Chapter 40: From Zero, part III
It had taken a bit for Arven to realize that his parents were special. When playing with other kids in Los Platos or at the big playground in Mesagoza, it hadn't been immediately obvious that his parents were different. The other kid's Mom and Dad didn't have people knocking at the door of their house to ask if Mom or Dad were at home or if they could give an "inter-vieew".
And Arven didn't really know who the parents of other kids were, but everyone seemed to recognise his parents... even if he wasn't really sure of why. So of course, as soon as he realized this, he decided to ask them about it.
« Daddy! » Arven ran into the room where his parents were usually working; Mom was in "Area Zero" , this super scary and special place where only Mom and Dad could go work, but he immediately saw Dad. Usually he sat in front of the computer, doing weird and difficult computer things where he pressed a lot of buttons and sighed a lot, but at the moment he looked as though he was preparing a small sandwich for himself at the table near the small kitchen.
Dad turned towards the door that Arven had just entered, one eyebrow raised. Arven climbed on the chair next to him, curiously looking at the food on the table, before remembering what he had just barged in for.
« Can I ask you something?» he said.
« You just did.» Dad's tone was dry, but his lips barely moved upwards as he said it.
Arven, almost five years old, took a moment to realize what he meant.
« Oh. Mmm...» he nervously bit his lip. If he asked if he could ask
another question, that would still be a question, and that would solve nothing!
A moment later, Dad chuckled in a low voice.
« What did you want to ask?»
Arven's eyes widened and he smiled, sitting a bit straighter in the chair.
« Umm, it's just... why are you and Mom special?» he asked.
Dad dropped the loaf of bread he had just cut open, turning towards him with wide eyes.
« W-what?» he asked. Arven flinched back, surprised by the reaction.
« L-like... why do you go on TV and we have all these people always asking to talk to you... What do they want? » he explained, wringing his hands on his shirt. Had he said something he wasn't supposed to? Dad looked... weird. Almost scared, but that couldn't be, because grown-ups didn't get scared, right?
« Oh....
oh. That.» Dad covered his face with one hand and laughed, before slowly picking the loaf of bread up.
« Those people are called journalists, Arven. They come here to ask us how me and Mom's job is going, and then show it on TV so everyone can understand. »
« Because only you can go in that super scary place? So you tell everyone what it's like over there? » Arven asked, and Dad smiled and ruffled his hair with one free hand.
« That's right. We go and look at what Pokémon are under there so we can then show everyone else. » he answered. Arven nodded, watching Dad start to make his sandwich; first some slices of tomato, then lettuce, then some erbs and a couple of chesto berry slices. Arven's eyes narrowed as he watched Dad sprinkle some salt over the first slice of bread before closing the sandwich.
« Dad? »
A low "mmm?" answered him.
« ... why do you never put oil in your sandwich?» he asked, swinging his legs under the table, not quite touching the ground. Dad stopped just before taking his first bite, again putting the sandwich down on his plate - this time without dropping it -. For a moment, he looked at Arven with a strange expression; Dad did that sometimes, where he looked at him standing really still and it was impossible to know if he was mad or not. Mom said he did it when he was thinking really hard about something.
A moment later, Dad smiled again, a smaller, softer smile compared to before.
« ... you actually noticed that? Well done.» he said, and Arven felt his chest burst with pride. It always made him so happy when Mom and Dad praised him. Because if everyone said that they were super smart, then if they praised him that meant he was also super smart, right?
« I can't eat olive oil and some other things because I'm "allergic" to them. Do you know what that word means?»
Arven shook his head. Dad nodded and leaned back in his chair to think for a moment.
« All right... you know how people and Pokémon have stuff they can eat and stuff they can't eat?» he asked, and this time Arven nodded with enthusiasm.
« Yeah! Like Ampy that eats batteries!» he exclaimed. The Magneton who had been busy sleeping near the microwave blinked its three eyes open with a low buzzing sound, then promptly went back to sleep. Dad nodded.
« Exactly. Ampy can eat things that would make a person sick... now, for some people, their body thinks that some things are bad for them even if they can eat them, and so they get sick if they do. That's what being allergic to something means. »
Arven mulled that new information over for a moment.
« So eating olive oil would make you sick?» he asked, eyes widening in worry.
« Just a bit, but it's better if I don't. » Dad answered, before finally starting to eat his sandwich, but not before breaking off a part and offering it to Arven.
He took it and ate in silence for a while, legs still swinging under the table. He watched Dad eat much faster than him, his eyes constantly going towards the computer in one corner of the room. Arven simply watched in silence. He knew what it meant when Dad and Mom did that: they were waiting to get a message from some important people at work.
« Do you need to talk with the scary lady again?» he asked with a small frown. He didn't like her. She always smiled too bright and too politely at him, like the journalists did, and when she came Mom and Dad were always incredibly nervous.
Dad's eyes widened again, but this time he burst out laughing.
« ... Arceus, if Briar knew that's what you call her, we could kiss our funding goodbye.» he laughed.
Arven didn't understand what he meant, so he simply stuck his tongue out.
« But she is! She's scary! Always coming here and asking you about...» he crinkled his nose; what was the word he kept hearing?
« If you've found "Terapagrapes" or something. I don't like her! »
After he was done laughing, Dad remained silent until he had finished the last piece of the sandwich.
« ... I know, Arven. But she's very important for Mom and Dad's work, so you will have to be patient with her for just a bit. » he sighed, before adding after a moment.
« Why don't you go play with Miguel and Keylogger a bit?» he said, and Arven knew that was the moment he had to leave because Dad had to go back to work.
