Courtney kept her eyes closed as scene after scene flashed through her mind.
She saw League researchers in white coats standing beside an ancient altar with delighted expressions as they examined the Red Orb. She saw League trainers rushing over and placing the orb into a specially made box before carrying it away.
Then, in the darkness, the orb finally caught a faint glimmer of light. Unfortunately, it was so dim that it seemed to be hidden within an endless abyss.
"Courtney, how is it?" Maxie finally asked.
Only then did Courtney suddenly snap back to reality.
When she saw the concerned look on Maxie's face, she began breathing heavily. Her face was already covered in beads of sweat.
"The orb... the orb is in the sea!"
"The sea?"
For a moment, Maxie was stunned. Then surprise and delight appeared on his face.
He was amazed that someone could come up with such a clever idea. By hiding the Red Orb in the sea, most detection equipment would be unable to find it. Even the "map" that shared the same origin as the orb would not be able to easily locate it.
Of course, Maxie was overjoyed at this moment.
"The League actually hid the orb in the sea!" He grabbed Courtney's arm and hurriedly asked, "Which sea? Is it the area in the east where Team Aqua has been running rampant?"
Courtney hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know."
"You don't know?!" Maxie's voice rose. He had never expected such an answer. "How can you not know? The map already shows that it's in the sea. How could you not know which part of the sea it is…?"
"Boss, I only saw seawater." Courtney's expression remained calm as she answered honestly.
The news struck Maxie like a bolt of lightning. He stood there in a daze for a while and could not recover.
The orb. The orb was right there. It was only a matter of its location, yet it kept flashing before his eyes again and again.
Maxie could be certain that Team Aqua was already in complete disarray. Their progress had originally been slower than Team Magma's, and now they had undoubtedly fallen even further behind.
However, if they could not find the crucial Red Orb, that lost ground would eventually be made up.
If Team Aqua found the Blue Orb before them and awakened Kyogre and gained control of it, then the world would sink into a miserable ocean.
Even if they were only one month ahead, there was no way humanity could withstand Kyogre's power.
When that happened, his ideal of covering the entire world with land would collapse!
Maxie finally became completely agitated. He turned around, grabbed Aubert by the collar and roared, "Where's the orb? You old bastard, where exactly is the orb? What about the third map? Hurry up and take out the third map!"
Aubert felt the spittle spraying across his face, yet his expression remained unchanged. He simply smiled and replied, "If it's in the sea, I believe Professor Birch of Hoenn can answer all of this."
"Who? Birch?"
Maxie asked in confusion as his expression changed rapidly.
"Birch, Professor Birch of Hoenn..."
He seemed to understand, but there were still some details he could not figure out.
"Ahem..." Aubert shook himself hard and broke free after Maxie released his hands. Only then did he calmly explain, "If it's in the sea, then it couldn't have been hidden there by the League. The League would only keep the orb at its headquarters in Ever Grande City. It must have been someone else..."
"This person had the authority to come into contact with the orb. At the same time, he was at odds with the higher-ups of the Hoenn League and was extremely arrogant."
"Researcher Alden may be the most suspicious, but anyone who knows about Hoenn's finances can figure it out. He's nothing more than one of Birch's students."
"He received funding and recognition from Birch, then helped Birch with his research... researching Hoenn's two gods."
"Maxie, why don't you go and ask Birch?"
Maxie seemed unable to recover for a moment. He stood there for more than a dozen seconds before slowly turning around.
That's right. Birch.
That useless Professor of Hoenn, Birch!
He had always been like a transparent figure, a professor who was rumored to be extremely rude and extremely unpleasant.
Now he spent every day in a remote town, wasting his time. But was he really just wasting time?
"Courtney! Blaise!" Maxie's voice was extremely sharp.
"The target is Littleroot Town. Begin the operation immediately!"
"Yes, Boss!"
Several Team Magma members quickly acknowledged the order and hurried away.
At the top of the oldest and tallest building in Sootopolis City, Maxie did not move. Instead, he looked once again at the hunched old man with a smile on his face, the Lord of Sootopolitans.
"I believe you won't mind waiting with me for the results, Mr. Aubert?"
"Of course," Aubert answered without the slightest concern.
* * *
Ever Grande City.
League Headquarters Battle Arena.
The arena was located in the center of Ever Grande City and was also the venue for the Ever Grande Conference.
However, the Ever Grande Conference was ultimately only a trainer competition held in Hoenn. Even after offering some attractive rewards, it still could not attract trainers with enough strength.
After all, this trainer competition was completely modeled after the Indigo Plateau Conference. It was aimed at top trainers from all across Hoenn and even the entire world, as long as they were under thirty-five years old.
A few years ago, the Ever Grande Conference had almost no trainers above the Gym-level among its participants. The average age of the competitors had also gradually decreased.
After discussions among Hoenn's higher-ups, they decided to cut most of the competition's expenses and turn the Ever Grande Conference into a competition for beginner trainers.
The main purpose was to give new local trainers in Hoenn an opportunity to gain experience and grow. Naturally, the prizes also had to match the circumstances of beginner trainers. The original prizes, which included a Pokémon Egg, valuable items and enough perfect-quality Pokéblocks to meet the needs of three Gym-level Pokémon for an entire year, were changed to advanced-quality Pokéblocks enough to meet the needs of one Advanced-level Pokémon for a year.
There were still quite a few participants, but they had all become beginner trainers.
As for this year, the new trainer journeys in Hoenn had only begun not long ago. Even those who had progressed the fastest and already had experience from several conferences had only obtained four badges.
The battle arena was naturally empty.
At this moment, however, several of Hoenn's top trainers had gathered here.
They stood together in the center of the battle arena.
The four Elite Four members, Drake, who specialized in Dragon-types, Wattson, who specialized in Electric-types, Glacia, who specialized in Ice-types, and Sidney, who specialized in Dark-types, were standing on the same side simultaneously. This was extremely rare.
And they were all facing one person.
"You're going to fight all four of us. Isn't that a little too arrogant?" Drake said in a deep voice, though the corners of his mouth were raised high.
Wattson, however, was unusually serious. He made a guess. "Do you have something you can rely on? For example... that Gengar that can reach the Champion-level through Mega Evolution?"
Shiro couldn't help chuckling. He shook his head and said, "Then let's make Elite-level the highest level for this battle. How about it?"
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