"Be careful, Red~"
Aiden's reminder came from behind. Red nodded solemnly and pointed at the Glimmora making a battle invitation gesture.
"Snorlax, use High Horsepower to wear down the opponent!"
As he spoke, Red's attention was completely focused on the Glimmora.
Its flower-petal-like spread body was completely wrapped in a layer of Tera armor, looking somewhat similar to the "Terastallization" phenomenon commonly used by Paldeans.
However, upon closer observation, several obvious differences could be found.
First was the Tera crown that automatically grows on top of a Pokémon after Terastallization—each Tera type corresponded to a fixed crown shape.
And on top of this Glimmora's head—was a special hexagram-like mark, and the Tera armor on its body also emitted mixed micro-light of various colors, looking very unusual.
According to Teacher Azure's earlier hint, this was a brand new, special mechanism called "Stellarization"?
Red couldn't determine what effects Stellarization would have on a Pokémon, so he chose to cautiously test the opponent first.
"Snor—!"
Snorlax slowly stepped forward, its massive body immediately causing slight tremors when touching the ground.
Although it was a slow-reacting, thick-nerved, heavy Pokémon, when Snorlax truly started running, its speed wasn't slow at all.
However, if it wanted to compete with Glimmora in speed, it was clearly still somewhat lacking.
When Snorlax began running, the Glimmora, knowing the battle had started, flew upward over five meters high and continued to observe the flexible fatty before it with interest.
It was evident that, having always lived a kilometer underground, it had never seen a Snorlax before, so it naturally felt curious.
If it were an ordinary Pokémon, lacking aerial capabilities, it might feel at a loss against Glimmora.
But Red's Snorlax was somewhat different.
"Snorlax, jump up and continue attacking!"
"Sno—r!"
After receiving its trainer's command, Snorlax stomped its foot fiercely, then after brief charging, leaped directly into the air.
Its body weighed over half a ton, yet after jumping, the height it reached was almost three or four times its own size—very exaggerated.
And it was precisely because of this terrifying jumping ability that Snorlax had the opportunity to reach its opponent.
Bang——!
Snorlax flexibly twisted its body, actually extending its arm in mid-air to execute an exaggerated "spiking" motion, directly slapping the Glimmora with one palm.
Even though Glimmora immediately curled into a ball and used its spike-shaped body to block the attack, it was still sent flying.
However—
Looking at the Glimmora that had already fallen to the ground not far away but was still full of energy, Red frowned.
"High Horsepower didn't deal effective damage?"
"Could Stellarization have negated its weakness?"
"No, it could also be Spiky Shield—"
Red couldn't immediately determine the specific reason.
But one thing was already certain—when Snorlax used High Horsepower and hit Glimmora, its counterattack was also coming.
Using its falling speed, Glimmora immediately began spinning in place before landing, then quickly spread its petals again, shooting toxic spike traps formed from countless poisons in all directions.
"Uwaaah! It's a Toxic Debris ability Glimmora!"
Seemingly recalling Champion Geeta's final Glimmora from the Champion's Path, Nemona immediately felt a chill surge in her heart and subconsciously hid behind the larger Arven.
At the same time, she didn't forget to grab the smaller Penny.
Arven: ?
Arven immediately wanted to complain about Nemona's teammate-selling behavior, but seeing the Toxic Spikes about to shoot toward him, he sighed and took out a Poké Ball.
"I'm counting on you, Garganacl!"
A Paldean native Pokémon that Aiden had specifically introduced made a brilliant entrance, spreading its arms before landing to block all the Toxic Spikes for the three behind it.
Due to its Purifying Salt ability, it wouldn't be affected by any status conditions—it was the "strongest shield" in Arven's team.
"—"
Originally, Aiden had wanted to send out his own Pokémon to help intercept the shooting Toxic Spikes.
But when he saw that reliable, reassuring "Salt Lord" with its back to him, he subconsciously immediately hid behind it.
He remembered Arven often said he wasn't good at getting along with Pokémon and wasn't interested in battles—
But the Pokémon he raised were truly one more sinister than the last, the kind that would be a waste not to torment others with.
But since Arven himself said so, and he was indeed more interested in being a Pokémon Breeder, Aiden had nothing to advise.
To each their own!
Back to Red's perspective.
With the invincible Salt Lord protecting them, Aiden and the others were fine, but Red and Snorlax were in for a rough time!
Although mere Toxic Spikes weren't enough to break through his defenses, the toxin still touched his skin, quickly showing signs of poisoning.
Red was very calm about this, simply taking a Pecha Berry from his pocket and eating it, then throwing one to Snorlax in the distance.
After instantly recovering to full health, Red immediately spoke: "Snor, target Glimmora, use High Horsepower again!"
Although it looked like Red had suffered a small setback, to him it was all irrelevant. What was important was using this opportunity to explore the Stellarization phenomenon's mechanism.
Whether Stellarization would change a Pokémon's type or not would be revealed in the next attack.
"Sno—r——lax!"
After swallowing the Pecha Berry, Snorlax moved again.
This time, it directly transformed into a rampaging high-speed train, completely ignoring the Toxic Spikes interfering with its movements on the ground, charging straight toward the still-spinning Glimmora.
Boom——!
Soon, another powerful impact sound rang out.
Glimmora had nowhere to dodge and was immediately elbowed flying by Snorlax, crashing into the crystal wall behind it, its eyes rolling back.
Originally, Aiden had thought this battle would require some back-and-forth, but it ended surprisingly cleanly.
"It looks like you've already formed a general judgment about the Stellarization phenomenon?"
Poking his head out from behind Garganacl, Aiden looked at Red, his eyes full of satisfaction for an honor student.
Continuously exploring the unknown even in actual combat—no wonder this kid Red could become a Battle Legend in the future. He was truly a born "Legend"—
Red turned back and nodded toward Aiden.
"Yes, it appears Stellarization doesn't affect a Pokémon's own type."
"With the power of Snorlax's attack just now, if it were just ordinary type advantage, it shouldn't have been enough to take out the opponent in one hit."
"And for 4x super effective damage, only if Glimmora's own Rock + Poison typing remained completely unchanged would it be possible."
"But—since it doesn't affect one's own type, then what exactly is the function of Stellarization?"
Mentioning a topic he was interested in, Red rarely spoke a few more sentences.
Aiden nodded with satisfaction but didn't reveal information about Stellarization to them in advance.
"In that case, let's continue forward."
After speaking, he pointed to where the Glimmora had been.
The cave previously blocked by crystals had somehow cleared itself, revealing the path to deeper areas.
"Before reaching the deepest part, we'll likely encounter several more Pokémon using Stellarization blocking our way, so you and Nemona can explore on your own."
"Yay!"
Hearing Aiden's words, Nemona immediately smiled, gave Red a peace sign, and then ran off toward the other side of the cave.
"This time, I'll take the lead!"
For the following period, Aiden directly became a hands-off manager.
Taking Arven and Penny on a sightseeing tour through the Area Zero Underdepths, explaining stories about Area Zero, the Treasure of Area Zero, and Heath's expedition team along the way.
Literally making himself a tour guide.
As for the path-clearing work?
Couldn't they see Red and Nemona were almost fighting over it? It never reached his turn.
When Nemona and the others made new discoveries about the Stellarization phenomenon after battles, Aiden would also make timely supplements.
"That's right, Stellarization indeed doesn't affect a Pokémon's own type, but it has its own unique functionality."
——
"See those eighteen types on its Tera crown? When using moves of different types for the first time, the energy stored on the crown will amplify the move, increasing its power when executed."
"Moreover, Stellar also has a very strong countering effect against Terastallization."
"Simply put—when using Tera Blast in a Stellarized state, it will be super effective against Terastallized opponents~"
Aiden's exclusive mini-class quietly opened in the Area Zero Underdepths.
Unfortunately, when they entered the Time Machine earlier, the signal interference had caused his livestream to the outside world to disconnect.
And in this place over a kilometer underground, even with black-tech like the Rotom Phone, it was difficult to directly contact the surface.
Aiden could only record all his experiences in Area Zero, hoping to release a series of educational videos later, called—
"My Magical Journey in Area Zero"?
With Nemona and Red as their two great escorts, they only took about an hour to pass through several layers of obstacles and reach the deepest part of the Area Zero Underdepths.
"W-wow, so beautiful!"
Originally, Nemona thought the outside was already amazing enough, with glowing Stellar crystals growing on the walls.
But compared to the crystal density in the deepest part, it was simply the difference between fireflies and the moon!
