The two could only be described as having made it into the forest by the skin of their teeth.
Almost the very second they dove into the trees, the deafening explosion behind them, accompanied by flames, completely consumed that secret exit.
Scorching shockwaves mixed with metal shrapnel and dust came surging out, only to be quickly blocked by the dense trees.
They had successfully escaped into the forest.
Immediately after, an even more violent internal explosion came from underground.
The earth itself trembled slightly, and behind them, that hidden exit completely collapsed after a series of teeth-grinding crunching sounds, buried tightly under countless boulders and cascading earth, completely cutting off any possibility of pursuit and burying the vast majority of traces of Team Rocket's secret base underground forever.
Lance's in-game character let out a long breath, his face showing the exhaustion that comes after a brutal battle, but his eyes were shining with unusual brightness, filled with the excited gleam of having found crucial clues.
"What we obtained this time is too critical." His voice was steady, yet couldn't hide his urgency.
"New Island, and these clues... I must immediately set out and report all of this directly to the highest levels of League headquarters. There can't be any delay."
He turned around, his gaze sweeping over Lance's character, carrying several parts admiration and affirmation.
"Your courage and initiative are admirable, but having uncovered this darkness, the coming storm will only be bigger and more dangerous. You must be extremely careful."
Having said that, he no longer hesitated at all. His red cape fluttered sharply in the night wind of the forest, his figure flickered a few times, then swiftly and decisively disappeared into the shadows deeper within the dense forest.
Moonlight spilled onto the clearing in the woods, leaving only Lance's character standing alone in place.
The surrounding forest seemed to instantly swallow all the sounds from just moments ago, returning this place to a state of tranquility, with only the rustling sound of wind blowing through leaves.
That previous segment of explosions and escape was like nothing more than a brief, thrilling sequence that had quickly passed.
"The Twilight Project... New Island..."
Cynthia's voice came through the headset, carrying a thoughtful tone, clearly she was also thinking things through.
"An island that has never appeared in any Kanto region files. Team Rocket has hidden it deep enough.
On my end, I'll immediately mobilize Sinnoh League's network of connections and do everything possible to investigate all locations this name might point to. Lance, what you've done this time is absolutely brilliant."
She paused, her tone becoming more emphatic.
"Oh, and when I was exploring the ruins on my side, I actually noticed some other details that might be related to one of Team Rocket's past abandoned projects.
Pretty interesting. Besides that, I also obtained some intelligence in the game... But right now this matter has higher priority. Once I'm done processing this 'New Island' intelligence and my discovery, let's have a detailed chat."
"Understood. You be careful too, and stay in touch."
Lance replied briefly, and only then did a strong wave of exhaustion belatedly surge up.
Although everything had been experienced within the game, for some reason it gave him a sense of intense realism.
The voice communication ended, and Lance leaned back entirely against his chair back, letting out a long breath he'd been holding in for ages, feeling even his shoulders were somewhat sore.
He planned to rest for a few minutes, letting both his brain, which had been running at high speed all this time, and his fingers that had been gripping the mouse, relax a bit.
However, just as his gaze unconsciously and aimlessly swept across the game screen, all relaxation and casualness instantly vanished, and his movements froze.
He saw, from the deep shadows at the forest's edge, a familiar small figure slowly, almost soundlessly, walk out.
It was that mutated Eevee!
It hadn't left, nor had it rashly approached. It stopped several meters away, quietly standing there, raising its head, gazing at Lance's character for a long time.
Its fur color still appeared incredibly dull and gray, but those eyes no longer held the pain and chaos from before. They had become exceptionally clear and calm, with a complex, indescribable emotion interwoven within them.
It was as if, after going through an immense inner struggle, it had finally made some tremendously important decision.
It stood there, silently declaring its choice.
It seemed... to be planning to follow Lance?
Eevee walked toward Lance step by step, finally stopping beside him.
