The last time Josh had gone to the very bottom of Area Zero, where the largest and brightest Terastal Crystals in all of Hoenn were located, he and Andrea Vaneau had encountered a horde of paradox Pokémon. They had piled onto a Raikou that had been roaming Area Zero, the Beast unable to defend itself from the onslaught on its own. After saving it, Josh became friends with the Raikou, just like he dreamed. Zooming around the cave floor like a stunt driver, he pushed his favorite legendary Pokémon to the speeds he had remembered the day he got to race kyle lopez 's ashen Beast around Hoenn.

It broke his heart when he found out the hard way that the legendary Pokémon was but a manifestation of the overwhelming amount of Terastal and Infinity Energy mingling within Area Zero. He could not leave Area Zero without the Raikou disappearing. Even so, he loved every moment of the wild and fast ride. That begged the question: what about other legendary Pokémon? Even if they were manifested by the energies of the core of Area Zero and not real, they were as real-feeling as the real thing. He thought about being able to control a Rayquaza for himself like Eva Morales did. the scientist taking Josh on a Dragon Ascent he would never forget.

Four rare Pokémon flanked the Gym Leader as he approached Marisol. First, there was Josh and Raikiri, the Zeraora that they may have remembered from Vital City. Seated on the back of an Iron Boulder was a Shiny Zeraora, this one standing upright instead of moving more like a feral cat like Raikiri did. Behind Josh was a Type: Null that looked on edge being this deep into the cavern. "Great to see you, too, Marisol! And I don't think these circumstances are bad. The Pokémon down here are something else." Hopefully the quartet of Pokémon wouldn't drown Marisol in Infinity Energy...

If there was one Gym Leader more grandiose than Josh, it was CIAN MAHER . Those two were always trying to outdo each other, flying up the leaderboards at Vital City. It was what grinding side events all day Sunday did after twenty-four rounds in the main tournament!

The presence of so many Pokémon filled with copious levels of Infinity Energy made many trainers tremble, but not Marisol. She was a lot stronger than she had brought on in the tournament if she could maintain her composure against such an oppressive collective aura.

"That's not what I meant," Josh corrected as Raikiri shuffled his feet aboard Tyrfing, adjusting his hold on the paradox Pokémon. "They're... quite dangerous. I only brought so many really powerful Pokémon because I have to in order to keep up with them."

Josh had been down to Area Zero enough times to make a reasonable speculation. "I think it's the overabundance of Terastal energy. You know you can Terastallize Pokémon down here without a Tera Orb, right? You can't do that anywhere else in Hoenn. You also don't see wild Terastal Pokémon anywhere else in Hoenn. Something's got to be fueling this place. Whatever it is... it's big. Might need to call in AQUA to take care of it."

Marisol's reassurance was a reminder of the burden that came with the saddle of leadership. Little did Josh know how much the weight of his rider would grow in the coming weeks. He kept Raikiri and Tyrfing to a walk so that Marisol could easily keep up; while they could blast down the trail to the Zero Lab. Without a steed of her own, there was no way she could even keep them in sight. "I'll be your shield and your sword, Marisol. But I can't do it without you. I am curious, though, just how deep it goes. Something tells me the bottom of Area Zero as we know it isn't the true--"

Their conversation would be interrupted by the sound of a Scream Tail SINGING. And not just one. Many of them. Aleph's eyelids turned heavy, his anger that would have been directed at Josh doused by the tendrils of sleep. Even Tyrfing could not resist, his two eyes each becoming one solid line of pixels. Zaborg took matters into his own hands, standing on and leaping out of the saddle, clobbering one of the Scream Tail with his PLASMA FISTS. Josh could only hope that Marisol could likewise fight the urge to take a nap...

"Thanks," Josh replied, fighting to keep his eyes open as he donned the noise-cancelling devices. He no longer had to worry about falling asleep as Zaborg sliced and diced his way through more of the choir with lightning-fast ACROBATICS. Raikiri and MARISOL SIMONE 's Gengar followed up with projectile attacks, the swift ELECTRO BALLS and the powerful SHADOW BALLS continuing to thin their ranks.

The paradox Pokémon had one last mean trick up their sleeve, and it was one that Josh was more than familiar with. Utilizing oblong Terastal crystals, the fairy-types extended their hair, grabbed the pillar-like objects, and used them to whirl about like tops. The high speed rotation would use their speed against them in one of the few moves Josh feared even more than legendary signature moves.

GYRO BALL.

Josh flicked Raikiri's reins hard upon seeing the seismic shockwave racing toward him from MARISOL SIMONE 's Krookodile. The Zeraora BOUNCED toward the cavernous maw's ceiling, ferrying the Gym Leader out of harm's way. She had the right idea, though; while GYRO BALL was an incredibly powerful attack against swift Pokémon, it was also slow. The ground-type attack destabilized enough of them that many of them collided with one another, causing the horde to scatter when they hit each other with their steel-type attacks. Without a steed of his own, Zaborg was a sitting Ducklett. The aleeping Aleph and Tyrfing, too, absorbed the indiscriminate Ground-type attack's full force. The paradoxes had been knocked out or scattered, but at what cost?

The Gym Leader withdrew the rest of his Pokémon, Raikiri the only one still standing. "Marisol, we need to get out of here. We'll have to come back another time and get to the bottom of this." One day, they would make it to the true bottom of Area Zero. One day. He was also curious if he would find the Pokémon resembling Virizion again, which would let him re-live the one great memory he had of MATIAS SILPH ...