Altered Bonds Extras
Omake 11 — Trolley Problem
(Best read after Chapter 17)
(Canon? — Maybe)
----------------------------------------
There were a good number of things Eira the Vulpix had shown Togetic and Shaymin about the human world that she regretted showing. This was one of those things.
Her white fur itched, and not because of the soft flowery rug in Togetic and Shaymin's room. On the other side of the rug, Togetic stared down a parchment of paper with what might've been the most contorted expression Eira had ever seen her make, even in comparison to when she had realized the purity of Jumpluff. Or when coming to terms with the fact that Eira wasn't some manipulative monster marauder out to destroy the archipelago. The root cause?
A crude drawing of a trolley on rails, with a junction up ahead splitting into a straightaway and a curved section of track. Upon the straightaway were five stick figures tied to the track, and upon the curved section, a single figure. Off to the side was another stick figure in front of a lever that controlled which track the trolley would go to.
Togetic shifted her eyes back and forth between the two tracks, sweat on her brows and her nubs pressed against her cheeks. "I—" she stammered, before shaking herself. "I-I'm sorry, you h-have to choose? I-isn't there some other way?"
Oh, poor Togetic. "Sorry," whispered Eira, her ears pressing against her curly hair. "There's only two choices. Either you don't pull the lever and the trolley goes down the straightaway, or you pull the lever and the trolley goes to the curved track."
It was the whole point of the moral philosophical question known as the Trolley Problem, after all. A problem that the Pokemon of Haven Archipelago had never heard of. "But why?" questioned Togetic, burdened by the weight of being amongst the first to face the question head-on. "Who would design something like this? In what world would there be several people tied up to a track, and a large vehicle locked to those tracks that can't be stopped? Wouldn't you humans have some braking system built in?"
"I-I mean, we're assuming the brakes are broken for some reason—"
"For some reason! Do you not see my problem here? The odds of this happening are next to impossible!"
Eira blinked. "Togetic, I'm a human in a Pokemon-only archipelago who met the one Abhorrent with a wristband—"
Togetic glared at her. Eira bashfully turned her gaze elsewhere. In the opposite direction of the cracked hole in the wall Lucario had made back when she revealed her humanity, to be exact.
In the corner of her eye, Togetic had gone back to vacantly staring at the trolley drawing. "I-I'm a Pokemon," she blurted. "Maybe a human bystander can't do anything to stop a trolley, but I could, couldn't I? If I popped a tire or derailed it with Ancient Power or some other move—"
"That's not how the problem goes," said Eira, an awkward expression on her face. "But if you want to go with that, we could say violently stopping the trolley would get its driver killed—"
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Togetic yelled out, nubs flung up in the air. "Why does everything in this stupid scenario require me to take someone's life?" she snapped. "Why can't I just save everyone? Why?"
The Pokemon of Haven Archipelago really didn't like the thought of death and murder, Togetic included. Why did I show the paper to her in the first place? thought Eira, her tails knotting themselves as Togetic huddled into herself with a drawn-out whimper.
Traumatizing the angelic hadn't been her intention. Neither of them would sleep well for the next week, it seemed.
"Fine." Togetic wiped her watery eyes. "Fine, I give in. I pull the lever and save the five people on the straightaway. I'm already there, I can't do nothing without feeling haunted by my inaction for the rest of my accursed life, and out of the only two choices I'm forced to have, it's obviously better to lose one innocent life instead of five."
It was a little obvious for many people, Eira had to admit. The Trolley Problem was decent for revealing one's philosophical or religious beliefs on how morality worked, but not quite the best at forcing someone to make a truly difficult decision. "There's other variations of the Trolley Problem that—" she said without thinking.
Togetic flew straight into her face and forced her lips shut. She violently shook her head, begging her to shut up. Mercifully, Eira shut up.
"I need fresh air." Togetic growled to herself, moving toward the door. "One of my worst experiences in life ever. And no offense, Eira, but I've already had enough of those recently."
Eira could sympathize. "I didn't—"
"Another word and I'll throw the rug on you!" warned Togetic. She reached for the door handle, before yanking her arm back as the door swung open without her accord, Sky Forme Shaymin on the other side.
A muddled expression covered her face, Shaymin observing the latent agitation in Togetic's face. She hovered past, whispered something to her ear, then flinched as Togetic pushed her away. The angelic left without another word, shutting the door.
Shaymin lingered in place for a while, before cocking an eye at a fidgeting Eira. And then the drawing she had made, the Mythical flying over to inspect it. "Huh," she said. "Okay, I have no idea what the weird box-machine thingy on the track is, but going by what I'm seeing here—"
"Trolley," Eira hesitantly said. Was making Shaymin have to deal with this too a good idea? "It's, uh, a trolley. Big vehicle on rails that lots of humans can ride as public transport."
"So a giant-sized minecart, basically. And the people tied on the track? And the lever? This some kind of funky hyp*th*t*cal scenario where you get to choose where the trolley thing goes and someone ends up dying?"
She picked on that way faster than Togetic did. "Y-yeah? It's called the Trolley Problem—"
"Gotcha. And there's no other option but to choose a track? Like you can't just stop the trolley or free the tied up people?"
"N-no?"
"Yeah, that would explain Togetic being in a super bad mood." Shaymin rolled her eyes at the drawing. "Guess I gotta choose the curved track, because duh. Dumb question, honestly, but it kinda has practical applications. Can't save everyone. Might be more interesting if the five people on the straightaway were petty thieves or something though."
Huh. Wow. Shaymin was much more thoughtful and calm about this than Togetic was. "I didn't expect you to see it that way," admitted Eira.
"Eh, stuff like this riles up Togetic more. Makes the Fairy side of her boil. Did Gabite get put through this too?"
Oh. Uh. "I originally drew that for Lucario's sake," said Eira.
Shaymin smirked. "How did that go?"
----------------------------------------
Gabite made a face at the drawing Lucario held in front of him, composed of a human vehicle attached to a rail system with two split paths. One with five tied figures that represented humans, and another with a single figure. There was also a lever with a figure that apparently represented himself, which he could pull to save the five tied figures in exchange for deliberately getting the last tied figure killed. Or he could leave it and allow nature to somewhat literally run its course, taking out the five figures.
He stared at the Trolley Problem, then at Lucario's ludicrously blank face. Then at a guilty Eira the false Vulpix, the both of them immediately averting their gazes. There was no way Lucario knew how to draw something this decent looking, Gabite decided.
"Well?" said Lucario.
He had to be snickering on the inside, Gabite knew it. He shot him a dry look.
"How soulless are humans that they'd use their intelligence to make up vile trash like this?" he asked.
The fact that neither the jackal nor the false Vulpix said anything in defense seemed telling.