Using psychic, Julian transmitted his voice directly into Mega Steelix's mind.

  The drowsiness in Steelix's eyes vanished in an instant.

  Mega Steelix looked fused—just now, it seemed like its trainer's voice had echoed in its head.

  "ch"

  Once again, Julian's voice rang in its mind.

  Under Lunatone's puzzled gaze, Mega Steelix, which had been on the verge of falling asleep, suddenly woke up without warning—and immediately bit down on it.

  Caught off guard, Lunatone had no time to react before Steelix's powerful jaws cmped dowing a crushing force that felt as if it would snap its body in two.

  Waves of searing pain spread through Lunatone's entire being.

  Finally, it could no loay scious—its vision blurred, and its mi bnk.

  Seeing this, Mega Steelix released Lunatone from its jaws, tossing it aside before spitting.

  Mega Steelix: 'Don't know when this thing st took a bath…'

  Fred: 'What do you mean? Are you saying my Lunatone is dirty?'

  Julian released the Mega Evolution, and Mega Steelix returo its inal form.

  As the overwhelming power faded, Steelix showed a look of reluce—being at ae level had been intoxig.

  Steelix: 'I must work hard to reach the Elite level. I o accumute more energy... which means I have to eat more!'

  However, as soon as the transformation ended, a wave of exhaustio over its body. Defeating Lunatone had e at a cost.

  In its Mega state, Steelix had greater strength and endurance, but now that the transformation was gos body had to bear the injuries it had sustained.

  The fact that it remaianding showed just how tough its body was.

  —

  "Sister, why wasn't Mega Steelix hypnotized just now?"

  The girl's question mirrored the fusion of the spectators.

  They had seen it clearly—Lunatone's Hypnosis had successfully nded, and Mega Steelix had indeed been affected. It had even been about to fall asleep, only to suddenly wake up as if nothing had happened.

  Hypnosis, once successful, was like full-body ahesia—it put the target to sleep within seds, and sheer willpower alone couldn't resist it.

  Some trainers, upon seeing their Pokémon hypnotized, would desperately shout to wake them up, but that was futile.

  Uhe effect wore off naturally, a hypnotized Pokémon couldn't be roused by external the very least, a single and from the trainer wasn't enough—their voice simply wasn't loud enough.

  Hearing the question, the others turoward the girl's older sister, as if expeg her to know the answer.

  On the surface, the older sister remained calm, but inside, she wao smack her rebellious little sister.

  She didn't mind being admired by her sibling—but couldn't she at least check atg before speaking up like that?

  So, she decided to pretend she hadn't heard anything.

  Instead, Frank, standing nearby, answered, "It's probably Aura. Julian has advanced-level Aura abilities, so he must have used that to wake up Mega Steelix."

  Upon hearing this, the dozen or so onlookers silently cursed in their hearts.

  ' we ordinary folks even survive in this world?'

  Not only did he have a powerful family background and overwhelming talent, but he also possessed a special ability—'and' an advanced o that!

  Advanced level special abilities were extremely rare in Drakoria, akin to a phoenix feather or a uni's horn.

  Moreover, it was only when a special ability reached an advanced level that it truly showed its full potential.

  For example, with advanced Aura, Julian could form and unch Aura Spheres, something impossible at the basic or intermediate levels.

  "Uncle, Julian was in a Mega Evolution state, aill had the energy to use Aura?" Ethan asked skeptically, wearing an expression that clearly said, 'I may be young, but don't try to fool me'

  The surrounding people were taken aback.

  'That's right. The kid has a point'

  During Mega Evolution, a trainer had to focus intensely. Even the slightest distra could cause them to lose trol a their Pokémon back to its normal form.

  Surprisingly, this time, Frank didn't call Ethan ignorant. Instead, he gave him an approving look, surprised that the kid had actually thought of such a valid question.

  "It's not impossible. In an official tour, ae-level Psychic trainer once demonstrated the ability to maintain a Psychik with their Pokémon while it was in Mega Evolution. Their Akazam received two separate power boosts during the battle."

  That tour had been nearly ten years ago. Given the age of the people present, it wasn't surprising that most of them didn't remember or hadn't watched it.

  "But doing that would p immerain orainer."

  Frank turo Julian, feeling a bit puzzled.

  Julian's expression remained perfectly natural, as if he haded himself at all.

  That was strange.

  Mega Evolution alone ed a signifit amount of energy, and their battle had sted quite a while. Yet, Julian showed no signs of exhaustion.

  'Are young people these days all this physically resilient?'

  Julian had only told his family about his intermediate-level Psychic abilities. To everyone else, this remained one of his hidden trump cards.

  Meanwhile, Fred had also guessed that Julian had used Aura to wake up Steelix.

  If Steelix had remained under Hypnosis, the oute of the match would have beeirely different.

  Having already lost two rounds, Gym Leader Fred's expression became serious.

  When Juliaed his Probopass, he had already put aside his initial uimation of him.

  But he hadn't expected that even his sed Pokémon, Lunatone, would also be defeated by Julian.

  "Old John, you really raised an outstanding grandson," Fred said enviously.

  He couldn't help but think of his own two grandsons—the eldest and sed-born of the family.

  Both were typical rich sed geion disappois.

  All they did was go around bullying trainers from on backgrounds. But when they faced other heirs of prestigious families? They dropped to their knees without a fight.

  Julian: "It was alright, I guess."

  Ethan: "He's sant! Not humble at all!"

  Frank smacked Ethan on the head and said, "Only the capable have the right to be arrogant. If you had even half of his talent, our family would be yours to and iure."

  Ethan's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really?!"

  "Yeah. But you actually do it?"

  "han shook his head without hesitation.

  Frank eechless.

  'Here I thought my words would inspire him to work hard from now on…'

  'Turns out he was just messing with me!'

  'Messing with your own uncle? Damn, kid, you've got some guts'

  Thinking this, Frank smacked the back of Ethan's head again—this time with enough forost send him to the ground.

  "Uncle, what was that for?! If you keep this up, I'm going to get mad!" Ethan protested angrily.

  'So what if I'm useless?'

  'Just because I'm useless, you think you hit me like this?'

  'Don't you know this is a serious blow to my self-esteem?'

  'And in front of all these people too! Even that girl from the aristocratic family is watg!'

  Frank smirked. "Mad, huh? How about we have a little battle? You choose the Pokémon's level. Or, if you prefer, we settle this with some good old-fashioned hand-to-hand bat."

  Ethan instantly backed down.

  'Pokémon battle? No way I'm beating uncle'

  As for hand-to-hand bat, looking at his own body, weakened from years of indulgend at Frank's—ripped, trained, and built like a tank.'Yeah, no thanks'

  Ethan gulped. "Uncle, if you hit me… you'll have to beg me."

  Fra out an annoyed ugh. "Beg you?"

  Ethan: "Beg me not to die."

  Frank: '…Maybe I really should beat him to death'

  *****

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