Looking at those two notification lines, Iono was clearly still pretty dazed.
Honestly, she was completely confused right now.
Ampharos ga Stone? What the heck was that?
—What did it an by "can unleash special effects in battle"?
Obviously, she'd never heard of anything like this before.
But based on the ga's description, this had to be so kind of exclusive held item for Ampharos, right?
Or maybe it was so kind of consumable that could provide instant buffs during battle?
Whatever. Since it was sothing Ampharos could use, she'd hold onto it for now.
Once her Flaaffy evolved into Ampharos and tried it on, she'd know exactly what it did, right?
With that thought, Iono shook her head slightly.
Her reason for helping this NPC wasn't for the reward in the first place. Even if he gave her nothing, she would've done it willingly.
After all, who could bear not to help a father desperately searching for his missing daughter?
anwhile, in Viridian City.
Kairos, exhausted from creating today's ga content, collapsed onto his bed.
Litwick hadn't returned yet—seed like it was having a blast outside...
Since it wasn't midnight yet and he couldn't fall asleep, he figured he'd grab his phone, open Iono's stream, and see how far this Gym Leader had progressed in the ga.
But as soon as he clicked in, he witnessed the mont she obtained the Ampharos ga Stone.
This left Kairos sowhat surprised.
Since people in this world hadn't developed Pokémon research very extensively, they naturally had no idea that ga Evolution existed.
So Kairos had made so preparations and contingencies in the ga. Not only would he later arrange various ga Evolution stones in hidden item caches across different regions, but when creating Rustboro City's content, he'd placed a small house in the lower left corner and added an NPC searching for his daughter.
As long as players were willing to pay to help him, and the amount exceeded ¥10,000, they could obtain a ga Stone for any ga-capable Pokémon in their party.
If there were no ga Evolution-capable Pokémon in the party, they'd get a random stone.
On the surface, ¥10,000 for a ga Evolution stone seed like an absolute steal, but actually triggering this reward was quite challenging.
Because it tested the player's compassion and kindness.
Earning that much money in the early ga wasn't easy at all. Even soone like Iono, who turned Rustboro City upside down, only made around ¥10,000.
Keep in mind, for players, this was all one-ti inco!
Without this money, entering the next area without being able to buy healing items, status cures, and various tools would make the road ahead incredibly difficult and nearly impossible.
So very few people would be willing to give away so much money in this situation to help an in-ga NPC.
But clearly, Iono had done exactly that!
And her kindness earned her the reward she deserved.
You could call it good karma, right?
A slight smile crept across Kairos's lips. He had to admit, he was really looking forward to Iono's reaction when she first successfully ga Evolved her Ampharos.
But to complete ga Evolution, just having the evolution stone obviously wasn't enough—she'd also need another crucial item called a "Key Stone."
Only by combining both could the ga Stone unleash its mysterious bond power, allowing Pokémon to achieve ga Evolution.
—When should he arrange for her to get that item?
Kairos fell into thought.
anwhile, on the Psyduck platform, Cynthia's stream went live again.
She sat in front of the screen, her expression serious.
Today was supposed to be a rest day, but this afternoon, so high-danger anomalous disturbances occurred in the Sinnoh region's mystery zones, and she had no choice but to help out.
After resolving that situation, most of the day was already gone.
Tomorrow there might be another mission, so tonight she had to make the most of her ti and push her ga progress as far as possible.
Cynthia took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
While there was no doubt that, with her champion-level battle understanding, she should be among the top players progress-wise.
But as Erald videos and various news spread online, more and more players were buying the ga. Among these players, there would definitely be those types who'd sit in front of their computer screens 24/7, practically wanting to dive headfirst into the ga...
Compared to them, she had way too little available playti...
If the recent incidents didn't absolutely require her intervention, she'd almost consider requesting a few days of leave from the League.
Forget it, better make every minute and second count.
With that thought, her ga successfully launched, and a flood of viewers poured into her stream.
[Cynthia, breaking news! That Iono strear next door spent forever collecting items in Rustboro City and made over ¥20,000 in one go!]
[Bold move, actually telling the Champion to go dumpster diving!]
[What's wrong with dumpster diving? Today on Battle Road, there was even a mysterious strear using trash-throwing strategies, going 15-0 with a zero-spend team. Do you understand the value of dumpster diving?]
Cynthia glanced at the chat, sowhat puzzled.
Battle Road? Zero-spend strear?
Trash-throwing strategies?
Whatever. Ever since Erald ca out, Battle Road hadn't been that important anyway.
She didn't even feel like logging in anymore...
However, she did pick up so useful information from these comnts.
Naly, each city area would have so hidden items to collect, or NPCs who'd give rewards after talking with them.
She was rushing to catch up on progress now and had already boarded Old Man Hachi's boat, so going back to Rustboro City was definitely out of the question.
She'd just have to keep an eye out for any items around her during future travels.
Actively searching for them was off the table, though.
While thinking this over, Cynthia suddenly noticed her screen had gone black.
In its place was a video cutscene.
This ti it wasn't pixel art, but high-definition, high-frarate, flawless video quality—like a movie!
—Under clear skies, a vast, endless ocean sparkled with white-capped waves.
A small boat leisurely sailed across the waves. In the sky above, countless blue and white Wingull danced joyfully, occasionally diving to the surface to snatch fresh fish.
Tentacool drifted with the current. A few Goldeen leaped from the water, creating splashes.
The gentle, soothing music combined with the dreamlike visuals even made Cynthia feel montarily entranced.
