Of course, Cynthia naturally hasn't forgotten that she's currently livestreaming.
As she walks out of the Gym, she also begins explaining the key points of that battle to the chat:
"The crux of this battle, as you all saw, was stopping their Electric Terrain while setting up our favorable Grassy Terrain."
"But actually, there are several other crucial points that you might not have caught - let me break them down for you."
"The reason I led with Grovyle instead of Ludicolo was because under Electric Terrain, even with Ludicolo's 'Fake Out,' he couldn't move before Raichu, so I might as well send out Grovyle."
"And due to Grovyle's type resistance, plus the fact that their team has Magneton - which has a huge advantage against Grovyle - he would naturally switch on the second turn."
"This... gave Grovyle a turn to compete for terrain control."
"After securing the terrain, we switch to Ludicolo next turn, using his Water-type to resist Steel-type moves in a defensive pivot."
"Next came the turning point of this battle - having Ludicolo use Teeter Dance to control their Magneton. Whether the first turn confusion worked didn't matter - the second turn was what counted!"
"Because on that turn, our most important unit - Stufful - would enter the field."
"If Magneton hit itself due to confusion on the second turn, Stufful could switch in without taking damage while also breaking through any potential 'Sturdy' ability!"
"This would force the opponent to switch Pokémon next turn, or else the Steel-type Magneton would get knocked out in one hit by Fighting-type moves."
"And this bought us a setup opportunity."
"Finally, the most critical moment was when Stufful faced off against Raichu!"
"Raichu has an extreme speed advantage, and his Thunderbolt could take down full-HP Stufful in two hits even without Electric Terrain's boost."
"Not to mention he also has Fake Out, which lets him get free damage right after switching in."
"Fortunately, Grassy Terrain's HP recovery effect solved all these problems. The first recovery negated Fake Out's damage, while the next two recoveries helped Stufful escape Raichu's two-hit KO range, letting him get a chance to attack after his second boost."
"At that point, the quadruple-power 'Payback' was guaranteed to take down Raichu, since Physical Defense was never his strong suit."
"At the same time, the opponent's attack would drop Stufful to his last sliver of HP, successfully triggering the berry recovery effect at under 1/3 health, restoring just enough HP while ensuring he wouldn't get picked off by priority moves, letting him make the most of his final moments."
"From there, the rest was simple - Grovyle and Ludicolo cleaned up the battle, and we achieved victory with three Pokémon against four."
After this lengthy explanation, many viewers in the livestream are stunned into silence.
For them, battling is actually quite a distant concept. At most, they watch trainer competitions on TV, but that only scratches the surface - they can't really understand the deeper content.
But now with Cynthia's explanation, even though it's just a pixelated turn-based battle, they feel shocked and like they've learned so much.
So this is what people call "the charm of battling"...
Several seconds later, everyone in the livestream snaps back to reality and starts commenting.
[Is this how a Champion thinks about battles? I've learned so much, really learned so much!]
[My mouth: Got it! My brain: No, I don't]
[As expected of Cynthia - even playing a game is this professional!]
Meanwhile, Cynthia has walked out of Mauville Gym and released her three Pokémon from their Poké Balls.
Following tradition, every Gym victory is celebration time. She first looks at Grovyle and pats his head.
"Grovyle, your Grassy Terrain was really crucial this time, and you had a part in the finish, too. Plus, thanks to your pure Grass typing, we could force out their Raichu and bait them into switching to Magneton, exposing their weakness."
Hearing Cynthia's sincere words, Grovyle had been feeling down about not contributing much in the Gym battle, but now his mood immediately improved.
He purses his mouth and stands there obediently, letting Cynthia's character pet him.
After praising Grovyle, Cynthia turns her attention to Ludicolo.
"Ludicolo... thanks for taking point again to scout out the opponent's strategy. You've been working hard."
"Hey-ha~"
Ludicolo sways his body left and right, looking cheerful. He doesn't seem to mind this kind of thing at all.
—As long as he can battle alongside his trainer and win, he's happy!
As for Stufful, just as Cynthia is about to praise him...
"Stufful, this time we really owe it to—"
But before she can finish, a prompt suddenly pops up in front of her.
[Hm? What's happening to Stufful?]
The next moment, a rainbow evolution light suddenly bursts from Stufful's body!
His appearance begins rapidly changing and shifting in this light, gradually growing larger.
When the light fades, his body type has completely transformed - becoming more muscular and tall, changing from walking on all fours to standing on two legs, looking just like a person.
