Under the dim streetlights, Ash—possessing the strength of Huge Power—carried the unconscious Riyong. Accompanied by Pikachu and Misdreavus, he finally walked out of the suffocating sewer system.
After returning to the surface, although the air was still filled with the turbid odor unique to Gringey City, compared to the oppressive stuffiness of the sewers, it was already considered 'fresh'. Indeed, gaps are only revealed through comparison.
Ash didn't dare to delay and headed towards the temporarily converted security station. In fact, it was right next to the police station. Since the police station had been turned into a mess and was difficult to repair immediately, they had changed locations. Officer Jenny felt this was the most efficient way.
"So... it is Riyong. That child."
Inside the temporary security station, Officer Jenny looked at Riyong, whom Ash had placed flat on a long bench, still unconscious. There wasn't much surprise on her face; instead, she revealed a complex mix of fatigue and helplessness.
The population of the entire city was much smaller than in the past, especially the younger generation. So, Officer Jenny had an impression of many people. If someone had distinct characteristics, they were even easier to remember.
Officer Jenny signaled for Ash to follow, leading him into a small conference room temporarily partitioned off at the back of the security station. She gently closed the door, shutting out the noise from outside.
"Some things are indeed not suitable to be discussed publicly when there are many people around."
Officer Jenny sighed, took off her police cap, and rubbed the space between her eyebrows. She didn't rush to ask about the process but first poured a cup of warm water for Ash.
"The one you encountered was a member of the 'Sludge Friends Society', right?" she asked. "They... are a group of people who are very persistent, but who have also gone to extremes."
As the head of the local police, how could Officer Jenny not know about these guys? Ash nodded. He then recounted everything that had happened in the sewer, as well as Riyong's intense remarks about Gringey City's history and the Grimer clan, exactly as they were.
Officer Jenny listened quietly, her fingers unconsciously rubbing against the warm wall of the cup.
"What Riyong said... is mostly the fact," she admitted softly. "Gringey City was indeed once on the brink of destruction due to industrial pollution. And it was indeed the appearance of Pokémon like Grimer and Muk, relying on devouring industrial waste and garbage, that delayed and reversed the ecological collapse of this city."
"In a sense, they are indeed this city's 'benefactors', or at least 'partners' who weathered the storm together."
Officer Jenny's voice was calm, as if stating the contents of a dusty file.
"But, Ash... times have changed. The League's technology is improving, and society's requirements for the environment are also increasing. No one can deny their contributions, which is why the League coordinated with various cities to transport large amounts of garbage here back then."
"But likewise, not many people can endure living in such an environment... surrounded by stench and pollution for a long time. Many people are also dissatisfied with the League's practice of shipping garbage here."
"The young people of Gringey City are leaving, and the city's population is in negative growth. This is not the future we want to see. It's not just humans; Pokémon are the same..."
Jenny looked at him earnestly. "Ash, although there are already very few ordinary Pokémon around this city, you should have also seen Pokémon leaving when you arrived, right?"
Officer Jenny's gaze became sharp and firm. Some things always have to be done by someone. Otherwise, the situation will only get worse. In the past, garbage-type Pokémon indeed protected this city, but now, the increasing number of garbage-type Pokémon is also destroying the ecology.
Wild Pokémon are even scarcer now than they were during the times of environmental pollution.
"The League and the Gringey City officials have never intended, and will absolutely never issue an order, to exterminate all garbage-type Pokémon," she clarified. "The guiding principle of this operation is very clear—focus on driving them away and controlling them. Unless facing life-threatening danger, killing is strictly prohibited."
"You should have noticed that we even distributed protective equipment on a large scale. This is to maximize the protection of both parties during conflicts."
"Our goal is 'environmental governance'. By reducing pollution sources and promoting new waste processing technologies, we will let this land gradually recover its vitality. In this process, the Grimer, Muk, Trubbish, and Garbodor that rely on garbage and pollution to survive... their numbers will inevitably decrease naturally as the environment improves."
She deliberately emphasized the term 'natural decrease', a hint of unbearable reluctance in her eyes. As the official person in charge, Officer Jenny was under immense pressure. Right now, she could still withstand it. But if she couldn't hold up and the radicals came in, the outcome would be hard to say.
"Human society, or rather the ecosystem of this world, indeed needs a certain number of this type of Pokémon to process inevitable waste," she continued. "But it absolutely can no longer be at the uncontrolled, massive scale that Gringey City has now."
"There are too many of them. So many that they have conversely become a huge obstacle to the city's development and residents' health. According to the statistics from this period... the mortality rate of the elderly population unwilling to leave has significantly exceeded the standard."
Speaking of this, Officer Jenny seemed to lose all her strength.