She could practically feel the sea breeze blowing against her face...
After several seconds, the scene faded. The in-ga boat docked at a pier, and she slowly ca back to her senses.
That was... a ga cutscene?!
That quality... those effects...
For a mont there, she actually felt like she was really out on the ocean!
As Cynthia sat there amazed, her stream chat naturally exploded.
[Holy crap, what kind of quality is this?! That was just a transition cutscene?!]
[Watching that made feel like I was actually on a boat]
[Today I finally understand what it ans when they say "the budget is on fire." That scene probably cost at least ¥1 million to make, right?]
[If you can make transition CGs look this good, why even bother with gas? Just go make movies! With visuals like that, I'd watch it even if you served up the most ridiculous plot!]
As a stream of comnts flew by, Cynthia gradually snapped back to reality. She thought she'd already understood and ntally prepared for this ga's quality level.
But every ti this ga showed sothing new, it still managed to surprise her!
With that realization, she shook her head slightly.
According to the in-ga story, Cynthia had helped an old man nad Hachi in a tunnel above Rustboro City, rescuing his Wingull from Team Aqua mbers, earning his offer of free ferry transport to Dewford Town.
And now, after disembarking from Hachi's boat, Dewford Town's scenery ca into view.
This was a small island town in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by water on all sides.
The sound of the sea breezes, rhythmic electronic music, combined with so quaint, traditional-style buildings on the island—just standing here looking at these sights seed enjoyable in itself.
The town's buildings and surrounding scenery were once again beautifully crafted, but after that cinema-quality cutscene, these visuals seed almost ordinary in comparison.
Cynthia didn't waste ti and directly opened the map, locating the town's gym—the second gym she needed to challenge according to the storyline: Dewford Gym.
The battles along the way had leveled all her Pokémon to 19, and Lotad had successfully evolved into Lombre, bringing her one step closer to its final form, Ludicolo.
She just didn't know where she'd find the "Water Stone" needed to evolve Lombre again.
Speaking of which, considering the previous gym's difficulty level, Cynthia didn't expect to win on her first attempt, so this gym challenge was more about gauging the Gym Leader's situation.
At the very least, she needed to understand their first Pokémon's information to formulate appropriate tactics for future challenges.
But when Cynthia arrived at the gym entrance, she found a young man in fighting gear standing at the door, directly blocking her path.
"You're here to challenge the gym, right? Our Leader went to train in Granite Cave, so please co back later!"
"Of course, you could go directly to Granite Cave to find him, but Granite Cave is full of dangerous Pokémon and pitch black inside. If you don't have the skills, I'd suggest you just wait it out."
After speaking, the man returned to his position in front of the door and said nothing more.
"Granite Cave...?"
Cynthia muttered, checking the map to find that there was indeed a large black shadow on this island.
This cave was even bigger than Dewford Town itself.
So, according to the storyline, she'd need to explore this cave and find the Dewford Gym Leader before she could have her gym battle.
Recalling what the man had said about the cave's conditions, Cynthia thought it over and decided to first look around town to see if she could find any useful items.
And so, after checking various rooms around town, she actually found several useful items, including a held item called a "Focus Band."
Effect: When the Pokémon holding it takes fatal damage, there's a small chance it will hang on with 1 HP.
Seeing this item, Cynthia's expression was honestly a bit complex.
This thing's effect looked kind of familiar...
—Wasn't this basically a clutch survival chanism?!
But considering the potential difficulty of upcoming battles, a clutch save at a critical mont could definitely turn the tide...
So this held item should still be pretty useful.
She equipped it on her team's strongest damage dealer—Stufful.
The other items were pink Hyper Potions that could restore 200 HP to a Pokémon in one use, Escape Ropes for quickly leaving caves, and various colored shards and Star Pieces.
Cynthia didn't know what the latter two did, but when she visited the shop, she found they sold for decent prices, so she sold half of them.
With that money, she bought so status condition cures and healing items from the shop, then entered Granite Cave north of Dewford Town.
Granite Cave seed quite expansive inside, and from the second floor onward, Cynthia was greeted by total darkness.
Her character could only explore the surrounding terrain and environnt within a tiny visible circle of light, trying to find the correct path.
During this process, every few steps would trigger wild Pokémon encounters—Zubat, or perhaps Sandshrew and Geodude.
Based on her years of field mission experience, these were indeed common Pokémon that would appear in cave environnts.
This detail further convinced Cynthia that the ga's creator must be soone with a deep understanding of all Pokémon habits.
While thinking this over, after wandering the second floor for a while, she suddenly encountered soone in a red uniform.
The mont she saw that person clearly, Cynthia frowned.
—That distinctive red "R symbol"—she'd recognize it even if it were burned to ash!
This was Team Rocket's logo!!
This ga's creator actually dared to make Team Rocket into NPCs?!
Wasn't he afraid that the real Team Rocket... would co looking for trouble?
But then she reconsidered.
Right—even she couldn't trace this ga creator's identity... Team Rocket probably couldn't do anything about him either.
But regardless, this behavior proved that this ga's creator had serious confidence.
Otherwise, how would he dare use the world's largest criminal organization's image in his own ga?
As Cynthia pondered this, the Team Rocket mber before her had already initiated a challenge!
[Where'd this kid co from? This isn't a place for you!]
A Poké Ball's light flashed, and a Zubat appeared before Cynthia's eyes!
A lightning bolt icon swept across the screen, and battle erupted instantly!
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