Walking through the tech-laden building, Lucas thought the inside actually looked the part—unlike the weathered exterior.
Inside, staff were even busier. Everywhere he looked, people stared fixedly at their screens, trying to establish contact with those below.
Larry reminded Lucas, "Let's go. We'll take the elevator down—beneath that is the Paldea Great Crater."
Lucas nodded slightly, followed Larry into the elevator, and arrived in a sealed chamber where a metal gate stood tall.
Larry pulled an access card from his suit collar and tapped it against the authentication device.
With a beep, a synthetic electronic voice sounded in the room:
[Paldea League Elite Four Larry, identification verified. Descent gate: opening. Wishing you all victory in battle.]
With a series of precise mechanical sounds, the metal door that blocked their view split down the middle. A gale immediately rushed in. In the howling airflow, a sheet of clouds and mist shrouding the entire crater—concealing whatever lay below—filled their sight.
Lofty peaks wreathed in mist felt like the entrance to some secret realm that demanded awe.
The sea of clouds, like gauze, draped lightly among the mountains, adding an air of mystery.
On a first descent into the crater, anyone would feel nervous. The unknown is the most terrifying. Lucas knew that beneath the cloud sea lay a horrifying depth down into the earth; one misstep would mean being dashed to pieces.
Lucas glanced at Larry. The two mounted Dragonite and Tropius, and said in unison, "Let's go."
At their words, Dragonite and Tropius beat their wings, sprinted forward, and leapt into the clouds.
Tropius had brought Larry here several times and felt no fear of the unknown below.
Dragonite had conquered even terrifying thunderstorms with ease; mere dense fog wouldn't shake its resolve.
The two Pokémon chose to descend at speed. Lucas hugged Dragonite tight, wind roaring past his ears, his coat flapping violently.
Gradually, the descent slowed.
Lucas opened his eyes. A breathtaking vista spread out before him.
The vast ground below was carpeted with lush vegetation. A complex terrain unfolded into rolling valleys. Brilliant glimmers of crystalline light were speckled throughout—Lucas knew that was the radiance of Tera crystals.
Chances are the source of Terastalization lay somewhere in the Paldea Great Crater.
Because they had entered Area Zero close to nightfall, there was none of that holy feeling from the games where sunlight pours through the heavy clouds. The whole environment was dark and ominous, with the calls of unknown creatures echoing now and then through this isolated space.
Dragonite and Tropius touched down steadily on a cliff at the topmost level of Area Zero. Structures bearing the Paldea League emblem stood nearby.
Lucas judged that this must have been the initial base camp.
After patting Dragonite and Tropius, the two recalled them to their Poké Balls.
Though Area Zero's terrain spirals downward like a staircase, and it seems you could drop straight down the central shaft to the lowest depths—
In practice, doing that would provoke swarms of wild Pokémon from around the shaft. No one could guarantee they'd emerge unscathed from such a barrage.
Larry, still in his suit, rolled up his sleeves a bit and pulled two flashlights from a bracelet-like spatial-storage device, handing one to Lucas. Larry said gravely, "Traveling at night—no problem, right?"
Lucas took the flashlight and grinned. "Pulling an all-nighter? I'm great at that."
The two were among the top tier in the Paldea League. Normally, exploration prioritized safety—rest at night, move by day. But in an emergency, every second counted.
The faster they reached the bottom, the better the chance of ensuring the safety of the two professors and the research teams.
Of course, if it all turned out to be a false alarm, that would be best.
They flicked their wrists and released their Pokémon in sync.
"Serperior!"
"Oricorio!"
In a perilous environment, traveling under cover of night kept nerves taut and senses strung tight.
You had to watch for ambushes from the dark and mind your footing—one misstep could mean doom.
In the night, flashlight beams are the best guide, offering a measure of reassurance.
But that same light also draws danger.
Bzzzt—!
A blinding flash of lightning blazed along the upper slopes of Area Zero. Under Larry's command, an Oricorio in Pom-Pom Style—pale yellow all over with fluffy, tufted plumes—broke into a fierce Revelation Dance. A jag of violent current hammered a cluster of Venomoth.
Serperior lifted its proud head; thick tendrils of vegetation burst from the ground, whipping like wooden dragons. With heavy, crushing force, they knocked Venomoth from the air by the dozen.
After a fight of roughly ten minutes, Lucas and Larry stood back to back, exhaling as they looked at the carpet of fallen Venomoth.
As expected, on the way to Research Station 1, their flashlight beams had drawn a swarm of Venomoth to attack.
Venomoth that lived long-term in Area Zero possessed formidable strength. In here, there's only one fate for weak Pokémon—being prey.
It's a stark, bloody truth, but in Area Zero, survival of the fittest is the supreme law.
Fortunately, this was Lucas and Larry. Faced with a hundred Venomoth, Serperior and Oricorio could still handle them, even if it was a bit of a slog.
Anyone else—the outcome would be uncertain.
Larry patted the dust from his suit from the battle, expression calm.
As a top-tier salaryman, he had to be able to handle any emergency.
With the Venomoth defeated, the path to Research Station 1 opened up. Set in a relatively safe spot, the station wasn't surrounded by many wild Pokémon, and aside from a few minor roadblocks, no other incidents cropped up along the way.
According to the mechanical watch on Larry's right wrist, the two reached Research Station 1 at midnight.
"This place… hasn't had anyone in a while."
Lucas pressed a finger against the station door. In the flashlight beam, his fingertip came away thick with dust.
