Hikaru: "Even though Sandy Shocks is Electric/Ground, the Electric type doesn't make them resist Water-type attacks. So yeah… this absolutely ridiculous scene happened."
"One Surf was enough to wipe out the Sandy Shocks. These guys—just regular tribe members—might be fierce, but in front of a successful man, they still look way too flimsy."
Palafin, the Ocean Ranger, wasn't that high-leveled. But like people say—type advantage is king.
Even if there's a 10+ or 20+ level gap, super-effective damage still hurts. And with Palafin's insane stats—650 base stat total, practically rubbing shoulders with a bunch of Legendary Pokémon—plus that shredded physique it's built up from free-swimming in the ocean for years… yeah, that's not a joke.
Aoki stared at the scene with that signature drained look, almost speechless.
"…You're calling creatures from Area Zero 'flimsy.' You really do have a terrifying side… or is that just my imagination? Also, at this point I kind of get why Geeta had you go investigate Area Zero."
"An Electric-type Pokémon losing to a Water-type… why am I seeing something like this?"
"And that Pokémon… 'successful man'… you…?"
Aoki looked uncertainly at the Pokémon that was striking a heroic pose.
Hardly anyone had actually seen it. But compared to the various savage monsters of Area Zero that only ever showed up in occult magazines… this one was, in a very real sense, a Paldean legend.
If people want to complain that Paldea doesn't have "special Legendary Pokémon" and meme about it…
Well. It's not like Paldea has none.
Aoki: "…That's Palafin, isn't it?"
"…The hero of the sea. They say it shows up when people and Pokémon are in danger, and saves everyone in a superman-like form…"
"Man~!"
Palafin gave Aoki a thumbs-up.
Human, you've got a good eye!
The hero of the sea—has arrived!
Aoki looked at Hikaru. "You even have Palafin… The legendary warrior Armarouge, the hero of the sea Palafin, and these Falinks… but none of them are Steel-type Pokémon."
Hikaru stroked his chin. "Aoki-san, is that your way of complaining?"
"But you're right. Those three aren't Steel-type. My Steel-type partners are all in the Poké Balls I'm carrying."
Hikaru tilted his bag toward Aoki. Aoki had noticed it a while ago anyway.
"I heard Geeta describe you as the rare type who doesn't use the storage system. Meaning… you carry a lot of Pokémon on you."
"And you seem good with other types too. So Steel is just the one you're best at."
"My whole thing is being ordinary… but your whole thing is being all-purpose. An all-purpose new Elite Four member… that kind of talent feels like you're walking on clouds."
It was genuine admiration.
Normal-type. Ordinary. Common. Unremarkable.
That fit him. And he'd always liked it that way.
Aoki sighed.
"This world always treats the weird, the oddballs, and the ones who don't follow the usual path… differently."
"Even the Chairwoman has a lot of personality…"
"People and Pokémon would be better off if everything were simpler and easier to understand. But someone like you exists too… Normally speaking, someone like me and someone like you shouldn't have any overlap in daily life."
Hikaru chuckled. "Aoki-san, have you heard of the 'six degrees of separation' theory?"
"They say that if you're connecting strangers to strangers, the chain of people in between won't exceed six."
"In other words, through six people, you can end up knowing anyone in the world. And traveling is one of the key ways you build those connections."
"So some encounters aren't coincidence. They're inevitable."
Aoki shook his head. "That's… a pretty unusual theory. Traveling… sure, visiting other places might be fun, but isn't getting home the most comfortable part? That's how I think. Maybe that's why I don't have talent."
"Anyway, let's deal with the aftermath. I'll handle cleanup."
Aoki pulled out a string of Ultra Balls from his briefcase. Looking at the Paradox Pokémon sprawled across the ground, he captured them one by one.
"I remember now. This one was in an occult magazine too—an issue right next to the one about Slither Wing. One month apart."
"They claimed it was what a Magneton would look like after surviving ten thousand years. That's what some scientist supposedly said. And it had a few alleged sightings… 'appears in Paldea's dry regions,' something like that."
Aoki rubbed his chin and closed his eyes, thinking.
"But up until now it's all been rumors—and it doesn't match the so-called desert monster people were talking about…"
"You're right. Those occult magazines really aren't trustworthy. It's probably just attention-grabbing nonsense."
"And sometimes… that kind of irresponsible reporting causes me a lot of trouble."
A magazine can say whatever it wants. But Aoki—the one responsible for keeping the facility safe and making sure nothing goes wrong—was the one who had to suffer for it.
One person spreads a rumor with a single mouth. One person runs around with their legs about to break just to refute it. That was basically this situation.
Hikaru knew those sighting reports were probably questionable too. But who wrote them—and why—was still unclear.
The magazine claimed Sandy Shocks would show up in Paldea's dry regions, but in actual practice, the only place you could catch it was Area Zero.
Still… there was another possibility.
"Before that research facility was built—way back—when Heath, the author of the Scarlet/Violet Book, entered Area Zero… could a Sandy Shocks have already escaped once, then gone into hiding somewhere dry?"
"Since its 'prototype' isn't really Magneton so much as primitive humanity, it might share human instincts—seeking safety, preferring stable living conditions, that sort of thing."
"Maybe there really is a hidden Sandy Shocks tribe somewhere in Paldea's drylands."
If they weren't causing danger, it was just a wild rumor—maybe even something that would spark kids' curiosity during the Treasure Hunt.
Sure, it might be dangerous for children…
But then again, aren't wild Pokémon dangerous too?
Ten-year-old kids run around, beat up Pokémon, catch them, then battle with them. That's the world's baseline logic.
Aoki pocketed the Ultra Balls. These Paradox Pokémon had been beaten into a weakened state, so there was no need to worry about them forcing their way out.
And the Paldea League had a technology it was rather proud of: the "Ball Lock Program," which could lock a Poké Ball.
In other regions, that kind of tech would usually be something villains used. But for the Paldea League, it seemed… whatever.
Even Area Zero's Paradise Protection Protocol used that mechanism—locking the player's Poké Balls in-game. Any Poké Ball not tied to an "Sada/Turo ID" became unusable.
Because that protocol was created by Sada and Turo themselves.
Its purpose was "defensive infrastructure for the Area Zero lab."
After dealing with the situation here, Hikaru and Aoki immediately prepared to enter the tunnel. But Aoki paused and asked Hikaru to wait, then went over to the crowd at a distance and dispersed them.
"People are always interested in strange and unusual things. If I don't make them leave, someone's going to follow us all the way to the facility."
Aoki shook his head. He really didn't know what to do with the energetic locals.
For someone perpetually exhausted, the greatest wish in life was to lie in bed and not move.
And the residents of Medali got along well with Aoki—because Aoki loved food, and Medali had more restaurants than anywhere else in Paldea.
"Cleaning up after Pokémon… and now I also have to deal with people… Human relationships aren't really my strong point."
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go."
Still sounding tired, Aoki entered the tunnel with Hikaru and the Pokémon.
They passed through the tunnel, reached the bright opening, and saw the Area Zero Gate rising on the cliff face amid three-sided mountains—
Aoki checked the system.
"The Area Zero Gate really has been opened. Someone went in."
"But it looks like the Pokémon didn't cause trouble here. That means they climbed up from below while the barrier was down."
Hikaru studied the environment. It matched the game, almost perfectly.
To reach Area Zero, you could also just jump off the cliffside and descend into a sea of rolling clouds.
Those cloudbanks—never dispersing year-round—sealed Area Zero's ecosystem off from the outside world. And the Area Zero Gate was a key node in maintaining the barrier.
Hikaru: "Below the Gate… are there abandoned research stations?"
In-game, there were plenty of ruined station structures below—unnamed, non-interactive.
"They're part of the supporting facilities for the Gate, but after this place stopped operating, those buildings lost their purpose too."
Aoki opened the Gate's main door as he explained. "I've only been down there once. Those buildings were constructed a long time ago—around eighty years back. By the time I went down, they were already destroyed."
"Don't worry. Those stations aren't like the Gate. They don't affect the barrier. They used to be relay points for investigating Area Zero."
"In the past, some plan was carried out down there. A lot of researchers worked below…"
Aoki only gave the brief outline. He wasn't a researcher, so he didn't know the plan's true details. And in Aoki's view, it wasn't necessarily something dangerous or sinister.
"That plan's preliminary成果 was the Tera Orb we use today. The plan was promoted to continue research into Terastalization."
Hikaru: "It was called the Terastal Project, right?"
Aoki nodded slightly. "So you already know. That saves me time explaining it. I don't know much about it myself, though. It's not exactly some forbidden topic."
Hikaru: "…But the project itself does have problems."
That made Aoki pause.
"…Problems?"
