"Okay, are you ready, Kieran?"
Kieran nodded, as he adjusted the straps of his backpack on his shoulders.
"Great! There is a driver waiting for us outside. We should reach the entrance to the Great Crater of Paldea in a couple of hours, maybe less. Make sure you don't leave anything behind because it will be difficult to have to turn around!" Briar joked, a little too excited for Kieran's liking, considering that they were going to a expedition to such a dangerous place.
Anyway, Kieran nodded again and, while Briar walked forward, he took some time to look in the direction of the enormous bookshelves that made up the Naranja Academy library. His eyes moved between the hallways, watching some students of different ages pass by, who went about his normal life as if nothing had happened while he tried to locate a certain woman who had been driving him crazy for days.
He sighed in defeat as he assumed he wouldn't be able to see her before he left, turning his back on it all and walking towards the huge doors of the Academy. He had work to do, there was a reason he had been sent there in the first place despite his own personal goals.
A week had passed and he had barely seen Juliana again after she left his room, he had managed to see her from a distance a few times, either leaving one of her classes or, much to her chagrin, from Arven's room, a situation that was starting to piss him off more than he wanted to admit, but she didn't come back to look for him and that had Kieran going crazy. It was like suffering a setback when she put that distance between them after their reunion, before seeing each other again in the library. He didn't know if she was the one putting distance away or if it was a coincidence, but it was a fact that he had barely seen her, and he missed her. He was even beginning to doubt that everything they had been through had been real.
He had come to think that they had gotten closer, that something between them had changed enough to become a little closer; the nights they spent together, their good chemistry in the library, and that date in Mesagoza had given Kieran enough hope of having something with her to feel like he had the right to question why she was turning away from him again.
Several times Kieran had to stop to become aware that these were his own expectations, he had to repeat to himself that in reality Juliana and he had nothing, they were both single adults who could do whatever they wanted, whether together or separately without the other questioning anything. That was the reality.
Depressed by his own thoughts, Kieran tried to focus on the investigation. Focusing on his work would help him keep his mind busy and not let his bad thoughts cause his problems. Regardless of the nature of their relationship, he had made a promise to Juliana to help her keep Terapagos from ending up in the hands of teacher Briar, and he was willing to keep it. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he would do it.
"What has kept you so entertained?" he then heard Nemona's voice, who was already next to the flying taxi.
"Sorry, I wanted to make sure I had everything ready."
"Well, let's not waste any more time! Area Zero is going to look amazing to you! The first time I saw it I didn't even know where to look!"
Overwhelmed by the usual excess of energy that Nemona gave off, Kieran took his place inside the spacious Taxi, seeing that he had Penny as a partner next to her. He took a moment to greet her, however, she seemed to make a titanic effort not to even look at him. As always, the woman made it clear that he didn't like her but at least she should have some courtesy, as long as they had to work together...
Kieran looked back at the Academy as the taxi took off, seeing how it was getting smaller and smaller, like all of Mesagoza, as they ascended.
The trip lasted about two hours, landing just in front of the facilities that served as a port to Area Zero, apparently it was too dangerous to go down with the flying taxi due to the high risk of being attacked by the Paradox Pokémon while landing.
They had to take about an hour more to find a way to get down, using several flying-type Pokémon to descend little by little. Kieran had to admit that he was on the verge of having an anxiety attack several times, the thick fog that prevented him from seeing the bottom along with the exaggeratedly slow descent and the sounds of wild Pokémon that he had never heard before and that seemed aggressive was making him more worried and nervous with anticipation than if they had been attacked directly.
When his feet touched the ground and his hands were able to release the Golbat, courtesy of the Pokémon League that took care of carrying him, he was able to breathe! He didn't understand why he couldn't use his Cramorant or Dragonite. ! But no... the Super wanted Pokémon provided by the League to be in charge of leaving them safe and sound within Area Zero.
"We have finally arrived! Isn't that exciting, Kieran?!" Briar exclaimed, as fresh as a rose, looking around her with a huge sparkle in her eyes.
Kieran had to take a minute to catch his breath and stop cursing the teacher in his mind for having a higher stamina than his own.
"Please, what a beautiful place! Kieran, you have to see this!"
Kieran, listening to her, raised his head and his eyes opened when he saw the natural landscape that stood before him. Waterfalls, reliefs, plants, trees, flowers, clean and pure air, it even seemed that the sunlight managed to somehow filter through the thick fog and managed to illuminate the entire place as if it were a totally sunny day.
He would never have expected that the famous and very dangerous Great Crater of Paldea would be such a beautiful and spectacular place, it reminded him of the Terarium Canyon Biome, but with much more plant life. An entire ecosystem that brought together the ideal conditions so that Pokémon could live and proliferate like in any other environment.
"But it seems too small" Kieran thought to himself, leaning out to see how high they were.
He saw that, without a doubt, the Crater was deep and from what Juliana and Briar had said, this could go even deeper, however it still seemed too small to support life for so long while they continued to reproduce.
"Hi, Earth calling Cass, do you see me? " Nemona's voice startled him when he heard her so close and, when he looked, he found her right next to him. "Were you stunned by how different it is from what you thought it was?"
