Just thinking about this problem made Cynthia feel much more cautious all of a sudden.
After all, even that legendary Pokémon called Regieleki had displayed such incredibly impressive strength and power. So just how powerful must the being capable of commanding these legends be?
If they let this guy out later and it goes on another rampage like that, she'd really have her hands full.
But even so, as a mythology researcher, Cynthia was still filled with intense curiosity about whatever might appear behind that massive door. In fact, her curiosity was even stronger now than before.
After all, no one could say for sure what was really behind that door, or whether it was truly as she suspected.
At the same time, she turned her attention back to the Regieleki core fragment in her bag.
After defeating Regieleki, the corresponding rune and symbol had been activated and lit up. Looking at it this way, if she wanted to open that door, she'd have to awaken Regirock and then defeat it, too?
The remaining Regice was probably the same situation.
Regirock's location and awakening method were already clear, so now only Regice's location remained unknown.
But speaking of this, Cynthia suddenly remembered something else.
The place where Gracidea flower seeds could grow successfully needed to be surrounded by extreme cold.
This was the most basic requirement. Once the temperature got even slightly higher, it would be unable to grow and would die.
And the place where Regias - that is, Regice - lived should be exactly that kind of environment, right?
Of course, Cynthia wasn't sure if that kind of place would still have soil suitable for flowers to grow.
With this thought, Cynthia shook her head slightly, closed her bag interface, and took one last look at the Regieleki core fragment.
The biggest use of this thing should be that after recharging it with electricity, it could restore Regieleki to its full power and awaken it.
But Cynthia obviously wouldn't do that. After all, Zeraora had already left, and even if Victini gave all the Pokémon in her team a power boost, she still wouldn't be a match for that guy.
However, this did remind Cynthia of something - having this item meant that when her strength in the game reached a level where she could face Regieleki, she could summon it and then defeat it fair and square through battle to capture it, right?
At this thought, Cynthia's heart suddenly trembled.
During this time, she had almost forgotten that she was in the world of a game.
As long as it was a game, it had infinite possibilities. Wasn't the author's purpose in setting up these core fragments to give players a chance to capture Regieleki when conditions were right in the future?
In other words, she actually had a chance to capture a real legendary Pokémon?
And probably not just this one. Whether it was the possible existence behind that door, or the other Regis, or even those two incredibly powerful figures she'd seen in the sword...
Even more amazingly, the Rayquaza she'd been desperately searching for might be possible, too!
Even Cynthia couldn't help but let a slight smile cross her lips when she thought about such possibilities. Even if it was just in a game, she'd still be accomplishing something that no one in the world had ever done before.
The meaning and value of that was still significant.
After her long contemplation about Regieleki and divine beast-related matters ended, Cynthia took one last look at the massive generator behind her that had stopped running, and finally controlled her character to prepare to leave.
But just as she stepped out of the core power plant area, her screen suddenly went black again, making her frown.
Why was another cutscene triggering?
However, this time the game's camera didn't go to some distant place like last time, but stayed in the dark ruins of the power plant.
After Cynthia's character left, following a brief silence, a black figure suddenly stood up from behind the generator.
It was a man wearing a cloak, with a mask covering his face so his features couldn't be seen. His cloak was decorated with stars that sparkled with rainbow-colored light, looking mesmerizing and ethereal, like a scene from the depths of space.
He watched the direction Cynthia had just left, then looked at the ruins beside him, and gently pressed a button on his shoulder.
A light screen immediately appeared, and he began making his report.
"Reporting to headquarters. Have obtained combat data for World #32's Legendary Pokémon #9 Regieleki and Mythical Pokémon #10 Zeraora, and additionally discovered traces of Mythical Pokémon #3 Victini. It is currently with a human trainer. I will upload detailed combat intelligence immediately upon return."
"This Regi weapon testing program is temporarily suspended, awaiting further orders from superiors."
"World #32 Observer, report complete."
Listening to his series of statements, Cynthia immediately caught a huge amount of information.
World #32? Mythical Pokémon Victini?
So her Victini was the same as that Zeraora, both belonging to the so-called Mythical Pokémon classification?
But what did this "World #32" mean?
Could there be many different worlds existing in the game?
Also, Cynthia's gaze fell on the man. She'd never seen such clothing and appearance before, but from his words, he seemed to belong to some organization.
Just as Cynthia was pondering the origins of this person, she saw the man turn around and point his hands in the air.
