Chapter 628: Terapagos!

To be honest, Terapagos's eyes are quite peculiar, even resembling the "special eyes" found only in anime.

The sclera consists of a white outer layer, a blue inner layer, and a cyan lower layer, adorned with diamond-shaped pupils that sparkle like stars.

A sense of cowardice, hesitation, and curiosity shines from within those eyes.

It is evident that merely poking its head out has exhausted most of Terapagos's courage.

What a timid child.

This thought flashed through Luo Mu's mind, yet his movements instantly slowed down.

He gently placed the small turtle's food bowl down, retreated a certain distance, and slowly squatted; after performing this series of gentle actions that would not snap Terapagos's sensitive nerves, and after giving it a sufficient sense of security, Luo Mu finally flashed it a smile.

"Hello there, Terapagos."

"..."

Terapagos instinctively shrank its neck, but halted midway.

As if caught in hesitation, it did not move further, instead tilting its head to size up Luo Mu.

It seemed to be double-checking whether the Luo Mu before it was truly trustworthy.

Knowing this was the most critical moment, Luo Mu held his breath, tried to slow his rhythm as much as possible, and simultaneously felt a hint of relief.

Fortunately, it was nap time; the Volcarona and others on the sofa in the distance were sleeping soundly, while other Pokémon were either outdoors enjoying the long-unseen, slightly warm sunlight or had already returned to their rooms for their afternoon rest.

The environment was very quiet now; Oranguru, who was preparing a fruit platter behind him, also seemed to realize something and chose to stop moving.

It could be said that the timing, the location, and the human harmony were all perfect.

Luo Mu suddenly had a bold idea.

This was the first time Terapagos had voluntarily shown itself; rather than saving the opportunity for an uncertain future, it was better to seize this moment.

After a brief contemplation, Luo Mu performed an action that was somewhat abstract.

—He slowly lay prone, supporting himself on his knees and elbows with his back straight, executing a perfect half-plank position.

No, to be precise, it should be called "turtle crawling."

He also casually grabbed a mat from the side and, using the rope attached to it, tied it firmly around his waist.

With a "turtle shell" plus "turtle crawling," he looked just like one of Terapagos's own kind!

Probably?

Seeing Luo Mu in such a state, Oranguru's body trembled slightly; whether from holding back laughter or from shock, he nearly dropped the fruit knife in his hand.

Perhaps due to poor eyesight, Terapagos was not frightened by this costume, which rivaled the uncanny valley effect.

Instead, it extended its four limbs further out of its shell and moved forward two steps with some confusion.

Seeing this, Luo Mu's eyes brightened slightly; he crawled forward slowly and gently, inching his way bit by bit until he was right in front of Terapagos, and tried repeating the phrase.

"Hello there, Terapagos~"

This time, Terapagos blinked its bright eyes and responded.

"Tera...?"

The voice was so faint that had Luo Mu not been fully concentrated, he might have missed it entirely.

But Terapagos's response made Luo Mu feel as if he had been injected with chicken blood; in his excitement, he instinctively made a move that was perhaps a bit too rash.

—He tried extending his hand in front of Terapagos.

Fortunately, Terapagos was neither scared into retreating by this gesture nor did it bite down without a second word.

It simply used its small red nostrils to sniff the back of Luo Mu's hand, as if recording the scent.

Although his elbows had been propped on the floor the whole time, Luo Mu himself did not feel particularly tired; his usual self-training involved true plank holds for far longer than this, so what did lying on the ground with knee support matter?

Fortunately, heaven rewards the diligent.

After sniffing carefully for several minutes, Terapagos took an action that exceeded Luo Mu's expectations, completely disrupting his plan.

It directly and voluntarily pressed its head against Luo Mu's outstretched palm and rubbed affectionately!

"...!"

A silent exclamation escaped Luo Mu; his breathing suddenly became slightly rapid, and his pupils contracted sharply, completely unexpected that things would develop to this extent.

In his original expectation, having Terapagos become familiar with his scent and not just shrink into its shell in his presence would have been the best possible outcome.

But the other party had actually voluntarily rubbed its head against him!

A sense of accomplishment from rewarded efforts surged into his heart; Luo Mu struggled to suppress the urge to jump up and cheer.

