Column #39
"The Terastal samples we've collected from the Great Crater have proven instrumental to my team's research. The energy within the crystals seems to be responding well to my Orb prototype, and after many trials, we were able to make a Meowth underdo the process of Terastallization manually! This is a massive undertaking. If my partners and I can perfect this technology, then Trainers all over Paldea would be able to Terastallize their own Pokémon and use the power of the Terastal Phenonemon in battle!
Of course... it took a lot of energy just to make this one Orb work. Continuously gathering Terastal samples from the Crater may not be enough. We might have to make another expedition into Area Zero itself, to study Terastal energy up and close, and perhaps figure out how to harness that power above ground.
...I'm not allowed to give too many details here in this column, but something may be in the works. My colleague and I are meeting with investors in a couple of months to make an exciting pitch. I am very hopeful that our pitch is successful, and our efforts to understand the Terastal phenomenon bear fruit.
It's so rare that I find myself this optimistic about the future, readers. As you know, I often like to dive deep on what history has given us for paving a way forward, rather than keeping up with new technology and dreaming up hypotheticals. That got me thinking about what I said in my previous column... about Pokémon evolving and reaching their perfect form.
My colleague seems to believe that both Pokémon and humans will adapt and reach their ultimate potential hundreds, possibly thousands of years from now. I'm not so sure. I lay in bed sometimes and wonder. Is it possible that human intervention has actually... stifled Pokémon's potential, and made them weaker over time?
Could it be that Pokémon were truly at their biggest peak for potential... many years ago in the past?"
THE JUNE ISSUE
"It's Poison? Are you sure it's Fire and Poison?"
"Totally sure! … Mostly sure!"
"Juliana…" Carmine grumbled.
"It doesn't even look that much like a bug."
"That isn't helpful advice when they ALL LOOK LIKE THEY SHOULD BE STEEL TYPES!"
"CORRR-ONNNA-boop!" Iron Moth growled in a robotic tone.
"Gah! Fine! Ninetales, quickly! Use Extrasensory!"
"Ninetales!"
Carmine's Kantonian Ninetales assaulted the robotic Volcarona with vivid unseeable waves of psychic energy. The iron bug, reprogrammed to be a Poison-type, was overwhelmed by this energy, and to the girls' satisfaction, its glowing yellow wings all depowered. And Iron Moth fell, defeated.
"Yes!" Carmine pumped her fist in the air. "Stupid robot Pokémon are no match for my awesome power!"
"You tell 'em, Carmine!" Juliana cheered. "But from now on, I think we should try to avoid these things instead of rushing right towards them and—Carmine?"
Carmine looked past the spot where the Iron Moth had ambushed them and gasped.
"Wow…"
About halfway down the light topside of Area Zero, Juliana and Carmine had reached a tall cliff overlooking the misty falls that spread to the bottom of the valley. The waterfalls cascaded down into the shallow lakes below, and with the blazing sun peering in through the clouds, a rainbow could be glimpsed in the air above the girls.
"Can I tell you something?" Juliana asked. "Umm… I was thinking about you, the first time we came here."
"…Really?" Carmine was surprised; up to now, she hadn't been sure whether Juliana was thinking about her as much as vice versa while they were apart.
"Yeah… This place reminded me a lot of the Kitakami wilds, and I thought—you would've really enjoyed coming with us."
"Awwww! That's sweet," Carmine reciprocated. "I know we're probably not allowed to take pictures of all this, since your Geeta seems so strict over the secrecy of all this—but I really wish I could capture this moment to brag about."
Juliana leaned over and whispered. "You know… if you were to take one picture and just keep it between us and our friends, nobody else would have to know."
Carmine turned to her with a surprised expression. "Huh. Since when did the little girl scout start bending the rules?"
Juliana rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I mean, we kinda snuck in here the first time around. And I wasn't technically supposed to catch any of the Pokémon down here, but they let me keep my Iron Bundle, so… what's a harmless little photo, right?" she justified, smiling sheepishly.
Carmine grinned at her and gave her a light shoulder bump.
"My little criminal accomplice-in-training!" she said proudly. "I've been teaching you well."
Juliana shrugged. "Well, maybe you're just a bad influence on me…"
"The BEST influence, you mean."
She smiled a toothy grin at Juliana, and Juliana giggled back… until she watched that grin slowly fade, and Carmine began to look wistfully over the cliffs. This made Juliana frown too.
"…What's wrong, Carmine?"
"Hmm? Wrong? Tch. Nothing." She tried to smile again, but couldn't quite bring up the muscles for it. "I'm just… I don't know."
Juliana stood close to her, and decided to make a guess.
"Worried about Kieran?"
A disbelieving chuckle. "Reading me like a book at this point, aren't ya?"
A very lucky guess, apparently.
Carmine hadn't stopped staring over the horizon. "I don't know why I can't stop thinking about Kiki. It was a lot easier to put him off my mind before. But… now, I'm just picturing him in every possible form of danger." She crossed her arms. "And I don't know why."
"Well…" Juliana thought. "Maybe I can hazard another guess."
"Shoot."
"Maybe it's because… Kieran is, sort of starting to act like his old self again."
"…"
"Haven't you noticed? He's looking less angry now, and he actually sat next to you when we were getting briefed. He's even saying 'Wowzers' again like he used to!"
She heard a light chuckle from Carmine, and felt confident in continuing.
"I guess before, when you guys weren't talking so much, and we were all in school which is a pretty safe place, you weren't worrying so much about him. But now we're here in the wilds again… And he's acting like a kid again… So maybe that's just bringing out your overprotective side—"
Carmine swiftly turned her body a full 180 degrees at the sound of that.
"Hey. I'm not overprotective. Don't ever say that!"
Juliana flinched at her sudden change in tone, and backed up a bit. "I—Sorry. T-that come out wrong."
Carmine noticed Juliana's reaction and her frown become a bit softer.
"Ugh… sorry," she said, running her hand through her hair. "I just—don't like being called that. It's annoying being the older sibling, where everyone expects you to look after your little bro, but they also start getting on your case for doing it too much!"
She sighed heavily.
"I just want him to be safe… y'know? And happy. And even he doesn't understand that…"
Carmine trailed off, looking sad. She became so consumed in her thoughts that it caused a mild gasp when Juliana reached up to put her arm on her back.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you feel worse."
"Nah. It's okay…" She turned to Juliana, looking remorseful. "I'm… sorry I've been so hard on you lately. You totally haven't done anything to deserve it. I guess Kiki's mood swinging has got me both really happy and hoping he'll come back to his senses all the way, but—also really stressed out that he's going to lose all that confidence he had and get himself hurt."
There was the slightest hint of a sniffle, and then a much sharper gasp… as Juliana's hand on her back became two arms wrapped around her whole body.
This time Juliana didn't say anything at all. She just let her warm embrace speak for her.
And Carmine heard it. Loud and clear. She put her own arm over Juliana and smiled deeply.
She let Juliana hug her for three solid minutes before speaking up.
"Alright… enough of this sentimental crap," she snarked. Although Juliana didn't have to look at Carmine to know she was still smiling. "The amount of sunlight shining through this place is killing me! I've gotta get out of here before I leave with a nasty sunburn."
"You burn in the sun?"
"Like a Crawdaunt! Trust me, it's not a pretty sight. Now let's go find Kiki and your himbo friend and make sure they haven't gotten themselves lost."
Wiggle.
Wiggle.
Wiggle.
…
…
Click.
"…!"
Kieran gasped and picked the Ultra Ball up off the ground in excitement.
"Yyyyyyyyesssss!" he said with all the joy of an eager kid as held the Ball up high up in the air. His cry echoed through the large, grassy cavern.
