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Ash and the others had been ambushed by the three Team Rocket executives.
There was nothing Eddie could have done to prevent this outcome. At that moment, he was busy leading the residents of Pallet Town away from this dangerous city to safety.
Before the three trainers encountered their respective battles, Eddie had entered the Silph Building from the first floor and discovered that the place was essentially deserted. It would be more accurate to say that aside from the three executives and Eddie's group, there shouldn't be any other people remaining in the entire building.
With a war raging outside, it was basically impossible for Team Rocket to station anyone here unnecessarily.
This was what Eddie had theorized, and it proved to be accurate.
He descended from the first floor down to the basement level with almost no obstacles blocking his path.
Well, except for the room where Daisy was imprisoned—there was a certain unlucky trio that had been left behind as guards.
Although they were supposedly standing guard, they appeared extremely panicked, as if they were terrified of something specific.
Then they noticed Eddie walking directly toward them.
"He's really here! Oh no, what should we do, what should we do, what should we do!!!"
"Am I, Jessie, going to meet my end here today? I don't want to die! I'm still so young!!!"
"Stop embarrassing yourself! What are you so afraid of? The worst that can happen is we'll die, meow~~~"
Indeed, both Jessie and James were crying now. Although Meowth tried to appear ready to accept his fate bravely, his trembling body and tearful face revealed that he was merely putting on a brave front.
"It's been quite a while since we last met. You three are still as entertaining as ever. By the way, how has your training been progressing recently?"
Looking at this peculiar trio, Eddie couldn't help but feel amused. This was clearly supposed to be a time of serious warfare, yet these three showed absolutely no hostility whatsoever. Instead, he felt the urge to simply watch them like a comedy show.
"We've been training diligently for a while now. We've all become Advanced-level trainers. After more practice, we might even reach Peak trainer status."
"But it's completely useless right now! There's a war happening, and then you showed up. Why did they station us here of all places? I'd rather be fighting on the front lines!!"
"Yeah, meow! Why did they assign us to guard a location where literally all the trainers from Pallet Town would have to pass through? This is clearly targeting us specifically, meow~~~"
Even Meowth couldn't hold back his emotions anymore and started crying alongside Jessie and James.
"Stop crying. I don't have time to deal with you three right now. Open the door—Daisy is being held in there."
Although Eddie wanted to continue teasing these characters, he remembered that Ash and the others might currently be getting overwhelmed in their battles. He decided he should rescue the hostages first and help his friends as quickly as possible.
As for this trio, he would simply let them go. Whether they participated in the battle or not made virtually no difference to the outcome.
However, judging from their demeanor, there was an extremely high probability they would simply run away at the first opportunity anyway.
"Huh? You just said..."
"You don't have time..."
"To deal with us, meow?"
The trio immediately stopped crying after hearing Eddie's words. They stared at him, unable to believe what they were hearing.
"If you don't leave right now, I'm going to take action against you."
Eddie felt that these three were remarkably slow to react at critical moments, and he was growing somewhat impatient.
"Okay, okay!!"
"We'll leave immediately!!"
"Thank you for sparing our lives!!"
"By the way, sir, here are the keys! And the other citizens of Pallet Town are being held in that direction over there!"
The comical trio bowed repeatedly to Eddie, showing their profound gratitude for not killing them. Before departing, they handed Eddie the keys and informed him of the other townspeople's location.
"I wonder if those three will actually make it through this war safely. Well, never mind—it's none of my business anyway."
Eddie couldn't help but smile slightly as he watched the trio disappear into the distance.
"Daisy, I'm here to rescue you..."
"Eddie!! You're finally here!"
The moment Eddie opened the door, Daisy threw herself at him before he could even finish his sentence.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness! I'm so relieved to see you! You're finally here—I knew you would come to save us!"
Despite being as intelligent and composed as she normally was, even Daisy couldn't control her emotions and began crying openly.
Even though Team Rocket hadn't physically harmed her, the unknown had been absolutely terrifying. She couldn't figure out what Team Rocket's ultimate plans were, which forced her to imagine increasingly dire scenarios on her own. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became.
Until she heard the sounds outside her door and recognized Eddie's voice, she could no longer suppress her inner excitement and relief.
"It's alright, Daisy. Everything's okay now."
Looking at Daisy crying in his arms, Eddie gently patted her back to comfort her.
Daisy buried her face against his chest, her tears soaking into his clothes. Although Eddie could certainly feel the softness of her body and catch her gentle fragrance at this moment, he didn't allow any inappropriate thoughts to enter his mind. He simply focused on comforting her as much as possible.
