After leaving the observation station, Gary looked up at the clouds in the sky and sighed.
"It seems Paradox Pokémon aren't safe to leave alone. They can run out too."
Gary had originally thought that Paradox Pokémon would remain inside the Great Crater of Paldea. Now it seemed that wasn't necessarily true. Some of them were unwilling to stay there.
Paradox Pokémon that couldn't fly might not be able to leave the Great Crater, but those capable of flight could naturally escape if they wanted to.
However, among Paradox Pokémon, very few were able to fly.
Among the ancient ones, only Roaring Moon and Flutter Mane had the ability to fly. Scream Tail might also be able to float, since it was the ancestor of Jigglypuff and had the same inflatable traits.
As for the future Paradox Pokémon, only Iron Jugulis and Iron Moth could fly.
But one thing still puzzled Gary.
If only Paradox Pokémon capable of flight could leave the Great Crater of Paldea, then what was going on with the Great Tusk he had encountered in the Hoenn region? How had it appeared there?
There was another thing Gary cared about as well.
Since entering Area Zero, he had seen four Paradox Pokémon, but every single one of them had been a future Paradox Pokémon. He hadn't seen a single ancient Paradox Pokémon.
There had to be a reason for that. Professor Sada and Geeta probably knew the reason, but they were keeping it from him.
"Forget it. I'm only here to catch Paradox Pokémon anyway. Why think so much about it?"
After all, this was Paldea's own problem. Besides, the damage caused by Paradox Pokémon wasn't that great. Compared with the disasters caused by Dialga and Palkia, Paradox Pokémon weren't even worth mentioning.
"Eevee, come train Archaludon," Gary said.
"Vee?!"
Eevee was startled. It knew very well how strong Archaludon was. This wasn't some baby Pokémon, so why did it need training from Eevee?
"Archaludon has always lived in the Great Crater of Paldea. It doesn't know much about modern Pokémon battles, so it needs some guidance," Gary said.
"Vee."
Alright.
Eevee nodded and agreed to help.
Gary smiled, released Archaludon, and explained the training plan to it.
"Arch!"
When Archaludon heard that it could train with Eevee, it was naturally very happy. Eevee was the next opponent it wanted to defeat.
And so, Gary handed Archaludon over to Eevee for instruction. With Eevee's Champion-level strength, teaching Archaludon shouldn't have been a problem.
At first, Eevee looked indifferent. As a Technician Eevee, it had trained Gary's Pokémon many times before. Simply teaching the rules of modern Pokémon battles was still very easy for it.
However, once the training began, Eevee discovered that Archaludon had a serious problem.
Every time Archaludon attacked, it went all out without holding back at all. If Eevee hadn't relied on its Anticipation Ability to sense danger ahead of time, it might have been hit hard by Archaludon's moves.
The final result was obvious. Archaludon annoyed Eevee and ended up getting beaten.
However, thanks to its EX Stamina Ability, Archaludon still made Eevee spend a lot of effort to subdue it. Eevee was even forced to actively evolve.
Unfortunately, Eevee could currently only choose between three forms: Fire, Water, and Electric. None of those three types had a clear advantage against Archaludon.
The only Ground-type move Eevee knew was Dig, but after Archaludon was caught by Gary, it had already learned Earthquake. That made it impossible for Eevee to safely attack from underground.
In the end, Eevee could only defeat Archaludon with Fire Blast.
Nick and Angus were both stunned.
Archaludon had clearly only been caught by Gary recently. Even if it had evolved, it shouldn't have become this resistant to damage.
Before, Eevee had obviously defeated Archaludon quite easily. Why was it now unable to finish it quickly even after evolving? Evolution shouldn't have improved it that much.
Of course, they didn't know that after evolving, Archaludon had gained three Abilities, and every one of them had been strengthened. Even a Champion-level Pokémon had to use its full strength to defeat it.
Only after Archaludon was defeated did Gary return to the observation station and use the treatment equipment there to let his Pokémon recover.
For the rest of the day, no one went anywhere. They all stayed at the observation station.
Professor Sada didn't find anything useful in the surveillance footage from the second observation station. After copying all of the footage onto a portable hard drive, she had Garke delete the recordings from the observation station while keeping the system intact. Everyone also helped tidy up the station a little.
The next morning, after breakfast, the group advanced toward the middle layer of Area Zero.
The route for this investigation involved collecting surveillance footage from all four observation stations. The first and second observation stations were on the upper layer. The third observation station was on the middle layer, and the fourth observation station was on the lower layer.
At present, the surveillance footage from the first and second stations had already been recovered. Only the last two remained. Once all the footage was collected, they could return directly.
They walked downward along the spiral terrain. Mist could be seen drifting through the air.
Because of the special environment inside the Great Crater of Paldea, clouds and fog often gathered within it. This was especially true in the morning, when the fog inside rose thickly toward the sky.
The upper layer was a little better. Sometimes, sunlight could still shine through. But conditions in the middle and lower layers were much worse. Before noon, the middle layer was usually blocked by clouds.
So after entering the middle layer, they could basically only travel on foot. If they tried to fly, the clouds and fog would block their vision and make movement inconvenient.
Gary had also tried having Charizard use Defog to disperse the mist ahead of them, but it wasn't very useful. The clouds that were blown away would gather again before long.
Their journey was slow. Pokémon appeared from time to time along the way, delaying their progress. Everyone ate lunch in the wild at noon and didn't arrive at the third observation station until the afternoon.
The third observation station had been built in a unique location. It stood outside the cave leading to the lower layer, likely to monitor whether Pokémon from below would run out.
No one entered immediately. Instead, they all looked at Gary.
They all knew about Eevee's Ability. For safety's sake, Eevee needed to check first.
"Eevee, go make sure," Gary said.
"Vee."
Eevee leaned forward and sensed the surroundings, confirming that there was no danger.
Only then did Professor Sada use the remote control to open the gate of the observation station, and everyone went inside.
Nick and Angus were responsible for guarding the door.
Professor Sada, Garke, and Hannah began backing up the footage from the observation station's system.
Because Gary had not agreed to join the research team, he couldn't stay in the control area during the data work. He could either go to the lounge or head outside to guard with Nick and the others.