"Well, yes, it's not that I was thinking that this was going to look like hell or something but...well, I guess my imagination made me think that if it was a place with so much danger then it would have to look inhospitable and lifeless, but of course, if that were the case, Pokémon couldn't live here," he admitted a little embarrassed, scratching the back of his head.
"You're right, but you're not wrong about one thing, and that is that even though it looks pretty, it's still a very dangerous place." Penny then intervened, standing a few steps away with her arms crossed. "Prehistoric and modern Pokémon have been living in this place for many years. Some were brought here, others fell and could no longer leave, others were born and raised here. We deal with Pokémon forced to coexist when their natures are different, regardless of the type of Pokémon we encounter, they will all be hostile towards us. Some have never seen a human in their lives.
"But you were here years ago and Professor Saba was working here with her team," Briar pointed out.
"We have not fought each and every one of the Pokémon that live in the Crater, teacher"
"For our misfortune," Nemona lamented, pretending to wipe away a tear.
"...And Professor Saba, as far as I know, was trying to study the Paradox Pokémon from a distance. If she wanted to study them as if they were in their habitat, it was better to eliminate the human presence from their lives and leave them free in Area Zero."
Kieran raised his eyebrow at it and it raised new questions in him, looking into the depths. The Crater was formed a long time ago, that means that many Pokémon have had to be born in this place, no matter how big it was, it was not possible for it to house so many populations of different types of Pokémon, and going outside was impossible if you didn't know how to fly or climb. How had that Great Tusk even managed to do it? Had he taken advantage of some flying type Pokémon to get out? And also the resources of the crater had to be limited so...
Kieran swallowed. Most of the Pokémon that lived in the crater had to have a mainly carnivorous and, therefore, predatory diet, and that translated into competition and territorial fights.
Yes, the place is beautiful but the conditions were ideal for especially aggressive beasts to emerge.
He thought of Koraidon, specifically that traumatic moment when he lived up to his real name, Winged King, the moment of the Blueberry League battle. A large and very strong Pokémon. The strongest of the Paradox Pokémon, used to fighting to maintain its supremacy over the rest of the species. Although Juliana's Koraidon was mostly meek, sociable, and affectionate on a Lillipup level, Kieran had witnessed how dangerous and fierce he could be if someone hit him the wrong buttons. He thought about the other Koraidon, Nemona had told him that this one was much more aggressive in nature and that he had defeated Juliana's Koraidon in a territorial fight, becoming the hunter and king of Area Zero...
Was that Koraidon still somewhere in Area Zero or did Juliana capture him too? He didn't know, Juliana didn't get to answer if that Pokémon was still in the Crater. He looked down again. If a predator as strong as that Koraidon, which was also more aggressive in nature, was living down there, then it had to mentally prepare itself to jump to fight with its Pokémon, because a beast of those dimensions would not give it the opportunity to react if it were hungry or defending his territory.
"Okey guys! Now we have to continue going down to the deep part," Briar indicated, starting to walk down the slope.
"But exactly where are we going? " Penny asked, starting to walk too."Nemona and I have already been to the deepest part of Area Zero, and the only thing that leads there is to Professor Saba's Zero Lab. It's not like you can go lower than that."
"You're wrong about that, champion Penny," Briar said with an enthusiastic smile as she took something that appeared to be a CD out of her bag.
"What is that?" Nemona asked, tilting her head to the side.
"This was given to me by the Super Champion Geeta, in a meeting I had with her to give details of the expedition. From what she told me, this will be necessary for us to be able to access beyond the laboratory."
Hearing her, Penny tightened her hug on herself and could almost see him show her teeth. A detail that did not go unnoticed by Nemona, who was surprised to see her so nervous.
"That's great!" Nemona exclaimed with her usual joy. "Super is always involved in everything, but I'm surprised that she has achieved something like that."
"As I understand it, she sent people to the laboratory to investigate it after your trip and they found some interesting things, the most important of which is that inside Zero Lab there is a disused elevator that can go much lower. And she was kind enough to get me this, she told me so we could get to our destination."
"Of course, how lucky we are!" Penny hissed, narrowing her eyes in anger.
"Hey, what's going on?" She whispered under her breath, getting closer to Penny's ear.
Penny looked at her from the corner of her eye before shaking her head, refusing to answer. Nemona stopped her walk, watching as her friend continued hugging herself and her tense shoulders. This was strange. Why was Penny so nervous? It wasn't the first time they were at Area Zero. No, she wasn't like this around Area Zero. She had gotten like that when she saw the disk that teacher Briar had, but what was so important about that?
"Nemona, is something wrong?" Kieran asked when he reached her side.
"I don't know," she admitted without taking her eyes off Penny.
But there was no time for questions.
As they descended into the depths, they encountered many Pokémon that came out from all sides to confront them, trying to drive them out of their territory. Briar, being the only one in the group who didn't have Pokémon, left that job in the hands of the youngs and stayed in the rearguard.
