Chapter 593: The Little Female Turtle

Its empty body was gradually filled, the heart-rending pain healed; it was as if it had returned to before its birth, curled within an eggshell brimming with warm energy, sleeping peacefully.

Terapagos only felt that it had undergone a very long dream.

In the dream, after encountering that unprecedented calamity, it had actually arrived in a bizarre and grotesque world.

There were stones that could move, iron blocks flying in the sky, and an environment extremely warm, unlike the cold climate of before.

Everything exceeded its cognition, causing a sense of helplessness, bewilderment, and hesitation to rise involuntarily in its heart.

It wanted to keep sleeping like this forever; that way, it wouldn't need to worry about predators hunting it, huddle for warmth in extremely cold weather, or fret over food for tomorrow.

—But dreams always end.

As that warm sensation grew increasingly intense, Terapagos felt its consciousness becoming clearer and clearer.

Until the moment all deficits were replenished, it could no longer maintain the self-protective form it could only assume at the brink of death merely to preserve life.

The layers of crystalline coating turned into glittering Tera light and vanished, and Terapagos subsequently reverted to its original appearance.

As if it had slept for a very long time, it slowly yawned, and immediately afterward, opened its shining light-blue large eyes outlined with bright rose-red eyeliner.

That bewildered gaze wandered around for a while until its somewhat chaotic brain gradually resumed functioning; realizing its surroundings had changed, Terapagos suddenly lifted its head and looked around.

"Tera-go?"

Its line of sight collided exactly with Luo Mu's gaze, which held a trace of surprise.

"... Terapagos?"

Looking at the small turtle before him, less than 20 centimeters in length and truly diminutive, Luo Mu called out tentatively.

At the same time, he began pondering in his mind: so Terapagos actually looks like this, just like a small turtle.

It doesn't look much like the third Legendary Pokémon of each generation; rather, it resembles a mythical Pokémon meant to be a mascot.

But with the Zygarde Core beside him serving as an example, Luo Mu could not rule out the possibility that Terapagos has other forms and can shapeshift just like the Zygarde Core.

A strange voice broke into its mind, plus a strange environment, plus strange, unrecognized Pokémon surrounding it aggressively in layer upon layer.

Added to that was the powerlessness and fear brought by the calamity it had experienced, which felt as though it had happened only a second ago, and which had not yet dissipated.

After all these factors were superimposed.

Under Victini's dumbfounded expression, Terapagos, which clearly had no wings and looked like a land turtle yet miraculously floated in mid-air, suddenly filled its shining light-blue large eyes with mist.

—The next second, it directly retracted its exposed head, limbs, and tail straight back into its hexagonal crystalline shell, which looked like an enlarged version of itself.

It looked just as if it had become socially withdrawn.

The turtle shell fell onto the living room floor with a 'pata' sound.

Since carpeting hadn't been laid here yet, the sound was crisp and loud, directly snapping the dumbfounded Luo Mu and the Pokémon back to their senses.

Gazing at the turtle shell that showed not a hint of movement, Luo Mu's first reaction was not to check on Terapagos's condition, but rather a clear question that floated up in his mind.

This turtle shell is probably not even as big as Terapagos's turtle head; how did it manage to accommodate its retracted head, limbs, and tail?

Four-dimensional space?

This is too unscientific!

Luo Mu bent down, dropped to one knee on the floor, and carefully poked Terapagos's turtle shell.

—No reaction.

"Victi~"

Victini friendly tapped on the turtle shell (like knocking on a door) and tried calling out a few times, but still got no reaction.

Ogerpon, the Eevee sisters, and Volcarona tried as well, but to no avail.

Luo Mu could only look helplessly toward Oranguru and Calyrex.

After exchanging a glance, they did not step forward but instead silently turned sideways, forming a passageway one could walk through.

Audino, who had been preparing dinner, quickly walked over.

"Audino~"

Audino called out gently, letting Luo Mu know he could safely entrust Terapagos to it.

Seeing the beige antennae at the tips of its ears swaying slightly, as if remembering something, Luo Mu hastily made way for Audino and also told Ogerpon and the others to stop surrounding Terapagos, lest the air circulation become poor.

He didn't know whether Pokémon from two million years ago would be unable to adapt to the modern environment; regarding the details, Luo Mu wasn't very clear, but it seemed that before his transmigration, he had scrolled past some book or short video mentioning that ancient Earth and modern Earth had different oxygen levels or something similar.

