Chapter 49: Mauville Gym Battle!

Looking at the prompt message appearing before his eyes, Lance couldn't help but frown.

All these pieces of information lined up far too well. Could there really be such a coincidence in this world?

Could it be... that this Archie really was, as Cynthia had said, the leader of Team Aqua?

After a brief moment of reflection, he finally made his decision.

——Since the facts stood thus, he might as well report all of this to the League and have them send people to continue the investigation.

If they ultimately found clues related to Archie and verified that he might indeed be the leader of Team Aqua, then perhaps their grand plan was real as well!

To have the oceans swallow the entire world...

At this thought, Lance put on a solemn expression, picked up his phone, and prepared to draft and send a text message.

Yet at that very moment, he ran into a dilemma.

——How was he supposed to explain the source of this clue in a text message?

Would he say that he discovered it from a video game?

The superiors would undoubtedly think he was joking...

...

Meanwhile, while Lance was deep in thought, Cynthia—who had been watching a movie with the viewers in her livestream room—opened the game right away.

An update notification immediately popped up before her eyes:

[Version 0.05 has been released! Today's update includes the following:]

[1. Expanded and refined the map of Mauville City and its surrounding areas, the town to the left of Mauville City, and the cycling road tunnel, alongside the addition of the desert area above and Fiery Path map content.]

[2. Unlocked challenges for the Mauville Gym.]

[3. Added emotional rendering effects to the game.]

Cynthia glanced over it briefly and nodded.

Though she didn't fully understand what the final point about "emotional rendering effects" meant, she could easily tell that the scale of this update was massive, adding and unlocking quite a few map areas.

In other words... she would be able to keep playing for a long time to come!

With this thought in mind, Cynthia directly chose to log back into the game.

Crossing the large bridge right before her eyes, she quickly arrived at Mauville City.

In the real-world Hoenn region, Mauville City was an important industrial hub, surrounded by numerous power plants and factories. Nearly half of the electricity in the entire Hoenn region was supplied by Mauville City.

Correspondingly, that city lacked a certain warmth of daily life.

Yet the Mauville City in this game felt somewhat different from the one in her memory.

While several large power plants were indeed situated around the outskirts, the town itself was fully equipped with amenities like a Game Corner, a bike shop, and a Pokémon Center. Along the streets, pedestrians could be seen from time to time walking by with their Pokémon, smiling.

This didn't feel like an industrialized city, but rather like an ordinary, cozy town.

Cynthia headed to the Pokémon Center to restore her party's condition, then pushed open the heavy doors of the Mauville Gym.

No matter which town she reached, prioritizing gym challenges was always her primary goal, as that was the only way to continuously progress through the game!

The interior of the Mauville Gym also caught Cynthia somewhat by surprise. Once inside, the surrounding light was extremely dim, but ahead of her stood several walls made of crackling, intense electrical currents, obstructing the challenger's path.

From the looks of it, with these walls blocking the way, there was simply no way to venture deeper into the gym.

Soon, however, Cynthia noticed a small pedal switch right beside her feet.

When she maneuvered her character to step on it, the current walls before her all shifted in shape, magically creating a pathway forward for her.

Seeing this, she seemed to understand the rules of the Mauville Gym!

Cynthia raised her head to look around and sure enough, she spotted a new pedal button not far away.

However, standing right next to that button was an NPC dressed in golden attire.

This exact scene was repeated in every corner of the Mauville Gym.

It seemed that players wishing to challenge the gym must first defeat these NPCs to gain the authority to operate the pedals.

Through repeated trials and errors, players would eventually be able to figure out a path leading to the Gym Leader through this electric maze!

...

Ten minutes later, Cynthia had thoroughly defeated all the guardian NPCs within the gym. Through repeated adjustments, she navigated past layers of current walls and arrived right before the Gym Leader's platform.

There stood a massive throne crackling with electricity, and at this moment, as Cynthia stepped forward, a figure rose from the seat and walked down.

It was a short, elderly man with white hair and a white beard.

He looked quite advanced in age.

Yet fierce, clear light flashed within his eyes, and every gesture he made carried a confident aura.

This person was none other than the Mauville Gym Leader—Wattson!

This man was also the founder of Mauville City; all the power-generating equipment within Mauville had been constructed by his hands. Across the entire Hoenn region, he could well be considered a legendary figure!

Cynthia had only ever heard legends of this Gym Leader in the past and had never met him in person.

Never had she imagined that their very first meeting... would take place inside a video game.

At this moment, Wattson glanced at her from across the room and burst into hearty laughter, his booming voice echoing throughout the gym:

"You know what? Originally, I wanted to further redevelop Mauville City, but seeing as everyone had already grown accustomed to their lives within the city, I had to channel all my time and vision into the Gym instead, creating that electrical door maze."

"So... how did you manage to get all the way here? You actually cracked my maze?"

"Hahaha, fascinating! There aren't many clever youngsters like you around anymore."

"Well then... I am Wattson, the Gym Leader of Mauville! Let me show you the true power of Electric-type Pokémon!"

A Poké Ball icon flashed across the screen, and amidst inspiring, passionate music, the gym battle was about to begin!

Following the convention of gym battles, Wattson sent out his own lead Pokémon first.

[Go, Raichu!]

Yet the moment she saw the appearance of that Pokémon, Cynthia froze in utter astonishment.

Raichu—the evolved form of Pikachu—she naturally recognized.

Yet why did this Raichu before her look somewhat different from the one in her memory?

While it shared the dark brown fur and plump physique, this Raichu's body was not nearly as massive; instead, its size was somewhat closer to that of a Pikachu.

Not only that, but its ears, fur, and tail were also completely different from those of a normal Raichu...

Why did this Raichu have such an appearance?

Cynthia carefully observed the Pokémon's appearance, and just as she felt a wave of surprise, a prompt displayed on the screen forcefully pulled her thoughts back.

[——Please choose your Pokémon!]

She suddenly remembered that she was in the middle of a gym battle!

Never mind, she would figure it out after winning!

Cynthia swept her gaze across her party and made her choice.

"Ludicolo, I'm counting on you!"