Just as Cynthia expected, the moment the call connected, Lance’s unmistakably deep, forceful voice came through the phone—already in the middle of complaining.
“Damn it, Cynthia.
We lost the trail to another Team Rocket base.”
“These people are unbelievably slippery.
Every lead we get seems to put us one step behind them.
By the time I arrive, they’ve already cleared out completely.
Same thing happened this time—we caught nobody.”
“I’m starting to wonder if they have someone inside the League feeding them information.”
On the other end of the call, Lance leaned back in the swivel chair behind his desk, frustration plainly visible on his face.
Things had not been going well lately.
Making no progress against Team Rocket was irritating enough, but according to classified League intelligence, another organization calling itself Team Aqua had quietly begun taking shape in Hoenn.
It was nowhere near Team Rocket’s size yet, but it was growing in the shadows all the same.
Sooner or later, Lance would have to deal with that problem too.
If Team Aqua was allowed to expand unchecked, it could eventually spread beyond Hoenn and into Kanto.
Unfortunately, the League knew almost nothing about them.
Exactly like Team Rocket.
So yes, Lance had been under a considerable amount of pressure.
After unloading everything in one long burst, he finally sighed and changed the subject.
“What about your search?
Any progress lately?”
“I’ve still been asking around about that creature you’re looking for, but it’s the same as before.
Nothing.”
…
After saying that, Lance’s expression became a little strange.
Cynthia had spent practically her entire life searching for the mysterious being from her childhood memories.
And after all these years…
Still nothing.
At this point, Lance genuinely could not decide which was harder to track down: Team Rocket, or whatever Cynthia had been searching for.
Actually…
Probably Cynthia’s mystery.
At least Lance believed Team Rocket existed.
He still was not entirely convinced that the being Cynthia remembered had ever been real.
Yet she had continued searching for ten years anyway.
If nothing else, her determination was impressive.
Then Cynthia answered.
“Thank you.
I’ve found a new lead.”
Lance nodded absently.
“Yeah, don’t mention it.
I’m sure eventually—”
He stopped.
“Wait.”
Lance abruptly sat forward.
“What did you just say?”
Cynthia continued calmly.
“It’s complicated, but I think you’ll be interested too.”
“Because I didn’t only find a lead on what I’ve been searching for.”
“I also found information connected to Team Rocket.”
Lance immediately became alert.
“What?”
“It’s a long story.
The short version is that yesterday, while sheltering from the rain, I accidentally found an internet café.”
Cynthia paused.
“Everything about that place was beyond anything I expected.”
“I played a game there and encountered many things I had never seen before.
Team Rocket appeared in it as well.
I haven’t progressed far enough to uncover much more about them yet, but whoever created that game must know something.”
The explanation left Lance staring blankly ahead.
An internet café?
A game?
Team Rocket?
His brow furrowed.
“Cynthia, if that’s all you have, then it doesn’t prove the game contains any real intelligence on Team Rocket.”
“At the end of the day, it’s still just a game.”
Team Rocket’s existence was officially classified, but rumors had leaked over the years simply because the organization operated across so many regions.
At most, this proved that whoever developed the game had heard about Team Rocket.
Even as Lance finished speaking, however, something felt off.
Cynthia was usually one of the most levelheaded people he knew.
Why was she calling him with something like this?
Was she actually joking?
Then Cynthia spoke again, her voice completely serious.
“When my session ended, the computer told me I had received an ability that allowed me to read ancient languages.
At the time, I thought exactly what you just said—it was only a game, so I didn’t take it seriously.”
“But that night, I discovered I could read every ancient tablet and text in my home.”
“The café can also transport me instantly between Mount Coronet and my villa.
Even Caitlin couldn’t move someone across that kind of distance so effortlessly.”
Lance went still.
Cynthia sounded completely serious.
But understanding unknown ancient languages?
Instantly traveling thousands of kilometers?
How was he supposed to believe that?
Cynthia continued before he could respond.
“There are other things too.
Ultra Wormholes.
Ultra Beasts.
And…
Team Aqua.”
Lance shot out of his chair.
“What did you say?”
Team Rocket was one thing.
Team Aqua was different.
He had received the first top-secret report about the newly emerging organization only that afternoon.
The report confirmed that a group calling itself Team Aqua had begun forming in Hoenn.
Among the League’s senior enforcement leadership, fewer than three people besides Lance himself had even seen that information.
Yet Cynthia was telling him she had encountered Team Aqua in a video game yesterday.
Combined with everything else she had described…
Lance began pacing around his office.
