As Cynthia pondered, her mind couldn't help but drift back to the moment when Sceptile had undergone its Mega Evolution.
That scene had been absolutely breathtaking, so much so that she could still vividly picture that emerald-green silhouette in her mind.
To be honest, when Sceptile had evolved back then, she'd sensed an incredibly familiar aura about it.
This was the kind of presence she often noticed in Dragon-type Pokémon... Plus, after Sceptile's evolution, those intricate scales covering its body and that elongated tail...
So did Sceptile's Mega Evolution grant it an additional Dragon typing?
The possibility was pretty high, and if that were true, it might not actually be such a great thing...
After all, Dragon typing as a defensive attribute could directly resist the four common basic types: Water, Fire, Grass, and Electric.
But Grass types already resisted Grass, Water, and Electric attacks anyway, so at most this would just help Sceptile deal with its Fire-type weakness.
However, once it gained that additional Dragon typing... it would become vulnerable to Dragon, Ice, and Fairy types that originally posed no threat to Grass types. Ice types would even go from dealing 2x damage to a devastating 4x damage.
On the offensive side, Dragon typing had never been particularly strong either. When attacking, this type only had mutual effectiveness against itself and was actually resisted by Steel types...
So purely from a type matchup perspective, if Sceptile's evolution added Dragon typing, the drawbacks would far outweigh the benefits.
But based on Cynthia's experience, reality might not be so straightforward.
After all, there wasn't a single Dragon-type Pokémon that was a pushover.
They typically boasted incredible base stats and incredibly diverse movesets that could more than make up for their type disadvantages.
She wondered if, assuming this was true, Mega Sceptile would be able to learn Dragon-type moves... or even pick up moves from other types like Dragon Pokémon do to cover their weaknesses.
If that were the case, it'd actually be pretty awesome.
Come to think of it, she had no idea when she'd encounter Steven again in the game to get that Key Stone required for Mega Evolution.
And since Sceptile's Mega Evolution had already proven so dominant, what kind of power level would her Mega Swampert stone unlock?
Plus, since both Swampert and Sceptile, as starter Pokémon, had Mega Evolution forms, the remaining starter, Blaziken, should have Mega Evolution capabilities too, right?
As Cynthia mulled this over, her gaze swept across her game team roster. She decided to pause and take stock of her current team situation.
She currently had 6 Pokémon in her party... her core team was starting to take shape.
Sceptile served as a high-speed mixed attacker, excelling in both physical and special attacks, while Ludicolo and Pelipper formed the classic Rain Dance combo that would be the foundation of her future rain team.
Then there was Rotom, a multi-type special attacker that covered the Electric typing and operated at lower speeds.
Dracovish filled the tank role while having incredible finishing power against mid-speed, high-durability Pokémon.
As for the last one... well, no need to elaborate much on that. The hexagonal warrior, the walking power bank, the invincible cheat code - Victini.
Somehow, in a team where each member had their own specialty, Victini's presence felt a bit out of place.
At this thought, Cynthia couldn't help but rub her forehead helplessly. Mythical Pokémon really were born with an insurmountable gap between them and ordinary Pokémon...
But speaking of which...
Since even Mythical Pokémon were performing this impressively in the game, she was genuinely curious about what it would be like if she could actually catch some Legendary Pokémon.
Even Cynthia felt a hint of anticipation building in her heart.
After reviewing her team, she'd made up her mind about the direction moving forward - she'd avoid catching Pokémon of other types as much as possible and focus on building the rain team she'd originally envisioned.
She hadn't forgotten her initial plan.
So which Pokémon should she choose next to fit into her rain team?
If possible, she wanted to find more Pokémon with the Swift Swim ability or other rain-related abilities.
The thought made Cynthia feel a bit regretful - why didn't Dracovish have Swift Swim?
If it had Swift Swim, imagine how powerful it would be!
Double speed boost combined with Dracovish's "Strong Jaw" double damage and the rain's boost to Water-type moves...
Man, that scenario was almost too beautiful to imagine.
After briefly organizing her team situation and setting her direction for catching future Pokémon, Cynthia continued on her journey.
In the drizzling weather, the path ahead was a maze of complexity, with dense, tall grass stretching before her eyes, interspersed with plenty of trainers who would suddenly challenge her out of nowhere.
Fortunately, she'd stocked up on tons of Repel from the shops in Mauville City before setting out.
Otherwise, all the wild Pokémon popping out of the tall grass along the way would've made progress nearly impossible...
After this experience, Cynthia silently swore to herself that once she had the money, she'd definitely max out her Repel supply at 999. Only then would she feel secure when traveling through wild areas like this...
Oh, and those Revival Herbs from before - if only she could get more of those... that would be amazing.
At this thought, Cynthia suddenly froze.
Right.
If Rare Candy could exist in reality, then items like Repel and Revival Herb might also be introduced into the real world by this game, right?
For a trainer of her caliber, these two items might not be particularly useful.
But for those trainers who regularly ventured into dangerous wild areas or even secret realms, either of these items would be absolute lifesavers!
Though currently, it seemed like Repel only worked to avoid wild Pokémon with lower levels than your own.
But this was just an early-game shop item after all - maybe later there'd be spray items that could repel Pokémon of any level...
