Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

While Tapu Lele went down to retrieve the treasure, the unconscious Moltres began to stir.

Despite being injured—and Metagross showing it no mercy during the fight—it had only taken five minutes to wake up. Any ordinary Pokémon wouldn’t have regained consciousness for at least half a day.

This was just one of the terrifying traits of a Legendary Pokémon.

“Oh, you're awake.”

Moltres was still dazed when a light, drifting voice reached its ears, making it instantly tense up.

But the next second, it realized—it couldn’t move at all.

“Meta~”

Metagross was using Psychic to completely restrain it.

This guy was now the "merchandise" to be exchanged with Tapu Lele for the treasure—there was no way they could let it escape.

"Stay put. Once the ransom’s paid, you’ll be free to go," Julian said calmly.

Moltres: 'Ransom?'

'When was I kidnapped? How come I didn’t know?'

Moltres still hadn’t figured out the situation. The only thing it knew was that it had been defeated by this human.

Now, the man wasn’t trying to capture it, nor was he letting it go. Instead, he was demanding a ransom.

'Ransom? Who’s gonna pay for me?'

Baffled, Moltres soon got its answer.

As Tapu Lele emerged from the magma, Julian, Metagross, and Moltres immediately turned their attention to it—but their gazes were quickly drawn to the pale golden, lotus-like flame floating beside Tapu Lele.

"Screech!"

The moment Moltres saw the pale golden flame, it became frenzied.

Its expression was like that of a man imprisoned for ten years suddenly seeing the most beautiful woman in the world.

With tremendous force, it struggled against Metagross’s Psychic grip—but failed to break free.

Pop!

The Poké Ball containing Arcanine burst open.

“Arf~”

Arcanine: "I want that."

Its eyes burned with deep desire—even stronger than its usual excitement over new furniture.

Moltres: "Damn mutt! That treasure is MINE!"

Moltres was furious. It had coveted that treasure for who knows how many years, but it had been buried so deep that it could never reach it.

“Who are you calling a mutt? Don’t you know, if you insult the dog, you're insulting its owner?”

Julian, wearing heat-resistant gloves, smacked Moltres across the face.

'Only I can scold my dog.' –The Domineering CEO Julian, quoted.

As Arcanine stared at the pale golden flame beside Tapu Lele, it felt every cell in its body trembling. It was radiating pure, unfiltered desire.

Drool had already started dripping from its mouth.

Julian: 'My dog’s embarrassing me again… but I’m used to it.'

Then he activated his Probing Eyes to inspect the golden flame.

[Flame of Life: When a Pokémon dies, it can be reborn in Nirvana through flames. After rebirth, its level resets to zero, and its potential rises to Gold-tier. (Limited to Fire-type Pokémon with minimum potential of Blue tier or higher)]

Seeing this description, Julian’s face lit up with delight—but there was also a strange look in his eyes.

“Is this a resurrection coin? A second-life armor?” Julian muttered.

To be reborn through flames meant instant revival after death. The effect was exactly like a resurrection coin.

The key point, however, was that after revival, the Pokémon’s level would reset to zero. That made sense—it was like starting the grind all over again.

But the most crucial part was this: after rebirth, the Pokémon’s potential would be elevated to Gold-tier.

You had to understand—what kind of Pokémon had Gold-tier potential? Only first-class legendary Pokémon. Currently, the highest potential for regular Pokémon was only Purple.

Even Metagross, after consuming the Heart of Arceus, only had one-third of its Purple potential upgraded to Gold.

And that was already the limit of what the Heart of Arceus could do. The item had already been fully absorbed by Metagross.

To upgrade the remaining two-thirds of Metagross’s potential to Gold, Julian would have to invest resources comparable to the Top-tier treasures.

But now, with the Flame of Life, as long as a Pokémon dies once, it can leap straight to Gold-tier potential.

Sure, there were restrictions, but Arcanine met all of them.

What could he say—this Flame of Life could indeed be considered an Ultimate treasure—but to make use of it, a Pokémon had to die first.

If it doesn’t die, even if it consumes it, it would have no effect.

Death!

Julian had never once imagined his Pokémon dying.

“Eat it,” Julian said to Arcanine.

Having an extra life wasn’t a bad thing. Hopefully, it’d never need to use it.

Moltres: "Oi, wait a damn second!"

Moltres panicked. How could this treasure be given to that dumb dog?

It looked at Julian pleadingly: "If you give this treasure to me… I’ll become your Pokémon!"

Julian shook his head. “You’re not worthy.”

'Do you even realize you’re just a tool bird? With Tapu Lele around, you can’t even be captured.'

And in terms of loyalty and closeness, Arcanine was the obvious choice.

Moltres, for the first time, realized that even as a legendary Pokémon, it didn’t have much status.

Especially when it saw the smug look on Arcanine’s face.

Arcanine: 'I’m the master’s favorite. Who the hell are you?'

Its tail wagged with such joy it practically left afterimages.

Under Moltres’s despairing gaze, Arcanine swallowed the Flame of Life in one bite.

It even licked its lips afterward.

Moltres: "…What did it taste like?"

Arcanine: "Ate it too fast. Didn’t notice."

The Flame of Life had zipped straight into its body the moment it was swallowed—how could it possibly feel anything?

But in the next second, an overwhelming energy erupted from Arcanine's body.

Metagross instantly shielded Julian.

The surge of energy came fast, and disappeared just as quickly.

Once the energy dissipated, Arcanine's grin stretched from ear to ear.

It had broken through to the Elite-tier.

Then—pa!—a smack landed on his head.

Julian said angrily, “Why couldn’t you hold back a little? Why rush the breakthrough now?"

Arcanine wasn’t bothered at all. It happily licked Julian’s face, tail wagging furiously.

Arcanine: "I couldn’t help it! The moment I ate that thing, I just broke through!"

Julian pulled up Arcanine’s status panel.

Pokémon: Arcanine (Fire)

Level: 75

Potential: Blue

Ability: Flash Fire

Held Item: Hardened Charcoal

Gender: Male

Moves: Leer, Ember, Howl, Bite, Flame Wheel, Helping Hand, Agility, Extreme Speed, Reversal, Flamethrower, Crunch, Fire Fang, Roar, Retaliate, Play Rough, Take Down

TMs: Protect, Fire Spin, Hyper Beam, Dig, Sunny Day, Giga Impact, Heat Wave, Wild Charge, Psychic Fangs, Blast Burn, Burn Up, Incinerate, Thunder Fang, Flame Charge, Eruption, Heat Crash

Egg Moves: Flare Blitz, Overheat, Double-Edge, Outrage

Note: Fire-type moves +20% power. Can be reborn from flames once.

---

Level 75—decent, mid-stage Elite-tier. Originally, Julian had planned to train Arcanine to break through to late-stage Elite directly.

But he hadn’t expected the Flame of Life to push it ahead of schedule.

The note at the bottom also included a new line—proof of its rebirth ability.

Now, counting the newly advanced Arcanine, Julian already had four Elite-tier Pokémon on his team.

In this secret realm, aside from the two slumbering first-class legendaries, as long as he didn’t screw up catastrophically…

He could basically walk around like he owned the place.

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

/ReduxMagister