Chapter 150: SHOCKING: Sinnoh Champion Cynthia Has a Boyfriend?!
Mammon. The Hoenn League is looking for Groudon to use against you.
Reading Giovanni's message, Mammon couldn't help but laugh.
"Speak of the devil."
He was absolutely delighted. He'd been wondering where to find Groudon.
So they wanted to use Groudon against his Kyogre — that was the idea. Not a bad plan in principle. In the ancient legends, Kyogre and Groudon really were evenly matched.
But clearly Steven's group had no idea about the Orbs. The Red Orb was sitting in his hands right now. Send Groudon to challenge Primal Kyogre one-on-one?
One Origin Pulse and Groudon would be flat on the ground.
Mammon shook his head with a smile and sent back a thumbs-up emoji.
Fine. He'd wait — wait for Steven's group to wake Groudon up and bring it to him. For now, Groudon was still sleeping, so even Kyogre couldn't sense its location.
But the moment Groudon woke up, as long as neither of them was suppressing their presence, the two of them would find each other just fine.
No rush. Mammon was happily absorbed in retouching the couples photos of him and Cynthia.
"Post to the Hoenn forums first, then push them over to the Sinnoh side. Though Cynthia really is something~"
He admired his work. He should find an opportunity to get Cynthia and Caitlin in a photo together. Though Caitlin would probably not be thrilled.
Meanwhile, in the League holding cells at Lilycove City.
A heavyset young man in prison clothes sat on his bunk staring at nothing, his sullen expression making him look vaguely menacing.
This was Tabitha — one of Team Magma's top executives. After Team Rocket had seized Magma's main base, Tabitha had escaped rather than comply.
He simply could not accept it. In his heart, Team Magma and Lord Maxie were his only allegiance.
He'd been plotting ways to rescue Maxie — until he'd run into May, who had crossed paths with Magma before. One thing led to another.
He'd been beaten and captured, handed directly to Roxanne.
"Tabitha."
A composed voice reached him.
Tabitha turned his head. Steven and Nemona were outside the cell, Roxanne with them.
"Heh heh heh~ Well, well. If it isn't the distinguished Steven Stone himself. Didn't expect you to come see me in person."
Tabitha looked genuinely surprised, and his habitual sly smile crept back.
"I have one question for you. I'd suggest answering honestly."
Steven's handsome face was perfectly calm.
"Sounds important. Though I can't promise I'll tell you anything."
Tabitha leaned back against the wall with the air of someone who had nothing left to lose.
He was already in a cell. What was Steven going to do? Steven Stone wasn't the type to beat up prisoners.
"You'd be wise to cooperate. This concerns the entire Hoenn region." Steven read the indifference on Tabitha's face and let his voice cool slightly.
"And Tabitha — the League may not use physical coercion, but we certainly can arrange where you serve your sentence." Roxanne rapped the cell door, her voice sharp.
Coming from a police officer rather than a Champion, it landed differently.
"Fine. Ask away." Tabitha grumbled.
He had no illusions about what "arranged placement" meant for someone of his build. Hard labor would kill him.
"Team Magma spent years gathering intelligence on Groudon, didn't they?"
Steven's voice was even.
"That's right." Tabitha blinked.
"Do you know where Groudon is sleeping?"
Steven fixed him with a stare.
"You're looking for Groudon too? What for?"
Tabitha studied him, genuinely puzzled. As one of Team Magma's "Three Fires" — one of Maxie's closest lieutenants — Tabitha held a significant rank in the organization.
"That's not your concern. Just answer the question."
Steven said it flatly.
Tabitha's eyes flickered. The cell went quiet.
"So you really do know."
The reaction made it obvious. Tabitha knew something about Groudon's location.
"Heh heh heh~ I do happen to have a few candidate sites where Groudon might be sleeping. But I'm awfully curious, Steven — why exactly are you looking for it?"
That familiar sly laugh again.
"Humor me with a reason?"
"You—!!" Roxanne's patience cracked.
"Kyogre. Kyogre has awakened. I need Groudon to counter it." Steven stopped Roxanne, and decided there was no point concealing it.
Tabitha was a prisoner. It didn't matter.
"Oh?"
Tabitha's brow furrowed hard.
"Didn't Team Aqua get absorbed by Team Rocket? Even Archie joined them." He remembered it clearly.
"Yes. Team Rocket woke Kyogre and caught it." Steven said it directly.
"So Tabitha — tell me what you know. You hate Team Rocket too, don't you?"
"Heh heh heh…" A cold laugh. But his expression had gone genuinely dark.
So Team Rocket had caught Kyogre.
"I don't know Groudon's exact location. But we narrowed it down to a few high-probability sites before everything fell apart. You'll have to do your own searching."
Tabitha's voice dropped low.
He did despise Team Rocket. Despised — or rather, loathed. If not for them, Team Magma would have already achieved their vision for the world.
"That's enough!" Steven's expression lifted.
"And one more thing — if you want to wake Groudon, let alone have it fight Kyogre, you'll also need to find its Orb."