"Wow!" Arven clapped. "Good on ya, Kieran! I didn't know if anyone could even catch a Paradox Pokémon of that scale!"
Kieran gazed at his new capture. Despite not feeling fully satisfied with his efforts, he couldn't help but smirk a bit proudly at himself.
"This still isn't the Legendary Pokémon I was after. But… it's plenty strong. One of the toughest things I think I've ever thought. … I bet I could still make good use of it."
Arven gave him a proud thumbs-up, and Kieran watched as he lovingly pat his strange Pokémon that heavily resembled a Tentacruel but apparently isn't one. Hesitantly, he decided to walk over to his own Gliscor.
"Hey, umm… g-good job. Defeating it and all."
"Gli?" Kieran's Gliscor reacted in a bit of confusion to be addressed so affectionately. But as Kieran gently rubbed it on its head, it acquiesced to its Trainer's new gesture and bent its head down. "Scorr…"
Kieran then, even more reluctantly, turned back to Arven.
"And uhh, hey. Thanks to you for umm…" He scratched his cheek a bit. "For helpin' me out. That thing's spores really came in handy."
"Glad to help a new buddy!" Arven replied happily. "I'm always excited to get new opportunities to know my Pokémon's strengths more."
"Goooo," Toedscruel groaned happily.
"I feel like maybe I rely on my Mabosstiff a bit too much. I'm just so happy that he's at peak battling condition again! But I think it was a good idea to have left him behind this time. That big menace probably would've shredded him apart! And well, I don't know if I could live with that again."
Kieran didn't know why, but this struck him a bit. "He really means… that much to you, huh?"
"Oh, Mabosstiff is my best pal! He's my most treasured partner in the whole world, in fact he's practically my whole world…" He began to reminisce. "Mabosstiff got hurt real bad once. Down here, actually! By that mean brute, the not-nice Miraidon. And Juliana, well…"
He smiled softly.
"You remember how I said Juliana's done a lot for me that I'll never be able to repay? Well, that was a pretty big one. It was thanks to all her help that Mabosstiff got better again. Because of her, I got my buddy back."
Kierna gulped. "…I see."
Wordlessly, but with a troubled expression, he recalled his Gliscor.
"What about you, Kieran? Is that Gliscor your treasured partner?"
"Huh? Well no, uh—I guess that'd be my Dipplin. I've had it since I was a kid, got it when it was just a lil' Applin." Then his eyes widened in remembrance. "That's right—it's not even a Dipplin anymore! I evolved it!"
Now he started to look regretful.
"I finally evolved him into a Hydrapple after so many years of wanting to, and I—I barely even thought about it when it happened. I was so worried about becoming a Champion… But he's one of my oldest buddies, along with… Ohhh."
"What?"
"Well, I got another Pokémon I used to cherish a lot but…" Kieran looked a bit forlorn. "I left it back at home. 'Cause I—I thought it was too weak for a Champion's team."
"Too weak!?" That's a silly way to—" is what Arven was gearing up to say, until he looked at the kid's face and realized Kieran seemed to be doubting his own words.
So Arven took a sigh and decided for a softer approach.
"Making friends with Pokémon isn't just about strength. The reason Mabosstiff's my best bud is because he was there for me when—neither of my parents were around. For such a long time… he was the only reason I didn't feel so alone in this world."
Kieran said nothing, his back turned to Arven, but Arven kept going, on the hunch he was listening. He started scratching his head, feeling a little embarrassed.
"I guess that's uhh, that's why I kind of envy you for getting to grow up with a big sister."
This caused Kieran to turn around, still confused by such a declaration.
"Even though you saw how bossy she is?"
He shrugged. "Would've loved to have someone boss me around or scold me once in a while, instead of feeling as alone as I was… I just wanted someone to pay attention to me for once, I guess."
"…"
Kieran's silence made Arven clear his throat.
"Not that—y'know! I'm so lonely anymore. I'm really grateful to have friends now who look out for me."
"Like Juliana…?" Kieran mumbled.
"Yeah! Like Juliana!" he said, oblivious to the boy's tone. "But also Nemona! Which is so nuts to say, I can't believe I… don't totally hate hanging out with her these days. There's also Penny, even though she barely ever talks with me, or—anyone besides her—"
Kieran turned around fully with an exasperated sigh.
"Sorry, but is there a point you're tryin' to make with all this?"
Arven looked at him in confusion. Why do you keep trying to act so tough? I can tell you're a soft little dude on the inside…
"I don't know, just—talking about how lucky guys like you and me are to be surrounded by such caring gal pals, is all!" he grinned.
Kieran just rolled his eyes.
"Speaking of which, uhh—Now that you've got yourself a cool Pokémon, we should probably try to find those girls, huh?"
"I suppose…" said Kieran, keeping a steely glare. "I've made Carmine lose her cool over me for long enough."
Arven watched Kieran leave and headed with him out of the cave entrance shaking his head.
"Real mystery of a kid, you are…"
Carmine ran down the long grassy ramp and confidently leapt with the bound of a Scorbunny as her feet landed on the bottom of the valley.
With a joyous smile on her face, she turned around and watched as Miraidon stomped down the hill with a Juliana on its back, growling happily.
"Agias!"
Miraidon also leapt, and landed on the ground with a thug.
Carmine was beaming at the iron serpent. "No wonder you're so agile for such a big monster if this is where you grew up running!"
"Growwl…"
And then—
"Pttp! AAGH! Yuck! That was NOT an invitation to start licking my beautiful face!"
Juliana giggled, but then immediately pouted.
"That looked fun! How come you wouldn't let me roll down on my own?"
Carmine shook her head. "Because someone's gotta watch out for that leg of yours that's still healing, dummy. If Kiki's not around, then I'm just going to have to be crazy for your safety instead!"
"Hee-hee. Whatever you say, big sister!"
"Grrr… shut up." Carmine looked around. "Speaking of which, where are those two? I swear, your dumb friend BETTER NOT have—"
"YODEL-EE-HEEEEEY-HOOOOOO~ !"
"…Seriously?" Kieran said to Arven as they both stomped down the grass ramp. Arven was smiling too jubilantly to notice.
"That answer your question?" said Juliana, gently dismounting her Miraidon. "I told you Arven would make sure he was safe."
"Tch. Fine. But he's still a weirdo." She put on a smirk as Kieran and Arven both walked up. "Well, look what the Purrloin dragged in. Glad to see you're both still in one shape!"
"Of course," said Kieran. "Why wouldn't we be?" This made Carmine giggle in response, which earned a repulsed look from him. "Whatever…"
"Thanks for looking after him," Juliana quietly addressed Arven.
"Ehh, didn't even have to do anything. That kid's crazy strong. I don't know why your Carmine friend worries so much about him…"
"You and me both," Juliana giggled.
"EXCUSE ME!?" Carmine glared at them as if her senses were tingling. "Are you two shit-talking me!?"
"Huh!" Arven threw his arms behind his back and smirked. "Didn't know Blueberry students were such potty mouths!"
"DON'T TRY ME, MOPHEAD!" she seethed. "I'm about to—"
"A-ha! Kids!"
Briar came running down the hill excitedly.
"This lady, I swear…" Carmine quietly grumbled.
The Blueberry teacher had a pleased smile on her face as she caught up to them.
"I'm glad to see you've all reconvened here at the bottom of this hill, and that you're all safe and sound!"
No thanks to you… thought Carmine.
Briar looked around her, seeing nothing but stone walls, tall rocks, and one of the abandoned lab stations behind them.
"Am I right to assume we've reached the lowest point of the outer area?"
