I blinked and Mega Blaziken was on us in moments.

Altaria was sent back into the air, a solid kick landing in the center of his body without Blaziken even using a move, and Venusaur was suddenly awash in flames as Blaziken turned to face it and used Flamethrower.

Altaria banked in the air and barely caught himself before he slammed into the wall, then soared forward, unleashing a Hyper Voice immediately after. Venusaur, meanwhile, brushed away the flames with Vine Whip and sent out a Razor Leaf at Mega Blaziken.

The Fire Type, seeing the incoming attacks, somehow sidestepped both of them with a single shift, then ran forward to heave Venusaur off the ground and chuck it straight at Altaria. The two collided and slammed into the base of the Mega Lucario statue a short distance away.

Hope and my mouths both dropped open at the sight of such massive strength.

Gurkinn cleared his throat behind us.

“Ahem. I did say ‘run,’ didn’t I?”

We shared a look for the briefest of moments, then booked it to leave the tower. We shouted orders at our Pokémon, hoping for them to use their moves to escape with us.

“Ataria, paralyze it with Dragon Breath!”

“Same for you Venusaur, Stun Spore!”

Picking themselves off the ground, our Pokémon unleashed a combination of yellow draconic flames and sparkling Grass Type spores at the Mega Pokémon. However, Blaziken simply opened its mouth to use another Flamethrower to burn both attacks away. My eyes widened as I realized it just burned fire and watched as Blaziken easily moved in front of us, and threw us back.

There was only one entrance and exit to this tower, and Blaziken looked intent on guarding it.

Venusaur picked itself up off the ground and lumbered next to Hope, and Altaria flew next to my side. Blaziken merely crossed its arms, and Gurkinn walked to stand next to it.

“For Mega Evolution to work, you must have an implicit trust between you and your Pokémon,” he said. “Even if you do claim you trust your Pokémon fully, your heart will always resist an outside influence. You must truly trust your Pokémon with your life and soul, and, without that trust, you will find Mega Evolution outside of your grasp.

“Consider this a test. If you want to succeed, you must learn to truly trust your Pokémon with your life.”

He nodded to Blaziken.

“Blaziken, if you will.”

Blaziken disappeared with its insane speed once more, and all four of us sustained either a punch or a kick from the Mega Evolved Pokémon. Luckily, the attack was controlled enough that I didn’t feel my ribs snap, but I was sent flying back anyway, with Hope next to me.

Altaria was too slow to catch up and Venusaur was a naturally slow Pokémon, so neither of them were able to assist our fragile human bodies in the fall, and we slammed into the ground.

As we groaned, Gurkinn spoke up still in the archway that lead to the exterior of the tower.

“The exit is blocked, but I said to run. What are you to do now?” he said.

I glared at the old man who was smirking at our pain, and I shakily pushed back up to my feet. Hope did the same, and our Pokémon took up defensive positions in front of us.

Blaziken slowly and confidently walked towards our position.

We can’t go through the exit, and there’s no other doors to this room. It’s a large space, but enclosed. I can’t find a way to leave, but then again, that only includes the ground floor. There’s still one direction we can go:

“Up,” I whispered.

Hope shot me a look like I was insane, but Altaria moved in before she could speak. His talons hooked around my shoulders, and he began to lift me up off the ground. It was just in time, too, as Blaziken’s fist suddenly appeared beneath us, just missing Altaria’s mid-air body.

That was all it took for Hope to be convinced, and she shouted orders at Venusaur.

“Bring us up! Use Vine Whip!”

Hope jumped onto the bulky Pokémon’s back, and long plant vines extended out of its body to grab onto the arm of the Mega Lucario statue in the middle of the tower. It tested the sturdiness of the stone for only a moment before it used the attack to fling the pair of them into the air, then over to an upper section of the staircase.

Altaria and I both froze at that action, and both Gurkinn and Blaziken must have too, considering they didn’t move after that trick. Gurkinn started to clap, and I gave Altaria an order to make the most of this brief delay.

“Get us as high as possible! Dragon Pulse to stop it from following!” I yelled.

Altaria flapped his wings and shot higher into the air, intent on increasing his height to reach the opening to a balcony at the very top. I heard a sound echo from the floor at the bottom, and the acoustics of this place let Gurkinn’s voice easily enter my ear.

“Clever, but I said to run, not fly. Blaziken, stop them.”

Altaria began to form a Dragon Pulse, following my orders, and a red blur began to dark up the staircase. Recovering from the adrenaline of the jump, Hope and Venusaur supported each other while panting heavily. As a result, they didn’t even get a chance to react as Blaziken used its speed to run on and up the wall, arcing over them and landing just past.

In moments, the Fire Type was level with us, and it kicked off the railing to soar at us mid air.

Altaria, using the attack he prepared earlier, sent a Dragon Pulse right at it, but the Mega Pokémon shifted in the air to kick it away. It spun around once more, and when it reached our position, a solid clawed fist went right into Altaria’s face.

The surprise Sky Uppercut stunned him momentarily, and Blaziken grabbed him by the neck like a chicken. It then used its momentum to drag us to the staircase against the wall on the other side of the tower and dropped us on the stairs.

When we landed, we were still high up, but Altaria had just taken a lot of damage. Blaziken stood tall ahead of us, its clawed hands opening and closing into fists, and Altaria puffed up next to me on the ground, trying to disguise the fact he was using Roost.

Both sides of this standoff were still, but a slight movement behind Blaziken made me smirk.

“So, you’ve stopped us, but are you going to attack us again?” I asked. “I mean, Gurkinn is clearly ordering you to attack, but how far are you willing to go with the injuries?”

As I spoke, Blaziken focused entirely on me, and took a step forward menacingly once I finished my provocation. However, the orange smudge I had seen behind it made its presence known as Dedenne charged up his electricity and rubbed his sparking cheeks against Blaziken, using Nuzzle to inflict the paralyzed condition onto it.

“Good job, Dedenne! You really saved our hides!” I yelled.

Dedenne, terrified for his life, scurried as fast as he could back into my backpack, and I heard him zip it closed from inside. Earlier, he had the misfortune of peeking out again when Blaziken was attacking Altaria midair, and had been knocked out upon impact. Thankfully, he landed on the platform and through sheer chance managed to paralyze Blaziken. I doubted he would want to come out any time soon unless I retrieved him myself.

Taking advantage of the now slowed Mega Pokémon, I lunged forward and squeezed under its tall legs, and began to run away up the stairs on the other side. Altaria flew in the air next to me, and my steps faltered for a moment when I saw that Hope somehow passed me.

“How did you do that?!” I yelled.

“What, this?” she called back. “Easy. You distracted it, we used Vine Whip. Come on, catch up, Alex!”

Groaning, I sprinted as hard as my legs could take me as the electricity prevented Blaziken from reaching its full speed. I kept an ear out for any movement, and Altaria kept glancing back to see if it would catch up.

Thankfully, it did not.

As we ran up the staircase, Gurkinn’s voice called out from below.

“I can see clearly that you trust your Pokémon, but it isn’t enough. You still have more to learn.”

As he said that, Hope and I emerged through the opening to leave the tower, where we were briefly blinded by the sudden light in our eyes. The sun was high in the sky and this balcony faced directly towards it, forcing us to cover our eyes just to see.

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

Where we had emerged wasn’t just a balcony, but an entire battlefield built into the top of the tower. A curved wall stuck up high above us and cloaked half the field that unfortunately wasn’t ours, and on the far end, there was a railing that overlooked Shalour City and the few houses on the island below.

As we looked around, we quickly realized we weren’t alone. Only a dozen feet away, Gurkinn stood calmly next to a yellow levitating Pokémon with an absolutely absurd number of spoons orbiting around its head.

I blinked.

“Mega Alakazam?” I asked.

Gurkinn merely smirked, and I heard something shift behind me. Turning around, I froze with shock to see that Blaziken had caught up, and was somehow still Mega Evolved.

“Two Mega Evolutions?” I gasped. “That’s not possible! What’s going on?”

“Easy. I’m the Mega Evolution Guru. I can do what I want.”

