Power Outage (Bonus Chapter Later Tonight)

He looked up.

It was Lance, who had just gotten used to wearing his cape, his face full of smiles and faint surprise.

"Lance?" Xia Yan was a little surprised too.

He knew Lance had been staying at the Goldenrod City Pokémon Center lately, but he hadn't expected to run into him so suddenly.

Lance was actually a little surprised as well. He had just returned from outside when he saw Xia Yan sitting quietly in the corner, reading.

With how Xia Yan was dressed right now, he was hard to miss. In Lance's eyes, he was the only person in the entire place who looked even a head more handsome than Xia Yan.

Lance naturally sat down beside him. "Reading?"

"Yeah." Xia Yan nodded, closed the book, and put it away.

He wasn't just trying to gain experience in raising Pokémon from it. He also wanted to combine information from different books with his advanced knowledge of Pokémon to publish Pokémon research papers that this world had yet to discover.

Besides, collecting information was a professional habit of his.

"What's wrong with Weedle? Was it injured?" Lance continued.

"No. It just made a small improvement, so I came to the Pokémon Center for a checkup."

"Oh?" Lance narrowed his eyes. After lowering his voice and leaning closer, he whispered, "That?"

Xia Yan nodded again.

The light in Lance's red eyes dimmed, and his expression grew complicated. "I see."

Xia Yan glanced at him and explained, "It wasn't what you think. I got the materials through other channels."

He knew Lance might have misunderstood, thinking he had deliberately hunted Poison-type Pokémon to cultivate Weedle's Poison-type attribute.

Though he wasn't opposed to it, that method would take too much time, and the potency of the toxins might not meet Weedle's needs.

"Whew—"

Hearing Xia Yan say that, Lance let out a long sigh of relief. He had truly been worried that Xia Yan had gone around slaughtering innocent Pokémon.

Lance wasn't opposed to Pokémon fighting and killing one another. After all, quite a few Pokémon had died by his hand. He just disliked pointless slaughter.

A smile soon returned to his face. "Then Weedle's improvement this time probably isn't as small as you said."

Not pursuing the matter further, Xia Yan changed the subject. "Weren't you going to challenge the Goldenrod Gym? How did it go?"

He then saw a hint of helplessness appear on Lance's face.

Lance awkwardly tugged at the cape behind him. "Ahem. I..."

Crack!!

Before he could finish speaking.

All the lights in the Pokémon Center suddenly went out, and the various machines in the Pokémon Center stopped operating as well.

For a moment, panic broke out in the already crowded Pokémon Center.

"Hm?" Lance frowned and abruptly stood up, striding toward Nurse Joy.

Xia Yan couldn't help frowning either, and he followed after him.

Weedle was still being examined.

"Nurse Joy, what happened?"

Nurse Joy seemed to know Lance. As she soothed the increasingly panicked Trainers waiting in the lobby, she quietly said to him, "Mr. Lance, it should... be a power outage."

"A power outage?"

Xia Yan, standing behind Lance, heard Nurse Joy's words and was equally surprised.

How could an essential medical institution valued so highly by the Pokémon League lose power?

"Is there no backup power?" Xia Yan asked.

That was right. A critical institution like the Pokémon Center should have backup power reserves even during an outage, enough to last a day or two until the circuits were repaired.

Nurse Joy looked at Xia Yan in confusion, but still answered helplessly, "The backup power was used up two days ago."

Xia Yan and Lance exchanged a glance, each seeing confusion in the other's eyes.

Nurse Joy explained, "The Pokémon Center lost power two days ago as well. We used the backup power then, and it lasted until the electricity was restored. We thought the problem had been fixed, but the power went out again today. There probably wasn't enough time for the reserve batteries to store much electricity, so..."

"So the Pokémon Center has completely lost power!"

With the power out, some Pokémon in need of emergency treatment might not receive help in time. They could fail to recover, or even die as a result.

Xia Yan suddenly remembered that, a few days ago, when he returned to the club, the club—which had never lost power before—had suffered an outage too. It had been forced to close.

And on the way here, he had seen quite a few places that seemed to have lost power as well.

That meant these outages weren't caused by a problem with the power lines somewhere, but—

At the source?

"Has it already become this serious?" Lance suddenly said in a deep voice.

"You know something?" Xia Yan looked at him.

Lance said dryly, "That's a long story."

It seemed that he had come to Goldenrod City for more than just challenging Sabrina at the Goldenrod Gym.

Xia Yan silently pressed his lips together, thinking to himself.

"Nurse Joy, is my Pokémon ready?"

Nurse Joy had already remembered who Xia Yan was. After all, his Weedle was rather special.

"It was only a basic examination. It's already done; I was just about to notify you."

As she spoke, she handed him a Poké Ball.

Through the red glass, he could see Weedle obediently resting inside. It looked energetic and in good condition.

Weedle hadn't been affected by the outage, and Xia Yan quietly sighed in relief.

And judging by Nurse Joy's expression, there shouldn't have been any problems with Weedle's examination.

"Perfect. Xia Yan, why don't you come take a look with me?" Lance suddenly said after seeing Xia Yan retrieve the Poké Ball.

"Take a look?"

"I suspect the problem might be at the Power Plant to the east." Lance's expression was a little grave.

After emergency troubleshooting of the outages in Goldenrod City, some problems with the lines had been discovered. But with the outages happening so frequently, Lance suspected the biggest problem lay with the Power Plant.

"The east..." Xia Yan lowered his head, his eyes flickering as he murmured softly.

Then he raised his head and nodded. "All right."

Lance was delighted.

"Let's go."

The two made their way through the increasingly noisy and restless crowd and hurried out of the Pokémon Center.

They hailed a taxi and headed straight for the easternmost part of Goldenrod City.

As the largest city in the Kanto Region, Goldenrod City could also be considered its most prosperous. Its daily electricity consumption was an astonishing figure.

Fortunately, Goldenrod City's power supply was well established. In the forest east of the city, far from the urban area, stood the famous Goldenrod City Power Plant.

It hadn't been built in the city because power generation inevitably came with some degree of radiation, and also to prevent a major accident at the Power Plant.

Given the scale of Goldenrod City Power Plant, if an explosion occurred because something went out of control, its terrifying destructive force would deal a devastating blow to all of Goldenrod City. Destroying half the city would already be considered a mild outcome.

Xia Yan and Lance said nothing along the way. Only when they reached the easternmost part of Goldenrod City did they see that going any farther would mean leaving the suburbs and entering the forest where wild Pokémon roamed.

After making their preparations, neither hesitated. They plunged straight into the forest.

Xia Yan released Weedle, while Lance summoned a Dratini.

Dratini resembled a snake-like Pokémon. Its body was covered in pale blue scales, its belly was bright white, and it had a pair of purple eyes. A small white protrusion rested on its forehead, white fins grew from both sides of its head, and it had a large, round white nose on its face.

This was Xia Yan's first time seeing a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon from the Kanto Region. The moment Dratini appeared, it radiated lively spirit as it affectionately coiled around Lance.

"I only caught this little one recently," Lance said, gently stroking Dratini's smooth scales. "I was originally planning to have it battle your Weedle."

Xia Yan gave Dratini a long look.

He had to admit that the title of Pseudo-Legendary alone made Dratini exceptionally tempting.

Only now did Lance truly show a trace of the future Dragon-type Elite Four and Champion.

Suppressing the strange thoughts in his heart, Xia Yan stared intently at Lance, his expression turning serious.

"Lance, you didn't come to Goldenrod City just to challenge the Goldenrod Gym and Sabrina, did you?"

There'll be a bonus chapter later tonight. Thanks to the generous reader for the huge reward!