Coincidence?
Or…
After several moments, he stopped.
There was no point sitting here waiting for the League to hand him another dead-end report.
He might as well see this internet café for himself.
“All right.
I’m going.”
“I’ll send you the location now.”
Cynthia ended the call.
A moment later, Lance’s phone lit up with a message containing a set of coordinates.
He glanced at the location and scratched his head.
Sinnoh.
That was a long trip.
And these coordinates…
why did they seem to be in the middle of a mountain range?
Lance stared at them for another second before putting away his phone.
Whatever.
He would head there first and ask Cynthia if necessary.
It was supposed to be an internet café.
Surely nobody would actually open one halfway up a mountain.
…
At Cynthia’s villa near Undella Bay, she lowered her phone.
She wondered what expression Lance would make when he finally saw where the café was located.
Even Cynthia had been shocked the first time.
Still, Lance had Dragonite, and Dragonite was considerably faster in long-distance flight than Garchomp.
Reaching Mount Coronet would not be too difficult for him.
With that settled, Cynthia headed further into the villa with Garchomp.
“Glace!”
The moment she opened the door, a wave of cold air brushed against her.
A sleek blue figure padded over and affectionately rubbed against her leg.
“Glaceon?
You didn’t go out to the yard today.
Too warm outside?”
Cynthia stroked its head and glanced toward the window.
Summer had arrived, and the weather was becoming noticeably hotter.
“Glace.”
Glaceon nodded before returning to the living-room sofa and stretching out comfortably.
A moment later, a green figure approached from farther inside the house.
Roserade stopped in front of Cynthia and raised its red-and-blue bouquet-like hands in greeting.
“Roserade!”
“Good morning, Roserade.”
Cynthia smiled.
Then she suddenly remembered something.
She reached into her bag and took out the blue-wrapped candy she had received from the café.
“Roserade, I brought this back for you.”
“Roserade?”
Roserade leaned closer and sniffed the faint scent escaping through the wrapper.
At first, it did not seem particularly interested.
Cynthia was not surprised.
Roserade had been with her long enough to sample almost every kind of sweet imaginable.
Even expensive desserts specially prepared for Pokémon by professional nutritionists rarely impressed it anymore.
A completely ordinary-looking piece of candy was hardly likely to excite it.
Then the leaves on Roserade’s head suddenly trembled.
As though it had sensed something unusual.
Roserade accepted the candy from Cynthia, carefully peeled away the wrapper with a vine, and divided it neatly in half.
Then it ate one piece.
Cynthia was still watching curiously when a powerful aura suddenly erupted from Roserade’s body.
Green leaves swirled through the air around it.
Glittering motes of light scattered across the room as Roserade’s presence grew stronger and stronger.
Cynthia immediately recognized what was happening.
A Pokémon naturally gave off this sort of change when its fundamental strength increased.
Garchomp had shown something similar that morning after drinking the beverage Felix gave it.
But compared with this…
Garchomp’s reaction had been mild.
Cynthia stared at Roserade as its aura continued climbing.
Roserade had joined her team later than most of her partners.
It had only reached Champion-level strength sometime around the previous year, and although constant training had continued to improve its abilities since then, Cynthia would have placed it somewhere around the middle of the Champion tier.
Now…
Judging from the pressure Roserade was giving off, it was rapidly approaching the upper end of that level.
Half a piece of candy had done that?
Even Glaceon, still lounging on the sofa, noticed the change.
It sat upright, ears pricked forward, and stared at Roserade in confusion.
Garchomp had come home slightly stronger earlier that day, but that was understandable.
Garchomp had always been the undisputed ace of Cynthia’s team.
But Roserade?
It had eaten half a piece of candy and suddenly become that much stronger?
Glaceon studied Roserade’s aura more carefully.
Then its expression changed.
‘Wait.’
‘Is Roserade…
stronger than me now?’
That could not be right.
As one of the strongest members of Cynthia’s team, Glaceon suddenly felt its position under serious threat!
“Glace!
Glace!”
It jumped down from the sofa and immediately protested.
That was unfair!
It wanted some too!
Roserade regarded Glaceon with perfect composure.
Then, with almost exaggerated elegance, it lifted the remaining half of the Rare Candy with one vine and slowly held it out.
Glaceon’s eyes brightened.
It reached forward with one paw.
At the last possible moment, Roserade gave Glaceon a meaningful sideways glance, smoothly pulled the candy back, and popped it straight into its own mouth.
“Roserade~”
Glaceon froze.
BOOM!
Roserade’s aura surged again!