Chapter 146: A Special Call
The one ambushing Mismagius was, as before, Dayna's Pokémon.
Previously, when Dayna and Linda had turned back and retreated into the slums to capture people, they had each only taken a portion of their Pokémon with them.
The remaining Pokémon had stayed on the firefight battlefield, firstly to stabilize the morale of their subordinates, and secondly, Dayna had already thought at that time to lay out a plan to monitor Mismagius.
In their perspective, Gengar and Mismagius were both Pokémon belonging to the mastermind; therefore, the surveillance of both Pokémon could not be relaxed!
This hidden move, at this moment, truly awaited its reward!
Mismagius's information was completely lagged.
Between a Pokémon and its master, real-time communication can be established through the mental link of a Poké Ball, ignoring distance limitations.
Dayna's side had just given the order, and the Pokémon on the battlefield made its move; there was zero delay between the two sides.
But Mismagius was different; up until now, she still only had a few scattered, unconfirmed guesses about the situation.
Thinking that Gengar hadn't returned for a long time, she had faintly felt some unease, which is why she had quietly slipped away from the front lines of the firefight.
However, her vigilance towards her surroundings was still insufficient.
Consequently, she was successfully ambushed in one move by Dayna's Dark/Ice-type Weavile, which exploited type advantage!
In this moment, Specter had already made up his mind to go back and save her, no matter what.
He just hadn't expected that Arthur wouldn't part ways with him, but instead immediately responded, "Then let's go back together. You first wait for me to make a phone call."
Specter was somewhat astonished. He then looked at the mere three Poké Balls at Arthur's waist and momentarily became a bit hesitant.
Although the man and ghost had not yet fully communicated, Specter had long seen that Arthur now was no longer the all-powerful, peak Elite Four member from back then.
His body had become smaller; calculated by age, he definitely hadn't reached the peak period of human strength yet.
He currently also only had three Pokémon. In Specter's view, among them, perhaps only Honedge was of greater help to his master; the other two, in his eyes, were still tender juniors, still lacking some experience compared to his partners from the past.
To go back together with such a configuration would be far too dangerous.
To speak the truth, even Specter himself didn't have much confidence in this trip.
After all, the era had already changed.
Human technology had progressed for two hundred years; the protagonists of the battlefield had long since been replaced by a new generation.
Two hundred years ago, a peak-combat-power Elite Four member and their Pokémon were humanity's "Mythical Pokémon," the face of the Alliance. In that era of bolt-action rifles and muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons, one Elite Four member could fight against an entire division.
But two hundred years had passed.
Technology had developed forward for two hundred years!
Bolt-action rifles had evolved into automatic rifles; muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons had evolved into mortars, and even trial-type railguns!
The modernized armies of today had long ceased to emphasize the dominance of individual Pokémon.
Otherwise, trainer culture wouldn't have so rapidly abdicated from the battlefield to the competitive arena over the past two centuries.
Even Specter himself, if now faced with a well-equipped, well-trained modern combat squad of a dozen or so humans and twenty-odd Pokémon, under circumstances where the opponent's personnel configuration was reasonable, wouldn't dare to lightly claim certain victory.
His strength was still sufficient to inspire fear in local, small-scale encounter battles, but on large-scale battlefields with heavy firefights, Pokémon in this era were long since no longer the main characters.
If even Specter felt this way, how much more so for the Arthur of today.
However, Arthur, noticing Specter's gaze, said nothing, merely reaching out and, while he was unprepared, quickly tapping his materialized forehead once.
"What are you thinking, huh? You think I'd abandon you and run away? Then what exactly was the purpose of my trip to the Star Brilliance Alliance? Even after two hundred years, you're still far from needing to worry about me, Little Shadow."
Arthur's words carried a hint of a smile; that demeanor of reprimanding Specter was just like old times.
That familiar tone made Specter feel dazed for a moment, almost mistakenly thinking he had returned to the countryside fields of over two hundred years ago.
Back then, Arthur had also used the same tone to mock him, when he was still a Gastly.
