Professor Sycamore cheerfully ushered us into the lab saying something about showing us today’s test session. Well I’m glad that’s over. Just my utter shit luck encountering the regional villain on my first day in Kalos.
I finally relaxed enough to participate in Justine and Sycamore’s conversation and asked as the conversation topic switched to how they’d discovered certain mega evolutions, “So, how many Mega Evolutions have you guys discovered so far?”
“Twenty one.” Sycamore immediately answered, “The Kanto and Hoenn starters, with Charizard being an interesting outlier as the only Pokemon we know of so far to have two mega evolutions.”
Yeah, it’s called: being the Pokemon company’s golden child.
“Sharpedo, Camerupt, Salamence, and Metagross–did you know that Champion Stone had a metagrossite and keystone in his rock collection for years before he found out what they really were?”
Justine and I both shook our heads, with Justine commenting, “Lol, I wonder what his expression was when he found out.”
The professor grinned, “Oh he was so mad. It hurt his pride that he didn’t know everything about his stone collection.”
Professor Sycamore then quickly listed out the remaining megas using his fingers to count them out, “Then there’s the Audinite, Lucarionite, Alakazite, Gardevoirite, Galladite. And the Absolite, Manectricite, Beedrillite, Gyaradosite, and Gengarite.”
He was about to go on about more mega evolution related stuff when Justine pointed at me and said, “Az, you said that you found a mega stone at the Stone Emporium right?”
“Ooh! A mega stone? Let me see!” The professor jumped at the prospect of a new mega stone. I quickly gestured at my shadow for Banette to show it to him.
Taking the cue, the ragdoll ghost floated out of my shadow and showed the mega stone necklace.
Sycamore’s excitement quickly dimmed and there was a bit of disappointment in the professor’s voice as he identified the mega stone, “Hmmm, that is a Metagrossite.”
Then he rubbed the back of his head and sighed, “The Stone Emporium keeps turning up with mega stones, but the owners are so secretive about where their source is. Even Lysandre wasn’t able to convince them to spill their secrets.”
The professor gestured for us to continue walking through the lab. “Well for future reference, both the lab and Lysandre Tech are willing to buy any unwanted mega stones for a pretty penny, though I would suggest keeping the one you have. You can trade it for a mega stone you actually want in the future.”
I nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And if you ever plan on mega evolving a Pokemon, please come to the lab to do it. It will be a lot safer for you, and we get the data we want. The test you’re about to see will be a great example on how these sessions usually go.” The professor said as he pushed a door open and we walked back outside into an outdoor area with a series of big blue glass domes that kinda looked like high tech, futuristic greenhouses. The glass on most of the domes were tinted in a way so that I couldn’t see the inside, and each door had a symbol painted on it, assumedly to indicate what type of habitats there were inside.
“Oh, these must be the habitat domes I heard about.” Justine commented as we walked past. “They use the same tech as Devon bags and Pokeballs to be bigger in the inside!”
Sycamore proudly nodded and gestured to the domes. “Yep, we don’t have enough space for an expansive ranch like most other labs so we’ve compensated with these. It’s a lot easier to keep track of the Pokemon inside too.”
Then he pointed at a purple-black spooky looking dome in the back, “That’s the one you’re going to be helping out with Justine. The ghosts keep escaping and causing trouble for other residents and people in the city so we were in dire need of someone who could handle them.”
“Well, you certainly called the right person.” Justine said, confidently gesturing to herself. Litwick and Mii voiced their agreement.
“We’re gonna whip those bad ghosts into shape!” Mii yipped, clawing at the part of Justine’s hoodie that she was sitting in with her claws.
Litwick waved its little arms as it cheered, “Yeah!”
We then came to a very durable looking dome with a door labelled: Test Field 2.
Professor Sycamore spoke as he pulled the door open and let us in, “This dome was made specifically to withstand the power of a mega evolved Pokemon. It’s pretty common for trainers attempting mega evolution for the first time to lose control so we need a way to contain the mega Pokemon until we can calm them down or knock them out.”
