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"I told everyone a long time ago that we must drive away those Grimer creatures from our city," Mr. Honda declared with conviction during his television interview.
"They're dirty and smelly, not only disrupting our city's development plans, but also creating a disgusting stench that affects everyone's quality of life," he continued with growing passion.
"It turns out that they don't just pollute our environment, but they're also unpredictable and dangerous. We should unite as citizens and drive them out of our city for good!"
Honda spoke eloquently during the interview, clearly seizing this opportunity to voice his long-standing grievances against the Grimer population. He had been dissatisfied with their presence for quite some time, and this incident provided the perfect platform to rally public support for his cause.
Many citizens who had been previously attacked by the Grimer during the street rampage found themselves agreeing with Honda's words after watching the news coverage. The fear and anger from the recent incident made his arguments particularly compelling.
This was obviously Honda's intended goal. There had never been such strong anti-Grimer sentiment in the city before. Now that the Grimer attacks had occurred, and with his passionate encouragement, the citizens were beginning to drastically change their attitudes toward the Poison-types.
"This is troubling..." At the Pokemon Center, Misty and the others watched the news broadcast with growing concern, unconsciously turning to look at Ash for his reaction.
They understood very well what kind of public outcry Honda's inflammatory words would create, and they feared the Grimer population was about to face serious trouble from angry citizens.
Even though they had witnessed the chaotic scene on the streets firsthand, something about the whole situation felt suspicious and incomplete to them.
Ding!
At that moment, the emergency room door opened with a soft chime. Upon hearing this, Ash immediately stopped watching the news and walked quickly toward the medical facility.
"Nurse Joy, how is Electabuzz doing?" he asked with obvious concern.
"The injuries have been treated successfully, but the Pokemon was severely hurt, so it hasn't regained consciousness yet. It needs time to recover its strength," Nurse Joy responded with a reassuring smile upon seeing Ash's worried expression.
"Please continue taking good care of it," Ash said with a grateful nod, while Misty and Brock both breathed sighs of relief at the positive news.
At that moment, Ash turned around and headed toward the exit of the Pokemon Center without explanation.
"Ash, where are you going?" Misty called out quickly when she noticed his sudden departure.
When Ash didn't respond to her question, Misty and Brock exchanged puzzled glances before deciding to follow him outside the Pokemon Center.
Walking behind Ash through the city streets, they found that the areas hadn't been cleaned up yet from the earlier attack. Many citizens were gathering in small groups, their faces filled with anger and indignation.
People were assembling in clusters of two and three throughout the area. The friends could overhear heated discussions about how to deal with the Grimer problem. Some citizens had even begun shouting protest slogans, while others held up handmade banners demanding that the Grimer be driven away from the city.
Several police officers had arrived on the scene to maintain public order, and the streets were becoming increasingly crowded with demonstrators.
"How could this escalate so quickly?" both Misty and Brock asked in surprise. They hadn't expected the situation to become so serious in such a short amount of time.
In their opinion, even though the Grimer had attacked the streets, they never anticipated that public opinion would shift this rapidly and dramatically.
"Obviously someone is manipulating events behind the scenes," Ash responded calmly, his voice carrying a note of certainty.
"Someone is manipulating this? But who would do such a thing?" Brock asked with a slight frown, trying to process this possibility.
"Isn't it obvious who benefits most from this situation?" Ash replied thoughtfully.
"You mean Mr. Honda?" Brock responded with surprise after considering Ash's implication. Indeed, if the Grimer were successfully driven away from the city, it would appear to be for the sake of urban environmental improvement, but in reality it would benefit Honda's interests the most.
"Exactly. No matter what the real reason behind this incident is, if Honda is the one pushing this agenda, then he must know something about what really happened," Ash said with a slight nod. He was becoming increasingly convinced that Honda was somehow connected to the mysterious events.
"So are you planning to confront him about it? But he probably won't admit to anything, will he?" Misty couldn't help asking after hearing this logical deduction.
If Honda was indeed the only person who knew the truth, they could try to find him, but even if they succeeded, he would likely deny any involvement in the matter.
"Sometimes you can only discover the truth by seeing things with your own eyes," Ash suddenly stopped walking and spoke with a serious expression.
"Huh?" Misty looked around in confusion and realized that, without noticing it, they had arrived at the very alley where they had discovered the injured Electabuzz earlier that day.
"This place... Why did Ash bring us back here?" Misty asked with obvious puzzlement.
"The timing is too convenient. Shortly after Electabuzz appeared injured, the Grimer also began their attack on the city," Ash explained as he walked directly into the narrow alley.
"Do you suspect that Electabuzz's condition is somehow connected to the Grimer incident?" Brock began thinking carefully about Ash's words, and the connection did seem rather suspicious when viewed from this perspective.
"If this is all just a coincidence, then it's an incredibly convenient one," Ash replied. He didn't believe in such perfect timing, and he had noticed something unusual about this alley from the very beginning.
"But there's nothing special in here," Misty observed, looking around the messy space.
The alley was in complete disarray. Discarded cardboard boxes were scattered throughout the narrow space, and some had been burned to ash by Electabuzz's electrical attacks during whatever struggle had taken place.
Ash didn't respond verbally, instead focusing his attention on the ground beneath their feet. He had actually noticed something suspicious since the time he had carried the unconscious Electabuzz on his back. As he moved through the alley, he began kicking aside the scattered cardboard and searching methodically for clues.
Finally, he discovered a piece of cardboard that had been completely burned to ashes. Ash swept away the gray powder with his foot to get a better look at what lay beneath.
Under the layer of ashes was a sewer manhole cover. He crouched down to examine it more closely and immediately noticed something suspicious about its condition.
Under normal circumstances, no one would enter the sewers in this area. Ever since the Grimer had made the underground tunnels their home, only the Poison-types themselves moved through those passages.
However, this was a relatively hidden sewer entrance. Even the Grimer rarely visited this particular location. If the manhole cover had remained unopened for an extended period, any recent use would definitely leave obvious traces of disturbance.
"It looks like this cover was opened recently," Brock observed, noticing the same clues that had caught Ash's attention. While he was speaking, Ash had already reached out and lifted the heavy manhole cover.
Immediately, a strong odor wafted up from below, though it wasn't as overwhelming as they had expected it to be. Ash stood up and peered down into the dark passage.
"You're not planning to go down there, are you? I really don't want to..." Misty said with obvious reluctance. She naturally disliked places like sewers. Not only were they dirty and unpleasant, but there might also be various creatures like rats and other unwelcome inhabitants.
"Then just wait up here for us," Ash said without much discussion as he grabbed the metal ladder next to the passage entrance and began climbing down. Pikachu and Jigglypuff immediately followed their trainer into the darkness below.
Brock didn't hesitate to join them and climbed down as well. Misty felt helpless watching both Ash and Brock disappear into the sewer without any fear.
However, seeing that both her friends didn't hesitate to investigate, she felt that she couldn't stay behind and avoid helping with their search. She carefully placed Togepi into the backpack on her shoulders for safety and reluctantly followed them down into the underground passage.
"This is really unpleasant!" she muttered to herself.
Soon enough, all three friends had descended through the passage and found themselves standing in the sewer system. Looking around at the underground structure, they discovered that the tunnels weren't nearly as dirty and disgusting as they had initially expected them to be.