The Pokemon games have long been home to 𓂃more mysterious creatures than the ones you simply find out in the tall grass. These Pokemon, alternating between the terms of Legendary and Mythical, are typically singular beings, possessed of a unique purpose in the world.

In the Paldea region of Scarlet & Violet, one such Pokemon that fits that description is Terapagos, the titular Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. However, the actual story of the Indigo Disk DLC goes through this Pokemon's story quite rapidly, so we're going to delve into it in a bit more detail.

Terapagos As The Hidden Treasure Of Area Zero

As the mascot Pokemon that the w꧋hole DLC, and indeed even the mystery of the base game was leading up to, you might have expected Te🥂rapagos to have gotten a bit more spotlight.

Within the base game, they were mentioned in the Scarlet and Violet books, though their name was, at that point, redacted. The respective books were written by an expl𒁃orer called Heath, one of the first people to properly document th𒁏e mysteries of the Great Crater of Paldea.

He came to call this place Area Zero, and rarely dared to even call the creatures contained within it Pokemon. One of these creatures, discovered after a particularly deep dive into Area Zero, was Terapagos.

"While separated from the research team in the crater's depths, I found a strange...entity. Whether it was a Pokemon, or even alive at all, I know not. It bore a shell with layers of overlapping hexagons, and gleamed brighter still than gemstone. Viewed as a whole, it resembled a mysterious, brilliant disk."

"I have tentatively named this creature Terapagos. I suspect that its very body is made up of 🍌the key material that causes Pokemon to shine brightly and crystallize."

The above quote is Heath's description of Terapagos, a name that is only fully revealed by Briar at the beginning of the Teal Mask DLC. As per his own intuition, Terapagos was presumed to be related to the Terastal phenomenon as a whole, though how he did not know.

This seems to be the final entry within his journal, however,ও and Terapagos is not eve𝕴r mentioned elsewhere.

It is not until the surprise appearance of the titular Indigo Disk at the hands of Geeta that the mystery of Terapagos is reawakened. After a further expedition to Area Zero, it is discovered that the Zero Lab reacts to the presence of the Indigo Disk, opening the way to the Area Zero Underdepths, eventually leading to Terapagos in a crystallised state. As to w♍hy Terapagos was so well hidden, we may never know.

How Terapagos Relates To The Terastal Phenomenon

Like many Pokemon games, the various regions tend to have sᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚome mysterious power associa𒁏ted with the Pokemon there, allowing them to take on new form or unleash new power.

In the Paldea region, this manifests through the Terastal phenomenon, a power that allows Pokemon to crystallise and take on a new typing with i🐈ncreased 🍎power. This power is temporary, and needs to be charged, but is nonetheless immensely strong.

This power was condensed in Tera Orbs by Professor Turo/Sada (version dependant) to allow captured Pokemon to Terastillise whenever they wanted, rather than ran🧸domly like wild Pokemon.

These orbs were created after his own work in the Zero Lab of the Great Crater of Paldea, further linking the Terastal phenomenon with the crystals and mysteries of Area Zero.

So where does Terapagos factor into this? For one, Terapagos has the power to absorb the Tera energy of others. This is not unlike the power of raid den Tera Pokemon, possibly linking the power with Area Zero itself, rather than any single Pokemo🐻n.

However, Terapagos can also convert this Tera energy into a shield of their own, implying they have mu😼ch stronger control over Tera energy than the average Pokemon.

Terapagos can also change between any and all types at will. Is this a result of their constant proximity to Area Zero and its power, or are they the progenitor of Area Zero's power in the first place?

Further to this, after coming into contact with Terapagos, the player, Carmine, and Kieran no longer need to have their Tera Orbs charged. Their experience with Terapagos has made their Tera energy seemingly infinite.

As a result of all this, it would lean towards the conclusion that Terapagos is the original source of Area Zero's power, which🐟 propagated through the depths f༒or the millennia they lay in rest.

Perhaps the relationship between Terapagos and Area Zero was mutually beneficial, but it would seem as though Terapagosis no longer needed for Area Zero to maintain its Terastal power.

Terapagos' Association With Time Travel

One of the most unexpected scenarios to arise with the post-game story of the Indigo Disk is quite how connected Terapagos is with the time shenanigans going on in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

In the main game, depending on whether you are playing Scarlet or Violet, you see each version's respective professor bring in Paradox Pokemon, past and future versions of pre-existing Pokemon.

They created a time machine to facilitate this, u🐽ltimately wishing for its own destruction. To bring things from beyond their own time is just an accident waiting to happen.

In fact, the Professor even died as a result of this, and gave up their AI's life to ensure it would be shut down. So, once again, where was Terapagos' influence in this?

Well, it is more a question of when is Terapagos' influence. Upon completing the story𒀰 of the Indigo Disk, 🦂Briar gives you her book recounting the events of Area Zero.

If you then bring this book to the Crystal Pools with Terapagos in your party, a mist will envelop the area, and the Professor will appear. Are ☂they not already🎉 dead? Indeed, in this timeline they are.

The Professor acknowledges this themselves, seemingly in awe oyour partner Pokemon and why they are at the Crystal Pool of Kitakami. They surmise from all this that they have been transported from their own time to the future, and quiz you on the world.

Upon noticing Briar's book , they then exchange it for their own Violet Book, marvelling at the technological marvels contained within Briar's work.

From here, we have created a Paradox. The events in question only occur because of the Professor's actions, yet our player meeting the Professor is what causes those actions to occur in the first place. And all of this was facilitated by Terapagos.

It starts to then beg the question — is Area Zero itself a 𝄹place beyond time, powered in some mysterious way by Tera🔜pagos?