Amethio gazed in awe at the grand entrance gate of Area Zero, while Penny, a friend of Dot's, unlocked it. Amethio was quite nervous about what they would find in Area Zero. Ever since his first visit to Paldea, he had wanted to know what it looked like. The gate opened with a loud rumble, and Penny quietly said, "Good luck. You can do this." "Thanks," Dot thanked her, and the Rising Volt Tacklers entered. The interior of the entrance reminded Amethio of a control room, which it was, as Friede pressed a few buttons, opening a large hatch that gave them a view of the fog-shrouded abyss.

"We probably have to fly down," Friede calmly explained, calling Charizard from his Pokeball. Amethio took a few steps closer to the edge to see how deep it went. He had to swallow hard when he couldn't determine the exact distance to the bottom. "Great. Another deep, seemingly endless abyss. As if I didn't already have enough of those," he thought, slightly frightened, and Sylveon lovingly nuzzled his head. "Nothing will happen," Liko promised him gently from behind as she noticed his fearful gaze. Amethio took a deep breath before mustering the courage to call Corviknight from his Pokeball. Cautiously, he climbed onto its back and saw that Friede, Roy, and Dot did the same. Just like before, Charizard took Liko in its arms, and they took off. Amethio's hair blew in the wind as they flew straight into the fog and then finally descended beneath it. Amethio's vision was temporarily very unclear due to the fog, and he had to struggle not to steer Corviknight back up.

When they had left the fog behind, Amethio's eyes widened in amazement. It was truly breathtaking here. Everything was so beautifully green and seemed so peaceful. Additionally, a rainbow could be seen in the sky due to the waterfalls that were everywhere here. Amethio was breathless. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Corviknight gently land on the ground. He dismounted and called Corviknight back into his Pokeball after thanking it. "This is Area Zero. It's beautiful," marveled Liko, who had joined Amethio. "Yes, it feels kind of magical," Dot agreed with wide eyes.

"Hey, where is Briar? Didn't you say she wanted to meet us here?" Roy asked Friede, puzzled. "Yes, she did. She said we should go there," Friede explained, pointing to an observatory a few meters away. "Then let's go," Roy said energetically and called Crocalor from his Pokeball. Amethio, Liko, and Dot called out Ceruledge, Floragato, and Quaxly, and together they made their way there. "Ah, hello, I've been expecting you," Briar greeted them as they arrived at the observatory. "Hello, Briar. It's nice to see you again," Liko greeted her friendly, as Briar's gaze fell on Amethio. "Oh, we haven't met. My name is Briar," she introduced herself to him, looking at Amethio kindly. "I'm Amethio. Nice to meet you," Amethio responded somewhat shyly. "Come on in," Briar invited, and they entered the large room.

As everyone took their seats at the table, Briar placed a red book on it, which contained a drawing of a Pokémon. "This is Gouging Fire. It looks very similar to Entei, doesn't it?" she explained, before showing them some footage on her Rotom Phone, "Here you can see a part of it, which shows that it must be somewhere around here. And here are the people who tried to catch it but failed." "Those damned explorers," Amethio murmured hatefully, clenching his left hand into a fist. "Sylveon," Sylveon soothed him and sent out calming waves.

"Then we should start searching for Gouging Fire," Friede suggested. "Pago," Terapagos, which was being carried by Liko, agreed excitedly. They left the observatory again and began to venture deeper into Area Zero. Amethio saw wild Pokémon everywhere, including some he didn't know but somehow reminded him of other Pokémon. Like the one they had seen earlier. It looked like a Magneton but had hair and leg-like stilts that it walked on. Briar explained to them that some Pokémon here in Area Zero were futuristic and ancient Pokémon that didn't actually belong to this time.

Suddenly, Terapagos jumped out of Liko's arms and approached a large, white crystal. It immediately began to glow as Terapagos came closer. Liko quickly recalled her Pokémon because she didn't know what it meant and whether it was dangerous. "What was that?" she asked worriedly. "There are theories that Terapagos might have something to do with Terastallization. And that is a Teracrystal," Briar explained excitedly. Amethio's eyes widened, and he walked towards the crystal as if hypnotized. He felt something very strange about it. Something that seemed to call to him. As Amethio got very close to the crystal, Liko asked confusedly, "What's wrong, Amethio?" Amethio didn't hear her words but cautiously placed a hand on the crystal. His hand began to tingle as he felt the mystical energy under his glove. As he looked more closely at the crystal, he noticed an image depicted on it.

