That night, once again John found himself staying up late.
Lying on his bed, John held his Gameboy in hand, fingers working the controls.
The Hoenn region was absolutely massive, containing countless caves with volcanic and underwater caverns scattered throughout.
To pinpoint specific locations, he'd need to rely on the Weather Institute's data.
The Weather Institute monitored weather conditions across the entire Hoenn region. All he needed to do was find which areas were experiencing unusual weather patterns, and he'd likely discover where the Hoenn legendary duo, Groudon and Kyogre, were hiding.
John navigated to the Weather Institute and spoke with the Institute Director.
Very quickly, just as John's experience with game scenarios had taught him, the Weather Institute researchers began informing him about abnormal weather patterns appearing in various locations.
[Researcher: Route 114's weather has been quite strange. It's been under intense harsh sunlight recently, as if some Pokemon is continuously using the move Sunny Day.]
Seeing this text, John immediately understood.
He left the Weather Institute and flew to Fallarbor Town, the settlement closest to Route 114.
After healing his Pokemon at Fallarbor Town's Pokemon Center, he headed southwest. At the end of the route was Meteor Falls.
John vaguely remembered that Mewtwo seemed to be somewhere around Meteor Falls...
Because he was playing on his Gameboy, his field of vision was quite broad. Activating Flash to illuminate the area, John controlled his character across the map. Within less than a minute of exploring, he discovered a cave entrance that hadn't existed before.
Approaching the cave entrance, a notification immediately appeared before John's eyes.
[Enter dungeon "Terra Cave"?]
[Recommended Entry Level: 100]
"Found it~" John's eyes gleamed. He'd located the spot.
The moment he selected to enter, the scenery before John's eyes twisted and warped.
When his senses returned, he was standing in a sweltering cave interior. The air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur, and occasional heat waves rolled through the chamber.
[Groudon LV100]
Within the massive lava pool, a colossal monster covered in crimson armor lounged in rest, emitting heavy, rumbling breaths.
Hrrrrr...
Hrrrrr...
Each snore sent a wave of lava splashing upward, accompanied by scorching flames dancing in the air and an even more concentrated sulfuric stench.
John observed from a distance, not approaching. After silently noting Groudon's size and appearance, he chose to exit the dungeon.
He'd already hunted for Shiny Rayquaza. Why not continue with Groudon?
Though honestly, John didn't desperately need another legendary of Groudon's caliber for combat strength. And he was only twenty years old this year, he had plenty of time ahead to slowly hunt for shinies.
Once you started hunting shinies, the first time led to countless more times. It became addictive.
If he didn't hunt for this shiny, his entire body would feel uncomfortable!
Exiting the dungeon, John returned to his bed on Sky Island. But when he picked up his Gameboy again, his eyes widened in shock.
"Wait, where the hell did the Terra Cave entrance go?!"
John's eyes bulged as he searched frantically on his Gameboy. The Terra Cave's location had reverted to its original impassable map tile. The cave entrance icon that had allowed entry was completely gone.
After a moment of panic, he chose to return to the Weather Institute.
He went back to speak with the Weather Institute researcher.
[Researcher: Route 115's weather has been quite strange. It's been under intense harsh sunlight recently, as if some Pokemon is continuously using the move Sunny Day.]
Seeing this prompt, John let out a gentle breath of relief as old memories surfaced in his mind.
So it wasn't related to the shiny hunting attempt after all.
However, looking at the current situation, hunting for Shiny Groudon and Kyogre would be far more tedious than hunting for Shiny Rayquaza.
For Rayquaza, he'd only needed to continuously enter and exit the dungeon entrance. But hunting Groudon and Kyogre required dealing with so many additional factors...
Calculating the time investment: hunting Rayquaza took approximately 6 seconds per attempt, while hunting Groudon would require at least 2 minutes per attempt.
That was a massive difference in efficiency.
Still, John wasn't one to give up easily.
He selected to exit the dungeon once more.
John flew back to the Weather Institute to consult with the researcher again.
[Researcher: Route 105's weather has been quite strange. It's been experiencing torrential downpours recently, as if some Pokemon is continuously using the move Rain Dance.]
Such a disaster-prone Hoenn region...
Two locations with harsh sunlight, one location with heavy rain.
Though it made sense, who told the Ocean Lord and the Continent Lord, those two ancient behemoths, to sleep year-round within the Hoenn region?
While this brought disasters to Hoenn, it also made the region's natural resources exceptionally abundant and fertile.
Leaving the Weather Institute, John headed toward Route 105...
Without a doubt, if it was a water route, that location was likely Kyogre's lair.
John had made his decision.
He'd hunt both Shiny Groudon and Shiny Kyogre.
After all, once you started shiny hunting, there was no turning back. The obsession wouldn't let him rest until he'd captured them both in their alternate colorations.
This was going to be a long night.