Chapter 222

However, just as the Grovyle had barely finished its battle, something abnormal occurred again!

Another wave of rampaging Pokémon suddenly appeared.

This time, the new wave was clearly much stronger than the first one.

"All of them are near Gym-level strength!?"

Seeing the new wave of rampaging Pokémon, Nathan could already confirm in his heart:

Someone was definitely pulling the strings behind this incident.

The first wave had only been used to lower people's guard and deplete the stamina of both trainers and Pokémon.

But the appearance of this second wave meant that the real danger was just beginning.

At the moment, almost no one near the coast had sent out Gym-level Pokémon.

Partly because they assumed the rampaging Pokémon were weak—

And partly because they didn't have any.

That's right—among all the people Nathan had seen so far, aside from a few fellow university students, most were either civilians or students from Grace High School nearby.

These people did have their own Pokémon, but very few had managed to train theirs to Gym-level.

Still, dealing with the first wave was relatively easy.

After all, in a city like Grace City, where everyone is trained for battle, anything below level 30 was practically cannon fodder.

But once the level goes above that—reaching near-Gym-level strength—it becomes an entirely different matter.

Nathan hadn't seen any military forces show up yet.

Without the military, there's no way these people could withstand the second wave of rampaging Pokémon.

Unless Nathan released Volcarona to stop the rampage on his own.

But Nathan absolutely wouldn't do that.

If the waves were already being released in phases, what if even stronger ones showed up later?

What if Elite-level Pokémon appeared?

Or even stronger than that?

If Volcarona used too much stamina on these rampaging Pokémon now, they'd be powerless against what might come next.

A match was one thing, but a Pokémon rampage was completely different.

In a match, you only had to defeat one opponent.

Now, there were thousands of them.

No matter how strong you are, ants in large enough numbers can kill an elephant.

Unless, of course, the elephant is large enough to stomp them all in one go.

But to wipe out a Pokémon rampage in one step, you'd need at least a Legendary Pokémon.

A Champion- or Elite-level Pokémon might also work, but that would be incredibly difficult.

At least for now, Nathan wasn't confident enough to say for sure.

Just then, his phone rang.

It was a call from Minister Joseph!

Minister Joseph had been the one who invited Nathan here in the first place.

Now that this was happening in Grace City, could he be…?

Nathan suddenly had the feeling he'd been set up.

He had originally just wanted to quietly get stronger, attend university, and maybe take home a world championship title.

But from the looks of it, Minister Joseph probably wouldn't let him have any peace while he was in Grace City.

As soon as Nathan answered the call, he didn't even have a chance to speak before a panicked voice came through:

"Where are you right now?"

"Do you know there's a Pokémon rampage happening in Grace City!?"

"Hurry over and help!"

Speechless, Nathan hung up the phone, raised it, and took a selfie—then sent it to Minister Joseph.

After seeing the selfie, Minister Joseph finally quieted down.

The Pokémon in this second wave of attacks were already Commander-level, and Grovyle was having a hard time dealing with them.

"I can do it!"

Just as Nathan was about to recall Grovyle, he heard the determined voice of his Pokémon.

Thanks to the power of Viridian, which Nathan always kept active, he could understand Grovyle's words.

"All right, if you think you can handle it—let's go together!"

"Pangoro, Shave then Slam!"

"Zeraora, use Chidori!"

…

With his Pokémon, Nathan charged straight into the second wave of rampaging Pokémon.

In contrast, the civilians and high school students who had come to resist the rampage were beginning to retreat.

They could handle Advanced-level Pokémon.

But against Commander-level Pokémon, it was just too difficult.

Other university students like Nathan began to send out their strongest Pokémon.

Some of them even had Elite-level Pokémon.

But even that wasn't enough.

There were simply too many rampaging Pokémon.

They could handle three, maybe five—but beyond that, they were clearly overwhelmed.

Although the civilians were retreating, their defense hadn't been in vain.

They had taken out most of the Advanced-level Pokémon and, more importantly, bought time for the military to arrive.

"Those who aren't strong enough—fall back! We'll take over from here!"

