Rope looked at the Braviary charging toward him from a short distance away and felt slightly puzzled.
Logically speaking, these Pokémon shouldn't be this aggressive. Why is it charging at me? This doesn't make any sense.
However, Rope had overlooked the current situation. Pokémon are generally friendly toward humans only in a harmonious environment. Technically speaking, they were currently in a state of war, so how could they behave the same as usual?
Of course, Rope wasn't going to sit idly by. He had no intention of harming the Pokémon in front of him. He simply released his aura silently.
Braviary charged toward Rope, filled with anticipation for a bright future. But in the next instant, he felt an overwhelming pressure, as if he had been targeted by a powerful Pokémon. The last time he had felt this way was when he was a young eagle and had been targeted by a powerful Circle Bear.
He never thought that now, he would still feel like he was being targeted by a higher-level predator.
His flapping wings stopped involuntarily, and he glided through the air, deviating from his original trajectory.
However, he quickly regained his composure and flapped his wings rapidly, hovering in place, dared not continue moving toward Rope.
The Pokémon behind him watched his disheveled state and were momentarily taken aback, but they did not cross Braviary to continue chasing after Rope.
Braviary looked at Rope's receding figure with a timid expression and couldn't help but sigh in relief.
It's good that this guy is gone...
It was truly terrifying.
Rope, however, didn't pay much attention to it, as it was just a minor incident to him.
Rope quickly flew over the entire Pokémon swarm. They occupied a considerable area and were numerous, with many powerful Pokémon among them. It was indeed necessary to be on high alert.
When Rope reached the end of the Pokémon swarm, he stopped.
To be honest, Rope's expression wasn't exactly pleasant as he passed through here.
He had always heard Professor Oak talk about how formidable the Pokémon tide was here, but he had never truly grasped its scale. Now, Rope finally understood what a true disaster looked like.
When the Pokémon tide actually surged forward, there was little that could stand in its way.
If it weren't for the fact that the leader of this Pokémon tide was relatively rational, and Lumiose City's defenses and resistance were indeed sufficient, Lumiose City probably wouldn't exist anymore.
To put it bluntly, the large Pokémon breaking through the city walls and rampaging through the city alone would be enough to cause massive destruction. In reality, humans don't have many options.
They could only make peace with the Pokémon. Once the Pokémon truly unite, it would be virtually impossible for humans to stop them.
Rope stared at the vast swarm of Pokémon for a long time before finally descending toward Lumiose City.
Lumiose City wouldn't make the same mistake as Braviary. After all, the fact that Rope can fly isn't exactly a secret among the higher-ups.
Rope landed safely without any questions. When he touched down, all the trainers on guard looked at him with curious expressions, and some even had a touch of admiration in their eyes. But Rope isn't like Red and the others. He became a major figure in the league too quickly, and it's hard to believe how fast it happened.
It's as if that relative who was still eating at your house the other day has suddenly become a powerful official. It feels a bit unreal.
Rope accepted everyone's gaze. He knew he would never become like Red, someone who would cause a stir among trainers the moment he appeared.
His battles were so intense that even Red couldn't intervene, let alone these ordinary trainers.
But even so, Rope still maintained the respect he owed to the people before him. Without their relentless defense, perhaps Lumiose City—built at immense cost in manpower and resources by the League—would already be in ruins.
"Thank you all for your hard work."
Rope surveyed the crowd, then spoke to them with a serious expression. He bowed deeply.
He could see the fatigue on the trainers' faces, the scars on their bodies, and even some with bandages.
The number of trainers in Lumiose City wasn't particularly large, and even if these people rotated shifts, they couldn't keep going indefinitely. In other words…
If the Pokémon truly intended to breach the city, they likely wouldn't be able to hold them back for long.
Everyone who had studied history understood this basic truth. So when they chose to appear here, they deserved Rope's respect.
Because they were using their own lives to buy time for others to evacuate.
The trainers looked at Rope bowing to them and didn't know how to react. To be honest, if Diantha had done this, they might have made a few witty remarks, but they didn't really know this person.
So they could only politely say things like, "No need, no need," or "This is what we should do."
But Rope didn't seem to be in a hurry to stand up.
A young trainer, seeing Rope's earnest bow, also bowed to Rope.
He was a fan of Rope and knew exactly what Rope had done in this incident.
So, under his lead, all the trainers present bowed to Rope as well.
Some of them truly knew what Rope had done, but most were just following the trend. There was nothing wrong with that.
Sometimes, the positive trends set by good deeds are absolutely a good thing.
Whitley and Diantha, who were walking over, also took it all in.
"That child..."
Whitley asked with some confusion.
"That's the mayor of Lumiose City's child, a youngster who greatly admires Rope."
Diantha said with some emotion.
Generally speaking, the biggest star trainer in a region is the local champion. Diantha is not only the object of admiration for local trainers but also the object of desire for most female trainers.
Not only because of her strength, but also because of her special status as a movie star.
Rope, on the other hand, was different. Those who knew him would almost without exception admire him. However, those who didn't know him wouldn't feel anything towards him, and might even wonder why anyone would admire him.
