Since they couldn't come up with a good plan for now, and none of the five were the type to overthink things, they simply decided to drop it for the time being.
"That Pupitar you caught is another Totem-class Pokémon? Your luck is just insane," Asher said, looking toward Pupitar who was now playing in the sand with Arcanine. Its four-meter-tall frame clearly wasn't just the result of good nutrition—it was unmistakably the stature of a Totem-class Pokémon.
The others also turned to look at Pupitar, each with envy in their eyes.
A future pseudo-legendary combined with its Totem-class status—under that dual identity, Pupitar's value was off the charts.
"Heh, guess I got lucky," Julian grinned triumphantly.
Sure, he might have been cursed in some aspects, but occasionally, fortune did smile upon him.
Once Pupitar evolved into a full-grown Tyranitar, its size would probably be on par with Aggron. At that point, it would be like having two mountains standing guard.
Anyone who wanted to take him down would have to get through both Tyranitar and Aggron first.
Even though this trip into the secret realm wasn't over yet, Julian's gains had already been immense.
In terms of Pokémon, he had caught a Elite-level Kartana, a pseudo-Champion Moltres, and a Totem-class Pupitar.
As for treasures, he'd obtained the Fire-type Ultimate Treasure — the Flame of Life, and the Fighting-type Ultimate Treasure — the Spirit of Combat, not to mention countless other valuable items.
On top of that, both Arcanine and Lucario had already broken through to the Elite-tier.
"Moltres and Pupitar don't even match your primary or secondary type. You really are a man with no principles," Ember said with a pout.
"Keep being jealous."
Julian knew full well what she was thinking.
When a Legendary bird and a Totem-class pseudo-legendary fall into your lap, you don't fuss over type compatibility—you catch them. Even if they completely countered his team's strengths, he'd still capture them.
---
As night fell, Julian had already returned most of his Pokémon to their Poké Balls and the group of five decided to set up camp for the night.
The area had already been scouted by their Pokémon, and Pierce had laid out traps as an added precaution.
In unfamiliar territory—with confirmed enemies lurking—they couldn't afford carelessness. The rotating night watch resumed, and this time, they didn't even light a fire.
As Pierce had put it: "We're in the shadows and the Celestrians and Gallians are in the light."
Those two countries had no idea Julian's group had arrived on this island.
After more than five months here, the Celestrians and Gallians had likely already eliminated most of the island's threats and their actions would have grown far bolder—perhaps even lighting campfires at night.
Meanwhile, Julian had already dispatched Gengar to scout.
With its perfect invisibility, there was no need to worry about Gengar's safety.
If they were lucky, they might even find the Celestrian team within a few days.
Unfortunately, after four full days of searching, Gengar still hadn't found a single trace of the Celestrian or Gallian trainers—not even the Volkarian trainers.
To be more precise, it hadn't spotted a single human on the entire island in all that time.
"Not a single person...?" Julian muttered to himself.
At first, he'd assumed Gengar was just unlucky, which was why it hadn't found any living person.
But then Ember and the others sent out their own Flying-types to scout—with the same result.
"Could they have defeated the Island Guardian and left already?" Ember speculated.
"Unlikely. Melemele island's guardian is Tapu Koko—a peak pseudo-Champion Pokémon. You really think they could beat something like that?"
"Even if one or two managed to defeat it, there's no way every trainer on this island pulled it off," Julian shook his head, dismissing that theory outright.
A peak pseudo-Champion was no joke. Even he wouldn't be confident in a one-on-one fight against such a powerful being.
So those trainers must still be on the island—but why hadn't they found a single one?
There were only three possible explanations.
First: they killed each other off in infighting, and now they're all dead. But that seemed very unlikely.
Second: they were hiding somewhere on the island, which was why they couldn't be found.
Third: they had done something outrageous on the island, and Tapu Koko had wiped them all out.
Julian still remembered how he was misunderstood by Tapu Bulu. The guardian had drawn on the island's power to temporarily reach Champion-level strength, nearly flattening him to death.
If Tapu Koko had done something similar, then no amount of trainers combined would've been enough to defeat it.
The first possibility seemed least likely and the third also seemed improbable—after all, if everyone had been killed, they should've found at least some bodies by now.
That left only the second possibility.
If the trainers were truly 'actively hiding' somewhere, then finding them would be extremely difficult.
While Julian was still pondering this, Steelix—who'd been half-buried in the sand—suddenly reared up and looked around with a puzzled expression—then lay back down again.
A few minutes later, it rose up again and scanned the surroundings.
"What the hell are you doing?" Julian asked.
He had just been about to take a sip of his drink when Steelix suddenly stood up again.
It couldn't be sensing danger—Metagross and Lucario, both far more perceptive, hadn't noticed anything. And Steelix wasn't exactly the best at detecting things.
Hearing Julian's question, Steelix rumbled: "I felt faint tremors. Tiny, but consistent. Coming from somewhere distant."
Julian's eyes lit up the moment he heard that.
"You're sure you didn't feel wrong?" he asked.
Steelix: "No... but the vibrations seem to have stopped now."
As a Steel/Ground-type, Steelix had been buried in the sand—making it uniquely sensitive to even the faintest tremors. So if there really were tremors in the ground, it could definitely sense it.
And since the vibrations were so faint, none of the other Pokémon had noticed—it made sense that Steelix was the only one who did.
"Keep yourself buried. If there's any more movement, try to pinpoint the source of the tremors first."
Steelix nodded and in the next second completely disappeared underground. If tremors were detected again, it could sense them much more precisely this time.
After about ten minutes, Steelix emerged from the ground again.
"Well?" Julian asked quickly.
Steelix replied quite proudly: "I've located the direction of the tremor's source and have a rough estimate of the distance."
"Good job," Julian said appreciatively, looking at Steelix who was clearly seeking praise.
He then shared this information with Pierce and the other three.
Assuming it wasn't a natural earthquake, the faint tremors Steelix had detected most likely meant they had been caused by a battle.
Now if Steelix followed the direction of the vibrations, they would very likely find the location of the battle.
Of course, it was still possible the battle had been between wild Pokémon—but there was also a good chance that it involved human trainers - both scenarios were plausible.
As Julian gave the signal, he mounted Moltres while Steelix traveled underground, moving toward the source of the vibrations and simultaneously guiding Julian and the others along the way.
*****
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