The dark cave from before had disappeared, and now Cain, Slowpoke, and Murkrow were in a meadow under a sunny sky. The place was full of flowers, birdsong, and a scene so pleasant that it was truly comforting.
Suddenly, an enormous creature covered in light green armor appeared in the meadow. Everything changed. The pleasant scene vanished, and a sky filled with yellow sand began to spread everywhere, flying with the wind, gradually covering all the trees and grass.
"Roar!!" With a roar from that creature, the entire meadow finally turned into a desert.
The creature, with spikes on its back and green armor, was none other than the final evolved form of Larvitar, Johto's pseudo-legendary—Tyranitar! Also known as the Tyrant of the Desert.
After arriving here, Tyranitar turned the entire meadow into a desert and then found a relatively comfortable spot to sit.
It sat, and who knows how many days and nights passed. During that time, Tyranitar did not move from its place. Its originally violent nature had calmed down, becoming very quiet.
However, while Tyranitar remained sitting, an unexpected group of intruders arrived in that desert.
It was a group of Houndooms, about a dozen of them. When they saw Tyranitar, they did not hesitate at all and attacked immediately, as if they had already planned it.
Tyranitar, who had been sitting in the desert for almost a month without eating or drinking, was at its weakest.
But, when faced with the attack of the Houndoom pack, it showed no hesitation or fear and stood up to face them.
A pseudo-legendary is worthy of its title. Despite not having eaten or drunk for so long, it was able to easily repel the Houndooms that charged at her.
However, when Tyranitar stood up, Cain saw that the spot where it had been sitting all this time had left a deep pit, and in the pit, there was a Pokémon egg radiating a soft yellow light, identical to the egg they had found earlier in the geocentric cleansing milk.
It turned out that Tyranitar had been sitting there for so long to give birth to that Pokémon egg, to give birth to her own child.
The weakness after giving birth, along with a month without food, had left Tyranitar at her weakest since she evolved from Larvitar. That group of Houndooms had probably carefully planned the timing, intending to bring down the pseudo-legendary in that place.
However, Tyranitar's strength far exceeded their expectations, especially now that she was in the desert—this was her domain!
After a day and night of combat, the battered Tyranitar finally buried all the Houndooms in the desert forever.
However, due to the intensity of the battle, Tyranitar had not been able to constantly care for her child. When she returned to the pit where she had been sitting for a month, she became enraged, desperate, lost, and also sad.
Because her child, who had not yet been born, had been affected by the shockwaves of the battle, and a crack had appeared in the egg.
As a mother, Tyranitar could clearly feel the life fading inside the Pokémon egg.
Tyranitar knelt before the egg, with tears falling from her seemingly fierce eyes. Another day passed this way.
When Tyranitar stood up again, the sadness in her eyes was undeniable. Regardless of her wounds, she gently picked up the Pokémon egg and began a journey—a journey to save her child.
Cain and his group's gazes moved along with Tyranitar.
It's unknown how much time passed, but Tyranitar's body weakened more and more, though she never let go of her child. As a pseudo-legendary who had fought around the world, she couldn't protect her own child, and in her eyes, a deep sense of guilt and self-condemnation could be seen.
When the scene changed again, Cain recognized the place; they were in the familiar stone forest and also in the narrow passage known as One Line Sky.
Tyranitar walked with staggering steps, but the presence of a pseudo-legendary remained intact, and no Pokémon dared appear to obstruct her path.
When Tyranitar reached One Line Sky, her eyes, which had lost their brightness before, began to light up, and a glimpse of joy could even be seen on her face.
She walked directly into One Line Sky, and halfway through, she stopped in front of a cave in the mountainside.
As a Rock and Dark-type pseudo-legendary, Tyranitar had a much higher sensitivity to rocks than Geodude and Onix, Pokémon whose bodies are strong but whose minds are simple.
She perceived a faint fluctuation coming from the cave, telling her that inside might be something she needed.
But the cave was too small for her to enter.
So, with one hand protecting the Pokémon egg and the other frantically starting to dig into the rock wall, the hard rock wall crumbled under Tyranitar's sharp claws as if it were tofu, easily creating a space large enough for her to pass through.
The interior of the cave was the same as the place where Cain stood now, practically unchanged.
Tyranitar, with her sharp perception, walked directly toward the geocentric cleansing milk well. At that time, the geocentric cleansing milk had not yet been covered by the rock.
Seeing the geocentric cleansing milk, Tyranitar became excited. As a Rock-type Pokémon, she understood the energy and mystical powers contained in the geocentric cleansing milk.
With trembling hands, she carefully took out the Pokémon egg she was carrying.
After so much time, the appearance of the Larvitar egg had worsened considerably. The shell that had once been crystalline and translucent was now very opaque, and the smooth surface had become quite rough.
Tyranitar looked at the Pokémon egg deeply, with a gaze full of emotions that Cain, who had never had children, could not fully understand, but he grasped one thing: a mother's love.
Tyranitar carefully placed the Pokémon egg into the well. Perhaps it was fate, as the geocentric cleansing milk completely covered the Pokémon egg, leaving not a single space.
Seeing her child's fading life finally stop flowing away, Tyranitar could finally relax.
But she also relaxed her tired body. The weakness after childbirth, the intense subsequent battle, the trauma of seeing her child almost die, and then the long journey made it so that, even though she was a pseudo-legendary, her body could no longer keep going.
Clenching her teeth, with her last strength, she covered the geocentric cleansing milk well with rocks and then collapsed heavily to the ground. With an expression of relief, the light in her eyes began to fade.
In fact, given the magic of the geocentric cleansing milk, if Tyranitar had drunk a little, she could have fully recovered from her injuries, and as a Rock-type Pokémon, the geocentric cleansing milk could have had a highly beneficial effect on her, even increasing her power to another level.
But she did not hesitate for a moment, not even considering it, because she knew that if her child was not completely submerged in the geocentric cleansing milk, the crack in the egg could not stop the loss of life.
As a great mother, she preferred to give up her own life to give her child a chance to live.
Tyranitar, born of rock, nourished by rock, over time her body also turned into a pile of rocks, accompanying her child, waiting for the day they would be reborn.
The light changed, and Cain slowly opened his eyes. Slowpoke had mentally connected with Tyranitar's lingering obsession in the Pokémon egg, allowing them to see the entire story.
Cain looked at the Larvitar egg with a complex expression, feeling the weight of maternal love.
Murkrow and Slowpoke, who had also witnessed everything, had tears shining in their eyes, but thanks to their strength, they had not yet fallen.
(End of chapter)