Pokémon Detective Case Files.

"A wooden Poké Ball...not weak to Ground-type...ah, and the exterior of this Forest Mansion! I see, I see, I see!"

"What did you find?" the intelligence investigator asked curiously.

“There are usually differences in type between different regional forms. Typical examples are the ordinary Fire-type Vulpix and the Ice-type Vulpix from the Alola region, and the ordinary Flying-type Farfetch'd and the Fighting-type Galarian Farfetch'd. Therefore, since this Electrode has such a significant change in appearance, its type is also likely to have changed.”

"Attributes!" Officer Jenny realized.

"Yes. So, based on my guess, this Ancient Sinnoh... or rather, the Green Form of the Electrode is Electric and Grass-type. It's because it's been sleeping beneath the Forest Mansion that this mansion is enveloped by such lush forests."

The excess electrical energy and vitality were transformed into grass-attribute energy, which in turn catalyzed the growth of the surrounding forest!

The answer was so simple that it was frustrating—why did they only come up with such an obvious conclusion now?

"Furthermore, the massive tremors we felt within the mansion indirectly confirm this. Ordinary Electrode, aside from Self-Destruct-type moves, couldn't possibly create such a huge commotion from underground. And if it had used 'Big Bang' so early, it wouldn't have had the stamina to self-destruct again upon emerging. Therefore, it's more likely that it used some powerful Grass-type move, shaking the plant roots that were integrated with the mansion's foundation, thus creating that rumbling effect."

While not interested in the new discoveries about regional morphology, Officer Jenny noticed another intriguing detail—

"Sleeping beneath the Forest Mansion? Could it be that this Pokémon has been sleeping beneath this building since before it was even built from the foundation?"

"Rather than saying it lies dormant beneath the mansion, it's more accurate to say that someone devised a plan to build a mansion in this desolate, uninhabited forest so that it could remain dormant."

The champion asserted that this was a conclusion she had deduced long ago.

She stepped over the unconscious Electrode and commanded the Spiritor to use the Psychic-type move "Telekinesis" to clear the rubble from the underground laboratory—

“Dig a little further back along the wall. Yes, stop when you find something hard, if my reasoning is correct…”

Officer Jenny peeked out: "What are you looking for? Does this mansion have some other structure, like a second basement level?"

“That’s not the case,” Zhu Lan explained.

“If such a structure existed, Manager Aying and the others would have discovered it long ago when they renovated the mansion. It must be something that, even if the workers saw it, would naturally be considered as part of the original structure.”

Guwa?

The Flower Rock Monster let out a confused sound, and green light spots spun aimlessly in its ghostly face, forming an expression of incomprehension—its "telekinesis" had touched something hard.

“This is it.” The mythologist snapped his fingers excitedly.

Before the two of them stood a steel pillar, as thick as a telephone pole, its surface severely corroded, embedded straight into a crack in the wall of the Mori Mansion.

"And here too," Zhu Lan pointed to another damaged section of the wall not far away.

The wall was damaged even more severely. The Rockruff only used a little Dark-type energy, and the things below were immediately revealed.

—That was also a huge steel pillar.

It is not the steel bars commonly found in modern building materials, but rather a thick, continuous steel pillar, resembling a towering tree trunk, which is unimaginable to be found in the cracks between rocks.

"Sure enough, judging from the length and spacing between the pillars, there are nearly a hundred such iron pillars in the walls of the Forest Mansion. They extend from the bottomless pit underground all the way to the top of the spire on the mansion, together forming a huge device specifically designed to draw lightning from the heavens to the ground."

"And this is the secret to how this mischievous thunderbolt has survived for over a century, from the distant era of Xicui to the present day."

Looking at the Sinnoh champion confidently announcing the answer, Officer Jenny was extremely surprised: "Cynthia, did you already know about this before?"

"Of course, after all, this—"

The mythologist said calmly.

"But it's a necessary condition for solving the case of the decapitated android in the Forest Mansion."

Chapter 295 Resolution - The Pursuit of the Ultimate Truth

"Ah...it's that matter."

Looking at the Sinnoh champion in front of her, who exuded a strong sense of responsibility, Officer Jenny couldn't help but feel ashamed.

