The moment those words left her mouth, Cynthia's eyes went sharp.
For the past two days she had been completely absorbed in Emerald, grinding through her second playthrough. Aside from her livestream, she had cut herself off from the outside world almost entirely, and had no idea any of this had been happening in the Ghost World.
"When did this start?"
Caitlin shrugged.
"Just today. You really do block out everything the second you sit down to play."
Hearing that, Cynthia immediately put her phone down, spun to face her computer, and pulled up a browser. She typed "Ghost World Hunter GO" into the search bar.
The moment she hit Enter, results flooded the screen.
Her eyes swept quickly across every headline and post.
Mysterious Game Appears in Ghost World, Distributing Rare Items in Real Time!
Trainers Pouring into Ghost World by the Thousands, Racing for First Kills!
Rumored to Pinpoint Ghost-Type Pokemon Locations and Offer Special Quest Rewards...
Cynthia stared at the headlines, genuinely floored.
She clicked on the video with the highest view count. The footage was shaky, shot from a first-person perspective.
In the video, a trainer was gesturing at what looked like empty air, then accepting a quest, receiving battle tips, and following directions to a spot where he fought a Haunter. With the guidance helping him along, he won without much trouble.
Then, out of nowhere, a Poke Ball materialized and sailed straight at the downed Haunter.
A moment later, the catch was done.
Right after that, a glowing panel appeared in front of the trainer, and a Full Restore appeared out of thin air.
Less than a minute, start to finish. The video quality was nothing special, but it felt completely real in a way that couldn't be faked.
The more Cynthia watched, the more stunned she got.
This game could affect the real world, just like Emerald, but it was also nothing like Emerald. There was no virtual combat in any traditional sense. If anything, it was a game built directly on top of reality itself, running in real time. It could read the Ghost World's environment through some unknown method, physically deliver supplies, and actively assist trainers mid-battle. That went way beyond what any virtual game could do. It was closer to a high-tech support system.
And based on the timestamps on every post, this game had appeared just a few hours ago and already caused this much of a stir. That meant whoever built it knew the Ghost World inside and out, and had almost certainly been planning this for a long time.
Kairos.
The name came to her immediately.
She had no hard proof yet, but her gut told her this had everything to do with that mysterious developer. He was the only one with this kind of reach, the kind that didn't play by normal rules.
She had heard things had been going badly in the Ghost World. With the ghost surge in full swing, the League was already stretched thin trying to hold things together. If he was now using this game to direct trainers against the crisis, that was a remarkably well-timed play. It addressed the Ghost World's problem, gave his game real exposure, and sorted out capable trainers all at the same time.
Cynthia's grip tightened around the mouse, but her mind had already moved on.
She had to go see it herself.
If it really was him, that mattered a whole lot more than any second playthrough sitting on her hard drive.
With that decided, she didn't waste another second. She snapped the laptop shut, pushed back from her desk, and was already heading for the door.
"I'm going out."
Her voice was quick, carrying a faint edge of urgency.
Caitlin, still on the couch, looked completely thrown off by the sudden movement. She was still holding her half-finished cup of coffee, staring after Cynthia.
"Right now?" Caitlin glanced at the window; the sky had already started to dim. "Where?"
"The Ghost World."
Cynthia answered while grabbing a jacket off the coat rack and throwing it over her shoulders in one motion.
"The Ghost World?" Caitlin nearly spilled her coffee. She set the cup down fast and stood up, barely believing what she'd heard. "Are you serious? That place is a complete disaster right now. What are you going there for?"
She crossed the room and stepped in front of Cynthia, blocking her path with a look somewhere between annoyed and baffled.
"Cynthia. Don't tell me you heard they're handing out free stuff over there and you want in on it."
She looked her up and down and raised an eyebrow.
"I get it, the rewards are probably tempting. But you're the Sinnoh Champion. Are you really going to go compete with regular trainers over drops? Think about how that looks."
Cynthia stopped. She looked at the girl in front of her, teasing expression and all, and felt no irritation at all. She just held her gaze for a long moment.
"If you don't come, you're going to regret it."
Her voice was calm, but her eyes were completely serious.
"The rewards have nothing to do with it."
Cynthia stepped around her and kept walking, her voice carrying back from ahead.
"Think about what it means that a game like this just appeared."
Caitlin stood there, watching Cynthia's back as the smile slowly faded from her face.
What does it mean?
She was sharp. She caught the weight behind those words right away.
Right. A game like this doesn't just appear out of nowhere.
Even turning it over briefly in her head, the connection to Emerald was obvious.
And if this game really was his work, and it launched at the exact moment the Ghost World crisis hit its peak... that meant he had been watching things closely. Maybe even, there was a real chance he was already there in person.
Caitlin glanced back at the still-steaming cup of coffee on the table, then at Cynthia, who was about two seconds from disappearing out the front door, and let out a short breath.
"Why does it always have to be this cryptic? You couldn't just say that upfront?"
She huffed lightly, and her figure blurred at the edges. An instant later, she was gone.
If Cynthia had gone to all that trouble to say it, then even if it turned out to just be a spectacle, she had to go see for herself.
Besides, she was pretty curious about this "Kairos" too.
As the Sinnoh Champion and a Unova Elite Four member, Cynthia and Caitlin carried enough clout to skip the lengthy security checks and verification lines that regular trainers had to sit through. No passes needed.
The moment the two appeared at the Ghost World's entrance, the League staff managing the crowd recognized them immediately and respectfully cleared a path, too composed to ask a single question.
