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Running was no longer an option. Metagross severed the ropes connecting the hot air balloon to the trap and flew away, clutching the glass jar.
'Somehow, it always felt like Team Rocket was missing a screw,' Dakota thought. 'What's the point of making the jar so sturdy when the connection point is so weak? Not everyone is as stubborn as Ash; who would waste time struggling with the jar itself?'
Being stared at by dozens of Pokémon at the same time was downright chilling. Team Rocket suddenly realized that coming out tonight had been a huge mistake.
All kinds of moves streaked across the sky, flying straight toward them.
"Wobbuffet, block them!" Jessie shoved Wobbuffet in front of her.
Faced with the dazzling array of incoming moves, Wobbuffet didn't move, letting the attacks smash into its face.
This sea of moves included both special and physical attacks; blocking them would have been a miracle. Wobbuffet stopped thinking altogether and embraced the cruelty of life.
As the cry of "We're blasting off again!" coming from the sky grew fainter, Team Rocket disappeared from sight once again.
"It's always like this. We're chatting just fine, and then they jump out and interrupt. They're really annoying," Ash complained about Team Rocket after sending out Pikachu.
"They're first-class when it comes to running away. In battle, they last one second." Dakota commented, judging others mainly by strength, as always.
This was Etorre's first time seeing Team Rocket. After learning that they had been tailing Ash all along, he marveled at their persistence.
After Team Rocket's interruption, no one felt like continuing the conversation. On top of that, they had been busy all day at the restaurant and were exhausted, so they soon returned to their tents to rest.
Wakaba was very disappointed. She had come with the determination to stay up all night and secretly learn some tricks, but everyone chose to go to sleep instead.
She really wanted to hype everyone up, but she knew she shouldn't. Ultimately, she could only hug Spoink helplessly and return to her room.
The next day, Luther's group got up early. Since the Pokémon that Wakaba had brought back still needed time to adjust, all the Pokémon who could help at the restaurant stayed behind.
It wasn't until they walked onto the streets that they truly felt the strong atmosphere of the Lily of the Valley Conference about to begin. There were lines forming in front of every battle venue they could see along the way.
Dakota defined this kind of behavior as a dying struggle. In his view, if you had been putting in serious effort all along, then in the remaining month and a half, it would be enough to maintain the Pokémon's training and condition.
This would allow the Pokémon to maintain a positive mindset before the competition instead of being constantly nervous.
These small details revealed Dakota's training style and philosophy.
Luther suspected that, even without having battled them, Dakota would still be wearing that cold, detached expression when facing Etorre and Ash if he hadn't introduced them to him.
After all, Ash and Etorre's philosophies differed from Dakota's to a certain extent.
They had talked about it last night, why Dakota was so eager for legendary Pokémon.
Dakota's answer was simple: 'They're strong.'
It was an easy-to-understand explanation, so simple that it didn't even feel like a gamer's mindset. Rather, it was the way any normal person would think.
Considering that Dakota didn't have any legendary Pokémon before capturing Darkrai, the ordinary Pokémon he used to capture it definitely weren't pushovers.
From their interactions, it was clear that Dakota had deep feelings for his Pokémon. After all, they were a team capable of tracking legendary Pokémon that he had raised from a young age. It was impossible to say that he hadn't put in tremendous effort.
Dakota said he had already seen the limits of his strength.
He had once challenged Lance.
While training Pokémon in the wilderness, Lance happened to run into Dakota, who immediately went on the offensive.
The Dakota of three years ago lost miserably.
His description of Lance was strikingly vivid:
"He's far beyond ordinary Trainers. His battles, and his Pokémon, are on a level that normal Trainers simply can't imagine."
Ash recalled his own encounter with Lance when he had just set out on his journey. The fearless guy who challenged anyone he met couldn't possibly understand the helplessness hidden in Dakota's words.
Etorre, on the other hand, could understand it somewhat. Although he had never faced Lance directly, he had challenged the Elite Four.
If the Elite Four were an insurmountable wall, then what kind of monster must a Champion be?
Back at Diantha's villa, Lance and Cynthia fought fiercely. Afterward, they told Luther, "We were just fooling around."
It felt like a lie told to keep a child, who had accidentally opened the door to a new world, from panicking.
Dakota had gone down a dead end by choosing a shortcut, capturing powerful Pokémon to make himself stronger rather than becoming stronger together with his Pokémon through long-term training and nurturing.
This was a road that couldn't be walked forever.
When Darkrai's power reached its limit, he looked for Latios. When Latios couldn't raise the ceiling of his team any further, who would Darkrai look for next?
Palkia? Or Dialga?
And if that still wasn't enough, what then? Look for Ultra Necrozma? Or Arceus?
Cynthia had seen this from the beginning. That was precisely why she never considered Dakota a potential opponent.
Even when Ash traveled to the Unova Region, Cynthia was still the Champion, proof that Dakota had already failed in his challenge against the Elite Four of the Pokémon League.
Did Dakota not know where he went wrong?
He knew very well.
But knowing doesn't always mean you're willing to walk the right path.
The right path was right there, but it was far too difficult.
Ash and Etorre were walking precisely that thorn-covered road. From initially feeling close to them because of Luther to now deeply admiring both of them, Dakota must have seen something.
Whether or not Dakota was secretly hoping someone would come along and knock some sense into him was something Luther had no way of knowing.
Heart ailments can only be cured by oneself.
As Wakaba said, there were quite a few wild Pokémon near the Pokémon Center close to the wilderness outside Twilight Sea Town, as well as some abandoned Pokémon.
After entering the center, Nurse Joy learned of Luther and the others' intentions. She even took out a chart she had made for Luther to reference.
The chart was extremely detailed, recording the Pokémon Joy had seen recently. The most detailed section at the bottom listed the Pokémon currently being temporarily sheltered and cared for by the Pokémon Center.
Most of them were common to the Sinnoh Region, with a few coming from other regions.
"Most of the abandoned ones are Grass-, Bug-, and Normal-type."
Luther said after glancing at the chart and noticing a pattern.
"They evolve easily, but without enough patience to raise them properly, the results won't be very good. Most rookies choose these types just to quickly experience the thrill of growth."
Dakota remarked bluntly; he had seen this kind of thing far too often.
From a game perspective, this approach might be easier to accept, but unfortunately, this wasn't a game.
Pokémon that had been raised and cared for by humans were already different from wild Pokémon. Having been exposed to human society, they often linger around it, unwilling to leave.
Even if they returned to the wild, they would feel out of place. Houndoom and the others clustering together was one such manifestation.
(End of chapter)