She was the one who boasted that she would resolve the matter, but now it seems that Officer Jenny has almost forgotten her original intention.

After all, she hadn't taken the promise too seriously; it was just an excuse for the cold-blooded investigator to stay in the mansion and continue extracting information from Hayden...

"The mystery of the severed head is inextricably linked to the existence of that ancient Shinon Thunderbolt. And regarding the latter, we actually obtained countless indirect pieces of evidence before tonight's events occurred... No, wait!"

Just as Zhu Lan was about to move the conversation forward, she suddenly frowned—

"Calling it ancient seems a bit inappropriate, as it makes it seem like a creature that went extinct hundreds of years ago. But wooden versions of Poké Balls could still be seen sporadically on the market until fifty years ago, so the active period of this Electrode might be surprisingly close to modern times... To be on the safe side, it's more accurate to call it Green Electrode."

"...I suddenly feel like you don't really care about that android thing."

The investigator complained with a dark expression, feeling that his previous guilt seemed somewhat unnecessary.

"Okay, let's get back to the indirect evidence. First of all, the most unnatural part of the entire building is undoubtedly that dark spire. Although the spire is now almost completely blended in with the other towering trees, if we turn back the clock a hundred years, before those trees grew to their current height, this Forest Mansion with its towering spire would definitely be the most eye-catching building within a hundred miles."

While talking about the topic on the ground, Zhu Lan ended her investigation of the iron pillars inside the wall.

Without consulting Officer Jenny who was in the middle of a conversation, she left the Rockruff guarding the Thunderbolt and, with the Sea Gastrodon who had just finished its battle, took the lead and headed deeper into the underground pit.

Walking and talking—

"Although the spire of the Forest Mansion has been a landmark in the surrounding forest for the past century, its function—whether as a storage attic or a watchtower for defense—is limited in the densely wooded Hundred Generations Forest. Now, with the surrounding trees growing as tall as the spire, its function as a landmark has been completely eliminated..."

"Hey, hey, don't suddenly start exploring the crime scene on your own! Wait for me..."

Officer Jenny caught up with Orchid as they ran, illuminating the road ahead with her police flashlight, panting as she spoke—

"However... I understand what you mean. The structure of that spire is too abrupt. Rather than a means to increase space or guide visitors, it looks more like a giant lightning rod."

"Yes, but there are no buildings around the mansion that need protection. The Hundred Generations Forest is damp all year round, so there is no need to build a lightning rod to prevent forest fires. So I guess there might be something buried underground that needs to attract lightning to provide electricity."

Zhu Lan bent down to avoid the huge rock hanging upside down above her head.

Although the passage in front of them had been opened once by the Mischievous Thunder Bomb, some loose rocks and sand collapsed again, burying most of the road leading underground.

If it weren't for Cynthia's Gastrodon being able to use the "Earth Power" move, which would ensure her and Officer Jenny's safety even in the event of a landslide, she wouldn't have ventured into such a dangerous place unprepared, even as the Sinnoh Champion.

"The reason why the spire looks dark may be because it has been struck by lightning for a long time—this is the starting point of all my reasoning."

"So, there's more evidence to follow?" Officer Jenny asked.

"Yes, as I said before, there is a wealth of evidence."

Zhu Lan nodded firmly.

"For example, although the entire view is hidden by dense trees, the exterior walls of this mansion were originally unusually thick."

"Do you remember when we first entered the villa? I felt something was strange. The structure of the Mori Mansion was clearly a regular rectangle when viewed from above. Why did we see such a long entrance hall when we entered the building from the middle of the long side of the rectangle in such an excessively spacious mansion?"

"The answer is quite simple—this is also a design tactic employed by the people who built this mansion. The purpose was to make the walls, which are thicker than city walls, less conspicuous, thus concealing the presence of these massive lightning rods inside."

"The strange wall-hammering incident we encountered in the main room on the second floor is naturally also related to these pillars. I'm sure you've already deduced that the Pokémon trapped in the wall behind the bookshelf is very likely Rotom, which originally lived inside the android head and just returned to the mansion from the outside."

"The reason it was trapped was because the elf, which had been stuffed into a human body two years ago, took the wrong route when trying to return to the underground through the original iron pillar passage because it did not understand the terrain of the renovated Forest Mansion; or perhaps it was because of human activities in the mansion that the iron pillars rusted further, so that Rotom could not pass through and had to choose another route."