With that, Blaziken pushed through its paralysis to kick Hope back and punched me as well. We were knocked onto the battlefield itself, and it jumped out of the way before our Pokémon could unleash attacks on it.

As I lay on the stone under the bright sunlight, I groaned.

We got this far, but all we’ve done is run. Blaziken hasn’t even taken damage.

Sitting up and flinching at the pain from the two separate bruises forming on my chest, I looked over to see Hope being held up by her throat. She was clutching at Blaziken’s claws, trying desperately to escape. Venusaur was still picking itself up nearby.

As the Grass Type pushed to its feet, it saw its trainer being held up threateningly, and its eyes went wide with rage. Yelling its name, Venusaur tried to send a barrage of spinning leaves forward to free Hope, but Blaziken easily moved out of the way of everything thrown at it, all while maintaining its hold on Hope.

Gurkinn tsk’d.

“It was a good attempt, but your Venusaur just doesn’t have the power to free you. What are you going to do now?” he asked.

Hope kicked and punched at Blaziken, but it held its arm out and its large form prevented her from reaching it. Venusaur was forced to stop attacking to prevent itself from hurting Hope, and growled at its foe. As for me, things finally clicked into place.

“Hope! Mega Evolve your Venusaur!” I yelled.

There was a few grunts as Hope struggled in Blaziken’s grasp.

“I can’t, it’s still holding me!”

“Just try!”

Hurriedly, she scrambled to clasp her Key Stone pendant in her hands then closed her eyes. Focusing as hard as she could within Blaziken’s grasp, a bright white light began to emanate from the bracer around Venusaur’s leg.

And then, its entire body lit up.

First, its entire body began to grow. Its legs extended slightly to increase its height and speed, and the body fat on its side extended out and densified. A number of plants began to grow out of its back, and, on its head, a pink flower began to-

“No helping,” Gurkinn interjected.

Interrupting my observation of Venusaur’s Mega Evolution, my body suddenly became surrounded in blue light as I was lifted off the floor. Altaria flew straight at Mega Alakazam to try to disrupt its focus with the Dark Type Thief, but it simply Teleported away and released by flinging me to the side.

I barely had enough time to pull out the Altarianite and throw it at my Pokémon before I began to fall off the tower.

Despite all of the mental preparation I thought I had done within Altaria’s basket, nothing prepared me for the sheer terror of having nothing solid beneath my feet. Wind blew past my head as my speed built up, and I could hear the signature whistling sound of something falling. My momentum caused me to tilt backwards, unable to see the ground behind me, and I saw a flash of light as Altaria dove off the side of the building to desperately try to catch up with me.

Realizing we had no other choice, I grasped my arm wearing the Key Stone bracer and held it up, and closed my eyes to try to Mega Evolve Altaria.

As much as I tried to focus on how much Altaria meant to me, I found the memories just couldn’t come to the forefront of my mind. Fear encompassed every one of my thoughts, and my heart thundered in my chest. Without the focus I was normally capable of, only a single phrase managed to get through.

Please save me.

Despite the size of the tower, it wasn’t actually that tall in the vast scheme of things, and I knew I only had seconds before I hit the ground. However, adrenaline tends to slow everything down, and as the balcony shrunk above me, time slowed to a halt as I approached my impending demise.

But then, through my closed eyelids, a bright white light suddenly pierced through.

Snapping them open, a new sight greeted me. Altaria was still chasing after me, but he didn’t look the same. Like the appearance he took on back in Fortree, he was far fluffier, and his wings and tail had expanded out. He had a massive puff on his back that made him look like he was a cloud, and he was flapping furiously and slowly gaining despite his huge amounts of fluff.

However, even with his newfound speed, I knew he still wasn’t traveling fast enough to catch up. Eventually, I closed my eyes once more and accepted whatever fate would await me. My last thoughts drifted to my Pokémon, and I prayed to whatever had brought me to this world that they would stay safe.

But then, I suddenly stopped falling.

And it wasn’t Altaria who saved me.

