Join my p@treon for more chapters
[email protected]/Tempest_29
"Everyone, please calm down! The situation is still unclear. If we drive away the Grimer hastily, it may cause even greater problems!"
On the street, a large crowd of citizens had gathered to march through the city, shouting slogans demanding the removal of all Grimer from their community.
Officer Jenny had arrived with several police officers to try to control the situation. She positioned herself at the front of the crowd, personally attempting to persuade the citizens to remain calm and rational.
However, these citizens had been influenced by agitators sent by Honda, and they were completely determined to expel the Grimer. They refused to listen to Officer Jenny's reasonable advice and continued shouting their demands for the Pokemon's removal.
"Everyone, please calm down! I'm asking you all to remain calm!" Officer Jenny called out, but she was clearly struggling to maintain order.
Looking at the increasingly hostile crowd, she felt uncertain about how to proceed.
"Why should we stay calm? Officer Jenny, isn't the situation clear enough already? These Grimer are simply obstacles to urban development, and they should have been expelled long ago!"
A confident voice cut through the commotion as a sleek car pulled up to the curb. Honda stepped out of the vehicle, followed by several intimidating bodyguards.
His eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he surveyed the scene. Everything was developing exactly as he had planned. Now he only needed to continue encouraging the masses, and by the time the police could no longer withstand the public pressure, the Grimer would be driven away without him having to take direct action himself.
"Mr. Honda! We still need to conduct a thorough investigation of this matter!" Officer Jenny's expression grew stern as Honda made his appearance.
Although her investigation hadn't uncovered concrete evidence yet, she had a strong intuition that someone was orchestrating these events from behind the scenes, especially given the citizens' unusually intense reaction.
"Isn't it obvious enough already? If citizens' safety is threatened again, who will take responsibility for that?" Honda pressed his advantage, seizing the opportunity to escalate the situation.
When the crowd heard about personal safety concerns, they became even more agitated and restless.
Officer Jenny realized this was a problematic development. After all, the Grimer had indeed attacked the streets previously, which made her current position seem weak and ineffective.
If similar incidents occurred again, she honestly couldn't guarantee that she could take full responsibility for the consequences.
"Everyone, we cannot allow our personal safety to be compromised! For the development and future of our city, we must drive these Grimer out!" Honda shouted dramatically.
His proclamation immediately received enthusiastic responses from the surrounding citizens. Mixed within the genuine protesters were several of Honda's planted associates, whose job was to stir up the crowd's emotions and keep the situation from calming down. The scene was rapidly spiraling out of control.
"Wait!"
Just when Officer Jenny was at a loss for how to handle the escalating crisis, a familiar voice called out.
Officer Jenny turned around in surprise and saw Ash and his companions running toward the crowd.
When she spotted the three trainers, her expression brightened considerably, and she felt an inexplicable sense of relief. However, Honda felt deeply uneasy when he noticed Ash and his friends approaching.
He had no idea that Ash had already infiltrated his company or ventured into the sewer system to uncover the truth.
"Ash!" Officer Jenny exclaimed, genuinely surprised to see them. When she had left earlier, Ash had still been at the Pokemon Center!
"Everyone, there's a hidden conspiracy behind the Grimer's street attacks! This incident isn't the result of the Grimer's own behavior—someone has been deliberately causing trouble behind the scenes!"
Before Ash could even speak, Misty had already begun addressing the crowd angrily. After learning the truth about the situation, she was absolutely furious.
This is bad!
Honda's heart sank when he heard this accusation. Although he had been extremely careful to keep his activities secret, he couldn't rule out the possibility that these meddling kids had discovered something incriminating.
"What are you talking about, little girl? Are you working together with the Grimer?" Honda quickly deflected, trying to discredit Misty's claims.
"I'd rather work with them than with a hypocritical person like you!" Misty replied with obvious disgust.
"What did you just say?" Honda's voice grew threatening as he gritted his teeth.
"Everyone, the reason the Grimer came to attack the streets is because someone has been attacking them in the sewers, trying to force them to leave their homes," Brock explained to the gathered crowd.
"This made the Grimer believe that the people of the city wanted to drive them away, so they emerged from underground in anger to retaliate. Mr. Honda, you should be very familiar with this situation, shouldn't you?"
When Brock made this statement, he looked directly at Honda. Anyone with half a brain could tell that these words were specifically directed at the businessman, and Honda's face immediately became extremely pale.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about!" Honda stammered defensively.
"You approached me at the Pokemon Center and tried to hire me to help you deal with the Grimer problem. After I refused your offer, you hired other people instead. Those two individuals have now been captured by us," Ash stated calmly, his voice carrying quiet authority.
"Would you like us to bring them out for a public confrontation?"
Honda felt intimidated by Ash's steady, cold gaze, and when he heard that his hired operatives had been caught, he realized he couldn't continue denying the accusations.
"So... so what if they were people I hired?" Honda's eyes darted nervously as he tried a different approach.
"I was doing this for the development of the city and for the benefit of the community!"
"Are you really acting for the benefit of the community, or for your own personal gain?" Ash's eyes narrowed as he responded to Honda's weak justification.
Honda was visibly shaken by the question and stared at Ash as if he had seen a ghost. Looking into Ash's knowing eyes, it was obvious that the young trainer had uncovered far more than Honda had anticipated, though he couldn't understand how Ash had learned so much.
Honda desperately gestured to his bodyguards, hoping they would intimidate the troublesome trainers, but at that moment he noticed the imposing figure of Electivire positioning itself protectively beside Ash.
Although the Electric-type maintained its characteristic smile, there was something unmistakably menacing about its presence that made the bodyguards hesitate. Besides, they were surrounded by police officers—any violent action would be incredibly foolish.
"What's really going on here, Ash?" Officer Jenny sensed that something significant was being revealed and immediately asked for clarification.
"The Honda Group has been taking advantage of the city's environmental protection plan for the sewer system. They've constructed large new drainage outlets in the underground tunnels," Ash began his explanation.
"After we captured the people Mr. Honda had sent into the sewers, we discovered that the location where we emerged happened to be directly behind the Honda Group's headquarters."
"Behind the Honda Group building, numerous large industrial factories have been constructed in secret."
When Officer Jenny asked for details, Ash didn't waste time and immediately shared everything they had witnessed during their underground investigation.