Watching Arcanine's tail whip through the air with loud whooshes, Julian figured that if someone got hit by that tail, they'd probably end up with a few broken bones.
He didn't return the big pup to its Poké Ball—Arcanine had a sharp nose and was just as effective as Metagross when it came to staying alert.
After dealing with Beheeyem, Metagross had already entered the high-tech skyscraper, located the server room, and begun copying the data stored inside.
Meanwhile, Julian and Arcanine roamed around, stuffing any unfamiliar but high-tech-looking equipment into his system space.
By the time they wrapped up, it was already evening.
Since this Technological Ruin had so many high-rise buildings, it naturally had hotels too. Julian casually picked one that looked luxurious and checked in.
Slowking was currently borrowing the hotel's kitchen to prepare dinner.
Celebi was sitting on the bed playing with a handheld console. Since there was no internet in the ruins, it couldn't log into Pokémon Glory.
The room was occupied only by Julian, Celebi, Arcanine, and Lucario.
As for Metagross—who was usually inseparable from Julian, was conspicuously absent—a rare sight indeed.
As for where Metagross had gone?
It was busy copying all the available data from this Ruin. Julian had also handed it the Dowsing Machine, instructing it to search for valuable items along the way.
Small red dots could be ignored, but if it found a big red dot and could retrieve it, great. If not, Julian would go collect it himself the next day.
With this arrangement, Julian got to relax—though Metagross had become incredibly busy.
Julian wasn't worried about Metagross operating alone. Not only was its strength comparable to an early-stage Champion-level Pokémon, but even if things got dangerous, it could just use Teleport to escape.
Besides, Julian had instructed Metagross not to stray too far. If anything did happen, he could quickly rush to its aid.
"Slow~"
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Slowking floated in, using psychic to carry six dishes.
Celebi instantly dropped its handheld and flew over excitedly, eyes glowing as it stared at the popcorn chicken among the dishes.
Slowking rarely made deep-fried foods, so most of the time Celebi had to rely on takeout.
But whenever Slowking did cook something fried, the flavor surpassed every restaurant in existence.
Celebi: "Slowking, you're the best! I love you so much!"
"Slow~"
Slowking: "You can only eat half."
Celebi: "Deal!"
It agreed instantly—no negotiation, or the food would vanish entirely.
As for who got the other half? Well, that was obvious.
Ever since their time at the estate in Orient, Slowking's culinary skills had ascended to a whole new level. The food it made was so delicious that Julian sometimes wondered if Slowking was the reincarnation of some legendary chef from fantasy worlds.
Even a simple egg fried rice would glow—which honestly made zero scientific sense.
While eating the meal Slowking had prepared, Julian and Celebi practically turned into gluttons, even starting to fight over the food. Seeing this, Slowking didn't try to stop them—instead, it looked quite pleased.
Arcanine, drawn in by the delicious aroma, was practically drooling, so Julian tossed it a few pieces of popcorn chicken to satisfy its cravings.
As for Lucario, it relied on sheer willpower to resist the temptation—though the subtle trembling of its Aura made it obvious it was struggling.
Celebi: "Where are we going tomorrow?"
"Keep exploring—where else would we go? Why, do you have somewhere in mind?"
Normally, Celebi only cared about eating and playing—it barely paid attention to anything else. But now, from the sound of it, it seemed to actually want to go somewhere.
Celebi: "There's a forest in this Ruin. I want to check it out."
Although this was a Technological Ruin, the area around Larousse City also contained a large forest and a lake—both practically the same size as the city itself.
Julian had originally planned to finish exploring Larousse City first before heading to the forest and the lake.
He figured that most of the Pokémon still inside this Ruin were probably in those natural areas—after all, Pokémon that lived comfortably in cities were pretty rare. The food source alone was a limiting factor.
"Is there something in the forest that's drawing you in?" Julian's face showed a faint look of excitement.
Knowing Celebi as well as he did, Julian figured something had to be up. Ever since joining him, the little gremlin had been thoroughly corrupted by the outside world—fried chicken, video games, cola. It had basically forgotten its identity as a guardian of nature.
Back at Imperial University's villa, Celebi couldn't even be bothered to take care of a few potted plants. That told Julian exactly how far it had fallen.
And now it suddenly wanted to visit a forest? There had to be more to it.
Celebi: "I just feel like the natural energy over there is really strong."
Even if it had become lazy and indulgent, Celebi still had a sharp sensitivity to nature.
"Alright, then let's go check it out tomorrow," Julian said, nodding.
He started to wonder—could there be some kind of Grass-type Ultimate treasure hidden in that forest? After all, most natural energy sources were closely tied to the grass element.
---
The next morning, just as Julian finished breakfast, Metagross suddenly appeared before him.
"You've worked hard," Julian said sincerely.
Seeing Metagross, who had been busy all night, Julian took out some Top-grade Pokéblocks and even brought out a miniature steel hammer to tap gently on Metagross's joints—giving it somewhat of a massage.
Arcanine watched eagerly, clearly wanting a turn too. A brushing would be nice as well.
But just as the big dog tried to move closer, Metagross shot it a glare, and it immediately shrank back.
Metagross: 'I haven't even finished enjoying it yet. And you, who slept comfortably all night—what right do you have to ask for anything?'
Julian chuckled. "So? Did you find anything useful?" he asked expectantly.
"Meta~"
Metagross: "Found the magnetic levitation technology, metallurgy tech, microchip systems, and third-gen spatial backpack tech."
After a whole night of work, Metagross had struck gold—over a dozen advanced technologies, including magnetic levitation and third-generation spatial backpacks.
The spatial backpack tech they'd previously found in the library was just the most basic version—not even first-gen. No wonder it had been openly available there.
"And any treasures?"
"Gen~"
Gengar popped out of the shadows and unceremoniously vomited up a pile of loot from its stomach.
It had gone along with Metagross because Julian had considered the possibility that, once Metagross located treasures with the Dowsing Machine, it might have nowhere to store them. So, he paired it with Gengar for this expedition.
The haul was massive—nearly a hundred items, most of which were high-tech synthetic treasures.
Take, for example, this deep-red Fire Core, glowing like molten lava.
To produce this, large quantities of Fire Stones needed to be purified and compressed. It took a hundred Fire Stones just to produce one gram of this material.
This particular one was nearly the size of a fist, and flames still burned faintly within it. That kind of inner flame signified it was refined from Top-grade Fire Stones.
Judging by its size, the amount of Top-grade Fire Stones used must have exceeded ten thousand pieces.
[Fire Core: Allows non-Fire-type Pokémon to learn Fire-type moves. And boosts Fire-type move power for Fire-type Pokémon.]
Simply put, it increased Fire-type affinity. Even a Water-type Pokémon could use it to learn some Fire-type moves.
And for a Fire-type Pokémon, it significantly enhanced their firepower.
Without hesitation, Julian tossed the Fire Core to Arcanine.
CHOMP!
The latter caught it midair and swallowed it in one bite.
*****
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