"So the current strategy is... to let them fend for themselves and perish during the process of environmental improvement?" Ash's voice was somewhat dry. He felt his throat tighten.
Riyong's agitated and fanatical face collided and intertwined in his mind with Officer Jenny's calm, even somewhat cold statement before him. Is this an irreconcilable contradiction? Indeed, even thinking until his head hurt, there didn't seem to be a solution.
Can one say the League is wrong? The League has done its best. If it weren't for taking care of this group of garbage-type Pokémon, there would have been no need to mobilize garbage here in the first place.
Officer Jenny fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded, offering an explanation that seemed even more ruthless: "Yes, the natural decline of the population."
"This is the plan with the minimal negative impact on urban development and the majority of residents under the current situation, demonstrated by experts from multiple parties. We cannot, and can no longer, endlessly use massive amounts of garbage to feed and maintain this colossal population like in the past."
The leftover parts of a Grimer's body will give birth to new Grimer. When Grimer pile up together, they merge into one again. The number of these Pokémon is indeed difficult to manage; it simply cannot be fixed.
With a heavy heart, Ash returned to the Pokémon Center in Gringey City. The center's air filtration system created a small, rare area of cleanliness, but he felt the invisible pressure was even heavier than outside.
He returned to the bathroom of the temporary room assigned to him, turned on the hot water, and let the warm stream wash away the filthy aura staining his body, hoping to also wash away the depression in his heart.
The hot water splashed on his skin, bringing brief relaxation. But Officer Jenny's words and Riyong's obsession-filled eyes kept echoing in his mind.
On one side, the majority of people and numerous Pokémon yearning for a clean living environment. On the other side, the historical contribution and right to survival of a specific group that relies on pollution and garbage to survive.
This seemed to be an unsolvable dead knot.
After drying his body and changing into clean clothes, Ash sat by the bed, looking at the gray night sky of Gringey City outside the window, dotted with sporadic lights. His heart was filled with unprecedented confusion and conflict.
"...Sigh... This isn't a question of right or wrong at all!!"
Ash finally shouted out, feeling a headache from thinking, and collapsed onto the bed. Pikachu lay quietly beside him, gently nuzzling his hand with his tail, seeming to sense the waves in his Trainer's heart.
"Mai mai?" Misdreavus felt that this kind of problem didn't matter—if there are too many, just kill them off, right? Indifference towards the value of life—could that be counted as a nature of the Ghost-type? For a 'Ghost', life and death are just different forms.
After hesitating again and again, Ash took out his Pokédex and dialed Professor Oak's communication number.
"Oh? It's Ash. I heard you arrived in Gringey City? The situation there... is a bit complicated, isn't it?" Professor Oak's figure appeared on the screen, the background being the familiar laboratory study.
Ash unreservedly poured out today's experiences, Officer Jenny's explanation, and the confusion and struggle in his own heart to the Professor.
"...Professor, is there really no better way? Just watching them... their numbers getting fewer and fewer, maybe even... This feeling is too cruel. It's not like the Tentacruel swarm where we could just designate a living area for them."
Garbage-type Pokémon need external supplies. If one simply designates a living area, it is no different from Gringey City's current practice.
On the other side of the screen, Professor Oak didn't answer immediately after listening. He fell into a rare silence, the customary hearty smile on his face replaced by a deep solemnity. Professor Oak's gaze seemed to penetrate the screen, seeing a grander picture.
"Ash, that you can think about these questions proves you have truly grown," Professor Oak affirmed Ash's thinking. "First, I want to clarify one point. Intentional, large-scale slaughter is absolutely undesirable. That is a blasphemy against life and violates the basic principle of coexistence between us Trainers and Pokémon."
"But..."
His tone shifted, carrying a cold rationality. "The natural decline of a population, or rather the reduction in numbers of certain Pokémon groups due to environmental changes, or even local extinction... This, actually, is part of the dynamic balance of the entire planet's ecology."
"The biological history of our world is itself a long history of species constantly being born, evolving, and migrating, accompanied by old species constantly declining and even going extinct. The alternation of ice ages, the drastic changes in geological activities, the natural evolution of the environment... all have caused countless Pokémon that could not adapt to the new environment to disappear into the river of time."
"Nowadays, human activity has become an important factor affecting the environment. We improved the environment, which objectively caused some Pokémon that rely on bad environments to lose their basis for survival. This sounds contradictory, but this is reality."
"As long as we don't actively exterminate them with malice, then this adjustment in the numbers of a specific population caused by the environment improving... to some extent, can be seen as a manifestation of natural selection in the modern age."
Professor Oak looked at the incredulous expression on Ash's face and sighed softly.
