To be honest, Terapagos's eyes were quite unique—almost like the "special eyes" one would only see in anime. The sclera was divided into a white outer layer, a blue inner layer, and a cyan lower layer, with diamond-shaped pupils sparkling like stars embedded within. The eyes carried a mix of timidity, hesitation, and curiosity.
One could tell that just poking its head out had used up most of Terapagos's courage.
What a timid child…
This thought flashed through Lucas's mind, but his movements instantly became slow and gentle. He carefully set down the small turtle food bowl, retreated a certain distance, and slowly squatted down… After performing this series of mild actions that would not snap Terapagos's sensitive nerves, and giving it enough sense of security, Lucas finally smiled at it.
"Hello there, Terapagos."
"…"
Terapagos subconsciously shrank its neck, but stopped halfway. As if caught in hesitation, it didn't continue moving and instead tilted its head to observe Lucas. It seemed to be double-checking whether the person in front of it was truly trustworthy.
Knowing this was the critical moment, Lucas held his breath, slowed his pace as much as possible, and felt a trace of relief.
Fortunately, it was naptime. The Larvesta and others on the distant sofa were sleeping soundly. The other Pokémon were either outside enjoying the long-absent, slightly warm sunlight or had already returned to their rooms for afternoon rest. The environment was very quiet, and Oranguru, who was preparing a fruit platter behind him, seemed to realize something and stopped its movements.
It could be called… perfect timing, location, and harmony.
Lucas suddenly had a bold idea. This was the first time Terapagos had voluntarily shown its face. Rather than leaving the opportunity to an uncertain future, he might as well seize the moment.
After a brief thought, Lucas performed a somewhat abstract action—he slowly lay down on the floor, supporting himself with his knees and elbows, keeping his back straight, completing a nice half-plank position. No, more accurately, it should be called "turtle crawling." He also casually grabbed a cushion from the side and firmly tied it to his waist using the attached ropes.
With the "turtle shell" and "turtle crawling," he looked just like one of Terapagos's own kind! Probably…?
Seeing Lucas like this, Oranguru's body trembled slightly—whether from holding back laughter or from fright—and it nearly dropped the fruit knife in its hand.
Perhaps because its eyesight wasn't great, Terapagos was not scared by this outfit that bordered on uncanny valley effect. Instead, it further extended its four limbs from the shell and took two puzzled steps forward.
Seeing this, Lucas's eyes brightened slightly. He slowly and gently crawled forward, inching closer to Terapagos, and tried repeating:
"Hello there, Terapagos~"
This time, Terapagos blinked its bright eyes and responded.
"Bagogo…?"
The voice was very soft. If Lucas hadn't been fully focused, he might have missed it entirely.
But Terapagos's response made Lucas feel as if he had been injected with chicken blood. In his excitement, he subconsciously made a slightly rash move—he tried extending his hand toward Terapagos.
Fortunately, Terapagos neither shrank back in fright nor bit him without warning. It simply sniffed the back of Lucas's hand with its small red nostrils, as if recording the scent.
Although his elbows remained propped on the floor, Lucas didn't feel particularly tired. His usual self-training plank holds lasted longer than this, and having knee support while lying on the ground was nothing.
Fortunately, heaven rewards the diligent.
After carefully sniffing for several minutes, Terapagos took an action completely beyond Lucas's expectations and completely disrupted his plan. It directly and proactively pressed its head against Lucas's outstretched palm and affectionately rubbed against it!
"…!"
A silent exclamation escaped him. Lucas's breathing suddenly quickened, his pupils contracting sharply. He had never expected things to develop to this point.
In his original expectation, the best outcome would have been Terapagos getting used to his scent and not just hiding in its shell in front of him. But the other party had actually taken the initiative to rub its head against him!
The sense of reward for his efforts surged into his heart. Lucas tried hard to suppress the urge to jump up and cheer—because that would not only scare Terapagos but also wake up the soundly sleeping Ogerpon and the others.
He simply lowered his voice and said kindly to Terapagos, "No matter what you encountered before, it doesn't matter anymore. Welcome to this brand-new future world, Terapagos!"
…
Dinner time.
Serperior, who had just returned from a weight-loss training session with Tropius and Appletun, Calyrex who had taken Cosmog out for a walk, and Moltres who had just come back from "herding cattle" (meaning Tauros) with Arcanine… and the rest of the Pokémon all looked in surprise at the slightly nervous Terapagos poking its head out from Lucas's arms.
It was actually willing to show its face!?
The farm's Pokémon all knew that the crystal pendant Lucas usually wore had turned into a Pokémon that was scared and hiding in its shell. Because of the diagnosis given by Audino earlier, the Pokémon had spontaneously chosen to be very careful not to make too much noise when passing by Terapagos's withdrawn area. Even if Arcanine occasionally got carried away and couldn't stop in time while running around, it would immediately be dragged away and lectured by Moltres.
It didn't have much effect though, since Arcanine was the type that always said "I know I was wrong" but never actually changed.
Half a month had passed since it woke up. And now Terapagos was finally willing to interact with the outside world!?
The cute-type Pokémon, with Victini as an example, were all very excited and couldn't wait to make friends with Terapagos. Pokémon like Luxray and Swampert had very well restrained their impulses and simply watched from afar, so as not to swarm over and intensify Terapagos's nervousness, wearing away the courage it had finally mustered.
In front of the enthusiastic Pokémon surrounding it, Terapagos felt somewhat afraid and subconsciously wanted to retreat into its shell. But then it remembered the concept of "everyone is family" that Lucas had instilled in it during their afternoon interaction.
As a naturally gregarious Pokémon, Terapagos was not unfamiliar with the concept of "family" or "kin." Terapagos was surprised to discover that if it labeled these Pokémon—who didn't look much like itself—with the tag "family," just as Lucas had said, it suddenly no longer found their enthusiasm so frightening.
Blinking its eyes, Terapagos tried weakly calling out to the enthusiastic Pokémon.
"Bagogo?"
"Bagogo!"
—What responded to it was a neat and enthusiastic series of "replies." At least from Terapagos's side, all the different cries had synchronously changed into the same "Bagogo."
For a moment, the room was filled with countless "Bagogo Bagogo Bagogo" calls.
Lucas did not let everyone interact until very late. After all, tomorrow he would be boarding the direct flight to the Hoenn region. There were still many things to prepare before departure, so it was better to sleep early.
If he weren't in a hurry, Lucas could actually have taken several days like Ash, traveling by sea on a ship to Hoenn. The leisurely vacation time on the ship, Pokémon battles on the deck, and the open-air swimming pool under the sunlight would all have been nice pastimes.
After dinner, glancing at the clock, Lucas urged the Pokémon to go back to bed. Patrols by Houndoom and the others would still follow the original schedule.
Tapu Fini took Popplio and returned with the Politoed and the others living in Thunder Lake.
The once lively living room suddenly became much emptier.
Serperior and Mimikyu had already gone to the bedroom ahead of time. Taking advantage of the moment when Larvesta was warming the bed for him, Lucas asked the still-dazed Terapagos, who had received many enthusiastic greetings:
"Do you want to sleep here, or come sleep in the bedroom with me?"
"Bagogo!"
Terapagos chose the latter without the slightest hesitation. Earlier, when it had been alone in the quiet living room as a single turtle, it had still felt safe and peaceful, not so afraid. But after re-establishing "social relationships," it felt it could no longer endure living alone as a turtle.
"Alright, then tonight you can share a blanket with Mimikyu and Serperior."
With that agreed, Lucas picked up the Tera-crystal turtle and returned to the bedroom, only to discover helplessly that if this continued, his double bed would soon be too crowded!
No, more accurately, the entire room would soon be too full. Not to mention that Pokémon occasionally came for "rotations," and the numbers were never balanced—only increasing, never decreasing.
…
The next day.
January 18th.
Today was the day Lucas had scheduled to take the direct flight to the Hoenn region. The flight was in the afternoon, so he still had the entire morning for preparations. Though called preparations, there wasn't actually much that needed special readying. It was mostly about arranging the farm's operations after his departure and the daily necessities for the Pokémon's lives.
With the continuous addition of farm members, these aspects had also become much easier. Like a year ago when the farm had just started and Oranguru hadn't joined yet. Whenever Lucas left the farm for more than half a day, everyone could only eat bagged Pokémon food—after all, the food prepared in advance in the fridge had already been eaten as extra snacks.
After Oranguru joined, the situation improved somewhat. As an all-round butler, Oranguru could also act as a chef to share the pressure when necessary. Later, there were the pair of Iron Valiant to share some cleaning work, the Falinks specifically responsible for food supply, and Audino.
Relying solely on the Pokémon, the farm now had a complete operating system, which also freed Lucas from having to handle everything personally.
Therefore, this morning, when the Dragonite Leader returned to the farm after delivering goods and flapping its wings, Lucas proposed something by the side of Thunder Lake while the Dragonite and Dragonair were all present.
"Before we leave, let's go sweep Grandma Ria's grave."
The air instantly became quiet.
This matter should actually have been done long ago, but it had been delayed because the Dragonite Leader couldn't find the tombstone. In fact, the small town beside that large pot lake had been abandoned many years ago. The residents had moved elsewhere, and even the nearby cemetery had been relocated into a larger graveyard. Even if the Dragonite Leader still firmly remembered the route, going there again would find nothing.
Lucas had used his connections and finally located the exact position.
"Booh~"
The Dragonite Leader spoke first. It looked at Lucas with its gentle and kind eyes and gently nodded. The Dragonite and Dragonair naturally wanted to go as well.
What surprised Lucas was that Tapu Fini also expressed its intention to visit the grave. Popplio could be left in the care of Swampert, Politoed, and the others. After all, that child had gotten familiar with everyone and was everyone's little joy-bringer.
There was also the now somewhat clingy Terapagos after it had opened up.
Together, everyone flew to a cemetery located in a corner of Porto Marinada.
"A Section 23 tombstone…"
After entering the cemetery that carried a faint atmosphere of sorrow, Lucas softly murmured the specific location information that had been passed to him and quickly found a standard tombstone.
On the stone tombstone was engraved an old photo of Grandma Ria. The inscription did not include a specific birth date, only the date of passing. Because aside from Ria herself, no one knew her birthday, so a birth date could not be engraved.
Although a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the tombstone, as if no one had come to sweep it for a long time, the fact that the grave had been moved from the edge of the soon-to-be-abandoned small town to this cemetery showed that Ria had had quite good relationships with people.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Lucas soaked the towel he had brought and handed it to the Dragonite Leader. This step was better left to it.
While the Dragonite Leader was nostalgically wiping the tombstone, Lucas, holding a bouquet of flowers, was suddenly spoken to by an old man.
"Huh? Are you perhaps a descendant of the owner of this tombstone?"
The person who spoke was an old man dressed like a caretaker, with a trace of surprise still lingering in his eyes. In his memory, this tombstone had gone unvisited for many years.
"Yes, sir."
Lucas did not deny it but readily admitted it. He had already decided to come and sweep the grave with the Dragonite Leader at regular intervals from now on.
Seeing Lucas admit it, the old man narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, "I won't speak ill words, but this tombstone has had no visitors since it was moved here. Although I don't know the details, I think if you can come often in the future, the deceased will surely be happy. Similarly, for the living, it is also a pillar of support for the heart."