Chapter 45: Slateport City Cleared, Team Aqua's Attack? (4k)

What gave Cynthia a bit of a headache was that the battle intensity of this rival in Slateport City was by no means low, and was even on par with the recently appeared Paul.

Not only had the opponent's initial Pokémon, Torchic, successfully evolved, but the combat capabilities of the other Pokémon in the team were also quite formidable, with the total number reaching as many as four!

Under such circumstances, Ludicolo had already been knocked out, and Stufful's health was more than half depleted, leaving Cynthia with naturally no chance of winning whatsoever.

She had no choice but to restart and initiate her challenge against Paul once more.

Since it was a gauntlet match, the most important thing was to ensure the condition of the Pokémon in her own team before facing the rival.

Especially the condition of her main Pokémon, Ludicolo.

Because only it could easily handle the rival's highest-level Combusken!

Due to the strength of Paul's team, this was obviously no simple task.

Finally, after half an hour and countless attempts, Cynthia managed to defeat Paul with minimal losses and welcomed the rival.

Even so, the battle was extremely fierce. With only a Grovyle left on her team, Cynthia pushed its HP to the absolute limit to trigger the "Overgrow" ability, taking down the rival's final Pokémon, Exploud, and securing victory in this match.

Throughout this battle, Cynthia fully displayed her personal capabilities, timely executing defensive switches against the rival's four Pokémon, carefully managing Grovyle's HP to trigger Overgrow for the finish—everything seemed to be within her calculations.

Clearly, she was gradually adapting to the difficulty of Emerald, taking these battles with the utmost seriousness and the mindset expected of a Champion.

Having defeated both the rival and Paul, the beach of Slateport City was naturally wide open for Cynthia.

She first went to the Slateport City Pokémon Center to fully recover her team's stamina, then returned to the beach to search for potential items, picking up a Nugget and a TM for Aqua Ring, and obtained an item called Soft Sand, which boosts Ground-type moves, from a child nearby.

Of course, Cynthia did not miss the challenge in the small shack on the left side of the beach, where she could obtain five Free Fresh Waters.

After completing all of this, the levels of the Pokémon in her team had all risen to level 25, reaching the current cap for this stage.

Cynthia did not linger and prepared to continue her journey upward toward Mauville City.

Just then, however, she triggered a new sequence of game events.

A group of Team Aqua members blocked the path of the upper exit.

Meanwhile, a tremendous commotion was coming from the nearby Slateport Museum.

"Did something else happen?"

She reacted instantly, maneuvering her character toward the museum, and sure enough, she found a group of Team Aqua grunts knocking down the staff and forcing their way inside.

In the livestream chat, viewers seeing this couldn't help but send a barrage of comments.

[Why is it Team Aqua again? It feels like their appearance rate is so high.]

[Normal. Aren't the most famous villainous teams in the Hoenn region Team Aqua and Team Magma? The game's recreation is actually quite authentic.]

[Doesn't this basically mean the author has managed to piss off multiple villainous teams all at once? They've got some serious nerve.]

[+1, I hope the author is careful when going outside...]

Amidst the discussion in the chat, Cynthia entered the museum directly.

A technology exhibition seemed to be taking place here, but the visiting guests had all been scared away by Team Aqua's sudden attack, leaving the interior almost completely empty.

Only a staff member rushed up to meet Cynthia upon seeing her.

"Are you a Trainer? Please help us! Those guys just burst in and headed straight for the Director's office on the second floor. I suspect they're here to steal the Director's property!"

"I understand. Leave it to me."

Cynthia's gaze immediately sharpened.

Even in real life, she would step in immediately upon encountering such a situation, let alone inside a video game.

Team Aqua, as the name suggests, uses many Pokémon related to the Water type.

Under such circumstances, both Grovyle and Ludicolo could easily deal heavy super-effective damage to them.

Coupled with the fact that these Team Aqua grunts were indeed inferior in strength to Paul and the rival—only slightly stronger than the NPCs inside Gyms—the upcoming battles posed no real difficulty.

Five minutes later.

Inside the Director's office on the second floor of the museum.

"Damn it! Where did this brat come from? How dare you ruin our plans. I'll remember you!"

Two Team Aqua admins had already been defeated by Cynthia, their faces flushed with shame and anger as they turned to retreat.

However, the next moment, a figure stepped into the office.

The very instant this person entered the room, a powerful aura instantly emanated from his body, causing even Cynthia's gaze to narrow.

This feeling... she had only ever witnessed it in immensely powerful Trainers!

Just like other Champions of the League, once they enter a battle state, they unconsciously emit a unique aura all their own.

Therefore, the identity of the person before her was probably far from simple.

Thinking thus, she carefully scrutinized the appearance of the person before her.

This was a man with a cold, stern brow and blade-like facial hair.

He wore a deep blue bandana, sturdy form-fitting clothing, and a V-cut opening at the chest that exposed his muscular pectorals.

Atop his head was an extremely conspicuous white symbol—a hollow circle with three protrusions extending in different directions.

This was the emblem of Team Aqua!

Seeing this, Cynthia's mind began to race with thoughts.

In reality, Cynthia had also dealt with members of Team Aqua before; the higher-ranking their members were, the more fanatical they seemed to be, all seemingly driven by some steadfast and fervent belief.

Yet the organization operated quite conservatively and mysteriously, cautious to a somewhat terrifying degree!

Consequently, the League possessed very little information about them, not even a tenth of what they had on Team Rocket.

Where the organization's headquarters were located, who their leader was, and what their plans and objectives were remained almost entirely unknown.

And now, this game might just allow her to obtain some information related to Team Aqua.

Even if it was just a little bit... that would be enough.

Yet, given Team Aqua's modus operandi, surely the game developers wouldn't know all that much about them either, would they?

Just as Cynthia was pondering, however, the man before her fixed his gaze upon her and slowly spoke:

"Hello, little girl."

"First time meeting... My name is Archie, the leader of Team Aqua."

"Our goal is to expand the oceans until the world is enveloped in giant waves."

"And upon the land that remains, we shall create a brand new civilization!"

"You are young yet perform exceptionally well. Therefore, I want to ask you—would you be interested in joining us?"

Cynthia: ?

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of kilometers away, inside a secret chamber on a certain island.

Archie, who had always kept a low profile, tried his best to leak no information whatsoever about Team Aqua, and repeatedly warned his subordinates to be cautious during every operation, suddenly sneezed.

"Achoo!!!"

"Hm?"

"...Why do I suddenly have... a rather bad premonition?"

Facing the words spoken by this "Archie" in the game, Cynthia remained stunned for several full seconds before coming back to her senses.

There was no help for it; in her impression, the organization Team Aqua had always been renowned for being mysterious and cautious.

Yet this fellow, who was the leader of Team Aqua right in front of her, had spilled all of Team Aqua's secrets to her upon their very first meeting??

That speech just now practically omitted only the color of the underwear Team Aqua members usually wore.

If such a plot twist appeared in any other game, Cynthia would probably just smile faintly and brush it off.

However, if it was this particular game, Emerald... then it was different.

Because everything in this game was remarkably faithful to reality.

Whether it was the personalities of the Champions, the circumstances of the Gym Leaders, the details of Pokémon, or even the states of legendary beasts, everything was as real as it could possibly be!

Then, as for Team Aqua...

Could that be real as well?

Her expression instantly grew somewhat complicated. If this was true... then the problem was rather significant.

Once these villainous organizations established their goals, they would stop at nothing to achieve them, and Team Rocket was a prime example.

Even now, Cynthia couldn't be certain whether this so-called Archie truly was the leader of Team Aqua, or whether his words were genuine.

Even so, she kept her guard up, silently memorizing everything the man had just said, intending to report it back to the League.

With no other choice, the information provided by the creator of this game was something she simply had to believe.

At this moment, within the game, seeing that Cynthia showed no reaction, Archie seemed to understand something.

"It seems you and we are cut from different cloth and harbor no such grand ambitions. What a pity."

He snapped his fingers, and a beam of blue light pierced the air, darting straight to the side of the museum director before transforming back into a beam of radiance that re-entered the Poké Ball at Archie's waist.

