Was curious about everyone's thoughts on the Devon cooperation with Infinity Energy? Was AZ originally killing Pokemon? Were they killing Pokemon as well, or simply using their energy? Does that still hurt the Pokemon? Does that makes them the bad guys? And what does it say about Steven who knew that this kind of technology was being used all along?


AZ was definitely killing Pokémon; they pretty much say that as clearly as they can. And I do think that Devon was as well.

But ultimately my opinion of it is that if Pokémon isn't willing to fully go the distance with its implications, then it has no business forming this sort of serious commentary. To me, Infinity Energy seems loosely analogous to horrors of modern capitalism - the myriad technologies that improve our lives today are almost constantly linked intrinsically to the suffering and exploitation of others. Sweatshops, children mining for coltan, the meat industry... I mean, the list goes on and on. And just like Steven, you and I are complicit in it, whether we want to be or not. I think that ORAS make an interesting point about how horrific means can be used to produce a better life for many people and ask if that can ever be justified (then seemingly but not clearly coming down on the side of "no"), but this is a game series that generally depicts its world as far more utopian and harmonious than our own, so the darkness around Infinity Energy feels incongruous in a way that the series is just terribly ill-equipped to deal with. Just like how X & Y make a lot of salient points about class and wealth inequality, but it jars because for the most part, we just don't see those kinds of problems in the game world, so Lysandre seems like he's reacting to issues that have mostly already been solved.

I don’t recall there being anything in the Devon Corporation that even remotely suggested they so much as harmed Pokemon much less killed them.


I feel like it's either definitely implied, or I'm falling afoul of the same kind of misreading of clues that I talked about in the Guzma thread.

To start, we know for a fact that the energy source AZ used to power the ultimate weapon was the life energy of Pokémon. X & Y are very explicit about that; after all, the stones on Route 10 are revealed to the the graves of the Pokémon that were sacrificed.

Building on from that, in ORAS, we have this dialogue from Steven's father during the Delta Episode:

> "Let me first take us back 3,000 years, to the days when this story began... There was a great war at that time, in a region far from here. That war was finally brought to an end by a weapon created by one man. And what energy source could power such a dreadful weapon? Do you know? You see... It ran on the life energy of Pokémon. The energy that could be gained by the sacrifice of so many Pokémon... There are surely many people who would call it reprehensible. But my grandfather, the president of Devon before me, said this... 'Couldn't we use the energy to improve the lives of people and Pokémon?' And so he developed our greatest creation here at the Devon Corporation: Infinity Energy. Thanks to Infinity Energy, Devon was able to become one of the top industries in Hoenn and developed into the giant you see today."

From that, what I'm getting is that Steven's grandfather was inspired by the potential of Infinity Energy and believed that he could use it to make huge strides in technological development, believing that the sacrifices incurred were justified by the quality of life that the resultant technology would produce.

We are also told that the rocket they're intending to use to divert the incoming meteor is powered by Infinity Energy, to which Zinnia responds by saying:

> "I know all about it. About just what kinda energy you're using to fuel this rocket thing... The abominable technology humanity first thought up 3,000 years ago... So you're once again planning to claim that this is best for humanity, or best for the whole darn world... It's a snap of your fingers to repeat the sins of the past. Worse, if what I overheard is true... This time, you're about to commit an error more abominable than before!"

Those are strong words for an energy source that, according to Steven's dad, is directly linked to the technology made possible by the sacrifice of Pokémon lives, which inclines me to think that Infinity Energy generation does still require those sacrifices, and that they haven't figured out some alternative method of synthetic Infinity Energy generation. I may be wrong... the games do seem to suggest that there is parity between the energy that drives Mega Evolution (Infinity Energy, the energy within Pokémon) and the sort of mystical energy found in nature that induces Primal Reversion. Considering that Sea Mauville was designed to extract natural resources from the ocean depths, one might surmise that they figured out a way to use natural energy rather than Pokémon life energy to produce the same effect... but I'm not so sure about that, considering Zinnia's pointedly negative view of Infinity Energy and the fact that no one tries to explain to her that what they're doing now is actually safer and not murderous. Furthermore, there's actually some fragmented documents found aboard Sea Mauville which when pieced together, say this:

> "Devon Secret Investigation Report: The development on new energy turned out to be true. The energy that uses Pokémon's bioenergy is called Infinity Energy."
> "Investigation Report on Wattson: A series of actions related to cancellation of the New Mauville Project turned out to be true. I recommend prompt disciplinary action against him as a traitor to our group. Dock Team E Leader, Operative Group —"

