Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Among legendary Pokémon, the most numerous were undoubtedly the Legendary Birds—Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Because of this, some trainers have successfully earned their favor and managed to capture them.

The hardest part wasn't defeating them—it was earning their recognition. That was the real challenge.

Defeating them, in fact, wasn’t all that difficult.

But why is it that, for all legendary and mythical Pokémon, even if a trainer defeats them, they can’t be captured unless they acknowledge the trainer?

The main reason lies in a rule-bound power inherent to them—the very thing that sets them apart from ordinary Pokémon.

Otherwise, just looking at base stats, pseudo-legendaries actually surpass the Legendary Birds. Yet, pseudo-legendaries are still classified as ordinary Pokémon, while the Birds are not.

This "rule-bound power" can be considered a gift from nature or the world itself, and with it comes certain responsibilities.

If a legendary doesn’t acknowledge you, even if you capture them, the rule power they carry will destroy the Poké Ball. With the sole exception of a Master Ball, any other ball will eventually break.

That said, a higher-quality ball can delay the destruction. But if you try to catch one with a standard red-and-white Poké Ball?

It’ll be shattered within a day or two.

Julian pulled out a Luxury Ball—the highest-end Poké Ball currently available on the market, costing a million each.

By comparison, a standard red-and-white Poké Ball went for just 10,000.

After all, this was a pseudo-Champion-tier legendary Pokémon. Capturing it meant he could trade it for massive resources outside.

As for using it himself—Julian had no interest. To him, Moltres was basically useless.

Its Fire/Flying typing didn’t align with his primary (Steel) or secondary (Dragon) specialties. The only things worth praising were its strength and status.

But Julian didn’t care about that.

He already had legendaries and mythicals of his own.

So, once caught, Moltres was just trade fodder.

Moltres: 'Do I not get any dignity here?!'

Just as Julian was about to toss the Luxury Ball, a pink Pokémon suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Lele~”

Tapu Lele: “You cannot capture it.”

Seeing Akala Island’s guardian deity show up—for Moltres, no less—Julian raised an eyebrow in surprise.

He had expected Tapu Lele to only show up when he was about to leave the island. He didn’t expect it to appear now.

“Reason?” Julian asked calmly.

If it didn’t give him a good enough explanation, then even being the island’s guardian wouldn’t mean a thing.

"Meta~"

Metagross stared straight at it, clearly still unsatisfied with its earlier fight. It hoped the other would act a little cockier—that way, its trainer would have a good reason to beat it up.

Tapu Lele already knew from Tapu Fini that Julian had defeated it—and at the time, it had mercilessly laughed at its fellow guardian for the loss.

Now, after watching Julian effortlessly crush four Elite-tier Pokémon and then take down a pseudo-Champion Moltres, Tapu Lele wasn’t about to make the same mistake.

The ease with which he did it made it feel like no effort was even needed.

Tapu Lele: "This volcano needs Moltres. Without it constantly absorbing the volcanic energy, the eruption would destroy Akala Island."

So it turned out Moltres was basically a glorified pressure valve.

But that actually made a lot of sense.

Back when he first arrived at Akala Island, Julian had seen the massive volcano belching thick black smoke—clearly an active volcano.

At the time, he had even wondered if a future eruption would destroy the island, only for it to be reborn from the ashes a hundred years later.

After all, volcanic eruptions expand landmass when lava cools and solidifies. A century later, plants would regrow, and Pokémon would naturally migrate back, bringing the island back to life.

What he hadn't expected was that the volcano never erupted at all—because Moltres had been continually absorbing the lava's energy. No wonder it hadn’t exploded.

Akala Volcano: 'I'm always just one step away from erupting...'

Julian: 'I suspect you're being suggestive, but I have no proof.'

Still, he didn’t doubt Tapu Lele's words.

"Fine, I won’t catch it. But what’s in it for me?" Julian said flatly.

If there were no benefits, he clearly wouldn’t agree. As for the argument that the volcano would erupt and kill many Pokémon if Moltres was taken—

Well, what did that have to do with him? Clearly, that was Tapu Lele’s job as the island guardian.

If it couldn’t handle its duties, that was its own failure.

Tapu Lele pointed at the volcano and said, "I assume you're here for the treasure inside the volcano, right?"

Julian raised an eyebrow, and then nodded. "One of the reasons I wanted to capture Moltres was to send it down there to fetch the treasure for me."

"How did you know there was treasure inside the volcano?"

Tapu Lele proudly declared, "There's nothing on this island that I, its guardian deity, don’t know."

'Oh, now you’re getting cocky.'

'So what if you’re a guardian deity? You still need to beg me.'

Tapu Lele continued, "That treasure is at the bottom of the volcano. With Moltres’ current abilities, it can't reach it. Otherwise, it would’ve eaten it long ago."

"The lava down there is 'that' hot?" Julian was genuinely surprised.

He’d assumed the treasure remained untouched because its energy was too well-concealed for Moltres to sense.

It turned out that wasn’t the case—Moltres had sensed the treasure, but simply didn’t have the strength to reach the bottom of the magma. That’s the only reason the treasure had remained untouched all this time.

Julian realized he had underestimated the Akala Volcano. No wonder it took up a full quarter of the island—it made sense now. The magma at its bottom was so hot that even Moltres couldn’t endure it.

“So if I let Moltres go, you’ll retrieve that treasure for me?” Julian asked, testing the waters.

Tapu Lele nodded. “If you agree, I will.”

The treasure was something born from the Akala Volcano itself. Trading it for Moltres was roughly equal in value—but Julian felt like he was getting the better end of the deal.

After all, his plan had always been to trade Moltres for resources—so it didn’t matter who the deal was with.

Now that he could trade it directly with Tapu Lele in exchange for the treasure he truly wanted, this was obviously the best possible outcome.

"Deal," Julian agreed.

Tapu Lele: “Wait here. I’ll go retrieve it for you.”

With that, it dove straight into the magma—and then something bizarre happened. The lava seemed to come alive, parting on its own.

This allowed Tapu Lele to descend without being burned, making it clear that retrieving the treasure at the volcano’s base was effortless for it.

Clearly, the island guardian had far more control over its territory than Julian had expected.

It could even command the flow of magma directly.

Metagross could theoretically use its psychic powers to do something similar, but the deeper it went, the greater the pressure, and even then there was no guarantee it could reach the bottom. Certainly not like Tapu Lele, who moved through it with ease.

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

/ReduxMagister