"Ding! Because of your words and actions, Daisy's affection toward you has greatly increased and is now at 'more than friends, but not quite lovers' level!"
Eddie remained calm about this notification. Playing the hero and saving the damsel in distress might be an old-fashioned trope, but it was a classic for good reason. It was perfectly natural for the rescued girl to develop stronger feelings for her rescuer.
Eddie felt no particular emotion about this development, and he didn't even feel the desire to smile smugly about it.
After some time passed, Daisy finally managed to release all her pent-up fear and anxiety. She steadied herself against Eddie's body and stepped back from his embrace, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry for letting you see me in such an embarrassing state. And I truly appreciate you risking your life to come save me."
Daisy's face was still wet with tears and displayed a touching blush across her cheeks.
"Don't worry about formalities. I'm just glad you're safe now."
Eddie didn't consider what he'd done particularly dangerous. Rescuing the hostages hadn't posed significant risk—the real danger would come from the upcoming battle against Team Rocket's forces. However, there was no need to mention that detail to Daisy right now.
"Let's go without any further delay. After we rescue all the Pallet Town residents, I'll need to head back and help the others. I'm certain that Ash, Gary, and the rest have already engaged in combat by now."
Using both his Aura powers and Psychic abilities, Eddie could sense that Ash and the others on the floors above had already encountered their enemies.
Upon hearing this, Daisy understood the urgency of the situation. From what Eddie had said, she realized that both Ash and Gary were also here in the building, which made her even more worried.
The young woman hesitated momentarily, thinking about how she couldn't contribute anything helpful to the situation. Gary was fighting a life-or-death battle right now, and Eddie would also have to face similarly dangerous combat soon. She couldn't help but feel somewhat helpless and confused about what she could do.
After thinking for a moment, just as Eddie was urging her to move so they could rescue the other residents, she suddenly turned around, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed Eddie gently on the cheek.
"This... This is my reward for saving me. Now let's go rescue the residents of Pallet Town, and then you can return to save the others."
After saying this, she became extremely shy and quickly ran ahead toward where the other hostages were being held.
"I don't understand the timing. Shouldn't this kind of thing happen after I return safely later? Could it be that she felt too embarrassed to do it in public view, so she kissed me in advance instead?"
Eddie remained remarkably calm at this moment—it was merely a kiss on the cheek, after all. He had experienced far more complicated romantic situations before, so how could he possibly feel panicked or surprised over such a small gesture?
Following this brief interlude, Eddie and Daisy successfully located the Pallet Town townspeople and rescued everyone without incident.
Even though a full-scale war was currently raging throughout Saffron City, with Eddie's Quasi-Elite level Pokémon clearing the path ahead, no Team Rocket members were foolish enough to try hindering their escape from the city.
Of course, the player trainers were absolutely shocked to witness Eddie—such a prominent and powerful figure—actually breaking out from inside the Silph Building at the very beginning of the operation, bringing a large group of ordinary civilians with him to safety. Even though they already knew how powerful Eddie was, they couldn't help but be amazed by this display.
However, Eddie didn't have time to pay attention to other people's reactions at that moment. He rushed all the way from Saffron City toward Celadon City, then cleared away any Team Rocket forces blocking his path, successfully bringing the Pallet Town residents to Erika's location.
"Eddie? Have you already rescued all the residents of Pallet Town?"
"There's no time to explain everything. Erika, please take care of the Pallet Town residents for now. I have to return to the battle immediately—Ash and the others are already engaged in difficult fights."
"Alright, please be careful out there."
Eddie gave these brief instructions, then immediately mounted his Garchomp and returned toward the Silph Building as quickly as possible.
Just moments ago, in order to safely escort the townspeople out of danger, he'd had to lead them on foot for some distance, which had consumed valuable time. Now, however, it took him only about one minute to fly back to the building on his Garchomp.
"Gary should be managing okay alongside Green, but Ash is probably unable to fight back effectively because of Lt. Surge's unconventional tactics. Alright, let's rescue Ash first!"
Eddie used his Aura powers to observe the battles occurring at three different locations. Although neither Gary nor Green could be said to have gained the upper hand in their respective fights, they could at least still hold their own competitively. On Ash's side, however, he had almost no ability to fight back at all.
"Garchomp! Full speed ahead!"
Eddie directed his Garchomp toward the floor that was emanating intense electrical light and burst through the window to make his dramatic entrance.