Including Sato and the others, the group of ten moved quickly toward the center of Rosen Island. After passing through the forest, a plain-looking cave appeared ahead, and Archie took the lead entering it.
Drip! Drip!
Once inside, Sato noticed the heavy humidity in the cave. Water occasionally dripped from above, and small puddles were scattered along the path.
Visibility in the cave wasn't bad. Scattered along the stone walls were crystals emitting a faint blue glow.
"What's this?" Mark walked up curiously and touched one.
"That's kyanite. Other than glowing, it's not worth much," Archie explained casually without stopping.
Mark pouted. He had thought it was something valuable and was about to chip off a piece to keep.
After the fourth turn, a bright opening appeared not far ahead, and once they passed through it, the space suddenly opened up.
A massive underground palace came into view. The stone walls all around were densely packed with kyanite, leaving no gaps.
The palace was illuminated by the light reflected from the kyanite. Water channels surrounded the structure, and the waves created shifting patterns on the domed ceiling..
Archie and the locals remained composed, but Sato and his friends were stunned by the palace's beauty. They could only follow in silence.
"Sea Blue Palace!"
Three ancient words carved into the entrance seemed to speak directly into everyone's minds, revealing their true meaning in a "mystical" way.
At this point, Archie became unusually solemn.
At the entrance to the Sea Blue Palace, he tidied his clothes. Accompanied by four locals, he stepped inside slowly, one step at a time.
The two crew members silently stood at the entrance and did not enter.
This made Sato and the others hesitate… were they allowed inside?
Sato glanced at the sailor who had chatted so much with them earlier. That man now wore a blank expression, clearly unwilling to speak.
But since they'd come this far, how could they not go in?
With that thought, Sato stepped onto the stairs without hesitation. The sailor, the locals, and Archie gave no response.
Joseph and Mark exchanged glances and quickly followed, standing beside Sato.
"Sato, the upcoming ritual is very important to our people. Would you mind observing quietly from the side?" Archie asked, upon seeing they had followed.
"Understood."
Soon, everyone arrived at the center of the palace, where a round pool appeared before them.
Strangely, in the center of the pool floated a massive Kyogre stone sculpture, seemingly unsupported by anything.
"Great Kyogre, divine spirit of the seas, please bless us, the descendants of the water... protect our final territory, Rosen Island... I, your most loyal servant... shall battle for you and expand your domain..."
Archie crossed his hands over his chest and chanted softly toward the stone sculpture of Kyogre. His voice was a mix of muttering and singing. Sato tried hard to listen, only catching fragments, but even those gave him a chill.
'Expand territory? Wasn't that exactly the ideology Team Aqua always preached? To return the world to the sea!'
Suddenly, Sato felt a sharp pain in his head, as if something was trying to force its way in.
Before he could react, the Dark Energy within him suddenly became violently uncontrollable, rampaging toward his mind.
Sato's face went pale in shock. Even if nothing else invaded his mind, just the way this Dark Energy was charging would leave him brain-dead!
"Stop!"
Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, Sato used everything he had -this life and his past one, all his years of training- to barely suppress the rampaging Dark Energy.
Only then did he have time to sense if anything had changed in his mind.
Nothing unusual?
But why did the Dark Energy still constantly send a desire to destroy something, while at the same time assuring that it would absolutely never hurt him?
Sato didn't think too long about it, he chose to trust the Dark Energy!
After lifting the suppression on the Dark Energy, it once again rushed into Sato's brain impatiently, but this time it was noticeably gentler.
Thump! Thump!
At this point, Sato was already half-kneeling on the ground, eyes tightly shut, enduring the rampage of the Dark Energy in his body. But suddenly, two soft thudding sounds of falling bodies came from nearby.
Sato was startled, and barely opened a slit of his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joseph and Mark already collapsed on the ground, but at that moment, he couldn't even speak, let alone help.
"This kid Sato's willpower is insane! He's still holding on."
"The other two aren't bad either. They both have the potential to become High-ranking offic..."
In the next second, Sato heard a sound like glass shattering echo in his mind, and the pain instantly knocked him unconscious.
...
Sato was awake, but not fully. He could hear voices around him, but couldn't even open his eyes.
Gradually, however, he calmed down. The intermittent conversations around him slowly revealed what Archie had done to them.
Using the mystical power of the Kyogre statue in the Sea Blue Palace, he had turned the three of them into Kyogre's followers! And Archie was the sole representative of Kyogre.
In other words, the three of them wouldn't appear any different on the outside, but seeds had been planted deep in their minds. Once a certain condition was triggered, they would completely obey Archie!
As he listened, Sato became more and more alarmed. Rosen Island had never worshipped Kyogre before. Everyone here, including the ship's crew, had long since become Archie's followers.
But on the surface, they all appeared to be devotees of the Legendary Pokémon Kyogre, which made everything seem perfectly normal to outsiders.
This time, clearly, Archie had his eye on the three of them and brought them on board for this reason.
Fortunately, the Dark Energy saved Sato at the crucial moment. That sound of shattering glass was the destruction of the mental seed!
After a while, Sato finally felt some strength return to his body. He pretended to be confused and slowly opened his eyes.
Archie, the native elder, and Joseph and Mark -who had already woken up- were all gathered around him.
"Are you okay? You suddenly passed out earlier. We were really worried!" Mark was the first to speak. On the surface, he looked no different from before.
"Why... did I faint?" Sato frowned, rubbing his forehead and glancing around at everyone.
He suddenly noticed that Archie no longer had that friendly and kind expression toward them. His gaze had turned into a cold, commanding look, like that of a superior observing his subordinates.
"You've been tired from the voyage these past two days, that's why you fainted. Make sure to rest more," Archie said, helping Sato up.
"Yeah, the captain's right! We really should get some rest," Joseph nodded, not a trace of resistance in his tone.