40: Chapter 40 Live Broadcast Across the City, the Biggest Stage

[Viridian City · Central Clock Plaza]

8:00 PM.

The busiest time in Viridian City.

The area beneath the clock tower was packed with pedestrians, fountains rose in time with the music, and children holding Pikachu balloons darted through the crowd. Couples took photos, white-collar workers complained about overtime, and the scent of coffee mixed with perfume, making the city seem peaceful and respectable.

The giant screens on the exterior walls of high-rises were playing the League evening news.

The female anchor, with exquisite makeup, spoke in a somber tone.

"Regarding the tremors in the southern part of Viridian Forest last night, the League Geological Bureau has confirmed it was a collapse of an underground cavity. Champion Lance has rushed to the scene to assist with rescue efforts, and the situation is stable."

"Police remind citizens that S-rank wanted criminal, Lynn, remains at large. Please remain vigilant."

Someone in the plaza looked up for a moment, then quickly lowered their head to continue eating.

"That lunatic again?"

"With Champion Lance there, what's there to be afraid of?"

For ordinary people, a wanted criminal was too distant. Wages would be paid tomorrow, malls would open, and life would go on as usual.

One second before the hour bell rang.

Every screen went black.

The news anchor's face distorted, stretched, and shattered into static.

At the same moment, the exterior screen of the Silph Co. Building in Saffron City went black, the directory screens at Celadon Department Store went black, the Radio Tower at Vermilion Port went black, harsh static erupted from taxi radios, and televisions in every household froze.

The crowd began to stir.

"Is it broken?"

"Who's pulling a prank?"

"My phone went black too!"

[Viridian City · Twin Towers Peak]

Three hundred meters in the air, the cold wind cut like a knife.

Lynn leaned against the base of the signal tower, his left hand gripping a steel beam to barely keep his footing. He had changed into a gray hoodie, with bandages covering everything underneath. Every breath he took caused his fractured ribs to pierce his lungs with pain.

He had just injected himself with a stimulant.

The drug made his heart race, forcing his falling-apart body to keep standing.

Porygon-Z clung to a row of circuits, its body pulsing with flickering red light. It squeezed itself into every screen, following the television tower and city cables. Its shell was hot enough to glow red, and its voice began to grow hoarse.

"Connect to all screens in the city. Connect to the main Kanto channels. Hold on for fifteen more minutes."

Lynn put on a half-face white mask and smoothed his blood-stained collar.

"That's enough."

He looked at the small camera hovering before him.

"Start the show."

The next second, the static on screens all across Kanto vanished.

A man wearing a white mask appeared on screen.

The background was pitch black, with only a single beam of cold light shining on him. He sat in a chair, hands folded, his gaze calm.

Tens of millions of eyes looked at him simultaneously.

"Good evening, Kanto."

His altered voice was low and hoarse.

"I am Lynn."

"The devil with the 50-million bounty mentioned in the news."

The plaza erupted.

"It's him!"

"Turn it off! Turn it off now!"

Security rushed to the electrical box and pulled the main switch. The giant screen flickered, then stayed on.

Someone unplugged the power, but a nearby small screen continued playing. Taxi radios, shop televisions, and roadside billboards were all playing the same voice.

Lynn on the screen raised a hand, making a gesture for silence.

"I know you hate me, and fear me."

"The League has painted me as a lunatic, and I can't be bothered to argue that point."

He held a cigarette between his fingers, but did not light it.

"Tonight, I invite you to watch an old movie."

"The protagonist of this movie is the hero you support."

The scene switched.

A laboratory appeared on the screen.

A Charmeleon was locked in a glass cage, the fire on its back turned purple, its skin blackening in patches. It slammed against the door desperately, until its claws broke.

In the plaza, someone covered their mouth.

The camera pulled back.

On the other side of the glass, the League Council Chairman, the President of Silph Co., and several representatives of Gym factions sat on soft sofas, holding wine glasses.

"Another failure."

"The next batch will be sent from Lavender Town, the paperwork is very clean."

"For the future of the League, this sacrifice is worth it."

Glasses clinked together.

The crowd in front of the screen went silent.

Then, the camera focused on a plastic tag around the Charmeleon's neck.

[Xiao Huo — I want to be a hero who protects everyone when I grow up]

In the front row of the Viridian Plaza, a mother clutched her child tightly, her face deathly pale.

A young trainer looked down at their Poké Ball, their fingers beginning to tremble.

Lynn's face reappeared on the screen.

The cigarette at his fingertips was now lit, the ember reflecting beneath his mask.

"Its name is Xiao Huo."

"The day before it entered the lab, it still thought it had met kind people, thought it would be sent for training, and would grow up to protect everyone."

