The official Paldean definition of Paradox Pokémon is:
A series of mysterious creatures or objects (?) similar to certain Pokémon, possessing considerable threat to humans, and being extremely dangerous special individuals.
Generally speaking, this isn't wrong.
However, when broken down by each species, you'll discover—although the average base stat totals of Paradox Pokémon don't differ much, the actual strength of different creatures obviously varies.
For example, the "ancient Salamence" Roaring Moon that Aiden once encountered clearly had stronger combat power than other Paradox Pokémon.
After all, Pokémon combat strength doesn't only depend on their own abilities, but also relates to the trouble caused by type, moves, abilities, and even held items.
Roaring Moon may seem 4x weak to Fairy, but its terrifying speed and aerial capabilities aren't for show. Even if it can't win, there aren't many Pokémon that can catch it if it wants to escape—encountering it would be very troublesome.
However, regarding the first batch of Paradox Pokémon they encountered upon descending into Area Zero, namely Sandy Shocks and Iron Thorns—
These two are simply the weakest of the weak, extremely easy to counter.
Iron Thorns may seem covered in steel armor, giving the illusion of maxed-out defense, but it's actually a Rock + Electric type combination.
What does this mean?
It means 4x weak to Ground, with almost no means of avoiding it.
So just the seismic aftershocks from Snorlax's Body Slam were enough to give it a hard time.
And when Red and Nemona actively initiated a chaotic battle, the situation for Iron Thorns became even more awkward. Their "good teammate" Sandy Shocks is a Ground + Electric type. When seeing the opponent's fire-covered, ghost-like crocodile, it subconsciously used the move Earthquake to counter it—
How much damage it dealt to Skeledirge is another matter, but the nearby Iron Thorns were first affected by it, quickly being shaken by the trembling earth until they couldn't find their bearings.
When it comes to friendly fire, Paradox Pokémon are indeed professionals.
"Don't worry about Iron Thorns for now, focus on dealing with Sandy Shocks, use wide-range moves as much as possible!"
While Aiden was backseat commanding from the rear, protecting Penny and Arven behind him, he didn't forget to give pointers to Red and Nemona.
Of course, mainly reminding Nemona.
After all, Paldea's seedlings probably haven't experienced such stimulating no-rules wild battles, while Red is actually more skilled at this kind of chaotic battle than conventional battles, and was already leading his Pokémon to start roaming.
"Pika—chu!"
"Venusaur!!"
"Sno—rlax~"
"Damn, so you can multi-thread commands? I can't fall behind either!"
"Go, my lovely Pokémon~"
Seeing Red so on point, Nemona also quickly reacted, directly sending out all her Pokémon at full power.
Under the efforts of this battle maniac pair, Red and Nemona, a battle that could almost be described as one-sided quickly concluded.
Their Pokémon fought heroically at the front, cooperating with perfect cooperation, taking down a Paradox Pokémon in just a few moves.
The two also had clear roles: Nemona was responsible for throwing Poké Balls, temporarily storing the Paradox Pokémon into balls, then finding opportunities to send them back to Paldea headquarters for processing.
As for Red, he ran even faster than his Pokémon, casually throwing a full-power punch that made an Iron Thorns roll its eyes, nearly losing consciousness on the spot.
In a sense, his combat power might not be inferior to any Pokémon—
Under their divine, brave offensive, the remaining Iron Thorns and Sandy Shocks were soon beaten into fleeing with their heads in their hands, running away with stumbling strides.
Regarding Red's unreasonable fighting style, viewers in Aiden's livestream made the following evaluations:
[Is this even human wtf secretly evolving into a superhuman without telling me?]
[Basic cqc, for Kanto Trainers, wild battles are just routine~]
[But, honestly speaking, looking at Red's physical fitness, it's pretty high level even in Kanto!]
[Feels like one punch could kill ten of me—by the way, the students are doing all the work, why hasn't Teacher Azure made a move yet, I want to see Teacher Azure punch too!]
[Teacher Azure: I think you all want me dead!]
"That's it?"
After the battle concluded, Nemona pursed her lips, quietly watching Sandy Shocks' magnet-like feet operate at full power, drawing several afterimages in her vision, crossing hundreds of meters in just a few seconds.