"That's right," Arven nodded. He pointed to the large hole in front of them. "From here on out, we go underground."
"Splendid!" Briar replied, ever the cheerful one. "We're getting closer and closer to uncovering the secret of Terapagos!"
"Don't be too hasty," Arven cautioned her. "It's still a dangerous trip down."
"Yeah," Juliana agreed. "I remember how narrow the paths were. If you're not careful, it's easy to slip and fall."
"Not to mention there's even more kinds of those Paradoxes. That's why I really wasn't looking forward to this…" Arven mumbled.
"Interesting. Well, now that we're all together again, perhaps now we should be sure to travel as a group, never losing sight of each other."
"Oh, now that sounds like a good idea," Carmine rolled her eyes.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Kieran. "Come on! I want to catch that Pokémon!"
"Love that enthusiasm!" said Briar. "Let's all stay close and go-a spelunking!"
Carmine groaned.
With Briar now properly chaperoning the group of students, the trip down through the chasms of Area Zero was a lot less eventful than the descent above.
Luckily, although they spotted more futuristic Pokémon, including greater numbers of Iron Hands as well as a Hydreigon-like one called Iron Jugulis flying through the air, hardly any ambushes happened, which prompted theories from Briar that perhaps they could sense the slumbering Pokémon down below. Arven wasn't buying it.
"This place is insane!" Carmine commented at one point. "It reminds me of the Crystal Pool!"
Carmine drew some annoyance from Arven and Kieran by stopping to gaze at every single crystal formation. He couldn't tell if the pompous girl was admiring the crystal itself… or her reflection in it.
Of course, Juliana took it all in stride, which Arven picked up on. As they kept making their descent, hugging the railings and taking it slow, Juliana would make eye contact with Arven and he would start snickering at her for some reason. She pouted harder each time, wondering what was up with him.
Kieran didn't say a single word the whole walk down.
Eventually, they came to the bottom of the cavern, where the abandoned, still heavily crystallized big building at the center awaited them.
"Never thought I'd find myself here again," Arven remarked. "Especially after those not-so-great memories of last time…"
"This is the Zero Lab, I take it?" asked Briar. "The structure's exterior matches Geeta's description, at least."
"Yeah, this is the place," said Juliana.
"So this is the deepest point in Area Zero?" Kieran asked.
"Right!"
"Well… yes and no," Briar answered, earning a befuddled look from Arven. "This is the deepest point that the Area Zero Expedition managed to reach long ago." She turned to Arven directly. "You know, I've been told that the lowest level of this laboratory contains a mysterious room whose purpose is entirely unknown."
Arven looked a bit defensive. "…If you've been talking with Ms. Geeta, she's probably told you everything we're allowed to disclose about that."
"Indeed. Secrets among secrets. I must admit my hungering curiosity. However, where I want to go is even deeper than that…"
Briar reached into her bag and pulled out a folder full of research notes.
"The place that Professor Turo talked about in his secret notes!"
"Secret notes?" said an indignant Arven. "You still don't really believe my dad wrote all this stuff about a hidden Pokémon down below, do you? That's not his, his—What was that big fancy word Nemona used once? Lotus operation?"
"Modus operandi?" Briar guessed.
"Yeah! That's the one. It's just not how he worked. Back me up here, Jules."
"Ummm… w-well…" Juliana stammered.
"Know something we don't?" asked Kieran. "I hope you're still not keeping secrets from me…"
Juliana tensed up. "N-never!"
Carmine decided to step forward. "Alright, shorties, calm it down! Sooo Ms. Briar, you're saying we should head inside this… 'Zero Lab'?"
Kieran gave the building's front entrance a onceover. "Gate's closed, though."
"Huh? Oh, you're right." She turned to Juliana and Arven. "What do we do now, city kids? You've both been here before, right?"
"If I remember right… we have to use that panel to disable the lock!" said Juliana.
They all looked over at the control panel in front of the Zero Lab's gate with the flashing screen and blinking buttons.
"Wowzers, this feels like a spy movie or somethin'… Way cool…" said an awed Kieran with a wider smile than usual. Then he glanced over and saw Juliana and Carmine looking at him. "…What? I didn't say anything."
Carmine and Juliana exchanged soft giggles with each other. Arven and Briar grinned too, both of them not really sure what the joke was.
"Well then, can we count on you kids to unlock the gate?" Briar asked the two Paldeans.
"I suppose we can give it a shot…" said Arven.
They all walked over to the control panel, where Arven gestured for Juliana to try to unlock it. She typed in the commands she remembered from operating it the last time, only for the panel to return with a loud buzz and a red screen.
"ACCESS REVOKED DUE TO PROLONGED INACTIVITY. ENTRANCE LOCKED."
"Seriously…?" said Carmine.
"Ugh. Dad's stupid security protocols…" Arven remembered. "He really didn't want anyone getting to that time ma—Uhhh, into his research."
"Are you telling me we came all this way for nothing!?" Kieran said, frustrated.
"It opened before though, right? Is there some extra step we're missing?" Briar inquired.
Juliana turned to Arven. "Maybe it's those four locks again?"
"The ones we had to visit each of those radish rations for!?"
"You mean research stations," Juliana corrected him.
"You talking about those dirty old buildings we passed by on the way down? I'll take us forever to climb back up to all those!" Carmine lamented.
"I guess," said Juliana. "But seems like it's the only option we've—"
Suddenly, the panel made a loud *BEEP-BOOP* noise.
"INDIGO DISK DETECTED. INDIGO DISK DETECTED."
"Huh!? It's talking!" Kieran reacted.
"INSERT INDIGO DISK FOR GREATER ACCESS PRIVILEGES."
"Indigo… Disk?" said a confused Arven.
"Relax," Carmine said to Kieran. "It's just one of those computerized voices! It's not any different than a TM machine."
"…"
Kieran ran his fingers through his ends and regained his composure. "…Course. I knew that."
"PLEASE INSERT INDIGO DISK."
"Indigo Disk… What could it mean by that?" asked Briar.
"OH!" Juliana realized.
She sloughed off her backpack and reached for something inside her TM's pocket. She pulled out the strange red-and-purple colored disk that Geeta had entrusted her with.
"What's that?" asked Carmine.
"Geeta gave me this before we left!" Juliana explained. "She said this was the Indigo Disk and it was contained with the secret notes!"
"Bingo! So that's probably what the machine wants! How fun! Go on, Juliana! Do it!" Carmine said excitedly. "You have my permission!"
She watched with anxious smiles along with Briar and Kieran… and an anxious frown from Arven, as Juliana decided to insert the disk into the panel's open tray.
"Alright… in you go, disk!"
"It's like one of those old computers you used to put CD's in…" said Kieran.
The tray closed, and Juliana watched with anticipation as the panel took a few seconds to hum.
Then the screen lit up.
"INDIGO DISK CONFIRMED. GREETINGS, PROFESSOR."
Juliana and Arven shared worried glances at the mention of the Professor.
"ZERO LAB ELEVATOR REDIRECTED TO AREA ZERO UNDERDEPTHS."
"Redirected…?" Arven quietly repeated.
They heard a series of rumbles, and looked up to see the gate into the Zero Lab opening panel by panel, into the red neon tunnel.
"Look at that! It opened," said Kieran.
"Yeah…. It did…" said a concerned Arven.
"Let's head on in!" Juliana and Carmine happened to say at the same time. They both glanced at each other in surprise and giggled.
Carmine's excitement was short-lived when she dashed into the research room of the Zero Lab and immediately grunted in pain.
"Carmine! You okay?" said Juliana.
