Oreburgh City, Oreburgh Mine.
The Pokémon League had sent quite a few people to investigate, but they had yet to reach a conclusion.
That was precisely why Roark had wanted to invite Steven, the renowned stone enthusiast, to take a look.
Just as Li Wei had guessed, Roark and Steven had known each other for a long time, having bonded over stones.
"Beep, beep, beep."
The instruments in the geologists' hands beeped rapidly. The sounds of equipment filled the area.
Machoke held lamps high to provide light for the workers. Combined with the light reflected off the mirrorlike stone surfaces, they illuminated the cavern brightly.
Several other workers were directing Machoke to reinforce the mine with more wooden supports.
The cavern's once fairly spacious interior,
now seemed rather cramped, crowded with all the equipment, geologists, and Pokémon.
Roark, Steven, and the geologists were studying the site and discussing their findings together.
The Mirror Stone on the rock wall shimmered blue under Steven's searchlight.
Just as when he had studied the meteorite earlier, Steven was carefully examining the mirrorlike stone.
A man absorbed in his work really did look handsome.
Steven's focused expression was reflected in the mirrorlike surface, but his attention was entirely on his research.
After putting on white gloves, Steven gently stroked the stone's surface, feeling its temperature.
A geologist adjusted the spectrometer.
"It's a very unusual stone. Its refractive index exceeds that of the gems discovered so far, including Fire Gems and Steel Gems."
Steven nodded at that, then took out the energy neutralizer recently developed by the Devon Corporation and scanned the stones.
"There are energy fluctuations... ripples..."
Meanwhile, Li Wei wandered around with Lucario.
"Find anything?"
As Li Wei and Lucario walked past, their profiles were reflected in the Mirror Stone.
Lucario shook his head.