Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Upon learning that Akromma had regained consciousness, Detective Hugo took the initiative to request the video call—the reason for not using ordinary communication methods was that face-to-face video communication, compared to simple voice, could better capture the subtle changes in the other person's facial expressions.

Akromar, who was forced to recuperate in the League due to internal strife within Team Plasma, naturally had no right to refuse this meeting. In fact, he was looking forward to exchanging ideas with Hugo, the new Unova Champion.

“I’ve deciphered the note you left in the Alliance, and I’m currently standing on that mushroom island at the source. Mr. Akromar, do you intend to say a few words in your defense on this matter?” Hugo preemptively asked.

The spoon stirring the oatmeal stopped moving. Akroma raised her finger, adjusted her half-rimmed glasses, and deliberately furrowed her delicate eyebrows.

"To defend yourself?"

The scientist's calm tone seemed to carry a subtle hint of reproach.

"I never had such a plan. The Pokémon Dynamax experiment in collaboration with Team Magma is one of the research projects I am most optimistic about, and even among the projects I have participated in, the experiment on Agaric is one of the most successful."

"Oh, really?"

Unlike the moralists who immediately condemned the scholars' mistreatment of elves, Hugo simply cracked his knuckles and disdainfully posed a counter-question—

"If the experiment you're talking about is really that successful, then why did you leave this island two years ago? And why did Team Lava abandon their plan to continue using Ayam-shrooms to expand the landmass, and instead use this place as a secret base?"

"I have no control over how the Lava Team acts, and the reason I left that island in the first place was, of course, because by then—I had collected enough experimental data."

With a clatter, Akroma placed the bowl of oatmeal porridge on the bedside table and straightened her upper body—

"Now that you have arrived at that island, I will assume that you are fully aware of all the details related to the experiment. In fact, while the power of the Arceus Slab amplifies the spirits without limit, there is ultimately a limit to the nutrients that the seawater can provide to the Aya-chan."

"I see, diminishing marginal utility—a very basic economic principle."

Hugo nodded casually, with an expression of indifference.

"Yes. Under normal circumstances, if Agaric continues to grow on its own, the rate at which this giant Pokémon expands in size will only slow down, until the rate at which it gains energy is exactly equal to the rate at which it consumes energy, until the amplifying effect of the stone on it diminishes to near zero."

Akroma gestured calmly, as if a giant projection of a mushroom island were right in front of him—

"I calculated that time point and learned that the Ayaka Mushroom had reached its limit. So, two years ago, I ended my research with satisfaction and handed over all the follow-up work to Crimson Pine and the others."

"What is the growth limit you calculated?" The detective, unusually curious, asked.

"It's huge, but it still can't fulfill the ultimate wish of Crimson Pine and the others."

Akromar stated an area equivalent to the size of a giant city without any expression, then shook his head and said—

"Compared to the surface area of ​​this planet, the effect of a single Pokémon is too insignificant. And there is only one Emerald Slate, and Aureole is an extremely rare exception. Therefore, this experiment cannot be replicated."

"The current Ayam-like mushroom seems to be quite a distance from its potential ceiling..."

Hugo, on the other side of the camera, seemed lost in thought.

"Since you left so carefree back then, you probably didn't expect that the Ayah Mushroom would stop growing so soon after you left the island, right?"

"It was somewhat unexpected, but not entirely unforeseen, since Crimson Flame Pine had always warned us to be wary of attacks from the waterborne fleet."

The scholar, dressed in a hospital gown, tapped the edge of the bed with his index finger, reminiscing about the past...

"However, before the Lava Team's biological advisor tipped me off, I really didn't expect that Team Aqua's retaliation would take that form."

"Is that biology consultant Servilik?" the detective asked.

"Correct."

Akroma nodded on the other end of the video call.

"When he contacted me, he was already seriously ill and about to die, and his mental state was not very good. It was he who discovered the highly poisonous stone tablet that Team Aqua had buried inside Aya-Mushroom—the second legendary relic from Arceus."

Akromá readily shared the information he knew, but Hugo instead frowned warily—

"That call must have happened recently, right? Before that, Team Lava didn't inform you at all about what happened on Mushroom Island?"

"What? Do you find it strange that Crimson Pine didn't come after me back then?"

The scholar looked at the electronic screen in front of him, puzzled, and shrugged.