Perhaps it also mattered in the Pokémon world.

He would have to perform a check later; he didn't know if there might be some ancient virus or something.

Moreover, hearing Professors Sada and Turo say, it seemed that Terapagos had nearly gone extinct two million years ago due to crustal movements.

He didn't know whether their adaptability was on the level of Koraidon or Miraidon.

It was better to be safe; he would contact the two professors, who had not yet returned to the Great Crater of Paldea, to come over and check later.

Audino did not know that all sorts of strange and quirky thoughts were sprouting up in Luo Mu's head like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

It glanced at the beautiful turtle shell before it; although it didn't know what kind of Pokémon this was, that didn't hinder its judgment.

Under Audino's control, the beige antennae curling at the tips of its ears extended, pressing tightly against Terapagos's turtle shell just like a stethoscope.

The antennae could enhance Audino's hearing while also carrying some additional functions.

Through these functions, Audino could clearly perceive Terapagos's current heartbeat, as well as its physical condition and emotional fluctuations hidden beneath the frequency of that heartbeat.

Additionally, it could perceive the time since this Terapagos had hatched from its Pokémon Egg, which was approximately less than one year.

It could truly be called a baby Pokémon, just like that brat Feng Su Gou.

—Even though its size allowed it to kick Terapagos around like a ball.

Perceiving Terapagos's emotions, Audino finally understood why it had chosen to hide directly.

Organizing its language, Audino told Oranguru and Calyrex everything it knew.

This time, they did react, stepping forward to act as translators, conveying Audino's conclusion to Luo Mu.

"In short, currently Terapagos's heart rate is accelerated; it is suspected to have previously faced life-threatening danger, plus the strange environment, strange creatures, and strange stimuli mean it is now suspected to be in a state of symptoms."

"You can regard this as an 'acute stress response,' causing it to choose to flee from everything outside, hiding within a shell that still feels 'familiar' to it, unwilling to come out."

"Considering the worst-case scenario, reactions from the outside world might even further intensify its fear, causing the symptoms to worsen."

What Slowking and Lei Guan Wang described sounded severe, and in reality, it truly was severe.

If there were physical problems, injuries, or lingering aftereffects and the like.

They would have a hundred ways to resolve them.

But for a situation roughly akin to being 'scared out of one's wits,' they truly had no way to handle it.

Both Pokémon, masters of powerful psychic abilities, wore expressions of helplessness.

Lei Guan Wang said in a low voice: "I can only use my 'Power to Heal Hearts' to nurture its mind, allowing it to accept the external environment sooner."

Healing the mind is not like healing physical wounds, which are fixed with a wave of the hand; nor is it brainwashing.

All Lei Guan Wang could do was try to eliminate the negative effects of this fear on Terapagos, making it feel warmth and reassurance in its heart, and then wait for it to take the first step on its own.

"I understand; then I'll trouble you."

Luo Mu nodded gently and accepted Lei Guan Wang's proposal.

After basking in enough sun, looking like someone constipated for three days who finally had a satisfying bowel movement outside, the Zygarde Core, having split off several cells, returned with a face full of joy, ready to mooch a meal.

What it saw was everyone maintaining a certain distance, surrounding the table with serious expressions.

"... What are you all doing? Are you not eating?"

The Zygarde Core, wearing a face full of confusion, tilted its head; then, as if sensing a certain possibility, its expression changed instantly.

"Don't tell me you all hid it from me and already finished dinner beforehand!?"

The more it thought, the more plausible it seemed; just as the Zygarde Core, brimming with grievance, was about to plop down, transform into a fluid slime, and roll around on the floor throwing a tantrum, accusing Luo Mu of being cold and heartless and declaring it would never forgive him—

"Shiro."

Sitting upright with proper decorum, Cangyan Cangyan Rengui pointed the edge of its sword at the table, signaling the Zygarde Core to keep quiet.

This time, the Zygarde Core noticed Lei Guan Wang floating above, unsure of what it was doing.

Since it was currently too short to see anything on the table at all, discovering Lei Guan Wang was only possible thanks to its large head.

The Zygarde Core looked left and right, then hopped onto Volcarona's back a few times; only then could it finally see clearly.

Lei Guan Wang, currently using its power, and... a crystal?

What is this? Performance art?

