Chapter Text
Countless days into our descent, we reached at last the very depths of the Great Crater. There we found a cave with formations of gemstone, shining blindingly bright as far as we could see. Perhaps that strange light itself is the guardian said to watch over treasure deep within the crater.
Turo tore through the worn pages, taking in every little detail, analyzing every word plastered on the chipped and messy pages. As interesting as the Violet Book was, it could only distract him for so long. The harsh reality of truth was still weighing heavily on his shoulders. It was only recently that he managed to built the structure of the time machine. But to get it to work, well, that was a different story.
Just what was this guardian, anyways? Turo wondered in his mind. It seemed too mysterious for it to be a human, so perhaps a Pokemon? Maybe an established legendary, or a new one yet to be discovered.
Perhaps that's how Heath went missing. Only recently after he had a child, he took off to explore one more time. A grand finale to his adventures and travels. Yet he never returned. All that was left of him was this purple tome.
Some had believed he had gone mad; others chalked it up to an unfortunate death in the Crater. Area Zero was dangerous, after all. No doubt something could've happened.
But that was centuries ago. This was now, with newer technology and emergency systems installed. If anything were to happen, Paldean Emergency services would arrive faster than the blink of an eye.
Turo smiled to himself, a strange sense of happiness in this bitter moment. He was going to get that machine working, and find out the secrets of Area Zero. And no one was going to stand in his way.
Not Geeta. Not Clavell. Not Sada.
Not even Arven.....
Turo left early in the morning, with all of Arven's necessary papers signed, money on the table, and some food restocked in the fridge. That'll be enough for him for a few months or so, at least, until Arven whines about there not being any food in the fridge for the billionth time.
Best to stay away as far as possible from that boy. Don't want another incident to happen.
He made his way to the Crater, unlocking the tall and imposing metal gates in front of him. The second he walked through, the gates slammed shut, refusing entrance to everyone and anyone.
Then, with a click of a button, the platform descended below the fog, the heavy mist obscuring his view until it faded, revealing the beautiful crater.
As he exited, the fresh air of Area Zero blew in his face, and he smiled as he took in the familiar sight.
The fog above covering the stars, the heavy crashing of waterfalls, the crystals covering the trees and cavern walls, and the lush green grass all over, swaying a bit beneath his shoes.
Turo breathed a sigh of relief. He was where he wanted.
As he traversed, a few Pokemon noticed his presence. There was a pack of Pawmot, a Corviknight flying above, and a herd of Girafarig galloping around, the leader being a tall Farigiraf. They acknowledged his presence, though stayed out of his way. Turo did the same, not wanting any trouble from the Pokemon here.
He made his way to one of the research stations, the metal door slamming shut, shutting off the natural light from outside.
He leaned against the wall, sighing a bit. Finally, he had a place to actually breathe. Away from any distractions on his work.
Was it selfish? Probably. Arven was too young (and too ignorant) to even understand what he was doing. His research was to achieve paradise for the both of them, a world with just both of them.
If he couldn't understand it, then that was on him. Not Turo.
Turo made his way to the main lab via his research stations. It was a bit of a hassle, but it was necessary. Gotta make sure all the technology is functioning, that nothing is on fire.
Would've been fine if not for the fact that he was left alone in this beautiful landscape. All other scientists left after he persisted with his research beyond Terastilizing. Ever since then, budget had been tight, and most of it was spent towards his work. Now it was up to him to make sure everything was up to code.
"Too dangerous. Ridiculous nonsense, going too far...."
Turo shook his head. Fine then. They can all leave. "We'll see who's asking for help now when I show them my latest creation. A machine capable of bending time to its will, grabbing and pulling wonders to our timeline."
He smiled to himself as he sat down in his chair, gazing at the messy workplace. Papers strewn about, numbers and graphs scrawled on the whiteboards, a stack of books in a order that Turo could sort through without any trouble.
Today was going to be a busy day.
Hours later, Turo was still hunched over his desk, tired, stressed, and on edge. Just about anything could make that shell of a man lose his temper and snap.
He stood up, pushing his chair back, sweeping a hand through his brown hair, grimacing at the gray hairs poking through. He needed a break.
Grabbing his lab coat, he ventured to the elevator, descending to the lower part of the depths of Area Zero. His hand almost switched to the basement where the time machine was, but he caught himself. He didn't want to face his greatest failure. He needed a way to make it work.
A walk through a cavern seemed like a good idea to clear his thoughts.
It was a couple thousand feet underground, more or less. But it was stable enough to walk through. Besides, Turo had known the above ground of Area Zero well enough. Might as well take the time to layout the Underdepths.