The long line of trainers nearby naturally turned to look, but with so many people packed together, most couldn't see clearly who had just walked through, and a wave of grumbling about special treatment broke out.
Caitlin, for her part, had no complaints about the perk. After stepping through the portal into the Ghost World, she shook off the disorientation that usually came with the crossing faster than most and strolled forward at an easy pace, looking left and right at the grey, overcast expanse stretching out around them, brow creasing slightly.
"Hey, Cynthia."
She glanced over at Cynthia beside her, who looked composed enough on the outside but was still quietly working through the portal's dizzying aftereffects, and couldn't help asking, "This place is massive, and it's a total mess right now. Where do we even start looking for Kairos?"
Caitlin thought it over and landed on the obvious conclusion: it was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Sure, whoever it was had caused this much of an uproar, but the Ghost World was enormous, and it wasn't like the guy had his name on his forehead. Finding him wouldn't be easy, especially when they weren't even certain this game was actually his work to begin with.
Cynthia stopped walking, pulled out her phone, and let her fingers drift across the screen.
"No idea."
Completely straightforward, and she looked zero percent troubled by having no lead to go on.
Caitlin nearly choked. She stared at her, eyes wide.
"No idea?"
She pulled in a slow breath, crossed her arms, and looked at Cynthia with barely held disbelief.
"So what was all that back there? You ran out like the building was on fire."
Cynthia said nothing to that. She just held up her phone, which had a loading bar ticking steadily upward. "Since we can't find him, let's just play the game."
Her voice was perfectly even, like this was the most obvious conclusion imaginable.
"If this game is built to guide trainers against the ghost surge, then playing it means we're actually helping deal with the problem at the same time."
Caitlin stared at the familiar loading icon, then at Cynthia's face, which was radiating pure sincerity, and gave a long, drawn-out eye roll.
"I knew it."
She clicked her tongue, tone dripping with mock exasperation.
"You just wanted to be first in line for Kairos's new release and see if you could snag a first-kill reward. All that stuff about solving the Ghost World's problem. Sure."
Cynthia didn't bother denying it. She tilted her head slightly, and for just a moment the corner of her mouth twitched upward before she reined it in.
"Download yours too. Don't you want to try it?"
Caitlin huffed. Her mouth was still complaining, but her hands were already moving, pulling out her phone and tapping the freshly downloaded icon without a second's hesitation.
"Fine. Since you're so insistent, I guess I'll go along with it."
The moment both their fingers hit the screen, a brilliant flash of light swept across their phones, and the familiar system interface projected itself directly in front of them.
[Welcome to Ghost World Hunter GO]
[Trainer Cynthia detected. Rank: Top Tier. Binding identity...]
[Trainer Caitlin detected. Rank: Top Tier. Binding identity...]
[Binding complete!]
[New Starter Quest issued: Defeat and catch one Champion-rank Ghost-type Pokemon within the Ghost World zone. Welcome gift rewards: Points +5, Full Restore x2, one S-rank resource corresponding to your lead Pokemon's type.]
Almost at the same moment, the noise around them cut out for a beat, then exploded into a burst of startled voices.
"No way, is that Cynthia?!"
"I see her too! It's actually the Sinnoh Champion! What's she doing in the Ghost World?"
"Oh my god, an actual Champion. I only ever see her on TV!"
"Wait, that girl with the purple hair, is that Caitlin? The Unova Elite Four?"
"Both of them showed up at the same time. Are they here to be Ghost World Hunters too?"
The trainers around them were wide-eyed, buzzing with excitement, and more than a few had already raised their phones to get a shot of the whole thing.
Caitlin was well used to this kind of reaction.
She didn't appear in public much as an Elite Four member, but her name carried plenty of weight.
On instinct, she slowed her pace, ran a hand through her hair, and settled into a composed, effortlessly elegant stance, ready to take in the attention. Being watched by this many people was a little inconvenient, sure, but it wasn't exactly unpleasant either.
What she hadn't counted on was that after that initial burst of excitement, all the pointing and staring lasted for about five seconds, and then...
Everyone just left.
Caitlin held her poised stance, standing there completely still, watching as the crowd scattered around her like she wasn't even there. Every single person had their head down, eyes locked on their phone screen, muttering to themselves as they took off in every direction.
"Over here! My screen's showing a Gym Leader-level Haunter right here!"
"Move, move, MOVE! A special quest just popped up over there, the points are insane!"
"Out of the way! That quest is mine!"
Caitlin's hand drifted down to her side slowly.
She turned to look at Cynthia, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and genuine offense.
"They just... left?"
She pointed at the trainers sprinting away like the ground was on fire, still not quite processing it.
"They were losing their minds two seconds ago. How does nobody want an autograph?"
"It turns out when game points and rare drops are on the line, even a Champion appearance takes a back seat."
Cynthia smiled, her attention already drifting back to her status panel.
"But S-rank items though."
"That sounds like a pretty high tier, doesn't it?"
As she spoke, she pulled up the in-game map.
It was incredibly detailed, matching exactly what she had seen in the video. Everything in the physical world had a corresponding marker and label on screen. And right now, a radar centered on her position was pulsing red, signaling something nearby.
"Come on, stop stalling. That quest isn't going to finish itself."
Caitlin looked at Cynthia's barely-contained eagerness and clicked her tongue one more time.
"I don't even get what's so fun about this. With Emerald the rewards were leaderboard prizes, once a week. There's no way instant rewards like these are going to be anywhere close to that quality, right?"
She grumbled the whole time, but her feet were already keeping pace with Cynthia's.
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones