Wanderer of the Pokémon World

Chapter 274: An Unexpected Surprise

Xiu's calculations were grim. Regardless of whether Viridian City's defenses held against the main beast tide, Pallet Town was inevitably going to be affected.

The only question was the scale of the spillover. And Pallet Town, without Professor Oak and his formidable hidden Pokémon, was effectively defenseless.

Most of its residents were elderly, very young, or simply lacked any significant combat capability. As for the various Pokémon lazing in Oak's backyard corrals…

Even if I could command them, which I can't, Xiu thought, they'd be more of a hindrance than a help in an actual crisis.

When facing overwhelming odds, one had to leverage every possible advantage and enhance one's own strength through any available means.

An idea, desperate but potentially effective, sparked in Xiu's mind. He stood abruptly. After a brief, reassuring word to Daisy, he took Abra and headed out again.

Soon, he was back at the Murasame Botanical Garden, knocking on the villa door. The healthy Fearow, perched on a nearby tree, watched him approach but made no aggressive moves. Good. It remembers.

A moment later, Rinko, dressed in her usual simple, casual clothes, opened the door.

"Miss Rinko, I need your help," Xiu stated without preamble, his tone urgent.

"Xiu! Come in, come in." Rinko, sensing his uncharacteristic agitation, quickly ushered him inside. "What's happened?"

"There's a… disturbance… in Viridian Forest," Xiu explained concisely, omitting the more terrifying details about Team Rocket and Mewtwo. "A large number of wild Pokémon are on the move. It's likely to spread towards Pallet Town. I need your assistance."

"Of course, Xiu. What do you need me to do?" Rinko asked, her expression serious.

"I need Stun Stem," Xiu said, his gaze intense. "As much as you can possibly spare. The more, the better."

Rinko frowned. "The Stun Stem… Xiu, the demand for it is quite specific. The entire monthly yield is contracted to the Pokémon League.

I don't keep a large inventory of the refined product here. However," she paused, a thoughtful expression on her face, "I do have a considerable amount of… defect material. Byproducts from the refinement process, batches that didn't meet the League's exacting purity standards."

"That will do perfectly," Xiu said, a surge of relief washing over him. Defective or not, Murasame-grade Stun Stem, even their defects were likely far more potent than anything else available. "As long as it's effective."

"Come with me," Rinko said, leading him through the villa, not towards the laboratory this time, but to a locked room at the back. "Here," she said, handing him a spare mask.

"The dust from the dried leaves can be quite irritating." She unlocked the door and explained, "This is where we store the Stun Stem processing waste."

Xiu donned the mask and followed her inside. The room, of normal size, was filled from floor to ceiling with large, burlap sacks, stacked neatly on storage racks.

He had expected a small supply, perhaps a few bags, enough for an emergency. The sheer volume of material before him was staggering. "Are these… are all of these Stun Stem byproducts?" he asked, his voice incredulous.

"More or less," Rinko confirmed with a nod, gesturing around the room.

"Enough," Xiu breathed, his mind racing, already calculating the potential applications. "More than enough." He had personally experienced the potency of her refined Stun Stem.

Even diluted, even defective, this quantity… it could be a game-changer. "By the way," he asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice, "how effective is this… waste material, compared to the refined product?"

Rinko walked over to one of the sacks, pulling back a corner to reveal the label. "The League's requirements are incredibly stringent," she explained.

"Only the very tips of the youngest, most potent leaves, harvested at a precise stage of growth, meet their standards for the refined product. That constitutes perhaps only three percent of the entire plant's usable mass. The rest – the leaf veins, the older leaves, the stems – while not as concentrated, still retain significant paralytic properties."

"So, all the Stun Stem I saw you processing before," Xiu recalled, "those long strips of leaf material… that was all just for that tiny, refined portion?"

"Correct," Rinko confirmed. "And because of the plant's unique properties, even the waste material can't simply be discarded. We typically compost it, using it to enrich the soil for new plantings, but it accumulates much faster than we can use it."

She gestured towards the sacks. "Take as much as you need, Xiu. The labels indicate the processing date. The more recent batches will be more potent, perhaps eighty percent of the refined product's strength.

The older ones, those stored for several years… their efficacy might have degraded to fifty percent, or even less."

"I'll take it all," Xiu declared, waving a hand expansively.

Rinko blinked, clearly surprised— but after a moment, she simply nodded. "It's of little use to me here, just taking up space. If you have a need for it…"

Xiu looked at her, his expression serious. "You do understand what you're doing Rinko… if word got out that this much Stun Stem, even the defective ones, left your facility… there could be… complications."

"I trust you, Xiu," Rinko interrupted, her gaze steady, unwavering.

"Don't trust me so easily, Rinko," Xiu said, a helpless smile touching his lips. He then met her gaze, his own expression hardening with resolve. "But I can guarantee you this: this material will be used where it is most needed.

And if anything… goes wrong… I will ensure you face no repercussions."

"Hm," Rinko murmured, simply nodding in acceptance.

"Do you have a computer here I could borrow?" Xiu asked, his mind already shifting to the next phase of his plan. Time was of the essence.

"Upstairs, in my study," Rinko replied, sensing his urgency. She quickly led him to the second floor.

Her study was surprisingly large, much more spacious than a typical bedroom. The decor was conventional with heavy, ornately carved solid wood furniture.

A large desk dominated one wall, a modern computer terminal looking somewhat out of place amidst the antique ambiance. Books and scattered notes lay across its surface.

The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, crammed with volumes, few empty spaces visible.

"My apologies for the clutter," Rinko said, hurrying ahead to quickly tidy the desk.

"It's fine," Xiu replied, already seating himself at the computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard as it booted up.

"Well, then, I'll leave you to it," Rinko said, seeing he was already engrossed.

"Wait," Xiu stopped her as she turned to leave. "Since you're now involved in this you have a right to know the full situation."

While the computer finished loading, he quickly explained the true nature of the crisis: the beast tide, the threat to Viridian City, and the potential spillover into Pallet Town.

He omitted the details about Team Rocket and Mewtwo; she didn't need that additional burden.

"So, Miss Rinko," Xiu concluded, his voice grave, "this Stun Stem you've so generously provided… it might just be the key to this beast tide, to minimize the damage and save a lot of people."

Rinko stared at him, her face pale, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock and dawning horror. She seemed to be struggling to process the enormity of what he had just told her.