Then, what should have been a very ordinary conversation somehow steered towards the topic of stones during Terrance's exchange with Steven.
Throughout the conversation, Terrance was in a daze, not knowing what information was being imparted to him.
However, he did pick up on one thing: Steven seems to have a good grasp on the study of stones.
"Mr. Steven, could you please take a look at this stone for me?"
As if anticipating Terrance's question, Steven gladly took the mysterious meteorite, then he took out a magnifying glass-like object from somewhere and began to observe it with intense concentration.
Seeing Steven's fervent concentration, Terrance even lightened his breathing considerably, afraid of disturbing him.
"Um..."
"Er..."
As time passed, Steven's brow furrowed into a line as he stared at the mysterious meteorite with a puzzled expression.
"What's wrong?" Terrance asked, surprised at Steven's perplexed expression.
"This stone should be a meteorite..." Steven said.
"Sure enough, it's a meteorite," Terrance also thought so, but the faint halo around it distinguished the stone from ordinary meteorite.
"Moreover...this stone is not just a simple meteorite. What we see here is only its superficial appearance," Steven said as he put down the "magnifying glass". "It is also different from an ordinary meteorite."
"Do you know, meteorites are also called 'falling stars.' They are meteoroids or fragments of dust from beyond the planet that have deviated from their original orbit, and rapidly fall onto the surface of the Earth or other planets in the form of unburned rock, iron, or rock-iron mixtures."
"And meteorites are extraterrestrial in origin, and determining their authenticity requires instrumental analysis; the naked eye only has an auxiliary role. Although it closely resembles a meteorite, with a similarity level of nearly ninety-nine percent, I still can't guarantee that it is one."
"However... I have seen something similar to this before."
After Steven finished speaking, he fell into deep thought. In his quest for precious stones, he had almost traversed every corner of Hoenn.
Terrance's stone resembled a meteorite, but with subtle differences. However, Steven had seen a meteorite similar to Terrance's stone somewhere.
"Where?!" Terrance asked instinctively.
"In Wallace's hometown, the Sootopolis City Museum. I saw a specimen similar to this 'meteorite' there. Now, it seems it might be a replica."
"Sootopolis City?" Terrance nodded, noting down the name.
"And also..." Steven began to speak but struggled to organize his thoughts, because even he only had a scant knowledge and couldn't be certain.
Could Terrance's meteorite be that thing from legend?
Is the ancient legend left behind in Sootopolis City actually true?
Many doubts arose in Steven's mind. Two thousand years ago, during the conflict between Hoenn's Super-ancient Pokémon Kyogre and Groudon over natural energy, the Draconid people prayed to the rainbow-colored meteorite that created Sootopolis City, summoning Rayquaza once again.
Rayquaza, after undergoing a special transformation, subdued Kyogre and Groudon. After that, the Draconid people erected the Sky Pillar to worship the rainbow-colored meteorite.
Although Terrance's meteorite wasn't rainbow-colored, it emitted a halo, making it very similar in some respects.
But Steven wasn't ready to make premature judgments.
The key to unraveling the origin of Terrance's meteorite likely lay within the Sky Pillar.
However, only the Draconid people and those granted permission were qualified to enter the Sky Pillar. Due to this restriction, Steven felt it necessary to visit Sootopolis City because this meteorite had deeply piqued his curiosity.
After explaining this to Terrance, Steven and Terrance exchanged contact information.
Steven departed hastily, leaving Terrance looking puzzled.
"I forgot to tell Steven that I'm going to inquire about the origin of this meteorite—" Terrance scratched his head, realizing he had forgotten the main purpose of his conversation with Steven.
"Should I stay in touch at all times…..This Mr. Steven, his obsession with stones is truly terrifying."
"Oh well, I'll consider what to do next after I retrieve Altaria."
While Terrance continued walking towards the summit of Mt. Chimney, he pondered over the disparity between Altaria and its mother.
In terms of real strength, Altaria was definitely not a match at the moment. However, in terms of potential, the two-year-old Altaria still has a lot of room for improvement.
Being the overlord of Mt. Chimney, Altaria's mother must have grown up through constant battles. In terms of battle experience and so on, little Altaria still lacked a certain wild nature.
"It has fought too little."
Terrance muttered to himself. Since expanding his team lineup with Mismagius and Growlithe, Terrance's opportunities to battle with one of his Pokémon had decreased significantly.
Moreover, most of his time was spent on the "breeding" of Pokémon.
To be more specific, Terrance's Pokémon were all strong, but they lacked sufficient combat experience to adapt and use their potential fully.
Of course, this was a common problem among Trainers and couldn't be considered a weakness. The comparison was made with Pokémon that constantly experience battles in the wild.
However, Terrance felt that if he wanted to reach the level of Cynthia and others, nothing could be overlooked.
Halfway up the mountainside, before he reached the summit, a pleasant chirping sound could be heard from afar.
"Heh, little guy is here to pick me up."
Brushing off the dust from climbing, Terrance waited for the arrival of his little companion.
In the sky, a dot grew closer and closer, and then Altaria's azure body, with its fluffy wings fluttering like cotton, came into Terrance's view.
Initially, Terrance was worried that the dust on him might dirty Altaria, but seeing Altaria looking just as dirty, he couldn't help but smile.
It seems...it got scolded pretty badly by its mother.
"Not using 'Refresh' move because it knows I'm all covered in dirt too, and it's more convenient to use it later?" Terrance laughed.
Next, with Altaria carrying Terrance up, things became much simpler. In no time, the two of them appeared at the very top.
For some reason, even though Terrance had just seen "Altaria" moments ago, perhaps because of the incident that happened at that time, he now inexplicably felt a bit awkward.
Altaria, being its mother, must have known about its offspring's growth over the past two years through their battles.
It's just unknown whether Altaria's growth would be enough to earn the other's approval.
Terrance himself was quite confident. He had been by Altaria's side throughout its growth and was very satisfied with its progress and efforts. But whether this achievement would be acknowledged by others was beyond Terrance's control.
Although a little nervous, Terrance would not feel guilty. He had witnessed everything that happened to Altaria with his own eyes.
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