Chapter 521: Stellar Form

The Zero Great Hollow.

That is a region deeper than the bottom of Area Zero, a massive hollow formed by crustal shifts two million years ago, persisting to this day.

Had the existence of the Zero Great Hollow not been accidentally discovered during the establishment of the Area Zero Research Station, its existence would likely remain unknown to this very day.

At least, that is what Sada and Turo believed.

But whether the Area Zero observation team that also reached the bottom two hundred years ago knew this, the two of them dared not guarantee.

After all, the couple firmly believed that the history they had witnessed was not necessarily the true history.

"The Zero Great Hollow possesses Terastal energy far more intense than that of Area Zero; perhaps for this reason, within the Zero Great Hollow, we have observed an extremely special form of Terastallization."

"We have named this type of Terastallization 'Stellar Form'."

As Dr. Sada's voice gently faded, Dr. Turo beside her swiftly brought up an image and displayed it before Luo Mu.

It was a Noivern soaring within a cavern filled with brilliant crystals.

However, its appearance was quite peculiar.

Not only was its entire body in a Terastallized state, but it also wore a pure white Wang Guan embedded with colorful crystals upon its head, surrounded by an equal number of colorful gems.

The angle of the photograph was extremely comprehensive, allowing nearly all details to be seen clearly.

Luo Mu's pupils constricted as he looked straight at the two doctors. "Is this Stellar Form?"

"Correct."

Dr. Sada nodded lightly, took out a laser pointer, activated it, and paused the red beam on the image.

"After our careful confirmation, we can ascertain that there are exactly eighteen colors of gems, which happen to correspond to the eighteen types of Pokémon."

"Thus, we proposed a hypothesis—"

"If Terastallization is a change involving a single type, then Stellar Form likely possesses all eighteen types, meaning the power of every type!"

The hypothesis proposed by Dr. Sada and Dr. Turo was exceedingly bold; had it been anyone else, even with the image as evidence, they might still have harbored doubts.

But Luo Mu would not.

Surprised though he was, and despite wanting to complain about the unexpected presence of a Noivern in the Zero Great Hollow, he had seen special forms of Terastallization before.

Ogerpon's Terastallization attaches itself to its mask.

Precisely because of this, Luo Mu's acceptance was high; he immediately tentatively categorized the relationship between Terastallization and Stellar Form as akin to that between Dynamax and Gigantamax.

One could say the two share the same origin, yet differ in certain aspects.

Luo Mu chatted extensively with the two doctors and even witnessed the second piece of powerful evidence confirming the existence of Stellar Form—

A chunk of Terastal material bearing colorful stellar radiance, which Sada and Turo called a Stellar Shard.

This made him curious about what kind of power Stellar Form actually concealed; after all, aside from the artificial Pokémon Type: Null, which can switch types, the only entity in the Pokémon world connected to all eighteen types is the creator god, Arceus.

Regarding the invitation from the two doctors, he naturally agreed at once.

The Zero Great Hollow lies in a region even deeper than where the prototype time machine is located.

Fortunately, the elevator had already been constructed, so descending would not require much effort.

After discussion, the three decided that Dr. Sada would remain at the Area Zero Research Station to keep Peiban Sect company, while Dr. Turo would take Luo Mu via elevator to the Zero Great Hollow to meet "the Treasure of Zero," Terapagos, the source of Terastal energy.

The elevator descended rapidly; after a short while, a "Ding—" sounded, and the doors swung open.

A wave of humid air rushed forth first; Luo Mu blinked and lightly rubbed his fingertips together.

"The air here is very moist."

Turo nodded lightly and added, "This place is approximately one thousand meters deep underground."

"With this level of humidity, even without rain, a Mega Swampert might be able to trigger the 'Swift Swim' ability boost."

Luo Mu took out a Poké Ball and released Swampert.

A flash of light passed, and the Mega-Evolved Mega Swampert waved its arms, using its fins to sense the surrounding air, before nodding to Luo Mu.

Its 'Swift Swim' ability could indeed be triggered in this environment.

After all, what this ability seeks is the humidity brought by rain; apart from the ground not being smooth enough, everything else was fine.

Since the two doctors mentioned that wild Pokémon in the Stellar Form state also appeared within the Zero Great Hollow, Luo Mu had summoned Mega Swampert to act as a bodyguard, while also intending to test the opponent's strength through battle should a Stellar Form Pokémon appear.