"Then... when the boundless ocean floods the entire world, I hope you will remember what kind of invitation you rejected today."

Having said this to Cynthia, Archie directly departed with his two accompanying admins.

Just like that... he left?

Cynthia frowned slightly. She had originally expected that a fierce battle would await her next.

Upon second thought, however, since the other party was the leader of Team Aqua, his strength was naturally far beyond "hers," so vast it could be described as the difference between heaven and earth.

In his eyes, she was merely a child, so of course he wouldn't stoop to bickering with her.

Thinking this, she glanced back at the director beside her.

Their objective in coming to the museum had probably already been accomplished at that very moment.

Sure enough, the next instant, the director rummaged through his pockets, his expression turning ugly as he slumped back down onto the floor, collapsing dejectedly as he muttered:

"Oh no... it was taken after all..."

Cynthia hurriedly manipulated her character to step forward and help him up, asking:

"Are you alright? What was taken?"

The director sighed, then sighed once more:

"I'm fine, but the most precious document in the museum was just taken away by that man's Pokémon!"

"It's the blueprints for an advanced submarine that the Slateport Shipyard spent ten years developing. This submarine can withstand the immense pressure of the deep ocean tens of thousands of meters down. Once introduced to the world, it will surely be the most powerful submarine on earth!"

"Yet those fellows just now... actually stole the blueprints!!"

Hearing this, Cynthia was momentarily stunned.

So what Team Aqua had just stolen was a blueprint for building a submarine?

What could they possibly want with something like that?

Could it be to build a submarine and head... into the deep ocean?

But... and then what?

Cynthia couldn't figure out the reason for a moment, but recalling what Archie had told her just moments ago, an ominous premonition suddenly welled up faintly in her heart.

She shook her head slightly.

The intelligence she had right now was still too scarce. As the game progressed, more information should become available for her to make judgments.

"Then... do you still have backup blueprints?"

she asked again.

"I do have backups... but for such technology to fall into their hands is ultimately unacceptable."

The director stood up from the floor, letting out a helpless sigh, before turning to look at Cynthia, looking her up and down before opening a nearby computer to pull up a blueprint document and display it to her.

"These are the blueprints for our submarine. We were originally scheduled to begin construction this month, but I never expected this incident to happen first..."

Cynthia stepped up to the screen and glanced at the blueprint, instantly freezing for a moment.

Although her major was archaeology and mythology, she also held a hobbyist interest in industry, allowing her at a single glance to see just how astonishing the technology contained within those blueprints truly was.

Even if the blueprints before her were only the tip of the iceberg, some of the structures and information within them left her deeply shocked!

"An incredible design... Just the structure of this submarine hull is quite astonishing. This would significantly reduce the pressure the submarine needs to bear underwater, wouldn't it?"

She couldn't help pressing the interaction button and marveling aloud.

However, the moment her words fell, an exclamation point popped up right above the director's head.

"Oh? I wouldn't have expected someone as young as you to actually have an interest in submarines!"

"You're quite right. Our design works like this..."

...

The director excitedly explained a bunch of things to Cynthia that she couldn't quite follow, before clapping his hands as if remembering something:

"Right... young lady, you haven't introduced yourself yet. My name is Stern. Thank you for helping me just now... You truly are the bravest child I've ever seen."

"Whether it's because you understood my designs or simply to express my gratitude, please take this."

With that, he carefully handed a small box over to Cynthia.

"This is a very pretty and regular gemstone we discovered during deep-sea operations. After testing it with machinery, we found that it contains immense energy, but we couldn't figure out what its specific effect is. I think you might like it."

"Hopefully, you can also unravel the secret hidden within this stone..."

Cynthia took the box and opened it. Inside lay a transparent, spherical stone the size of a marble.

The stone was an overall pale blue, with a spiral structure of brownish-tan and reddish-yellow intertwining within it, radiating glimmers of light, looking for all the world like a work of art.

And the very next moment, a prompt radiating golden light suddenly popped up right before her eyes!!

[Ding! Congratulations to the player, you have obtained a special item: Swampertite!]