Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The scientist in the hospital gown nodded.

"Of course, enabling the Ayak Mushroom to adapt to seawater and maintain its rapid growth did not come without a price. Functions such as secreting venom and producing viruses were completely artificially degenerated through gene editing at the very beginning of the experiment. Selvilik was also present at the experiment and witnessed the entire gene modification process. Even so, he still firmly believed in that far-fetched idea—it was simply incomprehensible. No matter how I explained it to him, he couldn't understand—if that mushroom could really still secrete venom, then there wouldn't be any marine life surviving in the nearby seawater as there is now."

"Oh, mushrooms can't produce viruses, so what do you think caused Servilik's death?" Hugo continued to ask.

“I haven’t seen Servik’s condition with my own eyes, but according to his own description, it was likely that some kind of power from the Poisonous Stone Tablet was temporarily activated by the stimulation of the Aya Mushroom, which led to Servik contracting an incurable disease.”

Akromas pondered—

"Unlike infectious viruses, that toxin should only infect individuals who have directly come into contact with the stone slab. Although it is highly toxic and has a very high mortality rate, it will not affect the outside world with the ocean currents."

"I see, I see."

A crisp snap of the fingers rang out, and the detective nodded, a satisfied smile on his face.

"It seems that even the specially appointed scientists of the Plasma Cluster can get dizzy at times."

"What do you mean?" The scholar looked up, puzzled, at the detective across the camera.

"All the mysteries have been solved. I now know what the poison was that caused the deaths of Voodoo and Servić."

Hugo thus announced—

"It's neither an apocalyptic virus nor slate toxin; it's simply fear."

Chapter 361 The Solution - The End

When the drilling machine carrying the highly poisonous stone slab was buried deep into the stipe of the mushroom, what strange change occurred inside the agaric mushroom? This is the core mystery of the whole incident.

To unravel this mystery, we must start by understanding the principles behind Pokémon's gigantic transformation.

As Akromar himself just admitted, the source of this anomaly was the amplifying effect of the Emerald Slate left by Arceus on the Ayya Mushroom.

A single amplification could not possibly create such a colossal entity. By simply considering the Lava Team's experimental objectives, it's easy to deduce the amplification method used by Akromma and his team—

These mad scientists, like mischievous children fiddling with a light switch, set up a device that could constantly establish and sever the holding relationship between the Slate and Pokémon, repeatedly triggering the Emerald Slate's amplification miracle on Agaric.

So, what kind of chain reaction will occur when this sophisticated system is suddenly invaded by a second stone slab?

It's very simple—oh dear, the mushroom will stop growing.

Once the Emerald Stone Slab has completed its final buff to the holder and the next switching operation begins as usual, the item slot originally reserved for it will be occupied by the newly arrived Toxic Stone Slab, and the buff effect brought by the Emerald Stone Slab will no longer be triggered this time—because Ayam has already equipped a new item.

Logically speaking, it's not unusual for Pokémon to carry multiple items at the same time. Without the restrictions of battle rules, a hungry Snorlax could easily devour several berries in one go. However, the Emerald Slate and the Toxic Slate are exceptions among exceptions.

Because there is only one Pokémon in the world that can use more than one stone tablet at the same time—that is the original owner of the stone tablet, the Pokémon Arceus.

It was the failure of the amplification device that caused the expansion of Mushroom Island to stop, forcing Team Magma to abandon their research on expanding the land. Before Agaric reached its size limit, they changed their plans and began to plunder resources from the Hoenn mainland in an attempt to build a sea base that could rival Team Aqua.

As for the Aquarion Fleet, Fukuto and Segawa's sabotage efforts also failed to achieve the expected results.

The Arceus Slab ultimately amplifies rather than mutates the effect. The Ayakashi Mushroom, having lost the effect of the Emerald Slab, simply stops growing and will not collapse in a short period of time due to the addition of the Poison Slab.

However, the change to the stone tablet also brought some consequences, known only to two people: Voodoo, the "Poison Mage" who personally carried out the stone tablet embedding operation, and Servilik, the "Plague Scholar" who was assigned by the Lava Team to investigate the source of the anomaly on his own.

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"Carrying the Emerald Stone Slab will cause the Ayakashi to swell in size, but what will happen if it carries the Poisonous Stone Slab?"

Hugo leaned calmly against the steel frame of the top of the signal tower, his smile defiant as he stared directly at Akroma on the other end of the video call.

"It's nothing more than some new type of deadly poison... What exactly did you mean by the 'fear' you mentioned earlier?"