Kieran had to admit, the Pokémon in the crater were nothing like the ones he knew from the Terarium, they were, without a doubt, wilder than even the average wild Pokémon and that only confirmed what he had deduced before. The law of the strongest was very marked in that place and any Pokémon that lived there was a possible threat, even the smallest of the Pawmi. But without a doubt, the ones that gave him the most problems were the famous Pokémon Paradox, all of them were familiar to him because of their enormous resemblance to their modern counterparts, however, facing them was something else, seeing them in Briar's notes and in what Nemona had told her was very different from facing them. And Juliana had had to face all those beasts?
He was grateful to have the support of Nemona and Penny, even though each one's combat style was different, in which Penny seemed to take a support role, taking care of protecting and healing, while Nemona was mainly attacking, both complemented each other very well and gave rise to an unbreakable team.
"Are you okay, Kieran?" Briar asked, once he had managed to chase away a group of Golduck that had rushed at them.
"Yes" he sighed tiredly as he brought the Dragonite back to him.
"Don't worry, we're close," she encouraged, getting going again.
They continued descending, and the journey had literally lasted hours, and Kieran could notice it even more because as they descended the sunlight reached them less and less. He wasn't sure if it was because it was getting dark or if they were already reaching a point where the sun's rays couldn't reach them.
But then, the place had a different light, one that looked familiar to Kieran. The fragments of the Terastal predominated the further they descended, replacing the sun with the brilliance of the crystals. Kieran had already seen a similar effect in the Crystal Pool of his beloved Kitakami, the times he climbed to the top of the mountain to go to the lake left a view similar to the one he now had before him. Just like up there, the scenery down there was equally spectacular.
But also equally dangerous.
More Pokémon emerged from everywhere, when they had long left the vegetation zone behind and there were only rocks, teracrystals and water, and could there still be Pokémon living in that part?
"Okay, Zero Lab is there," Nemona pointed out, showing the place where you could see a kind of closed door and a long ramp where, right next to it, there was a kind of machine.
Once they approached, Penny touched the buttons, receiving only a message from the machine that the system had been blocked due to the long period of time without use.
"What's happening? Why doesn't it open?" Kieran asked.
"The system hasn't been active for a while, so for security reasons, access has been blocked," Penny explained, putting her hands in her pockets, looking away.
"But you were able to open it before, so it has to be possible." Briar said, moving her fingers nervously. "What do we need to open it?"
"We don't open it on our own."
"Oh really?"
"Professor Saba was inside Zero Lab" Nemona then responded "She was the one who was giving us instructions on what to do to open that door, but she gave the final blow from inside."
"That means..." Kieran whispered.
"What we did the last time is not going to work," Penny replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"Can't you use your hacking skills to open it?" Kieran asked, tilting his head, earning a hard look from Penny.
"This is a simple access panel, to be able to hack it I need to use a computer that is connected to this thing and I didn't bring mine with me" she hissed, pointing her thumb at the thing.
Beep...beep...
The sound of the machine startled those present, who did not expect it to give the slightest sign of reaction.
"Indigo Disk detected. Insert Indigo Disk to gain access privileges. Insert Indigo Disk"
"Okay, I didn't expect this thing to be able to talk," Kieran commented, although the robotic sound of that voice was similar to that of TM machines.
"This has to be a joke..." Penny growled under her breath.
"I guess this is why Geeta gave me the Indigo Disk," Briar whispered, taking said Disk out of her bag. "The Super Champion must have anticipated that something like this could happen and she has taken precautions."
"But where did Geeta get that from...?" Penny asked, with her fists clenched when she saw that disc between Briar's fingers.
"Penny, what's wrong with you?" Nemona whispered, approaching her again, already worried that she was so tense.
Briar, oblivious to the girls' tense gazes, approached the machine that was still making sounds, seeing that, as soon as she was close enough to it, the tray where she had to place the disc automatically came out.
Confident, she took out the disc and went to take it to the tray.
Just then, a sound of wheels was heard in the distance. Kieran could see something coming at full speed towards them out of the corner of his eye.
"Careful!" Kieran exclaimed as he hugged the teacher around the waist and jerked back just as a huge creature passed in front of them. Both Kieran and Briar fell to the ground from the force of the pull.
Damn, it almost ran them over!
"Are you okay?!" Nemona exclaimed, running to help them, while Penny took the Umbreon out of her, Galan, anticipating a possible fight.
"The Indigo Disk! He took it from me!" Briar exclaimed, holding her wrist, having received a blow from the creature.
Everyone looked at the creature, which had stopped a few meters away, being surprised to see that it was a Cyclizar, which had the disc in its mouth and looked at the group with defiance, as if daring them to face it. .
"You..." Penny whispered.
"What are you doing here...?" Nemona murmured in turn.
"We have to get that disk back!" Briar exclaimed, getting up from the ground without letting go of her injured wrist. "If he damage it, we won't be able to access Zero Lab."
"What happen to you? Why don't you react?" Kieran asked.
Penny, waking up at the moment, looked at Kieran.
"There is no Cyclizar in Area Zero. The only Cyclizar-like creature that lives here is Koraidon, and he hasn't been here in a while..." she answered, making Nemona look at her with an arched eyebrow.
