Precision Device

Xia Yan reached behind his waist and pulled out an empty Poké Ball.

Under Lance's slightly surprised gaze, he threw it at the Electabuzz.

This Electabuzz was quite strong and had a solid foundation, which could save plenty of training time. Moreover, a pure Electric-type Pokémon had fairly decent resistances.

Although Electabuzz's Base Stats might not have been particularly ideal, it could make up for Weedle's disadvantage against Flying-type Pokémon. More importantly, it seemed that the Pokémon World currently did not know that Electabuzz could evolve once again.

The requirements were rather demanding, but its evolved form did indeed exist.

However.

When the Poké Ball struck Electabuzz, it did not open and simply bounced away.

"Hm?" Xia Yan froze.

Lance's expression turned a little strange. "It looks like this Electabuzz has a Pokémon Trainer."

That was the only explanation for Electabuzz's situation.

"The control room is ahead. We'll know once we go inside." As Xia Yan spoke, he took out an Antidote. After hesitating slightly, he still used it on Electabuzz.

Since it had a Pokémon Trainer, its exceptional physical condition was easier to explain.

"This Electabuzz should also be an Outstanding Level Pokémon. But unlike my Dratini and your Weedle, it should be close to reaching Veteran Level." Seeing Xia Yan cure Electabuzz's poison, Lance's gaze softened a little more as he explained.

Of everyone present, his judgment carried the most weight.

"Mm."

Xia Yan nodded calmly, stepped past Electabuzz, and headed toward the control room with Weedle.

Seeing his faintly smug little expression, Lance grinned and followed.

The control room door was shut but unlocked. A gentle push opened it.

But the instant the door opened, both their faces darkened.

The thick stench of blood that hit them made them instinctively cover their noses.

Inside the control room lay numerous Power Plant staff members' bodies, scattered haphazardly across the floor, along with the corpses of quite a few Pokémon. The blood flowing everywhere had begun to congeal, sticking to their shoes when stepped on.

"That's too vicious." Lance's expression stiffened, and after holding it in for a while, he finally managed to say it.

Xia Yan pressed his lips together and took in the entire control room. "Cruel is more accurate. None of these people resisted when they died."

No wonder the Electabuzz outside had gone berserk upon seeing them. Its Pokémon Trainer was probably lying among these bodies.

It harbored intense hostility toward outsiders like Xia Yan and Lance.

Lance crouched down to inspect the bodies, his brows tightly furrowed. "There are no survivors. Who could have been so cruel?"

The control room was half glass and half wall.

Behind the wall was the passage they had just come through, while the glass side overlooked the Power Plant's most crucial power-generating turbine.

Looking down, they could see countless Voltorb and Electrode lined up neatly around the turbine. Large currents of electricity continuously radiated from their bodies and flowed into the turbine.

But they seemed listless, exhausted, and drained of spirit.

The turbine separated the current into positive and negative charges before converting it into alternating current and supplying it to all of Goldenrod City.

There were also quite a few empty specialized rooms beneath the turbine, their doors open.

A large number of Electric-type Pokémon should have lived inside them.

It was precisely these Electric-type Pokémon, supplemented by more ordinary power generation methods, that supported the electricity needs of a city as large as Goldenrod City.

"The turbine hasn't stopped," Lance said.

"But it's too slow." Xia Yan watched the slowly turning turbine. It was still supplying Goldenrod City with electricity, but this rate could not possibly meet the city's immense power consumption.

Moreover, its rotation was clearly getting slower and slower.

"Perhaps the Magnemite we encountered outside were the Pokémon that were originally supposed to live in those empty rooms," Lance guessed.

"That's possible."

Now, the two of them were stumped.

They had reached the Power Plant, entered the control room, and found the source of the problem, yet they had no idea what to do.

They had already notified Goldenrod City, but even at their fastest, help would not arrive for another half hour.

And no one knew how much damage Goldenrod City would suffer in that half hour.

"Wuu!"

At that moment, Weedle, which had somehow crawled into a corner, cried out and drew Lance and Xia Yan's attention.

They saw it dragging out a strange device from a gap between the control room machinery. It was clearly old, twice Weedle's size, and clamped in its mouth.

"Weedle, how did you find that?"

Xia Yan took the heavy device. Its intricate machinery and complex construction made his head spin.

The fact that such a complex and precise piece of metal had been compressed into a device no bigger than a basketball meant it was definitely no ordinary component.

The technology and craftsmanship needed to create it were also beyond what an ordinary person could accomplish.

Without exaggeration, this device was more precise than even the most advanced computer, despite being so small.

"Wuu~~"

Weedle pointed its tail at a corpse lying in the corner. The man's clothing differed from that of the others in the control room.

He might have been the original person in charge of the control room.

And his hand pointed directly at the gap Weedle had crawled out from.

"Well done." Xia Yan took out an Energy Cube and fed it to Weedle.

Weedle's observational skills were indeed impressive.

"Wuu!" Weedle accepted the Energy Cube and wagged its tail at Dratini beside it.

I, Weedle, have sharp eyes.

"Wuu~" Only when Dratini saw Weedle's Energy Cube did it realize that, after fighting for so long, it was hungry too. It let out a soft cry.

Lance looked a little embarrassed. "Ahem, we left in too much of a hurry."

Dratini immediately drooped its head.

"Wuu—" Weedle went over to it, gently patting it with its tail to comfort it as it broke its own Energy Cube in half.

Though it was an Energy Cube suited for Bug-type and Poison-type Pokémon, the basic energy contained within was the same.

It handed one half to Dratini.

Occasionally changing flavors would not cause any problems.

"Wuu!!" Dratini's eyes lit up, and it cried out in delight. Seeing Weedle's generosity, it did not refuse.

It gently rubbed its cheek against Weedle's before happily eating with it.

Pokémon were just that carefree.

Lance forced a smile but did not stop them.

When he turned around, he saw Xia Yan holding the component in his hands, his gaze passing through the glass and landing on the turbine not far away.

"Xia Yan, did you find something?"

Xia Yan raised the component and pointed to a rather conspicuous gap in the middle of the turbine. "Don't you think this component would fit perfectly there?"

Lance followed the direction of his finger, then compared it with the precise mechanical component in Xia Yan's hand.

"It really would."

"It seems the people who invaded the Power Plant did not act without purpose. Their target was very likely the component that originally belonged inside the turbine," Xia Yan said.

The component Weedle had just found in his hand was precise, but it was clearly already quite old.

Then the device that should originally have been in the turbine had probably been taken away by them.

Lance found Xia Yan's speculation reasonable as well, but he was still somewhat confused. "What do they want that device for?"

"I don't know."

With so little information, there was no way to infer their purpose.

"Let's put this back first. Leave it to me." Lance spoke as he took out a Poké Ball.

"Mm."

Then Xia Yan watched Lance, holding the device, leap out through the glass window. Once outside, he summoned Charizard.