Cynthia's sudden encounter with the hidden ambush from the Electrode was naturally beyond everyone's expectations, marking yet another unexpected twist in her power plant exploration.
After the battle ended, following a brief moment of consideration, Cynthia ultimately decided to leave the power plant temporarily to restore her defeated Pelipper's health and condition at the Pokémon Center.
The reason was simple.
Although the lighting equipment in this area of the power plant allowed Cynthia to barely make out the path ahead without needing Ludicolo to use Flash anymore, her instincts told her that a significant battle was waiting for her deeper in the power plant.
Cynthia didn't believe that in this game's storyline, she would simply need to enter the power plant's depths as Wattson suggested, casually fix some machine, and solve all these problems.
Otherwise, it wouldn't match the style of this game—"Emerald."
After five minutes of full-speed backtracking, Cynthia re-entered the power plant, standing at the position where she had just encountered the Electrode, and pressed another button, successfully opening the door in front of her.
What greeted her next was an even more intricate maze of power plant corridors. It seemed the previous doors were just a warm-up for Cynthia, helping her adapt to the situation here.
As the complex pathways ahead of Cynthia unfolded, the viewers in the livestream were getting dizzy just watching.
[Is this place really this confusing? No wonder nobody comes for regular maintenance—anyone who enters would probably get lost!]
[That Wattson guy, too, is calling the streamer for help without even providing a map.]
[Is there a possibility that Wattson was afraid of getting lost himself, which is why he sent the streamer?]
[Haha, that old guy's got like a hundred tricks up his sleeve. No wonder he's offering such good rewards.]
Meanwhile, facing the maze-like predicament before her, Cynthia frowned slightly, falling into thought and entering a serious state. After wandering in circles for a while, she had already discovered that she seemed to be walking the same route over and over.
—She couldn't continue exploring randomly like this anymore. The best approach was to use conspicuous landmarks around her, such as the power plant's equipment or the colors and positions of the doors.
After entering this focused state, Cynthia's efficiency in finding her way forward improved considerably.
She finally navigated out of the area most likely to make her lose her way. However, the situation inside the power plant suddenly began to feel off.
—As Cynthia ventured deeper, the previously relaxed BGM with slight metallic electronic tones suddenly began to turn somewhat ominous.
Not only that, but Cynthia also keenly sensed that the atmosphere around her seemed somewhat wrong, giving her a vague sense of unease. While she was pondering this, she heard a click, and the lighting equipment that had been providing some dim illumination was suddenly shut off completely.
What followed was the rumbling of machinery inside the power plant and the crackling sound of electrical currents. The air around her actually began to flicker with faint electrical sparks.
Such an abnormal scene was clearly not right.
But for now, she needed to figure out how to continue forward.
Fortunately, after Ludicolo had lost its fighting ability earlier, Cynthia had decisively taken it to the Pokémon Center to restore its condition.
At this moment, she naturally sent out Ludicolo to use Flash, once again illuminating the surrounding darkness.
However, the scene that appeared before Cynthia in the next moment made her slightly stunned.
—Right in front of her was a Pokémon with two giant magnets for hands, a black and white body, floating in the air like a steel battle tank fortress.
Countless electrical currents crackled across its body, emanating a powerful and terrifying aura.
This was a Magnezone, the evolved form of Magneton, requiring a Metal Coat to complete this final evolution—one of the most powerful species among Electric-type Pokémon!
But unlike ordinary Magnezone, this one had violent electrical currents flashing all over its body, and its large eyes were blood red.
The moment it saw Cynthia, it unhesitatingly lunged directly at her.
Amid tense battle music, a line of text suddenly appeared before Cynthia.
[A wild Magnezone appeared (Lv. 58)!]
Seeing this prompt, Cynthia couldn't help but widen her eyes again.
Level 58?!
This was even higher than the Electrode she'd just faced, far exceeding her team's current level cap! Even Victini, the newest addition to her team, was a full ten-plus levels behind this Magnezone!
Why would such a powerful wild Pokémon appear in this power plant? This was completely different from the outer areas!
However, the current situation clearly didn't give Cynthia much time to think. The escape button in the lower right corner was even grayed out, meaning Cynthia had no option to flee—only battle!
In that case, let's fight!
Cynthia's gaze sharpened as she instantly entered battle mode, quickly analyzing how to deal with this Magnezone.
—If she remembered correctly, Magnezone was an Electric/Steel-type Pokémon, and its specialty should be special attacks.
In terms of type matchups, if she wanted to play defensively and counterattack, the best choice would undoubtedly be Ludicolo, since neither Steel nor Electric-type moves could pose an effective threat to it.
But she had to remember that her team included a Pokémon that resisted Steel types—none other than Victini, who had just joined the team.
Moreover, Victini's speed should exceed Magnezone's. Even with such a large level gap, it might still have the right to attack first.
More importantly, with such a massive level difference, probably only Victini in her team could withstand one of Magnezone's attacks.
With this thought, Cynthia immediately chose Victini as her lead Pokémon.
Red light flashed, and its small orange figure appeared before Cynthia.
"Tini!"
The previous battles with those Electric-type Pokémon seemed to have built considerable confidence for Victini. At this moment, its face showed full excitement as it stared at the opposing Magnezone.
Looking at this scene, Cynthia didn't panic too much. She had already anticipated that such a tough battle might occur.
