By then, Lühé had finished checking his equipment and returned to Xia You and the others. He frowned as he watched the battle before him, worry written all over his face.
"How did it go?" Xia You asked. "Your equipment's all intact, right?"
"It's fine. Apart from a few scratches, there's no serious damage." Lühé nodded, then pushed up his glasses and said gravely, "These Gyarados aren't angry of their own accord. They've been provoked by outside stimuli. We have to find a way to stop this rampage without hurting them!"
"Stopping them peacefully is no longer possible." Xia You glanced at him, surprised that Lühé could still think so naively at his age. "If we want these Gyarados to calm down completely, our only option is to defeat them. We can't let misplaced compassion get in the way or cling to the hope of some lucky alternative."
At Xia You's blunt retort, Lühé's face flushed slightly.
He was a Pokémon Watcher, and from his perspective, he naturally wanted to keep the Pokémon safe.
Besides, at his age, being contradicted to his face by a young man inevitably hurt his pride.
Then again, the moment the words left his mouth, he had known his idea was unrealistic. Even so, he still wanted to make one more attempt.
"That may be true, but..."
"There are no buts." Xia You gave him no chance to speak, his voice stern. "Hesitate when you need to act, and you'll suffer for it. We have to defeat them immediately, before they cause any more destruction! Mr. Lühé, you aren't good at battling. I think you'd better stop getting in the way here."
This time, Xia You's tone was rather harsh, bordering on rude. Lühé opened his mouth at those words, but in the end, he