“You may not be familiar with how I work with the Lava Team. You might think that as an advisor sent by the Plasma Group, I must possess some core technologies that Crimson Pine and the others don’t know. Therefore, when they encounter difficulties in their research, they will definitely think of me first. But unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

"Are you suggesting that this experiment was entirely orchestrated by Team Lava?" the detective asked, somewhat surprised.

"Of course. In the end, I only mentioned the research-related ideas to Crimson Pine at the beginning. The materials were provided by Quigish and Team Plasma. The rest of the research work was done independently by Team Magma. Team Magma's research department is actually quite good. There are some experimental details that even I am not very clear about. Otherwise, how could they have agreed to cooperate?"

"Don't think I'm shirking responsibility," Akromma said with a knowing look.

"........."

Hugo thought this guy was probably lying.

However, regardless of whether his explanation is true or not, as long as this person insists on this claim, neither the Alliance police nor the court can convict him of participating in illegal experiments—even if Hugo records the conversation, it will be of no use.

Based on all the current factual evidence, at most it can be proven that Akromma acted as a third-party observer in this unethical experiment. Such accusations are hardly a substantial threat to Akromma, whose academic reputation is already tarnished.

Hugo sighed inwardly. This mad scientist was surprisingly adept at handling every situation flawlessly… This was probably why he hadn't been caught all these years and could still lie peacefully in the Elf League's hospital room drinking cereal.

"So let's get back to the topic of Servić. How much do you know about him?"

Seeing that his indirect questioning had yielded no results, the detective had no choice but to return to the main topic and continue asking questions.

Akroma, however, simply replied without taking it to heart—

"As I said before, he was a biological consultant specially hired by Team Lava. Unlike outsiders like me, Selvilik had been working with Team Lava for many years before this experiment and was highly regarded within the organization. The poison expert also contributed a lot to the research on helping the Ayak Mushroom adapt to the marine environment."

Servik must have fled to Hoenn after failing to make it in Unova, where he was recruited into the local Lava Team, which is why he has been living in complete anonymity for more than ten years.

"You said he discovered the highly poisonous stone slab on the Ayak Mushroom on his own—did you hear this information from him personally?"

"Yes, it was the contents of that phone call. Like giving his last words, he told me everything he knew about the cause and effect. The reason Servilik did this is probably because after coming to the United States, he remembered the pleasant working relationship we had on the isolated island."

The scholar nodded leisurely, seemingly showing no sorrow over the death of his former colleague with whom he had enjoyed working together.

"When Servik discovered the stone slab, the device was mounted on a small deep-sea drilling rig, powered by batteries, and had drilled deep into the very bottom of the Aya Mushroom. Judging from the manufacturing process, it was clearly a device produced by a shipyard under the Aqua Fleet."

"So that's why Futsu and Segawa came to the vicinity of the island..."

Hugo nodded, and another domino in the chain of events was found.

The mystery of this case may have been largely solved when they saw Mushroom Island from the plane, but that didn't solve all the problems.

Just like after a poisoning case, simply catching the perpetrator does not mean the case is closed. It is also necessary to confirm the perpetrator's motive, the source of the poison, the method of preparing the poison, and the method of poisoning... Based on these tedious and lengthy details, security loopholes must be filled until the possibility of the next incident is completely prevented—these are the more important things.

"Voodoo? Segawa? Who are these two people?"

Akromar looked completely bewildered.

"They are two members of Team Aqua, the ones responsible for transporting the drilling device you mentioned. Of the two, Voodoo, who is skilled at raising Poison-type Pokémon, was responsible for the final delivery of the device. But after releasing the stone tablets, he did not reunite with his companions, but instead took it upon himself to escape to the Unova region across the ocean."

Considering the distance of at least 500 nautical miles between Unova and Mushroom Island, the vehicle used by Voodoo for deep-sea diving must have possessed some degree of long-distance navigation capability; it was likely some kind of miniature submarine designed for single-person use. Segawa tracked this machine all the way to Unova's Flying Cloud. Submarines are usually equipped with emergency compressed food supplies; the "Poison Mage" and his elves, when they were hiding in the Tourmaline Cave, probably relied on these supplies to survive.

However, these were all trivial details unrelated to the conversation... Hugo thought to himself that he could have Officer Jenny and the others interrogate Segawa afterward to see if they could capture that high-tech submarine from the naval fleet.

"Oh, I see. I understand now." As the detective's thoughts raced, the scholar raised his delicate eyebrows.