But his appearance and fur haven't changed much - he looks just like a supersized Stufful.
[Congratulations! Your Pokémon Stufful has evolved into Bewear!]
After evolving, Bewear first curiously examines his new body, then strides forward and directly scoops Cynthia up in a hug, letting out an excited cry.
"Roar~~"
Cynthia looks at her character's pale face on screen, her expression somewhat complex.
Stufful evolving is naturally something to celebrate, but thinking about her memories of this Pokémon species and how they can't control their strength when hugging after evolution... she feels a bit weird about it.
Good thing it's not actually her being hugged, but the character in the game.
Of course, even if she really caught a Bewear in real life, she would patiently work with it until it overcame this bad habit.
It's just that the process might involve some suffering on her part...
The chat is now full of laughter.
[Cynthia's definitely thinking "good thing it's not me getting hugged," hahaha]
[This game is so realistic - they even included Bewear's deadly bear hugs for trainers lol]
[Moment of silence for Strawberry Ice Cream.]
And so, Cynthia's Mauville City Gym battle comes to a perfect end.
She finds the researcher Wattson mentioned in the house below the Gym, teaches Bewear Rock Smash, then takes a deep breath and prepares to leave Mauville City.
—Time to keep this momentum going and head to the next Gym!
But speaking of which, what city is the next Gym in again?
Cynthia opens the game map to check.
The next Gym seems to be in "Lavaridge Town"...
But why does this town look so far away on the map??
Time passes quickly.
Night has fallen.
In a villa somewhere in the Kanto region, Lance opens his eyes in bed.
Yesterday, he stayed up all night playing Emerald, then got called out on a mission in the morning. When he got home in the afternoon, he was really feeling beat, so he lay down for a good sleep.
And now, as soon as he gets up, he sits right back down at his computer, eagerly starting up Emerald.
For some reason, when playing this game, he always feels this addictive sensation...
Like something hidden deep in his bloodline has been awakened.
If Kairos were here, he'd be able to give him an accurate diagnosis immediately.
Yeah... this is just gaming addiction, no doubt about it.
After starting the game, Lance, who had already defeated Dewford Gym, takes Old Man Briney's boat to arrive at Slateport City's beach.
After easily defeating the NPCs around the area, he also gets a headache from the tag team battle with his rival and Paul, just like Cynthia did.
After countless attempts, Lance finally manages to scrape by.
Next, Lance witnesses the Team Aqua attack at the Museum.
When the submarine captain shows him the contents of the stolen blueprints, Lance can't help but be somewhat surprised. Although he doesn't understand it completely, this blueprint looks incredibly sophisticated at first glance, definitely not something just thrown together casually.
At that moment, he finally understands why Cynthia was so adamant about this game's content being realistic...
Next, Lance crosses that bridge and successfully reaches Mauville City.
Unlike Cynthia, he doesn't immediately challenge the Gym, but starts searching through various rooms in Mauville City.
This is a little trick he discovered during his previous gameplay - the developer seems to have deliberately placed plenty of items, move tutors, and obtainable resources and rewards around every city.
Some of these rewards can even be directly useful in the upcoming Gym battles!
So whenever he reaches a new city, thoroughly searching the surrounding area is definitely the right move.
Sure enough, Lance soon encounters a lady in front of the flower bed on the left side.
She directly asks him a question.
"Sir... please wait, do you like flowers?"
Lance thinks about it and answers honestly:
"Some flowers are indeed beautiful. When they bloom all over the mountains and fields, they're full of vitality - of course, I like them."
The lady immediately smiles and gives him a TM.
"This is Grassy Terrain. After using it, you can change the terrain in battle. Please make good use of it."
Lance opens his party screen and scans through it, finding that his lead Pokémon "Applin" can learn this move, so he has Applin learn it right away.
Besides this TM, Lance also finds several Nuggets in the grass on the left side, a TM called "Substitute," plus a Sun Stone and an item called "Magnet" that boosts Electric-type move power.
Unfortunately, none of these items are immediately useful to him.
Those Nuggets... could be sold for some cash, though.
Just as Lance finishes checking the entire Mauville City area and prepares to challenge the Gym, he suddenly notices that there's a huge Game Corner right below the Gym that he hasn't visited yet.
Maybe this Game Corner... has some useful items hidden inside?
Without hesitation, he walks into the Game Corner and starts searching around.
