Pokémon Court

Chapter 853: Pupitar’s Bad Habit

Although he had been healed by Altaria’s Flame of Life, Terrance still stayed in Mauville City for several days to recover.

In addition, the ten Pokémon were temporarily transferred out of their previously damaged Poké Balls and into ten new ones.

Of course, these ten new Poké Balls were only meant as a temporary solution. After some time, Terrance planned to contact Devon to have custom Poké Balls made for Altaria and the others, crafted from top-tier materials to be more comfortable.

Besides that, Terrance also contacted a research institute to repair the body of the Rotom Pokédex, temporarily isolating the risk.

As for the Rotom Pokédex itself, Terrance planned to give it a complete overhaul of its body after a while. Dragging around a body with hidden dangers was not a long-term solution, after all.

“Unown.”

On the third day of staying in Mauville City, Terrance and the Rotom Pokédex focused their attention on this Pokémon.

They had investigated Pokémon related to space-time rifts for a long time. After eliminating numerous interfering factors, they found that the most likely culprit was this Pokémon called Unown.

“According to existing records, Unown mainly inhabits ancient ruins and space-time rifts…”

“It’s rumored that Unown possess twenty-eight different abilities. Supposedly, when two or more Unown appear together, they generate some kind of incredible force.”“Unown, the Symbol Pokémon, are said to have existed since ancient times. It’s said they have many forms, but everything about them remains a mystery…”

Rotom Pokédex displayed the known information one by one.

Unown resemble characters from ancient civilizations. Whether writing came first or Unown came first is one of the seven great mysteries of the world.

Of course, Terrance wasn’t trying to research this; rather, he was puzzled…

“Why did Unown attack us?”

Without thinking too deeply, a conjecture immediately surfaced in Terrance’s mind, and he exchanged a look with the Rotom Pokédex.

“Pupitar…”

“Pupitar kept gnawing at the walls in Mirage Ruins. It seemed to sense some strange fluctuations, could it have been Unown?”

“That’s possible, Roto…” said the Rotom Pokédex. “Unown have a habit of sticking to walls.”

“But that raises another question: why was only Pupitar able to sense Unown’s presence? Could it be because Pupitar existed in the Mirage Ruin in fossil form for tens of thousands of years, making its perception of the ruins clearer?” Terrance shook his head and stopped speculating.

“All in all, if Unown were the culprits that caused us to fall into a space-time rift, then let’s put thoughts of revenge aside for now. But the Mirage Ruin, we’ll definitely return to explore it again someday!”

“We’re going again, Roto?” The Rotom Pokédex looked distressed.

“Of course!” Terrance said.

This experience sparked a deep curiosity in Terrance toward Unown. Why were they able to open chaotic space-time rifts?

“Unown resemble symbols, and when two or more gather they produce incredible power. They’re also said to be the writing of ancient civilizations. From this perspective, they must be hiding plenty of secrets. I suspect they’re far more complex than what the legends describe. If just two Unown together can create such power, then what about dozens? Hundreds? Maybe they can even form specific patterns to display even more special abilities!” Terrance pondered. Clearly, his thoughts had drifted to things like formations, magic circles, runes, and other strange concepts.

And then there were those visions of parallel worlds he had seen. What did they represent? Were they glimpses he saw by accident, or deliberate guidance from Unown?

Terrance wanted to figure all of this out.

In the scenes he had seen, every leader of the villainous organizations displayed power close to that of a Champion Master, or even on par with one. Coupled with their successful control over Legendary Pokémon, it could be said that in those timelines, very few could stand against them.

What Terrance worried about was whether the storylines played out in those parallel timelines might repeat in this one.

The Pokémon world’s space-time structure was complex. From this perspective, the anime’s storyline might be just one parallel timeline among many. With the existence of Celebi and Unown, there might be numerous parallel worlds whose development diverged completely from the anime world…

Just like this timeline. Because Terrance existed, it had already become different.

In some other timelines, perhaps Ash never traveled together with Brock and Misty, and things turned out differently as well.

One timeline after another—just a tiny change could lead to a vastly different world. That was not a very good sign.

“Could it be that Unown’s primary mission is to wander space-time rifts, correcting timelines so that other worlds don’t head toward destruction because of minor changes?” Terrance murmured to himself.

…

…

Unable to make sense of it, Terrance decided to stop thinking about it altogether.

For now, it was better to focus his main efforts on the Champion League.

Perhaps once he became an Elite Four, he would be able to access more secrets, and by then all his doubts would be resolved.

With five days remaining until his next Champion League battle, Terrance returned to the desert, heading straight for the ruin’s location recorded by Mismagius.

This ruin was, in Terrance’s estimation, the place where Smooth Rock had been formed.

Smooth Rock was a special mineral that could enhance the power of sandstorms.

Terrance didn’t believe that a place like this could be completely ordinary, so he came.

As Terrance slowly entered the remote ruin, countless grains of fine sand fell from the cracks in the structure.

After having Beautifly blow away the sand and dust rushing toward him, Terrance went straight inside.

Before long, he saw the small pit from his memories. This pit, with obvious signs of having been artificially dug, was now covered by sand, but traces still remained, allowing Terrance to recognize it easily.

He gestured to Beautifly, and the area was immediately cleaned spotless, with not a single grain of sand left behind.

This time, Terrance made a new discovery. Once the area was completely clean, he found that the hollow bearing signs of excavation had somehow become covered with a thick layer of stone.

“Castform, Pupitar.”

Could a new Smooth Rock be forming? After giving it some thought, Terrance directly called out two Pokémon with good affinity for the power of sandstorms. The moment Castform emerged from its Poké Ball, it frowned slightly. As its mastery over sandstorm power had grown more proficient, this visit to the ruin made it sense something peculiar.

As for Pupitar, it was even stranger. After appearing in this place, its eyes widened, its body suddenly shot forward, and it ran up to the hollow, chomping down hard on it…

“@#￥@#￥!”

Seeing this, Terrance was utterly flustered. He nearly rushed over to kick Pupitar away. Last time, he hadn’t scolded Pupitar due to a lack of solid evidence. Now it was indiscriminately eating rocks again?!

“Pup~itar!” Just as Terrance was about to voice his displeasure, Pupitar immediately turned its head and cried out happily.

“What are you doing…”

Looking at Pupitar turning back with a delighted expression, Terrance’s mouth twitched. He felt it was necessary to rein in Pupitar’s bad habit of biting into any special-looking rock it saw.

Terrance was quite puzzled. How had he never noticed this habit before?

You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.

Become a Patron!