Chapter 82, everybody! Time to cover an episode I…think I might have watched on VHS? I have hazy recollections of watching this episode but I'm not entirely sure. Anywho.
Now I'm torn on the representation of Gringy City in this because yes heavy industrialization pollutes the water and if you don't believe me ask someone from New York if they'd dare take a dip in the Hudson. Countermanding that…hydroelectric power plants are actually relatively clean so there's…really no reason for the Grimer to infest it. IDK it was the nineties and back then ALL factories and/or plants were bad and honestly the hyper-environmental movements of today are just nineties environmentalism on steroids.
Also yes heavy industry areas stink I know everyone jokes about Jersey but the worst places I've ever smelled were Pennsylvania and New York when you get near the coal processing areas. Fun fact: nuclear power is the cleanest and safest energy and implementing it would cause a cascade effect through the economy where even with gas cars people could afford everything better because one of the major costs that drive prices up is—you guessed it—energy. Why don't we have it fully implemented? Ask your local politician.
Next question…why was everybody in the first season a jerk Kanto really strikes me as dystopian especially when you consider how everybody treats each other. And honestly writing this chapter made me think of the whole thing with Flint, Michigan a few years back. Did they ever fix that, or did everyone have to straight-up abandon the town like you couldn't even touch that water.
…
Okay reading up on it and the whole Flint, Michigan thing was actually worse than what made it to the news wtf WHY what total lack of braincells would look at a river that had been used as a general dumping ground and caught fire twice (the WATER was burning) and said yeah that'll be fine to drink. Theoretically the water there is 'safe to drink now,' but considering this is coming from the same people who gave them polluted water to begin with, I doubt it.
And now for the reviews: thank you forward-smash, Dragonkeeper10, griffin blackwood, frostxd60, talesfanjmf, Reader, Luckenhaft, epantoja521, Passing guest, and axios for the reviews! Yeah a much-bigger Team Rocket is definitely going to be a problem later….
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
In other news, Gringy City still has unpotable water. Residents are advised to use ONLY bottled water until civic services can track down the source of the contamination.
Okay, the first thing worth noting once they made it to the city on the other side of the bridge was that everything smelled. Like Erika's Vileplume died after rolling in garbage smell.
The second was the signs telling everyone not to drink the water.
"Well this is welcoming," Misty observed as they pedaled down main street, looking for the Pokémon Center; she flinched a little at distant thunder. "What happened here?"
"Industrial overbuilding?" Brock guessed, looking at the various smokestacks. "I don't know."
"Let's just say we'll be passing through this place really quickly," Ash said as they approached the Center.
"Right," Brock agreed, pulling up to the bike rack. "You guys return the bikes, I'll deliver the medicine, we'll be back on the road in five minutes."
"I'm all for that," Misty said, folding her bike down to put back in her backpack. "I wonder how much of a radius this stench has."
"No clue," Ash said, taking shallow breaths through his mouth as he locked the bikes up. "Come on, Pikachu, let's get out of here. Pikachu? Pikachu….Misty!"
"What, what is it?" Misty asked, shouldering her backpack as she ran over.
"I don't know, but Pikachu isn't acting too good," Ash said, cradling Pikachu in his arms. "Pikachu, buddy, speak to me!"
"Chaaa," Pikachu noised weakly.
Misty nodded, expression stern. "In the Center, now."
Ash ran in after her, ran up to the nurse who seemed impervious to Brock's attempt at flirting. "Hey, can you help us?"
Brock immediately snapped out of the flirtatious mood. "What? What happened?"
"Something's wrong with Pikachu," Ash said, putting him on the counter. "He's not responding, and he feels weird."
Brock rubbed Pikachu's back a little, looked up at the nurse expectantly—
Who gave Pikachu a cursory glance before heading in the back with the medicine.
"Hey—hey!" Ash barked after her. "Did you forget someone!?"
"Maybe she's getting a specialist," Brock offered—gave the nurse a the heck expression when she came back alone.
"Um, hello?" Ash noised. "My Pikachu needs help."
She looked Pikachu over. "It has a cold," she said, poking him with a pen. "A bad one, by the looks of things."
Ash felt his stomach flip-flop at that. "Well can't you do something?"
"Sorry, nothing I can do."
"Sorry? That's it, you're sorry!?"
"There's got to be something," Brock insisted.
The nurse glared at him. "There isn't. Now shoo."
Ash was about to scream at the nurse. "Seriously? You're basically telling me Pikachu is dying and you can't bring yourself to care? What's wrong with you?"