"Well, he will be one that has fallen down here!" said Briar. "But we can't let it do anything to the Indigo Disk or we won't be able to continue! We have to get it back!"
Both girls hesitated, looking between them as if trying to find the other's decision, even Galan looked back and took a step back.
"I'm sorry..." Nemona whispered before taking out a pokeball and throwing it let out Bee, her Ribombee.
Penny shared a look with Galan, who asked her if he was continuing with this. Penny looked at the Cyclizar before nodding, Galan then focused his gaze on his opponent.
The Cyclizar narrowed its eyes and tightened its grip on his jaw against the casing that kept the disk protected, threatening to shatter it on the spot. That gesture made Kieran click his tongue as he took out a pokeball to join the fight.
Then he felt it, a small tremor under his feet.
"Kieran...?" Briar whispered when she saw that the young guy had stopped abruptly.
"He's not alone..." Kieran whispered, pressing his fingers against his pokeball.
Again, the small tremor was replicated, with a rhythm, as if they were footsteps, metallic noises began to be heard making everyone tense.
Then, right behind the Cyclizar a shadow began to emerge, emerging from between the columns of rocks, a large creature that seemed twice its size. The little light emitted by the teracrystals began to dissipate the shadows that hid it, revealing a Pokémon that looked similar to the other, but huge in comparison, its entire body seemed to be composed of purple metal and its eyes, which seemed to be digital and of a combination of blue and yellow stabbed at them coldly, while electric shocks jumped around them with every step they took.
"What is that thing...?" Kieran barely whispered, it looked like Cyclizar, but that couldn't be a Cyclizar.
The second, that purple and metallic Cyclizar released a shrill roar that could be felt shaking the entire depth, claiming that they had invaded his territory and, the second, he launched a Dragon Pulse against them.
Nemona and Penny prepared for it but then Kieran threw his pokeball just as the lightning hit them.
A cloud of smoke rose from the impact. Penny and Nemona covered themselves with their arms before looking up.
Right before them, a beautiful Serperior stood in all its splendor before them using Protection.
"We'll take care of that..." Kieran said, passing by Nemona and Penny, staying right behind his Serperior and staring at that beast. "You go after the little Cyclizar and recover the disk."
Nemona took a step, about to tell him that it was crazy that he was taking care of a Pokémon that they had no idea what it was, however, Penny took her arm and made a gesture that made it clear that obey the order. Nemona hesitated, and it was enough for the Cyclizar to take its Drive Mode to flee the scene, leaving his partner in front of that trainer and his Serperior. Given the urgency of the situation, both girls decided to go after him, if they lost sight of him, goodbye to the Indigo Disc!
Nemona took out Haka, her Kommo-o, using him as a mount so that she, Penny and Briar could chase him, but before making the move, Nemona looked at Kieran's back.
"Don't even think about taking risks, do you hear me? We don't know what that thing is or what it's capable of doing," Nemona warned as she made Bee return just as Penny did the same with Galan.
"Don't worry, Ringo and I have seen worse things." He smiled looking at the enormous creature and Ringo, the Serperior, hissed excitedly as if in agreement, attentive to the opponent's movements. "We will try to gain as much time as possible."
"Okay, good luck!" She wished before making her Kommo-o run after the Cyclizar. Penny, from her side, looked at Kieran's back and at the imposing beast, before shaking her head. If that's what she thought, Kieran couldn't do anything, but at least she was convinced that it was safe to leave him alone.
"Look, dude, I don't know if you're the parent, sibling or cousin of that Cyclizar," Kieran smiled, getting into battle position. "But I'm sorry to tell you that you're getting in the way and there's someone I promised to help, so don't take it personally but I need to get you out of the way."
The beast made a laugh-like sound with electrical interference, as if it was mocking him, and began to glow. The beast's legs stopped touching the ground to take a bipedal posture and remained floating in the air with its hind legs converted into propellers, its chest and neck inflated, its body remained more upright and electrical exhausts came out on each side of its head and a long tail appeared from a kind of compartment in the back. Also, at the end of that strange transformation, an electric field covered the entire area.
Kieran looked the creature up and down, it has a combat form, exactly like the Cyclizar did.
"Or Koraidon" he thought to himself.
"Well, we have a very tough opponent here. Are you ready, Ringo?" He asked, shaking a lock of hair that fell in front of his face.
Ringo, as excited as her trainer, hissed and positioned herself for battle.
This won't be easy.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/
"He's running away!" Briar exclaimed, upset when she saw that the Cyclizar was taking more and more distance from them despite Haka's long strides. "Can't we go faster?!"
"We are dealing with a Cyclizar, it is not Paldea's most used mount for nothing, teacher. Nemona and I don't have Pokémon with us that can match that speed," said Penny, unable to prevent an irritated tone from permeating her words.
"Well, why didn't you think of something like that?!"
"Because the idea was to fight and defend ourselves from wild Pokémon, not to chase one!" Penny roared, already very tired of the oldest's complaints, surprising Nemona and Briar with her aggressiveness. But what was wrong with her?