« All right...» he answered.
He went out of the lab together with Dad's Pokémon, then stopped. Tiptoeing, he walked until he was right under the window nearest Dad's desk. With a jump, he grabbed the windowsill and hoisted himself up, peeking inside. Key-Key helped him by becoming hard like stone and propping him up, letting out little electronic chirps.
Dad closed the door behind him and walked back until he was sitting in front of the computer again. Arven couldn't see the screen from there, but he watched as Dad moved the mouse a bit and pressed some buttons. After a moment, Dad's eyes widened, and he slumped back in his chair, eyes closed, one hand tiredly rubbing at the side of his face.
He didn't look happy at all.
He just looked very tired.
Arven let the window go and silently went back into the house, into his room.
---
A couple of days later it was Dad's turn to go into Area Zero for a day, so it was just Arven and Mom. When they were alone, Mom liked to bring him with her when she went to do something she called "field research", which meant she spent all day digging around places and looking at very old things. Even if Arven could not help and wasn't allowed to touch anything of the old stuff, watching her work and playing with her Pokémon was a lot of fun! Especially because Mom liked to spend the night in the tent she brought and tell stories from long, long ago!
As soon as Mom was finished with work that evening, Arven crawled into the tent, excited about hearing the newest part of the story.
« What did the people do when winter came?» he asked. Mom took a moment to sit down, legs crossed, then summoned her Pokémon. Kim laid down behind her, her mane immediately warming the place, Ötzi shuffled a bit awkwardly towards the other side of the tent and Narjik, Mom's great Piloswine, poked his head inside from outside the tent.
« When winter arrived, finding something to eat was difficult. People would follow the great herds of Steady Glacier and Great Tusk, but that year, they were out of luck. There weren't any. It was so cold that the water would freeze in your mouth as you tried to drink it! The hunters of the tribe didn't' know what to do. If they couldn't hunt, where else could they get food to survive the winter?»
Mom gestured to the Piloswine, who huffed and blew a small flurry of snowflakes inside the tent, just enough to make Arven shiver a bit, and he giggled.
« And then?»
Mom closed her eyes for a long moment.
« In the tribe, there was a little boy, just like you. His name was Ordek. He was quite small, too small to become a hunter, so he helped the tribe by gathering firewood-»
« Wasn't he scared of going outside the village without Pokémon?» Arven asked. In Mom's stories, no one had any Pokémon, which he found impossible to imagine, and yet Mom said that this was really how people used to live a long, long time ago.
« Of course he was. But he had to, because without wood to start a fire the village would be even colder...»
Narjik blew another couple of snowflakes before Mom continued.
« But Ordek was actually very, very brave. One day, as he was gathering wood, a Pokémon appeared. It was a Snover! Except they weren't called that at the time... they were called Frozen Bark, and hunters usually drove them off with fire, which they hated. When he saw the Frozen Bark, Ordek didn't run. The Pokémon slowly approached, and Ordek realised it was staring at his clothes. So he took off one glove and threw it to the ground. The Pokémon looked at the glove for a moment, then it took off one of the berries that grew on its body and offered it to the boy, then disappeared back into the forest-»
« What did it taste like?»
The sudden question seemed to take Mom by surprise.
« Oh. Umm... I don't really know...» she struggled for a moment, looking a bit lost.
« You never tried a Snover berry?» Arven asked. Mom chuckled, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
« ... Actually, no.» she seemed taken aback by that, like she was surprised the idea had never occurred to her.
« ... But! But it must have been delicious, because Ordek came back every day after that, and every day the little Frozen Bark would be there. He told everyone in the tribe that the Frozen Bark weren't dangerous, and that they should stop burning them. They were just curious! So the Pokémon shared their berries with the tribe, and the tribe never attacked them again as thanks for their help, and this way they survived the harsh winter. And this is why to this day, Snover are still curious about humans and will gather to look at us up in the mountains. »
Mom finished narrating as Narjik's last couple of snowflakes drifted across the tent. Arven sat in silence, thinking about what he heard.
« Um, Mom? » he asked after a moment. « This story is really old, right?»
Mom nodded as the Piloswine retreated back to guard the entrance to the tent.
« Yes. It's a very, very old story. My dad used to always tell it to me. »
« But if it's so old, how do you know it's true?» Arven asked.
Mom smiled and moved closer, hugging him tights as she started to carefully caress his hair.
« Well... the truth is, we don't always know if something from so long ago is true or if they just came up with it. » she said. « There's no book of fairytales about them like the ones in Auntie Raifort's...» Mom added, and Arven nodded.
That was one of his favourite books, even if some stories in them were a bit scary or strange.
« But Arven... even if they are not true... why do you think people still decided to tell this story?»
Mom's question made him look up. She was looking at him with a smile, but her eyes were a bit distant. Mom did that sometimes: she would look at you but not really, like she was looking at something really, really far away. Dad did it too, but not as much as Mom. He usually got that same look when looking at the sky at night.
Arven thought about it a bit.
In his fairytale book, there were talking Pokémon and wizards and kids that went on all kinds of adventures.
« Because... it's nice to imagine those things happening, even if they are not true?» he said after a moment. Mom's hands stopped in his hair as she caressed his face.
« ... Yes. I'm sure they thought it would be nice if they could be friends with Pokémon, and maybe things really went a little bit like that. Even if we can't know how things from so long ago truly were-» Mom's voice trembled for a moment « - we can still learn so much from them. »
« Is that why you dig up old things so much?» he asked, and she laughed, hugging him close.