"Excuse me for having other things preoccupying my time!" the nurse snapped back. "We haven't had potable water in months. People and Pokémon both are sick thanks to that. We can't find the source, people are having to relocate, excuse me if one little Pikachu doesn't rate very high on my concern level!"
"Ash, Ash," Brock said, tugging Ash away. "Let's just go."
Ash nodded tightly, allowing himself to be led out of the Pokémon Center, hugging Pikachu tightly—
Broke down sobbing when they were finally out.
"Hey—hey, it'll be okay," Brock said, giving him a tissue. "Here, blow—she's stressed and overworked, she missed something, we'll fix it, okay?"
"Preferably away from this town," Misty said. "It stinks and I don't want to stay someplace with filthy water."
"It explains why they need medicine though," Brock observed, considering. "And…wait. Remember the last time Pikachu got affected by something as soon as we entered a town?"
Ash stopped sniffling. "You mean—"
"I mean I think a Pokémon might be behind this. Come on."
They found a quiet place to confer with Darkrai on this, Ash continuing to hug Pikachu close.
"Nasty water, terrible smell—Grimer would be a safe bet," Darkrai observed.
"Failing electrical grids might be electric Pokémon though," Brock pointed out.
"Maybe, but a Grimer would be the bigger problem. You can handle the lights being out, you can't handle water you can't even touch."
"So we find the Grimer and get rid of it," Ash said.
"Question: how?" Misty asked. "It's not like we know where they'd be."
"The sewers," Darkrai pointed out.
"I say we just head for the hills—Pikachu will improve once we get him away from this smog."
"That's a temporary solution to one problem though," Brock pointed out, as Darkrai poked Pikachu experimentally.
"You think he'll be okay?" Ash asked as Misty and Brock debated.
"Most likely," Darkrai said. "He smelled worse if he fought a Vileplume. Oh shoo, will you?" he asked, shooing a Magnemite away. It ignored him, circled around to peer at Pikachu again.
"Do you mind?" Ash asked, angling Pikachu away. "That's kind of rude."
"Mag," the Magnemite noised, prompting Darkrai to tip his head.
Ash blinked. "What? What is it?"
"Something about the rat having 'attractive electricity,'" Darkrai said—blinked as the Magnemite rubbed against Pikachu's fur, churring as some of Pikachu's electricity danced across it instead.
"Chu?" Pikachu noised weakly.
"Hey—Pikachu, are you all right? Hey, can you do that again?"
"Not that this isn't kinky," Darkrai said flatly, watching the Magnemite rub against Pikachu with vigor. "But what are you doing? Can't you munch on the power lines like normal 'mons?"
"The power's out, remember?" Ash asked, as Magnemite set to explaining.
"Ah." Whistled sharply, getting Misty and Brock's attention. "Good news, we've found where the Grimer are."
"Really? Where?" Misty asked.
"Even better news: the Grimer are mucking up the power plant. Two birds with one stone."
"You said are, not is," Brock observed.
"And that is where the good news ends: there's a horde of them in there."
Ash watched Pikachu, slightly revitalized at Magnemite's actions, but still in need of some serious help.
"We can take them," he said staunchly, looking up at the rest of them. Look at Magnemite. "I know it's a lot to ask, but can you come with us? Pikachu could really use your help."
"Mag," the Magnemite noised, seemingly unconcerned.
"Okay then," Brock sighed. "And we do have some Pokémon that'd do well against Poison…." Obviously had a quick debate—finally looked at the Magnemite. "Lead on, MacDuff."
The Magnemite led them through the grimier parts of town, along a stinking sluggish waterway, before finally indicating what looked like a power plant.
"What is this place?" Ash asked. "This doesn't make the power for the town, does it?"
Brock looked over the city staying resolutely dark in the growing gloom. "I'm going with not anymore."
"Are we sure it isn't the Magnemite causing the power outage?" Misty asked as they headed for the doors. "Because I thought that Magnemite eat electricity."
"There was that rolling blackout a cloud of Magnemite caused earlier in the year," Brock mused.
"That was this year?"
"Mag!" the Magnemite noised, floating over to the edge of the walkway and gesturing pointedly. "Mag MAG!"
Ash hesitated—gingerly leaned over the railing, Misty, Brock and Darkrai doing the same. Down near the water level was a space that Ash figured used to be a grate, but was now just clogged with Grimer.
"Ew," Misty noised.
"Why would that affect the power?" Ash asked.
"If a power plant is built on a river or by the water, chances are it's a hydroelectric plant," Brock said. "It's reliant on the water moving through it to generate power. If the Grimer are blocking it up, then the water can't flow, and the plant can't produce electricity."
"So we just need to unblock that," Ash decided, grabbing a Pokéball.
"Oh no you don't," Misty said, stopping him. "If we throw our water Pokémon in that, they could get really sick! One sick Pokémon right now is enough."
"Yeah but none of my other Pokémon can get to that angle!" Ash protested.
Misty pointedly looked at Darkrai.
"Gee why don't I do it?" he asked.
"Why don't you?" Misty asked.
Darkrai grumbled as he floated high and over the water, paws sparking—
"So I did not know Darkrai knew Thunderbolt," Ash said.
"Well it looks like it's working," Misty said, watching unconscious Grimer float downstream. "Also, again, ew."
"This is still a problem," Brock said, watching several more Grimer crawl into the tunnel in an attempt to get away from Darkrai. "The fact that they even showed up to begin with is probably due to the heavy pollution in the city…but why the power plant? Hydroelectric energy is pretty clean, comparatively."
"Let's go in and find out," Misty said, pointing at the door as Darkrai floated back over.
"Just letting you know I'm not getting paid enough to follow those things through the sewer," he announced.
"That's okay, we're going through the plant instead," Ash said.
"I'd also like to point out that you aren't getting paid enough for this either."
"We get paid for this?"
"Both of you hush and focus on the task at hand," Misty said, pushing the door open. "Ew I'm glad I put Togepi back in its ball for this."
"How can anyone work in that?" Ash asked, pinching his nose shut.
"I'm going to say the Grimer got into the air ducts too," Brock said, releasing Zubat. "Fortunately, we don't have to worry about poison water in here. Zubat, find those Grimer."
"What if they find her first?" Misty asked.
"Zubat's part Poison—she can't get poisoned."
"Unless she's attacked by a Pokémon with Corrosion as an ability," Darkrai put in.
"And which Pokémon are those?"
"Salandit and Salazzle."
"Which are native to Alola, which means I think we'll be fine," Brock said, following Zubat in.
"Suit yourself."
"Yeah, it's not like Darkrai is native to Sinnoh," Misty said.
"I think I liked you two better when you didn't get along," Brock muttered under his breath.
Ash and Misty both let out Patches and Oddish, following Brock's lead of using Poison Pokémon to hopefully cut down on the issue Grimer would pose.
Several long minutes of hunting through halls and rooms later turned up no Grimer and no workers.
"Maybe they all went home," Ash posed. "The workers, I mean."
"Maybe the Grimer ate them," Darkrai suggested.
"Ew—Grimer don't eat people."
"Grimer eat garbage and anything that stays still long enough and is digestible. People count."
"Let's not get that dire just yet," Brock said, looking up and down a cross hall as Zubat paused, clicking and squeaking. "Boy I wish places like this had maps on the walls."
"Or big arrows saying go this way," Misty said—flinched when Magnemite floated by her. "Warn me next time!"
"Mag," the Magnemite noised, drifting one way, circling back to them, and then heading that way again. Zubat confirmed the direction a few seconds later.
The pervading stench got stronger that way too.
"I'm going to need a thorough cleaning when we're done here," Misty said, one hand completely covering her nose and mouth and making Ash wonder how she was still breathing (not that he was thrilled with the necessity at the moment). "Like three dozen baths in a row. Pour bleach down my sinuses and take a bunch of runs through a washer."
"Please don't actually do any of that," Brock said. "You're not a stuffed animal, that won't work for you."
"You sound like you've had this conversation before."
"I have siblings, if you recall," he said, as Magnemite and Zubat stopped at a door marked central power. "So the good news is, we found it, but the bad news is, it's locked with a key card and I don't think the hinges are going to be obliging."
"See how it is?" Darkrai asked—took a nonplussed beat along with the rest of them as Magnemite zapped the keypad, making the door slide open. "Ah. So I've decided I like you."
"We're breaking and entering. It's not exactly a good thing," Misty pointed out as the Magnemite started glowing, going inside and hovering near the ceiling in lieu of proper overhead lighting. In doing so it revealed the workers clinging to the tops of computer banks, as far off the floor as possible.
Why they were like that was answered by the floor being caked in Grimer.
"So…that's a problem," Ash decided. Misty's response was to try to get the door back shut.
"Okay, get away from the door, we're going to drive them out," Brock said firmly. "Zubat! Confuse Ray then Screech!"
Zubat flew in and started circling the Magnemite, screeching and caterwauling and mostly succeeding in riling up the Grimer.
"Okay, next plan," Brock said.
"Can Vulpix burn them out?" Misty asked.
"We have to get the workers out first," Brock said, letting Bulbasaur out. "We're going to try using Vine Whip to do that, keep them preoccupied in the meantime."
"Right—Oddish, Stun Spore and Sleep Powder!"
Patches looked at Ash as he sorted through all the moves he knew—groaned when he realized none of them would really be effective against a pile of sludge. "Patches, make sure they don't get out," he ordered, sorting through the rest of his 'mons. Lenny was out because he was just too big, Vee would get poisoned, Frenzy probably wouldn't even notice—oh wait.
"Go, Gastly!" Ash ordered, tossing Gastly into the fray. Let's see, his Poison moves obviously wouldn't work, he didn't want Gastly using Curse and he knew Licking said piles of sludge was a bad idea—"Hypnosis!" Even at low accuracy, with all those Grimer in there he couldn't possibly miss.
"I need to work on Gastly's moveset more," Ash decided as Brock and Bulbasaur got the first worker out.
"This seems like the sort of thing you realize before a situation like this," Darkrai pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah…."
"How many more of you guys are in there?" Brock asked the worker.
The worker grimaced. "There's…only three left."
Everyone took a moment as the implications sank in—
Patches barked in alarm, spun around and kicked a Grimer in the face—yelped as it started sucking him in.
"Ah! Patches!" Ash yelped, putting Pikachu down to grab onto the Nidorino's front legs and pull. Pikachu struggled to his feet, chattered something angrily before zapping a Thunderbolt into the room, close enough that it made Ash's hair stand on end.
It also succeeded in freeing Patches and clearing a space in the room.
"Wow, that—Pikachu, can you do it again?" Ash asked, returning Patches.
Pikachu staggered closer and zapped into the room again, Bulbasaur reeling in another worker when that bolt was done.
The Grimer weren't giving as much space this time, though—or the next time. Or the next—
By the time the last worker was out of the room and beating feet, the Grimer were massing at the door—Pikachu dug deep, blasted them hard with a Thunder—
Collapsed.
"Pikachu!" Ash yelped, scooping him up and checking him—breathing, that was good—
Yelped again when Darkrai grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him away from the Grimer surging out. "Yeah worry about the rat later—we gotta go."
Misty and Brock had already recalled Oddish and Bulbasaur and were hightailing it out of there, Gastly, Zubat and Magnemite hot on their heels, all of them fleeing an angry surge of Grimer pursuing them—
Another tidal wave came down a side hall, forcing them down a different hall, into a break room—
Dead end.
"So this is bad," Darkrai observed as the Grimer came surging in. "Opinions on burning them all to a crisp now?"
"Well we're dead anyway," Brock decided. "Go, Vulpix! Use Flamethrower!"
"Squirtle, use Hydro Pump!" Misty ordered, throwing out her own 'mon—
Psyduck came out instead.
"Oh no!" Misty gasped. "I forgot I swapped the balls around while training him!"
"Hurry up and swap him out!" Brock barked.
"No we're not using Curse!" Ash ordered, pointing at Gastly.
"Just pick a useful move and go," Darkrai ordered, sending balls of Will-o-Wisp forward—narrowed his eyes when the Grimer squelched by it, hit one with a Dark Void instead.
Psyduck, meanwhile, took all this in with growing horror—finally snapped and ran around screaming, inadvertently dodging Misty's attempts to return him.
"Psyduck!" Misty barked. "Oh—Squirtle!" she said, tossing out another ball that fortunately disgorged the Turtle Pokémon. "Use Hydro Pump on those Grimer! Blast them back!"
Squirtle took turns with Vulpix, alternately burning and dousing the Grimer, Zubat still Screeching and Magnemite occasionally firing off bolts of electricity—Darkrai was alternating between Dark Pulse and Thunderbolt, barking something at Gastly in Pokénese before Gastly finally managed his own Dark Pulse, Psyduck still running around and panicking—
The Grimer slipped away.
"So," Ash noised into the quiet. "Does that mean we won?"
Darkrai narrowed his eyes. "I don't think so."
Brock seemed of the same mind. "Hold on, this is about to be bad."
Darkrai flung up a Protect as a fresh wave of stench and sludge surged in, slapping against the Protect hard enough to crack it, ebbing back and bulging up, two eyes surfacing and a great gaping maw opening and spewing poisonous gases—
It was a Muk.
"Yup," Brock said, covering his mouth and nose. "This is bad."
The Muk slammed several appendages against Darkrai's Protect, testing the cracks before ebbing back, considering the situation before belching out another cloud of Poison Gas.
"I don't like this," Darkrai said, coughing a little. "This one's smart."
It was, because apparently it was deciding on the larger group as a bad job, easing back as one eye slid off to the side, focusing on—
Misty and Psyduck.
