Magus
patreon
Chapter 32: Champion Encounter
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 04:14:42 +0000 UTCIt was a tall man with short blue hair, wearing a suit, looking around the cave walls left and right, seemingly searching for something earnestly and carefully.
Cynthia wasn't entirely certain when she first saw him, but the moment she watched him excitedly pick up a round black stone from the wall, she immediately confirmed his identity.
This was none other than the son of the famous Devon Corporation president, Mr. Stone, and also the Champion trainer of the Hoenn region—Steven Stone!
As fellow Champions, she naturally had quite a few interactions with him and clearly knew what his greatest hobby was.
—Minerals!
He often ran off to strange places like this to collect rare minerals.
Steven's Champion title at the League was almost like an honorary position because of his obsession with stones.
Unless there was truly a mission requiring a top-tier trainer, he would step up.
The rest of the time, you basically couldn't find Steven anywhere in the League.
Meanwhile, he might be thousands of kilometers away in some hidden underground cave, looking around left and right—just like now.
As Steven continued approaching, quite a few people in the stream chat recognized him.
【Holy crap, isn't that blue-haired guy Steven??】
【Looks like it really is!! This game even put Champions like him in it??】
【Makes sense, right? He dared to put Team Rocket in, so what's a Champion?】
【Will Cynthia have a chance to see herself?】
【Hard to say, this is the Hoenn region after all...】
As the chat expressed surprise, Steven had already reached Cynthia, with an exclamation mark appearing above his head.
"Oh, there's actually someone else here...?"
"Hello there, young lady. Are you also here looking for minerals?"
That incredibly familiar tone and voice rang in Cynthia's ears, and she couldn't help feeling slightly surprised.
Whether it was Professor Birch she'd encountered before, Gym Leader Roxanne, or even the protagonist's father, Norman, they were all people she'd only heard of but never met in the real world.
In other words, she had no idea what these people would actually be like in reality.
But Steven was completely different!
As fellow Champions, their connection was naturally close.
Moreover, Steven's hobby was somewhat similar to Cynthia's in a way.
—Steven also liked exploring various ancient ruins, but Cynthia did it to collect information on ancient myths, while Steven did it to search for various ancient minerals.
Through such frequent interactions, Cynthia had developed a good understanding of Steven as a person.
As Cynthia felt surprised, Steven, before her, spoke again.
"Oh, by the way... I thought I heard some loud sounds coming from the cave below. Do you know what happened?"
Cynthia thought for a moment, pressed the interaction key, and roughly told Steven what had just happened below.
After hearing this, he immediately looked surprised.
"—Really?!!"
"You encountered a legendary Pokémon???"
"This is no small matter. I need to go back and report to the League."
He looked at Cynthia.
"Of course... don't worry. Since you discovered it, you're qualified to participate in whatever happens next—provided you become stronger..."
"You know, legendary Pokémon... they're all powerful and dangerous, aren't they?"
Listening to these words, Cynthia's expression was somewhat complex.
The person before her was almost identical to the real Steven—polite, confident, and with a crazy love for minerals.
Moreover, whether it was his voice, tone, speech content, or even that pixel character's hair-touching gesture, everything was exactly the same as Steven's!
As Cynthia pondered, Steven's voice rang out again.
"So, could you tell me in detail what that legendary Pokémon looked like?"
Cynthia paused.
"Well, about several dozen meters tall, and its entire body was made of minerals..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Steven Stone froze, and his eyes suddenly burst with a terrifying light!
"That—young lady—I need to hurry and see what's happening below—this thing is for you—I hope you get stronger quickly so we might meet again later—I'm going now!!!"
He threw something at Cynthia, turned around, and ran off without a trace!
That sprint was faster than a train!
Obviously, he seemed very anxious...
But Cynthia completely understood why Steven was so excited that he'd practically swallowed punctuation marks in his speech, speaking without any pauses.
Because few people knew that rare and exotic minerals actually only ranked second in Steven's preferences.
What ranked first were Pokémon whose bodies were made of stone!
For Steven, a legendary Pokémon like Regirock—entirely made of rock and dozens of meters tall—was like flower nectar on Bulbasaur's back to a Heracross, possessing an absolutely fatal attraction.
Speaking of which, with all these details about Steven so perfectly recreated, this game's creator probably understood Steven quite deeply...
So might there be some connection between him and the real Steven?
As she pondered, a notification suddenly popped up before Cynthia.
【Item: "Water Stone" has been placed in your bag.】
Cynthia immediately froze upon seeing this.
Water Stone?!
Wasn't this exactly the item needed for Lombre to evolve into Ludicolo?
Seeing this, the stream viewers were also amazed.
【Holy crap, giving exactly what you need? Steven's such a good guy!!】
【Meeting face-to-face and directly giving an evolution stone? Geez, poverty really does limit my imagination】
【Of course, Steven's famously on the wealth rankings. Did you think the title "Young Master Stone" was a joke?】
【I'm dying. The moment he heard about Regirock below, he ran faster than a ghost. He really does love rocks...】
【Evolve quickly, evolve quickly! I can't wait to see the pineapple kappa!】
Cynthia thought it over and decided to leave the cave before letting Lombre evolve.
After all, this wasn't a suitable place for evolution.
With that thought, she took out the item "Escape Rope" and chose to use it.
The next moment, after some dizzying spinning...
Cynthia reappeared at the entrance to Granite Cave.
She released Lombre from its Poké Ball and took out the Water Stone with a slight smile.
"Are you ready, Lombre? You can evolve now."
"Lom!!"
Upon hearing this, Lombre eagerly leaped up, actively approaching the Water Stone.
The next moment, brilliant evolutionary light suddenly burst forth across the clearing!