Mediocre at fighting, but quite skilled at running away.
"Speaking of which, Magneton can float, so why do their ancient forms walk, it looks so strange—"
"Pokémon, aren't they amazing?"
Aiden casually gave a thumbs up, brushing off Nemona's question.
Theoretically, this kind of creature is indeed unscientific, but ancient creatures being scientific would be the strange thing—all kinds of strange beings exist, and Sandy Shocks is just relatively odd.
"Alright, let's continue forward. What we've encountered so far can only be considered appetizers, there are other more powerful Paradox Pokémon waiting for you."
"We're still only in the upper layer of Area Zero. The deeper you go into the underground caves, the stronger the Pokémon inside become."
"If things go smoothly, perhaps this time we can even encounter individuals with strength rivaling Legendary Pokémon~"
"Okay!"
With just three sentences, Aiden immediately hooked Nemona's curiosity.
"Let's hurry up and go!"
"..."
This time it wasn't Red who was silent.
Because the moment Nemona ran forward, Red silently followed her.
The one who truly felt speechless was actually Arven, who was following honestly behind Aiden. He watched Nemona's departing figure and couldn't help but helplessly support his forehead with his hand.
"Coming to Area Zero with Nemona, I don't know if it's a good thing or not—"
"Just Sandy Shocks and Iron Thorns alone, we caught nearly ten. Hope the League can handle them when the time comes."
"At least they're very motivated, which is also a good thing."
Aiden responded with a smile.
Fortunately, one of his "gold medal fighters" is Nemona, who runs out of battery after a few hundred meters, hardware-limited and unable to run wild.
Otherwise, probably half this Area Zero trip would be spent looking for them—
Oh, wait!
Almost forgot that this little girl Nemona also has a Cyclizar!
"Don't think too much for now, hurry up and follow Nemona and them, or we won't find them later!"
After speaking, Aiden urgently led the way in the direction Nemona left.
Seeing this, Penny and Arven could only follow.
Another hour quickly passed.
With Nemona riding her Cyclizar and Red walking to clear the path, Aiden completely had no opportunity to make a move along the way, and had already arrived at the junction between the upper and middle layers.
"We're here. This is where the first observation station was originally built."
Aiden walked forward, looking at the still well-preserved, tightly closed building, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, the Pokémon in Area Zero shouldn't be able to break through the outer protection, so the data and monitoring inside should be completely preserved.
If they could find a way to enter all observation stations inside Area Zero, perhaps they could figure out what exactly happened back then.
But—there's still a small problem right now.
"Brother Aiden, the passwords here are regularly changed by AI. Only my parents have the authority to obtain the passwords, so—"
After fiddling with the tightly closed iron door for a long time, Arven sighed.
The truth is so close, yet rejected for such a ridiculous reason—
As for forcing their way in, that's even more impossible.
What if it triggers the internal system's self-destruct function, immediately deleting all stored information?
Arven's mood was complex, but he had to accept the fact that he couldn't brute force his way in.
Are you kidding!!!
"Don't worry, we still have a teammate responsible for technical support."
Aiden patted his shoulder, signaling him to calm down.
At the same time, he also looked at Penny, who was silently taking out a portable computer.
"I knew it—"
Penny sighed helplessly.
No wonder Teacher Azure invited her to Area Zero—it was indeed to make her be a hacker again.
However, this was truly the most professional job for her.
The genius hacker girl Penny's hands rapidly tapping the keyboard, and soon revealed a knowing smile.
"As expected, it's the same protection as the school intranet. I need ten minutes."
For this "habitual offender," hacking into Paldea's internal network wasn't difficult at all—like returning home, easy and comfortable. The only thing requiring some effort was cracking the password.
However, in Area Zero where dangerous Pokémon could appear at any time, she obviously needed protection from others.
Before Aiden could speak, Nemona volunteered to pat her chest and confidently said: "Me me me! Teacher Azure, and Penny, just leave it to me with confidence!"
"Absolutely no Pokémon will be able to approach here!"
Although Red didn't speak, his habitual action of tugging his baseball cap clearly betrayed him.
This was the emote for entering combat state.
"Alright—remember to take it slightly easy, just passing by ordinary Pokémon don't need to be beaten."