"Misty look out!" Ash hollered as the Muk surged for her—Misty froze, transfixed by the wall of purple sludge surging her way—
Something in Psyduck snapped.
Everyone had a stunned moment when the Muk slammed to a halt, the Muk included. Attention slid to Psyduck, eyes glowing and psychic energy wicking off his yellow feathers as he pointed at the Muk—
Which slammed into the ceiling, then the ground, then the ceiling again before being shot to the other side of the room. It tried to ooze back up—
The crumbling roof was psychically dumped on it, flattening it into a puddle.
"Wow," Misty breathed as Psyduck slowly stopped glowing—stooped to catch him when he toddled back. "Psyduck, that was amazing!"
"Psai?" Psyduck noised, confused.
"Yeah that was—oh wait it's coming back!" Ash yelped as the sludge began to bubble. Everyone scrambled—
Misty reacted first, grabbing a ball and chucking it at the sludge.
"Really?" Brock asked.
"If it stays in the ball then it's not attacking us," she reasoned.
"Fair enough."
Ash nodded, perked when the ball pinged. "Misty! You caught Muk!"
"I'm not pleased with it," she said, picking the ball up—"EW it stinks through the Pokéball."
"That is gross," Ash agreed—blinked when it vanished. "Wait—not that I'm not complaining, but where did it go?"
"I've got a full team," Misty said. "So it probably went to the Cerulean…Gym…."
"That expression concerns me," Darkrai observed.
"Just thinking about how my sisters are going to handle a Muk coming out of the computer," Misty said, grinning broadly.
"Ah, pettiness—I can dig it."
"Pika pika!" Pikachu said.
"And you're feeling better!" Ash said, scooping him up and twirling him around. "That's great! What happened to you anyway?"
Darkrai scratched his chest, thinking. "If I recall, electric Pokémon can get overcharged—he probably got a spark crossways and couldn't get rid of it until zapping those Grimer."
"So…Magnemite eating his electricity was a good thing."
"Very."
"All right, thanks!" Ash said to Magnemite, which looked quite pleased with itself. "Hey, you want to travel with us? I mean I've got a full team too so you'd go to Professor Oak's, but it doesn't smell there…oh wait you don't have a nose, do you?"
The Magnamite seemed vaguely confused at that observation, but circled around them and buzzed happily just the same.
A few moments later, Magnemite was on its way to Professor Oak's.
"So," Brock said. "All those in favor of getting out of this town after giving them a what-for?"
"Aye," came from at least three different sources.
What-fors were given and feet were beat—at Brock's recommendation, Ash called Lt. Surge at the next town.
"Oh yeah you've got to be careful about that," Lt. Surge told him. "Good rule of thumb is to keep an eye out for excess sparking—some light stuff in the fur every once in a while is normal for a 'mon with Static as an ability, but noticeable sparks means he's building it up—have him zap something to oblivion then."
Lt. Surge spent another half hour discussing general healthcare for electric types, pointed out that if he was ever in Unova it'd be worth it to catch a Joltik, if not he could probably set him up, Joltik liked to eat the electricity off of other electric types and was therefore good for voltage management when used in moderation.
Ash was actually surprised it wasn't a few days later when they finally concluded the phone call.
Misty avoided calling her sisters for the next couple of Pokémon Centers, acknowledging that yes it was kind of petty, but she had a point to make, dangit.
"And what is the point, pray tell?" Brock asked.
"I don't know," Misty admitted. "But I know if I call they're going to insist I take Muk, and I don't want to deal with the stink."
But she couldn't put it off any longer, not when her sisters apparently systematically called every Pokémon Center in a twenty-mile radius from Gringy City with the standing message that Misty Waterflower was to call the Cerulean Gym. The conversation went exactly as she predicted.
"I mean, I guess I could swap Horsea out," she said finally, when all three sisters had worn themselves out.
"Please do," one insisted.
Which left them with a Pokéball that stunk to high heaven and a Muk that smelled worse than that.
"Okay!" Misty huffed, taking shallow breaths as she dug in her bag. "Let's see here…okay. Bellossom Romance."
"You really think that'll work?" Ash asked, voice muffled by his hands in an attempt to stave off the stench.
"I'm desperate," she told him, spritzing the Muk—and then giving up on that, unscrewing the lid, and dumping the whole thing on it. And then giving it the bottle for good measure.
"I…." Misty looked at them. "Call me crazy, but I think that worked."
Brock uncovered his face, sniffed. "Nice."
Ash tentatively sniffed at the air as well. "I…think I might actually owe Erika an apology."
"She'll be happy to hear that."
She was actually more bemused than anything, but Ash was okay with that.