"Just like this, you also want to scare me? You're still far off, Little Shadow."
At that time, Specter had followed the human before him precisely because he was holding back his indignation and refused to be convinced.
Who could have thought that this one plunge would delay him for a century...
A century in an instant, seas turn into mulberry fields...
The era had changed, but some things remained unchanged.
Just like Arthur's choice.
Regardless of how many times, he would definitely choose to find Specter again, and would not let him leave alone.
However, before departing, he still needed to make some preparations within his ability.
A person can be brave, but cannot be brainlessly reckless.
After his phone recovered its signal, the very first call Arthur made was to Levi.
Unfortunately, the other party was a professional soldier; during wartime, private phones would definitely all be turned off. He couldn't get through.
Subsequently, Arthur pondered for a bit, then dialed a second number.
...
Under the same night sky, ten-plus minutes ago, the reporter and interview team from Kubfu Alliance International Channel finally obtained approval, entered the blockade zone, and began real-time filming and reporting.
This report would even be made into a real-time live broadcast synchronized across the entire network.
Because ultimately, the essence of Kubfu's military action against the Stitched Shadow Army this time was just to give the populace an explanation.
The Crescent Bay cruise ship hijacking incident resulted in over nine hundred deaths. As a major Alliance with a reputation to uphold, if they didn't take some action, it would be unexplainable to the public.
Besides this, this battle didn't involve too much political coloring, so there was nothing that couldn't be shown to people.
A synchronized live broadcast could also maximally display the results to the populace.
Previously, they had kept the blockade line up and not allowed reporters in because the battle situation was still unclear at that time.
Wartime footage without a certain grasp of victory could not be casually broadcast.
This was called -- Emotional Intelligence - used ironically for PR.
Now, permitting reporters to enter was sufficient to indirectly indicate that this battle, fought up to this point, already held basically no suspense.
(Inside the ruins, Liam felt bitter in his heart.)
(He still didn't know that his rescue was likely never coming, not in this lifetime...)
After the live broadcast began, despite it being late at night, countless viewers still surged in from within the Alliance territory; the traffic instantly exploded!
Who doesn't like to see their own Alliance flexing its muscles abroad?
For a moment, the barrage comments instantly filled the screen—
"Here, here! Tonight's live broadcast must have me, because I'm a 'Kubfu' person!"
In the middle of the night, various forums and message boards also had their heat and discussion levels maxed out.
Everywhere, one could see that classic green cultural shirt meme picture; the person in the picture strode vigorously, eyes sharp and incisive, with two large white characters "Kubfu" on the chest of their shirt. The surrounding text versions varied, but what remained unchanged was always one person, one shirt, and two characters!
After the live broadcast started, the reporter, in front of the camera, first explained the current situation to the audience, emphatically highlighting that the Alliance military had, at this moment, already surrounded a high-level cadre of the Stitched Shadow Army, and capturing this person was merely a matter of time.
The barrage comments and forums naturally ushered in a wave of jubilation.
Then, inadvertently, one post very accidentally popped up—
"You guys think, will that Natural Disaster Emissary Arthur appear tonight?"
Because there were too many sleepless people tonight, this post received many replies just one second after being sent.
Some rational people replied: Impossible, right? That person, ultimately, is just a civilian streamer. Can he really be involved with this Alliance-level large-scale military operation?
Some clueless onlookers asked: Don't understand, just asking: what's the "Natural Disaster Emissary" meme?
However, there were also those who enjoyed watching trouble and didn't mind making things bigger: That's hard to say. Wasn't the Crescent Bay event also an Alliance-level big event? And the previous firefight where over a hundred people died wasn't a small matter either, right? Didn't Arthur appear in both? The Humanoid Harbinger of Death isn't joking with you.
Just as the netizens were discussing heatedly—
The reporter in front of the camera suddenly paused for a bit and said, "Everyone, please wait a moment. My assistant just now signaled to me that a special call has dialed in. Let me confirm it first."
(End of Chapter)
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