"Nooooo…" she groaned. "It's WAY too dark in here! I just smacked my head on something!"
"That's 'cause you're just running around without any idea where you're going!" Kieran scolded her.
"Wow, Kiki…" Then Carmine's frustrated frown became a smug smile. "Sounds like someone's finally breaking out of their funk, hmmm?"
Kieran's eyes lit up in surprise, then he turned away. "Shut it…"
Juliana looked around. "Where'd Ms. Briar and Arven go?"
Carmine pointed. "Well, Ms. Briar's busy rummaging through, like, a whole stack of documents over there."
Briar was picking up and putting down different things on the research desk, spreading dust everywhere, all with a gleeful smile on her face.
"Aren't those your friend's dad's private photos and stuff?" said Kieran. "She probably shouldn't be looking at all that…"
Carmine smiled. "Huh, you're awfully considerate all of a sudden."
"Okay, but where's…?" Juliana peered around. Then she spotted Arven at another desk, gazing at a photo. "Hey, Arv…?"
"Hmm?" Arven looked up at her. "Yeah?"
"You comin'?"
"Umm…" He gave the photo, one of his dad and himself as a young boy, along with his Maschiff, one last solemn look before putting it down. "…Coming."
"The elevator going down should be right this way," Juliana told her Kitakamite friends.
"DOWN, you say!?" Briar perked up.
"Oh, wonderful! This elevator just keeps going further and further down!"
"That's… what elevators do," said Carmine.
As their elevator descended further down, Juliana glanced at Arven and noticed he seemed very despondent. She got up close to him.
"Hey, Arv."
"Oh, hey…" he said, once again seeming to have been lost in his thoughts.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine… Just…"
"Just thinking about your dad?"
"Well—really, just… thinking about how none of this makes any sense," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"I know this Heath guy had a bunch of crazy stories about what he saw in Area Zero, and that some of them ended up being true. Especially all that stuff about the Herba Mystica."
His eyebrows furrowed.
"But… Dad always said his goals were to prove the real truth behind Area Zero. He loved the Violet Book a lot, but he always talked about it as if it was just a bunch of fairy tales."
"Hmm…"
"So why—why would he… suddenly be pouring resources into all this junk about a secret area below the Great Crater, and a giant Disk Pokémon slumbering underneath? And why did his robot copy never mention any of that to us?"
"That's… a fair question," Juliana admitted. "The AI was already going against its programming. I guess it wouldn't have cared about your dad's secrets."
Now Juliana really felt emotionally at a crossroads. She had this secret information from Geeta about the documents… should she share it with Arven? She didn't know how much she trusted Briar, who was getting a little… too crazy about all this.
She was about to say something, when Arven spoke up again.
"Tell you what, his whole business has got me thinking though… Not just about Dad, but about my mom too."
"Your mom?"
"Yeah… Dad never really talked about her that much. I guess whatever caused them to split off was real bad. But—one of the few things he did tell me about her once, was that one night he was actually home… and he read the Violet Book to me to help me sleep."
Arven closed his eyes.
"He told me… he used to read it to her every night before they went to sleep, too. And apparently…" he began to chuckle. "Apparently, Mom really loved those stories in the Violet Book. I wonder if that's the biggest reason why he kept it around if he didn't believe any of the legends in it."
Juliana looked a bit hesitant to ask. "I don't suppose you…"
"Found Mom?" Arven shook his head. "No dice. I tried looking her up once. Can't find a single trace of where she disappeared to after leaving us." He sighed sadly and looked down. "I guess she really wanted to be out of our lives…"
Juliana was saddened by this. "Arven… I'm so sorry."
"Ehh, it's alright. Let's just worry about one mystery at a time."
Carmine, really taking in just how long this elevator was going down, decided to speak up.
"So… where exactly is this thing taking us?"
Briar only responded with a grin and a mischievous laugh.
"Hohoho… Where, indeed?"
"…" "…" "…" "…"
Eventually, the elevator stopped. The doors opened.
And everyone looked around with enamored faces as they stepped out.
"Oh my…" Briar said breathlessly, before sprinting ahead and shouting, "OH MY GOODNESS!"
The sight in front of the group was five was unlike anything else they had ever seen.
A massive, cavernous underground area laid before them, with crystals dotting many spots between the dark crags. There were a bunch of extremely large crystals against the walls, radiating some energy unlike even the Terastal crystals in the upper caverns of Area Zero.
The whole area glimmered and twinkled even richer than the valleys of the Great Crater, and there seemed to be several small floating Pokémon making their home here.
Upon further glance, Carmine recognized them as…
"Carbink! I didn't know you guys had Carbink in this region!"
"I uhh… didn't either," Juliana admitted.
"That's Carbink, huh?" said Arven. "Hmm. I saw a picture of it once, but I could've sworn it looked a lot more pink and diamond-y."
"So… what? Are we under Area Zero or something?"
Briar pulled out her Rotom Phone to check.
"YES! According to my data, our current position is far deeper than where we last were!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around in glee. "The underdepths of Area Zero are reeeeal!"
Arven looked around the area, his face contorting in a confused anger.
"This doesn't make sense… My dad said none of this should be real…"
Carmine for her part, threw her arms down in exasperation.
"Man, Area Zero was already so much to take in… I don't think anything else is gonna surprise me at this point, no matter what we run into."
"Famous last words," Juliana joked.
"Hey, guys!" said Kieran. "Look at all this!"
From off to the side, Kieran had found something that was awfully out of place.
"Are those… desks?"
"OH!"
Briar ran up to the set of desks leaning against the wall next to the elevator. They were two gray office desks, noticeably missing chairs, with crystals starting to form at the undersides.
"Okay, that's a little odd. What are desks doing down here!?" said a befuddled Carmine.
On top of these office tables were old desk lamps and stacks upon stacks of research papers, some of them arranged into stand-up dividers.
There was a thick red-colored binder sticking out among everything else, which Briar excitedly picked up. This caused dust and cobwebs to scatter in the wind, making the kids cough a bit.
"How long has it been since anyone's been down here?" Carmine sputtered.
Juliana took notice of something peculiar on one of the desks: a Johtonian Berry Pot, filled with glowing dirt on the inside, and a blooming Berry plant.
"Are those Leppa Berries?"
"They are," said Carmine. "Still ripe, too. I take it back, this is starting to freak me out. How is everything so dusty but that glowing plant looks all new?"
"Huh…"
Juliana heard Arven and looked over to see him examining framed photos, like he was doing upstairs. Except now he looked especially puzzled.
He picked up one of the photos and wiped the dust and grime from it. There, he was met with… a smiling baby with beige-colored hair and a brown end.
Juliana looked over and silently gasped.
"Is that… you as a baby?"
"I guess it is…" he replied. "I've—I've never seen me as a baby before. I didn't think Dad kept any pictures of me this young…"
He wiped off more dust to discover that the baby was being held… in the arms of both his parents, a smiling Professor Turo and Sada.
"Look how happy my parents are…" he observed. "I've never seen a photo of them smiling this much together."
He noticed another photo next to it, which was yet another baby picture of him, wrapped around in a baby blue blanket… and cuddling a small Maschiff toy.
Arven's voice quivered a bit like he was about to start crying.
"Why is all of this here…? All these precious mementos of us, buried so deep underground? This is all completely crazy! There's no way Dad is responsible for any of this!"
Arven looked closer on the table and spotted several magazines, each with a fantastical cover on them.
"And this… 'Occulture'? Dad never read stuff like this!"
"What, are you serious?" said Carmine, walking over. "Those are your own baby pictures you've never seen before, and you're still going on about this being some kind of grand conspiracy?" She barely restrained a giggle.
