Continuing their journey to Ecruteak City, Tetsuya and Catherine arrived at a vast grassland. Rows of wind turbines stood across the prairie, an essential source of wind-generated power.
They stopped briefly on the grassland to have lunch.
Tetsuya and Catherine released all of their Pokémon. After finishing their normal lunch, Miltank was as considerate as ever, serving each Pokémon a cup of milk. Aside from Slowbro, all of them happily enjoyed it.
After drinking Miltank milk, they had to burn off the energy.
The terrain of the grassland was wide open, making it an excellent place for Pokémon training. One by one, they trained with great enthusiasm.
Just as training had ended, Tetsuya was preparing to take a nap before continuing the journey.
He suddenly noticed that something seemed wrong with Koffing. Both of its heads were flushed bright red.
Tetsuya found it quite strange and asked, "Koffing…? What's wrong with you?"
Suddenly, Koffing let out a "Hic!" and one of its heads expelled a cloud of yellow gas.
At that exact moment, a strong gust of wind blew by. The yellow gas was carried away by the wind and passed over one of the wind turbines. The pure steel support column instantly melted upon contact with the yellow gas, causing the entire turbine to collapse.
All of the Pokémon widened their eyes in shock. What had that just been…
"…Belch?"
Tetsuya said. Belch was considered one of the more powerful Poison-type moves. However, it could only be used after eating a full meal or a Berry. The gas expelled after stomach acid digested food possessed strong acidity. Combined with Koffing's intense toxicity, this acidic poisonous gas was actually capable of melting steel.
The restrictions on Belch were numerous. It required a full stomach and the digestion of "food" by stomach acid. However, Tetsuya had extensively researched Koffing in his previous life.
Koffing alone could use a powerful Poison-type move like Belch without being restricted by the requirement of having just eaten. Since Belch released acidic gas, and gas itself was what composed Koffing's entire body, it could completely store the gas generated by Belch.
Therefore, once food had been digested, the gas produced by Belch could be stored within its body until it was needed. When released at the right moment, it could also catch an opponent completely off guard.
"Koffing, use Belch with the wind."
Koffing released another cloud of yellow gas. Carried by the powerful wind, it swept forward and brought down yet another wind turbine made of pure steel.
Tetsuya walked over to the collapsed turbine to determine whether Koffing's toxicity was truly that powerful or whether the steel had simply been made with cheap materials.
"Logically" speaking, a project of this scale was tied to public welfare, and the government would not dare cut corners…
"Have Skarmory test the quality of this steel," Tetsuya said to Catherine.
Catherine nodded. "Skarmory, use Steel Wing."
A silver glow flashed across Skarmory's wings as it struck. Surprisingly, it failed to cut through the steel column in a single hit.
"The quality is definitely good," Catherine said.
"If Koffing's Belch can actually melt steel, then dealing with Steel-type Pokémon shouldn't be a problem anymore… right?" Tetsuya could not help feeling excited. Steel was vulnerable to acid, and the gas produced by Belch was "acidic gas". The fact that it could directly melt steel was still astonishing to him.
Tetsuya himself was an expert in the use of poison. In his previous life, although his [Badly Poisonous] variants, Ariados and Drapion, had already conquered Poison-types in terms of toxicity, they still had no effective way to deal with Steel-type Pokémon.
In the end, he had no choice but to raise and study Salazzle to compensate for that weakness. Yet now this Koffing's toxicity could directly melt steel. In that case, causing damage to Steel-type Pokémon or even poisoning them might not be impossible.
"Ahem~ Does Skarmory want to give it a try…?" Tetsuya asked with a knowing smile.
'…' "I refuse!" Catherine waved her hand. "If we're talking about a real battle, Skarmory knows many moves that control airflow. Now, I already understand the power of Koffing's Belch, so there's no way I'd let Skarmory get close to it! If you're talking about having Skarmory stand still and take the attack… I don't see the point of that!"
"Ugh, fair enough!" Tetsuya shook his head.
"However… with so many wind turbines here, there must be a wind power plant nearby. And near a power plant, there are definitely plenty of Pokémon that feed on electricity," Catherine said.
"Hmm… that's true. Magnemite and Magneton are indeed excellent test subjects. Then I'll have to trouble you to use your aerial team to locate the wind power plant," Tetsuya said.
"Huh? No problem. Everyone, let's go!"
After Catherine spoke, Skarmory, Chatot, Honchkrow, and Gliscor each flew off in a different direction.
---◓---
Only half an hour later, Chatot returned. The wind power plant was directly south.
Led by Chatot, Tetsuya and Catherine arrived in front of a cluster of white buildings. Before even entering, they saw a prominent warning sign: [Wind Power Plant. High Voltage Hazard. No Unauthorized Entry].
Tetsuya and Catherine entered the power plant grounds, but were immediately stopped by security guards.
"Unauthorized personnel are not allowed inside the power plant."
"I can help you deal with the Magnemite and Magneton that are stealing electricity," Tetsuya said.
The two guards exchanged glances before saying, "…Did you come here after seeing the advertisement our manager put out?"
Tetsuya paused for a moment before understanding. "Looks like your plant has been suffering from Magnemite problems for quite some time. Hurry and call your manager over!"
"Please wait a moment. I'll go right away." After speaking, the two guards ran inside.
"Who would've thought we'd stumble onto a lucky chance and make a fortune from it?" Tetsuya said.
"What if Koffing's Belch isn't actually that effective…?" Catherine asked worriedly.
Tetsuya smiled slightly and shook his head. "Then there's still Houndoom, Mamoswine, and all of your Pokémon."
"Oh… h-hehe…" Catherine laughed awkwardly, feeling foolish for worrying.
Soon, a man dressed in a business suit walked out. He appeared to be the administrator here. Upon seeing Tetsuya and Catherine, who looked only twelve or thirteen years old, he immediately became doubtful.
When groups of hungry Magnemite erupted with their full power, they were absolutely terrifying. If they drained electricity from the plant, it would cause at least half a day's power outage throughout the entire serviced area.
The power plant had repeatedly recruited Trainers to deal with these Magnemite. Handling one, two, three, four, or even a dozen of them was something many Trainers could accomplish. However, there were at least fifty or sixty Magnemite here, along with more than a dozen Magneton.
Nearly all the Magnemite across the entire grassland had gathered here!
During the summer thunderstorm season, they could absorb lightning from the clouds and would stay away from the power plant for long periods. But during the relatively dry and rainless autumn and winter seasons, those Magnemite became extremely troublesome and practically lived at the power plant every day.
The plant had been left with no choice but to hire Trainers to drive the Magnemite away. Otherwise, the resulting power outages would cause even greater losses to the towns, especially the Pokémon Center. Without electricity, many Pokémon would miss their critical treatment windows and die.
Therefore, this operation to drive away the Magnemite had received League Certified approval!