The scholar responded absentmindedly, his thoughts still lingering on the detective's earlier reasoning.

"Although we have eliminated Agaric's ability to produce toxins through genetic means, it is still a Poison-type Pokémon. With the amplification of Arceus Slab, it is not entirely impossible for it to produce similar abilities again."

That's true. At least now that Agaric has been carrying the Poisonous Slate for two years, it has regained the ability to use Poison-type moves. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to unleash that "Cleanse Smoke" move.

“Your idea does make sense.” The detective’s white coat billowed in the sea breeze, like a white sail pointing straight to its target—

"But have you ever considered that when Voodoo first inserted the highly poisonous stone slab into the Aya mushroom, the latter didn't have time to regenerate the organs that produce poisonous spores, let alone produce viruses?"

“Of course. Regeneration takes time, especially for a Mushroom without the amplification of the Emerald Slab. Champion Hugo, is there a problem with that…”

The plasma cluster scholar subconsciously echoed, unaware of the tragedy that had occurred in the giant's cave.

"Wait, Voodoo? Was the name of the Fleet member who infiltrated the fungus stalk to place the stone slab Voodoo? You said earlier that he was dead?"

"Finally, we've reached the core."

The detective admired with satisfaction the trembling pupils behind the other man's glasses, his voice suddenly turning cold—

"That's exactly right. The Team Aqua member who escaped from the seabed to Unova first lived in seclusion in the deserted Tourmaline Cave for a while. Then, his killing of wild Pokémon in his seclusion attracted the attention of Team Plasma, and he was hunted down by N and the Order. Along the way, he kept killing every Pokémon he encountered, until he fled into the bottomless cave north of Kagome Town, where he and the Pokémon he was carrying died from 'poison' of unknown origin."

Hugo paused deliberately, letting the sea breeze fill the gaps in the silence.

"It's just like... after Selvić removed the stone tablet, he discovered he had a 'deadly poison'..."

The mad scientist's throat felt dry, as if he had been frozen in place again. He realized that his previous conjecture about the slate's toxins was completely off-track from the truth.

Just like an equation that ignores necessary conditions, although it may seem fine at first glance, it has already gone further and further down the path of error.

He had assumed that the Plague Scholar removed the slab several months after the Poisonous Slab was placed on the Awful Mushroom, by which time the test subject would have had ample time to develop new toxins within its body... but "Reality" slapped him hard in the face.

"When the Mushroom first encountered the poisonous stone slab, it clearly didn't have any ability to create poisonous substances. So what ultimately killed Voodoo?"

The detective's questions tormented the scholar's mind, and cold sweat trickled down Akroma's pale forehead, which was now stained with weakness.

"fear……"

He repeated Hugo's earlier suggestion.

“That’s right.” Hugo’s voice was deep and resolute.

"In the same act of wearing the slab, the poisonous stone tablet can only provide one beneficial effect. Therefore, the 'poison' that Servilik was poisoned when he removed the slab must have been caused by the same reason as Voodoo's death—and the strange similarity between the two corpses is the most direct evidence."

Hugo recalled the photograph of Voodoo's body that the Dark Trio had given him; that photograph was now in the drawer of the Champions' Office at the League headquarters, alongside Servik's autopsy report.

Although Voodoo's body was covered in blood, one could tell by observing the direction of the bloodstains that, apart from the abrasions caused by rushing to escape, most of the blood was just splattered blood from the murdered wild elves. The wounds on his body did not bleed profusely, indicating that his circulatory system had not collapsed due to poisoning.

Similarly, although Servilik's body, found lying in the rented room, was bleeding from its mouth and nose, toxicologist Joey and his team could not detect any traces of toxins on the victim's body.

This might suggest that the "plague scholar's" nosebleed was actually caused by emotional excitement or the impact of falling face down.

The blackened complexion of the deceased that Miss Joy saw at the scene was most likely due to Servić's excessive excitement before his death, causing blood to rush to his head—so the preliminary conclusion of neurotoxins or blood toxins could only be ruled out.

Neither of the two deceased showed any signs of poisoning, just like Akroma, who was immobilized at the Alliance headquarters due to the "Freeze-Freeze Spell".

The latter could not detect toxins because the Pokémon type energy from the outside and medical toxicology analysis belong to completely different testing areas.

The situation was quite the opposite for Vudu and Servilik—their "poisoning symptoms" could be detected normally on the corpses, but because of the preconceived notion of an "unnamed poison," the symptoms were mistakenly identified as complications caused by the poisoning.