The inside of the dome contained a large open space with a battlefield and some gray bleachers on each side. Plain and functional.
A few feet behind the referee box was a researcher with bobcutted dark magenta hair. She was doing the setup on some rather expensive looking equipment.
A Chesnaught and Gogoat stood near the researcher, holding some of the heavier equipment as they helped her get set up.
A trio of trainers stood to one end of the battlefield. I could see the keystones each of them had, the trainer with dark turquoise hair and a Ralts-styled bowl cut had a mega necklace, the one with long dark green hair tied up in pigtails had a keystone in a flower pin, and the last trainer–a girl with a spikey blonde hairdo–had a mega bracelet.
I wonder how they got those keystones.
On the opposite side of the field from the referee box stood two other trainers, one was a guy with the Lumiose gym uniform, the other was a lady in a Lysandre Tech uniform. They were having a casual conversation and weren’t really paying the rest of us any attention. I would guess that they were some sort of security, probably there to help deal with any out of control mega Pokemon.
Noticing us, the researcher stood up and smoothed down her lab coat as we approached.
Professor Sycamore waved to the bobcut lady before introducing her to us, “This is Cosette, she is one of my assistants.” Then he gestured at us, “Cosette, these two are Azalea and Justine. Azalea is one of Rowan’s sponsored trainers and Justine is the new transfer.”
“sup.” Winnie nodded at Gogoat and Chesnaught. The grass types politely returned Winnie’s greetings but kept most of their attention on being careful with the equipment they were holding.
Cosette smiled at us, “Nice to meet you guys! So you’re here to see mega evolution for the first time, you guys are gonna love it!”
I smiled back, “Thanks, I’m excited to see what you guys have in store.”
Meanwhile, Justine rushed over to the machines and began examining them. “O-M-G! Of course! Who wouldn’t be excited about seeing a new phenomenon? Are those the new Lysandre Tech energy readers I read about?”
The three researchers quickly got to talking about the equipment and I moved over to the bleachers to take a seat and wait.
The professor and Cosette quickly got to finishing the setup of some really expensive and high tech looking cameras and some computer stuff. Cosette took the time to explain to Justine how the machines worked as they booted up the machines.
Once everyone was ready, Sycamore took his place at the computer and Cosette pulled out a remote from her lab coat pocket.
“We’re ready guys! Please move to the trainer boxes!” Cosette shouted to the waiting trainers.
Spikey blonde moved off the field and went to stand near the security team. The Ralts-bowl cut trainer stayed on the left side of the field while pigtails jogged to the right side of the field. There was a short pause as pigtails caught her breath, then both trainers nodded at each other, pulling out Pokeballs and throwing them.
A Venasaur appeared on the right side of the field and grunted as it shifted itself into a more comfortable position, it had a bracelet around one of its front legs with a Venusaurite embedded into the bracelet in the same flower pattern that the mega pin trainer had.
On the left side fo the field stood a Gallade, who brandished its elbow blades and did a few stretches. The psychic-fighting type had a necklace that matched its trainer.
A forcefield appeared around the field at the touch of a button from Cosette. The gym trainer and Lysandre Tech employee briefly glanced at the forcefield appearing and returned to their conversation while the blonde trainer eagerly watched.
“Whenever you’re ready!” Professor Sycamore shouted, giving the two trainers a thumbs up.
I tapped my pocket where Rotom was resting, “Yo Rotom, can you record this?”
The phone ghost zipped out, yawned, stretched, and did a quick scan of Chesnaught as Venusaur and Gallade began setting up.
“Bzzt!” “Chesnaught, the spiny armor Pokemon. It shields its allies with armor strong enough to withstand multiple bomb blasts and is strong enough to flip a 50-ton tank with one hit.”
A ball of fire sprang into the air and hovered above the battlefield, turning the sunlight harsh. Venusaur’s leaves rustled and its flower seemed to expand as it began to absorb the sunlight from the Sunny Day that it had just sent out.
Meanwhile a pulse of pink fairy type energy swirled out from Gallade and covered the field with Misty Terrain.
