Altaria stared at me, unmoving after our failed attempt at Mega Evolution. Professor Sycamore was still going over the data, and Cosette was taking all of the attachments off of Altaria. I still felt bad about my failure to successfully Mega Evolve Altaria, but I wasn't going to let it get me down.
Mega Evolution was difficult. In the games, it was activated through a single button press. Here, though, it was an incredibly powerful phenomenon that drastically increased a Pokémon’s power. If Altaria could manage it, I’d imagine he could fight off minor Legendary Pokémon with enough training, which would skyrocket the power of my team.
Luckily, despite my poor attempt at recreating his empowered form, I was currently sitting next to the foremost Professor on the topic.
“So what should I do to make sure this works next time?” I asked Professor Sycamore.
He looked up from the monitor, the data already collected and recording stopped, and frowned.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t nailed down the exact best steps to begin the process. As far as I can tell, the infinity energy reacts to intent, and picturing the bond between you and your Pokémon provides a guide for it to flow properly. The stronger the bond, the stronger the picture, and thus, the stronger the flow of energy.
“That’s just a theory, however, but we have recorded higher amounts of energy traveling from trainers who have spent more time training their Pokémon. I imagine it would be possible to Mega Evolve a Pokémon as early as having known them for a few weeks, but that’d take a trainer with a remarkably strong will to actually manage.”
I leaned back in my chair, frowned, and processed what he said.
“So, while it might not work now, you think that if I spend more time with Altaria, Mega Evolving him would be easier?”
Sycamore looked up from the monitor and smiled.
“Yes! Well, that and practice. Don’t neglect your other Pokémon either.”
“I don’t plan on it,” I said, shaking my head. “Then, when’s the earliest we can attempt to Mega Evolve again? Tonight then, at least.”
Sycamore stood up, straightening his posture, and took on a stern demeanor.
“Tomorrow at the earliest, Alex. If you had Mega Evolution properly down, I can see you doing it two or three times in a day, but at this stage, with it draining so much of your energy? It's not good for your health."
I considered arguing, but he had a point. I was already tired from earlier, and I didn't want a repeat of what happened the first time, when I passed out and Altaria went berserk. Considering that it was painful to Mega Evolve without a trainer's support, I didn't want to subject Altaria to that pain again. We had plenty of time to work on it, and, with effort, I knew we could get it functional by the time we left Kalos.
“Alright,” I relented. “We can at least have that tour you mentioned last night now. Right?”
Professor Sycamore’s eyes went wide, and he hesitantly looked down at the monitor in front of him. Sophie shook her head and walked over, moving in front of Professor Sycamore and taking his spot.
"I'll stay here with Cosette and make sure everything is properly recorded. Since Alex needs time to recover, you should go get some food, and take a shower while you're at it. You stink like day old coffee," she said.
To emphasize her words, she grabbed her nose and waved her hand around. Sycamore chuckled, and pressed his back and stretched.
“I suppose you’re right, Sophie,” he said. “I’ll be back, Alex, and soon enough, you’ll see why you made a great decision accepting my sponsorship offer!”
Without waiting for me to respond, Professor Sycamore walked back into the lab, taking long strides and leaving us alone.
Once he was gone, Sophie kindly gave me a piece of fruit to snack on now that my energy was drained, and I slowly went around the garden, seeing what my Pokémon were up to. Ninetales ran over to me from where she had been relaxing nearby, and stuck to my side to help support me with my lack of energy. Altaria, however, simply flew off excitedly, and returned to exploring the space.
The garden itself was decently large since it took up the entire central area of a city block. The trees extended to nearly touch the ceiling, and my Pokémon were having a good time.
Azumarill, rather than training, was lecturing a trio of Azurill about how best to use their strength. At least I was pretty sure she was, since she kept grinning maliciously and punching the air. The three Azurill rocked back and forth on their large, spherical tails and cheered for her whenever she did so, letting me catch the rare sight of her turning away and blushing.
Florges had found herself a corner in the garden and was working with a few Combee to get it back in proper shape. Apparently, the flowers had wilted a bit, but with her powers, they were starting to grow and bloom again. The Combee buzzed around her while she energized the plants, the bee Pokémon collecting nectar from both the wild flowers and the flowers on Florges’s head.
I found Altaria next to the Dedenne from earlier, which ran away when it saw me. I raised an eyebrow when I saw what had been placed down in front of the bird, but he quickly snapped it up when he noticed me looking.
It was one of the berries Professor Sycamore had given the orange mouse.
Did they really plan that entire sequence from before to get a treat?
Ponyta ended up arriving at that moment, and walked with me and Ninetales, relaxing after running around the edge of the garden as fast as he could. He wasn’t breathing heavy or anything like that, probably thanks to a combination of both his developing ability, Run Away, and his move, Agility. I was looking forward to seeing how he’d react once we reached the proper space set aside for trainer Pokémon.
Mawile and Whimsicott were together, but Mawile wasn’t aware Whimsicott was floating above her. She seemed to be having a conversation with Professor Sycamore’s personal Gible, both of them showing off their large jaws, and Whimsicott was looking on mischievously. He noticed me when I approached and became visibly disappointed when I shook my head to warn him against pranking her.
Mawile was in a pleasant mood, and I didn’t want to see her be interrupted.
By the time I had finished walking through the garden and had seen where all of my Pokémon were, Professor Sycamore still hadn’t returned. I ended up finding a nice shaded spot under a tree, where Ninetales and Ponyta both laid down next to me. All it took was for me to close my eyes for me to immediately fall asleep, and a while later, Professor Sycamore arrived back in the garden, ready to lead me to where my Pokémon would be stabled under his care.
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“It’s actually quite amazing. It doesn’t quite match up to the sheer size of Oak’s ranch, but it more than makes up for that with the different environments present. I hired numerous Pokémon landscaping companies to make sure it would be perfect, and absolutely love how it came out,” Professor Sycamore said.
The entrance to Sycamore’s ranch wasn’t too far away, only requiring us to get to the very edge of the southern side of the city. It was a block away and past the end of a street that suddenly cut off, turning into a dirt road that led to the front of a small building. This place was the same location I saw from the plane, where several buildings extended out into the wilderness between a pair of routes.
When we reached it, Professor Sycamore smirked proudly when he saw my jaw drop. For a space to let Pokémon above carrying capacities stay, it more than met expectations.
This area was set up like a large, open plain, but there were clearly areas matching a few different biomes spread throughout. There was a large rocky “mountain” about the size of a tall building, a section filled with sand that mimicked both a desert and a beach next to a lake, and even a swamp, too.
My eyes drifted to the forest in the distance and the flower fields next to it that extended onto the nearby Route 4. I knew Florges would love it, and I was extremely excited to have everyone see the place.
Not willing to wait even a moment longer, I tossed my assorted Pokéballs to send everyone out, who appeared on the grass around me. Once they looked around, they looked just as amazed as I was.
“There are several buildings set up to protect the resident Pokémon from both bad weather and heat,” Professor Sycamore said. “I have several assistants working for me whose only task is to take care of everyone’s Pokémon, and they make sure everyone eats three times a day. Any special dietary concerns will be shared with them, and they’ll even retrieve your Pokémon to send to you when requested.”
Ponyta turned around and looked at me with his huge eyes, begging to head out, and I nodded to grant him permission. Near immediately, he ran out a bit away, and began to dash across the plains. Additionally, Altaria flew off into the distance, heading toward the small mountain, and the rest of my Pokémon began to leave to explore the place, all of them already informed about my plan to spend the rest of the day here.
While everyone else left, Ninetales and Mawile stuck next to me; Ninetales preferring my company, and Mawile just not that interested in heading out. Ponyta also made sure to stay nearby, keeping pace as he ran around not too far away. Soon enough, Professor Sycamore turned towards the building next to the dirt road, and I moved to follow.
Once we entered it, I found myself within a space very reminiscent of a Pokémon center. There was a front desk with a worker, and even a few Audino walking around. One wall was completely filled with phones and computers used for transfer, and I noticed a lack of seating space.
“Since your Pokémon will be staying here, I should probably go over the system we use for recalls and exchanges,” Professor Sycamore said. “Essentially, whenever you’re at a Pokémon Center or have access to a computer, you’ll be able to access the Pokémon storage system, which is just a fancy way to say you can see a list of Pokémon you have available. As long as your Pokéballs are properly registered to your trainer ID, you’ll also be able to see your current team, too.
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“Here, let me show you.”
Professor Sycamore and I walked towards one of the PCs on the wall, and he waved to a passing assistant in the process. Once there, I entered my trainer ID number at his command and set up an account. After setting everything up, I was met with a screen that I immediately recognized.
It was the PC storage system from the games.
It displayed an empty box with a decorative background, and had an option on the side that said “current party.” Clicking on it with the mouse, it showed my six, combat-ready Pokémon in a group with small pixelated sprites displaying their species, as well as a tab to the side displaying Ponyta as a temporary member.
When I clicked on the sprites, my eyes went wide as it displayed a summary like in the games, listing known moves, ability status, as well as a brief overview of their health and personality. I looked over to Sycamore, who must have seen my absolutely flabbergasted face, and he laughed.
“Pretty advanced, right?” he said. “You have Lanette back in Hoenn to thank for this. She’s responsible for working with Bill on his PC storage system to get the visuals properly set up. Any PC with the proper application installed will let you access our system, and you’ll be able to make a request to transfer out your Pokémon.
“Once you put in a request, an assistant will go fetch your Pokémon for you, but it might take some time. You’ll get an ETA for when your team member is available, as well as an alert for when they’re ready. When that happens you simply need to make a call with a device capable of transferring a Pokémon, and they’ll be sent over using the same method trainers use to trade.
“However, you need to remember that if you have six Pokémon on you, you can’t request for a Pokémon to be sent to you outside of emergencies without an exchange, and you won’t be able to change your Pokémon in the field. Any questions?”
I slowly shook my head, still intent on exploring the application and discovering many familiar functions to those in the games.
“Wonderful! Well then, I’ll leave you to it. It’s time for me to return to my research, anyway. Enjoy your time here, Alex!”
He waved goodbye and I absentmindedly lifted a hand to do the same, and he was off. Once I had my fill of the PC, I left with Ninetales at my side, reuniting with Ponyta and Mawile outside, and went to find my other Pokémon to see how they were doing.
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My Pokémon absolutely adored the place. Florges loved the flower fields, Azumarill enjoyed the lake, Ponyta and Whimsicott ran or flew through the fields, and everyone else seemed to like the cave system within the small mountain.
Yes, even Altaria. I had no clue why he liked dark caves so much.
After giving them time to explore and play, I gathered everyone up. Whimsicott and Altaria spread the message, and Ponyta used his Psychic powers to locate them. Once everyone was present, I began to give them a run down about how this ranch would work.
“If you haven’t noticed, we have seven members on the team,” I said to start.
Whimsicott gasped dramatically at that, and everyone proceeded to roll their eyes while he giggled.
“...Anyway, the reason I bring that up is because the legal carry limit is six. Once Ponyta evolves, I’ll be required by law to send someone back, which means not all of you will be able to accompany me at the same time.”
At that, everyone looked genuinely sad. Mawile, surprisingly to me, was hit the hardest. She froze in the middle of a toss of her rock, and both of her mouths were open in shock.
I already felt like I was going to cry just seeing everyone already so upset.
“I know. I’m sorry. It’s not a great situation. I don’t want to isolate any of you, so even though it’s not strictly necessary, I don't ever intend to leave any of you here alone. At the minimum, two of you will always be here together, but I’m probably going to keep three of you here just to make sure no one is left behind.”
They all nodded at me with sad eyes, and even though Ponyta tried to hide it, he looked a bit guilty. Since he was protecting my mind, he would always be traveling with me, and at the same time, his evolution would also be the determining factor of when the team would be split up. He hung his head down unhappily, and I walked over to rest my hand on his back.
I looked around at my team as I did so.
“We’ve been through a lot together, and I have no plans to leave that behind me. All of you have earned your place on the team, and I will never forget you here. We’ll take turns between staying here and traveling with me once it’s necessary, but we still have plenty of time before then. The conference I want to compete in starts in almost exactly three months, which means we have plenty of time left together. Plus, I don’t imagine this becoming a problem until a new member joins the team.”
I sighed.
“But when that happens, don’t blame them.
“I’m selfish. I want to be a Fairy Type specialist, and that means I need to learn more about Fairy Types outside of just training with you all. I’m going to need to catch more Pokémon, which means I’ll leave more and more team members within this ranch.
“While that sucks, honestly, it’s kind of a good thing. No matter what, we’re already over the team limit, so it’s inevitable we’ll have to split up anyway. When we are forced to temporarily be apart, I’ll make sure we have a lot of friends here so none of you will ever feel lonely, okay?”
My Pokémon were sad, but they understood my reasoning. Mawile was sniffling, holding back tears that clearly weren’t from Fake Tears. My heart felt like it was breaking, and I started to consider myself the biggest asshole in the world.
