At the villa atop Mount Coronet in the Sinnoh region.
Cynthia let out a soft breath, picked up the coffee cup beside her and took a small sip, though her gaze never left the computer screen.
On the screen, the figures of Tate and Liza, the Psychic-type Gym Leaders of Mossdeep City, had just disappeared, marking the end of this grueling Gym battle.
"That really was difficult," she murmured to herself, her golden hair swaying slightly with her relaxed posture.
Lance's earlier warning had been crucial, allowing her to prepare Dark-type moves in advance, but the perfect coordination of those Psychic-type Pokémon in the Gym still forced her to retry several times.
The battle rhythm requiring precise calculations and predictions was indeed fierce.
Just as she walked out the Gym doors, the screen switched scenes, and a familiar figure was waiting right there. It was none other than the Champion of the Hoenn region, Steven.
"Cynthia, it's so good that you're here," Steven said in the game, his expression serious.
"The space center in Mossdeep City was just attacked by a group of unidentified people. I need to head there immediately to deal with it. I'm afraid this matter isn't simple."
Cynthia nodded.
Lance had mentioned this plot point to her in their earlier communications.
It seemed to involve the game's space center rocket launch plans and potential crises.
She controlled her character to rush to Mossdeep City alongside Steven, went through battles with remnants of Team Magma, and successfully rescued the threatened researchers.
After the incident ended, curiosity drove her.
Remembering the plot point Lance had mentioned, she headed straight to the basement of the space center, and sure enough, she encountered that Gladion character.
The battle ended in a complete one-sided defeat.
Gladion's Pokémon levels were absurdly high. Just that one Silvally alone was more than her current team could handle. She was thoroughly and decisively beaten, and the screen went dark.
"He really is strong..." Cynthia wasn't discouraged by the defeat. Instead, she looked intrigued.
It seemed her current team's levels and composition weren't sufficient to challenge him yet.
She needed to continue improving.
She began thinking about her next course of action. Should she continue pushing the main storyline, or find a place to specifically train her Pokémon's levels?
After leaving the space center, Steven, to thank her for her help, handed her a new HM. Dive.
Dive... how was she supposed to use this?
Cynthia looked at the newly appeared item in her bag, thoughtful.
Just as she stood by the seaside of Mossdeep City, pondering the use of Dive, her in-game PokéNav suddenly started beeping.
Who could it be? Cynthia moved her mouse and opened the communication.
From the other end came a somewhat anxious middle-aged man's voice: "Hello? Is this Strawberry Ice Cream?
I'm the director of the Weather Institute. Ever since the Team Aqua incident, we've been using our equipment to closely monitor abnormal weather conditions in the Hoenn region.
Recently, our monitoring equipment has detected massive energy anomalies near an underwater cavern southeast of Mossdeep City! The ocean currents and climate data there have become extremely strange.
We're worried something might be about to happen. If you can, could you use your abilities to go check on the situation?
Our institute's boat can take you to the surface above the cavern entrance, but you'll need to use Dive to explore it."
An underwater cavern? Energy anomalies?
Dive?
Cynthia's eyes sharpened as she immediately caught on.
She'd just been wondering how to use the Dive skill.
Now it seemed the corresponding key main story quest had arrived!
Soon, she was controlling her game character "Strawberry Ice Cream" as they headed to the coast of Mossdeep City.
Clear blue seawater lapped against the beach, merging with the azure sky in the distance, looking peaceful and serene.
A researcher wearing a somewhat wrinkled white lab coat with disheveled hair was already waiting by a small research vessel at the dock, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"You, you're Strawberry Ice Cream, right? Thank goodness you finally came!"
The researcher practically rushed over when he saw Cynthia's character, speaking so fast he nearly bit his tongue, his face written all over with panic.
"The situation is very, very wrong!
The data coming back from our buoy monitoring station above that underwater cavern is going absolutely crazy!"
He gestured wildly with his hands, trying to make Cynthia understand the severity of the situation.
"The ocean currents! The normally stable currents are now being stirred around like some invisible giant hand is mixing them chaotically, forming several dangerous whirlpools.