The doors opened with a sharp ding, then Turo stepped out, the sounds of his footsteps changing from the cool metal tiles to the ragged cave floors.
The darkened caverns were dim, only lit up by the various crystals revealing a path. Squinting a bit could reveal the shapes of several Glimmora and Carbink. Interesting Pokemon, to say the least. But that was not what he was here for.
He walked down the pathway, hands stuffed in his pockets. After hours of thinking and writing, he still got to nowhere.
How the hell does one build a functional time machine, anyways? You could build anything all you want, but getting it to rip through the fabric of time itself? And making it work well enough that nothing gets destroyed? How would anyone figure that out?!
Maybe they were right. Maybe it was impossible.... Maybe-
His thoughts were interrupted by his head smacking against the roof of a small crystal cavern, the walls pulsing and glistening like veins in a body.
Turo grabbed his head, rubbing to clear the soreness that formed, and then glanced around, confused. Was he so wrapped up in his thoughts that he got lost?
Don't panic. Look at your surroundings.
Turo took a breath to steady himself, and took a long look at the cluster in front of him.
It looked like those tera raid dens you would see on the surface of Paldea. Except it was much larger, and more importantly, blocking his path and line of sight.
He pulled out the Violet book from his lab coat pockets, skimming through the pages. This area seemed familiar to him. Perhaps Heath wrote it down somewhere....?
Aha.
....The guardian said to watch over treasure deep within the crater.....
He studied the image of the book, and back to the crystal cavern. They seemed similar enough. But if there was a guardian, they weren't doing a good job. Nothing was telling him to beware, or leave, or shooting crystals at them. No guardianship at all!
Turo sighed. It seemed that Heath had gone mad. How was this cluster of crystals any different than the Tera dens on the surface? It just..... Didn't make sense.
Despite everything having an presence of awe to it, he still seemed to be frustrated. All those negative emotions bubbling up to the surface. Nothing was going the way he wanted it, with little or no progress at all. The time machine was a hunk of metal, everyone abandoned him and his research.
And here stood yet another failure. No "treasure" to be found, no guardian, just a cluster of crystals.
It wasn't until Turo was about to leave when he heard a distant voice come from the crater.
"Do you have a dream, human....?"
Turo froze in his tracks, every hair on his body standing on edge. He slowly turned around, scanning the surrounding area for wherever the voice was coming from, but he didn't see anything or anyone.
"Who's there...?"
Silence. Turo's question echoed through the chasm, slowly fading away. Had someone followed him? No, he made sure to lock the Area Zero gates. Did someone break in? Was it Sada? Or Arven? If it was Arven, he was gonna have a word with that boy.
He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. Then, he remembered what the voice said the first time.
"A...... A dream.....?"
He mentally cursed himself for initiating a conversation. There he was, losing his marbles, and talking to literal air-
"Yes.... Do you have a dream, Professor....?
The voice echoed through the caverns again, the crystals glowing with each sentence spoken.
Turo was taken aback by the voice replying again. Nonetheless, he decided to humor it a little. It was as if it were calling out to him. Almost as if it had an idea on what the professor's dream is.
"Ah... is that an assumption, or a genuine question...?"
He held his breath as he anticipated for a response. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long.
"Oh, an assumption. I know quite a bit....Besides, after listening to your thoughts about wanting to meet the treasure of Area Zero.... I believe you can handle one real conversation with me....."
The professor immediately stiffened, now having a sense of unease flowing through.
"Do not toy with me here!"
He spoke in a cold yet stern tone, eyes squinting out of anger. Who in the hell thought they could just snoop around and then joke with the professor like this? He was a respectable man with a respectable reputation.
"Who the hell are you?! How do you know that?!"
"Oh, don't be foolish.... I've seen your dreams.... The wonders of your imaginations.... It's intriguing, actually. Your obsession with the Violet Book lead you here, didn't it?"
"You... you've seen them...?"
He spoke slowly, a bit of a stunned look appearing on his face. His mouth was opening and closing slightly, but he just couldn't find the right words. All he could do was stare on as the voice spoke the absolute truth. This wasn't a prank at all.
"How... how did you?-"
"You're frustrated. You're in shambles. You've been left as the sole provider for your child, ever since that woman left you. Your only form of income relies on results, and yet you can't achieve that...."
Your time machine is laughably unstable, barely working at best, and no other human is there to assist you. No one is there to help you...."
Turo took a step back, his fists tight at his sides, his breathing ragged and unsteady, his jaw clenched. Just how did this voice know all of this?! Could it read minds or something?!-
"But I can help you with that."
Time seemed to stand still for the Professor. He thought about, almost wishing to say yes. But he caught himself. He's not too far gone to say yes to a deal without knowing what he's getting into. He'd seen so many horror movies were the characters accept deals without knowing the stakes.