How did Ash leave behind so many Pokémon at Oak’s ranch? How could he travel for so long, and just abandon his friends like that? Well, he did catch a lot of Pokémon, so maybe they were more comfortable with it because they had so many different friends. This is really getting to me.
I stood up and wiped the tears out of my eyes, and tried my best to put on a determined expression. Just because it hadn’t happened yet, didn’t mean it was any less sad, but we had plenty of time before then and I planned to make the most of it.
“Now then, since we’re all here—and aren’t distracted by a Conference—do you know what that means?”
Azumarill visibly perked up, and at her reaction, the rest of the team started to look excited as well.
I nodded, a grin returning to my face.
“That’s right: training goals. We aren’t in a rush since the next Conference is far away, but after seeing our performance in the last one, we have plenty of things to improve. I’ll try to stick to the order joining the team for the ease of instructions.
“Ninetales, I want you to focus on improving your damaging moves, and getting used to setting up Aurora Veil. You’re capable of powerful attacks and defenses, but we’ve been underutilizing them in favor of Confuse Ray and the weather. Tricks are nice, but we need the power to back them up, too.”
Ninetales nodded seriously, and I turned to Azumaril. I cautiously looked her up and down, and she crossed her arms and frowned. Sighing and preparing myself for a harsh reaction, I shared the idea that had been on my mind for a while.
“I, uh, this is going to sound strange, but I think you should learn Splash.”
Mawile immediately snorted, and Whimsicott burst into giggles. Azumarill immediately shot the two of them a look, and that shut up the rest of my team before they could even get started. Her gaze slowly turned to face me, and she tapped a foot impatiently and I grit my teeth.
“It’s- ah- Well, it’s a movement skill, more than anything else. It’s called Splash, but honestly it should be called ‘Hop.’ The reason I bring this up is because you don’t have anything to support you in close range. You’re great at getting in close and unleashing powerful attacks, but dodging is solely through your own effort.
“Imagine being able to hop around and dodge all of your opponents' attacks through unpredictable movement. That’s what I’m picturing with Splash, a way for you to better move around your opponents up close. It’s not just flopping on your side like a Magikarp out of water, it’s a real strategy, I promise.”
Azumarill looked unsure and spent a moment contorting her face in thought. Soon, her grimace shifted into a cruel grin, and I grinned right back.
If this works like I think it will, Azumarill is going to become even more of a monster.
I turned to Florges next.
“Florges, you’re wonderful. You have powerful attacks, great defense, and an incredible sustain. However, you’re just too weak in melee. Camouflage is an option, but we need more ways to help you escape a close up foe.”
I paused as an idea suddenly came to mind.
“...Hm. With Ally Switch, you can’t teleport without something solid to lock onto, can you?”
Florges shook her head, and my shoulders slumped down.
“Dang. I’m honestly stuck on this, which is one of the reasons I brought it up. It’s a major weakness of yours I think we can fix, although I’m out of ideas. I was hoping you could help with that, since you know your capabilities a lot better than I do.”
Florges pursed her lips and nodded, clearly already trying to find new strategies. I knew if we could find a way to always let her escape from melee, she’d be an even more powerful combatant. The only issue is we had to find that way.
“Now then, two at once. Altaria and Whimsicott, I’m grouping you two up since you’ll be training together. Altaria, you need to continue to work on developing your Natural Cure ability, and Whimsicott’s Stun Spore can help you with that. As for you, Whimsicott, I need you to fix your greatest weakness.”
I shifted to stand up a bit straighter dramatically, and upon seeing that, Altaria and Whimsicott straightened to attention as well. The rest of the team look on curiously as I paused to add to the effect, and Whimsicott mimicked biting his fingernails (which he didn’t have) while he waited for me to reveal that weakness.
“You don’t have any offensive moves,” I said.
Altaria and Whimsicott both cocked their heads.
“You know Mega Drain and Fairy Wind, but nothing else that can directly damage your foes. Taunt shuts you down a little too hard, so we need to find a way to counter that. I’d recommend Energy Ball, to start, but Moonblast is a similar move that Altaria already knows that makes use of your Fairy Type. Additionally, we can have you better synergize with Sunny Day if you learn Solar Beam, and Azumaril would have more reason to use Rain Dance if you learn Hurricane. Sounds good, right?”