Opening my eyes, I found that Mega Alakazam was now floating next to me, freezing both Altaria and I in place with its blue Psychic Type energy. The effect was barely noticeable outside the lack of movement, and whatever it had done had even prevented the G-Forces of the sudden stop from killing me.

Then, in an instant, my surroundings shifted and I was back next to Gurkinn, an inch above the battlefield.

“What the fu-”

Mega Alakazam released me, and I fell to the floor.

“Language,” Gurkinn said.

I groaned.

“I’ll worry about language after I’m not recovering from a near death experience. I accepted my fate there! Again!”

Gurkinn blinked.

“Again?” he said.

I rolled over on the ground.

“Not important.”

Altaria, still in his Mega Evolved form, launched forward at me, and I was engulfed in his mass of white fluff. Calling him a cloud wasn’t inaccurate now, because he definitely felt as soft as one.

I started to relax inside of his feathers, and poked my head out to be able to breathe. Altaria chirruped happily, and my eyes started to feel a bit heavy from the combined softness and current drain on my vitality. His presence was especially comforting and my heart started to slow back down to normal levels of beating.

“So do you need us to battle now?” I said, giving Gurkinn the nastiest look I could manage. “Because that was exhausting and I feel like I’m about to fall asleep. Also, I’m upset with you.”

Hope approached, riding on the head of her Mega Venusaur.

“I feel similar, but honestly less so considering you didn’t throw me off a building. That was a little uncalled for.”

The old man shrugged.

“Yes, but you had to know I wouldn’t actually let that happen to you. It was merely a trick,” Gurkinn replied.

“Logically, yes, but in the heat of battle, do you really think I had a clear mind after being thrown off a building?” I yelled. “Seriously, that was too far!”

Gurkinn looked around a little sheepishly.

“Please don’t tell me you do this often,” Hope said.

Gurkinn shifted his feet uncomfortably, and a brief light encompassed both Alakazam and Blaziken behind me as their Mega Evolutions faded. Hope’s Venusaur was still Mega Evolved behind her, and Altaria was now in the process of preening his freshly grown feathers.

“...No? This was a first,” he added after several seconds of waiting.

Hope and I were left in stunned silence until out of nowhere, Hope fainted, and Alakazam quickly used a Hypnosis to put the Mega Evolved Venusaur to sleep before it went berserk. Similarly, I started to feel faint as the drain from Mega Evolution became too much.

Gurkinn refused to make eye contact.

“We, uh, talk about this later. Have a good rest!” he called out cheerfully.

Unable to think straight, I angrily lifted up an arm, and the last thing I saw before I went unconscious was Alakazam’s spoon moving in a mesmerizing pattern.

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

“You’re awful,” Hope said, eating a stew Gurkinn had prepared.

I nodded in agreement, too busy eating to properly respond.

Right now, the two of us were inside a quaint house on the island, at the base of the Tower of Mastery. This wasn’t his main home—he actually lived in Shalour proper—but used the place to entertain guests when he had to be on the island.

“Again, I’m sorry,” Gurkinn said. “Professor Sycamore said the two of you probably wouldn’t have benefited from something less direct, so I thought this would work. And it did!”

I pointed my spoon at him accusingly.

“Yeah, but you didn’t need to throw me off the tower for it,” I said.

He looked away again.

We went back to our meal, and Gurkinn easily lifted up the pot to bring food to our Pokémon outside. He was surprisingly strong for his old age, and even touched the metal without wincing from the heat.

While our Pokémon could enter this house, they wouldn’t all fit at once. Additionally, most of my team kept shooting Gurkinn glares, and I could swear that Ninetales would use Ice Beam against him again the moment she knew I wouldn’t find out.

By the time he returned, Hope and I had finished our meals, and we looked at him expectantly.

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Now, we spend the next few days training to make sure you have it down, and then you’ll be on your way,” he replied.

Both Hope and I raised an eyebrow.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he nodded.

Digging around an old bookshelf, Gurkinn turned back around with a dusty tome in his hands. He blew the dust off of it, causing Hope and I to cough violently, then opened it up and skimmed a few pages.

“This is a book written by the first person to Mega Evolve their Pokémon,” he began to explain.

