A few minutes later, the ship had returned to normal.
Shelly stood in front of the cabin, twisting her stiff limbs as anxiety slowly crept over her.
Regardless of whether the crew knew she was a spy, the crystal that served as their map had been stolen. How was she supposed to explain this to Archie?
After all, their destination was the place where Kyogre lay sleeping. Without the orb, the most crucial step of controlling the Sea God would be impossible. Who knew what Kyogre might do if it refused to obey their commands?
She would have to explain what happened. There was no way she could escape responsibility.
After thinking it over, Shelly finally took out her communicator and called her boss, Archie.
"Is that you, Boss? Something just happened here. We were attacked by that Galar Champion, Shiro, again..."
* * *
"What?!"
Archie slammed his fist against the control panel in front of him. For the first time, he felt truly furious.
Shiro, the Galar Champion, had actually come after Team Aqua again. The last time, he had beaten and captured Matt. This time, he had managed to capture Shelly right under their noses and even stolen their map!
He was Archie, the leader of Team Aqua, yet he had never suffered such humiliation before!
However, despite his anger, he recognized one crucial fact.
Shiro was simply too strong.
He had defeated and captured Matt in an instant. Now, he had ambushed Shelly right in front of Team Aqua and stolen the crystal map without anyone noticing. His strength was clear for all to see. He had not taken Team Aqua seriously, nor had he shown the slightest regard for Archie himself!
"I'm sorry, Boss. This was my responsibility. I'm willing to accept any punishment," Shelly said sincerely.
Archie took a deep breath before reassuring her instead, "It's fine. Are you all right? What about the other members of Team Aqua? Are they okay?"
Shelly glanced at the unconscious members and gave a brief reply. "I'm fine. It's just that the others..."
"That's good to hear..."
Archie did not mention the lost crystal map again and was about to hang up when Shelly apologized once more.
"Boss, the map was lost while it was in my possession. Our plan to revive the god might..."
Archie fell silent for a few moments before suddenly saying, "So what if we lost it? We can still awaken the deity without the orb!"
"Our dream is to restore the oceans and turn the world into a realm of water. The Sea God will create the oceans. We can accomplish that even without the orb!"
* * *
"It seems I've underestimated both Team Aqua and Team Magma."
Shiro flew above the sea on Corviknight and couldn't help but sigh.
Based on his initial assumptions, the two organizations would have taken much longer to carry out their plans. They would have needed to engage in a prolonged struggle with the League before gathering all the conditions required to revive the Legendary Pokémon.
However, whether it was the butterfly effect or simply because the two organizations in this world were more efficient, things had progressed much faster than he had expected.
After Alden published his research on Kyogre and Groudon during the Academic Summit, both organizations immediately turned their attention to the two orbs.
And then there was this so-called "map."
It was a deep blue crystal.
According to Shelly, she had no idea where the crystal had come from. Archie had simply brought it out and claimed that an expert had helped them obtain it.
Shiro did not believe that such a crystal could appear out of nowhere, nor did he believe some so-called expert would kindly hand it over to Archie.
Perhaps someone in the League was behind it. Alternatively, the Sootopolitans might have had something to do with it.
For various reasons, Team Aqua's progress in reviving Kyogre had fallen somewhat behind. According to what Shiro had overheard during Drake's phone call at the Ever Grande City battle arena, Team Magma had already confirmed the location of the Red Orb and was heading toward Littleroot Town.
The item Birch had hidden away was the very Red Orb capable of controlling Groudon.
Clearly, he did not trust the League.
And he trusted Drake even less.
Although Shiro believed that Team Magma's strength was insufficient to match Drake, he could not be certain whether Drake would be able to secure the orb, let alone protect it from being taken away from Birch.
If Team Magma succeeded in its operation in Littleroot Town, it would likely begin its attempt to revive Groudon very soon.
Shiro considered the situation but was not overly worried.
After all, he knew where Groudon was, too.
Unlike Kyogre, which was hidden deep beneath the sea, Groudon slept beneath the lava inside Mt. Chimney. Reaching it and awakening it would probably require the technology of the Devon Corporation.
Even if Drake failed, Shiro would still have plenty of time to reach Mt. Chimney.
He had no intention of letting Groudon and Kyogre fight each other across the Hoenn region. What would happen to the local economy and the people's livelihoods if the two Legendary Pokémon clashed?
The Hunters Guild had yet to be completed, and the research institute was still under construction. What if their battle disrupted everything?
These problems had to be stopped before they could get out of hand.
However, dealing with the ongoing Pokémon rampage was the most urgent task.
In the eastern waters off Lilycove City, Corviknight flew steadily along the coastline. Below, the Water-type Pokémon gathered in the sea looked like a mixture of all kinds of ingredients thrown into a pot.
They were not acting in unison. They had merely gathered in this area under the influence of something.
The moves they occasionally unleashed were nothing more than instinctive acts of self-defense, triggered by their muscle memory. Unfortunately, some greedy and unlucky individuals were sometimes caught in the crossfire.
"In reality, there's no way they could all use Surf at the same time to create a tsunami..."
Shiro spoke quietly, unsurprised by what he saw.
When he had first arrived and witnessed the Pokémon behaving so chaotically, he had already guessed that the situation was not particularly dangerous. At the very least, it was unlikely to threaten the entire Lilycove City.
The tools and technology required to control every Water-type Pokémon and make them use their moves simultaneously would be beyond imagination.
A truly dangerous Pokémon rampage would not look like this. Instead, it would be driven by the Pokémon's hostility toward humans. Perhaps humans had damaged their homes, or maybe they had been angered by widespread hunting.
In such cases, large numbers of Pokémon would gather on their own and choose the strongest among them as a temporary leader, which would then direct their attacks.
If the Water-type Pokémon gathered here had come together for those reasons, Lilycove City would indeed be in danger.
Throughout the League's history, the largest recorded gathering during a water-dwelling Pokémon rampage had involved less than half the number currently gathered here. That was why both the mayor of Lilycove City and the League Chairman were deeply alarmed.
Neither the mayor nor the League President was a frontline trainer, and neither had much experience dealing with such situations. They had no clear understanding of what was happening with these Pokémon.
Surprisingly, the ordinary residents and trainers, driven by greed, had already realized something was wrong and started making money from the situation.
Of course, most residents were unwilling to take such a gamble. The vast majority recognized the danger and began evacuating toward the western part of the city, waiting for the League to resolve the crisis.
According to Shelly, the cause of everything was a device developed by the Devon Corporation.
It could imitate the cry of a Mythical Pokémon, Manaphy.
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