Whimsicott hopped in place, slowly floating down after each jump, and had a brilliant smile on his face. It was hard not to smile along with him as well, but at the same time, I couldn’t tell if he was happy to learn offensive moves or was just happy he was being trained in general.
Adding on to his list of potential moves, I continued.
“In the future, I’d also like to teach you Defog, Tailwind, and Charm to give you even more support moves as well, but that’d stretch your moveset far too thin. If you don’t like any I listed, we can work on something else, but it should be a decent place to start.”
Whimsicott nodded happily, and glanced over to Altaria. Locking eyes, the two of them took to the air to begin to leave, but I shouted at them before they could.
“Hey, wait! I’m actually not done yet,” I yelled. “Come back here, there’s something I need to give you!”
The two flying Pokémon looped around in the air and touched back on the ground, and I reached into my backpack to pull out the items I prepared. Upon taking them out, Whimsicott’s eyes went wide and he grabbed the item I wanted him to carry, stuffing it into his fluff, before I could even explain.
“That- uh, yeah. I wanted you to take Florges’s Miracle Seed, since she isn’t using it. It should both empower your Grass Type moves and might even help with learning Grass Type attacks.
“For you, Altaria, I wanted you to wear your Choice Specs, but there’s a caveat: you can’t immediately put them on.”
Altaria stared at me impassively, and I knew I had to explain.
“Okay, look. Your Choice Specs mean you’re limited to a single move, which is an awful limitation when you have so many other options normally. My thought is that you can keep them on your body but not wear them, and when you feel the need to actually empower an attack, you can put them on. You won’t be able to take them off again afterwards, but it at least gives you the choice of whether or not to make a single move stronger in battle.”
I paused to rub my chin.
“The issue is, I’m not really sure how to actually set that up to work.”
Whimsicott strutted over to Altaria on the ground, and waved his hand at me to ask for the Choice Specs. Curious, I handed them over, and he placed them on Altaria’s back and lodged the side of them on Altaria’s back.
In response, the blue bird shook and they fell to the floor, upon when he used his beak to bump them up onto his face. Whimsicott slumped down at his partial failure.
“That was good, but simply jamming them onto Altaria’s body isn’t secure enough for them to stay. I’ll trust you two to figure this out, but if you can’t think of anything, don’t worry.”
They nodded at that, and without me saying anything else for them, took off and actually left this time. I watched as in the air, Whimsicott ended up landing on Altaria’s back, and the pair disappeared off into the forest in the distance, looking like a low-flying cloud due to the sheer amount of fluff they had when combined.
I glanced over to the last two members of my team, and Mawile and Ponyta stared back.
“I want you two to also work together. Mawile, your current moveset is great, but we need to work on increasing your general capabilities. The same is true for you, Ponyta, but rather than your moveset being great, I simply want to practice more with it before expanding it any further due to your young age. You two work great together, so you should already know how to-”
My instructions were interrupted by Azumarill clearing her throat, and I realized another training pair that could be useful.
“Actually, Azumarill’s right. Since she needs to work on Splash, training with you two might help since you’re also working in melee. I will say, though, Azumarill you need to be careful. Ponyta is a lot weaker than you, and I don’t want you hurting him with your Huge Power.”
Azumarill shrugged, and waved me off, and I glanced over to Mawile who nodded as if to say I could rely on her. However, after she did so, she also gave Azumarill a side eye, and that let me realize yet another improvement to the training plan.
“That’s it, Mawile! You’re a genius!”
Mawile somehow looked both smug and confused.
“Alright, sorry, let me explain. You have two abilities down, but you can get a third, too. It’s called Intimidate, and with the right type of glare, you can weaken your opponent’s willingness to fight. It should help level the playing field a bit for you, and I imagine it would be easy to incorporate into your current strategies.”
Inspired by my words, Mawile resumed her glare at Azumarill, but this time she also grinned with her jaws on the back. They opened up ever so slightly and their sharp, white teeth gleamed in the midday sun. Azumarill glanced between the relatively unassuming Mawile, and her obviously dangerous jaws, and shivered.
That caused me to smile.
Seems like Mawile has a good idea of what to do for Intimidate already.
I brought my arms to the side then stretched, then clapped once to gather the attention of the five Pokémon still here.
“That’s all I have to say. We have plenty of time to practice—there’s no need to rush. I’m looking forward to spending this time training with you all while we’re here in Kalos.”