So when she returned to Mauville City earlier, she had specifically purchased some supply items to ensure all her Pokémon were always in optimal condition, ready to face the arduous battles that might come next.
Her full team of healthy Pokémon against one high-level Magnezone... should be manageable.
However, in the next moment...
A golden electrical light instantly flashed across Magnezone's body.
What followed was a prompt.
[Magnezone seems to have entered an electrical overload state!]
[All its stats increased by 100%!]
Cynthia: ????
Honestly, the moment she saw this prompt, Cynthia already began to regret having Victini face off against this Magnezone as her lead Pokémon.
Originally, she had sent Victini out, hoping to use its type advantage to directly take out at least half of this guy's HP.
But now... whether Victini could even survive the first turn was probably a huge question mark.
The viewers in the livestream, seeing this scene, all went crazy with their comments.
[What kind of godly buff is a 100% increase to all stats? Is this some kind of divine dance?]
[So what's this electrical overload effect? Is this another special buff designed for this game?]
[These numbers would make this at least a mini-boss in other games]
[Mini-boss? This is a full boss!]
While the livestream chat was buzzing with discussion, Cynthia's first turn had already begun.
With no choice, she could only have Victini use the highest-power "Flare Blitz," hoping to gamble on the possibility of taking away more of the opponent's HP.
But as she had predicted, after the stat doubling, the level-50-something Magnezone was clearly faster!
In the next moment, as expected, it attacked first!
Brilliant electrical light flashed across Magnezone's body, transforming into a thick lightning bolt that shot directly toward Victini!
[Magnezone used Thunderbolt!]
The next instant, as Victini was struck by the lightning, its HP bar immediately began plummeting rapidly. In a flash, it dropped to barely 1/3 red health remaining, finally stopping at what looked like less than 1/10, flickering with red light.
Cynthia's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
This Magnezone, after receiving the all-stats doubled buff, was indeed abnormally powerful...
Thank goodness the opponent had used Thunderbolt rather than Thunder, a high-power move. Otherwise, even with Victini's durability, it wouldn't have had even a sliver of health left...
And in the next instant—
Victini, recovering from the electrical shock, let out a small cry and wrapped itself in brilliant flames, charging directly toward Magnezone!
Flare Blitz—a Fire-type move with 120 base power, with the only side effect being 1/3 recoil damage to the user.
—There was a reason for using this move. Cynthia didn't think Victini could survive Magnezone's attacks for a second turn, so if it had the chance to attack, Flare Blitz was naturally the best choice.
Brilliant firelight, accompanied by Victini's charging force, slammed hard into Magnezone's body with a dull impact. A "Super effective!" notification popped up.
However, Magnezone's HP bar slowly decreased, stopping at just over half.
Cynthia couldn't help but frown slightly. Victini's attack hadn't dealt the considerable damage she had imagined.
That 100% stat boost was just too deadly. Without that buff, Magnezone would already be down to a sliver of health.
At this moment, another notification appeared:
[Victini was damaged by the move's recoil!]
Flare Blitz's recoil effect triggered, directly taking away Victini's last bit of HP and causing it to faint.
With Victini's defeat and entering the Pokémon switching interface, Cynthia realized how dire the situation was.
Now she could confirm that if even Victini's speed couldn't outpace this Magnezone, then the other Pokémon in her team probably wouldn't have much chance either. Sceptile might have some possibility of outspeeding it and gaining the right to attack, but the problem was the same old issue from the Electric Gym—facing an Electric/Steel-type Pokémon, Sceptile was at a pure disadvantage, absolutely unable to take out Magnezone's remaining half health in one hit, and would still be one-shotted.
Looking at the other Pokémon in her team, they had no right to attack first, and judging from how even Victini, with its strong defensive stats, took such high damage, they absolutely had no possibility of surviving one of Magnezone's attacks.
So what should she do now?
While pondering, Cynthia seemed to find a ray of hope in this desperate situation.
That was to send out Pelipper, let it faint while triggering the Rain weather, then send out Ludicolo with Swift Swim to activate its ability effect, doubling its speed to achieve an outspeed against Magnezone and gain a precious turn to attack.
And this turn would naturally be used for moves like "Teeter Dance" to restrict Magnezone, carefully looking for a chance to defeat this guy like fighting a boss...
Without hesitation, Cynthia immediately sent out Pelipper, preparing to attempt the only possibility of victory she had found in this dire situation.
However, at this moment, her battle interface suddenly flickered.
The game returned to the power plant interface from before. At this moment, right in front of Cynthia stood that Magnezone with electrical currents crackling all over its body and red eyes...
Just as Cynthia was still somewhat confused about what had happened...
From the darkness not far away, pairs of blood-red eyes suddenly lit up, accompanied by intense electrical currents. Those were clearly more Electric-type Pokémon—besides two more Magnezone, there was also an Electivire and a Raichu!
Besides all being Electric-types, they shared another common trait—like the first Magnezone, they were all enveloped in powerful electrical currents, emanating a terrifying sense of pressure and aura.
Line after line of notifications began appearing continuously before Cynthia.
[A wild Raichu appeared (Lv. 52)!]
[A wild Electivire appeared (Lv. 54)!]
[A wild Magnezone appeared (Lv. 51)!]
As the electrical light flashed, Cynthia's expression immediately stiffened.
If it were just that one Magnezone, she could still think of ways to deal with it...
But with so many high-level Electric-type Pokémon surrounding her...
This situation was... not looking good at all.
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