Can I Really Not Outrun Cynthia?

After thinking it over, Lance realized he did not even have the courage to ask that question.

He decisively ignored the teasing comments, gritted his teeth, and continued pushing through Petalburg Woods with Treecko.

By now, he had also figured out that some patches of grass had to be passed through, while most could be avoided. As for the Trainers who had blocked his way in the forest earlier, once he had dealt with them, they would not challenge him again.

With that, Lance finally broke through to the middle section of the forest.

Then, the screen suddenly froze.

A man in a suit sneaked over from the distance, then stopped anxiously in front of Lance and spoke.

[I'm searching for a rare Pokémon. Have you seen any Shroomish? They live around here... If you hear anything about them, be sure to tell me.]

Lance could not help frowning slightly. Shroomish... wasn't that a Pokémon from the Hoenn region?

If he remembered correctly, it gained the Fighting type after evolving. It was not especially popular, and Trainers who used one were rarely seen.

Why had it become a rare Pokémon in this game?

Just as he was pondering that, a blue figure suddenly rushed out from nearby and stopped in front of the two of them.

[Hey, you over there. You're from Devon Corporation, right? Hand over your package!]

Lance's gaze fell on the newcomer, and his eyes immediately narrowed.

The man wore a blue-and-white bandana and a uniform with a symbol emblazoned prominently on its front.

That symbol... was the emblem of Team Aqua that he had seen in the intelligence reports!

They had finally appeared!

Lance instantly perked up, sat upright, and began paying close attention to the plot.

Unfortunately, what followed did not meet his expectations.

The general plot was that this supposed Team Aqua member wanted to steal Devon Corporation's package. After Lance, as the protagonist, drove him away, the man tossed out a threat and ran off.

After thanking him, the Devon Corporation employee left as well.

Lance frowned.

The fact that they knew this symbol meant that the game's creator definitely knew of Team Aqua's existence. The creator might even possess more intelligence than the Pokémon League.

After all, he himself had only received the first report about Team Aqua a few days ago.

But now, he had gotten no information at all and simply let that Team Aqua member escape...

Just as he was feeling somewhat dissatisfied, he suddenly noticed that the comments showed no surprise or reaction to the Team Aqua plot, as though they had long known about Team Aqua.

Lance's mind began turning.

These people always sounded extremely familiar with this game... If that was the case...

If the game's later plot contained information and clues about Team Aqua, could he not just ask them directly?

No sooner said than done, Lance tentatively asked the camera.

"Are you all familiar with Team Aqua? What do they do?"

The moment he asked, the comments immediately began flooding in from all directions.

[Team Aqua? They're a bunch of lunatics trying to expand the ocean.]

[Their leader wanted to summon Kyogre and turn the entire world into an ocean. Then he summoned it and realized he couldn't control it. What a total clown.]

[Hahaha, they've been fighting Team Magma for years. It's the whole red-versus-blue thing.]

[Streamer, are you seriously that clueless? You don't even know Team Aqua? Aren't they in both the anime and the games?]

[Shh, did you forget our streamer is now a proper Kanto guy? He's Lance himself. How could he possibly know Team Aqua?]

[Streamer, hurry up and catch them. They're terrible people.]

By this point, the number of viewers in Lance's stream had already surpassed fifty, even slightly more than Cynthia had when she first started streaming.

Some had come from Cynthia's stream, while others had just arrived from Gengar's stream.

From the wildly scrolling comments before him, Lance painstakingly extracted several key pieces of information.

Team Aqua's goal... was to submerge the entire world beneath the ocean?

They had summoned... Kyogre?

His brow furrowed even deeper as he could not help asking again.

"Kyogre... what is that? A Pokémon?"

This time, however, the comments did not answer him as they had before. Instead, the mood shifted in another direction.

[Does the streamer really not know, or is he pretending? If you really don't know, I'd advise you not to ask.]

[Yeah, yeah. You'll find out when you get further into the game.]

[Anything more would be spoilers. It's better to experience this kind of thing yourself for the first time.]

[No one is allowed to say anything!]

At that moment, the comments seemed more united than ever.

Seeing them like this, Lance did not press the matter.

At the very least, he could now be certain that as long as he kept playing and advanced the story, he would get answers to everything concerning Team Aqua.

As for what Kyogre was... he still had absolutely no clue.

Perhaps it was some kind of ritual?

Or some ancient existence?

Lance shook his head, stopped overthinking it, and continued with the game.

After several twists and turns, he finally made it out of Petalburg Woods.

Perhaps because he had some gaming experience, Lance caught on much faster than Cynthia had. The moment he left, he collected the Berries on the left, spoke to the NPC, and obtained the Bullet Seed move.

He even explored both the cabin and the grass above it, obtaining a Burn Heal from the Poké Ball in the middle of the grass, as well as Wailmer's Wailmer Pail.

His performance seemed to satisfy the comments greatly.

[Streamer catches on so fast. So much better than the one next door.]

[Streamer, she's already reached the second Gym. Can you hurry up and catch her? If you do, I'll send you a sports car.]

[I just remembered, this streamer hasn't even asked for gifts. Is this company not making any money at all?]

[A purely charitable streamer. I suspect the boss is some suspiciously rich Pokémon fan who's just here to stir things up.]

Watching those comments, Lance raised an eyebrow.

He did not really understand what a sports car gift was.

But he understood that the comments were comparing him with Cynthia.

In terms of raw strength, he might indeed be somewhat weaker than Cynthia.

But if he lost to Cynthia, a mythologist, at playing games too, that would be far too embarrassing.

After all, she was usually someone who barely even touched a computer...

Then he would take down this Gym in one go.

"I'll progress faster than she does."

After replying to the comments, Lance confidently passed through Rustboro City's Pokémon Center and headed straight for the Gym.