Chapter 46: Resolved

Tetsu and the others looked up to see a Beautifly flapping its wings. It released a shower of green powder that caused several sleeping Whismur to fall to the ground without any resistance. Above them, a Pidgeot with a wingspan of nearly two meters flapped its wings and caused the group to shiver from the cold wind.

"That's... a Pidgeot?"

"And a Beautifly too..."

"Who's there?"

Their battle with the Whismur was interrupted, and the four of them looked up in surprise, but they couldn't see anything besides the flying Pidgeot and the Beautifly hovering in the air.

It wasn't until the Pidgeot descended and a young boy with short white sleeves and golden-brown hair jumped down from its back that they regained their senses.

The boy appeared gentle, but his brown eyes showed seriousness. He looked at the four of them and pondered for a moment before anyone spoke. The rest of them suddenly shouted in unison.

Tetsu gazed at him with a surprised and unfriendly demeanor and asked, "You're... the person I saw yesterday?"

"Hey, why did you break your promise? We've been waiting for you for a long time!" the girl trainer named Sophia recognized Darren, feeling dissatisfied.

Aiyue and Zander also looked at him.

Darren "..."

...

"from the beginning , I never agreed to meet you guys." Darren was a little distressed, originally not intending to see them again. "But you never gave me a chance to explain."

The four of them clearly didn't like this answer, and their gaze turned to the Beautifly and the Pidgeot.

Apart from the dangerous-looking Beautifly, the Pidgeot's grandeur, regal appearance, and fierce eyes immediately intimidated the group of young trainers.

"It's not the time to explain now. Anyway, if you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you follow me." Darren said.

"What do you mean?" Tetsu asked.

"This place is dangerous. You must leave now and wait for the police to come for rescue. I don't think you have the strength to protect yourselves. I didn't stop you before because I didn't realize how serious the situation was. The Whismur have a powerful leader that can command over a hundred Pokemon. I don't think you guys are arrogant enough to fight against them, right?"

"We don't have time. Trust me and follow me."

"Their attack instincts are very strong now, and they are nearby. Being noticed by them will not end well."

Darren stroked Pidgeot's neck, gave an order and took off to the sky.

"This guy..." Tetsu gritted his teeth and was very dissatisfied with Darren's arrogant attitude.

"Consider his words," Aiyue, adjusted his glasses. "He shouldn't have a reason to lie to us."

"Indeed, the previous commotion seemed abnormal. We should follow him for now," Zander said with a serious expression, sighing. "If he's telling the truth..."

"Alright." Seeing the attitude of the group, Tetsu didn't say anything more.

A few minutes later...

The four of them followed behind Darren and crossed several mountain paths, arriving at a hidden cave entrance.

"Alright, I checked from the sky earlier. It should be safe here, and the Whismur shouldn't be gathering in such a small place," Darren clapped his hands, having gathered some dust on the way.

"You haven't told us the reason yet."

Following Darren, the group became increasingly curious. Why would a young boy younger than them appear here to warn them? Especially considering the Pidgeot's impressive strength, how could a new trainer like him have control over it?

"Roar!~~~~~~"

"Roar!!~~~~~~~~~~~"

Darren calmly looked at them, but suddenly, another roar rang out, causing him to change his expression. "I don't have time to explain any further. Remember to stay here. I'll be back soon."

"Pidgeot--"

Darren shouted loudly at the Pidgeot flying in the air, then climbed onto its back and flew towards the direction he came from.

"It seems that Master Shozo and the others have arrived. Is that... a battle?" After analyzing the recent events, Darren had a hunch that the root of the problem wasn't the Whismur. He wanted to see how the situation would play out.

At the Pidgeot's extreme flying speed, he arrived back where he started in the blink of an eye.

But unlike the chaotic battle he had imagined, the Exploud, Whismur, and Loudred were surprisingly quiet. In addition to them, Officer Jenny rode on an imposing Rapidash, along with two male police officers, all looking towards the front.

Master Shozo and Alakazam were standing peacefully in front of the Loudred, seemingly having a conversation.

Alakazam was conducting the communication, using telepathy.

Immediately after, the Loudred's expression went from cautious and wary to normal. Everything happened very quickly.

"Oh my~"

With the recovery of Exploud, Master Shozo smiled.

"Did it's sense… recover?" Darren was surprised. What did they communicate in such a short time that allowed the aggressive Exploud to recover from its rage?

Then, to Darren's surprise, Master Shozo bowed to Exploud, and both Whismur and Loudred retreated, and Exploud left.

"What about the trainers?" Master Shozo who noticed Darren, asked.

"They are in a cave one kilometer northwest of here," Darren said. "There are also a few Whismur there. They almost fought, but I had Beautifly put them to sleep with Sleep Powder."

"Go wake up those Whismur, the situation is temporarily under control," Master Shozo said.

...

...

Rusturf City, Pokémon Center.

It had only been half a day since Exploud had calmed down.

Tatsu and the others who had entered the mountain were found by Ms. Jenny and were severely scolded. They were all clamoring to see Darren.

Of course, Darren couldn't appear before them again. At this moment, he was walking in the mountains with Master Shozo.

"So that's what happened...So we blamed Whismur for nothing," Darren said.

The cause of the Rusturf Tunnel incident had become clear: it originated from the largest farm in Lavaridge Town.

In order to pursue greater profits, the farm owner decided to use the geographical advantage to turn the nearby farmland into a large hot spring resort, and a group of captive Digletts owned by the farm were heartlessly abandoned.

Digletts live in loose soil and their feces make the soil fertile, so many farmers cultivate them carefully.

As the largest farmer in Lavaridge Town, the farm owner had nearly a hundred Digletts. After the farm was abandoned, this group of Digletts naturally had nowhere to go.

The Digletts headed south, looking for new suitable burrows, and eventually wandered near Rusturf City.

"Although Digletts are not good fighters, the soil where they pass becomes more loose, and if they migrate during the Rusturf Tunnel project, there will be a risk of landslides in nearby mountains," Darren said.

"At the same time, the Digletts mistakenly entered Whismur's territory, causing great trouble for them. Although they temporarily repelled the Digletts, Whismur clearly had no good way to deal with them once they burrowed underground."

"So, they wanted to use humans to warn of the danger of the Digletts and interrupt the Rusturf Tunnel project, hoping that humans could help them drive out the invading Digletts."

"The result was obvious. The two sides had no way to communicate normally, and combined with the wrong decision-maker's judgment, they brought in trainers to drive away Whismur, causing further escalation of the conflict between the two sides."

Darren was speechless. This kind of misunderstanding reminded him of a Pokémon, Absol.

When Absol senses the signs of disaster, it will appear in front of humans, wanting to warn them. However, in ancient times, they were regarded as a symbol of disaster due to the lack of understanding and communication with pokemon.

"Maybe Whismur didn't intend to cause trouble at first, but when the trainers tried to use 'force' to solve the problem, the conflict arose."

"Despite having good intentions, the trainers' attitude angered Exploud."

During his time exploring the mountains, Master Shozo noticed the signs of groundhog migration and made a series of judgments, which allowed him to communicate with Exploud reasonably.

After a series of concessions, the two sides resolved their grievances, and what humans mainly needed to do next was to be responsible for resolving the impact of the large number of Digletts on the local ecology.

As expected, the farm owner would be punished for mishandling the Digletts, and the person in charge of the Rusturf Tunnel would also be punished to some extent.