When Cynthia first saw this item, her instincts told her it was probably quite valuable.
—After all, an item that could directly restore a Pokémon from a fainted state during battle or in the wild without a Pokémon Center was obviously very useful.
Later events proved this was indeed the case. Cynthia hadn't seen this item anywhere else—this was her only one.
So she had always treasured this item, planning not to use it unless absolutely necessary. And obviously, as she had just thought, now was the perfect time to use this thing.
After brief consideration, she no longer hesitated and directly selected Victini to use this powder on.
As the game character brought out Victini, holding it in her arms and feeding it the white powder, a brilliant light immediately appeared on Victini's body, transforming into green light particles that merged into its body.
It awakened from its unconscious state, opening its eyes, and its HP bar successfully recovered to the 1/4 position.
However, in the next moment, Victini seemed to convulse, flying directly out of Cynthia's arms, frowning and shaking its head while flying around in the air, appearing quite distressed!
"Tini tini!!!"
Seeing Victini suddenly showing such abnormal behavior, Cynthia immediately became somewhat nervous.
—How could this happen?
Did Revival Powder have some serious side effects?
She immediately looked at the item description she had just used, and sure enough, quickly found a line of red text below.
[Please note: This powder is quite bitter. Pokémon will be unhappy after consuming it, which will somewhat decrease their friendship level]
Quite bitter?
Cynthia was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
So Victini was suffering from the bitter taste of the Revival Powder... rather than having some other serious problem.
But speaking of which, friendship level?
What kind of mechanic was this? When checking her Pokémon's stats, she didn't seem to have seen this attribute.
—Could this be some hidden game mechanic?
Cynthia understood that everything that appeared in this game had meaning—the creator would never randomly design useless things.
But at this moment, she really couldn't figure out what this so-called "friendship level" was.
At this moment, Victini returned to Cynthia's front, sticking out its tongue and going "bleh bleh bleh" several times, then looking at Cynthia with pitiful big eyes, appearing very aggrieved.
A prompt also appeared:
[Your Pokémon Victini's friendship with you has decreased!]
[When friendship drops to a certain level, it will cause the Pokémon's stats to decrease and may result in the Pokémon not obeying commands during battle!]
Cynthia was stunned seeing this.
That serious?
But thinking about it, if the relationship between a trainer and Pokémon deteriorated in the real world, this kind of situation... would probably be getting off lightly.
She immediately input an interaction command, hugging Victini and petting it several times.
"I'm sorry, the situation is special right now. I've wronged you. Next time I'll try not to give you such bitter things."
With Cynthia's comfort, Victini finally looked better, its face showing a smile again as it flew several circles around Cynthia.
"Tini tini!"
[Victini's friendship has been restored!]
[Victini's friendship has increased!]
The viewers in the livestream found this scene quite amusing.
[This little guy is too easy to coax, oh my.]
[I'm jealous that Cynthia can have such a well-behaved Pokémon. My little troublemaker won't even take medicine willingly]
[Strong, cute, and obedient—I can't take it anymore, guys. I'm going to the Hoenn region overnight to urgently check if there are any of these Pokémon on that mountain.]
[Looking forward to your good news, person above.]
While the chat was buzzing with discussion, Cynthia was pondering another matter.
She had just been wondering what friendship level was for, and unexpectedly got an answer immediately.
Once the friendship between herself and her Pokémon was insufficient, it would produce some negative effects.
So conversely, if the friendship between herself and her Pokémon was adequate, would there be some positive effects?
As soon as this question arose in Cynthia's mind, she immediately recalled some things.
For instance, when she was battling before, Treecko had once unleashed the power of bonds, locking her HP bar and allowing her to get through the most difficult battle.
Or in the Gym battle with Norman, Sceptile had unleashed the power of its Mega Stone without Key Stone support, successfully completing Mega Evolution.
Perhaps this was the bonus that high friendship in this game provided between players and Pokémon?
—Only this game didn't display it directly, but quietly provided it to players through various methods.
With this thought, Cynthia couldn't help but feel somewhat moved.
—Fortunately, when playing this game, she treated every Pokémon as her real Pokémon, carefully caring for, comforting, and supporting them.
Otherwise, she'd probably still be stuck in front of Norman's Gym...
After thinking about the friendship matter, Cynthia glanced at her bag.
As she had expected, the Revival Powder she'd just used had been consumed.
And in her bag, there were no longer any items that could restore fainted Pokémon.
She wondered if there would be opportunities to obtain this thing again?
Cynthia sighed slightly, then looked toward the dark power plant corridor ahead, her gaze sharpening.
These were all matters for later—for now, she should focus on the current situation.
She was now getting deeper and deeper into the power plant, about to reach the central area.
As the regrouped Cynthia set off again, she found the surroundings becoming increasingly strange.
The electrical currents jumping and flickering in the air became more frequent and violent, while nearby machines all emitted strange rumbling and sounds. The surroundings seemed shrouded in a restless, eerie atmosphere.
The lighting equipment overhead, restored by the violent electrical currents, also began flickering on and off, adding several degrees of eeriness to this atmosphere.
Since departing from that previous location, Cynthia had remained vigilant, constantly monitoring the situation around her. She felt that dangerous Pokémon might very well appear in the depths of this power plant.
But what happened next was beyond her expectations. After advancing for quite a distance, she saw no Electric-type Pokémon whatsoever, and aside from the crackling sounds of electrical currents, there were no other movements.