---
Research station number 4 had been finished, along with an elevator that would slowly lower them into the deepest part of Area Zero. To make better use of the Tera Energy radiating from the giant crystals, the elevator had been literally built by digging a tunnel through the stone, and Turo and Sada had decided to build a second laboratory right next to it.
The Zero Lab, they decided to call it.
Progress had been incredibly slow, pretty much halting to a stop until they had been finished building all the necessary infrastructure, but now Turo was positive that things were close to picking up again. There had been no trace of any strange Pokémon in Area Zero in all this time, or at least, not in the area they had explored. But in the deepest part... He was positive there was still much to discover.
"At last we can resume our work on the Tera Project!
We'll move our research to the Zero Lab this month.
The strong influence of the crystals makes our experiments much more unstable."
He closed the journal he had been writing in and stood up, arching his back and cringing when some joints popped painfully after so much time spent sitting. He could hear Sada shuffling a couple of thick binders full of printed out research documents: even if they had the same exact documents in digital format in the laboratory's computers, she still preferred to have some of the most referred ones printed out. He didn't get it. You could simply search what you were looking for directly in the document, and it was much faster than trying to remember if what you needed was in binder number #4 or #6... Yet Sada always seemed to know exactly where any single document was.
« Ready?» he asked, peeking his head in her half of the lab, easily recognizable by all the tera shards half fashioned into various objects and assorted knick knacks laying around. Shards, gems, fangs and claws dropped by wild Pokémon... over to the side, a gigantic poster had been affixed to the wall, showing an almost 1:1 scale reproduction of her tribe's cave wall family tree back in Kalos. His own half of the laboratory was a star chart showing various constellations, and a shelf with a little collection of sci-fi movies and books. He found it always amusing to see what people of this time thought the future would be like.
Sada grabbed her bow and nodded.
« Let's go.»
They stepped into the Zero Lab elevator together and stayed silent for almost the whole ride down.
After a couple of solid minutes, Sada broke the silence.
« It's incredible, how dense the Tera crystals around here are.» she said, looking pensive.
« We've scanned the surrounding terrain as the elevator was built and the soil seems to be more Tera Crystals than actual ground here... We could literally keep building stuff underground as much as we want and use the surrounding Tera Crystals for power.» she said. Turo hummed.
« "Stuff" like... what? Another laboratory? » he asked, and she shook her head.
« No. I'm not sure... But it's good to know we can if we need to.»
The elevator stopped suddenly, throwing Turo slightly off-balance with the sudden deceleration. He stumbled forward towards the opening doors, and took a big breath. This was the area that, until now, only Miguel had explored and described as "Treasure".
This was their first time reaching what they had started to call the "Underdepths".
As soon as he stepped outside the elevator, Turo could feel his chest tighten with anticipation. This was it. He could literally feel it in the air.
This was what they felt had been missing from Area Zero all this time. That creeping feeling that something was about to happen. That they were not supposed to be here, that no living thing was supposed to ever step here.
Sada had stepped outside first, but she had also stopped, her eyes wide, the fingers ready to pull the bowstring sweaty. She was nervous, listening to her surroundings.
She had never been nervous their entire way down in Area Zero, when all they had encountered was "just" common wild Pokémon.
« Can you feel it?» he whispered, and she simply nodded.
She carried the focused look she had always had while he was in her time, the look of someone ready to spring in action at the slightest wrong movement.
It had been years since he had last seen it, and it made his heart jump in his throat; if
Sada was nervous, then there undoubtedly was something down here that deserved that reaction.
« Stay close » she whispered, and he simply shifted to move behind her. He always did anyway, but the fact she felt the need to mention it again was proof of how seriously she took this place.
They started moving slowly, each with one of their Pokémon acting as lookouts. Miguel, the only one vaguely familiar with the place, was on his shoulder, while Sada had called out Ötzi.
For being a golem made of clay inhabited by a ghost Pokémon that liked to clatter and let out whistles like an old teapot, the Golett could be surprisingly silent when he wanted. It had taken Turo a moment to notice that it was because the Pokémon was literally sinking halfway into the rock, its body half incorporeal as it drifted next to Sada.
The cavern that stretched in front of them was lit up by the light emanating from the crystals that covered it. Narrow bridges made of stone connected platforms that otherwise seemed to almost hung suspended in the air, disappearing into a bottomless void. He swallowed heavily, not daring to even approach the ledge; so they
still weren't truly at the bottom of Area Zero? How deep did it really go? How vast was this cave system?
« ... This is absurd... Forget calling it simply "The Great Crater". This place could honestly stretch under all of Paldea...» he whispered, eyes wide.
« Like the Sinnoh underground? » Sada barely turned around as they cautiously crossed the first rock bridge. Turo didn't dare to take his eyes off from right in front of him.
« But only with a single access point. »
« Umm.» Sada just hummed in thought. They finished crossing, and she crouched to chisel a couple of Tera shards from the walls and drop them into her pouch.
« I want to run some tests and see how old these rocks are.» she said as an answer to his questioning glare.
« Good thinking. » he nodded in approval.
« You mentioning this cave going all under Paldea made me think of something. » Sada added after a little while. « Legends from all over the world from ancient times about how the world was made... did you know that in some parts of Paldea, people believed that the whole world was on the back of an enormous Pokémon?» she said with a small smile. Turo raised one eyebrow; he felt like he had vaguely read something like that sometime, but maybe he was confusing it with the myth of Arceus and the birth of the universe.
« You mean... Like the entire world was on the back of a gigantic Torterra, or something?» he asked, stepping away from a cluster of Glimmora and Carbink, which seemed to be the only Pokémon that lived under here.
