Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 106 Power Plant

It was pitch black outside.

"Ugh, really, I wish we had taken the detour."

On the way, everyone was somewhat physically and mentally exhausted.

Before long, a "mountain range" appeared before everyone's eyes.

In the steel mountains rising from the coastal fold belt, the main power plant complex resembles an alien crystal cluster embedded in the earth's crust.

"The seawater here is so dirty," Xiao Zhi noticed that the color of the sea was a bit off.

The seawater was pitch black, like diluted sludge, and when you got close, there was a strong, pungent stench.

"Ugh~" Xiaoxia ran away from the beach in disgust.

The stench filled the air, putting everyone in a bad mood.

The only exception was the middle-parted head, which stood upright like a tail on top of Ash's head, with its short little hands placed on its forehead as if gazing into the distance.

As they approached the power plant, the other party became increasingly excited, with wisps of white mist even appearing on their foreheads.

Natsume didn't disturb the person with the middle parting, but instead observed intentionally or unintentionally what the other person was trying to do.

"Even if it's factory wastewater, it shouldn't be this polluted, right?" Xiao Gang looked at the seawater and frowned slightly.

“You’re right.” Natsume glanced at it, then waved to the boy standing to the side.

"Huh?" Jiaozi was still in a daze when she saw Natsume's actions, so she hugged him again.

"."

"I asked you to explain this, referring to the Pokémon Ecology book I gave you." Natsume pushed the proud child aside.

"Oh," so it wasn't about cooling down. Jiao Zi's face turned red, but fortunately, no one noticed under the cover of night.

"Here are the waters," Jiaozi took the flashlight from Natsume and observed them carefully for a moment.

“Hmm, I think it’s very likely that this place has attracted the Mudfolk.” After saying that, Jiaozi looked at Natsume expectantly.

"Hmm." Natsume nodded, signaling for Jiaozi to continue.

"Generally speaking, stinky sludge is mostly found in urban sewers or wild swamps, and is very rare in the ocean."

"But there are exceptions. Some eutrophic and heavily polluted waters can also attract sludge populations."

As he spoke, Jiaozi moved his flashlight, seemingly searching for something.

"Found it. Look at the sludge on this water inlet. There must have been a lot of foul sludge mixed in here, clogging the generator."

Looking over, everyone indeed saw a very wide inlet hidden among the rocks on the shore, covered with black sludge and emitting a foul stench.

"Okay, now that we've found the cause, let's hurry in and fix it!" Xiao Zhi said, and was about to rush inside.

"Wait a minute!" Xiaoxia grabbed Xiaozhi and said:
"Why don't we just tell the power plant staff?"

“Xiaoxia is right. For any special issues, contact professionals immediately,” Natsume said, stepping to the front.

Everyone was taken aback, then quickly followed.

"Damn it, why does the factory smell so bad?" Xiaoxia covered her mouth and nose.

"Really? It smells nice." Natsume held the blushing Jiaozi in his arms.

Natsume discovered something very strange: when his assistant's head emitted smoke, his body would become extremely cold.

Perhaps the heat was carried away?
"Hey Natsume-kun, do you know the way?"

After walking for a long time without seeing a single staff member, and with the road underfoot becoming increasingly narrow, Xiao Zhi couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Of course I don't know," Natsume replied matter-of-factly.

"I didn't know you were leading the way!" Xiaoxia roared.

“I’m not leading the way,” Natsume said, pointing to the top of Ash’s head.

Everyone looked over and saw the man with the middle parting staring intently ahead.

"Why are you looking at me?" Xiao Zhi asked, confused.

"Mr. Natsume, did the guy with the middle part discover something?" After being put down by Natsume, Jiaozi sorted out her thoughts and asked.

"It told me that there is a direction with a very strong electromagnetic force," Natsume said, revealing his thoughts.

"I understand." Xiao Gang clapped his hands.

"There's a power outage here. The only creatures with electromagnetic energy are Pokémon, and most of the Pokémon in the factory are kept by the workers. Finding them might lead us to the person in charge!"

"That's it"

The group quickened their pace.

At the end of the passage, there was a locked door.

A ghostly blue light flickered in Natsume's eyes as his telekinetic powers invaded the door lock.

With a soft click, the door opened.

Stepping inside, the space suddenly opened up.

There was a platform all around, and looking down, there was a huge rotor placed on an open space that looked like a deep pit.

There were several workers around, as well as many small magnets.

"Pikachu—" The moment he saw the group of Magnemite, the man with the middle parting's excited expression visibly turned dejected.

The Magnemite monsters were directed by the workers to generate electricity on the rotor, but it didn't seem to be doing any good.

"Who are you?" The workers noticed Natsume and his group, and an old worker with a rugged appearance and a beard stepped forward and asked.

After the old worker explained his intentions, he frowned.

"You guys are really amazing. We're working on solving the mud problem too, but it's not something that can be done in a short time."

The old worker pointed to the huge machine below:

"The most urgent task is to start the backup generator, but it seems to have been unused for a long time and there has been no movement so far."

"Where is your factory manager?" Natsume looked around for a moment and found that all those present were workers.

"Uh, the factory manager is under pressure." The old worker wiped away his cold sweat.

A sudden power outage—so many factories, so many supply chains, so many important instruments in Heiyun City—can it just be shut down like that?

The factory manager's phone had been ringing off the hook.

“No wonder,” Natsume nodded knowingly.

Before leaving, he asked Joey for the power plant owner's phone number, but he couldn't get through.

"Hey, what are you young people doing in Black Cloud City?"

The old worker looked at Natsume and his group and advised them:

"You'd better leave quickly, staying here too long can easily lead to health problems."

“Look at us,” the old worker said, pointing to himself.

"My nose was already ruined. I couldn't smell the stench from the mud. It took two days for someone to notice something was wrong."

"There are still so many Pokémon recovering at the Pokémon Center, we're not leaving." Ash was determined to solve the problem here.

"You poor uncles, why don't you move to another city to develop your career?" Xiaoxia said, feeling sorry for you.

"Haha, look at those gears," the old worker said, pointing to the huge rotor.

“We have a group of Magnemite creatures that can be kept free-range. In the event of such an emergency, each of the discharging Magnemite creatures can act as a gear, and once it starts running, it can provide an emergency power source.”

"But a batch of Magnemite is missing, and the machine still hasn't been turned on."

"Such a large machine can't function without even one missing gear. What will happen to the Kanto region if Black Cloud City loses its workers?"

The old worker laughed heartily:
"Moreover, the wages here are about fifteen times higher than in other places."

Not far away, Natsume paused slightly, somewhat moved.

Speaking of which, the Pokémon world he came to seems to be much more technologically advanced than the original story.

Natsume asked the system, and it turns out that there are subtle differences between the different Pokémon parallel worlds.

In his parallel world, technological development is among the most advanced.

(End of this chapter)