Nemona, increasingly uncomfortable with Penny's behavior, looked forward, trying to concentrate on catching up with the Cyclizar, however, she was also having her doubts. Not only because they had never encountered any Cyclizar in Area Zero, the closest thing they found to a Cyclizar in the entire Crater was Koraidon...and now, to that metallic creature, was there another Paradox variant of Cyclizar that they didn't know about? ? Where had he been all this time? Why had it only manifested itself now?
Anyway...
But before he could collect his thoughts, the Cyclizar suddenly skidded and braked, facing them again, forcing Kommo-o to stop his race a few minutes later. The women quickly dismounted and looked at the Pokémon that had now stood up on its hind legs, taking a bipedal stance with its front legs hanging limply in the air. Both Nemona and Penny recognized the intimidating posture, he was trying to look bigger, however, he was not being aggressive, he was just sending a warning to keep his distance.
"Come on, pretty, give us that back. It's something very important," Briar asked with a smile, taking a step closer, as if she could talk to a Pokémon.
But the Cyclizar did not move, it kept its eyes fixed on them and its body motionless.
Nemona looked at the Cyclizar in confusion, but Penny grabbed her wrist and shook her head, asking her not to do anything.
Then, with a gesture on its face that seemed to be a smile of victory, the Pokémon clenched its jaw and both the casing and the disk shattered between its teeth.
Briar stood frozen in place, watching the pieces of glass fall from the Pokémon's mouth until they were lost among the stone floor. Pallor began to cover Briar's face as the Cyclizar continued to chew and destroy her disk. When he finished, he spit out what little was left and, as if he wanted to gloat, he raised one of his hind legs and stepped on it.
"DAMN GIANT LIZARD!" Briar bellowed, startling Nemona and Penny, but on the other hand, the Cyclizar seemed to start laughing, making the sound of an engine starting. Briar, full of rage, took several strides ready to hit the Pokémon until the other two women had to hold her down to prevent her from getting closer. If she even thought of doing that, the Pokémon would kill her!
The Cyclizar seemed quite satisfied with the result, shaking his head lazily before relaxing his stance and resuming his Drive Mode. He took one last look at the women before running away, leaving them perplexed.
"No, no, no, no," Briar moaned, breaking free from the champions' grip and approaching the mess of glass that was now on the floor. She took some pieces and examined them as if she was trying to see if there was any possibility of fixing it, but it was impossible, it was totally destroyed.
"This...didn't turn out as we expected," Nemona began, trying to lighten the situation. "But don't get discouraged, maybe the Super has another copy of that disk, maybe we just have to ask them and we can try again."
"And if it's not like that...?" Briar questioned discouraged.
"If it was so important, they wouldn't have made a single Indigo Disk knowing that we were coming to such a dangerous place and that it was at risk of breaking," said Nemona, and that seemed to encourage Briar more, as he looked at her with a hopeful glow reflected in her eyes. eyes It was true! The disk was too important for there to be a single copy, there was still hope!
Penny looked towards where the Cyclizar had escaped, which was apparently heading back towards the top of the Crater. He didn't seem to have any intention of going back for his partner, that meant he was too confident in leaving him alone...
She looked for a few seconds at Briar, who was still being comforted by Nemona and, putting her hands inside her pockets, she sighed. They had to go back for Kieran.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/
Ringo screamed at a new blow from the beast's tail, so strong that she was propelled back until she ended up crashing into a stone wall.
"Ringo!" Kieran exclaimed as he saw his Pokémon struggling to get up from the ground.
The creature, on the other hand, seemed to be barely scratched, still standing as proud and imposing as at the beginning of the fight and looking at Kieran and Ringo as if they were just tiny insects to be squashed.
"Damn it, this monster is strong" Cass thought to himself as Ringo returned to position herself next to him.
He looked at his Serperior, it was still standing, but it had several wounds on its body, despite not having been in combat for long, that monster had been able to do enough damage to leave Ringo in that state. But at least, as they were attacked, Kieran was learning what his opponent was. I had already identified that he had the electric type, and had seen him use Power Gem and Charge, however, he had not seen him use any electric type moves yet, but the fact that he knew the Charge move and had an ability that provided the electric field was enough to assume its electric type, but Kieran knew that this beast had to have a secondary type. At first I thought it had to be a steel type because of the material its body seemed to be made of, but it seemed to feel a sharp pain when Ringo managed to hit it with his Dragon Tail and before he had used a Dragon Pulse, did that mean it was a dragon type and electric? ? It would be a damn irony if Ringo had to fight a Pokémon with those two types.
A gesture from the beast alerted Kieran.
"Ringo! Leaf Storm!"
The Serperior carried out the order, summoning a whirlwind of sharp blades launched at her opponent just as he opened his mouth and unleashed another Dragon Pulse. Both attacks collided and a new cloud of dust rose, blinding the battlefield.
"Now! Dragon Tail!" Kieran exclaimed.
The beast raised its neck trying to anticipate the attack, however, it was not fast enough to see the Serperior appear like an arrow through the dust and just hit its head with her tail. A blow that should be strong enough to knock him down. However, the beast, annoyed, reacted by opening its jaw and closing it forcefully on the Serperior's tail.
