Although Alakazam and Mismagius were both at the peak Elite level, the difference in their power was becoming clear. After several rounds, Alakazam was gaining the upper hand over Mismagius.
Julian had never spared any resources on Alakazam, his personal protector. Even though it was limited to the peak Elite-level due its Cyan potential, preventing it from reaching pseudo-Champion rank, its foundation was constantly increasing.
Meanwhile, Mega Metagross was in a stalemate with the Elite Gourgeist.
At the same time, Mega Steelix and Dragonite were jointly holding back the third Elite Zebstrika.
"Come on, show me if you have a fourth Elite-level Pokémon," Julian taunted coldly.
Alex froze momentarily. If he had a fourth, he would have already used it. He never expected Julian to be able to withstand three Elite-level Pokémon.
"Don't get too cocky"
Alex sneered, throwing out several Poké Balls.
With a series of pops, four Electrode appeared on the field.
"Electrode, use Explosion on those two!" Alex commanded maniacally.
The four Electrode, all pseudo-Elites, would definitely incapacitate both Mega Steelix and Dragonite if they unleashed Explosion.
In an instant, Alex recalled Zebstrika to its Poké Ball.
The four Electrode began to glow with a blinding white light, ready to explode, threatening to flatten everything within a few kilometers, with the nearby Pokémon facing the brunt of it.
Mismagius and Gourgeist were taken aback, realizing Alex was willing to sacrifice them too.
And Alex was already preparing to escape, sending out his own Alakazam to Teleport him away.
As long as Julian was killed, his mission would be complete, though he would lose several of these Pokémon.
"Metagross!"
Julian called, activating the Elite-level peak experience card he'd earned from the system as a reward.
With the experience card, and boosted by Mega Evolution, Metagross's power surged to the pseudo-Champion level.
The Electrode, on the brink of explosion, suddenly felt an immense force suppressing their detonation energy, unable to release it.
"Take them down first," Julian ordered.
Recognizing the explosive risk posed by the Electrode, Mega Metagross leaped into action, slamming its four claws down with crushing force, annihilating the four Electrode.
Then, in a blink, Metagross Teleported to Gourgeist, delivering a devastating Meteor Mash, knocking it unconscious.
The power gap between pseudo-Champion and Elite was massive, with an even wider gap between Elite and pseudo-Elite.
Seeing the sudden surge in Metagross's strength, Mismagius panicked, giving Alakazam an opening to finish it off with a Psybeam.
From the moment Julian activated the Elite-level experience card to the current scene, only three seconds had passed.
In those three seconds, Alex had already been teleported away by his Alakazam.
"Why didn't they explode?"
Reappearing about seven or eight kilometers from the battle, Alex noticed the absence of any explosion sounds, and a sense of dread filled him.
But he dismissed it as unlikely; with four pseudo-Elite Electrode using Explosion, the blast's power would be multiplied exponentially.
Once they began the move, stopping it should've been impossible—even they couldn't cancel it if they tried.
"Metagross, bring that guy back to me," Julian commanded coldly.
Within ten seconds, Metagross disappeared and reappeared, dragging a barely alive Alex back to Julian.
As for Alex's Alakazam, his brain was pierced by Metagross, and now its body was still hanging on Metagross's arm.
The Metagross species was naturally brutal, but due to their highly developed brains, they restrained their violent instincts.
This time, however, that savage nature had come to the forefront, leaving Alakazam's lifeless body as proof.
Julian retrieved the Poké Balls from Alex's belongings, returning Mismagius and Gourgeist while locking all other Poké Balls to prevent any accidental releases.
Seeing this, Alex went pale, opening his mouth to beg for mercy, but Julian didn't give him the chance.
"Gastly, use Hypnosis, then Dream Eater," Julian ordered.
A white Gastly suddenly appeared before Julian, its eyes glowing with an eerie light. In moments, Alex was overcome with drowsiness and fell asleep, fear frozen on his face.
Had Julian not needed him alive to uncover the families targeting him, he would have sent Gastly to kill Alex long ago, without giving him the chance to deploy his three Elite-level Pokémon.
This was the only reason Alex had lasted this long.
Under Dream Eater's effects, Alex's face twisted with discomfort as his dreams played out in Julian's mind with Gastly' help.
While Julian didn't uncover the specific individuals behind this, he learned that several Steel-type families were involved, though the details were still unclear.
They had only sent intermediaries to contact Alex.
Before long, Julian identified one of these Steel-type families. Alex wasn't a fool; he had secretly followed his contacts using his Alakazam's abilities, discovering one of the families in question.
With a family name in hand, the rest would be straightforward.
Before Julian could delve further, the vision abruptly ended.
He opened his eyes to find Alex foaming at the mouth, his limbs twitching uncontrollably.
When a Pokémon's Hypnosis move is used on a human, it can induce instant sleep.
However, if combined with Dream Eater or Nightmare, it can inflict severe mental damage due to the fragility of the human mind.
In mild cases, it might lead to memory loss; in severe cases, it could cause permanent brain damage, turning the person into a vegetable or, in the worst case, leading to death.
Gastly showed no mercy, using Dream Eater on Alex. The fact that Alex survived was pure luck, but his future seemed grim—he was likely to remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.
"Finish him"
As soon as he finished speaking, Metagross delivered a powerful punch, leaving another headless body in its wake, blood splattering onto Julian.
"Smack"
Julian slapped Metagross's head in frustration.
"Next time, could you just break their neck? Don't be so brutal. Or at least warn me beforehand, alright?"
Wiping his face, Julian's hand came away covered in a sticky white substance, and a wave of nausea hit him. Just now I… seem to have licked it?
He shot a glare at Metagross, his irritation rising.
But Metagross seemed oblivious, dragging Alex's body along with Alakazam's to a corner and continuing its corpse abuse.
To Metagross, anyone who dared harm Julian deserved a fate worse than death.
Understanding its mindset, Julian let it be.
He tried vomiting a few times but unable to bring anything up.
*****
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