Shalour City

"The old man is certainly unpleasant, isn't he?"

It was rare for a Nurse Joy to sound annoyed at something, but Drake happened to hear the rare sound as he lounged around in a Pokémon Center while Dragonite was in back getting something for his stomach.

(The tea was starting to disagree with him)

Also rare was the fact this Nurse Joy was old looking, with graying pink hair and a wizened face that looked old enough to have been young when Gurkinn had been so. Was that normal in Kalos?

"My granddaughter is out on a date with a nice Jenny today, if you're wondering why an old crone is up here," the Joy snarked as he blinked and shook his head.

He'd have never used the term 'crone'.

"The man's had a stick up his ass about Mega Evolution for years," the old woman caught him off guard with the use of a dirty word, which seemed to amuse her when she noted his surprise, "ever since Tarasque."

"And what did he do exactly, shoplift some tea?"

"He teamed up with a foreign criminal named Heratia and together the two killed an old billionaire who lived in town. He funded so many things, from getting the Shalour Sewer System built on his own money to the local park system, and the two brutally killed him and stole all his stuff before breaking into the bank he kept his money, taking all the money there and sending the city into a five year depression and budget crisis." The Joy deadpanned as Drake had nothing to say in response.

"Gurkinn takes things too far over it, but his complex doesn't come from nothing. Why do you think he's the only one keeping the Tower of Mastery up?"

There were….many ways to take that. Dead parents, dead siblings, dead siblings and parents….

"He mentioned he had someone….." Drake began asking as the old woman nodded.

"Korrina, his granddaughter." The old man reproduced?

"She was a ball of energy, that one. Always skating around, brightening up everyone with her smile. She was set up to take over the Shalour Gym when she turned twenty, and was Gurkinn's best student."

"So, where is this bundle of energy, and is she as much a hardass about Mega Evolution as he is?"

"Why do you think she'd not here anymore?" the old Joy quipped as she pulled a map out from behind the counter.

"I hate holomaps, so you'll have to use paper for this one. It's outdated, but seeing as mountains don't change you'd be able to find her easily unlike some street address. Even if you don't, there's a master equal to Gurkinn who lives there."

He noted the point she was pointing too: Pomace Mountain. It was a bit of a trip, but Dragonite was not against flying him to places.

Just against battling after he did that, at least until a good rest.

"I'd leave tomorrow, there are some strong gusts over there at the moment. Until then, seeing as I'm not busy right now do you have anything more you want to know?"

"How much of what he said was true? Specifically, the part about melting tails and uncontrollable rage?" Drake wanted to get some clarification on that first.

The old Joy was silent for a moment.

"Mega Evolution does not last after a battle ends, and thus I have never had anyone come in about a melted tail. I do not claim to be an expert on what a mega evolution in practice is or isn't like. However what I do know is that it is not a problem to those who have mastered it. What happens in between, I suspect Korrina can tell you better than I can."

----------------------------------------

The Hills of Kalos

The Orange Islands did not have many hills.

They had slopes and peaks, but the idea of rolling hills was something that Drake had never had context for.

Flying with Dragonite through the air, he found himself mesmerized by the endless series of green hills, mixed with mountains that felt different from the ones in the Orange Islands.

Was it the fact they weren't volcanic?

"This is a bit different than the old days, isn't it?" Drake asked Dragonite, who grunted in agreement.

When they traveled more, it was as a recently started trainer and starter Pokémon across the expanse of the Orange Islands. While they had once taken boats, it was Dragonite's time as a Dragonair that had really let them see their home in great detail.

Taking a boat took you in a single direction, while riding with your partner had you appreciate distance a lot better. The majesty of the warm waters, both in beauty and in peril, as well as the marvel of finding islands off the beaten path that a boat would not take you too.

It also cost less than paying for your transport.

"I don't think I've ever seen so much green. You'd think the warm islands would be greener than this place….Is it something else? The soil maybe…."

Dragonite let out an unconcerned grunt. Clearly Dragonite was not curious as to the soil compositional differences between continents and island chains.

Come to think of it, Drake wasn't too interested in it either, as it would probably just be over-science talk saying 'soil on continent is better than soil on island'.

A low growl, mourning in tone, rang out from below. Dragonite shuddered in a startled reaction to it as Drake pointed down.

"Let's check it out. If it's something small, I'd feel better fixing it now than wondering what it was later." At the command Dragonite swooped down to the forest below, fluttering to a stop on a grassy hilly.

Drake hopped off his partner's back as Dragonite stretched, clearly feeling the pressure of carrying him for a good while.

Drake let his partner regain feeling as he climbed up a nearby hill, wondering if he could figure out where the sound was coming from.

His wondering last for about five seconds before another, much closer wail clued his eyes onto the origin of the sound.

At the bottom of the hill, curled up in a miserable heap, was a Pokémon.

It was mostly blue, with a pair of large red wings furled up against itself. It looked like Dragonite in form and function (i.e, Dragon and Flying), but horizontal where Dragonite was vertical.

It radiated misery.

Drake discretely tapped his belt, releasing Gengar, who floated behind him as Drake turned and whispered an order.

"If it looks like that Pokémon is going to get aggressive, back me up."

Gengar nodded in agreement as Drake descended down the hill, with Gengar floating behind him.