Hikaru: "I don't know whether Chairwoman Geeta knows what it really is. Let's assume she doesn't. When I met her, she didn't seem to know what Professor Sada was doing in the crater—at least not in detail."
"But the Tera Orb is a product used to secure funding from major companies—meaning the academy and the League. In that sense, sure, that's true."
"In practice, though, it's a byproduct of another machine. So that statement isn't wrong either."
"The original intention might not have had anything to do with that machine—but as the plan progressed, it became… a little connected."
Aoki's expression didn't change much. He considered it, then reached a conclusion.
"Conspiracies and new plans and all that… that's too complicated for me. So you're still going down to do a surprise inspection on the professor, right?"
"You mean my boss thinks Professor Sada is doing something strange down there—something connected to the 'problematic' Terastal Project you're talking about?"
"Exactly." Hikaru smiled. "Aoki-san is sharp. Even without me finishing, you immediately understood what's going on."
"Aoki-san's work ability is honestly impressive."
"Spare me." Aoki drooped. "I don't want that written in a report. When you come back, please—don't praise me in front of my boss."
"And this incident at the Gate is on me."
Hikaru: "I know. That's why I'll go down and deal with it. Aoki-san, you stay up here and guard the area. The barrier hasn't rebooted yet—so to prevent more Paradox Pokémon from escaping, please hold position near the tunnel."
Aoki looked at Hikaru for a long moment, and then—rarely—his face showed something other than fatigue.
"For some reason, seeing what just happened made a thought pop into my head."
"You're really reliable. With a junior like you around… I feel like I don't need to worry anymore. This feeling of reassurance… I haven't had it in a long time."
"No matter what, I owe you one."
Aoki and Hikaru entered the interior of the Area Zero Gate. The lights were on—bright. Then the mechanical door leading to the open platform also opened.
"The lights are on. This place should've been set to 'power-saving mode.'" Aoki felt unsettled. "Who can even get in here? A former researcher? But the permissions—"
After thinking for a moment, Hikaru said, "…If I'm guessing right, it was Professor Sada's kid who opened it."
The problem was that Arven wasn't particularly good with machinery. The technique for opening the Gate and barrier was probably something Professor Sada had told him before.
In the Path of Legends storyline, when Arven returned to the Gate the second time, he was confused that the lights were off.
In the end, Penny—simple and brutal—hacked the system and forcibly disabled "power-saving mode," turning the lights on.
It was just a small detail, not even part of the core plot. But it implied something important.
Even turning the lights on at the Gate required permission.
And another point: Penny only joined because Arven asked Director Clavell for help, and Clavell introduced her. Clavell definitely didn't know about "illegally entering Area Zero."
Later, Penny believed the Gate's operating system was being remotely controlled by the professor, and that entering would trigger a "biometric identification" voice prompt.
But that identification was performed by the AI professor—separate from the Gate's own system.
"…I see. A backdoor. The crater was entrusted to her management, and she managed it like this—letting a child in is a violation, and extremely dangerous."
"You used the teleportation panel, didn't you? The descent gate—open."
Aoki sounded exasperated as he operated the controls, and at the same time activated a communication device.
"Professor Sada. This is urgent. If you receive this message, respond."
The message went out—but there was no reply. Only dead silence, as if it wasn't connected to Area Zero Lab at all.
A harsh bzzzt-bzzzt of static filled the air.
The platform near the Gate was also stained with blotches of rust.
"No response… or is the signal malfunctioning? In Area Zero, communications can get unreliable."
Aoki kept operating, but he was just an office worker. High-tech systems weren't his strength. He could only sigh in resignation.
That was his limit. He'd done what he could.
Aoki shook his head, took out Area Zero exploration supplies and some route survey maps from his briefcase—documents showing things like the observation station locations—and handed them to Hikaru.
"These are资料 for Area Zero. You can use the teleportation panel to descend to the first observation station too."
Hikaru glanced behind him. The "cowardly lizard" that had vanished during the earlier fight—somehow—had respawned beside them.
"It's fine. I'll just fly down directly!"
Aoki: "…Wasn't this the one we saw near Sushi High Roller? Right—during the fight it disappeared."
Even Aoki took a moment to complain. Miraidon glanced at it. The lizard went quiet, looking guilty.
The arena tournament had been fun. You didn't have to worry about Pokémon suddenly going feral.
But fighting the things inside the crater was a different story.
"Agaas!" Miraidon wagged its tail at Hikaru.