Tabitha continued, sharing everything he knew.
"Its Orb?"
Steven and Nemona exchanged a glance, each finding the same puzzlement in the other's eyes.
"The Red Orb. It's the source of Groudon's true power — for reasons no one fully understands, that power crystallized into a red sphere."
Tabitha explained.
"With the Red Orb, you can channel Groudon's power directly. And only the Red Orb can restore Groudon to its full primordial state — unlocking everything it's capable of."
"Where is the Orb?"
Steven considered this. He hadn't heard about this.
But it was critically important information.
So that transformation Kyogre had undergone — that had been Primal Reversion?
"Based on my research, both the Red Orb and the Blue Orb are in the keeping of an elderly couple on the summit of Mt. Pyre."
Tabitha held nothing back.
"Good. Tabitha — write down those candidate locations for Groudon. If they check out, that's a significant contribution."
Steven noted it down. Mt. Pyre — the Pokémon graveyard. He knew it.
"Just destroy Team Rocket." Tabitha said, flat and quiet.
"Count on it."
Steven and Nemona left without delay.
They wasted no time — Steven was anxious to move. The two of them flew straight to Mt. Pyre on Metagross.
By the time they reached the summit, the sky had gone dark.
But they did find the elderly couple. And through careful questioning, they confirmed — the couple had indeed been keeping the two Orbs.
Steven felt a surge of relief. Finally, some good news —
"…I'm sorry, you said what?"
"A young man came some time ago and said he was collecting the Orbs on behalf of Champion Wallace. We gave them to him to pass along."
At those words, Steven's pupils went wide.
Wallace??
"Is something wrong, dear?" The old woman looked confused.
"I see. Thank you. Please, get some rest." Steven managed a strained smile.
They said their goodbyes to the couple. Steven's brow furrowed deeply the moment they were out of earshot.
"Wallace's name? That doesn't make sense…" Nemona felt something wrong. Why would Wallace want those two Orbs?
"He wouldn't. Wallace doesn't know anything about the Orbs. Someone used his name."
Steven said it with quiet certainty. He had never doubted Wallace for a moment — except when Wallace had once said "you can always trust me," which was precisely when Steven had started to.
Still, to be sure, Steven called him.
"Hello? Steven, what's the word?"
Wallace's voice came through first.
"It went well — Tabitha cooperated. Wallace, did you ever send anyone to Mt. Pyre to collect some Orbs?"
"What Orbs? No, nothing like that."
Wallace answered immediately and naturally.
"Never mind, we'll talk when I'm back."
Steven drew a slow breath and ended the call.
"It was Mammon."
Steven's jaw tightened. His first thought, without hesitation.
Team Magma had been absorbed by Team Rocket. Even Maxie was in their custody. Of course Team Rocket would have gotten intelligence about the Orbs.
So Mammon had sent someone using Wallace's name, and walked away with both Orbs.
"What do we do now?" Nemona's face crumpled.
"Back to Lilycove. Find Groudon first and figure it out from there." Steven rubbed his temple. Just when there had finally been some good news — they'd arrived too late. Again.
Back in Lilycove City.
Wallace was on the couch, and Leon was next to him, both of them huddled over a phone with furtive looks on their faces.
SHOCKING: Sinnoh Champion Cynthia Spotted on Apparent DATE with Mystery Man?
That was the post currently on their screens.
"…"
When the photo loaded, Wallace and Leon looked at each other simultaneously and both inhaled sharply.
Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
In the photo, Cynthia was wearing an off-shoulder bodycon dress, a black thigh garter on her left leg, breathtakingly gorgeous. Her pretty face was lightly flushed, her eyes soft with something like shy warmth, as she rose on her toes — lips freshly glossed — and pressed a gentle kiss to the cheek of the young man beside her.
Was that — was that actually Cynthia?!
Wallace was completely stunned. He stared at the photo on his phone screen, then looked up at Cynthia herself, sitting not far away turning the pages of some ancient text.
"Champion Cynthia really is stunning."
Leon murmured it quietly and sincerely — purely an aesthetic observation. For Leon, women were a distraction from Pokémon battles. The great battler had no need for romance; women were nothing but interference. But an appreciation for beauty? That, he had.
"The thing is — that's Mammon." Wallace looked at Cynthia with pure sympathy.
That guy — forcing Wallace himself into a dress was bad enough — but now he'd strong-armed Champion Cynthia into photos like this?
Well. Wallace had jumped to the conclusion that Cynthia had been coerced. Which was, admittedly, accurate.
Mammon really was just evil down to the bone. A natural-born Team Rocket villain if there ever was one.
Wallace scrolled to the comments. Already thousands in such a short time, naturally. This couples photo set was going to spread across the internet at terrifying speed.
Cynthia's reputation…
Wallace paused and reflected that he should be grateful. At least Mammon had no interest in men — no interest in a cross-dressed Wallace.
Because if it had been him in couples photos with Mammon instead, he would have had to throw himself in a river.
Posing with Steven was one thing. Couples photos with Mammon?
Wallace would sooner die.
(End of chapter)
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