« Yes! Maybe they got inspired by this place.» Sada's lips opened in a warm smile. « I could see myself believing the same, at the time. This whole place feels... alive, in a sense. » she whispered. A moment later, she stopped suddenly, Turo almost walking into her.
« Oof... what is it -?»
« Ssssh-» Sada shushed him, raising her bow towards the opening of a tunnel in front of her. At that moment Turo noticed that there had been sounds coming from it. A low, almost inaudible buzzing sound, so faint that he thought he was imagining it. It sounded almost like Ampere did, except that instead of being constant, it seemed to almost pulse in waves, the sound less like static and almost... Fluid. Smooth. More
refined than simple electricity, in a way. His heart started hammering in his chest when he suddenly recognised that sound.
It was so incredibly familiar to him.
« Wait, don't shoot-» he stepped forward and raised one arm to block Sada, who just narrowed her eyes, but obeyed without hesitation.
A moment later, a Pokémon stepped out into the cave. It looked almost like a Tyranitar, but noticeably smaller, with smooth plating covering its body instead of tiny scales and the pulsing light of Hadron Energy emanating from its eyes and gaps in its armor.
Turo couldn't believe his eyes.
Iron Thorns. A Pokémon from his time, alive and well, right in front of him! And that
sound- his eyes filled with tears. The Hadron energy coursing through it sounded so much like Mirai, it broke his heart. What was an Iron Thorns doing here?
He stepped forward - Iron Thorns were quite docile compared to their present counterparts-, slowly raising one hand.
« Hey... do you understand me? How did you get here?» he quietly asked. The Pokémon was silently looking at them both, but it seemed more interested in him and the bodysuit he was wearing. Of course it would - it was what everyone back in his time wore after all. It let out a low growl and stomped forward; it was small enough that it could just nuzzle his hand without having to bend its head downward.
One of Sada's arrows whistled past the Iron Thorns, causing Turo to jump and the Pokémon to hiss and flinch back. He whirled to look at her, eyes wide.
« Something else's coming.» was Sada's only answer as she stared straight forward, tense.
He could hear it too. It was big, but its steps sounded curiously out of rhythm, as if it was constantly stumbling instead of walking, and at every step, a dull
thud echoed across the cave. Turo blinked, furrowing his eyebrows. The shape he could just barely glimpse was similarly familiar, but for a completely different reason. It almost reminded him of-
"Ampere...?" he confusedly thought as the Pokémon came into view.
It looked almost like a Magneton, if the three Magnemites that made it had been forced to walk by using their magnets as makeshift crutches, which had been the cause of its strange gait. Contrary to the Iron Thorns, however, the Pokémon looked much more aggressive. The future Pokémon turned around and hissed, his chest and eyes lighting up again as it sent a burst of lighting against the Sandy Shocks, to absolutely no effect.
Turo hastily backed away from the two Pokémon who were now sizing each other and the two humans up.
« The other one is from your time, is it?» he asked Sada in a whisper. She simply nodded, her eyes both excited and wary.
« Both electric types, conveniently... Let's catch them so we can examine them better! » he proposed after a moment, excited. There it was, a Pokémon from his time, right in front of him! He couldn't let it escape, he wanted to... to see if it truly was from his time, and not just a strange regional variant or convergent form of Tyranitar.
Miguel would have a heavy disadvantage against them, so he grabbed his Poké Ball, ready to recall him, while Sada smiled.
« ... Right. Ötzi, Mudslap!» she wisely avoided ordering more destructive moves that could have caused a cave-in, and Turo watched as the Golett moved to attack first the Sandy Shock and then the Iron Thorn. However, as soon as the wave of mud hit the prehistoric Pokémon, a resounding bellow shook the cave as the Iron Thorn threw its head back and roared with all its might.
The crystal Tera fragments that hovered in the air around them started to swirl all around it, and Turo stopped to look at it, stunned, Miguel's Poké Ball still in hand.
It was Terastallizing!
But it felt different from all the Pokémon he had seen Terastalize on the surface, or even their own Pokémon here in Area Zero... The roar that came out from the Pokémon's throat echoed deeply, as if its voice was being overlapped dozens of times, and once it was done, the Iron Thorns looked up at the Golett and snorted, heavy gusts of winds swirling all around it. The plating on its body had become pure white, and from the intakes where Hadron Energy usually swirled, Turo could hear the sound of air being sucked in at great speeds.
Before he could react, the Iron Thorns pointed the retractable spikes on its back downwards; jets of compressed air rushed out at incredible speed, blasting the Iron Thorns forward. It roared and collided directly into Ötzi, apparently not caring about any collateral damage to itself.
Sada let out a hiss and quickly scrambled out of the way of the two Pokémon as they crashed into the wall behind her, embedding themselves into it.
« Ötzi! It should be a Flying type now! Use Ice Punch!» she screamed.
The Iron Thorns flew back as the Golett got it off itself with a mighty punch, but Miguel's panicked cawing distracted Turo from the rest of the battle. He turned around just in time to see the Sandy Shocks charge some not quite identifiable electric attack at the Murkrow. The little Dark type avoided it, but it was clear that it was out of its depth with no clear way to counterattack effectively.
« S-shit... Miguel, Confuse Ray.» he ordered as he summoned Ampere for backup. The Magneton appeared in a flash of light, his three eyes widening at its prehistoric counterpart. At least by floating, it should be immune to the Sandy Shock's ground type attacks.
The Confuse Ray hit the prehistoric Pokémon, making its three eyes roll wildly as it stumbled around.
At a quick gesture from Turo, Ampere held his magnets forward, a great sphere of light starting to form in the middle of all of them. The Hyper Beam took a moment to fire, but when it did, it shook the very air around them as it soared through the cave before slamming into the confused Pokémon. Turo couldn't help but repress a slight grin as it got blasted all the way back into the tunnel it had emerged from.
Most of Ampere's attacks were different variations of firing big freakin' lasers, but really, if it got the job done, what else did you need?
The smirk disappeared when the Sandy Shocks stumbled back out, now buzzing in anger in the same way as the Ampere did. However, instead of Steel, the Pokémon's body seemed to be made of rock, Tera crystals shining all over its body.
Turo clicked his tongue, cautiously stepping back as both of his Pokémon moved to cover him.
« ... seems like it took being from the Stone Age quite literally...» he commented as the now Rock Type Sandy Shocks glared at him.
He glanced at Ampere. That... actually worked in his favour.
« Flash Cannon!»
Steel energy now gathered in front of the Magneton, but as it was still recovering from the earlier Hyper Beam attack, Turo noticed that something in the Sandy Shocks was changing. He squinted, trying to understand what was happening behind the glow of the Tera crystals. Was it... evolving? Could Sandy Shocks evolve in some prehistoric Magnezone like their modern counterparts?
Fire exploded all around the Sandy Shocks and Turo threw one hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the sudden glare of the flames. He had no idea of what was going on; could Sandy Shocks learn fire type attacks?
It was only after a couple of moments when the Sandy Shocks moved towards Ampere that he realized that something was definitely off; it wasn't using a fire type attack. It's entire body was now made of fire; the magnets that it was using as legs were glowing red with heat, and the small agglomerates of ferroneus dust had small flames coursing through them. The Sandy Shock charged Ampere, who buzzed in a panic and floated higher to avoid the writhing mass of flames.
But... it had just become a Rock type! A Pokémon couldn't have two Tera types! It was impossible!
« Ampere, fall back. » he recalled the Magneton, and released Keylogger. Fortunately, he had a very quick way to know for sure what the opponent's type was right now.
He addressed the Porygon.
« Use Conversion.»
The Porygon's body seemed to pulse, as its texture and colour changed to reflect the new type it had switched to. The pink parts turned a bright red, while the usually blue parts on his body turned orange.
Absolutely a fire type.
But how was this possible? He absolutely needed to catch this Pokémon for research, but he needed to break off the Terastalization to do it.
Their studies showed that Tera type and Hidden Power type were connected, so it was natural to think that they were immutable... But this Sandy Shock had just proven them wrong. Could Tera types change after all? Or was it a different form of Terastalization? Did the overflowing energy of this place cause it to manifest in a different way?
He glanced at his own Tera Orb, as if he wanted to check if something was happening to it. It looked charged like it always did.
He turned his attention back to the battle, where Keylogger had been busy deflecting the Sandy Shock's Tera Blasts with carefully placed Light Screens as Miguel flew around both of them.
The little Dark type looked evidently unsure on what to do.
Maybe Miguel could confuse it again?
A sudden loud explosion distracted both him and the Murkrow as Sada's Golett and the Iron Thorns suddenly fell between the Porygon and Sandy Shock. They looked as if they were both trying to pin the other to the ground. The Golett was Terastalized and also surrounded by flames itself, which it was using to send flaming punches directly towards the vent intakes on the Iron Thorn's body. The futuristic Tyranitar, meanwhile, had...
Turo blinked, sure he had seen wrong.
It had been a Flying type just before.
Now there was what looked like little ice cubes floating in water flowing through the gaps in its body where Hadron energy usually coursed, and the spines on its back had been covered in ice. Each punch the Golett landed made a great cloud of steam erupt around them as the ice melted and the Iron Thorn roared, trying to shake the clay golem off as it bit down on its armor.
He turned around to find Sada run up to him, a frustrated scowl on her face as the Terastalization of both wild Pokémon made her skill with the bow useless.
« I don't know how it did it, but that Iron Thorn -»
« Changed Tera Type?» Turo completed for her, earning a surprised glance. « Same thing here.»
There was a small pause as Sada fidgeted with the string of her bow.
« What do we do? Can they just keep changing Tera type indefinitely?» she asked, a hint of wonder in her voice despite the frustration. It was a rhetorical question, obviously, since Turo didn't know the answer any better than she did.
There was a resounding
crack as Tera shards flew away from both Golett and Iron Thorn's latest exchange of blows.
Turo looked at the Tera shards that had landed near their feet. Those from Ötzi were bright red, but those that had come from the Iron Thornd glittered in a rainbow of colours.
He had never seen Tera shards like these.
Unfortunately, they didn't have time to lose pondering what those Tera shards were. An urgent caw from Miguel drew his attention; Keylogger had floated back to him, beeping in distress while its opponent (now looking even more similar to a Magneton, with pure electricity buzzing around it) gave chase, and Ötzi had just been driven into the ground by the Iron Thorn.
He quickly recalled the Porygon in its Poké Ball.
The two Pokémon looked back at them as Tera energy kept gathering around them. The air suddenly felt even heavier.
Turo took a step back, feeling cold sweat that had nothing to do with the temperature of the cave trail down his neck and soaking into the bodysuit.
« .... Maybe we should go back to the elevator...» he said in a low whisper, not wanting to provoke the Pokémon further.
He knew very well what concentrated Tera energy could do. If the two Pokémon accidentally set off an explosion-
On his shoulder, Miguel fidgeted, pupils wide with panic. Ötzi slowly got back up, the Terastalization fading as the Golett struggled back to its feet.
The two wild Pokémon reared up and charged.
Light exploded in front of them, and for a moment Turo thought that they had used a too strong Tera Blast to finally bring the whole cave down. He flinched and braced himself, expecting to feel rocks start to fall all around them.
Instead, he realised after a moment that the light was coming from Sada's Pokémon. The Golett grew until it towered over both Pokémon, almost scraping the ceiling with its head, and Turo heard Sada gasp in amazement by his side.
« It's been years, I... I was starting to think he didn't want to evolve anymore...!»
The light faded as the newly evolved Golurk braced itself and bent down to catch both charging Pokémon with its massive arms held in front of its chest. Their power was still enough to push it back two slow, enormous steps.
It turned its head and huffed, spectral steam billowing out from the cracks in its armor as it struggled to keep both wild Pokémon still.
Sada's expression went from amazement to worry.
« I'm not leaving you here to escape!» she exclaimed.
But Turo immediately knew what the Golurk must have realised; there wasn't enough space on the narrow rock bridge to send out her Piloswine to help cover for them if they tried to retreat. Even Kim would struggle to keep her footing while fighting at the same time, while his Pokémon, while all able to fly or float, were too tired to hold out much longer.
Miguel shuffled on his shoulder again and cawed. Turo raised one hand to reassure him, feeling bad for the little Dark type; was it feeling responsible for bringing them down here?
« Treasure!»
His finger got pecked painfully and he flinched.
« W-what?!» he asked, turning his head towards the Murkrow.
Miguel pecked at his ears again, agitated.
« Treasure! Treasure!» it repeated, then a pause, almost as if the Murkrow was struggling with finding the right words.
« Strong treasure!»
Turo stared. What even was "strong treasure"...?
His eyes flew wide when he realized.
« You mean... the Dusk Stone...?» he dug into the pocket of his labcoat to take it out.
He still kept it out of simple habit, since he had long dismissed the idea of Miguel evolving since he didn't want to do it. It had been sitting in his pocket as something to play mindlessly with for years.
Miguel stared at the stone in his hand, then looked back up at Ötzi. Something inside the stone's shining surface seemed to swirl when the Murkrow turned back towards it.
The Murkrow's eyes seemed to harden, and it jumped off from Turo's shoulder, taking the stone in his beak.
As soon as he made contact with it, his body immediately started to glow and change: its plumage and wingspan lengthened, blood red feathers growing alongside the pure black ones over his wings, while a great crest of white feathers puffed out from his chest.
Turo stared at the now Honchkrow, his now empty hand still raised. Feeling empty himself, he balled up his hand and shoved it back in his pocket, a strange guilt creeping into his chest.
... Had Miguel really wanted to evolve? Or had both Pokémon felt pushed to do it?
The Honchkrow flew over the Golurk's shoulder and screeched, his voice much deeper than just a couple moments ago.
His whole body pulsed with a dark light that radiated across the two wild Pokémon, who staggered back.
Turo realized that Miguel was maybe the first of his Pokémon that had evolved in the usual, instantaneous way. With Ampere the process had been so gradual, with the Magnemites growing closer and closer until he started to refer to all three of them as "Ampere' interchangeably, that he had time to get used to it. Keylogger's evolution was literally an upgrade, and maybe even reversible, at least theoretically.
Miguel now... was just different.
He already missed the feeling of his little talons on his shoulder, that small but comfortable weight pressing down on him.
Taking advantage of the two opponents momentary retreat, Ötzi huffed and raised himself to his full height. The Golurk raised both fists, each one shining with a different element - and judging by Sada's surprised look, that wasn't something she had taught the Pokémon how to do... or maybe not successfully until now- , and swung them crashing directly on each opponent, who hastily backed away.
« They are changing type again!» Sada called out as Tera shards flew in all directions.
The Sandy Shocks stumbled backwards on its magnets, trying to balance as they slowly turned into wooden stumps. The Iron Thorn, meanwhile, was eyeing Miguel before suddenly turning a bright pink. Nothing happened for another moment, before two glittering insect-like wings sprouted out of its back: they had to be purely decorative, because there was no way they would let it fly. The circuits all over its body glittered shock pink as it charged another Tera Blast.
Miguel cawed menacingly.
« Fairy type now...? » Turo eyed the two wild Pokémon, and an idea took place in his head. He exchanged a glance with Sada, pointing once to Miguel, the Sandy Shocks, then to her. He twirled his left index finger in the air, tracing a circle.
She stared at him for a moment, before understanding and letting out a small grin.
« Miguel, Wing Attack on the Sandy Shock!» he called out, and the Honchkrow dove forward to hit the prehistoric Magneton. The fairy type Tera Blast still clipped his wing, the Honchkrow not yet used to his bigger body, but even as he let out a small screech of pain the Pokémon did not stop, striking the Grass Type Sandy Shock with his wings as the Tera Blast still trailed after him.
Sada cleared her throat before addressing Ötzi, not without a little smirk.
« Heavy Slam!» she pointed towards the Iron Thorns.
The Golurk took a moment to react, turning seemingly in slow motion towards his opponent. The Iron Thorns, busy taking a big breath after trying to chase down Miguel, realized a moment too late that the enormous Ghost type was now towering over it. The Golurk simply spread its arms wide and let itself fall forward.
Turo could swear he saw the Iron Thorns fuzzy pink vents turn pale before it got flattened under the giant golem's Steel infused attack. Sada laughed.
« That's gotta hit so much harder now!»
With the future Pokémon literally pinned under the Golurk, only the Sandy Shocks remained, still currently a Grass Type. It seemed to realize its mistake when Miguel and the newly summoned Kim and Narjik turned towards it, eyes gleaming. It tried to change type again, but couldn't manage it before a Flamethrower, an Ice Beam and a final Wing attack by Miguel completely shattered the Tera crystals around its body. Now free to shoot, Sada's Poké Ball arrow quickly caught it. Turo similarly walked over to the barely conscious Iron Thorn to catch it in a Poké Ball.
Silence ensued at last, Turo finally taking a big breath. He pocketed the Poke Ball containing the newly caught Iron Thorn, then turned around towards Miguel. The Honchkrow had flown close, and for a moment hovered awkwardly in front of him, beating his wings. Turo realized that the Honchkrow had tried to instinctually land on his shoulder before stopping himself, and now was too big to comfortably look him in the eye by keeping himself afloat barely a meter off the ground. After a moment, the Honchkrow dropped to the ground with a small caw and folded his wings back up, looking up at him. Turo smiled and got down on one knee so that they were at eye level and the Pokémon didn't have to crane his neck upwards too much.
« ... I think you're too big to fit on the nest next to my computer now.» he said, petting the Dark type. There was a glossy sheen to the Honchkrow's feathers that hadn't been there when he had been a Murkrow. Miguel cawed sadly, but pushed his beak against his hand, carefully pecking at his fingers.
« I can get you a new perch, what do you think? A bigger one, with a fluffy pillow... and think about it! All the Murkrow around the area will be your cronies now! A wild Honchkrow can't beat all the treasure you've gathered here, you'll be the boss Honchkrow of the whole South Province!» he chuckled trying to cheer the Pokémon up. It would take time for both of them to get used to the Dark type's new form. The bigger, fluffier white feathers felt so strange under his fingers as he moved his hand to scratch the Pokémon's neck. They were.... really soft. He quietly wondered if Miguel would lose even more feathers around the house when molting now.
Miguel seemed to perk up slightly at the idea of leading his own flock now, but then went back to demanding pets, shuffling closer.
« Miguel... strong?» the Honchkrow chirped after a moment in a low voice, and Turo realized how much the idea of falling behind Ampere and not being able to contribute much in the battle must have weighted on the Dark type's mind.
He blinked hard, suddenly feeling guilty. It was his fault. M-maybe if he had trained him more, instead of leaving his Pokémon mostly to their own devices, Miguel wouldn't have felt like he needed to resort to evolving if he had never liked the idea.
« You were always strong. » he whispered, pulling the Honchkrow close.
« ... Thank you. You really helped.»
The great crow spread his wings, draping them all around his back like a great black cape, rubbing against his cheek with his beak.
---
Now that the Sandy Shock (a real one! She still couldn't believe it!) was safely captured in her pocket, Sada felt like she could actually take a moment to breath. What was that type changing Terastalization? Were there other Pokémon from her or Turo's time lurking under there?
But first... she had something else to address. She recalled everyone in their Poké Ball except for Ötzi, approaching the Golurk. She couldn't help but feel in awe; maybe it was the cramped area, the heavy air, or the Golurk's bulk, but it looked enormous. Standing upright, she could barely reach its knee. Even raising her arms over her head and getting on the tip of her feet, she could barely reach the Pokemon's waist.
In the back of her mind, she had always thought that Ötzi was simply taking a bit more time to evolve; that they were simply not ready, or didn't feel the need to... But a part of her had always thought that they would do it one day, surely... because of that picture of Professor Olim where she had a Golurk. A Golurk that, she realised now as the Pokémon looked down at her awkwardly, she was sure was exactly Ötzi. She had stared at that picture more than she cared to admit. The Pokémon in that picture was Ötzi; they had the same chinks in their clay armour.
« You look incredible! You finally evolved!» she smiled wide, only for the smile to slowly freeze on her face when she noticed the Golurk looking quite somber. Ötzi had never been the most expressive Pokémon even as a Golett, but Sada had learned to read its emotional state by the way its ghostly energy moved more than its inexpressive face. Now it was barely crackling, the golem's great shoulders slumped forward. Slowly, like it was extremely scared of every small step it took (and they probably were), the Pokémon sat down.
The Golurk was still big enough to have to crane their head down to look her in the eye.
« ... You're sad because you won't be able to fit in the house with everyone else anymore, are you?» she smiled sadly after a moment, and the Pokémon nodded. She had said it almost as a joke the first time it had come up, but now realised that the thought must have weighted on the Pokémon much more than she thought.
Then again, Golett and Golurk had been born to help people in all kinds of tasks; it was probably natural for Ötzi to want to stay as close as possible. She walked near the Golurk and put one hand on one of its enormous shoulder pads. She managed to barely reach its elbow.
« I know you're sad, but... think of all the other things you'll be able to do now! You can fly! Just wait until Arven sees you! » she smiled.
« Also, the laboratory's roof is completely flat, I was thinking of setting up a little garden up there. You would be perfect to take care of the plants there. » she reasoned, and watched as the Golurk slowly raised their heads back up. They raised one hand and pointed to themselves.
"Me??"
She smiled encouragingly.
« Of course! You're a ground type, you would know how to make sure the soil is set up just right! Kim can't do it, obviously. Narjik neither, he has no way to get up there. But you can! We could grow some berries, maybe... I wanted to experiment with planting some ancient seeds I found in my last excavation and see if they sprout... What do you think ?»
Ötzi seemed to ponder it over for a moment, then they nodded. A light whistle like that of a kettle on the stove rose from the chink in their armor, now bigger than when they were a Golett. It made Sada smile. Maybe Ötzi just needed to feel like they had a task to perform. A duty. Something that only the Golurk could do. And speaking of that... Sada turned towards the elevator, looking up towards the great chasm they had descended down from.