In a trance, he stared at this image, which showed him Terapagos. But it didn't have its usual appearance; instead, it resembled an indigo-colored disc. On its shell were pentagons with the various Pokémon types on them, and green-yellow fur protruded from its sides. Amethio remembered seeing Terapagos like this before. That was when it had saved Liko from Rayquaza's Draco Meteor. Suddenly, Terapagos in this image began to move and gather Terastal energy. It briefly stored it in its shell before firing it. To Amethio's shock, this was no longer just an image; the Terastal energy came directly from the crystal and was fired at Amethio. It was so strong that his arm sling came undone, and he was thrown backward. He landed roughly on the ground several times before coming to rest at the edge of the abyss, having slid a few more centimeters.

In pain, he squeezed his eyes shut, pulled his legs a bit towards his body, and held his wrist, which had just started throbbing horribly again, cursing. "AMETHIO!" Liko screamed in concern, rushing to him and pulling him a bit away from the edge. "Amethio, hey, say something, please..." Liko pleaded desperately, barely able to hold back her rising tears. Amethio gritted his teeth in pain as Friede, Roy, Dot, and Briar also came to them. "Amethio, what happened? Are you okay?" Friede asked worriedly, kneeling down to Amethio, who was still lying motionless on the ground. Amethio shook his head in agony and held his wrist even tighter. "Sylveon," Sylveon said and wrapped its feelers around Amethio's upper body. Ceruledge carefully placed one of its sword-like arms on Amethio's back. Slowly, Amethio tried to breathe in and out and focus on anything other than his pain. He felt Sylveon's calming waves and Ceruledge's comforting warmth from its sword-like arms.

Slowly, he began to open his eyes a bit and looked directly into Liko's eyes, which were wide with panic. "Amethio..." she began slowly, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Amethio took a few more slow breaths before carefully starting to sit up. Breathing heavily, he sat on the ground, trying to stop himself from leaning back, as there was only an abyss waiting for him. He lowered his head, and his hair fell into his face as Friede asked, "Amethio, are you okay? What happened?" "Not really..." he murmured, exhausted and still in pain, "That crystal... I saw Terapagos, but it looked different than usual. It looked more like a disc with fur sticking out of the sides."

"That might have been Terapagos' Terastal form that you saw. But why did you see that? When I looked at and examined the crystal, nothing like that happened," Briar pondered thoughtfully. "Nothing happened to me either," Roy chimed in from behind, and Liko, Friede, and Dot agreed with him. "Maybe it was because of the Rakurium that might be in my eye. Great. I knew my life would never be as normal as others. I hate my damned life," Amethio thought sadly, lowering his head. "I don't think you can use this thing anymore," Dot said as she held out the arm sling to Amethio. It was torn all over and had large burn marks because the Terastal energy had been quite hot. Amethio had felt this heat all over his body and had thought it would burn him up. "You should fly back," Friede recommended with an insistent look, "You're injured, and since the arm sling is broken, it's more likely the wound will reopen." "No!" Amethio disagreed vehemently, looking Friede determinedly in the eyes, "I'm not going to give up. Injury or not. I will find and defeat Gouging Fire with you." "But..." Friede began, when Liko interrupted him: "Friede, I know it's very dangerous. I have my concerns too, but Amethio also has a right to it. Lucius is his ancestor too. And... besides, I think Amethio will succeed. He has survived many dangerous situations. Probably even more than all of us combined. Amethio is strong. We both know that."

Amethio's eyes widened with each of her words, and his heart warmed. "What did I do to deserve such a great cousin?" he wondered with tears in his eyes, feeling happy. "You're right. Okay, you don't have to go back, but please try not to get into trouble for once," Friede asked seriously, but with a hint of humor in his voice. Liko stood up, reached out a hand to Amethio, and pulled him up. Amethio's wrist began to throb painfully again, but he tried to ignore it. Sylveon gently wrapped a feeler around his injured wrist and sent calming waves. Somehow, Amethio felt that this also eased the pain a bit. "Thank you," he thanked everyone.