He slid down in front of the depressed dragon, who looked up at him for only a moment before lowering its head in apathy.

"Is something wrong with your wing?" Drake asked the Pokémon. Without response from the great Pokémon Drake looked over the two red wings for any clue.

He didn't see anything that looked wrong, and he had seen his fair share of injuries to wings in his time.

Slowly he approached the slacking head of the dragon, and reached for said head.

It didn't react as he opened the mouth and looked at the teeth.

"No broken teeth either…." He closed the mouth, which hung limply as he moved to lift the front left limb.

No splinter or some other irritant either.

Drake held the back of his hand on the Pokémon's neck, wondering if like on Dragonite it would tell him if the Pokémon was feeling bad.

The Pokémon didn't feel too hot. Then again, he wasn't sure how warm this species was supposed to be normally, so he might missing something.

Dragonite landed behind him, his breath caught as Gengar gave him a look from the corner of his eye.

Gengar promptly floated over to a nearby tree and began eating at an apple now that guard duty was officially Dragonite's.

Dragonite let out a concerned whimper at the sight of the dragon before tapping at his stomach.

Drake got the message and poked his head under the dragon.

The dragon's ribs were showing.

"That does it," Drake declared as he reached for his bag and pulled a stray Pokéball.

The caretaker had given him several before he left: it was his idea that perhaps his intel would be wrong and he could simply see Pokémon he might want to catch to throw the internet off instead.

Or that he'd find something cute and want to take it home with him as a pet.

The idea that he'd find a Pokémon that had something wrong with it that he'd need to take to someone with medical knowledge wasn't what was given as a possible reason, but he'd make use of it.

He pushed the ball forward towards the Pokémon's head, only for it to shield away from it.

He tried for the shoulder, only for the Pokémon to deliberately spread out and collapse to the ground.

He tried for the wing, only for the Pokémon to shrug away.

"…..I'm only doing this so I can take you to a Nurse Joy or someone capable of healing on Pomace Mountain, if they have someone like that. I am not going to just leave you to die, and I can let you go if you really want to come back here," Drake told the dragon, who shook its head and let out a self-hating growl.

Drake stared at that dragon in shock for such a move.

"Are…..are you suicidal?" Pokémon could be like that? He always assumed that suicidal thoughts were a human thing, Pokémon were capable of feeling that way?

Then again, he had never asked. He had never tracked down Professor Ivy to ask her if Pokémon could feel suicidal. There was no context that such a question would normally need to be asked.

Dragonite stepped forward and gave him a nod. Drake nodded back as Dragonite stepped closer to the other Pokémon, and held up its head.

The growl of 'let me go' was silenced as it was sucked into the Pokéball for stasis and later medical treatment.

Drake stared at the ball as it locked, Gengar floating back to them with a serious look for a change.

"…..Well, that was the least pleasant capture I've ever had to do," Drake darkly noted as he slipped the Pokéball into his bag.

"Pomace Mountain is closer than Shalour City: if they don't have a healer would you be up to flying the ball to Nurse Joy? I'd write a note for you so she knows what is going on," Drake asked Dragonite.

Dragonite nodded affirmative, and with a returning of Gengar the trip to Pomace Mountain continued.

….

The elevation was climbing as the mountain grew closer.

Drake kept his eyes on the prize, as well as an eye on Dragonite.

It was unlikely that Dragonite would have issues carrying him, but at the first sign of one he'd get his partner to land.

It would take a lot more work to walk, but there were more important things than time saved and energy spared.

A flash of orange down below caught his eye up ahead: as did the distant murmur of human voices. Barely audible over the wind, but still present.

People?

"Dragonite, land up ahead if you can. Sounds like people are ahead, and it probably will be more polite if I walk up to them instead of having the two of us land in front of them," Drake told his first Pokémon, who whooed in agreement as he began descending.

The descent was followed by a few minutes walking up the hill, which wasn't a problem for either him or Dragonite.

Eventually the orange color he saw earlier came into view, and what he saw…..

"Look, I really fail to see why you won't want to join us? With what you know, we'll even waive the fee to only twenty-percent. Surely everyone has one million to spare."

Drake wasn't sure what the strangest part of that sentence was.

The idea that everyone had that kind of money lying around.

The fact that it was said by one of a duo dressed in completely orange three piece suits with orange shades visible on the back of their heads clinging to dyed orange hair.

Or the fact the latter said the former with complete sincerity, and not sarcasm at all.

"I can think of a few reasons: not only is your fashion sense horrible, but you keep bugging us. We really need to put up a sign telling you to stop coming here." In front of the two in eye bleeding orange was a short young man of an 'I've been training for a while' age.

With an all green coat and pants, large red-rimmed glasses, umbrella in his hand like some sort of aristocrat, and a voice that Drake could only call 'punchable', he wasn't sure the kid should be talking about horrible fashion sense.

"You can't, this isn't private property," the other orange dressed one said in a voice that was less whiny, and more 'I know the laws' factual. Drake had to admit it sounded odd coming from the person.

Were they capable of intelligence underneath the orange?

"You are getting close to it, and we're here to tell you two you aren't wanted and to go away." A second person with the punchable kid in green, was a girl who seemed a bit older than him. Blond hair with a hint of brown was done up in a ponytail, with gray eyes staring back at the orange dressed. She was wearing some sort of body suit with a membrane that seemed meant for catching wind and gliding around. Was that something Kalosians liked to do?

"Well the two of us aren't there yet, so you can't stop us with your chatter," the first orange man declared as the girl looked at them with a bit of realization.

So far it didn't seem to be that he was standing behind them.

"Wasn't there a third one of you bozos? The idiot thought to fight me in a Sky Battle and lost," the girl questioned as the other two fashion rejects looked uneasy.

"Oh… Triboulet…..yeah he took what you said a bit too literally."

"He really tried to kick his own ass and spare us the trouble?" the green haired one snarked.

"No. The guy remembered what you all said about 'if you want to keep bothering you, actually get a Mega Evolution too then maybe you could stop bothering us to see our own'. So he called up his daddy and got same day delivery on a Salamencite and Key Stone and tried it out. His funeral was yesterday."

Gurkinn's words about aggression rang through Drake's head as the orange people noted it, and his thoughts drifted to the Dragon he had captured to save its life earlier.

Was that a Salamanc….something? Salamanca? Salamanci? Salamancue? Salamance? Possibly the one they were talking about.

"I…do not even want to know what he managed to mess up for that to happen, but that doesn't mean you can badger us at Granny's place," the green kid declared as the two orange people held up a pair of Pokéballs at the two.

"When we beat your Mega Evolved Pokémon, you won't have any reason to deny us," the second declared as the gliding girl looked at them oddly.

"I appreciate effort as much as the next girl, but how many times has this been that you've insisted on fighting our Mega Evolutions? I've beaten you two, formerly three, twice, Pendula three times, Astrid twice, Freman four times, heck even Vermell beat you two once already!"

"On his own, cheeky league winning lump," Muttered the punchable one.

"What can we say, we feel confident today." Orange guy the first said confidently, though something about his tone rubbed Drake the wrong way.

It was confident, but not in an 'I will win a battle' way.

It was more what he heard whenever he lost a chess game to a sneaky player.

"Escavalier!"

"Accelgor!" Both of the orange twosome shouted as they threw their balls out.

Popping out in front of them were a pair of Pokémon Drake had never seen before.

The first was a Pokémon with a shiny shell that made Drake think it was part Steel type. It had a pair of spears for arms and hovered a bit over the field with some sort of magnetism.

The second was blue and pink, and had a body that made Drake assume it was agile. It sort of felt like a Bug-type to Drake, though he wasn't sure.

"You up for showing them the Mega Evolution they insist on fighting and losing against today? Venusaur isn't really a good match for these two." Green boy asked the girl.

Venusaur could Mega Evolve? That was good to know.

"Fine with me." She reached into a pocket in her suit and pulled out a ball of her own.

The two orange suits jumped back nearly onto him, only to turn around and looked at him like they only realized he was there now.

"Hey, who are you supposed to be? You aren't one of the local mountain family,” the orange one who sent out the fast looking Pokémon shouted in alarm.

"You only just noticed he was here?" snarked the green one.

"You know what; people don't come here for no reason. Let's make this interesting with a four on four!" the metal orange one declared as the girl looked at them with an annoyed look.

"There are three of us."

"Figure it out yourselves!" The two in orange threw out two more Pokéballs, releasing Pokémon to join the battle.

Though they were ones that Drake recognized, being a Rhydon and a Golduck.

"If you insist!" Drake briefly considered declaring he was the Head Gym Leader of the Orange Islands, but decided against it as he threw out a Pokéball and jumped back as his choice of Pokémon was released.

"GRARHHHHH!"

Somehow the two in orange were not impressed by his Onix.

"….What knob uses an Onix instead of a Steelix?" one grunt wondered.

"You know people could say that of a Rhydon too you know, go!" the green kid threw out a Pokéball of his own, revealing the green evolution of Poliwhirl Politoed.

Not to be confused with the blue evolution of Poliwhirl, Poliwrath.

The girl followed up with a strong throw to release a Pidgeot, which stood over the Politoed and eyed the orange people in a familiar, 'are we doing this again' sort of look.

Around the Pidgeot's leg was a metal band with a stone glittering around it, much like the holder around Gurkinn's Lucario.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Seeing as I let Y here have the big role, I'll be taking the other Pokémon today!" green kid, without asking him first, threw out a second Pokémon to join Politoed.

It was some sort of monkey, with red fur and a white collar around its neck.

"Simi!" It declared as the battle began.

"Use Scald!" The Golduck's orange trainer commanded as the duck let the water jet fly at Onix, clearly confident that the boiling hot water would take Onix down.

He seemed rather surprised when Onix easily twisted out of the way of the attack.

Clearly they never picked up that Onix evolving into Steelix was not like most evolutions. It was not a full on upgrade.

Speed was sacrificed.

"Dragon Breath!" And he would push that advantage.

Onix breathed out a purple hazy flame right at Golduck, who took the blast and was pushed back right at the Politoed, who flared up a Dynamic Punch and smacked the Golduck right back into the center.

It promptly began to wobble even as yellow static flared up around it. It had paralysis and confusion, and was promptly recalled out of the fight.

"Use Earthquake!" the Rhydon orange trainer shouted as the first two Pokémon hopped into the air: the metal one throwing the fast looking one up before the fast one use a string of glowing insect constructs to pull up the steel bug.

Rhydon then stomped down hard, shaking the entire area as Pidgeot took flight.

"Use Sand Tomb below yourself to cushion the ground!" Drake knew how to counter this. Onix roared as sand began spewing from between itself, forming a layer of sediment and a buffer to the attack.

Drake hopped onto the sand to minimize the shake up on his end.

The shakeup rattled Politoed and 'Y', and knocked over Simisear and punchable kid.

Also the orange people, also the trees and mountain. Y's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Do you two want to start a landslide!? I was going to see if we could bother not doing this for once, but I'm sending the two of you to Oz! Pidgeot!"

Pidgeot let out a call of agreement as the girl reached into her suit and pulled out a locket, which she opened to reveal the same sort of stone Gurkinn had tapped before Mega Evolution occurred.

She promptly tapped it, as yellow strings of light shot out up towards Pidgeot.

The two in orange let out a garbled shriek of fright, but Drake noticed something.

Their freaked out mouths were not those of terror or fear, but 'yes, yes, we've done it!'

Even with a hint of 'this will suck', there was still a hint of triumph on their faces, even as their orange flame buckles seemed to flash for a moment.

The lights met Pidgeot's leg band and like Lucario, the bird began to glow orange and shift. It grew larger wings and feathers, becoming much larger Pokémon.

The orange light exploded out, revealing a Pidgeot with blue tipped wings glaring at the orange duo.

"Take cover behind your Onix, and have it anchor itself!" Y shouted as Onix quickly slammed his tail into the earth.

"Hurricane!"

Pidgeot flapped its wings, creating a massive wind storm that flew at the two in orange.

Drake quickly ducked behind Onix as Onix steeled himself.

"This is why we have parachute….." was all the Grunts had to say before being blown away by the winds, along with a few dead trees, into the distance. Drake's gaze followed them a ways, and indeed he did seem them deploy parachutes.

Very bright orange parachutes.

As Drake watched them fall away, Pidgeot landed in front of him and returned back to normal as the two trainers approached him cautiously.

Dragonite and Onix standing in ready in case it got ugly.

"So, now that those annoyances are gone for maybe a week, what brings you out here?" Y questioned cautiously as Pidgeot eyed Dragonite, completely skipping over Onix.

Onix grumbled lowly, clearly feeling insulted. Drake assume it was simply a case of Pidgeot recognizing that Dragonite was more powerful even beyond the 'evolved' arguments, nothing more.

"This is Pomace Mountain, correct?" Drake questioned as the punchable kid eyed him.

"Who wants to know?"

"Someone who was told that a Mega Evolution expert lives here who doesn't have a stick up their ass," Drake declared as Y raised an eyebrow.

"Gurkinn's still jerkin'?"

"Yes," Drake said simply at the joke given as the two kids eyed one another, before gesturing up the mountain.

"Well if you've come out all the way here, might as well come on up. If you're wasting all our times, you can leave quicker."

Punchable kid's words were quickly ignored as Drake returned Onix and said kid his own Pokémon as Pidgeot flew on ahead, followed by the three humans and Dragonite.

…

A bit more walking up the mountain path found the forest ending, and a mountain slope was revealed.

A large grass covered plain, awash with fresh mountain breezes that were almost drinkable with flavors, even as the nearby mountains shone with worn brilliant stone.

Drake couldn't help but smile in amazement as he saw them.

"…..Yeah, I was like too when I first saw the stuff," the girl who called herself Y admitted with her head turned back his way.

"Mountains like this were created millions of years ago by colliding tectonic plates. These mountains used to be even taller than they are now, and stretched ever father. Glaciers and rivers formed the lands between them, creating the swamps and the plains." The punchable kid mused in a tone that sounded like it came off a documentary.

Well now he knew the geographical history of Kalos…what he'd do with that information was a question to be answered later.

They walked through the breezy meadow for a good few more minutes as a tree came into view: a massive deciduous variety of some sort that had a house at its base, and several dozen more outbuildings and structures sticking out of it at random.

It honestly reminded him of a cartoon he once watched during a sick day after he lost the remote. It had something to do with two by four technology and some guy obsessed with toilets or something.

Pidgeot was standing in front of them, staring at Dragonite with the same look of recognition within its eyes.

Even with Mega Evolution, the bird knew that Dragonite would be a powerful opponent. What that said about Dragonite made Drake feel a swelling of pride in his chest.

But where was the master that old Joy talked about? What did he look and act like anyway?

Pidgeot gestured and Y returned the bird, the red light that resulted fading away as a hovering chair's shape was revealed.

This was followed shortly by the occupant of the chair, whose appearance became quite clear.

"Why, this is certainly a surprise. Tell me, what brings the head gym leader of the Orange Crew all the way out here?" asked the wrinkled woman shorter than Drake was before puberty, her eyes squinted slits obscured by a straw hat.

The master was an old woman…..his mistake.

Y and the boy yet unnamed looked at him in surprise.

"The Orange Islands?"

"They have gym leaders there?"

Drake ignored the second statement.

"I'll admit I don't know how it is done: before I ask for your assistance do I bow or curtsey or…." Drake decided to make he'd be doing the correct politeness gesture as the woman shook her head.

"I'm no queen so that is unnecessary."

"Okay then." And with that, Drake explained.

He told the woman about what he had been noticing with his wins recently, the discovering of the documentation of his weaknesses and the building up of a blueprint for beating him. He explained the reason he came here, why he had come to her mountain specifically, and what had happened when he went to speak with Gurkinn about the same desire.

The woman was silent for a moment.

"I see…..tell me, why can't you simply retire if an untarnished record is what you seek?

Wasn't that the same response Gurkinn gave him?

"That isn't an option," Drake stated simply. The woman's gaze (or what he could tell of it) wandered a bit.

If Drake had to guess, it was towards Dragonite.

The gaze of the woman lingered for a moment before a smile formed on her face.

"I see. Come with me."

The hover chair promptly rotated one hundred and eighty degrees before floating along the windy plains.

Drake followed, and did so for about three minutes until they came upon a dip in the hill that looked rather comfy. Could one sleep on it?

That was what he was pretty sure people did on wind swept slopes of grass after all.

The old woman smiled, before whistling. A moment later a pink shape descended from the sky and landed on top of Dragonite's head, before glowing green.

The green glow extended out beneath Dragonite, enriching the plant life at Dragonite's feet. Dragonite developed a relaxed look on his face from this.

"There, this Hoppip's Grassy Terrain will restore Dragonite for when you'll need him," the woman declared as Drake moved to ask what she meant, but she wasn't done.

"Oh Pendula!" the woman called.

A Pendula? What sort of Pokémon was that supposed to be?

He did see a Pokémon here that looked like a keyring, was there a Pendulum Pok….

A blond head popped up from behind an obscuring bush: a blond head of hair done up short. A pair of red eyes looked at the woman in surprise, under which were a pair of marks.

"Granny, is something up?"

"Battle this man, would you dear?" the old woman said simply as Drake looked at her in surprise.

A look mirrored by everyone else here.

"Um granny, battling is more my thing…." the bespectacled boy began as she smiled.

"Oh I know Herbert. However I need to see for myself where this man is beyond what title he holds. Pendula's strengths may not be in battle, but she'll make an excellent start."

Not in battle? Was she a Pokémon Coordinator or something?

The Pendula girl stood up over the bush, stepping over it and approached, and Drake was surprised with what he noted.

Namely that the girl was about as tall as he was!

When she walked over to him, she could look him right in the eye. She couldn't be much older than Luana's son….

What did they feed girls in Kalos!?

She was hardly gangly, and her pink and black dress and black tights did work for her, but Drake would have to think if he had ever seen a girl that tall.

Even among adult women.

"How many Pokémon you want?" Pendula questioned, unaware of just how confounding her height was to him.

"Three will be good."

She nodded as she reached for a Pokéball and flung it into the air. She jumped back as the ball released out a Pokémon Drake was aware of, but had never seen.

After all the magnetism that would induce a Magneton to become Magnezone was not found in the Orange Islands.

"Then three it is."

Y and Herbert took some steps back while the old woman calmly had her hover chair reverse, a move followed by Dragonite and his Hoppip hat.

"Alright, I'll follow. Electabuzz, go!"

Drake's electric Pokémon popped up with a stretching motion of electricity trailing along her body.

"I'll let you go first." Drake told the tall girl who nodded.

"Magnezone let's start with Lock-On!"

Magnezone's eye flared red as a red dot formed on Electabuzz's chest. She rubbed it, but it did not go away.

"Now Zap Cannon!" Magnezone formed a yellow ball of sparking light in front of itself and fired it right at Electabuzz.

"Block it with Mud Slap!" Drake shouted as Electabuzz slammed her fists into the ground. The shakeup formed a stream of brown earth to slam into the oncoming electrical attack, fizzling it out.

"Now Dynamic Punch!" Electabuzz charged in the wake of the falling mud attack, her fist glowing red with the powerful attack.

"Magnet Rise!" Pendula's command was followed by a rising Magnezone floating over the arena. Two steps into the dart however, Electabuzz smashed the ground with Dynamic Punch, flinging herself into the air and spinning for a moment, her tail smacking Magnezone's underside.

Electabuzz then spun around and decked Magnezone with the glowing punch, sending the Electric-Steel type crashing into the earth below as Electabuzz landed mostly gracefully.

Pendula returned Magnezone, who was beeping weakly.

The Magnezone had good power and motion, it was clearly not untrained. However the reaction time to Electabuzz's jump was not what he was used to seeing.

It was slow.

It made sense really: Pendula's strength's 'were not in battle', so she did something else. Pokéathlon training, coordinating, some Kalosian third thing….it was training, but not in the way of battle.

Still, while he had stopped that Zap Cannon, the move showed good power and force. That would not have been good to take, even with a type resistance.

Pendula sent out a second Pokémon, which landed in front of Electabuzz. It wasn't one he had seen before: being some sort of black Pokémon with features like an Arcanine or Houndoom, but bipedal. It had red claws and a long red mane of hair behind itself.

Drake assumed it was a Dark-type, but what it was beyond that was beside him.

"You're pretty good. I'm not going to really get you to show your stuff for Granny if I fight you like a trainer," Pendula declared.

"So, you are to fight me as what exactly?" A baker perhaps? Was she going to throw cookies at him to distract him or something?

….If that was the case, could he make requests of which sort to throw his way? He preferred sugar cookies personally, but he could make do with snicker doodles.

"No, as a Pokémon Performer!" Pendula declared as her Pokémon lunged forward.

"Electabuzz, remember my voice! If that thing is a performer, it might try to sound like me to throw us off!" Drake declared, remembering the traveling troupes of performers he had seen.

Voice control and ventriloquism could be a dangerous thing in battle!

"We're not vocal performers," Pendula quipped as her Pokémon shimmered in form, even as Electabuzz prepared to generate a layer of static electricity around herself.

The static faltered when it wasn't a Pokémon of unknown name and type lunging at her, but of a blonde girl with a fox like grin, dressed in bright pink show get up.

Said girl's right hand suddenly had a baton in hand, which swiped across Electabuzz with a reddish-black glow.

Electabuzz stammered back as Pendula and the Pokémon turned girl bowed in unison.

"We use visuals," Pendula declared.

Yes, that did seem to be true but….what was even the Pokémon you were using?

Was it some sort of Kalosian Ditto? If so, how did it use Night Slash? Electabuzz could not use that move.

"Electabuzz, Thunderbolt!" His electric type began generating the electrical energy, as the Pokémon who was now looking like a pop singer feigned a look of terror and shock at the sight of the attack.

Feign, as in Drake could tell that it was exaggerating. He had seen theater troupes after all, and he knew that some Pokémon were good at playing such gambits and tricks.

Mostly Ghost and Dark types, and a few Normal types.

"El…." Electabuzz stopped generating electricity, looking nervously at the faux terror.

"Electabuzz?" Drake questioned, not sure what was going on.

"Now, let's keep this up! This is all dress rehearsal for our third princess key, let's see how convincing we can make it! Let's try something more dance this time!" The Pokémon darted forward, shimmering in its human form again.

Electabuzz generated electricity for an attack in the few seconds it was changing, but it fizzled out again as the blonde human illusion reappeared, this time as more of a ballerina type performer.

Said illusion spun around and kicked Electabuzz with a sweeping leg motion.

Electabuzz was knocked down, as Drake got a sinking suspicion what was going on.

He had first met Electabuzz as an Elekid years ago. Back them she was an aggressive Pokémon, who did not hesitate to attack humans and Pokémon alike to get what she wanted.

He had put in a lot of work to break her of that habit, to get her to not harm people in the midst of his travels and rise to position as Head Gym Leader.

He was now reaping the consequences of a long process of training against attacking people.

"Return," he called Electabuzz back. This wasn't going to end well.

The disguised Pokémon stood with Pendula, waiting for his next Pokémon.

"So, what do you think of my Zoroark's little tricks?"

"I'm thinking I now know the name of your Pokémon," Drake declared simply as he sent out Venusaur. His old friend roared, as he caught Herbert react to his Venusaur.

He was happy to see that the look was of being impressed. That felt good, he would make sure Venusaur was aware of it after this.

"Knowing my Pokémon's name won't make it any easier for you: go!" The Zoroark charged as a ballerina at his somewhat confused Venusaur.

"Vine Whip!" There was a difference between his Electabuzz and Venusaur.

Venusaur did not need extensive training to not go after human trainers in cheap shots. As a result of this lack of necessary training, a vine swatted the faux ballerina away.

"Saur?" Venusaur grunted as the ballerina became the fox once more became visibly a fox. It struggled up, glaring at Venusaur as Pendula looked a bit put off.

"I guess that last one was a fluke. Still, I have a few more tricks, even if I am not sure they'd win me a Princess Key without a really specific theme performance. Double Team!"

The Zoroark was suddenly now five, even if only one was solid.

"Vine Whip will solve that quickly," Drake declared as Pendula grinned.

"This theme isn't done being set up yet: Zoroark it's morphing time!"

That random reference made somewhat more sense as a red haze swept out from the Zoroark duplicates, who were now all clad in bright spandex colors of Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink, and Black, complete with face concealing masks and belts with a shiny emblem on them.

Drake and Venusaur could only stare, which Drake supposed could be considered a battle mechanic. Most opponents would be thrown off by the random appearance of media icons, and thus be a tad slow to react.

Pendula, who was now clad in a green spandex uniform as well that probably came from whatever it was Zoroark just did, took advantage of that as the Zoroark dupes charged at Venusaur with glowing blue fists and boots.

All of them struck Venusaur, but only the Red Zoroark Ranger's impact was solid and damaged Venusaur. Said rangers darted back before lunging again.

"Stop it with Sludge Bomb!" Drake focused on the Red Zoroark Ranger as Venusaur fired the globule of purple slime out of his flower like a rocket.

It landed on the charging Zoroark, who fizzled out as a dupe.

The Pink Zoroark Ranger kicked Venusaur with the glowing blue boot of spandex-clad justice instead, knocking his old friend down.

He got back up, but the Zoroark Rangers were still there, with a new Red Zoroark Ranger up and about now.

"So I see, your Zoroark's illusion can also change what the real one and the fakes look like too," Drake surmised as Pendula the Green Ranger nodded with pride.

