Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 474 Every Door is a Multiple Choice Question

Chapter 476 Every Door is a Multiple Choice Question

"By the way, how did you get in here?"

Standing in front of the open iron gate, the handsome man asked in a low voice.

The badge he used to open the iron gate was actually "borrowed" from the evidence storage room; it originally belonged to Sage Vio, who was captured by them in the Giant's Cave. Similar passes are quite common in illegal organizations in other regions; it was Hugo who reminded him of this back in Sinnoh.

"Lei Gong and I just ransacked the area outside, so we collected quite a few similar items."

Lila unfolded her black-gloved hand, revealing a large pile of name tags and badges looted from Team Plasma soldiers—

"Thanks to your risky guidance, Interpol's follow-up forces should be arriving soon. Since you insist on staying, we'll meet them here. In any case, we absolutely cannot make the same rash mistake we did in the Giant's Cave."

Strictly speaking, their strategy in the Giant's Cave wasn't flawed. If it weren't for the two expedition leaders taking the lead, Vio and his group would have already escaped with the sealed Pokémon in the ice.

However, at this moment, the handsome guy, who was already in the wrong for acting without permission, did not argue and obediently accepted the team communicator that Lila handed him, which he had left in the medical center earlier.

"The signal doesn't seem to be working. How's it going over there?" The handsome guy pressed a couple of buttons on the device and casually asked Lila. He hadn't heard anything from the outside world since he slipped out of the hospital.

"Team Plasma still has the advantage in numbers. Hugo and his team intend to minimize the impact of this incident, so they don't plan to deploy Alliance resources on a war scale to deal with the castle. But the good news is that Team Plasma hasn't yet shown any power exceeding that of an Elite Four member. If all goes well, the Unova Elite Four should be able to retake headquarters from the front using a surprise attack tactic."

"This is only temporary." After confirming that there were no people or surveillance equipment behind the passage, the senior detective turned to Lila and said, "Group Plasma couldn't have made such a big move without any support, especially with their Elite Four-level combat power. That 'Foolish Carnival' was definitely prepared."

He paused, then said seriously, "More importantly—they are not on the Alliance's side for the time being. It wouldn't be difficult for Team Plasma to raise emergency supplies to keep them holed up in the castle for a few months, but every day Team Plasma occupies the Alliance headquarters, the Alliance will face more public pressure. This is a game that the Alliance cannot afford to lose. Even I can think of this, so there's no reason why the Seven Sages wouldn't have anticipated it."

"I know that, but Hugo and the others have done the best they can right now." A hint of weariness flashed in Lila's eyes. "You know, we just managed to get two sages and an entire fleet of naval expeditionary forces into the United States' prisons. Can you imagine what it would be like if we hadn't caught them, and these guys started causing trouble all over the United States again?"

"This isn't the time for ghost stories." The handsome man fiddled with his communicator, trying to re-establish contact with his subordinates, but then his expression changed—

"Captain Lila, did you contact your subordinates before you came here?"

"What? It was here just before I came in—"

Lila's expression changed instantly when she opened the device.

"Could it be that they've already discovered us?" the handsome man asked warily.

"It's hard to say. It could also be 'electromagnetic waves' or a superpower blockade—Thunder God!"

A flash of red light appeared on the Poké Ball, and Raikou's agile figure created tiny arcs of electricity in the confined space. Without the trainer needing to give another command, pale blue electricity crackled in its mane, while pink psychic ripples spread across its forehead.

"How is it?" The handsome man couldn't help but ask when he saw his boss frown.

"There are both types of interference. But the good news is that the team members should not be in danger yet. This blockade is not specifically targeting us; it's just temporarily blocking all signals inside the building."

Lila pulled out another Poké Ball and decisively issued the command—

"Alakazam, go outside and contact the reinforcements. The situation here is a bit unusual. Ascertain the situation and have them advance cautiously in small groups."

However, Alakazam did not immediately activate "Instant Teleport," but instead, together with Raikou, cautiously turned their gaze toward the end of the passageway.

Immediately afterwards—

Snapped.

All the lighting systems went out completely at the same instant. Absolute darkness, like a massive tide, crashed and filled the entire space.

No new figures appeared at the other end of the passage, but there was no doubt that some strange, distorted, and ear-piercing metallic friction sound was taking place there, like thousands of blunt saws cutting steel at the same time, echoing, overlapping, and resonating repeatedly in the endless, enclosed passage, forming a tooth-grinding sound wave.

A tremor from the ground traveled from the soles of my feet to the tips of my hair, as if the entire building was painfully contracting and deforming, or as if an unseen, enormous creature was moving inside the walls, about to unstoppably emerge from every crack in the walls and every gap between every brick with its cold steel limbs.

"It must be some kind of mechanism; the other side has started taking countermeasures. Perhaps Jero detected the anomaly in the access records in the control room."

The handsome man quickened his pace, switched on his tactical flashlight, and tossed Vio's Sage Badge into the corner. "Next up is the 'City Defense Division's' home turf. We can't bring these things that might carry Plasma Group beacons anymore!"