A vortex suddenly formed beside him, filled with endless void and darkness, and the man stepped directly into it and disappeared.
The depths of the entire power plant returned to silence once again, as if the man had never appeared at all.
But at this moment, Cynthia stared at the scene before her, completely stunned.
Because in the instant the man turned around, she clearly saw that on the back of his cloak was a large letter "R" shining with rainbow-colored light!
This was Team Rocket's symbol!
But unlike the red Team Rocket logo she remembered, this massive R was flickering with rainbow-colored light like stars.
So... who exactly was this guy? Someone from Team Rocket?
Cynthia couldn't help but frown.
Meanwhile, the chat comments in the livestream naturally started discussing after seeing this cutscene.
[Holy crap, was that guy just now the mastermind behind this whole thing? I knew there was no way a little power plant could have two legendary Pokémon showing up one after another. The streamer walked right into someone else's trap!]
[Did you guys see? That looked like Team Rocket's symbol just now, but it seemed a bit different. Could there be another Team Rocket in this world?]
[I think the comment above might be onto something. This author's imagination is really something else. Being able to design this kind of plot isn't impossible - after all, it's a game, so they can write whatever they want, haha]
[I get the feeling they're planning something big. Go get them, streamer! All evil will face justice!]
Looking at the discussion in the chat, Cynthia shook her head slightly.
This... should also be part of the author's original storyline, right?
After all, how could there be humans in the real world who could tear through space at will and travel through those black holes?
But she was still curious about this organization's true identity.
From that person's tone, it seemed like the appearance of legendary Pokémon was just something they could observe and treat as routine business.
That was pretty incredible...
But regardless, it was clear that such a mysterious and powerful organization was obviously beyond what her current strength in the game could handle.
With this thought, Cynthia shook her head and pressed the A button again, ending the cutscene.
After leaving the power plant, she retraced her route north and returned to Mauville City.
By now, it was dusk, and the electricity on the main streets had been cut off due to the power plant shutting down, leaving everything dark around her.
The city's residents had all come out onto the streets, looking around, curious about what was happening.
When Cynthia returned to the entrance of Mauville Gym, she quickly spotted Wattson looking somewhat anxious.
From far away, Wattson noticed Cynthia's character approaching, immediately getting a red exclamation mark above his head as he came over to greet her.
Cynthia expected him to immediately ask about the situation at the power plant, but surprisingly, after Wattson ran over, he looked her character up and down completely before seeming relieved.
"Thank goodness! Strawberry Ice Cream, you're back! There were huge explosion sounds from the power plant earlier, and the whole city's electrical system got cut off. I was worried something had happened to you."
"Thank heaven you're okay. I should never have given such a dangerous task to a kid like you."
Cynthia was stunned for a moment, and the chat comments burst into laughter.
[This old guy, I mean, you could say he's bad - he nearly got the streamer killed by a legendary Pokémon. But you could also say he's good - when something went wrong, the first thing he did was come check if the streamer was okay. Hard to judge, haha]
[LOL, to be fair, who could have expected the power plant malfunction was because there was a legendary Pokémon inside absorbing electricity? Even if Wattson scratched his head bald, he probably couldn't have thought of something like that]
[Hey, reminder - the guy's got male pattern baldness, there's no hair on top to begin with. He's already bald]
While the chat was having a good laugh, a prompt appeared in front of Cynthia.
[Tell Wattson about what happened at the power plant?]
[Yes/No?]
Cynthia naturally had nothing to hesitate about and chose yes.
After a brief blackout, the screen changed.
Wattson literally jumped up from where he stood, with several huge exclamation marks and question marks popping up above his head.
[You said WHAT? The legendary Regieleki was absorbing electricity, then a Mythical Pokémon came and drove it away? And you have a Mythical Pokémon with you, too?]
[Strawberry Ice Cream, you're not pulling my leg, are you? I like to joke around usually, but let's not kid about stuff like this!]
However, seeing Cynthia's character nod seriously once again, Wattson's expression immediately became grave.
[So... you're telling the truth? This is really something else. I need to report this to the League right away.]
He turned to leave in a cold sweat, then suddenly seemed to remember something and ran back to Cynthia's character.
[No matter what, thank you so much for this. To show my gratitude and apology, please take all this stuff - consider it a token of my appreciation!]
