Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

If it wasn’t for the two First-class legendaries sleeping on the central island, Julian wouldn’t have gone to the snowy mountain with Pierce and the others. Now that things had changed, he was skipping the central island.

The snowy mountain was located at the easternmost part of Poni Island—Poni Island being the name of the island they were currently on.

The other three islands were named Melemele Island, Akala Island, and Ula’ula Island.

These island names were told to Julian by Tapu Fini.

When they arrived at the foot of the snowy mountain, the temperature had dropped from over twenty degrees to minus one or two, and that was just at the base.

The higher they went, the colder it would get.

This snowy mountain was roughly 5,000 meters high. Based on the rule of temperature dropping six degrees for every 1,000 meters climbed, the summit temperature would be around minus thirty degrees.

The group had already changed into down jackets. Though they looked thin, the insulation was excellent, and the jackets were filled with the shed fur of Walrein during summer.

They could withstand extreme temperatures down to minus fifty degrees, so these down jackets were more than enough to keep Julian and the others from fearing the cold here.

At the base of the snowy mountain, there was very little snow. Most of it was exposed rock and a few gently flowing streams.

A few Alolan Rattata could be seen drinking water by the stream, but once they noticed Julian and the others, they squeaked and scattered.

“Watch your step on the rocks,” Pierce warned.

The rocks underfoot were uneven, and Pierce warned them not because he was worried about them slipping, but in case they accidentally stepped on a Geodude or Graveler disguised as rocks.

Many Geodudes liked to sleep in rocky areas like this, and Geodudes were social creatures. If there was one underfoot, there was definitely a group nearby.

Being careful of Geodudes disguised as rocks in rocky terrain was something every trainer knew, but even so, every year quite a few trainers still stepped on one, failed to react in time, and got killed by a single punch.

“Metagross.”

“Meta~”

Metagross nodded, under its psychic scanning, the Geodudes disguised as rocks were completely exposed. In no time, dozens of Geodudes within a few hundred meters of Julian and the others were floating in mid-air, held up by Psychic.

There were even a few Graveler among them.

'Damn, so many Geodudes are hiding around here.'

Julian instinctively used his Probing Eyes to check, and let out a “Huh”.

“What' wrong?” Ember asked.

She thought Julian had spotted some danger.

“That Geodude should have pretty good potential. Pierce, you can catch it.”

Julian pointed to one about sixty meters away, and Metagross floated the little Pokémon over to the group.

Because it couldn’t move, and it was being stared at by Julian and the others along with five Pokémon, the poor Geodude could only blink nervously.

Geodude: 'So much pressure… I feel so panicked… Are they going to eat me?'

With that thought, its eyes rolled back, and it fainted on the spot out of fear.

Julian: “A bit timid.”

Well, it was just a Geodude under level ten. Getting stared down by five Elite-tier Pokémon and not fainting right away—honestly, that already counted as being pretty brave.

The Probing Eyes showed that this Alolan Geodude had Cyan-tier potential.

Alolan Geodude were Rock and Electric types, which happened to match Pierce’s specialty.

The potential detector was bulky and not convenient to carry into secret realms, so most trainers had to judge a Pokémon’s potential based on its appearance, health, fur condition, and overall demeanor when capturing them.

But this kind of judgment wasn’t very accurate, and it was easy to get it wrong.

Like this Geodude in front of them: small and skinny, clearly underdeveloped. Among all the Geodude around, it had one of the worst appearances.

But since Julian said its potential was good, that meant it was at least Cyan-tier. So Pierce went ahead and caught the little Geodude.

In fact, he already had an Elite-level Golem, but when it came to talented Pokémon, more was always better, and this was even a regional variant of Geodude.

“You can sense a Pokémon’s potential?” Ember asked, surprised.

“A vague feeling,” Julian nodded.

Although he didn’t tell the full truth, but it was close enough.

“For real?” Rowan was skeptical.

This time, Asher scoffed from the side: “Just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean others can’t.”

“I can also vaguely sense a Pokémon’s potential—but only Dragon-types, since I have the power of Dragon's Heart.”

He finished with a proud look in Rowan’s direction.

Rowan’s jealous expression made Asher feel very pleased.

“What’s so great about a special ability?” Rowan muttered.

“Special abilities aren’t that great. They just let you boost a Pokémon’s strength—pretty average stuff. The key thing is… you 'don’t' have it,” Asher said.

That last line was the real kicker.

You don’t have it, I do, and that makes me happy.

“Hmph, what are you so smug about? My family has had special powers for generations. Maybe I have one too, it just hasn’t awakened yet.”

Looking at Asher’s smug face, Rowan felt very uncomfortable.

“I know what ability you’ve got, it’s 'Psychic', right?” Asher smiled.

“Screw off!” Rowan glared at him.

There was a meme in the outside world: that everyone had a chance of awakening psychic powers.

Among all known people with special abilities, only those who awakened psychic powers had such a wide range of professions—there were drivers, workers, white-collar employees, and of course, trainers. In fact, their numbers were the highest among all ability users.

People could awaken psychic powers under extreme emotions, such as anger, sadness, joy, or fear, though the chances were very slim.

Because of this, 'Psychic' was also known as the 'civilian ability'.

Meaning, even regular people might have a chance to awaken it. Of course, most awakeners remained at the beginner stage for their entire lives.

But abilities like Aura, the Power of Dragon's Heart, or the Power of Viridian—those were mostly inherited.

If your ancestors had it, you might have it too. If not, then don’t even think about it, unless you manage to find a first-class legendary to grant you such an ability.

“Let’s go. I plan to go all the way up to the summit and take a look,” Pierce said.

The chance of treasures appearing at the foot of the mountain were low. After all, there were already many wild Pokémon in the area. If there were treasures, they would’ve taken them long ago.

“Julian, if there’s a Pokémon with good potential at the summit, please let me know,” Rowan whispered as he came up to Julian. After saying that, he glanced at Asher, to see if he had heard him.

There were definitely going to be Ice-type Pokémon at the summit.

But of course, Asher had heard him: “Julian, don’t help him, this guy’s not worth it.”

“You wanna fight?”

Rowan glared at Asher. This guy must be itching for a beating.

Since when did Dragon-type trainers dare to act so arrogant in front of an Ice-type specialist like him?

Asher: “As long as you don’t use Ice-types, I’ll fight you.”

Rowan: "You shameless son of a…"

*****

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/ReduxMagister