Chapter 106. Power Plant
Outside, it was pitch-black.
"Sigh, seriously, we should've taken a detour."
On the road, everyone felt worn out in body and mind.
Before long, a range of "mountains" appeared ahead of them.
Amid the steel mountains thrust up by the coastal fold belt, the Power Plant's main complex looked like a cluster of alien crystals embedded in the crust.
"The seawater here is really dirty," Ash Ketchum said, noticing that the color of the sea surface was off.
The seawater was black, like diluted sludge, and as they drew closer a sharp, acrid stench hit them.
"Ew~" Misty recoiled from the shore in disgust.
With the stench hanging in the air, everyone's mood soured.
Only center-parted was an exception, perching on top of Ash's head like a Sentret, its little forepaws lifted to its brow in a lookout pose.
Ever since they approached the Power Plant, it had grown more and more excited, and faint strands of white mist drifted from its forehead.
Natsume did not interrupt center-parted, merely watching—half deliberately, half casually—to see what it was trying to do.
"Even if this is factory wastewater, could it really be polluted this badly?" Brock frowned at the seawater.
"You're right," Natsume said, casting a glance over before waving Honora to come over.
"Huh?" Honora was still spacing out, and when she saw Natsume's gesture, she came up and hugged him again.
"…"
"I meant come explain, using the Pokémon Ecology volume I gave you as reference," Natsume said, gently prying Honora off.
"Oh." So it wasn't a cooldown hug after all.
Honora's face flushed bright red, and fortunately, in the dark, no one noticed.
"In this body of water—" Honora took Natsume's flashlight and observed carefully for a moment.
"Mm… I think this place has very likely attracted a Grimer population," she said, then looked at Natsume expectantly.
"Mm." Natsume nodded, signaling her to continue.
"Generally speaking, Grimer are mostly found in city sewers or wild marshes, and they're very rare in the ocean."
"But there are exceptions. Some eutrophic, heavily polluted waters will attract Grimer colonies."
As she spoke, Honora swept the flashlight around, as if searching for something.
"Found it. Look at the sludge on that intake. A lot of Grimer must have slipped in through here and clogged the generator."
They looked where she indicated and indeed saw, hidden among shoreline rocks, a very wide intake coated with black sludge and reeking to high heaven.
"Okay, since we've found the cause, let's go in and fix it!" Ash said, about to dash inside.
"Hold it!" Misty grabbed him.
"Why don't we just tell the Power Plant's staff?"
"Misty's right," Natsume said, taking the lead.
"With special problems, contact the professionals first."
Everyone blinked, then hurried to follow.
"Ugh, why does it stink this bad inside the plant too?" Misty pinched her nose.
"Does it? Smells kind of nice," Natsume said, holding the flushed Honora.
Natsume had noticed something very curious—after his assistant started steaming at the forehead, her body became pleasantly cool to the touch.
Maybe the heat was being carried away?
"By the way, Natsume, do you even know the way?"
They had been walking for a long time without seeing a single staff member, and the path underfoot was getting narrower, so Ash couldn't help asking.
"Of course not," Natsume replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You don't, and you're still leading the way!" Misty shouted at the top of her lungs.
"I'm not the one leading," Natsume said, pointing at Ash's head.
Everyone looked and saw center-parted gazing into the distance, eyes locked straight ahead.
"Why are you all staring at me?" Ash asked, baffled.
"Mr. Natsume, did center-parted find something?" Set down by Natsume, Honora collected her thoughts and asked.
"It's telling me there's a direction with a very strong electromagnetic force," Natsume said, relaying center-parted's impression.
"I get it," Brock said, clapping his hands.
"The power's out, so the only source of electromagnetic force would be Pokémon, and most Pokémon inside the plant are kept by the workers."
"If we find them, we might find the person in charge!"
"I see…"
They quickened their pace.
At the end of the corridor was a locked door.
An eerie blue light flashed in Natsume's eyes, and his telekinesis slipped into the lock.
Click.
The door opened.
Inside, the space opened up.
A platform surrounded them, and below, in a pit-like open space, sat a massive rotor.
Several workers were down there, along with many Magnemite.
"Pika—" The instant center-parted saw the Magnemite cluster, its excitement visibly fell to disappointment.
Under the workers' direction, the Magnemite were continuously generating power on the rotor, but it didn't seem to be doing any good.
"Who are you?" The workers noticed the group, and an older, rough-hewn man with a beard stepped forward to ask.
After they explained their purpose, the older worker knit his brows.
"You folks are sharp," he said.
"We're working on the Grimer issue too, but that's not something we can fix in a moment."
He pointed at the huge machine below.
"What's urgent is getting the backup generator online, but it hasn't been used in ages, and it's still dead."
"Where's your plant manager?" Natsume looked around and saw only workers present.
"Uh… the manager's off dealing with the pressure," the older worker said, wiping cold sweat.
A sudden blackout—so many factories in Gringey City, so many industrial chains, so many critical instruments—how could they just shut down at the drop of a hat?
The manager's phone had been ringing off the hook.
"No wonder," Natsume said with a nod.
Before coming, he'd asked Nurse Joy for the power plant owner's number, but he could never get through.
"Sigh, you young people—what brought you to Gringey City anyway?" the older worker said after looking the group over.
"You should hurry and leave."
"Staying here too long can leave you with chronic problems."
"Look at us."
The older worker pointed to himself.
"Our noses are ruined from all this."
"We can't even smell Grimer anymore."
"It took two days of clogging before anyone realized something was wrong."
"With so many Pokémon still recuperating at the Pokémon Center, we're not leaving," Ash said, determined to fix the problem here.
"Mister, that's awful… why don't you move to another city?" Misty couldn't help feeling distressed.
"Hahaha, take a look at those gears," the older worker said, pointing at the massive rotor.
"We free-range a batch of Magnemite."
"In emergencies like this, each discharging Magnemite can function as a gear, and once it turns, we've got an auxiliary power source."
"But a batch of Magnemite has gone missing, and we still haven't gotten the machine running."
"For a machine that big, you can't be short even one gear."
"And if Gringey City lost its workers, what would Kanto do?"
He laughed heartily.
"Besides, the pay here is about fifteen times higher than elsewhere."
Not far away, Natsume blinked, moved.
Come to think of it, in this Pokémon world he'd arrived in, technology seemed much more advanced than in the original story.
Natsume had asked the system—different parallel Pokémon worlds all have subtle differences.
And the world he was in ranked among the forefront in technological development.
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