Ringo screamed in pain at the pressure of the metal teeth against her body.
"What?!" Kieran exclaimed, looking in bewilderment as he could see a wound on the monster's head from the blow and yet he had caught Ringo...
Then, the metallic beast moved its head and threw Ringo forcefully against the machine next to the hatches of Zero Lab. Kieran flinched as he heard the machine break upon impact, worrying about the damage Ringo might have received, confirmed when he saw his Serperior lying on the ground with the pieces of the machine around her.
As soon as he saw the bug approaching Ringo, Kieran didn't hesitate.
"Get away from her!" Kieran shouted, running just to place himself between the beast and Ringo, making the beast stop its advance. "I swear to you, DinoTerminator, if you touch a single leaf on her body, I will kill you myself."
The beast gave a growl, similar to the sound of an engine, fixing its digitized eyes on Kieran's yellow ones. He was serious. No chance of winning, but he would do it. Then, Ringo doubled down by getting up from the ground and surrounding Kieran with her body as protection, fixing her menacing red eyes on the beast.
In response, the beast gave something resembling a laugh and, without expecting it, took the form of a Drive Mode.
Both Kieran and Ringo were disconcerted by his change, not that he had stopped being dangerous, but that monster had just decided on his own that the battle was over, but they were not understanding what had led him to decide this.
The beast, like any response, gave them a superior look and shrugged its shoulders before taking the path and fleeing from there, abandoning the battle. Kieran watched as he walked away from their, watching him scale the rock wall with his claws and disappear the moment he reached the top of the first wall. Again, abilities that he had already seen before in another similar creature. Ringo, worried, touched Kieran's face with her nose, checking that he was okay, being responded to by soft caresses.
"Ringo, I'm fine, how are you?" he hurriedly asked in a fatherly tone, checking that nothing was broken, to which the grass snake hissed in a soft tone, rubbing its snout against Kieran's head again, as if that way I could convince him that it was okay.
"Kieran!"
Kieran looked up and saw the three women returning, back on Haka's back. Penny, who was practically off her mount before the Pokémon came to a complete stop, strode towards him. Kieran, seeing the angry expression on his face, cowered in place just before receiving a blow to the shoulder.
"Are you stupid?!" Penny exclaimed, red with rage. "How the hell did you think of putting yourself in front of a wild Pokémon?! He could have killed you!"
"I-I know, I'm sorry, I was trying to protect my Serperior," Kieran apologized while Ringo hissed in annoyance at Penny for her nerve. How dare that human hit Kieran?
"And you think you would have helped her if you had been hurt?! I can assure you that any blow your Serperior received would have meant death for you if you had taken it instead."
Kieran shrunk again, enduring the shorter woman's scolding, while Ringo continued to curl around her body as a protective measure while she glared at Penny. She was lucky that she had long since left the Glare movement behind, because otherwise, right now she would be paralyzed right where she was.
"I have raised this Serperior since she was born, I am closer to being her father than just being her trainer. When I saw her badly hurt and that thing wanted to hurt her more... I'm sorry, logic abandoned me and I just wanted to protect her," he whispered, a little embarrassed.
"Yes, that must sound familiar to you, right?" Penny growled, unable to help herself.
That made Kieran nervous. He knew what Penny was referring to, and immediately an angry rage boiled within his being and struck his down. How dare she tell him that?!
"Be careful, Penny, you talk too much for your own good," he warned with a poisonous tone of voice and elongated pupils just like his Serperior had.
Penny, feeling scared by the way he was looking at her, took a step back, realizing that she was playing with fire by touching that nerve in that guy and she didn't know what he was capable of doing if she did him angry. Nemona, beside her, she got off her Kommo-o and ran towards Kieran.
"I understand that you wanted to protect your Serperior, but what you did was crazy!" she then scolded, beginning to examine him from top to bottom, suddenly erasing Kieran's angry expression.
"I'm fine, it hasn't touched me," he then assured, uncomfortable feeling Nemona's hands running over his body.
"I have to make sure. I promised Juliana that she would keep an eye on you, if you come back with any injuries she will scold me!"
"What? Did you promise her that...?"
"Of course! She was worried in case something happened to you, so she asked me to take care of you if something went wrong. She's serious about taking care of her fans, right?"
Kieran just pouted. It's not that he didn't like that Juliana wanted his safety, but somehow he wasn't happy with this concern for him. In fact, its bothered him a little. He could almost feel her looking at him mockingly as she called him "kid." A kid she had to keep safe.
"That she thinks she has to take care of me is embarrassing." He thought sulkily until he noticed the way Ringo was looking at him, with a suggestive expression and raising and lowering her eyebrows.
"And what are you looking at?!" He exclaimed, pushing the snake, feeling that he was being betrayed by her, and who, totally entertained, did not move away from her and let out a few laughs.
"So please, don't tell him that I went out after a normal Cyclizar, and that I left you alone with another Cyclizar on steroids or I swear she'll cut my throat. I don't want her to be angry with me!" Nemona begged clasping her hands together in prayer, however, Kieran was no longer listening to her, too busy sulking with his own imagination and his Serperior to pay attention to her.
