"Why does an electronics mall have power outages?" Johan couldn't help but ask.
"Ah, well..." the saleswoman sighed, casually waving her hand as if she had grown accustomed to it.
"This has been going on for quite a while. The power goes out every so often, and eventually, we all just started bringing our Electric-type Pokémon here to the mall."
"Has Officer Jenny looked into it?"
"Officer Jenny is investigating, but it's not something that can be solved in a day or two..."
Before she could finish speaking, there was a loud bang outside, accompanied by the faint sight of flames.
The sudden noise startled the saleswoman, and the Ampharos generating electricity inside the store also flinched in fright.
Haunter floated in front of Johan, and in his arms, Vulpix trembled, grabbing tightly onto Johan's clothes.
"Does... this kind of thing happen regularly too?" Johan pointed towards the flames.
The saleswoman swallowed nervously, losing her previous composure. Her voice faltered, "N-not usually, no. This is the first time..."
Another explosion echoed.
The entire electronics mall faintly shook, and the floor beneath them seemed to tremble slightly.
That was enough to snap the store employees and customers into action, as they began to rush outside in a panic.
The saleswoman, her Ampharos, and Johan joined the escaping crowd.
Fortunately, the explosion occurred outside the mall and didn't cause severe damage, but it did create quite a bit of fear.
As Johan led Haunter and Vulpix out of the mall, he noticed that Officer Jenny and the Rustboro City police were already on the scene, working to evacuate the area, manage traffic, and cordon off the explosion site.
"It's alright," Johan reassured Vulpix, gently stroking its back.
"Oowu..." Vulpix whimpered softly, but it was braver than before.
Officer Jenny spotted Johan in the crowd, and her eyes brightened.
Johan approached, knowing he couldn't just ignore the greeting. He was also curious about what was going on, so he asked.
Officer Jenny had a serious expression.
"We're not entirely sure about the exact cause, but we suspect it might be related to the frequent power outages at the electronics mall."
"We actually brought in an expert today to try and figure out the cause of the power outages. But just as he arrived, this explosion happened..."
Johan nodded in understanding.
No wonder Officer Jenny's team had arrived so quickly. It wasn't just because they were nearby.
"An expert? Wattson from Mauville City?"
If it's about electricity and circuitry, no one in Hoenn could be more knowledgeable than Wattson.
"It's caused by electrical current interference."
A voice interrupted their conversation.
Turning, Johan saw a young man with golden hair wearing a blue jacket. On his shoulder was a Pikachu, and the man himself seemed somewhat lethargic.
"Minato Namikaze?" Johan's mind jumped, but he quickly corrected himself. "No, Volkner?"
This was Volkner, the Gym Leader from Sunyshore City in Sinnoh!
Johan was genuinely surprised to run into Volkner here in Rustboro City, Hoenn.
Seeing the Pikachu on Volkner's shoulder, Haunter's eyes gleamed.
It's Pikachu! Hehe, a real live Pikachu...
Sensing Haunter's intense stare, Volkner's Pikachu tensed up. Tiny arcs of electricity danced across its cheeks in response.
"P-Pikachu!" W-what are you planning?
Johan quickly pulled Haunter back behind him.
At this point, Johan seriously considered cutting Haunter off from watching those "idol" shows.
Being a fan comes at a high cost.
Isn't Vulpix cute enough?
Thankfully, Officer Jenny began to introduce them to each other.
"Allow me to introduce... Volkner, this is Mr. Johan, a Pokémon psychologist."
Volkner's eyes lingered on Johan for a moment.
That name sounds vaguely familiar, Volkner thought.
"And this is Mr. Volkner, the Gym Leader from Sunyshore City in Sinnoh..."
Originally, Officer Jenny's team had planned to reach out to Wattson from Mauville City, but when they couldn't get a hold of him, they ended up contacting Volkner, who happened to be in Mauville City. After learning of the situation, Volkner agreed to come and help out.
Johan suddenly remembered: Wattson was busy with the modernization of New Mauville, wasn't he?
Wattson was working on modernizing New Mauville, and for some of the changes, he had consulted with Volkner.
After all, as the "Lightning of Sunyshore," Volkner was likely involved in the full-scale electrification of Sunyshore City as well.
After brief introductions, Officer Jenny turned to Volkner.
"Mr. Volkner, you mentioned that the explosion was caused by electrical current interference?"
"Yes," Volkner replied, sounding a bit drained. However, when discussing anything related to electricity and technology, he seemed to regain some energy.
"I took a quick look. The explosion came from one of the circuit boxes in the area, and there are clear signs of electrical current interference."
As he spoke, he furrowed his brow.
"Rustboro City's electrical grid isn't that old, and the established circuits shouldn't suddenly fail . Furthermore, the conflicting electrical currents seemed more like... those produced by Electric-type Pokémon."
"Electric-type Pokémon?" Officer Jenny repeated in surprise.
He then began explaining in technical terms about using Electric Pokémon for generating and conducting electricity. Neither Officer Jenny nor Johan fully understood everything.
In summary, regular Pokémon wouldn't be able to release such a large amount of electricity all at once.
After all, there are so many Electric-type Pokémon in the world. If any random one could wreck a city's power grid, things would be in chaos.
That's why urban circuits and circuit boxes are specially treated and shouldn't be damaged so easily.
Electric-type Pokémon like Electivire, which can supply an entire building's electricity for a year, aren't part of that consideration.
Moreover, for an Electabuzz to evolve into Electivire, it needs an Electirizer and a trade evolution to trigger the transformation.
So far, there haven't been any cases of wild Electivire.
"What if an Electric Pokémon was storing electricity for days or even longer?" Johan asked.
Volkner looked thoughtful.
"In that case, it could be possible. However... Pokémon with that kind of storage capacity are quite rare."
Johan and Officer Jenny exchanged glances.
They shared the same suspicion.
A rampaging Electric-type Pokémon!
However, they couldn't be sure yet.
If it were a rampaging Pokémon, it would probably have caused a bigger scene by now.
"For now, let's restore power here," Johan suggested, and Officer Jenny agreed.
She couldn't help but think to herself—If Ash were here, he could at least act as a resistor...
"This will take some time," Volkner said, retrieving equipment from Officer Jenny's police car. He and Pikachu then headed towards the circuit box where the explosion had been.
Watching Volkner's back, Johan rubbed his chin.
Has Volkner already grown tired of battles?
For 20 advance Chapters: /michaeltranslates