[Ding! Congratulations, player has obtained special item "High Quality Thunder Stone" x1. Ding! Congratulations, player has obtained special Poké Balls "Insulation Ball" x5, "TM - Volt Switch" x1, "Magnet" x1, "Luxury Bike Voucher" x1.]
Honestly, since Cynthia started playing this game, this was the first time she'd seen so many rewards.
The information boxes for all those rewards were making her eyes swim for a moment - she couldn't take them all in.
And the chat comments exploded again, seeing this string of reward notifications.
[Who was just saying Wattson was bad? Come forward!]
[What Wattson? Call him Uncle Wattson!]
[Uncle Wattson really feels guilty. He even gave out the luxury bike voucher that he probably couldn't bear to use himself. That thing looks really valuable, lol]
[Well, duh, the streamer just survived a battle between two legendary Pokémon. A few extra rewards are totally deserved, right?]
While the chat was rapidly discussing, Cynthia roughly checked the effects of the reward items she'd received.
First was the "Luxury Bike Voucher" that the chat had pointed out. According to the item's description, she just needed to go to a bike shop in Mauville City and could exchange this voucher for a luxury bike for free.
But what was the bike for?
Cynthia really couldn't figure it out.
She guessed it might just be a simple transportation tool that could speed up her character's movement, like those running shoes her mom gave her when she left Littleroot Town - similar effect.
It's just that a bike sounded more advanced than running shoes, so the movement speed would probably be faster too.
Besides that, the magnet was an item Cynthia knew about. It was a held item that greatly benefited Electric-type Pokémon. Once they held it, all Electric-type moves would get a certain power boost.
In this game, the boost was 30%, while in reality, it would show different enhancement effects based on the held item's quality and the Pokémon's level and strength.
Besides the magnet, the Volt Switch TM was even more obvious. This move let Electric-type Pokémon attack while immediately returning to their team - a very flexible technique.
Unfortunately, only Rotom in Cynthia's current team could learn this move, and it didn't seem to have much need for switching out.
After all, with its different appliance forms, it could flexibly handle different opponents, plus its Levitate ability made it immune to Ground-type moves. Usually, it was opponents running from it, not the other way around.
But having an extra TM was still having another option, better than nothing.
Besides those two items, first was a Thunder Stone of extremely high quality.
This was the first time Cynthia had seen an evolution stone described as "extremely high" quality in this game. It was obviously quite rare.
Whether she used it to awaken Regirock later or sold it for money, it would be a great choice. It really seemed like one of Wattson's treasured possessions.
As for the last reward, it was somewhat beyond Cynthia's expectations - several special Poké Balls with rubber-like coating on the outside, completely black in color.
According to the game's description, these Poké Balls could insulate against electrical currents when catching Electric-type Pokémon, greatly improving capture success rates.
Regarding Poké Balls, Cynthia seemed to have noticed something. It seemed like in this game, some Poké Balls had specific capture rate bonuses for certain types and categories of Pokémon.
But in the real world, the only Poké Balls she knew of were regular Balls, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls. Some high-end Poké Balls did differ from regular ones, but most weren't improvements in capture performance and functionality - rather, the internal environment would be more comfortable, making life better for the Pokémon.
As Champion, she naturally used all these high-end Poké Balls.
But compared to all these varied Poké Balls in the game, the real world's ball varieties seemed pretty limited.
After reviewing her rewards, Cynthia began thinking about her next destination.
This wasn't just a simple travel decision like going to Verdanturf Town, but a review of all her upcoming goals.
After all, going to the next gym for a challenge and badge was just the main quest. Beyond the main quest, she'd gained many side quests.
Like repairing the "Decayed Sword" she'd gotten from the room in Petalburg Woods, or finding a way through the layers of mist in the Old Mansion to explore what the "powerful being" Rotom mentioned really was.
Then there was awakening Regirock, finding Regice, and somehow using their power to break the seal on that massive, mysterious door to explore the secrets hidden deep in that tower.
Even the Regieleki core fragment she carried was like a time bomb - who knew if it might suddenly awaken someday.
Such rich game content naturally made Cynthia feel quite pleased, since this all related to legendary Pokémon, and exploring everything about legendary Pokémon was her hobby.
From the current situation, awakening Regirock should be the easiest task, since she just needed to keep collecting various ores and evolution stones until she could successfully awaken it someday.
The problem was that if Regirock had the same personality as Regieleki, there would be an unavoidable battle.
