A Mother's Sacrifice

The original dark cave was not seen. The sun was visible ahead, and Murkrow, Aoki and Slowpoke were on a meadow. The birds and flowers were pleasant yet uncomfortable.

Suddenly, a huge creature wearing light green armor appeared on this grass. Everything changed. The original pleasant scenery disappeared. Yellow sand began to spread all around, flying in the wind, gradually covering all trees and grass.

"Roar!" With the roar of the Pokémon, the entire meadow finally turned into a stretch of sand.

The Pokémon, with spikes on its back and clad in green armor, was the ultimate evolution of Lavitar—the pseudo-legendary Tyranitar! Also known as the Sandstorm Pokémon, Tyranitar!

Tyranitar arrived and turned the entire grassland into a desert. Then, it found a relatively comfortable place and sat down.

When it sat down, the passage of time became uncertain. For such a long time, Tyranitar hadn't moved from its position. It just sat there quietly, its once-violent nature subdued, becoming tranquil.

But alas, as Tyranitar sat, a group of uninvited guests arrived in this desert.

A group of Houndooms came, about a dozen in number. When they saw Tyranitar, they charged forward without hesitation, as though they had planned it.

Tyranitar had been sitting quietly in the desert for nearly a month, eating nothing and drinking nothing. Its body was at its weakest.

However, in the face of the Houndooms' attack, it didn't hesitate or show fear; it stood up to meet them.

A pseudo-legendary is indeed a pseudo-legendary. Even after not eating or drinking for so long, Tyranitar easily repelled the attacking Houndooms.

When Tyranitar stood up, Aoki noticed the place where it had been sitting—a deep pit had formed. In that pit was a Pokémon egg emitting a faint yellow glow. It looked exactly the same as the egg previously found.

It turned out that Tyranitar had stayed there for so long to give birth to this egg and nurture its child.

The strain of childbirth and a month without sustenance had weakened Tyranitar to its lowest state. Presumably, the group of Houndooms had calculated this moment, hoping to pull the pseudo-legendary down from its pedestal.

However, Tyranitar was far stronger than they had anticipated—especially now, in the desert, its home turf!

After a day and night of intense fighting, the battered Tyranitar finally buried all the Houndooms beneath the desert sands.

But the battle had been too fierce. Tyranitar couldn't protect its child during the chaos. When it returned to the pit where it had stayed for a month, it became furious, desperate, confused, and heartbroken. Its unborn child's egg, affected by the battle's aftermath, had developed a crack.

As a parent, Tyranitar could feel the life force in the egg slipping away.

Kneeling in front of the egg, tears fell from its seemingly fierce eyes. It stayed this way for another day, unmoving.

When Tyranitar finally stood again, sadness lingered in its gaze. Ignoring its injuries, it gently cradled the Pokémon egg and began its journey to save its child.

Aoki and his companions—Slowpoke and Murkrow—watched silently as Tyranitar moved.

Time passed, and Tyranitar grew weaker, but it never gave up on the child it carried. As a pseudo-legendary that once dominated the battlefield, its inability to protect its child weighed heavily on its soul. Guilt and self-blame filled its eyes.

When the scene shifted, it revealed a stone forest familiar to Aoki, as well as the cave.

Tyranitar's steps faltered, yet its indomitable presence remained. No other Pokémon dared block its path.

When Tyranitar arrived at the entrance to the cave, its once-vibrant eyes dulled but gradually lit up again. A faint joy could be seen on its face.

The cave enterance was too small for it to enter so it used its claws to claw out a way in.

As a pseudo-legendary of the Rock and Dark types, Tyranitar's sensitivity to rocks was unparalleled, far exceeding that of simpler Pokémon like Geodude or Onix.

It sensed faint energy waves emanating from the cavern, suggesting something it desperately needed might lie inside.

However, the cavern was too small for it to enter.

With one hand cradling the Pokémon egg, Tyranitar used the other to claw at the rock wall. The solid stone crumbled like tofu under its sharp claws, and soon, it had carved out a passage large enough for itself.

The interior of the cavern closely resembled the one Aoki had seen before.

Tyranitar, guided by instinct, went straight to a pool of Earth Core Milk. At that time, the Earth Core Milk was not covered by rocks.

When it saw the pool, Tyranitar grew visibly excited. As a Rock-type Pokémon, it understood the energy and restorative properties of the Earth Core Milk.

It trembled as it carefully placed the Pokémon egg into the pool.

The egg's once-brilliant crystalline surface had become dull and rough. Its fragile state revealed the extent of the damage.

Tyranitar took a long, deep look at the egg. Its eyes conveyed a depth of love and emotion that words could not describe—a love only a parent could understand.

Gently, it set the Pokémon egg into the pool. Perhaps by fate, the Earth Core Milk perfectly covered the egg, leaving no gaps.

Watching as its child's diminishing life force stabilized, Tyranitar finally let out a relieved sigh.

However, its own body, ravaged by childbirth, battle, and the long, grueling journey, could no longer endure.

Using its last strength, Tyranitar covered the pool with stones, ensuring the egg's safety. Then it collapsed, its expression one of peace.

The magical properties of the Earth Core Milk could have saved Tyranitar, completely healing its injuries and even enhancing its strength as a Rock-type Pokémon.

But Tyranitar didn't hesitate to forgo this for the sake of its child. It knew the egg needed complete immersion in the Earth Core Milk to survive the cracks and stop the flow of life energy.

As a devoted parent, Tyranitar chose its child's survival over its own life.

Tyranitar, born of stone, eventually became stone once more. Its body turned to rock over time, standing guard by its child, waiting for the day it would hatch.

When the light changed, Aoki slowly opened his eyes. Through Slowpoke's psychic connection, they had experienced Tyranitar's memories, learning the story behind the Pokémon egg.

Aoki gazed at the egg with a mixture of awe and sorrow. From it, a profound and selfless parental love could be felt.

Even Murkrow and Slowpoke seemed affected, their eyes glistening. Though they were strong, they didn't let their tears fall.