Boss, you're incredible! You beat so many Slither Wing and Sandy Shocks with the legendary warrior and the hero—if Boss is here, then Area Zero really isn't scary at all!
Hikaru: "Yeah? Then I'm riding you down. Is that okay?"
"A—Agaas!" Miraidon jolted.
It had dreamed for ages of finally being a mount—its moment was right here! But flying inside Area Zero… there was a risk of getting shot down by an ancient species and crashing…
But if it missed this chance and the boss got unhappy, that would be even worse. No more food? That would be hell.
After weighing pros and cons, Miraidon nodded.
With Hikaru covering it, it should be fine. It only needed to fly. And there were two other flying teammates too—so even if they ran into anti-air, it probably wouldn't be a problem.
Watching Hikaru mount Miraidon and seeing Miraidon's posture shift, Aoki finally realized something.
"…This feels kind of similar to Cyclizar."
Hikaru: "Of course it does. Miraidon is derived from Cyclizar—no, rather, it was created with Cyclizar as a template!"
"It looks cool, right? It's Electric/Dragon! So you can call it an Electronic Dragon, too."
Aoki didn't hesitate. He nodded cleanly.
An electronic motorcycle. Yeah. That really was cool. No objections.
Hikaru, meanwhile, thought about how he'd once built a D-Wheel back in Unova—originally just for cosplay to cross the Tubeline Bridge, but the bike's color scheme had basically been Miraidon.
"Accel Synchro—surpass even light itself! This time it's for real! Gathered prayers will become a newborn shining star, and carve a glittering road of light!"
"And next—Number Two!"
Hikaru sent out Genesect. The steel insect appeared with an aura of pure solidity and strength. And Genesect understood combat perfectly.
No Pokémon understood hunting better than a predator from three hundred million years ago.
Aoki's gaze shifted.
Finally—a Steel-type Pokémon.
He'd never seen this one before, but you could tell just by looking.
That iron body. The unmistakable mechanical vibe—
Then Aoki suddenly thought of something and flicked a glance at the cowardly lizard.
Wait. Even if it looks like a machine, that doesn't automatically make it Steel-type.
Genesect shifted forms. Armarouge pointed its golden spear, directing the Falinks!
One by one, in orderly fashion, the Falinks climbed "on board"!
Falinks: "Ita! Ita! WAAAAAGH!!!"
At last—they were entering a land of unbelievable war!
Driven by a conquest-lust that could not be soothed, they began the biggest, strongest, most awesome WAAAAAGH!
Tatakae—itsumo tatakae!
In the tiny garden—
WAAAGH, WAAAGH, WAAAGH!
In the big city—
WAAAGH, WAAAGH, WAAAGH!
Fight big fights with the big boss!
Use super sick moves, and under the leadership of the super sick Armarouge knight, fight super sick fights!
Aoki looked at those bloodthirsty Pokémon and felt like Hikaru's team was either absurdly strong or just plain bizarre. Even the sheer number of Poké Balls was infectious—he found himself starting to overthink while also giving a warning.
"I'll notify Rika and the Chairwoman immediately."
"If you run into danger you can't handle, withdraw at once. Though… I'm saying that, but with your strength, it feels like that won't happen. Still, you're carrying too many Poké Balls. Maybe what I should say is… don't let you and your Pokémon tear Area Zero apart…?"
"I don't know why, but I just feel like you're very dependable."
"And about that child—please search quickly. If it's Professor Sada's kid, he's probably staying at one of the observation stations. I'm counting on you."
Miraidon and Genesect launched from the rust-stained Gate platform and plunged into the cloud-wreathed Great Crater of Paldea in one burst. And from up high, the crater's natural environment and overall state were visible at a glance.
Terastal light shimmered across the ground—so bright you could see it even from the sky. The strange terrain continued downward, layer after layer, like something out of Made in Abyss.
At the very center was a black sinkhole—like a bottomless abyss. Strange misty clouds swirled there, making it impossible to observe the deepest layer directly. Scattered Terastal glimmers winked like lights, filtering through the lower cloud sea and the darkness, hazy and faint.
Like stars in space.
Following the Aoki provided, Hikaru flew straight toward the first observation station. And just as expected—
Hikaru heard a voice.
It was a cry for help, but incredibly weak—more like someone sobbing at the end of their rope.
"Someone… someone please save me…"
"Why is there no signal… Flying Taxi, please come get me…"
(End of Chapter)
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