The sudden emergency stop threw the carriages into chaos. The cries of children, the curses of adults, and the groans of the injured all mingled into a cacophony of noise.

  "Mommy, it hurts!"

  "What's going on? I'm definitely filing a pint!"

  "Attendant! Attendant! My mother is injured!"

  "If there's no reasonable pensation, I'm not letting you off the hook today!"

  Some passengers were too ed by ao wonder why a high-speed train would e to su abrupt halt mid-jourheir fury clouded their judgment, and some even saw it as an opportunity to exploit the situation.

  But where there were hotheads, there were also clear thinkers.

  A few passengers seemed to realize something, their faces turning pale with fear and tension.

  At that moment, the train's inter crackled to life.

  "Dear passengers, a rge group of Geodude has beeed ahead of the train. Our personnel are already responding. Please remain calm."

  "Injured passengers, please proceed to Car 3. If you ove, call for assistance from an attendant."

  Although railatrol teams regurly cleared wild Pokémohe tracks, perfe wasn't alossible.

  Every summer, there were is in the try involving wild Pokémon attag high-speed trains. Unfortunately, these occasionally led to injuries or fatalities.

  And this wasn't uo Drakoria. Suts occurred worldwide, often with even poorer safety records abroad.

  Even air travel wasirely safe—there was always a ce of being attacked by Flying-type Pokémon.

  When somethi wrong with a phe survival rate was far worse than on a train.

  To mitigate such risks, both airpnes and high-speed trains were equipped with security persohese guards were alokémon Trainers.

  This train had ten Advanced-level Trainers and orai pseudo-Elite level.

  Now, the pseudo-Elite Trainer led five advaraio deal with the Geodude ahead, while the remaining five guarded the train to prevent wild Pokémon from b and injuring passengers.

  In the business-css carriage, Julian helped the attendant into his seat.

  "Thank you, Mr. Walker"

  The young woman said gratefully. If not for Julian catg her earlier, she would have fallen awkwardly to the floor and possibly even injured herself.

  Listening to the annou, Julian silently cursed his bad luck.

  Of all the unlikely events, he had to enter one.

  " you hahe Pokémon outside?" Julian asked.

  If they couldn't, he didn't mind stepping in to help.

  "We . We have a pseudo-Elite onboard," the attendant replied, her tone carrying a hint of admiration at the mention of pseudo-Elite.

  For most people, Elites were lofty, unattainable figures. As a result, pseudo-Elites represehe pinhat the majority of Trainers could realistically aspire to reach.

  For most ordinary people, a pseudo-Elite-level Trainer is often the highest-level Traihey would ever enter.

  Julian this expnation.

  A pseudo-Elite should be more than capable of handling the situation.

  In the wild, it was extremely rare for Pokémon to reach the Elite level, and even pseudo-Elites were unon.

  With a pseudo-Elite Traiaking a, the problem would likely be resolved quickly.

  About 500 meters ahead of the train, there was a tunnel. At the tunrance, a swarm of hundreds of Geodude had gathered.

  Upon spotting this, the train ductor had immediately activated the emergency brakes, bringing the train to a stop.

  "Captain, we hahese Geodude ourselves," one of the team members said fidently.

  The Geodude weren't particurly high-level. As Advarainers, the team could deal with them despite their rge numbers—it would just take more time.

  "Lure them out. The tunnel must remain intact," the captain ordered.

  If the tunnel colpsed due to the battle, the railway would be unusable for a siderable time. That would disrupt more than just this train's journey.

  "Don't worry, Captain," the team member replied fidently.

  "Vileplume, use Sweet St!"

  A Pokémon with a massive red flo its head appeared.

  Vileplume's petals, known as the rgest in the world, began to emit a pink, fragrant mist as it let out a soft cry.

  Sweet St had a strong allure for Pokémon. Those with weaker wills couldn't resist and would instinctively move toward the source of the fragrance.

  Fortunately, Sweet St had minimal effe humans, so there was no risk of harming their own team.

  As the mist spread, the Geodude at the tunraarted showing expressions of bliss and fasation.

  "It's w!"

  The team member grinned.

  If this operation succeeded, his tribution would undoubtedly be signifit. He might finally have enough mohis month to buy the Toxic Orb fragments he'd been eyeing.

  Vileplume tio release Sweet St while slowly heading toward the nearby forest.

  Fighting in the forest would prevent damage to the tracks and tunnel.

  One by ohe hundreds of Geodude began shambling out of the tunnel, following the st.

  But as more emerged, the captain's expression suddenly darkened.

  The number of Geodude far exceeded his expectations, approag well over 500.

  When a Pokémon species' popution reaches a certain size, it iably leads to the appearance of evolved forms—sometimes even final evolutions.

  Sure enough, it didn't take long before the captain spotted Graveler among the ranks, following behind the Geodude.

  Graveler's bulk was noticeably rger than Geodude, and there were a good 40 to 50 of them. Most were at the Advanced level, and a few had even reached the peak of Advanced.

  "What should we do, Captain?"

  The team was fident they could handle five or six hundred Geodude below the Advanced level with the help of their pseudo-Elite captain.

  But now, dozens of Advanced-level Graveler had appeared.

  While they were Advanced-level Trainers, not all their Pokémon had reached the Advanced level. Most of them only had two or three Advanced-level Pokémon at best, and some only had one.

  The sheer number of Graveler clearly exceeded their capabilities.

  Still, they weren't panig—after all, their captain seudo-Elite.

  Thud! Thud! Thud!

  Heavy footsteps echoed from deep withiunnel.

  The sou a wave of uhrough both the captain, Lin Nuohao, and his team.

  Moments ter, a massive, rock-covered Pokémon resembling a boulder rolled out of the tunnel.

  "Sure enough it's a Golem!"

  The captain's expression tightened pletely.

  He could barely manage four or five dozen Advanced-level Graveler, but noseudo-Elite Golem had appeared.

  This meant he'd have to ehe Golem personally, leaving the Graveler for his team to handle.

  "What were the patrol officers even doing? How could such a massive group of Geodude—and even a Golem—end up he tracks?"

  One of the team members voiced what everyone was thinking. The gravity of the situation was clear: if this went wrong, not only could they all die, but the train passengers would be in grave daoo.

  "It must've just migrated here," the captain said grimly.

  The railatrol would never make such a basic mistake. The only pusible expnation was that this Golem's group had retly moved into the area.