This is hardly surprising given the carelessness of Team Plasma and the League's investigators, as both deceased individuals were once somewhat renowned poison experts. One had been poisoning a large number of Poisons before his death, and the other had been indiscriminately poisoning wild Pokémon along his route. After committing such outrageous acts, their sudden and unexplained deaths inevitably lead one to suspect poisoning. No matter how meticulous the investigation, it's hard not to suspect poisoning.

However, the reality is that neither Voodoo nor Servilik had a single drop of poison detected in their bodies.

This is not because the toxins produced by the Slab of Arceus were so ingenious that they could kill people invisibly.

The truth is simpler and clearer, even ironic—

Neither of them was actually poisoned.

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"One theory suggests that the reason why the cap of the Agaric Pokémon grows in the shape of a Poké Ball is actually to drive away bird Pokémon that come close to their habitat."

Hugo's gaze drifted past the phone camera to the churning clouds in the distance, then suddenly shifted the subject—

"As human society modernized, cities expanded rapidly, and conflicts and frictions between them and wild Pokémon intensified. However, the degree of impact varied among different Pokémon groups. Flying-type Pokémon with strong territorial instincts, which would attack humans from the sky, were easily targeted and driven away by humans; in contrast, Grass-type Pokémon, which were always inconspicuous, were able to escape such frictions and seamlessly integrate into the human urban landscape."

Akroma's brow furrowed: "What do these ecology lectures have to do with the deaths of these two men?"

"You can judge for yourself whether there is a connection." Hugo shrugged noncommittally.

"However, according to the above conjecture, the reason why wild Agaric Pokémon grow in the shape of Poké Balls is actually to mimic traces of human activity. Bird Pokémon like Arrogant and Vulpix, if they see artificial Poké Balls scattered throughout the forest, might sense the approaching threat of human settlements and thus consider leading their entire population to migrate further afield. In this way, the Agaric population, mimicking Poké Balls, can escape the harassment of Flying-type predators and gain a greater survival advantage."

"This is indeed one explanation for the evolutionary strategy of the 'Ayamus spp.' It may sound more reasonable than the warning coloration theory or the explanation of attracting humans, but what does it prove?"

Evolutionary theory was clearly not a research area of ​​interest to Acroma, and he still did not understand Hugo's explanation—

"Vodu and Servilik aren't Flying-type Pokémon, so their deaths obviously couldn't have been caused by being scared to death by that giant Poké Ball pattern. What's the point of saying all this?"

"Sir scientist, it seems you still lack the ability to make connections about the essence of things."

The detective in the white coat raised his finger—

"The behavior of Agaric using the mimicry of Poké Balls to drive away predators is essentially an ability to create a false crisis. By spreading fear, it scares away powerful enemies that it could not originally defeat. We can even infer from this that this is an instinct that may be hidden in the Agaric's genes."

"You mean when the Ayak Mushroom came into contact with the highly poisonous stone slab, the spores it secreted, stimulated by the irritation, possessed this instinct and began to spread fear to the Voodoo and Servić that were in close proximity?"

Akromah frowned, her expression one of disapproval.

"Perhaps some hallucinogenic neurotoxins could do something similar, but when Voodoo was underwater, I don't think Ayak-Mushroom had the objective conditions to do such a thing—it couldn't have secreted any deadly toxins at that time."

“There are many forms of ‘poison’ that can kill, Mr. Akromar. And you yourself have experienced one firsthand.”

Hugo's voice, like a biting sea breeze, tinged with saltiness, stung the scholar's wounded heart.

"It's not just neurotoxins that can cause similar cognitive interference—Pokémon moves can too."

"When the amplification of the Poisonous Slab is triggered by the Poisonous attribute of the Agaric Poison, and the released energy has nowhere to be released because of your and Team Magma's genetic modifications, life will find its own way out."

Akromar's eyes widened: "Pokémon moves? You mean...?"

"Angry fans."

Before the scholars could draw their conclusions, Hugo bluntly interrupted—

"A Bug-type move. Sprinkles an annoying powder on yourself to attract the opponent's attention, causing all of their attacks to be directed at you."

This is a skill that Agaric could have learned, because it's a Bug-type move and doesn't require poison to activate.

