Cynthia looked slightly surprised: "You actually managed to investigate everything at once. Is this the power of those two abilities of yours?"
"It's nothing much. Aura Power determines the attribute of that power within Lugia, while the Power of Viridian checks the condition inside Little Lugia. Then I can deduce the result just like that." Ash scratched his head a bit sheepishly and said.
The battle didn't manage to surprise Cynthia, but it's these additional matters that kept surprising her.
But such amazement doesn't really mean much. The more important thing now is to stabilize Little Lugia's condition.
"Do you have a solution?" Cynthia's beautiful eyes showed a hopeful look. Originally, she just wanted Ash to temporarily hold onto Little Lugia while she searched the ancient ruins outside for a method to restore Little Lugia.
But after Ash displayed the miraculous Power of Viridian, Cynthia gained a little hope. Perhaps the Power of Viridian could help Little Lugia recover?
"We can only try to find out. I need to restore my power first, let it return to peak state. At least by tomorrow morning." Ash said with slight uncertainty.
Whether or not it will succeed remains to be seen, but at the very least, his power needs to recover first.
The damage from the earlier battle was not minor. He might look fine now, but if someone else suffered even half his injuries, they'd struggle to stay conscious, let alone stand up.
Even with his recovery ability, it will take until at least tomorrow to fully recover. For safety's sake, any experimental attempts should wait until then. Little Lugia's body is already in a bad state. If an experiment worsens it, that would be big trouble.
"By the way, what's up with this Little Lugia? Why is it here with Miss Cynthia?" After making plans for the next day, Misty curiously asked this question.
Why does Cynthia have Little Lugia? And does the Sea God have offspring? They haven't heard of this before!
Cynthia took out the black-and-gold Pokeball and returned Little Lugia to it, then sighed and said, "The matter with Little Lugia is a series of coincidences, actually related to Team Rocket..."
Hearing this, the three of them looked at each other. Team Rocket now is just a flickering candle in the wind, on the brink of collapse. Do they still have the ability to reduce Lugia to this state?
Once they settled on the sofa, Cynthia began to narrate to them the whole story.
The story starts with Cynthia's trip to the Kanto Region. On the way, she passed by the Orange Archipelago and accidentally discovered traces of Team Galactic. So she secretly investigated and was surprised to find out that Team Galactic was planning to capture the Johto God, Sea God Lugia.
They hadn't found Lugia, but somehow they had procured a Little Lugia. According to Cynthia's intelligence, this Little Lugia was likely the offspring of the current Sea God. Team Galactic planned to use this Little Lugia as bait to lure out the real Sea God.
It's astonishing they even mustered the courage. Catching the Sea God's offspring already seems implausible. Are Sea God's children this easy to catch?
Cynthia followed Team Galactic's people all the way to their base and truly discovered Little Lugia's existence!
Team Galactic wasn't bluffing. Even if Little Lugia isn't the Sea God's offspring, it's definitely part of the Lugia species. That's enough for the Sea God to act.
Ultimately, it was unsurprising that Cynthia single-handedly dismantled the base and rescued Little Lugia.
But Little Lugia, unbeknownst to all, had undergone some manipulation by Team Galactic, causing its body to turn completely black. Even after being rescued, it displayed a painful expression, clearly suffering.
Cynthia questioned several high-ranking members of Team Galactic's base, who expressed ignorance about Little Lugia's situation, attributing it to the work of a new researcher in their ranks.
As for the whereabouts of that researcher... when the base was invaded, the researcher happened to be outside, and given that he had the base's surveillance visuals, he's likely seen what's happening and has fled.
Cynthia waited there for an entire half-day but didn't manage to find that researcher, so she decided to bring Little Lugia to the Kanto League. As for those Team Galactic members she caught, she informed the official personnel from both the Kanto and Johto Leagues to have them apprehended.
After bringing Little Lugia back to the Kanto League, they called in the best doctors they could find and the best medical equipment to treat Little Lugia, but it was to no avail. They couldn't even relieve Little Lugia's symptoms.
They could only watch as Little Lugia's Life Force endlessly faded away.
Eventually, the League identified an emergency response—using a Pokeball.
The Johto League found an Iron Master in Azalea Town and asked him to craft a Pokeball based on Lugia's condition. It could stabilize Lugia's Life Force and suppress the weird Dark Type power within.
Thanks to the Pokeball crafted by the Iron Master, Lugia's state finally stabilized. But keeping it prolonged is not a solution. They must find a way to resolve it.
Therefore, the Kanto and Johto Leagues decided to entrust Little Lugia to Cynthia, as she was the one who brought it back. They planned to send personnel to the Orange Archipelago to search for the Sea God's whereabouts.
Since Little Lugia appeared in the Orange Archipelago, the Sea God might also be there. If they can find the Sea God and explain the situation, Little Lugia might be saved.
Moreover, the identity of that Team Galactic researcher was investigated. That researcher didn't originally belong to Team Galactic. He was from another organization... Team Rocket!
"So, Little Lugia's condition was caused by a researcher who defected from Team Rocket?" After hearing the whole story, Ash and the others finally understood why Cynthia said this matter involved Team Rocket.
That Team Galactic researcher turned out to be someone from Team Rocket who defected, and Team Galactic just happened to capture Little Lugia... Could it get any more coincidental?
"Speaking of which, what kind of group is Team Galactic? An evil organization in the Kanto Region? I've never heard of this name before." Brock frowned slightly, showing a look of contemplation.
He pondered for a long time but couldn't recall where Team Galactic emerged as an evil organization. The most notorious evil organization in Kanto is, after all, Team Rocket. Any other evil organizations don't even make the cut.
And with a name as grand as Team Galactic, it doesn't sound like some insignificant group. Where did it come from?
"They are the most famous evil organization in the Sinnoh Region. Their leader's identity remains unknown, and they operate in extreme secrecy. Even Sinnoh League's intelligence knows very little about them. It's an organization that contrasts starkly with the high-profile nature of Team Rocket."
"However, this organization is no smaller in scale than Team Rocket. They have influence all over the world. With Team Rocket's disbandment in the Kanto Region, Team Galactic is constantly recruiting former Rocket members, making their organization even larger."
Upon hearing this, Ash and his friends looked at each other. It sounds like... disbanding Team Rocket inadvertently strengthened another evil organization?
And this organization is even more low-profile and uncontrollable than Team Rocket.
It's as if they've... unintentionally made things worse!