When Leon arrived at the location where the fireworks had been set off, many players were already engaged in battle.
"Oddish, use Acid!"
"Bellsprout, dodge it! Then use Vine Whip!"
"Caterpie, are you okay? I need backup over here!"
The battlefield was chaotic, but it was clear the players were losing ground. Many Pokémon had already fainted.
Seeing this, Leon immediately released Scyther and the others, ordering them to support the players.
"Oddish, use Absorb!"
Ethan Carter was commanding his Oddish in battle against a Rattata.
Upon hearing the order, Oddish gathered a green light and shot it toward the Rattata.
Already injured by Acid, the Rattata couldn't dodge and was hit squarely by the green light, its energy rapidly draining away.
Just as the Rattata was about to faint, another Rattata suddenly dashed out from the side, slamming into Oddish at high speed.
Thud!
Oddish, focused on using its move, didn't notice the second Rattata's attack and was knocked hard to the ground.
With Oddish down, the Absorb move was interrupted, and the first Rattata struggled back to its feet, joining the assault.
Under the combined attacks of two Rattata, the fallen Oddish could only take the hits helplessly, unable to fight back.
"Oddish!! Can anyone help me out here?"
Seeing Oddish's injuries worsen, Ethan grew increasingly desperate. He shouted for backup, but the other players around him were also struggling, and no one responded.
As Oddish teetered on the brink of fainting, Ethan gritted his teeth and rushed forward, shielding Oddish with his own body.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you!"
The Rattata didn't hold back just because Ethan was human. They slammed into him with full force.
Ethan felt as if he'd been struck by two hammers simultaneously. A surge of blood rose in his throat, filling his mouth with the metallic taste.
He forced himself not to spit it out, his worried gaze fixed on the unconscious Oddish in his arms. He wouldn't last much longer.
He wasn't afraid of dying—after all, he could respawn—but what about Oddish? It would still be here, suffering the Rattata's attacks.
Then, Ethan suddenly remembered: he had a Poké Ball!
He could recall Oddish into the ball. Even if he died and the Poké Ball dropped, the Rattata probably couldn't break it.
In his panic over Oddish, he'd completely forgotten about the Poké Ball. If he'd recalled Oddish earlier, he might even have had a chance to escape.
But now, with both Rattata locked onto him, running was impossible. He could only stand there and wait for death.
Ethan recalled Oddish into the Poké Ball, then closed his eyes, bracing for the Rattata's next attack.
Scy!
At this critical moment, Scyther arrived to help. With a swift swing of its scythes, it sent both Rattata flying.
Scyther glanced at Ethan, who still had his eyes shut, and gave an approving nod.
It had seen everything Ethan had done, but it had been busy supporting other players and couldn't get to him sooner.
It gently tapped Ethan, signaling for him to go to Leon once he opened his eyes.
Ethan understood and immediately ran toward Leon.
When he reached Leon, he saw many Pokémon lying on a patch of grassy terrain, with players applying medicine to them.
He released Oddish and held it tightly in his arms.
"Your Oddish is badly hurt. Place it on the Grassy Terrain first. Here, take this Super Potion."
Leon handed Ethan a Super Potion from his inventory. He'd witnessed Ethan's act of protecting Oddish and was deeply impressed.
Ethan took the potion, thanked Leon, and quickly placed Oddish on the grassy patch before applying the medicine.
"Bounsweet, can you hold on?"
Leon turned to Bounsweet, who was maintaining the Grassy Terrain.
"Bounsweet!" (〃)ゞ No problem!
Bounsweet, with its Grassy Gem atop its head, was full of confidence. It had grown much stronger and could now use Grassy Terrain with ease.
Assured that Bounsweet could keep going, Leon relaxed slightly and turned to the players.
"Who was the first to spot these Rattata?"
"It was us," Bell and Luna raised their hands.
"Tell me what happened."
"Sure! Luna and I were patrolling this farmland when we saw three or four Rattata stealing seeds. We attacked them."
"During the fight, one Rattata ran away, but we didn't think much of it. Then, a whole swarm of Rattata showed up. We couldn't fight them off, so we ran while setting off the fireworks."
"When the other players came to help, we tried to fight back, but the Rattata just kept coming. Eventually, we got overwhelmed. If you hadn't shown up, we would've been wiped out."
After hearing Bell's account, Leon was puzzled.
This didn't make sense.
This farmland was far from the forest and close to town. There shouldn't be so many Rattata here—five or six at most. That's why Leon hadn't stationed Pokémon here for defense, only assigning players to patrol.
Yet the evidence was right in front of him. Scyther and the others had been fighting for a while and still hadn't cleared out all the Rattata, proving their numbers were far greater than expected.
Unless...
Leon's gaze shifted toward the town.
There was only one explanation: these Rattata had come from the town!
That would explain why so many Rattata had appeared in farmland so far from the forest.
His house had been stolen!
But Rattata had rarely been seen in town before. In all his years, Leon had only encountered a few, and even then, it was usually Sir Walter showing him dead ones as a scare tactic.
Wait—Sir Walter!
"Right! It must be because of Sir Walter and Gumshoos!"
Leon smacked his forehead, feeling like his intelligence had taken a nosedive lately. Maybe I should stay away from that Wind guy—don't want to catch his stupidity.
In the past, the town had been guarded by Sir Walter and Gumshoos, with a few Yungoos following them.
The town was essentially their territory, saturated with their scent.
The Rattata didn't just avoid nesting there—they didn't even dare approach.
But Sir Walter and Gumshoos were dead, and the Yungoos had left the territory. With no natural predators left, the Rattata had moved in.
"And it's only been a few days! How are there so many Rattata in town already? Why didn't I get any reports about this?"
If Rattata were appearing in town, surely some townsfolk would have seen them. Yet Leon hadn't received a single sighting report.
"I'll have to ask Walter when I get back."
Leon couldn't wait to return. Rattata infesting the town was no small matter.
These weren't ordinary rats that fled from humans—Rattata would attack people.
If they weren't dealt with quickly, it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.
Scyther and the others had already taken down most of the Rattata, while the remaining few had fled in the chaos.
Leon followed their escape path and confirmed they were heading straight for town!
"Scyther, chase them down and finish them off!"
He ordered Scyther, the fastest among them, to pursue and eliminate as many fleeing Rattata as possible.
If they made it back to town, finding them again would be a nightmare.
Just as Leon was about to return to town, another firework bloomed in the night sky in the distance.
"That's... the graveyard? Why would players go there?"
(End of Chapter)