Penny, further removed from the scene and relieved that Kieran's anger had dissipated, looked out of the corner of her eye at teacher Briar. The woman was staring at the destroyed machine, and she understood what could be going through her mind. She couldn't help but smile at this, hopefully the problem is over or at least they have bought time! and she let out a sigh before speaking again.
"It's better that we go back to the Academy," she proposed, placing her hands in her pockets. "We have no way of accessing Zero Lab, the Cyclizar has destroyed the Indigo Disk and Kieran's fight against the big guy has destroyed the access machine. To make matters worse, we've made too much noise, hordes of wild Pokémon may be heading this way, so we better leave before they arrive."
Nemona narrowed her eyes slightly, Penny was up to something that she wasn't telling her, but not wanting to expose her, she nodded.
"We will have to make a report to Super to explain what has happened here, maybe they will come up with an alternative to open the door."
Kieran on his side, he also looked at the access machine to Zero Lab. It was completely destroyed and they had also broken the Indigo Disk, two Cyclizar, a species that was not typical of the Great Crater of Paldea, had crossed their path and it seemed that their objective was, precisely, to prevent them from entering Zero Lab. He had an idea who was behind this, but... that Cyclizar, the biggest one...
Then, simultaneously, the young people's Smart Rotoms rang at the same time. Puzzled, they hurried to look. A message from Juliana, the same for everyone.
"Tonight. Roof of the Academy. Don't say anything"
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/
The trip back to the Academy was silent, despite the time they had to spend in the Flying Taxi, but everyone was exhausted and there was a stale air in the air due mainly to the teacher's mood. She was abnormally quiet with her gaze lost somewhere on the floor of the Taxi and who knows what things were going through her mind, no matter how much Nemona tried to cheer her up, she seemed totally devastated. Penny and Kieran preferred to stay on the sidelines, the tension between them was also palpable and neither of them wanted to contribute to cheering up the teacher, they just wanted to return to the Academy as soon as possible.
By the time they arrived, night had already fallen and they had to meet with Super and principal Clavell to tell them what happened in the Crater. The dismay on their superiors' faces when they were told about the situation with the two Cyclizar was clear as day, the appearance of new species of Pokémon in the Crater never meant anything good. For now, the expeditions would have to stop until further notice, but to Briar's great relief, her research permit had not been revoked, she would only be on pause for a time while the relevant investigations were carried out and was found another way to access the Zero Lab, since there was no point in replicating a new Indigo Disk if the machine that was supposed to receive it was destroyed.
The three youngs were able to leave the principal's office, leaving Briar to continue the meeting, but they hurried towards the Academy. Juliana had not said a specific time, however, night had fallen a long time ago and the matter was urgent enough to let her continue waiting for a long time.
They arrived together at the roof of the Academy, opening the door, and found that right in the center were Arven and Juliana on a tablecloth and surrounded by cans of beer and sandwiches, as if they were having a picnic while they waited.
"Hey, it's about time you arrived," Arven greeted, raising his hand while Juliana seemed to shrink in place and extremely focused on sipping from her can. "Have they been holding you up at the meeting?"
Kieran, who was watching Juliana's gestures, took a step to approach her, however, Penny beat him to it.
"Nothing that we couldn't solve, now are you going to explain to us why the hell everything that happened in the Crater came about?" Penny immediately attacked and, noticing the way they were looking at her, she snorted. "Don't take me for an idiot, I know that you have had to do with those Cyclizar that have broken the Indigo Disk and the access machine to Zero Lab. Arceus´sake, Juliana, did you really think that Nemona and I wouldn't recognize Genzaidon?"
That caught Kieran's attention, looking at Penny's back and then at Nemona who was next to him, who had an uncomfortable expression on her face. Had they known that this Cyclizar was Juliana's since they saw him? Why didn't they say anything?
"I have fought against that Cyclizar enough times to recognize him from others of his species." Nemona agreed, rubbing her arm, also quite uncomfortable with having to participate in that confrontation with her friend. "But the other one who was with him had never saw. That wasn't Koraidon, right?
Kieran lowered his shoulders as Juliana looked away from them as if she were embarrassed. So it's true that she had something to do with it. Then Arven placed his hand on Juliana's shoulder as an encouragement, Kieran felt a pang of annoyance at seeing that exchange of glances as if they were having a conversation that he couldn't understand. For a second he felt like hissing like Ringo would when she got angry, but he needed to keep his head on straight, this was no time or place for a stupid jealousy scene.
"I was aware that you would recognize Genzaidon," Juliana admitted, placing her own hand on Arven's. "But he was the only one on my team with whom they would not identify me. Askari and Jabari are my main combatants. Haiba is a Hisuian Arcanine. How many Paldea trainers do you know that have an Arcanine of this type? And Koraidon...he's definitely a big neon sign, the entire Pokémon League knows he's mine. Even though you could recognize any of my Pokémon, I wanted teacher Briar not to, and Genzaidon was a safe bet."
"But why?" Nemona then asked, trying to understand this.