Recalling their crazy behavior along the way, while agreeing, Aiden also reminded them again not to overdo it.
Students being energetic is of course a good thing, but being too active is a bit scary—
However, despite the fooling around, Red and Nemona's combat power is very reliable.
At least so far he hasn't needed to make a move, relying solely on the two's Pokémon to easily complete the first KO.
"Okay!"
Looking at Aiden's serious eyes, Nemona nodded like pounding garlic.
But soon, when she turned back, she immediately forgot everything Aiden said.
"Look, that little guy over there that looks like Slaking is so cute? One punch should make it cry for a long time, right?"
"And that one, the metal-bodied Hariyama—wait, Red, do you want to arm wrestle with it, see who's stronger?"
I knew it!
Nemona, completely off the chain, gradually developed outrageous thoughts. Watching the two's gradually departing figures, Aiden could only helplessly support his forehead with his hand.
"Don't run too far, just stay active near the research institute!"
"Got it!"
After receiving Nemona's perfunctory reply, Aiden stopped nagging.
Forget it, just treat it as a trip. Occasionally, children should indeed be allowed to run wild.
And their protection work is indeed done very well—at least Paradox Pokémon haven't approached before being actively attacked by the two, immediately having their attention drawn away.
For Nemona and Red, ten minutes might not be enough for them to fight to their satisfaction.
But for Penny, these ten minutes are absolutely endless.
Fortunately, she still completed the task on time.
Accompanied by a "beep—" sound, the originally tightly closed multi-layer metal door revealed a crack, and soon extended to both sides, until the interior of the research institute was revealed.
"Alright, let's go in first."
Aiden glanced at the two still running wild outside and decisively decided to temporarily leave them outside—it might even be safer.
Anyway, processing information doesn't need them, better leave it to the professional.
Walking into the first research institute, the warmth illuminated by sunlight instantly disappeared, replaced by a cold chill.
"Area Zero has been disconnected from the outside world for over a year. Unexpectedly, the research institute interior is well-preserved and hasn't been occupied by Pokémon."
Aiden slowly walked toward the inner side, his gaze carefully examining the surrounding scene.
No traces of living, work equipment all covered with a thin layer of dust, as if all researchers evaporated and disappeared overnight.
"Brother Aiden, let me lead the way."
Arven, who had been silently following behind him, suddenly spoke and proactively walked in front of him.
"I lived here for a period before, so I still remember the locations of important files and the monitoring room. As long as we find the files and recordings, it should be enough."
Aiden nodded, so he switched to following Arven.
After passing through two corridors, Arven stopped in front of a room with a half-open mechanical door.
"This is my parents' previous research room."
Seeing him lower his head, seemingly with no intention of entering, Aiden immediately understood. He only sighed silently in his heart, then bypassed him and walked straight in.
For Arven, the memories evoked here still need time to slowly digest—
So Aiden didn't force it.
Seeing this, Penny also stood beside Arven, silently accompanying him.
Of course, her actual thought was—
As an outsider, if she learns too many of Paldea's confidential secrets, will she be unable to return to Galar and have to work forced labor here for a lifetime?
So scary, it's better for me to be blind!
Aiden, who walked in, first came to a round table.
It was covered with a pile of well-bound research files, among which immediately caught his attention was a cover with a title in bold red, extremely eye-catching.
"The World Where Paradox Pokémon Exist? The Possibility of Connecting Reality and Past/Future?"
"Recent research results tell me that perhaps there indeed exists some supernatural force in reality capable of performing miraculous functions similar to a 'time machine.'"
"And if the time machine truly exists, it must be somewhere inside Area Zero."
"The appearance of Paradox Pokémon—did they discover our world and took the initiative to come, or—"
"Anyway, that adventurer misunderstood by the world for a hundred years must have discovered something in Area Zero, and with the help of this power anchored the existence of the group of creatures known as 'Paradox Pokémon.'"
"If we can figure out the truth within, perhaps humans can also attempt to obtain the authority that legend says only the Spatial and Temporal gods of Sinnoh can control."
"Control time and space, control cause and effect!"
After reading the contents, Aiden subconsciously furrowed his brow.
Bro, are you serious?
How dare you?
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