This to me sounds a lot like industrial espionage. The company known as Greater Mauville Holdings, responsible for the Sea Mauville project, was secretly investigating a rival company, Devon, and discovered that they were working on a new energy source, which we know from Steven's dad was inspired by the ultimate weapon. At the same time, GMH was experiencing a lot of turbulence from within, owing to their poor working conditions and mismanagement of their other projects. Examples:

The "Sea Mauville Company Song":
1. The daybreak shines on Route 108. Wake up, our towering fort. For the bright future Hoenn, We won't take our days off. Dig through, dig out great energy. Ah, Sea Mauville, Sea Mauville, Sea Mauville.
2. The bright light shines on Route 108. Intensely shiny, our fort. Swear your selfless devotion. Unionization is out of the question. Dig through, dig out great energy. Ah, Sea Mauville, Sea Mauville, Sea Mauville.
3. Darkness descends on Route 108. Tonight again sleepless, our fort. Drive away our competitors. We won't take our overtime pay. Dig through, dig out great energy. Ah, Sea Mauville, Sea Mauville, Sea Mauville."

Sea Mauville's ten slogans for a "fun and cheery workplace":
01. Say good morning very loudly.
02. Don't bring Pokémon to your workplace.
03. Always arrive on time. Always stay late.
04. Lay your life on the line in safety checks.
05. Take joint responsibility for teamwork.
06. Obey your superior's orders absolutely.
07. Maintain top quality. Give up your sanity.
08. Worship and praise the founder.
09. Don't expect time off before you retire.
10. No need to think. Just work unceasingly.

From a tattered magazine:
"Termination of New Mauville Project Officially Announced at Last! Serious Talks Begin about the Closure of Sea Mauville! Cries of Concern Erupt from Staff Members Working at Sea Mauville! Greater Mauville Holdings Reps Remain Tight-Lipped about the Issues! Project Leader Wattson Weighs In on Problems Plaguing New Mauville!"

From an old notebook:
"The damage caused by the cancellation of the New Mauville project has been catastrophic. As a member of the management, much of the blame and the debts will fall upon me. But that will be little consolation to the employees working under me who will lose their livelihoods. I couldn't do a thing for them... I'm a man with no power... Protecting nature and Pokémon and the environment... It's great as an idea. It's a fine ideal to aspire to. And Wattson is a great man for dreaming of it all. But cruel reality and the organization that I must try to preserve have dashed those dreams. I couldn't do a thing for him... I'm a man with no power..." This is the last page with writing on it. Other pages have been torn out."


Perhaps I'm reading too deeply into these things, but all of these details were presumably included for a reason, to tell a particular story. The sense I get in my head is that Greater Mauville Holdings invested a lot of money into the New Mauville project, which backfired when it wound up having to be cancelled, perhaps because of the environmental impact it would have yielded - that's one of the core themes of the Hoenn games, and we see how things have changed somewhat in modern times with the Rusturf Tunnel project being shut down out of concern for the effect it'd have on the wild Whismur habitats. The implication I am picking up from those lost documents is that Wattson was the environmentally conscious person who recognized the issues with New Mauville, and moved to shut it down, but because of the knock-on effect that the cancellation of New Mauville would have on the operations at Sea Mauville, this made him very unpopular with some of the people working there, as evidenced by the "Investigation Report" condemning him as a "traitor." The "man with no power" (who by the way eventually transforms into Mr. Bonding) laments that Wattson's desire to consider the harmful effects of development on people and Pokémon is admirable but resulted in Greater Mauville Holdings's failures - perhaps because Devon was outpacing them with the development of the much more ruthlessly exploitative Infinity Energy. Watson's position is labeled as a "noble ideal" that can't stand up to the harshness of reality.

Nevertheless, theorycrafting aside, my first few points about Infinity Energy based on the words of Mr. Stone and Zinnia still hold. Furthermore, after the Delta Episode, Mr. Stone says this:

> "Thanks to the heroic actions of you young people and your Pokémon teams... we have been able to dispel the threat of the asteroid without a single loss! Perhaps I have put too much of my faith in technology's promise alone. Perhaps my belief that the sacrifice of some might be necessary to guarantee the safety of many – Perhaps it was wrong all along."

Granted, he's maybe talking about the people living on the alternate world that Zinnia mentioned, who would have otherwise been destroyed by the teleported meteor... but I'm not so sure. He was never involved in those scenes. If he even knows about the alternate world, it would only be through second-hand information, and we have no indication that he was actively advocating for the continuation of the rocket plan during the crisis despite knowing about that other world. So what "belief" is he talking about here? The single thing he commented on during the entire Delta Episode was the development of Infinity Energy and how his father was inspired to use it, which is a position that he seemed sympathetic toward. Therefore I think it stands to reason that he's talking about the sacrifices necessary for Infinity Energy, which he's now beginning to question his justifications for.