"The person in charge of destroying the island suddenly ran away. His other companion must have been quite startled. However, I can't completely understand what Voodoo was thinking. After all, not only him, but even Selvilik, who witnessed the entire growth process of the Aya Mushroom, almost thought the end of the world was coming when he saw the scene near the stone slab."

The end of the world... Does this refer to the spore virus that the 'plague scientists' are worried about?

"If I'm not mistaken, they must have seen a purplish-red world."

Hugo paused for a moment, then recounted what his detective's assistant had witnessed in the dream-connection experiment—

"Dense spores gushed out from the gap dug by the drilling machine, forming a vortex that seemed to make the world spin. The spores were so dense that the surrounding space became a black hole that no light source could illuminate."

Upon hearing the detective's description, Akromma's eyes behind her glasses lit up immediately: "Fantastic! It matches exactly what Selvilik observed! Is this also a conclusion you reached through reasoning?"

"It's not entirely based on reasoning. We used dream connections to observe the spores of the Ayya mushroom and obtained some of their memories, which can be considered a kind of technological method."

The detective did not mince words in front of the scholar, and this sincere attitude made Akromma even more talkative and pleased.

"Is it Dr. Makomo's research? To be honest, I'm also very optimistic about the future of the dream world. However, it seems that the doctor is currently focusing most of his energy on the popularization of civilian dream devices, which makes me a little worried that it will interfere with the research and development speed of the corresponding cutting-edge technologies. But, judging from what you just said, Dr. Makomo seems to have taken it a step further and developed applications related to psychology... Hey, I can't wait to recover and visit that doctor."

"Reading her papers is enough. Your direct visit will likely disrupt Dr. Makomo's research."

Hugo politely declined on behalf of the doctor.

"The scene my assistant witnessed in his dream must have come from mushroom spores that drifted from afar with the ocean currents to the waters surrounding the Unova region. These spores were originally part of the purple vortex, and of course they witnessed the moment when the poisonous stone tablet took effect."

"Yes, I think that's the most interesting part of the whole incident."

Akromá's distinctive hairstyle swayed from side to side as he shook his head, much like the antennae on Heracross's head—

"The Water Fleet seems to believe that as long as the poisonous stone tablet is accurately placed on Mushroom Island, the island can collapse and disintegrate on its own like a sandcastle in the waves—but that is not the function of the poisonous stone tablet... The life energy research in the Carlos region may be able to do something similar."

"But Voodoo and his men's actions did stop the growth of the Aya Mushroom, and the buildings and factories behind me are proof of that. The Crimson Flame Pine is not foolish enough to build on unstable ground."

Hugo adjusted the angle of his phone to show Akroma the current appearance of Aiya Mushroom Island.

"Oh my, it's really quite remarkable. Before I returned to Unova, there weren't so many buildings here. Even experiments were conducted in simple tents. The conditions were very harsh."

The scholar frowned regretfully and sighed.

"Speaking of which, don't all schools have similar legends—'The new teaching buildings and sports fields of your alma mater will always be built at lightning speed the year after you graduate.'"

Hugo ignored Akroma's distraction and continued the conversation: "I originally thought that turning Ayam into a secret base was a last resort after Team Lava's land reclamation plan was thwarted. But from what you just said, it seems that you and Crimson Pine already knew that the expansion of this mushroom island couldn't continue forever, right?"

"That's natural. I'm not so stingy as to hide my research findings from my collaborating researchers."

Akromar said with an expression that said, "That's only natural."

"Crimson Pine certainly knew about that estimate, and could even calculate it himself. However, for that person, being able to create an island comparable in size to Sea Violet City out of thin air on an empty sea was already enough to excite that land fanatic. Next, as long as he establishes a self-sustaining system on the island that is large enough for people to live on long-term, he can truly create a piece of land on this planet that belongs exclusively to Team Lava..."

“You should know that this island was not created out of thin air,” Hugo said with particular seriousness.

“Sigh… I understand what you mean. After all, the island beneath your feet is built on the life of Aiya Mushroom. If Crimson Pine really uses it to create an eternal sea city, then it will be exactly as the name suggests—never to recover.”

The scholar scratched his cheek and shrugged, saying—

"However, for people like me and Red Pine, if we had to choose between a future underwater city and a Pokémon with autism and a split personality, we would choose the former no matter how many times we had to. After all, the difference in value between the two is just too great. Even those self-proclaimed moralists would probably hesitate when faced with such a disparate balance of interests."

"is it?"