"The idea of ​​'attracting the opponent's attention' is a very vague statement. In fact, when a Pokémon uses 'Rage Powder,' it shakes a shimmering powder onto itself. Enemies affected by this powder will subconsciously perceive the Pokémon under the shimmering light as some kind of terrifying threat, and out of self-defense, will uncontrollably change the direction of their skill release. And if this effect is amplified and strengthened, it's not impossible to create an effect that uses fear to repel enemies, is it?"

After a long silence, the pale-faced scientist nodded—Hugo's argument was entirely feasible, and Akromá himself, who had spoken with Servik, could even provide more compelling evidence for this theory.

He should have realized this himself.

"You could have saved him."

Hugo's words, like the stinger of a bee, went straight to the heart of the matter.

Information can also be a deadly poison—if you believe it, it exists; if you don't, it doesn't.

This is the real poison secreted by the Arceus Poison Slab.

"If you had paid a little more attention to the situation on the island, broadened your perspective, and been more cautious in making judgments—the doctor who called you at the last moment of his life wouldn't have died. And if you had simply told him, 'Friend, you weren't actually poisoned,' you could have saved another life."

Akromma was speechless.

He felt no remorse for Servilik's life or death, but he could not tolerate his own miscalculation.

It was like a simple math problem; if you calculated it correctly, you could get a piece of candy worth only half a cent—but that candy was now broken and irretrievably lost, which made him feel incredibly frustrated.

The detective on the other end of the line clearly saw this as an opportunity, which is why he deliberately brought it up during the video call.

"You win."

The scholar spoke to the detective, shook his head, and raised his hands with a sigh.

"It seems that my disregard for life and ethics has indeed created some limitations in my perspective, which should not happen in rigorous scientific research."

"Knowledge is a curse, and inappropriate metaphors can indeed mislead people's thinking—just as Servić, as an expert in toxins, subconsciously mistook the agaric mushroom in front of him for the source of a virus that would destroy the world because of the misleading spores of cognition; I regard humanism as the opposite of rationalism, believing that as long as the former is denied, the latter can drive scientific research forward at full speed—however, the two may not have any connection at all."

“But to be fair, the ‘Plague Scholar’s’ vigilance at the time was not unfounded.” Hugo shook his head slightly. “At the same time the stone slabs were switching, the entire Mushroom Island did indeed begin to spew spores wildly. Coupled with the sudden appearance of the highly poisonous stone slabs, under those circumstances, anyone would subconsciously think of the worst-case scenario.”

He paused, recalling that crucial moment—it was at that time that Miss Mia received the mysterious message from Aiya Mushroom.

"That's just a side effect of the attribute conversion," Akroma retorted dismissively from his hospital bed. "Under the energy impact of the poisonous stone slab, the 'Regeneration' attribute that we enhanced with the attribute ointment degenerated back to its original state, reverting back to the 'Spore' attribute that spreads spores—Selvilik himself had already figured this out long ago."

The scholar's voice carried a hint of sarcasm: "And he cleverly took advantage of this, using concentrated insecticide spray concentrate to cultivate so-called 'vaccine' spores. Unfortunately, it now seems that all these efforts have been in vain."

Hugo's gaze drifted into the distance: "Perhaps he really thought he was saving the world. Rather than let all of humanity perish for his mistakes, he'd rather leave behind an antidote at the end of his life—that's very much in line with a doctor's way of thinking. But..." His voice trailed off, "It was precisely this ruthless approach that almost killed two Pokémon in Flying Cloud City."

“But that was his only option,” Akromma unusually defended Servić.

"That biology consultant couldn't have come to the Alliance like I did. After the discovery of the Poisonous Slab, the Emerald Slab could indeed re-amplify the Ayam Mushroom. But by then, the foundation of the secret base had already been laid, and Team Lava had at least abandoned their plans to continue expanding the island. As a condition for leaving the organization, Selvilik swore to Crimson Pine that he would never reveal the secrets of Mushroom Island to the Alliance—even that phone call he made to me was made after a difficult decision."

He suddenly changed the subject: "Speaking of which, what's the deal with that 'poison mage' from Team Aqua? At least Servilik could be explained by his attempt to stop the spread of the virus, but why did Voodoo suddenly betray Team Aqua after the operation and flee to the Unova region to live in seclusion?"

"Vodu is already dead, so the following views are just speculations. Only Vodu himself knows the truth."

The detective raised his gray eyes.

"Just as there are eccentrics like Servilik in the world who blur the lines between doctor and poisoner, there are also people in the world whose behavior and logic have become insane and extreme because they have gone mad. I think Voodoo is one of them. In a sense, this 'poison sorcerer' is closer to you, Akromma."