After gaining the badge, Zeth quickly leaves after gaining information from sabrina that there is a frozen base at seafoam Island.
He quickly makes his way there while riding on his Lunar Charizard. After reaching the location.
The air at the entrance of the Seafoam Islands was unnaturally cold—colder than the ocean currents should allow. As Zeth enters the cavern, the familiar scent of ozone and sterile lab chemicals cuts through the salt air.
Deep within the lower levels, where the currents are most treacherous, Zeth finds it: a temporary Rocket Research Outpost, shielded by heavy-duty lead plating and guarded by Elite Grunts. They aren't wearing the standard black; they are in the "Bio-Hazard" grey units, the ones reserved for handling unstable genetic material.
"Champion Zeth," a cold, familiar voice echoes through the cavern.
Stepping out from the shadows of a massive cryo-chamber is Executive Archer. He looks at Zeth—specifically at the Orange League winner's seal—with a mixture of jealousy and professional respect.
"The prodigy returns," Archer says, gesturing to the chamber behind him. "We heard you were hunting badges, but you always did have a nose for the real work. We're currently stabilizing a shard of the 'Glacier Core'—a remnant of an ancient B-Rank Gate that collapsed near these islands. It's too volatile for the standard elites, but for someone with your... unique team... it might be manageable."
Archer points to a jagged, pulsating shard of deep-blue ice suspended in a magnetic field.
The Hazard: The shard is leaking Level 65+ elemental energy. It's flash-freezing the cavern and slowly killing the grunts' Pokémon.
The Reward: If stabilized, the energy from this core could be used to force a massive stat-boost or a move-set evolution for a Pokémon capable of absorbing it.
"Giovanni didn't order your execution yet, Zeth," Archer adds, his eyes narrowing. "He said if you showed up, we should let you try. If you stabilize the core, you keep the refined residue. If you fail... well, the islands will have a new ice sculpture."
The "Glacier Core" is not just a fragment of ice; it is a pressurized knot of primordial energy that refuses to be contained. As the magnetic fields around the shard begin to buckle under the sub-zero pressure, the Rocket scientists scramble toward the exits. Executive Archer grips the railing of the observation deck, his eyes fixed on the fifteen-year-old standing at the edge of the frost-line.
"It's too volatile for fire," Zeth mutters, his breath blooming in a thick cloud. "You don't fight a blizzard with a torch. You fight it with a deeper cold."
He reaches for the heavy, reinforced Pokéball at the back of his belt. As it clicks open, the temperature in the cavern drops another ten degrees.
Abyssal Cloyster (Lvl 57) manifests. It doesn't look like the standard specimens found in the upper shoals. Its shell is a jagged, matte-black obsidian, and the eyes peering from the darkness of its core glow with a predatory, Deep Gold light.
"Abyssal Cloyster—Shell Smash!" Zeth commands.
The Cloyster doesn't just shed its outer layer; it shatters it with a concussive force that sends shards of obsidian flying like shrapnel. Its inner body, now lean and vibrating with raw speed, begins to spin.
"Skill Link—Icicle Spear!"
Cloyster unleashes a barrage of five consecutive spears, but they aren't made of normal ice. They are infused with the Deep Gold energy of the Abyssal shell. They strike the Glacier Core, not to break it, but to act as lightning rods for the leaking energy.
The Glacier Core reacts. A surge of Level 65+ cryo-energy lashes out, attempting to flash-freeze everything in a hundred-yard radius. But Cloyster's Overcoat hidden ability acts as a biological sponge. Instead of being frozen, Cloyster draws the energy into its own physiology.
The black shell begins to reform, but it's different now. Shimmering, crystalline veins of deep blue-ice lace through the obsidian. The air around Cloyster begins to crack and pop—the Frostbite Trait manifesting in real-time.
The core settles into a dull, stable glow. The threat of a cavern collapse vanishes. Archer looks at his monitors, his jaw tightening as he reads the new energy signature coming from Zeth's Pokémon.
[NEW TRAIT: FROSTBITE]: Cloyster's Ice-type moves (Icicle Spear, Icicle Crash) now have a 30% chance to inflict a "Deep Freeze" status, which slowly saps the opponent's Defense and Speed every turn it persists.
[LVL UP: CLOYSTER REACHES LVL 58.]
[POTENTIAL STATUS]: The Deep Gold potential has stabilized. It is now on the verge of pushing toward Solid Gold.
Archer descends from the booth, walking toward the now-stabilized chamber. He looks at the Abyssal Cloyster, which is currently exhaling a mist so cold it's turning the stone floor into brittle glass.
"You took a B-Rank instability and used it as a protein shake," Archer says, his voice a mix of disgust and admiration. "Giovanni was right. You aren't just growing; you're evolving at a rate the League's data can't track. You've earned the refined residue of that core, Zeth. Take it and get out of here before the sensors alert the local authorities."
He hands Zeth a pressurized canister of [Absolute-Zero Essence]—the byproduct of the stabilization. "This will keep your Cloyster's new trait stable. Don't waste it on weaklings."
Zeth ignores the direct path to the Cinnabar Gym. Blaine's fire can wait. He knows that the Cinnabar Mansion—the "Burned Mansion"—is a graveyard of ambition, and as a Champion with Executive-level knowledge, he knows exactly which floorboards to pry up.
The air inside the mansion is thick with the smell of old charcoal and stagnant psychic energy. It's a tomb for the research that eventually birthed the monster Giovanni now seeks to control.
Zeth doesn't move like a tourist. He moves like a scavenger. He heads straight for the basement, past the rotting journals and the shattered glass tubes. While the local "explorers" get lost in the debris, Zeth uses his Aura to sense the faint, rhythmic pulse of hidden data-caches.
Hidden behind a collapsed wall in the lowest sub-level, protected by a lead-lined safe that survived the original explosion, Zeth finds what he's looking for: a series of High-Capacity TMs—discarded prototypes from the Mewtwo Project. These weren't meant for the public; they were designed to test the mental limits of artificial life.