"Wha…?'
"Hey, lay off, sis!" Kieran suddenly spoke up from behind. "Arven didn't know his parents for most of his life! And you've never met his dad at all! So who are you to judge him?"
Carmine gulped. She wasn't just shocked at Kieran standing up to her like this, but the fact that he was doing it in defense of someone he had just met.
"Umm… I guess you're right." She turned to Arven sheepishly. "S-sorry."
"It's… alright," he shrugged. "I know our emotions are all kinda running on high down here."
Juliana was surprised too. She remembered Carmine talking about how growing up, Kieran always seemed to be worried about other people's feelings instead of his own, comparing it directly to Juliana.
Is he really returning to his old self?
"Oh my!" Briar piped up suddenly. "Oh my… This is—a report written by the esteemed Professor Turo!"
A massive cavern exists beneath Area Zero, and there slumbers Terapagos, the hidden treasure of Area Zero. Its body has become crystal, protecting it from hostile outsiders. It appears that rousing it will take some time.
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?
With Briar newly energized by the valuable documents she had found, Kieran further motivated by hearing Terapagos described as "the hidden treasure of Area Zero", and Arven just wanting answers for everything that was confusing him, the group set off with newfound resolve down the crystallized tunnels.
It proved to only be a short burst, however, as they almost immediately came upon an obstacle.
"What IS this?" Carmine observed the giant structure. "It's like a crystal trying to be a flower. It's completely blocking our path!"
"Yeah, we're not going any further with this in the way," said Arven.
"So… what do we do?" asked Juliana.
Carmine turned to her. "Hey! What about Whatchama-don? Couldn't it smash through?"
"Hmmm… I guess we could give it a go!"
Juliana started to reach for Miraidon's Poké Ball, when Briar turned to them in alarm.
"Hold on, hold! PLEASE, hold on!" she said to them frantically. "If what I read in Turo's notes just now is to be believed, this is quite likely a manifestation of pure Terastal energy… We have no idea what might happen if we try to destroy it with brute force."
"OK… so what do we do, then?" asked Kieran.
"Hmmm…"
"Glimmo…"
"Hm?"
They heard an echoing noise nearby. Everyone turned to the left to find… a Glimmora floating in the air.
"Gli… Gli… Gli…"
"There are Glimmora all the way down here!?" said Briar.
"Hmmm. That sorta makes sense, actually," said Arven. "One of the things I just read about Glimmora is that it has many of the same properties as Terastal crystals, to the point that some people think it might even be tied to the whole Terastallizing thing!"
"Wow," said an impressed Juliana. "When did you become such a smarty pants?"
"Heyyy," he gently ribbed her. "I told you Nemo was tutoring me now! I'm a much bigger genius than the Arven you once knew!"
"And yet you still look like a lunkhead," Carmine smirked.
"Spicy, aren't ya? I guess you're that friend who made Juliana much more of a jokester."
"What's going on with that one, though?" Briar asked, observing the Glimmora. "It seems to be charged with some kind of strange energy…"
Kieran gasped. "Is that… a SHINY Pokémon!?"
"I don't think so?" Carmine replied. "It doesn't look any different from the one Juliana has. Just all… glow-y and stuff."
Briar was about to go approach it, which made Carmine yell.
"Hey, get back! You know you're no good in a battle, Ms. Briar! Kiki—no, Juliana! You should go handle it!"
Kieran shot her a dirty look.
"Huh, well alright!"
Juliana rolled down her sleeves and put on a brave face as she approached the strange, glittering Glimmora.
"Alright! Whatever tricks you've got up your sleeve, my Pokémon and I have handled all sorts of weird stuff! Give it your all!"
Carmine couldn't help but snort.
"Glimmo!"
Sensing that this girl wanted a challenge, Glimmora activated its power…
"TERA-PA-GOOS!"
…and encased itself in crystals.
"Alright, what type… What type…"
-PSHOOOO-
"What the!?"
Glimmora had Terastallized itself… into something Juliana and the others had never seen before!
The crystals surrounding its body were all rainbow-colored, but what was even stranger was the Tera Jewel on its head. It seemed to be in the shape of a small turtle, and a big blue Tera symbol… but it was also encircled by multiple floating gems of different colors.
"Wha—what Tera Type even is that!?" Carmine seethed.
"I don't know… I've never seen that before!" Arven proclaimed.
"I wonder…" Briar thought. "Is THAT the special Stellar Tera Type we just read about?"
Kieran gulped. "You mean the one where it holds the power of every single type!?"
Juliana eventually managed to defeat the unique Terastallized Glimmora with her Pokémon, and returned to her group… just in time to see the crystals blocking their path suddenly light up and disappear.
"Did knocking out that sparkling Pokémon make the crystal flower disappear?" Carmine wondered.
"What was fighting that thing like, anyway?" Kieran wanted to know. "Did it really have the powers of every type?"
"Well… sort of?" Juliana explained. "It seemed like every single move it used was boosted by its Tera Jewel, even though they were moves of different types! But… it still had the same weaknesses as a normal Glimmora."
"It's just like in that report we found earlier…" Briar concluded. "What we just witnessed was a Pokémon wielding the powers of each and every type. That means it must have had the Stellar Tera Type!"
"It also dropped some of these." Juliana held up several Tera Shards of an unusual color, unlike any that she'd seen before.
"Woaaahhhh!" said Arven. "If we were to collect even more of those… Do you think that lady cook from the Treasure Eatery would be able to whip up a dish that could make OUR Pokémon Stellar-type!?"
Kieran made a loud humph at this.
"Great! Another way to make your Pokémon more special!" he scoffed. "Well… you can make all your Pokémon whatever Tera Type you want, Juliana! I'm still going to be the one to catch that Terapagos thing for myself and be stronger!"
He then charged forward into the tunnel ahead, which looked like a spiral of teal crystals.
"Aaaaand he's off again," Carmine shook her head. "I swear, I'm about done with all this whining of yours, Kiki…"
Arven chuckled. "Your brother's something else! Come on, gang, we'd better go after him before—""
"Heeeeeeey!"
Just then, Kieran ran right back.
"This path splits two ways!"
Carmine peered ahead. "Hmm. So it does."
"I guess we should split up again, then," said Juliana. "To cover more ground."
"Alright…" Kieran answered. He perked up. "Yo. Arven. Let's go together."
"I don't know, little dude. Don't you maybe want to spend time with your sister now? Besides…" Arven put his arm around Juliana. "My pal Juliana and I still haven't had much of a chance to catch up with each other! Right, Jules?"
"Ummm…" Juliana looked at Carmine, honestly having hoped to go with her again. But Carmine also gave her a pleading look, which made Juliana realize she probably wanted to go with Kieran. "Yeah, okay. I guess we can shake things up a little!"
"YES!" Carmine replied.
"Hmmph," Kieran rolled his eyes. "Fine. Be that way…" He glared at Juliana for a second. "Well, if I'm traveling with you, sis, we're doing this my way."
"Meaning…?"
Suddenly, he took off running down the left tunnel. "Meaning last one there has to do whatever the other says!"
"Wha—he stole my bit!"
"And he took off like a rocket too…!" Arven said, impressed. "Gee, sorry, Carmine. I guess I gave you the short stick."
"Are you kidding?" Carmine surprised him by putting on a really pumped-up face. "Now he's REALLY acting just like he used to! His competitive spirit's back!" She gazed ahead with a fiery look in her eyes. "And mine is too! I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU, YOU LITTLE SQUIRT!"
And off she sprinted down the path too!