There was a pause as both trainers made eye contact and grinned, reaching for their keystones. There was an immediate reaction, strands of energy shot out from both sets of keystones and mega stones, forming a connecting rope of light between both trailers and their Pokemon.
Gallade and Venusaur began to glow with a blinding white light and their forms began to shift. It looked like a normal Pokemon evolution but with a few added tints relating to the colors of each Pokemon’s mega stone.
Venusaur roared, stomping its feet as the light around it dissolved in a flash of cyan and pink, revealing its larger and thicker frame, topped by a towering trunk and flower adorned in a thick mane of leaves.
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There was a similar flash of green and red-pink as Gallade burst out of its mega evolution in its new form, brandishing the bigger and sharper blades on its arms. The psychic-fighting type did a dramatic flourish of its cape before readying itself into a battle stance.
Pigtails decided to try to seize the momentum, shouting, “Start strong Venusaur!”
The grass type roared and immediately shot a powerful Solar Beam straight at Gallade. The blade Pokemon neatly vaulted over the beam of grass type energy as it made a horizontal sweep, the beam of energy kicking up dust as it seared a line into the ground.
“Close the distance and strike fast!” Gallade’s trainer shouted.
Using Agility, Gallade swiftly closed the distance between itself and its opponent, moving so fast that it looked like it teleported. The blade Pokemon raised its arms and readied a Psycho Cut as it appeared right above Venusaur’s head.
“Keep it away Venusaur! Sweep it!” Pigtails shouted as she saw their opponent closing in.
With a big shake of its back flower, Venusaur sent out a torrent of pink petals to force Gallade to back off. The blade Pokemon brought up its arms, and a vertically long rectangular barrier popped up as it used Quick Guard to block the first wave of petals before its entire body was enveloped by a sea of pink petals.
Suddenly Gallade was behind Venusaur, it had teleported while everyone’s vision of it was blocked. The blade Pokemon slashed at the grass type with a series of Psycho Cuts.
Venusaur tanked the first Psycho Cut, the ground underneath it turning into a crater from the force of Gallade’s blow. The grass type thankfully was able to react to Gallade’s follow up attacks thanks to its trainer’s shout. There was a series of cracking booms as Venusaur parried the next few blows with Vine Whip.
“Power Whip!”
Venusaur’s Vine Whip swelled in size as grass type energy was pumped into them. The massive vine ropes hummed through the air with deadly force as they swung at Gallade.
“Dodge and Shadow Ball!” Ralts-cut trainer shouted, swinging an arm.
Gallade reacted before its trainer even finished his sentence, it was probably reading its trainer’s mind. With another burst of speed from Agility, Gallade did a neat flip over the first Power Whip and ducked under the second before hurling a series of Shadow Balls at the grass type machine gun style.
Venusaur’s Power Whips contracted again into Vine Whips, giving it the speed needed to swat away the first burst of Shadow Balls before blasting the others away with another searing Solar Beam.
“Trap it!” Pigtails shouted.
Venusaur sent another torrent of pink petals at Gallade. The blade Pokemon tried to jump back but almost tripped due to Venusaur’s Grass Knot entangling its feet.
Gallade’s trainer didn’t need to issue any orders, the two seemed to be communicating telepathically.
Gallade nodded at one such telepathic command and teleported away before Venusaur’s attack could hit.
The grass type swung around as Gallade appeared behind it again and its back flower glowed as it began shooting rapid fire Energy Balls at its opponent like a freaking gatling gun.
In a show of hand-eye coordination, Gallade swiftly parried most of the Energy Balls with Fury Cutter, creating multiple small explosions as it retreated back to its own side of the field.
Pigtails seemed to be getting impatient that none of Venusaur’s moves were really hitting, so she shouted, “Petal Dance! Drown him in flowers!”
With a roar, Venusaur unleashed a swirling tsunami of pink petals that completely filled up the area inside the forcefield. The protective shield around the battlefield began to glow brightly as more energy was used up to prevent the petals from breaking the barrier.
