The newly hatched little Alolan Sandshrew was incredibly cute.
It had an outer shell and skin that resembled a block of ice, with brick-like patterns. The armor on its head looked just like an igloo, wrapping around its tiny head, and its ears were shaped much like the entrance to an igloo.
At this moment, the little Sandshrew instinctively curled up its body, looking like a small ice-blue ball—absolutely adorable.
Every Alolan Sandshrew does this upon hatching.
They do this, first, to protect their soft abdomen from excessive cold—after all, even though they are Ice and Steel-type Pokémon, a freshly hatched Sandshrew is still fragile. It needs to protect its internal organs and gradually adapt to the cold, rather than recklessly exposing itself to low temperatures.
Normally, Alolan Sandshrew aren't able to curl up into a ball like their regular counterparts.
The reason these little Sandshrew can do so now is simply because they have just hatched—their armor, which looks like icy scales, hasn't fully hardened yet.
While the little Sandshrew are curled up, their shell, exposed to the cold air, gradually hardens. They slowly relax from their curled-up state and reveal their bellies once more.
At that point, not only have the little Sandshrew gained a tough outer shell, but they've also fully adapted to the cold.
In other words, the hardness of a newly hatched Sandshrew's shell is closely related to its environment.
Without enough cold, their shells won't be as tough as their peers'. If the temperature isn't low enough, their parents will use moves to lower the surrounding temperature.
Lucas had already considered all this.
For the very first new life truly born and hatched on his farm, he took it very seriously. He'd done plenty of research ahead of time, even asking Kukui, who was working on his doctorate in Alola, to gather information about Alolan Sandshrew. He made thorough preparations.
He stopped the Sandslash couple from further lowering the temperature, and while they looked stunned, he called over Regice, who was counting flower petals, smiled slightly, and pointed at the little Sandshrew: "Blizzard!"
Sandslash couple: !!??
Did they trust the wrong person!?
Extreme environments often give rise to stronger creatures.
Of course, Lucas wouldn't do anything so ruthless.
Privately, he and Regice had practiced precise power control countless times. What's more, even before it hatched, Calyrex had blessed the little Sandshrew while it was still in its egg, making it twice as lively as its peers.
That's why Lucas and Regice dared to do this.
By having Regice, the legendary Ice Titan, use Blizzard, they could help harden the little Sandshrew's shell. Who knows, maybe it would make its already tough shell even more durable!
Gradually, the Sandslash couple understood Lucas's intentions and looked at him with gratitude and apology.
Lucas just smiled and, without stopping, continued taking photos of the little Sandshrew from various angles.
After all, Alolan Sandshrew only curl up into a ball for this brief period in their life.
He had to take plenty of pictures!
A moment later.
In the howling wind and snow, as the little Sandshrew slowly stretched out, opened its sparkling eyes, and let out a soft, babyish cry, Lucas pressed the shutter one last time, freezing this moment in time.
Next came the busy feeding time!
Taking care of a newborn is indeed a time-consuming and tedious task.
It wasn't until 6 p.m. that Lucas finally had a moment to himself, letting the two frazzled rookie parents quietly spend time with their child.
For the next while, the Sandslash couple wouldn't leave the little Sandshrew's side. Lucas also arranged for Pokémon to deliver meals daily—perfectly chilled Moomoo Milk and Skiddo Milk.
As for whether the shell of the little Sandshrew, after Regice's blizzard, became even harder—well, that would have to be tested after its infancy.
A bit of anticipation often brings small surprises to daily life.
At dinner, a little tagalong appeared beside Ceruledge, and Lucas noticed Ash's gaze constantly drifting over. Lucas lightly tapped Ash's head, half-laughing, half-exasperated: "Stop staring!"
Meeting Ash's innocent eyes, Lucas signaled for him to hurry up and eat.
It wasn't that Lucas was meddling, just that if this kept up, the jealous Laurel would probably explode.
That Bayleef's jealousy might even surpass a Serperior's. Lucas seriously suspected that if Ash kept staring, Bayleef would challenge Charcadet to a duel that night.
After eating his fill, Lucas, with nothing better to do, went to hang out with Ash's Pokémon.
There were many Pokémon he'd wanted to interact with for a while but never had the chance.
Take that smooth-headed Squirtle, for instance—the sensation was delightful as Lucas gave it a good rub.
Would anything really come out if you sucked on Bulbasaur's bulb?
Lucas encouraged Heracross to try, but Heracross ended up getting whipped several times by a thoroughly fed-up Bulbasaur.
He even organized a mini boxing tournament.
The contenders were just Primeape and three Poliwraths. Primeape, who must have been borrowed for professional boxing training before, had won several championship belts and was no slouch in boxing.
At least, it wasn't someone those three relatively inexperienced Poliwraths with just decent physique could defeat.
Seeing his little brothers lose one after another, Politoed angrily dragged them off, apparently planning some hellish training.
Lucas could only silently mourn for the Poliwrath.
After all, although Politoed is smart, he's still a bit too competitive.
However—
Lucas's gaze fell on the Primeape, who was raising its fists and howling at the sky, a confused look appearing on his face.
Was it just his imagination?
Why did Primeape's brow look so… ominous?
…
The next two days passed smoothly and uneventfully. Ash was either hanging around Charcadet to make his presence known or running all over the farm, energetically training with his Pokémon.
Then, every afternoon, there was a fixed routine. Worried Ash might get lost, Lucas simply had Dragonite fly him to Naranja Academy daily to spar with Nemona, Paul, and Shizuka.
Battling with trainers of the same age is an essential part of training, after all—it's an effective way to improve real combat skills.
With more battles, Pokémon's strength grew, and with ample nutrition every day, evolution was inevitable.
In Ash's team, except for Bulbasaur and Pikachu, both of whom were determined not to evolve, the rest of the "baby" Pokémon one by one reached the point of evolution.
Donphan and Croconaw, who evolved during the underground ruins adventure, kicked off this wave of evolutions.
Under the pressure of Ceruledge, Cyndaquil, who had served as a fire source and was nearly exhausted, evolved into Quilava.
Squirtle, still serving in the fire brigade and hoping for greater strength to deal with fiercer flames, evolved into Wartortle under Swampert's guidance by the giant, wet rocks.
This made Ash overjoyed.
And it made his battles with Paul much fiercer.
Paul could swear that this was his most frustrating, most "Waterloo-like" period ever.
That Ash from Pallet Town—a freak with monstrous intuition, ahead in his journey, with more skilled and powerful Pokémon—always managed, through sheer will and grit, to bulldoze through Paul's carefully crafted battle plans. It was infuriating.
Fortunately, Paul was calm enough. Especially when he saw Ash running laps with a roughly 72-kg Larvitar on his shoulder, any impulse to challenge Ash to a real fight instantly disappeared.
It was better to beat him in Pokémon battles.
So Paul thought.
…
Time flew by, and October arrived quietly.
The sweltering summer heat was gone, replaced by cool breezes playing across Paldea's skies.
The autumn harvest was reaching its climax.
October 1.
Lucas received a phone call.
On the other end, Nemona's voice was as energetic as always.
She excitedly claimed to have seen something incredible.
As of now, Nemona, Penny, and Arven had reached the second-to-last gym—the Alfornada Gym in Alfornada Town.
Before challenging the gym, they were, as usual, doing outdoor special training to ensure they could pass the gym test overseen by Ms. Tulip.
Their training spot was outside Alfornada, near the southern Paldea coastline.
But just yesterday morning, when the three woke up in their tent, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by thick fog.
The fog was so dense they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. It was the first time they'd encountered such a situation, and they were a bit panicked.
But the next second, the three were stunned.
A thunderous, deafening roar echoed from within the fog, as if from some unknown creature, rumbling for a long time.
Then, to their shock, a massive silhouette—easily dozens of meters tall—appeared in the all-encompassing fog.
The creature was so enormous that the three of them weren't even as big as its fingernail. They couldn't make out what the mysterious giant looked like at all.
All they could do was listen to its thunderous roars and watch as it lingered by the beach for several seconds before slowly leaving and heading into the sea.
"Teacher Lucas, that was definitely an unknown giant Pokémon!" Nemona said excitedly.
Even Penny and Arven couldn't refute her this time.
After all, they saw it with their own eyes.
That enormous, unidentified creature couldn't possibly be explained away as a machine or a mirage.
Then Nemona revealed her true intentions: "Tomorrow morning, we plan to try looking from a high vantage point to see if we can spot that mysterious giant again. Alfornada isn't far from Los Platos—Teacher Lucas, do you want to come see for yourself?"
Thick fog, a mysterious creature dozens of meters tall, the ocean…
Lucas's brows furrowed as he sorted through the information.
These keywords seemed oddly familiar…
But he couldn't quite recall why. After a moment's thought, he replied, "Let me think about it. I'll give you an answer tonight."
With that, Lucas hung up.
He still had something important to do.
Lucas led the just-returned Calyrex to the cradle in the living room, where Larvitar was sleeping soundly. He said to Calyrex, "This is the one."
"Alright."
Calyrex nodded slightly. Because of its height, it floated a bit higher, gazing down at Larvitar.
Ash, off to the side, swallowed nervously.
Brother Lucas had said this Calyrex was a true legendary Pokémon. If anyone could find and extract the two Unown that had entered Larvitar's body a few days ago, it would be Calyrex.
Calyrex focused on the sleeping Larvitar.
It basically understood the situation.
According to Lucas, the two wooden plaques had suddenly turned into a special Question Mark and Exclamation Mark Unown, barging into Larvitar's body—no, its spiritual world—without warning.
As a fellow Psychic-type who knew a thing or two about Unown, Calyrex made its assessment.
As Lucas said, Larvitar hadn't shown any odd behavior—eating, sleeping, playing, just like any baby Pokémon less than a month old.
Except it was a bit timid.
If anyone besides Ash, Pikachu, Lucas, or Oranguru approached, it would immediately freeze up, completely unresponsive to the outside world.
Calyrex's intuition told it that the Unown's appearance was closely tied to Larvitar's unusual behavior.
After a moment's thought, Calyrex looked at Lucas, then Ash. "I need to check its spiritual world."
Lucas nodded gently, and Ash hugged Pikachu tighter, tense.
This was the first time he'd ever heard of checking a "spiritual world."
A moment later.
Calyrex gently touched Larvitar's forehead, and a blue halo slowly glowed.
Invisible psychic power was carefully infused into Larvitar's mind.
Calyrex's control over psychic power was exquisite—aside from a handful of other Psychic Pokémon like Mewtwo, few could match such precision.
That's why it dared to check Larvitar's mental sea—after all, the brain and mind, if mishandled, could be permanently damaged.
After a thorough check, Calyrex's brows furrowed deeply.
A moment later.
It looked up at the nervous Ash and Pikachu and said, "It has closed off its heart."
Ash and Pikachu were instantly stunned.
Lucas, however, wasn't surprised—he'd expected this outcome.
Calyrex asked, "A closed heart is always a self-protection mechanism after severe trauma. But it hasn't even been a month since it was born. I hope you can explain this."
Calyrex's piercing gaze fell on Ash and Pikachu, its telepathic voice full of authority.
This boy should be someone with a sincere heart for Pokémon—no way was he the type to mistreat them.
Besides, Calyrex had already heard from Lucas about how Ash saved the abandoned and abused Charcadet.
All it needed now was an answer.
…