Chapter 581: A Traitor Among Us
There were three main leaderboards for this desert event, but only one was related to battling: the Points Leaderboard.
The other two leaderboards had nothing to do with combat, but everything to do with the Seeds. One was for the number of Seed Pokémon collected, and the other was for the contribution to collecting Seeds.
The so-called contribution ranking mainly depended on who found the successor ultimately chosen by Groudon.
As for the other win count and win rate leaderboards, they were all secondary, with rewards far inferior to the three main boards.
This arrangement was made to encourage the participating players to do something other than just fighting.
Do something productive, trainers!
The players might not care, but the major alliances behind them knew very well: no matter what, humanity was in the wrong this time. They had to help Groudon clean up this mess before discussing anything else.
Otherwise, if the Legendaries really got angry and the century-long peace was destroyed, their generation would have to apologize for it.
So, although most of the players gathered in the Phantom of the West's territory were goofing off recently, as more and more trainers arrived from all over the desert in the following days, people gradually realized that a significant number of Seeds had been brought back!
"Strange, none of the people I know were looking for Seeds."
"The recent app video charts are all trainer battle videos! Who on earth is collecting Seeds?"
"Damn it! I hate these secret hard workers the most!"
Seeing the event coming to an end, many players who had spent their time in the Phantom's territory looking for fights and fun were dumbfounded.
It was like not studying before an exam, seeing everyone around you not studying either, and happily thinking this is how life should be. But when the exam came, you suddenly realized your class was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!
It was like a horror story.
The only thing that comforted many people was—
"It's okay, that Kubfu guy who's number one on the battle leaderboard probably didn't find any Seeds either, just like us."
Those around him agreed deeply.
"Exactly. He's been accepting challenges every day recently. I watch at least three of his battles a day. Where would he find the time to collect Seeds?"
"For sure! Even if Future Yuzuru and Gwyneth are paying attention to him, so what? I'm not envious at all! His results on the other two leaderboards are probably worse than mine!"
That "I'm not envious at all" sounded particularly emphatic for some reason...
Watching a popular figure in the class fail along with them—perhaps this was the simple joy of underachievers.
But as time went on, they began to sense something was wrong!
A few days after the Legendaries arrived, military representatives and high-ranking officials from various alliances also arrived one after another. All signs indicated that the event was about to end, and the results would be announced.
However, at this time, more and more wild Pokémon were gathering around Arthur every day!
Until the moment the results were revealed—
An alliance representative used Echoed Voice to loudly announce the results.
"Thanks to everyone's tireless efforts, a total of 267 Seed Pokémon have been recovered. This result is undoubtedly gratifying!
"Among them, the trainer who recovered the most Seeds is Arthur from the Kubfu Alliance. He helped bring back 79 Seeds!"
There were many simultaneous translators nearby to ensure that trainers from all alliances present could understand the representative's words.
Now the underachievers were dumbfounded...
Impossible!
How could this be?!
Is there a traitor among us?!!
"This is rigged, right?!! That guy has been accepting challenges near the territory for days!"
"Yeah! I was slacking off because I saw him battling every day! I report this!! Match-fixing!! Rigged!! There must be something fishy going on!!"
Public outrage erupted!
Countless underachievers were furious!
We agreed to fail the exam together, but you cheated alone!
Is this fair?
Even Arthur's acquaintances from the Kubfu Alliance, like Serena and Leo, looked at him with astonishment.
"So you're not just a human Machamp, but also a human Alakazam?" Serena stared at him with wide eyes.
"What nonsense!" Arthur had lines of black forming on his forehead.
"Then how do you explain this? I can only assume you know Teleport and Double Team!"
"..."
For the first time, Arthur realized that this Kubfu celebrity had quite an imagination.
"No, just some local Pokémon gave me a little help."
79 Seeds—even Old Tyranitar didn't have the ability to collect so many. This actually included many Seeds taken in by Garchomp and the Seven Chieftains.
For example, Arthur had previously seen the Krookodile Chieftain's heir and the Nidoking Chieftain's descendant come to seek refuge with him.
Many of these Seeds had escaped on their own without human help, but when the list was finalized, they were all credited to Arthur.
This was the effect of Old Tyranitar's influence.
Old Tyranitar had recovered from her injuries, and most importantly, she didn't plan to leave the desert!
Any of the Seven Chieftains with a shred of emotional intelligence wouldn't choose to offend Old Tyranitar at this time.
And Garchomp had a good relationship with her.
So it was like the entire desert was helping Arthur cheat. It truly fit the saying: When the time comes, heaven and earth work together.
Making a group of fun-seekers who followed Arthur every day to watch battles sour with envy.
Everyone had been neglecting their duties nearby recently, but some failed while others got a free pass. Where was the justice in that?
Not far away, Groudon looked deeply at Arthur but ultimately said nothing.
In that great battle many days ago, it hadn't recognized Arthur. Two hundred years ago, Groudon hadn't had much direct conflict with the Kubfu Alliance, so it didn't have much of an impression of Arthur.
It wasn't until the event started, more Legendaries came to help, and Celebi visited occasionally that it learned Arthur's true identity.
So this time, it was even less likely to expose Arthur's "cheating."
It was even troubled about choosing a successor because of this.
Soon after, a message was relayed back by the representatives of various alliances—
"After consultation, the Legendaries have confirmed that the person with the greatest contribution in this collection operation is also Mr. Arthur from the Kubfu Alliance!
"Several Legendaries need to discuss some matters with Mr. Arthur privately later. Other trainers can leave if they have things to do."
Now the underachievers were even more dumbfounded...
If there was anything more painful for underachievers than Arthur cheating to pass, it was that he passed more than one level!
Although Groudon didn't directly announce which Pokémon was the successor, this statement clearly declared that Arthur was first on the contribution leaderboard!
These words were spoken by alliance representatives in front of cameras. Phobos, the company making the leaderboards, couldn't be oblivious.
Arthur had swept the top spots of all three main leaderboards!
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