Larry nodded and directly opened the station door.
The stations were built to give explorers a somewhat safer place to take shelter—no passwords required.
As the door opened, soft lights flicked on, revealing the interior.
The room was hexagonal overall. In the center stood three huge blue canisters—likely power sources for the station's basic systems.
A few single beds were lined up in one corner. There were no obvious books or paper records left behind—presumably they'd been moved down as the expedition advanced.
Lucas and Larry entered one after the other, with Serperior and Oricorio close behind.
As Serperior slithered in, it noticed something off about Oricorio. In the earlier darkness it hadn't shown, but under the bright lights, Oricorio's slight tremble and the purplish tinge to its skin were obvious.
Serperior immediately judged that Oricorio had likely inhaled Venomoth's poison powder in the battle and was poisoned.
Lucas and Larry also noticed and hurried over.
"Oricorio~…" Oricorio gave a weak chirp in Larry's arms.
Its voice carried guilt—because of its carelessness, it felt it might delay their progress.
"It's okay. I brought antidotes. You'll be fine in no time."
Facing his own Pokémon, Larry showed a different side entirely. The weary air vanished, and his calm voice carried a quiet magic that inspired trust in people and Pokémon alike. His expression was focused and gentle.
Though their schedule would slip a little, Larry prioritized treating his Pokémon.
He reached for the prepared antidote in his storage bracelet, but Lucas stopped him. At Larry's puzzled look, Lucas smiled. "Leave it to me. Venomoth's powder isn't severe. I can fix it in under a minute."
"Use this time to try contacting the stations below."
As he spoke, Lucas flipped his wrist and released a Poké Ball. Comfey appeared.
"Comfey~"
Seeing a fellow island-bloomer poisoned, Comfey shook its body. A fresh floral scent spread, and Oricorio's condition visibly improved.
"A Comfey with Aromatherapy—built for healing."
Larry blinked—he hadn't expected Lucas to be this prepared.
Focusing, Larry handed Oricorio to Lucas and Comfey and went to the station's comms console.
Both events happened quickly: Oricorio's recovery, and Larry's failure to reach any stations below.
Since they couldn't contact from above, they tried relaying through the Area Zero stations.
But Research Stations 2, 3, and 4 were all out of contact.
They would have to keep moving down.
Once Oricorio was back to its lively self under Comfey's care, the two conferred. Though they'd stayed at Station 1 for under twenty minutes, they had to continue the descent.
Who knew—if they rested, those below might be facing a desperate crisis.
…
At 2 a.m., the clouds blanketing the crater seemed to thin. Pale moonlight filtered through and cast a sheen over the darkness, improving visibility.
At least they could see nearby without flashlights.
Of course, they still needed lights to see farther ahead.
Larry lowered his voice. "The caves around us are getting more numerous. Watch for wild Pokémon suddenly popping out."
Lucas nodded lightly, slowed his steps, and signaled Serperior with his eyes to keep watch.
Serperior's sensing was excellent, and its energy control was fine-tuned. If any wild Pokémon in a cave tried to charge up an attack for an ambush, Serperior would sense it first and shut it down.
"Gwaa… gwaa… gwaa…"
After another ten-plus minutes, hoarse cries echoed from the sky ahead. Lucas had dealt with those Pokémon recently—most likely Corvisquire or their evolved form, Corviknight.
If a Corviknight cawed like that in a residential area, people would call it a nuisance. In the ever-dangerous Area Zero, the sound felt downright chilling.
A ripple stirred in Larry's otherwise placid gaze. To ease tension—or maybe to suppress sleepiness—he struck up a conversation. "Have you read the Scarlet Book and the Violet Book?"
"Yeah," Lucas answered, eyes forward.
"What do you think of those chapters about the Area Zero monsters?" Larry asked.
Lucas paused.
The Area Zero monsters should be—
Larry didn't mind his answer and kept talking. "If I could, I'd keep far away from the Paldea Great Crater. Do you know why Chairman Geeta assigned me to the Medali Gym?"
"Because the Area Zero monsters are real. So, as a member of the Elite Four, I was placed in Medali to… prevent those monsters from leaving the crater."
Larry's voice went oddly low. He straightened, looked up, and pointed. A massive, black-armored bird glided overhead. In the moonlight, its body was so black it almost shone.
Lucas could tell the Corviknight was oddly panicked.
From their angle, a pitch-black shadow—enough to blot out the moon—fell over the Corviknight.
The shadow moved with terrifying speed. A blood-red crescent swept across the sky. With the Corviknight's agonized scream, scarlet blood splattered onto the grass near Lucas and Larry.
The Corviknight's famously sturdy armor was like paper before that ferocious beast. With a slash of jagged blue talons, deep wounds carved across the bird's body.
It shrieked and fell like a kite with a cut string, crashing to the ground not far from Lucas and Larry.
On the left, the Corviknight struggled to rise and flee. Overhead… a pair of crescent-shaped, crimson dragon wings that could blot out the sky.
"…When we get back, Chairman Geeta had better pay my overtime and mental distress compensation," Larry muttered, tightening his grip on a Poké Ball.
In Lucas and Serperior's upturned gaze, an ancient, savage dragon had fixed on them.
Its crimson eyes burned with murderous bloodlust. Its huge, powerful body ripped the air with an eardrum-rattling roar.
Lucas knew its name well.
A Paradox Pokémon. A terrifying ancient predator—Roaring Moon.