A loud, commanding voice rang out.

Nathan turned to look—the military had arrived!

As soon as Greg Vandal learned of the rampage, he led his troops to the coast.

Upon arrival, they saw civilians fighting and retreating at the same time.

But amidst the chaos, one figure stood out—Nathan.

Everyone else had pulled back at least a hundred or two hundred meters.

Only one person stood firm with his Pokémon near the very edge of the coast.

Surrounded by a horde of rampaging Pokémon—Nathan.

When Greg approached, he was stunned to realize that this person was none other than Nathan, the reigning national champion!

He had once considered trying to recruit this genius trainer into the army, thinking it would be a shame not to.

But now, seeing that it was Nathan himself, Greg realized his earlier thoughts had been a bit ambitious.

"Nathan, thank you so much for helping us hold off the Pokémon rampage," Greg said, rushing to his side with a few officers.

"It's only right. I'm human too—how could I just stand by and watch the rampage hit a human city?" Nathan replied while commanding his Pokémon.

"You should fall back for now. We can handle these waves. But if higher-level Pokémon show up…"

Though Greg didn't finish his sentence, the meaning was clear.

If a boss shows up—you'll still have to step in.

Nathan nodded, then asked curiously, "Shouldn't a nearby Elite be assisting at a time like this? Where are they?"

"There's no Elite stationed in Grace City. The closest one will need at least an hour and a half to get here."

Greg's tone grew heavy as he spoke.

Grace City was in an awkward location—not bordering any foreign regions, so there was no concern about border defense.

But as a coastal city, it did need to guard against Pokémon rampages.

As humans and Pokémon had grown more accustomed to coexisting, the ocean had been placed under fishing restrictions.

On one hand, this protected the marine Pokémon's environment.

On the other hand, it caused their populations to grow.

With more marine Pokémon, if a rampage occurred—it would be a nightmare to stop.

Originally, the nation had heavily fortified coastal cities like Grace City.

At its peak, the city had a stationed army of 2,000.

Modern troops weren't just armed with hot weapons and equipment anymore—

Each soldier had a Pokémon and could coordinate attacks and defenses with them.

This synergy made them far stronger than just Pokémon alone.

But still, it wasn't enough.

There simply weren't enough of them.

That was what frustrated Greg the most.

Now, Grace City's military only had about 500 soldiers.

And facing thousands of rampaging Pokémon, it simply wasn't enough.

To make things worse, they didn't have anyone strong enough to take on high-level Pokémon.

Among all 500 soldiers, Greg was the strongest—he had a level 56 Serperior.

And even at that level, he wouldn't make the Top 16 in the national tournament.

This was the best Grace City had to offer—despite being a city of over a million people.

Nathan silently returned to the backline to bolster the army's morale.

With the military's arrival, a complete defensive line gradually formed.

Watching the soldiers coordinate so smoothly with their Pokémon, Nathan suddenly realized he still had much to learn.

Such as team coordination.

Until now, all his battles had been one-on-one.

So in training, he had always focused on improving each Pokémon's individual strength.

But now, seeing the harmony between soldiers and their Pokémon, he understood what he had overlooked—coordination between teammates.

He would definitely be competing in the world championship in the future.

And who knew what format the matches might take?

3v3? 6v6? It was all possible.

Tournament formats weren't set in stone.

"Looks like I need to find an opportunity to spend some time with the military.

When it comes to coordination, there's no one better than them."

Nathan's eyes lit up as he looked at the defensive line holding the front.

Just 500 soldiers had formed a 2-kilometer-long defensive wall.

With different Pokémon and tactics tailored to each soldier, the whole defense line moved as one.

It was a sight of precision and beauty.

Meanwhile, Nathan and the other non-military personnel remained behind the line, dealing with any stragglers that slipped through.

With the army holding the line, the second wave of rampaging Pokémon was soon repelled.

The battle had already gone on for nearly three hours.

Finally, the Elite-level support arrived!

And it turned out to be someone Nathan knew well—Elite Guardian member Logan Gray.

(End of Chapter)