—Because doing so would not only frighten Terapagos but also wake up Pecharunt and the others who were sleeping soundly.

He merely lowered his voice and said kindly to Terapagos, "No matter what you encountered before, it is no longer important now."

"Welcome to this brand new future world, Terapagos!"

Dinner time.

Serperior, who had just returned from special weight-loss training with Tropius and Appletun; Lei Guan Wang, who had gone outside for a stroll holding Cosmog before returning; Moltres, who had just finished "herding cattle" (referring to Tauros) with Feng Su Gou...

... and all the other Pokémon looked in surprise at the Terapagos peeking out nervously from Luo Mu's arms.

It was actually willing to show itself!?

The Pokémon on the farm all knew that the crystal pendant Luo Mu usually carried had turned into a Pokémon, and that it was hiding inside its shell out of fear.

Due to the diagnostic opinion previously given by Audino, by the Pokémon's own voluntary choice, everyone carefully avoided making loud noises when passing through the area where Terapagos was being autistic.

Even if Feng Su Gou occasionally got carried away and failed to brake while frolicking, it would immediately be dragged out by Moltres for a lesson.

It just didn't have much effect, after all, since Feng Su Gou always goes with a stubborn personality of "I know I'm wrong, but I won't change."

Half a month had passed since its awakening.

Was Terapagos finally willing to contact the outside world now!?

The cute-type Pokémon, with Victini as an example, were all excited and couldn't wait to make friends with Terapagos.

Pokémon like Luxray and Swampert, however, managed to restrain their impulses well; they only watched from a distance, avoiding rushing over all at once, which would exacerbate Terapagos's nervousness and wear down the courage it had finally gathered.

Surrounded by enthusiastic Pokémon, Terapagos felt somewhat afraid and instinctively wanted to hide inside its shell.

But then it recalled the concept of "we are all one family" that Luo Mu had instilled in it during their interactions that afternoon.

As a naturally gregarious Pokémon, Terapagos was no stranger to the concept of "family," or rather, "kin."

Terapagos discovered something surprising.

If one attached the label of "family" to these Pokémon who looked quite different from itself,

then just as Luo Mu had said, it suddenly no longer found their enthusiasm so terrifying for a turtle.

Blinking its eyes, Terapagos tried letting out a weak cry toward the enthusiastic Pokémon.

"Gago?"

"Gago!"

—What answered it was a series of neat and enthusiastic "responses."

At least from Terapagos's perspective, the different cries had all synchronously changed into the same "Gago."

For a moment, the room was filled with countless cries of "Gago Gago Gago."

Luo Mu did not let everyone interact until very late.

After all, tomorrow he would board a direct flight to the Hoenn region, and there were still many things to prepare before departure, so it was better to sleep early.

If time were not an issue, Luo Mu could actually do like Ash, spending several days to travel directly to the Hoenn region by sea on a cruise ship.

The leisurely vacation time on the ship, Pokémon battles on the deck, and open-air pools under the sunlight were all excellent pastimes.

After dinner,

Luo Mu glanced at the clock and urged the Pokémon that it was time to return to bed.

Patrol duties for Houndoom and the others would proceed according to the original arrangement.

Seeing Seeing Kapu, accompanied by Popplio, returned together with the Politoed living at Thunder Lake.

The lively living room instantly became much more spacious.

Serperior and Mimikyu had already entered the bedroom ahead of time; while Volcarona warmed the bed, Luo Mu asked Terapagos, who had received so many enthusiastic greetings and had not yet recovered its composure, "Do you want to sleep here, or come to the bedroom with me?"

"Gago!"

Terapagos chose the latter without the slightest hesitation.

When it had been alone as a single turtle in the quiet living room earlier, it had felt safe, tranquil, and less afraid.

But after re-establishing "social connections," it felt it could no longer endure life as a solitary turtle.

"Alright, then tonight you'll share a blanket with Mimikyu and Serperior."

It answered with a cry.

Picking up the little Terastal turtle and returning to the bedroom, Luo Mu helplessly realized that if this continued, his double bed would soon be too crowded to fit everyone!

No, to be precise, the entire room would soon be too packed to hold them all.