"I know this sounds cold and hard to accept. But Ash, as researchers, we sometimes must face these macroscopic, sometimes even seemingly cruel laws. My duty is to research and understand the operating mechanisms of this world."
"Regarding this kind of regional ecological structure adjustment triggered by social development and environmental governance... as long as it doesn't involve malicious slaughter, I usually will not, and cannot, directly intervene. This is a process that society itself and the local ecosystem need to grind through to find a new balance."
"...When the Grimer were processing Gringey City's industrial waste, we predicted that they would starve to death once they finished processing it, so we began coordinating various cities to transport garbage there. But this practice is undoubtedly violating natural laws, forcibly reversing the ecology to protect a specific species... It can only be done when the scale is small. Once the numbers go up, there are places where we simply can't cope."
"In short, human power has limits. So, revere nature."
The call ended just like that.
Everyone who initially established the League was full of enthusiasm. But good intentions do not necessarily lead to good results. It was precisely after discovering this situation that Oak felt he shouldn't live too long.
His logic was impeccable... it could even be understood as the most correct course of action. But the care and reluctance for every single Pokémon individual in Ash's heart, belonging to a Trainer, could not be quelled by this.
He collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Pikachu worriedly leaned over, touching his cheek with his small nose.
"Partner..." Ash murmured. "Is there really no... way to satisfy both sides?"
The problem floated clearly in his mind:
1. Most Pokémon and humans need and desire a clean environment.
2. For garbage-type Pokémon, their survival cannot be separated from a polluted environment.
Points 1 and 2 are in complete conflict. How should this dead knot be untied?
Create a 'specific pollution zone' that can meet the survival needs of garbage-type Pokémon without polluting the living space of humans and other Pokémon? It sounds feasible, but where can such a 'permitted pollution' land be found? How to ensure the pollution won't spread? And how to transport massive amounts of garbage there?
This requires unimaginable technology.
Or, like how they treated the Tentacruel clan before, communicate with them and establish some symbiotic order? But thinking of the IQ of Grimer and Muk, which is far lower than Tentacruel, and the chaotic instincts of the Garbodor and Trubbish, Ash felt a wave of powerlessness.
Where is the basis for communication? Only with normal thinking ability can one communicate!
"Everyone... just wants a home of their own..."
Ash turned over, burying his face in the pillow, his voice muffled. Pikachu lay quietly by his pillow, his tail drooping listlessly. Even the usually lively and active Misdreavus sensed Ash's low mood at this moment and just floated quietly beside him.
And in the box on the table beside Ash, Ho-Oh's feather once again emitted a faint glow. The so-called Rainbow Hero test is this kind of choice regarding true 'Love'.
...It's just... this kind of problem is indeed easy to drive one crazy.
The night in Gringey City outside the window was not tranquil; vague sounds of disturbance could occasionally be heard from the distance. Ash realized so profoundly for the first time that reality holds too many heavy, complex, and seemingly unsolvable problems.
The collision of ideals and reality, the contradiction between environmental protection and survival, the debts of history and the expectations of the future...
Ash closed his eyes but had no sleepiness. That question still hovered in his mind, finding no exit. Where exactly is the road that satisfies both sides?
...
And in a distant forest.
The two observers could equally feel Ash's emotions. Ho-Oh's feather was like a signal amplifier. Other Pokémon might find it hard to detect, but under Ho-Oh, they could indeed feel it.
"I still think making a human ponder this kind of question is too cruel..." Entei lay on the ground, exhausted. To cover for everything, he was nearly worked to death. Especially since he had to look after Marshadow's assessment and couldn't show his face openly.
Fortunately, He is really strong, and generally won't be discovered when deliberately hiding. But to be tired to the point of collapse, one can imagine the workload.
Suicune looked towards the north: "Same feeling..."
This time, perhaps that One needs to act.
In the mountain range located north of Pewter City and Mt. Moon. There is a giant tree composed of crystal rock layers—the Tree of Beginning.
And coexisting with this tree is the ancestor of all Pokémon, the decider of life, the incarnation of nature—Mew.
For the birth of most Pokémon, if they don't have Mew's permission, they won't be born. This isn't a question of whether combat power is strong or not. This is authority. This is the status of the ancestor of life.
It's just that the 'Gods' of the Pokémon world are mostly quite laissez-faire. Generally speaking, as long as the situation isn't too outrageous, they don't care.
For example: One has never seen the Space God, Palkia, stop Pokémon from using space-type moves. Teleport is used by almost every Psychic-type. Powerful Pokémon almost all know how to use Secret Power to open spaces.
Sometimes there are even 'Gods' who are happy to see it happen. For example: The birth of Mewtwo. As a replica obtained from researching Mew's genes... how could Mew not know?
____
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