Chapter 29: The Vine Tree Emerges, An Ancient Call?

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Cynthia suddenly snapped back to reality.

She maneuvered her character quickly toward the stone. On the screen, golden text prompts began to appear:

[Special Item: Pokémon Fossil (??)]
[Description: A fossil of some unknown ancient Pokémon. It seems to still contain a trace of life?]

Clearly, just as she had anticipated, this was indeed a fossil of an ancient Pokémon! Furthermore, judging by its appearance, it was a variety she had never seen before. Cynthia couldn't help but feel a surge of astonishment. From the Lileep she had encountered earlier to that Archen she suspected to be an ancient fossil Pokémon... why did this game developer have such profound knowledge of ancient fossil Pokémon?

And the fact that he had deliberately placed a fossil here for the player, combined with the system prompt that had just popped up... did this mean there was some way to revive these fossils within the game?

As this thought crossed her mind, Cynthia felt a twinge of regret. Back when she had battled Roxanne, she hadn't asked where the Gym Leader had obtained her ancient Pokémon. The battle had been so intense that when she finally emerged victorious, even someone as seasoned as her had been swept up in the joy of the moment, completely forgetting that she could interact with NPCs in a normal way.

She shook her head slightly and clicked the mouse, placing the fossil into her inventory. The live stream chat began to scroll rapidly:

"What kind of ancient Pokémon fossil is that? Look at that massive mouth!"
"I don't know, but my gut tells me that with a mouth that big, it must be a huge eater..."
"Isn't being a big eater a sign of strength? Snorlax is a big eater, Tyranitar is a big eater—which one of them is weak?"
"So what? A fossil is just a fossil. You don't actually think it can be revived, do you?"
"True, but it should still be worth a pretty penny if you sell it, right?"

The viewers in the chat were unaware that revived ancient fossil Pokémon had already appeared in previous Gym battles. Because of this, they didn't believe the fossil could be brought back to life; at best, they saw it as a collector's item.

But Cynthia thought otherwise! Her intuition told her that perhaps, later on, there would be a real opportunity to revive this fossil. While the possibility was slim in reality, this was a game, after all—what could be impossible here?

On another note, she wondered how Professor Oak was doing. In the intervals while playing the game, she had already found the time to send him information regarding the abilities of Lotad and Stufful.

As she pondered, a figure stepped forward from the shadows nearby.

"Huh? Young traveler, what are you doing in a place like this?"

The speaker was a man with blue hair, wearing orange goggles and a black athletic suit. His voice was rugged and forthright, and he exuded a bright, positive energy. This was Brawly, the Gym Leader of Dewford Town in the Hoenn region, and the very character Cynthia had been searching for upon entering the cave!

Although Cynthia had never dealt with the Gym Leaders of the Hoenn region, she had heard of Brawly. Bruno, the Fighting-type Elite Four member from the Kanto region, had once mentioned him to her, saying that the man was incredibly gifted in the field of combat and might one day become a Fighting-type Elite Four member himself.

"I came to challenge the Gym, and since I heard you were training in the cave, I came to find you," Cynthia replied, pressing the interaction key and speaking in a polite tone.

"Ah, ha-ha! I see. My apologies, today just happens to be my training time," Brawly said, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh.

"In that case, I will head back to the Gym to prepare."

"By the way, I thought I heard... some sounds of battle from the upper level. Were you fighting wild Pokémon?"

"No, it was Team Rocket." Cynthia operated her character to explain what had just occurred.

Brawly was taken aback. "Team Rocket? Strange... what would they be doing in Granite Cave?" He touched his chin, lost in thought for a moment, then turned to Cynthia. "I didn't see anyone from Team Rocket on this floor. It seems they must be operating on the second floor; perhaps they have their eyes on some of the ores in the cave."

"In that case, I'll go up and deal with them." With that, Brawly turned and headed toward the second floor.

Cynthia stood where she was, contemplating whether to follow him to see what was happening. But then, she noticed that not far behind her, there seemed to be a path leading to the next level... and, as if guided by some unseen force, she felt something pulling her in that direction.

After a brief hesitation, she decided to trust her intuition and entered the next level through the passage.

After a long climb downward, she finally reached the fourth floor! This time, the surroundings were not dark, but incredibly bright. Cynthia could clearly see the scene around her.

The space on the fourth floor was vast, with darkness stretching ten meters high above, and a flat, wide-open area underfoot. In the very center of this clearing stood a stone monument. The monument was continuously emitting a brownish glow, illuminating the entire space. Other than that, there was nothing else.

Cynthia's gaze and attention were naturally drawn to the monument. However, that single glance made it impossible for her to look away! The stone was densely covered in strange symbols, mysterious and profound, like stars arranged in the cosmos!

Upon closer observation, she realized that the monument's light originated entirely from these symbols. The glow ebbed and flowed, as if these mysterious markings were breathing.

At the same time, the viewers in the live stream began to chime in:

"What is that? It looks so cool!"
"I don't know, I can't read it... but it feels like some kind of writing, doesn't it?"
"Isn't Miss Cynthia an archaeology expert? She should recognize it, right?"

As the saying goes, the layman looks at the spectacle, while the expert looks at the skill. As the top ancient mythologist in the Sinnoh region, Cynthia could naturally recognize that this was a special script from an ancient civilization. That civilization had long since vanished into the river of time, leaving behind only a few broken fragments. Even she only had a rudimentary understanding of this ancient language, with most of it completely beyond her comprehension. Ordinary archaeologists wouldn't even know such a script existed!

Yet, why... why were these symbols appearing in a game, on a stone monument right before her eyes?!

While Cynthia was lost in astonishment, she subconsciously moved her character closer to the monument. But the next moment—

"Hummm!!!"

The symbols on the monument transformed into streams of light and shot straight into the sky!