Relunctly, he responds, sighing in irritation.
"How.... How can you help?"
"Well, think to the first question I asked you. Do you have a dream...?"
The professor's mind raced, thinking back to that first question. The answer... was obvious, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it aloud.
Yet this voice wanted to help him, but if he kept it all bottled up, it'll most likely call him out on it, shaming him. It knew a lot about his life so far. What else did this voice know....?
"... I do."
He answered, his voice cracking ever so slightly against his will.
"Are you willing to go through with it? To do whatever it takes to achieve your goals, the paradise you want?"
Paradise. A world free of troubles, away from the life and hardship that Turo faced. As long as Arven believed in his goals, Turo was willing to give his son the life he wanted, not the life he deserved.
Yet the logistics were troubling. He had a plan, just not a blueprint to get there. This offer seemed too good to be true. What did the voice want?
"I'm not dumb enough to accept this blind. What do you want from me?"
"An oppurtunity. You're brilliant enough to want to make a time machine. And what I need comes from you."
"There's a few close friends of mine that long sense passed. If your time machine can pull things from the distant future, then it could pull things from the ancient past."
The voice seemed to pick up on the uncertainty on Turo's face, and spoke again.
"Do not panic. They mean no harm. They are generally weak creatures. They will bring no harm to you or Paldea."
Turo sighed a bit in relief. Granted, he still didn't trust the voice.
"Here's this. You teach me about these creatures, and give me everything to know about them. Once I learn that they will not hurt me, I will allow you to help me. Understand?"
Turo tried to make himself look authoritative, like he was the one in charge here.
After a momentary silence, the voice called out.
"I will tell you everything I know. I have a feeling it may aid in your..... Project...."
Turo's stare transformed into an ecstatic grin. This could be everything......
"Come closer. We have things to discuss...."
"Terapagos, huh?"
"Yes. You've heard of them, haven't you? Those wonderous and beautiful little creatures?"
Turo shook his head in response. "Not the name, no. May you provide me what they look like?"
"Well, look at Heath's entry about the 'Disk Pokemon,' as you humans call them."
Turo froze in his tracks. "Wait...."
He pulled out the Violet pocket from the depths of his lab coat, frantically flipping the pages to the specific entry.
He tapped the sketch, holding up in the air for whatever being to see.
"This is Terapagos?!!"
"Don't be too alarmed, Professor. Those were previous generations of world Turtles. Now, Terapagos are very small creatures, small to carry with those hands of yours."
That still didn't relieve Turo's worries. He scoffed a bit, tapping the image as he still held the purple tome.
"Then what was this then?"
"Previous generations, as I just said. They're no longer around anymore. I'm the last one."
Turo's shoulders sagged a bit. The last one, huh? All alone.... He lowered the tome, stuffing in the large pockets of his lab coat.
".....My apologies. I-"
"Don't apologize. You're going to help me bring them back, to continue the generations ."
Turo nodded his head in understanding. A trivial exchange. Favors for favors. But however....
"My time machine is.... Well...."
"A failure? Broken? Shattered?"
He gritted his teeth. Of course this thing would mock him. "It's a work in progress. If I can get it to work, then-"
"Oh don't stress about that, Professor. I can help you with fixing the machine."
Turo crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow.
"Aren't you a magical all-knowing world Turtle creature? Can't you bring back the Terapagos creatures yourself?"
"I would if I could. But due to the currently destruction and pollution of the world, my powers are a tad limited, only increasing if I have a bit of a crutch, so to speak. If you build a time machine, I can use the inner workings of it to rip through time, though when and where through time is all up to you to help with."
Well, that made sense. Still, Turo was skeptical.
"So, I build the time machine, and then you use your power to... Power it. Then I pull Terapagos from the past to this world, all while I can achieve the paradise I want by bringing Paradox Pokemon to our reality."
"Terapagos first. Then the Paradox Pokemon."
Turo rolled his eyes. "No. I'm doing what I want first. I want to be sure it actually works."
"Oh, now you're lying?"
"No- Shut up and listen. Unless you want me to leave and never bring back Terapagos-"
"Wait!!"
Turo smirked to himself. There we go.
".....Agreed. Paradox Pokemon first. But for every one you bring, you must at least bring the same number of Terapagos. One for one. Understand?"
"Very well."
He headed out of caverns, looking back to speak to the voice as he did so.
"I'm going to return to the lab and fix the time machine. Shall I go visit you when it's finished?"
"If you want it to work as you intended, then yes, you may."
With that, Turo headed off, his head in the air.
He could do this. He can do this.
At last, Paradise will be ours to create.