It wasn't a bad idea at all, especially if the Double Team dupes could be quickly replaced after damage.

However there was a method of countering it he still had up his sleeve.

He signaled to Venusaur with a discrete hand motion, who knew what to do from there.

As the Zoroark Rangers charged once more he nodded to Venusaur. Venusaur grinned, before roaring loudly.

Seconds later a storm of sharp pink petals exploded out from itself, surrounding itself in a massive spinning shield of Petal Blizzard petals.

Zoroark, no longer in disguise, was thrown out of the storm at the non-spandex illusion Pendula once more, defeated.

Pendula kneeled down to check on Zoroark as Venusaur let out a victory bellow.

That was two down and one to go. Drake glanced over to Dragonite, who was looking better.

If he did need Dragonite, he'd be good to go unless this girl had something really crazy up her sleeve.

Even without battle focused training, a performance Articuno could pose him difficulties.

Zoroark recalled Pendula was now holding her last Pokéball, a grin on her face.

"Well you're pretty good. If I had never met Granny I doubt I could beat you. Let's see if me meeting Granny changes that fact."

And with that declaration, she sent out her last Pokémon, who fluttered in the air before landing in front of her with cloud like wings.

"Taria!" declared the Flying Pokémon that was blue in body with wings like clouds. A pair of blue head feathers stretched out, around which was tied a red ribbon.

That ribbon had a stone tied up in it.

This Pokémon could Mega Evolve. He'd have to be cautious.

"Substitute." Venusaur shimmered as a white glow formed around himself.

"Use Disarming Voice!" Pendula's order was followed by the bird taking into the air and taking a deep breath, before blowing manifested sound waves down.

The rings struck Venusaur without shaking the white protection at all. Drake grimaced at that.

The Pokémon could work around his defenses.

"Giga Drain!" Two holes formed in the protective layer as green energy bands shot from Venusaur, wrapping themselves around the Pokémon's neck and beginning to drain.

However while the bird let out a cry of pain from the strike, the energy flow was noticeably sluggish coming from Giga Drain.

It hurt for the relative strength difference, but the attack was barely effective.

Drake knew it would have some sort of slowdown from being Flying-type, but did this Pokémon have another type that Giga Drain wasn't agreeing with?

"Power Swap!" Pendula commanded next as the Giga Drain gained a pink aura as Venusaur let out a confused grunt. The Giga Drain became even more sluggish.

"Power Swap?" he heard Y ask.

"Yeah, it's a move that swaps the attacking powers of the opponent and yourself. Pendula was thinking about using it with Cotton Guard or something." Herbert provided exposition as Drake grimaced.

That was a new one for him, even after his many years of battle. This was going to be a problem.

That problem was compounded when Pendula pulled out a golden locket from within her shirt and held it up.

The locket looked well-crafted and expensive, and probably actually made of gold some long period ago. It had that look of well-aged riches to itself, with carvings that resembled the black marks that had appeared on Gurkinn's Lucario upon mega evolving somewhat.

They all led to the stone that Y and Gurkinn had used.

"So, what do you think? We found this by chance, and I think it looks rather nice on me. It was owned by actual royalty at one point, but I think you're more interested in the function instead of its form and history. So Altaria!" She named her Pokémon as she tapped the stone that jutted out of the heirloom.

From said stone yellow light shot forward towards Altaria, who received it with a bellow as it glowed orange and changed, shattering the Giga Drain once and for all.

Both Drake and Venusaur looked at the Pokémon in dread as the white cloud fluff took a new shape: exposing the body while giving the back a large ponytail of cumulous.

Altaria's tail grew longer, dangling down in the air with a flutter as the light exploded, revealing the Mega Altaria staring both of them down.

"Now Fury Attack!" Pendula flew down at Venusaur, the beak of the Pokémon growing longer and glowing pink.

Said beak shattered Venusaur's white defensive layer in one blow, before three more struck Venusaur in rapid succession and sent Venusaur stumbling back.

"Venusaur, can you still stand?"

"Dragon Pulse!"

Drake was answered by the green glowing energy ball striking his old friend, knocking Venusaur out before the Pokémon flew back into the air, fluttering in the air in waiting for the next battle.

Drake returned Venusaur with praise for a good job done. He didn't need to turn around to know Dragonite was walking his way, a determined look on his face.

"Dragonite, Dragon Pulse!" Drake quickly called. That move taught him something.

That Pokémon was a Flying-something type, and that attack suggested it was Dragon.

This would get things going.

Dragonite formed the green sphere in front of himself, before sending it flying at Altaria.

The attack disintegrated on impact, which left Drake dumbfounded.

What?

That was not supposed to happen. That hadn't happened since that time he was nearly killed by a Wigglytuff as a child.

That was a Fairy thing, which didn't make any sense. This wasn't a pink balloon trying to eat a younger him, and Fairy would not make Giga Drain so ineffective.

Was it possible…..

"Disarming Voice!" Pendula called as the sound waves were fired once more.

He'd have to confirm his suspicion.

"Thunderbolt!" Dragonite's antenna sparked with electrical force before firing.

The electrical attack shattered the Disarming Voice, which caused Herbert to gasp loudly in surprise. The Thunderbolt traveled up and shocked Altaria, who once again took damage from it, but less than it should have.