Hugo didn't criticize the other person's values; he simply asked in a sarcastic tone—

"What if the Pokémon you traded with the new land wasn't Agaric, but another Pokémon that you considered valuable for research? If Red Mulberry took that Pokémon, you would forever lose the opportunity to study it. In that situation, what would you choose?"

Akromá was momentarily speechless, then shook his head: "That's a tricky question. You're right, if that situation came up, we two utilitarians might actually argue about it. But Mr. Hugo, how do you keep the scales of life's value balanced in your own heart?"

"It is arrogant to always put yourself in the position of the decision-maker. If the person making the choice has only a 50% chance of becoming that decision-maker, and the other 50% chance of becoming the 'Aiya Mushroom' on the experimental table, then whoever it is, is very likely to become a staunch humanitarian."

The detective carefully chose his words; the conversation had clearly veered off course, but given the current situation on the island, there was indeed no need for tension.

The Dynamax form of the Dratini has been successfully removed, and Steven and Genji are contacting the Hoenn League according to the pre-arranged plan, asking them to send a ship to escort Redpole and the remaining Team Magma members on the island.

The plane belonging to the Wind Dew Pavilion Master, which was parked on the other side of the island, had almost finished its maintenance and was ready to carry him and Karune back to Unova at any time.

Right now, the only pressing practical problem left to solve is...

Thinking of this, Hugo's gaze couldn't help but pass over the phone screen and look at the red and white "land" under the cell tower.

"Don't you think this way of answering sounds like shirking responsibility?" The scholar's voice, relentlessly squeezed from the phone's receiver, came from below. "When the time comes, everyone will have to stand on the moral high ground. Do you, the champion of United Nations, intend to use such shallow reasons to explain your decisions then?"

Why didn't you give a clean and decisive negative answer? Is it because you have reservations about the universal legitimacy of humanitarianism? Between the dilemma of reality and ideals, which side will you choose? Akromar's voice, like a "curse" from a Ghost-type Pokémon, was deeply embedded in Hugo's ears.

"Sigh." The detective in the white coat let out a long sigh—

Have you ever heard of the phrase "misinterpretation of a metaphor"?

He still didn't answer Akromma's question directly, and said it in a dismissive tone.

"This term means using an inappropriate metaphor, causing the original meaning of the language to deviate from what the speaker intended to express."

"Does this have anything to do with the topic we're discussing now?" the scholar asked, somewhat surprised.

“In this topic, ‘ideal’ and ‘reality’ are the metaphors you used to describe the options of ‘lowering moral standards for practical benefits’ and ‘abandoning practical benefits for the sake of moral standards’, respectively. These metaphors certainly have a certain degree of rationality, but they are ultimately different words. Ideal and reality each have broader meanings. These linguistic discrepancies will eventually distort the issues we really want to discuss, or even completely destroy the meaning of the discussion.”

Hugo is like a surgeon with a scalpel, dissecting layer by layer the linguistic logic that Akromma has constructed with words, crushing the traps set by the latter without any confusion.

"Not only those two words, but even the topic you cleverly steered towards—the rationale behind the 'Oops Mushroom Experiment'—is a huge misinterpretation of the metaphor. You've created a scale in everyone's mind, as if people would make a certain decision based on the result as long as one side of the scale pushes the other side over... which is, of course, far from the reality."

The detective raised his finger—

"When you took a liking to Aquafoe at the Team Plasma containment facility, did Crimson Pine really consider the scales in your mind when you proposed that insane plan? In that moment of making a choice, did you really hear any voices other than your own inner desires?"

Akromma did not answer, but simply maintained his thoughtful expression.

"Your analogy overlooks the complexities of human nature. The brain, which directs people's actions, can sometimes be irrational. It can be influenced by momentary impulses and do many foolish things, or do silly things that have no meaning for itself for various trivial reasons. Morality and evil are only a thought away—you, who once heard Servik's last words, should know this better than anyone else, right?"

"That idiot... thinks he's saving the world."

Upon hearing this, Akroma remained silent for a moment, then shook his head angrily.

"He himself was exposed to the toxic spores from the highly toxic slabs at close range, and the Lava Team members who were with him on the island at the time showed flu-like symptoms. Based on this evidence alone, that person actually began to firmly believe that the Agaric Pom-Pot had created a contagious virus that would destroy the entire world, to the point that he went so far as to run around creating a vaccine for a virus that does not exist in the world."

"Are you so sure that the kind of viral spores that Servilik is wary of don't exist?" Hugo asked.