Lynn leaned closer to the camera.

"Until the moment it died, it saw those people who claimed to care for Pokemon drinking behind the glass."

He tapped on the table.

Documents began to scroll by.

Shelter center lists. Transport vehicle license plates. Signed authorization forms. Appropriation slips. Incinerator logs.

Each one had photos, each one was stamped.

"You can say the video is fake."

"You can say I'm insane."

"Then please, look at the names, look at where the money comes from, look at where the trucks go, and look at who signed the authorization to burn the bodies."

Indigo Plateau, League Headquarters.

Several council members turned pale, and someone dropped their glass.

"Cut it! Cut it immediately!"

The technical director was sweating profusely, fingers trembling as they struck the keyboard.

"I can't! He's latched onto the television tower and is broadcasting through the city's power lines. Unless we cut power to all of Kanto."

Beside the ruins, Lance looked up at a surviving advertisement screen.

On the screen, those elders he once respected were smiling and raising their glasses.

He remembered the name tag Lynn had handed him underground.

Lance's hand slowly clenched, and blood dripped from his palm.

On the screen, Lynn stood up.

"I never pretend to be a savior."

"I'm just a bad guy."

"But even a bad guy finds this performance disgusting."

He pushed the last photo to the front of the camera.

It was Xiao Huo's name tag.

"After tonight, whether you continue to sleep or open your eyes to see…"

"It's up to you."

"I'm only responsible for tearing off the fig leaf."

The screen went black.

Porygon-Z emitted a short burst of static, and the red light retracted into the handheld device.

All screens returned to advertisements.

Viridian Plaza was deathly silent.

A few seconds later, cries and roars erupted simultaneously.

Porygon-Z was struggling hard.

In the wind at the top of the tower, Lynn could hear the faint popping sounds coming from its shell. Every time the red light dimmed, a new scorch mark appeared on the handheld's casing.

"Can you still hold on?"

"I can hold on."

Porygon-Z's voice was hoarse.

"The exterior screens in Saffron City are still trying to reclaim the signal. Celadon Department Store switched to backup lines. Someone pulled the power at the Vermilion Port Radio Tower. I've already bypassed to the street lamp cables to keep broadcasting."

Lynn smiled.

"The more they panic, the more the audience believes."

Meanwhile, reactions across Kanto were fermenting.

In Saffron City, below the Silph Co. Building, employees who had just finished work stopped in their tracks. Someone recognized the President in the footage, and their face went pale.

In Celadon City, inside the department store, a mother covered her child's eyes but stared at the screen herself, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

In Vermilion Port, sailors gathered under the Radio Tower to listen to the audio, and a hot-tempered boatman grabbed a wrench and smashed the counter selling League souvenirs.

At the Indigo Plateau Headquarters, phones rang simultaneously.

Council members, conglomerates, Gyms, and news stations were all asking the same thing: Who leaked this? How do we stop it? How do we explain it?

No one asked why Xiao Huo died.

This was exactly the second layer of ugliness Lynn wanted everyone to see.

They only ever cared about their reputation.

On the screen, Lynn pushed that name tag to the very front of the camera.

The handwriting was very crooked.

Xiao Huo.

I want to be a hero who protects everyone when I grow up.

These words weighed heavier than any roar.

In the plaza, many people lowered their heads.

They suddenly remembered when they were children and received their first Poké Ball, they had also said something similar to their partners.

To travel together, to get stronger together, to protect others together.

But the Xiao Huo on the screen had been sent into a cage by the organizations they trusted, and treated as a consumable by the people they worshipped.

At this moment, all the flowery explanations shattered.

On the outskirts of the plaza, several League officers were the first to react.

They rushed toward the crowd, attempting to calm them. But even their own faces were pale. An officer looked down at the badge on their chest, then back up at the Chairman on the screen, lips trembling for a long time, unable to utter a single word of explanation.

Someone in the crowd opened a live streaming app, wanting to record the footage. The app popped up a warning, but it was forcibly overridden by Porygon-Z, and the record button lit up on its own.

Thus, more and more phones were held up.

This was exactly the scene Lynn needed.

The citywide screens were just torches; what truly carried the fire to every corner were these trembling hands.

At the top of the tower, his breathing grew heavier and heavier.

The white mask hid half his face, but couldn't hide the blood at the corners of his lips. The stimulant kept him awake, but it was also draining his heart.

Gengar crouched behind him, ready to support him at any moment. Pupitar guarded the stairwell; anyone approaching the top of the tower would first collide with its black shell.

"Hold on for five more minutes."

Lynn said in a low voice.

Porygon-Z replied with a burst of static.

Five minutes, enough for a city to wake up.