บท 67: Chapter 066

Alex found himself in Cerulean City less than a day after he came back from Vermillion City.

Some people apparently spotted a Zapdos on the hills somewhere. This rumour, along with some blurry pictures, drove the place into a frenzy. Professor Oak wanted someone near Cerulean City. Since no trainer sponsored by him was nearby, the task fell to Alex and Alakazam teleported him over.

Of course, the task wasn't to subdue or defeat Zapdos. It was to take clear pictures of Zapdos, and purchase such pictures from others if they were available on behalf of the Oak Corall. There were plenty of pictures out there about the legendary birds, but close ups detailing some particular feature was rare. So people always wanted more and more photos, hoping they could accidentally find something never seen before in one of them.

Alex, with a camera hanging around his neck, Nidoking's Pokeball back on his waist, and a distress signal emitter that could summon Alakazam in his pocket, was among the hundreds of people who were running around like nuts in after any distant signs of a Flying Pokemon.

3 people flying a kite somewhere in the mountains, minding their own business were beaten up by the overenthusiastic people who rushed there, and after this incident, nothing else rose to the sky.

After running around for an hour in the afternoon sun, Alex decided to take a break. While eating under in a pleasant restaurant, he began to recall the original Kanto games of his previous life.

In the game, Zapdos would be an encounter in the abandoned Power Plant west of Cerulean City. There were two Power Plants in the west of the Cerulean City here. One was completely functional and supplied electricity to Celadon City and partly to Saffron City.

The other was abandoned due to old and unstable structures and ageing machinery. Soon after it was abondened, a few cave ins occurred. Numerous Electric type Pokemon then began using the old Power Plant as their haunt. The numerous Electrodes made it almost impossible to access, but the new Power Plant was not in danger as it was a large distance from the old Power Plant.

Alex then decided he would try to access the old Power Plant on the off chance he could encounter Zapdos there.

A few hours later, Alex was on the hill overlooking the abandoned Power Plant. The outlines of the previous building could barely be made out under the huge pile of rubble. Alex looked around and couldn't figure out a way to access it. No discernable entrance or exits was remaining, and the small entrances he could see looked suspiciously the right size to fit an Electrode. After some consideration, Alex decided not to enter the huge pile of rubble.

"Wait. Since this was an important building back then, would there be an emergency exit? If there was, it would probably be at least partly function even now, as they are usually built to handle a ton of stresses" thought Alex.

Alex then decided to see if entry into the Power Plant through the emergency exit is feasible. But as he didn't know where exactly he was, he had to somehow get his hands on the schematics for the abandoned Power Plant. He knew that both the Power Plants bear Cerulean City was constructed and run by the same company, and hence theorized that they would have a copy of the old Power Plant's schematics somewhere.

There was no way they would give him what he wanted if he asked nicely. Hence, Alex decided to break into the new Power Plant.

He walked for 20 minutes from the old Power Plant, checking his Pokedex to see if there are any updates on Zapdos. But no one seemed to have spotted Zapdos since the initial spread of the rumour. There were even some voices that said the whole thing was a scam by the Cerulean Gym, to increase traffic to Cerulean City and this profit off it.

Regional Gym leaders received a part of the revenue of the city, as remuneration for their services to the Alliance.

Alex then spotted the new Power Plant on the hill in the distance. He saw the heavily guarded gate, and decided to scale up the side of the cliff. He had some climbing equipment he had bought for his previous trip to assist him.

After some time, he was finally climbed all the way, and saw an open window right next to him.

"Wow! The security here sucks!" thought Alex as he clambered in. He then looked at the signs for a maintenance room, where he assumed the schematics would be kept.

After a few minutes of snooping around, he finally found the maintenance room, but it only seemed to have the schematics of the newer Power Plant. As he was about to leave, he spotted a trapdoor hidden in a corner. Curious, he lifted up the door. He could see a tunnel after peering inside. And the tunnel was straight in the direction of the old abandoned Power Plant.

"This is getting interesting" thought Alex as he started making wild associations in his head.