Four hours later, the plane landed at Imperial Capital International Airport. Under the eager gazes of several flight attendants, Julian disembarked, casually slipping a few small notes into his pocket along the way.
After exiting the airport, he mounted Dragonite and flew straight toward Imperial University.
As for why he wasn't riding Moltres, it was mainly because Julian didn't want to draw too much attention.
This airport saw a constant stream of celebrities and famous professional trainers daily, which naturally attracted swarms of reporters and fans.
The moment Julian took off on his Dragonite, a reporter happened to capture the scene.
Soon after, an article titled "The Return of King Julian to Campus" was published, and the whole thing felt like something straight out of a novel.
Dragonite wasn't flying very fast, so it took about half an hour to arrive at Villa No. 1 on the university campus, where Julian lived.
It had been over six months since he'd last been here, and returning now gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
As Dragonite landed in the backyard, Nicole was already waiting there.
After getting off the plane, Julian had texted her his estimated arrival time.
He had been happy to see Nicole at first—until he noticed the Togepi cradled in her arms. Instantly, the smile on Julian's face stiffened.
"This Togepi—"
"It hatched from the egg left by that pair of Togekiss. Since you were away in the secret realm, I had to take care of the little one," Nicole said, gently stroking the Togepi in her arms. The tiny Pokémon clung to her finger, giggling nonstop.
'Damn it, I got sniped!'
Julian's mood instantly soured. He had originally planned to use Togepi to counteract his abysmal luck stats, but thanks to that trip to the Top-tier secret realm, he had no choice but to leave the egg with Nicole.
"What about the Togekiss couple?"
Losing Togepi was one thing—but as long as the couple was still around, it wasn't a total loss. In fact, they might even be more useful.
"Since you weren't here, they left."
Nicole's response completely shattered Julian's hopes.
Now, not only had the Togekiss pair flown away, but Togepi had been snatched up by Nicole.
Originally, the Togekiss couple had intended to stick around with Julian, but the moment he ran off to that Top-tier secret realm during what was supposed to be their "honeymoon phase," the whole relationship fell apart.
He bailed like some heartless jerk. The fact that they even left the egg behind was already generous. Expecting them to stay and wait for this heartless trainer? Yeah, right.
And just like that, Julian ended up with nothing.
Maybe this was fate's way of reminding him he was still cursed with bad luck.
"Let me take a look at Kartana and Moltres for research."
Before they could even exchange a few more words, Nicole was already itching to get her hands on his Pokémon.
Having already graduated, she was now an assistant professor at Imperial University's Research Institute.
Aside from occasionally mentoring freshmen, Nicole spent most of her time researching Pokémon.
Moltres was a Legendary Pokémon, and Kartana was a newly discovered species. Both of them were extremely attractive research subjects for her.
Julian simply released all of his Pokémon at once.
Nicole immediately locked her gaze onto Moltres and Kartana, then casually handed the Togepi in her arms over to Julian.
Togepi: 'So love just disappears, huh?'
Julian: 'Gotta pet you a few times to improve my luck.'
Nicole stared at Kartana with a scrutinizing gaze.
The paper-thin sword Pokémon inexplicably felt a wave of pressure.
Kartana: 'Woman, if you keep staring, I'll cut you.'
The next second, Nicole pulled out a professional measuring tape and began meticulously sizing Kartana up from head to toe.
Kartana: ⊙ｏ⊙
Having been warned by Julian beforehand, it naturally wouldn't attack Nicole. In fact, it even cooperated—after all, it wanted to escape her clutches as soon as possible.
Leaving Nicole to fuss over Kartana, Julian carried Togepi into the villa.
Despite being unoccupied for a while, the place was still spotless—mostly thanks to Nicole, who came by regularly to tidy up.
However, Slowking had already tied on an apron, and Magearna was helping out as well.
Meanwhile, Julian and Celebi sprawled on the couch like a pair of lazy uncles.
Watching Magearna sweep the floor, Julian felt like something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Eventually, he shrugged and stopped thinking about it.
Then he snatched away the bag of chips from Celebi's hands. 'This shameless little thing—just a few hours ago, it was swearing to Love that it would never eat junk food.'
Celebi: "Give it back! That was the last cucumber-flavored pack!"
Julian grabbed Celebi's chubby face with one hand while dumping the entire bag of chips into his mouth with the other.
"This is your punishment for lying."
He then placed the empty bag over Celebi's head. The little Mythical Pokémon's eyes instantly turned red.
'A grudge over stolen food is a grudge for life.'
Celebi retaliated immediately by launching a frenzied attack on Julian's hair, and Julian, not backing down, kept pinching Celebi's cheeks.
In the middle of their scuffle, Nicole suddenly walked in.
"Julian, what's—"
Her words cut off as she spotted Magearna.
Another Pokémon she had never seen before—and one Julian had never publicly revealed.
"Mage…?"
As always, Magearna was incredibly shy, especially under Nicole's intense gaze. It immediately panicked and hid in Julian's arms.
And at this moment, Julian finally realized why he'd felt something was off earlier.
When he'd released all his Pokémon in the backyard, Magearna had been among them. So why hadn't Nicole noticed it? And how had it even followed him inside unnoticed?
The main reason was that when Magearna had first appeared, it had been completely blocked by Aggron, so Nicole hadn't noticed it at all—especially since her attention had immediately been seized by Kartana and Moltres.
After that, she got busy measuring Kartana and didn't notice Magearna quietly following Julian into the villa.
"What kind of Pokémon is this?"
Nicole asked, her face full of curiosity. But she could tell Magearna was shy, so she didn't move any closer.
Julian gently stroked Magearna's head and shot Nicole an exasperated look. "Could you tone down the predatory gaze a little?"
"Magearna, don't be scared. This woman is harmless—she just has a creepy way of looking at things."
Nicole: 'Excuse me? Since when is my gaze creepy?'
Since Julian had already brought Magearna out in the backyard, he hadn't planned on hiding it from Nicole—especially since she dropped by often enough that she'd find out eventually.
That said, he wasn't about to reveal Magearna to the public anytime soon.
He gave Nicole a brief rundown on Magearna's basic info—though he carefully omitted the fact that it was an artificially created Pokémon.
"A Mythical Pokémon with Steel and Fairy typing?"
As Julian spoke, Nicole's eyes practically sparkled.
But at the same time, she felt a strange mix of excitement and frustration. Now she had three rare Pokémon to study—Moltres, Kartana, and Magearna. Researching even one would take months, let alone all three.
Yet, she was dying to uncover everything about them.
The contradiction was maddening.
*****
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