However, to his disappointment, even after checking every corner of the Game Corner thoroughly, he still hasn't found any items.
Lance talks to the receptionist and learns that he can exchange his money for coins here.
By playing the games in the hall with those coins, he can earn even more coins.
And these coins can be exchanged at the front desk for useful items.
For example, various TMs, even starter Pokémon, and if he saves up 10,000 coins, he can even exchange them for a pseudo-legendary "Dratini"!
But Lance, weathered by real-world experience, knows very well that this is just the Game Corner's marketing scheme.
Game Corners like this actually exist in the real world, too, and they all use rare Pokémon and excellent items as prizes to attract people to play.
However, in reality, trying to make money on those machines with game coins is almost impossible - you'll just lose more and more.
As for that Dratini, given the exchange rate between game coins and cash, it would cost a full 1 million yen to exchange!
What kind of concept is that?
Even if he turned all of Mauville City upside down, he could barely earn 10,000 yen...
So Lance quickly loses interest and turns to leave.
But just as he's about to step out the door, he suddenly sees something rather suspicious.
—A sneaky-looking man near the Game Corner's wall corner suddenly disappears from that spot!
He's stunned for a moment, then immediately returns to where the man disappeared and looks around carefully.
But there seems to be only a wall here, nothing else.
No matter whether Lance tries using the interaction key or walking directly up to it, there's no response.
"Did I see wrong just now?"
Lance can't help but mutter to himself.
However, the next moment, he suddenly notices that in the upper right corner of the wall, there's clearly a landscape painting hanging there.
He instinctively moves his character over and presses the interaction key on that painting.
A prompt suddenly pops up.
[There seems to be a button behind this painting. Do you want to press it?]
Lance raises an eyebrow.
There really is something fishy going on!
He chooses to press it, and a new prompt appears.
[You pressed the switch. The wall nearby seems to have loosened.]
When Lance moves his character toward the wall again, the wall in front of him suddenly spins rapidly, directly bringing him into a secret passage!
This is a dark corridor, and the background music immediately becomes tense and urgent.
Before Lance can control his character, a voice suddenly rings out beside him.
"Who are you? Kid, this isn't a place you should be!"
Battle breaks out immediately, and appearing across from Lance is an NPC wearing a Team Rocket uniform!
Seeing this person, Lance's brow immediately furrows!
So... this Game Corner is actually Team Rocket's secret hideout?
Before he can think more, the opponent directly sends out their lead Pokémon - a level 45 Mightyena!!
Lance looks at his team, where the highest level Pokémon barely reaches the level 25 cap, then looks at that Mightyena, and decisively chooses to quit and restart the game.
Obviously, according to this game developer's design, this Team Rocket secret base requires players to reach a certain level before returning to explore.
But Lance's thoughts right now aren't on this game.
What Cynthia told him today has made him understand one thing - nothing in this game was made carelessly!
If Team Aqua's Archie is real...
Then this Team Rocket secret base...
After a moment of silence, Lance finally makes his decision.
For something like this, it's better to believe it exists than to assume it doesn't.
Team Rocket has been suspiciously quiet lately, which actually makes him feel uneasy.
Now that there's a chance to take the initiative, how could he not seize it?
He directly picks up his phone and dials a number.
After a few rings, the call connects, and a somewhat irritated grumbling voice comes through.
"Tch, it's so late... who's calling at this hour?"
"Hello, this is Kanto Security Department. How can I help you?"
Lance clears his throat.
"It's me."
The person on the other end seems to instantly wake up and quickly says:
"Oh! Boss, sorry, sorry! I was half-asleep and didn't see it was you calling."
"What's wrong, boss? Is there some emergency this late?"
Lance was about to say he got a lead about Team Rocket from a video game.
But he suddenly realizes that explanation might sound a bit inappropriate, so he changes his approach:
"I received an important tip from an informant about Team Rocket's secret operations."
"Right now, take Teams 1 and 3 and check all the Game Corners in the Kanto region, especially the large ones. Focus your investigation on things hanging on their walls and what's in their trash cans - look for any hidden switches."
"Remember, don't alert them. If you find anything, contact me immediately, and I'll be right there."
"Also, prepare for battle."
After Lance finishes, he hangs up, takes a deep breath, and puts on his cape.
He turns and walks outside, releasing a massive Dragon-type Pokémon in the open space.
"Dragonite, get ready for some overtime."
"Roar——"
Under the night sky, an orange figure with tremendous presence shoots skyward with powerful air currents!
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones