Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

“This…” Lillie seemed quite interested in Ironwhirl’s car, while Ironwhirl proudly replied, “…It should be officially launched soon. This kind of pure electric car has a much smaller environmental impact than gasoline cars and consumes less energy. Of course, if you don’t have an Electric-type Pokémon, it will be equipped with a special battery, so don’t worry~”

"Indeed, it has less environmental impact..."

Rowe looked at Lillie, the young lady of the Aether Foundation, which is a charitable organization dedicated to rescuing endangered and rare Pokémon, and naturally includes various environmental protection activities.

The entire Alola region is a large nature reserve, and there are many subspecies of Pokémon with special regional forms. Many of these subspecies are rare and endangered species, and their continued existence is a result of the Aether Foundation's protection efforts.

It's fair to say that without the Aether Foundation, many of these local characteristic subspecies of Pokémon would likely have gone extinct. The Aether Foundation's efforts in this regard are truly remarkable.

Lillie received this kind of education from a young age, and ideas about protecting nature are as instinctive as breathing.

At this point, Lillie seemed to be caught in a dilemma again. After all, whenever she thought of the Aether Foundation, she would think of her mother. In her heart, her mother had always been a very loving person, incredibly gentle to both Pokémon and humans.

So why would a mother like that do such a thing...?

"Ahem..." Seeing this, Luo Wei quickly coughed twice to change the subject, "Then, let's go in and take a look? By the way, didn't you say that some people had already arrived beforehand? Did they find anything?"

"Hmm..." Tie Xuan took out the Navigator, but after dialing the number, all he got was a dead tone...

...After dozens of silent beeps, it turned into an electronic prompt.

The user you are trying to reach is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.

Chapter Ninety-Seven: Purple Violet City Power Station

problem occurs……

There is no doubt that first, the power plant staff could not answer, and then the people who came to check the situation first were also unable to answer.

The continuous collapses clearly indicated that the situation at the power plant was unusual.

"……Walk"

Old Master Tie Xuan's expression darkened slightly. Without saying a word, he took a step forward, and Luo Wei and Lillie naturally followed immediately.

"...Stay close to me, it'll be inconvenient if we're too far apart in case something happens."

When Rowe spoke to Lillie in this way, it was because the young lady herself had almost no fighting ability. However, she did have one last insurance policy.

That's the big treasure in Lillie's handbag, but it's in a very delicate state right now. It's lost about 90% of its power and can't be used freely.

Otherwise, even if Lillie loses 90% of her power, as long as she can still use it freely, she can usually push through with her power.

After all, it has lost 90% of its power... Its true form is also a legend. Gods are the embodiment of concepts and natural laws. No matter how much their power is weakened, they cannot easily lose to ordinary mortals.

In short, instead of hoping for some unknown cheat that might not even work, it's better to stick to the real, on-site support. So Lillie nodded obediently.

"Yes, I'll follow along carefully. Rowe is really reliable!"

After all, Rowe had saved her from Nihilego before. Lillie didn't have a great grasp of Pokémon Trainers' abilities, but she still believed that Rowe was an extremely skilled trainer.

After all, even the dojo master, Grandpa Tiexuan, was certain that Luo Wei could help him after hearing about Luo Wei's identity.

But when she said that, the masked cat, who was closely following Luo Wei, had a rather subtle expression. Luo Wei said, half-laughing and half-crying, "If we really encounter any danger later, we'll have to rely on you to protect everyone~"

"..." The masked cat's expression became even more subtle, but she still spread her paws to indicate that she was confident she could take care of it.

Then, the group stepped into the power plant. The moment they entered, Lillie couldn't help but shiver involuntarily, while Luo Wei and Tie Xuan looked serious.

Masked Meow helplessly raised its arm, looking at its inexplicably messy fur with frustration. Kirlia even tugged anxiously at Rowe's clothes with its little hand, clearly transmitting a message through telepathy.

Something is wrong here!

Of course, she didn't actually need to remind them, because everyone's behavior upon entering the area already demonstrated this.

Lillie shivered not because she was truly afraid, but rather due to an unconscious physiological reaction; simply put…

"...There's static electricity everywhere, it's so uncomfortable and prickly."

As soon as Luo Wei pointed out, the reason was that the power plant was filled with a strong static magnetic field for some reason, so the moment they stepped in, they were stung by the static electricity.

Luo Wei and Tie Xuan were prepared in advance, but Lillie was obviously unprepared, so she shuddered instantly after being stung by the static electricity.

"Could it be Pokémon?"

After all, this scene didn't seem like an ordinary accident, and power plants naturally have Electric-type Pokémon. The principle of a power plant is to generate electricity through Electric-type Pokémon, and then the power plant collects, converts, and stores the electricity.

In other words, although it's called a power station, the equipment here is only used for power conversion and storage; the actual power generation comes from the Electric-type Pokémon here.

Could it be that something happened to these Electric-type Pokémon?

"Hmm, maybe that's possible..."

Tie Xuan noticed that after entering this place, the electric monster beside him seemed a little agitated, as if there was something deep inside the power plant.

"Are they wild Pokémon, or Pokémon from the power plant? If they are from the power plant, why are they attacking their trainer?"

The Pokémon in the power plant belong to the employees. So if a Pokémon in the power plant attacks an employee, it's equivalent to the Pokémon attacking its trainer.

This situation does occur; if a trainer treats their Pokémon badly, the Pokémon may attack the trainer.