Cynthia fell into thought.
Based on the information Victini's ability had shown, its effective level cap was 80, meaning that Zeraora's level probably hadn't reached 80 either, likely around 70.
In its injured state, Zeraora wasn't a match for Regieleki, which had absorbed massive amounts of electricity. Judging by power levels, under normal circumstances, they should be Pokémon of the same tier.
So Regieleki's level should also be around 70.
Thus, as another member of the Regis, Regirock's level probably wouldn't be higher than this threshold either.
This way, working backward, to be safe, when her team reached level 65, she could awaken Regirock.
If they really had to fight then, with six Pokémon at levels close to its own, there really wouldn't be anything to fear.
With this thought, Cynthia set her goal.
First, she'd unlock the level 60 threshold. Now that she'd completed the 5th gym, her level cap had increased to 50.
She wondered how many more gyms she'd need to defeat before unlocking the level 60 cap.
But it should be soon, right?
After reviewing Wattson's rewards, the side quests in Mauville City were finally complete.
Cynthia thought about it and decided not to head directly toward Verdanturf Town on the right. Instead, after recovering at the Pokémon Center, she went back through Fiery Path to Petalburg Woods and arrived at Bill's lab.
Based on real-world time estimates, Bill should have successfully revived the other fossil by now.
When Cynthia reached Bill's lab entrance, the scene indeed confirmed her thinking was correct.
Because at this moment, the lab's front door was completely gone.
Even with the previous Dracovish, it had only destroyed part of the door.
But now an entire wall of Bill's lab entrance was nearly gone.
Standing at the entrance, Cynthia could directly see Bill sitting dejectedly in his chair.
She immediately controlled her character to enter the lab and patted his shoulder.
"Bill, what's the situation here?"
Bill was startled by Cynthia's sudden arrival and literally bounced up from his chair.
Then he turned around, looked somewhat embarrassedly at the chaos behind him and the lab's missing front entrance, and sighed with a complex expression.
"Well... I did successfully revive the fossil you gave me."
"But it seemed really excited. The moment it came out, it crashed right through my lab's front door and flew away."
"I was going to help you catch it with a Poké Ball ahead of time, but before I could even take a photo, it was gone."
"Actually, it wasn't just my front door. It crashed through the front door first, then broke through the ceiling before flying out."
Hearing Bill's words, Cynthia instinctively looked up.
When she saw the hole about two meters wide in the ceiling, she couldn't help but crack up a little.
These fossil Pokémon all seemed to share a common trait - they were particularly wild and had a kind of primitive, savage beauty.
Although this fossil Pokémon was gone...
But looking at it from one angle, at least she could tell one thing - this guy's strength was probably pretty impressive.
Otherwise, it couldn't have nearly demolished Bill's entire lab.
Cynthia thought for a moment, looking at Bill's dejected, miserable expression, and couldn't help but offer some comfort:
"It's okay. You successfully reviving a fossil Pokémon counts as success. I don't necessarily need to catch it to be happy, and besides, I already have six Pokémon in my team - that's enough."
Then she looked again at Bill's crumbling lab, trying to find something to say to comfort him.
After holding back for a long time, she only managed:
"Although there's a hole in the roof and the front door's gone, at least your machines and data are still..."
However, just as Cynthia was speaking...
The next moment, there was a loud crash.
Half the lab's ceiling collapsed directly down, covering Bill's fossil revival machine and data.
Cynthia: "..."
"Um, so..."
"Do you have backups of your machines and data?"
The good news was that, as a professional researcher, Bill did have backups of those materials and the machine's construction methods.
The bad news was that Bill was crying pretty sadly.
If he'd known that reviving fossil Pokémon would destroy his entire lab, he never would have researched this stuff...
However, soon after hearing that Cynthia was willing to fund rebuilding a new laboratory for him, Bill's eyes lit up again, and he seemed to regain his soul.
At the same time, he suddenly slapped his forehead, remembering something.
"Oh, right! I almost forgot to tell you."
"When I successfully revived that Pokémon, I found something interesting in its fossil."
"That thing seems to contain a really strong energy reaction, but I can't figure out what it's for."
With that, he searched through his shirt pocket and soon pulled something out.
The moment she saw that thing, Cynthia's eyes widened in shock.
A glass orb shape, with a deep purple base color containing a spiral structure of purple, gray, and black...
This was...
Another Mega Stone?!!