"In short, it unfortunately got lost in the electronic circuitry that Manager Aying and his team had added, and was trapped inside by the 'light wall' released by the Ice-Treading Puppet, between the walls of that room without iron pillars."

"Besides these, when Roseredo cleared the trees in front of the mansion, didn't we feel that the architectural style of the Forest Mansion was a bit incongruous when we looked at it? At the time, we felt that it was neither a traditional residence of Old Sinnoh nor a spire castle of the Kalos region, so much so that for a moment we thought it was an architectural style from a more distant region."

"We think this way because the owner of the mansion sacrificed the aesthetic appeal of the building for the purpose of attracting lightning. However, the mansion is now surrounded by layers of trees, and the interior has been renovated by Aying and her team, which has inadvertently hidden this sense of incongruity."

"Who is that guy?! Why does he have to build a house like that in a forest?"

The cramped space inside the cave made Officer Jenny feel a little depressed, and she couldn't help but complain about it.

Zhu Lan stopped and thought about it seriously, finally speaking with an uncertain tone—

"Before tonight's events, I didn't know the answer to this question either. After all, who can fathom the thoughts of people from a hundred years ago... But now it seems I have a clue."

The people behind urged impatiently, "What is it? What is it?"

"Let's talk about it when we get back to the Forest Mansion," the champion said, shaking his head in refusal.

"That's nothing more than wild speculation. It's more practical to solve the current case of the android's decapitation. Trying to solve two problems at the same time often results in not being able to answer either one."

“Well, that’s true.” Officer Jenny sighed as well.

"The haunted mansion, the Hayden Pharmaceutical corruption scandal, the android decapitation incident, the atheist's delusional research, the mischievous Raiden rampage incident, and finally, the century-old mystery of the Forest Mansion... We've already confused too many issues in our discussions. At this moment, it's better to clarify things."

The Sinnoh champion felt as if he had heard a term that could not be ignored—

"The Hayden Pharmaceuticals embezzlement scandal?"

"Please don't worry about that. It's just someone using the reflection left in the mirror to inflate their own value in front of foreign organizations with suspicious motives. As long as it hasn't been discovered yet, it's basically harmless."

The more I listen, the more suspicious it becomes. What exactly is the owner of that company that develops androids doing?

Zhu Lan turned around and scrutinized Jun Sha. After looking at her for a while, seeing that the latter still looked calm, she could only sigh.

"Fine, since you've put it that way, I have no reason to interfere."

Realizing that such an incident would ultimately have to be handled by the Alliance's intelligence department, Zhu Lan decided not to pursue the matter further and could only choose to trust Officer Jenny's character and judgment, thus continuing their previous conversation—

"However, speaking of the reflection in the mirror, this is actually indirect evidence. The reason why the glass windows of the mansion look hazy is not only because the trees outside block the view and make it impossible to clean, leaving stains. Rather, it is because those windows were originally designed to be very heavy."

No matter how transparent the glass is, there will always be impurities present. Mirror reflections and the material's absorption of light will also significantly affect the window's light transmittance. Therefore, if the thickness of the glass increases, these impurities and interferences will continue to accumulate, causing it to appear hazy and dull.

"Although no specific investigation has been conducted, the materials used in those windows also warrant further investigation. They may have been special glass made to match the thick walls; otherwise, they could not have remained intact for a century."

"I even think that the window might not be made of glass at all, but some kind of more stable crystal mineral. Its properties might help attract lightning and stabilize the life of the mischievous lightning bolts underneath."

“Miss Zhulan, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t the cost of the whole house be extremely high? And this building must have been built a hundred years ago, right? It’s not just a matter of cost; wouldn’t there also be huge technical difficulties?”

Officer Jenny suddenly realized an obvious contradiction—

"The glass, and those pillars before, must have required a considerable level of technology to make them. Did people in that era have the ability to do these things?"

"Of course it's possible to do that."

Zhu Lan had an expression that said, "What are you still saying now?"

"The builder of this mansion sealed such a huge, mischievous lightning bolt underground. Do you really think that person is someone to be trifled with?"