"I'm not sure, we'll have to go inside and check..."

“Speaking of which…” At this point, Luo Wei thought of something, “…I’ve actually been hearing some not-so-good rumors about the power plant, those rumors…”

“Yes, I know…” Tie Xuan nodded, without any hint of unease. “…So you mean our power plant is actually secretly exploiting and squeezing Pokémon, using them to generate electricity to power the plant, right?”

"That's right..."

Since the other party was so open about it, Luo Wei naturally had no reason to hesitate and answered frankly and openly.

Hearing this, Lillie naturally cast an inquiring glance at them.

In response, Tie Xuan decisively replied, "No, those are all false rumors. I can say with certainty... Our power plant never exploits Pokémon. The Pokémon responsible for generating electricity are rotated on a regular schedule, and the time is controlled within a range that will definitely not affect the Pokémon. They also receive regular physical examinations to confirm their health. The Pokémon... work with this understanding in mind..."

This time will never exceed normal working hours, and in most cases it will be much shorter, and sufficient "employee meals" are always provided...

...That's right, these Pokémon are theoretically all full-time employees of the power plant, enjoying the same rights as other employees.

"That's it..."

One side's words alone cannot prove anything, since Tie Xuan himself is in charge of the power plant, and theoretically he would not say anything bad about the power plant.

However, Luo Wei was willing to believe him, but Tie Xuan immediately followed suit.

"However, the rumors aren't entirely baseless. I must admit that when Mauville City was first established, there were indeed some behaviors similar to those described in the rumors. Of course, they weren't as extreme as the rumors portrayed, but they did have a real impact on Pokémon..."

"..."

When Luo Wei said these words, he seemed to hear self-blame in Tie Xuan's voice. However, Tie Xuan was in charge of developing Zijing City, so if there really was such a past, Tie Xuan must have been one of the parties involved.

"The relationship between humans and Pokémon, the relationship between us and the land beneath our feet, the relationship between living beings and nature—these are truly... incredibly complex issues..."

Luo Wei nodded in agreement, and just as they were speaking, a blinding golden arc of electricity suddenly erupted from the shadows...

"Beware!"

Chapter Ninety-Eight (Part 1): Let's make it so cute it'll kill us!

"Beware!"

Suddenly, a bright yellow flash of electricity leaped and shone from the darkness.

With lightning speed, as soon as Rowe uttered the command, Kirlia on the other side raised her hands and activated her Nen...

The incoming lightning bolt was abruptly distorted midway, and vanished from the crowd in a flash.

"What is..."

Luo Wei immediately focused his gaze and saw a golden flame emerging from the shadows, and the figure covered by this flame was none other than a Raichu.

"?"

It's not unusual to see Raichu in a power plant; as an Electric-type Pokémon, Raichu tends to linger near places like power plants.

However, the aura emanating from this Raichu is clearly the special aura found only by Ultra Beasts and Totem Pokémon, indicating that this Raichu is obviously in a different state.

After Rowe confirmed the situation, Kirullian tugged at Rowe's sleeve again. Rowe glanced over and saw several more figures appear in the corner.

There are strange creatures that resemble enlarged Poké Balls but have facial features, and creatures whose bodies resemble a combination of three metal spheres, a magnet, and a screw.

"...Fluorescent Throttle and Magneton!"

These are all Pokémon commonly found in power plants, and without exception, they all radiate a golden aura.

"These are all employees of the power plant..."

Tie Xuan confirmed the identities of these Pokémon with a single sentence. Luo Wei was quite curious about how he discovered and confirmed them, but he soon saw it too.

On Raichu's tail hung a small employee badge that looked like a tag, and Magneton and Voltorb also had similar magnetic employee badges.

These are their identification documents; these Pokémon are not wild Pokémon, but rather employees of the power plant responsible for generating electricity.

"It seems that something has caused these Pokémon to go berserk... Is it because of this strange aura?"

If that's the case, then the collective disappearance of the human staff here is completely understandable. To put it bluntly, without Pokémon partners, humans encountering out-of-control Pokémon are utterly powerless to fight back.

"There's nothing we can do. We don't know why it turned out this way, but we can only try to calm them down for now..."

"..." Rowe looked around. "There's a lot of important equipment around here, right? And we can't really hurt these Pokémon..."

“That’s right…” Tie Xuan’s tone was also somewhat apologetic, “…Sorry, these conditions must be quite troublesome, right?”

“No, there’s absolutely no trouble.” However, Luo Wei replied with a smile, “I understand the situation, so…”

Tie Xuan glanced at the Electabuzz beside him and noticed that the little guy seemed quite irritable as well. He immediately recalled it into its Poké Ball, and with a flash of light, Tie Xuan pulled out a second Poké Ball...

...This time, the Pokémon that appeared was shaped like a flying saucer, a disc-shaped Pokémon.

Magneton is the evolved form of Magneton and is also one of the Pokémon that Irons is proud of!

"Do it!"

As Luo Wei finished cleaning up, Masked Cat, who was standing to the side, couldn't wait any longer. Her fur was all sticking up from static electricity, and she was in a very explosive mood, like a powder keg.

After all, as a clean big cat, she was quite proud of her soft fur. Now that it's like this, who knows how long it will take to groom it back to its smooth state.

Just thinking about the extra effort it would take made her blood pressure spike, so without any hesitation, she rushed out.