Unearthed

Following the discovery of the concealed elevator shaft, Leaf, Red, Blue, Rangers Ira and Wendy, and Hunter Jensen prepare to enter the ruined Cinnabar laboratory. The excavation team, led by Rob, provides them with specialized vests equipped with back-carriers for abra—a safety measure ensuring instantaneous teleportation in case of a cave-in. Red jokes about his "Backra," while Blue feeds his kadabra berries, allowing Red to use his psychic link to experience the tastes. Leaf watches the interaction, feeling her nervous tension ebb as Red seems more grounded.

Rob's team of dugtrio and excadrill carve a reinforced tunnel through the rock. The claustrophobia weighs heavily on Leaf, but the fear is eclipsed by the surreal moment they finally punch through a collapsed wall. They enter a buried laboratory chamber littered with broken equipment and a massive, intact refrigerator holding vials of murky liquid. Leaf sweeps the room with her phone's camera, her long-anticipated excitement drowned out by a creeping terror of what the lab created and what the creators will do once they learn it has been discovered.

Special Administrator Looker arrives shortly after and institutes a strict communication blackout. Recognizing the monumental scale of the discovery, he calls in every available Interpol agent, forensics expert, biologist, and chemist in Indigo with high security clearance. When Looker questions the presence of the rangers, Red confidently stares the Special Administrator down, insisting they stay. Looker relents but makes Red personally responsible for any leaks. Looker then subtly interrogates Leaf, letting her know she is still the prime suspect for the Rocket Casino data leak. To remain on-site, Leaf is forced to consent to monitoring by an Interpol psychic to ensure she has no intention of tampering with evidence. Looker also briefly pressures Blue about whether Professor Oak already knows about the lab, warning him against pulling any publicity stunts.

As the excavation scales up, the teams unearth multiple sections of the facility, including offices, a cafeteria, and power centers. Leaf instructs them to look for a central chamber containing a large glass tank, based on Dr. Fuji's story outline. For hours, she meticulously analyzes the unearthed rooms alongside forensics, her resentment toward Looker softening as she recognizes his competence in managing the massive, chaotic operation.

During a lunch break on the grassy cliff above, the group debates the ethics of the hybrid. Blue points out a glaring issue with Fuji's story: if an earthquake had truly destroyed the lab, they should be finding the bodies of the scientists. Since they haven't, it implies the explosives were detonated intentionally, likely after the hybrid escaped. Leaf's stomach drops as she realizes she took the story's ending for granted; if Fuji survived to write it, he was likely a scientist at the lab, meaning the ending was either fictionalized to cover their tracks, or worse, the hybrid told him what happened. Blue bluntly suggests the hybrid might have killed the scientists or even eaten them.

The conversation spirals into a tense philosophical debate about treating the hybrid as a threat. Jensen notes that society empowers groups like hunters to use lethal force precisely to protect against such unknown dangers, and no politician would ever ask the public to blindly accept the risk of a legendary-level hybrid running loose. Blue argues that humans can generally trust each other because they share fundamental feelings and limits, but a psychic hybrid might lack human values entirely, making it an inherent threat.

Red immediately pushes back, challenging the boundary of personhood. He asks at what point a human psychic, experimented on and boosted beyond normal limits, ceases to be considered a person. Blue aggressively insists that humans who act in ways that hurt others are treated as threats, failing to realize his argument directly mirrors the exact fears society harbors about Red's own escalating psychic powers. When the realization hits Blue, he looks deeply guilty, and Red stares blankly at the ground. Leaf forces herself to intervene, arguing that presuming the hybrid is hostile only makes it more likely to become so, and Wendy adds that the hybrid might actually be trying to help by sending the apocalyptic warnings.

Seeking to bridge the painful silence, Blue offers a peaceful gesture, hoping they can at least find clues to the truth in the ruins below. Leaf nods, trying not to feel defensive about her reliance on Fuji's outline. However, the momentary peace is shattered when three charizard descend toward the manor. As Leaf spots the pitch-black scales of the lead dragon, her adrenaline spikes. The arrival of Kanto's Champion, Lance, confirms that despite Looker's best efforts, the communication blackout has already failed.