Our unmanned probe almost got sucked in! What's even more bizarre is the temperature! The water temperature in that area dropped nearly ten degrees in just one hour!
This isn't a normal oceanic phenomenon at all. It's like... like some massive freezing source awakened at the bottom of the sea!
We're worried that if we don't find out what's causing it, it could trigger climate changes on a larger scale, maybe even a tsunami!"
The researcher's panicked emotions transmitted through the screen, and Cynthia's expression became equally grave.
She knew the situation sounded far more troublesome than anticipated.
She opened her bag, selected the HM she'd just obtained (Dive), and had her Pelipper learn this brand new skill.
"I'm counting on you, Pelipper. Use Dive!"
With the command issued, Pelipper let out a clear call, and a ring of peculiar blue light surrounded both itself and Cynthia's character.
The screen perspective instantly switched from the bright coastline into the deep underwater world.
Cynthia inwardly sighed. This underwater world was really quite realistic.
The light gradually dimmed with the diving depth.
Among colorful coral clusters, Tentacool and luminescent fish leisurely weaved through, and the sandy seafloor was dotted with glowing Clamperl.
The details were so rich it felt immersive.
The sound of water flow and faint Pokémon calls came through the speakers, creating a deep yet tranquil atmosphere.
However, this tranquility didn't last long.
After diving for a while following the location provided by the researcher, Cynthia clearly noticed the surrounding environment beginning to change.
The seawater's color became darker, the originally gentle currents began growing turbulent, and the character on screen even needed to adjust direction slightly to counter invisible pushing forces.
More noticeably, the behavior of wild Pokémon around her became abnormal.
The previously leisurely Clamperl tightly closed their shells, Lanturn scattered about in panic, and even the usually aggressive Sharpedo seemed agitated and restless, avoiding Cynthia's path from a distance.
Cynthia realized she must be approaching the target area.
These anomalies were the best proof.
She controlled her character to explore forward more cautiously.
Sure enough, after rounding a massive patch of seaweed, a deep underwater cavern entrance appeared before her.
And right near that entrance, an oddly-designed submarine with hard, angular lines was conspicuously docked!
Cynthia immediately recognized it. This was precisely the submarine Team Aqua had built using stolen blueprints!
It seemed the abnormal energy fluctuations here were indeed related to them, and this was likely their underwater base.
The cavern entrance was just large enough for the submarine to pass through. Cynthia controlled her character to carefully enter.
The interior of the cavern was even more massive than imagined, clearly having been artificially excavated and reinforced, forming intricate underwater passages and dry cave chambers.
Team Aqua members in blue uniforms could be seen everywhere.
"Who goes there?! How dare you break into Team Aqua's base!"
A patrolling member spotted Cynthia and immediately rushed forward.
Battle erupted instantly.
However, while these grunts were somewhat stronger than wild trainers, they no longer posed much threat to her.
The real challenge in this base lay in the internal mechanisms.
After passing through the initial few caverns, what appeared before her was a vast underground body of water.
The currents here were abnormally turbulent, forming invisible walls and whirlpools that created a complex water current maze.
Cynthia tried using Surf to move across the water surface, but as soon as she got on, a powerful current swept her off course, and in the blink of an eye she was sent back to the starting point.
It seemed she couldn't just go randomly.
She carefully observed the ripples and flow patterns on the water surface. Some areas had gentle currents, while others were violent.
She attempted to advance along paths with relatively calm currents, carefully avoiding places with obvious whirlpools and rapids.
After several failed attempts, she finally figured out the pattern and successfully rode the waves through this maze, reaching the passage on the opposite shore.
Five minutes later.
After breaking through mechanisms all along the way, Cynthia finally reached the deepest part of the cavern.
This was an incredibly spacious massive cave with a bottomless pool of water at its center.
And right by the pool's edge, she saw that familiar figure. Team Aqua's leader, Archie.
At this moment, Archie stood at the pool's edge, holding high a sphere emanating deep blue light, chanting under his breath.