Cynthia couldn't help but feel a bit of anticipation for the coming weekend.
She wondered just how extensive this "reward upgrade" the game mentioned would be...
While pondering next week's game rewards, after spending nearly 20 minutes, Cynthia had successfully made it through all the tall grass.
However, the sky around her hadn't cleared up at all - instead, it had grown even more overcast, and the background music in the game had taken on a more ominous tone.
Seeing this scene before her, Cynthia immediately realized what was happening. Based on her experience, some kind of story event was probably about to trigger.
Sure enough, the next moment, a massive building appeared directly in front of her!
The structure stood three to four stories tall, with several huge antenna transceivers mounted on its roof and sides, along with various specialized machines whose purposes Cynthia couldn't even guess.
At the top of this building was a large red and white Poké Ball logo, clearly marking this as an Alliance facility similar to a research institute.
Looking at the building before her, Cynthia somehow felt it looked familiar, as if she'd seen this structure somewhere in her real world...
But just as she was contemplating this, she suddenly noticed a suspension bridge on the building's right side - apparently the only route toward Verdanturf City.
However, at this moment, dozens of people in dark blue uniforms were stationed in formation on the other end of the bridge, blocking the path completely.
The instant she saw this group, Cynthia's brow furrowed.
Because she'd seen these uniforms before - at the Oceanic Museum in Slateport City, these people were clearly Team Aqua members!
Why were they here?
Back at Meteor Falls, Team Aqua's leader Archie had made a brief appearance, warning her to think carefully about where she stood before chasing after the Team Magma members.
But at the volcano summit scene, Cynthia definitely hadn't seen Archie... meaning he'd probably used that chaos as cover to do something else...
Could it be related to this massive building in front of her?
The more Cynthia thought about it, the more likely this seemed. She moved her character toward the bridge, and sure enough, several Team Aqua members immediately surrounded her and pushed her back.
["Boss told us! This area's under lockdown! No one passes through."]
One Team Aqua NPC declared.
Another added:
["Until all operations at the Weather Institute are complete, we won't let anyone through here!"]
Reading the prompt before her, Cynthia's attention was immediately drawn to one particular phrase.
— Weather Institute?
She finally realized why that building had looked familiar when she first saw it - because the League had established many such research institutes in every region around the world.
On the surface, these institutions were meant to monitor and track weather changes and natural climate variations worldwide.
But in reality, these facilities also monitored abnormal energy fluctuations within thousands of kilometers, tracked the real-time appearance and disappearance of secret realms, and handled various other anomalous incidents...
During her previous missions, Cynthia had frequently dealt with members of these Weather Institutes to gather intelligence.
But actually going inside one of these facilities... she'd never done that before. She'd only seen a few photos related to them.
So, assuming this so-called Weather Institute in the game was the same as those in the real world.
What was Team Aqua doing attacking a place like this?
Cynthia couldn't help but feel deeply puzzled. Their theft of those advanced submarine blueprints from the museum had already struck her as bizarre...
Now they were coming to a place like this... making Team Aqua leader Archie's intentions even more incomprehensible to her.
But regardless, since this appeared to be an unskippable story segment, she'd go see what the heck Team Aqua was up to.
Opening her bag, Cynthia used a Potion to restore her team's condition a bit... and set Victini as her lead Pokémon before directing her character straight into the Weather Institute.
Contrary to her expectations, she didn't see any Team Aqua members on the first floor. Instead, she spotted three trembling people in white lab coats huddled in the left corner - they appeared to be researchers from the Weather Institute.
Seeing Cynthia's arrival, a red exclamation mark appeared above one woman's head as she hurried forward.
"Are you... a League trainer? Please, I'm begging you to help us! A large group suddenly burst in and sealed off the top floor of the lab, trapping our director. It's been a while now... We don't know what's happened to the director. Please save him!"
"As payment... if you can help us rescue the director, you can take anything from our research storage!"
...
Faced with the woman's request, Cynthia naturally pressed the interaction key without hesitation, choosing to accept.
The woman's face immediately lit up with excitement.
"That's wonderful! Here's the key to the institute's secret passage. Go up the stairs on the left side - it should help you avoid those people. Please be careful!"
Along with her words, a light blue key icon and a line of text appeared before Cynthia.
[Congratulations! You obtained the special item "Weather Institute Access Key"]
Without any delay, she followed the woman's directions, used the key to open the hidden staircase on the left, and headed straight up, quickly reaching the institute's top floor.
When Cynthia pushed open the door to enter the top floor, two Team Aqua members immediately noticed her, one on each side, and surrounded her to issue a challenge.
["Where'd this little brat come from? This isn't a place for you!"]
["Anyone who dares interfere with Team Aqua's operations has only one fate!"]
As countless Poké Balls flashed across the screen and stirring music began to play, Cynthia entered the familiar battle interface.
However, unlike all her previous battles, when this match began, the two opponents each sent out a Tentacruel and a Sharpedo, respectively, with both appearing on the battlefield simultaneously.
Cynthia immediately realized what was happening - this was a Double Battle!
She couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.
She'd thought the battle format in Pokémon Emerald was fixed.
But it looked like this game had 2v2 battles in addition to the standard 1v1 format!