Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 370 The End - The Solution

Chapter 372 The Solution - The End

When the drilling machine carrying the highly poisonous stone slabs was buried deep into the stipe of the mushroom, what strange change occurred inside the agaric mushroom? This is the core mystery of the entire 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 some kind of device...

It can continuously establish and sever the holding relationship between the stone and the Pokémon, repeatedly triggering the Emerald Stone's amplification miracle on Agaric.

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

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. The buff effect brought by the Emerald Stone Slab will no longer be triggered this time—because Alas, Mushroom 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 swallow 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 brought the expansion of Mushroom Island to a halt, forcing Team Magma to abandon their land expansion research. Before Agar. Bloom could grow to its maximum size, they changed their plans and began plundering resources from the Hoenn mainland in an attempt to build a naval base capable of rivaling the Aquatic Forces.

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 in the stone tablet also brought some consequences. Only two people knew about this: 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.

"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, a provocative smile on his face, looking directly at Akroma on the other end of the video call.

"It's nothing more than some new type of highly toxic substance. 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 fluttered in the sea breeze, like a white sail pointing straight to its target. "But have you 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 the Ayakashi 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 that 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, pleased with the trembling pupils behind the other's glasses, suddenly turned cold.

"That's exactly right. The Team Aqua member who escaped from the seabed to Unova first hid in the deserted Tourmaline Cave for a while. Then, his killing of wild Pokémon in his hiding place 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 assumptions about the slate's toxins were completely off-track.

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

He originally thought 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 the "Real" Wolf slapped him hard across the face.

"Oh dear, when the Mushroom first encountered the poisonous stone slab, it clearly didn't possess any ability to create toxic 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 reviewed Hugo's previous hints and said, "That's right." Hugo's voice was deep and resolute.

"During the same act of wearing the poisonous stone tablet, it can only provide one beneficial effect. Therefore, the 'poison' that Servilik suffered when he removed the tablet must have been caused by the same reason as Voodoo's death—and the eerie similarity between their 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, a closer look at the direction of the bloodstains revealed that, apart from the abrasions caused by his hasty escape, most of the blood was splattered from the wild elves he had killed. The wounds on his body did not bleed profusely, indicating that his circulatory system had not collapsed due to poisoning.

Similarly, although Servilik was lying on the body in the rented room with blood coming from his mouth and nose, the poison expert Joey and her team...

However, no traces of toxins were detected on the victim's body.

This may 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 Joey saw at the scene was most likely due to Servilick's excessive excitement before death, causing blood to rush to his head—the preliminary conclusion of so-called 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.

In contrast, the cases of Vudu and Servić were quite the opposite—their "poisoning symptoms" could be detected normally on their bodies, but due to 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 area 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 Vudu nor Servilik could be found to contain a single drop of poison 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, that one or two people were never actually poisoned.

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

Hugo's gaze drifted past the phone camera to the churning clouds in the distance, then abruptly shifted his tone: "As human society modernized, cities expanded rapidly, intensifying conflicts and friction with wild Pokémon. However, the impact varied among different Pokémon groups. Flying-type Pokémon, with their strong territorial instincts and tendency to attack humans from the sky, easily became targets for human intervention and expulsion; conversely, the often unassuming Grass-type Pokémon managed to escape unscathed from such conflicts, seamlessly integrating 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 might sense the approaching threat of human settlements if they saw artificial Poké Balls scattered throughout the forest, and thus decide to lead their entire population to migrate to a more distant place. In this way, the Agaric population, mimicking Poké Balls, can escape the attacks of Flying-type predators and gain more survival advantages."

"This is indeed one explanation for the evolutionary strategy of *Auricularia auricula-judae*, and it might sound more plausible than the warning coloration theory or the human attraction theory, but what does this article prove?"

Evolutionary theory was clearly not a research area that Akromma was interested in, and he still didn't understand Hugo's explanation: "Vodu and Servilik weren't Flying-type Pokémon, so their cause of death obviously couldn't have been being frightened to death by that giant Poké Ball pattern. What's the point of saying all this?"

"Sir scientist, it seems you still lack some 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 to spread fear to the nearby Voodoo and Servić?"

Akromah frowned, her expression one of disapproval.

"Perhaps some hallucinogenic neurotoxins could do something similar, but when Voodoo was underwater, I don't think Aya Mushroom had the objective conditions to accomplish 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, with a salty taste, stung the scholar's inner wounds—"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."

Akromah's eyes widened: "Pokémon moves? You mean—"

"Angry fans."

Before scholars could draw their conclusions, Hugo bluntly interrupted them.

"A Bug-type move. It involves sprinkling annoying powder on itself to draw the opponent's attention, causing all of their attacks to be directed at it."

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 spirit uses 'Angry Powder,' it shakes a shimmering powder onto itself. Enemies affected by this powder will subconsciously perceive the spirits under the shimmering light as some kind of terrifying threat, and out of self-defense, they will uncontrollably change the direction of their skill release. If this effect is amplified and strengthened, it's not impossible to create an effect that uses fear to drive away 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 believe it, 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 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 spores of misconception; 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 wasn't entirely unfounded." Hugo shook his head slightly. "At the same time the stone slabs switched, 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 we enhanced with the attribute ointment degenerated back to its original state, reverting back to the 'Spore' attribute that spreads spores—Selvilik himself has already figured this out."

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

Hugo's gaze drifted into the distance: "Perhaps he truly believed he was saving the world. Rather than let all of humanity perish for his mistakes, he preferred to 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 nearly killed two Pokémon in Flying Cloud City."

