69novels Chapter 44 The End of the Research Institute Incident
Chapter 44 The End of the Research Institute Incident
Before becoming a researcher, Yamashita was a Pokémon trainer.
Fortunately, his hard work in the field of battles allowed him to witness the prowess of top trainers; however, unfortunately, his limited talent restricted his further development.
The world of trainers is cruel.
In other fields, hitting a bottleneck at most signifies confusion and bewilderment, representing a stagnation in personal growth. However, in the world of trainers, the meaning of a bottleneck is quite different—
For trainers, the bottleneck is failure, failure, failure, failure... a series of failures that accumulate and accumulate until they are pushed down from a higher rank to a lower rank by rising stars, their dignity is completely shattered, and they lose the right to compete with their juniors.
The environment for Pokémon battles is constantly evolving. Stagnation in skill level not only means that a trainer will win far fewer battles than they win in the future, but it also means that the gap between them and other trainers of the same level is widening.
Moreover, regardless of the trainers' own wishes, countless young talents dedicate themselves to the battle arena every year, bringing with them more geniuses, more tactics, and more top-tier Pokémon in peak condition, eager to compete.
Bottlenecks are hell.
Even in defeat, it's far from the easy and carefree experience of a video game. Pokémon battles are definitely not the kind of simple fights where someone would happily and willingly admit defeat and give up.
As a trainer, you have to watch with wide eyes as those Pokémon you once spent every day with, played with, and trained with fall to their deaths on the field, covered in wounds. Just witnessing that scene once is enough to make your heart break and want to vomit.
Although the medical system accompanying battles is free in principle, the more desperate the battle, the more damage will be left on the Pokémon's bodies, especially for the losers, this phenomenon is particularly obvious.
Sometimes you can hear the grinding sound of the joints of your partner, the heart bat, flapping its wings; is your partner, the electric spider, moving slower during training? But seeing its slightly stiff hind leg, the same one that was severely damaged by flames in the last competition, who can scold it?
What kind of heartless person would have the heart to step onto the field again and again with such an unseemly determination as "please let me win this time"?
Oh, so you're a Pokémon trainer.
Impossible. You can't survive in the world of battles by just trying.
The trainers are a bunch of complete sadists, competitive armed thugs, and heartless terrorists. They are a group of charlatans who deserve to be scorned and condemned by thousands!
This can't go on any longer! We can't stay in this environment any longer! Not only that, we must take revenge! We must find a way to show the whole world the pathetic state of these once-glorious trainers, and let everyone know just how disgusting they are!
With that thought in mind, Yamashita gave up everything as a trainer and submitted his application to the research institute.
.
"This is what's called paranoid personality disorder."
On Highway 1 between Deertown and Tangcao Town, Hugo, on his way home, said to his assistant.
The two were walking towards the train station that led directly to Feiyun City. Touko had separated from the detective duo because he was going to compete in another place.
"Yamashita suffered a losing streak in battles, and his once high self-esteem was severely damaged. As a result, he not only gave up the battles, but also developed hatred and jealousy towards trainers and the like."
Hugo summarized the information he had obtained through various investigations and, combined with Yamashita's own confession, explained the details of the case to Aquamarine.
"After entering the research institute, he used the pretext of exploring the sound and moves of the Rolling Bat to obtain a large amount of high-grade Pokémon food. He secretly began psychological research on the mentality of trainers when choosing Pokémon. He placed Pokémon on the path that trainers had to take to enter the research institute to lure them, hoping to prove the shallowness and shortsightedness of the trainer group through experiments."
"By the way, the reason Yamashita chose Otter as the test subject seems to be because there isn't a suitable pond near Route 1. Although there is a river to the west of Route 1, it would be difficult to retrieve any wandering Pokémon if the Otters were placed directly on the riverbank," the detective added.
"It's amazing he could come up with such a crazy idea... Also, I only realized today how terrifying Dr. Yew can be when he gets angry." Azure recalled the elf doctor's furious outburst and the intense pressure he exuded, and sighed with a sense of unease.
"Actually, even if Yamashita had continued his experiment to the end, his paper would still have been nothing but academic garbage. I think that's the real reason why Dr. Yew got angry."
Hugo had already retrieved his personal spirit from Douzi's house, but he was still waving his wooden cane with every step, looking quite fond of it. The detective spoke in a relaxed tone.
"In the end, can those newbies who have just embarked on their journey be considered trainers? They haven't even received their Pokémon yet; they're just little brats who dream of becoming trainers. The experimental goal of 'proving the manipulability of trainers' is simply unattainable. At most, it can only prove the point that 'people like to collect all sorts of different Pokémon.'"