"Wow…" Arven laughed. "Those two are downright rambunctious! That Carmine chick is like Nemona on a caffeine high, which I didn't think was possible!"
"Ha-ha! You can say that again!" Juliana laughed back.
"Alright, well, guess the right path is our domain. Are you heading with us, Ms. Briar?" Arven turned around. "…Ms. Briar?"
While they weren't looking, Briar had managed to find herself all the way back to the Professor's desk of materials near the elevator again.
"Ms. Briar!" Juliana yelled out.
"Hmm?" Briar perked up and shouted out. "Oh! Kids! You can go on ahead without me!"
"Seriously?" Arven shouted back.
"These documents are a veritable treasure trove! I simply MUST spend more time examining all of the Professor's research and comparing it with Heath's!"
"Ugh… Carmine was right," Arven said to Juliana. "It really seems like she keeps forgetting she's supposed to be our chaperone. But that's alright! You and I are powerhouses all on our own, right little buddy?"
"Hee-hee, right!" she said. "We can totally handle ourselves down here."
"Especially now that we know the secret of those Stellar Tera Pokémon if we happen to run into any more of them. Onward, then!" he pointed. "To have yet another grand treasure hunt!"
The two Paldean students set off down the right path, leaving behind Briar as she continued to gawk at everything she was reading.
"I've hit the absolute jackpot with this gold mine of research!" she raved. "Everything Heath talked about in his book—Area Zero, Terapagos, Pokémon that look like monsters…! I'll finally be able to prove that he was right all along, and become a respected researcher just like he should've been!"
She looked around the desk full of binders, and picked up the big red one to gaze more deeply at what the Professor had written.
"Oooh!" She had an idea. "That's right! I brought even more of Professor Turo's notes with me! Let's see how much of his research into Paradox Pokémon matches with Heath's findings!"
Briar excitedly dug into her satchel until she pulled out a clear three-ring binder full of publicly released documents from Professor Turo's expedition.
She flipped through the papers inside, and smiled excitedly as she glanced between those and the papers on the table… but that's when she discovered something peculiar.
"Hmmm? Now wait a minute…" She flipped through more papers in the clear binder, and glimpsed through the red binder on the desk. "Why does it seem like… the handwriting is… completely different, between Turo's notes here and everything on this desk? Then what does that mean for—"
Briar, confused, took out the super-classified notes Geeta had lent over, the ones detailing the underdepths of Area Zero and Terapagos, and compared them all.
"How odd…! The handwriting here is consistent with all these notes on the desk… but not on the ones that Professor Turo had released to the public? That doesn't make any sense unless—!"
She gasped as she noticed another inconsistency.
"How—how did I not notice this before!? All of Turo's notes here are highlighted over the words, in purple ink. But on these notes, the highlights are all on the margins… and in red ink!"
Briar was now gazing at the mysterious desks, her mind going at a million miles a minute.
"Whose research is this!? Did Professor Turo send someone else to explore the underdepths of Area Zero and report their findings?"
With the burning hunger of a curious mind, Briar turned over several binders of notes on the desk, hoping for answers… until she spotted something—familiar.
A curious red stamp on one of the papers.
"This stamp… Why do I—feel like I've seen this somewhere before? Think, Briar, think…!"
Then she gasped sharply.
"…Noooo! That can't—Alright, calm down, Briar. That's an insane idea. It wouldn't make any sense for it to be—"
Then she gasped again, spotting the Occulture issues on the other side of the desk with the pictures.
"Occulture…! This is it!" She picked up an issue and ravenously flipped through its pages. "The column—That's where I saw it before… There's got to be one in this issue, right?" Yet another gasp. "There—there it is! That's the SAME stamp! Then that means… It—it truly is…"
She picked up the family photo that Arven had observed earlier.
"Noooooo way!"
The tunnel Juliana and Arven picked seemed to get darker and darker as they went on.
"Guess I should've brought something to make a light with…" said Arven.
"I should've caught one of those Chinchou things in Blueberry," Juliana admitted. "It probably would've come in handy."
"Chinchou!" Arven replied. "That's the uhh, that's the fish Pokémon that's got glowing yellow feelers, isn't it? They have that at Blueberry?"
"That's the one!"
"Wow! You've probably seen so many Pokémon there that the rest of us have never seen with our own eyes before!" Arven marveled. "I'd love to hear about all the ones you've caught sometime. And all the friends you've made!"
"Oh, yeah! I've made lots of great friends! Especially these super cool kids who have their own Elite Four like I told you about! Oooh!" Juliana said excitedly. "I can show you the pictures I took with them on my phone!"
Juliana spent the next several minutes pointing out each picture and explaining a little bit about that person to Arven, who was chuckling to himself more and more as she went on.
"What's so funny?"
"So… let me get this right! The friends you've made at Blueberry are… a really handsome dude and another dude who loves cooking stuff, a really peppy girl who's as cute as she is terrifying strong, and a four-eyes nerd! Gee! Doesn't that all sound familiar?"
"Huh?" Juliana's brain wracked hard, trying to make the connection. "Familiar… It… They… I don't get it."
"Ha-ha! Then don't worry about it! You've got an interesting taste in making friends is all I'm saying! Speaking of which…" He turned to Juliana with a knowing smile. "So what's the deal between you and that Carmine girl anyway?"
"Huh?" Juliana looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"
"Oh come on…" He gently ribbed her in the shoulder. "You two dating or what?"
"Dating!?" Juliana's face flushed red. "N-no way! What on earth made you think THAT!?"
He shrugged. "I dunno… Just the way you two are with each other."
"That's ridiculous!" she pouted, still blushing. "She and I have been battling a lot together, and I told you she's one of my best friends now. That's why we're so close!"
"Alright, fair, fair." He chuckled. "But hey, look!"
Arven pulled out his own Rotom Phone and cast it alongside Juliana's.
"Why didn't we think of this? Using our phones as flashlights!"
"Oh yeaaah! Great thinking, Arven!"
They lit their phones up together to shine through the dark tunnel.
"Ha! Now that we're both champions of light, nothing will surprise us in the dark!"
"But Arven, you're not a Champion," Juliana said teasingly.
"Hey! Miss Showoff over here. Now all of us can be—"
"PUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH!"
The entire tunnel rumbled as Juliana and Arven jumped out of their skins at the sound of a rattling scream in the distance.
"Uhhhh, what was that?" Arven asked tepidly.
"Sounded like… something really huge," said an equally rattled Juliana.
Arven, his hand shaking, reached into his bag and pulled out a Pokémon.
"Get your Pokémon ready, Juliana…" He gulped. "We might be in for a battle."
Juliana gulped too as they inched closer and closer to where they heard the sound.
In the distance, they could make out a shape at the other end of the tunnel, and they gasped, with Arven holding his hand out to shield Juliana.
"Arven, sh—sh—shine your phone at it."
"What, are you nuts?" he whispered. "That'll make it go into a frenzy!"
"Just do it," she whispered back. "Whatever it is… we can take it!"
"Alright…"
With another gulp, Arven turned up the brightness on its phone and shined it ahead, where it caught two glimmering yellow lights that looked back at them.
"It's coming this way-! Poké Balls on the ready!"
They both gripped their Poké Ball tight as something approached them…
Then it got close that they could make out—a very familiar pink, round specimen.
"Puu?"
"Oh… it's just a Jigglypuff."
Both of them sighed in heavy relief.
"I can't believe we got scared at an adorable little thing like that," Juliana laughed cathartically.
"Yeah, me neither. Hmm. I wonder what made that scream then?"
Then the Jigglypuff, having spotted the two of them, began to draw towards them.