After saying that, Diantha continued walking forward. If she didn't step in to help Rope, he would probably be left in an awkward situation. The child meant well, but objectively speaking, he had put Rope in a difficult position.
Perhaps many people would be happy to see this happen, but Diantha knew that this wasn't what Rope wanted.
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"Phew, thank you, Diantha. That was really embarrassing..."
After Diantha pulled him out of the crowd, Rope finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was truly confused by the previous child's actions. It must be said that the child had shown him sufficient respect. However, it had left Rope at a loss.
What should he do next?
Fortunately, Diantha arrived just in time and quickly defused the situation with a few words.
"You should learn to handle these kinds of situations better. After all, you'll have to face them in the future."
Diantha said to Rope with a hint of resignation.
After all, Rope was the leader of their group. Though the public wasn't fully aware of it yet, they couldn't just let Rope fade into obscurity.
Is there any justice in the world where those who save it have to live in obscurity?
Rope shook his head with a wry smile. He knew he'd have to deal with this issue sooner or later. It wasn't just Diantha and the others; the Oak family, and even Year, wanted Rope to develop more leadership qualities.
After all, they didn't see him as just a firefighter or a frontline commander.
Using Rope's intellect for such matters was simply a waste.
Whitley, who was by Rope's side, wasn't particularly happy. She didn't want Rope to become a world-renowned figure. It wasn't that she was worried about Rope growing distant from her. If Rope started dealing with other admirers, she'd inevitably feel like Rope was being shared with others.
However, Whitley also didn't want Rope to be disrespected by others after doing so many great things to save the world. So Whitley was in a state of conflict.
Rope didn't like using mind reading to sense the thoughts of those around him. It was as if he didn't trust the people around him at all. Rope hated such people and things.
Always suspicious and paranoid, it was exhausting.
"But, Diantha, you did a really great job," Rope said seriously. "I've seen the scale of the Pokémon out there. It's already very difficult for you to withstand their first and most frenzied attack."
The craziest moment of the Pokémon wave was naturally their first attack. To be honest, at that time, Rope estimated that unless he killed most of these Pokémon at once, they would be almost unstoppable.
Even if a Legendary Pokémon stood in their way, they might not stop.
Effective organization, which was the work of the Scizor leader from the outside, could only be carried out after the first phase of the riot had ended.
Because the madness of the first phase was unstoppable. The Pokémon themselves were well aware of this. It was like a surge of energy that waned after the first wave and faded completely by the third. The Pokémon's anger and fury would dissipate significantly after being repelled in the first wave.
Diantha shook her head and said, "It's not that impressive. You were right to keep us on high alert the whole time. We've maintained the highest alert level the entire time, so we detected them as soon as they launched their initial attack."
"And during the negotiations, everyone maintained basic vigilance. There were also occasional minor conflicts. We just didn't expect it to suddenly erupt like this."
Rope had originally intended to ask how this situation had unfolded. But now he had lost interest. After all, the person responsible for this had already been dealt with.
"Although the mastermind behind this operation has been dealt with, such incidents may become more frequent in the future."
Rope couldn't help but sigh. He wasn't stupid, and neither were the people on the other side. Seeing that Rope had willingly fallen into Katsuhisa's trap over this matter, they wouldn't hesitate to use the same tactics again.
But unfortunately, there wasn't much Rope could do about their old tricks. He could only endure it silently.
Diantha could hear the helplessness and conflict in Rope's voice, but there wasn't much else she could say to ease his mind.
"Don't worry, Rope. We're not as weak as you think. You've already done so much for us."
Diantha spoke with genuine sincerity. If the gods hadn't shown no intention of continuing their advance, and many Pokémon had understood the gods' intentions, then Lumiose City would likely have faced a dire situation this time.
In a way, if Rope hadn't set the tone in advance, this might have truly been the beginning of the second war between humans and Pokémon.
"I'm just doing what I should do."
Rope didn't boast about his achievements; he knew exactly what he had done.
"What's the casualty situation?"
"There weren't many casualties, but just in case, we evacuated all the civilians in advance. After all, no one wants anything irreversible to happen."
Diantha spoke seriously. As a regional champion, she naturally took the initiative to handle such matters.
Rope looked at Diantha's face. The face that should have been bright and radiant now showed some unmistakable signs of fatigue. Dark circles were clearly visible under her eyes. Her hair was also a bit messy, clearly having had no time to tidy it up.
Diantha noticed Rope staring at her and gave him a bright smile. In that moment, all her fatigue seemed to vanish without a trace.
Diantha seemed to have returned to her on-screen charisma.
Rope was taken aback. In the original world, watching anime didn't make him notice Diantha's beauty, but in person, Diantha was truly a top-tier beauty. Objectively speaking, she was even more beautiful than Cynthia.
So Rope immediately turned away and stopped looking at Diantha.
Whitley looked at Rope's awkward face and shook his head helplessly.
"Rope, you... so you're afraid of being flirted with too..."