"But even that huge Electrode was taken down by Gastrodon in one move, right? And that was without any type advantage..."

For a moment, Officer Jenny didn't quite understand the champion's criteria for judging strength.

"Don't underestimate the strength of the Sea Gastrodon. Being defeated by its 'Earth Power' in one move is nothing to be ashamed of."

Miss Champion shook her head and said.

"That Jacuzzi that just emerged from underground is actually at its last gasp. And it can't unleash a Grass-type move that's powerful enough to shake the entire mansion without a price to pay."

"In fact, I'm still terrified. Luckily, Gastrodon used the terrain to unleash even more power from 'Earth Power,' otherwise, if Electrode had actually unleashed 'Big Bang,' I don't know how things would have turned out."

Zhu Lan patted the head of the sea hare beast following behind her, then changed the subject—

"But on the other hand, the fact that it immediately decided to use 'Big Bang' the moment it sensed us on the ground suggests it was a choice made out of necessity. After all, having been sealed away, it doesn't have much of a good impression of humans on the ground anymore."

Officer Jenny exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that it considers us to be accomplices of the Sealer?"

Zhu Lan nodded: "Similar incidents often occur when ancient Pokémon are discovered during archaeological excavations. So I think that person was either a powerful trainer or possessed some kind of method to control legendary or mythical Pokémon."

"Trainers with Pokémon of this strength have many ways to build a house from scratch."

"For example, if I wanted to build the Forest Mansion, I would have Garchomp dig the foundation, Roserade grow suitable trees, Rockruff process the wood, Gastrodon carry it, and Lucario and Togekiss assemble it."

"Although we may not be able to work together smoothly at first, and the process may be messy, each of my staff can handle the work efficiency of more than ten Pokémon of the same kind. If we find someone with construction experience like Manager Aying to advise and explain things, it shouldn't be too difficult to quickly and properly build a house."

"Similarly, although my team doesn't have any Pokémon that are good at pouring iron pipes or cutting ore, if Elite Four's Magmortar and Wushun's Gallade were to do it, even if it took a little more time, they could still complete the task without fail."

"Your Garchomp should be able to cut ore too, right?"

"To perfectly cut a clear crystal into glass? Hmm, perhaps my training methods are a bit too unrestrained. Without any specialized training, no Garchomp could do that," Cynthia answered honestly.

The investigator shrugged: "So, that mischievous lightning bolt has been sealed underground for the past hundred years, feeding on the occasional lightning bolts that fall from the sky? It's amazing that it has survived until now."

"I believe it was forcibly sealed in some kind of dormant state, in which the energy required for survival would be compressed to a minimum. My exploration of the tunnel this time was to find the remaining traces of that seal."

Zhu Lan carefully turned sideways and narrowly passed through a crevice in the rocks.

"Moreover, even if this elf can only feed on lightning strikes, the lightning in the sky still contains a vast and enormous energy. Just imagine, when this Forest Mansion was first built, the towering forests around it couldn't have grown up immediately, right? In addition, there were trees that were felled on the spot when the house was built, so there should have been a fairly large flat area around the Forest Mansion at that time."

"This mansion was originally located deep in the mountains of the Baidai Forest, and its terrain was naturally much higher than other parts of the forest. In addition, the forest climate in this area is prone to thunderstorms... With these multiple conditions combined, I even think that the problem faced by the Xicui Thunderbolt at that time was an energy surplus rather than a food shortage."

"There's actually an excess of energy?"

"Yes," Zhu Lan nodded.

"The reason why the Forest Mansion became a haunted place for Rotom to gather in an era without electricity a hundred years ago was because a huge, mischievous lightning bolt full of electrical energy slept underground here. The lightning strikes from the sky were conducted to the ground through steel, and Rotom could draw enough electricity to sustain themselves from the vicinity of this king of the caves."

"The reason why Team Galactic was so careful in recording the information here was probably because they were aware of the existence of that naughty Raikou below. It's just that their organization was destroyed too early, and they didn't have time to carry out the capture plan."

Officer Jenny astutely pointed out the logical flaws—

"Isn't this reasoning a bit far-fetched? What if they were just being meticulous and simply registered this address on a whim?"

"It's not far-fetched."