"Uh-oh, Jules! Looks like it's charging at us," Arven chuckled. "We might be in real danger here."
"Yeah," Juliana giggled. But as the Jigglypuff got closer, she began to sense something odd. "Hey… do—Jigglypuff usually float around like that?"
"Hmmm. Actually, now that it's getting closer to us, does it seem… bigger than most Jigglypuff to you?"
Then the Jigglypuff stopped short of them, and began to puff itself up.
"What is it doing?"
"It looks like it's—HEY, WATCH OUT!" Arven shot up in shock.
"PURIN!"
All of a sudden, the large Jigglypuff lashed out its tuft of hair—an unusually long, pink colored tuft like a huge tail, and swung it at the two Paldeans!
They jumped back in distress.
"What the heck!?" Arven yelled. "Jigglypuff don't have long tails like that!"
The huge Jigglypuff puffed itself up and floated up off the ground, leering at the two of them with its huge yellow eyes. Up close, Juliana could see that along with the unusual draping tail-like tuft on its head, this "Jigglypuff" also sported strange markings on its face, as well as pointed whiskers and unusually sharp teeth.
"It's like—some kind of giant vampire Jigglypuff!"
The bizarre Balloon Pokémon had puffed up all its air, and upon release… let out an ear-chilling scream that sent shockwaves through the tunnels and made Juliana and Arven's ears ring.
"PUUURRRRRRRRRINNNN!"
"Aaaaaaaggghhhh!" they both screamed, covering their ears.
"What kind of freaky Jigglypuff is this!?" Arven shouted in distress.
"Is it another Paradox Pokémon or something!?"
"Maybe, but… but… it doesn't even look like a robot!"
The strange "Jigglypuff" then began casting its glowing, yellow eyes at them… and next thing Juliana and Arven knew, it was shooting waves of psychic energy at them!
"It's really powerful and really angry!"
"We've got no choice!" Juliana declared. "We've gotta try to fight it with our Pokémon!"
"Sure but… it knows PSYCHIC moves!? What else does it know? How do we even combat something like this?"
Scream Tail bellowed out into the air, daring these strange visitors to challenge it in its dark territory.
In contrast to what the Paldean duo was going through, the tunnel Carmine and Kieran found themselves in was almost too bright, with shining crystals everywhere they looked, casting bright gleams enough to make them want to shield their eyes.
"Geez …" Carmine complained as she and Kieran walked side by side. "I never expected a deep crater to make me so worried my eyes are going to burn."
"Yeah… we really should've brought sunglasses."
"Still, this is kinda nice, isn't it?" Carmine smiled at him.
"What's nice?"
"You and me, exploring the unknown together, just like we used to do back home. I feel like it's been such a long time since we've gotten to do that!" she grinned.
Kieran just scoffed. "Yeah, 'cause we've been at school. Seriously, just three months or whatever of me wanting to do my own thing, and now you get all clingy like this?"
"Clingy…? CLINGY!?" Carmine seethed. "You think this is me being CLINGY!? You've really got your head screwed on backwards, you little brat!"
"Tch. Whatever…"
Kieran started walking away, only for Carmine to grab his shoulder and force him to turn back.
"No no no no no! For once, for just this ONCE, you actually listen to me instead of walking away! Okay!? Geez! Why do I have to put in so much effort just to talk to you for more than five seconds!?"
"Maybe it's because you're being so annoyi—"
"Maybe I'm being so annoying because I MISS MY BROTHER! Okay!? Who after years and years of always being my side, just up and decides he wants nothing to do with me anymore and expects me to be OKAY WITH THAT!"
Kieran reacted in silence for a bit. His lip quivered, not expecting a response like that.
Softly, he tried to protest, "You—you abandoned m—"
"That's a load of crap and you know it! You talk about me abandoning you? When you're the one who refuses to ever talk to me, looks for any reason to put me down and make me feel bad—For crying out loud! Juliana had to get her leg hurt just to get you to even be in the same room with me! Just so you could beat me up!"
As much as she tried to fight it, tears were flying off Carmine's eyes as she ranted, which more than anything else is what really took Kieran aback.
"Sis, I—I… I didn't know…"
"You're the one who abandoned us, Kiki! Just because you were mad that we let Ogerpon choose, and she picked me! Or because you think I groomed Juliana to my side or whatever…! When you know those things were out of my control and I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose! My own brother treating me like an evil villain! How do you think that makes me FEEL!?"
Carmine put so much punch on that last line that the crystals around them shook and reverberated.
The tears were almost about to stream down her face now.
"I… I'm sorry," Kieran squeaked out. "I guess I never—stopped to think about how you were feelin'. I was just so… so mad about, the ogre and the lies and everything…"
Neither of them seemed to notice that the crystals around them were continuing to pulse.
"It's fine, whatever…" Carmine wiped all the tears with her sleeve in a swift motion. "I'm a big girl. So I can take all the abuse you fling at me. But you know who you should really apologize to…?"
Kieran's face drooped. "Don't say it…"
"She keeps beating herself up over you. She literally wants nothing more than to be friends with you again, in spite of how rotten you keep being towards her. If you're sorry about disappointing me…" She sniffled loudly. "Then maybe you should stop and think about how Juliana feels too."
Much as he tried to think of a retort, Kieran was completely speechless.
"I… I…"
Finally, the crystals pounded hard enough to make the whole tunnel shake.
Carmine and Kieran both jumped.
"Wh—what just happened?" Kieran asked.
Then he looked behind them, and saw something skitter past.
"AHHH!" he screamed. "What was that!?"
"What?"
"You didn't see it? It just—just moved really fast!"
Then something flashed by them again, and made the crystals rumble even more.
"RAAAARRRE…"
Carmine gulped. "What the hell was that?"
Then Kieran screamed again, and gripped hard onto Carmine as he saw a huge black mass of what looked like sentient iron filings skittering along the floor and up the walls.
"W—what is that thing!?" Kieran stammered, his whole body shivering. "Sis, I'm scared! What's going on!?"
"I don't know…" Carmine clutched onto Kieran tight as she cautiously watched the strange black mass.
Then, making them both yelp, the iron filings parted to reveal… a set of three beady yellow eyes, which blinked individually at the pair of siblings.
"…Ehh!?"
Then the filing parted even more to reveal three familiar round metal bodies.
"Phew…" Carmine breathed out. "It's just a Magneton—covered in little magnetic bits or something."
"RARRRE… COOOOIIIILLL!"
Magneton screeched out, parting its filings all the way, then landed with a heavy thud on its legs—its really tall, magnet shaped legs!?
Kieran and Carmine both screeched loud at the sight of such a strange Pokémon.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING!?" Carmine hollered.
This extremely bizarre Magneton-looking Pokémon stood on its magnet legs, which bent like malleable clay as it skittered around like some kind of dinosaur.
A set of nails magnetized together gave it the appearance of having a tail, which was covered at the ends with iron sand just like all its magnets. The three heads all moved together a bit wobbly, very much unlike an ordinary Magneton, and the top head bore some sort of strange markings, almost like tribal war paint.
"RARECOIL!" it screeched out in a deep, heavy boom that seemed to rattle the air around them.
"What kind of mutated Magneton is that!?"
"M-m-maybe it's another Paldean Pokémon that just looks a lot like Magneton, like that thing Arven has that's like Tentacruel! Or… or… one of those Paradox thingies!"
"Whatever it is, I think the only language it speaks is being beaten to a pulp!" Carmine fished out one of her Poké Balls. "Let's go, Kiki!"
"Pokémon! R-r-r-right!" Kieran tried to reach into his own pockets for his Pokémon, but his hands trembled so hard he dropped his Poké Balls on the floor. "Aggh! What's wrong with me!?" He looked at his own hands. "I can't—I'm, I'm too scared!"