Not to mention that Pokémon occasionally came to perform "rotations," and the numbers were never balanced—only increasing, never decreasing.

The next day.

January 18th.

Today was the day Luo Mu had scheduled to take a direct flight to the Hoenn region.

Since the flight departed in the afternoon, he still had the entire morning to prepare.

—Speaking of preparation, there wasn't actually much that needed special arranging; it was mostly about organizing the farm's operations after his departure and securing the necessities for the Pokémon's daily lives.

Nowadays, these aspects had become much easier with the continuous addition of new farm members.

Like a year ago, when the farm had just started and Oranguru had not yet joined the staff.

Back then, whenever Luo Mu left the farm for more than half a day, everyone could only eat packaged Pokémon food.

—After all, the food prepared in advance in the refrigerator had already been consumed early as extra snacks.

After Oranguru joined, this situation improved slightly.

As an all-around butler, Oranguru could also serve as a chef when necessary, sharing the burden with Luo Mu.

Later still, there came a pair of Rattata to share some cleaning duties with Oranguru, along with Falinks and Audino specifically responsible for food supply.

Relying solely on the Pokémon, the farm now had a complete operational system, simultaneously liberating Luo Mu so he didn't have to handle everything personally.

Thus, early this morning, when the Dragonite leader returned to the farm after delivering goods and flapping its wings,

Luo Mu, taking advantage of the presence of both Dragonite and Hakamo at Thunder Lake, proposed an idea.

"Before we leave, let's go sweep Grandma Lya's grave."

The air instantly grew quiet.

This matter should actually have been done long ago, but it had been delayed because the Dragonite leader could not find the grave marker.

In fact, the small town beside that large pot-shaped lake had been abandoned many years ago; the residents had relocated elsewhere, taking the nearby cemetery with them and moving it into a larger graveyard.

Even though the Dragonite leader still firmly remembered the route, going there now would yield nothing.

It was only by utilizing his own connections that Luo Mu had finally managed to locate the specific position.

"Booo~"

The Dragonite leader spoke first; gazing at Luo Mu with gentle, kind eyes, it nodded lightly.

Naturally, the Dragonite and Hakamo would also go.

Just beyond Luo Mu's expectations, Seeing Seeing Kapu also expressed its desire to visit the grave; Popplio could be left in the care of Swampert, Politoed, and the others, since that child had now become familiar with everyone and was everyone's source of joy.

Added to this was Terapagos, which had become somewhat clingy ever since opening its heart.

Together, they all flew to a graveyard located in a corner of Ziqin Town.

"Grave marker, Zone A, Number 23."

After entering the graveyard, which exuded a faint atmosphere of sorrow, Luo Mu whispered the specific location information passed down to him by Geeta and soon found a standard-style grave marker.

On the stone tombstone was carved a photograph of the elderly Lya; the inscription did not list a specific birth date, only the time of her passing.

Because apart from Lya herself, no one knew her birthday, so naturally, no birth date could be carved.

Although a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the tombstone, as if no one had come to sweep the grave for a long time.

But the fact that the grave could be moved from the edge of the soon-to-be-abandoned small town to this cemetery showed that Lya's popularity was quite good.

But none of this mattered now.

Luo Mu wetted the Mao Jin he had brought and handed it to the Dragonite Leader.

This step was still better left to it.

While the Dragonite Leader wiped the tombstone with a look of nostalgia, Luo Mu, holding a bouquet of flowers, was suddenly addressed by an old man.

"Eh, could you be a descendant of the owner of this tombstone?"

The person speaking was an old man dressed like an administrator, with a trace of surprise still lingering in his Emperor Yan Di.

In his impression, no one had visited this tombstone for many years.

"Yes, Mr. Old Man."

Luo Mu did not deny it, but straightforwardly admitted it.

He had already decided that every so often, he would come to sweep the grave together with the Dragonite Leader.

Seeing Luo Mu admit it, the old man narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, "I won't speak any bad words, but since this tombstone was moved here, no one has ever come to visit it."

"Although I don't know what hidden circumstances lie within, I feel that if you can come often in the future, the deceased will surely be happy."

"Likewise, for the living, this is also a spiritual pillar."

(End of Chapter)