“The guy whose Mega Lucario has a statue in there?” Hope asked.

“Exactly. Now, I don’t normally teach people brand new to Mega Evolution, I usually help out those more experienced with it. Or, at least they’re the people Sycamore sends my way. It’s good practice, though, especially since I plan to introduce my granddaughter to the process soon.

“Now, I’d like to claim I have this memorized, but I don’t, and there’s a relevant passage I want to paraphrase. Give me a moment to find it... and... here it is.”

Gurkinn cleared his throat.

“To begin, I need you to understand that merely having a strong bond with your Pokémon isn’t good enough,” Gurkinn said.

I cocked my head.

“It’s not?”

“No, it’s not,” he replied. “To Mega Evolve your Pokémon, you must be unified in both belief and purpose for it to be successful. Technically speaking, a bond isn’t even important, although it would be incredibly painful and require a ridiculous amount of willpower to do it without trust between you and your Pokémon. Even more, the process would cause both you and your Pokémon constant, incredible pain without the willingness to fully accept or provide energy.”

“Wait, so it’s like motor oil?” Hope asked.

“...Yes, I suppose that works. When I saw you send out your Pokémon, I could tell that they trusted you, but you needed to be properly united. Tell me, what are your Pokémon’s personalities usually like?” he asked.

“Venusaur is lazy and just wants to sit around and sleep,” Hope said.

“And Altaria is curious, but usually hard to understand and responds strangely to things,” I added.

Gurkinn nodded, clearly expecting our answers.

“That’s what I thought. Your Pokémon had the capability to Mega Evolve, but didn’t have the same drive to do it as you did. Doubts can also stop the process, and it’s likely that if you failed once, doubts from that initial failure distracted you enough to cause your following attempts to fail, too.

“I purposely sent my Pokémon after you to put you in a stressful situation. Pokémon develop most when stressed, and I took advantage of that fact to ensure they had the highest chance of success. I tricked both of you into thinking your lives would be in danger to provide a single, easy to understand goal that you and your Pokémon would be united for: saving your lives. I admit, it was a bit cruel, but it was the fastest way for it to work, and most of the spiritual mumbo jumbo tends to only work with younger trainers.

“However, before we continue, there is one more thing I must ask of you.”

Gurkinn glowered at us, and I stood up a bit straighter at the sudden change in attitude. His face darkened, and I braced myself for whatever words were about to come.

However, instead of saying anything harsh or dramatic, he instead fell to the ground with his head to the floor in a bowing position, and yelled apologetically at us.

“I’m sorry! Please don’t sue me!”

Hope and I were too stunned to respond.

“I broke so many laws and regulations to do what I did today! I am extremely sorry! I got too caught up in the idea to think it properly though, and shouldn’t have potentially traumatized you like that! Again! I am sorry!”

I glanced over to Hope. She just had a bewildered expression on her face.

“I uh, I don’t think either of us are going to sue you,” I said. “I mean, you’re still going to help us, right?”

He jumped to his feet.

“Of course! They don’t call me the Mega Evolution Guru for nothing!” he said.

We simply nodded as Gurkinn returned to smiling brightly, and a question suddenly popped up in my mind.

“Wait, actually, about that, why do they call you the Mega Evolution Guru if people didn’t know about Mega Evolution before this year? Wouldn’t your presence, and that massive Mega Lucario statue, clue people in?”

He blinked.

“Oh, that? It’s easy. I never used Mega Evolution in public, and only helped people with Mega Evolution if they asked.”

The room was silent for a moment.

“But did they ask?” Hope interrupted.

Gurkinn tapped a finger against his head.

“They can’t ask about what they don’t know.”

I barely resisted putting my palm to my face.

“We’ll spend the next few days working with your Pokémon to get everything ready for Mega Evolution, and I’ll teach you the methods you can follow to properly unify yourself with your Pokémon. It’ll be difficult, but based on the success here today, I know you two can do it,” Gurkinn said.

I smiled at his vote of confidence, and Hope seemed to relax as well. We had both finally succeeded with Mega Evolving a team member today, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until we could repeat the phenomenon without thinking we were about to die.