"But that was his only choice." Akroma rarely defended Selvilik, saying, "That biology consultant couldn't just come and tell the League like I did. After the discovery of the Poisonous Slab, the Emerald Slab could indeed re-amplify the Ayam-shroom. 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 League—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 the Aqua Fleet? At least Servilik's actions could be explained by his attempt to stop the spread of the virus, but why did Voodoo suddenly betray the Aqua Fleet after the operation and flee to the Unova region to live in seclusion?"

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

The detective raised his gray eyes.

"Just as there are strange people like Servić who are blurred between being a doctor and a poisoner, there are also people in the world whose behavior and logic become insane and extreme because they have fallen into the wrong god. I think Voodoo is one of them. In a sense, this 'poison sorcerer' is closer to you, Akromá."

"What do you mean?" Plasma Cluster Science was not offended by this, and continued to ask without changing his expression.

"Before Voodoo joined Team Aqua, he was a trainee determined to challenge the Hoenn League, but he went astray in training Poison-type Pokémon, constantly using the so-called 'poison testing' method to slaughter wild Pokémon, attempting to break the limits of Poison-type moves through this barbaric method. In Acromorama's words, this might be called 'exploring the limits that Poison-type can achieve.'"

"Foolish and stubborn," Akroma coldly remarked with disdain. "Without analyzing the toxicological components, using empirical methods to eliminate possibilities countless times to find a definite answer, even if you try and fail to reach the ends of the universe, you will never even touch the surface of the truth."

"Regardless of the method or its sophistication, it's undeniable that this is what Fudu is pursuing—the 'ultimate limit of poison,' which aligns with your research goals, albeit through different paths. Now, put yourself in his shoes and think about it."

Hugo gently tapped his temple. "What would you feel if one day you suddenly discovered that the answer you've spent your whole life searching for had already been achieved by your own hands, and that you were the one who pressed the final button to terminate the experiment?"

Akromma opened her mouth, but ultimately did not answer the question.

Hugo then adds a condition to the problem: "And ironically, at the same time, you created this experimental product that demonstrates the power that it should have. The moment this creation was born, it sentenced you, its creator, to death; the hourglass of life began to flow backward, the final second hand ticking with a heartbeat. But at this moment, you still have a chance—a chance to pilot that submarine, which can only be operated by one person, to the nearest land with the ocean current, where you can witness the moment your 'ultimate' descends to earth."

"So you mean, Voodoo went to live in seclusion in the Unova region to witness the outbreak of the Ayak Mushroom Virus firsthand?"

Behind the Akromar lens, the pupil slightly contracted, and the expression shifted between utter speech and sudden realization.

Hugo's gaze was as sharp as a knife: "Some people want to save Shiyou before they die, while others will try to take Shiyou down with them."

He paused for a moment, allowing the weight of his words to settle fully.

"But Voodoo's madness goes far beyond that. When he witnessed the sheer scale of the spores released by the Ayak-shroom, he deliberately exposed himself to the virus's spread in advance, giving the Union a chance to take preventative measures. To this end, he transformed into Death, slaughtering all the wild spirits along the way that might be carrying the spores."

The detective's voice gradually lowered: "In the Tourmaline Cave, in this mountain cave, he waited to unload this radio from the submarine, or perhaps he was carrying other communication devices. In any case, he waited day after day for the end of the world to come. However, half a year passed, and what he got was not the destruction of the world, but the pursuers from the Plasma Group."

"Of course, such a thing cannot come to pass if it doesn't exist. Even if that virus did exist, the Servik people would have already developed a vaccine against it. But so much time has passed, wouldn't Voldemort realize that he wasn't actually poisoned at all?"

The scholar's glasses flashed with a cold light, and his question was already out of his mouth.

Hugo shrugged again. "Imagine someone huddled in a dark cave all day, surviving on compressed food, with their only companion being a poison-type elf whose mind is also being corrupted by fear spores. In this extreme mental state, this 'poison mage' would probably have long since lost the ability to make rational judgments, and their madness would likely be even greater than before."

"How pathetic." Acromah shook his head, a rare hint of pity showing in his voice. "Under such mental and physical exhaustion, having to evade Team Plasma's pursuit everywhere, and at the same time having to kill every wild Pokémon he saw along the way without exception, running around half of Unova like this, even an ordinary person would be exhausted to death."

"Judging from Voodoo's past misdeeds, perhaps he derived some kind of twisted pleasure from slaughtering elves. This morbid satisfaction formed a tragic closed loop with his obsession with the poison of world destruction—he was willing to push himself to the limit in order to witness the poisoning of the entire world and the apocalyptic scene. Even if he could not see that moment arrive with his own eyes, he wanted to ensure that the end times would come."

The detective abruptly stopped speaking, a rare look of confusion appearing between his brows. "It's all for nothing." He sighed softly. "Although I can piece together the logic behind his behavior, that kind of extreme and obsessive inner world is ultimately beyond the realm of normal human thinking."

The sea breeze howled past, and the steel frame of the Xindan Tower emitted an ominous sound. Hugo subconsciously pulled the collar of his white coat, which had been disheveled by the wind, tighter.

Let's leave this discussion about the psychology of the deceased here.

Akromar crossed his arms, his gaze behind his glasses sharp as a hawk's beak. "Champion Hugo, by now you must have a complete grasp of the ins and outs of the Mushroom Island incident. Judging from your current posture, you should have already taken complete control of the entire island, right? Finding the emerald green slab and the poisonous slab hidden on the island is only a matter of time for you."

The scholar's voice held a hint of probing: "So, now that things have come to this, why do you still insist on giving me, someone far away in the United States, a long and arduous discussion about this ailment?"

"Because there's one last question." Hugo looked directly into the other's eyes, the sea breeze ruffling his dark hair. "Regarding this question, perhaps only you in the world can provide the answer."

His voice suddenly became incredibly clear: "How do I restore Oops to its original state?"