Lila also abandoned her loot and spoke quickly to Alakazam, "We're fine here. Pass the orders through, and teleport back immediately if anything happens!"

This time, Hudi didn't hesitate and vanished in a flash.

Almost at the same moment that Hudi disappeared, a dizzying shaking suddenly occurred at this entrance.

"It's not this building that's shaking!"

The handsome guy shouted the instant the feeling of weightlessness hit him, his back slamming violently against the cold metal wall. The scoundrel reacted even faster, its sharp claws glowing with the white light of Fighting-type energy, and with a "Brick Break," it carved deep into the wall, becoming the only anchor point for the two in the raging torrent.

"The entire room—like the pieces of a Rubik's Cube—is being moved as a whole!"

Before the words were even finished, an even more intense multidimensional rotation followed.

The concepts of up and down, left and right, front and back were completely shattered in the frenzied displacement. They were like being thrown into a washing machine running at full speed, helplessly tumbling under the torment of centrifugal force.

The handsome man gripped the arm of the scoundrel embedded in the wall tightly. His internal organs seemed to have shifted from place by the vibration, and waves of intense nausea surged up his throat. If he hadn't gritted his teeth and held it in, the contents of his stomach would probably have already spilled out unsightly.

This violent spatial reconstruction lasted for at least five minutes before coming to a sudden halt, just as abruptly as it had begun.

Everything returned to deathly silence.

The handsome man, panting heavily, loosened his numb fingers. The wicked frog pulled its claws out of the deformed wall and shook its hand.

The beam of the tactical flashlight cut a beam through the swirling metallic dust, shining backward to reveal that the ground had been replaced by a vertical wall, and the former "ceiling" was now beneath their feet.

As for Captain Lila, she was in a better state. Thunder God used static electricity to firmly attach himself to the overturned "floor," while Lila was hanging upside down on his broad back, one hand tightly gripping Thunder God's fur, and the other hand pulling the unconscious guard along.

"So it wasn't you I caught earlier—" The female detective flipped over, jumped off Raikou after the static electricity was removed, and tossed the lucky Plasma Team member aside with a guilty look on her face.

"Don't treat me like an injured person; I'm still quite resilient." The handsome man tried to sound relaxed, brushing the thick layer of dust off his coat, but his slightly unsteady steps betrayed him as soon as he took a step. "Where are we now?"

"It feels like we've gone up a distance, about three stories high." Lila knocked on the now completely upside-down iron gate, receiving a dull thud. "The back is solid; it seems we can't go back the way we came unless we find the switch to control the castle. But this change is too extravagant—can buildings really be moved and rearranged like building blocks?"

"This change couldn't possibly be specifically targeting the two of us; it's probably a contingency plan by Team Plasma to seal off the underground entrance," the handsome man calmly analyzed. "We might have misunderstood the purpose of Team Plasma sending out those patrol members. Those people might not be there to monitor the underground, but rather to activate some kind of switch that's been designed and hidden in the Alliance's sewers for Zero."

"We can't contact the outside world right now, so there's no point in analyzing the enemy's motives." Lila decisively shoved a Poké Ball into the handsome guy's hand—it was her Espeon.

"Take this Pokémon with you for now. Even if it gets alone, it can use its psychic powers to sense my Alakazam and Metagross."

The expedition leader's gaze turned towards the front of the passage.

It was no longer the cold, minimalist industrial style of the Alliance's underground; it had completely transformed into a different scene altogether.

Soaring vaulted ceilings, stone walls carved with intricate and somber patterns, and stained-glass windows embedded in the walls, though only darkness lay beyond those windows. The immense wealth accumulated by the Plasma Group over the years was already evident from this very side of the castle.

However, within this solemn Gothic style, a large number of exposed mechanical structures are incongruously embedded—a huge gear set, a slowly creeping transmission belt, and energy conduits flowing with a ghostly blue light. They are like steel blood vessels and nerves parasitizing the ancient castle, barbarically grafting two completely different aesthetics together.

"Our plans must be changed; staying put will only lead to our demise."

Lila's voice was resolute, and fine golden lightning began to crackle around Lei Gong's body. "The target is the control room where Jero is. All we have to do now is fight our way out from here."

As soon as the words were spoken, it was as if some mechanism had been triggered. The giant gears embedded in the Gothic corridor ahead suddenly began to turn in unison, emitting a synchronized and unsettling clicking sound.

Immediately afterwards, dense rustling sounds came again from every crack in the wall and every fold of shadow.

It's Pokémon!

Countless gears and tiny fish surged forth like a tide, orderly blocking every path and occupying every inch of space.

Their small, cold, metallic bodies reflected a ghostly light. Unlike the scattered gathering of wild elves, they were like the immune cells of this revitalized castle, silently and meticulously forming an interlocking array according to some predetermined defense program. They surged toward the two "unauthorized" intruders at a terrifying speed relative to their size.

"Ha—the title of 'City Defense Division' is truly well-deserved."

The handsome guy and the delinquent frog stood side by side, gazing at the seemingly endless army, and let out a dry laugh—

"I finally understand—where exactly is the energy that keeps this behemoth running squeezed out from?"

"