« Do you want to try flying up here? It shouldn't be hard, it's pretty much a straight line up!» she offered, eyes gleaming. « You don't even need to figure out how to bank yet!» she added, before turning to Turo.
« Romero! Let's fly on Ötzi!»
Her husband, still hugging Miguel, slowly turned to look at both of them. His face grew pale.
« Yeah, umm... I'll take the elevator. » he muttered after a moment, and she burst out laughing.
« Aw. But that's so boring!»
She moved closer to the Golurk, trying to gauge how she could climb on the golem's back.
The Pokémon bent slightly forward, and she used its knee as a support to quickly climb it until she was seated between the two large shoulders.
The golem got back up, slowly and carefully, and she couldn't help but be reminded of the first time she had jumped on Winged King's back.
It was strange, thinking of the great dragon these days.
Turo still mourned Miraidon, because the two had literally grown side by side together their whole life.
She had now spent more time with her Pokémon here in Paldea than with the dragon back in her time.
And yet... it would always have a very special place in her heart.
Her first true Pokémon. The one she had bonded with and tamed without even a Poke Ball, the first she had ridden, the one that pushed her to do what her people would have assumed impossible.
Sometimes, when looking at the cover of the Scarlet Book, she would think back on how warm the dragon's scale felt as she jumped on its back, its roar as it flew over her when she played the flute, the way it would nose at her bag looking for food every time she called for him.
Ötzi's back was cold and smooth, almost slippery if she didn't hold herself carefully at its two shoulder pads.
So very different.
Maybe it was for the best.
She patted the ghost golem and pointed straight upwards with a warm smile.
« Let's go!»
There was a moment where the golem stood completely still, as if it also didn't know how to fly yet.
Turo scoffed as he moved past them to walk towards the elevator.
« Are you sure Golurk can fly? Isn't it just in that movie about the giant Dynamax Golurk from space-» he said, only to yelp and jump back when the golem's feet suddenly sprouted ghostly flames, pushing it upwards like a rocket.
Sada laughed and waved out at Turo and Miguel staring in disbelief.
« See you at the Zero Lab!»
---
Back at the Lab, Sada put the Poké Ball with the captured Sandy Shocks on the desk on her side of the lab. She needed to be careful with it; it was a Pokémon that had never had contact with humans, after all. She still couldn't believe it! A Pokémon from her time, in Area Zero!
She sat down at the desk and opened her journal, thoughts swirling as she tried to decide what to write about first.
« You know, I was thinking about that strange Terastalization...» Turo said, entering the lab after exiting the elevator. It was definitely slower than Ötzi, and it had taken him a good couple of minutes to get here.
« Me too. I have an hypothesis, actually -» she replied, and watched with a bemused smile as Turo quirked an eyebrow and leant over her desk, arms crossed.
« Oh? Want to share? »
Sada twirled the pen she had picked up through her fingers.
« Nah. You first. » she said.
« All right.» Turo shrugged, his labcoat shifting slightly with the movement, the glowing lines around the shoulders tracing a small luminous arc in the air.
« The source of Tera Energy must be under there, which results in the Terastal phenomena manifesting in that... different, more concentrated way. I'm still not sure why it would manifest in the Tera type changing, however...» he murmured, rubbing at his chin with one hand in that way he did only when he was deep in thought. She had always loved that little habit of his.
« What if-» Sada said. « It's not actually changing? What if those Pokémon simply have a different Tera type? A type... that holds all types inside it?» she asked, excited. Turo furrowed his eyebrows.
« A ... completely new type? »
« Maybe.... this purest, more concentrated form of Tera Energy allows Pokémon to access a type that's not... Actually one. They would be all types at once, and that's how they could shift types mid Terastalization! »
« All types at once.... Alba, that's madness! People would go crazy over this!» Turo looked both extremely excited and slightly terrified at what she was suggesting. She could understand why.
Types where the basis of Pokémon biology. Scientists and Professors all over the world were constantly redefining and perfecting how types were categorized. They knew that Pokémon could change types when evolving, or when assuming certain specific forms, or adapting to a new habitat. Terastalization, which theoretically allowed any Pokémon to be any type, was already an enormous thing the scientific community would have some trouble accepting once they officially announced the Tera Orb.
« Professor Sycamore is
still arguing about getting the Fairy type officially recognised, and... and now you're suggesting another new type that's actually
all types at once!» Turo shook his head in disbelief.
« Well, it would be only available while Terastallizing... it's not like we've found a Pokémon that's like that all the time.» Sada replied. They stared at each other for a moment in silence.
"... Yet." she mentally added, sure that Turo had just thought the exact same thing.
« You don't think.... Terapagos....?» Turo's voice was barely audible.
« Maybe. But let's not get over ourselves. Let's explore the Underdepths better in the following months. » Sada said, turning back around towards her journal.
« If Terapagos is the cause of all this... I still don't quite understand what the connection between Terastalization and.... "Time warping" is. It's just such a... random set of powers for a Pokémon to have, no matter how powerful.» Turo said.
She had also no idea about that, but that was just one more thing they had to discover. More research. More work to do.
« ... I'm going back to the surface. You coming?» she heard Turo say and nodded, hastily finishing an entry in her journal before running after him.
"In this cavern, I have witnessed the Terastal phenomenon occurring in a way I've never seen aboveground—Terastallization that appears to hold the power of every known type. I have dubbed this Tera Type the Stellar type for now. Could Terapagos's influence be at play?"