"To prevent us from entering Zero Lab and finding Terapagos, right?" Kieran asked, making everyone look at him.
"Yeah, that's why," she admitted, standing up from where she was next to Arven.
"But Terapagos is precisely what the teacher is looking for, she has worked very hard to get permission to go to the Great Crater of Paldea. Why prevent her from looking for that Pokémon that could help her with her research?" Asked Nemona.
"That's why I called you three. I think you, Penny, already know more or less the story, right? about what happened to Arven and me in Alola."
"Yeah"
Kieran could feel something break inside him upon hearing that. Didn't she know that? He looked towards Nemona and could see in her expression that she was not understanding what the matter was about. A feeling of dejection overcame him, feeling displaced again when he saw that Juliana had not told him something important while Penny had, like that night at the festival, when he saw Carmine and Juliana having secrets between them while leaving him excluded, and if something Kieran had learned was that when Juliana hid secrets, they were always the biggest ones. And again...
"What does your trip have to do with this matter?" Nemona asked.
"First of all... let me introduce you to someone" Juliana said, taking a few steps away to lean on the cliff of the roof while the sounds of heavy footsteps seemed to climb right behind her.
The scarlet, feathered figure on his head emerged from the edge. Kieran held his breath for a second as he could see Koraidon's eyes boring into his being as he stood to the right of his trainer. He hadn't seen him in years, and yet he still felt like it was hard for him to breathe when he saw the huge Pokémon Paradox that he, without a doubt, also recognized when he saw the way he was looking at him.
"Ems, I don't think you can introduce us to Koraidon when we already know him," Nemona commented, trying to sound funny despite the confused and nervous tone in her voice.
"She doesn´t refer to Koraidon," said Arven.
Then a metal claw appeared on the cliff on Juliana's left side. Kieran felt his stomach churn before a burning anger burned inside himas he stared at the towering purple, metal-bodied creature emerging from the edge and his digital eyes boring into his person like a hunter, Kieran instinctively pulled out Ringo's poke ball, which he was sure she was eager to settle the score with, however, he stopped as soon as he felt Arven's hand gripping his shoulder. The older man shook his head, telling him that this was unnecessary, but Kieran did not feel calm, so his gaze went to Juliana.
"What is that thing...?" Kieran asked through his teeth, glaring at the beast, who seemed to smile at him arrogantly, almost as if he were asking him if he had missed him in the most mocking tone possible.
"Guys, meet Miraidon." Juliana said, placing her hand on the long neck of the beast who, as soon as he noticed her, lowered his head, allowing her to caress him. "The other Paradox Pokémon from Cyclizar."
"Other...? What do you mean by other?!" Kieran asked.
"But he looks different from Koraidon, although at the same time it is very similar," said Nemona looking at him curiously.
"Future..." Penny whispered, opening her eyes. "He is the descendant of Cyclizar just as Koraidon is his ancestor, right?"
"You can say yes," Juliana agreed, scratching Miraidon's chin.
"A Pokémon Paradox from the future? Can you really get that too?" said Nemona, in a mix between confusion and excitement for what that meant.
"But you said that Professor Saba's time machine only brought Pokémon from the past and that only AI could make it work, why then do you have a Pokémon from the future? How did you get the machine working again?" Kieran hurriedly asked, getting more nervous every second to see that beast so close to Juliana.
"Calm down, Kieran, I promise you Miraidon is not dangerous."
"That's not what I thought I saw at Area Zero!"He growled, squeezing the ball between his fingers.
Koraidon roared menacingly, taking a step forward as he growled forcing Kieran to take a step back. He seemed eager to lunge at him and tear him apart, but he wasn't doing so because Juliana hadn't given him the order. However, his posture left Kieran on notice that if he didn't watch his tone and distance, he wouldn't wait for any order to rip his head off in one bite.
"Koraidon, please, calm down," she whispered, touching her Pokémon on the head to calm her down. "I'm sorry about that, Miraidon was just doing what I told him to do," she apologized, lowering her head.
"Did you order him to attack me?" Kieran asked, looking at Juliana now as if he had taken a blow to the face from her.
"No, of course not! I ordered him to destroy the machine that gave access to Zero Lab. Your fight was somewhat improvised, but you and your Serperior were in no real danger at any time."
"Were you looking?"
This time Juliana did not respond, but her silence spoke for itself. Kieran had a conflict of emotions at that moment, feeling angry, sad, frustrated, disappointed, impressed, hurt, confused, all at once. Where had she been watching from? Why didn't she say him anything?
"Juliana, you have to tell them what happened in Alola and what it relates to Therapagos." Arven intervened. Juliana looked at him for a few seconds but finally let the air out of her lungs and settled back down on the tablecloth that was on the floor while Miraidon and Koraidon lay on either side of her like two guardians protecting their princess.
"I'm sure you'll take us for crazy once I finish talking, but you have to know that everything is as real as these two who are right now by my side and Miraidon is the physical proof of it. All this is so that Terapagos is not found and a disaster does not occur in our world. But for now, please listen carefully."
TO BE CONTINUED... MAYBE.