The Giant Gyarados watched the League Trainers commanding their respective Pokémon to rebuild the defense line, and the resentment in its eyes became even clearer.
Orange-yellow energy condensed once more. Riley, having learned his lesson, immediately warned the incoming League reinforcements, telling them to command the Pokémon with the move Taunt to interrupt the attack. Unfortunately, they still underestimated the Giant Gyarados; the Taunt unleashed with their strength was completely ineffective.
"Roar!"
The orange-yellow beam descended, and a torrent of attacks condensed by a large number of Pokémon surged forward, but it still could not withstand the Giant Gyarados's offensive. At this moment, Gu Yuan raised his assessment of the Giant Gyarados's strength to Elite Rank!
The Hyper Beam fell, and its spreading power instantly defeated a large number of Pokémon. Then, the Giant Gyarados lashed its tail, condensing a wave that once again swallowed numerous Pokémon. Following the wave, a large number of Gyarados launched their attacks, eliminating the Pokémon that had been engulfed by the seawater and did not have time to recover.
Crimson blood began to spread, and by virtue of its formidable power, the Giant Gyarados once again led the Gyarados to gain the advantage.
Just as the Giant Gyarados prepared to deal with all the humans and their Pokémon in one fell swoop, a sense of crisis arose in its heart. Before the Giant Gyarados could make a move, an icy cold wind blew, instantly freezing the charging Gyarados along with the seawater.
"Thankfully, we made it in time."
A mature woman's voice rang out as she dismounted from Pidgeot's back. Staring intently at the woman who had suddenly appeared, Gu Yuan instantly recognized her: Lorelei, one of the League's Elite Four!
"You all take the injured back! Make sure to treat their injuries. Leave the rest to me!"
Lorelei's voice was filled with confidence. Poké Balls opened, and Jynx, Cloyster, Slowbro, and the Dewgong that attacked initially, four Elite Rank Pokémon, made their debut. Even without releasing her Champion Rank main force, Lorelei had already demonstrated the power to easily deal with this swarm of Gyarados.
"Roar!"
The Giant Gyarados's voice rang out, and all the other Gyarados slowly began to retreat, providing the Giant Gyarados with enough fighting space. The Giant Gyarados knew clearly that those four Pokémon all possessed strength that was no less than, or even stronger than, its own.
The remaining Gyarados could not provide it with much help. Since that was the case, it was better to have them retreat and preserve their effective fighting power.
"Dewgong, use Sheer Cold for field control! Jynx and Slowbro, control the Giant Gyarados together."
"Cloyster, use Shell Smash, Blizzard to freeze, and Icicle Spear to finish the fight!"
Lorelei's commands rang out, and Dewgong was the first to act. Ice crystals diffused, and before the Giant Gyarados could counterattack, it was frozen by the spreading ice crystals, which continued to expand.
Next, Jynx and Slowbro launched a joint attack. Both Jynx and Slowbro possess the Psychic type. Wielding Psychic-type moves with their Elite Rank power, they appeared completely relaxed. Vast amounts of psychic power diffused, continuously bombarding the Giant Gyarados. While preventing the Giant Gyarados from counterattacking, this power transformed into restraints, tightly binding it.
With two Elite Rank Pokémon acting together, even the Giant Gyarados, which also possessed Elite Rank power, was completely unable to break free or use moves to counterattack.
Seizing the opportunity, Cloyster used the move Shell Smash to boost its strength. It then unleashed Blizzard, not as a terrifying storm, but with its power condensed into a pure white light pillar that struck the Giant Gyarados.
As the power of Blizzard diffused, the Giant Gyarados quickly transformed into an ice sculpture. This demonstrated that Cloyster had raised the proficiency of Blizzard to Expert Mastery.
With the speed boost from Shell Smash, Cloyster quickly rushed to the Giant Gyarados's side. It continuously unleashed Icicle Spear, which, while freeing the Giant Gyarados from the ice, also left several wounds on its body.
"Roar!"
A painful roar rang out, but it sounded notably weak. Blood flowed out, and the Giant Gyarados collapsed onto the sea surface with a look of unwillingness.
It weakly stared at Lorelei, its eyes filled with an unshakeable hatred.
Meanwhile, Gu Yuan, Riley, and the others were all shocked by the power of the Elite Rank. The Giant Gyarados, which everyone had desperately fought and couldn't stop, was easily defeated by Lorelei. The immense contrast made it impossible for everyone to accept the reality at once.
Seeing the Giant Gyarados defeated, the remaining Gyarados rushed forward together, ready to defend the Giant Gyarados to the death.
"Roar!"
In the next moment, the Giant Gyarados's angry roar rang out again, stopping the Gyarados in their tracks. Following this, the Giant Gyarados began to speak. Lorelei clearly noticed that the eyes of the Gyarados, who were originally ready to charge, were filling with deeper resentment in addition to their unwillingness.
She suspected that even if she let them go, they would gather the Gyarados again to launch an attack on humans once they reached a certain level of strength. Logically, Lorelei's best option would be to capture all of them to eliminate future worries. However, doing so would completely destroy any hope of resolving the Gyarados's resentment.
Looking at the corpses floating on the sea, Lorelei was well aware of the cause behind the emergence of this Giant Gyarados.
In truth, the ones who should be punished were not these Gyarados, but those who engaged in rampant, reckless hunting!
Just as Lorelei was agonizing over the choice, Gu Yuan and Alakazam appeared in front of the Giant Gyarados. Seeing this, Cloyster and the other Pokémon immediately became vigilant. They protected Gu Yuan from the Giant Gyarados while simultaneously being wary of Gu Yuan, preventing him from doing anything reckless.
"Gyarados, I heard your conversation. We humans were wrong about this."
"It was our greed, our reckless killing, that caused more and more of your kind to be harmed and your living areas to be compressed. This is what led to this great war!"
"But please trust me, trust humanity, and give us a chance to correct our mistakes."
"I guarantee you that this kind of thing will absolutely not happen again in the future."
"You should know very well that, given the current situation, I have no need to deceive you. This is proof enough that what I am saying is true, and I genuinely do not want to see any more people or Pokémon harmed on either side."
Standing on the ice, Gu Yuan spoke to the Giant Gyarados via telepathy, staring at its resentment. Watched by the Giant Gyarados, the crimson glow of its eyes prevented Gu Yuan from seeing its true gaze, leaving him unable to understand its thoughts.
At this point, Gu Yuan had done everything he could. The rest was up to the Giant Gyarados's choice.