No—

Sensing something amiss, the Zygarde Core narrowed its eyes, observed that crystal more carefully, and discovered with shock that it not only possessed an aura of life, but an aura exuding an indescribable feeling, as if it did not belong to this era!

Under observation, the Zygarde Core quickly locked onto the correct answer.

It remembered; wasn't this a Pokémon species that was nearly extinct?

Possessing some peculiar powers, with apparently a few survivors, much like those Aerodactyl and Kabuto that foolish humans judged to be extinct, but which were actually sleeping or active in underground caves.

However, this one seemed somewhat peculiar; it was almost as if it had been in that era not long ago. Could it have traveled through time?

Still, that wasn't particularly rare, nor would it affect the order and ecological balance it needed to maintain.

At most, it would merely attract the attention of that one individual, after all, the lingering scent of time was quite obvious.

However, the other party didn't seem like the type to specifically track down this scent and come over; as long as Luo Mu didn't take this little one wandering into the region under that one's jurisdiction, the problem shouldn't be significant.

Having stayed on the farm for a month now, the Zygarde Core, having figured out Luo Mu's salted-fish core, was not worried in the slightest.

This guy mostly just stayed cooped up at home; even when going out to play, he would only stay for a very short time. In human terms, he was a purebred otaku.

Merely staying for a few days, if it didn't coincide with that guy's active period, it would by no means attract its attention.

The Seeing Seeing Kapu that crossed over from another parallel spacetime was much the same.

This matter wasn't a big issue, so the Zygarde Core didn't mention it; instead, excitedly directing the Volcarona it was riding to climb onto the table, it volunteered to Lei Guan Wang: "Need help?"

After watching for so long, it had finally figured out what Lei Guan Wang was doing.

The Zygarde Core felt that its own power was filled with an aura of peaceful order, so using it to soothe a wounded heart should make it quite capable.

"Then I'll rely on you."

Lei Guan Wang did not refuse, nodding slightly.

Under the cooperation of Lei Guan Wang and the Zygarde Core, the first treatment concluded quickly.

Although Terapagos still refused to stick its head out, after Audino performed another diagnosis, it confirmed that its heart rate had normalized somewhat and its fear had diminished.

Next, they needed to prepare for a protracted battle.

Since it was already too late, Luo Mu felt it inappropriate to visit the two professors late at night; furthermore, considering that Terapagos might develop new stress responses to changes in its environment, Luo Mu decided to contact the two professors the next day, asking them to make a trip to the farm to minimize drastic environmental changes.

He prepared a small den for Terapagos, the same kind every Pokémon entering the farm received, brought it back to his room to settle it, and only after placing it before his eyes did he fall into a deep sleep.

January 2nd, the second day of the New Year.

Early in the morning, Luo Mu contacted the two professors; around ten o'clock, they drove to the farm.

Besides some portable inspection equipment, Peony, who recently looked less depressed, also came along.

Following behind him were Koraidon and Miraidon, who seemed to have become quite familiar with the modern environment.

A month soaked in the honey of family affection had not softened Peony; instead, he had become even more proactive, requesting that Luo Mu let his Pokémon battle-train with the farm's Pokémon to improve their strength.

No one knew what new goal he had set, but Luo Mu had no intention of prying into Peony's little secrets.

He directly led Professor Sada and Professor Turo all the way to the living room.

"Troubling you both to make a special trip today."

"It's nothing; we also hold great interest in the first revived Terapagos in modern times."

The two professors shook their heads, their gazes fixed on the motionless shell lying quietly in the den, their expressions probing.

Such cases were indeed rare; just as their subsequent investigations and speculations suggested, was it possible that this Terapagos handed over to Luo Mu had been transported here by the time machine when the great disaster occurred?

Professor Turo began preparing the installation and debugging of the portable equipment, while Sada, maintaining a certain distance, avoided letting her and Koraidon's unfamiliar auras make Terapagos even more nervous.

Through simple visual observation, Orlin discovered quite a few interesting pieces of information.

She beckoned to Luo Mu, and only after he walked over did she reveal her findings.

"You kid sure have good luck!"

"Compared to the Terapagos individual in the Zero Great Rift, the one you're caring for is not only a size smaller in its shell; if I'm not mistaken, the patterns or colors on its body should be far more vibrant as well, right?"

"That signifies this is a female Terapagos!"

(End of Chapter)