Even though Charizard was a starter Pokémon, it was still rare to find in the wild. The Zard family controlled almost all of the Charizard line, and very few could be seen in the wild.
Axel was happy that he had not released his own Charizard. If a Charizard were to meet another of its kind, they would instantly battle for supremacy. Knowing how reckless his Charizard was, he knew that it would not care about the 3-rank difference and would charge at this king-rank Charizard.
"Hmm... This Charizard is seriously injured and is sleeping right now," said Mark, holding his breath tightly.
The injured Charizard was snoring loudly, and smoke was coming from its nose, causing mini fires around it. This Charizard looked extremely strong, even for a King rank. Axel could sense it with his aura. Axel noticed blood on its wings and stomach, and a huge cross-shaped wound on its face painted with blood.
Axel carefully took out a Master Ball.
"Axel, what the hell are you doing?" asked A in a hushed voice.
"Can't you see? I am trying to catch it, obviously."
"Isn't that a seriously stupid thing to do right now?"
"Don't worry, I have a plan," he said.
"Marcus, Venusaur, do it."
Shedinja used 'Hypnosis,' and Venusaur used 'Sleep Powder.' Considering it was already sleeping and seriously injured, it would not wake up for a long time.
Axel threw the ball, and the Charizard went inside it.
One click... Mark held his breath even more.
Two clicks... K, A, B, and Mark slowly moved back.
Three clicks... everyone held their breath.
And then it was caught.
Everyone sighed in relief.
"Axel, you are really reckless, you know that, right?" said Mark.
Unlike in the games, the Master Ball didn't have a 100% capture rate. It was the most powerful ball for catching a Pokémon, but a Pokémon could still break free from it.
"By the way, what are you going to do with this Charizard? Your Charizard won't tolerate having another one on the team," said Mark.
"Don't worry, I have a plan for it," said Axel in a mysterious tone.
The day wasn't fruitful except for Axel. While searching for the leader's team, Axel had caught another four King-rank Pokémon. All of them were seriously injured and resting.
They also encountered some dead King-rank Pokémon, but a Poké Ball couldn't capture a dead Pokémon. Alakazam and Xatu notified them of the presence of some pseudo-champion-rank Pokémon, so they avoided that area completely.
It was already evening, and they set up camp to rest and eat. Tauros had brought some dead Pokémon for them to eat, and they had a good meal. This was real life. Here, they had to kill Pokémon in the forest to eat.
The newly caught Pokémon by Axel were:
1. Primeape (Pseudo-King rank)
2. Poliwrath (Pseudo-King rank)
3. Nidorina (Pseudo-King rank)
4. Charizard (King rank)
5. Golduck (King rank)
6. Machamp (King rank)
7. Muk (King rank)
8. Hypno (King rank)
K, B, and A were jealous. Axel had caught five King-rank Pokémon and three pseudo-King-rank Pokémon. That was a lot of powerful Pokémon. They didn't catch any due to two reasons.
First, they didn't have any Poké Balls at the moment. After catching six Pokémon, the brothers had sold their Poké Balls, thinking they wouldn't need them.
Axel had come prepared and bought multiple Master Balls because he knew he could catch some Pokémon.
Second, they didn't have the guts to approach a seriously injured King-rank Pokémon and catch it. It took a lot of courage to even stand across from one.
The rest of the group thought that Axel was going to use these Pokémon in the league, but they were wrong.
Axel was not going to use any of these Pokémon on his team. If it were a baby wild Pokémon, then Axel would have considered it, but a King-rank Pokémon was a definite no-no.
Axel was proud to say that his Pokémon were stronger than other trainers' because he had trained them well. The reason Charizard could defeat multiple elemental-rank Pokémon was due to its proper training.
After a Pokémon reached King rank, it was very hard to change its training nature, and they might not even follow Axel like his team. So, he had a different plan for them.
He was going to give some of them to the Venu family, as they seriously lacked King-rank Pokémon now, in exchange for resources. He was going to sell the rest for resources to the league.
Axel now realized that he didn't lack any money. The forest in his home could cover that. The same forest could also provide the resources needed up to pseudo-King rank Pokémon, but Axel would have to buy resources above that rank.
Previously, there was only one way to do it: make new discoveries and inventions and submit them to the league for resources. But now he didn't want to go through that route.
He realized that these inventions and discoveries could bring a lot of trouble, like the solution for Shadow Pokémon. He also wanted to keep these inventions secret, like hidden trump cards. He might share them with Oak and the Venu family, given how they would treat him, but he would not share them with others.
So, the evolution of Piloswine, Mamoswine, and King's Rock would remain hidden. He had already told Mark not to send the documents related to King's Rock to the league.
There were lots of things to discover and invent, like mega evolutions, evolutions of other Pokémon, the theory of 'Ancient Power' and 'Hidden Power,' and many more.
###
The next day,
They started their normal routine.
"The search isn't yielding any good results," sighed A.
"Yes, but these dead and injured King-rank Pokémon could be a sign that we're getting somewhere," said Mark.
After some time,
"Axel, I have sensed some humans," said Alakazam.