Cynthia recognized it. That sphere was precisely what Team Magma and Team Aqua had fought over at Mount Chimney earlier. The Blue Orb!
"Awaken! Avatar of the sea, Kyogre! Follow the ancient covenant, offer your power to me, and bring endless oceans to this world!"
Archie's voice echoed through the cavern, filled with fervor and devotion.
Kyogre?
Cynthia keenly caught that name.
Right at that moment, following Archie's invocation, the Blue Orb's light blazed brilliantly, resonating intensely with the pool below.
The entire cavern began shaking violently, and the water surface at the pool's center started boiling and churning.
An indescribable, ancient and vast pressure instantly filled the entire space. Even Cynthia outside the screen seemed able to feel that heart-stopping power.
BOOM!!!!
A low roar, as if from primordial chaos, came from the depths below, making ears ring.
Immediately after, a massive blue figure burst forth from the water! It had a streamlined enormous body covered in blue armor plating, emanating suffocating energy fluctuations.
Feeling that terrifying aura, Cynthia's gaze instantly sharpened.
This was the so-called Kyogre??
This kind of presence...
Another Legendary Pokémon???
At the same time, things didn't develop as Archie had expected.
Forcibly awakened, Kyogre's eyes were crimson red, filled with violence and chaos.
It seemingly didn't acknowledge Archie. Instead, interfered with by the Blue Orb, it had fallen into a berserker state.
It threw back its head and roared, its massive energy pouring out uncontrollably, causing the entire cavern to shake precariously as debris continuously fell from overhead.
"What's happening?! Why won't it obey my commands?!" Archie shouted in panic.
In the next moment, the game screen seemed to switch to a carefully crafted cutscene CG.
The entire screen first shook violently, accompanied by a deep humming that seemed capable of shaking one's very soul.
The pool water didn't boil, but rather parted as if cleaved by enormous force, arching upward into a massive water mound.
Then, an incomparably huge blue figure burst from the water, the resulting torrents cascading down like waterfalls, water droplets refracting into thousands of lights under the cavern ceiling's faint illumination!
The camera gave Kyogre an intensely oppressive close-up. Its massive body covered in blue armor plates was like a mountain, deep red markings flowing and glowing across its surface like molten lava, radiating heart-stopping energy waves.
Its eyes were a violent crimson red, clearly not controlled by Archie but instead filled with fury at being forcibly awakened.
It raised its head and released an ear-splitting roar.
The sound waves visibly expanded outward, shaking the entire cavern's rock walls until they cracked, debris thundering down.
The camera pulled back, directly showing Kyogre's full form and the destructive energy it brought.
Blue energy arcs of runaway power coiled around its body. Its mere existence seemed to warp the surrounding space itself.
It completely ignored the tiny Archie below, its crimson eyes sweeping across the cavern, seemingly searching for the source that disturbed its slumber.
Its gaze didn't even pause for a moment on Cynthia's character.
Then, its massive fin-like pectoral appendages suddenly flapped, and its enormous body transformed into a blue lightning bolt tearing through the water, charging with unstoppable momentum straight toward the rock layers above!
"BOOM!!!"
With a tremendous crash, the solid rock crumbled like tofu before Kyogre's power, revealing a massive breach above with light streaming down and endless seawater beyond.
Massive volumes of water instantly flooded in, while Kyogre's figure had already passed through the opening and disappeared into the deep sea, leaving only a huge gap continuously pouring in seawater and a cavern in shambles.
"No! Kyogre!"
Archie futilely stretched out his hand, but couldn't grasp anything.
His plan had completely failed.
In his rage, he blamed everything on the girl who had suddenly appeared nearby.
"It's you! You must have interfered with the ritual! Ruining Team Aqua's great undertaking! Unforgivable!"
Archie whirled around, his eyes blazing as he glared at Cynthia's game character.
"I'll make you witness the consequences of obstructing the great ocean expansion plan!! Come! Face your doom!!"
In intense music, Team Aqua's emblem swept across the screen. Battle erupted instantly!
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