Only at this moment did Cynthia suddenly realize a problem—those crazed Pokémon from earlier all seemed to have come from the direction of the power plant's depths.
Initially, she thought they had come to surround her because they heard her sounds, but this idea seemed right yet not entirely correct.
The correct part was that they had indeed attacked her upon discovering her presence.
But the incorrect part was... perhaps their unified movement toward the outside of the power plant had other reasons.
So many powerful Electric-type Pokémon appearing together in such an outer area already said it all.
Electric-type Pokémon lived in power plants because they could survive by absorbing electrical currents dispersed by surrounding machinery—this was quite common knowledge.
Generally speaking, the deeper into a power plant, the higher the probability of encountering high-level Electric-type Pokémon.
After all, that's where the electrical power was most abundant, and only powerful Electric-type Pokémon had the qualification and right to enjoy this electricity.
But those obviously strongest Electric-type Pokémon in the entire power plant had all appeared in the outer areas, encountering her.
So...
—Could they have been fleeing?
So, was there something in the depths of this power plant that frightened them?
At this moment, Cynthia suddenly realized the severity of the problem.
When she first saw that Magnezone, she seemed to notice that although dangerous light flashed in its eyes, it appeared somewhat panicked and fleeing. Only upon seeing her did it change attitude and launch an attack.
Even before that mysterious Electric-type Pokémon earlier, those dangerous, powerful Electric-type Pokémon initially showed no signs of retreating.
So what kind of terrifying existence had caused these guys to collectively flee from the power plant's depths?
The more Cynthia thought about it, the more wrong it seemed, but there was no turning back once the arrow was shot. Even if she wanted to retreat now, it was too late.
Moreover, Cynthia hadn't forgotten she was in a game. Even if she truly encountered danger, she should be able to restart from a save file—there was nothing to fear.
But even so, with the oppressive BGM all around, the crackling electrical sounds, this dangerous atmospheric feeling still made her heartbeat involuntarily accelerate.
The chat comments in the livestream had also decreased considerably at this moment. Obviously, everyone was in a tense mood, wanting to figure out what exactly was happening in the power plant's depths.
And in this tense atmosphere, Cynthia's controlled character finally arrived before the large door at the power plant's deepest point.
This was a steel door fully 5 meters high, and behind this door should be the power plant's most core location, where all the core machinery capable of generating large amounts of electricity was located.
Speaking of which, the violent electrical currents in the surrounding air had become abnormally excited since earlier, even constantly flashing before her and blocking her path!
Fortunately, Cynthia skillfully controlled her character to successfully avoid all those currents, finally standing before this steel door.
And looking at this door before her, Cynthia already had an ominous feeling.
Under the tense gaze of all viewers, she controlled her character and finally pushed open this heavy metal door.
Accompanied by the rumbling sound of door hinges turning, the scene at the power plant's most core depths was revealed to everyone.
This was a spacious area of over a hundred square meters. At the very center of this space sat a giant generator unit dozens of meters high. Dense, thick cables coiled around the machinery like enormous webs, connecting and extending to dozens of machines in all directions.
This was the most important power source for the entire power plant. All electricity in Mauville City, and even partial electricity for several surrounding small cities, was normally supplied by this machine!
At this moment, however, the several smaller generator sets around were plunged in silent darkness, receiving no electrical supply whatsoever.
Instead, the giant generator in the middle continuously emitted deafening rumbling that made one's heart palpitate, seemingly already in an overloaded state!
For a moment, machine rumbling, sharp and unstable electrical sounds filled this space, accompanied by wildly flickering lights that alternated between blindingly bright white and dangerously deep red, projecting the giant machine's shadow onto the walls.
Even on Cynthia's screen, small, irregular electrical interference patterns had appeared...
Looking at the scene before her, Cynthia couldn't help but frown. The situation here was far too abnormal.
The machinery was clearly operating frantically, yet no electricity was being supplied outward, and the air was filled with dispersed electrical currents.
This was no longer an anomaly that ordinary malfunction could cause.
The current situation... was as if this giant generator was being forcibly drained of energy by something?
Just as Cynthia was pondering, her screen suddenly went black.
The game's perspective was pushed toward the center of this space—there, at the core node where the giant generator's electrical currents converged, was an energy sphere radiating brilliant blue light.
And at this moment, a scene that left everyone breathless—was revealed before them.
Because a colossal figure dozens of meters tall was standing majestically before the electrical energy core!
It was like a giant composed of electrical currents, its massive body made of deep blue energy rings and cores emanating terrifying pressure that left everyone gasping for breath!
At this moment, it had several arms made of pure electrical current deeply inserted into the energy core, greedily and frantically absorbing vast amounts of electricity!
The light from the power plant's energy core visibly dimmed, its surface electrical currents becoming chaotic and fragmented. What followed were intense red lights accompanied by warning sounds echoing throughout the entire space!
Looking at this horrifying scene, the same question arose in everyone's minds.
Obviously, this was the culprit behind Mauville City's power plant problems, the source of everything!
But... what exactly was this thing???
Feeling that terrifying yet familiar aura, the viewers gradually came to their senses.
Another legendary Pokémon?
Was this power plant a conference room for legendary Pokémon?
Were they all coming here for a meeting or what???
*note next chapter is free on patreon