metagross’s overwhelming might firsthand.

Six months ago, during the Secret Realm qualification tournament, she had been matched against Ember. As the last to compete, she saw Julian sweep five opponents in a row—effortlessly defeating trainers even stronger than herself.

"Grant, Julian’s my idol. You can’t even beat me—so quit the tough act," Sky scoffed.

Hailing from the ancient capital of Luo, Sky Kingston was the heir of the Kingston family—his grandfather being none other than Royce Kingston, one of Drakoria’s six Champions.

A prodigy in his own right, Sky had originally been slated for one of the five Top-tier Secret Realm slots, but he’d been unreachable at the time, exploring a new Advanced-level Secret Realm. That was why Ember took his place.

---

The battle format was 6 vs. 6.

With the referee's whistle, the match officially began. Julian was the first to send out a Pokémon.

A Pokémon as thin as paper, its limbs sharp as blades, materialized on the field—

Kartana.

---

Pokémon: Kartana (Grass/Steel)

Level: 74

Potential: Blue

Ability: Beast Boost

Held Item: Life Orb

Gender: Genderless

Moves: Fury Cutter, Vacuum Wave, Razor Leaf, False Swipe, Cut, Air Cutter, Aerial Ace, Detect, Night Slash, Synthesis, Laser Focus, Swords Dance, Defog, Leaf Blade, Sacred Sword, Guillotine

TMs: Giga Impact, Protect, Solar Blade, Brick Break, Psycho Cut, Smart Strike, Air Slash, Iron Defense, X-Scissor, Calm Mind, Sleep Talk, Steel Beam

Egg Moves: None

---

[Life Orb: Increases move power but causes a small amount of HP loss after each attack.]

Julian had originally equipped it with a Focus Sash.

But after learning about the effects of the Life Orb, this guy stubbornly insisted on using it—never mind how little HP he had.

Kartana: “Come, worthy opponent!”

On Scott’s side, he had some prior intel on Julian’s Pokémon. He knew Kartana was a new addition that Julian had captured in that Top-tier Secret Realm, and that it was also one of the still-undiscovered species in the world.

However, his understanding of Kartana was surface-level at best—its ability, hidden traits or any special powers were all unknown to him.

But at the very least—he knew its typing.

Grass/Steel.

Scott gave a slight smile. Maybe… he could win this round.

With a flash of light, his Charizard burst onto the field, wings spread majestically.

Scott was a Fire-type specialist.

And Kartana, being Grass/Steel, had a 4× weakness to Fire. In terms of typing, this was a huge disadvantage for Kartana.

Moreover, the Charizard before them wasn’t an ordinary one either:

---

Pokémon: Charizard (Fire/Flying)

Level: 77

Potential: Cyan

Ability: Blaze

Held Item: Hardened Charcoal

Gender: Male

Moves: Scratch, Growl, Air Slash, Smokescreen, Heat Wave, Dragon Claw, Dragon Breath, Fire Fang, Flamethrower, Scary Face, Fire Spin, Inferno, Flare Blitz

TMs: Protect, Flame Charge, Air Cutter, Sunny Day, Endure, Burn Up, Fire Blast, Shadow Claw, Fire Punch, Will-O-Wisp, Crunch, Dragon Pulse, Overheat

Egg Moves: Iron Tail, Dragon Tail, Dragon Rush, Bite

---

This Charizard had inherited two Dragon-type moves, suggesting that one of its parent might have been a pseudo-legendary Dragon-type. If it were a more distant lineage, it likely wouldn’t have inherited both.

*****

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