"The problem isn't that, right? What are these?" Misty asked in confusion.
The rocky slope gradually crumbled away, revealing before Ash and his group what appeared to be ruins from a super-ancient civilization. On the stone platform ahead sat a peculiar bronze bell, as if it had once been used to worship a deity from that ancient era.
"It looks like ruins from some period of a super-ancient civilization."
Brock analyzed, stepping forward and brushing aside the rubble that had fallen onto the small stone platform. There, he discovered a relic item—entirely golden with dark stripes, and in its center was a blue socket, seemingly meant to be unlocked using some kind of object.
"So beautiful~" Misty exclaimed in surprise.
"Could it be… we found treasure?" Ash said, slightly excited.
Just as the three were about to discuss how to deal with the relic, a delicate hand wearing a white glove suddenly snatched it from Brock.
All three turned in shock toward the sudden appearance of a blue-haired woman with short hair. Dressed in an archaeologist's uniform, she ignored their surprise and excitedly examined the item with a magnifying glass.
"This… there's no mistake!" the woman said excitedly. Ignoring the awkward looks from Ash and Misty, she waved for her archaeological team to come over.
"Leader, it's the Golden Eye!"
As for Brock, he had already fallen to his knees before the woman's beauty, blushing foolishly and unable to say a word.
"So you finally found it? Well done!"
The team leader walked over, took the Golden Eye from the woman's hands, and praised her.
Seeing this, Brock immediately rushed forward, hoping to earn some praise—and maybe get the short-haired woman's contact information.
"I was the first one to find it! My name is Brock. Today is an auspicious day, so how about we—"
Before Brock could finish, the woman excitedly grabbed his hand. Without waiting for his bashful reaction, she shook it vigorously and thanked him enthusiastically.
"Thank you so much! My name is Eve. Nice to meet you!"
With that, Eve decisively turned away and rejoined her archaeological team, sharing her joy and completely ignoring Brock, who had wanted to express his feelings.
But Brock wasn't dissatisfied at all. Instead, he kept savoring the handshake, his face still flushed red.
"I didn't expect to find it so quickly—I can't believe it!" Eve said excitedly.
"Good work, Doctor. This basically proves your hypothesis," the team leader celebrated.
"Let's move the camp here. I want to thoroughly investigate this area," Eve suggested.
"Hahaha, I've already arranged everything."
The leader pointed to the nearby camp that had just been set up, along with the vehicle meant to store relics and serve as Eve's living quarters.
"I smell it, I smell it—I smell money!" Jessie said.
Today happened to be a rare day when Red wasn't around. Although they fondly reminisced about their pleasant vacation time, Team Rocket still chose to return to their old line of work to show results.
At the moment, they were hiding in a patch of grass above, observing Ash and the others with binoculars.
Originally, their target had been Ash's Pikachu, but now they had gained new information—that this place contained priceless relics from a super-ancient civilization.
For the sake of getting rich, repaying debts, and even buying one or two vacation islands, Team Rocket had no reason to miss this opportunity.
...
Meanwhile, on Red's side—
With the boost from the Competitive Ability, Milotic's Special Attack had significantly increased. The continuous waves of Water Pulse made it hard for Sylveon to handle, forcing it to leap frantically across the rocks in the stream to dodge the attacks.
(Is this guy really taking the battle this seriously?!)
Even while panicking, Sylveon couldn't help but complain internally. It almost got hit by an incoming Water Pulse, but managed to react just in time and narrowly avoided it.
However, during that brief lapse, Milotic seized the opportunity. It suddenly released a chilling breath from its mouth and followed up with Ice Beam, striking Sylveon's front leg and instantly freezing it.
(This is bad!)
Realizing its mobility had been restricted, Sylveon immediately sensed danger.
Suddenly, a large volume of water in the stream was manipulated by Milotic, forming a massive wave. Milotic leaped into the air, stepping atop the wave, and launched Surf toward Sylveon.
Seeing the approving look from Red, the anxious Sylveon quickly regained its composure.
Sylveon spat out scorching Mystical Fire, melting the ice on its front leg. Then it unleashed Moonblast.
A crescent-shaped image appeared above Sylveon, and a condensed pink sphere of energy formed before it. The Moonblast collided head-on with the incoming wave.
Unfortunately, after weakening part of Surf's power, Moonblast dissipated. Sylveon was then swallowed by the wave, turning into a drenched mess in an instant.
"…"
Sylveon glanced speechlessly at Milotic, then shook its body, trying to dry the water from its fur.
Seeing this, Red silently used his psychic power to separate the water from Sylveon's body, forming it into a sphere that fell to the ground.
After grooming its fur, Sylveon happily leaped into Red's arms, rubbing its face against his chest. It even shot a provocative glance at the victorious Milotic.
"???"
Milotic was completely baffled. It had clearly won—so why didn't it feel happy? Instead, it was being provoked by Sylveon.
"Stop staring. Your training isn't over yet."
From a distance, Thousand-Year Gengar spoke lazily, telling Kadabra and Dratini not to lose focus.
At present, Thousand-Year Gengar was mainly training Kadabra's psychic abilities, since they were its primary method of attack.
Gengar immediately used Psychic, launching a powerful telekinetic assault to drain Kadabra's stamina.
Meanwhile, Dratini was being swept by Gengar's Icy Wind, training its evasion skills.
While training Dratini, Gengar also reminded it to try counterattacking instead of instinctively dodging every time it saw an Ice-type move.
Dratini glanced at Gengar speechlessly. Although it had considered that, Gengar's attacks were anything but restrained, leaving it no chance to counter.
(This guy is clearly venting his anger!)
Dratini thought indignantly.
Kadabra, on the other hand, performed quite well. Its psychic power was already far beyond that of its peers—otherwise, it wouldn't have been abandoned as an outcast.
For a time, even Gengar's Psychic couldn't immediately threaten Kadabra, instead giving it a buffer to gradually adapt.
(His psychic power is seriously abnormal!)
Although Gengar had been holding back somewhat, it hadn't expected Kadabra to adapt to its Psychic so quickly.