"The sun is already setting," Roy noted. "You're right. We can spend the night in the cave over there," Briar suggested, and they followed her advice. They quickly made a campfire and rolled out the sleeping bags they had brought with them. When they were done, everyone except Briar, who was already going to sleep, sat comfortably around the campfire and ate some of the food Murdock had given them. But Amethio wasn't hungry and just stroked Sylveon's back, even though the pain in his wrist had improved since Liko had made him an arm sling out of the packaging of her sleeping bag. "Area Zero is really beautiful," Roy enthused. "But also really dangerous, as we saw," Liko interjected, looking at Amethio. Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the cave, and Amethio flinched in shock. "What was that?" Liko asked fearfully. "Oh, don't worry. That was probably just a Scream Tail," Briar murmured and fell asleep again. "Maybe we should go to sleep now too," Friede suggested, and everyone got into their sleeping bags. Exhausted from the day's events, Amethio closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

"Amethio, wake up. Oh, the little one is always so sleepy," teased a voice, and Amethio's eyes snapped open. He found himself in a dark room, staring straight into Spinel's psychopathic eyes. Startled, Amethio crawled backward, only to realize with regret that there was a wall behind him. "Oh, are you afraid of me, or maybe of Umbreon?" Spinel asked maliciously, and Umbreon jumped in front of him, growling. "NO," Amethio screamed in fear, raising his hands to his face and trying to make himself as small as possible. His whole body began to tremble, and his heart pounded in his chest. "Haha, you're such a coward. So weak and incapable of anything. You are a failure and deserve nothing good in your life. Even your dead mother knows that," Spinel said devilishly and ordered his Umbreon: "Let's free him from his suffering and finish him. Umbreon, use Foul Play." Amethio's heart burned with pain at Spinel's words, and he didn't care about Umbreon at that moment, even though he felt like this attack had severely injured his rib again, as every breath hurt. "MY MOTHER LOVES ME," Amethio shouted back in fury, trying to stand up, but he couldn't, as an invisible force held him down. "Oh, and how do you know that? I've heard different things," Spinel replied diabolically, "But let's ask her ourselves." Spinel stepped aside, revealing Amethio's mother, who was slumped against the wall, chained, with cuts and other major injuries. "MOM," Amethio screamed with a bleeding heart, filled with fear and anger at the same time. "Amethio, my darling, I..." she began weakly before her eyes closed. "NO MOM, PLEASE NO," Amethio shouted, trying to get up again, but it didn't work this time either. "LET ME GO," he hissed hatefully at Spinel. "Nah, it's funny to watch you resist," Spinel laughed evilly, and Amethio saw the other explorers emerge behind him. "Please... help me," he pleaded desperately with tears in his eyes to the other explorers. However, they only began to laugh at him, and Spinel smirked mockingly: "As if anyone would help you. You are a joke, simply incapable and stupid." With all of Spinel's painful words, Amethio burst into tears, and all he could hear was the laughter of the explorers. Amethio couldn't do anything against it and just wanted to be away at that moment. Suddenly, everything began to spin before his eyes and then went black.

Terrified, Amethio jolted awake and realized with a racing heart that it had only been a dream, as he was still in the cave in Area Zero. His cheeks were wet, and he still felt the burning tears in his eyes. His whole body began to tremble as he slowly and quietly left the cave and sat down on the ground a bit away. "I hate Spinel. I hate the explorers. I hate my whole damned life," Amethio cried bitterly, burying his face between his legs, "Why can't I have a different life." Amethio calmed down over time and stared at the large waterfall on the other side of the crater for a long time. Slowly, the sun began to rise, and it became bright. Thanks to this nightmare, Amethio couldn't close his eyes again and felt tired and exhausted. At least his wrist didn't hurt as much anymore, which cheered him up a bit.

"Here you are," Liko stated behind him, walking up to him, "Good morning. How..." Liko paused when she saw his completely red, swollen eyes with deep circles underneath, set Terapagos on the ground, and gently took him in her arms. "What's wrong? Didn't you sleep?" she asked worriedly. "Hardly at all," Amethio murmured with a slightly shaky voice. "Oh, Amethio, what's wrong? Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Liko asked caringly, holding him even tighter. Amethio shook his head with tears as they suddenly heard a loud roar and their eyes widened in shock as they saw what was now in front of them. "Gouging Fire..." Amethio whispered unconsciously loud, and Gouging Fire let out an even louder roar. Quickly, the two stood up, and Gouging Fire looked Amethio in the eyes with a piercing gaze. Now it seemed to be the time. Now they would fight against Gouging Fire. Even though Amethio was still terrified from his dream, he somehow felt ready for it. No, he wasn't ready for the battle; he was ready to set his life right again.