The answer was clear: Altaria had changed type!

As the Mega floated down awkwardly he could hear mutterings behind him.

"That did a lot to a Mega Evolution, even with a type advantage. Just how strong is that Dragonite?" Herbert questioned.

"Strong enough that they have never known defeat," declared the old woman sagely.

"Ice Beam!" If it was still Dragon-type, this would hurt.

As the tendrils of cold flew towards Altaria, Pendula had something in mind for it.

"Use Cotton Guard!" With a flap of cloudy wings Altaria blew forward a massive ball of fluff that took Ice Beam for Altaria before dropping like a lead weight to the ground below.

"Now Fury Attack!"

As Altaria flew at Dragonite with a glowing pink beak, Drake knew they'd have to work to avoid that attack.

It didn't seem like a normal Fury Attack: did this Altaria have one of those attack type changing abilities?

"Block it!" Dragonite wooed in agreement as his left fist ignited.

Fire Punch clashed with Fury Attack, deflecting the first jab. Altaria swung for a second, which was blocked by a glowing right fist.

As Brick Break and Fire Punch were used, Dragonite was out of hands to block the third jab, that struck Dragonite's hide with audible force.

"Dragonite!" Drake exclaimed in concern for his partner, moments before Dragonite stopped the fourth jab with a move of his own.

By grabbing Altaria around its entire body, trapping the bird's head to fruitlessly flail over Dragonite's shoulder out of range for a blow.

Drake knew what was next.

"Body Slam!" Dragonite jumped into the air, flipping to have Altaria on the bottom before using both his wings, and gravity, to speed to the ground.

"Protect yourself with Cotton…" Pendula shouted as they made impact into the earth with a powerful impact wave that blew the grass flat.

"….Guard…." she finished weakly as Dragonite flew back from the impact zone, looking little worse for wear that a Sitrus Berry couldn't fix.

Altaria flashed orange as it returned to normal, defeated.

The old woman drove her hover chair their way as Pendula returned Altaria with a sad smile on her face.

"You did wonderfully, take a good rest."

"That is most certainly the truth. It isn't the average trainer who can take an attack from a Champion's ace and still stand to send another back." The old woman congratulated as she turned to look at him with the look of an old person with more behind her question than the simple words.

"So, you still wish to find a solution to your concerns about defeat?"

Drake nodded in agreement as the old woman gave him a sagely smile.

"Very well, we will oblige your wishes. For as long as you have here in Kalos, we'll help you gain the power to overcome your fear of defeat. Once a day, you will battle one of my grandchildren. By the time you leave, you will have grown."

Drake nodded again in thanks, before the words the woman was saying registered a bit more.

"Are you doing that 'mysterious old mentor giving a lesson that the young student doesn't realize' thing?"

The old woman smiled mischievously.

"I'm hardly that mysterious, though I am certainly old. But yes, perhaps I'm doing that, perhaps I am not. I have my own suggestions for you, but perhaps you will walk away from us with a mega stone and the knowledge to use it should fate move in that way. Perhaps you will have something else. We can only see can't we? Now come, let's see if we can get you settled in at Casa Mabel. We can heal your Pokémon while we're at it too, follow me."

Drake, assuming that Mabel was the name of the old woman, followed the old woman and her three grandchildren that looked nothing alike, Dragonite following in tow.

….

As the day turned to an end, Drake stared at the ceiling he had been provided, thoughts railing in his mind.

He had a few weeks to figure out whatever lesson it was that he was supposed to learn, then he'd be stronger.

Even if it wasn't as straight forward as 'learn this and I'll teach you mega evolution', it would be something. Something that would make him stronger, and throw off the people who were trying to create the perfect Drake trap.

Even if he had no idea what that thing would be.

"….Why would I be last?" He heard a voice ring through the quiet. It wasn't a voice he had heard yet, and it had a trace of an accent that Drake wasn't that familiar with.

"Trust an old gran Vermell, she knows what she is doing." Mabel declared in a soothing voice, just in his audible range.

"His strength is great. Even for his region’s reputation, his power is in the range of Drasna and Siebold, if not Diantha herself. I'm the only one here who has ever battled one of them; there is no way that any of the others could defeat him."

Drake couldn't help but smile at the comparison.

"You underestimate them Vermell, though I must admit I do like the concern I hear in your tone. It's good for you to care about others. No, Drake does not need to learn a lesson of power, which you are best to test him on. No, it's a totally other lesson he needs to learn if he wants to grow."

Drake felt an annoyed look cross his face. He did not get to where he was today by being some nimrod who thought you could make it by, say, burning your Ursaring into obedience with a Thunderbolt for two hours or something monstrous and idiotic like that. He did not need a lesson in treating Pokémon with respect and love.

Sure, if someone wanted to be really pedantic the fact it took him until after the introductions and battle that ensued to talk to Mabel and her little band about the Salamence, but it was handled expediently and empathetically. One of the other young people here, a young man named Chauliac, was already applying medical knowledge to helping the dragon.

"He doesn't seem like the type to need to love and care lesson." Vermell apparently agreed with him.

"There are many more lessons one needs to learn than the ones on power and love." And with that cryptic remark Drake overheard nothing more that night but what he suspected was Pendula snoring.