For a moment, she even felt like she had entered a magnificently splendid colorful palace, and what she stepped on wasn't earth but glowing LED screens!
However—
She soon noticed something odd.
"Isn't this place a bit too monotonous?"
Although the sparkling crystals were indeed beautiful, if an entire room was filled with them and that was the only thing, it would inevitably make people quickly tire of it!
While Nemona curiously examined the surroundings, Aiden's attention was on the layer of protruding crystals at the center of the cave.
That was where the Stellar energy concentration was highest in the entire cave—it should be the "nest" where the little turtle was sleeping, right?
Aiden walked forward, carefully observed for a round, and indeed discovered a very conspicuous hexagonal protrusion on the surface of the ore near the ground.
Its color was similar to Stellar crystals, but it wasn't composed of energy—it was a genuine living being.
Although it was temporarily not very obvious, and just by appearance one might only think this was a gem symbiotically formed with Stellar crystals—
But Aiden immediately identified it as the sleeping Terapagos!
Terapagos, a Normal-type Legendary Pokémon.
It was not only the origin of the Terastallization system, the "Indigo Disk" and "Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" in Heath's book, but also a Pokémon with an extremely long lifespan.
People believed that Terapagos once had a population and inhabited ancient Paldea.
But 2 million years ago, they seemed to have gone extinct due to a crustal movement.
The one currently sleeping in the deepest part of the Area Zero Underdepths was perhaps the sole survivor of their species—sleeping for 2 million years, pretty impressive—
Aiden observed the hexagonal gem while thinking to himself.
However, like the "Paradox species," most descriptions about this little turtle were only speculations rather than reliably provable theories.
So Aiden couldn't draw definitive conclusions about everything.
What could be currently confirmed was—besides the Terastallization phenomenon, the Time Machine in Area Zero must have intricate connections with it.
For example, in the game, the naming of the two cover Legendaries "Koraidon" and "Miraidon" was completed through the time loop intervention of this little turtle.
So it might also have the ability to traverse spacetime like Celebi, and could share this power with others.
But there was still a small problem at the moment—
The little turtle-transformed gem was directly embedded in the crystal ore.
Or rather, the energy it produced while sleeping had formed these crystals, extending outward with it as the center.
He couldn't easily take it out, and had to consider whether removing the little turtle would affect Area Zero or even Paldea.
He couldn't just use brute force to yank it out hard like Kieran did in the DLC, right?
That would be too ridiculous.
Just as Aiden was pondering, a very familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears.
[That child—so it has already been asleep this long?]
The voice was clearly from the Creator Deity Arceus, from beyond the world.
And it startled Aiden.
Wait, bro—sis? Neither address seems quite right—
Forget it, llama bro, since you've appeared, tell me what should be done now!
Knowing that a certain alpaca had been observing him through the system, Aiden simply threw the question to the other party directly in his mind.
The air fell into several seconds of silence until the alpaca let out a sigh.
[If you are willing, take this child to see the outside world.]
[As for Area Zero—2 million years of development have already formed its own ecosystem, so its existence or absence makes no difference.]
[Wait, perhaps the giant of Sinnoh—what you call Regigigas would be very interested in this place?]
The Toilet King?
Does it have something to do with this too?
Aiden blinked, not expecting that Area Zero would also be related to Legendary Pokémon outside of Paldea?
[From long ago, it has enjoyed occasionally going out to special terrains, creating puppets resembling its appearance there and giving them life.]
[For it, this is just a brief hobby, but for humans—the time span might be quite long.]
Aiden was somewhat speechless.
That would indeed be quite long.
After all, those pillars seemed to represent different eras, with time spans ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of years.
And what kind of broken attribute would a puppet made from Stellar or Tera crystals have!
Aiden was genuinely quite curious about this.
Although he probably wouldn't live to see that day—
But since Arceus put it that way, he could simply use the Anywhere Door to send Regigigas here when the time came.
When he woke it up back then, he still owed the other a wish that hadn't been fulfilled. This could count as settling that debt—
Arceus's voice quickly disappeared.
With His endorsement, when Aiden looked at the sleeping Terapagos again, his expression immediately revealed the unique smirk of someone about to do something mischievous.
Hey, it's been sleeping for 2 million years, time to see the world!
What's this? Little turtle, pack it up and take it away!
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