Newcomers who have just embarked on their journey may have the qualifications to become trainers, but they are not true trainers. Only through adventures shared with their partners can newcomers truly become trainers. Yamashita made a huge mistake from the very beginning of the experiment—the selection of the test group—and the conclusions he drew were naturally unconvincing—this is the consequence of not showing your thesis proposal to your advisor.
Therefore, it seems that Yamashita has neither the talent to be a trainer nor the talent to be a scholar.
"But now the matter is finally resolved perfectly. Yamashita got a good scolding from the professor, and he and Furuya, who was caught in the crossfire, will be receiving academic re-education from the Yew Research Institute," Azure said with a smile.
The detective scoffed, "Who told that guy to drag out his research topic until now? Listen to me, the best way to treat mild mental illnesses like paranoia and delusions is to force them to throw themselves into heavy academic or physical labor. Once people start keeping busy, their mental anxieties and suffering will disappear without a trace."
The assistant nodded in agreement and continued—
"Actually, there are similar opinions among trainers. I've heard that some trainers become anxious due to a series of crushing defeats, and then recklessly increase the intensity of their Pokémon's training. This, in turn, leads to the decline of the Pokémon's stamina, resulting in a vicious cycle of failure leading to more failures."
"Actually, the solution to this impasse is quite simple: trainers should train themselves while training their Pokémon. This way, trainers can set reasonable training amounts for their Pokémon, instead of letting trainers arbitrarily make their Pokémon train excessively. In addition, this approach can also help trainers relieve stress and improve their physical fitness."
"It seems that Yamashita-kun hasn't heard of this trick before." Hugo shook his head, shrugged, and felt a little disappointed.
The detective continued, "From a macro perspective, both Pokémon battles and the trainers themselves are meaningful for maintaining social stability. The league system allows top trainers to gain sufficient exposure, and then the league can legitimately transfer more social responsibility to these trainers by establishing gyms and other means. This compromise policy is much more sophisticated than simply buying them off, and the trainers are happy to accept it."
Azure pretended to be absent-minded as she looked at the scenery. Here was a typical trainer representative who had received a lot of media exposure but neglected social responsibility.
"Trainers are actually very significant because they are living examples of the peaceful coexistence of humans and Pokémon. As two species living on this planet, humans and Pokémon should have existed in opposition, and there should have been a situation of mutual competition and ebb and flow."
"But the emergence of the profession of trainer changed all of this. Pokémon species that should have disappeared with the expansion of cities were largely preserved by handheld Pokémon. Now, there are two intermediate zones between humans and Pokémon that mitigate the conflict—trainers and handheld Pokémon. Therefore, as long as trainers are still showing off on the stage, the kind of world war between Pokémon and humans in science fiction movies will never break out."
Azure was surprised and couldn't help but applaud: "A wonderful speech, a very novel perspective! I never expected that Mr. Hugo, who has such a bad relationship with Pokémon, would be so objective in his views."
Hugo raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat displeased, and then asked, "Speaking of which, Azure, the case at the Taxus chinensis Research Institute isn't actually completely closed yet."
"Oh?" The assistant looked at the detective, puzzled.
"Azure, you have indeed figured out why the sixty-three trainers chose Otter as their initial partner, but it seems you've forgotten to explain why the sixty-fourth trainer made the same choice, haven't you?"
Azure's face, which had been beaming just moments before, stiffened slightly.
The detective continued, "It's said that Yamashita checked the research institute's application records beforehand, and after seeing that your name wasn't on them, he cleverly abandoned his plan to manipulate the receiving ceremony. When Touko herded the Tepig and Snivy into the research institute just now, he didn't find any trace of the Pokémon's excursion. So here's the problem."
Hugo looked at his assistant with a half-smile: "The sixty-fourth trainer, Ms. Azure from the Kanto region, why did she choose Otter without saying a word?"
Under the detective's questioning, Azure avoided his gaze and stammered, "Well... it's because I've always liked water-type creatures. When I embarked on my adventure in the Kanto region, I chose Squirtle as my partner, and ever since then I've become interested in these creatures that can manipulate water currents and waves. Besides, Otter is quite cute; its arrogant and haughty expression sometimes makes you want to pinch and rub it."
"I think you might have been influenced by something and made the same choice as the sixty-three rookies," the detective persisted, his words dripping with malice.
"Okay, I confess!" Azure shouted, "It's a newborn baby!"
.
What the girl saw deep in the grass were two tiny Woolpigs and a Snivy.
Due to the manipulation of a certain student, the same group of starter Pokémon stayed together for a long time, and some things naturally happened.
The unusual egg-laying phenomenon of Pokémon seems to be more easily triggered in the wild. After half a year, a new generation of Snivy and Tepig are now active in the grass near Route 1.
"It seems Mr. Eric needs to revise and update the ecological atlas of Route 1," the detective commented.