I arrived in the room from the past time point, but there was no one there. It seemed like no one had come back yet.
I went to the closet to grab the spare pocket, wondering if Doraemon was still inside. Just as I grabbed the pocket and was about to open it, a figure suddenly floated in through the window.
"Medusa!"
I exclaimed in shock.
"You're the important human that King Demaon wants to capture!" Medusa said, sounding thrilled. Today was her lucky day.
I immediately teleported out of the house—I couldn't let a fight affect my own home.
"Don't think you can run!"
Medusa chased after me.
I pulled out the Anywhere Door from the pocket the Take-copter—and put it on my head, dodging Medusa's attacks in the air.
It wasn't that I couldn't beat Medusa, but using something like a massive attack like Planetary Devastation wasn't suitable in the city, especially since this was where I lived.
I dodged her petrification magic as it shot toward me like a flash.
Then, I waved my hand and used telekinesis to try to restrain her movements.
The telekinesis touched Medusa, freezing her in place instantly.
Medusa struggled fiercely.
Just as I thought this would solve the problem, Medusa's eyes emitted a black glow, and black tendrils burst out from them.
I hadn't expected her to release magic from her eyes.
Medusa lowered her head, sweeping her eyes over her body, and the black tendrils followed suit.
My telekinesis, which had been intangible, was directly hit by Medusa's petrification magic, turning into stone fragments that fell off her body.
My telekinetic control over her was instantly broken.
Then, Medusa shot a petrification spell straight at my face.
I waved my hand to create a telekinetic barrier to block it, but the barrier turned to stone and fell to the ground.
This was really troublesome. No wonder Demaon let her come alone to capture us. Medusa's strength wasn't as overwhelming as Demaon's, but her abilities were a pain—even Doraemon could get caught off guard.
But looking at the petrification magic she shot, which was like a beam of light, I quickly thought of a plan.
When Medusa fired another petrification spell at me, I pulled out the Rebounding Cloak that I'd prepared earlier while dodging her.
I angled the Rebounding Cloak just right and faced it directly toward the petrification magic.
The petrification magic hit the Rebounding Cloak, but instead of turning it to stone, it bounced right off—as expected, the cape could reflect it.
And since I'd aimed the reflection angle at Medusa, the bounced-back petrification magic hit her body.
"How could this..." In Medusa's disbelief, she gradually turned into a stone statue right before my eyes.
Then she fell to the ground.
With that, the Medusa problem was temporarily solved.
Just as I was about to head back to find Doraemon, I suddenly saw Doraemon and Dorami flying over with Take-copters.
"Doraemon? You're okay?" I flew up to them, feeling a surge of joy.
"And Dorami, you're here too."
"Yeah! Dorami saved me, but it's a long story," Doraemon said, looking happy to see me.
"Nobita, you guys are unbelievable! If I hadn't come, you and my brother would've been in real danger!" Dorami said, clearly unhappy about us taking such risks.
"Okay, okay! It was our fault. Let's head home first!" Doraemon chimed in to smooth things over.
But the sky wasn't the best place to talk right now. Before we went back, I asked Doraemon to help me carry Medusa's stone statue home.
Doraemon was puzzled about why I'd want to bring an enemy's statue back, but he trusted me and did it anyway.
So, Doraemon and I carried Medusa's statue back to my house first.
At that time, the Nobita and Doraemon from the original time point had probably already gone to the Demon Planet.
So, the house was empty right now.
Once we got home, Doraemon told me about his experiences.
It started with Doraemon trying to go back to the past to change the history of using the What-if-telephone-booth.
But somehow, he encountered Medusa in the time tunnel.
Then, he was chased, fleeing all the way out of the time tunnel, but eventually, he got hit by Medusa's petrification magic by accident.
He turned into a stone statue and fell from the sky, crashing into a house. Later, the past Doraemon picked him up and stuffed him into the fourth-dimensional pocket.
Inside the pocket, Doraemon accidentally touched the Moon Torch Light, which temporarily lifted the petrification.
So, he caused a ruckus inside the pocket to try to get the past Doraemon's attention.
That was why the earlier Doraemon had a stomachache.
Later, when that Doraemon went to the future for treatment, he ran into Dorami. Dorami had planned to drag him to the hospital for a checkup.
But Doraemon stubbornly refused. Just then, the Doraemon inside the pocket turned back into a statue, so the past Doraemon felt his stomach stop hurting and quickly escaped from Dorami.
Afterward, Dorami suspected that Doraemon's stomachache was related to his fourth-dimensional pocket.
So, she came over to check the spare pocket.
As a result, she found the petrified Doraemon inside.
Later, Dorami moved Doraemon's statue out of the pocket and used the Time Cloth to restore him.
The process took time, so during that, she noticed my battle with Medusa and couldn't come to help right away.
But fortunately, by the time they hurried over, they were relieved to see I was okay.
That was the experience Doraemon recounted to me.
"By the way, why did you have me bring this monster's statue back?"
"Wouldn't it be fine to just leave her like that as punishment?"
Doraemon said, still puzzled.
"Doraemon, listen to me. Actually, Medusa isn't a monster," I explained, knowing he was confused.
"Not a monster?" Doraemon was even more baffled. If she wasn't a monster, why had she helped Demaon chase us? Why had she turned him to stone? Not to mention pretending to be Miyoko and stealing the Demon World Chronicles earlier.
"You're telling me after all those bad things, she's not a villain? Is this some kind of redemption arc?"
I didn't answer directly. Instead, I brought up what Professor Mangetsu had said before.
"Do you remember the story Professor Mangetsu told us in the living room about Miyoko?"
"You mean... could it be..." Doraemon wasn't dumb; after thinking for a moment, he recalled the story Professor Mangetsu had shared about Miyoko's mother!
"That's right. This petrified Medusa is Miyoko's mother."
"The woman who made a contract with a demon for Miyoko's sake and then disappeared!"
I said solemnly.