"Then get behind me, Kiki!" Carmine shielded her kneeling brother with her arm. "I'll protect you!"
She quickly sent out her Ninetales.
"NINETALES! INCINERATE THAT THING! NOW! HURRY!"
"Niiiine… tales!"
Ninetales shot out the biggest flamethrower it could at this tall, sandy "Magneton". But much to Carmine's bafflement, it seemed to have very little effect.
In fact, Sandy Shocks basically shrugged the whole fireball off and bellowed some more.
"It's not weak to FIRE!?" Carmine pulled the ends of her hair down and screamed. "OF ALL THE ONES THAT SHOULD BE STEEL TYPE!"
Juliana and Arven ran through the tunnel until they reached a point where the two paths intersected back out into a clearing. They were extremely out of breath.
Arven, huffing, said, "I can't believe we survived that! For a second there, I… I almost thought we were goners!"
"Yeah…" said Juliana. "I can't run anymore… Ahh…" She winced. "My leg…"
"What's wrong, bud? Did you, huff, hurt your leg back there?"
"Not back there… It's—hoo, it's kind of a long story…"
"KIKI!" They heard a cry echoing through the other end of the tunnel. "KIKI!"
Carmine came sprinting out the other end, huffing just as frantically as the two of them. Her hair was a mess.
"Did either of you run into Kiki!?"
"No…"
"What happened?"
"We were—we got ambushed by this—this… this giant FREAK of a Magneton! It was really tough to fight, and it took out several of my Pokémon! And then, by the time I finally finished it off… I looked behind me… and Kiki was GONE!"
"Wait…" Arven huffed. "Did you just say—you ran into a really freaky Pokémon too?"
"YES! Was that one of your dumb Paradoxes or something!? A Magneton that walks on legs!?"
"Not that we ever saw…" said Arven. "The one we just ran into was this really huge Jigglypuff with scary eyes and a heck of a scream! My ears are still ringing."
"So how'd you escape?"
"I, I…" Juliana weakly held up a Timer Ball. "I caught it… We couldn't figure out how to defeat it, so I—I just kept throwing Balls at it until one of them worked."
"Oh!" Arven realized. "Scan your Pokédex on it! See if we can figure out what it is!"
"Good idea!" said Juliana.
She whipped out her Pokédex app and scanned her phone over the Ball. The app came back reading…
"Species unknown?" Arven read.
"That's—just like what it said when I caught my Iron Bundle."
Then the Pokédex began reaming through several online sources, trying to search for information. Finally, it came up with a result.
"Best Guess: … Scream Tail?" Juliana read. "Sourced from an excerpt of Occulture: Enigmas of Paldea, File #10: Scream Tail…" She balked at the headline. "A BILLION-YEAR-OLD JIGGLYPUFF!?"
Arven frowned. "…Occulture? That's—the magazine we just saw at my dad's desk." He crossed his arms. "I've got a bad feeling in my gut. This is starting to get super weird…"
"YOU'VE GOT A BAD FEELING!?" Carmine barked at him. "Kiki's off running about somewhere where they might be even MORE of those terrifying monsters! And you two are just standing there READING!"
"She's right," said Juliana. "We gotta figure out where he went!"
"Yeah! But… wait," said Arven. "You just called them—monsters? Isn't that like what Heath's journals sa—"
"KIDS! Huff, huff! KIDS!"
Speak of the devil herself, they saw Briar running down the left-hand tunnel clutching several binders in her hands.
"Oh, great, now what?" Carmine groaned.
"You're NEVER going to believe this!" Briar raved excitedly. "I've just made the biggest discovery ever that turns this whole thing upon its head!"
"Can it wait?" Carmine demanded. "Kieran got separated from us, and we need to go find him!"
"Oh my! Yes, of course! I'll make it very quick and then we can trek on and find him! In fact, this stuff might all come in handy! You see, it turns out that everything—the classified documents Geeta gave me, the stuff on the desk? It was never written by Professor Turo at all!"
"Huh?" Juliana reacted in shock.
"I knew it," said Arven. "I knew it was impossible to be dad's stuff."
"But—but, then who? The control panel said 'Greetings Professor' and everything!"
Arven's eyebrows shout up. "Wait… that's right."
Briar practically squeed with delight. "Oooh, that's the most exciting part! I've deduced that the author of all of these research findings about the underdepths of Area Zero is none other than PROFESSOR SADA!"
"WHAAAAT?!" Juliana and Arven both reared back.
"Who's Professor Sada?" asked Carmine.
"She's—she's one of the other researchers who was with Professor Turo on the expedition. But—but she's…" Juliana looked concernedly at Arven, who crossed his arms.
"She's… also my mom." Then he looked at Briar in disbelief. "But… NO! That's even MORE impossible than it being dad! My dad never said anything about Mom dabbling in stuff like this! She left the project when I was really little, while Dad was still experimenting with time travel!"
"The mystery thickens, doesn't it!?" Briar replied ecstatically. "But look, look!"
She held out the paper with the red stamp on it.
"See this stamp? That was your mom's signature! Sada used this very same stamp on the columns she wrote in all the different magazines she worked for! Just like this one!"
She flipped open one of the Occulture magazines she'd picked up on the Professor's desk, to a column credited to Professor Sada and marked with the same red stamp.
"See!?"
"Enigmas of Paldea…" Arven read. "WAIT! That's what your Pokédex just cited to name that thing Scream Tail!"
Carmine peered over and gasped. She stuck her finger between Arven and Juliana's heads and pointed at the illustration next to it.
"Hey! That's it right there! That's the really freakish mutant Magneton that we saw back there!"
Arven read the column's headline aloud. "Enigmas of Paldea, File #07 Sandy Shocks: A Magneton with a 10-Thousand-Year Lifespan?! An Expose by… P-Professor Sada?"
Arven grabbed at his head, practically simmering in anger and confusion.
"But… but HOW!? How does all of this go back to my MOM!? Are you—are you really telling me she was—she was doing all this research on the side!? Was it all at the same time she was down here with dad!? I have… a million questions right now!"
"As do I!" Briar replied. "But how to answer all of them? Well, we'll start with this theory I've got where—"
"Perhaps I might be better equipped to answer all your inquiries," a woman's voice suddenly cut in.
Briar, Juliana, Arven, and Carmine looked all around them, confused.
"Wha… who just said that?" asked Juliana.
"And where is it coming from?" said a frantic Carmine.
Then Arven gasped. "That voice! That's—that's the same voice I was hearing in my dreams! … No! It can't be!"
TERA-PA-GOOOOS!
A cry reverberated through the caverns, and all the crystals surrounding the quartet lit up at once, and began casting sparkles of light into a big gleaming beam in front of them all, forcing the group to cover their eyes.
"Agggh!"
The beams concentrated into the center in a huge ball of light, and then, slowly, they heard footsteps emerging from within the light.
"Huh…?"
A pair of brown sandals, topped by huge, furry orange legwarmers, emerged from within the light.
They all gasped at the appearance of a figure appearing before them.
"Who are you!?" Carmine balked.
This sudden figure was a tall woman, with long brown messy locks collating into wrapped dreads. She wore a bright lab coat, adorned with a fuzzy collar and fake teeth on the sides. Underneath that was a truly wild ensemble, resembling what a cavewoman would wear.
"No way…!" Juliana breathed out, recognizing her from Arven's photos. "You're—you're-!"
The woman stood before the travelers and waved, a sharp and confident look in her blue eyes.
"Greetings. I am Professor Sada."