At Itesburg Airport, capital of Pannar, there were about twenty minutes left before Julian’s jet was scheduled to land. Since yesterday, part of the airport had already been placed under heightened security.
Many high-ranking officials of Pannar had already gathered there, including Omar Adil, the country's only Champion Trainer.
Even the Champion had arrived. With such a grand setup, one might have thought they were preparing to receive a national leader or a Champion-level trainer.
In reality, they were all waiting for Julian.
"Drakoria is sending Champion Walker’s grandson… can his strength really be relied on?" one official asked worriedly.
His words echoed the thoughts of many.
If John himself was coming, no one would be questioning it.
But it was Julian. Although Drakoria claimed he possessed Champion-level combat power, he wasn’t a real Champion. Naturally, that left some people uneasy.
Omar, however, remained confident: "Drakoria has always supported Pannar. Do you really think they would send a trainer who couldn’t solve the problem at a time like this?"
That was true—Drakoria was famously good to its allies, especially Pannar, its most loyal little brother.
No industrial base? Big Brother Drakoria helped build one for them.
No skilled workers? Big Brother Drakoria sent experts to teach them hands-on.
No proper trainer academies? Big Brother Drakoria dispatched a ten-thousand-man teaching corps.
No nuclear deterrent? By sheer coincidence, Big Brother just happened to "drop" two nuclear warheads on Little Brother’s territory. Little Brother picked them up and wasn’t asked to return them.
Where else could you find such a reliable big brother?
There were plenty of countries stronger than Pannar, but all of them envied Pannar’s close relationship with Drakoria.
If Pannar was in trouble, Drakoria would really come to help.
Unlike Celestria, which had many allies but often turned a blind eye when some of them faced difficulties.
Not long ago, even its own "godson" was pinned to the ground and beaten by Drakoria, yet Celestria didn’t react at all.
That incident had many of their allies thinking: 'If they won’t even protect their "godson", what chance do we have?'
At exactly 1:00 p.m., Julian’s private jet touched down.
Stepping off the jet, Julian saw more than a dozen people waiting to greet him. Most were strangers to him, but he instantly recognized Omar Adil, Pannar’s Champion.
This Champion was nearly a hundred years old.
While Drakoria’s average life expectancy was around 120, due to Pannar’s lower economic level, the average here was less than 100.
Of course, as Pannar’s national treasure, the country would undoubtedly do everything possible to extend his life.
Julian was rather surprised. He hadn’t expected that a full-fledged Champion would personally come to greet a "mere" Pseudo-Champion like him.
Since they had shown him such great respect, Julian naturally couldn’t afford to be impolite—after all, in a sense, he was representing Drakoria.
He quickly walked up to Omar and said, "Champion Omar, I am Julian Walker."
He spoke in fluent Pannar's language, which caught Omar off guard but at the same time felt unexpectedly warm and familiar.
In fact, Omar had even brought along a translator—turns out, he wouldn’t be needing one.
"Hello, Julian," Omar replied with a smile.
Another man stepped forward: "Mr. Walker, I am David Gilmour, the ambassador of Drakoria to Pannar. If you have any needs, please feel free to let me know."
Julian nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Most regions of Pannar had a relatively dry climate, with naturally high temperatures. Now, in the midst of summer, many civilians in Pannar died from heatstroke every year—a situation hard to imagine back home.
Due to this consistently hot weather, there were more Fire-type trainers in Pannar than any other specialization.
Out of every ten trainers, three or four would be Fire-type specialists.
With the sun practically shining under a permanent Sunny Day, it was only natural. In fact, even Pannar’s Champion, Omar Adil, was a Fire-type trainer.
The second most common were Grass-type trainers—as the abundant sunlight facilitated photosynthesis for Grass-type Pokémon. This meant that in Pannar—and indeed all hot regions—Grass-type Pokémon generally developed better.
And the chances of a Grass-type Totem-class Pokémon being born were even higher in these regions.
Celebi: "Julian, it’s so hot…"
Julian: 'You little fraud—you’re supposed to be a Grass-type. How can you complain about too much sun?'
Perched on top of Julian’s head, Celebi looked up at the scorching sun overhead. After just a few minutes of exposure, it was already on the verge of panting like an Arcanine.
Ever since its existence had been revealed, it had been out of its Poké Ball, if Julian hadn’t stopped it, Celebi would have probably thrown away its Poké Ball.
Of course, Metagross was also always by Julian’s side.
Everyone’s attention shifted from Julian to the Pokémon on his head.
The Time Travel Pokémon, Celebi—truly an astonishing being. No one could quite figure out how Julian had managed to make such a being willingly follow him.
Although they couldn’t understand what Celebi was saying, but sweat was already dripping from its forehead.
And that sweat… somehow looked greasy.
Ambassador David suddenly recalled those viral videos of Celebi eating voraciously online.
'Could it be because of its diet?' he thought.
"Let’s get in the car first," one of the high-ranking Pannar officials quickly suggested.
Everyone present was sharp enough to notice Celebi’s discomfort from the heat. Besides, they were all dressed formally for the occasion, and their inner layers were already drenched in sweat.
Once they got into the car and the air conditioning kicked in, Celebi immediately perked up.
It pulled a can of cola from its small backpack and blew an extremely faint Icy Wind onto it, instantly turning the cola into an ice-cold drink.
Julian was also left speechless.
Not long ago, Celebi had suddenly asked him for an Icy Wind TM. He’d thought maybe—just maybe—this little glutton had finally decided to stop being obsessed with food and actually train hard.
Seeing this, Julian realized he must have been a fool to believe Celebi would ever change.
Aside from his previous "forced" trip to Wyvernia, this visit to Pannar was Julian’s first real experience traveling abroad.
Due to geography, political, and cultural customs, Pannar’s architecture looked completely different from Drakoria’s. You could even call it "exotic."
Although Pannar’s economic conditions were lacking, Itesburg was still the capital. While it couldn’t compare to metropolises like Orient City or Imperial Capital in Drakoria, and was even inferior to many provincial capitals, it could still hold its own against some of Drakoria’s tier-one cities.
The streets were broad, relatively clean, and overall the place appeared reasonably developed.
Julian even noticed quite a few buildings with Drakorian characters on them.
Given the close relationship between the two nations, many Drakorian businessmen had made a living in Pannar, and the Pannar government treated them quite favorably. As a result, in the capital, aside from Pannar nationals, the second-largest demographic was likely Drakorian citizens.
Through the window, Julian spotted several Drakorian looking faces on the streets.
Sitting with him in the car were Champion Omar, and Ambassador David. The driver upfront was a staff member from the embassy.
*****
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