System-produced, a guaranteed masterpiece.
The 16,000 gold coin expenditure now felt completely worth it to Ace.
Although he was underwater, besides needing to breathe through his mouth and experiencing slightly more resistance in the water, everything else was not much different from being on land.
Lapras had already dived over twenty meters deep, and soon they saw the nearshore seabed.
The light was somewhat dim at this depth, but through his diving goggles, Ace could see corals growing on the seabed, as well as some unknown fish species.
The underwater scenery was beautiful, but Ace had no intention of admiring it; his mind was entirely occupied with finding the evolution stone.
Of course, Ace was also very vigilant. Deep underwater, his other Pokémon couldn't be sent out to battle, and he could only rely on Lapras.
So, when encountering Water-type Pokémon like Magikarp and Goldeen, Ace didn't mind. However, when he saw Pokémon like Gyarados from a distance, Ace would tell Lapras to avoid them as much as possible.
His goal was just to find the evolution stone; there was no need for unnecessary battles.
But as Ace continued his search, some battles couldn't be avoided, no matter how much he tried.
For example, now…
While Ace was searching for the evolution stone, a Seadra with scarlet eyes appeared behind him at some unknown point.
It looked at Ace, the intruder in its territory. Its dorsal fin rapidly swung, and soon a small whirlpool began to form.
The turbulent water instantly drew the attention of Ace and Lapras, who were busy searching.
Following the direction of the current, they looked back and saw that what was initially a small whirlpool was rapidly growing!
The current gradually became turbulent. Ace felt a suction force, and he immediately hugged Lapras's neck, which prevented him from being pulled into the whirlpool.
"We can't avoid it this time, Lapras, Surf!"
Lapras immediately turned its body, facing the whirlpool and Seadra. Its front limbs flapped violently, and the surrounding water was quickly harnessed by Lapras, sending an extremely fierce surge of power towards the whirlpool and Seadra.
"So Surf is even more powerful underwater."
Ace firmly noted this knowledge point as he watched the scene. The冲击 force of the Surf charged towards the whirlpool. The moment they collided, the whirlpool was directly torn apart by the Surf, and Seadra was also sent flying.
But this was only the beginning; the enraged Seadra would not back down because of Lapras's attack.
Instead, Seadra's prism-shaped mouth constricted, and then a Water Pulse shot towards Ace and Lapras.
"Ice Beam!"
Lapras opened its mouth, and the intensely cold beam collided with Seadra's Water Pulse. Large chunks of ice began to form, obstructing both sides' vision.
"Crack!"
The next moment, the ice shattered, and a pale green energy beam shot towards Lapras.
Lapras immediately retaliated with Ice Beam. The two energy blasts collided, and this time, the opponent's Dragon Pulse actually suppressed the Ice Beam, slowly pushing it back towards Lapras.
"Dragon-type suppressing Ice-type? Isn't that a bit exaggerated!"
Ace frowned slightly and said, "Dodge, Confuse Ray."
Lapras quickly dodged with Ace. The Dragon Pulse instantly shattered the Ice Beam, swiftly passing through Lapras's original position, then hitting the seabed and boring a small hole in the ocean floor.
Ace turned his head to look at the damage caused by the Dragon Pulse, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.
As for Lapras, the moment it dodged the attack, a light instantly shone, and, aided by the water's refraction, it almost instantaneously entered Seadra's eyes.
Seadra suddenly felt a dizzying sensation before its eyes. It couldn't distinguish directions and kept thrashing its body, falling into confusion.
"One more time, Ice Beam!"
This time, with Seadra caught off guard, the Ice Beam instantly froze Seadra. A block of ice then floated upwards towards the surface.
"Lapras, take it. It's useful."
Ace told Lapras, and Lapras immediately understood, swimming over and taking the ice block in its mouth.
Ace then took the ice block, and stuffed the Seadra, which was already frozen solid inside, into a waterproof bag.
This was also the amazing thing about the waterproof bag: despite looking cheap, even when used underwater, water couldn't get inside, while Ace could still put things into it.
After dealing with Seadra, Lapras continued to carry Ace forward.
And at this moment, above the Vermilion City sea area, Cynthia sat on the back of a Dragonair. Dragonair's two feathery wings on the sides of its head spread wide, carrying Cynthia in a winding flight.
"Wait, slow down, I'm not sitting very well."
Cynthia kept calling out. For her, who was flying for the first time, it was a huge challenge for both her and Dragonair.
Dragonair's body was serpentine, and it couldn't remain rigid like a stick when flying.
Instead, when flying, Dragonair still maintained its land movement, twisting and slithering like a snake.
If this habit couldn't be properly corrected, flying would be too much of a torment for Cynthia; she might accidentally fall off Dragonair.
The danger was also very great.
Dragonair was also helpless. After being captured by this girl, it had been constantly practicing flying, but its flying habits were not so easy to change, still requiring time to adapt.
"Ah!!!"
Just as Dragonair became momentarily distracted, it made a wide twist, and Cynthia immediately lost her balance, falling directly off Dragonair.
Dragonair was speechless. It swiftly dove down, catching Cynthia before she could plunge into the sea.
Cynthia was quite startled, so she had no choice but to return to the port first, planning to rest before attempting to fly again.
Back in Vermilion City, Cynthia found a restaurant, ordered lunch, and then released her Pokémon to prepare their lunch.
"Hmm?"
As soon as Riolu came out, a puzzled expression appeared on its dog-like face. After thinking for a moment, it immediately ran to Cynthia's side, tugged at her pant leg, and barked at her with some urgency.
"What's wrong, Riolu?"
Cynthia was a bit bewildered by Riolu's unusual behavior.
But as Riolu barked and gestured, Cynthia gradually understood what Riolu meant.
"Are you saying the Aura we were looking for has appeared?"
Cynthia immediately became excited and said to Riolu, "Where is it?"
Riolu closed its eyes to sense, then opened them, pointing in a direction.
Cynthia looked in the direction Riolu pointed. Through the window, her gaze met a vast ocean!
"Is it coming this way? Or just passing by?"
Cynthia mused, then loudly called to the waiter, "Waiter, to-go! I have an emergency!"