Looking at the area before him where even the rocks and terrain had undergone varying degrees of crystallization, Luo Mu took a deep breath and set out under Turo's lead.

Inside the Zero Great Hollow, it was exceedingly quiet, so quiet that only the sound of their footsteps echoed within this cavern of unknown scale.

Advancing along the familiar path in his memory, Dr. Turo's mindset remained quite peaceful.

He and Sada did not know how many times they had visited this place, yet the number of times they had witnessed Stellar Form Pokémon was pitifully small; or rather, they had hardly seen even a few Pokémon within the Zero Great Hollow.

Therefore, he still had the mood to chat casually with Luo Mu, introducing his own understanding of the Zero Great Hollow.

"The size of the Zero Great Hollow remains a mystery to this day; the area Sada and I have explored is likely but a drop in the ocean, and those Stellar Form Pokémon may have arrived here through passages unknown to us."

"It is possible that even when we reach the area where the 'Treasure of Zero' resides, we might not encounter a single one; after all, this matter purely depends on luck."

Turo said with a smile on his face.

However, he failed to notice that Mega Swampert walking ahead had suddenly stopped, colliding squarely with him.

Even though Turo often worked out, he was nearly knocked onto his butt by Mega Swampert's hard back.

And Luo Mu's voice sounded faintly at this moment.

"Is that a Stellar Form Pokémon?"

Turo: "!?"

Ignoring the pain in the bridge of his nose, Turo looked in the direction Luo Mu pointed, only to see at the bend ahead, on the rock wall of their inevitable path, a Glimmflower taking root there.

Upon the Glimmflower, the Wang Guan and eighteen crystalline gems belonging to the Stellar Form were so conspicuous.

What!? Filled with question marks, Turo stared dumbfounded at the eager-to-try Luo Mu, completely bewildered.

How could Luo Mu encounter a Stellar Form Pokémon the moment he arrived! And over there, the camouflaged Glimmflower seemed to realize they had discovered it; it ceased its disguise, unfurled its petals, and launched an attack first.

Earth Power!

A radiance flared upon the Terastal Glimmora; earthen light interwoven with brilliant starlight poured into the ground, surging along the fissures amid countless fragments of rock to erupt as a frenzied wave of light. "You struck first!"

Luo Mu showed no hint of holding back and swiftly declared:

"Block it!"

Mega Swampert narrowed its eyes, halted its powerful arms mid-air for an instant, then slammed them into the ground!

Boom! Under that terrifying force, the ground split in an instant; several rocks heaved up, forcibly neutralizing the full power of Earth Power.

Under Professor Turo's dumbfounded expression, Mega Swampert's single ground-pound seemed to make the entire Area Zero crater tremble.

The Terastal Glimmora, seemingly unexpected that Mega Swampert could block its attack in such a manner, simply unleashed another Earth Power.

Yet in terms of both power and scale, it fell far short of the previous Earth Power.

Observing this, Luo Mu wore a thoughtful expression; instead of commanding Mega Swampert, he offered a reminder: "Professor Turo, observe and record carefully."

Stunned by Mega Swampert's power, Turo froze for a moment, then quickly recovered, fumbling to activate the portable instrument originally meant for monitoring the "Treasure of Area Zero," and began recording data.

The reason they had yet to define "Terastallization" was precisely their lack of detailed supporting data.

And now, the chance to obtain such data lay right before him! After Mega Swampert, relying on its robust physique, tanked Glimmora's Earth Power, Luo Mu spoke once more.

"Muddy Water."

In an instant, turbid waves surged forth from nowhere, rolling toward the Terastal Glimmora like a tidal surge.

Setting aside the earlier Earth Power, the best way to test whether Terastallization had altered Glimmora's type and resistances was to attack with the type that originally countered it.

Fortunately, this Glimmora possessed considerable strength, not liable to be knocked out in a single move; Mega Swampert, not adept at precise power control, only needed to take care not to alter the terrain.

Facing Swampert's "Muddy Water," this Glimmora failed to dodge in time, was swept up by the turbid surge, and slammed brutally onto the ground.

Luo Mu did not have Mega Swampert follow up with a combo, but paused briefly.

A few seconds later, Glimmora floated up lazily once more; within its opening petals, deep green light began to gather.