There was a shout of effort from Gallade and a super condensed slash of psychic type energy vertically cut clean through the raging sea of petals. A boom shook the entire building like thunder after lighting, and the ground was split open beneath where Gallade’s Psycho Cut had just cleaved through Petal Dance.
The sea of petals quickly slammed back together as Venusaur flower kept spitting out wave after wave of petals.
A dense twister of golden stars swirled out of Gallade’s cape, surrounding the psychic-fighting type, colliding with Petal Dance, and holding back the wave of petals just long enough for Gallade to fully charge up its next move.
Gallade’s entire body glowed with piercingly bright pink light and there was an eye-searing flash of pink as the blade Pokemon released a maximum output Dazzling Gleam.
There was a chain reaction of explosions as Petal Dance was countered, followed by silence and the field being covered by dust that cleared up just in time to reveal the two mega Pokemon charging up moves Dragon Ball style.
Gallade’s arms were humming, glowing with condensed psychic type energy, the blade Pokemon’s eyes were narrowed to pinpoints in pure concentration as it used Calm Mind.
Venusaur in turn was stoically charging a Solar Beam. A massive ball of bright green energy condensed above its back flower as the grass type used the dwindling energy from Sunny Day to boost its attack.
There was a moment’s pause before both trainers shouted at the same time, “Psycho Cut!” “Solar Beam!”
Both mega Pokemon fired. Gallade swinging its arms to create an X with its double Psycho Cut, and Venusaur
The attacks collided in the center of the field and struggled against each other for a moment before they both exploded, rupturing whatever was left of the battlefield’s ground. The forcefield became white as it took the brunt of the kinetic energy generated from the explosion and I felt the ground shake once again.
I sniffed the air, something smells like sweet fruit. Winnie was sniffing the air too and was licking his chops. I clapped a hand over Kaiju’s dusk ball as it shook.
Another dust cloud was kicked up by the explosion, but it was cleared by Venusaur’s Solar Beam searing through it.
Gallade took longer than usual to react and grunted as it tanked the attack, using its forearms as a shield to prevent being thrown off its feet. The blade Pokemon grunted and was pushed back a few feet before it could throw up a Quick Guard.
Then the Solar Beam petered out and both sides were left facing each other once again, panting from the exertion of the battle.
Pigtails and Ralts-cut were both panting too, exhausted from the drain of mega evolution.
The shrill cry of a whistle snapped everyone’s attention to the Cosette and the professor. Sycamore clapped his hands and shouted, “That’s enough!”
Immediately Gallade and Venusaur glowed, a bunch of iridescent rainbow energy dispersing from them as they morphed back into their normal forms and their trainers sagged in relief as the energy drain stopped.
Cosette pressed a button on the remote control, turning the barrier off.
The professor nodded, a satisfied smile on his face, “Tiffany, Jean-Paul, Gallade, Venusaur, thank you so much for your cooperation! We’ve collected some stellar data from this battle!”
“And just a reminder that we’ve prepared a break room for you guys to rest in.” Cosette added, pointing to one of the side doors with a sign taped on that said, This way to break room!
“It’s got snacks and a few beds if you would like to take a nap. It’s also big enough for your Pokemon to stay out of their Pokeballs and has amenities for them too.”
The two trainers nodded and thanked Sycamore. Pigtails returned Venusaur before walking over to Ralts-cut and Gallade, giving them both a high five as they went off to get some snacks.
“i’d say they might’ve been powerful enough to rival the lord of the forest.” Winnie said as the trainers exited stage left.
I pursed my lips and shrugged, “Ehhh, yeah probably, but that’s only if they can keep the mega evolution up long enough. And even than I think they’d need a bit more back up to deal with one of the more roided up Nobles.”
Winnie hummed, “yeah, i can see that.”
Rotom buzzed in excitement at the cool new video it had for its collection. My watch beeped as Glados said something to the plasma ghost. Rotom beeped back and sent the video to Glados to analyze.
Our attention returned to the field as the damaged battlefield rumbled and the entire platform withdrew into the ground and was quickly replaced by a new battleground.
Dang, that’s really useful.
Then the spiky blonde haired trainer walked to the center of the new field.
“you think i’ll ever be able to mega evolve?” Winnie asked.
“Mmmm, I doubt it.” I replied, watching the two security trainers pausing their conversation and coming to attention. “I don’t think there’s a mega stone for Zoroark, and even if there was one I don’t know if it would even work on a regional variant.”
Winnie’s ears slightly drooped in disappointment, “hmm, too bad then.”
I patted his back, “Hey man, you’d be way too overpowered with mega evolution and illusion powers combined.”
The illusion fox scoffed, “there’s no such thing as overpowered, especially when it comes to me.”
Spiky blonde sent out a Manectric that shook itself before looking around. It had a collar embedded with a Manectite that matched its trainer’s mega bracelet in style.
“hey!” Winnie pointed at the spikey blonde trainer and her Manectric, “her hair matches manectric’s head like how that red guy has a haircut like a pyroar’s mane! that’s funny, do trainers make their hair look like their pokemon’s this often?”
I shrugged, “Heck if I know.”
Banette floated out of my shadow and whispered in my ear, “Hey. Hey Az. You’d look pretty good with a Banette styled haircut.”
Winnie grabbed Banette by the cloth on the back of her head and yanked the voodoo ghost away, “ahem, i was her first pokemon, so obviously her haircut should match me.”
I rolled my eyes, “Guys, I’m not restyling my hair, especially if it requires me to dye it.
Banette stretched her face, “Boooooor–ing~”
I crossed my arms and retorted. “Says the literal RAG ghost with no hair.”
“Boooooo.” Winnie replied.
Our banter was interrupted by an excited bark from Manectric. The discharge Pokemon wagged its tail in anticipation as its trainer focused on her lightly glowing keystone, she was having quite a bit of trouble making the connection.
“This is only your first attempt, so don’t feel the need to rush.” Sycamore reassured her, “Take a deep breath and focus on your memories with Manectric, Manectric, you focus on your connection with Tessa.”
Following the professor’s advice, the trainer closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she refocused. Manectric copied its trainer.
It took a few moments, but a similar thing to Gallade and Venusaur’s mega evos happened. The strands were slower to connect but once they did, Manectric began to glow with the colors of electricity.
There was a crackling burst of electricity as the mega evolution finished. Mega Manectric howled as it felt a massive surge of power, releasing strands of electricity into its surroundings.
I clamped my hands over my ears as the lightning bolt shaped dog howled again. Winnie cringed and quickly covered his ears too as Manectric’s trainer shouted ecstatically about their success.
“geez, language, language!” Banette tutted and wagged a finger.
“The dog or the human?” I asked.
Sycamore cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted over Manectric’s howls, “Great job! Now try to release the connection–oh.”
The trainer staggered as the full force of the energy drain from the mega evolution hit her and she fainted, collapsing to the ground.
Gogoat was instantly there to catch the trainer with Vine Whip and it leapt away as Manectric’s eyes turned red and the electricity around it turned violent.
There was a scream from Justine and a bunch of expletives from Yamask as a bolt of electricity struck just a few feet away from the researchers.
The lightning bolt shaped dog howled again, this time its voice tinged with a whine of pain as it released a barrage of lightning in every direction.
My hair rose as it got charged with static and I jumped out of my seat, “Oh shit.”
Glados popped out of my watch, and Winnie stood to attention, ready to jump into action.
Cosette and the professor calmly moved Justine behind them as Chesnaught strode into the arena, its muscles bulging as it reflexively used Bulk Up.
There was a magnetic hum and the electricity from Manectric arced away towards a Rhyperior that the Lysandre Tech employee had sent out.
Two more flashes from pokeballs revealed a Jolteon and a Pawmot that the gym trainer sent out, both of them sending a barrage of golden stars at Manectric to get its attention on them.
The moment all Pokemon were in the arena Cosette pressed the remote again, reinstating the forcefield.
Blue lighting enveloped Manectric’s form, violently popping and crackling, leaving scorch marks on the ground as it harshly lit up the entire place, then the mega Pokemon charged Pawmot and Jolteon.
The two electric types ran in and narrowly dodged the mega Pokemon, getting just close enough to sap a large amount of its electricity with Volt Absorb and distract it so that Rhyperior get in its an attack. The ground type swung a powerful Hammer Arm down, beating the mega Pokemon into the ground.
Grass sprouted around the field and a green glow emanated from the ground as Chesnaught set up Grassy Terrain.
The spiny armor Pokemon shouted something to the others, who nodded and moved back as Rhyperior used Rock Tomb, slamming a wall of rock in between the berserk mega Pokemon and itself and the two electric types.
Then Chesnaught shouted a Taunt at Manectric, throwing a few Mud Shots at it to aggro it. It didn’t take much to get Manectric to attack, the lightning bolt shaped Pokemon charging at its new target with another ridiculously powerful Wild Charge.
Rhyperior, Pawmot, and Jolteon activated their abilities, draining the electricity that Manectric generated.
Chesnaught swung a Hammer Arm sideways, redirecting Manectric’s charge. Then the mega Pokemon tripped from a Grass Knot that had sprung up and grappled its front legs. The grass-type steadily grabbed Manectric by the hind legs and sumo threw it to keep it winded before manhandling the electric dog into a chokehold
Manectric snarled and snapped as it struggled to get out of Chesnaught’s tenacious grip, but its electricity was constantly absorbed by Jolteon, Pawmot, and Rhyperior.
Finally, Manectric’s rabid snarling ceased as it ran out of oxygen and fainted, and iridescent light burst out of its body, turning it back into its un-mega evolved state.
I sat back down as I watched Gogoat return Manectric to its Pokeball and carry the unconscious trainer out one of the side doors. Chesnaught smoothed down its own singed and staticy fur while the gym trainer and Lysandre Tech employee returned their Pokemon.
Why the fuck did I never think of something like that? It’s not gonna work on every Pokemon but it’s sure gonna work on an electric dog. I need to keep that in mind for future battles.
“urgh, my fur’s all frizzy.” Winnie huffed. I could hear little pops of static as he smoothed down his fur.
Banette poked Winnie, zapping him with static and giggled. Rotom buzzed and poked both of them, zapping them.
There was a loud burst of conversation from Cosette, Justine, and the professor as they excitedly talked about their energy reading stuff. Justine and her ghosts looked a little frazzled, but Cosette and Sycamore were completely unfazed.
I mean, if they do this stuff regularly then taking out a rampaging mega would be pretty procedural for them.
“Man, I hope I’ll be able to mega evolve Sahara soon.” I said, “She’ll be an absolute battle beast.”
Winnie shuddered, “i don’t even wanna imagine what that she-dragon is capable of in a rampage.”
“I bet she could kill a legendary with a single glare if she was mega evolved.” Banette added.
I shrugged, “Well, it’ll be a while before you have to deal with the prospect of that happening.” Even if I’m right about the mega stone location, I have no idea where to find a keystone. And don’t get me started on finding, catching, and raising a Beldum to get a Metagross.
Once Justine and the others were done talking about the data they’d gathered, the professor took the liberty to show us around the rest of the lab. Mostly just a training area for me, some research labs and equipment for Justine, the fancy ass cafeteria they had, and the rooms they had for scientists and trainers staying here.
The rooms were super nice, like one of those luxury hotel rooms, courtesy of Lysandre’s funding. Too bad I wouldn’t be staying in them for too long. I didn’t want to hang around the lab considering it greatly increased my chances of encountering Lysandre again.
I’d hang around long enough to get the Rufflet delivery and dip.
According to Cosette, Route 4 this time of the year was a great place to train beginner Pokemon. League season was starting soon, so there’d be plenty of trainers out and about looking to get their team into shape for upcoming gym challenges.
It was a pretty ideal opportunity to train my team while I looked for mega stones and avoided the Kalos Lab like the plague. Ten out of ten plan.