Only then did Lance notice that its fur color still presented an unhealthy grayish pallor, and though the energy phantoms had calmed, they would still occasionally flicker slightly like a poorly connected light bulb, revealing its internal instability.
"You want to... come with me?"
Lance spoke softly, controlling his character to crouch down.
Eevee nodded, and a prompt immediately popped up before Lance's eyes.
[Eevee has joined your party!]
His heart stirred, remembering something. He moved the mouse and opened the party list, selecting Eevee. Its detailed status window immediately popped up.
[???（Eevee）]
[Type: ???]
[Ability: ???]
[Moves: ???]
A series of question marks didn't surprise Lance. This Eevee was an existence that transcended common sense to begin with. His gaze focused on the "Ability" field, and he frowned.
After brief contemplation, with an experimental mindset, he set Eevee as the party's lead Pokémon and dove into the nearby tall grass.
Soon, as a Rattata emerged, the game also switched to battle screen.
"Eevee, use... hmm, try Quick Attack?" Lance pressed the interaction button and spoke the command. He wanted to see how this energy-chaotic Eevee would respond.
The battle screen unfolded.
Eevee heard the command and moved. Its body was instantly wrapped in a restless energy!
That energy rapidly shifted, and its form flickered madly between regular Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon.
The type tag in the battle information column jumped at a speed nearly impossible for the naked eye to track!
It seemed to desperately want to respond to Lance's command, condensing the Normal-type energy needed for "Quick Attack," but the violent multiple type energies within its body interfered with and clashed against each other, completely unable to stabilize.
In the end, it couldn't release any move at all. It only let out a pained and dejected whimper, its surrounding chaotic energy field suddenly exploded then rapidly contracted, making it look even weaker than before, even beginning to pant slightly.
[Eevee tried to use Quick Attack, but it failed!]
The turn ended, and the opposing Rattata used Tackle. Due to its low level, it only caused a tiny bit of damage to Eevee.
But Lance's heart tightened, and he immediately chose to flee, forcibly exiting the battle.
In the forest, Eevee was recalled by red light, then immediately released again.
It lowered its head, seemingly not daring to look at Lance's character, its small body trembling slightly.
It seemed to be afraid, afraid that its "useless" performance would disappoint this trainer with whom it had just barely established a thread of trust, that he would find it distasteful, would abandon it once again.
Or perhaps... abuse it like that crazed researcher from before.
Lance's heart felt like something had struck it. Seeing Eevee's dejected and fearful appearance, his mind instantly flashed back to the fragmentary records he'd seen earlier in Team Rocket's base server.
And even earlier, the experimental content about that insane researcher discovered in the base: a device used to forcibly activate and control Eevee's form switching.
He immediately understood.
Right! That unnatural form and type switching wasn't power that Eevee itself should have!
That was the result of being forcibly implanted, controlled by external force!
Each switch was probably draining its life force.
So, its inability to stabilize its form in battle wasn't its fault at all. Rather, it was because it had long been tortured into a tattered mess by those cruel experiments.
Its body was instinctively resisting and rejecting that forcibly imposed power that caused it pain!
Lance sighed. He controlled his character to crouch down again. This time, his movements were even gentler.
He canceled all game commands, only having his character extend a virtual hand, hovering above Eevee's head, making a comforting gesture.
He spoke into the microphone, his voice low and firm, as if truly speaking through the screen to that sensitive and wounded Pokémon:
"I know... I understand everything." His tone was full of understanding. "That's not your power, is it? It's that device, it's what the scientist did to you, that makes you suffer so much."
Eevee suddenly raised its head, deep red eyes filled with shock and a trace of barely perceptible fear. It hadn't expected this human before it to actually know these things.
"Don't be afraid, it's all in the past." Lance's voice became even gentler, yet carried an unquestionable promise. "I won't let anyone hurt you with that kind of thing ever again. I also won't look down on you because you can't control this power. Never."