"The effect is excellent?"

Luo Mu murmured softly.

As a Rock/Poison-type Pokémon, Glimmora was indeed doubly weak to Water-type moves.

But judging by its reaction, the Water-type attack had inflicted quite substantial damage; could it be that Terastallization does not change its type?

Noticing the deep green light interwoven with starlight within Glimmora's petals, Luo Mu decided to test once more.

"Close in and overwhelm it."

Receiving the command, a sharp glint flashed in Mega Swampert's eyes.

In this humid environment, the speed it unleashed even rivaled those agile Pokémon whose livelihood depended on speed; with but a flicker of its form, it closed the not-so-great distance to Glimmora, bringing with it a terrifying wind pressure.

At that very moment, Glimmora's "Energy Ball" move finished charging.

A sphere of deep green light interwoven with starlight blasted forth; its power not only matched the earlier Earth Power, but to Mega Swampert, this Energy Ball posed an even greater threat.

After all, it bore a quadruple weakness to Grass; the threat of Energy Ball was beyond comparison to Earth Power.

Mega Swampert's robust arms suddenly gleamed with a metallic luster; it wildly embraced the Energy Ball with both arms.

Then—

Exert force!

Accompanied by a roaring blast, deep green smoke erupted; Mega Swampert, by sheer strength alone, crushed the Energy Ball until it burst! Even Glimmora was stunned for a second by this sight.

Then, its resistance erupted with even greater ferocity.

"Rock Blast" and "Sludge Wave" blasted forth in succession, their power equally extraordinary; moreover, Glimmora excelled at energy attacks, yet Mega Swampert neutralized them respectively with "Arm Thrust" and "Muddy Water."

In the brief pause between both sides, Luo Mu's voice rang out once more.

"High Horsepower."

Mega Swampert's gaze sharpened; it drew back and clenched its right fist. Besides the earthen light coiling around its fist, the orange-red air sacs across its back and arms suddenly inflated.

The next instant.

As if the sealed end of a balloon stuffed full of gas had been released, accompanied by the hissing shriek of expelled air, propelled by milky-white currents, Mega Swampert's fist speed and power were nearly raised to their peak.

Its movements seemed to turn into slow motion at that moment; trailing afterimages, it loomed ever larger before Glimmora, then suddenly exploded outward! Boom!!! An earth-shaking roar echoed through the Area Zero crater, and the Terastallized Glimmora was hammered straight into the rock wall by that immense force, firmly embedded within it.

For this strike, Luo Mu dared guarantee that Mega Swampert had absolutely held nothing back.

Its innate tremendous strength, plus the powerful thrust provided by the new "air sac" modules added to its body after Mega Evolution, combined with the eruption of "High Horsepower," a Ground-type physical move that theoretically dealt quadruple damage to the Rock/Poison-type Glimmora.

It could be stated with certainty that a normal Glimmora, given ten thousand lives, still could not withstand it.

And yet—

Gazing at the Glimmora still struggling to free itself from the rock wall, its Terastallized state not yet dispelled, Luo Mu fell into deep thought.

Could Terastallization enable Glimmora to withstand Mega Swampert's High Horsepower?

Yet the damage from Muddy Water had been perfectly normal.

At that moment, Professor Turo completed his observations and shouted excitedly, "I understand!"

Luo Mu looked at him with puzzlement.

Turo, seemingly plunged into a state of exhilaration, fixed his eyes on the analytical data displayed on his portable instrument and launched into a lengthy discourse.

"Even while in a Terastallized state, Glimmora's type remains Rock/Poison; this conclusion can be drawn from the peaks in the data when it released 'Rock Blast' and 'Sludge Wave.'"

"Glimmora's inherent type has not changed, and its resistances remain as before; this point differs entirely from Terastallization."

"However, perhaps due to the crystallization of its body surface during Terastallization, it has gained some degree of physical resistance, which allowed it to endure the 'High Horsepower' attack."

"Yet, given that these two moves received a power boost from Terastal energy, the 'Earth Power' and 'Energy Ball' it released also exceeded normal potency; I speculate that Terastallization may provide a power correction for moves of all types!"

"But considering the disparity in power between the two uses of 'Earth Power,' this boost may be subject to a limit on the number of times it can be applied."

Turo delivered his conclusion with decisive force.

PS: Terastallized Meloetta (End of Chapter)