He paused, letting each word be clearly conveyed:
"You've been through many, many painful things. But please believe me, from now on, I'll be by your side."
"Together, we'll find a way to overcome it, okay?"
"Perhaps one day, we can find a method, not relying on that damned device, but relying on the bond between you and me, to let you truly, freely master this power. To let you change forms at will, rather than being tormented by it."
"This will certainly be extremely difficult, but I'll help you, always stay with you. So... don't give up. Let's work hard together, okay?"
On screen, Eevee listened quietly.
The fear and dejection in its eyes gradually dissipated like mist scattered by sunlight.
The words of the human before it, that unreserved acceptance and promise, like a stream of warm spring water, flowed throughout its cold and scarred heart.
Its body stopped trembling, and even its grayish fur seemed to gain a trace of faint luster.
The next moment, it let out an extremely soft, choked-sounding whimper, then suddenly lunged forward, its entire little head buried deeply into Lance's character's embrace, rubbing forcefully, as if wanting to pour all its grievances and the hope it had just gained into this action.
Lance looked at this heartwarming scene on screen, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turning up.
He knew that only at this moment had this Eevee, who had suffered so much, truly and completely entrusted its trust, and even its future, entirely to him.
"Welcome to the team, Eevee."
At the same time, in the real world.
On the system panel before Kairos's eyes, a system notification marked with an exclamation point suddenly popped up, carrying a faint golden glow.
[Congratulations, Host! Important story character 'Lance's' emotion threshold has broken through, current level: Lv.2!]
[Reward: Due to threshold breakthrough, one-time gain of Emotion Points +1000. Hereafter, the Emotion Point gains obtained from this character will return to normal baseline and receive a small increase.]
[Please continue your efforts, Host. Upon the next breakthrough, you will receive a special ability reward related to this character!]
"Oh? Threshold breakthrough?"
Kairos paused slightly, then immediately understood.
"...Must be because of Team Rocket's storyline... Those inhumane experimental records, plus that Eevee's experiences, probably all made him pretty angry."
He rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.
Lance's reaction was completely within his expectations, even better.
This guy was a League officer with a strong sense of justice. Seeing this kind of thing, it would be strange if he didn't get angry.
"Lance is this worked up, looks like the investigation into Team Rocket is about to begin."
Kairos muttered softly, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the desk.
"This way... the danger on Mewtwo's side has decreased quite a bit, though I hope they don't end up making things worse."
His expression became somewhat more serious as he realized a problem.
If the League pushed too hard and pissed off those Team Rocket lunatics, and they got desperate and directly released Mewtwo, that would be big trouble.
Because with Mewtwo's strength, it was absolutely an existence that, at this current stage, all League's powerful trainers would never want to face head-on.
No joke, this kind of Legendary Pokémon could really shatter their Champion and Elite Four dreams with one punch.
So, he needed to find a way, through the game, to slightly "guide" Lance and the League's investigation direction.
He needed to pressure Team Rocket while not directly pushing them into a corner where they'd strike back.
What a pain...
Kairos sighed, feeling like he was playing an extremely complex strategy game, with the entire Pokémon world as his chessboard.
But this was unavoidable after all.
With this thought, his gaze fell on the floating [Invitation Card] on the system panel before him, beginning new contemplation.
Who knows when the next connection with Mewtwo will be established? What's its current situation?
Obviously, all of this was still an unknown. Shaking his head slightly, Kairos temporarily suppressed his thoughts about Mewtwo.
You have to eat one bite at a time, walk one step at a time.
Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Rocket... the content for the first three bases had all been polished. According to the flow, after Cynthia finished with Team Magma and Team Aqua's bases, the next target should be the Gym in "Mossdeep City."
And that Gym Leader's difficulty level, honestly speaking, even in the official original work, wasn't very low... It was the nightmare that countless kids got stuck on.
Not to mention in Pokémon Ultimate Emerald...
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones